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P rime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ayodhya on August 5 for the “bhoomi pujan” ceremony to begin the construction of a grand Ram Temple, and the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra has begun preparations for it, its members said on Sunday. According to Trust presi- dent Nritya Gopal Das, the “bhoomi pujan” will be per- formed with the placing of a 40-kg silver brick at the sanc- tum sanctorum. Three-day-long Vedic rit- uals, beginning August 3, will precede the main ceremony. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aadityanath will also join the “bhoomi pujan” ceremony. Continued on Page 2 T he Dubai Police arrested Faisal Fareed, the master brain behind gold smuggling through diplomatic channel in Thiruvananthapuram Airport on Sunday. According to reports reaching Police Head Quarters at Thiruvananthapuram, Fareed would be handed over to India in the next two days. The Dubai Police interro- gated Fareed and has collected important information from him. Fareed, a school dropout hailing from Kodungalloor in Kerala had a meteoric rise over the last three years which has baffled the residents of the town. Continued on Page 2 T orrential rain on Sunday morning crippled normal life in the national Capital with at least one person drown- ing in the flooded underpass at Minto Bridge and a house col- lapsing into a drain Anna Nagar near ITO. No one was present in the house at the time of the incident. Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) and fire engines rushed to the spot. A 56-year-old man drowned while he was trying to cross the bridge in his vehicle, Tata Ace, on Sunday. The deceased identified as Kundan Kumar, a native of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, used to drive the vehicle to transport goods on hire basis. Kundan was identified by his co-worker while a New Delhi yard trackman pulled out his body from the waterlogged underpass. A Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus also got stuck on the waterlogged road under Minto Bridge, fol- lowing which fire department personnel arrived at the site to rescue its driver and conductor on-board. Kundan’s body was found floating in front of the bus. According to a senior police official, Kundan was travelling from New Delhi Railway Station towards Connaught Place via Minto Bridge on Sunday morning. “Due to overnight rain, water was logged under the Minto Bridge and when Kundan tried to manoeuvre his vehicle through waterlogged underpass, he couldn’t suc- ceed. It seems that Kundan died of drowning as no external injury marks were found on his body,” said the senior police official. Police said the vehicle, Tata Ace, which was being dri- ven by Kundan is owned by his cousin Pritam. “Kundan is sur- vived by his wife and two daughters,” said police. Meanwhile, following the death of Kundan, the Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta con- doled the death at Minto Bridge which comes under the Delhi PWD. Hitting hard at the AAP, Gupta said it is just the begin- ning of monsoon and asked the AAP dispensation to take con- crete steps as soon as possible to prevent waterlogging. Continued on Page 2 A t a time when there is a massive surge in the coro- navirus infections across India, flood situations worsened in Assam and Bihar on Sunday while the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted intense rainfall in five States in East and North East region till July 21. Assam and Bihar are facing the twin challenge of combat- ing floods and the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, a por- tion of a bridge also collapsed at Madkhot on Pithoragarh Munsyari road, following incessant rainfall in Uttrakhand. The Badrinath Highway was blocked due to rainfall-induced landslide in Bhanerpani and Pipalkoti area. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), as many as 85 people died in 26 districts due to flood. One death each was reported from Baghbar in Barpeta district, Baganpara in Baksa district, Bilasipara in Dhubri district, Mayong in Morigaon district and Kaliabor in Nagaon district on Sunday. As many as 25.29 lakh people, 28.14 lakh animals (small, big and poultry) and 1.12 lakh hectare crops had been affected in 2,400 villages and localities spread in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Cachar districts in the State. As per Assam’s Kaziranga National Park bul- letin, nine rhinos, 82 hog deers, seven wild boars are among the 108 wild animals that have died so far. The flood situation in several dis- tricts in Bihar also worsens as rivers are flowing above the danger mark. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar over phone and assured all support in dealing with the flood havoc, which has claimed over 100 lives so far this year. Former Rajasthan deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot also appealed to all Indians to join the efforts in helping support those affected due to the floods in Assam and Bihar. Continued on Page 2 E ven as the Government has repeatedly denied that India was in the stage of communi- ty transmission of Covid-19, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in India has led to community spread of the deadly virus. The warning comes two days after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said there is a community spread in some places in coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram district. The IMA, a representative of the medical professionals in the country, painted a disturb- ing picture noting that the dis- ease is spreading to the rural areas fast while the situation is pretty bad in the country where the number of Covid-19 posi- tive cases has crossed a million marks. India is now third coun- try after United States and Brazil to reach this grim mile- stone. “This is now an expo- nential growth. Every day the number of cases is increasing by more than around 30,000. This is really a bad situation for the country,” siad Dr VK Monga, the Chairman of IMA Hospital Board of India, adding, “This is a bad sign. It now shows a community spread. On July 9, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had said there is no community spread of coronavirus in the country. “There may be some localised pockets where trans- mission is high but as a coun- try, there’s no community transmission,” he had said on the day when there were around 7 lakh cases. Continued on Page 2 F rom Saitual in Mizoram to Idduki in Kerala and Kalahandi in Odisha to Latur in Maharashtra, the coron- avirus has now penetrated deep into rural India, covering more than 90 per cent of the terrain and 712 out of 736 dis- tricts across the country. The number of affected district paints a grim scenario, underlying the fact that the virus is fast traversing rural landscape and villages where health infrastructure are woe- fully inadequate and little can be done by way of contact trac- ing or testing. Echoing this sentiment, IMA Hospital Board of India Chairman Dr VK Monga said on Sunday, “The virus is now spreading to rural areas. This is a bad sign.” The virus has spread so rapidly during the last month that almost every State and Union Territory has started recording cases and fatalities on a daily basis. Just about a month ago, three of the worst-affected States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi accounted for more than 65 per cent of the total cases and deaths. The picture has changed dramatically. “On Saturday out of 37,000 confirmed cases these three States accounted for only 14,630 (around 40 per cent) cases. A month ago, precisely to the date on June 18, these three States contributed 9,100 cases out of 14,740 that is around 62 per cent. In case of Maharashtra, all 36 districts are now in the grip of the virus. Mumbai has so far recorded 1,00,350 cases and 5,650 deaths, followed by Thane 73,000 cases and 1,976 deaths, while Pune district has 51,575 cases and 1,314 deaths. The least affected districts are Bhandara (179 cases), Gadchiroli (173 cases and Wardha 66 cases). Similarly, 37 out of 38 dis- tricts of Tamil Nadu are now battling with coronavirus. Chennai is the worst affected with 84,050 cases and 1,404 deaths, followed by Chengalpattu (9,360 cases ), Thiruvallur (8,702 cases), and Madurai ( 8,044 cases). Karnataka, which had just around 8,000 cases a month ago, has seen six-fold spike dur- ing this period and the virus has found its way into all the 30 districts of the State. The State was touted as a model in controlling the growth of Covid-19 but a reckless vio- lation of social distancing norms in wedding, temples, rath yatras and birthday bash has turned it into a dangerous hotspot. Continued on Page 2 M onday will be a crucial day for both Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot camp as the Rajasthan High Court will take call on the plea of rebel MLAs against disqualification notice served on them by the State Assembly Speaker. Ahead of the court’s hear- ing, the Congress on Sunday prepared a contingency plan to deal with any adverse fallout of the court’s proceedings and also demanded the resignation of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for his alleged role in the conspiracy to topple the Gehlot Government. The Congress contingency plan includes convening a one- day session of the State Assembly on Tuesday or Wednesday to allow Gehlot to prove his majority on the floor of the House. The Rajasthan HC may prevent the Speaker from tak- ing any coercive action against the MLAs, for skipping the CLP meeting outside the State Assembly, but the MLAs will have a few option but to abide by the Congress whip and vote for Gehlot or face certain dis- qualification without hoping for any relief from the courts. Sources in the Congress’ legal team said the party is planning to convene Assembly as the next step, if the court favours Pilot’s team. Including the dissidents, the Congress has 107 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly and enjoys the support of 13 MLAs, which are either Independent or come from smaller parties. The BJP has 72 MLAs and is backed by three Independents. If the 19 Congress dissi- dents are disqualified, the cur- rent strength of the State Assembly will come down to 181, slashing the half-way mark to 91 and making it easier for Gehlot to retain majority sup- port. The BTP which has extended support as claimed by Gehlot after he had withdrawn early last week amidst the heightened tension in Rajasthan politics, on Sunday said it is now in a position of kingmakers. “We have two MLAs in a House of 200, yet we are in the position of kingmakers,” party president Maheshbhai C Vasava told a news agency at Jaipur. Vasava said the party is now extending support to the Gehlot Government after an assurance that its demands related to the development of tribal areas will be met. Ajay Maken on his part said the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Rajasthan police has registered a case in connection with the audio tapes of a purported conversation between Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, Shekhawat and one Sanjay Jain. “If Union Minister Shekhawat is claiming that it is not his voice and the reference in the audio clip is of some other Gajendra Singh, then why is he afraid of giving voice samples?” Maken asked at a Press conference. Maken, along with party chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala, is nominated by the Central leadership to resolve the Rajasthan Congress crisis. The Union Home Ministry has sought a report from the Rajasthan Government over alleged phone-tapping a day after the State filed FIRs over two audiotapes purportedly showing a plot to topple it. Maken said Shekhawat has no moral authority to contin- ue as a Union Minister and should resign so that the inves- tigation is not influenced. Maken also alleged that the police in Haryana and Delhi are giving protection to rebel Congress MLAs from Rajasthan. He said the Centre is threatening in the name of CBI because it wants to stop the probe into the conspiracy. Continued on Page 2 A n Indian national has been injured in firing by the Nepal Armed Police Force (NAPF) in the ‘no man’s land’ on the Indo-Nepal border in Bihars Kishanganj district, a senior police officer said on Sunday. The incident occurred around 9:30 pm on Saturday near pillar number 152 when Jitendra Kumar Singh and three others had gone there to bring back their cattle that had strayed into the ‘no man’s land’, Superintendent of Police Kumar Ashish said. The vic- tim is a resident of Mafia Tola village under Fatehpur police station of the district. Continued on Page 2
12

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is likely to visit

Ayodhya on August 5 for the“bhoomi pujan” ceremony tobegin the construction of agrand Ram Temple, and theShri Ram JanmabhoomiTeertha Kshetra has begunpreparations for it, its memberssaid on Sunday.

According to Trust presi-dent Nritya Gopal Das, the“bhoomi pujan” will be per-formed with the placing of a40-kg silver brick at the sanc-tum sanctorum.

Three-day-long Vedic rit-uals, beginning August 3, willprecede the main ceremony.Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Aadityanath will also jointhe “bhoomi pujan” ceremony.

Continued on Page 2

���� �4*.5

The Dubai Police arrestedFaisal Fareed, the master

brain behind gold smugglingthrough diplomatic channel inT h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m Airport on Sunday. Accordingto reports reaching Police Head Quarters atThiruvananthapuram, Fareedwould be handed over to Indiain the next two days.

The Dubai Police interro-gated Fareed and has collectedimportant information fromhim. Fareed, a school dropouthailing from Kodungalloor inKerala had a meteoric riseover the last three years whichhas baffled the residents of thetown.

Continued on Page 2

������� ������ 6�7�)��.5

Torrential rain on Sundaymorning crippled normal

life in the national Capitalwith at least one person drown-ing in the flooded underpass atMinto Bridge and a house col-lapsing into a drain AnnaNagar near ITO. No one waspresent in the house at the time

of the incident. CentralisedAccident and Trauma Services(CATS) and fire engines rushedto the spot.

A 56-year-old mandrowned while he was trying tocross the bridge in his vehicle,Tata Ace, on Sunday. Thedeceased identified as KundanKumar, a native of Pithoragarhin Uttarakhand, used to drivethe vehicle to transport goodson hire basis.

Kundan was identified byhis co-worker while a NewDelhi yard trackman pulled outhis body from the waterloggedunderpass. A Delhi Transport

Corporation (DTC) bus alsogot stuck on the waterloggedroad under Minto Bridge, fol-lowing which fire departmentpersonnel arrived at the site torescue its driver and conductoron-board. Kundan’s body wasfound floating in front of thebus. According to a seniorpolice official, Kundan wastravelling from New DelhiRailway Station towardsConnaught Place via MintoBridge on Sunday morning.

“Due to overnight rain,water was logged under theMinto Bridge and whenKundan tried to manoeuvre hisvehicle through waterloggedunderpass, he couldn’t suc-ceed. It seems that Kundan diedof drowning as no externalinjury marks were found on hisbody,” said the senior policeofficial. Police said the vehicle,Tata Ace, which was being dri-ven by Kundan is owned by hiscousin Pritam. “Kundan is sur-

vived by his wife and twodaughters,” said police.

Meanwhile, following thedeath of Kundan, the Delhi BJPpresident Adesh Gupta con-doled the death at Minto Bridgewhich comes under the DelhiPWD. Hitting hard at the AAP,Gupta said it is just the begin-ning of monsoon and asked theAAP dispensation to take con-crete steps as soon as possibleto prevent waterlogging.

Continued on Page 2

�"�����#���� 6�7�)��.5

At a time when there is amassive surge in the coro-

navirus infections across India,flood situations worsened inAssam and Bihar on Sundaywhile the India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) predictedintense rainfall in five States inEast and North East region tillJuly 21.

Assam and Bihar are facingthe twin challenge of combat-ing floods and the coronavirus

pandemic. Meanwhile, a por-tion of a bridge also collapsedat Madkhot on PithoragarhMunsyari road, followingincessant rainfall inUttrakhand. The BadrinathHighway was blocked due torainfall-induced landslide inBhanerpani and Pipalkoti area.

According to Assam StateDisaster ManagementAuthority (ASDMA), as manyas 85 people died in 26 districtsdue to flood. One death eachwas reported from Baghbar inBarpeta district, Baganpara inBaksa district, Bilasipara inDhubri district, Mayong inMorigaon district and Kaliaborin Nagaon district on Sunday.

As many as 25.29 lakhpeople, 28.14 lakh animals(small, big and poultry) and

1.12 lakh hectare crops hadbeen affected in 2,400 villagesand localities spread inDhemaji, Lakhimpur,Biswanath, Darrang, Baksa,Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang,Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar,Dhubri, South Salmara,Goalpara, Kamrup, KamrupMetropolitan, Morigaon,Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat,Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh,Tinsukia and Cachar districtsin the State. As per Assam’sKaziranga National Park bul-letin, nine rhinos, 82 hogdeers, seven wild boars areamong the 108 wild animalsthat have died so far. Theflood situation in several dis-tricts in Bihar also worsens asrivers are flowing above thedanger mark.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday spoke toAssam CM SarbanandaSonowal and Bihar CM NitishKumar over phone and assuredall support in dealing with theflood havoc, which has claimedover 100 lives so far this year.Former Rajasthan deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot alsoappealed to all Indians to jointhe efforts in helping supportthose affected due to the floodsin Assam and Bihar.

Continued on Page 2

���� 6�7�)��.5

Even as the Government hasrepeatedly denied that India

was in the stage of communi-ty transmission of Covid-19,the Indian Medical Association(IMA) has said the spike in thenumber of Covid-19 cases inIndia has led to communityspread of the deadly virus.

The warning comes twodays after Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan said there isa community spread in someplaces in coastal areas ofThiruvananthapuram district.

The IMA, a representativeof the medical professionals inthe country, painted a disturb-ing picture noting that the dis-ease is spreading to the ruralareas fast while the situation ispretty bad in the country wherethe number of Covid-19 posi-tive cases has crossed a millionmarks. India is now third coun-try after United States andBrazil to reach this grim mile-stone. “This is now an expo-

nential growth. Every day thenumber of cases is increasingby more than around 30,000.This is really a bad situation forthe country,” siad Dr VKMonga, the Chairman of IMAHospital Board of India,adding, “This is a bad sign. Itnow shows a communityspread.

On July 9, Union HealthMinister Dr Harsh Vardhanhad said there is no communityspread of coronavirus in thecountry. “There may be somelocalised pockets where trans-mission is high but as a coun-try, there’s no communitytransmission,” he had said on

the day when there werearound 7 lakh cases.

Continued on Page 2

$��#������� 6�7�)��.5

From Saitual in Mizoram toIdduki in Kerala and

Kalahandi in Odisha to Laturin Maharashtra, the coron-avirus has now penetrateddeep into rural India, coveringmore than 90 per cent of theterrain and 712 out of 736 dis-tricts across the country.

The number of affecteddistrict paints a grim scenario,underlying the fact that thevirus is fast traversing rurallandscape and villages wherehealth infrastructure are woe-fully inadequate and little canbe done by way of contact trac-ing or testing.

Echoing this sentiment,IMA Hospital Board of India

Chairman Dr VK Monga saidon Sunday, “The virus is nowspreading to rural areas. Thisis a bad sign.” The virus hasspread so rapidly during thelast month that almost everyState and Union Territory hasstarted recording cases andfatalities on a daily basis. Justabout a month ago, three of theworst-affected States likeMaharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Delhi accounted for more than65 per cent of the total casesand deaths. The picture haschanged dramatically.

“On Saturday out of 37,000confirmed cases these threeStates accounted for only14,630 (around 40 per cent)cases. A month ago, precisely tothe date on June 18, thesethree States contributed 9,100cases out of 14,740 that isaround 62 per cent.

In case of Maharashtra, all36 districts are now in the gripof the virus. Mumbai has so farrecorded 1,00,350 cases and5,650 deaths, followed byThane 73,000 cases and 1,976deaths, while Pune district has51,575 cases and 1,314 deaths.

The least affected districtsare Bhandara (179 cases),Gadchiroli (173 cases andWardha 66 cases).

Similarly, 37 out of 38 dis-tricts of Tamil Nadu are nowbattling with coronavirus.Chennai is the worst affectedwith 84,050 cases and 1,404deaths, followed byChengalpattu (9,360 cases ),Thiruvallur (8,702 cases), andMadurai ( 8,044 cases).

Karnataka, which had justaround 8,000 cases a monthago, has seen six-fold spike dur-ing this period and the virushas found its way into all the 30districts of the State.

The State was touted as amodel in controlling the growthof Covid-19 but a reckless vio-lation of social distancing normsin wedding, temples, rath yatrasand birthday bash has turned itinto a dangerous hotspot.

Continued on Page 2

���� 6�7�)��.5

Monday will be a crucialday for both Sachin Pilot

and Ashok Gehlot camp as theRajasthan High Court will takecall on the plea of rebel MLAsagainst disqualification noticeserved on them by the StateAssembly Speaker.

Ahead of the court’s hear-ing, the Congress on Sundayprepared a contingency plan todeal with any adverse fallout ofthe court’s proceedings andalso demanded the resignationof Union Minister GajendraSingh Shekhawat for his allegedrole in the conspiracy to topplethe Gehlot Government.

The Congress contingencyplan includes convening a one-day session of the StateAssembly on Tuesday orWednesday to allow Gehlot toprove his majority on the floorof the House.

The Rajasthan HC mayprevent the Speaker from tak-ing any coercive action againstthe MLAs, for skipping theCLP meeting outside the StateAssembly, but the MLAs willhave a few option but to abideby the Congress whip and vote

for Gehlot or face certain dis-qualification without hopingfor any relief from the courts.

Sources in the Congress’legal team said the party isplanning to convene Assemblyas the next step, if the courtfavours Pilot’s team.

Including the dissidents,the Congress has 107 MLAs inthe 200-member Assembly andenjoys the support of 13 MLAs,which are either Independentor come from smaller parties.The BJP has 72 MLAs and isbacked by three Independents.

If the 19 Congress dissi-dents are disqualified, the cur-rent strength of the StateAssembly will come down to181, slashing the half-way markto 91 and making it easier forGehlot to retain majority sup-port. The BTP which hasextended support as claimed byGehlot after he had withdrawnearly last week amidst theheightened tension in Rajasthanpolitics, on Sunday said it is nowin a position of kingmakers.

“We have two MLAs in aHouse of 200, yet we are in the

position of kingmakers,” partypresident Maheshbhai CVasava told a news agency atJaipur. Vasava said the party isnow extending support to theGehlot Government after anassurance that its demandsrelated to the development oftribal areas will be met. AjayMaken on his part said theAnti-Corruption Bureau of theRajasthan police has registereda case in connection with theaudio tapes of a purportedconversation between CongressMLA Bhanwarlal Sharma,

Shekhawat and one Sanjay Jain.“If Union Minister

Shekhawat is claiming that it isnot his voice and the referencein the audio clip is of someother Gajendra Singh, thenwhy is he afraid of giving voicesamples?” Maken asked at aPress conference.

Maken, along with partychief spokesman RandeepSurjewala, is nominated by theCentral leadership to resolvethe Rajasthan Congress crisis.

The Union Home Ministryhas sought a report from theRajasthan Government overalleged phone-tapping a dayafter the State filed FIRs overtwo audiotapes purportedlyshowing a plot to topple it.

Maken said Shekhawat hasno moral authority to contin-ue as a Union Minister andshould resign so that the inves-tigation is not influenced.

Maken also alleged that thepolice in Haryana and Delhiare giving protection to rebelCongress MLAs fromRajasthan. He said the Centreis threatening in the name ofCBI because it wants to stop theprobe into the conspiracy.

Continued on Page 2

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An Indian national has beeninjured in firing by the

Nepal Armed Police Force(NAPF) in the ‘no man’s land’on the Indo-Nepal border inBihars Kishanganj district, asenior police officer said onSunday.

The incident occurredaround 9:30 pm on Saturdaynear pillar number 152 whenJitendra Kumar Singh and threeothers had gone there to bringback their cattle that hadstrayed into the ‘no man’s land’,Superintendent of PoliceKumar Ashish said. The vic-tim is a resident of Mafia Tolavillage under Fatehpur policestation of the district.

Continued on Page 2

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Noida: Gautam BuddhaUniversity, Greater Noida, isorganising a two-week facultydevelopment programme on“Online Teaching Pedagogies”from July 20. UP Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma willthe chief guest of the event.“The programme is speciallydesigned to meet the onlineteaching requirements of teach-ers, researchers, and trainersduring Covid times,” saidcourse director Vinod KumarShanwal. SR

Peshawar: In a shocking develop-ment, a rare statue of GautamBuddha was found vandalised inPakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday.Video of the incident went viral onsocial media, after which an FIRwas filed under Pakistan's antiq-uity act. As per reports, four sus-pects have been arrested so far.Quoting local residents, news

agency PTI said that the statue wasdiscovered in tehsil Takhtbai ofMardan district and was destroyedallegedly on the orders of a localMaulvi.

Distr ict Police Off icerZahidullah said the incident tookplace when a water line was dug upand construction workers discov-ered the statue. "We have arrestedcontractor Qamar Zaman and his

workers, Amjad, Aleem andSaleem for smashing the Buddhastatue and have also recoveredsome of its pieces from them," hesaid. A senior officer of theTourism Department said after thevideo surfaced the authoritiesreported the matter to the policefor action against the culprits.

Takhtbai area is a tourist des-tination for people from Sri Lanka,

Korea and Japan since it was a partof the Gandhara Civilisation - oneof the earliest urban settlementsdocumented in the history of thesubcontinent. KhyberPakhtunkhwa's old name isGhandhara and the region is ahighly revered place for the fol-lowers of Buddhism.

In May, sources reported thatthe vandalized carvings were

found by local Buddhist residentsand the vandalism was allegedly inretaliation to the protests over thePak-China DiamerBhasha damproject, which will reportedlydestroy this archeological site. 19years ago, the Taliban had demol-ished the carved statue of Buddhain Bamyan valley of Afghanistanin 2001.

As per reports, the Taliban's

'Commander of the Faithful' -Mullah Mohammed Omarordered the destruction of all stat-ues and non-Islamic shrines locat-ed in different parts of Afghanistanon February 26, 2001. Explosives,tanks, and anti-aircraft weaponsblew apart two colossal images ofthe Buddha in Bamiyan Provincein stages. Initially, the statues werefired at for several days using anti-

aircraft guns and artillery, andthen anti-tank mines were placedat the niches, as per reports. Later,25 men were lowered down thecliff-face to drill holes and placeexplosives, damaging more partsof the statues. Ultimately, theTaliban launched a rocket leavinga hole in the remains of the stonehead, justifying it 'in accordancewith Islamic law'. PTI

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The Coronavirus situationappeared heading towards

its peak in Maharashtra onSunday, as the state witnessed

highest-ever 9518 infectedcases and 258 more people suc-cumbed to the pandemic.

After the pandemicbreached 8000 cases’ mark forthree consecutive days

(Thursday-8641, Friday-8308and Saturday-8348), as many as9518 people tested positive forCovid-19 in various parts of thestate.

With the fresh infections

and fatalities, the total numberof infected cases shot up to3,10,455 in the state, whilethe total number of deathsrose to 11,854.

Of the 258 deaths report-

ed on Sunday, Mumbaiaccounted for 64 deaths, whichtook the total number of deathsin the metropolis from 5650 to5714, while the number of theCoronavirus cases increased byby 1,038 to touch 101,388 now.

Apart from 64 deathsreported in Mumbai, therewere 60 deaths in Thane, 45deaths in Pune, 13 in Raigad,12 in Palghar, 11 in Jalgaon, 10in Nashik, 7 in Nagpur, 6 inSangli, 5 each in Aurangabadand Satara, 4 in Latur, 2 each inRatnagiri, Ahmednagar, Akola,and Solapur and one death

each in Dhule, Nandurbar,Kolhapur, Jalna, Parbhani,Osmanabad, Yavatmal andWashim,

With 75111 infected casesand 2036 deaths, Thane con-tinued to be the second worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emergedas the third worst affected dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded 54624infections and 1359 deaths tillnow. Meanwhile, the totalnumber of patients dischargedfrom various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second week

of March this year touched1,69,569. The recovery rate inthe state stood at 54.62 per cent.The mortality rate in the stateis 3.82 per cent. The statehealth authorities pegged thenumber of “active cases” in thestate at 1,28,730.

Out of 15,64,129 samplessent to laboratories, 3,10,455have tested positive (19.85 percent) for COVID-19 untilSunday.

Currently, 7,54,730 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 45,846 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Taking serious cognisanceof the complaints about

private hospitals fleecing theCovid-19 patients across theState, Maharashtra HealthMinister Rajesh Tope on

Sunday announced that theState Government separateauditors were being appoint-ed to vet the hospital bills ofpandemic patients in eachprivate hospital.

Tope made the announce-ment to this effect after NCPchief Sharad Pawar reviewed

the coronavirus situation atSolapur in westernMaharashtra.

In two tweets put outafter the review meeting, Topesaid: “A meeting was held toheld under the chairmanshipof NCP chief Minister toreview the Corona situation inSolapur district. At the meet-ing, it was decided to examinethe bills issued to Covid-19patients by the private hospi-tals be examined by auditors.For this purpose, separate

auditors have been appointedfor each private hospital”.

Meanwhile, in a disburb-ing development, a suspectedCovid-19 patient jumpeddown from the 5th floor of aCorona hospital at Kalyanand died on the spot.

The Thane districtauthorities, under whomKalyan falls, have ordered aninquiry to the circumstancesleading to the alleged suicideby the suspect Corona viruspatient.

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BJP President J P Nadda on Sundayappointed OP Dhankar, a cabinet

minister in the BJP Government, as chiefof the party's state unit.

Dhankar is a Jat, the most dominantcaste in the state.

The BJP, in a statement, said party chiefappointed Dhankar the Haryana unitpresident. The appointment is also seen asan attempt to balance the caste equations

in the state, where politics revolves aroundJats and non-Jats.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar LalKhattar is a non-Jat. Dhankar will replaceincumbent Subhash Barala, who was alsoa Jat.

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Jammu: Jammu district will beunder a lockdown on week-ends, starting from July 24, toprevent any further spike inCovid cases, it was announcedon Sunday.

The order issued byDistrict Magistrate SushmaChauhan states that "there shallbe complete restriction onmovement of individuals, vehi-cles and all activities within theentire jurisdiction of districtJammu, except the movementfor emergency medicalrequirements, from 6 p.m. onall Fridays till 6 a.m. on all

Mondays, beginning from theFriday falling on 24/7/2020."

As per the order no passetc. shall be required for themovement for emergency med-ical requirements.

The order reads that "basedon wider consultation with theChief Medical Officer, seniorepidemiologists and otherhealth professionals, it has beenfelt that stricter social distanc-ing norms during the weekdays and strict lockdown dur-ing weekends need to be fol-lowed to prevent any furtherspike in the Covid cases."

The order also containscertain directions stating thatonly local chemists, and fruits,vegetables and dairy shops canremain accessible for commu-nity needs.

The passengers coming outfrom and going to the air-port/railway station shall bepermitted to move on produc-tion of tickets. The staff deployedat airport/railway station (pub-lic officials and airline staff) shallbe allowed to move on produc-tion of valid ID proof.

The government employ-ees of essential services'

departments (includingMedical Services) or such otherdepartments as required bygovernment shall be permittedto move on production of IDproofs. No kind of curfew passetc. shall be issued and thereshall be no restriction on themovement of goods carri-ers/oil/LPG tankers.

"Any violation of this ordershall invite punitive actionunder section 188 of IndianPenal Code and relevant pro-visions of the DisasterManagement Act, 2005," theorder states further.

3������������� ��!��������!���������3� ��24From Page 1

Three of the worst-affect-ed Karnataka districts are:Bengaluru Urban 29,619 casesand 631 deaths; DakshinaKannada 3,294 cases and 60deaths, Kalaburagi 2,674 cases,and 43 deaths, and; Ballari2,355 cases and 57 deaths.

All the 33 districts ofGujarat are now under thesway of the virus with Suratrecording 9,409 cases and 246deaths followed by Vadodara3,508 cases and 53 deaths, andGandhinagar 1,061 cases and36 deaths.

In the case of UttarPradesh, which has a miserabletrack record of testing, thevirus has spread to all the 75districts. Gautam BuddhaNagar has the highest numberof 4,024 cases and 38 deathswhereas Ghaziabad has 3,902cases and 63 deaths. Lucknow,Kanpur, and Meerut followthem in that order with 3,610,2,217, and 1,807 cases respec-tively.

All the 13 districts ofAndhra Pradesh are now in thegrip of coronavirus withKurnail and East Godavarirecording 5,688 and 5,499 cases

and 116 and 46 deaths respec-tively.

Andhra neighbour,Telangana is also witnessing alate daily surge and swift spreadof cases. All the 33 districts areaffected by the virus which hasspread with remarkable speedacross the State, going from6,027 cases a month ago to43,000 on July 18.

Twenty districts of WestBengal, 32 of Rajasthan, 22 ofHaryana, 34 of Assam, 52 ofMadhya Pradesh, 31 of Odisha,20 of Jammu & Kashmir, 14 ofKerala, 23 of Punjab, 25 ofJharkhand, 28 of Chhattisgarh,13 of Uttarakhand, two of Goa,eight of Tripura, four ofPuducherry, 17 of Manipur,two of Ladakh, three of Dadraand Nagar Haveli and Damanand Diu, 20 of Arunachal, 11 ofMeghalaya, 10 of Nagalandand one of Andaman &Nicobar are also affected by thevirus. The spread of coron-avirus in rural India couldlead to greater fatalities becauseof wretched health facilities.This is one of the biggest caus-es of concern at this momentwhen India’s mortality rate isone of the lowest in the world.

From Page 1Kejriwal said he had been in touch with the agencies and

monitoring the process of removing water from there.The CM said water had been drained from the Minto Bridge. Kejriwal, in tweet said, “This year, all agencies, be it Delhi

government or MCD (civic body), were busy in prevention ofCOVID-19. They faced many difficulties due to corona. This isnot the time to blame each other. All have to fulfill their respon-sibilities together. Wherever there is waterlogging, we will tryto pump out water immediately.”

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From Page 1The last three years saw

him establishing himself as abusinessman in Dubai owninggymnasiums. He used to hostmost of the film stars reachingthe West Asian shores butremained aloof from all fellowKeralites. The UAEGovernment has taken seriousnote of the activities of Fareedas the gang in which he is amember made use of the WestAsian country’s diplomaticimmunity to smuggle gold intoIndia. The union ministries ofexternal affairs and home are incontact with their counter-parts in UAE to speed up theextradition of Fareed toIndia.According to Customsofficials, Fareed has undertak-en smuggling missions at least13 times during the last oneyear with the help of SwapnaSuresh, Sarith Kumar andSandeep Nair. Investigatingagencies are scanning all avail-able evidence to establish thelinks between terrorist agenciesand the gold smuggling rack-et.The Customs officials atThiruvananthapuram airporton Sunday quizzed Jayaghosh,the gunman of UAE attaché,who tried to commit suicide byslitting his wrist on Thursday

night. It is likely that he may bequestioned by the sleuths ofNIA and the IntelligenceBureau. Jayaghosh is undergo-ing treatment in a private hos-pital in Thiruvananthapuramand is recovering well.TheCustoms offcials in Kochi havesounded the KeralaGovernment of their inten-tion to question M Sivsankar,the suspended former principalsecretary to chief ministerPinarayi Vijayan.The NIA andCustoms officials have collect-ed valuable information fromSwapna and Sandeep duringSaturday’s evidence collection.The educational qualificationof Swapna is under the scannernow as the investigating agen-cies doubt the authenticity ofthe degree certificate submittedby her to get job in the ITdepartment of KeralaGovernment.

From Page 1In just nine days, the cases

have zoomed to touch 11 lakhscases while the death hascrossed 26,500.

For the first time in India’soutbreak since March, theCovid-19 transmission rate hasincreased. India’s Covid-19reproduction number, or R,which estimates the number ofpeople infected by one alreadyinfected person, was on asteady decline from 1.83 formonths since March 4.However, in the first week ofthe second unlocking phase inJuly, the rate has shown anincrease for the first time,research by the Institute ofMathematical Sciences inChennai shows.

Dr Monga said the casesare penetrating down intotowns and villages where it willbe very difficult to control thesituation. “In Delhi, we wereable to contain it, but whatabout interior parts of the

country in Maharashtra,Karnataka, Kerala, Goa,Madhya Pradesh?”

There are concerns instates like Andhra Pradesh,Assam, Bihar, Gujarat,Karnataka, Telangana, UttarPradesh, and West Bengal butthe respective state govern-ments have maintained thatcommunity spread has notstarted.

The Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR),meanwhile, said that it is ramp-ing up testing facilities regu-larly. At present, 885 govern-ment laboratories and 368 pri-vate laboratory chains are con-ducting Covid-19 tests acrossthe country.

As per IMA, 586 practisingdoctors, 566 resident doctorsand 150 house surgeons haveso far contracted the COVIDinfection while over 100 doc-tors have died due to the dis-ease.

From Page 1The family members

rushed the injured man, whoreceived a bullet injury on hisleft arm, to Kishanganj sadarhospital from where doctorsreferred him to Purnea forbetter treatment. The SPsaid police and SashastraSeema Bal, the Indian borderguarding force deployed on theIndo-Nepal border, are probingthe matter. The SSBs12th battalion CommandantLalit Kumar said that NepalArmed Police Force opened fireon the suspicion that they werecattle smugglers. Enteringthe ‘no man’s land’ is prohibit-ed during the lockdown, hesaid, adding the Nepalese forceopened fire following an alter-cation. The Nepalese personnelfired four rounds. On June12, an Indian national waskilled while two others wereinjured in firing by the NAPF

on Indo-Nepal border nearLalbandi Janki Nagar village inBihars Sitamarhi district.The incidents have occurred inthe midst of a raging boundaryrow between the two countries,with India sternly asking Nepalnot to resort to any “artificialenlargement” of its territorialclaims after Kathmandu recent-ly released a new political maplaying claim over Lipulekh,Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.New Delhi maintains that theseare part of Uttarakhand, whileKathmandu, in its recent map,has shown them as part ofWestern Nepal. India hadpublished its new map of theborder region in November,after it divided Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh into twounion territories. The map hadincorporated these areas ofUttarakhand, the territoriesdisputed with Nepal, withinIndia’s borders. PTI

From Page 1According to floods situa-

tion report, Goalpara is theworst hit with over 4.53 lakh peo-ple suffering, followed by Barpetawith around 3.44 lakh personsand Morigaon with more than3.41 lakh people. The riverBrahmaputra was flowing abovedanger level in several places inthe state, and a total of 26 districtshave been affected so far. TheState Government has set up50,559 relief camps across thestate so far.

The total number of revenuecircles affected is 79 and over3000 villages were devastated bythe floods. According to aKaziranga Park director P

Sivakumar, nearly 85 percentarea of the park, spread over 430sq km is under water at present.Forty three of the 223 forestcamps inside the park are inun-dated of which six have beenvacated.

Till now, 60 animals (36 hogdeer, eight rhinos, three wild buf-falo, one python, seven wild boar,two swamp deer, one Sambarand two porcupines) have dieddue to drowning. Fifteen hogdeer have died after getting hitby vehicles on national highway37 close to the park, while try-ing to cross it to escape floodwaters. According to the KNPTRbulletin, 51 animals have beeninjured due to floods and one bya speeding vehicle. Till date, 134animals have been rescued. The

park has around 2,400 rhinosand 121 tigers. Last year, floodshad claimed nearly 200 animalsin the park, including 18 rhinos.The floods have also caused mas-sive soil erosion in many placesacross the state, which is detri-mental for the growth of plantsand trees leading to an increasein the number of floods.

All major rivers in Bihar arein spate and are flowing abovethe danger mark, flooding 37blocks in eight districts in theState. About three lakh peopleare still in the grip of floods ofwhich 1.58 lakh people are fromDarbhanga which is the worstaffected.

In Himachal Pradesh, localsof the Badseri Village were res-cued from Kharoghla Nalla in

Kinnaur after flash floods weretriggered by heavy rainfall in theregion.

Heavy rains continued itshavoc in Uttrakhand as waterfrom Gori river washed awayfour houses, and large tracts ofcultivable land at Chori Bagar vil-lage in Bangapani sub division ofthe district.

In Southern India, wateroverflowed and entered intoresidential areas of Chellanam, acoastal village in Kochi due to themonsoon rains.

The IMD has warned ofheavy to extremely heavy rain-fall in five eastern and north east-ern States including Assam,Meghalaya and ArunachalPradesh over the next threedays.

From Page 1“I cannot tell the exact date

but we have got informationthat the PM’s visit has been ten-tatively scheduled for August5,” said Triloki Nath Pandey, thedecree holder of the RamJanmabhoomi mandated bythe Supreme Court.

After a protracted legaltussle, the Supreme Court hadon November 9 last year pavedthe way for the construction ofa Ram Temple by a Trust at thedisputed site in Ayodhya, anddirected the Centre to allot analternative five-acre plot to theSunni Waqf Board for buildinga new mosque at a “prominent”

place in the holy town in UttarPradesh.

Talking to PTI, Trustmember Anil Mishra said, “Aninvitation has been sent to PMModi. However, we still havenot received the exact date ofPM’s arrival.”

Before the “bhoomi pujan”ceremony, Vedic rituals will beperformed by sages fromVaranasi as was done duringthe shifting of the idol of RamLalla from the sanctum sanc-torum to a temporary struc-ture, said Mahant Kamal NayanDas, the spokesperson of Trustpresident Nritya Gopal Das.

Priests in Ayodhya haveprepared an elaborate plan forthe three-day event.

Mahant Kamal Nayan Dassaid on Saturday, “We have sug-gested two auspicious dates --August 3 and 5 -- for theprime minister’s visit based oncalculations of movements ofstars and planets.” The decisionabout the tentative date wastaken at a meeting of the Trustmembers held in Ayodhya onSaturday. PTI

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From Page 1The crisis in Rajasthan

Congress has been brewingsince the party picked Gehlotover Pilot for the ChiefMinister’s post.

Pilot was sacked as Deputy

Chief Minister and the party’sState unit president when heand 18 other MLAs stayed awayfrom two Congress LegislatureParty meetings. The rebel MLAswere served notices by SpeakerCP Joshi after the Congresssought their disqualificationfrom the Assembly. The

Rajasthan High Court will onMonday resume hearing theirpetition challenging the notices.

Former Madhya ChiefMinister Digvijay Singh urgedPilot not to repeat JyotiradityaScindia and reminded him thathe was still young enough tocarry a long political career.

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While Delhi administration faced crit-icism as on Sunday the National

Capital was flooded within few hours ofrain, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saidthis is not the time for blame-game.

According to Indian MeteorologicalDepartment, the Sufdarjung observatoryrecorded 78.4 MM rainfall in city.

Using micro blogging site, Twitter,Kejriwal wrote : This year all agencies,whether it is MCD or the Delhi

Government, have been busy with con-trolling the coronavirus outbreak in thecapital. They had to face a lot of difficul-ties due to the coronavirus. This is not thetime for blame-game. Everyone has to col-lectively fulfill their responsibilities".

Delhi, in dealing civic issues also facedhurdles due to multiplicity nature ofadministration as Municipal Corporation,Public Works Department and Delhi JalBoard equally responsible for the desiltingtask prior to the beginning of monsoonevery year.

Taking responsibility, Kejriwal, saidthat he personally monitored ground sit-uations of Minto bridge where two peo-ple lost their lives after drowning inclogged water due to rainfall.

At times when city is under the gripof novel corona virus, Kejriwal alsohighlighted dual load on MCD and said,“Road under the Minto bridge has beencleared of water logging. I was in contactwith agencies since morning and wasmonitoring the process of removingwater. We are keeping an eye on moresuch places in Delhi. Wherever there iswaterlogging, it is being pumped outimmediately,” Kejriwal tweeted.

While repairing of roads is sheerresponsibility of Delhi administration,

Gautam Gambhir, Member ofParliament, EastDelhi, took a pot-shot at ChiefMinister ArvindKejriwal as severalareas in the Capitalwere flooded fol-

lowing heavy rains on Sunday. “Got tohear that the Delhi government is runninga “Rain Water Harvesting” scheme on theLondon-Paris like roads, When will weget to see its advertisements, ChiefMinister ji?” Gautam Gambhir tweeted inHindi.

Notably, the body of a 60 - year - oldman was found after the heavy rains nearMinto bridge area.

Meanwhile, the Jal Board Chairmanand ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s ( AAP’s )leader Raghav Chadha said de-silting andclearance of drains in the city got delayedthis year because of the coronavirus pan-demic.

“Drains that come under the juris-diction of the Delhi government and themunicipal corporations are cleared beforethe arrival of monsoons, especially in April.This year, all agencies were invested inCovid management, so the work con-cerning drains either got postponed ordelayed,” said Chadha.

Targeting BJP ruled civic agencies,Chadda said the work could not take placein the scheduled time; agencies could prop-erly get into clearing and de-silting ofdrains only by June. The situation is beingmonitored by the Chief Minister, we havesent pumps to clear water from the sites,”the DJB chairperson said.

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The overnight rainfall inDelhi led to waterlogging

areas across the NationalCapital on Sunday morning.The traffic movement was alsoaffected, prompting the DelhiTraffic Police alerting com-muters about traffic snarls dueto waterlogging at specific areasacross the city through Twitter.

Following the waterlog-ging across the city, the blamegame started with the BharatiyaJanta Party (BJP) and Congressblaming the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) ruled DelhiGovernment.

Meanwhile, the Delhi chiefminister Arvind Kejriwal onSunday said that he was per-sonally monitoring the work toclear water logging from cityroads. Kejriwal said that thecivic agencies were busy fight-ing COVID-19 this year andtherefore it was not the time forblame game over the issue.

Taking it to Twitter theDelhi CM tweeted, “Road

under the Minto Bridge hasbeen cleared of water logging.I was in contact with agenciessince morning and was moni-toring the process of removingwater. We are keeping an eye onmore such places in Delhi.Wherever there is water log-ging, it is being pumped outimmediately.

According to police, trafficis affected from Azadpur toMukarba Chowk due to waterlogging near GTK Depot.Traffic snarls due to waterlog-ging has been reported atMinto Road, Mathura Road,Outer Ring Road, MehrauliBadarpur Road and Ashram.

“Traffic snarls due towaterlogging were also onSouth Avenue road, VinayMarg, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg under railway bridge,Dhuala kuan, New DelhiRailway Station, Guru NanakChowk, Moolchand under-pass, Modi Mill, PullPrahaladpur, Prembadi under-pass,” said a senior police offi-cial.

“During the day, traffic onIP marg remained heavy.Traffic coming from LaxmiNagar was diverted towardsRajaram Kohli marg orAkshardham side,” he said.

“PWD and SDMC engi-neers are trying to clear waterwith the help of pumps andmachines. Till then traffic onSaleemgarh coming from ISBThas been diverted at RajaramKohli Marg towrds Pushta roadand then to NH24. Traffic hasbeen diverted at Rajghattowards Delhi Gate side, at gateno 23 towards Vikas Marg, atloop on IP flyover to avoid thestretch between IP flyover andBhairon road,” said the seniorpolice official.

“As soon as water is clearedon ring road IP marg, all diver-sions will be removed. Traffichas been opened in all thestretches but for ring road nearIP flyover. Motorists arerequested to check the trafficupdates while planning theirtrip especially when it rains,” headded.

Meanwhile, Delhi TrafficPolice also tweeted “Traffic isaffected from Yashwant Placeto Ashoka Road due to waterlogging.”

“Traffic is affected onRingh Road under DhaulaKuan Fylover, GGP PDR road(both carriageways) and nearMundka Metro station (bothcarriageways) due to waterlogging,” said Delhi Police in it'sanother tweet.

The Delhi Fire Services(DFS) also said that a bus andtwo autos were stuck at MintoBridge underpass here due toheavy waterlogging.

“A call was receivedaround 7.54 am followingwhich a team from Delhi FireService reached the spotwhere a bus and two autoswere trapped due to water-logging. The conductor of thebus and the auto driver wassafely rescued by our person-nel, said Atul Garg, Director,Delhi Fire Service adding thatthe bus was not carrying anypassenger.

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Abody of a 28-year-oldwoman along with her

minor children was foundunder suspicious condition attheir house in outer Delhi'sNihal Vihar area on Sunday.

Police said that they sus-pect woman’s husband behindthe killing since he has beenmissing from the house.

According to police, apolice control room (PCR) callregarding the murder wasreceived around 11.30 AM fol-lowing which an EmergencyResponse Vehicle (ERV) wasdispatched for the spot.

“On reaching the spot, awoman identified as Preeti,her nine year-old son and five-year-old daughter were foundmurdered at their house in ShivRam Park, Nihal Vihar area,”said a senior police official.

Meanwhile, A Kaon, theDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Outer districtsaid that a case of murder casehas been registered at NihalVihar police station and furtherinvestigation is going on.

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A34 year-old man died aftera speeding compact Sport

Utility Vehicle (SUV) rammedinto him in the SoutheastDelhi’s Okhla area on Saturdayevening. Police said that thedriver who was under theinfluence of alcohol has beennabbed.

The deceased has beenidentified as Pradeep Kumar, aresident of Badarpur area.Police said that he used to workas a motor mechanic.

According to a seniorpolice official, at around 7:30PM on Saturday, a MarutiBreeza rammed his bike near

ESI hospital in the area.“Pradeep was rushed to thehospital by police but wasdeclared brought dead by thehospital. He was going towardsKalkaji when the accidentoccurred near the ESI Hospitalin the area. Pradeep wasdragged on the road for severalmetres,” he said.

Meanwhile, R P Meena,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast dis-trict said that a case under sec-tion 279/304 of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) has beenregistered at Okhala policestation and the accused iden-tified as Yashpal Bidhuri, a res-ident of Tughlaqabad area hasbeen arrested.

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Heavy downpour in theNational Capital and its

adjoining areas on early Sundaymorning,has exposed the frailtyof drainage & disposal system.As usual MunicipalCorporations trained their gunson the Delhi Government fordoing nothing. MunicipalCorporations, responsible ofclearing drains under its juris-diction, started passing the buckon the Delhi government, say-ing that Public WorksDepartment (PWD) and Floodof Irrigation Department did notdesilt big drains resulted inmassive water-logging.

City’s drains are maintainedby the Public Works’Department (PWD), Irrigationand Flood departments of theDelhi Government and the threemunicipal corporations andinstead of close coordinationamong agencies to desilt thedrains before the monsoon,blame game started every yearto shrug off their responsibilitiesknowing well about accumula-tion of water in part of the cityowing to choked drains.

SDMC Mayor Anamikasaid that the civic body has takenall possible measures to dealwith the situation of water-log-ging. She blamed the Delhi gov-ernment for the water-logging in

ITO and its surrounding areas.The Mayor said that the

South Corporation has alreadydesilted its drains. “Every yearpeople faced with difficulties dueto water-logging but no concretesteps have been taken by theDelhi government. Severaldepartments and agencies of theDelhi Government wereapproached with request tocomplete the desilting of drainswith the Corporation beforethe monsoon. But they con-stantly ignored.

“The area around ITOcomes under the DelhiGovernment's PWD and DelhiJal Board. A sewer of the DJB isoverflowing along with the ITOdue to which the situation arisedtoday,” she said.

“The Commissioner alongwith additional commissioner,regional deputy commissionerand other senior officials visit-ed the vicinity of ITO anddrainage was carried out bythree super sucker machines, 18tankers, one jetting machineand two pumps,” a senior SDMCofficial said.

A senior north Corporationofficial said that all the drains ofthe Corporation have been

merged with PWD drains, manyhave been found choked result-ing in overflowing of water.

“The Corporation triedapproaching various agenciesresponsible for maintaining thedrains but all the efforts went invain as Delhi government didnot take it seriously,” he said.

“The PWD and flood andirrigation departments have notacted to get rid of the silt. Thecorporation is only responsiblefor the small drains. The mainproblem is bigger drains whichare under Government,” he said.

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The Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) in two sep-

arate operations have appre-hended 12 men and seizedaround 1655.2 kg of Ganjawithin a week. The operationswere carried out by the NCB inBihar and Jharkhand.

In first operation, theNCB Patna unit acting on spe-cific inputs seized 1400.200 Kgof Ganja at Didarganj TollPlaza (Patna-BakhtiyarpurRoad NH-30) from a truckbearing Haryana Registrationnumber.

“The consignment wasbelieved to be sourced fromOdisha and destined to Bihar.Two accused identified as NSingh, a resident of BarnalaPunjab and A Kumar, a resi-dent of Vaishali in Bihar havebeen arrested during theseizure,” said K P S Malhotra,

the NCB Deputy Director,Operations.

Meanwhile, in anotheroperation on July 14, the NCBteam of Ranchi zone, seized255 kg of ganja from Rampur,Namkum and nine men werearrested in connection with theseizure.

“The contraband wassourced from Odisha and wasdestined to Bihar. The traf-fickers used three vehicles tosmuggle the contraband fromRaigarha, Odisha to Vaishali,Bihar. A Maruti Alto car wasused by the gang as a pilotvehicle to scout for policechecking and enforcementactivities on the road, while aMahindra Xylo and aMahindra Pick up van fol-lowed it was carrying Ganja,”said Malhotra.

“The NCB team which hadinputs on the modus operandiand the vehicles used, suc-

cessfully intercepted all thethree vehicles and seized thecontraband,” he said.

“A prospective success inbusting this drug traffickingnetwork operating out ofOdisha would prove to be amajor achievement in combat-ing the menace of Ganja traf-ficking in not only in theregion, but it’s a blow to the net-works all over the country,” saidthe Deputy Director.

“The NCB has launched asystematic investigation inthese cases with a special focuson the financial trail of this net-work, beyond that linkages arealso being explored regardingthe proceeds possibly goinginto anti-state activities espe-cially in the Naxalite infestedareas. It is noteworthy thatillicit ganja cultivation is oftenknown to occur in areas proneto insurgency/extremism,” theDeputy Director added.

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As a part of monsoon pre-paredness, the Gurugram

traffic police have identifiedover 51 locations including 13on the Delhi-Gurugramexpressway which are prone towaterlogging during this sea-son.

The police have also takenpre-emptive measures likedeploying around 1,500 trafficpersonnel, towing vehicles.The police have also tied upwith the MunicipalCorporation of Gurugram(MCG) to provide cranes andrope.

"We have surveyed thespots where traffic jams arereported due to waterlogging.Timely measures to preventwaterlogging will help avoidtraffic snarls on major roads inthe city,” Gurugram policecommissioner KK Rao said.

"Also, we will be closelycoordinating with MCG,GMDA, NHAI and PWD forlocating and operating pumps,"Rao added.

Most common waterlog-ging spots in Gurugram havebeen on the Delhi-Gurugramexpressway include ShankarChowk, service road near IffcoChowk, Sukhrali village,Signature Tower Chowk, RajivChowk, Hero Honda Chowk,Narsingpur foot overbridge,service road near KhandsaMandi, Bilaspur Chowk. Otherlocations like Fazilpur Chowk,Vatika Chowk, Subhash

Chowk, Baghtawar Chowk,Medanta traffic signal, MalibuTown, South City, Sun City,Atul Kataria Chowk, MahavirChowk, Dundahera, HanumanChowk, Jawala Mill have alsobeen identified as prone towaterlogging.

“Necessary systems havebeen put in place for towingand parking of vehicles. Wehave also identified another 45spots as requiring immediaterepairs. Police have askedMunicipal Corporation to fillpotholes in these areas,” Raosaid.

The traffic officials claimthat these spots have beenidentified on the basis of pre-vious indents of waterlogging.

"We have specifically men-tioned to the MCG and NHAIto look into all underpasses onthe expressway, as they getflooded even if it rains for justten minutes," a traffic officialsaid.

The underpasses areimportant, as it connects themain roads and when it isflooded, it requires more thantwo to three days to drain outwater. They should make prop-er outlets and ensure that thereis no flooding.”

Apart from this, theGurugram MLA, Sudhir Singlarecently had visited multiplewaterlogging spots and majortraffic junctions in the city andgave directions to the relatedagency officials to take neces-sary steps to avoid waterlog-ging and jam problem duringheavy downpour.

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As efforts are on to end theconfrontation at the Line of

Actual Control (LAC) inLadakh, the top brass of theIAF will review the situationand its operational readinessduring the two-dayCommanders conference herecommencing on July 22. Thehigh-level stock-taking comesdays before the CorpsCommanders of India andChina are likely to meet laterthis week to hasten the processof withdrawal by both thesides.

With the nearly eight-week-long stand-offs at foursites in Eastern Ladakh nowtapering off with both the sidesgradually thinning out theirtroops, the IAF commanderswill brainstorm their strategy,sources said here on Sunday.The IAF has deployed its front-line fighter jets including SU-30s, Mirage and MIG-29s atforward airbases all along the4,000 km long LAC since theface-offs began and Chinastarting ramping up its forcelevels.

Matters took a turn for theworst after the June 15 skirmish

in the Galwan Valley resultingin the death of 20 Indian armypersonnel. Both the sidesmoved forwards their addi-tional troops, heavy guns,weapons and aircraft leading toheightened tension.

Given these factors, theIAF commanders are likely tofine-tune their operationskeeping in view some progressmade during the four rounds oftalks between the CorpsCommanders. The Chinesehave withdrawn from all threesites but are not willing to has-ten it up in the PangongTso(lake) and Depsang valley.The IAF will take a call abouttoning down its operationalstance on the basis of furtherconfirmed reports about pullback there by easing tension,sources said.

Besides reviewing the situ-ation on the LAC and the Lineof Control(LOC)with Pakistan,the IAF commanders will alsodiscuss the operational readi-ness schedule of the Rafale jets.The first four jets will reach theAmbala airbase by the end ofthis month from France.

India had inked a nearlyseven billion Euro deal withFrance in 2016 for procure-

ment of 32 Rafale mediummulti-role combat aircraft.While the first four jets arrivethis month end the entire fleetwill be reach the IAF by 2022.The Commanders will also

devise an operational scheduleto integrate the French madeplane with other jets of Russianorigin like the SU-30 and MIG-29s.

The India-specific

enhancements in the Rafalefighter jets along with the long-range weapons like the Meteorair to air missiles are going togive India an edge over Chinaand Pakistan, they said.

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh met the soldiers of

the Bihar Regiment during avisit to forward areas in Ladakh

on Friday, his office said onSunday. The 16 BiharRegiment had lost the maxi-mum number of soldiersamong the 20 killed in a bloodyskirmish with the Chinese in

the Galwan valley on June 15.The regiment lost its com-manding officer Colonel BSantosh Babu also in the brawl.Rajnath’s office tweeted a videoof the Defence Minister speak-ing with the soldiers, pattingthem on the shoulder.

The video shows the min-ister having tea with soldiersfrom 16 Bihar. In the clip, theminister is seen mingling withthe soldiers who were intro-duced to him by 14 Corpscommander LieutenantGeneral Harinder Singh whocan be heard telling the min-ister that the commandingofficer killed in the skirmishwas from their unit.

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Amid allegations of poorhandling of the Covid-19

situation in Bihar by the NitishKumar dispensation, theCentre has rushed a team to theState to access hisGovernment’s coronavirus pre-paredness amid the pandemic.

The visit by the three-member team, led by JointSecretary Lav Agarwal, comesin the wake of several videosdoing the rounds on socialmedia wherein people are com-plaining about inadequate facil-ities and negligence at State-runhospitals. The director of theNational Centre for DiseaseControl (NCDC), Dr S KSingh, and Associate Professorof Medicine, AIIMS, NewDelhi, Dr Neeraj Nishchal arealso part of the team.

The team will hold meet-ings with authorities of thehealth department and otherofficials concerned to discussways to contain the spread ofthe disease, said an officialfrom the Union HealthMinistry.

In Katihar, a patientreportedly died at a hospitalafter the hospital staff failed toprovide him with an oxygencylinder.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav— who has been attackingNitish Kumar over the han-dling of the crisis — todayshared a video of people com-plaining about the lack of doc-tors and nurses at a hospital inSiwan. A woman is seen lyingunattended at a hospital bed as

her attendants call for help.“There is no doctor to

attend to us. They just came,gave injection and left,” a voicein the background is heard say-ing in the video. Almost all thebeds in the ward were empty.

Bihar has witnessed a 2.5times rise in Covid-19 casessince July 1 when the casecount was 10,075. So far, theState has reported nearly30,000 coronavirus cases.

The recovery rate in thestate has also dropped to 63.17per cent on July 19 from 77.52per cent on July 1.

In the wake of a surge inCovid-19 cases, the StateGovernment on July 16imposed a complete lockdowntill July 31.

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The Congress on Sundaytook on the Modi

Government over its foreignpolicy and also India’s face-offwith China on the Line ofActual Control.

Former Union MinisterAnand Sharma said he is“amused” by Foreign MinisterS Jaishankar’s defence of a“directionless foreign policy”and also questioned theCentre’s use of the armedforces for “partisan propagan-da”. The party also attacked theCentre over continued Chinesethreat in capturing the Indianterritory due to the poor visionof the Modi Government.

In a series of tweets,Sharma came in support ofparty colleague Rahul Gandhiwho, had on Friday, criticisedthe Government over its han-dling of foreign affairs.Jaishankar had then counter-attacked with examples toshow India’s improved position

in global geopolitics.“Rhetoric and tweets do

not change ground reality.Neighbourhood first has beena priority of India’s foreign pol-icy but sadly derailed by cav-alier approach,” Sharma tweet-ed.

The Narendra ModiGovernment’s foreign affairspolicies have been criticised bythe Congress, particularly inthe light of border disputeswith both China and Nepal.

“Dr Jaishankar’s referenceto Mumbai terror attack wasoddly out of place. As India’sAmbassador and senior diplo-mat, he was articulating India’sposition which, for politicalexpediency, he has chosen tocriticize and disown,” saidSharma.

“Do I have to remind (you)that Indian Army, Airforceand Navy existed before May2014 and their heroics and val-our (are) respected globally.(The) Army belongs to thenation and fights under the tri-

colour. Advising in nationalinterest. Do not politicise ormonopolise our defenceforces,” Sharma said.

Sharma also challenged SJaishankar’s defence of rela-tions with Nepal, writing:“India & Nepal have histori-cally shared a relationshipbases on trust, friendship, andmutual respect. The presentdrift and tension are a matterof national concern”.

“Foreign policy must havegravitas and depth.Engagement with strategicpartners demands serious-ness... and reduced to eventmanagement. You may createillusions by your optics, buthistory will judge you by out-comes,” Sharma said in anoth-er of his tweet.

For his part, Congress’chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala said there is anextremely worrying and atelling picture that ChineseArmy has occupied and iscontinuing to undertake con-

struction in the Depsang andDaulat Beg Oldi Sector on ourterritory, where they haveoccupied our territory acrossthe Line of Actual Control(LAC).

“China continues to occu-py 8 kilometres inside ourLAC, our territory, betweenFinger 4 to Finger 8 and about3 thousand Chinese soldiersare present there. On the con-trary, Modi Government haspushed our armed forces intomoving back from the ITBPAdministrative Base at Finger4 to an area between Finger 2and Finger 3. The question iswhy!? ,” Surjewala stated.

The party asked five ques-tions to PM. He sought toknow when every newspaperreport, satellite images, ArmyGenerals and now the state-ment of our own DefenceMinister clearly establishesthat the statement of the PrimeMinister about nobody havingoccupied our territory isapparently false, so, did the

Prime Minister mislead the AllParty Meeting on the June 19,2020?

“What is the meaning ofthe statement of DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh, whenhe said that there is no guar-antee of finding a solution inthe ongoing talks with theChinese? Has ModiGovernment accepted Chinesetransgressions and has alsoadmitted that they have nosolution to push the Chineseback into their own territorybehind the LAC between Indiaand China,” Surjewala asked.

The Congress also soughtto know whether it is correctthat China is continuing con-structions in the Daulat BegOldi and also the DepsangSector?. “Prime Minister mustcome forward and answerthese questions in light of thestatement of Defence MinisterRajnath Singh and in light ofthe new developments andthe satellite imagery,”Surjewala said.

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The Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI) will procure

198 body scanners for 63Indian airports to replace theexisting door frame metaldetectors and hand-held scan-ners, besides pat-down search-es of passengers to detectmetallic objects. “The processfor procurement of body scan-ners started earlier this yearbefore the COVID-19 pan-demic. It has become impor-tant to get these scanners assoon as possible as frisking ofpassengers by security person-nel has already been min-imised since March due to thepandemic,” the AAI officialsnoted.

Out of these 198 scanners,19 will be for the Chennai air-port, 17 for the Kolkata airportand 12 for the Pune airport, theofficials told. The AAI ownsand manages more than 100airports across the country.“Seven body scanners will bedeployed at the Srinagar air-port, six at the Visakhapatnamairport, and five each at air-ports in Tirupati, Bagdogra,Bhubaneswar, Goa andImphal,” officials added.

Four body scanners eachwill be put at airports inAmritsar, Varanasi, Calicut,Coimbatore, Trichy, Gaya,Aurangabad and Bhopal, theofficials mentioned. They saidthe tender to procure 198body scanners for 63 airports

has been issued and threecompanies have put in theirbids.

“These three companieshave put in their technicalbids. If they pass our technicalcriteria, we will ask them tosubmit financial bids. Anaward of contract will then begiven to one of them,” the offi-cials stated. Passengers have toremove their jackets, thickclothing, shoes, belts as well asall metallic items before enter-ing into the body scanner of anairport.

A mannequin-like image isgenerated by the machine, andif there is a yellow spot on thescreen, it means that area onthe body may need furtherscreening.

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The BSF on Sunday seized64.33 kg of heroin from

the Gurdaspur sector inPunjab that was being shippedby the Pakistani drug tradersthrough water hyacinth inthe River Ravi.

Till so far this year, theBSF has nabbed 65 Indianborder crossers and eight suchPakisani intruders besidesseizing over 321 kg of heroin(including Sunday’s catch),19 weapons of different types,32 magazines variousweapons, 324 rounds ofammunition of various cali-bres, four Pakistani mobilephones and six SIMs of Paktelecom companies.

“On July 19, 2020, duringthe wee hours, vigilant BSFtroops deployed along theriver Ravi bank observedsome suspicious item floating(a bunch of hyacinth) fromPakistan to the Indian side,” a

BSF spokesperson said here.The troops immediately

informed the Boat PatrolParty to check the suspiciousitem. The troops thendraggedthe suspected bunch ofhyacinth towards the bank.Later, when it was searched,troops recovered and seized60 packets of contrabandweighing 64.33 kg tied in fourcloth tubes and stashed under-neath the bunch of waterhyacinth in a way to float theconsignment with the flow ofwater towards the Indian side,the spokesperson said.

A 1,500 metre nylon ropewas also found attached withthe bunch of the weed tocontrol the floating consign-ment.

“The vigilant troops ofBSF have again thwarted theattempt of anti-national ele-ments to push the consign-ment of contraband itemsinto Indi,” the spokespersonadded.

With security being tight-ened along the Line of Control(LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir,the Pakistani smugglers haveresorted to sending weaponsand drugs through the Punjabborder for onward transmis-sion to the Jammu region andto the Valley, officials said.

Amid the tightened secu-rity grid along the LoC andthe hinterland in Jammu andKashmir, the Pakistani ultrassupported by the Pakistaniarmy and the Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) have alsosought to drop weapons foruse by the Islamabad-backedterror groups through drones.

The BSF had last monthshot down a Pak spy drone inKathua district of Jammu andKashmir.

A highly sophisticatedrif le, two magazines, 60rounds and seven grenadescomprised the payload on thedrone meant to be delivered toPak-backed terrorists.

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The country has received356.5 mm rainfall as

against the normal of 337.4mm, six per cent more rains sofar in this monsoon season, butprecipitation in parts of northIndia remains deficient. Of the685 districts, 212 have facedrain deficient so far.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), the northwest India,which covers Jammu andKashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Haryana, Punjab,Delhi and Rajasthan, hasrecorded a 19 per cent defi-ciency, according to the IMD.Till Sunday, rainfall deficiencywas recorded in HimachalPradesh, Rajasthan, Jammuand Kashmir. Ladakh hasrecorded large scale deficiency.

The IMD has four meteo-rological divisions and rainfallhas been more than normal inthe south peninsula, centralIndia, and east and northeast

India divisions. The southpeninsula division has record-ed 17 per cent more rainfallthan normal. It covers TamilNadu, Puducherry, Kerala,Karnataka, Andhra Pradeshand Telangana. The IMD saidAndhra Pradesh has so farrecorded rainfall in the ‘largeexcess category’, while TamilNadu and Telangana havereceived ‘excess’ rainfall.

The central India divisionhas recorded 12 per cent morerainfall than normal. It com-prises Goa, Maharashtra,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Last week parts ofMaharashtra and Gujarat wit-nessed intense rainfall activity,it said. The east and northeastdivision has received rainfall 10per cent more than normal.

The division covers eastIndia comprising states ofBihar, Jharkhand, West Bengaland the northeast.

States like Assam and Biharhave already witnessed floodsthis season.

Monsoon arrived in Kerala

on June 1, its normal onsetdate, marking the commence-ment of the four-month rain-fall season in the country. Indiais likely to get normal mon-soon, according to the IMD’sforecast.

In its long range forecastupdate for Monsoon 2020released in June, the IMD hadpredicted 107 per cent of rain-fall of the Long Period Average(LPA) for northwest Indiawhich comes under the ‘abovenormal’ category.

However, rainfall has beenweak over northwestIndia.”There has not beenenough rainfall over north-west India. But we still have twomore months,” IMD directorgeneral Mrutunjay Mohapatrasaid.

The IMD had predictedrainfall activity over north-west India from July 18 to July20. It was expected that thiswould bring good rainfall overJammu and Kashmir, Ladakh,Himachal Pradesh, Delhi,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh,said Mohapatra.

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As India along with othercountries del iberate

whether schools and collegesbe reopened in the backdropof spiraling Covid-19 cases, anew study in South Korea haswarned that teens are morelikely to spread the viruswithin a household thanyounger children and adults.

In other words, the studypublished on the U.S. Centerfor Disease Control andPrevention website has point-ed out that while childrenyounger than age 10 donottransmit the virus, it is oftenthose between the ages of 10and 19 who can spread thedisease at least as well asadults do.

The findings suggest thatas schools reopen, communi-ties will see clusters of infec-tion take root that includechildren of all ages, severalexperts cautioned.

“I fear that there has beenthis sense that kids just won’tget infected or don’t getinfected in the same way asadults and that, therefore,they’re almost like a bubbledpopulation,” said MichaelOsterholm, an infectious dis-eases expert at the University of Minnesota.

“There will be transmis-sion,” Osterholm said. “Whatwe have to do is accept thatnow and include that in ourplans.”

South Korean researchersidentified 5,706 people whowere the first to report Covid-19 symptoms in their house-holds between January 20and March 27, when schoolswere closed, and then tracedthe 59,073 contacts of these“index cases.”

They tested all of thehousehold contacts of eachpatient, regardless of symp-toms, but only tested symp-tomatic contacts outside thehousehold.

The first person in ahousehold to develop symp-toms is not necessarily thef irst to have been infected, and the researchersacknowledged this limitation. Children are alsoless likely than adults to showsymptoms, so the study mayhave underestimated thenumber of children who setoff the chain of transmissionwithin their households.

Children under age 10were roughly half as likely asadults to spread the virus toothers, consistent with otherstudies. That may be becausechildren generally exhale lessair — and therefore less virus-laden air — or because theyexhale that air closer to theground, making it less likelythat adults would breathe itin.

The study is more worri-some for children in middleand high school.

This group was even morelikely to infect others thanadults were, the study found.But some experts said thatfinding may be a fluke or maystem from the children’sbehaviors.

The study holds impor-tance for India too where theGovernment is under intensepressure to reopen the schoolsand colleges. Recently, UnionHRD Minister RameshNishank Pokhriyal had saidthat these educational insti-tuteswhich have remainedclosed since around March 16will reopen after August 2020.This is likely to impactaround 33 crore students.

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Like many countries theworld over, India too has

decided to take a closer look atwhether Bacille CalmetteGuerin (BCG) vaccine willhelp prevent or help peoplefight off Covid-19 infectionand reduce the number ofdeaths due to the virus.

In this direction, the IndiaCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) will soon initiate astudy to evaluate the effec-tiveness of the BCG vaccine inelderly individuals between60 and 95 years of age residingin Covid-19 containmentzones in the country. Thisstudy will be carried out inTamil Nadu, Maharashtra,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, and Delhi inapproximately 1,500 healthyvolunteers above 60 years ofage, the ICMR stated.

The ICMR’s NationalInstitute for Research inTuberculosis (NIRT) in

Chennai is heading the study.“As a part of this multi-centricstudy which will be carried outat six sites, elderly people notaffected by coronavirus infec-tion, will be given the BCGvaccine,” an ICMR scientistsaid.

The same BCG vaccinethat is administered to new-born babies as a part of theNational Immunisation pro-gramme for more than 50years in the country will beused in this study. BCG is avaccine against tuberculosis,with protective non-specificeffects against other respirato-ry tract infections in in-vitroand in-vivo studies, andreported significant reduc-tions in morbidity and mor-tality.

“The objective is to see ifthe shots can prevent theoccurrence of the coronavirusinfection and reduce the sever-ity of the disease and mortal-ity rate among the elderlyindividuals residing in hotspot

areas,” the scientist said.The participants will be

administered one dose of0.1ml BCG vaccine, givenintradermally. Elderly indi-viduals not vaccinated fromthe same hotspot area or fromneighbouring hotspot wardsareas will be considered as thecontrols.

The volunteers would befollowed up closely for a peri-od of six months post vacci-nation.

There are several clinicaltrials using BCG vaccinealready undergoing on elder-ly population across the globe.For instance, researchers atBaylor College of Medicine inthe US have already started aclinical trial to assess the vac-cine, for its activity againstCovid-19. Researchers inAustralia have also launched avery similar trial and are hop-ing to study more than 4,000healthcare workers, trackingtheir progress with email sur-veys and text messages.

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Even as coronavirus is on analarming daily surge across

the country, the Governmenthas found solace in the fact thatCovid-19 case fatality rate is“progressively falling” and iscurrently at 2.49 per cent,which is one of the lowest in theworld.

The Union Health Ministryhas attributed this to efficientclinical management of hospi-

talised cases..There are 29 states and

union territories with a case fatal-ity rate (CFR) lower than India’saverage, with five of them hav-ing a CFR of zero and 14 havingfatality rate of less than 1 per cent.

Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim,Mizoram, Andaman andNicobar Islands have zero casefatality rate.

States and UTs having a CFRbelow the national averageinclude Tripura (0.19 pc), Assam(0.23 pc), Kerala (0.34 pc),

Odisha (0.51 pc), Goa (0.60 pc),Himachal Pradesh (0.75 pc),Bihar (0.83 pc), Telangana (0.93pc), Andhra Pradesh (1.31 pc),Tamil Nadu (1.45 pc),Chandigarh (1.71 pc), Rajasthan(1.94 pc), Karnataka (2.08 pc)and Uttar Pradesh (2.36 pc).

With effective containmentstrategy, aggressive testing andstandardized clinical manage-ment protocols based on holis-tic standard of care approach, theCFR has significantly dipped, itsaid.

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Anew controversy has erupt-ed in Tamil Nadu over the

management of the TamilNadu Congress Committee(TNCC) Trust formed in 1958by the then Chief Minister KKamaraj.

S Gurumurthy, editor,Tughlaq and a leading char-tered accountant-cum-corpo-rate lawyer, in a series of mes-sages in his social media plat-form disclosed that the AICChigh command has literallyhijacked the TNCC Trust’simmovable properties inChennai worth �20,000 crore. “National HeraldScam II brewing. KanishkSingh, Rahul Gandhi’s righthand has taken over the Trustdocuments and accounts. Noneof the Trustees seem to beaware of the accounts,”

Gurumurtthy said in his Tweeton Friday. He further chargedthat a private company hastaken out TNCC Trust landworth more than Rs 20,000crore and efforts were on toconstruct a multi-storey build-ing in the Trust land.

“The TNCC has becomelike the National Herald: Hasonly properties; not the party,”he said in an obvious referenceto the National Herald case inwhich the AICC presidentSonia Gandhi, former presidentRahul Gandhi, Motilal Vohra,the former AICC treasurer andtwo others have been listed asaccused.

The Tweet further read:“Motilal Vohra who can’t reada number (because of hisadvanced age) is a Trustee andKanishk Singh controls theTNCC Trust. The scam is 10times the National Heraldfraud. And he (Vohra) is the

chosen man for NationalHerald also,” Gurumurthytweeted.

He quoted G K Vasan, for-mer Trustee as telling him thatthe latter quit the party six yearsago and was in the dark aboutthe goings on in the TNCCTrust. “Sonia seems to haveappointed new Trustees tocarry out the National HeraldII type of operation. Matter get-ting worse,” said Gurumurthy.

Guruurthy also said that allTrustees were summoned byRahul Gandhi in 2009 andinstructed them to sign somedocuments. Trustees areappointed from the executivecommittee of the TNCC. Thismeans that Vasan too havesigned the documents becausehe left the Congress only in2014 to revive the Tamil ManilaCongress.

The Congress has beenpushed to a tight corner by

Gurumurthy who chaklenedthe present TrusteesSudharshan Nachiappan, C RKesavan and Chakaravarthyto answer why Sonia Gandhihas appointed persons whoare not members of the TNCCexecutive committee asTrustees.

But K S Alagiri , the TNCCpresident tweeted on Saturdaythat TNCC Trust was run bynationalists and veteranCongressmen. “Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi have no rolein the Trust,” said Alagiri. Butthe TNCC chief had to faceanother series of tweets fromGurumurthy.

The auditor-turned-lawyer-turned editor pointed out thatthe TNCC Trust Deed specifiesthat only executive committeemembers from the TNCC bemade the Trustees. “It is noteven AICC. It is Sonia Gandhiwho appointed Vora and

Keshavan as Trustees. Whythen she appointed them asTrustees and on what authori-ty she made these appoint-ments?” asked Gurumurthy.He quoted newspapers reportswhich stated that the thenTNCC president EVKSElangovan made the announce-ments regarding the appoint-ments made by Sonia Gandhi.

Though the TNCC fieldedformer president SThirunavakarassar to take onGurumurthy, all that the for-mer could tell was that RahulGandhi and Kanishk Singh donot have any control over theTrust and Motilal Vohra wasappointed as Trustee by theTNCC.

This is the first timeGurumurthy has come out inthe open challenging theTNCC and the latter is seensquirming to find out a con-vincing reply.

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Kerala, which boasted of elimi-nating coronavirus, is getting

battered and bruised by the samevirus on a daily basis. DespiteSunday being a holiday and mostof the people staying indoors dueto heavy downpour, a record num-ber of 821 persons were diag-nosed with Covid-19 in the State.This is the highest number gettingtested positive on a single day inKerala. The day also saw the pan-demic claiming the lives of two per-sons taking the toll till date to 42.

The main cause of concern tohealth professionals and policymakers is the number of personsgetting afflicted through contacts.Till a fortnight ago, the expatriatesand persons from other States werethe main contributors to the ‘tally’of covid-19 patients in Kerala. Thishas come a full circle now with thenumber of persons getting infectedthrough contacts outnumberingthe expatriates and persons fromother States.

On Sunday, out of the 821 per-sons tested positive for the pan-demic, 629 were those who gotinfected through contacts. Thenumber of expatriates who testedpositive were 110 while those fromother parts of the country numbered69. In yet another indication of com-

munity transmission, 43 personswho tested positive could notexplain how they were infected.

The capital city ofThiruvananthapuram continuedto top the list of districts with high-est number of positive cases. While222 persons in the district werediagnosed with Covid, the numberof persons infected through contactstood at 203. Ernakulam , the cos-mopolitan district in the Statetested 98 positive cases out ofwhich 84 were those afflicted viacontacts.

There are 318 hotspots inKerala at the time of going to Presson Sunday. It may be rememberedthat the entire scenic coastal stretchof Thiruvananthapuram has beenshut down for the next ten days.The villages along the shorelinehave turned out to be epicentres ofCovid.

A sense of panic and helpless-ness has set in Kerala, especiallyamong farm workers and labour-ers who were dependent on theirdaily income for survival.Hundreds have been thrown out ofwork as all kinds of constructionand farming operations have cometo a standstill. There is palpablepsychological issues with tempersflying high in most places of theState especially among the casuallabourers and unemployed.

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Almost 5,000 per-sons (4,979 to be

precise) were diagnosedwith Covid-19 onSunday in Tamil Nadu.The last 24 hours saw the pan-demic claiming 78 lives. The sig-nals coming from the State is thatthe Covid-19 is continuingunabated all over causing wreckin cities, towns and even in vil-lages.

The Directorate of Healthand Preventive Medicine in itsbulletin issued in the evening saidthat there were 50, 294 activeCovid cases in Tamil Nadu. Tilldate 1.7 lakh persons have beentested positive for covid-19, saidthe bulletin.

The importance given bythe administration in tracing,testing and isolating the covidafflicted could be understoodfrom the hike in the number oflaboratories functioning in theState. As on Sunday, there are 112laboratories working 24X7 in

Tamil Nadu. Theselaboratories tested51, 640 persons onSunday taking thetotal number of per-sons tested till dateto 1.85 million.

The day also saw4,059 persons getting dischargedfrom hospitals and this took thenumber of persons cured ofcovid till date to 1.17 lakh.

Out of the 78 deaths regis-tered on Sunday, 75 had pre-existing morbid conditions (theyhad life threatening ailments likediabetes, kidney problems, can-cer and cardio vascular issues).

Covid situations in the topfour districts remainedunchanged as they continued toshow increase in the number ofcases. Chennai (1,254),Kancheepuram (220) Chengalpet(306), Thiruvallur (405) are theproblematic districts in the State,Districts like Madurai (206),Coimbatore(135), the financialhubs of the State continued to beunder the spell of the pandemic.

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The ruling Trinamool Congress hasobjected to the Central advisory to

Bengal over rising corona cases in theState wondering why such advisorieswere not being sent to BJP-ruledStates where the situation is far worse.

Questioning the propriety of “pin-pricking” Opposition States that areworking better in handling the pan-demic situation senior TMC leader andMinister Subroto Mukherjee said “it ispeculiar that the Central Governmentis always targeting Bengal because it isbeing ruled by a person called MamataBanerjee. They should have looked atmany other States where the situationis far worse.”

Another Minister Firhad Hakimattacked the Centre asking “why arethey not sending such advisories toGujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Naduand Delhi … why Bengal continues tobother them all the time… Is it becausewe are in an election year? Instead oflecturing Bengal they should thinkabout helping the poor so that peopledo not have to take risks during pan-demic situation.”

Blaming the BJP for “contributingto the rise in corona cases in the Statefor narrow political gains,” North 24Parganas TMC district president andMinister Jyotipriya Mullick said “inspite of repeated requests from theGovernment the BJP is breaking all the

protocols and organizing public gath-erings in the name of protest. This iscontributing to the rising corona cases.Their State president Dilip Ghoshwho is also an MP is leading from thefront in breaking norms.”

Incidentally North 24 Parganas hasthe highest number of containmentzones in the State.

The Union Health Ministry hadearlier expressed concern at the risingcorona cases in Bengal with JointSecretary Luv Agarwal writing to StateHealth Secretary that “Bengal is report-ing almost 1600 cases daily and 93 %of the total active cases were reportedin the last 4 days.”

The overall “testing testing remainsvery low vis a vis the national average.An increasing trend in case positivityrate in the last 3 weeks is also a causeof concern,” he added.

Apart from the TMC leadership,Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinhatoo made a comment signifying “sat-isfactory” situation in the State. TheState government was moving at afaster speed” Corona he reminding, “ina state of 10 crore people, we have 660who are seriously ill” and asking “byany standard, is it a very big number?...This is not a very serious issue. We arevery, very capable of handling this.There is no way we will not be able tohandle this situation.”

Notwithstanding Sinha’s claimsDum Dum Municipality in the north-

ern fringes of Kolkata have ordered acomplete lockdown for the comingweek. Apart from this lockdown wasextend in the extended containmentzones in many parts of the State,sources said.

The Government had added 63areas to the list of ‘broad-based’ con-tainment zones in the state, increasingthe count to 739, amid the strict lock-down clamped in all such places to har-ness the spread of the disease officialssaid.

While the number of such zonesin Kolkata went up to 32 from 24, con-tainment zones in Howrah and North24 Parganas the worst affected districtwere 85 and 113 respectively. Therewere 21, 65 and 67 containment zonesin Hooghly, Nadia and South 24Parganas all surrounding the StateCapital where the number of activecases stood at 5,155 on Saturday. Containment zones in Eastand West Midnapores was 19 and 61.

In North Bengal North Dinajpurhad the maximum number of con-tainment zones at 76 while Darjeelingand Jalpaiguri having 7 and 11 respec-tively. South Dinajpur had 11 andCoochbehar had 3 such zones.

There were 46 containment zonesin Bankura and 22 in Birbhum.

There were 15 containment zonesin Purulia whereas there were none atJhargram.

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The fate of the annualAmarnath pilgrimage this

year is expected to be decidedduring a high level meeting ofthe Shri Amarnath ShrineBoard on July 21.

Since most of the boardmembers are stationed outsideSrinagar the meeting is expect-ed to take place via video con-ferencing where Lt-GovernorGirish Chandar Murmu, whois also chairman of the board,is expected to take stock of theprevailing situation beforeannouncing the final decision.

According to officialsources, "Board membersSwami Avdheshanand Giri JiMaharaja, Dr Devi PrasadShetty, D.C. Raina; Prof. AnitaBillawaria; Dr. SudershanKumar; Dr. C.M. Seth andProf. Vishwamurti Shastri.Bipul Pathak, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Anup Kumar Soni,Additional Chief ExecutiveOfficer; and other senior offi-cers of the Shrine Board areexpected to attend the meetingthrough video conferencingon July 21".

In the absence of the finalannouncement uncertainty

loomed large over the fate ofthe yatra. This year, the Shrineboard had organised a livetelecast of special prayers frominside the cave shrine. So far,Lt-Governor GC Murmu andDefence Minister RajnathSingh had offered specialprayers inside the cave shrine.

On its part, the Shrineboard authorities had also pre-pared a set of guidelines for thepilgrims but the decision tostart formal registration of pil-grims was still awaited.

To ensure smooth conductof the yatra, the governmenthad decided to allow only 500

pilgrims per day via road linkto reach the base camp afterundergoing mandatory screen-ing.

The Shrine board had alsoactivated different departmentsto organise logistics along theBaltal route of the yatra.

Earlier, on April 22 theShrine Board had unanimous-ly decided that in view of thepandemic situation prevailingin the world it would not beprudent to organize theAmarnath Yatra, 2020.

However, the decision wasrecalled immediately. TheSpokesman of the Raj Bhawan

had issued a fresh statementwhich stated, " LieutenantGovernor, Girish ChandraMurmu, Chairman of ShriAmarnathji Shrine Board(SASB), presided over the 38thBoard Meeting at the RajBhavan. The Board expressedits apprehension and held thatas on date, it may not be pos-sible to organize the Yatra2020. Due to the currentCovid-19 pandemic situationbeing dynamic, an appropriatedecision can be taken on orga-nizing the Yatra on reviewingthe situation in the comingfuture".

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Two electricity department employ-ees in Telangana were allegedly tied

to a pillar by some residents upset overfrequent power cuts before a senior offi-cial and police intervened and rescuedthem in a village in Medak district,police said on Sunday.

Two bill collectors of the ElectricityTransmission Corporation had gone tothe village in Alladurg mandal inMedak district on Saturday in connec-tion with electricity bills, they said.

The villagers alleged frequentpower cuts and poor response to theircomplaints and that there was only onehelper (technician) to look after four vil-lages and demanded a separate helperfor their village.

The bill collectors reportedly toldthe villagers that the issue was not undertheir purview and that they wouldinform higher officials.

The angry protesters allegedly tiedthem to a cement pillar of an under-construction building with a rope. A billcollector informed a lineman and thelatter rushed to the place but his effortsto pacify the villagers was in vain.

Later, an assistant engineer ofTransco and a sub- inspector of policereached the spot. The assistant engineerassured the villagers that their issuewould be resolved as early as possiblefollowing which they released the twobill collectors.

A case has been registered againstfive people following a complaint by thetwo employees, police added.

Gangtok: Ten more personshave tested Positive for Covid-19 in Sikkim, takingthe Himalayan state's tally to283, a senior Health depart-ment official said on Sunday.

Of the total 283 Covid-19 cases, 193 are activeas 90 patients have recoveredfrom the disease, the officialsaid.

Director General (DG)-cum-Secretary, Health, DrPema T Bhutia said all the 10new Covid-19 patients havebeen admitted to the isolationward of STNM hospital. PTI

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Amid the rise in Covid-19cases, Goa Health Minister

Vishwajit Rane, here onSunday, conceded that Covid-19 test reports were gettingdelayed, and added he wastrying to streamline theprocess.

Speaking at a web interac-tion programme, Rane saidhis Ministry was in talks witha State Government-run tech-nology agency, GoaElectronics, to integrate thesocial media platformWhatsApp for quick dissemi-

nation of Covid-19 test results."We are getting Goa

Electronics involved. I will bemoving a note to the Secretary(Health) to use WhatsApp tosend these results faster," Ranesaid.

On an average, it takesaround three-four days to con-vey the test report.

Rane said he was informedabout the inordinate delay inconveying test results by sometourists, recently. "They weretold the (test) report would begiven in 24 hours, but actual-ly got it in three-four days,"Rane said.

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Taking a pot shot at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for

his decision to attend RamMandir’s foundation stone-lay-ing ceremony likely to be held atAyodhya on August 5, NCPchief Sharad Pawar said onSunday that Modi should getpriorities right and that “if he(PM) thinks he can bring coro-navirus situation under controlby performing the bhoomi Pujafor Ram Mandir, he is free to doso”.

Talking to media personsafter reviewing the Covid-19 sit-uation at Solapur in westernMaharashtra, Pawar said:“Coronavirus is a very big crisisthat the country is facing. TheCentre and state governmentsshould come together to defeatthe Covid-19 challenge”

“One has to decide as towhat should be the prioritywhether to fight Coronavirus orassociate oneself with a religiousactivity. But, if some peoplethink that by building RamMandir, the pandemic situationcan be brought under control,please go ahead and performbhoomi puja for Ram Mandir,”Pawar said..

The NCP chief said that thepeople and the country had suf-fered huge losses because of thelockdowns imposed by theCentre to fight the coronavirus.“To bring the Covid 19 situationunder control, the Centreimposed lockdown in the coun-try. As a consequence, the peo-ple and also the country havesuffered and continue to sufferlosses. The Centre and the stategovernments should take seriouscognisance of the worsened

economic situation in the coun-try”.

Making no bones about hisdisapproval over the PrimeMinister’s decision to associatehimself with the Ram Mandirfoundation stone-laying cere-mony amid Coronavirus crisis,

Pawar said: “The Governmentshould get its priorities right.The Centre and state govern-ment take immediate measuresto arrest the worsening eco-nomic situation. Our party MPswill raise this issue in the nation-al capital”.

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Astaggering 5,041 Covid-19 cases, the single largestnumber in a day so far, were registered in Andhra

Pradesh as the overall aggregate inched closer to the50,000 mark on Sunday.

Also, the State saw the highest spike in deaths in aday as 56 coronavirus patients succumbed, pushing thetoll to 642, a Government bulletin said.

Among the dead was a 50-year-old journalist work-ing for a Tamil television channel in Tirupati.

He had been admitted to a COVID care facility lastweek and lost his battle against the dreaded virus today.

It took three months for the state to register the first5,000 coronavirus cases, from March 12 when the firstone was reported.

But it happened in a matter of a day as AP has beenclearly witnessing a massive surge in the infection rate,particularly in the last one week when the number rosefrom 29,168 to 49,650.

It said 1,106 patients got cured and discharged fromhospitals in the last 24 hours.

After 31,148 tests were conducted in the last 24 hoursending 9 am on Sunday, the aggregate number of peo-ple screened for coronavirus in the state crossed the 13lakh-mark to reach 13.15 lakh at the rate of 24,635 per million population and a positivity rate of 3.77 percent.

As the number of cases has been shooting up overthe past few days, the recovery rate fell further to 46.10per cent after a total

of 22,890 patients got cured, the government datasaid.

There are now 26,118 active cases in the State.East Godavari district now topped the

state in the total number of Covid-19 positive cases with6,146, pushing Kurnool to the second spot with 6,045cases.

Anantapuramu district also crossed the 5,000 casesmark as it showed an overall tally of 5,141 on Sunday.

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Jammu: Over 700 fresh cases of coron-avirus were detected and eight moreCovid-19 patients died in the UnionTerritory of Jammu & Kashmir taking thetotal tally to 13,899 on Sunday.

While several districts across Kashmirdivision are already observing lockdown,the district magistrate in Jammu Sundayannounced weekend lockdown from July24 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

According to the order issued by theoffice of District Magistrate, "there shallbe complete restriction movement ofindividuals,vehicles, and all activitieswithin the entire jurisdiction of districtJammu, except the movement for emer-gency medical requirements for which nopass is required". These restrictions willremain in place from 6.00 p.m on allFridays till 6.00 a.m on all Mondaysbeginning July 24, 2020.

According to the media bulletin,seven Covid-19 patients died in Kashmirdivision while one patient from Rajouridied in GMC, Jammu taking the death tollto 244.

On Sunday, 100 cases were reportedfrom Jammu division while 601 cases weredetected across Kashmir division. Thehighest number of 290 cases were report-ed from Srinagar district alone followedby 84 cases from Kupwara and 53 fromBaramulla district.

In Jammu division, the highest num-ber of 40 cases each were reported fromJammu and Rajouri district.

According to the media bulletin, 646patients recovered and were dischargedfrom the different hospitals. At present thetotal number of active positive cases inJammu and Kashmir stood at 5,844 whiletotal recoveries stood at 7,811. PNS

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The Pakistan Army on Sunday resorted to“unprovoked” ceasefire violation along the

line of control in Sunderbani sector ofRajouri district.

According to ground reports, the PakistanArmy targeted several civilian areas along withforward posts of the Indian Army. Hittingback, Indian army too retaliated strongly andtargeted several 'offensive' gun positions of thePakistan Army to silence them.

Ministry of Defence spokesman inJammu, Lt-Col Devender Anand said,"Pakistan army violated ceasefire agreementat around 7.15 p.m in Sunderbani sector onsunday". He said, after a brief spell of smallarms firing, the Pakistan Army resorted tointense shelling. "Indian Army retaliated effec-tively", he added.

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So there it was out again last week, thesubject of linguistic apartheid. Thistime it took Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot to stoke the perenni-al conflict between the genuine earth-

iness, rooted realism and honest communi-cation of the Hindi-speaking northerner andthe assumed glibness, skimming concern anda feudalistic empathy of the English-educat-ed elite for the countryside. There is no doubtthat as a loyalist chieftain of the Congress courtand an artful politician who knows to con-vert every situation in his favour, he has stay-ing power. But to dismiss the comparativeweightlessness of his challenger, Sachin Pilot,to the latter’s good looks and English-speak-ing ability was all too uncalled for and a faciledismissal of home truths. “Speaking goodEnglish, giving good quotes and being hand-some isn’t everything. What is in your heartfor the country, your ideology, policies andcommitment, everything is important,”Gehlot said of Pilot’s attempt to dethrone him.

Many could argue that Gehlot survivedpurely by dint of his hold on the organisation-al matrix of the Congress in the State andencashed the high command’s indulgence toparcel away fiefdoms to regional stalwarts solong as they kept the party going. In fact, itis to Gehlot’s embarrassment that theCongress lost the Assembly elections in 2013and was routed in the Lok Sabha elections of2019 under his stewardship. Yet he continuesto be Chief Minister, a post made possible byPilot’s working the ground and ensuring theparty’s victory in the 2018 Assembly polls.Many would also argue that Pilot became tooover-ambitious with one success and whileGehlot had provoked him in many ways toisolate him, he could have avoided falling intothe wily senior’s trap and persisted a bit morethan now filing a case against his own party,the spirit of which flows in his DNA. But torun down Pilot’s work on the ground simplybecause he is feted by the English media orto question his education is just as immature.

Nobody can doubt Pilot’s commitment.He gave up his comfort zone in Delhi, wentback to his father Rajesh Pilot’s karmabhoo-mi, lived down his dynastic entitlements andurbane manners, became a safa-wearing localand had no problem in his outreach speak-ing both Hindi and dialects with equal ease.He couldn’t have consolidated the Gujjar vote-bank if he wasn’t sincerely invested. And forfive years, he wasn’t currying favours in Delhior within the Congress — he could very wellhave assumed a Central role — but was work-ing with dedication among his people. Intent,political or otherwise, has no language. Andambition, positive or negative, cannot soarwithout digging your heels in the ground.Even within the Congress, the younger lead-ers, conscious of their liberalised and upward-ly mobile grooming, have mastered proficien-cy in Hindi to get through to voters. Hindi-speaking States have the most Lok Sabha seatsin the end. Rajiv Gandhi himself was not asfluent in Hindi as daughter Priyanka is.

Besides, there is a latent hypocrisy aboutHindi chauvinism when almost all grassroots-

based politicians have ensuredtheir progeny not only attendedEnglish medium schools butgraduated from foreign univer-sities. The second generation ofalmost every federal party iswhat Gehlot calls “media-friend-ly” and heard during TV debates.Despite all their valiant rusticism,all socialist leaders have wantedtheir children to have culturalequivalence in a globalised worldwhere English has emerged as atransactional language. Whypoliticians, society at large hasmade peace with English as aconnective tissue. And if the pop-ularity of English-speaking class-es is any indication even in thesmallest of towns, it has becomea key qualifier of aspiration.

Then there is the other issueof linguistic plurality, which theruling BJP, driven by its ownmajoritarian agenda in the voter-heavy heartland, has sought toundermine by calling for Hindias a language for national unity.This orthodoxy immediatelyerodes the worth of federal lead-ers for a national role, simplybecause they are proficient intheir mother tongues, which aremuch older languages than Hindiitself. It is one of the reasons whya HD Deve Gowda or MamataBanerjee are mostly derided fortheir limited Hindi articulationskills and, therefore, seen asincapable of leading the nation.PV Narasimha Rao, the firstnon-Hindi-speaking PrimeMinister, found acceptabilitybecause of his proficiency in

Hindi. But apart from his moth-er tongue Telugu, he was just asexpert in speaking Oriya, Bengali,Gujarati, Kannada, Sanskrit,Tamil and Urdu. Yes and he kneweight foreign languages, includ-ing English. Did that make himany less of a modern Chanakyain politics?

Besides, Hindi has failed toemerge as a bridge languageexcept in its soft power avatarcourtesy our Hindi films. Mostcontiguous States, particularly inthe South and East, tend tounderstand each other on com-mon derivatives than requiringHindi to connect. It is true thatmany Indians have a workingknowledge of Hindi but thatdoesn’t mean they are comfort-able expressing themselves in it.And imposing it as a qualifier lan-guage in two-thirds of the coun-try where it is not the mothertongue would be the most anti-national move there is. One thatGehlot is guilty of endorsing likeHome Minister Amit Shah whomooted the idea of Hindi as ourlingua franca.

One can cite two examples ofIndian politicians who scoredhigh on the acceptability andpopularity index despite their lan-guage proficiencies or deficien-cies. One is Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik, who isholding on to his fortress, over-coming the Modi wave in 2019,and still not fluent in Odia. Andthe other is Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) chief and former BiharChief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav,

who gave political legitimacy tothe backward classes and is stilldate feted by the English media,not merely for his buffoonery thathe indulged in for effect, but forhis penetrative understandingof the subaltern and ability to takeon the ruling establishment fear-lessly, be it on beef bans or iden-tity politics.

It is said that Naveen Patnaikcould not pass in Odia grammar.He still cannot sustain a longspeech in Odia extempore unlessit is written out in English.Groomed by an English nannyand a Punjabi mother, he hadnever conversed in Odia at homewhile growing up. With classes,he understands it now perfectlybut is not eloquent. This has lefthim vulnerable to criticism. EvenShah ridiculed the ChiefMinister’s native language-speak-ing deficiency as a reason todethrone him during his cam-paign pitches. But Odisha wasstill happy to elect him as ChiefMinister for a record term. Forthe writer and voracious readerhe is, his acquired knowledge hasinformed his work on theground. He has pulled up theState’s development indices,steered it through painfullydestructive natural disasters, cho-sen to stay at home, travelledacross the State, connected withvillages at the block level,strengthened panchayati raj insti-tutions and unfurled people-friendly schemes. In short, he fol-lowed model State principlesand gave hope to the Odias

when they were seemingly adrift.And his lifestyle is so simple thatpeople loved the essence of theman than the language he spoke.The media chases him still but heis comfortable not over-exposinghimself and blending with peo-ple’s sensibilities. This hasendeared him to the masses, whoat one time saw Odia as a unifi-er of the State — that being afoundational principle in fact —considering they are more depen-dent on local dialects in commu-nicating between themselves.Now Patnaik has himselfreplaced language as the vehicleof people’s emotions.

Lalu, by contrast,weaponised his verbal prowessfor political gains, becoming abrand and an attitude in theprocess. And he used his bucol-ic charms to convert the Englishmedia into his constituency andjustify his ways and means ofrunning the State, even throughwife Rabri Devi, when he wasimplicated in the fodder scam. Heis the most media-savvy politi-cian even today; just visit hisTwitter handle, drawing eyeballsthrough his daily criticism of cur-rent Chief Minister NitishKumar’s mishandling of theCorona crisis. Yes, his integrityhas been suspect, even now serv-ing jail terms for accumulatingdisproportionate assets andencouraging criminalisation ofpolitics, but he did give politicalstake to the backward classes andunderstood the tidal current ofcoalition politics. His machina-tions to stay in power were rele-vant till the time the voter becamedemanding and decided theleader he wanted through his/herability to deliver.

Still, every journalist wants tointerview him, be it for his raw-ness or his old fox aura. He usedthe backward card to wrestpower and delivered promises insmall doses so that his con-stituents would keep voting himback to power. Not that he could-n’t be a performer if his stint asRailway Minister is any indica-tion. For his failure as a doerChief Minister, he turned aroundthe Railways dramatically enoughfor his tenure to be included asa case study in the curriculum ofIIM Ahmedabad. World institu-tions feted him and sought hisbytes. For he achieved a turn-around without hiking eitherpassenger or freight rates. Be it e-ticketing or model stations, hewas forward-looking, too. Hecould control his destiny. And henever antagonised the media,coopting it in his agenda. Henever abhorred English, spoke iteven when needed. He is still themost vocal secularist-socialistout there. Language be damned.Gehlot needs to learn from hisparty’s ally.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — A new study in Lancet pro-jects India’s population peakingmuch earlier than expected, at 1.6billion in 2048 before declining to1.09 billion in 2100. This pointsto a narrowing window for demo-graphic dividend. Sharp falls inthe working age population willrequire many countries to pursueliberal immigration policies oralternatively improve workforceparticipation rate among elderlyand women. Countries unable tostabilise their working age pop-ulation are priming themselvesfor economic stagnation. Thebiggest challenge will be to sus-tain large public social securitynets without overburdening asmaller workforce with highertaxes. Powered by a young work-force, India must utilise the nar-rowing window to lay a strongeconomic foundation and robustinfrastructure.

B AhsanullahDelhi

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Sir — It is a matter of concern thatAir India has approved a Leave

Without Pay (LWP) scheme forits employees for a period of sixmonths but extendable up tofive years. The airline manage-ment can also compulsorily sendemployees for LWP, dependingon their suitability, competenceand health. Both the regionaldirectors and headquarters’

departmental heads have beenasked to forward a list of employ-ees for compulsory LWP byAugust 15. However, reducingemployees and sending them onleave without pay is not a solution.Lakhs and lakhs of people arealready suffering from unemploy-ment in India and across the

world. This step will worsen mat-ters. Salaries to employees can begiven from the Prime Minister’sFund. The Government shouldtake a concerted decision ratherthan make the most vulnerablepay for the unfortunate downturn.

NR Salam Jammu

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Sir — COVID patients are facinga two-pronged battle. One fromthe illness itself and the otherfrom society in the form of dis-crimination. People should sup-port them and treat them withcare, assuring them that there ishope. We have to stick togetherto fight this crisis.

ShikhaVia email

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Sir — Sachin Pilot’s rebellion hassent a strong signal to the grandold party. High time, theCongress starts giving moreopportunities to younger leaders.Other young leaders like MilindDeora are now speaking againstthe Congress. All of this showsthat the party leadership has lostall contact with its younger lead-ers, who deserve to be treatedwith respect and dignity.

RashmiVia email

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The Union Health Minister, Dr HarshVardhan, is reported to have asked the 15thFinance Commission for more resources to

be allocated to States so that they can achieve theNational Health Policy 2017 (NHP 2017) targets.While underscoring the need for increasing pub-lic health spending, the Minister highlighted theGovernment’s aim to gradually raise the share ofpublic health spending to 2.5 per cent of the GDPby 2025 and spending two-thirds of the health bud-get on primary healthcare.

The Narendra Modi Government was acute-ly aware of the fault lines in India’s health sector:Low public health spending (and consequently ahigh share of household out-of-pocket expendi-ture on health), shortage of healthcare personnel,lack of prioritisation between primary care and hos-pital care, a weak healthcare delivery system cou-pled with the lack of integration of public and pri-vate care providers and so forth. Even as theGovernment was trying to address these issues, thefault lines got fully exposed under the pressure ofthe COVID-19 crisis. The sector is now under thespotlight. The need for a stronger healthcare sys-tem has never been felt so acutely.

Revise health policy targets: Now returningto the Ministry’s recent meeting with the FinanceCommission, the NHP 2017 was drawn up in thepre-Coronavirus times. However, the reality ofCOVID-19 necessitates a relook at the health pol-icy’s targets, including the public health spendingtarget and its trajectory. This is particularly so whenthere has been a huge slippage in the achievementof the intermediate target of States spending at leasteight per cent of their budget on health by 2020.The States are nowhere close to it. On average, theyspent only five per cent of their budget on healthwith a significant variation across the country.Chhattisgarh spent 5.9 per cent, Kerala 5.5 per cent,whereas Punjab and Haryana spent 3.8 per centand 3.7 per cent respectively in 2017-18. Whilethese targets need to be revised to make them morerealistic and State-specific, some States do need tai-lor-made guidance on a continuous basis in achiev-ing those targets.

Achieving the eight per cent target hasbecome more difficult for States as the pandem-ic is not just a healthcare crisis but has also led toan economic crisis which will adversely impactGovernment revenues. The Government may haveunlocked the economy to a large extent but eco-nomic activities, especially in some labour-inten-sive sectors such as travel, tourism and hospitali-ty, will take a long time to get normalised.Therefore, the capacity of States to generate andallocate higher funding for healthcare will remainadversely affected for some time. In this context,the Health Ministry’s meeting with the FinanceCommission assumes special significance. Thecommission may come to the rescue of States bymaking a special provision to enable them to allo-cate higher budgetary spending to healthcare. Butthere are limits to what it can do.

The 15th Finance Commission has a usefulbut limited role: In the short-term, some addition-al Government funding for health will only havea beneficial effect in restoring non-emergencyhealth services that got displaced due to COVID-

19 and in strengthening the publichealth system in general. But achievingthe health spending target of 2.5 per centof the GDP by 2025 calls for a significantstep-up in public health spending. Atsuch level of spending, the issue is not justabout funding but also about easing allother constraints — the manpower con-straint, solving the care delivery puzzle,governance challenges especially at thedistrict and sub-district level and so forth— facing the healthcare sector today.Solving these problems is a complex exer-cise requiring State engagement, steward-ship and continuous learning to progres-sively deal with these complex con-straints. A Finance Commission, givenits role, mandate and a fixed term has itslimitations in engaging in technically-complex dialogues requiring domainknowledge.

A couple of times in the past,Finance Commissions have providedhealth-specific grants to States.Specifically, the 12th FinanceCommission recommended equalisa-tion grants for health to seven “lagging”States while the 13th FinanceCommission suggested performance-based health grants to all States.

It is important to note that thesecommissions gave limited health sectorgrants (only around �5,900 crore and�5,000 crore were allocated by the 12thand 13th Finance Commissions respec-tively) which had some effect but not ahuge one in the larger scheme of things.The 15th Finance Commission, too, hasa useful role to play. But its role is ratherlimited in fostering systemic changes inIndia’s healthcare system, includingachieving the public healthcare spendingtarget of 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2025.If two-thirds of the health budget are to

be allocated to primary care, as reiterat-ed by the Minister, there ought to be afull-fledged discussion and rigorousimplementation of interventions. Inother words, there has to be some othermodality for the Centre and States to havea deeper engagement on the health sec-tor.

Centre-State health compact: TheCOVID-19 crisis offers a unique oppor-tunity to form a health sector compactbetween the Centre and States which haseluded our federal structure, wherehealthcare delivery is a State subject.States indeed play a dominant role bothin the funding and delivery of the pub-lic healthcare system. And they will con-tinue to play a pivotal role both on thefinancing and delivery side in future, too.Given this reality, it is only appropriatethat States are part of any health sectordialogue on India at any level, which canhappen only when the Centre-Statecompact exists. The basic idea behind thisis to create an apex member committeewhere States make binding health sys-tems-related commitments and are suit-ably rewarded for honouring them. Thishealth compact needs to be an effectivebody. The Government needs to do what-ever it takes — legislative backing or oth-erwise, to make this body effective.

In times of COVID, health hasbecome a political priority in everyState. It’s a perfect time to form such acompact. Some agency — be it the NITIAayog or the Health Ministry — has totake this initiative. As no such agreementcurrently exists — for example, there was-n’t any State buy-in on the intermediatetarget of spending eight per cent of bud-gets on health — there’s little wonder whythe target never got achieved.

The purpose of having a health com-

pact is to see States buy in on certain tar-gets and ensure that those are met ontime. States that refuse to join such a com-pact will do so at their own peril.

Seize the opportunity: Dealing withthe Corona crisis is also giving a lot ofgood ideas on how India’s healthcare sys-tem could be redesigned and strength-ened in future. For example, it is givingus insights into the appropriate mix ofpublic and private care providers and howthe two could be connected in strength-ening primary care with the right infu-sion of technology and frontline work-ers. The partnership can work in healthadministration at the district level andbelow, in making healthcare affordable,in formulating healthcare regulations andin pursuing medical research. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has repeatedlymentioned that we must convert the cur-rent crisis into an opportunity. It is truethat fighting the contagion is taking awaythe bandwidth of healthcare policy-makers/planners both at the Centre andState levels. Undoubtedly, dealing withthe pandemic is an urgent matter at hand.But there are many important health sec-tor design issues that need to beaddressed both from the shorter-termand longer-term perspective.

The COVID crisis is showing us theway into designing India’s future health-care system as well as creating conditionsfor making health policy choices and buy-ing political commitments into imple-menting those choices. The policy-mak-ers shouldn’t let the urgent and immedi-ate crowd out what’s important.

(Ahuja is a development economist,formerly with the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation and the World Bank andPradhan is advisor and adjunct professor,Chitkara University, Punjab.)

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On May 16, the Minister ofScience and Technology, FawadChaudhry, declared that this

year’s Eid-ul-Fitr would be celebratedon May 24. By doing this, he was sig-nalling the futility of having a commit-tee of clerics dedicated to the sightingof the Eid moon, when some basicastronomy and mathematics can accu-rately predict its emergence.

The move did not go down wellwith members of the Ruet-i-HilalCommittee. A heated debate ensued.Sightings of the Eid moon in Pakistanhave had a jagged history. Before thecreation of Pakistan in 1947, it was atradition among the Muslims of SouthAsia to see the moon and report thesightings to the clerics.

In fact, this ritual was quite com-mon among most Muslims in other

regions as well. However, the need toutilise more “scientifically-sound”methods to sight the moon began toemerge during the decolonisationperiod.

But it was a gradual transforma-tion. It was part and parcel of policiesin various Muslim countries where theState was experimenting with ideasderived from fusing together moder-nity, nationalism and faith.

Turkey and various Arab countriesin the Middle East began to introducetelescopes, and ultimately astronom-ical calculations, to predict the arrivalof Ramzan and the two Eids.Committees were formed in which sci-entists sat with clerics. Over the nextfew decades, Turkey and most Arabcountries had come to almost entire-ly rely upon astronomical data to deter-mine various important lunar Muslimmonths and dates.

It is still rare for the Muslim worldto celebrate Eid on the same day,though. Apart from the naturaldynamics of moon cycles and differ-ent weather conditions that may makethe moon visible in one area and notin the other, politics, too, plays a rolein, let’s say, the disunity of Eid.

For example, a bulk of Muslimcountries follow the astronomicallunar calendar prepared by Saudi sci-entists, while many others follow theone prepared by Turkish astronomers.Then there are countries such asPakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Iran,Indonesia and Tunisia that haveformed their own committees for thispurpose.

The issue has as much to do withsectarian and sub-sectarian divides asit has with geopolitical rivalriesbetween major Muslim countries. Butwhereas most Muslim countries nowapply the latest scientific methods todetermine the start of the Islamic lunarmonths, some countries such asPakistan seem to have gotten stuck.

According to Dr Fazal Ahmed’s1973 book, The Science of Sighting ofthe Moon, the first Government ofPakistan formed a committee of reli-gious scholars who were to coordinatewith members of the meteorologicaldepartment to authenticate moonsightings.

A decade later in 1958, the com-mittee’s announced date for Eid-ul-Fitrwas challenged by a group of clerics inPeshawar, where Eid was celebrated a

day before the rest of the country. In1959, Field Marshal (self-appointed)Ayub Khan, who had come to powerin 1958, lamented that the clerics wereusing Islam as a means to hinderprogress. SA Ansari, in his essay for theJournal of Political Studies, quotedAyub as saying that the clerics weredoing “a great disservice to Islam.”

In his book, Dr Fazal doesn’t sayexactly what modern methods wereintroduced by the committee to sightthe moon. But in March 1961, afterbeing convinced by a body of scien-tists about the accurate date of thatyear’s Eid-ul-Fitr, the Ayub regimebypassed the committee and directlyannounced the date.

The popular Islamic scholar fromKarachi, Ehteshamul Haq Thanvi,was the head of the committee at thetime. Peshawar had already celebrat-ed Eid a day before after clerics in thecity insisted that Pakistan follow SaudiArabia’s lead. The majority of peoplein Karachi, on the other hand, followedThanvi’s lead and observed Eid one dayafter the date given by theGovernment. So, in 1961, Eid-ul-Fitrwas celebrated on three different daysin the country.

Almost the same happened in1967. Dr Fazal writes that the episodewas politicised by the religious partiesafter the regime discarded the dateannounced by the committee andchanged it. The regime claimed thecommittee’s date was scientificallyinaccurate. Ayub’s opponents decriedthat this was part of the regime’s“oppressive policies against the clerics”,while some Urdu dailies suggested itall boiled down to superstition“because the regime believed celebrat-ing Eid on a Friday was a bad omen.”This was sensationalist gibberish, ofcourse.

In 1974, when the issue of multi-ple Eids failed to get resolved, theGovernment of Zulfikar Ali Bhuttogave the committee legislative cover.Thanvi was reinstated as the commit-tee’s head and eight more members,including a woman, were inducted.The legislation did not require anycompulsory coordination betweenthe committee and the meteorologicaldepartment. However, committeemembers were given better telescopes.

The October 1973 issue of thePakistan Economist ran a feature on thedebate a year before the legislation. The

feature quoted various ulema (a bodyof Muslim scholars who are recognisedas having specialist knowledge ofIslamic law and theology) who sug-gested that Pakistan should take SaudiArabia’s lead. However, clerics belong-ing to the Sunni Barelvi sub-sectinsisted that the country must followthe sightings of its own ulema.

This idea was supported by scien-tists such as Dr Fazal who claimed thatthe nature of lunar cycles is such thatevery country must take its own path.

The legislation seemed to havesomewhat resolved the issue, eventhough the committee never carriedwith it anything more than a telescope.No scientists were ever involved in theprocedure. The call to employ morescientific methods returned decadeslater, when clerics associated with theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa branch of thecommittee began to follow SaudiArabia’s lead.

The dichotomy in Eid moonsightings between clerics in thatprovince and the rest of the countryintensified from the 1990s until one ofthe main figures in the controversy, thePeshawar-based ShahabuddinPopalzai, was arrested in 2017 and

forced to fly out to Dubai.Perhaps noticing that a majority

of Pakistanis were never comfortablewith the dichotomy, Fawad Chaudhrydecided to adopt astronomical meth-ods used in most Muslim countries todetermine moon sightings. Committeemembers were livid.

In a country where, ever since themid-1970s, the State and govern-ments have continued to appease thepoint of views of clerics to evade reli-gious controversies, Chaudhry threwdown the gauntlet. And won. Theirony is that he is a Minister in aGovernment that is mostly headed byurban conservatives. However, it wasnot his Government he was bankingon but rather a powerful State institu-tion.

Some dailies reported that mem-bers of the committee, who werechallenging him, suddenly withdrewtheir opposition after receiving a callfrom persons associated with that Stateinstitution. The institution has increas-ingly seen the dichotomy as an expres-sion of national disunity. Chaudhryseemed to have based his move exact-ly on this observation.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Johannesburg: The number ofpeople around the world whohave died as a result of the coro-navirus has passed the 600,000mark as countries from the USto South Africa to India strug-gle to contain infections.

Concerns are rising that thepandemic has found fresh legsover the past few weeks, withJohns Hopkins University andthe World Health Organisationboth recording daily highs innewly reported infections.

Pope Francis said that “thepandemic is showing no sign ofstopping” and pointed to thosewhose suffering from the out-break is worsened by conflicts.

While the US leads globalinfections, South Africa nowranks as the fifth worst-hitcountry in the pandemic withmore than 350,000 cases, oraround half of all those con-firmed on the continent. Itsstruggles are a sign of potentialtrouble to come for nations witheven fewer health careresources.

India, which has now con-firmed more than a millioninfections, on Sunday reporteda 24-hour record surge of 38,902new cases.

In Europe, where infec-tions are far from their peak inthe spring but local outbreaksare causing concern, leaders ofthe 27-nation European Unionhaggled for a third day inBrussels over a proposed 1.85trillion-euro EU budget andcoronavirus recovery fund.

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel said there is “a lot ofgood will, but there are also a lotof positions” in the talks, whichhave have laid bare the fissuresin the bloc about how the coun-tries hit hardest by the pan-demic, such as Italy and Spain,should be helped and underwhat conditions. She said thetalks, which were initially sched-uled to end on Saturday, couldstill end without a deal.

Confirmed global deathsfrom or with COVID-19 rose tomore than 602,000, according todata compiled by JohnsHopkins. The United Statestops the list with over 140,000,followed by more than 78,000 in

Brazil, 45,000 in the UnitedKingdom and 38,000 in Mexico.

The number of confirmedinfections worldwide has passed14.2 million, with 3.7 million

accounted for by the UnitedStates alone. Brazil has wit-nessed more than 2 millionwhile India has recorded over 1million. Experts believe the

true numbers around the worldare higher because of testingshortages and data collectionissues in some nations.

Infections have been soar-ing in US states such as Florida,Texas, Arizona, with manyblaming a haphazard approachto the lifting of the lockdownsas well as the resistance of someAmericans to wearing masks.

Even where the situationhas been largely brought undercontrol, new outbreaks contin-ue to worry authorities andprompt the return of somerestrictions.

Police in Barcelona arelimiting access to some of thecity’s beaches because sun-bathers are ignoring regula-tions amid a resurgence of thecoronavirus. Authorities inAmsterdam are urging peoplenot to visit the city’s famous redlight district and have closedoff some of the historic dis-trict’s narrow streets becausethey are too busy. AP

London: Russia’s ambassadorto Britain has rejected allega-tions that his country’s intelli-gence services sought to stealinformation about a coron-avirus vaccine.

Andrei Kelin said in a BBCinterview broadcast Sundaythat there was “no sense” in theallegations made last week bythe United States, Britain andCanada.

“I don’t believe in this storyat all, there is no sense in it,” hesaid when asked about theallegations.

“I learned about their (thehackers) existence from Britishmedia.

In this world, to attributeany kind of computer hackersto any country, it is impossible.”Intelligence agencies in theUS, Britain and Canada onThursday accused the hackinggroup APT29 — also known asCozy Bear and believed to bepart of Russian intelligence —

of using malicious software toattack academic and pharma-ceutical research institutionsinvolved in COVID-19 vaccinedevelopment. It was unclearwhether any useful informationwas stolen.

British Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab also said that“Russian actors” had tried tointerfere in last year’s generalelection by “amplifying” stolengovernment papers online.

Kelin said in the interviewthat his country had no inter-est in interfering in Britishdomestic politics.

“I do not see any point inusing this subject as a matter ofinterference,” he said. “We donot interfere at all. We do notsee any point in interferencebecause for us, whether it willbe (the) Conservative Party orLabour’s party at the head ofthis country, we will try to set-tle relations and to establishbetter relations than now.” AP

���6������ �������������.�<<�<<<Hong Kong: The deadly coro-navirus is spreading out ofcontrol in Hong Kong with arecord 100 new cases con-firmed, the finance hub’s leadersaid Sunday as she tightenedsocial distancing measures totackle the sudden surge ininfections.

The finance hub was one ofthe first places to be struck bythe virus when it emergedfrom central China.

But the city had impressivesuccess in tackling the disease,all but ending local transmis-sions by late June.

However, in the last twoweeks, infections have spikedonce more and doctors fear thenew outbreak is now spreadingundetected in the denselypacked territory of 7.5 millionpeople. On Sunday chief exec-utive Carrie Lam said morethan 500 infections had beenconfirmed in the last fortnightalone, nearly a third since theoutbreak began.

On Sunday 108 new infec-tions were recorded by healthauthorities, a daily high for thefinance hub, bringing the totalto 1,886 cases.

“I think the situation isreally critical and there is nosign the situation is beingbrought under control,” Lamtold reporters.

Lam announced new socialdistancing measures last week,shuttering many businesses

including bars, gyms andnightclubs, and ordering every-one to wear masks on publictransport.

Restaurants were orderedto only offer takeout services inthe evenings.

On Sunday Lam announcedeven more regulations, includ-ing plans to make it compulso-ry to wear masks inside any pub-lic indoor venue — and a neworder for non-essential civil ser-vants to work for home.

As hospital wards fill, offi-cials are also scrambling tobuild a further 2,000 isolationrooms on barren land near thecity’s Disneyland resort tomonitor and treat those whotest positive, she added.

Hong Kong was alreadymired in recession when thepandemic hit thanks to the US-China trade war and months of

political unrest last year.The new partial lockdown

has compounded the econom-ic misery.

On Sunday, Lam called forlandlords to look at loweringrents in the notoriously expen-sive city where inequality isrampant.

She said further social dis-tancing measures would berolled out if the daily infectionrate did not ease in coming days.

However, she said she waskeen to avoid ordering peopleto remain at home.

“We can’t just make a sim-ple and extreme move to cuteverything at once,” Lam said.

Authorities say testing willbe ramped up, targeting high-risk populations such as taxidrivers and restaurant workersafter clusters were found with-in their ranks. AFP

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)���������(���������*���������������������!����� ���� Jerusalem: Israeli Prime

Minister BenjaminNetanyahu’s corruption trialwill resume in earnest inJanuary, with thrice-weeklyevidentiary hearings set tobegin then, a Jerusalem courtdecided on Sunday.

It was not immediatelyclear if Netanyahu would berequired to be present at eachhearing, although some Israelimedia reported he would.

Regardless, the gruellingjudicial schedule will keepNetanyahu’s legal woes firmlyin the national consciousnessand conversation — and con-tinue to raise questions overwhether he can keep servingwhile simultaneously standingtrial.

The court’s decision cameafter the trial’s second hearing,a procedural deliberation thatset the pace for the remainderof the proceedings.

The trial opened in Mayafter a two-month delayprompted by concerns over the

coronavirus. Its resumptioncomes as Netanyahu facesmounting discontent over hishandling of the health crisisand its economic fallout.

Netanyahu is charged withfraud, breach of trust andaccepting bribes in a series ofscandals in which he is allegedto have received lavish giftsfrom billionaire friends, andexchanged regulatory favours

with media moguls for moreagreeable coverage of himselfand his family.

Netanyahu denies wrong-doing, painting the accusa-tions as a media-orchestratedwitch hunt pursued by a biasedlaw enforcement system.

At the first hearing in May,just before appearing in frontof the judges, Netanyahu tookto a podium inside the court-

house and flanked by his partymembers bashed the country’slegal institutions in an angrytirade.

Netanyahu did not appearat Sunday’s hearing.

According to the court, thejudge decided that the trial’sevidentiary stage would beginin January and would takeplace three times a week.

Netanyahu’s lawyer alsoasked for a delay in the pro-ceedings because of the virus,saying mask-wearing impededhis job of questioning wit-nesses. The trial resumes asNetanyahu faces widespreadanger over his government’shandling of the coronaviruscrisis.

While the countryappeared to have tamped downa first wave of infections, what’semerged as a hasty and errat-ic reopening has sent infectionssoaring. Yet even amid the risein new cases, Netanyahu andhis emergency government —formed with the goal of deal-

ing with the crisis — appearedto neglect the numbers andmoved forward with itsreopening plans and otherpolicy priorities.

It has since reimposedrestrictions, including a week-end only lockdown set to beginlater this week.

Israel has seen nearly50,000 virus cases since theoutbreak began, with 406deaths. More than 21,000 peo-ple have recovered.

Netanyahu and his gov-ernment have been criticizedfor a baffling, halting responseto the new wave, which hasseen daily cases rise to nearly2,000. It has also beenslammed for its handling of theeconomic fallout of the crisis.

While Israel has pledgedbillions of dollars worth of aid,it hasn’t all been doled out tothose in need, and a plan togive a stipend to all Israelis,even the wealthy, has beenpanned by the country’s lead-ing economists. AP

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Berlin: German police officerswere pelted with bottles toapplause from a large crowdafter they tried to end a brawlin central Frankfurt earlySunday, leading to clashes thatended with 39 arrests, the city’spolice force said.

Frankfurt police chiefGerhard Bereswill said a smallgroup of police tried to inter-vene after the brawl involvingup to 30 people broke out ataround 3 am in the city’s cen-tral Opernplatz square.

Participants in the fightturned on the officers andthrew bottles at them, alongwith others standing nearby, hesaid.

The other 500 to 800 peo-ple in the square “began to jeerand clap when bottles hit ourcolleagues,” Bereswill added.Police called in reinforcements,who he said were also peltedwith bottles, and then clearedthe square. AP

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Washington: Scientists haveconfirmed for the first timethat the novel coronavirusbehind the COVID-19 pan-demic cannot be transmitted topeople by mosquitoes, a find-ing that adds evidence toWHO’s claim that the diseaseis not mosquito-borne.

The research, publishedin the journal Scientific

Reports, provided the firstexperimental evidence on thecapacity of SARS-CoV-2, thevirus that causes COVID-19disease, to infect and be trans-mitted by mosquitoes.

“Here we provide the firstexperimental data to investi-gate the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to infect and be trans-mitted by mosquitoes,” the

study noted.“While the World Health

Organization (WHO) hasdefinitively stated that mos-quitoes cannot transmit thevirus, our study is the first toprovide conclusive data sup-porting the theory,” saidStephen Higgs, a co-author ofthe research from Kansas StateUniversity in the US. PTI

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Islamabad: At least sevenmembers of Prime MinisterImran Khan’ Cabinet are eitherdual nationals or hold anothercountry’s permanent residency,according to the details issuedby the government amid grow-ing demands by the Oppositionto disclose assets and national-ities of non-elected members.

The details of their assetsand nationalities have been putup on the website of the CabinetDivision. Information MinisterShibli Faraz tweeted that theinformation had been madepublic on the instruction ofPrime Minister Khan.

The move comes inresponse to growing criticism ofthe government and calls for

declaring assets of the peopleclose to the prime minister.

When Khan was in theOpposition, he had criticisedforeign nationals holding pub-lic offices.

All dual nationals werenon-elected and working asspecial assistants to the primeminister, also called as SAPM,a notification issued by theCabinet Division showed.

The details of assets anddual nationalities of 20 advisersand special assistants to theprime minister were made pub-lic. Those holding dual nation-alities include SAPM onPolitical Affairs Shahbaz Gill(US), SAPM on PetroleumNadeem Babar (US), SAPM on

Overseas Pakistanis SyedZulfiqar Bukhari (UK) andSAPM on National SecurityMoeed Yousuf (US).

The list also includesSAPM on Power DivisionShahzad Qasim (US), SAPM onParliamentary CoordinationNadeem Afzal Gondal(Canada) and SAPM on DigitalPakistan Tania S Aidrus(Canada and Singapore).

The Cabinet Division alsopublished details of all non-elected advisors whichshowed that Babar had worth�310 million properties inPakistan and worth over �310million in the US. His businesscapitals amount to over �2.15billion. PTI

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Beijing: China blasted a damover a river in Anhui provinceon Sunday to discharge thesurging flood waters as tor-rential rains and f loodswreaked havoc in the country,killing over 100 people.

The dam on the Chuheriver, a tributary of the mightyYangtze River, was destroyedwith explosives to ease theflood control pressure in theriver basin, state-run CCTVreported. Water levels onmany rivers, including theYangtze, have been unusuallyhigh this year because of tor-rential rains.

The Three Gorges Dam onthe Yangtze last week openedthree floodgates as the waterlevel behind the world’s biggestdam rose more than 15 metresabove flood level.

Last week, official media

reported that over 140 peoplewere killed or missing sinceJune, 37.89 million have beenaffected and over 2.24 lakhpeople relocated as Chinafaced “flood catastrophe” with433 rivers were on spat.

On Sunday, China’snational observatory reneweda yellow alert for rainstorms,as incessant downpours wouldcontinue to wreak havoc invast stretches of the country.

From Sunday morning to Monday morning, heavyrains and rainstorms are expected in parts of Tibet,Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi,among other regions, the National MeteorologicalCentre said, warning that someareas of Jilin, Liaoning andAnhui will experience down-pours with up to 150 mm ofdaily rainfall. PTI

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Beijing: China’s top university has sackeda law professor, who is a staunch critic of theruling Chinese Communist Party leadershipincluding the constitutional amendmentfacilitating indefinite tenure for President XiJinping by scrapping the two-term limit.

Xu Zhangrun, an outspoken Chineselaw professor of the Tsinghua University, hasbeen formally notified of his removal onSaturday, Hong Kong-based South ChinaMorning Post reported on Sunday.

The Tsinghua University, whose famousalumni include President Xi, has been list-ed as China’s number one university by theTimes Higher Education World UniversityRankings.

The notification, dated on Wednesday,was sent to Xu by courier, the report saidquoting a friend who requested anonymi-ty for fear of retribution.

The Tsinghua University, where 57-year-old Xu worked for 20 years, said it took thedecision after a meeting on July 10.

Xu, a prominent legal scholar, is one ofthe very few academics to have publicly chal-lenged the Communist Party of China(CPC) leadership in recent years in a num-ber of essays published online in China andoverseas.

“We have verified that Xu Zhangrun haspublished many essays since July 2018 andit is a serious violation of the ‘10 standardsof professional conduct for teachers in ter-tiary institutes in the new era’,” the notifi-cation read. The guidelines, issued by theMinistry of Education in 2018, said teach-ers would be fired or punished if they saidor did anything that undermines the author-ity of the CPC or violated the directions andpolicies of the party. PTI

Ankara: Turkish police have detained 27people in Istanbul over suspected links tothe Islamic State group, state-run media saidon Sunday.

The Anadolu news agency reportedthat the suspects were held in simultane-ous early morning raids by anti-terroristpolice in 15 districts across Istanbul as theyallegedly prepared to carry out attacks.

The agency said the alleged attacks werein response to recent social media posts thatinsulted the Prophet Muhammad and thata “large number” of documents and digi-tal material was recovered during thesearches.

Turkey has suffered a number ofattacks by Islamic State militants over thelast five years, including the bombing of apeace rally in the capital Ankara in October2015 that killed 102 people. AP

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Dubai: A United Nationsagency acknowledged onSunday that a US-sought oiltanker “hijacked” off the coastof the United Arab Emiratesafter allegedly smugglingIranian crude oil is back inIranian waters.

The International LaborOrganization said that the MTGulf Sky was hijacked July 5, cit-ing its captain. That mirrors ear-lier reporting by The AssociatedPress.

“The vessel was taken toIran,” the ILO said.

It said that all 28 Indiancrew members disembarked inIran and all but two of the crewwithout passports flew fromTehran to India on July 15.

The ILO cited theInternational Seafarers’ Welfareand Assistance Network for itsinformation.

The ILO earlier filed areport saying the vessel and itssailors had been abandoned byits owners without pay sinceMarch off Khorfakkan, a city onthe eastern coast of the UnitedArab Emirates.

Iranian state media andofficials have not acknowledgedthe hijacking and arrival of theMT Gulf Sky to Iran. The USgovernment similarly has notcommented.

In May, the US JusticeDepartment filed criminalcharges against two Iranians,accusing them of trying to laun-der some $12 million to pur-chase the tanker, then named theMT Nautica, through a series offront companies.

Court documents allege thesmuggling scheme involved theQuds Force of Iran’s paramili-tary Revolutionary Guard,which is its elite expeditionaryunit, as well as Iran’s national oiland tanker companies. AP

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AJapanese H-IIA rocket car-rying a United Arab

Emirates Mars spacecraft hasbeen placed on the launchpad for Monday’s scheduledliftoff for the Arab world’sfirst interplanetary mission,officials said Sunday.

The launch of the orbiter— named Amal, or Hope —from Tanegashima SpaceCenter on a small southernJapanese island was initiallyscheduled for this pastWednesday, but was delayeddue to bad weather in theregion.

Mitsubishi HeavyIndustries, the provider of theH-IIA rocket, announcedSunday that the launch would

proceed at 6:58 a.M. Monday(2158 GMT Sunday). Thepreparation has been com-pleted, and the rocket is nowon the launch pad, Mitsubishisaid.

Hope is expected to reachMars in February 2021, theyear the UAE celebrates 50years since its formation. Asuccessful Hope mission wouldbe a major step for the oil-dependent economy, which isseeking a future in space.

Two other Mars missionsare planned in the comingdays by the US and China.Japan has its own Martianmoon mission planned for2024.

Hope will carry instru-ments to study the upperatmosphere and monitor cli-

mate change on Mars. It isscheduled to circle the redplanet for at least two years.The UAE says it will provide acomplete view of the Martianatmosphere during differentseasons for the first time.

A newcomer in spacedevelopment, the UAE has sofar successfully launched threeobservation satellites, but hasnot gone beyond the Earth’sorbit.

Omran Sharaf, projectdirector of Emirates MarsMission, said in a Twittervideo message Sunday: “TheEmirates’ Mars mission is amessage of hope to the Arabyouth. If a young nation likeUAE is able to reach Mars inless than 50 years, then we cando much more as a region.”

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������!��"�����(���������������"������/����+London: A 50-mile-wideswarm of flying ants has beenmaking its way over the UK -and it has been spotted fromspace due to the massive size,it was reported on Sunday.

The enormous cloud ofants was picked up by the MetOffice’s weather radar overKent and Sussex on England’ssoutheast coast, Sky News saidin a report.

The weather service saidsmaller swarms could also beseen over London.

A video was released by theMet Office, alongside a tweetsaying: “It’s not raining inLondon, Kent or Sussex, butour radar says otherwise.

“The radar is actually pick-ing up a swarm of #flyingantsacross the southeast.

“During the summer antscan take to the skies in a massemergence usually on warm,

humid and windless days #fly-ingantday’.”

A spokesman for the MetOffice said there were likely tobe “thousands” of ants withinthe swarm.

“It’s not unusual for largerswarms to be picked up,” SkyNews quoted the spokesman assaying.

“A similar thing happenedalmost exactly a year ago on‘Flying Ant Day’.

“On days when it is sunny,the radar detects the swam butwe are able to see they are notthe same shape as waterdroplets, and in fact look moreinsect-like,” he added.

Large swarms of the insectsappear — in what is widelyknown as “Flying Ant Day” —when males and new queensleave the nest to mate, withmany ant colonies doing so onthe same day. IANS

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Shareholders of HDFC Bankhave given approval to raise

up to �50,000 crore throughbonds to enhance capital baseto fund its business growth.

The decision to this effectwas taken in the AnnualGeneral Meeting concludedon Saturday. “Approval ofshareholders was obtained forissue of unsecured perpetualdebt instruments (part of addi-tional tier I capital), tier II cap-ital bonds and long term bonds(financing of infrastructureand affordable housing) on aprivate placement basis of anamount in aggregate notexceeding �50,000 crore,”HDFC Bank said in a regula-tory filing on Sunday. Lastmonth, the board cleared cap-ital proposal to be carried outover the next twelve months.Besides, shareholders alsocleared a proposal for re-appointment of KaizadBharucha as executive directorof the bank.

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The ongoing pandemic hashit every sector of the

Indian economy hard and theretail trade in the country haslost about �15.5 lakh crore inthe past 100 days.

In a statement, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) said that thetraders across the country arehighly depressed because ofvery minimal footfall of theconsumers, considerableabsence of employees, facingthe highest financial crunchand yet have to meet severalfinancial obligations.

“No support policy fromthe Central or state governmentis yet another crucial factorwhich is haunting the traders,”it said.

Praveen Khandelwal,Secretary General of CAIT onSunday said that the domestictrade in the country is passingthrough its worst period in thecurrent century which reflectsthat if immediate steps are nottaken, about 20 per cent of theshops in India will have to closedown their shutters.

As per inputs available

from the traders across thecountry, CAIT said that thereis a footfall of only 10 per centof the consumers so far post theunlock period which has affect-ed greatly to the daily turnoverof the traders.

As per the traders’ body, atthis crucial time, handholdingof traders is all the more muchrequired.

A financial mechanismneeds to be crafted to awardbusiness loans to traders andrelaxation in payment of taxesand extension in repaymentperiod of bank loans, EMIswithout any further interest orpenalty is also required andseveral other steps need to betaken to provide financial liq-uidity at the hands of thetraders to revive business activ-ities.

New Delhi: State-run CanaraBank will raise up to �5,000crore equity capital throughvarious modes in the currentfiscal year to boost its capitaladequacy ratio in view ofexpansion plans, and will seeknod from shareholders for thesame in its AGM next month.In view of certain expansionplans of the bank, the imple-mentation of Basel III norms,and consequent capital charge,there is a need to increase thecapital to further strengthen thecapital adequacy ratio, CanaraBank said in its annul report for

2019-20. The bank will seek sharehold-ers’ nod at the annual generalmeeting to be held on August10 through audio/visual meansin view of the coronaviruspandemic. The Bengaluru-headquartered lender, whichamalgamated Syndicate Bankinto itself with effect fromApril 1, 2020, has �1,030.23crore as equity capital cur-rently and its capital adequacyratio stood at 13.65% as onMarch 31, 2020, well above theregulatory requirement of10.875%. PTI�� ������� ,.�V5�&�)

This is news of relief for8,200 (Eight thousand and

two hundred) people makingillegal constructions on thereverse of the map. The miti-gation plan is going to startfrom early July 21, 2020 to reg-ularise construction as opposedto the map. Under this scheme,illegal construction againstmaps made before 15 July 2020can be regularized by payingmitigation fee. GhaziabadDevelopment Authority (GDA)has announced to start thescheme from July 21.

GDA Vice PresidentKanchan Verma told that thereare about 8200 cases related tocompounding and setback inthe GDA, so after the intro-duction of this new schememany different residential andcommercial schemes are alsolikely to get applications. Manynew GDA schemes will also beincluded in this plan.

She told that The UttarPradesh government hasordered the GhaziabadDevelopment Authority toimplement the mitigation plan2020 within 1 week.

The process of its applica-tion will start from July 21 andapplications will be made tolegalize illegal construction asopposed to maps in the schemefor the next 6 months.

The last date of applicationhas been kept 20 January 2021,the new scheme has given thepeople a chance to legalize theconstruction along with payingless fines.

Authority has brought mit-igation plan after 17 years

The Ghaziabad

Development Authority is veryexcited about the scheme. It ishoped that the GDA, which isstruggling with the economiccrisis, will now get a chance tofill the bag.

According to the data,more than 15 thousand appli-cations are estimated to bereceived by the GDA under thisscheme, from which the GDAwill receive revenue of crores ofrupees.

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Foreign portfolio investors(FPI) remained net sellers in

Indian markets in July so far asthey pulled out �9,015 crorefrom equities and debt securi-ties with the surging marketsproviding profit bookingopportunity amid concernsover rising cases of COVID-19.

According to depos-itories data, FPIs withdrew�6,058 crore from equities and�2,957 crore from the debtsegment on a net basis duringJuly 1-17.

The net outflow fromIndian markets stood at � 9,015crore during the period underreview.

The latest withdrawal hascome after investment of �24,053 crore by FPIs in domes-tic markets in June.

Himanshu Srivastava,associate director - managerresearch, Morningstar Indiasaid “The surge in markets hasbeen providing profit bookingopportunities to them.

In addition to that, manystates have also been imple-menting fresh lockdown mea-sure to curb rising coronaviruscases, thus fanning concernsthat growth in the domestic

economy could be pushed fur-ther ahead.” “Most emerg-ing markets barring SouthKorea witnessed FPI outflowsthis week,” Rusmik Oza, exec-utive vice president, head offundamental research at KotakSecurities stated.

“As the earningsseason proceeds we could wit-ness more volatility and high-er turnover in Indian markets.This coupled with peak valua-tions could lead to some kindof profit booking by FPIs.

The recent appreciation inrupee could also work in favourof FPIs when they are takingout money from India,” Ozaadded.

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India plans to store its crudeoil in US strategic petroleum

reserves for use not just duringemergencies but also for trad-ing to capture any price advan-tage, officials said.

India and the US on July17 signed a preliminary agree-ment for cooperating on emer-gency crude oil reserves,including the possibility ofIndia storing oil in the USemergency stockpile.“It is a good concept but comeswith a lot of riders,” a seniorGovernment official said.

For one, India will have topay a rental for hiring thestorages in the US. This rentalwill be on top of the interna-tional price for oil.

“The alternative is to buildour own strategic reserveswhich will involve huge capitalcost and will take a few yearsto construct. So the rental is asmall fee to pay to get imme-diate access to a strategicreserve,” the officialsaid.Strategic petroleumreserves in the US are built andmaintained by private compa-nies.

The oil stored in the USreserves can be used for thenation’s own needs or can betraded to capture price advan-tage, he said adding these twoscenarios work when oil pricesrise after India has bought andstored oil in US reserves.

“But if the prices fall, youwill book losses,” he said.

Also, if the sea route isobstructed, having a stockpilein the US will make no differ-ence to India’s energy securityas the country will not be ableto access them, he said. “It takesa month to ship oil from theUS.”

Storing oil in the US is akind of physical hedging and allhedging comes with a cost, hesaid. More importantly, storinglarge volumes involves payingupfront on purchase of crude

oil and companies will have toblock so much capital.

India had begun exploringthe possibility of storing oil inthe US a few months back butcouldn’t make much headwayas COVID-19 pummelleddemand, leading to excess oilaround the globe that filledevery inch of storage includingthose on ships.

Demand is returned but isless than pre-Covid levels.

In such a scenario, storingoil in the US would make a lotof sense if India were to hirea strategic facility maintainedby an American oil producer.

“The commercial deal canbe structured in such a waythat we support the US firm tokeep producing even whendemand falls, and in return getaccess to its storage,” the offi-cial said.

On July 17, India and USsigned a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) that willallow the US to begin sharingwith India the knowhow onestablishment of a strategicpetroleum reserve (SPR). Thepact also allows India toexplore the possibility of stor-ing its oil in US SPR, compris-ing underground caverns inTexas and Louisiana.

US President DonaldTrump in March ordered fill-ing the SPR to its full capacityof about 714 million barrels butCongress failed to fund a pur-chase.Speaking to reportersafter signing of the MoU, USEnergy Secretary DanBrouillette had stated that theIndia pact could mirror a

recent plan with Australia,which in April committed tospending about USD 60 millionto build an emergency oilstockpile, first by buying crudeto store in the US SPR.

Global oil prices fell steeplyearlier this year as shutdownsfrom the novel coronavirussapped demand, but have sta-bilised at around USD 43 a bar-rel

.”We are in an advancedstage of discussions for storingcrude oil US strategic petrole-um reserves to increase India’sstrategic oil stockpile,” OilMinister Dharmendra Pradhanhad said on Friday after co-chairing the second India-USStrategic Energy PartnershipMinisterial with Brouillette.

The US has 714 millionbarrels of oil storage capacity inits strategic petroleum reserve,the world’s largest supply ofemergency crude oil.

In comparison, India stores5.33 million tonnes (about 38million barrels) of crude oil inunderground storages at threelocations on the east and westcoast, hardly enough to meet its9.5 days needs.

The International EnergyAgency (IEA) prescribes itsmembers to have at least 90days of stock in the strategicreserves.

India has been looking toexpand the storage capacity byanother 6.5 million tonnes andis also exploring the possibili-ty of hiring storage in the USto stock some oil that can beused in times of extreme pricevolatility or supply disruption.

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Asurge in the deadly attacksby Baloch separatists in

Pakistan has increased the risksand costs of China’s ambitiousBelt and Road projects, includ-ing the CPEC, while its inter-ests at the strategic GwadarPort on the Arabian Sea arecaught up in the proxy warbetween Islamabad andTehran, according to a mediareport.

Security risks and costs ofthe USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) are rising amid a resur-gence of the deadly attacks byseparatists in the troubledBalochistan province, home tothe Chinese-operated GwadarPort, a report in Hong Kong-based South China MorningPost said on Saturday.The Beltand Road Initiative (BRI) aimsto link Southeast Asia, Central

Asia, the Gulf region, Africaand Europe with a network ofland and sea routes. The CPECis the flagship project ofPresident Xi Jinping’s ambitiousBRI.

In the third such attacksince May, militants opened fireon a patrolling paramilitaryconvoy in Panjgur district onTuesday, killing three soldiersand wounding eight others,including an army colonel.Militant ethnic Baloch factionshave also recently expandedtheir range of operations toadjoining Sindh province andits provincial capital Karachi,according to the report.Beijing’s stakes in Sindh are ashigh as they are in resoure-richBalochistan, it said.

China’s state-owned enter-prises run container terminalsat Karachi port and have invest-ed in nuclear and coal powerprojects established both under

the umbrella of the CPEC andin partnership with local cor-porations, it said.

On June 29, four militantswere killed by police com-mandos when they tried toshoot their way into theKarachi Stock Exchange, whichis 40 per cent owned by a con-sortium of three Chinesebourses.

“Baloch groups have notonly intensified their attacks butalso expanded the outreach oftheir terrorist violence beyondBalochistan, but it is hard topredict whether this trend willpersist,” Mohammad AmirRana, director of the PakistanInstitute for Peace Studies, anIslamabad-based think tank,told the Post. He saidBaloch insurgent factions hadhistorically preferred to conductlow-intensity attacks, whiletheir high-intensity attacks hadtended to come in waves last-

ing “only for a few weeks”.Rana said the CPEC pro-

jects and Chinese personnelremained well protected bythe dedicated 13,700-strongSpecial Security Division, ledby a two-star Pakistan Armygeneral, established in 2017.“Only low-intensity attackshave been reported around theCPEC project sites, but thefinancial cost of the security (toPakistan) is high,” hesaid.Beijing’s political risks arealso escalating because of arenewed wave of public angerin many parts of Balochistanagainst human rights abuses byPakistani troops deployed tocrush the low-intensity insur-gency in the province, thereport said.In June, AkhtarMengal, leader of theBalochistan National Party-Mengal, parted ways with theruling coalition led by PakistaniPrime Minister Imran Khan’s

party, citing the Government’sfailure to bring a halt to state-enforced disappearances.

In a subsequent interviewwith the BBC’s Urdu-languageservice, Mengal said more than1,500 Baloch had “disappeared”since Prime Minister Khantook office in 2018 and claimedthat he had personally securedthe release of nearly 500 peo-ple from the custody of thesecurity forces.

Because of the politicaland security situation inBalochistan, China’s CPECinvestments in the provincehave hitherto been limited tothe development of the GwadarPort and a road linking it to thecoastal highway to Karachi.The port is not yet fully oper-ational and only recently han-dled its Afghan transhipmentcargo. The city continues tosuffer severe power and watershortages, the report said.

New Delhi: With Canadaemerging as a home away fromhome for talents in India, VazirGroup, an immigration con-sultant with headquarters inDubai, has planned to openoffice in Delhi to ease immi-gration for investors and entre-preneurs. The Delhi office aims introduceaspiring individuals to theCanadian Foreign Worker pro-gram where individuals canmove to Canada in as early assix months and for a as little as50,000 dollars, said VrindaGupta of Vazir Group.

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The first set of 12 privatetrains will be introduced in

2023, followed by 45 more inthe next fiscal, according to aninitial timeline drawn by therailways which plans to roll outall 151 such train services by2027, officials said.

In a formal kick-start to itsplans to allow private entities tooperate passenger trains on itsnetwork, the railways earlierthis month invited proposals

from companies to run 151modern passenger trains on109 pairs of routes across thecountry. The project wouldentail a private sector invest-ment of about �30,000 crore.

As part of the plan for pri-vate trains, the railways hasplanned to introduce 12 trainsin 2022-23, 45 in 2023-2024, 50in 2025-26 and 44 more in thenext fiscal, taking the totalnumber of trains to 151 by theend of FY 2026-2027.

The request for qualifica-tion (RFQ), which was floatedon July 8, is likely to be finalisedby November, the financialbids will be opened by March,

2021 and selection of bidders isplanned by April 31, 2021,according to a timeline forintroduction of private pas-senger trains prepared by therailways.

Bidders quoting the high-est share in gross revenue shallbe awarded the project, officialssaid. “We have worked out aplan by which we hope tobegin private train operations.Tenders will be finalised byMarch 2021 and trains willoperate from March, 2023,” asenior official said.

The railways has said that70 per cent of the private trainswill be manufactured in India

which will be designed for amaximum speed of 160 kmph.There would be a reduction injourney time by around 10-15per cent at 130 kmph andaround 30 per cent at 160kmph. The running time takenby a train shall be comparableto or faster than the fastest trainof Indian Railways operating inthe respective route.

The private player will paythe railways fixed haulagecharges, energy charges as peractual consumption and a sharein gross revenue determinedthrough a transparent biddingprocess. The railways is expect-ed to receive total haulage

charges of around �3,000 croreper annum from operation ofthese 151 trains, they said.

These trains shall be oper-ated by the driver and guard ofIndian Railways. The operationand maintenance of these trainswould be governed by stan-dards and specifications andrequirements specified byIndian Railways. The operationof the trains by the private enti-ty shall conform to the key per-formance indicators like punc-tuality (95 per cent), reliabili-ty (not more than one failurefor one lakh km of travel),upkeep of trains and othernecessities.

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Aday after diesel priceswere increased to extend

the price gap vis-a-vis petrolin Delhi, oil marketing com-panies on Sunday decided tokeep the pump prices of thetwo petroleum productsunchanged.

Accordingly, diesel con-tinues to be priced at Rs81.52 per litre in the nation-al capital, while petrol main-tained steady levels at Rs80.43 a litre. Oil companieshad raised diesel prices by 17paisa on Saturday while keep-ing petrol prices unchanged.Petrol prices had maintainedthe same level of Rs 80.43 alitre since June 29 when itspump price rose marginallyby 5 paisa over the previousday’s price.

Unexpected rise in dieselprices despite slower demandhas put the transport sector at

a big disadvantage as risingfuel cost has further shrunkits margins. With the hikes indiesel prices, the gap betweenthe two auto fuels has furtherwidened in the national cap-ital. Last month, diesel pricesovertook that of petrol inDelhi, an unprecedenteddevelopment. Along with thecapital, petrol and dieselprices remained unchanged inother metro cities as well.

Oil companies begandaily revision of the two autofuels from June 7 after keep-ing the price unchanged for82 days during coronavirus-induced lockdown. Sincethen, petrol and diesel priceshave increased by Rs 9.50 andRs 11.50 per litre respective-ly.Last week, petrol and dieselprices remained unchangedfor four days before dieselprices were increased onSunday, Monday andWednesday.

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��������:�������33This incredibly funny Norwegian comedy series is

returning to Netflix with its third season. Jon IverHelgaker and Jonas Torgersen have returned to writeand direct the episodes. The series releases on Netflixon July 22.

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It’s based on Shakuntala Devi, who wrote a numberof books as well as texts about mathematics, puzzles, andastrology, including, The World of Homosexuals, the firststudy of homosexuality in India. The film, starring VidyaBalan, releases on Amazon Prime Video on July 31.

After a romantic sum-mer together, Noah is off toHarvard, and Elle headsback to high school for hersenior year and deal with herlong-distance relationship.Will the two get a happilyever after? Directed by VinceMarcello, the film’s part tworeleases on July 24 onNetflix.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasbrought and will continue to bringa number of changes in the setup

we have been functioning in for decades.It is now all set to take residential hous-ing to the next level. Future home-buy-ers are scouting for houses that have min-imal footprints of the Coronavirus andfear of other infections apart from beingaffordable, especially in the backdrop ofa faltering economy and job uncertainty.

The major requirements includegood spaces to maintain the distancingnorm. The need is to also work upon shel-ters that have climate-responsive design,efficient cooling systems, and solar ener-gy integration to save the cost as well asensure better health of the occupants.

Here is what some experts suggestabout what is going to be the new nor-mal for building homes.

Architect Ashok B Lal shares,“Especially, in a post-COVID world, theneed for adequate shelter homes willbecome much more important than weever thought simply because the need isto stay at home. Now, home will not justbe confined to being a residential placebut also be transformed into our partly-productive spaces. Therefore, comfort inthese zones have become even more sig-nificant.”

Providing a few must-follow plans forredesigning houses, he adds, “There arecertain things which are extremely impor-tant. For example, having a thermal com-ponent, shading the windows, insulatingthe walls with simple material, complete-ly insulating the roof so that the top flooris almost as good as the lower floor.”

The work from home concept isbecoming the next fulcrum for home-buying decisions, where the walk-to-workoption has held the longest sway, saysAnuj Puri, chairman, Anarock PropertyConsultants. He adds, “Millennials’ new-found preference for buying rather thanrenting homes are among the mostprominent new residential real estatetrends of the COVID-19 era.”

Though the Eco-Niwas Samhita(ENS) entails adherence to the EnergyConservation Building Code forResidential Buildings in 2018 for thebuilding and construction industry,aimed at taking care of much of the cli-mate change threats, challenges thrownupon by such viruses and other infectiousdiseases looming large in the wake ofuncertain weather conditions, these arenot implemented.

Launched by the Union Ministry ofPower and the Bureau of EnergyEfficiency (BEE), the ENS sets standards

for energy efficiency for residentialbuildings across the country. The codeclearly documents the minimum build-ing performance standards that need tobe put into place to limit heat gains in cli-mates where there is need for cooling andto limit heat loss in climates where thereis a requirement to stay warm.

According to the research and advi-sory firm, Greentech KnowledgeSolutions(GKS), the code also specifiesstandards for adequate natural ventilationand day-lighting potential.

Sameer Maithel, director of the GKS,suggests, “Over the past years, an increas-ing number of technical experts haveagreed that there is a dire need for main-stream concepts of energy-efficient build-ing design into the rapidly developing res-idential building sector in India and theENS makes this possible. The Part I of thecode, which was launched in 2018 on theNational Energy Conservation Day, dealsspecifically with the building envelope.”

However, not many who are planningand making buildings might be aware ofhow the building envelope can bedesigned to keep a home thermally com-fortable. He adds, “Unfortunately, thetrend over the past several years inIndia has been to use external energysources, such as air conditioners androom heaters to keep houses thermallycomfortable, instead of relying on thepotential of the building design itself toachieve this.”

So much so that in India, residentialbuildings contribute to 75 per cent of theoverall energy consumption. “In fact, ashousehold income increases, the use ofexternal cooling and heating devices inhomes is only rising. With these realitiesin mind, an energy conversation code forresidential buildings becomes all the moreimperative,” says Maithel.

Well, COVID-19 is going to expeditethis urgency.

Currently, Andhra Pradesh, Gujaratand Rajasthan are already in collabora-tion with Indo-Swiss Building EnergyEfficiency Project (BEEP) and BEE to

provide technical support for the imple-mentation of energy efficiency in build-ings and specifically for the implemen-tation of the ENS in their various hous-ing projects for economically weaker sec-tions.

Sameer points out that homeownersand those who live in these houses willgreatly reap the benefits of the ENS. It isestimated that if the design of a residen-tial building complies with the code, theinhabitants can save on their electricitybills by up to 20 per cent.

He explained that economicallyweaker groups, who are usually forced toliving in houses that are unreasonably hotor cold, can live in a thermally comfort-able house, by ensuring that the afford-able and EWS housing schemes complywith this code, explains Maithel.Thankfully, the concept is now sinkingamong stakeholders too.

Furthermore, UNDP advisor RakeshKumar says that in the wake of COVID-19, the debates have been going onaround how to ensure that the mega hous-ing project proposed in Odisha is safe andhealthy for the beneficiaries in the back-

drop of health concerns arising out of thepandemic. This is just the beginning, pri-vate sector needs to be encouraged to takesteps in the right direction.

(The writer is the SpecialCorrespondent with The Pioneer. Thearticle has been published as part ofCMS-BEEP Media Fellowship Program.)

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Ever wondered what it wouldbe like to travel Earth’s most

extreme environments atop thehighest peak in the world —Mount Everest? The NationalGeographic climbed the peak toinvestigate, observe and delivera ground-breaking story despiteits risks.

With support from explorers,scientists, photographers andfilmmakers, the team ventured tothe peak giving their viewers achance to deep dive into themountain’s unique historythrough the documentary titledExpedition Everest.

The documen-tary show-cases thejourneyof at e a mo finterna-t i o n a lscientists,

climbers and storytellers to thetop of the Mount Everest toconduct the most comprehen-sive, single scientific expeditionin the Everest history. Since1933, when the magazine pub-lished a story about flying overthe mountain for the first time,to Society’s first grant in theregion in 1948, to the channel’svery first TV broadcast in 1965,which featured footage shot fromEverest for the first time, theiryellow border has explored themountain with a new dimensionthis time.

The film, narrated by actorTate Donovan,

captures cli-m a t e

research that is critical to under-standing changes facing themountain and its glaciers. Italso highlights threats thesechanges pose to the communitiesthat live downstream. It capturesthe ‘behind the scenes’ the expe-dition team faced and reveals thehigh stakes and motivations ofthose who risk their lives to dis-cover the secrets of Everest.

The documentary also shedslight on the challenges faced bythe team, with members fromeight countries as they trek high-er up the mountain, conductingvaluable research along the waycovering valleys that surroundEverest, Everest Base Camp,Khumbu Icefall, Everest’s SouthCol and the death zone.

Produced by NationalGeographic Studios, withChristine Weber serving asexecutive producer, KatieBauer Murdock as producerand Katherine Chivers asassociate producer, the docu-mentary also point out athow such expeditions play a

vital role for mountain sys-tems like Everest in pro-

viding water resourcesto nearly a quarter of

the world’s population.

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The massive devastation, caused by recentheavy rains in many parts of the country in the

last few days was indeed a grave tragedy, in respectof destruction of human habitats and human life.However, it would be wrong to put all the blameon nature, for there had been enough time duringwhich some safety measures could have been takenby the concerned authorities. Looking at the mon-soon patterns of last few years, and with latest tech-nologies like doppler radars which are extremelyhelpful in rainfall prediction accuracy, it should nothave been difficult to understand advance noticeor warnings by nature.

Now, if despite of numerous repeated calls, wedo not care to respond, the fault lies not with naturebut with us. Isn’t it ? It has been giving us alarmsto which we did not care to respond. So, laws ofnature took their time and then the tragedy, callit calamity or catastrophe, occurred. When humanbeings work for blasting a rock or any other thingthat might be a danger for the humans, they alsogive verbal warning. They raise their voice to a highpitch and then repeat the warning a number oftimes whereas, in this case, nature had been moreconsiderate andhad warned us ahundred times ormore. If after get-ting repeatedwarnings, a per-son does not takesafety measures,then the responsi-bility lies on thatperson.

So, it is, per-haps our careless-ness, laziness,indecisiveness,lack of under-standing andjudgement thathas led to thistragedy of immense dimensions. Perhaps, it wasa bit of all these. An inauspicious combination ofall these caused loss of life and property on a gigan-tic scale. Would it then be wrong to conclude fromthis that there is some grave deficiency in our devel-opment as we are unable to understand and assessa situation properly? Well, not only this, we are noteven taking adequate and timely action to co-oper-ate with nature. Our human mind is defiled, pol-luted and clouded as we cannot see the necessarysigns in time. Many of our abilities are not awak-ened and lie burried under our negative thoughts,which blur our vision or blindfold our inner eye.

Also, could not those, who are rushing help inkind or cash, show their human sympathiesbefore the tragedy? If all these countries, people,institutions and agencies who show their generousside during such calamity, had done even a frac-tion of the generosity before the sad event tookplace, many lives could have been saved. This isnot to say that acts of generosity, done now, haveno meaning; indeed these are invaluable even nowand are welcome and worthy of appreciation. Butthe point is, whether in the near future, we wouldco-operate with sections of humanity as parts ofthe human family, before any foreseeable calami-ty takes place? This would thus help the mankindto remain unaffected by these acts of nature. Itsupon each one of us to decide this.

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Earlier this year, in April, asAsia’s largest slum reported

its first Corona positive case,everyone had predicted that itmight soon become one of thelargest containment zones as itwas already an overpopulatedarea. By July, contrary to all thepredictions and surprisingly so,reports confirmed that Dharaviwas able to effectively control thespread. The efforts of each oneinvolved in the massive declinein the number of cases must berecognised and appreciated. Onesuch group is that of theCommunity Health Volunteers(CHV) who have led the waragainst COVID-19 from thefront — not just in Dharavi butin several other urban slums ofthe city. Before turning intoCorona warriors, they wereresponsible for reaching out tothousands of citizens on a dailybasis to safeguard their health.

Savita Kate, Vidya Sawant,Mitali Desai, Sukanya More,Asha Fule, Sarita Ghade, BelaParab and other extraordinarywomen form the CHV groupthat has been working in theseslums for years. Presently, thesefrontline workers have beenentrusted with COVID-19responsibilities like identificationof symptomatic persons fromtheir zone, encouraging them togo for test and if the test resultis positive, reporting it. They alsoprovide assistance in admittingthe positive persons to a hospi-tal.

Of the 227 administrative

wards of Mumbai, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) runs healthposts in 183 wards. These wardsare largely situated withinimpoverished neighbourhoodsand are designed to provide pri-mary and preventive healthcareto millions of urban poor. CHVsform the backbone of thesehealth posts — they are theones who go into the communi-ty, tirelessly engaging with fam-ilies on a daily basis.

Be it couples in need offamily planning advice or preg-nant women who require con-stant care and support or littleones whose future well-beingdepends on timely immunisa-tion, these women work seam-lessly not just with the peoplethey serve but also doctors — thePublic Health Nurse (PHN) andthe Auxiliary Nurse Midwife(ANM) at the health posts.

Since 1990, the BMC hasbeen hiring CHVs who general-ly hail from the areas they serve.One CHV caters to 1,200 house-holds, covering 60 householdsdaily. The fact that they aretemporary staff without anyemployee benefits hasn’t everdeterred them from performingtheir duties. However, the waythey are contributing to containthe pandemic in most vulnera-ble areas certainly makes themworthy of every such benefit.

Ranked the lowest in over-all human development indicesby a 2015 Tata Institute of SocialSciences’ (TISS) report, resi-

dents of Chembur-Govandi in Mward of BMC live in squalor,next to the city’s largest dump-ing ground. The ward was alsodeclared as a hotspot of COVIDin early May this year. However,due to the dedicated efforts of allthe Corona warriors like doctor,sanitary inspector, administra-tive officer and CHV, M ward iswitnessing a rapid drop in casesafter an aggressive contact trac-ing was carried out.

Savita lists the tasks assigned

to them, “The BMC has trainedus to conduct immunisationdrives, provide counselling onfamily planning methods, tack-le diseases like tuberculosis (TB),rubella, diabetes and cancer,and also look after the expectantwomen in our neighbourhoods.It’s not an easy job but we do itfor our people and now we haveto tackle Coronavirus in thehigh-risk wards of Mumbai.”

“Being responsible for ensur-ing proper completion of the

immunisation schedule for eachchild and pregnant woman inour area, we cannot stop theimmunisation drives and have tocarry on with it in these difficulttimes. If health of people livingin these slums is compromised,then they will most likely getinfected with the Coronavirus.Immunisation will give them thecapacity to fight the diseases,”shared Vidya Sawant, anotheractive CHV.

Counselling couples on fam-ily planning is another difficultmission entrusted to the CHVsand in this period of the pan-demic, it has become problem-atic to speak about birth controlmethods. The women unani-mously declare that it is a sensi-tive matter and no amount offamiliarity makes it an easy sub-ject of discussion. Corona hasalready impoverished the slumdwellers — pregnancies andchildbirth in these hard timeswill only add up to their woes.

Apart from immunisationand contraception, they have toassist in ensuring institutionaldeliveries of not just normalpregnancies but also the high-risk cases. Obviously, this task

holds even more importanceduring this pandemic.

CHVs Sarita and Belabelieve that it is due to the rap-port that they share with thefamilies, BMC’s Public HealthDepartment decided to seektheir help in identifying symp-tomatic persons from the slumareas. “Our colleagues fromDharavi were on the fore front incontaining the outbreak.Community spread in Dharaviwould have been disastrous toMumbai. BMC got into actionand a team of doctors, sanitaryinspector and two CHVsmopped up the areas withinDharavi and put a stop to anypossible community spread,”they added.

The burden of the majorityof the on-ground tasks pertain-ing COVID-19 falls squarely onthe CHVs. For all their effortsthese women make a meagre�5,000 per month. However,since the outbreak of Corona,they are being paid an allowanceof �300 per day. For risking theirlives and helping the most mar-ginalised communities dedicat-edly, they expect a fair compen-sation. Despite the struggles,this band of CHVs continues tobe driven by a sense of commu-nity, compassion and cama-raderie and the pandemic hasproved it once again. The slumsof Mumbai were able to containthe virus, thanks to the effortsput in by the CHVs and the restof the health functionaries.

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It has been months now that the pan-demic is upon us. The rising numberof cases is indeed unsettling, especial-

ly when we are not even supposed toshare or lend a shoulder despite the stress— no warm hugs or comforting strokes.And caution is of paramount impor-tance. For the first time ever, humanitystands physically distant and yet connect-ed through hope.

This situation has triggered severaltransformations into human civilisation,which are now going to be more strong-ly embedded in our lifestyles. The pan-demic has also exposed the vulnerabil-ities of our healthcare system and the cri-sis has offered opportunities to transformour healthcare industry. At a time whenthere’s no cure or vaccine to the deadlyvirus, the pandemic has elevated theimportance and acceptance of preventivehealthcare. In March 2020, when the gov-ernment started educating people aboutthe preventive measures to combatCOVID-19, the people responded pos-itively to the hygiene practices. Hand-washing kiosks came up at public placesin many states and the public was seenmaking use of it. This is remarkable fora country where only 60 per cent ofhouses have access to soap and water. Allthis shows that people are ready for pre-ventive healthcare.

The rapid pace of social and techno-logical changes have led to adverse

lifestyle choices, resulting in deteriorat-ing well-being among individuals.Incidences of various lifestyle diseases(co-morbidities) such as diabetes, asth-ma, hypertension, heart diseases and oth-ers are on the rise. However, the adage,‘prevention is better than cure’ is nowwell etched into the minds of consumersas they have now started treating healthmore seriously. The consumers haverealised that most of these health riskscan considerably be reduced throughpreventive care. We have already seenconsumers adopting healthy lifestyles,eating home-cooked food, practicingsleep hygiene, opting health supplementsand doing yoga and physical exercises tostay fit.

For years now preventive healthcarewas by and large losing out the attentionit deserved. But recently, the adoption ofinnovations that can reduce or eliminatehospital stays have picked up pace. Thetrend is leading to increasing adoptionof healthy lifestyle choices, tele-healthand self-monitoring via POCT devicesand by going for preventive care check-ups. Like the saying goes, a stitch in timesaves nine; going for preventive or diag-nostic care check-ups helps in detectingdiseases in early stages and identifying

nutritional and other deficiencies. It helpsin treating the diseases with ease andwithout impacting the health of thepatient. Diagnostic care also helps inidentifying deficiencies in the body andhelps the patient adopt relevant lifestylechanges. Along with that, early diagno-sis and prevention of disease and itssymptoms may reduce the burden oninpatient/outpatient care, medicationsand rehabilitation. More people must optfor regular or annual testing and fullbody check-ups, and they should updatethemselves about what’s happeninginside their bodies. A preventive test islike a report card which tells an individ-ual how he/she has performed. So while,you are taking all those supplements andlifestyle choices, it’s important to knowhow your body is reacting to it.

Today, there’s also a huge focustowards immunity; the stress on boost-ing immunity has never been stronger.It is a known fact that individuals whoare a bit low on immunity have areduced ability to fight infections andother diseases. This may be caused bycertain chronic diseases or conditions,such as anemia, heart diseases, lung dis-eases, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hyperten-sion, malnutrition, and certain genetic

disorders. An infected person with suchpre-existing disease(s) is known to carryco-morbidities. Patients with immune-compromised state and/or co-morbidi-ty are vulnerable to a higher risk of lifethreatening infections. A methodologi-cal assessment of a patient’s immune sta-tus can assist both the patient and doc-tor to estimate his/her risk of infection,its outcome and next course of actionsfor the betterment.

Indeed, a body needs exercise toretain functionality and fitness. At thesame time, it would need proper nutri-tional foundation to have good healthand a strong immune system. And theonly way to know what’s lacking and tounderstand whether the diet regime isactually benefitting is to undergo rele-vant diagnostic testing. As India unlocksitself in phases, keeping a healthyimmune system can help prevent orreduce risks of infections or diseases.

As consumers are now movingtowards healthier choices, by avoidingoutside food, learning which macro ormicro nutrients are lacking in their bod-ies is the best way to replenish them.While testing is definitely going to playa critical role in delivering insightsabout the body, its immunity and its

health, the role of doctors will alwaysremain pivotal to the patients.Understanding and interpreting thereports correctly is a doctor’s forte. Adoctor understands the health require-ments of an individual and can appro-priately consider medical history of thepatient before setting the course ofaction for further improvement on thebasis of the diagnosis made.

The diagnostic efforts to counterCOVID-19 have already aroused muchinterest and spread awareness aboutpreventive testing and its importance.The effort needs to educate people fur-ther so that India witnesses a shift fromcurative care to preventive care, fromtreatment to health and well being.

Just like airbags in the car is a pre-ventive step to prevent a larger damagethat can cost life, preventive care andcheck-ups should be imperative for cit-izens and ways and means need to bedevised to make it accessible for oneand all. Only with a preventive mind-set can we look at a country whichspends lesser on health because its peo-ple are by and large leading a healthylife.

(The writer is the Director-Marketing, SRL Diagnostics.)

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Mikel Arteta hailedArsenal’s “great chem-istry” as the secret to

their shock 2-0 win overManchester City as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired hisclub to a record 21st FA Cup final.

Gunners boss Arteta outwit-ted City manager Pep Guardiolawith an astute counter-attackingscheme and Aubameyang struckin each half as Arsenal executedthe plan to perfection.

Arsenal will now faceChelsea in the final at Wembleyon August 1 after FrankLampard’s side beat ManchesterUnited 3-1 in the other semifi-nal on Sunday.

Arteta captained Arsenal toFA Cup triumph six years agoand, in his first season in chargeof the north London club,the Spaniard has ledthem back to the finalof a competition theylast won in 2017.

“We have greatchemistry, they reallybelieve in what we aretrying to do and you cansense that. They deserve it,”Arteta said.

“To beat the best you need totake your opportunities andwhen you have to defend youhave to put everybody on the line.I’m extremely happy and proudof our players, but it’s very sad wecannot enjoy this moment withour fans.”

Just days after beatingPremier League championsLiverpool, Arsenal offered furtherevidence that Arteta could be theman to restore them to the glorydays of the Arsene Wenger era.

Arsenal had lost their previ-ous seven meetings with City,

including a 3-0 drubbing in theirfirst game after the coronavirushiatus. But, thanks to Arteta’smasterstroke, Arsenal handed

Guardiola’s side a first Wembleydefeat in their last 10 visits.

“We’ve had an incredibleweek to beat the best two teams

in Europe. It doesn’t happenevery day,” Arteta said. “I don’tcare who plays, I can trust them.We made changes and everyone

was ready.”City, unbeaten in their pre-

vious 22 domestic cup ties, werewell short of their best andGuardiola had no excuses.

“We didn’t play good. Theonly regret is not to lose the game,that can happen, but it is that wedid not play the first half like weplay the second,” Guardiola saidafter City mustered just one shoton target, their fewest since 2018against Liverpool in theChampions League.

ROPE-A-DOPE PLANArteta knows City well after

his time as Guardiola’s assistantand he set out to exploit theirweakness against counter attacks,using Aubameyang and NicolasPepe to get behind City’s attack-ing full-backs Kyle Walker andBenjamin Mendy.

Aubameyang made thempay in the 19th minute. At the cli-max of an 18-pass move, Pepe’sdeep cross caught Walker dozingand Aubameyang eluded him toslide a fine finish off the far postfrom a tight angle.

It was the kind of incisive,imaginative attack that City usu-ally torment Arsenal with, but foronce it was the men in red cele-brating. The Gabon striker’s 24thgoal of the season was a reminderwhy Arsenal are so desperate toget him to sign a contract exten-sion.

Defending deep, Arsenalwere putting their bodies in theway of everything to keep City atbay. Arteta’s rope-a-dope planbrought a rich reward in the 71stminute. City left themselves openat the back and Aubameyang beatthe offside trap as he acceleratedonto Kieran Tierney’s sublimepass before slotting underEderson.

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AC Milan continued theirfine form since the return

from lockdown extending theirunbeaten run to eight games,including six wins, with a 5-1success over Bologna to movesixth and into the EuropaLeague places.

Alexis Saelemaekers scoredhis first Milan goal after tenminutes with HakanCalhanoglu adding a secondafter 24 minutes. Japanesedefender TakehiroTomiyasu gave Bolognahope, firing in for justoutside the box for hisfirst Serie A goal justbefore the break.

But Calhanoglu setup Ismael Bennacer for thethird just after the break with

Ante Rebic grabbed thefourth, three minutes beforethe hour mark with DavideCalabria adding a fifth ininjury time. Milan move

three points ahead of Napoliwho host Udinese and within apoint of Roma.

�������� �46)46

Tottenham put a serious dent in LeicesterCity’s Champions League hopes as their

late-season resurgence under Jose Mourinhocontinued, Harry Kane scoring twice in a 3-0 win on Sunday.

Spurs climbed above Wolves into sixthplace in the table as they coasted to a fourthsuccessive home triumph in the PremierLeague, their best run since moving into theTottenham Hotspur Stadium.

After a brace away at Newcastle Unitedon Wednesday, Kane’s clinical finishing epit-omised a ruthless performance fromMourinho’s side, who exposed opponents leftshorthanded at the back due to injuries andsuspension.

While the hosts are peaking towards thedelayed conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign,Leicester are in danger of dropping outof the top four at the wrong time.

The Foxes remain fourth for now ongoal difference but have played a gamemore than nearest rivals ManchesterUnited — their opponents in thefinal round of fixtures.

Brendan Rodgers’ depleted teamfell behind in unfortunate circum-stances; Son Heung-min’s right-footed shotwas heading wide of the target before takinga deflection off James Justin to wrong-footKasper Schmeichel.

The visitors responded well to the earlysetback but only had themselves to blame forconceding again in the 37th minute, careless-ly caught short of numbers as Spurs counteredquickly after dealing with a corner.

Lucas Moura’s throughball allowed Kaneto steer a left-footed shot across the advanc-ing Schmeichel and into the net.

The England striker used his right to add

another before the half-time interval, sublime-ly curling home as Leicester failed to closedown the space once he cut inside to open

up a shooting opportunity. An offside flag denied Kane a poten-

tial hat-trick but Spurs were able to coastthrough the second half with few con-cerns. In contrast, Rodgers andLeicester have plenty to ponder afterthis chastening defeat in the capital.

FOXES FADING DOWN THE STRETCHAn eighth successive away game without

a win leaves Leicester waiting to see wherethey sit by kick-off time against United, whocan climb above them if they avoid defeat toWest Ham at Old Trafford in midweek.

Rodgers has been hampered badly by keyabsences down the stretch, while a creakingdefence minus full-back duo Ricardo Pereiraand Ben Chilwell has now conceded sevengoals in their last two road trips. Home com-forts will be most welcome next weekend, butit could well be win or bust at the King PowerStadium.

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He has played just one Testagainst India but Australian

swift-riser Marnus Labuschagne isquite confident of “staying a stepahead” of the world-class attackcome December even thoughJasprit Bumrah is “hard to get past”.

A rookie Labuschagne hadplayed one Test against India inSydney during the 2018-19 seriesand the eagerly-awaited four-matchseries in December will be an acidtest for the fast-rising batsman afterhis stellar initiation to longest for-mat of the game. “They are all goodbowlers but it is hard to get pastJasprit Bumrah,” the 26-year-oldsaid from Brisbane.

“He has the ability to consis-tently bowl around 140 kmph andswing the ball when conditions aresuitable. He is also able to angle the

ball back in at the stumps.“You always want to test your-

self against the best. Jasprit isprobably the leader of that attack,”said Labuschagne, who averagesover 63 after 14 Tests with fourhundreds and seven half centuries.

Labuschagne also feels thatIshant Sharma, in the past twoyears, has been phenomenal.

“Ishant has been very goodduring the last couple of years.Coming over here and angling theball back into right handers, thatwould be a good challenge for usalso,” said one of the most talkedabout young players in worldcricket right now.

The second season is alwaystough for any player as the oppo-sition tends to have a better graspof a player’s game and Labuschagneunderstands that.

“In terms of a great first year,

it was an amazing summer andhopefully, I can better that this time.Hopefully, against a side like India,testing yourself against one of thebest bowling attacks in world crick-et at the moment,” he said.

Having played a few ODIsagainst India and a Test match dur-ing the last series, the right-handerfeels he won’t be short of confidenceduring the December-Januaryseries.

“I have played one Test againstIndia in Sydney. I have a bit of expe-rience of facing their attack in thatTest and later when I came to Indiafor white-ball series,” he said.

“Naturally, when you do well,then people start picking yourgame, working on how you play. So,I have to make sure that I under-stand my game well, so whenIndian bowlers come at me, I haveto ensure that I am one step ahead.”

Budapest: Formula One cham-pion Lewis Hamilton won theHungarian Grand Prix for theeighth time to equal MichaelSchumacher’s single-venuerecord and take the champi-onship lead on Sunday.

Hamilton’s latest victoryfrom pole position was as com-fortable as the nearly 9-secondmargin over second-place MaxVerstappen suggested. TheBritish driver’s 86th GP winmoved him just five behind theGerman great Schumacher’s F1record of 91.

Schumacher won the FrenchGP eight times when it was heldat Magny-Cours. Hamilton firstwon here in 2007 and his firstsuccess with Mercedes also cameat the Hungaroring track in2013, the year after replacingSchumacher on the Silver Arrowsteam.

Verstappen drove superbly tohold off Hamilton’s Mercedesteammate Valtteri Bottas, whofinished less than one secondbehind him in third to relinquishthe championship lead after threeraces.

Stroll placed fourth ahead ofRed Bull’s Alexander Albon,with Vettel sixth and Leclerc outof the points in 11th. AP

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West Indies collapsed from 227-4 attea to 287 all out in the final ses-

sion on Day 4, narrowly avoiding hav-ing to follow on in the second Testagainst England on Sunday.

England was 37-2 in its secondinnings at stumps with a lead of 219runs. Kemar Roach (2-14) claimed bothwickets as the West Indies pacer bowledpromoted opener Jos Buttler (0) andZak Crawley (11). Ben Stokes, whoopened in a Test match for the first timeas England sought quick runs, is on 16and Joe Root on 8.

Although not without any danger,an early declaration is expected Mondayfor England to have any chance of win-ning the three-Test series.

West Indies took the opener by fourwickets in Southampton, the first Testto be played since the global coronavirusoutbreak.

Half-centuries by Kraigg Brathwaite(75) and Shamarh Brooks (68) had keptEngland at bay until the evening session.The game moved England’s way whenStuart Broad trapped Brooks leg beforewicket, bowled Jermaine Blackwood (0)and claimed Shane Dowrich (0) inanother lbw dismissal as part of a fierynew ball spell.

Fast-medium Chris Woakesclaimed the last three wickets, startingwith West Indies captain Jason Holder(2). He was caught by his England coun-terpart Root as West Indies slumped to260-8 in its first innings, still needing

10 runs to avoid the follow on afterEngland’s 469-9 declared.

But Roston Chase (51) hit SamCurran (2-70) for a couple of bound-aries to avoid his team having to followon before he was the ninth batter out,

leg before to Woakes.Broad finished with 3-66 and

Woakes 3-42. England, seeking quick wickets to

revive its hopes of victory after theentire third day was washed out byrain, had broken through just threetimes in the day’s first two sessions.

Opener Brathwaite played a part inhalf-century stands with Alzarri Joseph(32), Shai Hope (25) and Brooks beforefalling caught and bowled to Stokes.

Curran’s off-cutter dismissed Hopefor 25 soon after lunch to give Englanda glimmer of hope it could take controlof the second session. It didn’t happenbecause of the application of Brathwaiteand Brooks.

The home team’s only breakthroughof the morning came when spinnerDom Bess had success with his secondball to remove Joseph.

West Indies had resumed on 32-1in reply to England’s first inningswhich saw 120 from opener DomSibley and 176 from Stokes.

But the weather on Saturday setEngland back and the West Indies bat-ting was solid until tea on Sunday.

Alava: Lionel Messi ran the show as dethronedLa Liga champions Barcelona took out their frus-trations on Deportivo Alaves, winning 5-0 at theMendizorroza.

Title winners in Spain for each of the past twoyears, Barcelona surrendered their crown to RealMadrid this season and there might be falloutfrom that setback still to come.

At Alaves, however, it was a case of Barcelonashowing they remain the most watchable team inSpain when they find their rhythm, a double fromMessi and further goals from Ansu Fati, LuisSuarez and Nelson Semedo doing the damage.

Barcelona had already hit the Alaves goalframe three times, through Riqui Puig, Arturo

Vidal and Messi, before they took a24th-minute lead through Fati.

Messi was the creator, with hiscross from the right having thesting slightly taken out of it by aminor deflection before droppingperfectly for Fati to crack into the

bottom-right corner.The second goal in the 34th

minute came when Barcelona burst atpace and located their talisman in the

centre of the penalty area.Puig dutifully laid the

ball into Messi’s path fromthe left, and after shim-

mying delightfully todeceive goalkeeperRoberto Jimenez, theArgentinian stroked

the ball home fromclose range.

Vidal had a headerwell saved by Roberto

from Messi’s terrific cross,before Suarez made it 3-0 inthe 44th minute, noddinghome after great link-upplay from Messi and JordiAlba.

Semedo replaced theinjured Clement Lengletearly in the second half andleft his defensive station tosurge into the Alaves boxand smash home a fourthgoal in the 57th minute.

Messi — who else? —guided home a cross fromAlba in the 75th minute,

and suddenly Barca wereall smiles. Agencies

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The inspiring success ofP V Sindhu and Saina

Nehwal at the global levelhas made badminton themost flourishing sport inIndia in the last decade,national chief coach PGopichand said on Sunday.

Gopichand said whenhe started coaching in 2004with 25 trainees, includingSindhu, Saina and KSrikkanth in Hyderabad,nobody thought Indiawould produce such worldclass players.

“I can say, this is thesport (badminton) whichhas developed the most inthe country in these past 10year or so. When I startedmy coaching career in 2004,there were just 10 goodcourts in Hyderabad butnow there are more than

1000,” he said.“There are so many

academies coming up inthe country, so many kidsfrom all over the countryand even abroad are com-ing to my academy to train,with even one of the par-ents opting to stay inHyderabad with the child.

So there is enormous inter-est in the sport now.”

Assuring that bad-minton’s future is alsobright, Gopichandexpressed hope that thecost of playing the sport willalso reduced in the comingyears.

“What has been hap-

pening in the past someyears (India producingworld beaters) is one side ofit and what is coming up infuture is another side. Ibelieve the sport is wellpoised (for further develop-ment) in the future.

“Moreover, the cost ofthe shuttle is going to godown in the next few yearswith the introduction ofsynthetic shuttle. Thatshould make the sportmore flourishing in theyears to come.”

Gopi said nobody inthe country thought that hewould be able to producethe Sainas and Sindhus ofthe world when he startedcoaching in 2004.

“I had 25 trainees atthat time, all young with 16years as the oldest one.Sindhu was the youngest.Nobody thought these

players would become theworld beaters of now.People thought our womenplayers will not be able tohit the shuttle so hard.”

Asked how he createdso many world’s best play-ers, Gopichand said, “I hada formula in mind which Icould not actually apply tomyself during my careerdue to injuries.

“When we grow upmost of us think of beingclassical players with toss-ing up the shuttle and play-ing the strokes. Players likeDinesh Khanna will havethis superb defensive play.But I had something differ-ent: jumping, runningeverywhere and stretchingyourself all over.

“I had many injuriesand I could not apply thisto me but I was able to dothat in my coaching.”

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