'Hijab not part of essential Islamic religious practice'

AwardUUddhhaammppuurr:: One Lt Genand two major generalswere among 117 soldiersawarded for gallantry anddistinguished service asthe Indian Army's north-ern command conductedan investiture ceremonyhere to honour its person-nel deployed in the unionterritories of Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh.General-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief LtGen Upendra Dwivedi pre-sented the awards to offi-cers, junior commissionedofficers, and other ranks.

MishapNNooiiddaa:: A toddler wascrushed to death by atruck on Tuesday whenshe strayed onto a roadwhile playing outside herhouse in Greater Noida,police here said. Policearrested the truck driverinvolved in the accident,that happened around 7.30am. The 13-month-oldbaby lived with her familyin a shanty in the Surajpurarea. She was playing out-side and strayed onto theroad where she got runover by the rear tyre of acanter truck.

Encounter SSrriinnaaggaarr:: A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant waskilled in an encounterwith security forces inPulwama district in southKashmir on Tuesday,police said. Based on aspecific input generatedby police regarding thepresence of a terrorist invillage Charsoo ofAwnatipora, a cordon andsearch operation waslaunched by the securityforces in the area, apolice spokesman said.

Services NNeeww DDeellhhii:: The DelhiTransport Corporation(DTC) on Tuesday saidbus services will startafter 2 pm on Holi. Allthe city bus services willremain suspended till 2pm on Friday in view theDulhendi festival, itadded. "In evening shift,bus services on someselected bus routes willbe operated as per traf-fic requirement. "Sincethe traffic load will bevery less on this day,only 898 buses will beoperated in the after-noon service," an officialstatement said.

ReviewNNeeww DDeellhhii:: The Congresson Tuesday held a meet-ing to review its poor per-formance in the UttarPradesh assembly polls,identify shortcomingsand chalk out futureplans for the politically-crucial state. AICC gener-al secretary in-charge ofUttar Pradesh PriyankaGandhi Vadra chaired thereview meeting whichwas attended by theparty's top state leaders.

CCC E N T R A Lhttps://www.facebook.com/centralchronicle

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BJP MP Saroj Pandey duringthe second part of BudgetSession of Parliament, in

New Delhi, Tuesday.

Bengaluru, Mar 15 (PTI):

The Karnataka HighCourt on Tuesday saidHijab was not part of theessential religious prac-tice in Islamic faith and ef-fectively upheld the banagainst the headscarf ineducational institutions inthe state by dismissingpleas from Muslim girlsseeking nod to wear it inclassrooms.

A three-judge full benchof the High Court said theprescription of school uni-form is only a reasonablerestriction, constitutional-ly permissible which thestudents cannot object to,even as the aggrieved peti-tioner Muslim girls saidthey would continue theirlegal battle and termedtoday's order as "unconsti-tutional."

The court suggested thepossibility of some 'un-seen hands' behind thehijab row to engineer so-cial unrest and disharmo-ny and expressed dismayover the issue being blownout of proportion duringthe academic term.

The row that broke out

at Udupi in January thisyear soon spread to otherparts of the state beforewitnessing national reper-cussions, with voices forand against the headscarf,even as as it resonated insome foreign countrieslike Pakistan.

After having reservedits order on Feb 25, thecourt on Tuesday dis-missed the batch of peti-tions from the Udupi-based Muslim girls who

sought its nod for wearinghijab inside classroomsand also said there was nomaterial placed on recordto prima facie show wear-ing the headscarf was anessential religious prac-tice. Chief Justice Ritu RajAwasthi-led bench said,"we are of the consideredopinion that wearing ofHijab by Muslim womendoes not form a part of es-sential religious practicein Islamic faith." The

other two judges in thepanel were JusticeKrishna S Dixit andJustice J M Khazi. Thebench also maintainedthat the government hasthe power to issue the im-pugned order datedFebruary 5, 2022, banningclothes which disturbequality, integrity andpublic order in schoolsand colleges, which theMuslim girls had chal-lenged in the High Court.It rejected the plea to initi-ate a disciplinary inquiry

against the college, itsprincipal and a teacher.

"In the above circum-stances, all these writ peti-tions being devoid of mer-its are liable to be and ac-cordingly are dismissed.In view of the dismissal ofthe writ petition, all thepending applications paleinto insignificance and areaccordingly disposed off,"the bench said in its order.The court also said thatschool uniform will ceaseto be a uniform if hijab isalso allowed.

Dantewada, Mar 15:

Two women Naxalswere gunned down in anencounter with securityforces in Dantewada dis-trict on Tuesday, a seniorofficial said.

The face-off took placein a forest near Gorli-Mutheli villages underKatekalyan police stationlimits, about 400 km fromthe state capital Raipur,when a joint team of secu-rity forces was out on asearch operation,Inspector General ofPolice (Bastar range)Sundarraj P told PTI.

There were specific in-puts about the presence ofcadres of Pedaras LOS(local organisation squad)and Katekalyan Area

Committee formations ofMaoists in the forests ofJiyakortha, Gorli, Mutheliand Danikortha villagesalong the border ofDantewada and Sukmadistricts. Hence, a jointsquad of personnel belong-ing to the District ReserveGuard (DRG) from Sukmaand Dantewada, CRPF's230th battalion andChhattisgarh ArmedForce (CRPF) was sent tothe area, he said.

At around 11.30 am, thegunfight broke out be-tween Gorli and Mutheli,''he said. After the exchangeof fire stopped, bodies oftwo women ultras alongwith two 12 bore rifles anda country made weaponwere recovered from thespot, he said.

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI):

The CRPF is mullingcreation of more nightlanding capable helipadsas air evacuation of its in-jured troops from remoteLeft Wing Extremism-af-fected areas remains asore point for the force.

The paramilitary forcehas deployed close to 40percent of its totalstrength (about 1.20 lakhpersonnel) for anti-Naxaloperations in variousstates with its troops andspecial jungle warfareunits like the CommandoBattalion for ResoluteAction (CoBRA) undertak-ing a "decisive battle" insome of the worst violenceaffected areas ofChhattisgarh, Jharkhandand Bihar.

The force, as per seniorofficers and documents ac-cessed by PTI, is establish-ing at least 30 new forwardoperating bases (FOB) indeep jungles ofChhattisgarh (southBastar) while about half-a-dozen such locations arebeing scouted inJharkhand and Bihar as

part of the strategy of"moving deep into theMaoist stronghold and hit-ting them hard."

The government hassaid the number of LeftWing Extremism (LWE)districts in the country hascome down from 126 to 70over the last few years andit is working to better thesenumbers.

"Helipads are a pre-req-uisite to meet any contin-gency while implementingthe government's strategyof going deep. During anencounter or IED blast inthese far flung areas, airevacuation of injuredtroops is the most impor-tant factor so that they canget quick medical care andlives are saved," a senior of-ficer deployed in the LWEoperations grid said.

Now, he adds, here is thecatch. "There have beennumerous instances whentroops undertaking an op-eration secured a landingsite near them but the heli-copters got delayed or pi-lots refused the sortie dueto a variety of technicalreasons. The 'golden hour'is lost," he said.


The martyrdom offreedom fighters includingBhagat Singh, Sukhdevand Rajguru is a fact andis not dependent on thepresumed presence or ab-sence of official records,the government said inLok Sabha on Tuesday, as-serting that their statureis far above any award,title or status.

In a written reply to aquestion from a member,Union Minister of Statefor Home Ajay KumarMishra said the heroeswho lost their lives duringthe freedom struggle havebecome martyrs for thecause of attaining the in-dependence of India.

Mishra said the martyr-dom of these freedom

fighters and their invalu-able contribution toIndia's freedom struggleform an inalienable part ofthe discourse of the coun-try's fight for freedom andis well known in India'shistory. "Their martyrdomin the supreme nationalcause of independence is afact and is not dependenton the presumed presenceor absence of officialrecords. Their stature isfar above any award ortitle or status accorded inthis regard," he said.

BJP MP JyotirmaySingh Mahato had putforth queries on whetherthe government has givenmartyr status to heroeslike Bhagat Singh,Rajguru, Sukhdev wholost their lives in the free-dom struggle.


The Centre onTuesday told theSupreme Court thatas on March 13 this

year, a total of over 180crore doses of COVID-19vaccines has been adminis-tered in the country and77,314 adverse events,which come to 0.004 percent, have been reported.

The government saidthat over 8.91 crore doses ofvaccine Covaxin has beenadministered in the agegroup of 15-18 years as onMarch 12 and the number ofadverse events followingimmunization (AEFI) re-ported are 1,739 minor, 81serious, and six severe.

The Centre told a bench

of Justices L N Rao and B RGavai that a substantialnumber of individuals inthe country are vaccinatedand the vaccines haveproved to be very effectiveand safe .

It said both vaccines --Covaxin and Covishield --generate antibodies and ad-verse events are also foundto be minimum.

Further the efficacy, safe-ty, and immunogenicity ofthese vaccines, which arerolled out after an elaborateprocedure by domain ex-perts, are also accepted byWorld Health Organisationwhich shows recognition by

global experts also,Solicitor General TusharMehta and AdditionalSolicitor GeneralAishwarya Bhati said intheir brief submission onbehalf of the Centre.

The court is hearing ar-guments on a plea seekingdirections for disclosure ofdata on clinical trials ofCOVID-19 vaccines andpost-jab cases. The argu-ments would continue onMarch 21.

As per the last availablefigure (i.e. as on March 13,2022), the total number ofdoses administered is180,13,23,547 (more than 180crores approx.) and thetotal number of adverseevents reported (includingminor, severe, and serious

cases) are 77,314 (0.004 percent), the Centre said.

Regarding vaccination ofminors, it said the questionof paediatric vaccinationwas taken up at a stagewhere more than substan-tial data on the safety andimmunogenicity ofCovaxin in adults was avail-able. It is relevant to notethat as on March 12, 2022,8,91,39,455 doses of Covaxinhave been administered inthe age group of 15-18 yearsage group. In this agegroup, the number ofAEFIs reported are 1,739(minor) (0.014 per cent), 81(serious) (0.0009 per cent]and 6 (severe) (0.00001 percent), the brief submis-sions of the two law offi-cers said.

Kyiv, Mar 15 (AP):

Russia's relentless bom-bardment of Ukraine edgedcloser to central Kyiv as a se-ries of strikes hit a residen-tial neighbourhood Tuesday,while the leaders of threeEuropean Union countriesplanned a bold visit toUkraine's capital and thenumber of people the warhas driven from the countrypassed 3 million.

Large explosions thun-dered across Kyiv beforedawn from what Ukrainianauthorities said were ar-tillery strikes, as Russia's as-sault on the city appeared to

become more systematic.Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy said

barrages hit four multi-storybuildings in the city andcaused dozens of deaths.


Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onTuesday praised 'TheKashmir Files', a moviebased on the plight of dis-placed Kashmiri Hindus,and slammed the "cam-paign to discredit" it bythose who claim to be theflagbearers of freedom ofexpression.

"They are shocked thatthe truth that they tried tosuppress is now comingout with the backing offacts and efforts," Modisaid in a ringing endorse-ment of the film that isnow at the centre of a po-litical slugfest with theCongress and some other

opposition parties object-ing to it. Addressing theBJP parliamentary partymeeting, Modi spoke atlength about the film andlamented that no attempthas been made till now tomake movies depicting thehorrors of Partition andEmergency as there havebeen continuous efforts to"'bury the truth".


The CBSE has re-evalu-ated the OMR sheets of theclass 10 Odia exam withthe correct answer key ap-proved by an expert com-mittee that benefitted over28,000 students, officialssaid on Tuesday.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education(CBSE) on Monday set upan expert committee toprobe into the alleged dis-crepancies in the question

and answer key of Odia'spaper of class 10 first termexamination.

"It was directed byUnion Education MinisterDharmendra Pradhanthat the dispute must beresolved within the next 24hours and students' griev-ance addressed immedi-ately and appropriately.

"Accordingly, with aview to ascertaining thefactual position, an expertcommittee was constitut-ed by CBSE for examiningthe discrepancies men-tioned in the representa-tion," the CBSE said in anofficial statement.

‘Hijab not part of essentialIslamic religious practice’

HIJAB BAN

Bengaluru: Commuters in front of the Karnataka High Court, in Bengaluru, Tuesday.

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging theKarnataka High Court’s verdict dismissing petitions seekingpermission to wear hijabs inside the classroom, news agencyPTI reported. Earlier in the day, a full bench of the KarnatakaHigh Court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslimsgirls from pre-university colleges in Udupi region of the stateseeking the right to wear hijabs or headscarves along with uni-forms inside classrooms. “We are of the considered opinion thatwearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not make up anessential religious practice in Islamic faith,” the full bench saidin the gist of its order that was read out by the Karnataka chiefjustice Ritu Raj Awasthi Tuesday morning.

‘HC verdict challenged in SC’

GOVT

IN L

S ‘Stature of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev,Rajguru far above any title’

Two women Naxals killed inencounter with security forces

The face-off took place in aforest near Gorli-Mutheli vil-lages under Katekalyanpolice station limits, about400 km from the state capitalRaipur, when a joint team ofsecurity forces was out on asearch operation. At around11.30 am, the gunfight brokeout between Gorli andMutheli. After the exchangeof fire stopped, bodies of twowomen ultras along with two12 bore rifles and a countrymade weapon were recov-ered from the spot. The offi-cial said prima facie, one ofthe deceased was identifiedas Pedaras LOS commanderManjula and the other one asGangi Punem, a protectionteam member.

About the incident

CRPF for additional helipads in LWE areas

MARTIAL ART DISPLAY

Army jawans perform Kalaripayattu, a martial art and dance form, during a cultural programme organisedas part of Southern Command Investiture Ceremony, at Yodhasthall, Dronachal base in Bhopal.

CEN

TRE

TO S

C ‘Over 180 cr doses of COVID vaccines administered’77,314 adverseevents reported

IN BENEFIT OF STUDENTS

CBSE re-evaluates Class 10 Odia OMR sheets

Over 20k studentsbenefit with revision

‘Kashmir Files’ has rattled ecosystemthat wanted to bury truth: PM Ukraine's capital barraged;

3 EU nation leaders to visit

Firefighters work in an apartment building damaged by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday.


After the party's drubbing inthe just-concluded Assemblypolls in five states, Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi hasasked its state unit chiefs inUttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,Goa, Punjab and Manipur toput in their papers.The development comes twodays after the CongressWorking Committee (CWC)discussed threadbare the rea-sons for the party's debacle inthese Assembly polls. TheCongress failed to win in anyof the states and lost Punjabto the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP)."Congress President, Smt.Sonia Gandhi has asked thePCC Presidents of Uttar

Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab,Goa and Manipur to put intheir resignations in order tofacilitate reorganisation ofPCCs," chief spokesperson ofthe party Randeep Surjewalasaid on Twitter.While Punjab Congress chiefNavjot Singh Sidhu wasappointed to the post only afew months ago, theUttarakhand unit president ofthe party, Ganesh Godiyal,and his Manipur counterpartLoken Singh were alsoappointed before theAssembly elections.Gandhi has also sought theresignation of GirishChodankar, who heads theGoa unit of the party, andUttar Pradesh PCC presidentAjay Kumar Lallu.

HEADS ROLL

Sonia asks PCC chiefsof 5 states to resign

PAGE 11

CENTRAL CHRONICLE, RAIPUR, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022

Bhilai, Mar 14:

Inter Steel plant Tabletennis tournament wasorganised at ISP,Burnpur from March 10-12, 2022 by Steel PlantSports Board (SPSB). LSSahu, AM (Projects) fromSAIL-Bhilai Steel Plantwas declared as theRunner up in the Intersteel Plant Table Tennistournament. Various

steel plants includingTata Steel compete inthis tournament. LSSahu fared well in thetournament and securedthe Runners up position.It is noteworthy that LSSahu has been felicitatedwith the Shaheed VinodChaubey award byC h h a t t i s g a r hGovernment for his con-tribution in the field ofTable Tennis.

L S Sahu wins Runner up position in SPSB Table

Tennis tournament

Bhilai, Mar 14:

The PG Department ofCommerce under theaegis of COMMZENITH &in association with itsMoU partner SitabaiArts Commerce &Science College,Akola (MH) celebrat-ed World ConsumerRights Day on March14, 2022. MaitreyiMathur Retired,District Judge andRetired President ofConsumer Forum, DurgChhattisgarh andAdvocate Dr Mayur NavinMalviya, Finance Trainer,Academician and Directorof Malviya Academy,Akola Maharashtra werethe resource persons onthe occasion. Dr Mayur

Malviya explained theminute details along withdifferent sections ofConsumer protection Actand its redressal. MaitreyMathur said that previ-ously there was no need ofthis Act, but in the presentscenario where moral val-ues and ethics are going

down, such type of act isrequired for protectingthe innocent consumersthat is why this act is en-acted in a very simple lan-guage. Principal InchargeDr Mariam Jacob gave hervirtual presence and con-gratulated the departmentfor the conduct of the pro-

gram. Convener & HeadDepartment of Commerceof St Thomas CollegeBhilai Dr Sapna Sharmawelcomed the partici-pants. The sessions were

very informative. DrNeelam Gandhi, AsstProf in Department ofCommerce conductedthe programme. Co-Converner Dr DeepaliShah of Sitabai Arts,Commerce & ScienceCollege, Akola

Maharashtra proposedthe Vote of thanks.Faculties and students ofboth the colleges attendedthe programme. TheFaculties of commerce de-partment of both the col-leges coordinated in mak-ing the programme a suc-cess.

‘World Consumer Rights Day’ celebrated at St Thomas College

Bhilai, Mar 15:

Women have becomeempowered in every fieldand they have achievedtheir position in the pub-lic domain. Earlier, therewere only one or twowomen governors of thestates, but today, eight outof 29 states have womenas their Governors. Thisshows the rapid pace ofwomen empowerment,said Governor AnusuiyaUikey while addressingthe ‘Atulya Shakti’ pro-gramme organized hereat Rungta College onTuesday. Governor addedthat women have beenleaders in every field. Adaughter of Bastar haseven succeeded in con-quering Mount Everest.Her success shows thatwomen are not left behindin any front. Sharing herexperiences, theGovernor said that re-cently she met sister offormer Chief SecretaryVivek Dhand, who is a dif-ferently abled 65-year-oldlady and is wheelchairbound for the past fewyears. Still her spirits arehigh and she paints very

beautiful paintings. “Shemade me feel that withtalent and skill, one canovercome every difficul-ty”, Uikey added.

Governor further saidthat Vedic shloka men-tions women as “ShaktiRoopen Sansthita”, thesymbol of power. Awoman is power in her-self and the only need isto recognize your powersand know your strengthsto achieve success inevery field. She furthersuggested the women toinspire and help otherwomen to move ahead.Women have immensepower and they just needmotivation and encour-agement. If they get en-couragement from thefamily or society, no onecan stop them. Referringto the women working inpublic domain, theGovernor said that allsuch women have madetheir place with hardwork. There is no field inwhich women cannot dis-play their skills.

Governor honored thewomen who are workingappreciably in variousfields. Chhattisgarh State

Commission for WomenChairman KiranmayeeNayak was present as spe-cial guest. Nayak saidthat she never felt thatthere is a need to empow-er women. Women havealways been empowered.They only need to be re-minded about their pow-ers. Once they realizetheir powers, they getcompletely engaged infulfilling their resolu-tions. All IndiaProfessional CongressPresident KshitijChandrakar said thatInternational Women’sDay should not be theonly occasion to appreci-ate the contributions ofwomen. He emphasizedon the need to have suchspirit and respect forwomen every day. Heurged all to give respect tothe women at home.Bhilai Mayor Neeraj Pal,DCC Chief MukeshChandrakar, SantoshRungta, IP Mishra andother dignitaries werepresent. Gunjan ChauhanChandel, Manish Soni,Amrita Singh and othermembers of the organiz-ing team were present.

Women symbolize power;make them realize

their strength: GovernorBhilai, Mar 15:

On the occasion ofInternational Women’sDay, Durg Police organizedwomen safety awarenessprogrammes “Abhivyakti”for the seven consecutivedays. Team of IUCAW of-fice and Raksha Team vis-ited rural areas, schools-colleges and other placesto spread awareness re-garding women safety,cyber frauds, domestic vio-lence, traffic rules, POCSOAct, eve-teasing, humantrafficking, health hy-giene, career counseling,etc. Efforts were made tomake the girl students andgeneral public awareabout these issues. Theweek long programmeconcluded at village Ruhilocated within the limits ofPatan Police Station. Atthe outset, children pre-sented the state song“Arpa Pairi KeDhar”. AdditionalSuperintendent of Police(Rural) Anant Sahuand Additional

Superintendent of Police(IUCAW) Meeta Pawar out-lined the activities con-ducted during the weeklong programme. Theyspread awareness aboutthe women safety app“Abhivyakti” among theguests, dignitaries, vil-lagers, children,Anganwadi workers,women and girls. She fur-ther informed that in allthe police station areas, ef-forts were made to makemore and more peopleaware by displaying pic-tures / videos on womensafety awareness topics.They were also detailed

about the Raksha Team,Abhivyakti App, Women’sHelpline Number9111801091, etc. The copsappealed the people to usesocial media carefully. Ifany female faces any prob-lem and do not want to re-veal her identity, she cansend her complaint as aWhatsApp message on thewomen helpline number.

Senior Superintendentof Police BN Meena partic-ipated in the Annaprashanevent. ASP Meeta Pawarand Police Officers also at-tended the baby showerprogramme of pregnantwomen. SSP BN Meena,

ASP (Rural) AnanthKumar Sahu, ASP (City)Sanjay Kumar Dhruv, ASP(IUCAW) Meeta Pawar,SDOP (Patan) DevanshRathore, DSP (PoliceLines) Nilesh Dwivedi, RIRamesh Kumar Chandra,Inspector ShivakantTiwari, Inspector VPrabha Rao, InspectorNavi Monika Pandey,Inspector Shruti Singh,Inspector C Tirkey,Subedar Tripti Singh, Sub-Inspector Sharda Banjare,Sub-Inspector MohaniSahu, Sub-Inspector VeenaSahu, Sub-InspectorKamla Yadav, Sub

Inspector SangeetaMishra, ASI HemlataDeshmukh, VillageSarpanch Bharti Jangde,women and child develop-ment officials andAnganwadi workers werepresent. Rangoli, Mehndi,chair race, tug of war andcuisine competitions wereheld. The winners werefeted with citations andprizes by the PoliceDepartment. Women whocooperated with the policedepartment were also hon-ored with citation and me-mento. Inspector NaviMonika Pandey proposedthe vote of thanks.

Women Safety Awareness Program ‘Abhivyakti’ concludes

Bhilai, Mar 15: ABamboo HandicraftTraining Camp was organ-ised by SAIL-BSP’s CSRdepartment along withChhattisgarh HandicraftDevelopment Board aspart of ‘Azadi ka AmritMahotsav’ celebrations forwomen empowerment.The programme was inau-gurated by Nisha Soni,CGM (Personnel) at

Dundera village. Twentywomen were shortlisted toattend this training pro-gramme. They are beingtrained for three monthsfrom March 10, 2022 toJune 09, 2022. The partici-pants will get a scholar-ship of Rs 3000/ permonth.

Nisha Soni, in her ad-dress stated that BSP’sCSR Department takes

concerted efforts towardswomen empowerment andmaking them self-suffi-cient. Women will be eco-nomically independentand become a source of in-come generation for theirfamilies through trainingprogrammes like this, shesaid.

At the outset, ShivrajanNair addressed the gather-ing. Sushil Kamde andVivek Mishra welcomedthe guests. The pro-gramme was compered byRajni Rajak. VivekChandrakar, Parshad,members of Village SelfHelp Group, Kapil Dev,Budhelal and other per-sons from CSR depart-ment were present on theoccasion.

Bamboo handicraft training camp organised

BBhhiillaaii,, MMaarr 1155:: ‘Nai Chetna’, a pro-gramme for women contractlabour was organised in Mills Zone1 for workers of Merchant Mill andWire Rod Mill the other day. Theobjective of the programme wasto create awareness about legalrights, welfare amenities, Safety,health, Cleanliness and preventionagainst Sexual harassment. AjayBedi, CGM (Merchant Mil & WireRod Mill) in his address said thatwomen contract labour should beaware about their legal rights,welfare amenities, Safety, healthwhich is being dealt with in thisprogramme. He urged them to pay

attention to the information beingshared in this forum. This pro-gramme is a step towards publicawareness and is a praiseworthyinitiative of Personnel depart-ment, he added. ShubhshreePrashant, SM (M & HS) impartedinformation on Health and Safety.Anupma Kumari stressed on theneed to adopt Safe working prac-tices at the workplace. The pro-gramme was coordinated byRajeev Kumar, DGM (P-Mills Zone1). Employees of Personneldepartment of Mills Zone 1 playeda significant role in making thisprogramme successful.

‘Nai Chetna’ for women contractworkers organised in Mills Zone 1

Bhilai, Mar 15:Employees belonging toElectrical Zone of SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant wereawarded with the ‘PaliShiromani ‘and ‘KarmShiromani Puraskar’ onMarch 07, 2022 for theirexemplary work perform-ance under the‘Shiromani PuraskarYojana’ of Bhilai SteelPlant. Pali ShiromaniAward winners ofElectrical zone includedMahadev Singh Rana,Deputy Manager, ETL,S Srikumar, CRME, andKarm Shiromani Awardwinners M Laxman Rao,

Sr Techn(E), MSDS-II,Somkant Jogi, Sr Techn,ERS, Bhusaram, MasterOCT, HME, GuruduttDeshpande, Techn (EF/BAttdt), DNW, DulendraKumar Sen, MasterTechn (Switch),Telecomm were felicitat-ed for their exemplarywork.

The norms of socialdistancing were followedin conducting and distri-bution of the prizes dur-ing the function in thewake of COVID-19 pan-demic. The function waspresided over byPrakash, GM

( T e l e c o m m ) .Departmental HODs USBarwal, GM (ETL), AKNayak , GM (CRME),Ravindra Kumar, GM(MSDS-II), PK Padhy, GM(ERS) and MA Siddique,GM (HME), BenseyGeorge, GM (DNW), HKSirmour, DGM(Telcomm) and KuntalBaghel, DGM (ERS) pre-sented the award winnerswith a certificate ofmerit, memento and ap-preciation letter for thespouse of the employee.

The programme wasconducted by PersonnelOffice of P&E Zone.

Employees of Electrical Zone feted withPali Shiromani & Karm Shiromani Award

Bhilai, Mar 15: ShriShankaracharya Collegeof PharmaceuticalSciences, Junwani cele-brated InternationalWomen’s Day under thetheme women’s health andhygiene. The convenor ofthe

programme, DrSwarnali Das Paul,Principal SSCPS said thatcreating awareness on fe-male diseases was themain motto of this event.Special guest Dr KirtiVerma Bhandari,Gynaecologist, SJMMaternity and diagnostic

centre, Bhilai and DrRekha Ratnani, HeadGynaecologist, SSIMS, de-livered lectures on thetheme. Jaya Mishra,President SGES delivereda beautiful talk on“Gender Equality Todayfor SustainableTomorrow” in which viceprincipal and guest ex-plored the ways in whichwomen and girls are lead-ing the charges on climatechange adaptation, mitiga-tion, a response aroundthe world, contributingpowerful leaders andchange makers to more

sustainable future for all.The first session was

conveyed by Dr KirtiVerma Bhandari in whichshe addressed the audi-ence regarding the healthissues related to womenand girls and taught howto maintain hygiene andlive a healthier life. Thesecond session was con-veyed by Dr RekhaRatnani. She emphasizedthe role of women in theirpersonal and professionallife and motivated to livean independent life. Morethan hundred participantswere present in this event.

IWD celebrated at Shri ShankaracharyaCollege of Pharmaceutical Sciences

To create awareness on women’s health and hygiene

Bhilai, Mar 15:

In a bid to bring aware-ness among public aboutcleanliness, Bhilai MayorNeeraj Pal has nominated20 cleanliness brand am-bassadors. The Mayor hasincluded people eminentpersons from all walks oflife including social work,journalism, industry, filmworld, medical world,business world, sportsand education. On the rec-ommendation of MLADevendra Yadav, NeerajPal has selected peoplewho are proficient in dif-ferent disciplines to con-tribute in this work ofcleanliness. Speaking onthe occasion, MayorNeeraj Pal said that theBMC administration isworking tirelessly to real-ize the vision of cleanli-ness. The Corporation ismaking effort to attain the

top ranks in the cleanli-ness survey 2022 for thecities with population of 5to 10 lakhs.

He added that with theassistance fromSwachhata BrandAmbassadors, it would beeasy to communicate withthe general public andmake them aware aboutcleanliness and work to-wards the vision of cleanand beautiful Bhilai. Atthe outset, all theSwachhata Ambassadorsgot acquainted with each

other followed by a meet-ing. Sanitation in-chargeLakshmipati Raju in-formed everyone aboutthe work being done byBhilai MunicipalCorporation and how thebrand ambassadors wouldhelp in Citizen feedback,awareness through socialmedia, home compostingand such works. Thenewly appointedSwachhata BrandAmbassadors said thatthey would work towardsmaking people aware on

the need to give the city aclean environmentthrough various events.

Mayor Neeraj Pal onTuesday today appointedAnurag Basu from film in-dustry; KK Jha and NitinGupta from ancillary in-dustry; Rajendra KumarAgarwal, Sanjay Ojha,Santosh Rai, Arif Khanand Sachin Pratap Singhfrom education; KChandrashekhar, MunnaSahu, Sant Kumar Keskar,Nitin Phule, DhanrajParade and Jai GovindYadav from social work;Dr Chiranjeevi from med-ical field, RajendraSonboir from journalismas well as Sanjay Jain,Dilip Devangan, RakeshMalhotra and Ram Jaspalfrom other fields. Duringthis, Siju Anthony, a mem-ber of the Mayor inCouncil, was prominentlypresent.

BMC gets 20 Swachhata Brand Ambassadors including Anurag Basu

CENTRAL CHRONICLE, RAIPUR, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 2022

FULLY DRENCHED IN COLOURS

A shopkeeper selling variety of colours in an area locally seems to be fully drenchedin all colours, providing instant acceptance from customers.

Nine officers served notices onTender process irregularities

Central Chronicle News

Raipur, Mar 15: Ninesenior officials including6 Indian Forest Services(IFS) Officers have beenserved show cause no-tices on the reported com-plaint of irregularities inTender works being car-ried out for variousworks in ForestDepartment.

Minister for Forest MdAkbar said that appropri-ate action would be takenagainst those responsiblefor irregularities after re-ceiving reply from them.

Leader of Oppositionin ChhattisgarhLegislative AssemblyDharmlal Kaushik onTuesday raised the issuedduring Question Hourhere. He asked theMinister about the actiontaken against the officialsafter irregularities werereported in the TenderProcess for various works

in Forest Department.Minister Akbar con-firmed about the irregu-

larities and added thatnine officers are respon-sible for the irregulari-

ties and have been servednotices. Minister saidthat 30 days duration isessential for the TenderProcess but only 21 daystime were given to the in-terested firms whereasthe rules of WarehousePurchase too were ig-nored. Minister said thatdepartmental process hasbeen initiated whereasProbe Officer has notbeen appointed so far andadded that the accused of-ficers have been giventime of 15 days to reply tothe show cause notices.Leader of Oppositionsaid that violation ofrules would encouragecorruption in govern-ment departments.

Officials whose namehave been reported in theirregularities areVishnuraj Narendran,Ayush Jain, AmitabhBajpai, Stylo Mandavi,Vijaya Vinod Kurre andAshok Kumar Patle fromIFS rank whereas NKSharma, DK Sahu andDK Mehar are from StateForest Services.

Work according to the aspirationsof the people: Governor


Raipur, Mar 15:Governor Ms. AnusuiyaUikey attended the gener-al body meeting (GBM) ofRaipur MunicipalCorporation on Tuesday.After reaching theCorporation office,Mahatma Gandhi Sadan,the Governor paid homageto the father of the nationby garlanding his statue.

On this occasion, MLAduo SatyanarayanSharma, Kuldeep Juneja,Mayor Ejaz Dhebar,Speaker Pramod Dubey,Leader of OppositionMinal Choubey andwomen corporators alsogave a warm welcome toGovernor Uikey. This isprobably the first time that

a Governor has attended ageneral body meeting of amunicipal corporation.

Addressing the generalbody meeting of theMunicipal Corporation,Governor Ms. Uikey calledupon the corporators towork according to the aspi-rations of the people andbe sensitive to the prob-lems of the people. All ofyou corporators are thevoice of the people and itis your responsibility tofulfill the basic needs ofthe common people. Donot be arrogant in yourconduct and rituals, sheadded.

Governor also told cor-porators to visit their arearegularly and also take

feedback of your workfrom people, so that youare aware of what peoplewant. Ms. Uikey said thaturban bodies and villagepanchayats are the pri-mary schools of democra-cy. The people’s represen-tatives who have beenelected here are intro-duced for the first time todemocracy and parliamen-tary functioning. This ismy first experience in thishouse.

Like Lok Sabha, RajyaSabha and Vidhan Sabha,there are questions andanswers of pros and cons,time is fixed for questionhours. Certainly the roleof the House would havebeen important in making

Raipur a clean, beautifuland smart city. People areoccupying many impor-tant posts after leaving thehouse of the urban body.The Governor ofJharkhand, Ramesh Baiswas once a member of thisHouse. Many MLAs andMPs have also startedtheir journey from thishouse. The more goodwork you do, the more peo-ple’s affection and respectyou will get and you willreach new heights in yourfuture political career.

Governor Uikey in herremarks appreciated theremarkable works done bythe corporation in Raipurcity including initiativeslike Vivekananda Sarovar,Telibandha TalabBeautification andNalanda Library, PinkToilet. On this occasion,RMC Mayor Ejaz Dhebar,Speaker Pramod Dubeyand CommissionerMunicipal CorporationPrabhat Malik also ad-dressed the gathering.Mayor Ejaz Dhebar hon-oured Governor Uikeywith a memento.

‘No new promises made, stress on development works’


Raipur, Mar 15: TheMayor RMC Ejaz Dhebarpresented annual budgetof Raipur MunicipalCorporation (RMC) for2022-23 for that of Rs 1475crore and gave emphasison balanced development.Not making any newpromises, the Mayor laidstress on implementationof the pending or the re-cently started works.During this the membersof the Opposition createddin in the House on theissue of ‘user charges’ andother issues and evenstaged protest coming to

dais of the Speaker.Mayor Ejaz Dhebar in

his main budget speechsaid that at present Raipuris with three star ratingand is among the best sixstates in the country andto bring it on No. 1 a lot ofhard work needs to bedone and added that thepace with which the stategovernment is working,they will definitely get suc-

cess. Mayor informed thatlifeline of Raipur city is‘Kharun’ River and newinitiative will be taken forits purification and clean-ing. Similarly work planswill be prepared for smalltraders and city will bemade tanker-free. All the10 wards of RMC will beprovided with ambulancefacility and the people BPLwill be provided ‘gau-

kasth’ free of cost for per-forming final rites of de-ceased. Similarly by pay-ing attention on healthservices, around 80 newClinics will be opened inthe city, he added.

Budget presented inbriefcase made out of

cow-dung:In line with the Chief

Minister Bhupesh Baghelcarrying a briefcase madeout of cow-dung for pres-entation of state’s budgetin the VS, the Mayor EjazDhebar also followed inhis footsteps and camealong with briefcase madefrom cow-dung and pre-sented the budget in theHouse. It was ‘Goumai

Vaste Laxmi’ written ontop of the briefcase.

Mayor presentsannual budget of Rs1475 cr of RMC for2022-23

Members ofOpposition createsruckus on ‘usercharges’ and hostsof other issues

For cleaning of capital city Raipur’s lifeline – Kharun River, a work plan of threeyears has been prepared and for this fourSTPs of total 206 MLD will be started forpurification of stale water from drainsentering Kharun river. Under ‘Pauni Pasari Yojana’ and by fixingnew vending zones, a work plan will beprepared for entire RMC to assist smalltraders for running their business smooth-ly and then it will be implemented.To make city ‘Tanker-Free’, ‘Amrut MissionYojana’ will be immediately implemented.Health and medical facilities in entire RMCwill be expanded and to ensure that apatient gets ambulance facility well ontime, all the ten zones of RMC will be pro-vided with ambulance vehicle.In case of sudden death of one from fami-ly, there is immediately need for keepingthe body inside deep freezer and taking asensitive initiative, RMC will be providingone ‘Deep Freezer’ facility in all 10 zones ofRMC. For performing final rites of deceased per-son in the family from BPL and middleclass families, RMC will be provided ‘GauKasth’ free of cost.To provide children from poor familieswith education facility in English medium,

the Binni Bai Sonkar Best School’ will beupgraded as English Medium School fromthis FY.To provide domestic services like that ofplumber, cooler, TV, fridge repairmechanic, carpenter and others, anonline portal app will be prepared andthis will help the local workers getemployment and people would be able toget facilities sitting at home.By developing infrastructure along withstudy and teaching in the GovernmentSchools, a strong foundation will be pre-pared by introducing and promotingintellectual, educational, sports and cul-tural activities.The Sports grounds in capital city Raipurwill be developed and along with this allthe seven ponds and gardens will begiven facelift in the coming three years.With Raipur developing into cosmopoli-tan city, RMC is already working on‘Smart Road Scheme’ to ensure smoothmovement of traffic and proper parkingfacilities in areas facing traffic conges-tion. In the first leg, Raipur Smart CityLimited , will be developing 220 mts roadfrom near Oxyzone in GE Road to RajaTabal Road and develop it as ‘SmartRoad’.

Promises made in the budget

Budget at a glance:

# Provision of Rs 31 cr hasbeen made for housingscheme for all.# Provision of Rs 110 cr for‘Amrut Mission Yojana’# Provision of Rs 150 cr forI n f r a s t r u c t u r eDevelopment# Provision of Rs 5.5 cr for‘Pushpa-Vatika’# Provision of Rs 1 cr forCity Bus Project# Provision of Rs 1.5 cr for‘Gyan Sthali Yojana’# Provision of Rs 44.5 cr for‘safai’ contract

Corporators shouldbe sensitivetowards problemsof the public

Uikey first Governorto attend the GBMof RMC

Reply sought within15 days: Minister

Oppn alleges irregularities in DMF expenditure

Raipur: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Member ofLegislative Assembly (MLA) Keshav Chandra allegedirregularities in the expenditure from the amount ofDistrict Mineral Fund (DMF) and added that nearlyRs 21 crore were spent on Training purpose andsought reply from the Treasury bench on utilizationof fund and the Audit for the said. Replying to thecharges, the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel saidthat state government is ready to investigate on thealleged irregularities on receiving a written com-plaint. BJP MLAs too grilled the Treasury bench onthe rational utilization of the DMF Fund. AkaltaraMLA Saurabh Singh alleged that the guidelines ofDMF utilization is being violated in several districts.


Raipur, Mar 15:Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Tuesdaytermed the NYAYscheme of Congressgovernment to be injus-tice to the farmers asthe eligible farmers arenot able to get the bene-fits.

Launching attack onthe Treasury benchduring the discussionon the budgetary provi-sion of the Agriculturedepartment inC h h a t t i s g a r hLegislative Assembly,the senior BJP MLABrijmohan Agrawalsaid that said that thefarmers are being pro-vided Rs 2500 under theNYAY scheme but therecipients are payingheavy price as theirelectricity, road and ed-ucation benefits oftheir family membersare curtailed by the

state government. Hefurther added that thestate government hasprovided compensationof just Rs 4 lakh to thefamily members of thefarmer died during theprotest against land ac-quisition in NayaRaipur whereas ChiefMinister had given Rs50 lakh compensationto the farmer fromLakhimpur in UtterPradesh only to pleasethe party high com-mand. He also held theCongress governmentresponsible for growingcorruption.

Counting the allega-tion, the seniorCongress MLA MohanMarkam held the previ-ous BJP government re-sponsible for the al-leged suicide of thefarmers. He alsoclaimed that several de-velopment works havebeen taken place duringthe last three yearswhereas previous BJPgovernment had failedto deliver the promisesto the people. He alsomentioned the waiverof agriculture loan ofthe farmers as part ofthe exercise initiated bythe Congress govern-ment towards welfare ofthe farmers.

NYAY scheme failedto provide justice tofarmers: BrijmohanOppn grillsTreasury benchduring discussionon budgetarydemands ofAgriculturedepartment


Raipur, Mar 15:Chhattisgarh is witness-ing a growing number ofEndometriosis patientsin the last few years. AllIndia Institute ofMedical Sciences hasbeen receiving almost 100female patients permonth suffering fromEndometriosis. It canlead to excessive men-strual cramps and heavy

menstrual flow and pain.Experts say that timelydiagnosis and treatmentcould be decisive to over-

come the challenge.Department of

Obstetrics andGynecology at AIIMS,

Raipur is organizing amonth long awarenessprograms to educatewomen on the issue. Astate level CME ‘KeyPractice Updates onEndometriosis’ has beenorganized by the depart-ment to disseminate in-formation on the topic.

In his keynote addressDirector Prof. (Dr.) NitinM. Nagarkar said that fe-males generally ignoretheir health problemsdue to family related re-sponsibilities. It is otherfamily members’ duty togive them much neededsupport. Prof. Nagarkarsaid that AIIMS is lead-ing state medical collegesto create awareness

about Endometriosis.‘Timely intervention cansave women from painand other disorders relat-ed to Endometriosis. Weare focusing more on theresearch to come outwith specific treatmentprotocols in the state, hesaid.

Prof. (Dr.) SaritaAgrawal elaborated thegenetic base ofEndometriosis and saidthat women withEndometriosis are morelikely to have infertilityor difficulty getting preg-nant. ‘Patients withEndometriosis havesome tissue outside ofthe uterus mostly affect-ing women between ages

of 25 to 40. Timely diag-nosis and minimal inva-sive surgery can defini-tively treat it, she said.

Dr. Nilaj Kumar Bagdesaid that Obs and GyneOPD is receiving around100 patients per monthwhich shows alarmingsituation in the state.‘Women suffering fromEndometriosis developtissue outside the uteruswhich can lead to painand excessive bleeding.All diagnosis and treat-ment facilities are avail-able at AIIMS forEndometriosis, he said.The CME witnessed im-pressive numbers of par-ticipants around the statein hybrid mode.

CG witnessing growing patients of Endometriosis

Prof. (Dr.) Nitin M. Nagarkar, Prof. (Dr.) Sarita Agrawal andDr. Nilaj Bagde during CME on Endometriosis by AIIMS,Raipur.

AIIMS-R leadsmonth long aware-ness programmewith State levelCME


Raipur, Mar 15: At least204 people were killed and81 injured in elephant at-tacks, while 45 pachy-derms died due to variousreasons, including electro-cution, in Chhattisgarh inthe last three years, thestate legislative Assemblywas informed on Tuesday.

In a reply to a questionby BJP MLA RajneeshKumar Singh, state Forestand Climate ChangeMinister MohammadAkbar said that 72,112

cases of injury and loss oflife and damage to cropsand properties in elephantattacks were registered inthe state from January 1,2019 to February 1 thisyear. As many as 204 peo-ple have died and 81 sus-tained injuries in elephantattacks, while 63,603 casesof crop damage, 5,232 ofdamage to houses and2,992 of other propertydamages were reported inthe last three years, hesaid in a written replysaid.

Over Rs 60.5 crore werepaid in compensation inthese cases during this pe-riod, the minister said,

adding that compensationto the tune of over Rs 1.01crore was pending in 664 ofthese cases.

On October 7, the stategovernment notified anarea of 1,995.48 sq km (innorthern Chhattisgarh) asLemru elephant reserve.At least 39 coal mines intwo coal blocks - MandRaigarh and HasdeoArand - fall within limitsof Lemru elephant re-serve. Under the Forest(Conservation) Act 1980,the Central governmenthas not permitted miningin any of the mines in theelephant reserve area, theminister said in the reply.

Over 204 killed, 81 injured in elephant attacks In three years


HOLI IN SCHOOL

School children enjoying pre-Holi celebration with school friends as there is holiday on occasion of Holi.


Raipur, Mar 15:Governor Anusuiya Uikeyattended the EducationExcellence Award distri-bution function organizedby a media group in Durgon Tuesday. On this occa-sion, she honored educa-tional institutions fortheir contribution in vari-ous fields. The Governorpraised the painting ofchildren on Smart City.She said that I saw yourpainting on the vision ofSmart City. You have madesuch a beautiful paintingand have shown the city ofyour dreams in such a waythat I am sure you guysare the future of the coun-try.

In her address while fe-

licitating educational in-stitutions and children inTwin City, she said thatthe future of the countrylies in educational institu-tions. The better the workdone here, the brighter thefuture of the country willbe. She said that the citywhich is seen in the imagi-nation of children. Howbeautiful it is which has

modern facilities. There isuniversal harmony. Thisbeautiful hypothesisshows how much potentialour children have.

The more responsibilitythe educational institu-tions fulfill their duties,the better will be the fu-ture of the country. Indiawill have a different identi-ty in the world stage. Such

felicitation ceremony isvery useful. This will leadto healthy competitionamong educational insti-tutions and improve thequality of education.

She said that the honourgiven to these educationalinstitutions today will giveencouragement to them.The Governor said thatthe new education policy

has been prepared underthe guidance of the PrimeMinister. It emphasizes onthe all round developmentof the children. Alongwith studies, children arealso prepared for culturaland skill development.

Children gain a betterunderstanding of their en-vironment and move to-wards saving it. She saidthat work is being done to-wards the implementationof the education policy ofthe year 2020. On this oc-casion, Director of IITBhilai, Rajat Moona, ViceChancellor of CSVTU,Mukesh Verma, IPMishra ofShankaracharya Groupand other dignitaries werepresent.

The Governor met theheads of educational insti-tutions performing well inthe award ceremony andcongratulated them andalso encouraged the chil-dren.

Future of the country lies in educationalinstitutions, says Governor

Appreciated thepainting of childrenon Smart City


Raipur, Mar 15: MLABrijmohan Agrawalraised the issue of thefilm ‘The Kashmir Files’during zero-house inVidhan Sabha here onMonday. He said that ef-fort is being made not toallow screening of thisfilm in the theatres and itis equivalent to seditioncharges. He said thatplans are afoot to stop its

screening from talkies inRaipur city and the placewhere the film is run-ning, the audience isbeing taken for a ride byflashing boards that it isrunning Houseful and notickets are available. Hecharged that there is con-spiracy to avoid audiencefrom watching the film. Itwill be better if this filmcan be made tax-free likethe way it has being donein MP and Gujarat.

Raipur, Mar 15: KrishnaPublic School (KPS)Kamal Vihar, Dundaagain proved its mettle atFit India State Finals.Ishant Talreja and MananSethia, 2 students fromKPS achieved the distinc-tion of representing theirstate at the national leveland the only team ofRaipur Chhattisgarh inthe state finals of Fit IndiaQuiz. In this quiz, 36,299students from 13,502schools participated in thepreliminary round fromall over India. This compe-tition was jointly organ-

ized by the Ministry ofYouth Affairs and Sports,Government of India andCBSE. It is a national plat-form wherein opportunityis provided to the studentsto showcase their knowl-edge related to fitness andsports at the school level.In this competition, IshantTalreja and Manan Sethia,after clearing the prelimi-nary round (which was or-ganized by NationalTalent Agency), securedtheir first position in thestate semi-final and finalround.

Various questions were

asked in this competitionwhich was based onIndian Sports History,Traditional Games, Yoga,O l y m p i c s ,Commonwealth Games,Asian Games, Khelo IndiaGames and other popularsports. By giving good an-swers to each questionbased on these topics,through their talent andintelligence, the studentsbagged first position inChhattisgarh State Finalsand defeated other teamsby a huge margin. Theschool will be awarded acash prize of Rs 2.5 Lakhsrupees as prize money andRs 25000 will be givenjointly to both the win-ners. This competitionwas held online. TeamKPS has been selected forthe National Round whichwill be held in three phas-es: Quarter Final, Semi-Final and Final.

Konta, Mar 15: CivicAction Program andMedical Camp was organ-ized by 219th Corps CRPFon March 15 under the di-rection of CommandantNitin Kumar. Underwhich, keeping in mindthe scorching heat, a terra-fill water filter was in-stalled for the supply ofpure drinking water in vil-lage- Injram on the Konta-Sukma main road(National Highway-30). Sothat people traveling onNational Highway andInjram-Bhee road andnearby villagers can get itsbenefit. Along with this,medicines were distrib-uted by treating commondiseases like cold, cough,fever, high blood pressure,body ache, joint pain,chronic wounds/wounds,sore throat and malariathrough medical campsfor better health of the vil-lagers. .

Civic Action Program(CPA) was organized invillage-Injram with the

aim of connecting withthe main stream of devel-opment and making themaware of the importanceof government schemesand programs. Throughthe Civic ActionProgramme, radio, mos-quito nets, solar lamps andother items of daily usewere distributed to the vil-lagers of Injram,Gondipara and Asirguda.Along with this, sportsmaterial like bat-ball,carom, football, volleyball,badminton set etc. were

given to make childrenaware of sports and to in-crease their enthusiasm.During this, people weremade aware about the dis-eases caused by drinkingimpure water by Rahul R(Senior Medical Officer).Also told that we will allfight together againstKovid-19 Corona virus andif anyone has any kind ofdisease, then he cancome at any time fortreatment to the hospitallocated at InjramHeadquarters.

In this event, all thenearby villagers partici-pated in large numbers,which shows that thetrust in the governmentis increasing among thevillagers in this area.Good relations and trustare being established be-tween common citizensand CRPF. People of thisarea are moving awayfrom Naxal ideology andjoining the mainstreamtowards development.Due to the above work, aray of enthusiasm andhope has arisen amongall the villagers and con-fidence has been awak-ened in the villagers that219th Corps CRPF is al-ways ready and ready fortheir care and protec-tion. In this programNeeraj Kumar Singh(Second CommandingOfficer), Dr. Rahul R.(Senior Medical Officer),Dr. Adil Aziz (MedicalOfficer), subordinate of-ficers and other person-nel were present.

Bilaspur, Mar 15: PunjabNational Bank, zonel andbranch office Bilaspur andBDA observed WorldConsumer Day on March15, with an objective toprovide ‘consumer protec-tion and consumer pros-perity’.

The meeting was attend-

ed by PNB Zonal HeadTapas Kranti Jha, ChiefManager Pratap Singh,Chief Manager Deepraj,Branch ManagerUmakant Mehar, SeniorManager OfficialLanguage Ashraf Ansariaddressed the valuablecustomers and exchangedtheir views as well.

This programme was or-ganized in all branches ofBilaspur zone.

CAP increasing confidence of tribalsamong 219th Corps CRPF

‘World ConsumerDay’ observed in all

branches of PNB

Coming underBilaspur Zone

Raipur, Mar 15: At his of-fice in the Vidhan Sabhapremise today, ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghelreleased the book ‘TheIncredible Journey ofKosa’, edited by seniorjournalist K.N. Kishoreand Dr. Rajendra Mohanty.This book is based on thejourney of Kosa silk fromthe mythical period to thepresent day, Kosa sareesand dress material. Seniorjournalist BabulalSharma was also presenton the occasion.

This book discusses themythology behind ‘Kosa’silk, its historical origin,literary evidence tellingabout the arrival and de-velopment of silk in Indiaand its arrival inChhattisgarh as well.Moreover, the book also

consists of a detailed dis-cussion on the traditionalprocess of silk production,thread making and differ-ent types of silk fabricssuch as sarees, dress mate-rial, furnishing etc. Also,this book will give a briefon the handloom Kosaproduct of Chhattisgarhand will serve as a store-house of knowledge forthe new generations. ChiefMinister Mr. Baghel con-gratulated and extendedbest wishes to all the peo-ple involved in the publica-tion of the book.

Kishore informed thatthis book is an attempt todocument the journey, mo-tifs, colors and weaves ofKosa along with tradition-al forms of silk weavingand also to preserve thehistory of Kosa.

CM releases a book based onthe journey of ‘Kosa’ silk

Shanti MishraRaipur: Shanti Mishra

(Tarpongi-M o h a d awale), R/oM a n a(Battalion)R a i p u r ,

breathed her last hereon March 14. She wasW/o Late RameshMishra and her finalrites were performed atMana crematorium.She was mother ofAshok Mishra.

OBITUARY ‘Efforts being made not to allowscreening of Hindi Film’

KPS becomes the State Championin Fit India Quiz State Finals

RRaaiippuurr,, MMaarr 1155:: ChhattisgarhPublic Relations OfficersAssociation (CPROA) has thankedChief Minister Bhupesh Baghelfor the announcement to resumeimplementation of old pensionscheme for government employ-ees in Chhattisgarh. The unionhas called it a historic decision inthe interest of state governmentemployees.

The delegation of ChhattisgarhPublic Relations OfficersAssociation today met ChiefMinister Baghel at his office in theassembly premise and thankedhim for the decision.

On the occasion, President ofChhattisgarh Public RelationsOfficers Association, BalmukundTamboli said that this announce-ment made by Chief Minister

Baghel is a compassionate step ofChhattisgarh Government toensure that the governmentemployees and their families livea respectable life even afterretirement. He said that ChiefMinister has always taken deci-sions in the interest of govern-ment employees with empathyand compassion. This is the rea-son why government employeesin the state have their morale highand they are wholeheartedlyengaged in the implementation ofgovernment schemes and poli-cies. Tamboli further said that

under the old pension scheme,the employees would get a fixedpension amount after retirementand the dependent family wouldget the benefit of pension.Government employees and offi-cers are overjoyed with thisannouncement of Chief Ministerand now they can work withrenewed enthusiasm and dedica-tion. The delegation included thepatrons of Chhattisgarh PublicRelations Officers Association,J.L. Dario and Umesh Mishra,along with other officials namelyPremlal Patel, Anand Solanki,

Munnalal Choudhary, ManrakhanMarkam, Nitin Sharma, ZarifKhan, Kamlesh Sahu, KamaljyotiZahire, Sachin Sharma,Omprakash Dahria, Bhavani SinghThakur, and Ravindra Chaudhary.

Similarly a delegation ofChhattisgarh School TeacherEmployees Union (CSTEU) andunder the leadership ofParliamentary SecretaryChandradev Rai and MLA RamKumar Yadav and ChhattisgarhState Police Services (SPS) paidcourtesy call on Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel at his office in

the Vidhan Sabha premises today.They expressed their gratitudetowards Chief Minister forrestoration of the old pensionscheme for the officers andemployees of the state. ChiefMinister Mr. Baghel hasannounced to restore old pensionscheme in the state’s budget forthe year 2022-23.

On this occasion, StatePresident of the Union SanjayTiwari, Secretary Prakash Sahu,Tirath Narayan Banjare and mem-bers of the Union from Raipur,Bilaigarh, Bhatapara and Baloda-Bazar were also present.

State Police Service (SPS) offi-cers delegation comprised ofKamleshwar Chandel, MukeshThakur, Sukhnandan Rathore,Kirtan Rathore, AbhishekMaheshwari, Khoman Sinha, DCPatel, Udayant Behar, ManojDhruv and police inspectorsincluding Rajesh Singh, AmitTiwari and Nilesh Singh wereamong those present on the occa-sion.

Delegation of CPROA, CSTEU, SPS pay courtesy call on CMTo express grati-tude for the restora-tion of old pensionscheme

Raipur, Mar 15: In GuruGhasidas University(Central University), ‘TheUrchins’, a socio-culturaland theatrical group of theCentral University per-formed a street play afterthe university reopened.This was the team’s firstperformance in theUniversity after a long gapof the Corona period.

The play was staged infront of the Silver JubileeAuditorium on March 14 at 1pm. The team returned withthe play ‘Stree Aur Woh Din’written by renowned play-

wright, Arvind Gaur andwhich was directed byUrchins. The play presentssocial issues like toxic mas-culinity and menstruation,and seeks to dispel the mis-conceptions associated withthese issues.

Team Urchins’ teacher co-ordinator, Dr. ManishSrivastava was present dur-ing the entire performanceto encourage the team. Theplay proved to be a successamong the audience and itwas well received by the au-dience. University studentsalso gave their positive and

appreciative feedback to theteam. The new studentsseemed excited about theteam and the theatre. Theperformance was directedby student coordinators,Shruti Sharma and SaurabhYadav.

The members of the per-forming team in the playwere Divya Rani, Tina RaniSahu, Adarsh Mishra,Pranay Naidu, LokeshSingh, ShivaniVishwakarma, AkankshaTirkey, Matruka Sahu,Abhijit Chandra, PrachiJaiswal and Gaurav Sinha.

Street play presented by ‘Urchins’ at CU Bilaspur

Khairagarh, Mar 15:

The people in supportof making Khairagarhblock as district, took outa massive bike-rallywhich was flagged off byPensioners Sangh. It isnotable here that an in-definite strike to makeKhairagarh, Chuikhadanand Gandai as districtisgoing on for last 200 daysin Khairagarh city.

In this context the sup-porters of this demandtook out a bike-rally onMarch 12. The rallypassed through mainthoroughfares in city andreached Chuikhadan viaPiparia, Dimrinakua.Here the rallyist werewelcomed and after thisthey passed throughBetalrani Ghat and reachNarmada Chowk viaKumharvad, Bakarkatta,Rampur, Palimeta andsought support of thepeople present.

From Narmada Chowkthey went to Gandai andthen back to Khairagarhvia. Daniya, Udaipur andBazar Ataria.

It is worthwhile tomention here that de-mand to makeKhairagarh a separatedistrict is going on forlong and in this cam-paign a bike rally wastaken out and it was sup-ported by ‘AdhivaktaSangh’, ‘Vayapari Sangh’

and common men.During this rally,Narendra Soni, HemudasSahu, PresidentAdhivakta Sangh SureshBhatta, Kaushal Prasad,Kosare, RamkumarJangde, Manoj Choubey,Kishore Soni, RajkumarBorkar, Raju Yadu,Ramesh Yadu, HemdasKosare, ManharanDewangan, ManeshBanjare and others werepresent.


Mungeli, Mar 15:

Former WRD Ministerand MLA BrijmohanAgrawal was accordedwarm welcome on his ar-rival in Mungeli by theBJP party workers andlater he met the workers atBJP leader Prem Arya’sresidence.

On this occasionBrijmohan Agrawal in-formed that prior to goingfor programme in Lormi,he was welcomed inMungeli and with pastmemories he recalled thatit is almost 2-3 years thathe visited this place. Withpresence of MLA CJC (J)Dharmjeet Singh, therewere speculations that hemay join BJP and replyingto which Brijmohan saidthat Dharmjeet Singh isalso in Opposition andsince both are in theOpposition and thereforethey are friends and theyjointly grill the ruling gov-ernment. On asking aboutpresent condition of rul-

ing government in state,Brijmohan Agrawalcharged that it is the mostcorrupt of all the govern-ment and most unsuccess-ful and failure on allfronts. From one point ofview it is basically a gov-ernment of mafias, he al-leged, adding that there ishardly any place left inChhattisgarh be it sandmafia, drug mafia, liquormafia, real-estate mafia,‘paddy’ mafia and otherswhich is bereft of involve-ment by present-day gov-ernment in the state.

Speaking furtherBrijmohan said that earli-er Chhattisgarh used to bea peaceful state and de-spite 42% of forest reserve,no mafia prevailed in thatregion. But now there ismafia existing in almostall the fields inChhattisgarh, who areprospering with due pro-tection from the state gov-ernment. Contrary to thisthe government’s coffersare being emptied and it isgoing more into the pock-ets of ‘well-protected’mafias of the state govern-

ment. Brijmohan chargedthat the ruling govern-ment in the state is onlyafter looting state of itsrich resources and isworking with the sole oneintention on how to makethe government’s reservesempty.

The last BJP govern-ment in the state ruled for15 yrs and at that time theloan amount was just Rs36000 crore and which injust 3 yrs rule of Congressgovernment has shot uptoRs 51000 crore and thenear future it will touch Rs

90000 crore. The state’sbudget is that of Rs 1.04lakh crore and on this theannual interest itself willbe Rs 10000 crore. Thisamount is equivalent tothe amount of interestwaived off to the farmersand the amount being paidunder Rajiv GandhiKissan Nyay Yojana.Paddy was purchasedfrom just 42 lakh farmersin the state, whereas theactual number of farmersin state are 49 lakh and inthis way, paddy is beingpurchased from just 22lakh farmers andBrijmohan questioned asto where the paddy ofother farmers is beingsold.

If the Mazdoor NyayYojana has been started,then leaving 22 lakhlabourers, it should bepassed onto 27 lakh people,as there are only 22 lakhlabourers registered in thestate and their Rs 560 cr isinto account of the stategovernment, he added.

Ruling govt filling pockets of ‘mafias’: Brijmohan Raigarh, Mar 15:

The ProvincialConvention of theMedical Council of India,being organized for al-most a decade, was organ-ized for the first time inthe city. This two-day con-vention began on March12 in the presence of thebest doctors of four states.For the first time in theconvention, orthopedicsurgeon Dr. Alok ChandraAgrawal of AIIMS Raipurwas present on the invita-tion for the speech on thetitle ‘from death to life’.

Dr. Agarwal, who haschanged the lives of morethan one thousand bonecancer patients, enrichedthe knowledge of the doc-tors present about thecomplex treatment relat-ed to bone diseases. AlokChandra Agrawal washonored with a mementofrom the stage of IMA.

In a special conversa-tion, Ortho specialist Dr.AC Agrawal told thatfrom diet to disorderlyroutine can also be the

reason for bone disease.For the treatment of com-plex bone diseases andbone cancer, Dr. Agrawaltraveled from the metrop-olis of the country toLondon and many coun-tries of Europe andhumbly learned the art oftreatment from specialist

doctors. Expert Dr. AlokChandra Agrawal is cur-rently the only FAMS de-gree holder ofChhattisgarh. Earlierthis qualification waswith Dr. HSD Sharma, adoctor of undividedMadhya Pradesh, whodied in 2002. Dr.Aggarwal, a gentlemanand a brilliant student bynature, started work onbone treatment with Dr.HKT Raza, an orthodon-tist from Jabalpur whohas been treating seriousorthopedic related ail-ments for nearly 30 years.Describing the IMA con-vention as a better envi-ronment for learning andlearning, Dr. Agrawalopined for hospitals tohave their own expertpanels, so that their avail-ability is maintainedround the clock. This ex-periment is very impor-tant in the era of super-speciality, and doctorshave to understand thatultimately the patient’sinterest is paramount, heasserted.

Dr. ML Rathi award conferredto Dr. Alok Chandra Agrawal

In provincial convention of IMA

Kawardha, Mar 14:

Forest, Transport,Housing andEnvironment, Law-Legislative Minister andKawardha MLAMohammad Akbar hereinaugurated the commu-nity hall of Marar PatelSamaj during his stay atSahaspur Lohara inKabirdham district. Forthis, Rs.25 lakh from theMLA fund was approvedby the Minister.Addressing the, gather-

ing Mohammad Akbarsaid that the promisesmade by the StateGovernment are fulfilledone by one. Mr. Akbarsaid that, the state gov-ernment formulated theRajiv Gandhi KisanNyay Yojana for the em-powerment of the farm-ing community. On pro-viding the amount at therate of Rs. 9 thousandper acre, the farmerswere paid Rs. 2500 perquintal and in the Kharifyear 98 lakh metric

tonnes of paddy has beenpurchased for Rs.25 thou-sand crores and nowpaddy will be purchasedfrom farmers at the rateof Rs 2540 per quintal, hesaid.

On this occasion,Pandaria MLA MamtaChandrakar, NeelkanthChandravanshi, BodlaDistrict President Smt.Leela Dhanuk Verma,Manharan Shrivas,Shakambhari Boardmembers Hari Patel,Sitaram Patel, AshokPatel, Pardeshi Patel,Ramcharan Patel,Dhush Patel includingmembers of the society,public representatives,and senior citizens werepresent. The programwas addressed by therepresentatives of PatelSamaj including MLA ofPandaria, MamtaChandrakar. These in-cluded Bhagwan SinghPatel, Hari Singh Patel,Sitaram Patel,Ramkumar Patel,Ramcharan Patel etc.

State govt fulfills what it promises: Akbar Youths take out massive ‘bike-rally’ With demand to make Khairagarh a new district

SSuurraajjppuurr,, MMaarr 1155::

The game of human traf-ficking continues unabated inthe remote Chandni Biharpurarea of ??the district, wherea 21 year old pregnantwoman belonging to thePando tribe was sold forlakhs of rupees, by a couplebelonging to the same villageas that of the woman. Thewoman was allegedly sold toPrem Tawar of MadhyaPradesh for Rs 1.50 lakh bySagar Singh and Shyama BaiJaiswal, who on pretext of agood life had entrapped the21 year old in her plans.

As per information, whenthe victim girl has a disputewith her husband, shedecides to reach out toJaiswal for help, who in thepretext of helping her tookher to Ratan Singh, a nativeof Moldi village of Khilchipur,Rajgarh district police stationof Madhya Pradesh.Thereafter she was sold to

the main accuse Prem Tawar,a resident of the same vil-lage. After subjected to rapeand torture by Tawar, the vic-tim fled and reached her vil-lage.

Meanwhile the victim’shusband had filed a missingperson case, after the sud-den disappearance of hiswife, and after two months,the victim somehow reachedher house and reported thematter to the local police sta-tion.

The Chandni police haveregistered a crime under370,376 and arrested hus-band and wife Sagar Singh-Shyama Bai Jaiswal, residentof Mahuli, while anotheraccused Prem Tawar, a resi-dent of Madhya Pradesh, ison the run presently. In theinterrogation of the police,many shocking cases havecome to the fore and manyother women are suspectedto have fallen to human traf-ficking by the couple.

Couple arrested inHuman Trafficking case

Gourela , Pendra,Marwahi , Mar 15 :The news about fakeorders for Holi cele -brations from March17-18 is in the airthrough social mediathese days.Right after formationof district , cases re-lated to fake signa-tures has being high-lighted and on this noaction has been takenby the District orPolice administrationand therefore suchcases is on the rise.There are re por ts offake signatures inGourela, Pendra,Marwahi district, butso far district admin-istration has nottaken any firm action

and due to whichmany cases have comeforward in gover n-ment de par tment,Gram Panchayats.One of the recent casewas that of fake re -cruitment in theProject of fice and inthis through fake sig-natures the accusedwere misleading peo-ple about appoint -ment in the Project of-fice.

In this way abouttwo months back, fakesignature of Asst .Director in soical wel-

fare department wasdone by Komal Soni-R e h a b i l i t a t i o nAssistant . In thiseven after signatureby Asst . Director,Komal Soni forged hissignature and put hismobile number near itand in this also no ac-tion was taken.

Apar t from this abigger forgery thanthis was done byKomal Soni remain-ing in the post ofAsst. Director and gotall his brothers viz.

Kailash, KapoorSoni and ne phewSagar Soni recruitedin the Social WelfareDepartment Gourela,Pendra, Marwahi. Sowith no firm action in

such cases, the inci -dents of fake signa-ture and forgery andfake recruitments areon the rise in the dis-trict and so far noconcrete ste p hasbeen taken to put acheck on the same.

In such a case,Komal Soni and hisbrother Kapoor Soniare employed in twoposts in the SocialWelfare De par tmentand in this one of thepost is that of ‘DivyanMitan’ and other thatof watchman.

Getting work doneby so many personsfrom one family rais-es many eyebrows andso far in this case noaction has been taken.

Cases of fake signatures, order on rise in region

Copy of written complaint by deptt office in Thana.

Lack of actionboosting morale ofsuch persons

Dhamdha, Mar 15:Under ‘Sarswati CycleYojana’ at Government HSSchool Ghota, cycles weredistributed to 25 girl stu-dents here on Monday. Onthis occasion PrincipalManoj Kumar Shukla,Sarpanch BalaramSunhare, Himachal Patel,

Lubhan Singh Patel,Gajanand Nourenge, staffof the SchoolRadhekumar Verma,Sarita Verma, Pila Kurre,Dilip Kumar, KamleshTamrakar, TeerathMarkande, VimlaChandel, HitendraDheewar were present.

Cycles distributed underSCY to 25 girl students

KANSHI RAM REMEMBERED

BSP supremo Mayawati pays a floral tribute to party founder Kanshi Ram on the occasion of his birth anniversary at the party office, in Lucknow, Tuesday.

Maha Council adjournedfor the day after din

Mumbai, Mar 15 (PTI):

The MaharashtraLegislative Council wasadjourned for the day onTuesday after an uproarover the issue of an FIRagainst Leader ofOpposition in the UpperHouse Pravin Darekar.

The Mumbai police onMonday registered the FIRagainst BJP MLC Darekarfor allegedly using bogusmembership of a labourorganisation to become di-rector of the MumbaiBank, following a com-plaint by an Aam AadmiParty functionary.

On Tuesday, BJP mem-bers shouted slogans inthe Council against theMaha Vikas Aghadi (MVA-comprising the Shiv Sena,NCP and Congress) gov-

ernment.BJP MLC Bhai Girkar

said, “The FIR againstDarekar is an attempt tomuzzle the voice of the op-position. The MVA gov-ernment has taken actionagainst him because it isbeing cornered for of itsown wrong doings andvarious scandals that theBJP is exposing.

Amid the din in theCouncil, ChairmanRamraje Naik Nimbalkaradjourned the House for 25minutes.

After the House pro-ceedings resumed, the op-position continued its ob-jection against the FIR andshouted slogans againstthe state government.

The council chairmanlater adjourned the Housefor the day.

6,411 candidates in frayfor Odisha urban polls

Bhubaneswar, Mar 15 (PTI):

As many as 6,411 candi-dates remain in the fray forthe elections to Urban LocalBodies (ULBs) in Odishascheduled on March 24 after641 people withdrew theirnominations on the lastdate of the process, theState Election Commission(SEC) said.

The polling for 109 civicbodies, including three mu-nicipal corporations, isscheduled to be held onMarch 24. After the with-drawal of nomination pa-pers, 569 candidates arevying for the post of eitherchairperson or mayor, while5,842 nominees are seekingelection for the post of ei-ther councilor or corpora-tor, the SEC said.

As many as 102 candi-

dates withdrew their nomi-nations filed for the post ofeither chairperson ormayor, while 539 peopleopted out of the electionsfor the post of either coun-cillor or corporator, the SECsaid. The SEC has asked thedistrict magistrates cumcollectors to ensure that theongoing campaigning forthe urban polls ends at 5 PMon March 22, 48 hours be-fore the polling. As perrules, no person shall con-vene, hold or attend anypublic meeting in anypolling area during the peri-od of 48 hours before voting.SEC Secretary R N Sahu, ina letter to all district collec-tors, said that public meet-ings and campaigning inany mode should be posi-tively stopped at 5 PM onMarch 22.


BRIEFOvershot

Faridabad: A revers-ing goods train over-shot the dead end ofits track and rammedinto its stopper and awall beyond it in OldFaridabad railway sta-tion, damaging a cou-ple of vehicles in theparking lot across thewall, an official said.A railwayman stand-ing behind the train toguide its reversalmiraculously escapedunhurt in the incidentwhich occurred,Station superinten-dent AK Goyal said. Itwas meant to unloadconsignment, he said.

HeldSrinagar: Securityforces arrested a mili-tant belonging to theJaish e Mohammadoutfit in Pulwama dis-trict of Jammu andKashmir, police said.During surprisechecking by securityforces, movement of asuspicious person wasnoticed and he was ap-prehended. He wasidentified as AbrarBashir, a resident ofTakia Pulwama.Incriminating materi-al, arms and ammuni-tion, including a pis-tol, a magazine,grenade were seizedfrom him.

ConvictsKolkata: The TMCgovernment in Bengalhas in the last 11 yearsreleased 574 life con-victs who had servedover 14 years in cor-rectional home “aftera meticulous back-ground check”. Of the574 convicts, 541 aremale and 33 female.The government,under the recommen-dation of state sen-tence review board(SSRB), West Bengal,has, from time to time,taken a decision toprematurely releaselife-convicts from cor-rectional homes.

HeldBerhampur: Nine peo-ple have been arrestedfor their alleged in-volvement in the post-poll violence inOdisha’s Ganjam dis-trict. There has, howev-er, been no break-through yet in the vio-lence at Kendupadar inGangapur, in which anelected ward memberwas killed and four oth-ers were injured. Therewas clash between BJDand BJP supporters atHinjalakuda in Ganjamdistrict in which eightpeople were injured,five of them seriously.

CharasMaharajganj: Twopeople were arrestedwith 20.5 kg charasworth Rs 2.1 crore inMaharajganj district,police here said.Bechu (28) andSanjeev Kumar (26),both fromMaharajganj, were ar-rested near BabaMandir area ofShyamdeurwa,Superintendent ofPolice Pradeep KumarGupta said. One mem-ber of the gang man-aged to escape and ahunt is on to nab him,Gupta said.

NoticeIndore: Taking cogni-sance of some policepersonnel brutallybeating a naked manin Indore, the MadhyaPradesh HumanRights Commissionserved a notice to po-lice seeking an expla-nation. MPHRC chair-man Justice NarendraJain has sought areply from the policecommissioner in tendays, an official of thecommission said.


In the wake of severeheat wave conditions inMumbai and neighbour-ing districts, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) hasappealed to citizens to staysafe and hydrated andavoid going out in the af-ternoon.

A person suffering froma heat stroke should im-mediately be taken to hos-pital, it said, and askedpeople to increase the in-take of water and otherhealthy fluids.

The IndiaM e t e o r o l o g i c a lDepartment (IMD) has is-sued an ‘orange alert’ (se-vere heat wave conditionsin some parts) forTuesday and a ‘yellowalert’ (heat wave condi-tions in isolated parts) forWednesday.

It has predicted that the

maximum temperature inMumbai will be around 40degrees Celsius over thenext two days.

On Monday, suburbanSantactruz recorded themaximum temperature of39.6 degrees Celsius, asper the MeT department.

In view of the IMD’swarning, the Mumbaicivic body took to Twitter

to inform citizens aboutthe do’s and dont’s andasked them to “stay hy-drated and safe”.

To minimise the impactduring the heat wave andto prevent a serious ail-ment or death because ofthe heat stroke, the BMCalso asked people to avoidgoing out in the sun, espe-cially between 12 noon

and 3 pm.It suggested people to

carry water while goingout in the afternoon.

“Drink sufficient waterand as often as possible,even if not thirsty,” theBMC said and asked peo-ple to avoid strenuous ac-tivities when the outsidetemperature is high.

It also asked citizens toavoid tea, coffee, softdrinks, high-protein andstale food, and suggestedthat people use a hat or anumbrella and also use adamp cloth on head, neck,face and limbs if theywork outdoors.

The BMC also askedpeople to take ORS (oralrehydration salts) andhomemade drinks likelassi, torani (rice water),lemon water and butter-milk which help to re-hy-drate the body. Use fansand take bath in coldwater frequently, it said.

Amid heat wave, Mumbai civic bodyasks citizens to stay hydrated


Congress leader in theLok Sabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury on Tuesday de-manded a court-monitoredCBI probe into the killing ofparty councillor TapanKandu and the mysteriousdeath of student activistAnis Khan in West Bengal.A four-time Congress coun-cillor of JhaldaMunicipality in WestBengal’s Purulia district,Kandu was shot dead onSunday. Raising the issuesduring Zero Hour in the LokSabha, Chowdhury allegedthe Trinamool Congress,the ruling party in WestBengal, was involved in themurder of Kandu in collu-sion with a section of thepolice. About the death of

18-year old Khan lastmonth, Chowdhury, who isalso the state Congresschief, claimed that electionscan no longer be held inde-pendently in the state amidthe prevailing “lawless-ness”. “I demand a court-monitored CBI inquiry intothe murder of Kandu andKhan. I urge the Human

Rights Commission,Scheduled CasteCommission and theMinorities Commissionthat they also demand suchan inquiry,” Chowdhurysaid.

Anis Khan’s family mem-bers have alleged that hewas pushed off the secondfloor of their residence atAmta in Howrah district onthe night of February 18 byfour people with one don-ning a police uniform andthe others wearing the dressof civic volunteers.Meanwhile, Two more peo-ple were arrested onTuesday in connection withthe murder of TMC council-lor Anupam Dutta, takingthe total number of appre-hensions in the case tothree, police said.

‘Demand CBI probe into WB councilor murder’

Patna, Mar 15 (PTI):

The alleged insult ofBihar assembly SpeakerVijay Kumar Sinha by ChiefMinister Nitish Kumarparalysed the House whereruckus created by the oppo-sition over the issue forcedrepeated adjournments ofthe proceedings on Tuesday.

Strangely, both Sinha andKumar chose not to attendthe House which was in tur-moil over the showdown be-tween the two on the previ-ous day. While the speakerremained seated inside hischamber, meeting MLAswho dropped in out of cu-

riosity, the chief ministerwas away in Maner Sharif, aSufi shrine on the outskirtsof the state capital, wherehe ducked queries fromjournalists about the stale-mate with a cryptic smile

and a wave.MLAs of the RJD, the

principal opposition party,had come to the Housewearing black badges as amark of protest againstwhat they saw as a slight in-

flicted on the Chair by thehead of the government.

They were further pro-voked upon seeing seniorBJP leader Prem Kumar inthe Chair, when the Housefirst assembled at 11 AM,and after being adjournedtill 2 PM met for the post-lunch session. Oppositionmembers trooped into thewell, shouting slogans like“Nitish Kumar Murdabad”and “Nitish Kumar HoshMein Aao”, forcing the ad-journment of proceedingstill 4.50 PM. Earlier, in thepre-lunch session,Parliamentary AffairsMinister Vijay KumarChaudhary sought to de-fend the chief minister, who“acknowledges the impor-tance of the Chair”.

Oppn ruckus over ‘insult’ of speaker by Nitish

Panaji, Mar 15 (PTI):

Goa Congress presidentGirish Chodankar has re-signed from the post, tak-ing moral responsibilityfor his party’s poor per-formance in the recentlyconcluded state Assemblyelections.

All India CongressCommittee’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Raotold PTI on Tuesday thatChodankar has sent hisresignation to the AICC.

Chodankar was at thehelm of affairs of theCongress during the re-cent elections held for the40-member Goa Assembly.

The Congress managedto win 11 seats and its allyGoa Forward Party se-cured one seat, while the

BJP emerged as the singlelargest party by bagging 20seats.

After the poll resultswere declared lastThursday, Chodankar hadoffered to quit while ac-cepting moral responsibil-ity for his party’s poorshow. Sources in theCongress saidChodankar’s resignationwill be accepted and a newface will replace him.

Leaders like SankalpAmonkar, Aleixo Sequeiraand Elvis Gomes are front-runners for the post, theysaid.

Amonkar and Sequeirawon the recent Assemblypolls, while Gomes, a for-mer bureaucrat, lost theelection from PanajiAssembly seat.

The sources also did notrule out the possibility ofthe Congress consideringsenior leader DigambarKamat, who won the pollMargao Assembly seat, forthe top party post in thecoastal state. In the 2017Goa Assembly polls, theCongress had emerged asthe single largest party bywinning 17 seats, but itfailed to form government.The BJP, which had thenbagged 13 seats, came topower with the support ofsome regional parties andindependents.

Girish Chodankar resigns as Goa Congress chief

Wayanad, Mar 15 (PTI):

Several acres of highrange areas of Palakkadand Wayanad districts inKerala were burnt down inwildfires, which occurred afew days ago, before forestofficials managed to dousethem. High range areas ofWalayar in Palakkad andVellamunda in Wayanadwere affected by wildfireswhich occurred onSaturday and Sunday re-spectively, forest officialssaid and added that similarincidents were reported ear-lier in the month also inthese two districts.

Wayanad North DFO,Darshan Gattani IFS, speak-ing to PTI, said the recentwildfire occurred in thegrassland areas of the for-

est region of the district. Hesaid that while the actualreason for the fire has to bedetermined, the extremeheat, rising temperatures,wind conditions and hillyterrain were contributingfactors. Besides the recentwildfire incident, otherswere also reported earlierin the month from variousparts of the district like

Kalpetta, Banasura damarea and Pericherimala, hesaid and added that in allthese places the fire wascontained in less than 12hours. Palakkad DFO,Srinivas Kurra IFS, told PTIthat the wildfire in theWalayar area of the districtoccurred on Saturday andcould be doused only byTuesday morning.

Wildfires burn down severalhectares of land in KeralaGuwahati, Mar 15 (PTI):

Assam Chief MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma hassaid that his government’snewly created departmentfor indigenous faith wouldcreate an action plan to en-sure the preservation andpromotion of faith and cul-ture of anthropologicallyindigenous and tribal com-munities.

Assam is a microcosm ofa bigger region where peo-ple belonging to different in-digenous and tribal faithand culture have residedsince ages, a manifestationof different factors, theyounger generations seemto be losing touch with theancient faith and practicesdue to several factors, thechief minister said duringhis interaction with repre-sentatives of 30 tribal com-munities here. Consideringthe importance of ancient

wisdom of the indigenoustribal faith and culture, mygovernment has taken thedecision to create a depart-ment to work for the promo-tion of faith and culture ofanthropologically indige-nous and tribal communi-ties, Sarma said. ‘’The de-partment would create an

action plan for the state gov-ernment to enrich thestate’s demography and willessentially undertake deepresearch to help theyounger generation to im-bibe the virtues of ancientfaith and culture’’, the chiefminister said. He asked therepresentatives to register

their organizations with thedepartment to enable thegovernment to provide in-stitutional support to the or-ganizations that have beenengaged in the preservationand promotion of indige-nous and tribal faith andculture. The tribal commu-nities that are still preserv-ing and practising their an-cient religion, faith and cul-ture can also apply for gov-ernment support through aportal, Sarma added. Thegovernment will initiate ad-equate steps for studies onthese subjects by theyounger generation so thatthe society at large gets ben-efitted, he said. The stategovernment was also plan-ning to hold a mega exhibi-tion encapsulating in minia-ture the characteristics, cre-ations, art and culture of in-digenous and tribal faith tocreate more patronage forthem, Sarma added.

Action plan to ensure preservation of indigenous, tribal faiths

People walk under scorching Sun in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Wildfires in Kerala.

Girish Chodankar

After party’s poor showin Assembly polls

RJD legislators wear a black ribbon in protest against theBihar government during the ongoing Budget session ofthe state Assembly, in Patna, Tuesday.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma meets with tribal communities representatives in Guwahati.

Nitish Kumar BiharCM since 2005


US working towards global coalition far beyond G7, NATOWashington, Mar 15 (PTI):

The Biden administra-tion is working to build aglobal coalition far be-

yond G7 and NATO part-ners, the White House hassaid.

Some of the biggestcountries like China,

India, Brazil and Mexicoare not part of America’seconomic warfare againstRussia, but that does notundermine the efforts of

the Biden administra-tion against Moscow,White House PressSecretary Jen Psaki toldreporters.

“Not just China, butsome of the biggestcountries in the worldlike India or Brazil,some countries in LatinAmerica like Mexico,they are not part of thiseconomic warfareagainst Russia.

Is this something thatundermines the effortfrom the White Houseand European coun-tries? “I would say it

doesn’t undermine our ef-forts. We have been work-ing to build a global coali-tion far beyond the G7 andour NATO partners, andhad a great deal of suc-cess in that. And everycountry has to decidewhere they want to stand,where they want to be aswe look and the historybooks are written,” Psakisaid during her dailynews conference.

“As we have seen, theimpact of the president’sleadership on the globalstage and the economicconsequences that havebeen put into place haveled Russia and theRussian economy to be onthe brink of collapse.

Army attacks in easternMyanmar worst in decades

Bangkok, Mar 15 (AP):

While Russia’s war inUkraine dominates global at-tention, Myanmar’s militaryis targeting civilians in airand ground attacks on ascale unmatched in the coun-try since World War II, ac-cording to a longtime reliefworker who spent almostthree months in a combatzone in the Southeast Asiannation.

David Eubank, director ofthe Free Burma Rangers, ahumanitarian relief organi-zation, told The AssociatedPress that the military’s jets

and helicopters stage fre-quent attacks in the areas ofeastern Myanmar where heand his volunteers operate,bringing medical and foodaid to civilians caught inconflict. Ground forces arealso firing artillery indis-criminately, he said causing

thousands to flee theirhomes. Video shot by hisgroup’s members includesrare images of repeated airstrikes by Myanmar militaryaircraft in Kayah State alsoknown as Karenni Statecausing a number of civiliandeaths.

COVID-19 cases morethan double in China

Beijing, Mar 15 (AP):

China’s new COVID-19cases Tuesday more thandoubled from the previousday as the country faces byfar its biggest outbreaksince the early days of thepandemic.

The National HealthCommission said 3,507 newlocally spread cases hadbeen identified in the latest24-hour period, up from

1,337 a day earlier.A fast-spreading variant

known as ‘stealth omicron’is testing China’s zero-toler-ance strategy, which hadkept the virus at bay sincethe deadly initial outbreakin the city of Wuhan inearly 2020. China hasrecorded more than 10,000cases in the first two weeksof March, far exceedingprevious flare-ups. No newdeaths have been reported

in the multiple outbreaksacross China, and the casecount remains low com-pared to many other placesin the world. The UKrecorded more than 444,000cases in the past week.Hong Kong, a semi-au-tonomous city that tracksits outbreak separatelyfrom the mainland, report-ed 26,908 new cases.

Nearly three-fourths ofChina’s new infectionswere in Jilin, a province inthe northeast that reported2,601 cases. Smaller out-breaks have hit more than adozen provinces and majorcities including Beijing andShanghai.

Jilin has barred resi-dents from leaving theprovince and from travelingbetween cities within it.The 9 million residents ofChangchun, the provincialcapital and an auto manu-facturing hub, have beenlocked down since Fridayas authorities conduct re-peated rounds of mass test-ing both there and in thecity of Jilin.

Ukraine war may lead to rethinkingof US defence of Europe

Washington, Mar 15 (AP):

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s war inUkraine and his push toupend the broader securityorder in Europe may lead toa historic shift in Americanthinking about defence ofthe continent. Depending onhow far Putin goes, thiscould mean a buildup of USmilitary power in Europenot seen since the Cold War.The prospect of a bigger USmilitary footprint in Europeis a remarkable turnaroundfrom just two years ago.

In 2020, President DonaldTrump ordered thousands ofAmerican troops out ofGermany as part of his ar-gument that Europeanswere undeserving allies.Just days after taking office,President Joe Biden stoppedthe withdrawal before itcould start, and his adminis-tration has stressed NATO’simportance even as Bidenidentifies China as the mainlong-term threat to US secu-

rity.Then came Russia’s inva-

sion of Ukraine. ‘We are in anew era of sustained con-frontation with Russia,’ saysAlexander Vershbow, a for-mer US ambassador toRussia and former deputysecretary-general of NATO.He argues that the UnitedStates, in cooperation withNATO allies, will need to es-

tablish a more muscularstance to deal with a morethreatening Russia. That isespecially so in EasternEurope, where Russia’sproximity poses a problemfor the three Baltic nationsthat are former Soviet states.defence Secretary LloydAustin was flying to Europeon Tuesday for his second re-cent round of Ukraine con-

sultations at NATO head-quarters in Brussels. He alsowill travel to two EasternEuropean NATO countriesSlovakia, which bordersUkraine, and Bulgaria,which does not. After aNATO meeting last month,Austin visited two other al-lies on the eastern flank,Poland and Lithuania.

In just the past twomonths, the US presence inEurope has jumped fromabout 80,000 troops to about100,000, which is nearly asmany as were there in 1997when the United States andits NATO allies began an ex-pansion of the alliance thatPutin says threatens Russiaand must be reversed. Bycomparison, in 1991, the yearthe Soviet Union dissolved,the United States had 305,000troops in Europe, including224,000 in Germany alone,according to Pentagonrecords. The number thendropped steadily, reaching101,000 in 2005 and about64,000 as recently as 2020.

BRIEFExpels

Bratislava:Slovakia’s ForeignMinistry says it hasdecided to expel threeRussian diplomats fol-lowing its assessmentof information fromthe country’s intelli-gence services. Theministry said the deci-sion was made and thediplomats based atRussian embassy inthe capital ofBratislava have 72hours to leave thecountry. The ministrysaid it urged Russianembassy to make surethe activities of theirdiplomats were in linewith convention.

FreezesBeirut: A Lebanesejudge froze the assetsof five of Lebanon’slargest banks andthose of their board ofdirectors as she inves-tigates possible trans-fers of billions of dol-lars aboard during thecountry’s economicmeltdown. Decisionby Judge Ghada Aounwith Mount Lebanondistrict court coversreal estate, vehiclesand shares that thefive banks or their di-rectors own in othercompanies. Movecame days after travelbans were imposed.

AirliftsLondon: The UK gov-ernment has airlifted21 Ukrainian childrenfrom the conflict zonewith Russia for life-saving cancer treat-ment by experts at dif-ferent hospitals acrossEngland. The 21 chil-dren and their imme-diate family membersarrived in Englandfrom Poland and willbe assessed byNational HealthService (NHS) medicsto understand theirhealth needs beforebeing sent to NHS hos-pitals free of charge tocontinue care.

Peru’s congress votes to debate Prez impeachment

Lima, Mar 15 (AFP): Peru’s opposition-dominatedcongress voted in favor of a motion to debate whetheror not to impeach leftist President Pedro Castillo. It isalready the second time Castillo, a former rural schoolteacher, has faced such a vote in just seven months inoffice. Similar moves resulted in former presidentsPablo Kuczynski (in 2018) and Martin Vizcarra (2020)leaving office.

An old so called ‘raisin bomber’ airplane from WW II isseen at the airlift memorial at the airport in Frankfurt,Germany.

An official in front of a barrier blocking off a street inShanghai on Tuesday.

Black smoke arises from burning buildings in Waraisupliavillage in Kayah State.

More than 1,670civilians have beenkilled

Iran says several heldin nuclear

facility sabotage plotTTeehhrraann,, MMaarr 1155 ((AAPP)):: Iranianstate television has reportedthat the paramilitaryRevolutionary Guard arrestedmembers of a network” work-ing for Israel that planned tosabotage Iran’s major under-ground nuclear facility atFordo. The TV claimed that theZionist regime a Tehran refer-ence meaning Israel has foryears been trying to hit Fordo,a top nuclear facility in thecountry, but without success.The report did not say howmany suspects were arrested,what their nationalities wereor when and where the arrestssupposedly took place. Therewas no immediate commentfrom Israel. Iran has recentlystopped the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency fromaccessing its surveillance cam-era footage and has resumedenrichment of uranium atFordo as Tehran’s nuclear dealwith world powers fell apartand talks of returning to thedeal paused.

ChronicleC E N T R A L

Established 1974 Volume 47 No. 162

Poland’s humanity

No, the border security forcethere are not armed withChilli Guns to dissuade es-caping tortured refugeesfrom entering the territory.Neither the politicians thererender a barbaric call of“Throw Out the Termites”with the delighted “nation-alist” population clapping inunison. Instead, refugeesare accorded a warm wel-come there with the home-less delivered free SIMcards, biscuits, drinks, blan-kets, nappies and most im-portantly even homes are of-fered too. The heart-touch-ing pictures of Polish volun-teers handing out warmbeverages to Ukrainians atthe border checkpoints de-serve the caption “wherehumanity and divinitymeet”. Indeed in the currentinternational perspective of“Neutrality” “Dine with theDevils” “Strategic interest”and “Rabid nationalism”, ifthere is paradise on earth; itis in poland, in poland, inpoland.

Kajal Chatterjee,Kolkata

Proper uniform

The Noble laureate fromPakistan Malala Yousafzaihad poked her nose into theongoing hijab row in India.Recently, while speaking tomedia in Pakistan she said,“Refusing to let go to schoolin their hijabs is horrify-ing”. We should make itclear to her that everyschool and even colleges inIndia has proper uniformand one should come toschool in proper uniformirrespective of caste, creed,religion, gender or status.Secondly, why she is main-taining pin-drop silencewhen everyday Hindu girlsare kidnapped and raped inPakistan? Before coming tolecture on the condition ofminorities in India, oneshould tell her in clearterm that minorities aretreated at par with the ma-jority. In fact, in some areasthe minorities are givenspecial (VVIP) status. So,people like Malala whocome from a terrorist-fund-ed country like Pakistanshould better not commentover India. Meanwhile,Priyanka Gandhi in herlast-ditch effort to salvagesome pride by pleasing aparticular people in beforethe impending UP electiondefeat of her party echoedthe similar lines of Malala.She opined that wearinghijab, jeans and bikini arefundamental rights ofevery Indian. Yes, we allagree that our Constitutionhas given us rights to wearaccording to our wishes,but does it mean that onestudent should go to schoolor college wearing bikini?

Julie, via email

LETTERSTO THE EDITOR✍

Central Chronicle welcomes, articles, write ups, comments on different issues foreditorial page (800-900 words), Letter to editor for this page. It can be sent by

e-mail at: [email protected] letters can be edited or rewritten for clarity of thoughts.

WHAT THEY TWEET!

RRaacchhnnaa@@rraacchhnnaappaarrmmaarr

I do like Rujuta’s wisdomfor a lot of Indian food but

this one is senseless.Sabudana has no healthbenefits at all. Sabudana

khichdi, vada or kheer aregreat indulgences, once ina while kind of treats. Sheis highly qualified in herfield, not a quack at all.

ddbb@@ddbb__iiss__ddbbWould you want an EV with the car’soperating system switch lying with

the manufacturer? You would be sit-ting turkey, if it were a chinese or

some foreign manufacturer and Indiagets into hostilities with a foreign

nation friendly to these chaps. Justthe humble petrol car for me

PPyyaarriicceettaammooll@@SSaattaannKKiiNNaanniiWhat kind of parents are buying

those cheap quality plastic thailis bythe kilos for their brats to throw

waterbombs on strangers? Just nowone senior citizen walking ahead ofme was pelted from one balcony.What do these people want their

kids to grow up into?

KKBBSS SSiiddhhuu@@kkbbssssiiddhhuu11996611

Instead of making the film#KashmirFiles tax-free, vari-

ous State Governmentsshould double or triple the

entertainment duty, with theproviso that the entire col-lection derived therefrom

shall be dedicated to a funddedicated to the

return/rehabilitation ofKashmiri refugees.

IFSSaket Badola@Saket_BadolaThe character and charisma of Forest Guest Houses ? #ValmikiTigerReserve

JJaammeess PPaallmmeerr@@BBeeiijjiinnggPPaallmmeerrthe thing about Musk is that he is,in fact, a very poor Poster. can’tmeme, can’t dunk, weak content,

but he’s propped up by sapsbecause he’s rich. He’s like a pettyautocrat whom his underlings keepletting score goals on the pitch, but

who at some level ‘knows’ he can’t play.

T he Centre said that the campaign will include chil-dren in the age group of 12-14 years and that the

country’s second indigenous vaccine, Corbevax, will berolled out for the new group. The Drugs ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) had granted emergency use au-thorisation to Corbevax, for use on children betweenages of 12-18. This is the second vaccine to be approvedfor use in the 12-18 age category. Zydus Cadila’s three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D was the first jab to getapproval from the DCGI for use on all individuals abovethe age of 12. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been used toinoculate teenagers in the 15-18 years category fromJanuary onward. Serum Institute of India (SII) hassought EUA from India’s drug regulator for its COVID-19vaccine Covovax for ages 12 to 17 group. Corbevax willinspire more scientific collaborations without intellectu-al property rights like patents and open source technolo-gy for humanity. The story of Corbevax is inspiring forinternational scientific cooperation. Two years ago,when a pair of Houston scientists first began crafting acheap, easy-to-make COVID-19 vaccine, they had a toughtime finding support for it at home in the US, a countrythat rewards expensive, flashy new tech. But the team atthe Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for VaccineDevelopment at Baylor College of Medicine, led by DrMaria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez, worked on theirpatent-free vaccine with donated money in relative ob-scurity, failing to garner much outside interest. Thenone thing finally broke through and spoke to the peoplewho had been overlooking their open-science approachto the vaccine known by its first producer as Corbevax. Itcame without strings or a secret formula, making it atrue humanitarian pursuit that could finally reach theunvaccinated corners of the developing world. Bottazziand Hotez, both pioneers in the field of immunology, runBaylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine and havebeen developing coronavirus vaccines for more than adecade, including formulas for the SARS and MERSviruses. Their vaccine uses the same recombinant pro-tein technology already used for decades in the hepatitisB vaccine, a common childhood shot. The vaccine tech-nology has no intellectual property rights attached to it.That means the building blocks of the vaccine can behad for the price of a phone call. Once produced, the vac-cine can be sold to governments for far less than anyother vaccine currently on the market. much of thepraise for Corbevax and its Texas inventors seems to betheir willingness and that of Biological E and the in-vestors to forgo a large profit in favour of the more altru-istic goal of better access and distribution of the vac-cine. Bottazzi and Hotez were nominated for the NobelPeace Prize for practicing what Hotez calls ‘Texas vac-cine diplomacy,’ by creating a path for the entire world tobe inoculated. Earlier in the week, members ofAmerica’s influential Congressional Hispanic Caucushave urged US President Joe Biden to champion vaccinecollaboration with India to bring an end to the COVID-19pandemic. In a letter to Biden, Texas delegation mem-bers and other members (Hispanic areas), requested theadministration to lead distribution of low-cost vaccinesto low-income nations with low vaccination rates to savemillions of lives and bring an end to the worldwide pan-demic. The lawmakers urged the President to use the twovaccines which are a result of India-US collaborationsfor the global good and to end vaccine inequity throughCorbevax and Covovax. While the Corbevax vaccine ispatent-free, another vaccine, developed by Americanbiotechnology company Novavax, is in production inIndia and its export is planned to the COVAX facility.

Inspiring scientific collaboration

T he Karnataka High Court pronounced its judgmentin the hijab case. The court has upheld the govern-

ment’s order and dismissed petitions challenging theban on hijab in educational institutes. The petitionersfor hijab plan to move the Supreme Court after readingthe full high court order. Wearing of hijab is not a partof Essential Religious Practice in Islamic faith and thus,is not protected under Article 25 of the Constitution, theKarnataka High Court has held. An important questionbefore the Court in this case was whether wearing ofhijab is part of essential religious practise of Islam andwhether State interference in such matters is warrant-ed. The court was also called to consider whether wear-ing of hijab partakes the character of right to expres-sion under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution andwhether restriction can be levied only under Article19(2). Internationally, particularly in Europe, the hijabis often in controversy as personal attire, not just schoolor work uniform. The debate over hijab in Europe iseven more extreme than in India. The latest controversyover the hijab erupted in October last year. Ironically,the trigger was an anti-discrimination video campaignlaunched by the Council of Europe. The video caused anuproar in France. The French minister Sarah El Hairy,spoke out forcefully against the video and claimed creditfor the Council’s decision to withdraw it from circula-tion. Right-wing politicians such as Marine le Pen andMichel Barnier and prominent television pundits addedtheir voices to the criticism of the campaign. France isnot the only European country that restricts the hijab.The inflow of Muslim immigrants to Europe and thethreat of violent Islamist groups have made Muslim mi-norities a target of hostility and discrimination, and thehijab has become a visual symbol of these tensions. Ofthe 27 EU member states and the United Kingdom, ninehave some legal restriction on veiling; there have beenlegislative proposals to limit the practice in five more. Incountries with no national restrictions, some regionshave decided independently to ban face coverings. Thereare only six EU countries, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece,Poland, Portugal and Romania where there has been nopublic debate so far on restricting the veil. But there isnuance in the interaction between prior levels of reli-giosity and modernisation. Need to compare debates re-garding hijab.

Comparing hijab debates


Children visit a shop selling ‘Gulal’ and water pistols in preparation for ‘Holi’ in Amritsar, Punjab.

‘HOLI’ SHOPPING

CC amels were once a prized posses-sion for breeders in Rajasthan.

Madhavram Raika, a breeder from Palidistrict, said that his father owned 150camels. Of these, both young and adultmale camels would be sold at a hand-some price, sustaining the family fordecades.

A law in 2015, the Rajasthan Camel(Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulationof Temporary Migration or Export) Act,that aimed to protect the state animal,however, is contributing to its downfall,lament breeders. The price of the animalhas dipped so much and the losses havebeen so high that those like Madhavramhave had to sell all their camels, even asothers are struggling for sustenance,bringing down the total number ofcamels in the state significantly.

‘Koi fayda nahin hua (There has beenno gain),’ Madhavram said about thestate government’s decision to declarethe camel as the state animal back in2014. ‘We thought that after beingdeclared the state animal, our animals’and our future would look brighter. Butthat has not been the case. On top ofthat, the 2015 law restricting selling ouranimals outside the state has caused theprices to dip by a large margin,’ he said.Prices of camels have dropped by 80-90percent from the price that they wouldfetch earlier. Hariram Raika, anothercamel breeder from Manigar village inthe same district, chipped in, ‘Before2015 when the Act came into being,’ hesaid, ‘an eight-ten-month-old camelwould be sold for Rs 15,000 or more. Nowwe hardly get Rs 3000 for a three-four-year-old animal.’ The animals wouldmostly be sold to buyers in Punjab,Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. Most ofthem would be farmers who use thecamel for agricultural purposes, or for

milk; the camel is also used to carryheavy loads and for transportation. TheRaika community are pastoralists andhave been known to herd camels for alivelihood for centuries. Hardships havecome in many forms over the years, butthe community has fought through it all.This time, however, their very source ofsustenance is at risk.

‘In the Pushkar Mela in 2019, forinstance, for the first time ever, therewere more horses on sale. They fetchedbetter prices,’ Hanwant Singh Rathore,director of Lokhit Pashu Palak Sansthan,a body of camel breeders in Rajasthan,said. ‘A six-month-old camel calf wasearlier sold at Rs 10,000. Now it is sold atRs 1000-1500. In desperation, peoplehave begun selling their camels inhordes.’ The Pushkar Mela, also knownas the Pushkar Camel Fair, is an annualfair in which domestic animals, mostlycamels, horses, and cattle are tradedwith buyers from across the country.

The 2015 law has changed that. As aresult, the total camel population in thestate has nosedived, Rathore said. The20th Livestock Census shows that in2012, the total number of camels in thestate was 3.25 lakh. By 2019, this numberhad dipped to 2.13 lakh, a dip of almost35 percent in just seven years. ‘That’sthe official census,’ Rathore told, ‘Weestimate the number to be even lower, at1.5 lakh (150,000). And it’s reducingevery month.’ Ironically, it was the camelbreeders who wanted a law in place toprevent their animals from being soldoutside the state, but they had two spe-cific demands: that their animals shouldnot be sold for slaughter, and that anykind of ban on sale should be appliedonly to female camels. ‘We heard aboutthe first instance of camel slaughter in2002. So we wanted a ban but only on thesale of female camels who are the source

of life,’ Rathore said. ‘But when the Actwas passed, there was a blanket ban onthe sale of both male and female camels.This stopped all trade and hit us bad.’The law, however, is not the only reasonwhy camel breeders are struggling. Lossof grazing land for their animals is anoth-er reason. Pastoralists like Hariram Raikafor instance said that for generations,their animals would graze openly andventure into the forests of Kumbalgarhfor two months in a year, during themonsoons. ‘But once it was declared awildlife sanctuary, we were no longerallowed,’ he said.

‘Earlier we would earn as much as Rs2-2.5 lakh a year by selling our animals,’Hariram said, ‘Now (after the law) wemake about Rs 25,000-30,000. This hasseverely impacted our economic status.’From 60 camels, he now has 30, sellingthe rest in desperation since he could nolonger afford their upkeep.

For Madhavram, things have beeneven more drastic. He now herds others’camels, and earns a monthly income ofRs 8,000. His lowered economic prowessaffected his family, leading to domesticproblems, and finally forcing his wife towork as a daily wage worker to run theirhouse. Theirs are not uncommon stories.And the proof is in the depleting num-bers of the camel. In a village calledAnsh Ki Dhani in the Pali district where100 families live, back in 1991, therewere 5,000 camels. Now there are just200. In another village called JodhawarKi Dhani, there were 7,000-8,000 camelsabout six years back; now there are just300-400.

In most cases, breeders are now let-ting go of the male camels to fend forthemselves, while trying to keep thefemales. There has been an unprece-dented rise in the number of straycamels in recent times, Rathore said. Indesperation, some people have resortedto selling their animals illegally, walkingacross the state border on foot for trade,he added.

In a bid to check the declining camelpopulation, the state government starteda Camel Development Scheme in 2016 togive an incentive of Rs 10,000 for everynewborn calf in three installments. Manybreeders however could not avail of thisincentive, and some did not get the finalinstallment, making this scheme unsuc-cessful. As an alternative means of liveli-hood, breeders have begun to sell camelmilk. This was after much persuasionsince it went against their traditional

beliefs. Camel milk has often been tout-ed as a superfood, claimed to be benefi-cial for autism, diabetes, liver disease,jaundice, even cancer. Camel Charismais one such initiative through whichbreeders of the Lokhit Pashu PalakSansthan now sell camel milk. ‘Throughthis, a family can earn between Rs 18,000to Rs 30,000 a month,’ Rathore said.Camel Charisma pays Rs. 60 per litre ofcamel milk to the breeders. They alsomake camel milk products like cheeseand soap; even camel poop paper.Things, however, are moving slowly.Competitive pricing in comparison tocow’s milk or buffalo’s, and a lack ofdemand among the general populacebecause of inadequate marketing, theyfeel, is the reason behind this. Lack ofinfrastructure in the cold chain is anoth-er challenge. Ilse Kohler-Rollefson, whohas been engaged in camel research formore than 30 years and is a co-founderof Lokhit Pashu Palan Sanstan, addedthat there is a huge demand for camelmilk outside India, ‘particularly China’,but because of lack of infrastructure,they haven’t been able to meet the need.

‘We think that if the 2015 law isamended, we will be able to save our ani-mals,’ Hariram Raika said, ‘Otherwisethe next five years will be critical for ourcamels.’

The state government had formed acommittee to look into the issues afterthe camel breeders staged a protestagainst the ban during the 2019 PushkarMela. In the list of recommendationssubmitted thereafter, the breedersasked, in addition to amendment of thelaw, to include camel milk in mid-daymeals in schools, to promote it in themarket, and for free-range grazingrights.

An official of the Animal Husbandrydepartment has now assured that theprocess to amend the law is underway.‘There is a proposal of amendments thathave been cleared by the law ministryand will soon be introduced in theassembly,’ the official told. ‘The new pro-visions would be such that except forslaughter, breeders would be able tosend their animals across the state’s bor-ders and earn their revenue.’ There is noestimate of when this would happen so itis still a wait-and-watch game for thecamel breeders of Rajasthan.

((AAzzeerraa RRaahhmmaann bbaasseedd iinn JJooddhhppuurr iissWWaatteerrAAiidd IInnddiiaa mmeeddiiaa ffeellllooww 22001188 nnaaddNNFFII mmeeddiiaa ffeellllooww 22001144..))

Law to protect camel is contributing to its decline in Rajasthan

UUppaammaannyyuu@@uuppaammaannyyuu7700A lot of things which are happeningin this country at the moment were

unbelievable to process even tenyears back. Some people tend toforget the key to it all, political

power. The only thing which legiti-mately shifts the Overton window.

AZERA RAHMAN


BRIEF

Milestone

New Delhi: MarutiSuzuki India Ltd onTuesday said its CNGrange of vehicles hascrossed the cumula-tive sales milestone of10 lakh units. MSILMD CEO KenichiAyukawa said our aimis to offer safe, reli-able, clean, technolog-ically advanced andeco friendly vehicles.

ExpandNew Delhi: Drone de-livery logistics firmSkye Air Mobility onTuesday said it plansto ramp up its fleet sizeto about 120 drones in12-15 months from thecurrent four as it chas-es growth opportuni-ties in key areas suchas healthcare and diag-nostics. Ankit Kumar,CEO of Skye AirMobility, said the com-pany has crossed themilestone of 1,000flights in six months ofoperations, and is look-ing to reach a level ofone lakh flights overnext months.

RaisesMumbai:Omnichannel jew-ellery retailerBluestone has raisedover USD 30 million(about Rs 228 crore) ina funding round led bySunil Kant Munjal,chairman of HeroEnterprise, at a valua-tion of USD 410 mil-lion. Bluestone --backed by marquee in-vestors, includingRatan Tata, Accel,Kalaari, Iron Pillar,IvyCap and SaamaCapital -- claims to bethe largest omnichan-nel precious jewellerybrand, the companysaid in a statement.

FundingNew Delhi: Unicornstartup Licious, whichsells meat productsand seafood, onTuesday said it hasraised USD 150 million(about Rs 1,140 crore)in funding led bySingapore-basedAmansa Capital forbusiness growth.Other major investorsin the Series F2 fund-ing round includeKotak PE and AxisGrowth Avenues AIF-I.

BuysNew Delhi: Realtyfirm Godrej PropertiesLtd said it has boughtabout 50 acres of landparcel at Sonipat inHaryana for plotted de-velopment as part ofits plan to expand busi-ness across majorcities. The Mumbai-based firm did not dis-close the deal value aswell as the name of theseller. This is the sec-ond major land deal byGodrej Properties inthe Delhi-NCR area.

PlatformWashington: Indian-American entrepre-neur from SiliconValley has launched anartificial intelligence-based platformthrough which peoplecan invest in stocks foras low as USD1. "We arebringing one of thebest ways to earn moreto people who need itthe most. We are tryingto make the invest-ments as much as pos-sible to be socially re-sponsible, impactfuland conscious," SelvanRajan, CEO ofSmartMoney IA, saidin a statement.


Over Rs 53,600 crore ofGST compensation for thecurrent fiscal is yet to be re-leased to the states, FinanceMinister NirmalaSitharaman said in theRajya Sabha on Tuesday.

So far this fiscal, Rs 96,576crore has been released tothe states on account ofGST compensation, and anadditional Rs 1.59 lakhcrore has been given asback-to-back loan to makegood the revenue shortfallon account of Goods andServices Tax (GST) imple-mentation.

Under the Goods andServices Tax (GST) law,states were guaranteed tobe compensated bi-monthlyfor any loss of revenue inthe first five years of GSTimplementation from July1, 2017.

The shortfall is calculat-ed assuming a 14 per centannual growth in GST col-lections by states over thebase year of 2015-16.

The compensationamount to be paid from the

compensation fund is ar-rived at by levying cess ontop of the highest tax slabon luxury, demerit and singoods.

"Centre is committed torelease full GSTCompensation to theStates/UTs as per GST(Compensation to States)Act, 2017 for the transitionperiod by extending thelevy of Compensation cessbeyond 5 years to meet theGST revenue shortfall aswell as servicing the loanborrowed through specialwindow scheme,"Sitharaman said.

Giving details of GSTcompensation yet to be re-leased to the states for cur-rent fiscal ending March,the minister said Rs 53,661crore is yet to be releasedfor the 2021-22 fiscal.

This include Rs 11,563crore to be released toMaharashtra, Rs 6,954 croreto Uttar Pradesh, Rs 6,733crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs5,461 crore to Delhi and Rs4,292 crore to West Bengal.

Sitharaman further saidGST compensation for fi-nancial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 hasalready been paid to the

States/UTs. "The economicimpact of the pandemic hasled to higher compensationrequirement due to lowerGST collection and at thesame time lower collectionof GST compensation cess,"she said.

In a separate reply,Minister of State forFinance Pankaj Chaudharysaid the total GST collectionduring the current fiscal tillFebruary is over Rs 13.33lakh crore. This includeCentral GST mop up ofover Rs 2.43 lakh crore,Integrated GST of over Rs6.87 lakh crore, State GST ofover Rs 3.11 lakh crore andcess of Rs 90,442 crore.

"CGST is credited toConsolidated Fund of India(CFI) while SGST is credit-ed to the Consolidated Fundof respective States. Out ofthis total IGST collected bythe Centre, Centre receivedRs 3,09,150 crore and Rs2,60,467 crore have been re-ceived by the States by wayof settlement (regular &adhoc) of IGST tillFebruary, 2022," Chaudharysaid.

Over Rs 53,600 cr GST compensationyet to be released to states

Nirmala Sitharaman


Equity benchmarksSensex and Nifty haltedtheir five-day rally onTuesday and settled deepin the red, mirroringweak global markets, withdecline in index heavy-weights RelianceIndustries, Infosys andHDFC Bank.

Despite opening withgains of over 200 points,the 30-share Sensexturned highly volatile andtumbled 709.17 points or1.26 per cent to close at55,776.85. During the day,the benchmark indexplunged 1,067.07 points or1.88 per cent to 55,418.95.

The broader NSE Niftyalso declined 208.30 pointsor 1.23 per cent to close at16,663.

From the 30-shareSensex pack, Tata Steel,Tech Mahindra, KotakMahindra Bank, Infosys,Reliance IndustriesLimited, Axis Bank andHCL Tech were the majordrags.

On the other hand,Mahindra & Mahindra,Maruti Suzuki, Nestle

India, Asian Paints andTitan were among thegainers.

Bourses in Hong Kongand Shanghai settledsharply lower amid con-cerns over fresh viruslockdowns. Tokyo wasmarginally higher.

Exchanges in Europewere largely trading lowerin the afternoon trade.Germany's DAX lost 2.3%to 13,612.44 and the CAC 40in Paris was also 2.3%lower at 6,223.67. Britain'sFTSE 100 declined 1.5% to7,088.89.

The futures for the S&P500 and Dow industrialswere down 0.7%. Shares inHong Kong have sunk tonear six-year lows afterthe neighbouring city ofShenzhen was orderedinto a shutdown to combat

China's worst COVID-19outbreak in two years.

The Hang Seng indexlost 5.7% to 18,415.08 afterwobbling more than 6%lower. The ShanghaiComposite gave up 5% to3,063.97.

Fears continue to dogstock markets that lock-downs could spread,which would severely im-pact China's growth,"Jeffrey Halley of Oandasaid in a commentary.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose0.2% to 25,346.48, while theKospi in Seoul gave up0.9% to 2,621.53.Australia's S&P/ASX 200slid 0.7% to 7,097.40 andshares also fell in Taiwanand Bangkok.

Stock exchanges in theUS settled on a mixed notein the overnight trade.

Sensex tumbles 709 ptson weak global trends


The rupee surrenderedits early gains to trade 6paise down at 76.60 againstthe US dollar on Tuesdayas investors turned cau-tious ahead of the US Fedmeeting amid growing un-certainty over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Besides, heavy selling indomestic equities and con-tinued foreign capital out-flows put pressure on thedomestic unit, forextraders said.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, therupee opened strong at76.40 against theAmerican dollar. However,it pared gains later toenter the negative territo-ry as investors turned cau-tious amid intensifyingRussia-Ukraine conflict.During the day, it moved inthe range of 76.32 and76.68. The local unit quot-ed at 76.60 against the dol-

lar at 1530 hrs, down 6paise from the previousclose. Meanwhile, the dol-lar index, which gaugesthe greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six cur-rencies, was trading 0.31per cent lower at 98.71.Bullion prices further fellon Tuesday. Gold prices onTuesday fell by Rs 511 toRs 51,793 per 10 grams infutures trade as partici-pants cut down their betsamid a weak global trend.

On the MultiCommodity Exchange,gold contracts for April de-livery declined by Rs 511or 0.98 per cent to Rs 51,793per 10 grams in a businessturnover of 9,259 lots.

Analysts attributed thefall in prices to trimmingof positions by investorstracking a weak trend ininternational market.

Globally, gold was trad-ing 1.22 per cent lower atUSD 1,936.80 per ounce inNew York.

Mumbai, Mar 15:

DSP InvestmentManagers announced thelaunch of DSP Nifty SDLPlus G- Sec Jun 2028 30:70Index Fund, an open-ended target maturityindex fund, which will ma-ture after about six yearsin June 2028.The portfoliowill be investedonly insovereign securities with a70:30 split betweenGovernment Securities (G-Sec) and StateDevelopment Loans (SDL)respectively, in line withthe Nifty SDL Plus G- SecJun 2028 30:70 Index.

The portfolio has aunique design with dualfilters for selecting SDLs.Instead of just applying aLiquidity Filter, there isan additional QualityFilter of low leverage.This Quality Filter isbased on each State’s GDPin proportion to its total li-

abilities and the top 10States/UTs with the bestquality scores will be se-lected. Hence the portfoliowill have a combination ofhighly liquid G-Secs and aselectivelist of SDLs withlow leverage and high liq-uidity, all which are ma-turing during the 12-month period ending June30, 2028.

The Fundoffers in-vestors the potential of rel-atively stable and pre-dictable returns.Longterm investors (holding>3years) can also get addi-tional year of indexationbenefit if invested before31 Mar 2022. Investors whosubscribe during the NFOand remain invested tillthe defined maturity canget a total of 7 yearsIndexation benefit.

The New Fund Offeropened for subscription onMarch 11th, 2022 and clos-es on March17th 2022.

DSP Investment Managerslaunches DSP Nifty SDL Plus

Rupee falls 6 paise at 76.60against USD, bullion falls

MOU FOR NEW PLANT

Samsung Southwest Asia President Ken Kang exchanges the MoU for setting up anew compressor plant with Industries Secretary S Krishnan in presence of Tamil NaduChief Minister M.K. Stalin, in Chennai, Tuesday.

Mumbai, Mar 15:

Amazon Business todayannounced the commence-ment of an ‘End ofFinancial Year Sale’ tohelp its business cus-tomers utilize their pro-curement budgets effi-ciently before the end ofthe current financial year.The event that startedtoday is curated to helpB2B customers discoverrelevant selection and alsoget incremental cashbackand discounts on thesepurchases to save costs.The event aims to ensurethat MSMEs can efficient-ly utilize their pendingbudgets for the current fi-nancial year.

The event will run tillMarch 18th 2022 and focuson supplies for MSMEs tocater both ends of hybridwork model, thus offeringcurated selections for bothWork From Home (WFH)and Back To Work (BTW).Under work from home,MSMEs can buy suppliesfor an efficient work fromhome setup across multi-ple categories such as lap-tops, electronics products,stationary items, furni-ture’s. Back to work storewill include protectiveequipment, essential backto work supplies, socialdistancing friendly officesetup such and COVIDmedical supplies. Fromsneeze guards, cones,

signs, tape, barriers,strips, labels, measure-ment instruments to IT pe-ripherals, breakroom sup-plies, the shopping eventwill offer wide selection ofproducts to its businesscustomers.

Business customers canenjoy 10% cashback, up toRs 500 on a minimumspend of Rs 1500, with theapplication of codeFYES22 at the time of pay-ment checkout. This cash-back is applicable acrossall the business relevantcategories including com-puters & accessories, elec-tronic appliances, officeproducts, office improve-ment, office kitchen, in-dustrial & scientific.

Amazon Business announcesexciting deals for MSMEs


Food and ConsumerAffairs Minister PiyushGoyal on Tuesday said thegovernment intends to de-criminalise the LegalMetrology Act and askedhis department as well asstates to take a decision onthis issue at the earliest inorder to stop harassmentof small shopkeepers.

Addressing an eventhere to celebrate the WorldConsumer Rights Day, theminister said the govern-ment's priority is to pro-

tect consumers for unfairtrade practice, but the lawshould not become a "toolof harassment".

The Legal MetrologyAct 2009 enforces stan-dards related to weightsand measures. In its pres-ent form, the law prescribeimprisonment, in additionto fine, for second or subse-quent offence. "I personal-

ly would like to flag off acouple of concerns...be-cause I do believe that it'simportant. I do believe it'simportant that what RohitKumar Singh (ConsumerAffairs Secretary) saidabout decriminalisationshould also be understoodby all of us," he said.

"We have a LegalMetrology Act. And I my-self being a startup entre-preneur 35 years ago. And35 years ago, also the ha-rassment that we faceddue to the Act as a entre-preneur is possibly some-thing which is being facedeven today, particularly bysmall shopkeepers, smallbusinesses on a day to daybasis," he said.

States must decide soon todecriminalise Legal Metrology Act

Goyal highlightedaction on misleadingadvertisements

Piyush Goyal


Toyota Kirloskar Motoron Tuesday launched theall-new version of its pre-mium hatchback Glanzain the country with a pricestarting at Rs 6.39 lakh (ex-showroom).

The model comes withan 1197 cc petrol enginemated with manual and au-tomatic transmissions.

The five-speed manualvariants of Glanza havebeen priced between Rs 6.39lakh and Rs 9.19 lakh, whilethe automatic trims (AMT)are tagged between Rs 7.79lakh and Rs 9.69 lakh. Thenew version delivers fuel ef-

ficiency of over 22 kmpland also features an idlestart-stop function, the au-tomaker said. Other promi-nent features include sixairbags, ABS (anti-lockbraking system), hill holdcontrol, head-up display,360-degree camera andnine-inch smart play cast,among others. "Over theselast few years, the Glanzahas won many hearts inIndia. And yet again with

the new Glanza, we are de-lighted to be recognised asa trusted brand by our cus-tomers who have startedbooking this new car ingood numbers," TKMExecutive Vice President(Sales & Customer Service)Tadashi Asazuma said atthe launch event.

Exclusively designed byToyota's designers, themodel features the compa-ny's signature styling andsportiness, he added. "Webelieve it is the perfectchoice for those customerswho are seeking a stylish,technology-laden, safe andcomfortable car," Asazumanoted.

Toyota Kirloskar drives in newGlanza starting at Rs 6.39 lakh


The National Bank forFinancing Infrastructureand Development(NaBFID) will begin its op-erations from the firstquarter of the next finan-cial year, its chairman KVKamath said on Tuesday.

NaBFID was set up bythe government last yearas a development financialinstitution (DFI) to supportthe development of long-term infrastructure financ-ing in the country.

"The board structure (forNaBFID) is in place. Thebasic foundation and poli-cy framework have beenbuilt. From the next quar-

ter, which is the quarterstarting April, we shouldbe operationalised,"Kamath said at an event or-ganised by the IndianConstruction EquipmentM a n u f a c t u r e r s 'Association (ICEMA).

He said a core team of 25people is already in placeand the process of selec-tion of the CEO and otherleaders to run the bank isunderway.

NaBFID to commence operationsfrom first quarter of FY-23


Maruti Suzuki, HeroMotoCorp, Lucas-TVS,Tata Cummins and ToyotaKirloskar Auto Parts areamong the 75 firms ap-proved for receiving incen-tives under the ProductionLinked Incentive (PLI)scheme for the automobileand auto components sec-tor, the government saidon Tuesday.

Proposed investment ofRs 29,834 crore is expectedfrom the 75 approved ap-plicants under theComponent ChampionIncentive Scheme.

The Ministry of HeavyIndustries had earlier se-

lected 20 applicants underthe Champion OEMIncentive Scheme. The twocomponents are part ofthe PLI scheme.

The scheme offers in-centive of up to 18 per centto encourage industry tomake fresh investments inindigenous supply chainof Advanced AutomotiveTechnology (AAT) prod-ucts.

75 cos to get sopsunder auto PLI scheme

Myanmar intends toinitiate rupee

convertibility for tradeSingapore, Mar 15 (PTI):

The Myanmar govern-ment intends to initiatethe currency convertibili-ty for the Indian rupee fortrade along the border itshares with India, follow-ing the Southeast Asiancountry's agreement thismonth to deal in Thaibaht with neighbours andthe kyat-baht initiative forborder trade with China.

"The Myanmar govern-ment intends to initiatesimilar currency convert-ibility for the Indianrupee for trade along theborder it shares withIndia," said the Ministryof Information,Myanmar, in a statementon Tuesday.

Children areblessed not onlywith the most

beautiful hearts but possess talenthardcore, and now they are all set to takeon the dance floor with COLORS’ new show‘Dance Deewane Juniors’! After the spectacular success of ‘DanceDeewane’, COLORS is introducing the juniors version whereinchildren from the age group of 4-14 years can showcase their hard-core dancing talent fueled with deewangi and perform in solos,duet or in group on a national platform. As the young dancers gearup to set the stage on fire with their immense talent, the channelhas roped in Bollywood’s TIMELESS Beauty star Neetu Kapoor tojudge this show, hereby marking her debut on television! She willbe joining the judging panel alongside Bollywood diva NoraFatehi and esteemed choreographer Marzi Pestonji. Ahead oftaking charge as the judge, Neetu Kapoor says, “It gives me greatjoy to be part of a show that will give the upcoming dance prodi-gies a golden opportunity to showcase their talent. I see my role in‘Dance Deewane Juniors’ as a responsibility to nurture and sup-port the little ones. I can’t wait to see them take on the stage.”

Buzz about SonaliBendre’s Tollywood

appearance after18 years

Actress Sonali Bendre is in talks foran upcoming biggie in Telugu, as thenews has now caught the attention of

all. It is reported that Sonali will star in JrNTR's untitled movie, which is to behelmed by 'Srimanthudu', 'Mirchi', and'Janatha Garage' fame Koratala Siva.

The makers want to get Sonali on board,for an important role. So, they seemed tohave approached the 'Manmadhudu' ac-tress, for which she apparently gave it a

nod. If the news is to be believed, SonaliBendre is all set to make a comeback in the

Tollywood film industry after 18 years. Sonaliwas last seen in Chiranjeevi's 'Shankar DadaMBBS' before she quit acting in Tollywood.

Now that she is all set to play a pivotal role inthe film combination of Koratala Shiva and JrNTR, her fans can't get happier.

Sonali Bendre had appeared in super hitTelugu movies like 'Murari', 'Indra','Manmadhudu', 'Shankar Dada MBBS' and manymore. She was well-received by the Telugu au-dience, but the actress had to move backto Mumbai, as she had started her fam-ily. More details about the project areexpected to be out soon.

ACROSS1. Ripped5. Cruise and Hanks9. Singer ____ Reddy14. Lincoln, et al.15. Eden resident16. Digging tool17. Castle ditch18. Earth's center19. Fork features20. Walker

23. Fender-bender result24. Resource25. Barter27. Excessive excitement30. Zodiac sign34. Can.'s neighbor37. She, in Valencia39. Assisted40. Umbrella43. Hide45. Public46. Arctic transport

48. Had brunch49. Approached51. Totaled54. Sends forth56. Actress ____ Evans60. Auction actions63. Ownership66. Incensed68. Thoroughfare69. Come together70. Fables71. Minister to72. Farm unit73. Disparaging74. Irritable75. Minus

DOWN1. Florida City2. Certain woodwinds3. Peruses4. Admiration5. Diplomacy6. Smell7. Matrimonial8. Greasy streak9. FDR's successor10. Widespread outbreak11. Alley12. Genesis location13. Cozy abode21. Bus terminal (abbr.)22. Scold constantly26. School official28. New (prefix)29. Evils

31. Brainstorm32. Uncluttered33. Loafing34. "Once ____ a time..."35. Hoard36. ____ code38. Scored on serve41. Took into custody42. Flower stalk44. Unusual47. Roped50. Quick swim52. Overhead trains53. Dreary55. Rich dessert57. Female relative58. Achievers59. Stakes60. Morsels61. Iraq's neighbor62. Artist Salvador ____64. Harmonized65. Water whirl67. Vane letters


You roar with absolute bliss today!Simplicity is your new avatar, and nat-urally, friends and acquaintances aremystified. You may wish to communewith the higher spirit and will seek sol-ace in a quiet temple. Ganeshaapproves and predicts peace in plenty.

Aquarius: Jan 21 – Feb 18Staying afloat needs about as mucheffort as swimming. Cryptic as this maysound, what it means is you need to con-stantly reinvent yourself if you wish tokeep going. You will shine in your pro-fession only if it is also your passion,says Ganesha.

Pisces: Feb 19 – Mar 20You are ever eager to socialise, andtoday especially, you may want to mixbusiness with pleasure. You will be wel-comed to join in group activitiesbecause you can work and play withequal enthusiasm. In fact, you may learna lot from such a healthy exchange ofideas, says Ganesha.

Aries: Mar 21 – Apr 20Ganesha finds this an excellent day formanagers and administrators. If you areone, the results you will achieve by theend of the day will far exceed the effortsyou put in. This is mainly because yoursubordinates will be enthusiastic, com-pliant and cooperative.

Taurus: Apr 21 – May 21

Routine work bores you, and today youwill go all out to break free from theshackles of boredom. The results, how-ever, may not be as dramatic. You willhave to depend on your children, if any,to rescue you from the tyranny of rou-tine.

Gemini: May 22 – June 21You may feel like flaunting your so-called superior social and financial sta-tus today. Chances are that all that gasabout how successful you are may endup exploding in your face, and you mayend up spending a lot more than youwould have liked.

Cancer: June 22 – July 22You may feel like flaunting your so-called superior social and financial sta-tus today. Chances are that all that gasabout how successful you are may endup exploding in your face, and you mayend up spending a lot more than youwould have liked.

Leo: July 23 – Aug 23You will be faced with serious financialproblems today. You may even have topay through your nose to get what youdesire. Later in the evening, you mightaccomplish some short-term goals.Ganesha predicts that some vital busi-ness agreements will end your day inhigh spirits.

Virgo: Aug 24 – Sept 22

Ganesha says you will be able toimprove your relations abroad. Therewill be good news coming from friendsor relatives living abroad. Your workingability and efficiency will make youpopular in the office today. In the daytoday you shall have a variety of goodand bad experiences.

Libra: Sept 23 – Oct 23You might find your spirit sagging asworries cloud your thinking. Smallthings might probably bother you in abig way. Do not let them bog you downas life is all about mind over matter. Asthe day progresses, things will begin tolook up. Take a break from the rigmaroleif stress begins to take a toll on you,advises Ganesha.

Scorpio: Oct 24 – Nov 22Ganesha foresees a day full of promises.People in the creative field, especiallyartists are going to benefit more. Radiojockey and television anchors can makea note of this day in their diary, as it mayserve as a memorable day, saysGanesha.

Sagittarius: Nov 23 – Dec 21You have projected yourself as a con-fused individual. You may have a ten-dency to remain in a double mind. But,today you'll come up with a very specif-ic plan that will surprise many of thepeople around you.

Capricorn: Dec 22 – Jan 20

C R O S S WO R D 242

SOLUTION 241

HOROSCOPE WEDNESDAY MARCH 16

Dehradun-bor nlawyer-turned-actor Vikram

Singh Chauhan, whowas seen in 'Mardaani 2',is receiving good re-sponse for his perform-ance in Ajay Devgn star-rer 'Rudra: The Edge ofDarkness'.

Vikram shifted toMumbai to work in alaw firm and soon hewas keen to pursue hisdream of becoming anactor. In 'Rudra' the actorplays Captain AshokNikose, a person suffer-ing from Post traumaticstress disorder (PTSD).

Vikram shares his ex-perience of workingwith Ajay in the web se-ries: "Its one of the bestlearning experiences forme. I had my sceneswith Ajay sir, Atul(Kulkarni) sir andAshwini (Kalsekar)

ma'am . Their hold ontheir craft is so strongthat just to watch themperform is so serene."

"I specifically took alot from Ajay sir , notjust nuances of actingbut a way of life . Hedoesn't talk much but isalways listening andaware of what's goingaround him. Super fo-cused, always greetingpeople with a gentlesmile," he adds.

The actor believesthat the Covid breakgave him the time thathe required to preparefor the role and says: "Igot a lot of prep timeduring covid break. Isaw a lot of documen-taries on war veteranssuffering from PTSDand on abused child-hood. I worked on mybody language to getthat of Ashok Nikose."

Vikram SinghChauhan in awe ofAjay Devgn whileworking in ‘Rudra’

Pallavi Joshi, producer of'The Kashmir Files' and

also plays one of its pivotalcharacters, has said thather role was a very chal-lenging one. The award-winning film and televisionactress essays the role ofProfessor Radhika Menon,a JNU professor who moti-vates her students to fightfor 'Azad Kashmir'.When asked why she choseto play the character, Joshisaid: "When I was talkingto the Kashmiri Panditsabout their trauma, I couldsense the villain they werestaring at. I made up mymind to do the characterand play the role so vehe-mently that every Indianshould hate the character."She was addressing the

media in the Capital alongwith the rest of 'TheKashmir Files' team.Joshi's character, believedto have been modelledafter Booker Prize-winningauthor Arundhati Roy, isheard declaring in the film,"Kashmir has never beenan integral part of Indiaand this is a historical fact.Agar India Britain se apniIndependence ke liye ladsakti hai toh Kashmir kyunnahi (If India can fight theBritish Raj for independ-ence, then why notKashmir)?"When asked if the charac-ter was defaming the uni-versity, Director VivekAgnihotri said: "Researchand Google, and you willget the answers."

I want every Indian tohate my character:

Pallavi Joshi on ‘The Kashmir Files’

Hit the siren, kyunki ZeeCinema par hogidhamakedar entry saal

ke sabse bade blockbuster‘Sooryavanshi’ ki! The film thatrevived the big screens from along slumber with a whopping200 crores at the box office, thefilm that got families rejoicing attheatres – Sooryavanshi is all setto bring the same roar to yourTV screens. This Holi, enjoy thegrandest television event of theyear with your friends and fami-ly with the World TelevisionPremiere of the most awaitedblockbuster of the yearSooryavanshi on Zee Cinema on19th March at 8pm. The preludeto the premiere saw peopleacross the length and breadth ofthe country celebrate theSooryavanshi mania as theircities were transformed withone-of-a-kind themed activationsto match the colossal hype forthe film!

With an intent to spread joy,grandeur, and cheer, a tailoreddelicious experience for home

towners will be offered byadding a masaledar twist totheir local specialty food withsome of the most famous foodstalls across the country.Harping on the tagda punch ofthe special trio Indore’s globally

recognized ‘Johny Hot Dog’,Bhopal’s super popular ‘AnandNamkeen’ and the iconic ‘DeenaChat Bhandar’ in Varanasitransformed their popular itemslike Hot Dog, Crispy Samosa andTamatar Chat into a

Sooryavanshi specials for theircustomers. If we’re celebratingwith food, how can one leave outthe famous ‘Parle Vada PavSamrat’ from Mumbai, ‘Sharmaji ki Chai’ from Lucknow and‘Thaggu ke Ladd’ from Kanpur,

as the shopkeepers bring you thedelectable Sooryavanshi specialVada Pav, Kadak Chai-Samosacombo, and Laddu, kyuki muhmeetha karna toh banta hai!Embracing the very, many quali-ties of Rohit Shetty’s mightycops, the visitors of the stalls areoffered free taste to thisSooryavanshi special delicaciesduring this on-ground celebra-tion. But that’s not all,Sooryavanshi themed canterswill be traveling to the streets ofmultiple cities engaging visitorswith experiential activities andspecial gifts. This will be fol-lowed by#HoliWithSooryavanshiTolichallenge on social media,where viewers will be asked torecreate the hook step of ‘Aila reAila’ with their super fun tolitagging Zee Cinema to spreadthe joy further. This Holi, jointhe celebration of the biggestblockbuster of the year with theWorld Television Premiere ofSooryavanshi on Zee Cinema on19th March at 8 pm!

World TV premiere of Sooryavanshi on Mar 19

NeetuKapoor to

judge ‘DanceDeewaneJuniors’


Indian campaign ends in Singaporeafter exit of Manika-Archana pair

Singapore: India's campaign in the USD 2 millionSingapore Smash came to an end with the quarterfi-nal exit of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath in thewomen's doubles here on Tuesday. The second-seededJapanese pair of Hina Hayata and Mima Ito neededjust 25 minutes to dispose of the Indian duo 11-7, 11-4,11-8 to enter the semifinals. Ranked No. 6 in doubles,Manika and Archana struggled against the left-rightJapanese onslaught, but tackling left-hander Hayata'spowerful spins turned out to be a big ask. There wasno respite for the Indians from the right-hander Ito ei-ther. Ito, with superb service variations, put them inthe dock. Though the world No. 2 Japanese concededseven points in the first game, they brought it downdrastically in the second when the Indian duo notonly made several unforced errors but failed time andagain to capitalise on their service.

Vihari, Abhimanyu back at DhakaPremier League

Kolkata: Test specialist Hanuma Vihari and Bengalskipper Abhimanyu Easwaran are among the sevenIndian cricketers featuring in the Dhaka PremierLeague one-day tournament. It's a free window for thedomestic Indian cricketers who were not picked forthe IPL beginning March 26. Fresh from featuring inIndia's 2-0 sweep over Sri Lanka, Hanuma has joinedAbahani Limited and is expected to join them after ashort break in Hyderabad. Bengal captainAbhimanyu on the other hand was back at PrimeBank Cricket Club for his third season after 2017 and2019. It's an invitational tournament and Abhimanyugot the BCCI's clearance on Monday to fly out toDhaka for the one and a half month long tournament.Abhimanyu scored 30 in their 50-run win over CityClub in their opening match at Savar on Tuesday.

Vishwanath, Vanshaj strike goldNew Delhi: Vishwanath Suresh (48kg) and Vanshaj(63.5kg) clinched gold medals in the men's youth com-petition as the Indian contingent concluded its cam-paign with a whopping 39 medals, including 15 gold,at the Asian Youth and Junior BoxingChampionships in Amman, Jordan. The haul also in-cluded 10 silver and 14 bronze. Indian youth boxers se-cured seven gold, three silver and eight bronzemedals while the junior team finished with 21 medalsincluding eight gold, seven silver and six bronze.Chennai-boxer Vishwanath produced a clinical per-formance during his thumping 5-0 win overKyrgyzstan's Ergeshov Bekzat late on Monday night.Later Vanshaj, who hails from Sonipat, added a sec-ond gold to youth men's tally as he registered a 4-1 winover Uzbekistan's Javokhir Ummataliev. However, inthe +92kg category, Aman Singh Bisht ended with asilver medal after suffering a 1-4 loss to the localboxer Saif Al-Rawashdeh. Vishwanath, and Vanshajhad won silver while Aman had secured bronze in thelast edition of the tournament.

Mumbai Indians begin preparation forIPL; Kishan, Rohit, Bumrah join squad

Mumbai: Record five time IPL champions MumbaiIndians on Tuesday set the ground running for their2022 campaign. The 12-day strength and conditioningpre-season camp, ahead of Mumbai Indians' firstmatch, is being held at their in-house training facilityat Reliance Jio Stadium in neighbouring NaviMumbai. "Mumbai Indians will also play a couple ofinter-squad practice matches towards the secondweek of the camp," a media statement issued byMumbai Indians stated. The first day training sessionwas preceded with player assessment analysis by thecoaching staff lead by director of cricket ZaheerKhan and coach Mahela Jayawardene. JoiningZaheer and Mahela on this task will be Shane Bond,Robin Singh, Kiran More, Rahul Sanghvi, VinayKumar, TA Sekar, Paul Chapman and data analystCKM Dhananjai.

PCB planning to introduce women’sPSL early next year

Karachi: Alarmed by the poor showing of the na-tional team in the ongoing ICC Women's World Cup,Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja onTuesday said the PCB is planning to introduce aproper domestic set-up for them, which includes aT20 franchise-based league to begin early next yearto unearth new talent. "There is a lot of work to bedone in our women's cricket set-up. You have totake into consideration the restrictions and otherissues that are unique to women in sports. We haveto take steps to have a proper domestic calendar forwomen with three-day matches," Ramiz told re-porters here. Pakistan lost all its opening fourgames in the World Cup to lie at the bottom of thepoints table. Pakistan still have three league match-es remaining against the West Indies, England andNew Zealand.

Wellington, Mar 15 (PTI):

A dominant Australiaconfidently carried ontheir march towards arecord seventh title as theypummelled West Indies byseven wickets in a lop-sided league stage contestto register their fourthconsecutive win at the ICCWomen's World Cup hereon Tuesday.

Australia, the most suc-cessful team in the historyof the event, has lived upto its favourites tag so farin the tournament as ithas looked way too strongcompared to the otherseven teams in the fray.

The Meg Lanning-ledside seemed to have all itsbases covered, dishing outclinical performances oneafter another to lead thestandings with eightpoints from four wins.

West Indies, the 2013runner-up side, were nomatch for Australia as theteam from the Caribbeanswas bundled out for a mea-gre 131 in 45.5 overs afteropting to bat.

Skipper Stafanie Taylorplayed a lone hand with afighting 91-ball 50 as WestIndies kept losing wicketsat regular intervals fromthe word go.

Taylor held one end aswickets kept tumblingfrom the other.West Indiesstruggle can be gaugedfrom the fact that theirbest partnership was a 36-run fourth wicket stand

between Taylor and wick-etkeeper batter ShemaineCampbelle (20).

Ellyse Perry (3/22) and

Ashleigh Gardner (3/25)shared six wickets be-tween them for Australia,while Jess Jonassen

picked up two scalps giv-ing away 18 runs.

The chase was alwaysgoing to be a cakewalk forthe Australians. OpenerRachael Haynes hit a styl-ish 83 not out off 95 ballswith the help of nineboundaries to anchorAustralia's chase afterthey suffered two earlyblows in the form ofAlyssa Healy andLanning.

With Australia in a spotof bother at seven for twoand later 58 for three,Haynes took the onus onherself to guide the in-nings in Beth Mooney's (28not out) company and theduo overwhelmed the tar-get easily in 30.2 overs.

Chinelle Henry (1/20),Hayley Matthews (1/31)and Shamilia Connell(1/32) picked up a wicketeach for the Windies.

While Australia remainunbeaten in the tourna-ment so far, West Indiessuffered their second de-feat, a heavy one, fromfour games and are placedfifth in the standings withfour points.

Australia’s dominant showcontinues in Women’s WC

Defeat WI by 7 wickets to remain unbeaten

Ellyse Perry struck early to dent West Indies.

WWeesstt IInnddiieess:: 131 all out in45.5 overs (Stafanie Taylor50; Ellyse Perry 3/22,Ashleigh Gardner 3/25).AAuussttrraalliiaa:: 132 for 3 in 30.2overs (Rachael Haynes 83not out, Beth Mooney 28 notout; Chinelle Henry 1/20).

Brief Scores:

Mount Maunganui, Mar 15 (PTI):

Their confidence highafter an impressive winover the West Indies, Indiawould look for much-need-ed consistency with thebat against a strugglingEngland in their fourthleague stage match of theICC Women's World Cuphere on Wednesday.

Currently placed thirdafter a morale-boosting155-run against the WestIndies, India would like tokeep the winning momen-tum going and maintainits stay in the top four es-pecially when they take ontable toppers Australiaafter England.

After an inexplicablyslow performance againstNew Zealand when theIndian batters played out162 dot balls, SmritiMandhana (123 off 119)and Harmanpreet Kaur(109 off 107) produce asplendid batting display,slamming twin centuriesagainst the West Indies topower India to their high-est total (317/8) in the his-tory of the showpiece

event. "I think for us, it isvery important the way weperformed in the lastgame; we just need to con-tinue that, rather thanthinking about what areyour negatives and whatare your positive points,"vice-captain Kaur told re-porters on the eve of thegame. Both openers --Mandhana and Yastika

Bhatia -- showed intentfrom the very beginning,something coach RomeshPowar had stressed uponahead of the match.

Mandhana played a flu-ent 123 run-knock whileKaur also continued herfine run, bringing up herfourth ton and the firstsince hitting the famous171 not out against

Australia in the 2017 WorldCup. The duo will be eagerto continue in the samevein with the race forsemifinal berths heatingup. However, all-rounderDeepti Sharma, who hasbeen elevated to the top,has to do more with thebat as does skipperMithali Raj, who has alsobeen off the boil recently.


Rising Indian shuttlerLakshya Sen rose a place to11th in the men's singleschart, while doubleOlympic medallist PVSindhu is static at the sev-enth spot among women inthe latest BWF world rank-ings issued on Tuesday.

Sen has risen remark-ably over the last fewmonths in the BWF rank-ings riding on his impres-sive performances at theworld stage. He currentlyhas 70,086 points in themen's singles list which isbeing headed by Olympicchampion Viktor Axelsenof Denmark, followed byJapan's Kento Momota andanother Dane AndersAntonsen.

India's KidambiSrikanth dropped a rung inthe chart to be in the 12thspot with 69,158 points,while B Sai Praneeth alsodropped a place to be in the19th position. Sen rose up

the chart riding on his sen-sational form over the lastsix months, finishing run-ners-up at the GermanOpen last week after histitle-winning run at theIndia Open and his bronzemedal feat at the WorldChampionships inDecember last year.

HS Prannoy and SameerVerma are the next bestplaced Indians at the 24thand 26th spots respectively.

Among women, Sindhuhas maintained her sev-enth spot with 90,994points, while anotherOlympic medallist SaniaNehwal occupies the 28thposition.

In the men's doublesrankings list, SatwiksairajRankireddy and ChiragShetty are static at eightspot, while the next bestIndians are MR Arjun andDhruv Kapila in the 40thposition. The women's dou-bles pair of AshwiniPonnappa and N SikkiReddy are also static at19th spot, while the mixeddoubles combination ofPonnappa and Rankireddyoccupy the 25th position.

Lakshya Sen climbs aspot to 11th, Sindhustatic in 7th position

Badminton worldrankings

ICC Women’s World Cup

India aim for consistency in clash against England

Dubai, Mar 15 (PTI):

India skipper MithaliRaj's descent in the ICC ODIrankings continued as sheslipped three places to sev-enth while opener SmritiMandhana dropped to 11thin the latest standings re-leased on Tuesday, takinginto account the ongoingWorld Cup in New Zealand.

Raj, who slipped a coupleof places last week, has 696points after she was dis-missed for 31 and 5 againstNew Zealand and WestIndies respectively. She iscurrently joint seventh withAustralia opener RachaelHaynes. Mandhana, on theother hand, moved out of thetop 10 to 11th despite hitting123 against West Indies onSaturday.

Veteran pacer JhulanGoswami, who became theleading wicket-taker inWorld Cups, has also slippedtwo places to be sixth in thebowlers' chart while DeeptiSharma maintained her

sixth place in the all-rounders' list. SophieEcclestone, AmySatterthwaite, MarizanneKapp and Laura Wolvaardthave all taken major leaps inthe rankings after their siz-zling performances in theongoing World Cup.

Despite England failing towin a single match at theWorld Cup, Ecclestone hasbeen a shining light for herteam, bowling with greatdiscipline. Her performanc-es have seen her rise to theNo.1 spot in the bowlingcharts, overtakingAustralia's Jess Jonassen.

The other big gainer inthe bowling charts isMarizanne Kapp, who regis-tered the best-ever figures ofher international careerduring South Africa's three-wicket win against England.

Her 5/45 helped SouthAfrica restrict England to235/9 and she made a handycontribution with the bat aswell during the chase, chip-ping in with a vital 32 runs.

Indians slip in ICCWomen’s ODI Rankings

Birmingham, Mar 15 (PTI):

All eyes will be on in-form shuttler LakshyaSen, double Olympicmedallist P V Sindhu andWorld Championships sil-ver medallist KidambiSrikanth as they look tobreak India's 21-year titledrought at the AllEngland Championships,which begins here onWednesday.

The top Indian players,including Sindhu, SainaNehwal and Srikanthhave failed to lift the pres-tigious trophy withPullela Gopichand (2001)and Prakash Padukone(1980) still remaining theonly two Indians to claimthe coveted title.

While Saina had come

close by reaching the fi-nals in 2015, it remainedelusive for Sindhu, whohas otherwise claimedmedals in all other big-ticket events such asOlympics, WorldC h a m p i o n s h i p s ,Commonwealth Gamesand Asian Games. While

Sindhu, seeded sixth, willonce again be in the reck-oning, it will be unseededSen who will be in focusthis time, given the kindof build-up the 20-year-oldhad ahead of the Super1000 event. Sen has beenin sensational form forthe last six months as he

added a runners-up finishat the German Open lastweek, following his title-winning run at IndiaOpen and his bronzemedal feat at the WorldChampionships inDecember last year.

The Almora shuttlerwill be the cynosure of alleyes as he steps on to thecourt against compatriotSourabh Verma in theopening round.

Sindhu, however, exitedin the second round at theGerman Open after ashock defeat to a lower-ranked Zhang Yi Man ofChina and would look toquickly recover from theloss when she opens hercampaign against a trickyworld no 17 Chinese WangZhi Yi.

All England Championships

Sindhu, Sen and Srikanth beginIndia’s quest for elusive title

Indian Wells, Mar 15 (AP):

Rafael Nadal is still per-fect in 2022. The Spaniarddefeated 27th-seededDaniel Evans 7-5, 6-3Monday in the third roundof the BNP Paribas Open,improving his record to 17-0 this year in pursuit of anATP Tour-leading fourthtitle. Nadal tied RogerFederer (2018) and PeteSampras (1997) for thethird-best overall start to aseason in the Open erathat began in 1968.

Daniil Medvedev's riseto No. 1 in the world camecrashing down in a 4-6, 6-3,6-1 loss to Gael Monfils.Medvedev needed to reach

the quarterfinals in thedesert to stay at the top,where he replaced NovakDjokovic.

Is it better to be No. 1 forlet's say one week in yourlife or never touch it?Medvedev said.

You know, I think it'sstill better to at least touchit.

Djokovic will reclaimthe No. 1 ranking nextweek. The Serb is unvacci-nated against COVID-19,so he wasn't allowed toenter the United States toplay at Indian Wells or theupcoming Miami Open.

So far this year, no one istouching the fourth-ranked Nadal.

Nadal now 17-0, No. 1 Medvedevcrashes out at Indian Wells


Devotees carry the Seethala Mallikarjuna Swamys Rathotsava during a religious procession towards the Mullayanagiri hill range, inChikmagalur, Tuesday.

RELIGIOUS PROCESSION

Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command presents YudhSeva medals to family memberss of martyred soldiers during an Investiture ceremony, in Udhampur, Tuesday.

INVESTITURE CEREMONY

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Reflecting the dissen-sions in the party, seniorCongress leaders onTuesday lashed out attheir colleague Kapil Sibalfor his remarks againstthe leadership with theparty’s Lok Sabha whip ac-cusing him of speakingthe language of the BJPand the RSS.

Manickam Tagore, astaunch Rahul Gandhi loy-alist, said the RSS and theBJP want the Gandhis tobe out of leadership posi-tion to kill the Congressparty and destroy the ideaof India.

Congress nationalspokesperson PawanKhera said Sibal should

elections for the post ofCongress president in-stead of making publiccomments against theleadership.

“Why RSS and BJPwants Nehru-Gandhi’s outof the leadership? Becausewithout Gandhi’s leader-ship Congress will be be-come Janata party. It’seasy to kill Congress thenit’s easy to destroy the ideaof India (sic),” Tagore saidon Twitter.

“Kapil Sibal knows itbut why he is speaking thelanguage of RSS/BJP,” theCongress’ Lok Sabha whipasked.

Khera also put out aTwitter post hitting out atSibal. “Dr Harshvardhandid not ask you to step

aside from ChandniChowk. He fought an elec-tion and defeated youKapil Sibal. Those whowant to lead Congress arefree to fight upcomingelection for the position ofparty president instead ofchanting everyday againstcurrent leadership,”Khera tweeted.

Sibal has said Gandhisshould step aside and givesome other leader achance to lead the party.“Leadership is in cuckooland I want a ‘Sab kiCongress’. Some want a‘Ghar ki Congress’,” Sibaltold the Indian Express inan interview.

The remarks came afterthe Congress WorkingCommittee met on Sunday,

and after almost five hoursof deliberations urgedSonia Gandhi to continueto lead and initiatechanges required tostrengthen the party.

The CWC also rejectedGandhi’s offer to makeany and every sacrifice forthe party, which was con-strued by some as an offerof Gandhi family to stepaside, and reposed faith inher leadership.

The Congress put out avideo of all its formerleaders from MahatmaGandhi, JawaharlalNehru and Indira Gandhi,on its Twitter handle.

“We will fight on. Wewill overcome. We willcontinue to raise yourvoice,” the party said.

Cong leaders hit out at Sibal for criticising Gandhis


A 50 per cent rise in pe-diatric orthopaedic caseswith complaints of ex-cruciating pain in theneck and back have beennoted in hospital OPDswith doctors attributingit primarily to wrongpostures during onlineclasses.

The rise in multipleskeletal issues amongchildren can be attrib-uted to incorrect posture.This, in turn, can beblamed on increasedscreen exposure follow-ing school closure due toCovid which made thechildren physically andmentally unwell, expertssaid. Dr ShubhangAggarwal, Orthopaedicand Robotic JointReplacement Surgeonand Director at NHS

Hospital in Jalandharsaid, “Wrong sitting pos-tures coupled with al-most no physical activityare to be blamed.”

“Pediatric orthopaediccases increased by 50 percent. Most of them areoverweight, have stami-na and suffer from anxi-ety and attention deficitdisorder,” Dr Aggarwalsaid.

According to DrSurbhit Rastogi,Paediatric OrthopaedicConsultant, IndianSpinal Injuries Centre,Vasant Kunj, a lot of chil-dren have been experi-encing cervical neck andback stiffness observedmainly among the work-ing adult population.

This is mainly attrib-uted to children beingconfined to their homesand not getting exposed

to sunlight, the doctorsaid. “It’s essential to ob-serve some precaution-ary measures such ashaving calcium-rich diet,sunlight exposure, tak-ing small breaks everyhalf an hour, doing somestretching exercises,switching to ergonomicchairs with proper backsupport and adding someindoor and outdoor phys-ical activities in the dailyroutine of kids,” DrRastogi said.

Even teachers shouldensure that during on-line classes they dedi-cate five minutes forsome fun stretching ac-tivities, he said.

Ideally, one shouldstand upright for oneminute after sitting for10 minutes at a stretch.This helps to strengthenyour back by ensuring

proper blood circulationand maintaining muscletone, the doctor said.

Parents should neverignore such back andneck issues in their kidsand should visit an or-thopaedic if there is anysuch complaint.

“Parents should beconcerned when theirkids complain of pain inneck and back, even ifan initial x-ray examdoesn’t reveal a problem.

“When children com-plain of back pain, abouta third of the timethere’s a serious reason,whether due to an injury,infection or a tumour.

They should be imme-diately rushed to thehospital,” added DrVishal Gupta,Orthopedic Surgeon,Ujala Cygnus RainbowHospital, Agra.

‘50% rise in pediatric orthopaedic cases, wrong postures during online classes to blame’

Bhopal, Mar 15 (PTI):Demanding that the oldpension scheme be madeavailable for governmentemployees recruitedafter 2005, Congressmembers staged a walk-out from the MadhyaPradesh LegislativeAssembly on Tuesday astheir demand for a dis-cussion was not takenup.

Congress legislators PC Sharma, Sajjan SinghVerma, N P Prajapatiand others raised theissue through a call at-tention motion and de-manded a discussion onit during Zero Hour.

C o n g r e s s - r u l e dRajasthan andChhattisgarh have re-stored the old pension

scheme, they said. ButSpeaker Girish Gautamdenied permission totake up the matter dur-ing Zero Hour, saying,You can speak on theissue separately.Opposition MLAs insist-ed that it was a seriousissue affecting lakhs offamilies, and created aruckus.

As the Speaker did notrelent, Congress mem-bers walked out, shout-ing slogans. A section ofgovernment employeesare opposed to theNational PensionScheme (NPS), intro-duced after 2004, as it ismarket-linked and doesnot provide a guaranteedpension benefit unlikethe old system.

Cong MLAs walkout overdemand of implementation

of old pension scheme New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI):

India on Tuesday sentthe fourth shipment of2,000 metric tonnes ofwheat to Afghanistan viaPakistani land route aspart of its humanitarianassistance to the Afghanpeople. India despatchedthe first consignment of2,500 metric tonnes ofwheat to Afghanistanthrough Pakistani onFebruary 22 and it reachedthe Afghan city ofJalalabad on February 26.Fifty trucks carried theconsignment.

External AffairsMinistry SpokespersonArindam Bagchi saidIndia has so far sent 8,000metric tonnes of wheat toAfghanistan as part of hu-manitarian aid. “Our part-nership continues.Despatched fourth convoyof humanitarian assis-

tance consisting of 2000MTs of wheat toAfghanistan today. Total of8000 MTs sent as on date.@WFP_Afghanistan ispartnering with us for theinternal distribution ofwheat withinAfghanistan,” he tweeted.

India had sent a propos-al to Pakistan on October 7seeking the transit facilityto send 50,000 tonnes ofwheat to the people ofAfghanistan via Pakistanand it received a positiveresponse from Islamabadon November 24.

Following the Pakistaniresponse, both sides werein touch to finalise themodalities for the trans-portation of the ship-ments. Each of the bagswas stamped with the text:‘Gift from the people ofIndia to the people ofAfghanistan’ in English,Pashto and Dari.

India sends fourth shipment ofwheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan

Kannur (Ker), Mar 15 (PTI):

A Kerala artist is facinga “ban” to perform a ritu-al artform in local templefestivals here as his sonmarried a Muslimwoman at Karivelloor, aknown Left bastion, inthis north Kerala district.

Vinod Panicker, aknown ‘Poorakali-Marathukali’ artist forthe last 37 years, allegedthat the management ofsome local temples in-formed him that he couldnot perform the tradition-al artform as he lives inthe same house where hisnon-Hindu daughter-in-law lives which is againstrituals and customs.

The management com-mittee of a temple, ashrine of Thiyya commu-

nity here, even told himthat if he shifts to someother place from his ownhouse, where the non-Hindu woman resides,then he would be allowedto perform the rituals.

As he rejected their de-mand, they conducted theritual with another artistrecently, he said.

“I have clearly toldthem that I don’t want toabandon my son anddaughter-in-law or shift toany other house. I hadbeen performing the ritu-al art for nearly fourdecades and it is such apain to suffer this humili-ation,” Panicker said.

Claiming that the inci-dent revealed the reli-gious and communalmindset of the society, theartist said he is a follower

of the teachings of SreeNarayana Guru, thesaint-reformer who pro-fessed ‘one caste, one reli-gion and one God’ formankind.

However, the templecommittee justified theaction saying that ritualswere not permitting to in-vite an artist for perform-ance from a house wherea non-Hindu person lives.

The also said they didnot impose any ban butonly informed Panickerthat rituals could not beviolated.

A temple managementofficial said he was aMarxist party sympathis-er but that does not meanthat temple rituals neednot be followed.

The incident raisedmany eyebrows as

Karivelloor is a placewhere the ruling CPI(M)has deep roots.

As the issue triggered acontroversy, seniorMarxist Party leader andformer minister E PJayarajan came out criti-cising the temple manage-ment saying it was a‘grave lapse’ from theirside and the party wasagainst that.

He also alleged thatthey had kept the develop-ment as a secret but nowit has come to the publicdomain.

“Poorakkali” is a tradi-tional dance ritual per-formed by men duringthe nine-day Pooram festi-val in Bhagavathy tem-ples and sacred grovesacross Malabar (northKerala).

Ker ritual artist faces ‘ban’ to performas son marries Muslim womanNew Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI):

Army Chief Gen MMNaravane on Tuesday an-nounced setting up of a‘Chair of Excellence’ inmemory of India’s firstChief of Defence StaffGen Bipin Rawat at theUnited ServiceInstitution of India (USI),a leading military thinktank.

The announcement,made at a ceremony, camea day ahead of the 65thbirthday of Gen Rawatwho was killed in a heli-copter crash nearCoonoor in Tamil Naduon December 8 along withhis wife Madhulika and12 armed forces person-nel. The ‘Gen BipinRawat memorial Chair ofExcellence’ will focus onthe field of jointness andintegration among thearmed forces. “Late Gen

Bipin Rawat who servedas India’s first CDS aswell as the 27th Chief ofIndian Army was an out-standing professional andwas in the midst of steer-ing one of the most radi-cal transformations ofthe Indian military,” theArmy said.

“The Chair ofExcellence is a befittingtribute to the astute lead-ership and professional-ism of the General,” itsaid in a statement.

In his remarks, theArmy Chief said GenRawat was passionateabout strategic thoughtsand invested considerabletime and energy in the ac-tivities of various thinktanks. “And, therefore, his65th birthday provided anopportune moment to re-inforce the services’ bondwith their intellectual in-stitutions. The Chair will

be open to veterans ofthree services and civil-ians having expertise inthe field of national secu-rity,” Gen Naravane said.

The Army Chief is alsoserving as the officiatingChairman, Chiefs of StaffCommittee (COSC).

The topic for this year’sresearch has been chosenas “jointness and integra-tion in the context of landwarfare in India”, offi-cials said.

They said the ‘Chair ofExcellence’ will be opento all veteran officers ofthe armed forces andcivilians having expertisein the field of national se-curity and military af-fairs.

The period of researchwould be from July 1 for aperiod of one year, everyyear. On January 1, 2020,Gen Rawat had takencharge as India’s first

CDS with a mandate tobring in convergence inthe functioning of theArmy, the Navy and theIndian Air Force and bol-ster the country’s overallmilitary prowess.

A key mandate of theCDS was to facilitate therestructuring of militarycommands for optimalutilisation of resourcesby bringing about joint-ness in operations, in-cluding through the es-tablishment of theatrecommands.

As the CDS, Gen Rawatcarried out the extensivegroundwork to roll outtri-services reforms.

In his role as Chief ofArmy Chief between 2016and 2019, he stronglybacked a policy of hotpursuit in dealing withcross-border terrorismand militancy in Jammuand Kashmir.

Army announces chair of excellence at USI in memory of Gen Rawat

Mathura (UP), Mar 15 (PTI):

A large number of wid-ows from various shelterhomes gathered at theGopinath Temple inVrindavan on Tuesday tocelebrate Holi, giving atoss to orthodox tradi-tions that forbid themfrom taking part in thefestival of colours.

The celebration at thehistoric temple, whichfirst began in 2013, waskept in abeyance for thelast two years due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, ac-cording to officials.

“It was unbelievablefor the widows in theIndian society to breakthe age-old tradition,”said Bindeshwar Pathak,founder of NGO Sulabh

International who initiat-ed efforts to mobilise wid-ows of Vrindavan to cele-brate Holi. Around 10years ago, taking note ofthe pathetic condition ofwidows living inVrindavan, the SupremeCourt had asked NGOSulabh International tolook after them.

On Tuesday, widowGaurvani Dasi wasthrilled to play Holi asmaid companion ofRadha Rani.

Dressed in white sa-rees, the widows danced,sang Rasiya (traditionHoli song of Brij) andsmeared each other’sfaces with herbal ‘gulal’.

Chhavi Maa, a 70-year-old widow, welcomed thechange with open arms

after leading years of mo-notonous life. Widowshailing from West Bengalalso showered flowerpetals on each other andchanted Krishna bha-jans.

Applying colours at thefeet of Lord Krishna stat-ue, Manu Ghosh (85) saidshe never imagined thatshe would get the oppor-tunity to play Holi at atemple.

“We have no words toexpress our joy,” WidowsVimla Dasi (65), RataniaDevi (67) and Chhaya (66)said in unison, but in achocked voice.

The festival was cele-brated in the presence ofa large gathering includ-ing some saints ofVrindavan.

Widows celebrate Holi at Vrindavan temple

LASTING COLOURS

AwardUUddhhaammppuurr:: One Lt Genand two major generalswere among 117 soldiersawarded for gallantry anddistinguished service asthe Indian Army's north-ern command conductedan investiture ceremonyhere to honour its person-nel deployed in the unionterritories of Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh.General-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief LtGen Upendra Dwivedi pre-sented the awards to offi-cers, junior commissionedofficers, and other ranks.

MishapNNooiiddaa:: A toddler wascrushed to death by atruck on Tuesday whenshe strayed onto a roadwhile playing outside herhouse in Greater Noida,police here said. Policearrested the truck driverinvolved in the accident,that happened around 7.30am. The 13-month-oldbaby lived with her familyin a shanty in the Surajpurarea. She was playing out-side and strayed onto theroad where she got runover by the rear tyre of acanter truck.

Encounter SSrriinnaaggaarr:: A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant waskilled in an encounterwith security forces inPulwama district in southKashmir on Tuesday,police said. Based on aspecific input generatedby police regarding thepresence of a terrorist invillage Charsoo ofAwnatipora, a cordon andsearch operation waslaunched by the securityforces in the area, apolice spokesman said.

Services NNeeww DDeellhhii:: The DelhiTransport Corporation(DTC) on Tuesday saidbus services will startafter 2 pm on Holi. Allthe city bus services willremain suspended till 2pm on Friday in view theDulhendi festival, itadded. "In evening shift,bus services on someselected bus routes willbe operated as per traf-fic requirement. "Sincethe traffic load will bevery less on this day,only 898 buses will beoperated in the after-noon service," an officialstatement said.

ReviewNNeeww DDeellhhii:: The Congresson Tuesday held a meet-ing to review its poor per-formance in the UttarPradesh assembly polls,identify shortcomingsand chalk out futureplans for the politically-crucial state. AICC gener-al secretary in-charge ofUttar Pradesh PriyankaGandhi Vadra chaired thereview meeting whichwas attended by theparty's top state leaders.

CCC E N T R A Lhttps://www.facebook.com/centralchronicle

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BRIEF

BJP MP Saroj Pandey duringthe second part of BudgetSession of Parliament, in

New Delhi, Tuesday.

Bengaluru, Mar 15 (PTI):

The Karnataka HighCourt on Tuesday saidHijab was not part of theessential religious prac-tice in Islamic faith and ef-fectively upheld the banagainst the headscarf ineducational institutions inthe state by dismissingpleas from Muslim girlsseeking nod to wear it inclassrooms.

A three-judge full benchof the High Court said theprescription of school uni-form is only a reasonablerestriction, constitutional-ly permissible which thestudents cannot object to,even as the aggrieved peti-tioner Muslim girls saidthey would continue theirlegal battle and termedtoday's order as "unconsti-tutional."

The court suggested thepossibility of some 'un-seen hands' behind thehijab row to engineer so-cial unrest and disharmo-ny and expressed dismayover the issue being blownout of proportion duringthe academic term.

The row that broke out

at Udupi in January thisyear soon spread to otherparts of the state beforewitnessing national reper-cussions, with voices forand against the headscarf,even as as it resonated insome foreign countrieslike Pakistan.

After having reservedits order on Feb 25, thecourt on Tuesday dis-missed the batch of peti-tions from the Udupi-based Muslim girls who

sought its nod for wearinghijab inside classroomsand also said there was nomaterial placed on recordto prima facie show wear-ing the headscarf was anessential religious prac-tice. Chief Justice Ritu RajAwasthi-led bench said,"we are of the consideredopinion that wearing ofHijab by Muslim womendoes not form a part of es-sential religious practicein Islamic faith." The

other two judges in thepanel were JusticeKrishna S Dixit andJustice J M Khazi. Thebench also maintainedthat the government hasthe power to issue the im-pugned order datedFebruary 5, 2022, banningclothes which disturbequality, integrity andpublic order in schoolsand colleges, which theMuslim girls had chal-lenged in the High Court.It rejected the plea to initi-ate a disciplinary inquiry

against the college, itsprincipal and a teacher.

"In the above circum-stances, all these writ peti-tions being devoid of mer-its are liable to be and ac-cordingly are dismissed.In view of the dismissal ofthe writ petition, all thepending applications paleinto insignificance and areaccordingly disposed off,"the bench said in its order.The court also said thatschool uniform will ceaseto be a uniform if hijab isalso allowed.

Dantewada, Mar 15:

Two women Naxalswere gunned down in anencounter with securityforces in Dantewada dis-trict on Tuesday, a seniorofficial said.

The face-off took placein a forest near Gorli-Mutheli villages underKatekalyan police stationlimits, about 400 km fromthe state capital Raipur,when a joint team of secu-rity forces was out on asearch operation,Inspector General ofPolice (Bastar range)Sundarraj P told PTI.

There were specific in-puts about the presence ofcadres of Pedaras LOS(local organisation squad)and Katekalyan Area

Committee formations ofMaoists in the forests ofJiyakortha, Gorli, Mutheliand Danikortha villagesalong the border ofDantewada and Sukmadistricts. Hence, a jointsquad of personnel belong-ing to the District ReserveGuard (DRG) from Sukmaand Dantewada, CRPF's230th battalion andChhattisgarh ArmedForce (CRPF) was sent tothe area, he said.

At around 11.30 am, thegunfight broke out be-tween Gorli and Mutheli,''he said. After the exchangeof fire stopped, bodies oftwo women ultras alongwith two 12 bore rifles anda country made weaponwere recovered from thespot, he said.


The CRPF is mullingcreation of more nightlanding capable helipadsas air evacuation of its in-jured troops from remoteLeft Wing Extremism-af-fected areas remains asore point for the force.

The paramilitary forcehas deployed close to 40percent of its totalstrength (about 1.20 lakhpersonnel) for anti-Naxaloperations in variousstates with its troops andspecial jungle warfareunits like the CommandoBattalion for ResoluteAction (CoBRA) undertak-ing a "decisive battle" insome of the worst violenceaffected areas ofChhattisgarh, Jharkhandand Bihar.

The force, as per seniorofficers and documents ac-cessed by PTI, is establish-ing at least 30 new forwardoperating bases (FOB) indeep jungles ofChhattisgarh (southBastar) while about half-a-dozen such locations arebeing scouted inJharkhand and Bihar as

part of the strategy of"moving deep into theMaoist stronghold and hit-ting them hard."

The government hassaid the number of LeftWing Extremism (LWE)districts in the country hascome down from 126 to 70over the last few years andit is working to better thesenumbers.

"Helipads are a pre-req-uisite to meet any contin-gency while implementingthe government's strategyof going deep. During anencounter or IED blast inthese far flung areas, airevacuation of injuredtroops is the most impor-tant factor so that they canget quick medical care andlives are saved," a senior of-ficer deployed in the LWEoperations grid said.

Now, he adds, here is thecatch. "There have beennumerous instances whentroops undertaking an op-eration secured a landingsite near them but the heli-copters got delayed or pi-lots refused the sortie dueto a variety of technicalreasons. The 'golden hour'is lost," he said.


The martyrdom offreedom fighters includingBhagat Singh, Sukhdevand Rajguru is a fact andis not dependent on thepresumed presence or ab-sence of official records,the government said inLok Sabha on Tuesday, as-serting that their statureis far above any award,title or status.

In a written reply to aquestion from a member,Union Minister of Statefor Home Ajay KumarMishra said the heroeswho lost their lives duringthe freedom struggle havebecome martyrs for thecause of attaining the in-dependence of India.

Mishra said the martyr-dom of these freedom

fighters and their invalu-able contribution toIndia's freedom struggleform an inalienable part ofthe discourse of the coun-try's fight for freedom andis well known in India'shistory. "Their martyrdomin the supreme nationalcause of independence is afact and is not dependenton the presumed presenceor absence of officialrecords. Their stature isfar above any award ortitle or status accorded inthis regard," he said.

BJP MP JyotirmaySingh Mahato had putforth queries on whetherthe government has givenmartyr status to heroeslike Bhagat Singh,Rajguru, Sukhdev wholost their lives in the free-dom struggle.


The Centre onTuesday told theSupreme Court thatas on March 13 this

year, a total of over 180crore doses of COVID-19vaccines has been adminis-tered in the country and77,314 adverse events,which come to 0.004 percent, have been reported.

The government saidthat over 8.91 crore doses ofvaccine Covaxin has beenadministered in the agegroup of 15-18 years as onMarch 12 and the number ofadverse events followingimmunization (AEFI) re-ported are 1,739 minor, 81serious, and six severe.

The Centre told a bench

of Justices L N Rao and B RGavai that a substantialnumber of individuals inthe country are vaccinatedand the vaccines haveproved to be very effectiveand safe .

It said both vaccines --Covaxin and Covishield --generate antibodies and ad-verse events are also foundto be minimum.

Further the efficacy, safe-ty, and immunogenicity ofthese vaccines, which arerolled out after an elaborateprocedure by domain ex-perts, are also accepted byWorld Health Organisationwhich shows recognition by

global experts also,Solicitor General TusharMehta and AdditionalSolicitor GeneralAishwarya Bhati said intheir brief submission onbehalf of the Centre.

The court is hearing ar-guments on a plea seekingdirections for disclosure ofdata on clinical trials ofCOVID-19 vaccines andpost-jab cases. The argu-ments would continue onMarch 21.

As per the last availablefigure (i.e. as on March 13,2022), the total number ofdoses administered is180,13,23,547 (more than 180crores approx.) and thetotal number of adverseevents reported (includingminor, severe, and serious

cases) are 77,314 (0.004 percent), the Centre said.

Regarding vaccination ofminors, it said the questionof paediatric vaccinationwas taken up at a stagewhere more than substan-tial data on the safety andimmunogenicity ofCovaxin in adults was avail-able. It is relevant to notethat as on March 12, 2022,8,91,39,455 doses of Covaxinhave been administered inthe age group of 15-18 yearsage group. In this agegroup, the number ofAEFIs reported are 1,739(minor) (0.014 per cent), 81(serious) (0.0009 per cent]and 6 (severe) (0.00001 percent), the brief submis-sions of the two law offi-cers said.

Kyiv, Mar 15 (AP):

Russia's relentless bom-bardment of Ukraine edgedcloser to central Kyiv as a se-ries of strikes hit a residen-tial neighbourhood Tuesday,while the leaders of threeEuropean Union countriesplanned a bold visit toUkraine's capital and thenumber of people the warhas driven from the countrypassed 3 million.

Large explosions thun-dered across Kyiv beforedawn from what Ukrainianauthorities said were ar-tillery strikes, as Russia's as-sault on the city appeared to

become more systematic.Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy said

barrages hit four multi-storybuildings in the city andcaused dozens of deaths.


Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onTuesday praised 'TheKashmir Files', a moviebased on the plight of dis-placed Kashmiri Hindus,and slammed the "cam-paign to discredit" it bythose who claim to be theflagbearers of freedom ofexpression.

"They are shocked thatthe truth that they tried tosuppress is now comingout with the backing offacts and efforts," Modisaid in a ringing endorse-ment of the film that isnow at the centre of a po-litical slugfest with theCongress and some other

opposition parties object-ing to it. Addressing theBJP parliamentary partymeeting, Modi spoke atlength about the film andlamented that no attempthas been made till now tomake movies depicting thehorrors of Partition andEmergency as there havebeen continuous efforts to"'bury the truth".


The CBSE has re-evalu-ated the OMR sheets of theclass 10 Odia exam withthe correct answer key ap-proved by an expert com-mittee that benefitted over28,000 students, officialssaid on Tuesday.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education(CBSE) on Monday set upan expert committee toprobe into the alleged dis-crepancies in the question

and answer key of Odia'spaper of class 10 first termexamination.

"It was directed byUnion Education MinisterDharmendra Pradhanthat the dispute must beresolved within the next 24hours and students' griev-ance addressed immedi-ately and appropriately.

"Accordingly, with aview to ascertaining thefactual position, an expertcommittee was constitut-ed by CBSE for examiningthe discrepancies men-tioned in the representa-tion," the CBSE said in anofficial statement.

‘Hijab not part of essentialIslamic religious practice’

HIJAB BAN

Bengaluru: Commuters in front of the Karnataka High Court, in Bengaluru, Tuesday.

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging theKarnataka High Court’s verdict dismissing petitions seekingpermission to wear hijabs inside the classroom, news agencyPTI reported. Earlier in the day, a full bench of the KarnatakaHigh Court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslimsgirls from pre-university colleges in Udupi region of the stateseeking the right to wear hijabs or headscarves along with uni-forms inside classrooms. “We are of the considered opinion thatwearing of the hijab by Muslim women does not make up anessential religious practice in Islamic faith,” the full bench saidin the gist of its order that was read out by the Karnataka chiefjustice Ritu Raj Awasthi Tuesday morning.

‘HC verdict challenged in SC’

GOVT

IN L

S ‘Stature of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev,Rajguru far above any title’

Two women Naxals killed inencounter with security forces

The face-off took place in aforest near Gorli-Mutheli vil-lages under Katekalyanpolice station limits, about400 km from the state capitalRaipur, when a joint team ofsecurity forces was out on asearch operation. At around11.30 am, the gunfight brokeout between Gorli andMutheli. After the exchangeof fire stopped, bodies of twowomen ultras along with two12 bore rifles and a countrymade weapon were recov-ered from the spot. The offi-cial said prima facie, one ofthe deceased was identifiedas Pedaras LOS commanderManjula and the other one asGangi Punem, a protectionteam member.

About the incident

CRPF for additional helipads in LWE areas

MARTIAL ART DISPLAY

Army jawans perform Kalaripayattu, a martial art and dance form, during a cultural programme organisedas part of Southern Command Investiture Ceremony, at Yodhasthall, Dronachal base in Bhopal.

CEN

TRE

TO S

C ‘Over 180 cr doses of COVID vaccines administered’77,314 adverseevents reported

IN BENEFIT OF STUDENTS

CBSE re-evaluates Class 10 Odia OMR sheets

Over 20k studentsbenefit with revision

‘Kashmir Files’ has rattled ecosystemthat wanted to bury truth: PM Ukraine's capital barraged;

3 EU nation leaders to visit

Firefighters work in an apartment building damaged by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday.


After the party's drubbing inthe just-concluded Assemblypolls in five states, Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi hasasked its state unit chiefs inUttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,Goa, Punjab and Manipur toput in their papers.The development comes twodays after the CongressWorking Committee (CWC)discussed threadbare the rea-sons for the party's debacle inthese Assembly polls. TheCongress failed to win in anyof the states and lost Punjabto the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP)."Congress President, Smt.Sonia Gandhi has asked thePCC Presidents of Uttar

Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab,Goa and Manipur to put intheir resignations in order tofacilitate reorganisation ofPCCs," chief spokesperson ofthe party Randeep Surjewalasaid on Twitter.While Punjab Congress chiefNavjot Singh Sidhu wasappointed to the post only afew months ago, theUttarakhand unit president ofthe party, Ganesh Godiyal,and his Manipur counterpartLoken Singh were alsoappointed before theAssembly elections.Gandhi has also sought theresignation of GirishChodankar, who heads theGoa unit of the party, andUttar Pradesh PCC presidentAjay Kumar Lallu.

HEADS ROLL

Sonia asks PCC chiefsof 5 states to resign

PAGE 11

CENTRAL CHRONICLE, BILASPUR, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022

Bhilai, Mar 14:

Inter Steel plant Tabletennis tournament wasorganised at ISP,Burnpur from March 10-12, 2022 by Steel PlantSports Board (SPSB). LSSahu, AM (Projects) fromSAIL-Bhilai Steel Plantwas declared as theRunner up in the Intersteel Plant Table Tennistournament. Various

steel plants includingTata Steel compete inthis tournament. LSSahu fared well in thetournament and securedthe Runners up position.It is noteworthy that LSSahu has been felicitatedwith the Shaheed VinodChaubey award byC h h a t t i s g a r hGovernment for his con-tribution in the field ofTable Tennis.

L S Sahu wins Runner up position in SPSB Table

Tennis tournament

Bhilai, Mar 14:

The PG Department ofCommerce under theaegis of COMMZENITH &in association with itsMoU partner SitabaiArts Commerce &Science College,Akola (MH) celebrat-ed World ConsumerRights Day on March14, 2022. MaitreyiMathur Retired,District Judge andRetired President ofConsumer Forum, DurgChhattisgarh andAdvocate Dr Mayur NavinMalviya, Finance Trainer,Academician and Directorof Malviya Academy,Akola Maharashtra werethe resource persons onthe occasion. Dr Mayur

Malviya explained theminute details along withdifferent sections ofConsumer protection Actand its redressal. MaitreyMathur said that previ-ously there was no need ofthis Act, but in the presentscenario where moral val-ues and ethics are going

down, such type of act isrequired for protectingthe innocent consumersthat is why this act is en-acted in a very simple lan-guage. Principal InchargeDr Mariam Jacob gave hervirtual presence and con-gratulated the departmentfor the conduct of the pro-

gram. Convener & HeadDepartment of Commerceof St Thomas CollegeBhilai Dr Sapna Sharmawelcomed the partici-pants. The sessions were

very informative. DrNeelam Gandhi, AsstProf in Department ofCommerce conductedthe programme. Co-Converner Dr DeepaliShah of Sitabai Arts,Commerce & ScienceCollege, Akola

Maharashtra proposedthe Vote of thanks.Faculties and students ofboth the colleges attendedthe programme. TheFaculties of commerce de-partment of both the col-leges coordinated in mak-ing the programme a suc-cess.

‘World Consumer Rights Day’ celebrated at St Thomas College

Bhilai, Mar 15:

Women have becomeempowered in every fieldand they have achievedtheir position in the pub-lic domain. Earlier, therewere only one or twowomen governors of thestates, but today, eight outof 29 states have womenas their Governors. Thisshows the rapid pace ofwomen empowerment,said Governor AnusuiyaUikey while addressingthe ‘Atulya Shakti’ pro-gramme organized hereat Rungta College onTuesday. Governor addedthat women have beenleaders in every field. Adaughter of Bastar haseven succeeded in con-quering Mount Everest.Her success shows thatwomen are not left behindin any front. Sharing herexperiences, theGovernor said that re-cently she met sister offormer Chief SecretaryVivek Dhand, who is a dif-ferently abled 65-year-oldlady and is wheelchairbound for the past fewyears. Still her spirits arehigh and she paints very

beautiful paintings. “Shemade me feel that withtalent and skill, one canovercome every difficul-ty”, Uikey added.

Governor further saidthat Vedic shloka men-tions women as “ShaktiRoopen Sansthita”, thesymbol of power. Awoman is power in her-self and the only need isto recognize your powersand know your strengthsto achieve success inevery field. She furthersuggested the women toinspire and help otherwomen to move ahead.Women have immensepower and they just needmotivation and encour-agement. If they get en-couragement from thefamily or society, no onecan stop them. Referringto the women working inpublic domain, theGovernor said that allsuch women have madetheir place with hardwork. There is no field inwhich women cannot dis-play their skills.

Governor honored thewomen who are workingappreciably in variousfields. Chhattisgarh State

Commission for WomenChairman KiranmayeeNayak was present as spe-cial guest. Nayak saidthat she never felt thatthere is a need to empow-er women. Women havealways been empowered.They only need to be re-minded about their pow-ers. Once they realizetheir powers, they getcompletely engaged infulfilling their resolu-tions. All IndiaProfessional CongressPresident KshitijChandrakar said thatInternational Women’sDay should not be theonly occasion to appreci-ate the contributions ofwomen. He emphasizedon the need to have suchspirit and respect forwomen every day. Heurged all to give respect tothe women at home.Bhilai Mayor Neeraj Pal,DCC Chief MukeshChandrakar, SantoshRungta, IP Mishra andother dignitaries werepresent. Gunjan ChauhanChandel, Manish Soni,Amrita Singh and othermembers of the organiz-ing team were present.

Women symbolize power;make them realize

their strength: GovernorBhilai, Mar 15:

On the occasion ofInternational Women’sDay, Durg Police organizedwomen safety awarenessprogrammes “Abhivyakti”for the seven consecutivedays. Team of IUCAW of-fice and Raksha Team vis-ited rural areas, schools-colleges and other placesto spread awareness re-garding women safety,cyber frauds, domestic vio-lence, traffic rules, POCSOAct, eve-teasing, humantrafficking, health hy-giene, career counseling,etc. Efforts were made tomake the girl students andgeneral public awareabout these issues. Theweek long programmeconcluded at village Ruhilocated within the limits ofPatan Police Station. Atthe outset, children pre-sented the state song“Arpa Pairi KeDhar”. AdditionalSuperintendent of Police(Rural) Anant Sahuand Additional

Superintendent of Police(IUCAW) Meeta Pawar out-lined the activities con-ducted during the weeklong programme. Theyspread awareness aboutthe women safety app“Abhivyakti” among theguests, dignitaries, vil-lagers, children,Anganwadi workers,women and girls. She fur-ther informed that in allthe police station areas, ef-forts were made to makemore and more peopleaware by displaying pic-tures / videos on womensafety awareness topics.They were also detailed

about the Raksha Team,Abhivyakti App, Women’sHelpline Number9111801091, etc. The copsappealed the people to usesocial media carefully. Ifany female faces any prob-lem and do not want to re-veal her identity, she cansend her complaint as aWhatsApp message on thewomen helpline number.

Senior Superintendentof Police BN Meena partic-ipated in the Annaprashanevent. ASP Meeta Pawarand Police Officers also at-tended the baby showerprogramme of pregnantwomen. SSP BN Meena,

ASP (Rural) AnanthKumar Sahu, ASP (City)Sanjay Kumar Dhruv, ASP(IUCAW) Meeta Pawar,SDOP (Patan) DevanshRathore, DSP (PoliceLines) Nilesh Dwivedi, RIRamesh Kumar Chandra,Inspector ShivakantTiwari, Inspector VPrabha Rao, InspectorNavi Monika Pandey,Inspector Shruti Singh,Inspector C Tirkey,Subedar Tripti Singh, Sub-Inspector Sharda Banjare,Sub-Inspector MohaniSahu, Sub-Inspector VeenaSahu, Sub-InspectorKamla Yadav, Sub

Inspector SangeetaMishra, ASI HemlataDeshmukh, VillageSarpanch Bharti Jangde,women and child develop-ment officials andAnganwadi workers werepresent. Rangoli, Mehndi,chair race, tug of war andcuisine competitions wereheld. The winners werefeted with citations andprizes by the PoliceDepartment. Women whocooperated with the policedepartment were also hon-ored with citation and me-mento. Inspector NaviMonika Pandey proposedthe vote of thanks.

Women Safety Awareness Program ‘Abhivyakti’ concludes

Bhilai, Mar 15: ABamboo HandicraftTraining Camp was organ-ised by SAIL-BSP’s CSRdepartment along withChhattisgarh HandicraftDevelopment Board aspart of ‘Azadi ka AmritMahotsav’ celebrations forwomen empowerment.The programme was inau-gurated by Nisha Soni,CGM (Personnel) at

Dundera village. Twentywomen were shortlisted toattend this training pro-gramme. They are beingtrained for three monthsfrom March 10, 2022 toJune 09, 2022. The partici-pants will get a scholar-ship of Rs 3000/ permonth.

Nisha Soni, in her ad-dress stated that BSP’sCSR Department takes

concerted efforts towardswomen empowerment andmaking them self-suffi-cient. Women will be eco-nomically independentand become a source of in-come generation for theirfamilies through trainingprogrammes like this, shesaid.

At the outset, ShivrajanNair addressed the gather-ing. Sushil Kamde andVivek Mishra welcomedthe guests. The pro-gramme was compered byRajni Rajak. VivekChandrakar, Parshad,members of Village SelfHelp Group, Kapil Dev,Budhelal and other per-sons from CSR depart-ment were present on theoccasion.

Bamboo handicraft training camp organised

BBhhiillaaii,, MMaarr 1155:: ‘Nai Chetna’, a pro-gramme for women contractlabour was organised in Mills Zone1 for workers of Merchant Mill andWire Rod Mill the other day. Theobjective of the programme wasto create awareness about legalrights, welfare amenities, Safety,health, Cleanliness and preventionagainst Sexual harassment. AjayBedi, CGM (Merchant Mil & WireRod Mill) in his address said thatwomen contract labour should beaware about their legal rights,welfare amenities, Safety, healthwhich is being dealt with in thisprogramme. He urged them to pay

attention to the information beingshared in this forum. This pro-gramme is a step towards publicawareness and is a praiseworthyinitiative of Personnel depart-ment, he added. ShubhshreePrashant, SM (M & HS) impartedinformation on Health and Safety.Anupma Kumari stressed on theneed to adopt Safe working prac-tices at the workplace. The pro-gramme was coordinated byRajeev Kumar, DGM (P-Mills Zone1). Employees of Personneldepartment of Mills Zone 1 playeda significant role in making thisprogramme successful.

‘Nai Chetna’ for women contractworkers organised in Mills Zone 1

Bhilai, Mar 15:Employees belonging toElectrical Zone of SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant wereawarded with the ‘PaliShiromani ‘and ‘KarmShiromani Puraskar’ onMarch 07, 2022 for theirexemplary work perform-ance under the‘Shiromani PuraskarYojana’ of Bhilai SteelPlant. Pali ShiromaniAward winners ofElectrical zone includedMahadev Singh Rana,Deputy Manager, ETL,S Srikumar, CRME, andKarm Shiromani Awardwinners M Laxman Rao,

Sr Techn(E), MSDS-II,Somkant Jogi, Sr Techn,ERS, Bhusaram, MasterOCT, HME, GuruduttDeshpande, Techn (EF/BAttdt), DNW, DulendraKumar Sen, MasterTechn (Switch),Telecomm were felicitat-ed for their exemplarywork.

The norms of socialdistancing were followedin conducting and distri-bution of the prizes dur-ing the function in thewake of COVID-19 pan-demic. The function waspresided over byPrakash, GM

( T e l e c o m m ) .Departmental HODs USBarwal, GM (ETL), AKNayak , GM (CRME),Ravindra Kumar, GM(MSDS-II), PK Padhy, GM(ERS) and MA Siddique,GM (HME), BenseyGeorge, GM (DNW), HKSirmour, DGM(Telcomm) and KuntalBaghel, DGM (ERS) pre-sented the award winnerswith a certificate ofmerit, memento and ap-preciation letter for thespouse of the employee.

The programme wasconducted by PersonnelOffice of P&E Zone.

Employees of Electrical Zone feted withPali Shiromani & Karm Shiromani Award

Bhilai, Mar 15: ShriShankaracharya Collegeof PharmaceuticalSciences, Junwani cele-brated InternationalWomen’s Day under thetheme women’s health andhygiene. The convenor ofthe

programme, DrSwarnali Das Paul,Principal SSCPS said thatcreating awareness on fe-male diseases was themain motto of this event.Special guest Dr KirtiVerma Bhandari,Gynaecologist, SJMMaternity and diagnostic

centre, Bhilai and DrRekha Ratnani, HeadGynaecologist, SSIMS, de-livered lectures on thetheme. Jaya Mishra,President SGES delivereda beautiful talk on“Gender Equality Todayfor SustainableTomorrow” in which viceprincipal and guest ex-plored the ways in whichwomen and girls are lead-ing the charges on climatechange adaptation, mitiga-tion, a response aroundthe world, contributingpowerful leaders andchange makers to more

sustainable future for all.The first session was

conveyed by Dr KirtiVerma Bhandari in whichshe addressed the audi-ence regarding the healthissues related to womenand girls and taught howto maintain hygiene andlive a healthier life. Thesecond session was con-veyed by Dr RekhaRatnani. She emphasizedthe role of women in theirpersonal and professionallife and motivated to livean independent life. Morethan hundred participantswere present in this event.

IWD celebrated at Shri ShankaracharyaCollege of Pharmaceutical Sciences

To create awareness on women’s health and hygiene

Bhilai, Mar 15:

In a bid to bring aware-ness among public aboutcleanliness, Bhilai MayorNeeraj Pal has nominated20 cleanliness brand am-bassadors. The Mayor hasincluded people eminentpersons from all walks oflife including social work,journalism, industry, filmworld, medical world,business world, sportsand education. On the rec-ommendation of MLADevendra Yadav, NeerajPal has selected peoplewho are proficient in dif-ferent disciplines to con-tribute in this work ofcleanliness. Speaking onthe occasion, MayorNeeraj Pal said that theBMC administration isworking tirelessly to real-ize the vision of cleanli-ness. The Corporation ismaking effort to attain the

top ranks in the cleanli-ness survey 2022 for thecities with population of 5to 10 lakhs.

He added that with theassistance fromSwachhata BrandAmbassadors, it would beeasy to communicate withthe general public andmake them aware aboutcleanliness and work to-wards the vision of cleanand beautiful Bhilai. Atthe outset, all theSwachhata Ambassadorsgot acquainted with each

other followed by a meet-ing. Sanitation in-chargeLakshmipati Raju in-formed everyone aboutthe work being done byBhilai MunicipalCorporation and how thebrand ambassadors wouldhelp in Citizen feedback,awareness through socialmedia, home compostingand such works. Thenewly appointedSwachhata BrandAmbassadors said thatthey would work towardsmaking people aware on

the need to give the city aclean environmentthrough various events.

Mayor Neeraj Pal onTuesday today appointedAnurag Basu from film in-dustry; KK Jha and NitinGupta from ancillary in-dustry; Rajendra KumarAgarwal, Sanjay Ojha,Santosh Rai, Arif Khanand Sachin Pratap Singhfrom education; KChandrashekhar, MunnaSahu, Sant Kumar Keskar,Nitin Phule, DhanrajParade and Jai GovindYadav from social work;Dr Chiranjeevi from med-ical field, RajendraSonboir from journalismas well as Sanjay Jain,Dilip Devangan, RakeshMalhotra and Ram Jaspalfrom other fields. Duringthis, Siju Anthony, a mem-ber of the Mayor inCouncil, was prominentlypresent.

BMC gets 20 Swachhata Brand Ambassadors including Anurag Basu

CENTRAL CHRONICLE, BILASPUR, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 2022

FULLY DRENCHED IN COLOURS

A shopkeeper selling variety of colours in an area locally seems to be fully drenchedin all colours, providing instant acceptance from customers.

Nine officers served notices onTender process irregularities


Raipur, Mar 15: Ninesenior officials including6 Indian Forest Services(IFS) Officers have beenserved show cause no-tices on the reported com-plaint of irregularities inTender works being car-ried out for variousworks in ForestDepartment.

Minister for Forest MdAkbar said that appropri-ate action would be takenagainst those responsiblefor irregularities after re-ceiving reply from them.

Leader of Oppositionin ChhattisgarhLegislative AssemblyDharmlal Kaushik onTuesday raised the issuedduring Question Hourhere. He asked theMinister about the actiontaken against the officialsafter irregularities werereported in the TenderProcess for various works

in Forest Department.Minister Akbar con-firmed about the irregu-

larities and added thatnine officers are respon-sible for the irregulari-

ties and have been servednotices. Minister saidthat 30 days duration isessential for the TenderProcess but only 21 daystime were given to the in-terested firms whereasthe rules of WarehousePurchase too were ig-nored. Minister said thatdepartmental process hasbeen initiated whereasProbe Officer has notbeen appointed so far andadded that the accused of-ficers have been giventime of 15 days to reply tothe show cause notices.Leader of Oppositionsaid that violation ofrules would encouragecorruption in govern-ment departments.

Officials whose namehave been reported in theirregularities areVishnuraj Narendran,Ayush Jain, AmitabhBajpai, Stylo Mandavi,Vijaya Vinod Kurre andAshok Kumar Patle fromIFS rank whereas NKSharma, DK Sahu andDK Mehar are from StateForest Services.

Work according to the aspirationsof the people: Governor


Raipur, Mar 15:Governor Ms. AnusuiyaUikey attended the gener-al body meeting (GBM) ofRaipur MunicipalCorporation on Tuesday.After reaching theCorporation office,Mahatma Gandhi Sadan,the Governor paid homageto the father of the nationby garlanding his statue.

On this occasion, MLAduo SatyanarayanSharma, Kuldeep Juneja,Mayor Ejaz Dhebar,Speaker Pramod Dubey,Leader of OppositionMinal Choubey andwomen corporators alsogave a warm welcome toGovernor Uikey. This isprobably the first time that

a Governor has attended ageneral body meeting of amunicipal corporation.

Addressing the generalbody meeting of theMunicipal Corporation,Governor Ms. Uikey calledupon the corporators towork according to the aspi-rations of the people andbe sensitive to the prob-lems of the people. All ofyou corporators are thevoice of the people and itis your responsibility tofulfill the basic needs ofthe common people. Donot be arrogant in yourconduct and rituals, sheadded.

Governor also told cor-porators to visit their arearegularly and also take

feedback of your workfrom people, so that youare aware of what peoplewant. Ms. Uikey said thaturban bodies and villagepanchayats are the pri-mary schools of democra-cy. The people’s represen-tatives who have beenelected here are intro-duced for the first time todemocracy and parliamen-tary functioning. This ismy first experience in thishouse.

Like Lok Sabha, RajyaSabha and Vidhan Sabha,there are questions andanswers of pros and cons,time is fixed for questionhours. Certainly the roleof the House would havebeen important in making

Raipur a clean, beautifuland smart city. People areoccupying many impor-tant posts after leaving thehouse of the urban body.The Governor ofJharkhand, Ramesh Baiswas once a member of thisHouse. Many MLAs andMPs have also startedtheir journey from thishouse. The more goodwork you do, the more peo-ple’s affection and respectyou will get and you willreach new heights in yourfuture political career.

Governor Uikey in herremarks appreciated theremarkable works done bythe corporation in Raipurcity including initiativeslike Vivekananda Sarovar,Telibandha TalabBeautification andNalanda Library, PinkToilet. On this occasion,RMC Mayor Ejaz Dhebar,Speaker Pramod Dubeyand CommissionerMunicipal CorporationPrabhat Malik also ad-dressed the gathering.Mayor Ejaz Dhebar hon-oured Governor Uikeywith a memento.

‘No new promises made, stress on development works’


Raipur, Mar 15: TheMayor RMC Ejaz Dhebarpresented annual budgetof Raipur MunicipalCorporation (RMC) for2022-23 for that of Rs 1475crore and gave emphasison balanced development.Not making any newpromises, the Mayor laidstress on implementationof the pending or the re-cently started works.During this the membersof the Opposition createddin in the House on theissue of ‘user charges’ andother issues and evenstaged protest coming to

dais of the Speaker.Mayor Ejaz Dhebar in

his main budget speechsaid that at present Raipuris with three star ratingand is among the best sixstates in the country andto bring it on No. 1 a lot ofhard work needs to bedone and added that thepace with which the stategovernment is working,they will definitely get suc-

cess. Mayor informed thatlifeline of Raipur city is‘Kharun’ River and newinitiative will be taken forits purification and clean-ing. Similarly work planswill be prepared for smalltraders and city will bemade tanker-free. All the10 wards of RMC will beprovided with ambulancefacility and the people BPLwill be provided ‘gau-

kasth’ free of cost for per-forming final rites of de-ceased. Similarly by pay-ing attention on healthservices, around 80 newClinics will be opened inthe city, he added.

Budget presented inbriefcase made out of

cow-dung:In line with the Chief

Minister Bhupesh Baghelcarrying a briefcase madeout of cow-dung for pres-entation of state’s budgetin the VS, the Mayor EjazDhebar also followed inhis footsteps and camealong with briefcase madefrom cow-dung and pre-sented the budget in theHouse. It was ‘Goumai

Vaste Laxmi’ written ontop of the briefcase.

Mayor presentsannual budget of Rs1475 cr of RMC for2022-23

Members ofOpposition createsruckus on ‘usercharges’ and hostsof other issues

For cleaning of capital city Raipur’s lifeline – Kharun River, a work plan of threeyears has been prepared and for this fourSTPs of total 206 MLD will be started forpurification of stale water from drainsentering Kharun river. Under ‘Pauni Pasari Yojana’ and by fixingnew vending zones, a work plan will beprepared for entire RMC to assist smalltraders for running their business smooth-ly and then it will be implemented.To make city ‘Tanker-Free’, ‘Amrut MissionYojana’ will be immediately implemented.Health and medical facilities in entire RMCwill be expanded and to ensure that apatient gets ambulance facility well ontime, all the ten zones of RMC will be pro-vided with ambulance vehicle.In case of sudden death of one from fami-ly, there is immediately need for keepingthe body inside deep freezer and taking asensitive initiative, RMC will be providingone ‘Deep Freezer’ facility in all 10 zones ofRMC. For performing final rites of deceased per-son in the family from BPL and middleclass families, RMC will be provided ‘GauKasth’ free of cost.To provide children from poor familieswith education facility in English medium,

the Binni Bai Sonkar Best School’ will beupgraded as English Medium School fromthis FY.To provide domestic services like that ofplumber, cooler, TV, fridge repairmechanic, carpenter and others, anonline portal app will be prepared andthis will help the local workers getemployment and people would be able toget facilities sitting at home.By developing infrastructure along withstudy and teaching in the GovernmentSchools, a strong foundation will be pre-pared by introducing and promotingintellectual, educational, sports and cul-tural activities.The Sports grounds in capital city Raipurwill be developed and along with this allthe seven ponds and gardens will begiven facelift in the coming three years.With Raipur developing into cosmopoli-tan city, RMC is already working on‘Smart Road Scheme’ to ensure smoothmovement of traffic and proper parkingfacilities in areas facing traffic conges-tion. In the first leg, Raipur Smart CityLimited , will be developing 220 mts roadfrom near Oxyzone in GE Road to RajaTabal Road and develop it as ‘SmartRoad’.

Promises made in the budget

Budget at a glance:

# Provision of Rs 31 cr hasbeen made for housingscheme for all.# Provision of Rs 110 cr for‘Amrut Mission Yojana’# Provision of Rs 150 cr forI n f r a s t r u c t u r eDevelopment# Provision of Rs 5.5 cr for‘Pushpa-Vatika’# Provision of Rs 1 cr forCity Bus Project# Provision of Rs 1.5 cr for‘Gyan Sthali Yojana’# Provision of Rs 44.5 cr for‘safai’ contract

Corporators shouldbe sensitivetowards problemsof the public

Uikey first Governorto attend the GBMof RMC

Reply sought within15 days: Minister

Oppn alleges irregularities in DMF expenditure

Raipur: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Member ofLegislative Assembly (MLA) Keshav Chandra allegedirregularities in the expenditure from the amount ofDistrict Mineral Fund (DMF) and added that nearlyRs 21 crore were spent on Training purpose andsought reply from the Treasury bench on utilizationof fund and the Audit for the said. Replying to thecharges, the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel saidthat state government is ready to investigate on thealleged irregularities on receiving a written com-plaint. BJP MLAs too grilled the Treasury bench onthe rational utilization of the DMF Fund. AkaltaraMLA Saurabh Singh alleged that the guidelines ofDMF utilization is being violated in several districts.


Raipur, Mar 15:Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Tuesdaytermed the NYAYscheme of Congressgovernment to be injus-tice to the farmers asthe eligible farmers arenot able to get the bene-fits.

Launching attack onthe Treasury benchduring the discussionon the budgetary provi-sion of the Agriculturedepartment inC h h a t t i s g a r hLegislative Assembly,the senior BJP MLABrijmohan Agrawalsaid that said that thefarmers are being pro-vided Rs 2500 under theNYAY scheme but therecipients are payingheavy price as theirelectricity, road and ed-ucation benefits oftheir family membersare curtailed by the

state government. Hefurther added that thestate government hasprovided compensationof just Rs 4 lakh to thefamily members of thefarmer died during theprotest against land ac-quisition in NayaRaipur whereas ChiefMinister had given Rs50 lakh compensationto the farmer fromLakhimpur in UtterPradesh only to pleasethe party high com-mand. He also held theCongress governmentresponsible for growingcorruption.

Counting the allega-tion, the seniorCongress MLA MohanMarkam held the previ-ous BJP government re-sponsible for the al-leged suicide of thefarmers. He alsoclaimed that several de-velopment works havebeen taken place duringthe last three yearswhereas previous BJPgovernment had failedto deliver the promisesto the people. He alsomentioned the waiverof agriculture loan ofthe farmers as part ofthe exercise initiated bythe Congress govern-ment towards welfare ofthe farmers.

NYAY scheme failedto provide justice tofarmers: BrijmohanOppn grillsTreasury benchduring discussionon budgetarydemands ofAgriculturedepartment


Raipur, Mar 15:Chhattisgarh is witness-ing a growing number ofEndometriosis patientsin the last few years. AllIndia Institute ofMedical Sciences hasbeen receiving almost 100female patients permonth suffering fromEndometriosis. It canlead to excessive men-strual cramps and heavy

menstrual flow and pain.Experts say that timelydiagnosis and treatmentcould be decisive to over-

come the challenge.Department of

Obstetrics andGynecology at AIIMS,

Raipur is organizing amonth long awarenessprograms to educatewomen on the issue. Astate level CME ‘KeyPractice Updates onEndometriosis’ has beenorganized by the depart-ment to disseminate in-formation on the topic.

In his keynote addressDirector Prof. (Dr.) NitinM. Nagarkar said that fe-males generally ignoretheir health problemsdue to family related re-sponsibilities. It is otherfamily members’ duty togive them much neededsupport. Prof. Nagarkarsaid that AIIMS is lead-ing state medical collegesto create awareness

about Endometriosis.‘Timely intervention cansave women from painand other disorders relat-ed to Endometriosis. Weare focusing more on theresearch to come outwith specific treatmentprotocols in the state, hesaid.

Prof. (Dr.) SaritaAgrawal elaborated thegenetic base ofEndometriosis and saidthat women withEndometriosis are morelikely to have infertilityor difficulty getting preg-nant. ‘Patients withEndometriosis havesome tissue outside ofthe uterus mostly affect-ing women between ages

of 25 to 40. Timely diag-nosis and minimal inva-sive surgery can defini-tively treat it, she said.

Dr. Nilaj Kumar Bagdesaid that Obs and GyneOPD is receiving around100 patients per monthwhich shows alarmingsituation in the state.‘Women suffering fromEndometriosis developtissue outside the uteruswhich can lead to painand excessive bleeding.All diagnosis and treat-ment facilities are avail-able at AIIMS forEndometriosis, he said.The CME witnessed im-pressive numbers of par-ticipants around the statein hybrid mode.

CG witnessing growing patients of Endometriosis

Prof. (Dr.) Nitin M. Nagarkar, Prof. (Dr.) Sarita Agrawal andDr. Nilaj Bagde during CME on Endometriosis by AIIMS,Raipur.

AIIMS-R leadsmonth long aware-ness programmewith State levelCME


Raipur, Mar 15: At least204 people were killed and81 injured in elephant at-tacks, while 45 pachy-derms died due to variousreasons, including electro-cution, in Chhattisgarh inthe last three years, thestate legislative Assemblywas informed on Tuesday.

In a reply to a questionby BJP MLA RajneeshKumar Singh, state Forestand Climate ChangeMinister MohammadAkbar said that 72,112

cases of injury and loss oflife and damage to cropsand properties in elephantattacks were registered inthe state from January 1,2019 to February 1 thisyear. As many as 204 peo-ple have died and 81 sus-tained injuries in elephantattacks, while 63,603 casesof crop damage, 5,232 ofdamage to houses and2,992 of other propertydamages were reported inthe last three years, hesaid in a written replysaid.

Over Rs 60.5 crore werepaid in compensation inthese cases during this pe-riod, the minister said,

adding that compensationto the tune of over Rs 1.01crore was pending in 664 ofthese cases.

On October 7, the stategovernment notified anarea of 1,995.48 sq km (innorthern Chhattisgarh) asLemru elephant reserve.At least 39 coal mines intwo coal blocks - MandRaigarh and HasdeoArand - fall within limitsof Lemru elephant re-serve. Under the Forest(Conservation) Act 1980,the Central governmenthas not permitted miningin any of the mines in theelephant reserve area, theminister said in the reply.

Over 204 killed, 81 injured in elephant attacks In three years


HOLI IN SCHOOL

School children enjoying pre-Holi celebration with school friends as there is holiday on occasion of Holi.


Raipur, Mar 15:Governor Anusuiya Uikeyattended the EducationExcellence Award distri-bution function organizedby a media group in Durgon Tuesday. On this occa-sion, she honored educa-tional institutions fortheir contribution in vari-ous fields. The Governorpraised the painting ofchildren on Smart City.She said that I saw yourpainting on the vision ofSmart City. You have madesuch a beautiful paintingand have shown the city ofyour dreams in such a waythat I am sure you guysare the future of the coun-try.

In her address while fe-

licitating educational in-stitutions and children inTwin City, she said thatthe future of the countrylies in educational institu-tions. The better the workdone here, the brighter thefuture of the country willbe. She said that the citywhich is seen in the imagi-nation of children. Howbeautiful it is which has

modern facilities. There isuniversal harmony. Thisbeautiful hypothesisshows how much potentialour children have.

The more responsibilitythe educational institu-tions fulfill their duties,the better will be the fu-ture of the country. Indiawill have a different identi-ty in the world stage. Such

felicitation ceremony isvery useful. This will leadto healthy competitionamong educational insti-tutions and improve thequality of education.

She said that the honourgiven to these educationalinstitutions today will giveencouragement to them.The Governor said thatthe new education policy

has been prepared underthe guidance of the PrimeMinister. It emphasizes onthe all round developmentof the children. Alongwith studies, children arealso prepared for culturaland skill development.

Children gain a betterunderstanding of their en-vironment and move to-wards saving it. She saidthat work is being done to-wards the implementationof the education policy ofthe year 2020. On this oc-casion, Director of IITBhilai, Rajat Moona, ViceChancellor of CSVTU,Mukesh Verma, IPMishra ofShankaracharya Groupand other dignitaries werepresent.

The Governor met theheads of educational insti-tutions performing well inthe award ceremony andcongratulated them andalso encouraged the chil-dren.

Future of the country lies in educationalinstitutions, says Governor

Appreciated thepainting of childrenon Smart City


Raipur, Mar 15: MLABrijmohan Agrawalraised the issue of thefilm ‘The Kashmir Files’during zero-house inVidhan Sabha here onMonday. He said that ef-fort is being made not toallow screening of thisfilm in the theatres and itis equivalent to seditioncharges. He said thatplans are afoot to stop its

screening from talkies inRaipur city and the placewhere the film is run-ning, the audience isbeing taken for a ride byflashing boards that it isrunning Houseful and notickets are available. Hecharged that there is con-spiracy to avoid audiencefrom watching the film. Itwill be better if this filmcan be made tax-free likethe way it has being donein MP and Gujarat.

Raipur, Mar 15: KrishnaPublic School (KPS)Kamal Vihar, Dundaagain proved its mettle atFit India State Finals.Ishant Talreja and MananSethia, 2 students fromKPS achieved the distinc-tion of representing theirstate at the national leveland the only team ofRaipur Chhattisgarh inthe state finals of Fit IndiaQuiz. In this quiz, 36,299students from 13,502schools participated in thepreliminary round fromall over India. This compe-tition was jointly organ-

ized by the Ministry ofYouth Affairs and Sports,Government of India andCBSE. It is a national plat-form wherein opportunityis provided to the studentsto showcase their knowl-edge related to fitness andsports at the school level.In this competition, IshantTalreja and Manan Sethia,after clearing the prelimi-nary round (which was or-ganized by NationalTalent Agency), securedtheir first position in thestate semi-final and finalround.

Various questions were

asked in this competitionwhich was based onIndian Sports History,Traditional Games, Yoga,O l y m p i c s ,Commonwealth Games,Asian Games, Khelo IndiaGames and other popularsports. By giving good an-swers to each questionbased on these topics,through their talent andintelligence, the studentsbagged first position inChhattisgarh State Finalsand defeated other teamsby a huge margin. Theschool will be awarded acash prize of Rs 2.5 Lakhsrupees as prize money andRs 25000 will be givenjointly to both the win-ners. This competitionwas held online. TeamKPS has been selected forthe National Round whichwill be held in three phas-es: Quarter Final, Semi-Final and Final.

Konta, Mar 15: CivicAction Program andMedical Camp was organ-ized by 219th Corps CRPFon March 15 under the di-rection of CommandantNitin Kumar. Underwhich, keeping in mindthe scorching heat, a terra-fill water filter was in-stalled for the supply ofpure drinking water in vil-lage- Injram on the Konta-Sukma main road(National Highway-30). Sothat people traveling onNational Highway andInjram-Bhee road andnearby villagers can get itsbenefit. Along with this,medicines were distrib-uted by treating commondiseases like cold, cough,fever, high blood pressure,body ache, joint pain,chronic wounds/wounds,sore throat and malariathrough medical campsfor better health of the vil-lagers. .

Civic Action Program(CPA) was organized invillage-Injram with the

aim of connecting withthe main stream of devel-opment and making themaware of the importanceof government schemesand programs. Throughthe Civic ActionProgramme, radio, mos-quito nets, solar lamps andother items of daily usewere distributed to the vil-lagers of Injram,Gondipara and Asirguda.Along with this, sportsmaterial like bat-ball,carom, football, volleyball,badminton set etc. were

given to make childrenaware of sports and to in-crease their enthusiasm.During this, people weremade aware about the dis-eases caused by drinkingimpure water by Rahul R(Senior Medical Officer).Also told that we will allfight together againstKovid-19 Corona virus andif anyone has any kind ofdisease, then he cancome at any time fortreatment to the hospitallocated at InjramHeadquarters.

In this event, all thenearby villagers partici-pated in large numbers,which shows that thetrust in the governmentis increasing among thevillagers in this area.Good relations and trustare being established be-tween common citizensand CRPF. People of thisarea are moving awayfrom Naxal ideology andjoining the mainstreamtowards development.Due to the above work, aray of enthusiasm andhope has arisen amongall the villagers and con-fidence has been awak-ened in the villagers that219th Corps CRPF is al-ways ready and ready fortheir care and protec-tion. In this programNeeraj Kumar Singh(Second CommandingOfficer), Dr. Rahul R.(Senior Medical Officer),Dr. Adil Aziz (MedicalOfficer), subordinate of-ficers and other person-nel were present.

Bilaspur, Mar 15: PunjabNational Bank, zonel andbranch office Bilaspur andBDA observed WorldConsumer Day on March15, with an objective toprovide ‘consumer protec-tion and consumer pros-perity’.

The meeting was attend-

ed by PNB Zonal HeadTapas Kranti Jha, ChiefManager Pratap Singh,Chief Manager Deepraj,Branch ManagerUmakant Mehar, SeniorManager OfficialLanguage Ashraf Ansariaddressed the valuablecustomers and exchangedtheir views as well.

This programme was or-ganized in all branches ofBilaspur zone.

CAP increasing confidence of tribalsamong 219th Corps CRPF

‘World ConsumerDay’ observed in all

branches of PNB

Coming underBilaspur Zone

Raipur, Mar 15: At his of-fice in the Vidhan Sabhapremise today, ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghelreleased the book ‘TheIncredible Journey ofKosa’, edited by seniorjournalist K.N. Kishoreand Dr. Rajendra Mohanty.This book is based on thejourney of Kosa silk fromthe mythical period to thepresent day, Kosa sareesand dress material. Seniorjournalist BabulalSharma was also presenton the occasion.

This book discusses themythology behind ‘Kosa’silk, its historical origin,literary evidence tellingabout the arrival and de-velopment of silk in Indiaand its arrival inChhattisgarh as well.Moreover, the book also

consists of a detailed dis-cussion on the traditionalprocess of silk production,thread making and differ-ent types of silk fabricssuch as sarees, dress mate-rial, furnishing etc. Also,this book will give a briefon the handloom Kosaproduct of Chhattisgarhand will serve as a store-house of knowledge forthe new generations. ChiefMinister Mr. Baghel con-gratulated and extendedbest wishes to all the peo-ple involved in the publica-tion of the book.

Kishore informed thatthis book is an attempt todocument the journey, mo-tifs, colors and weaves ofKosa along with tradition-al forms of silk weavingand also to preserve thehistory of Kosa.

CM releases a book based onthe journey of ‘Kosa’ silk

Shanti MishraRaipur: Shanti Mishra

(Tarpongi-M o h a d awale), R/oM a n a(Battalion)R a i p u r ,

breathed her last hereon March 14. She wasW/o Late RameshMishra and her finalrites were performed atMana crematorium.She was mother ofAshok Mishra.

OBITUARY ‘Efforts being made not to allowscreening of Hindi Film’

KPS becomes the State Championin Fit India Quiz State Finals

RRaaiippuurr,, MMaarr 1155:: ChhattisgarhPublic Relations OfficersAssociation (CPROA) has thankedChief Minister Bhupesh Baghelfor the announcement to resumeimplementation of old pensionscheme for government employ-ees in Chhattisgarh. The unionhas called it a historic decision inthe interest of state governmentemployees.

The delegation of ChhattisgarhPublic Relations OfficersAssociation today met ChiefMinister Baghel at his office in theassembly premise and thankedhim for the decision.

On the occasion, President ofChhattisgarh Public RelationsOfficers Association, BalmukundTamboli said that this announce-ment made by Chief Minister

Baghel is a compassionate step ofChhattisgarh Government toensure that the governmentemployees and their families livea respectable life even afterretirement. He said that ChiefMinister has always taken deci-sions in the interest of govern-ment employees with empathyand compassion. This is the rea-son why government employeesin the state have their morale highand they are wholeheartedlyengaged in the implementation ofgovernment schemes and poli-cies. Tamboli further said that

under the old pension scheme,the employees would get a fixedpension amount after retirementand the dependent family wouldget the benefit of pension.Government employees and offi-cers are overjoyed with thisannouncement of Chief Ministerand now they can work withrenewed enthusiasm and dedica-tion. The delegation included thepatrons of Chhattisgarh PublicRelations Officers Association,J.L. Dario and Umesh Mishra,along with other officials namelyPremlal Patel, Anand Solanki,

Munnalal Choudhary, ManrakhanMarkam, Nitin Sharma, ZarifKhan, Kamlesh Sahu, KamaljyotiZahire, Sachin Sharma,Omprakash Dahria, Bhavani SinghThakur, and Ravindra Chaudhary.

Similarly a delegation ofChhattisgarh School TeacherEmployees Union (CSTEU) andunder the leadership ofParliamentary SecretaryChandradev Rai and MLA RamKumar Yadav and ChhattisgarhState Police Services (SPS) paidcourtesy call on Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel at his office in

the Vidhan Sabha premises today.They expressed their gratitudetowards Chief Minister forrestoration of the old pensionscheme for the officers andemployees of the state. ChiefMinister Mr. Baghel hasannounced to restore old pensionscheme in the state’s budget forthe year 2022-23.

On this occasion, StatePresident of the Union SanjayTiwari, Secretary Prakash Sahu,Tirath Narayan Banjare and mem-bers of the Union from Raipur,Bilaigarh, Bhatapara and Baloda-Bazar were also present.

State Police Service (SPS) offi-cers delegation comprised ofKamleshwar Chandel, MukeshThakur, Sukhnandan Rathore,Kirtan Rathore, AbhishekMaheshwari, Khoman Sinha, DCPatel, Udayant Behar, ManojDhruv and police inspectorsincluding Rajesh Singh, AmitTiwari and Nilesh Singh wereamong those present on the occa-sion.

Delegation of CPROA, CSTEU, SPS pay courtesy call on CMTo express grati-tude for the restora-tion of old pensionscheme

Raipur, Mar 15: In GuruGhasidas University(Central University), ‘TheUrchins’, a socio-culturaland theatrical group of theCentral University per-formed a street play afterthe university reopened.This was the team’s firstperformance in theUniversity after a long gapof the Corona period.

The play was staged infront of the Silver JubileeAuditorium on March 14 at 1pm. The team returned withthe play ‘Stree Aur Woh Din’written by renowned play-

wright, Arvind Gaur andwhich was directed byUrchins. The play presentssocial issues like toxic mas-culinity and menstruation,and seeks to dispel the mis-conceptions associated withthese issues.

Team Urchins’ teacher co-ordinator, Dr. ManishSrivastava was present dur-ing the entire performanceto encourage the team. Theplay proved to be a successamong the audience and itwas well received by the au-dience. University studentsalso gave their positive and

appreciative feedback to theteam. The new studentsseemed excited about theteam and the theatre. Theperformance was directedby student coordinators,Shruti Sharma and SaurabhYadav.

The members of the per-forming team in the playwere Divya Rani, Tina RaniSahu, Adarsh Mishra,Pranay Naidu, LokeshSingh, ShivaniVishwakarma, AkankshaTirkey, Matruka Sahu,Abhijit Chandra, PrachiJaiswal and Gaurav Sinha.

Street play presented by ‘Urchins’ at CU Bilaspur

Khairagarh, Mar 15:

The people in supportof making Khairagarhblock as district, took outa massive bike-rallywhich was flagged off byPensioners Sangh. It isnotable here that an in-definite strike to makeKhairagarh, Chuikhadanand Gandai as districtisgoing on for last 200 daysin Khairagarh city.

In this context the sup-porters of this demandtook out a bike-rally onMarch 12. The rallypassed through mainthoroughfares in city andreached Chuikhadan viaPiparia, Dimrinakua.Here the rallyist werewelcomed and after thisthey passed throughBetalrani Ghat and reachNarmada Chowk viaKumharvad, Bakarkatta,Rampur, Palimeta andsought support of thepeople present.

From Narmada Chowkthey went to Gandai andthen back to Khairagarhvia. Daniya, Udaipur andBazar Ataria.

It is worthwhile tomention here that de-mand to makeKhairagarh a separatedistrict is going on forlong and in this cam-paign a bike rally wastaken out and it was sup-ported by ‘AdhivaktaSangh’, ‘Vayapari Sangh’

and common men.During this rally,Narendra Soni, HemudasSahu, PresidentAdhivakta Sangh SureshBhatta, Kaushal Prasad,Kosare, RamkumarJangde, Manoj Choubey,Kishore Soni, RajkumarBorkar, Raju Yadu,Ramesh Yadu, HemdasKosare, ManharanDewangan, ManeshBanjare and others werepresent.


Mungeli, Mar 15:

Former WRD Ministerand MLA BrijmohanAgrawal was accordedwarm welcome on his ar-rival in Mungeli by theBJP party workers andlater he met the workers atBJP leader Prem Arya’sresidence.

On this occasionBrijmohan Agrawal in-formed that prior to goingfor programme in Lormi,he was welcomed inMungeli and with pastmemories he recalled thatit is almost 2-3 years thathe visited this place. Withpresence of MLA CJC (J)Dharmjeet Singh, therewere speculations that hemay join BJP and replyingto which Brijmohan saidthat Dharmjeet Singh isalso in Opposition andsince both are in theOpposition and thereforethey are friends and theyjointly grill the ruling gov-ernment. On asking aboutpresent condition of rul-

ing government in state,Brijmohan Agrawalcharged that it is the mostcorrupt of all the govern-ment and most unsuccess-ful and failure on allfronts. From one point ofview it is basically a gov-ernment of mafias, he al-leged, adding that there ishardly any place left inChhattisgarh be it sandmafia, drug mafia, liquormafia, real-estate mafia,‘paddy’ mafia and otherswhich is bereft of involve-ment by present-day gov-ernment in the state.

Speaking furtherBrijmohan said that earli-er Chhattisgarh used to bea peaceful state and de-spite 42% of forest reserve,no mafia prevailed in thatregion. But now there ismafia existing in almostall the fields inChhattisgarh, who areprospering with due pro-tection from the state gov-ernment. Contrary to thisthe government’s coffersare being emptied and it isgoing more into the pock-ets of ‘well-protected’mafias of the state govern-

ment. Brijmohan chargedthat the ruling govern-ment in the state is onlyafter looting state of itsrich resources and isworking with the sole oneintention on how to makethe government’s reservesempty.

The last BJP govern-ment in the state ruled for15 yrs and at that time theloan amount was just Rs36000 crore and which injust 3 yrs rule of Congressgovernment has shot uptoRs 51000 crore and thenear future it will touch Rs

90000 crore. The state’sbudget is that of Rs 1.04lakh crore and on this theannual interest itself willbe Rs 10000 crore. Thisamount is equivalent tothe amount of interestwaived off to the farmersand the amount being paidunder Rajiv GandhiKissan Nyay Yojana.Paddy was purchasedfrom just 42 lakh farmersin the state, whereas theactual number of farmersin state are 49 lakh and inthis way, paddy is beingpurchased from just 22lakh farmers andBrijmohan questioned asto where the paddy ofother farmers is beingsold.

If the Mazdoor NyayYojana has been started,then leaving 22 lakhlabourers, it should bepassed onto 27 lakh people,as there are only 22 lakhlabourers registered in thestate and their Rs 560 cr isinto account of the stategovernment, he added.

Ruling govt filling pockets of ‘mafias’: Brijmohan Raigarh, Mar 15:

The ProvincialConvention of theMedical Council of India,being organized for al-most a decade, was organ-ized for the first time inthe city. This two-day con-vention began on March12 in the presence of thebest doctors of four states.For the first time in theconvention, orthopedicsurgeon Dr. Alok ChandraAgrawal of AIIMS Raipurwas present on the invita-tion for the speech on thetitle ‘from death to life’.

Dr. Agarwal, who haschanged the lives of morethan one thousand bonecancer patients, enrichedthe knowledge of the doc-tors present about thecomplex treatment relat-ed to bone diseases. AlokChandra Agrawal washonored with a mementofrom the stage of IMA.

In a special conversa-tion, Ortho specialist Dr.AC Agrawal told thatfrom diet to disorderlyroutine can also be the

reason for bone disease.For the treatment of com-plex bone diseases andbone cancer, Dr. Agrawaltraveled from the metrop-olis of the country toLondon and many coun-tries of Europe andhumbly learned the art oftreatment from specialist

doctors. Expert Dr. AlokChandra Agrawal is cur-rently the only FAMS de-gree holder ofChhattisgarh. Earlierthis qualification waswith Dr. HSD Sharma, adoctor of undividedMadhya Pradesh, whodied in 2002. Dr.Aggarwal, a gentlemanand a brilliant student bynature, started work onbone treatment with Dr.HKT Raza, an orthodon-tist from Jabalpur whohas been treating seriousorthopedic related ail-ments for nearly 30 years.Describing the IMA con-vention as a better envi-ronment for learning andlearning, Dr. Agrawalopined for hospitals tohave their own expertpanels, so that their avail-ability is maintainedround the clock. This ex-periment is very impor-tant in the era of super-speciality, and doctorshave to understand thatultimately the patient’sinterest is paramount, heasserted.

Dr. ML Rathi award conferredto Dr. Alok Chandra Agrawal

In provincial convention of IMA

Kawardha, Mar 14:

Forest, Transport,Housing andEnvironment, Law-Legislative Minister andKawardha MLAMohammad Akbar hereinaugurated the commu-nity hall of Marar PatelSamaj during his stay atSahaspur Lohara inKabirdham district. Forthis, Rs.25 lakh from theMLA fund was approvedby the Minister.Addressing the, gather-

ing Mohammad Akbarsaid that the promisesmade by the StateGovernment are fulfilledone by one. Mr. Akbarsaid that, the state gov-ernment formulated theRajiv Gandhi KisanNyay Yojana for the em-powerment of the farm-ing community. On pro-viding the amount at therate of Rs. 9 thousandper acre, the farmerswere paid Rs. 2500 perquintal and in the Kharifyear 98 lakh metric

tonnes of paddy has beenpurchased for Rs.25 thou-sand crores and nowpaddy will be purchasedfrom farmers at the rateof Rs 2540 per quintal, hesaid.

On this occasion,Pandaria MLA MamtaChandrakar, NeelkanthChandravanshi, BodlaDistrict President Smt.Leela Dhanuk Verma,Manharan Shrivas,Shakambhari Boardmembers Hari Patel,Sitaram Patel, AshokPatel, Pardeshi Patel,Ramcharan Patel,Dhush Patel includingmembers of the society,public representatives,and senior citizens werepresent. The programwas addressed by therepresentatives of PatelSamaj including MLA ofPandaria, MamtaChandrakar. These in-cluded Bhagwan SinghPatel, Hari Singh Patel,Sitaram Patel,Ramkumar Patel,Ramcharan Patel etc.

State govt fulfills what it promises: Akbar Youths take out massive ‘bike-rally’ With demand to make Khairagarh a new district

SSuurraajjppuurr,, MMaarr 1155::

The game of human traf-ficking continues unabated inthe remote Chandni Biharpurarea of ??the district, wherea 21 year old pregnantwoman belonging to thePando tribe was sold forlakhs of rupees, by a couplebelonging to the same villageas that of the woman. Thewoman was allegedly sold toPrem Tawar of MadhyaPradesh for Rs 1.50 lakh bySagar Singh and Shyama BaiJaiswal, who on pretext of agood life had entrapped the21 year old in her plans.

As per information, whenthe victim girl has a disputewith her husband, shedecides to reach out toJaiswal for help, who in thepretext of helping her tookher to Ratan Singh, a nativeof Moldi village of Khilchipur,Rajgarh district police stationof Madhya Pradesh.Thereafter she was sold to

the main accuse Prem Tawar,a resident of the same vil-lage. After subjected to rapeand torture by Tawar, the vic-tim fled and reached her vil-lage.

Meanwhile the victim’shusband had filed a missingperson case, after the sud-den disappearance of hiswife, and after two months,the victim somehow reachedher house and reported thematter to the local police sta-tion.

The Chandni police haveregistered a crime under370,376 and arrested hus-band and wife Sagar Singh-Shyama Bai Jaiswal, residentof Mahuli, while anotheraccused Prem Tawar, a resi-dent of Madhya Pradesh, ison the run presently. In theinterrogation of the police,many shocking cases havecome to the fore and manyother women are suspectedto have fallen to human traf-ficking by the couple.

Couple arrested inHuman Trafficking case

Gourela, Pendra,Marwahi, Mar 15: Thenews about fake orders forHoli celebrations fromMarch 17-18 is in the airthrough social mediathese days. Right after for-mation of district, casesrelated to fake signatureshas being highlighted andon this no action has beentaken by the District orPolice administration andtherefore such cases is onthe rise. There are reportsof fake signatures inGourela, Pendra,Marwahi district, but sofar district administrationhas not taken any firm ac-tion and due to whichmany cases have come for-ward in government de-partment, GramPanchayats. One of the re-

cent case was that of fakerecruitment in the Projectoffice and in this throughfake signatures the ac-cused were misleadingpeople about appointmentin the Project office.

In this way about twomonths back, fake signa-ture of Asst. Director insoical welfare departmentwas done by Komal Soni-Rehabilitation Assistant.In this even after signa-ture by Asst. Director,Komal Soni forged his sig-nature and put his mobilenumber near it and in thisalso no action was taken.

Apart from this a biggerforgery than this was doneby Komal Soni remainingin the post of Asst.

Director and got all hisbrothers viz. Kailash,Kapoor Soni and nephewSagar Soni recruited in

the Social WelfareDepartment Gourela,Pendra, Marwahi.

So with no firm actionin such cases, the inci-dents of fake signatureand forgery and fake re-cruitments are on the risein the district and so farno concrete step has beentaken to put a check on thesame. In such a case,Komal Soni and his broth-er Kapoor Soni are em-ployed in two posts in theSocial WelfareDepartment and in thisone of the post is that of‘Divyan Mitan’ and otherthat of watchman. Gettingwork done by so many per-sons from one family rais-es many eyebrows and sofar in this case no actionhas been taken.

Cases of fake signatures, order on rise in region

Copy of written complaint by deptt office in Thana.

Lack of actionboosting morale ofsuch persons

Khairagarh, Mar 15: Oncharges of molestationwith a girl after promisingher with marriage, theJalbandha Police has ar-rested the accused andsent him to jail. As per in-formation in this regard, agirl reached JalbandhaChowki to file a complainton March 12, that oneDharmendra Verma ofthe village, S/o Tipu RamVerma (23), became friend

with her about 2 yrs backand on March 6Dharmendra called her tohis home and assured herof getting married. Withthis promise he reported-ly outraged her modestyfor five days and laterwhen the girl asked him toget married, he turneddown the same.

It was based upon re-port by the girl, the Policearrested the accusedDharmendra Verma filinga case under section 376(2) (N) and produced himin the court, from wherehe was sent to jail.

One arrested on charges of molestation

Refused to marry the girl evenafter promise

Dhamdha, Mar 15:Under ‘Sarswati CycleYojana’ at Government HSSchool Ghota, cycles weredistributed to 25 girl stu-dents here on Monday. Onthis occasion PrincipalManoj Kumar Shukla,Sarpanch BalaramSunhare, Himachal Patel,

Lubhan Singh Patel,Gajanand Nourenge, staffof the SchoolRadhekumar Verma,Sarita Verma, Pila Kurre,Dilip Kumar, KamleshTamrakar, TeerathMarkande, VimlaChandel, HitendraDheewar were present.

Cycles distributed underSCY to 25 girl students

PPaannddaarriiaa,, MMaarr 1155:: One-daycamp to create awarenessabout corona was organised byKaishpore Micro-CreditSansthan in Mainpura and thisawareness was created aboutcorona and were also informedabout the benefits to themfrom vaccination. The campwas inaugurated byTI PandariaMukesh Yadav as the chiefguest and Dr Pawan Sahu waspresent as the special guest. TIYadav created awareness aboutinitial symptoms of corona andabout vaccination. Dr Sahuhighlighted on how to increaseimmunity against diseases

through Yoga and eatinghealthy food. ADO Bilaspurregion Vinod Mishra in hisaddress gave information aboutdifferent programmes of theCompany realted to health andeducation for the poor mem-bers and gave informationabout distribution of rebateamount of Rs 26 crore to dedi-cated 5 lakh poor members ofKaishpore. Mishra in his

address gave information aboutthe poor members facing theproblems of huge debts/ loans.At the same time, the needywere distributed masks, sani-tizer, soapls and corona kits atthe hands of the Chief Guest. Inthis programme branchManager Saurabh Tiwari, SCLokesh Tiwari, and Ambika,Brijesh, Sant Kumar and otheremployees were present.

Camp organised to create awareness about corona By Kashpore

Micro-Credit Sansthanin Mainpura

KKhhaaiirraaggaarrhh,, MMaarr 1155:: Under ‘JalJeewan Mission’ (JJM) in GramKhamtarai dependent uponGram Panchayat Dilipur, stonewas laid by District Panchayat‘sabhapati’ - Ghamman Sahufor construction of an overheadtank and expansion of pipelineat the cost of Rs 62.23 lakh.

It was in the presence of vil-lager, Ghamman Sahu per-formed prayers and made thebeginning for start of develop-ment work.Speaking on theoccasion Sahu said that it isunde PM Jal-Jeewan Missionthat a mission has beenlaunched by the PM NarendraModi to ensure that water

reaches every household.Under the ‘Amrut Yojana’, thework that of construction ofwater tank and expansion ofpipeline is being done.

He expressed gratiutde onbehalf of the villagers towardsPM Narendra Modi, former CMDr Raman Singh, LS MPSantosh Pandey and said thatwhat all development that isbeing carried out in the villageis through funds from the cen-tral government. He charged

that the state government islast three year’s of its gover-nance is least bothered aboutdevelopment and only playingpolitics of rivalry. On this occa-sion Janpad rep and YuwaMorcha V-P Raju Verma,Mandal secy.

Gorelal Verma, SureshVerma, Ubheram Verma, VishnuJanghel, Ramesh Verma, SanjayVerma, Maneej Verma, Ratiramand Shiv Prasad Yadav andother villagers were present.

Speaker lays stone for water tank, pipeline work

In Gram Khamtaraiunder DilippurGram Panchayat

KANSHI RAM REMEMBERED

BSP supremo Mayawati pays a floral tribute to party founder Kanshi Ram on the occasion of his birth anniversary at the party office, in Lucknow, Tuesday.

Maha Council adjournedfor the day after din


The MaharashtraLegislative Council wasadjourned for the day onTuesday after an uproarover the issue of an FIRagainst Leader ofOpposition in the UpperHouse Pravin Darekar.

The Mumbai police onMonday registered the FIRagainst BJP MLC Darekarfor allegedly using bogusmembership of a labourorganisation to become di-rector of the MumbaiBank, following a com-plaint by an Aam AadmiParty functionary.

On Tuesday, BJP mem-bers shouted slogans inthe Council against theMaha Vikas Aghadi (MVA-comprising the Shiv Sena,NCP and Congress) gov-

ernment.BJP MLC Bhai Girkar

said, “The FIR againstDarekar is an attempt tomuzzle the voice of the op-position. The MVA gov-ernment has taken actionagainst him because it isbeing cornered for of itsown wrong doings andvarious scandals that theBJP is exposing.

Amid the din in theCouncil, ChairmanRamraje Naik Nimbalkaradjourned the House for 25minutes.

After the House pro-ceedings resumed, the op-position continued its ob-jection against the FIR andshouted slogans againstthe state government.

The council chairmanlater adjourned the Housefor the day.

6,411 candidates in frayfor Odisha urban polls

Bhubaneswar, Mar 15 (PTI):

As many as 6,411 candi-dates remain in the fray forthe elections to Urban LocalBodies (ULBs) in Odishascheduled on March 24 after641 people withdrew theirnominations on the lastdate of the process, theState Election Commission(SEC) said.

The polling for 109 civicbodies, including three mu-nicipal corporations, isscheduled to be held onMarch 24. After the with-drawal of nomination pa-pers, 569 candidates arevying for the post of eitherchairperson or mayor, while5,842 nominees are seekingelection for the post of ei-ther councilor or corpora-tor, the SEC said.

As many as 102 candi-

dates withdrew their nomi-nations filed for the post ofeither chairperson ormayor, while 539 peopleopted out of the electionsfor the post of either coun-cillor or corporator, the SECsaid. The SEC has asked thedistrict magistrates cumcollectors to ensure that theongoing campaigning forthe urban polls ends at 5 PMon March 22, 48 hours be-fore the polling. As perrules, no person shall con-vene, hold or attend anypublic meeting in anypolling area during the peri-od of 48 hours before voting.SEC Secretary R N Sahu, ina letter to all district collec-tors, said that public meet-ings and campaigning inany mode should be posi-tively stopped at 5 PM onMarch 22.


BRIEFOvershot

Faridabad: A revers-ing goods train over-shot the dead end ofits track and rammedinto its stopper and awall beyond it in OldFaridabad railway sta-tion, damaging a cou-ple of vehicles in theparking lot across thewall, an official said.A railwayman stand-ing behind the train toguide its reversalmiraculously escapedunhurt in the incidentwhich occurred,Station superinten-dent AK Goyal said. Itwas meant to unloadconsignment, he said.

HeldSrinagar: Securityforces arrested a mili-tant belonging to theJaish e Mohammadoutfit in Pulwama dis-trict of Jammu andKashmir, police said.During surprisechecking by securityforces, movement of asuspicious person wasnoticed and he was ap-prehended. He wasidentified as AbrarBashir, a resident ofTakia Pulwama.Incriminating materi-al, arms and ammuni-tion, including a pis-tol, a magazine,grenade were seizedfrom him.

ConvictsKolkata: The TMCgovernment in Bengalhas in the last 11 yearsreleased 574 life con-victs who had servedover 14 years in cor-rectional home “aftera meticulous back-ground check”. Of the574 convicts, 541 aremale and 33 female.The government,under the recommen-dation of state sen-tence review board(SSRB), West Bengal,has, from time to time,taken a decision toprematurely releaselife-convicts from cor-rectional homes.

HeldBerhampur: Nine peo-ple have been arrestedfor their alleged in-volvement in the post-poll violence inOdisha’s Ganjam dis-trict. There has, howev-er, been no break-through yet in the vio-lence at Kendupadar inGangapur, in which anelected ward memberwas killed and four oth-ers were injured. Therewas clash between BJDand BJP supporters atHinjalakuda in Ganjamdistrict in which eightpeople were injured,five of them seriously.

CharasMaharajganj: Twopeople were arrestedwith 20.5 kg charasworth Rs 2.1 crore inMaharajganj district,police here said.Bechu (28) andSanjeev Kumar (26),both fromMaharajganj, were ar-rested near BabaMandir area ofShyamdeurwa,Superintendent ofPolice Pradeep KumarGupta said. One mem-ber of the gang man-aged to escape and ahunt is on to nab him,Gupta said.

NoticeIndore: Taking cogni-sance of some policepersonnel brutallybeating a naked manin Indore, the MadhyaPradesh HumanRights Commissionserved a notice to po-lice seeking an expla-nation. MPHRC chair-man Justice NarendraJain has sought areply from the policecommissioner in tendays, an official of thecommission said.


In the wake of severeheat wave conditions inMumbai and neighbour-ing districts, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) hasappealed to citizens to staysafe and hydrated andavoid going out in the af-ternoon.

A person suffering froma heat stroke should im-mediately be taken to hos-pital, it said, and askedpeople to increase the in-take of water and otherhealthy fluids.

The IndiaM e t e o r o l o g i c a lDepartment (IMD) has is-sued an ‘orange alert’ (se-vere heat wave conditionsin some parts) forTuesday and a ‘yellowalert’ (heat wave condi-tions in isolated parts) forWednesday.

It has predicted that the

maximum temperature inMumbai will be around 40degrees Celsius over thenext two days.

On Monday, suburbanSantactruz recorded themaximum temperature of39.6 degrees Celsius, asper the MeT department.

In view of the IMD’swarning, the Mumbaicivic body took to Twitter

to inform citizens aboutthe do’s and dont’s andasked them to “stay hy-drated and safe”.

To minimise the impactduring the heat wave andto prevent a serious ail-ment or death because ofthe heat stroke, the BMCalso asked people to avoidgoing out in the sun, espe-cially between 12 noon

and 3 pm.It suggested people to

carry water while goingout in the afternoon.

“Drink sufficient waterand as often as possible,even if not thirsty,” theBMC said and asked peo-ple to avoid strenuous ac-tivities when the outsidetemperature is high.

It also asked citizens toavoid tea, coffee, softdrinks, high-protein andstale food, and suggestedthat people use a hat or anumbrella and also use adamp cloth on head, neck,face and limbs if theywork outdoors.

The BMC also askedpeople to take ORS (oralrehydration salts) andhomemade drinks likelassi, torani (rice water),lemon water and butter-milk which help to re-hy-drate the body. Use fansand take bath in coldwater frequently, it said.

Amid heat wave, Mumbai civic bodyasks citizens to stay hydrated


Congress leader in theLok Sabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury on Tuesday de-manded a court-monitoredCBI probe into the killing ofparty councillor TapanKandu and the mysteriousdeath of student activistAnis Khan in West Bengal.A four-time Congress coun-cillor of JhaldaMunicipality in WestBengal’s Purulia district,Kandu was shot dead onSunday. Raising the issuesduring Zero Hour in the LokSabha, Chowdhury allegedthe Trinamool Congress,the ruling party in WestBengal, was involved in themurder of Kandu in collu-sion with a section of thepolice. About the death of

18-year old Khan lastmonth, Chowdhury, who isalso the state Congresschief, claimed that electionscan no longer be held inde-pendently in the state amidthe prevailing “lawless-ness”. “I demand a court-monitored CBI inquiry intothe murder of Kandu andKhan. I urge the Human

Rights Commission,Scheduled CasteCommission and theMinorities Commissionthat they also demand suchan inquiry,” Chowdhurysaid.

Anis Khan’s family mem-bers have alleged that hewas pushed off the secondfloor of their residence atAmta in Howrah district onthe night of February 18 byfour people with one don-ning a police uniform andthe others wearing the dressof civic volunteers.Meanwhile, Two more peo-ple were arrested onTuesday in connection withthe murder of TMC council-lor Anupam Dutta, takingthe total number of appre-hensions in the case tothree, police said.

‘Demand CBI probe into WB councilor murder’

Patna, Mar 15 (PTI):

The alleged insult ofBihar assembly SpeakerVijay Kumar Sinha by ChiefMinister Nitish Kumarparalysed the House whereruckus created by the oppo-sition over the issue forcedrepeated adjournments ofthe proceedings on Tuesday.

Strangely, both Sinha andKumar chose not to attendthe House which was in tur-moil over the showdown be-tween the two on the previ-ous day. While the speakerremained seated inside hischamber, meeting MLAswho dropped in out of cu-

riosity, the chief ministerwas away in Maner Sharif, aSufi shrine on the outskirtsof the state capital, wherehe ducked queries fromjournalists about the stale-mate with a cryptic smile

and a wave.MLAs of the RJD, the

principal opposition party,had come to the Housewearing black badges as amark of protest againstwhat they saw as a slight in-

flicted on the Chair by thehead of the government.

They were further pro-voked upon seeing seniorBJP leader Prem Kumar inthe Chair, when the Housefirst assembled at 11 AM,and after being adjournedtill 2 PM met for the post-lunch session. Oppositionmembers trooped into thewell, shouting slogans like“Nitish Kumar Murdabad”and “Nitish Kumar HoshMein Aao”, forcing the ad-journment of proceedingstill 4.50 PM. Earlier, in thepre-lunch session,Parliamentary AffairsMinister Vijay KumarChaudhary sought to de-fend the chief minister, who“acknowledges the impor-tance of the Chair”.

Oppn ruckus over ‘insult’ of speaker by Nitish

Panaji, Mar 15 (PTI):

Goa Congress presidentGirish Chodankar has re-signed from the post, tak-ing moral responsibilityfor his party’s poor per-formance in the recentlyconcluded state Assemblyelections.

All India CongressCommittee’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Raotold PTI on Tuesday thatChodankar has sent hisresignation to the AICC.

Chodankar was at thehelm of affairs of theCongress during the re-cent elections held for the40-member Goa Assembly.

The Congress managedto win 11 seats and its allyGoa Forward Party se-cured one seat, while the

BJP emerged as the singlelargest party by bagging 20seats.

After the poll resultswere declared lastThursday, Chodankar hadoffered to quit while ac-cepting moral responsibil-ity for his party’s poorshow. Sources in theCongress saidChodankar’s resignationwill be accepted and a newface will replace him.

Leaders like SankalpAmonkar, Aleixo Sequeiraand Elvis Gomes are front-runners for the post, theysaid.

Amonkar and Sequeirawon the recent Assemblypolls, while Gomes, a for-mer bureaucrat, lost theelection from PanajiAssembly seat.

The sources also did notrule out the possibility ofthe Congress consideringsenior leader DigambarKamat, who won the pollMargao Assembly seat, forthe top party post in thecoastal state. In the 2017Goa Assembly polls, theCongress had emerged asthe single largest party bywinning 17 seats, but itfailed to form government.The BJP, which had thenbagged 13 seats, came topower with the support ofsome regional parties andindependents.

Girish Chodankar resigns as Goa Congress chief

Wayanad, Mar 15 (PTI):

Several acres of highrange areas of Palakkadand Wayanad districts inKerala were burnt down inwildfires, which occurred afew days ago, before forestofficials managed to dousethem. High range areas ofWalayar in Palakkad andVellamunda in Wayanadwere affected by wildfireswhich occurred onSaturday and Sunday re-spectively, forest officialssaid and added that similarincidents were reported ear-lier in the month also inthese two districts.

Wayanad North DFO,Darshan Gattani IFS, speak-ing to PTI, said the recentwildfire occurred in thegrassland areas of the for-

est region of the district. Hesaid that while the actualreason for the fire has to bedetermined, the extremeheat, rising temperatures,wind conditions and hillyterrain were contributingfactors. Besides the recentwildfire incident, otherswere also reported earlierin the month from variousparts of the district like

Kalpetta, Banasura damarea and Pericherimala, hesaid and added that in allthese places the fire wascontained in less than 12hours. Palakkad DFO,Srinivas Kurra IFS, told PTIthat the wildfire in theWalayar area of the districtoccurred on Saturday andcould be doused only byTuesday morning.

Wildfires burn down severalhectares of land in KeralaGuwahati, Mar 15 (PTI):

Assam Chief MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma hassaid that his government’snewly created departmentfor indigenous faith wouldcreate an action plan to en-sure the preservation andpromotion of faith and cul-ture of anthropologicallyindigenous and tribal com-munities.

Assam is a microcosm ofa bigger region where peo-ple belonging to different in-digenous and tribal faithand culture have residedsince ages, a manifestationof different factors, theyounger generations seemto be losing touch with theancient faith and practicesdue to several factors, thechief minister said duringhis interaction with repre-sentatives of 30 tribal com-munities here. Consideringthe importance of ancient

wisdom of the indigenoustribal faith and culture, mygovernment has taken thedecision to create a depart-ment to work for the promo-tion of faith and culture ofanthropologically indige-nous and tribal communi-ties, Sarma said. ‘’The de-partment would create an

action plan for the state gov-ernment to enrich thestate’s demography and willessentially undertake deepresearch to help theyounger generation to im-bibe the virtues of ancientfaith and culture’’, the chiefminister said. He asked therepresentatives to register

their organizations with thedepartment to enable thegovernment to provide in-stitutional support to the or-ganizations that have beenengaged in the preservationand promotion of indige-nous and tribal faith andculture. The tribal commu-nities that are still preserv-ing and practising their an-cient religion, faith and cul-ture can also apply for gov-ernment support through aportal, Sarma added. Thegovernment will initiate ad-equate steps for studies onthese subjects by theyounger generation so thatthe society at large gets ben-efitted, he said. The stategovernment was also plan-ning to hold a mega exhibi-tion encapsulating in minia-ture the characteristics, cre-ations, art and culture of in-digenous and tribal faith tocreate more patronage forthem, Sarma added.

Action plan to ensure preservation of indigenous, tribal faiths

People walk under scorching Sun in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Wildfires in Kerala.

Girish Chodankar

After party’s poor showin Assembly polls

RJD legislators wear a black ribbon in protest against theBihar government during the ongoing Budget session ofthe state Assembly, in Patna, Tuesday.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma meets with tribal communities representatives in Guwahati.

Nitish Kumar BiharCM since 2005


South Korea’s next Prez to faceNorth Korea threat

Seoul, Mar 15 (AP):

After winning a bitterlycontested presidential elec-tion, South Korean conser-vative Yoon Suk Yeol willenter office facing a quick-ly growing North Koreannuclear threat and withfew easy choices ahead todeal with it. A former pros-ecutor with no foreign poli-cy experience who kick-started his political careernine months ago, Yoon willface a turbulent moment inglobal affairs and thedecades-old standoff withthe North, over whichmany experts see Seoul ashaving lost leverage under

the policies of outgoingPresident Moon Jae-in. Itappears Yoon will be testedquickly, possibly even be-fore he starts his presiden-cy in May. North Koreaoften attempts to rattle new

administrations inWashington or Seoul withmajor weapons demonstra-tions and has been signal-ing a resumption of long-range missile testing thisyear.

Yoon, who narrowly beatout a liberal ruling partyrival in last week’s election,has rejected pursuing‘talks for talks’ sake’ andvowed to be sterner withPyongyang, as the North’saccelerating weapons testsin 2022 show a renewedstrategy of brinkmanshipto pressure Washingtonand Seoul into giving itbadly needed relief fromeconomic sanctions.

US working towards globalcoalition far beyond G7, NATO

Washington, Mar 15 (PTI):

The Biden administra-

tion is working to build aglobal coalition far beyondG7 and NATO partners,

the White House has said.Some of the biggest

countries like China,India, Brazil and Mexicoare not part of America’seconomic warfareagainst Russia, but thatdoes not undermine theefforts of the Biden ad-ministration againstMoscow, White HousePress Secretary JenPsaki told reporters.

“Not just China, butsome of the biggest coun-tries in the world likeIndia or Brazil, somecountries in LatinAmerica like Mexico,they are not part of thiseconomic warfareagainst Russia.

Army attacks in easternMyanmar worst in decades

Bangkok, Mar 15 (AP):

While Russia’s war inUkraine dominates globalattention, Myanmar’s mili-tary is targeting civilians inair and ground attacks on ascale unmatched in thecountry since World War II,according to a longtime re-lief worker who spent al-most three months in a com-bat zone in the SoutheastAsian nation.

David Eubank, director ofthe Free Burma Rangers, ahumanitarian relief organi-zation, told The AssociatedPress that the military’s jets

and helicopters stage fre-quent attacks in the areas ofeastern Myanmar where heand his volunteers operate,bringing medical and foodaid to civilians caught inconflict. Ground forces arealso firing artillery indis-criminately, he said causing

thousands to flee theirhomes. Video shot by hisgroup’s members includesrare images of repeated airstrikes by Myanmar mili-tary aircraft in Kayah Statealso known as KarenniState causing a number ofcivilian deaths.

COVID-19 cases morethan double in China

Beijing, Mar 15 (AP):

China’s new COVID-19cases Tuesday more thandoubled from the previousday as the country faces byfar its biggest outbreaksince the early days of thepandemic.

The National HealthCommission said 3,507 newlocally spread cases hadbeen identified in the latest24-hour period, up from

1,337 a day earlier.A fast-spreading variant

known as ‘stealth omicron’is testing China’s zero-toler-ance strategy, which hadkept the virus at bay sincethe deadly initial outbreakin the city of Wuhan inearly 2020. China hasrecorded more than 10,000cases in the first two weeksof March, far exceedingprevious flare-ups. No newdeaths have been reported

in the multiple outbreaksacross China, and the casecount remains low com-pared to many other placesin the world. The UKrecorded more than 444,000cases in the past week.Hong Kong, a semi-au-tonomous city that tracksits outbreak separatelyfrom the mainland, report-ed 26,908 new cases.

Nearly three-fourths ofChina’s new infectionswere in Jilin, a province inthe northeast that reported2,601 cases. Smaller out-breaks have hit more than adozen provinces and majorcities including Beijing andShanghai.

Jilin has barred resi-dents from leaving theprovince and from travelingbetween cities within it.The 9 million residents ofChangchun, the provincialcapital and an auto manu-facturing hub, have beenlocked down since Fridayas authorities conduct re-peated rounds of mass test-ing both there and in thecity of Jilin.

Ukraine war may lead to rethinkingof US defence of Europe

Washington, Mar 15 (AP):

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s war inUkraine and his push toupend the broader securityorder in Europe may lead toa historic shift in Americanthinking about defence ofthe continent. Depending onhow far Putin goes, thiscould mean a buildup of USmilitary power in Europenot seen since the Cold War.The prospect of a bigger USmilitary footprint in Europeis a remarkable turnaroundfrom just two years ago.

In 2020, President DonaldTrump ordered thousands ofAmerican troops out ofGermany as part of his ar-gument that Europeanswere undeserving allies.Just days after taking office,President Joe Biden stoppedthe withdrawal before itcould start, and his adminis-tration has stressed NATO’simportance even as Bidenidentifies China as the mainlong-term threat to US secu-

rity.Then came Russia’s inva-

sion of Ukraine. ‘We are in anew era of sustained con-frontation with Russia,’ saysAlexander Vershbow, a for-mer US ambassador toRussia and former deputysecretary-general of NATO.He argues that the UnitedStates, in cooperation withNATO allies, will need to es-

tablish a more muscularstance to deal with a morethreatening Russia. That isespecially so in EasternEurope, where Russia’sproximity poses a problemfor the three Baltic nationsthat are former Soviet states.defence Secretary LloydAustin was flying to Europeon Tuesday for his second re-cent round of Ukraine con-

sultations at NATO head-quarters in Brussels. He alsowill travel to two EasternEuropean NATO countriesSlovakia, which bordersUkraine, and Bulgaria,which does not. After aNATO meeting last month,Austin visited two other al-lies on the eastern flank,Poland and Lithuania.

In just the past twomonths, the US presence inEurope has jumped fromabout 80,000 troops to about100,000, which is nearly asmany as were there in 1997when the United States andits NATO allies began an ex-pansion of the alliance thatPutin says threatens Russiaand must be reversed. Bycomparison, in 1991, the yearthe Soviet Union dissolved,the United States had 305,000troops in Europe, including224,000 in Germany alone,according to Pentagonrecords. The number thendropped steadily, reaching101,000 in 2005 and about64,000 as recently as 2020.

BRIEFExpels

Bratislava:Slovakia’s ForeignMinistry says it hasdecided to expel threeRussian diplomats fol-lowing its assessmentof information fromthe country’s intelli-gence services. Theministry said the deci-sion was made and thediplomats based atRussian embassy inthe capital ofBratislava have 72hours to leave thecountry. The ministrysaid it urged Russianembassy to make surethe activities of theirdiplomats were in linewith convention.

FreezesBeirut: A Lebanesejudge froze the assetsof five of Lebanon’slargest banks andthose of their board ofdirectors as she inves-tigates possible trans-fers of billions of dol-lars aboard during thecountry’s economicmeltdown. Decisionby Judge Ghada Aounwith Mount Lebanondistrict court coversreal estate, vehiclesand shares that thefive banks or their di-rectors own in othercompanies. Movecame days after travelbans were imposed.

AirliftsLondon: The UK gov-ernment has airlifted21 Ukrainian childrenfrom the conflict zonewith Russia for life-saving cancer treat-ment by experts at dif-ferent hospitals acrossEngland. The 21 chil-dren and their imme-diate family membersarrived in Englandfrom Poland and willbe assessed byNational HealthService (NHS) medicsto understand theirhealth needs beforebeing sent to NHS hos-pitals free of charge tocontinue care.

Lima, Mar 15 (AFP):

Peru’s opposition-dominated congressvoted in favor of a mo-tion to debate whether ornot to impeach leftistPresident Pedro Castillo.It is already the secondtime Castillo, a formerrural school teacher, hasfaced such a vote in justseven months in office.

Similar moves result-ed in former presidentsPablo Kuczynski (in2018) and MartinVizcarra (2020) leavingoffice. “The motion (todebate) was admitted,”said Congress presidentMaria del Carmen Alva,an opposition legislator.The motion was passedby 76 votes for, with 41against and one absten-

tion. The debate couldtake place as early asFriday.

In December, Congressvoted against opening animpeachment process.The latest motion waspresented by 50 legisla-tors from right wing par-ties Popular Renovation,Country Advances andPopular Force, with sup-port from other groups.

The opposition accus-es Castillo of “moral in-capacity” but will have ahard job securing the 87out of 130 votes neededto remove him from of-fice. “The presidentmust immediately ex-plain to the country hisrepeated misconduct,”said conservative legisla-tor Jorge Montoya, a re-tired general.

Peru’s congress votes todebate Prez impeachment

An old so called ‘raisin bomber’ airplane from WW II isseen at the airlift memorial at the airport in Frankfurt,Germany.

An official in front of a barrier blocking off a street inShanghai on Tuesday.

Black smoke arises from burning buildings in Waraisupliavillage in Kayah State.

More than 1,670civilians have beenkilled

Iran says several heldin nuclear

facility sabotage plotTTeehhrraann,, MMaarr 1155 ((AAPP)):: Iranianstate television has reportedthat the paramilitaryRevolutionary Guard arrestedmembers of a network” work-ing for Israel that planned tosabotage Iran’s major under-ground nuclear facility atFordo. The TV claimed that theZionist regime a Tehran refer-ence meaning Israel has foryears been trying to hit Fordo,a top nuclear facility in thecountry, but without success.The report did not say howmany suspects were arrested,what their nationalities wereor when and where the arrestssupposedly took place. Therewas no immediate commentfrom Israel. Iran has recentlystopped the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency fromaccessing its surveillance cam-era footage and has resumedenrichment of uranium atFordo as Tehran’s nuclear dealwith world powers fell apartand talks of returning to thedeal paused.

Yoon Suk Yeol

ChronicleC E N T R A L

Since 1974 Volume 9 No. 344

Poland’s humanity

No, the border security forcethere are not armed withChilli Guns to dissuade es-caping tortured refugeesfrom entering the territory.Neither the politicians thererender a barbaric call of“Throw Out the Termites”with the delighted “nation-alist” population clapping inunison. Instead, refugeesare accorded a warm wel-come there with the home-less delivered free SIMcards, biscuits, drinks, blan-kets, nappies and most im-portantly even homes are of-fered too. The heart-touch-ing pictures of Polish volun-teers handing out warmbeverages to Ukrainians atthe border checkpoints de-serve the caption “wherehumanity and divinitymeet”. Indeed in the currentinternational perspective of“Neutrality” “Dine with theDevils” “Strategic interest”and “Rabid nationalism”, ifthere is paradise on earth; itis in poland, in poland, inpoland.

Kajal Chatterjee,Kolkata

Proper uniform

The Noble laureate fromPakistan Malala Yousafzaihad poked her nose into theongoing hijab row in India.Recently, while speaking tomedia in Pakistan she said,“Refusing to let go to schoolin their hijabs is horrify-ing”. We should make itclear to her that everyschool and even colleges inIndia has proper uniformand one should come toschool in proper uniformirrespective of caste, creed,religion, gender or status.Secondly, why she is main-taining pin-drop silencewhen everyday Hindu girlsare kidnapped and raped inPakistan? Before coming tolecture on the condition ofminorities in India, oneshould tell her in clearterm that minorities aretreated at par with the ma-jority. In fact, in some areasthe minorities are givenspecial (VVIP) status. So,people like Malala whocome from a terrorist-fund-ed country like Pakistanshould better not commentover India. Meanwhile,Priyanka Gandhi in herlast-ditch effort to salvagesome pride by pleasing aparticular people in beforethe impending UP electiondefeat of her party echoedthe similar lines of Malala.She opined that wearinghijab, jeans and bikini arefundamental rights ofevery Indian. Yes, we allagree that our Constitutionhas given us rights to wearaccording to our wishes,but does it mean that onestudent should go to schoolor college wearing bikini?

Julie, via email

LETTERSTO THE EDITOR✍

Central Chronicle welcomes, articles, write ups, comments on different issues foreditorial page (800-900 words), Letter to editor for this page. It can be sent by

e-mail at: [email protected] letters can be edited or rewritten for clarity of thoughts.

WHAT THEY TWEET!

RRaacchhnnaa@@rraacchhnnaappaarrmmaarr

I do like Rujuta’s wisdomfor a lot of Indian food but

this one is senseless.Sabudana has no healthbenefits at all. Sabudana

khichdi, vada or kheer aregreat indulgences, once ina while kind of treats. Sheis highly qualified in herfield, not a quack at all.

ddbb@@ddbb__iiss__ddbbWould you want an EV with the car’soperating system switch lying with

the manufacturer? You would be sit-ting turkey, if it were a chinese or

some foreign manufacturer and Indiagets into hostilities with a foreign

nation friendly to these chaps. Justthe humble petrol car for me

PPyyaarriicceettaammooll@@SSaattaannKKiiNNaanniiWhat kind of parents are buying

those cheap quality plastic thailis bythe kilos for their brats to throw

waterbombs on strangers? Just nowone senior citizen walking ahead ofme was pelted from one balcony.What do these people want their

kids to grow up into?

KKBBSS SSiiddhhuu@@kkbbssssiiddhhuu11996611

Instead of making the film#KashmirFiles tax-free, vari-

ous State Governmentsshould double or triple the

entertainment duty, with theproviso that the entire col-lection derived therefrom

shall be dedicated to a funddedicated to the

return/rehabilitation ofKashmiri refugees.

IFSSaket Badola@Saket_BadolaThe character and charisma of Forest Guest Houses ? #ValmikiTigerReserve

JJaammeess PPaallmmeerr@@BBeeiijjiinnggPPaallmmeerrthe thing about Musk is that he is,in fact, a very poor Poster. can’tmeme, can’t dunk, weak content,

but he’s propped up by sapsbecause he’s rich. He’s like a pettyautocrat whom his underlings keepletting score goals on the pitch, but

who at some level ‘knows’ he can’t play.

T he Centre said that the campaign will include chil-dren in the age group of 12-14 years and that the

country’s second indigenous vaccine, Corbevax, will berolled out for the new group. The Drugs ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) had granted emergency use au-thorisation to Corbevax, for use on children betweenages of 12-18. This is the second vaccine to be approvedfor use in the 12-18 age category. Zydus Cadila’s three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D was the first jab to getapproval from the DCGI for use on all individuals abovethe age of 12. Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been used toinoculate teenagers in the 15-18 years category fromJanuary onward. Serum Institute of India (SII) hassought EUA from India’s drug regulator for its COVID-19vaccine Covovax for ages 12 to 17 group. Corbevax willinspire more scientific collaborations without intellectu-al property rights like patents and open source technolo-gy for humanity. The story of Corbevax is inspiring forinternational scientific cooperation. Two years ago,when a pair of Houston scientists first began crafting acheap, easy-to-make COVID-19 vaccine, they had a toughtime finding support for it at home in the US, a countrythat rewards expensive, flashy new tech. But the team atthe Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for VaccineDevelopment at Baylor College of Medicine, led by DrMaria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez, worked on theirpatent-free vaccine with donated money in relative ob-scurity, failing to garner much outside interest. Thenone thing finally broke through and spoke to the peoplewho had been overlooking their open-science approachto the vaccine known by its first producer as Corbevax. Itcame without strings or a secret formula, making it atrue humanitarian pursuit that could finally reach theunvaccinated corners of the developing world. Bottazziand Hotez, both pioneers in the field of immunology, runBaylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine and havebeen developing coronavirus vaccines for more than adecade, including formulas for the SARS and MERSviruses. Their vaccine uses the same recombinant pro-tein technology already used for decades in the hepatitisB vaccine, a common childhood shot. The vaccine tech-nology has no intellectual property rights attached to it.That means the building blocks of the vaccine can behad for the price of a phone call. Once produced, the vac-cine can be sold to governments for far less than anyother vaccine currently on the market. much of thepraise for Corbevax and its Texas inventors seems to betheir willingness and that of Biological E and the in-vestors to forgo a large profit in favour of the more altru-istic goal of better access and distribution of the vac-cine. Bottazzi and Hotez were nominated for the NobelPeace Prize for practicing what Hotez calls ‘Texas vac-cine diplomacy,’ by creating a path for the entire world tobe inoculated. Earlier in the week, members ofAmerica’s influential Congressional Hispanic Caucushave urged US President Joe Biden to champion vaccinecollaboration with India to bring an end to the COVID-19pandemic. In a letter to Biden, Texas delegation mem-bers and other members (Hispanic areas), requested theadministration to lead distribution of low-cost vaccinesto low-income nations with low vaccination rates to savemillions of lives and bring an end to the worldwide pan-demic. The lawmakers urged the President to use the twovaccines which are a result of India-US collaborationsfor the global good and to end vaccine inequity throughCorbevax and Covovax. While the Corbevax vaccine ispatent-free, another vaccine, developed by Americanbiotechnology company Novavax, is in production inIndia and its export is planned to the COVAX facility.

Inspiring scientific collaboration

T he Karnataka High Court pronounced its judgmentin the hijab case. The court has upheld the govern-

ment’s order and dismissed petitions challenging theban on hijab in educational institutes. The petitionersfor hijab plan to move the Supreme Court after readingthe full high court order. Wearing of hijab is not a partof Essential Religious Practice in Islamic faith and thus,is not protected under Article 25 of the Constitution, theKarnataka High Court has held. An important questionbefore the Court in this case was whether wearing ofhijab is part of essential religious practise of Islam andwhether State interference in such matters is warrant-ed. The court was also called to consider whether wear-ing of hijab partakes the character of right to expres-sion under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution andwhether restriction can be levied only under Article19(2). Internationally, particularly in Europe, the hijabis often in controversy as personal attire, not just schoolor work uniform. The debate over hijab in Europe iseven more extreme than in India. The latest controversyover the hijab erupted in October last year. Ironically,the trigger was an anti-discrimination video campaignlaunched by the Council of Europe. The video caused anuproar in France. The French minister Sarah El Hairy,spoke out forcefully against the video and claimed creditfor the Council’s decision to withdraw it from circula-tion. Right-wing politicians such as Marine le Pen andMichel Barnier and prominent television pundits addedtheir voices to the criticism of the campaign. France isnot the only European country that restricts the hijab.The inflow of Muslim immigrants to Europe and thethreat of violent Islamist groups have made Muslim mi-norities a target of hostility and discrimination, and thehijab has become a visual symbol of these tensions. Ofthe 27 EU member states and the United Kingdom, ninehave some legal restriction on veiling; there have beenlegislative proposals to limit the practice in five more. Incountries with no national restrictions, some regionshave decided independently to ban face coverings. Thereare only six EU countries, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece,Poland, Portugal and Romania where there has been nopublic debate so far on restricting the veil. But there isnuance in the interaction between prior levels of reli-giosity and modernisation. Need to compare debates re-garding hijab.

Comparing hijab debates


Children visit a shop selling ‘Gulal’ and water pistols in preparation for ‘Holi’ in Amritsar, Punjab.

‘HOLI’ SHOPPING

CC amels were once a prized posses-sion for breeders in Rajasthan.

Madhavram Raika, a breeder from Palidistrict, said that his father owned 150camels. Of these, both young and adultmale camels would be sold at a hand-some price, sustaining the family fordecades.

A law in 2015, the Rajasthan Camel(Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulationof Temporary Migration or Export) Act,that aimed to protect the state animal,however, is contributing to its downfall,lament breeders. The price of the animalhas dipped so much and the losses havebeen so high that those like Madhavramhave had to sell all their camels, even asothers are struggling for sustenance,bringing down the total number ofcamels in the state significantly.

‘Koi fayda nahin hua (There has beenno gain),’ Madhavram said about thestate government’s decision to declarethe camel as the state animal back in2014. ‘We thought that after beingdeclared the state animal, our animals’and our future would look brighter. Butthat has not been the case. On top ofthat, the 2015 law restricting selling ouranimals outside the state has caused theprices to dip by a large margin,’ he said.Prices of camels have dropped by 80-90percent from the price that they wouldfetch earlier. Hariram Raika, anothercamel breeder from Manigar village inthe same district, chipped in, ‘Before2015 when the Act came into being,’ hesaid, ‘an eight-ten-month-old camelwould be sold for Rs 15,000 or more. Nowwe hardly get Rs 3000 for a three-four-year-old animal.’ The animals wouldmostly be sold to buyers in Punjab,Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. Most ofthem would be farmers who use thecamel for agricultural purposes, or for

milk; the camel is also used to carryheavy loads and for transportation. TheRaika community are pastoralists andhave been known to herd camels for alivelihood for centuries. Hardships havecome in many forms over the years, butthe community has fought through it all.This time, however, their very source ofsustenance is at risk.

‘In the Pushkar Mela in 2019, forinstance, for the first time ever, therewere more horses on sale. They fetchedbetter prices,’ Hanwant Singh Rathore,director of Lokhit Pashu Palak Sansthan,a body of camel breeders in Rajasthan,said. ‘A six-month-old camel calf wasearlier sold at Rs 10,000. Now it is sold atRs 1000-1500. In desperation, peoplehave begun selling their camels inhordes.’ The Pushkar Mela, also knownas the Pushkar Camel Fair, is an annualfair in which domestic animals, mostlycamels, horses, and cattle are tradedwith buyers from across the country.

The 2015 law has changed that. As aresult, the total camel population in thestate has nosedived, Rathore said. The20th Livestock Census shows that in2012, the total number of camels in thestate was 3.25 lakh. By 2019, this numberhad dipped to 2.13 lakh, a dip of almost35 percent in just seven years. ‘That’sthe official census,’ Rathore told, ‘Weestimate the number to be even lower, at1.5 lakh (150,000). And it’s reducingevery month.’ Ironically, it was the camelbreeders who wanted a law in place toprevent their animals from being soldoutside the state, but they had two spe-cific demands: that their animals shouldnot be sold for slaughter, and that anykind of ban on sale should be appliedonly to female camels. ‘We heard aboutthe first instance of camel slaughter in2002. So we wanted a ban but only on thesale of female camels who are the source

of life,’ Rathore said. ‘But when the Actwas passed, there was a blanket ban onthe sale of both male and female camels.This stopped all trade and hit us bad.’The law, however, is not the only reasonwhy camel breeders are struggling. Lossof grazing land for their animals is anoth-er reason. Pastoralists like Hariram Raikafor instance said that for generations,their animals would graze openly andventure into the forests of Kumbalgarhfor two months in a year, during themonsoons. ‘But once it was declared awildlife sanctuary, we were no longerallowed,’ he said.

‘Earlier we would earn as much as Rs2-2.5 lakh a year by selling our animals,’Hariram said, ‘Now (after the law) wemake about Rs 25,000-30,000. This hasseverely impacted our economic status.’From 60 camels, he now has 30, sellingthe rest in desperation since he could nolonger afford their upkeep.

For Madhavram, things have beeneven more drastic. He now herds others’camels, and earns a monthly income ofRs 8,000. His lowered economic prowessaffected his family, leading to domesticproblems, and finally forcing his wife towork as a daily wage worker to run theirhouse. Theirs are not uncommon stories.And the proof is in the depleting num-bers of the camel. In a village calledAnsh Ki Dhani in the Pali district where100 families live, back in 1991, therewere 5,000 camels. Now there are just200. In another village called JodhawarKi Dhani, there were 7,000-8,000 camelsabout six years back; now there are just300-400.

In most cases, breeders are now let-ting go of the male camels to fend forthemselves, while trying to keep thefemales. There has been an unprece-dented rise in the number of straycamels in recent times, Rathore said. Indesperation, some people have resortedto selling their animals illegally, walkingacross the state border on foot for trade,he added.

In a bid to check the declining camelpopulation, the state government starteda Camel Development Scheme in 2016 togive an incentive of Rs 10,000 for everynewborn calf in three installments. Manybreeders however could not avail of thisincentive, and some did not get the finalinstallment, making this scheme unsuc-cessful. As an alternative means of liveli-hood, breeders have begun to sell camelmilk. This was after much persuasionsince it went against their traditional

beliefs. Camel milk has often been tout-ed as a superfood, claimed to be benefi-cial for autism, diabetes, liver disease,jaundice, even cancer. Camel Charismais one such initiative through whichbreeders of the Lokhit Pashu PalakSansthan now sell camel milk. ‘Throughthis, a family can earn between Rs 18,000to Rs 30,000 a month,’ Rathore said.Camel Charisma pays Rs. 60 per litre ofcamel milk to the breeders. They alsomake camel milk products like cheeseand soap; even camel poop paper.Things, however, are moving slowly.Competitive pricing in comparison tocow’s milk or buffalo’s, and a lack ofdemand among the general populacebecause of inadequate marketing, theyfeel, is the reason behind this. Lack ofinfrastructure in the cold chain is anoth-er challenge. Ilse Kohler-Rollefson, whohas been engaged in camel research formore than 30 years and is a co-founderof Lokhit Pashu Palan Sanstan, addedthat there is a huge demand for camelmilk outside India, ‘particularly China’,but because of lack of infrastructure,they haven’t been able to meet the need.

‘We think that if the 2015 law isamended, we will be able to save our ani-mals,’ Hariram Raika said, ‘Otherwisethe next five years will be critical for ourcamels.’

The state government had formed acommittee to look into the issues afterthe camel breeders staged a protestagainst the ban during the 2019 PushkarMela. In the list of recommendationssubmitted thereafter, the breedersasked, in addition to amendment of thelaw, to include camel milk in mid-daymeals in schools, to promote it in themarket, and for free-range grazingrights.

An official of the Animal Husbandrydepartment has now assured that theprocess to amend the law is underway.‘There is a proposal of amendments thathave been cleared by the law ministryand will soon be introduced in theassembly,’ the official told. ‘The new pro-visions would be such that except forslaughter, breeders would be able tosend their animals across the state’s bor-ders and earn their revenue.’ There is noestimate of when this would happen so itis still a wait-and-watch game for thecamel breeders of Rajasthan.

((AAzzeerraa RRaahhmmaann bbaasseedd iinn JJooddhhppuurr iissWWaatteerrAAiidd IInnddiiaa mmeeddiiaa ffeellllooww 22001188 nnaaddNNFFII mmeeddiiaa ffeellllooww 22001144..))

Law to protect camel is contributing to its decline in Rajasthan

UUppaammaannyyuu@@uuppaammaannyyuu7700A lot of things which are happeningin this country at the moment were

unbelievable to process even tenyears back. Some people tend toforget the key to it all, political

power. The only thing which legiti-mately shifts the Overton window.

AZERA RAHMAN


BRIEF

Milestone

New Delhi: MarutiSuzuki India Ltd onTuesday said its CNGrange of vehicles hascrossed the cumula-tive sales milestone of10 lakh units. MSILMD CEO KenichiAyukawa said our aimis to offer safe, reli-able, clean, technolog-ically advanced andeco friendly vehicles.

ExpandNew Delhi: Drone de-livery logistics firmSkye Air Mobility onTuesday said it plansto ramp up its fleet sizeto about 120 drones in12-15 months from thecurrent four as it chas-es growth opportuni-ties in key areas suchas healthcare and diag-nostics. Ankit Kumar,CEO of Skye AirMobility, said the com-pany has crossed themilestone of 1,000flights in six months ofoperations, and is look-ing to reach a level ofone lakh flights overnext months.

RaisesMumbai:Omnichannel jew-ellery retailerBluestone has raisedover USD 30 million(about Rs 228 crore) ina funding round led bySunil Kant Munjal,chairman of HeroEnterprise, at a valua-tion of USD 410 mil-lion. Bluestone --backed by marquee in-vestors, includingRatan Tata, Accel,Kalaari, Iron Pillar,IvyCap and SaamaCapital -- claims to bethe largest omnichan-nel precious jewellerybrand, the companysaid in a statement.

FundingNew Delhi: Unicornstartup Licious, whichsells meat productsand seafood, onTuesday said it hasraised USD 150 million(about Rs 1,140 crore)in funding led bySingapore-basedAmansa Capital forbusiness growth.Other major investorsin the Series F2 fund-ing round includeKotak PE and AxisGrowth Avenues AIF-I.

BuysNew Delhi: Realtyfirm Godrej PropertiesLtd said it has boughtabout 50 acres of landparcel at Sonipat inHaryana for plotted de-velopment as part ofits plan to expand busi-ness across majorcities. The Mumbai-based firm did not dis-close the deal value aswell as the name of theseller. This is the sec-ond major land deal byGodrej Properties inthe Delhi-NCR area.

PlatformWashington: Indian-American entrepre-neur from SiliconValley has launched anartificial intelligence-based platformthrough which peoplecan invest in stocks foras low as USD1. "We arebringing one of thebest ways to earn moreto people who need itthe most. We are tryingto make the invest-ments as much as pos-sible to be socially re-sponsible, impactfuland conscious," SelvanRajan, CEO ofSmartMoney IA, saidin a statement.


Over Rs 53,600 crore ofGST compensation for thecurrent fiscal is yet to be re-leased to the states, FinanceMinister NirmalaSitharaman said in theRajya Sabha on Tuesday.

So far this fiscal, Rs 96,576crore has been released tothe states on account ofGST compensation, and anadditional Rs 1.59 lakhcrore has been given asback-to-back loan to makegood the revenue shortfallon account of Goods andServices Tax (GST) imple-mentation.

Under the Goods andServices Tax (GST) law,states were guaranteed tobe compensated bi-monthlyfor any loss of revenue inthe first five years of GSTimplementation from July1, 2017.

The shortfall is calculat-ed assuming a 14 per centannual growth in GST col-lections by states over thebase year of 2015-16.

The compensationamount to be paid from the

compensation fund is ar-rived at by levying cess ontop of the highest tax slabon luxury, demerit and singoods.

"Centre is committed torelease full GSTCompensation to theStates/UTs as per GST(Compensation to States)Act, 2017 for the transitionperiod by extending thelevy of Compensation cessbeyond 5 years to meet theGST revenue shortfall aswell as servicing the loanborrowed through specialwindow scheme,"Sitharaman said.

Giving details of GSTcompensation yet to be re-leased to the states for cur-rent fiscal ending March,the minister said Rs 53,661crore is yet to be releasedfor the 2021-22 fiscal.

This include Rs 11,563crore to be released toMaharashtra, Rs 6,954 croreto Uttar Pradesh, Rs 6,733crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs5,461 crore to Delhi and Rs4,292 crore to West Bengal.

Sitharaman further saidGST compensation for fi-nancial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 hasalready been paid to the

States/UTs. "The economicimpact of the pandemic hasled to higher compensationrequirement due to lowerGST collection and at thesame time lower collectionof GST compensation cess,"she said.

In a separate reply,Minister of State forFinance Pankaj Chaudharysaid the total GST collectionduring the current fiscal tillFebruary is over Rs 13.33lakh crore. This includeCentral GST mop up ofover Rs 2.43 lakh crore,Integrated GST of over Rs6.87 lakh crore, State GST ofover Rs 3.11 lakh crore andcess of Rs 90,442 crore.

"CGST is credited toConsolidated Fund of India(CFI) while SGST is credit-ed to the Consolidated Fundof respective States. Out ofthis total IGST collected bythe Centre, Centre receivedRs 3,09,150 crore and Rs2,60,467 crore have been re-ceived by the States by wayof settlement (regular &adhoc) of IGST tillFebruary, 2022," Chaudharysaid.

Over Rs 53,600 cr GST compensationyet to be released to states

Nirmala Sitharaman


Equity benchmarksSensex and Nifty haltedtheir five-day rally onTuesday and settled deepin the red, mirroringweak global markets, withdecline in index heavy-weights RelianceIndustries, Infosys andHDFC Bank.

Despite opening withgains of over 200 points,the 30-share Sensexturned highly volatile andtumbled 709.17 points or1.26 per cent to close at55,776.85. During the day,the benchmark indexplunged 1,067.07 points or1.88 per cent to 55,418.95.

The broader NSE Niftyalso declined 208.30 pointsor 1.23 per cent to close at16,663.

From the 30-shareSensex pack, Tata Steel,Tech Mahindra, KotakMahindra Bank, Infosys,Reliance IndustriesLimited, Axis Bank andHCL Tech were the majordrags.

On the other hand,Mahindra & Mahindra,Maruti Suzuki, Nestle

India, Asian Paints andTitan were among thegainers.

Bourses in Hong Kongand Shanghai settledsharply lower amid con-cerns over fresh viruslockdowns. Tokyo wasmarginally higher.

Exchanges in Europewere largely trading lowerin the afternoon trade.Germany's DAX lost 2.3%to 13,612.44 and the CAC 40in Paris was also 2.3%lower at 6,223.67. Britain'sFTSE 100 declined 1.5% to7,088.89.

The futures for the S&P500 and Dow industrialswere down 0.7%. Shares inHong Kong have sunk tonear six-year lows afterthe neighbouring city ofShenzhen was orderedinto a shutdown to combat

China's worst COVID-19outbreak in two years.

The Hang Seng indexlost 5.7% to 18,415.08 afterwobbling more than 6%lower. The ShanghaiComposite gave up 5% to3,063.97.

Fears continue to dogstock markets that lock-downs could spread,which would severely im-pact China's growth,"Jeffrey Halley of Oandasaid in a commentary.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose0.2% to 25,346.48, while theKospi in Seoul gave up0.9% to 2,621.53.Australia's S&P/ASX 200slid 0.7% to 7,097.40 andshares also fell in Taiwanand Bangkok.

Stock exchanges in theUS settled on a mixed notein the overnight trade.

Sensex tumbles 709 ptson weak global trends


The rupee surrenderedits early gains to trade 6paise down at 76.60 againstthe US dollar on Tuesdayas investors turned cau-tious ahead of the US Fedmeeting amid growing un-certainty over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Besides, heavy selling indomestic equities and con-tinued foreign capital out-flows put pressure on thedomestic unit, forextraders said.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, therupee opened strong at76.40 against theAmerican dollar. However,it pared gains later toenter the negative territo-ry as investors turned cau-tious amid intensifyingRussia-Ukraine conflict.During the day, it moved inthe range of 76.32 and76.68. The local unit quot-ed at 76.60 against the dol-

lar at 1530 hrs, down 6paise from the previousclose. Meanwhile, the dol-lar index, which gaugesthe greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six cur-rencies, was trading 0.31per cent lower at 98.71.Bullion prices further fellon Tuesday. Gold prices onTuesday fell by Rs 511 toRs 51,793 per 10 grams infutures trade as partici-pants cut down their betsamid a weak global trend.

On the MultiCommodity Exchange,gold contracts for April de-livery declined by Rs 511or 0.98 per cent to Rs 51,793per 10 grams in a businessturnover of 9,259 lots.

Analysts attributed thefall in prices to trimmingof positions by investorstracking a weak trend ininternational market.

Globally, gold was trad-ing 1.22 per cent lower atUSD 1,936.80 per ounce inNew York.

Mumbai, Mar 15:

DSP InvestmentManagers announced thelaunch of DSP Nifty SDLPlus G- Sec Jun 2028 30:70Index Fund, an open-ended target maturityindex fund, which will ma-ture after about six yearsin June 2028.The portfoliowill be investedonly insovereign securities with a70:30 split betweenGovernment Securities (G-Sec) and StateDevelopment Loans (SDL)respectively, in line withthe Nifty SDL Plus G- SecJun 2028 30:70 Index.

The portfolio has aunique design with dualfilters for selecting SDLs.Instead of just applying aLiquidity Filter, there isan additional QualityFilter of low leverage.This Quality Filter isbased on each State’s GDPin proportion to its total li-

abilities and the top 10States/UTs with the bestquality scores will be se-lected. Hence the portfoliowill have a combination ofhighly liquid G-Secs and aselectivelist of SDLs withlow leverage and high liq-uidity, all which are ma-turing during the 12-month period ending June30, 2028.

The Fundoffers in-vestors the potential of rel-atively stable and pre-dictable returns.Longterm investors (holding>3years) can also get addi-tional year of indexationbenefit if invested before31 Mar 2022. Investors whosubscribe during the NFOand remain invested tillthe defined maturity canget a total of 7 yearsIndexation benefit.

The New Fund Offeropened for subscription onMarch 11th, 2022 and clos-es on March17th 2022.

DSP Investment Managerslaunches DSP Nifty SDL Plus

Rupee falls 6 paise at 76.60against USD, bullion falls

MOU FOR NEW PLANT

Samsung Southwest Asia President Ken Kang exchanges the MoU for setting up anew compressor plant with Industries Secretary S Krishnan in presence of Tamil NaduChief Minister M.K. Stalin, in Chennai, Tuesday.

Mumbai, Mar 15:

Amazon Business todayannounced the commence-ment of an ‘End ofFinancial Year Sale’ tohelp its business cus-tomers utilize their pro-curement budgets effi-ciently before the end ofthe current financial year.The event that startedtoday is curated to helpB2B customers discoverrelevant selection and alsoget incremental cashbackand discounts on thesepurchases to save costs.The event aims to ensurethat MSMEs can efficient-ly utilize their pendingbudgets for the current fi-nancial year.

The event will run tillMarch 18th 2022 and focuson supplies for MSMEs tocater both ends of hybridwork model, thus offeringcurated selections for bothWork From Home (WFH)and Back To Work (BTW).Under work from home,MSMEs can buy suppliesfor an efficient work fromhome setup across multi-ple categories such as lap-tops, electronics products,stationary items, furni-ture’s. Back to work storewill include protectiveequipment, essential backto work supplies, socialdistancing friendly officesetup such and COVIDmedical supplies. Fromsneeze guards, cones,

signs, tape, barriers,strips, labels, measure-ment instruments to IT pe-ripherals, breakroom sup-plies, the shopping eventwill offer wide selection ofproducts to its businesscustomers.

Business customers canenjoy 10% cashback, up toRs 500 on a minimumspend of Rs 1500, with theapplication of codeFYES22 at the time of pay-ment checkout. This cash-back is applicable acrossall the business relevantcategories including com-puters & accessories, elec-tronic appliances, officeproducts, office improve-ment, office kitchen, in-dustrial & scientific.

Amazon Business announcesexciting deals for MSMEs


Food and ConsumerAffairs Minister PiyushGoyal on Tuesday said thegovernment intends to de-criminalise the LegalMetrology Act and askedhis department as well asstates to take a decision onthis issue at the earliest inorder to stop harassmentof small shopkeepers.

Addressing an eventhere to celebrate the WorldConsumer Rights Day, theminister said the govern-ment's priority is to pro-

tect consumers for unfairtrade practice, but the lawshould not become a "toolof harassment".

The Legal MetrologyAct 2009 enforces stan-dards related to weightsand measures. In its pres-ent form, the law prescribeimprisonment, in additionto fine, for second or subse-quent offence. "I personal-

ly would like to flag off acouple of concerns...be-cause I do believe that it'simportant. I do believe it'simportant that what RohitKumar Singh (ConsumerAffairs Secretary) saidabout decriminalisationshould also be understoodby all of us," he said.

"We have a LegalMetrology Act. And I my-self being a startup entre-preneur 35 years ago. And35 years ago, also the ha-rassment that we faceddue to the Act as a entre-preneur is possibly some-thing which is being facedeven today, particularly bysmall shopkeepers, smallbusinesses on a day to daybasis," he said.

States must decide soon todecriminalise Legal Metrology Act

Goyal highlightedaction on misleadingadvertisements

Piyush Goyal


Toyota Kirloskar Motoron Tuesday launched theall-new version of its pre-mium hatchback Glanzain the country with a pricestarting at Rs 6.39 lakh (ex-showroom).

The model comes withan 1197 cc petrol enginemated with manual and au-tomatic transmissions.

The five-speed manualvariants of Glanza havebeen priced between Rs 6.39lakh and Rs 9.19 lakh, whilethe automatic trims (AMT)are tagged between Rs 7.79lakh and Rs 9.69 lakh. Thenew version delivers fuel ef-

ficiency of over 22 kmpland also features an idlestart-stop function, the au-tomaker said. Other promi-nent features include sixairbags, ABS (anti-lockbraking system), hill holdcontrol, head-up display,360-degree camera andnine-inch smart play cast,among others. "Over theselast few years, the Glanzahas won many hearts inIndia. And yet again with

the new Glanza, we are de-lighted to be recognised asa trusted brand by our cus-tomers who have startedbooking this new car ingood numbers," TKMExecutive Vice President(Sales & Customer Service)Tadashi Asazuma said atthe launch event.

Exclusively designed byToyota's designers, themodel features the compa-ny's signature styling andsportiness, he added. "Webelieve it is the perfectchoice for those customerswho are seeking a stylish,technology-laden, safe andcomfortable car," Asazumanoted.

Toyota Kirloskar drives in newGlanza starting at Rs 6.39 lakh


The National Bank forFinancing Infrastructureand Development(NaBFID) will begin its op-erations from the firstquarter of the next finan-cial year, its chairman KVKamath said on Tuesday.

NaBFID was set up bythe government last yearas a development financialinstitution (DFI) to supportthe development of long-term infrastructure financ-ing in the country.

"The board structure (forNaBFID) is in place. Thebasic foundation and poli-cy framework have beenbuilt. From the next quar-

ter, which is the quarterstarting April, we shouldbe operationalised,"Kamath said at an event or-ganised by the IndianConstruction EquipmentM a n u f a c t u r e r s 'Association (ICEMA).

He said a core team of 25people is already in placeand the process of selec-tion of the CEO and otherleaders to run the bank isunderway.

NaBFID to commence operationsfrom first quarter of FY-23


Maruti Suzuki, HeroMotoCorp, Lucas-TVS,Tata Cummins and ToyotaKirloskar Auto Parts areamong the 75 firms ap-proved for receiving incen-tives under the ProductionLinked Incentive (PLI)scheme for the automobileand auto components sec-tor, the government saidon Tuesday.

Proposed investment ofRs 29,834 crore is expectedfrom the 75 approved ap-plicants under theComponent ChampionIncentive Scheme.

The Ministry of HeavyIndustries had earlier se-

lected 20 applicants underthe Champion OEMIncentive Scheme. The twocomponents are part ofthe PLI scheme.

The scheme offers in-centive of up to 18 per centto encourage industry tomake fresh investments inindigenous supply chainof Advanced AutomotiveTechnology (AAT) prod-ucts.

75 cos to get sopsunder auto PLI scheme

Myanmar intends toinitiate rupee

convertibility for tradeSingapore, Mar 15 (PTI):

The Myanmar govern-ment intends to initiatethe currency convertibili-ty for the Indian rupee fortrade along the border itshares with India, follow-ing the Southeast Asiancountry's agreement thismonth to deal in Thaibaht with neighbours andthe kyat-baht initiative forborder trade with China.

"The Myanmar govern-ment intends to initiatesimilar currency convert-ibility for the Indianrupee for trade along theborder it shares withIndia," said the Ministryof Information,Myanmar, in a statementon Tuesday.

Children areblessed not onlywith the most

beautiful hearts but possess talenthardcore, and now they are all set to takeon the dance floor with COLORS’ new show‘Dance Deewane Juniors’! After the spectacular success of ‘DanceDeewane’, COLORS is introducing the juniors version whereinchildren from the age group of 4-14 years can showcase their hard-core dancing talent fueled with deewangi and perform in solos,duet or in group on a national platform. As the young dancers gearup to set the stage on fire with their immense talent, the channelhas roped in Bollywood’s TIMELESS Beauty star Neetu Kapoor tojudge this show, hereby marking her debut on television! She willbe joining the judging panel alongside Bollywood diva NoraFatehi and esteemed choreographer Marzi Pestonji. Ahead oftaking charge as the judge, Neetu Kapoor says, “It gives me greatjoy to be part of a show that will give the upcoming dance prodi-gies a golden opportunity to showcase their talent. I see my role in‘Dance Deewane Juniors’ as a responsibility to nurture and sup-port the little ones. I can’t wait to see them take on the stage.”

Buzz about SonaliBendre’s Tollywood

appearance after18 years

Actress Sonali Bendre is in talks foran upcoming biggie in Telugu, as thenews has now caught the attention of

all. It is reported that Sonali will star in JrNTR's untitled movie, which is to behelmed by 'Srimanthudu', 'Mirchi', and'Janatha Garage' fame Koratala Siva.

The makers want to get Sonali on board,for an important role. So, they seemed tohave approached the 'Manmadhudu' ac-tress, for which she apparently gave it a

nod. If the news is to be believed, SonaliBendre is all set to make a comeback in the

Tollywood film industry after 18 years. Sonaliwas last seen in Chiranjeevi's 'Shankar DadaMBBS' before she quit acting in Tollywood.

Now that she is all set to play a pivotal role inthe film combination of Koratala Shiva and JrNTR, her fans can't get happier.

Sonali Bendre had appeared in super hitTelugu movies like 'Murari', 'Indra','Manmadhudu', 'Shankar Dada MBBS' and manymore. She was well-received by the Telugu au-dience, but the actress had to move backto Mumbai, as she had started her fam-ily. More details about the project areexpected to be out soon.

ACROSS1. Ripped5. Cruise and Hanks9. Singer ____ Reddy14. Lincoln, et al.15. Eden resident16. Digging tool17. Castle ditch18. Earth's center19. Fork features20. Walker

23. Fender-bender result24. Resource25. Barter27. Excessive excitement30. Zodiac sign34. Can.'s neighbor37. She, in Valencia39. Assisted40. Umbrella43. Hide45. Public46. Arctic transport

48. Had brunch49. Approached51. Totaled54. Sends forth56. Actress ____ Evans60. Auction actions63. Ownership66. Incensed68. Thoroughfare69. Come together70. Fables71. Minister to72. Farm unit73. Disparaging74. Irritable75. Minus

DOWN1. Florida City2. Certain woodwinds3. Peruses4. Admiration5. Diplomacy6. Smell7. Matrimonial8. Greasy streak9. FDR's successor10. Widespread outbreak11. Alley12. Genesis location13. Cozy abode21. Bus terminal (abbr.)22. Scold constantly26. School official28. New (prefix)29. Evils

31. Brainstorm32. Uncluttered33. Loafing34. "Once ____ a time..."35. Hoard36. ____ code38. Scored on serve41. Took into custody42. Flower stalk44. Unusual47. Roped50. Quick swim52. Overhead trains53. Dreary55. Rich dessert57. Female relative58. Achievers59. Stakes60. Morsels61. Iraq's neighbor62. Artist Salvador ____64. Harmonized65. Water whirl67. Vane letters


You roar with absolute bliss today!Simplicity is your new avatar, and nat-urally, friends and acquaintances aremystified. You may wish to communewith the higher spirit and will seek sol-ace in a quiet temple. Ganeshaapproves and predicts peace in plenty.

Aquarius: Jan 21 – Feb 18Staying afloat needs about as mucheffort as swimming. Cryptic as this maysound, what it means is you need to con-stantly reinvent yourself if you wish tokeep going. You will shine in your pro-fession only if it is also your passion,says Ganesha.

Pisces: Feb 19 – Mar 20You are ever eager to socialise, andtoday especially, you may want to mixbusiness with pleasure. You will be wel-comed to join in group activitiesbecause you can work and play withequal enthusiasm. In fact, you may learna lot from such a healthy exchange ofideas, says Ganesha.

Aries: Mar 21 – Apr 20Ganesha finds this an excellent day formanagers and administrators. If you areone, the results you will achieve by theend of the day will far exceed the effortsyou put in. This is mainly because yoursubordinates will be enthusiastic, com-pliant and cooperative.

Taurus: Apr 21 – May 21

Routine work bores you, and today youwill go all out to break free from theshackles of boredom. The results, how-ever, may not be as dramatic. You willhave to depend on your children, if any,to rescue you from the tyranny of rou-tine.

Gemini: May 22 – June 21You may feel like flaunting your so-called superior social and financial sta-tus today. Chances are that all that gasabout how successful you are may endup exploding in your face, and you mayend up spending a lot more than youwould have liked.

Cancer: June 22 – July 22You may feel like flaunting your so-called superior social and financial sta-tus today. Chances are that all that gasabout how successful you are may endup exploding in your face, and you mayend up spending a lot more than youwould have liked.

Leo: July 23 – Aug 23You will be faced with serious financialproblems today. You may even have topay through your nose to get what youdesire. Later in the evening, you mightaccomplish some short-term goals.Ganesha predicts that some vital busi-ness agreements will end your day inhigh spirits.

Virgo: Aug 24 – Sept 22

Ganesha says you will be able toimprove your relations abroad. Therewill be good news coming from friendsor relatives living abroad. Your workingability and efficiency will make youpopular in the office today. In the daytoday you shall have a variety of goodand bad experiences.

Libra: Sept 23 – Oct 23You might find your spirit sagging asworries cloud your thinking. Smallthings might probably bother you in abig way. Do not let them bog you downas life is all about mind over matter. Asthe day progresses, things will begin tolook up. Take a break from the rigmaroleif stress begins to take a toll on you,advises Ganesha.

Scorpio: Oct 24 – Nov 22Ganesha foresees a day full of promises.People in the creative field, especiallyartists are going to benefit more. Radiojockey and television anchors can makea note of this day in their diary, as it mayserve as a memorable day, saysGanesha.

Sagittarius: Nov 23 – Dec 21You have projected yourself as a con-fused individual. You may have a ten-dency to remain in a double mind. But,today you'll come up with a very specif-ic plan that will surprise many of thepeople around you.

Capricorn: Dec 22 – Jan 20

C R O S S WO R D 242

SOLUTION 241

HOROSCOPE WEDNESDAY MARCH 16

Dehradun-bor nlawyer-turned-actor Vikram

Singh Chauhan, whowas seen in 'Mardaani 2',is receiving good re-sponse for his perform-ance in Ajay Devgn star-rer 'Rudra: The Edge ofDarkness'.

Vikram shifted toMumbai to work in alaw firm and soon hewas keen to pursue hisdream of becoming anactor. In 'Rudra' the actorplays Captain AshokNikose, a person suffer-ing from Post traumaticstress disorder (PTSD).

Vikram shares his ex-perience of workingwith Ajay in the web se-ries: "Its one of the bestlearning experiences forme. I had my sceneswith Ajay sir, Atul(Kulkarni) sir andAshwini (Kalsekar)

ma'am . Their hold ontheir craft is so strongthat just to watch themperform is so serene."

"I specifically took alot from Ajay sir , notjust nuances of actingbut a way of life . Hedoesn't talk much but isalways listening andaware of what's goingaround him. Super fo-cused, always greetingpeople with a gentlesmile," he adds.

The actor believesthat the Covid breakgave him the time thathe required to preparefor the role and says: "Igot a lot of prep timeduring covid break. Isaw a lot of documen-taries on war veteranssuffering from PTSDand on abused child-hood. I worked on mybody language to getthat of Ashok Nikose."

Vikram SinghChauhan in awe ofAjay Devgn whileworking in ‘Rudra’

Pallavi Joshi, producer of'The Kashmir Files' and

also plays one of its pivotalcharacters, has said thather role was a very chal-lenging one. The award-winning film and televisionactress essays the role ofProfessor Radhika Menon,a JNU professor who moti-vates her students to fightfor 'Azad Kashmir'.When asked why she choseto play the character, Joshisaid: "When I was talkingto the Kashmiri Panditsabout their trauma, I couldsense the villain they werestaring at. I made up mymind to do the characterand play the role so vehe-mently that every Indianshould hate the character."She was addressing the

media in the Capital alongwith the rest of 'TheKashmir Files' team.Joshi's character, believedto have been modelledafter Booker Prize-winningauthor Arundhati Roy, isheard declaring in the film,"Kashmir has never beenan integral part of Indiaand this is a historical fact.Agar India Britain se apniIndependence ke liye ladsakti hai toh Kashmir kyunnahi (If India can fight theBritish Raj for independ-ence, then why notKashmir)?"When asked if the charac-ter was defaming the uni-versity, Director VivekAgnihotri said: "Researchand Google, and you willget the answers."

I want every Indian tohate my character:

Pallavi Joshi on ‘The Kashmir Files’

Hit the siren, kyunki ZeeCinema par hogidhamakedar entry saal

ke sabse bade blockbuster‘Sooryavanshi’ ki! The film thatrevived the big screens from along slumber with a whopping200 crores at the box office, thefilm that got families rejoicing attheatres – Sooryavanshi is all setto bring the same roar to yourTV screens. This Holi, enjoy thegrandest television event of theyear with your friends and fami-ly with the World TelevisionPremiere of the most awaitedblockbuster of the yearSooryavanshi on Zee Cinema on19th March at 8pm. The preludeto the premiere saw peopleacross the length and breadth ofthe country celebrate theSooryavanshi mania as theircities were transformed withone-of-a-kind themed activationsto match the colossal hype forthe film!

With an intent to spread joy,grandeur, and cheer, a tailoreddelicious experience for home

towners will be offered byadding a masaledar twist totheir local specialty food withsome of the most famous foodstalls across the country.Harping on the tagda punch ofthe special trio Indore’s globally

recognized ‘Johny Hot Dog’,Bhopal’s super popular ‘AnandNamkeen’ and the iconic ‘DeenaChat Bhandar’ in Varanasitransformed their popular itemslike Hot Dog, Crispy Samosa andTamatar Chat into a

Sooryavanshi specials for theircustomers. If we’re celebratingwith food, how can one leave outthe famous ‘Parle Vada PavSamrat’ from Mumbai, ‘Sharmaji ki Chai’ from Lucknow and‘Thaggu ke Ladd’ from Kanpur,

as the shopkeepers bring you thedelectable Sooryavanshi specialVada Pav, Kadak Chai-Samosacombo, and Laddu, kyuki muhmeetha karna toh banta hai!Embracing the very, many quali-ties of Rohit Shetty’s mightycops, the visitors of the stalls areoffered free taste to thisSooryavanshi special delicaciesduring this on-ground celebra-tion. But that’s not all,Sooryavanshi themed canterswill be traveling to the streets ofmultiple cities engaging visitorswith experiential activities andspecial gifts. This will be fol-lowed by#HoliWithSooryavanshiTolichallenge on social media,where viewers will be asked torecreate the hook step of ‘Aila reAila’ with their super fun tolitagging Zee Cinema to spreadthe joy further. This Holi, jointhe celebration of the biggestblockbuster of the year with theWorld Television Premiere ofSooryavanshi on Zee Cinema on19th March at 8 pm!

World TV premiere of Sooryavanshi on Mar 19

NeetuKapoor to

judge ‘DanceDeewaneJuniors’


Indian campaign ends in Singaporeafter exit of Manika-Archana pair

Singapore: India's campaign in the USD 2 millionSingapore Smash came to an end with the quarterfi-nal exit of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath in thewomen's doubles here on Tuesday. The second-seededJapanese pair of Hina Hayata and Mima Ito neededjust 25 minutes to dispose of the Indian duo 11-7, 11-4,11-8 to enter the semifinals. Ranked No. 6 in doubles,Manika and Archana struggled against the left-rightJapanese onslaught, but tackling left-hander Hayata'spowerful spins turned out to be a big ask. There wasno respite for the Indians from the right-hander Ito ei-ther. Ito, with superb service variations, put them inthe dock. Though the world No. 2 Japanese concededseven points in the first game, they brought it downdrastically in the second when the Indian duo notonly made several unforced errors but failed time andagain to capitalise on their service.

Vihari, Abhimanyu back at DhakaPremier League

Kolkata: Test specialist Hanuma Vihari and Bengalskipper Abhimanyu Easwaran are among the sevenIndian cricketers featuring in the Dhaka PremierLeague one-day tournament. It's a free window for thedomestic Indian cricketers who were not picked forthe IPL beginning March 26. Fresh from featuring inIndia's 2-0 sweep over Sri Lanka, Hanuma has joinedAbahani Limited and is expected to join them after ashort break in Hyderabad. Bengal captainAbhimanyu on the other hand was back at PrimeBank Cricket Club for his third season after 2017 and2019. It's an invitational tournament and Abhimanyugot the BCCI's clearance on Monday to fly out toDhaka for the one and a half month long tournament.Abhimanyu scored 30 in their 50-run win over CityClub in their opening match at Savar on Tuesday.

Vishwanath, Vanshaj strike goldNew Delhi: Vishwanath Suresh (48kg) and Vanshaj(63.5kg) clinched gold medals in the men's youth com-petition as the Indian contingent concluded its cam-paign with a whopping 39 medals, including 15 gold,at the Asian Youth and Junior BoxingChampionships in Amman, Jordan. The haul also in-cluded 10 silver and 14 bronze. Indian youth boxers se-cured seven gold, three silver and eight bronzemedals while the junior team finished with 21 medalsincluding eight gold, seven silver and six bronze.Chennai-boxer Vishwanath produced a clinical per-formance during his thumping 5-0 win overKyrgyzstan's Ergeshov Bekzat late on Monday night.Later Vanshaj, who hails from Sonipat, added a sec-ond gold to youth men's tally as he registered a 4-1 winover Uzbekistan's Javokhir Ummataliev. However, inthe +92kg category, Aman Singh Bisht ended with asilver medal after suffering a 1-4 loss to the localboxer Saif Al-Rawashdeh. Vishwanath, and Vanshajhad won silver while Aman had secured bronze in thelast edition of the tournament.

Mumbai Indians begin preparation forIPL; Kishan, Rohit, Bumrah join squad

Mumbai: Record five time IPL champions MumbaiIndians on Tuesday set the ground running for their2022 campaign. The 12-day strength and conditioningpre-season camp, ahead of Mumbai Indians' firstmatch, is being held at their in-house training facilityat Reliance Jio Stadium in neighbouring NaviMumbai. "Mumbai Indians will also play a couple ofinter-squad practice matches towards the secondweek of the camp," a media statement issued byMumbai Indians stated. The first day training sessionwas preceded with player assessment analysis by thecoaching staff lead by director of cricket ZaheerKhan and coach Mahela Jayawardene. JoiningZaheer and Mahela on this task will be Shane Bond,Robin Singh, Kiran More, Rahul Sanghvi, VinayKumar, TA Sekar, Paul Chapman and data analystCKM Dhananjai.

PCB planning to introduce women’sPSL early next year

Karachi: Alarmed by the poor showing of the na-tional team in the ongoing ICC Women's World Cup,Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja onTuesday said the PCB is planning to introduce aproper domestic set-up for them, which includes aT20 franchise-based league to begin early next yearto unearth new talent. "There is a lot of work to bedone in our women's cricket set-up. You have totake into consideration the restrictions and otherissues that are unique to women in sports. We haveto take steps to have a proper domestic calendar forwomen with three-day matches," Ramiz told re-porters here. Pakistan lost all its opening fourgames in the World Cup to lie at the bottom of thepoints table. Pakistan still have three league match-es remaining against the West Indies, England andNew Zealand.

Wellington, Mar 15 (PTI):

A dominant Australiaconfidently carried ontheir march towards arecord seventh title as theypummelled West Indies byseven wickets in a lop-sided league stage contestto register their fourthconsecutive win at the ICCWomen's World Cup hereon Tuesday.

Australia, the most suc-cessful team in the historyof the event, has lived upto its favourites tag so farin the tournament as ithas looked way too strongcompared to the otherseven teams in the fray.

The Meg Lanning-ledside seemed to have all itsbases covered, dishing outclinical performances oneafter another to lead thestandings with eightpoints from four wins.

West Indies, the 2013runner-up side, were nomatch for Australia as theteam from the Caribbeanswas bundled out for a mea-gre 131 in 45.5 overs afteropting to bat.

Skipper Stafanie Taylorplayed a lone hand with afighting 91-ball 50 as WestIndies kept losing wicketsat regular intervals fromthe word go.

Taylor held one end aswickets kept tumblingfrom the other.West Indiesstruggle can be gaugedfrom the fact that theirbest partnership was a 36-run fourth wicket stand

between Taylor and wick-etkeeper batter ShemaineCampbelle (20).

Ellyse Perry (3/22) and

Ashleigh Gardner (3/25)shared six wickets be-tween them for Australia,while Jess Jonassen

picked up two scalps giv-ing away 18 runs.

The chase was alwaysgoing to be a cakewalk forthe Australians. OpenerRachael Haynes hit a styl-ish 83 not out off 95 ballswith the help of nineboundaries to anchorAustralia's chase afterthey suffered two earlyblows in the form ofAlyssa Healy andLanning.

With Australia in a spotof bother at seven for twoand later 58 for three,Haynes took the onus onherself to guide the in-nings in Beth Mooney's (28not out) company and theduo overwhelmed the tar-get easily in 30.2 overs.

Chinelle Henry (1/20),Hayley Matthews (1/31)and Shamilia Connell(1/32) picked up a wicketeach for the Windies.

While Australia remainunbeaten in the tourna-ment so far, West Indiessuffered their second de-feat, a heavy one, fromfour games and are placedfifth in the standings withfour points.

Australia’s dominant showcontinues in Women’s WC

Defeat WI by 7 wickets to remain unbeaten

Ellyse Perry struck early to dent West Indies.

WWeesstt IInnddiieess:: 131 all out in45.5 overs (Stafanie Taylor50; Ellyse Perry 3/22,Ashleigh Gardner 3/25).AAuussttrraalliiaa:: 132 for 3 in 30.2overs (Rachael Haynes 83not out, Beth Mooney 28 notout; Chinelle Henry 1/20).

Brief Scores:

Mount Maunganui, Mar 15 (PTI):

Their confidence highafter an impressive winover the West Indies, Indiawould look for much-need-ed consistency with thebat against a strugglingEngland in their fourthleague stage match of theICC Women's World Cuphere on Wednesday.

Currently placed thirdafter a morale-boosting155-run against the WestIndies, India would like tokeep the winning momen-tum going and maintainits stay in the top four es-pecially when they take ontable toppers Australiaafter England.

After an inexplicablyslow performance againstNew Zealand when theIndian batters played out162 dot balls, SmritiMandhana (123 off 119)and Harmanpreet Kaur(109 off 107) produce asplendid batting display,slamming twin centuriesagainst the West Indies topower India to their high-est total (317/8) in the his-tory of the showpiece

event. "I think for us, it isvery important the way weperformed in the lastgame; we just need to con-tinue that, rather thanthinking about what areyour negatives and whatare your positive points,"vice-captain Kaur told re-porters on the eve of thegame. Both openers --Mandhana and Yastika

Bhatia -- showed intentfrom the very beginning,something coach RomeshPowar had stressed uponahead of the match.

Mandhana played a flu-ent 123 run-knock whileKaur also continued herfine run, bringing up herfourth ton and the firstsince hitting the famous171 not out against

Australia in the 2017 WorldCup. The duo will be eagerto continue in the samevein with the race forsemifinal berths heatingup. However, all-rounderDeepti Sharma, who hasbeen elevated to the top,has to do more with thebat as does skipperMithali Raj, who has alsobeen off the boil recently.


Rising Indian shuttlerLakshya Sen rose a place to11th in the men's singleschart, while doubleOlympic medallist PVSindhu is static at the sev-enth spot among women inthe latest BWF world rank-ings issued on Tuesday.

Sen has risen remark-ably over the last fewmonths in the BWF rank-ings riding on his impres-sive performances at theworld stage. He currentlyhas 70,086 points in themen's singles list which isbeing headed by Olympicchampion Viktor Axelsenof Denmark, followed byJapan's Kento Momota andanother Dane AndersAntonsen.

India's KidambiSrikanth dropped a rung inthe chart to be in the 12thspot with 69,158 points,while B Sai Praneeth alsodropped a place to be in the19th position. Sen rose up

the chart riding on his sen-sational form over the lastsix months, finishing run-ners-up at the GermanOpen last week after histitle-winning run at theIndia Open and his bronzemedal feat at the WorldChampionships inDecember last year.

HS Prannoy and SameerVerma are the next bestplaced Indians at the 24thand 26th spots respectively.

Among women, Sindhuhas maintained her sev-enth spot with 90,994points, while anotherOlympic medallist SaniaNehwal occupies the 28thposition.

In the men's doublesrankings list, SatwiksairajRankireddy and ChiragShetty are static at eightspot, while the next bestIndians are MR Arjun andDhruv Kapila in the 40thposition. The women's dou-bles pair of AshwiniPonnappa and N SikkiReddy are also static at19th spot, while the mixeddoubles combination ofPonnappa and Rankireddyoccupy the 25th position.

Lakshya Sen climbs aspot to 11th, Sindhustatic in 7th position

Badminton worldrankings

ICC Women’s World Cup

India aim for consistency in clash against England

Dubai, Mar 15 (PTI):

India skipper MithaliRaj's descent in the ICC ODIrankings continued as sheslipped three places to sev-enth while opener SmritiMandhana dropped to 11thin the latest standings re-leased on Tuesday, takinginto account the ongoingWorld Cup in New Zealand.

Raj, who slipped a coupleof places last week, has 696points after she was dis-missed for 31 and 5 againstNew Zealand and WestIndies respectively. She iscurrently joint seventh withAustralia opener RachaelHaynes. Mandhana, on theother hand, moved out of thetop 10 to 11th despite hitting123 against West Indies onSaturday.

Veteran pacer JhulanGoswami, who became theleading wicket-taker inWorld Cups, has also slippedtwo places to be sixth in thebowlers' chart while DeeptiSharma maintained her

sixth place in the all-rounders' list. SophieEcclestone, AmySatterthwaite, MarizanneKapp and Laura Wolvaardthave all taken major leaps inthe rankings after their siz-zling performances in theongoing World Cup.

Despite England failing towin a single match at theWorld Cup, Ecclestone hasbeen a shining light for herteam, bowling with greatdiscipline. Her performanc-es have seen her rise to theNo.1 spot in the bowlingcharts, overtakingAustralia's Jess Jonassen.

The other big gainer inthe bowling charts isMarizanne Kapp, who regis-tered the best-ever figures ofher international careerduring South Africa's three-wicket win against England.

Her 5/45 helped SouthAfrica restrict England to235/9 and she made a handycontribution with the bat aswell during the chase, chip-ping in with a vital 32 runs.

Indians slip in ICCWomen’s ODI Rankings

Birmingham, Mar 15 (PTI):

All eyes will be on in-form shuttler LakshyaSen, double Olympicmedallist P V Sindhu andWorld Championships sil-ver medallist KidambiSrikanth as they look tobreak India's 21-year titledrought at the AllEngland Championships,which begins here onWednesday.

The top Indian players,including Sindhu, SainaNehwal and Srikanthhave failed to lift the pres-tigious trophy withPullela Gopichand (2001)and Prakash Padukone(1980) still remaining theonly two Indians to claimthe coveted title.

While Saina had come

close by reaching the fi-nals in 2015, it remainedelusive for Sindhu, whohas otherwise claimedmedals in all other big-ticket events such asOlympics, WorldC h a m p i o n s h i p s ,Commonwealth Gamesand Asian Games. While

Sindhu, seeded sixth, willonce again be in the reck-oning, it will be unseededSen who will be in focusthis time, given the kindof build-up the 20-year-oldhad ahead of the Super1000 event. Sen has beenin sensational form forthe last six months as he

added a runners-up finishat the German Open lastweek, following his title-winning run at IndiaOpen and his bronzemedal feat at the WorldChampionships inDecember last year.

The Almora shuttlerwill be the cynosure of alleyes as he steps on to thecourt against compatriotSourabh Verma in theopening round.

Sindhu, however, exitedin the second round at theGerman Open after ashock defeat to a lower-ranked Zhang Yi Man ofChina and would look toquickly recover from theloss when she opens hercampaign against a trickyworld no 17 Chinese WangZhi Yi.

All England Championships

Sindhu, Sen and Srikanth beginIndia’s quest for elusive title

Indian Wells, Mar 15 (AP):

Rafael Nadal is still per-fect in 2022. The Spaniarddefeated 27th-seededDaniel Evans 7-5, 6-3Monday in the third roundof the BNP Paribas Open,improving his record to 17-0 this year in pursuit of anATP Tour-leading fourthtitle. Nadal tied RogerFederer (2018) and PeteSampras (1997) for thethird-best overall start to aseason in the Open erathat began in 1968.

Daniil Medvedev's riseto No. 1 in the world camecrashing down in a 4-6, 6-3,6-1 loss to Gael Monfils.Medvedev needed to reach

the quarterfinals in thedesert to stay at the top,where he replaced NovakDjokovic.

Is it better to be No. 1 forlet's say one week in yourlife or never touch it?Medvedev said.

You know, I think it'sstill better to at least touchit.

Djokovic will reclaimthe No. 1 ranking nextweek. The Serb is unvacci-nated against COVID-19,so he wasn't allowed toenter the United States toplay at Indian Wells or theupcoming Miami Open.

So far this year, no one istouching the fourth-ranked Nadal.

Nadal now 17-0, No. 1 Medvedevcrashes out at Indian Wells


Devotees carry the Seethala Mallikarjuna Swamys Rathotsava during a religious procession towards the Mullayanagiri hill range, inChikmagalur, Tuesday.

RELIGIOUS PROCESSION

Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command presents YudhSeva medals to family memberss of martyred soldiers during an Investiture ceremony, in Udhampur, Tuesday.

INVESTITURE CEREMONY

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Reflecting the dissen-sions in the party, seniorCongress leaders onTuesday lashed out attheir colleague Kapil Sibalfor his remarks againstthe leadership with theparty’s Lok Sabha whip ac-cusing him of speakingthe language of the BJPand the RSS.

Manickam Tagore, astaunch Rahul Gandhi loy-alist, said the RSS and theBJP want the Gandhis tobe out of leadership posi-tion to kill the Congressparty and destroy the ideaof India.

Congress nationalspokesperson PawanKhera said Sibal should

elections for the post ofCongress president in-stead of making publiccomments against theleadership.

“Why RSS and BJPwants Nehru-Gandhi’s outof the leadership? Becausewithout Gandhi’s leader-ship Congress will be be-come Janata party. It’seasy to kill Congress thenit’s easy to destroy the ideaof India (sic),” Tagore saidon Twitter.

“Kapil Sibal knows itbut why he is speaking thelanguage of RSS/BJP,” theCongress’ Lok Sabha whipasked.

Khera also put out aTwitter post hitting out atSibal. “Dr Harshvardhandid not ask you to step

aside from ChandniChowk. He fought an elec-tion and defeated youKapil Sibal. Those whowant to lead Congress arefree to fight upcomingelection for the position ofparty president instead ofchanting everyday againstcurrent leadership,”Khera tweeted.

Sibal has said Gandhisshould step aside and givesome other leader achance to lead the party.“Leadership is in cuckooland I want a ‘Sab kiCongress’. Some want a‘Ghar ki Congress’,” Sibaltold the Indian Express inan interview.

The remarks came afterthe Congress WorkingCommittee met on Sunday,

and after almost five hoursof deliberations urgedSonia Gandhi to continueto lead and initiatechanges required tostrengthen the party.

The CWC also rejectedGandhi’s offer to makeany and every sacrifice forthe party, which was con-strued by some as an offerof Gandhi family to stepaside, and reposed faith inher leadership.

The Congress put out avideo of all its formerleaders from MahatmaGandhi, JawaharlalNehru and Indira Gandhi,on its Twitter handle.

“We will fight on. Wewill overcome. We willcontinue to raise yourvoice,” the party said.

Cong leaders hit out at Sibal for criticising Gandhis


A 50 per cent rise in pe-diatric orthopaedic caseswith complaints of ex-cruciating pain in theneck and back have beennoted in hospital OPDswith doctors attributingit primarily to wrongpostures during onlineclasses.

The rise in multipleskeletal issues amongchildren can be attrib-uted to incorrect posture.This, in turn, can beblamed on increasedscreen exposure follow-ing school closure due toCovid which made thechildren physically andmentally unwell, expertssaid. Dr ShubhangAggarwal, Orthopaedicand Robotic JointReplacement Surgeonand Director at NHS

Hospital in Jalandharsaid, “Wrong sitting pos-tures coupled with al-most no physical activityare to be blamed.”

“Pediatric orthopaediccases increased by 50 percent. Most of them areoverweight, have stami-na and suffer from anxi-ety and attention deficitdisorder,” Dr Aggarwalsaid.

According to DrSurbhit Rastogi,Paediatric OrthopaedicConsultant, IndianSpinal Injuries Centre,Vasant Kunj, a lot of chil-dren have been experi-encing cervical neck andback stiffness observedmainly among the work-ing adult population.

This is mainly attrib-uted to children beingconfined to their homesand not getting exposed

to sunlight, the doctorsaid. “It’s essential to ob-serve some precaution-ary measures such ashaving calcium-rich diet,sunlight exposure, tak-ing small breaks everyhalf an hour, doing somestretching exercises,switching to ergonomicchairs with proper backsupport and adding someindoor and outdoor phys-ical activities in the dailyroutine of kids,” DrRastogi said.

Even teachers shouldensure that during on-line classes they dedi-cate five minutes forsome fun stretching ac-tivities, he said.

Ideally, one shouldstand upright for oneminute after sitting for10 minutes at a stretch.This helps to strengthenyour back by ensuring

proper blood circulationand maintaining muscletone, the doctor said.

Parents should neverignore such back andneck issues in their kidsand should visit an or-thopaedic if there is anysuch complaint.

“Parents should beconcerned when theirkids complain of pain inneck and back, even ifan initial x-ray examdoesn’t reveal a problem.

“When children com-plain of back pain, abouta third of the timethere’s a serious reason,whether due to an injury,infection or a tumour.

They should be imme-diately rushed to thehospital,” added DrVishal Gupta,Orthopedic Surgeon,Ujala Cygnus RainbowHospital, Agra.

‘50% rise in pediatric orthopaedic cases, wrong postures during online classes to blame’

Bhopal, Mar 15 (PTI):Demanding that the oldpension scheme be madeavailable for governmentemployees recruitedafter 2005, Congressmembers staged a walk-out from the MadhyaPradesh LegislativeAssembly on Tuesday astheir demand for a dis-cussion was not takenup.

Congress legislators PC Sharma, Sajjan SinghVerma, N P Prajapatiand others raised theissue through a call at-tention motion and de-manded a discussion onit during Zero Hour.

C o n g r e s s - r u l e dRajasthan andChhattisgarh have re-stored the old pension

scheme, they said. ButSpeaker Girish Gautamdenied permission totake up the matter dur-ing Zero Hour, saying,You can speak on theissue separately.Opposition MLAs insist-ed that it was a seriousissue affecting lakhs offamilies, and created aruckus.

As the Speaker did notrelent, Congress mem-bers walked out, shout-ing slogans. A section ofgovernment employeesare opposed to theNational PensionScheme (NPS), intro-duced after 2004, as it ismarket-linked and doesnot provide a guaranteedpension benefit unlikethe old system.

Cong MLAs walkout overdemand of implementation

of old pension scheme New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI):

India on Tuesday sentthe fourth shipment of2,000 metric tonnes ofwheat to Afghanistan viaPakistani land route aspart of its humanitarianassistance to the Afghanpeople. India despatchedthe first consignment of2,500 metric tonnes ofwheat to Afghanistanthrough Pakistani onFebruary 22 and it reachedthe Afghan city ofJalalabad on February 26.Fifty trucks carried theconsignment.

External AffairsMinistry SpokespersonArindam Bagchi saidIndia has so far sent 8,000metric tonnes of wheat toAfghanistan as part of hu-manitarian aid. “Our part-nership continues.Despatched fourth convoyof humanitarian assis-

tance consisting of 2000MTs of wheat toAfghanistan today. Total of8000 MTs sent as on date.@WFP_Afghanistan ispartnering with us for theinternal distribution ofwheat withinAfghanistan,” he tweeted.

India had sent a propos-al to Pakistan on October 7seeking the transit facilityto send 50,000 tonnes ofwheat to the people ofAfghanistan via Pakistanand it received a positiveresponse from Islamabadon November 24.

Following the Pakistaniresponse, both sides werein touch to finalise themodalities for the trans-portation of the ship-ments. Each of the bagswas stamped with the text:‘Gift from the people ofIndia to the people ofAfghanistan’ in English,Pashto and Dari.

India sends fourth shipment ofwheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan

Kannur (Ker), Mar 15 (PTI):

A Kerala artist is facinga “ban” to perform a ritu-al artform in local templefestivals here as his sonmarried a Muslimwoman at Karivelloor, aknown Left bastion, inthis north Kerala district.

Vinod Panicker, aknown ‘Poorakali-Marathukali’ artist forthe last 37 years, allegedthat the management ofsome local temples in-formed him that he couldnot perform the tradition-al artform as he lives inthe same house where hisnon-Hindu daughter-in-law lives which is againstrituals and customs.

The management com-mittee of a temple, ashrine of Thiyya commu-

nity here, even told himthat if he shifts to someother place from his ownhouse, where the non-Hindu woman resides,then he would be allowedto perform the rituals.

As he rejected their de-mand, they conducted theritual with another artistrecently, he said.

“I have clearly toldthem that I don’t want toabandon my son anddaughter-in-law or shift toany other house. I hadbeen performing the ritu-al art for nearly fourdecades and it is such apain to suffer this humili-ation,” Panicker said.

Claiming that the inci-dent revealed the reli-gious and communalmindset of the society, theartist said he is a follower

of the teachings of SreeNarayana Guru, thesaint-reformer who pro-fessed ‘one caste, one reli-gion and one God’ formankind.

However, the templecommittee justified theaction saying that ritualswere not permitting to in-vite an artist for perform-ance from a house wherea non-Hindu person lives.

The also said they didnot impose any ban butonly informed Panickerthat rituals could not beviolated.

A temple managementofficial said he was aMarxist party sympathis-er but that does not meanthat temple rituals neednot be followed.

The incident raisedmany eyebrows as

Karivelloor is a placewhere the ruling CPI(M)has deep roots.

As the issue triggered acontroversy, seniorMarxist Party leader andformer minister E PJayarajan came out criti-cising the temple manage-ment saying it was a‘grave lapse’ from theirside and the party wasagainst that.

He also alleged thatthey had kept the develop-ment as a secret but nowit has come to the publicdomain.

“Poorakkali” is a tradi-tional dance ritual per-formed by men duringthe nine-day Pooram festi-val in Bhagavathy tem-ples and sacred grovesacross Malabar (northKerala).

Ker ritual artist faces ‘ban’ to performas son marries Muslim womanNew Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI):

Army Chief Gen MMNaravane on Tuesday an-nounced setting up of a‘Chair of Excellence’ inmemory of India’s firstChief of Defence StaffGen Bipin Rawat at theUnited ServiceInstitution of India (USI),a leading military thinktank.

The announcement,made at a ceremony, camea day ahead of the 65thbirthday of Gen Rawatwho was killed in a heli-copter crash nearCoonoor in Tamil Naduon December 8 along withhis wife Madhulika and12 armed forces person-nel. The ‘Gen BipinRawat memorial Chair ofExcellence’ will focus onthe field of jointness andintegration among thearmed forces. “Late Gen

Bipin Rawat who servedas India’s first CDS aswell as the 27th Chief ofIndian Army was an out-standing professional andwas in the midst of steer-ing one of the most radi-cal transformations ofthe Indian military,” theArmy said.

“The Chair ofExcellence is a befittingtribute to the astute lead-ership and professional-ism of the General,” itsaid in a statement.

In his remarks, theArmy Chief said GenRawat was passionateabout strategic thoughtsand invested considerabletime and energy in the ac-tivities of various thinktanks. “And, therefore, his65th birthday provided anopportune moment to re-inforce the services’ bondwith their intellectual in-stitutions. The Chair will

be open to veterans ofthree services and civil-ians having expertise inthe field of national secu-rity,” Gen Naravane said.

The Army Chief is alsoserving as the officiatingChairman, Chiefs of StaffCommittee (COSC).

The topic for this year’sresearch has been chosenas “jointness and integra-tion in the context of landwarfare in India”, offi-cials said.

They said the ‘Chair ofExcellence’ will be opento all veteran officers ofthe armed forces andcivilians having expertisein the field of national se-curity and military af-fairs.

The period of researchwould be from July 1 for aperiod of one year, everyyear. On January 1, 2020,Gen Rawat had takencharge as India’s first

CDS with a mandate tobring in convergence inthe functioning of theArmy, the Navy and theIndian Air Force and bol-ster the country’s overallmilitary prowess.

A key mandate of theCDS was to facilitate therestructuring of militarycommands for optimalutilisation of resourcesby bringing about joint-ness in operations, in-cluding through the es-tablishment of theatrecommands.

As the CDS, Gen Rawatcarried out the extensivegroundwork to roll outtri-services reforms.

In his role as Chief ofArmy Chief between 2016and 2019, he stronglybacked a policy of hotpursuit in dealing withcross-border terrorismand militancy in Jammuand Kashmir.

Army announces chair of excellence at USI in memory of Gen Rawat

Mathura (UP), Mar 15 (PTI):

A large number of wid-ows from various shelterhomes gathered at theGopinath Temple inVrindavan on Tuesday tocelebrate Holi, giving atoss to orthodox tradi-tions that forbid themfrom taking part in thefestival of colours.

The celebration at thehistoric temple, whichfirst began in 2013, waskept in abeyance for thelast two years due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, ac-cording to officials.

“It was unbelievablefor the widows in theIndian society to breakthe age-old tradition,”said Bindeshwar Pathak,founder of NGO Sulabh

International who initiat-ed efforts to mobilise wid-ows of Vrindavan to cele-brate Holi. Around 10years ago, taking note ofthe pathetic condition ofwidows living inVrindavan, the SupremeCourt had asked NGOSulabh International tolook after them.

On Tuesday, widowGaurvani Dasi wasthrilled to play Holi asmaid companion ofRadha Rani.

Dressed in white sa-rees, the widows danced,sang Rasiya (traditionHoli song of Brij) andsmeared each other’sfaces with herbal ‘gulal’.

Chhavi Maa, a 70-year-old widow, welcomed thechange with open arms

after leading years of mo-notonous life. Widowshailing from West Bengalalso showered flowerpetals on each other andchanted Krishna bha-jans.

Applying colours at thefeet of Lord Krishna stat-ue, Manu Ghosh (85) saidshe never imagined thatshe would get the oppor-tunity to play Holi at atemple.

“We have no words toexpress our joy,” WidowsVimla Dasi (65), RataniaDevi (67) and Chhaya (66)said in unison, but in achocked voice.

The festival was cele-brated in the presence ofa large gathering includ-ing some saints ofVrindavan.

Widows celebrate Holi at Vrindavan temple

LASTING COLOURS

'Hijab not part of essential Islamic religious practice'

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