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A s the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic abates, the BJP has now decided to focus on next year’s Assembly polls, especially in Uttar Pradesh (UP), with a massive outreach programme involving one lakh party workers After the BJP and RSS leaders held several round of talks with Ministers and MLAs in Lucknow to prepare the road map for the crucial Assembly polls and assess the political damaged cause by the outbreak, BJP national gener- al secretary Radha Mohan Singh called on UP Governor Anandiben Patel on Sunday. At the same time, BJP pres- ident JP Nadda held discussions with party general secretaries, States-in-charge and Morcha chiefs for two days in New Delhi to review the relief and awareness programme and laid out the road map to intensify efforts in the coming months. The meeting between Anandiben Patel and Radha Mohan Singh has created more speculation over a possible Ministry expansion in UP which is going to the polls in the next seven months. Later in the day Singh met UP Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit. Singh, how- ever, described these meetings as a courtesy call. On possible Cabinet reshuffle, he said, “There are vacancies in the Ministry and they can be filled. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will take a call on these vacant posts at the appropriate time.” “The organisation and the Government are running like a well-oiled machine. The Government is very popular and there is no reason to bring a change in the party and the Government,” he said. Three Cabinet-rank Ministers – Home Guard and Family Pension Chetan Chauhan, Technical Education Minister Kamal Rani and Revenue and Flood Control Minister Vijay Kashyap – have died of Corona. Adityanath has so far not allocated their Ministry to other Ministers as additional charge. UP with 403-members in the State Assembly can have 60 Ministers – including Cabinet, Independent and State Ministers. Earlier there were 56 Ministers with four vacancies. With the death of three minis- ters Yogi Adityanath can now accommodate seven more Ministers to fulfil the Constitutional obligation. Singh said that the party had got a good victory in the Panchayat polls and now the district panchayat president elections are to be held. “The Panchayat election process is not complete. Wait till the complete election process is over,” he said when asked about the party’s performance in the Panchayat polls. About his meeting with the Governor and the Speaker he said that it has been more than six months since he came to UP. “During this time I could not meet any senior leader”, he said. Last week, BJP’s national general secretary organisation BL Santosh and Singh had vis- ited Lucknow for three days. During their visit Santosh met senior Ministers and both the Deputy Chief Ministers Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya separately. Meanwhile, in Delhi after the two-day meeting, Nadda on Sunday also asked the party’s ST Morcha and Mahila Morcha to reach out to people with the Central Government’s schemes of Van Dhan and Nutrition for Women and Children. Kisan Morcha has also been directed to train farmers for Farmer Producer Organisations, according to BJP national general secretary Arun Singh. Continued on Page 2 T he Centre on Sunday approved the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories (UTs), which is designed to catalyse transformational change in the field of school education. Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala occupy the highest grade of A++. Most of the States and UTs have improved their grades in PGI 2019-20 com- pared to the earlier years. However, no one reached the Level 1 (951 – 1,000) PGI score category. First published in 2019 for the session year 2017-18, the index aims to drive States to undertake “multi-pronged interventions” for optimal school education outcomes. “The PGI helps the States/UTs to pinpoint the gaps and accordingly prioritise areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level,” said Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a state- ment. According to the report released by Nishank, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have improved their overall PGI scores by 10 per cent. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Punjab have shown improvement of 10 per cent or more in the ‘Access’ domain, said a statement from the Ministry of Education. Continued on Page 2 T he Government has used roughly 4,500 crore of the total 35,000 crore meant for procuring the Covid-19 vac- cine. 4,488.75 crore has been released to HLL Lifecare Limited (the procurement agency for the Union Health Ministry) till date towards pro- curement of Covid-19 vac- cines Covishield (21 crore doses) manufactured by M/s Serum Institute of India and Covaxin (7.5 crore doses) man- ufactured by M/s Bharat Biotech International Limited at the unit cost of 157.50 including taxes (150 + five per cent GST),” the Government said in its response to a Right to Information plea filed by activist Saurav Das. The Government’s reply, dated May 26, also said that ini- tially, through the PM-Care funds, the Government pro- cured 5.6 crore doses of Covishield at the unit cost of 210 including taxes (200 + five per cent GST) and one crore doses of Covaxin at the unit cost of 309.75, including taxes (295 + five per cent GST). So, the 4,488.75 crore has been used for the procurement of two Covid-19 vaccines at the unit cost of 157.50 including taxes (150 + five per cent GST). “The procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine and vacci- nation is an ongoing process,” the RTI response added. Earlier, the Supreme Court on May 31 had asked the Union Government to clarify how the 35,000 crore ear- marked in the Union Budget for procuring vaccines had been spent so far. Further, the top court had asked why these funds cannot be used for giv- ing free vaccination for those in the age group 18 to 44 years. The apex court posed this question to the Union Government in the suo motu case that the top court was hearing on the coronavirus situation in India. Apart from calling the Government’s pol- icy “arbitrary and irrational”, the court also said that the Union Government justifying its lower prices (for vaccines) on account of its ability to place large purchase orders, raises the issue as to why this rationale is not being employed for acquir- ing 100 per cent of the month- ly CDL doses. The Union Budget for the Financial Year 2021-2022 had earmarked 35,000 crore for procuring vaccines. “In light of the Liberalised Vaccination Policy, the Central Government is directed to clarify how these funds have been spent so far and why they cannot be utilised for vaccinating people aged 18-44 years,” the Bench said. Continued on Page 2 D elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged the Centre to allow the State Government to launch doorstep ration delivery. The CM said crowded ration shops are corona hotspot and these shops could poten- tially turn into Covid-19 super- spreader zones in the city. Kejriwal said, “If pizza, smartphones, and garments can be delivered to doorsteps, then why not ration?” His reaction came a day after the Chief Minister Office (CMO) claimed that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal again rejected the Delhi Government’s “revolutionary” doorstep delivery of ration scheme. However, according to L-G office, he did not reject the scheme but only advised that constitutional procedure should be followed. In a virtual briefing, Kejriwal said the Delhi Government was completely prepared to launch the scheme in next week. “All necessary tenders completed, and arrangements were done,” he said. “In corona times, ration shops are corona hotspots, and with the launch of the scheme, many people could avoid crowding in these shops,” Kejriwal said, adding, “For the last 75 years, ration mafia ruled and they looted ration. Doorstep delivery would have been a revolutionary initia- tive.” According to the Delhi Government, the city current- ly has 1.78 million ration card holders. Sources in the Central Government claimed that the reason behind rejecting this scheme is because the ration is provided by the Centre and the Delhi Government cannot take credit for it. Appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said, “Believe me, Sir, I am not doing this work for even the slightest credit. I have only one aim: Somehow the poor should get their full ration. Please let me implement this, and all credit will be given to you. I will tell the whole world that this scheme was implemented by the Prime Minister.” Continued on Page 2 I n what the BJP leadership called Mamata Banerjee “pol- itics of vendetta”, the East Midnapore police have lodged an FIR against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and his brother Soumendu for alleged- ly looting hundreds of tarpau- lin and other relief material — kept to be distributed in the cyclone-hit areas — worth sev- eral lakhs of rupees from the Contai municipal godown. A complaint lodged by one Ratnadip Manna, a member of the Contai Municipal Administrative Board, alleged that tarpaulins “worth lakhs of rupees” were “taken away” by “forcefully and illegally break- ing the locks” at the instance of Adhikari and his brother and former Municipal Chief Soumendu Adhikari of Contai Municipality. The complaint was regis- tered on a when day Rakhal Bera a close associate of Adhikari was arrested on charges of extorting cash from people promising them jobs. He was arrested from his Maniktala residence in North Kolkata. Continued on Page 2 I ndia and China hope to break the stalemate at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh during the 12th round of mili- tary level talks likely to be held shortly. More than one lakh jawans from the two sides are engaged in a stand-off for the last one year at three friction points. Favouring dialogue at the military and diplomatic level, India has all along maintained that disengagement and de- escalation have to be complete from all face-off sites to ensure long lasting peace and tran- quility at the LAC. However, China is not willing to do so and has so far not given any commitment to hasten the process of withdrawing its troops from the three points namely Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang valley. In fact, there is no thinning out of troops by China since the withdrawal from both the armies from southern and northern banks of the Pangong Tso(lake)in late February. The lake was the first place where the stand-offs began last year in early May when an Indian patrol was stopped by the Chinese. Continued on Page 2 I am guilty … God has pun- ished me for my decisions,” Radha Gobindo Pramanik, 71, sighed as he looked around the big hall in his house where preparations were on for a religious ritual. “Corona has taken away the people I loved the most. I am alone in this world,” he said with tears in his eyes. Just 45 days ago, Pramanik had a happy family. His wife Mita was a chirpy and much- loved woman. They had a daughter Navanita, who lived in Ghaziabad with her hus- band. The elderly couple was planning to bring Navanita, who was seven months preg- nant, from Ghaziabad to Lucknow. They wanted their daughter’s first delivery to take place in Lucknow. They had spoken to a doctor and short- listed the city’s top nursing home where the delivery would take place. “Mita was very happy because our daughter was going to have her first child after nine years of marriage. She had so many plans. Right from the doctor to the cook she had made all arrangements,” Pramanik said. On April 2, a day before the couple went to Ghaziabad to bring their daughter to Lucknow, they hosted a party at their home. “A few days before the pro- posed party, my wife had a fever and a cough. I took her to the doctor who gave her med- icine. Her fever came down. We thought it to be a seasonal viral fever. Some of my friends sug- gested that we should get a Covid test done. But I refused because I did not see any Covid-like symptoms and her fever came down within a day,” Pramanik said. On April 2, over 50 people came to their house. Mita greeted everyone and actively took part in the celebrations. “The next day, we left for Ghaziabad. My daughter was very happy to see us. The mother and daughter talked the whole night where Mita explained the arrangements she had made in Lucknow for her delivery,” he said. The next day, Mita’s fever returned. She was again taken to the doctor who gave her medicines. But her condition deteriorated and on April 6 she died of the infection. “As Mita always wanted Navanita’s first baby to be born in Lucknow, I brought my daughter and son-in-law to Lucknow. I was confident that I would manage because Mita had made all the arrangements. My daughter also wanted to stay with me,” he said. Continued on Page 2 T he relentless post-election violence in Bengal claimed yet another life when a BJP worker on Sunday was killed in a bomb attack by alleged Trinamool Congress goons, sources said. The incident took place on a day when Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar launched a fresh twitter attack on the State Government for the “extreme- ly alarming” law and order sit- uation and called Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi to brief him about the steps taken by the administration to contain what he called “retributive vio- lence”.Jayprakash Yadav, a BJP worker, was bombed to death in broad daylight hardly a fur- long away from local BJP MP Arjun Singh’s residence when the victim was returning home from a local party office, alleged the MP, saying three TMC workers, including Lallan Singh, Chandan and Tuntun threw a bomb “straight on his head killing him on the spot”. The pieces of his blown skull were strewn around the area when the MP rushed in. The victim’s mother was grievously wounded and had been admitted in a local hos- pital, sources said. Bombs had been raining in the area since Saturday evening, complained Singh. “Repeated complaints to the police have yielded no result… on Friday night about 100 bombs were charged in the Jagaddal area barely a mile from Bhatpara,” he said, adding “these are poor people who work in the local jute mills … there only fault is that they have supported the BJP in the last elections … not only our men are being mur- dered but their houses are being looted … it is free for all … the TMC goons are looting property and cash from these people’s houses.” Continued on Page 2 New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia con- demned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s protest against refusal of the scheme and criticised the Centre for not allowing it. “We want to stop the black market- ing of ration at once so that every household can practice their right to basic ration,” he said. P3
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 · released to HLL Lifecare Limited (the procurement agency for the Union Health Ministry) till date towards pro-curement of Covid-19 vac-cines Covishield (21 crore doses) manufactured

Jun 24, 2021

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Page 1:  · released to HLL Lifecare Limited (the procurement agency for the Union Health Ministry) till date towards pro-curement of Covid-19 vac-cines Covishield (21 crore doses) manufactured

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As the second wave of theCovid-19 pandemic abates,

the BJP has now decided tofocus on next year’s Assemblypolls, especially in UttarPradesh (UP), with a massiveoutreach programme involvingone lakh party workers

After the BJP and RSSleaders held several round oftalks with Ministers and MLAsin Lucknow to prepare theroad map for the crucialAssembly polls and assess thepolitical damaged cause by theoutbreak, BJP national gener-al secretary Radha MohanSingh called on UP GovernorAnandiben Patel on Sunday.

At the same time, BJP pres-ident JP Nadda held discussionswith party general secretaries,States-in-charge and Morchachiefs for two days in NewDelhi to review the relief andawareness programme and laidout the road map to intensifyefforts in the coming months.

The meeting betweenAnandiben Patel and RadhaMohan Singh has created morespeculation over a possibleMinistry expansion in UPwhich is going to the polls inthe next seven months.

Later in the day Singh metUP Assembly Speaker HridayNarayan Dikshit. Singh, how-ever, described these meetings

as a courtesy call.On possible Cabinet

reshuffle, he said, “There arevacancies in the Ministry andthey can be filled. ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath willtake a call on these vacant postsat the appropriate time.”

“The organisation and theGovernment are running like awell-oiled machine. TheGovernment is very popularand there is no reason to bringa change in the party and theGovernment,” he said.

Three Cabinet-rankMinisters – Home Guard andFamily Pension ChetanChauhan, Technical Education

Minister Kamal Rani andRevenue and Flood ControlMinister Vijay Kashyap – havedied of Corona. Adityanathhas so far not allocated theirMinistry to other Ministers asadditional charge.

UP with 403-members inthe State Assembly can have 60Ministers – including Cabinet,Independent and StateMinisters. Earlier there were 56Ministers with four vacancies.With the death of three minis-ters Yogi Adityanath can nowaccommodate seven moreMinisters to fulfil theConstitutional obligation.

Singh said that the party

had got a good victory in thePanchayat polls and now thedistrict panchayat presidentelections are to be held. “ThePanchayat election process isnot complete. Wait till thecomplete election process isover,” he said when asked aboutthe party’s performance in thePanchayat polls.

About his meeting with theGovernor and the Speaker hesaid that it has been morethan six months since he cameto UP. “During this time Icould not meet any seniorleader”, he said.

Last week, BJP’s nationalgeneral secretary organisationBL Santosh and Singh had vis-ited Lucknow for three days.During their visit Santosh metsenior Ministers and both theDeputy Chief Ministers DineshSharma and Keshav PrasadMaurya separately.

Meanwhile, in Delhi afterthe two-day meeting, Nadda onSunday also asked the party’sST Morcha and Mahila Morchato reach out to people with theCentral Government’s schemesof Van Dhan and Nutrition forWomen and Children.

Kisan Morcha has alsobeen directed to train farmersfor Farmer ProducerOrganisations, according toBJP national general secretaryArun Singh.

Continued on Page 2

���� /A �6A"!0

The Centre on Sundayapproved the Performance

Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20for States and Union Territories(UTs), which is designed tocatalyse transformationalchange in the field of schooleducation. Punjab, Chandigarh,Tamil Nadu, Andaman andNicobar Islands and Keralaoccupy the highest grade ofA++. Most of the States andUTs have improved theirgrades in PGI 2019-20 com-pared to the earlier years.However, no one reached theLevel 1 (951 – 1,000) PGIscore category.

First published in 2019 forthe session year 2017-18, theindex aims to drive States toundertake “multi-prongedinterventions” for optimal

school education outcomes. “The PGI helps the

States/UTs to pinpoint the gapsand accordingly prioritise areasfor intervention to ensure thatthe school education system isrobust at every level,” saidEducation Minister RameshPokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a state-ment.

According to the reportreleased by Nishank, Andamanand Nicobar Islands, ArunachalPradesh, Manipur, Puducherry,Punjab and Tamil Nadu haveimproved their overall PGIscores by 10 per cent.Andaman and Nicobar Islands,Lakshadweep and Punjab haveshown improvement of 10 percent or more in the ‘Access’domain, said a statement fromthe Ministry of Education.

Continued on Page 2

���� /A �6A"!0

The Government has usedroughly �4,500 crore of the

total �35,000 crore meant forprocuring the Covid-19 vac-cine.

“�4,488.75 crore has beenreleased to HLL LifecareLimited (the procurementagency for the Union HealthMinistry) till date towards pro-curement of Covid-19 vac-cines Covishield (21 croredoses) manufactured by M/sSerum Institute of India andCovaxin (7.5 crore doses) man-ufactured by M/s BharatBiotech International Limitedat the unit cost of �157.50including taxes (�150 + five percent GST),” the Governmentsaid in its response to a Rightto Information plea filed byactivist Saurav Das.

The Government’s reply,dated May 26, also said that ini-tially, through the PM-Carefunds, the Government pro-cured 5.6 crore doses ofCovishield at the unit cost of�210 including taxes (�200 +five per cent GST) and one croredoses of Covaxin at the unit costof �309.75, including taxes

(�295 + five per cent GST). So,the �4,488.75 crore has beenused for the procurement of twoCovid-19 vaccines at the unitcost of �157.50 including taxes(�150 + five per cent GST).

“The procurement of theCovid-19 vaccine and vacci-nation is an ongoing process,”the RTI response added.

Earlier, the Supreme Courton May 31 had asked theUnion Government to clarifyhow the �35,000 crore ear-marked in the Union Budgetfor procuring vaccines hadbeen spent so far. Further, thetop court had asked why thesefunds cannot be used for giv-ing free vaccination for those inthe age group 18 to 44 years.

The apex court posed thisquestion to the UnionGovernment in the suo motucase that the top court was

hearing on the coronavirussituation in India. Apart fromcalling the Government’s pol-icy “arbitrary and irrational”,the court also said that theUnion Government justifyingits lower prices (for vaccines)on account of its ability to placelarge purchase orders, raises theissue as to why this rationale isnot being employed for acquir-ing 100 per cent of the month-ly CDL doses.

The Union Budget for theFinancial Year 2021-2022 hadearmarked �35,000 crore forprocuring vaccines. “In light ofthe Liberalised VaccinationPolicy, the Central Governmentis directed to clarify how thesefunds have been spent so farand why they cannot be utilisedfor vaccinating people aged18-44 years,” the Bench said.

Continued on Page 2

���������������� /A �6A"!0

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Sunday urged

the Centre to allow the StateGovernment to launchdoorstep ration delivery.

The CM said crowdedration shops are corona hotspotand these shops could poten-tially turn into Covid-19 super-spreader zones in the city.

Kejriwal said, “If pizza,smartphones, and garmentscan be delivered to doorsteps,then why not ration?”

His reaction came a dayafter the Chief Minister Office(CMO) claimed thatLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal again rejected the DelhiGovernment’s “revolutionary”doorstep delivery of rationscheme.

However, according to L-Goffice, he did not reject thescheme but only advised thatconstitutional procedureshould be followed.

In a virtual briefing,

Kejriwal said the DelhiGovernment was completelyprepared to launch the schemein next week.

“All necessary tenderscompleted, and arrangementswere done,” he said.

“In corona times, rationshops are corona hotspots, andwith the launch of the scheme,many people could avoidcrowding in these shops,”Kejriwal said, adding, “For thelast 75 years, ration mafia ruledand they looted ration.Doorstep delivery would havebeen a revolutionary initia-tive.”

According to the DelhiGovernment, the city current-ly has 1.78 million ration cardholders.

Sources in the CentralGovernment claimed that the

reason behind rejecting thisscheme is because the ration isprovided by the Centre and theDelhi Government cannot takecredit for it.

Appealing to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Kejriwal said, “Believe me, Sir,I am not doing this work foreven the slightest credit. I haveonly one aim: Somehow thepoor should get their fullration. Please let me implementthis, and all credit will be givento you. I will tell the wholeworld that this scheme wasimplemented by the PrimeMinister.”

Continued on Page 2

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In what the BJP leadershipcalled Mamata Banerjee “pol-

itics of vendetta”, the EastMidnapore police have lodgedan FIR against BJP leaderSuvendu Adhikari and hisbrother Soumendu for alleged-ly looting hundreds of tarpau-lin and other relief material —kept to be distributed in thecyclone-hit areas — worth sev-eral lakhs of rupees from the Contai municipalgodown.

A complaint lodged by oneRatnadip Manna, a member ofthe Contai MunicipalAdministrative Board, allegedthat tarpaulins “worth lakhs ofrupees” were “taken away” by“forcefully and illegally break-ing the locks” at the instance ofAdhikari and his brother andformer Municipal ChiefSoumendu Adhikari of ContaiMunicipality.

The complaint was regis-tered on a when day RakhalBera a close associate ofAdhikari was arrested oncharges of extorting cash frompeople promising them jobs.He was arrested from hisManiktala residence in NorthKolkata.

Continued on Page 2

���� /A �6A"!0

India and China hope to breakthe stalemate at the Line of

Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakhduring the 12th round of mili-tary level talks likely to be heldshortly. More than one lakhjawans from the two sides areengaged in a stand-off for the lastone year at three friction points.

Favouring dialogue at themilitary and diplomatic level,India has all along maintainedthat disengagement and de-escalation have to be completefrom all face-off sites to ensurelong lasting peace and tran-quility at the LAC. However,

China is not willing to do soand has so far not given anycommitment to hasten theprocess of withdrawing itstroops from the three pointsnamely Hot Springs, Gograand Depsang valley.

In fact, there is no thinningout of troops by China since thewithdrawal from both thearmies from southern andnorthern banks of the PangongTso(lake)in late February.

The lake was the first placewhere the stand-offs beganlast year in early May when anIndian patrol was stopped bythe Chinese.

Continued on Page 2

)�(�2����)���2���� "'=9/?

Iam guilty … God has pun-ished me for my decisions,”

Radha Gobindo Pramanik, 71,sighed as he looked around thebig hall in his house wherepreparations were on for areligious ritual.

“Corona has taken awaythe people I loved the most. Iam alone in this world,” he saidwith tears in his eyes.

Just 45 days ago, Pramanikhad a happy family. His wifeMita was a chirpy and much-loved woman. They had adaughter Navanita, who livedin Ghaziabad with her hus-band.

The elderly couple wasplanning to bring Navanita,who was seven months preg-nant, from Ghaziabad toLucknow. They wanted theirdaughter’s first delivery to takeplace in Lucknow. They hadspoken to a doctor and short-

listed the city’s top nursinghome where the delivery wouldtake place.

“Mita was very happybecause our daughter wasgoing to have her first childafter nine years of marriage.She had so many plans. Right

from the doctor to the cook shehad made all arrangements,”Pramanik said.

On April 2, a day before thecouple went to Ghaziabad tobring their daughter toLucknow, they hosted a partyat their home.

“A few days before the pro-posed party, my wife had afever and a cough. I took her tothe doctor who gave her med-icine. Her fever came down. Wethought it to be a seasonal viralfever.

Some of my friends sug-gested that we should get aCovid test done. But I refusedbecause I did not see anyCovid-like symptoms and herfever came down within a day,”Pramanik said.

On April 2, over 50 peoplecame to their house. Mitagreeted everyone and actively

took part in the celebrations.“The next day, we left for

Ghaziabad. My daughter wasvery happy to see us. Themother and daughter talked thewhole night where Mitaexplained the arrangementsshe had made in Lucknow forher delivery,” he said.

The next day, Mita’s feverreturned. She was again takento the doctor who gave hermedicines. But her conditiondeteriorated and on April 6 shedied of the infection.

“As Mita always wantedNavanita’s first baby to be bornin Lucknow, I brought mydaughter and son-in-law toLucknow. I was confident thatI would manage because Mitahad made all the arrangements.My daughter also wanted tostay with me,” he said.

Continued on Page 2

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The relentless post-electionviolence in Bengal claimed

yet another life when a BJPworker on Sunday was killed ina bomb attack by allegedTrinamool Congress goons,sources said.

The incident took place ona day when Governor JagdeepDhankhar launched a freshtwitter attack on the StateGovernment for the “extreme-ly alarming” law and order sit-uation and called ChiefSecretary HK Dwivedi to briefhim about the steps taken bythe administration to containwhat he called “retributive vio-lence”.Jayprakash Yadav, a BJPworker, was bombed to deathin broad daylight hardly a fur-long away from local BJP MPArjun Singh’s residence whenthe victim was returning homefrom a local party office,alleged the MP, saying threeTMC workers, including LallanSingh, Chandan and Tuntunthrew a bomb “straight on his

head killing him on the spot”.The pieces of his blown skullwere strewn around the areawhen the MP rushed in.

The victim’s mother wasgrievously wounded and hadbeen admitted in a local hos-pital, sources said.

Bombs had been raining inthe area since Saturday evening,complained Singh. “Repeatedcomplaints to the police haveyielded no result… on Fridaynight about 100 bombs werecharged in the Jagaddal areabarely a mile from Bhatpara,”he said, adding “these are poorpeople who work in the localjute mills … there only fault isthat they have supported theBJP in the last elections … notonly our men are being mur-dered but their houses arebeing looted … it is free for all… the TMC goons are lootingproperty and cash from thesepeople’s houses.”

Continued on Page 2

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New Delhi: Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia con-demned the Bharatiya JanataParty’s protest against refusal ofthe scheme and criticised theCentre for not allowing it. “Wewant to stop the black market-ing of ration at once so thatevery household can practicetheir right to basic ration,” hesaid. P3

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Srinagar: Principal SecretaryPower DevelopmentDepartment (PDD), RohitKansal chaired a meeting toreview the progress on the ongo-ing Centrally SponsoredSchemes (CSS) of PowerDepartment in Jammu andKashmir. Managing Director ofKashmir/Jammu PowerDevelopment CorporationLimited (KPDCL/JPDCL),Chief Engineers of DistributionKashmir/Jammu, ChiefEngineers of ProjectsKashmir/Jammu, DirectorFinance PDD, DG PlanningPDD, Heads of ProjectImplementing Agencies (PIAs)and other concerned attendedthe meeting in person andthrough virtual mode.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Keralaregistered 14,672 fresh coron-avirus cases and 227 relateddeaths on Sunday taking thetotal caseload in the State to26.03 lakh and the toll to 9,946.

Health Minister VeenaGeorge noted that 1,02,792samples were tested in the last24 hours and the test positivi-ty rate was 14.27 per cent.Till now 2.05 crore samples

have been tested. Among thedistricts, Thiruvananthapuramrecorded the highest number ofcases today at 2,126, followed byErnakulam with 1,807 andMalappuram 1,687.

“Out of those who werefound infected today, 153reached the state from outsidewhile 13,638 contracted thedisease through their contacts.The sources of infection of 814are yet to be traced. Sixty seven

health workers are also amongthe infected,” Minister said in arelease.

Currently, 1,60,653 peopleare under treatment for Covid-19 in the State.

As many as 21,429 peoplerecuperated from the disease onSunday taking the total numberof those cured to 24.62 lakh.Twenty seven new places wereadded to the hot spot list tak-ing the total to 891. PTI

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From Page 1The BJP general secretary

said that one lakh people wouldbe trained as health volunteersin view of the increasing needfor health workers under theongoing Covid-19 second wave.

“JP Nadda had a meetingwith national general secre-taries and Morcha chiefs. Thereview of 'Sewa hi Sangathan'was done in the meeting. Wereached out to 1,80,000 villagesand 50,000 urban wards duringthis programme and 80,000blood donations were conduct-ed, fodder for animals was alsodistributed,” he said.

Another party general sec-retary Bhupendra Yadav said,“The national general secre-taries’ meeting reviewed thework done during the Covidoutbreak and we presented thisreport in the meeting. In viewof the increasing need for vol-unteers, it was decided to trainone lakh health volunteers who at the end oftraining would have medicalknow-how and also operateventilators.”

“Morchas have been givenspecial tasks. ST Morcha will

focus on Van Dhan Yojana tomaximise tribal income. KisanMorcha will train farmers andMahila Morcha will focus onnutrition scheme and start itthroughout the country,” Yadavsaid.

Yadav said that the partyalso discussed and reviewedAssembly poll results and lashedout at the Trinamool CongressGovernment for the post-pollviolence in West Bengal.

“BJP has been strength-ened in West Bengal. Bengalpost-poll violence is the doingof TMC. Even today we get fre-quent news of political violencein the state. Women are beinginsulted and TMC leaders aredenying supplies, it was all con-demned in the meeting,” Yadavsaid.

The national general sec-retaries meeting which was heldat Nadda's residence andreviewed poll preparedness inUP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Gujarat(all BJP-ruled) and Punjab wasattended by Arun Singh, CTRavi, D Purandeshwari, DilipSaikia, Tarun Chugh, DushyantGautam, Kailash Vijayvargiya,and Yadav and Joint-GeneralSecretary (Organization) ShivPrakash and Santosh.

From Page 1Adhikari a powerful

Minister in Mamata BanerjeeCabinet had left the TMC tojoin the BJP just before the elec-tions and defeated the ChiefMinister from Nandigram seatby about 1,900 votes. He hasbeen chosen by the BJP as theState Opposition Leader.

After interrogation of Berasome more names have comeup, the police said adding peo-ple were coming forward withtheir complaints. One suchcomplaint alleged that Rs 2 lakhwas taken from him withpromise of a job in Irrigationand Waterways Ministry in2019. Adhikari was then theMinister in charge of the saidDepartment.

Adhikari's father SisirAdhikari a former UnionMinister and a sitting MP said,“We will fight the case in thecourt… everyone know whySuvendu is being framed.”

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From Page 1Such is the condition that

a large number of people havefled their homes, he added.

Local TMC MLA ParthaBhowmick denied Trinamoolhands in the attack saying, “Itis all between the old BJP andthe new BJP … those whojoined the BJP recently areattacking the older workersand Singh is accusing theTMC.”

None had been arrestedwhen reports last came in evenas a senior district police offi-cer said, “We are investigatingthe case… some names havebeen given … soon arrestswill be made.”

Earlier referring to theongoing violence the Governortweeted, 'Extremely alarminglaw & order scenario. Securityenvironment is seriously com-promised. In such a grim situ-ation called upon (the) ChiefSecretary to brief me on the law

and order situation on Monday7 and indicate all steps taken tocontain post poll violence.”

Alleging that the Statepolice was acting as an “exten-sion of ruling dispensation tolet loose vindictiveness onpolitical opponents,” theGovernor complained that sev-eral lakh people had left theirhouses and their propertiesworth crores had beendestroyed in what he called a“targeted violence.”

He said the State was in thegrip of “unprecedented postpoll retributive violence atunimaginable scale, with lakhof people being displaced andproperty worth hundreds ofcrore vandalised…” allegingthat there had been “numerousinstances of rapes and killingsat the hands of rogue elementswho have no fear of law”.

The Trinamool Congressleadership hit back saying “thisis a Governor who is more ofa BJP agent than anythingelse.”

From Page 1On April 10, Navanita

developed Covid symptoms andher sugar levels shot up. She wastaken to the doctor and wasadmitted to a nursing home. OnApril 18, she breathed her last.

“I lost my wife, my daugh-ter and her unborn baby in lessthan two weeks’ time. I am leftalone in this world now.Everyone whom I loved themost, has left me,” he said.

After a long pause helamented: “When my wife diedI took solace in the fact that mydaughter was there. When shewas coming with me on the trainshe told me she would take careof me. When I saw her lifelessbody on the stretcher of themedical college, her promise totake care of me haunted me. Itis my fault. I should not havetaken Mita to Ghaziabad. If wehad not gone to our daughter'shouse she would have beenalive now. I am guilty … some-times I feel I have killed my wifeand daughter. This thoughtkeeps me awake the wholenight.”

(This is the first of a six-partseries on how Covid-19 ravagedfamilies).

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From Page 1It led to exchange of blows

and some soldiers from boththe sides were injured. Troublesoon erupted at many otherplaces at the 1,700 km longLAC in Ladakh including HotSprings and Gogra.

The Galwan valley in theEastern Ladakh region wit-nessed a bloody brawl on June15 last year in which 20 Indianpersonnel including the com-manding officer were killed. Atleast 35 to 40 Chinese soldierswere also killed but Beijing isyet to make the casualty figurespublic.

In an effort to reduce ten-sion at the LAC, the two coun-tries have so far held 11 roundsof Corps Commander leveltalks since May last year. Thelast round was held on April 9.

The two countries alsoopened up the diplomatic routewith senior officers of India andChina foreign ministries hold-ing dialogue under the aegis ofthe Working Mechanism forConsultation and Co-ordina-tion(WMCC).

They have so far held sevenrounds of talks since the stand-offs started and are likely tohave the next round soon afterthe 12 th round of CorpsCommander talks, sources said

here on Sunday.While the two comman-

ders agreed in the last round tocontinue the process of parleys,there was no breakthrough inhaving a road map for disen-gaging troops from the remain-ing friction points includingChang Chemmo-KongKa Laarea which lies betweenGalwan and Pangong Tso.

The People’s LiberationArmy(PLA)has adopted delay-ing tactics by insisting that localcommanders of the rank ofBrigadiers or Colonels fromboth the sides should holdtalks regarding Hot Springs andGogra.

These two sections sawstand-offs in late May last yearafter the Chinese army object-ed to Indian patrolling there.However, India insisted it waswell within its territory andChina had no reason to blockthe Indian patrols.

Given the situation on theLAC with China unwilling toreduce its troops, India has alsotaken adequate measures tomeet any challenge. The Indiantroops remained deployedthrough out harsh winters allalong the LAC in Ladakh brav-ing minus 30 degrees temper-ature. Earlier, the troops fromboth the sides used to retreat tolower heights during the win-ter months.

From Page 1While there are none in the Level 1 (951 -

1000) PGI 2019-20 score category, Andaman andNicobar Islands, Kerala, Chandigarh, Punjab,Tamil Nadu fall in level 2 (901 - 950) Grade I++;Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Rajasthan, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Haryana, Puducherry, Delhi underthe level 3 (851 - 900) Grade I+.

Thirteen States and UTs have shown improve-ment by 10 per cent or more in ‘Infrastructure andFacilities’ while Andaman and Nicobar Islands andOdisha have improved their scores in the domainby 20 per cent or more, the Education Ministrysaid. In ‘Equity’, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur andOdisha have shown an improvement of more than

10 per cent.In the ‘Governance Process’, 19 States have

shown improvement by 10 per cent or more.“Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh,Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthanand West Bengal have shown improvement by atleast 20 per cent (72 points or more),” a Ministrystatement said.The index has been prepared with70 parameters to “catalyse transformationalchange in the field of school education.”

“The Statewise performance in PGI 2019-20shows that 33 States and UTs have improved theirPGI scores in 2019-20 as compared to the previ-ous year. The major purpose of PGI is indeed tocreate an environment that nudges States/UTs tocontinuously improve their performance,” said theMinister.

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From Page 1The court said that if the

Government's unique positionas the monopolistic buyer is theonly reason for it receiving vac-cines at a much lower rate frommanufacturers, “it is importantfor the court to examine therationality of the existingLiberalised Vaccination Policyagainst Article 14 of theConstitution, since it couldplace a severe burden, partic-ularly on States/UnionTerritories (UTs) sufferingfrom financial distress.”

The top court also askedthe Government to clarify thejustification for intervening inpre-fixing procurement pricesand quantities for States/UTsand private hospitals, but notimposing statutory price ceil-ings, and the comparisonbetween the prices of vaccinesbeing made available in Indiato their prices internationally.

From Page 1Kejriwal said the proposal

has been turned down citing noapproval from the CentralGovernment is untrue.

“We have written multipletimes, seeking their approvalfor the launch of the scheme,”he added.

Also, the CM highlightedinstances of “Centre vsStates” ongoing conflicts nam-ing West Bengal, Jharkhand and Maharashtraalso farmers' protest over thethree controversial farm laws.

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Page 3:  · released to HLL Lifecare Limited (the procurement agency for the Union Health Ministry) till date towards pro-curement of Covid-19 vac-cines Covishield (21 crore doses) manufactured

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Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on Sunday

criticised the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) for not approvingthe launch of doorstep rationdelivery, saying that the BJP isonly interested in "abusing"Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, instead of preventingtheft of ration in the country.

Addressing the media,Sisodia said, “It is beyondunderstanding that why is theCentral Government protesting

against the delivery of ration tohouseholds? If pizzas can bedelivered at home then surelyration can be delivered too. TheDelhi Government wants toensure that each and everyhousehold has adequate staplesfor sustenance. The purpose isalso to stop the black market-ing of ration”

Slamming the BJP-ledCentral Government on theirmisplaced priorities in times ofcrisis, Sisodia said, “The BJPand its spokespersons likeSambit Patra claim that the

process of ration distributionshould remain the same. Thisclearly means that the BJP hasno interest in eliminating theblack marketing of ration in thenation.”

“I watched BJP spokesper-son Patra’s Press conference. Hedid not mention the rationtheft in the country and insteadindulged in a tirade and anabusive attack on ArvindKejriwal,” he said.

The BJP wants the rationtheft to continue in the coun-try and its leaders will "abuse"anyone who questions it likePatra did about Kejriwal,Sisodia said.

“They want the poor in ourcountry to keep on suffering.The Congress stole from ourpoor for the last 70 years andnow the BJP is doing the samething and if someone tries tostop this, they have to hear rep-rehensible statements from themouth of BJP leaders,” headded.

Delhi Government onSaturday had claimed thatLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal has blocked its ‘DoorstepDelivery of Ration’ scheme.

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The Delhi Police has assist-ed and supplied over 13,000

metric tonnes of oxygen to sev-eral hospitals and Covid posi-tive patients after distress callswere received from themregarding the shortage of oxy-gen and its cylinders, amidongoing pandemic.

According to ChinmoyBiswal, the Public RelationOfficer (PRO) of Delhi Police,so far 13161.257 Metric Tonneoxygen has been transported toDelhi from several plants up toMay 5.

“Around 2,440 tankers withoxygen have already arrived inDelhi till date. As on May 05,331 oxygen tankers containing3978.264 metric ton of oxygenhave already arrived at DelhiCantonment, Tuglakabad and

Okhla railway stations throughspecial oxygen trains fromGujarat, Orissa, Jharkhand andother states and further dis-tributed to various hospitals ofDelhi,” said Biswal.

“As lives were at immediatestake, it was an anxious situa-tion for Police too. On 18April, the Outer District policegot the first SOS call fromMansa Ram hospital that oxy-gen stocks would last only anhour while no supply was com-ing. Around 35 covid patientswere on oxygen support. NihalVIhar police station teamsrushed out to find some localoxygen suppliers, contacted afacility in Bawana and got 20cylinders to the hospital just intime to save the lives,” saidBiswal.

“After this, police across thecity were running to arrange

oxygen cylinders for hospitalsin acute crisis, who wouldmake frantic distress calls topolice for help.

Soon the hospital startedrelying on police to makearrangements for supply,including liaison with cross-border oxygen plants and get-ting tankers from the plants tothe hospital in crisis,” saidBiswal.

Delhi PoliceCommissioner, S N Shrivastavaalso held a meeting with theDelhi Disaster ManagementAuthority (DDMA) and urgedthem to make an arrangementso all requirements and emer-gencies should be flagged to ahelpline to coordinate withoxygen supply tankers and fill-ing stations.

Further to ensure theemergency oxygen supplies’

coming to the National Capitalfrom other states reaches itsdestination within the time, theDelhi Police’s Police ControlRoom (PCR) unit providedthe security and escort to theoxygen tankers starting from

the plants to cut the travel timeand hassles.

“The PCR unit underSpecial Commissioner ofPolice, Operations as NodalOfficer ensured all help, sup-port and security as well as

“Green Corridor” to all oxygentankers during their trans-portation from various oxygenplants outside Delhi toHospitals in Delhi,” said Biswal.

“Around 55 PCR vehicleswith 20 Sub Inspectors andaround 100 police personnelwere deployed to escort theoxygen tankers from borders tovarious destinations by makinggreen corridor with the help ofdistrict and traffic police,” saidEsha Pandey, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), PCR unit.

“More than 40 PCR vehi-cles were engaged to escortoxygen tankers from variousplants located at the abovementioned locations up toDelhi border to supply thesame to various hospitals inDelhi.

Round the clock arrange-

ments were made to transportoxygen tankers from aboveplants to Delhi and around 348police personnel provided onroute security to all oxygentankers from the manufactur-er’s sites to Delhi,” said the DCP.

“Three AssistantCommissioners of Police andfour Inspectors were deployedat Panipat, Surajpur, Palwaland Modi Nagar plants to over-see the transportation arrange-ment and to brief thepilots/escorts engaged with thetransportation of oxygentankers,” she added.

Further to ensure the sup-ply of oxygen to hospitals, onthe direction of the CP, aWhatsApp group named“Oxygen Movement” was cre-ated.

“The group has over 80participants. Any SOS raised by

any hospital is escalated to theconcerned officers and the sit-uation is resolved immediate-ly. Replies are given on querieson resolution.

As most of the SOS areraised by smaller hospitals whodepend on refill of cylinders, itis ensured that their regular andurgent need of liquid oxygen ismet and the plants remainoperational for the maximumtime,” said Biswal.

During the oxygen crisis,besides attending the SOS callthe police teams also providedsupport to the hospitals whowere writing on social mediaregarding the oxygen shortage.

“All tweets tagging the CPand Delhi Police related tooxygen shortage particularlyfrom the hospitals are beingmonitored to act upon,” saidBiswal.

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Delhi Revenue MinisterKailash Gahlot handed

over �1 crore cheque to thefamily of Covid warrior JagParvesh Dagar in Najafgarhwho died of coronavirus inJune last year.

Jag Parvesh Dagar, a resi-dent of Najafgarh in Delhi, wasa lab technician in ChaudharyBrahm Prakash AyurvedaCharak Sansthan, KheraDarbar who died of Covid-19in June 2020. The bereavedfamily consists of his father,wife and two children. He hadjoined the service as a lab

technician on a contractualbasis in 2012.

Gahlot assured the familythat the Government is con-cerned about all the familieswho lost their loved ones to thepandemic. He also assuredthem of any support that theymight need in the future.

While offering aid to thefamily of Jag Parvesh Dagar, hesaid, "We are proud of all theCovid warriors who providedtheir service in this criticaltime. It is because of the dedi-cation of these warriors thatDelhi was able to fight the pan-demic and save lives. I pray toGod to give courage to the

whole family."The ex-gratia payment has

been approved by the ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal infavour of the wife and father ofthe deceased.

The Delhi Governmentlast year announced that itwill provide �1 crore financialassistance to all frontline work-ers who got infected withCovid while on duty andpassed away.

Baljit Singh, father of thedeceased after receiving thecheque thanked the Ministerand the Delhi Government forhelping the family in this timeof distress.

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Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) president Adesh

Gupta on Sunday said the AamAadmi Party (AAP’s ) claimthat Centre is not allowing thelaunch of the doorstep rationdelivery is false.

Citing the National FoodSecurity Act, Gupta said, “TheCentral Government is alreadydistributing free ration to 80crore people for May and Junealso 72 lakh card holders havealso benefited.”

“Kejriwal Government ishiding their failures. CMKejriwal is coming up withsuch lies while the fact remainsunder PM Gareeb KalyanYojna in May and till June 5,Delhi got more than its fixedquota, that’s it has got 72,782Mt. Of this, the StateGovernment has so far lifted

only 53000 Mt and of this, only68 per cent has been distrib-uted,” he added.

“While KejriwalGovernment gives only �2 sub-sidy on per kg wheat the Centregives �23.73 while on riceKejriwal gives only �3 per kgsubsidy while center gives�33.79 He said if Kejriwalwants to distribute ration inaddition to this, he can buy iton the notified rate and neither

centre nor anyone would objectto that. But to describe centerpolicies as his own is low levelpolitics,” he charged.

If he really wants to dosomething for the poor, heshould implement one nation,one card yojna,” he added.

Leader of Opposition,Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the‘CM Ghar Ghar ration yojna’that Kejriwal is talking about isactually PM Gareeb KalyanYojna under which ration isdistributed to state govern-ments. Kejriwal now claims itunder his own CM scheme. “Itsmacks of a conspiracy.

When this ration reachesthe poor’s home, it will be soldat a higher price due to pack-ing and delivery charges. Hesaid for 72 lakh card holders,the centre gives a monthlysubsidy of �126 crores whilethe Kejriwal Government is

spending 1000 crores rupeesyearly on publicity . Can’t itspend �126 crore for Delhiites?He asked adding in past sevenyears 70 lakh people got regis-tration for ration cards but havenot received it till now and theCM is talking of distributingration to households. It showsKejriwal’s double speaking, hecharged and people are realis-ing it,” he added.

New Delhi MP MeenakshiLekhi said the KejriwalGovernment wants to raise anarmy of middlemen so that itcan get its share.

“Instead of improving thecondition of 2000 odd rationshops by linking them withAadhar and making themmodern, the Kejriwal govern-ment’s intention seems to beusing these middlemen forsending ration to these rationshops.

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With the arrest of 21 people,the Delhi Police on

Sunday claimed to have bustedan illegally run international callcentre in West Delhi’s Narainainvolved in allegedly dupingUK-based citizens by posing asrevenue and custom officials ofthat country. According toUrvija Goel, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),west district, the employees atthe call centre in NarainaIndustrial Area approached UK-based citizens through phoneservice over the Internet (VoIP)and posed as HMRC (HerMajesty’s Revenue and Customs,United Kingdom) officials whothen duped them claiming thatdiscrepancies were found inthe audit of their income tax.

“The call centre was raidedon June 3 after some informa-tion was received by NarainaSHO Sameer Srivastva, follow-ing which a team was consti-tuted and 21 employees at the

centre, including a floor man-ager, two supervisors and 14agents were caught,” said theDCP. “During interrogation, itwas revealed that these fraud-sters were engaged in using ille-gal techniques, VOIP calling, bypassing the legal InternationalLong Distance (ILD) Gatewaysand thus causing wrongful lossto government exchequer andwrongful gain to themselves,”said the DCP. “They usedcostly softwares and cheatedUK-based citizens on the falsepretext of income tax frauds andviolations of government reg-ulations,” said the DCP.

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A75-year-old woman wasallegedly strangled to death

by her caretaker and his twoassociates during a robbery ather flat in west Delhi’s HariNagar area. Police said theyhave arrested the accused andhis two accomplices.

Police said the recently-hired caretaker, Monu (22),hatched a conspiracy alongwith his associates Vishal (22)and Naveen (31) to rob thewoman and her husband asthey were an easy target.

According to Urvija Goel,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), west district,police received information onJune 1 that Savitri Sharma wasadmitted to Orchid Hospital inan unconscious state.

“She was declared unfitfor statement by the attendingdoctor. But prima facie, thematter seemed to be of attemptto murder as strangulationmarks were found on her neck.Hence, a case was registered

accordingly but she later suc-cumbed to her injuries duringthe course of her treatment,”said the DCP.

“The caretaker after beingnabbed from the Burari areawas interrogated and suspiciongrew stronger on him as hekept changing his statements.With the help of technical sur-veillance.

It was confirmed that onthe day of incident, Monu hadcome along with some otherunidentified people and theyleft from there in a hurry aftersometime,” said the DCP.

“When Monu was con-fronted, he confessed to hisinvolvement in the offencealong with his associatesNaveen and Vishal followingwhich they were also nabbed,”said the DCP.

On May 31, Monu andVishal went inside the elderlycouple’s flat while Naveenstayed back at some distanceoutside to keep an eye on pos-sible threats to them, said theDCP.

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Police have busted fake callcentre and arrested three

people for allegedly dupingforeign nationals by creatingfalse legal pressure on pretextof to suspend Social SecurityNumber (SSN), drugs, fakebank loans, fake bank accountsand used to ask for $200 to$500 as service charge perclient. The culprits even sentfake arrest warrants, the policesaid on Sunday.

According to the police,SSN is a nine-digit number that

the US Government issues toall its citizens. The Governmentuses this number to keep trackof the residents’ lifetime earn-ings and the number of yearsworked.

The bogus call centre wasrunning for the last fewmonths.

According to the police, apolice team from the CyberCrime police station led byACP DLF and ACP UdyogVihar raided the call centrewhich was located at plot num-ber 3202 in Sector-23 followinga tip-off.

During the raid, the policearrested three persons andseized two laptops and twomobile phones, along withother electronic gadgets.

The arrested were identi-fied as Zarar Haider ofMumbai, the team leader of thecall centre, Partesh Patel ofMadhya Pradesh, who looksafter technical work andNisharg of Gujarat who used totalk with their clients.

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a 31-year-old woman for

allegedly killing her husband asshe suspected him of havingillicit relationships with otherwomen in outer Delhi’s NihalVihar area. The woman, iden-tified as Bhuvneshwari Devialias Pinky, also alleged that her35-year-old husband Anil Sahu,who ran a placement agency,often used to beat her.

In order to get rid of him,she along with one Raj, withwhom she was also having anaffair, hatched a conspiracy tokill him and later tried to mis-lead investigators by narratinga fake story, police said. Theaccused, Raj, has beenabsconding and raids are beingconducted to nab him.

“Sahu’s body with multi-ple injuries on his face, headand neck was found at hishome on June 3 and duringenquiry, his wife told policethat he was killed by twounknown people who hadcome to meet him. However,no information or clue was

found to identity them,” saidParvinder Singh, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Outer district.

“Later, it was found thatfive people, including thedeceased’s wife, his two minorchildren and two maids, werepresent at home at the time ofthe incident but none of themcould disclose anything relat-ed to the incident, which wassuspicious,” said the DCP.

“During inspection, policeteam found some injuries onthe body and the hands of hiswife. Some faint stain markswere also spotted on the clothesworn by her but she was notready to disclose anythingabout the incident and fre-quently kept changing herstatements,” said the DCP.

“However, after sustainedinterrogation, she told police thata long-standing dispute wasgoing on between them due towhich, she had also lodged acase against Sahu last year atDhanwar police station inJharkhand. But after arriving ata compromise, they had startedliving together,” the DCP said.

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At least 381 fresh cases of theCovid-19 were reported

on Sunday while the positivi-ty rate dipped to 0.5 per cent inthe national Capital on Sunday.

According to the healthbulletin issued by the DelhiGovernment, 34 more peoplehave succumbed to the diseasein a day, taking the total countto 24,591.

Delhi recorded 60 fatalitiesand 414 new cases of Covid-19On Saturday with a positivityrate of 0.53 per cent. The daybefore, Delhi had recorded 50deaths and 523 new cases witha positivity rate of 0.68 per cent.

The national Capital hadrecorded 623 cases and 62deaths on Tuesday, 576 casesand 103 fatalities onWednesday, and 487 cases and45 deaths on Thursday.

As per the report, a total of76,857 tests, including 55,786RT-PCR ones, were conducteda day ago, according to thehealth bulletin on Sunday.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal had onSaturday said the coronavirussituation in Delhi is quite under

control.Kejriwal had held two key

meetings on Friday to discusspreparations for the anticipat-ed third wave of the coron-avirus pandemic. He held animportant meeting with theexpert committee and thenwith the preparation commit-tee later.

Since April 19, both dailycases and single-day deathcount had been spiralling up.On April 20, Delhi had report-ed 28,395 cases, the highest inthe city since the beginning ofthe pandemic. On April 22 thecase positivity rate was 36.2 percent, the highest so far.

The city now has 5889active cases, down from 6,731a day before, the bulletin said.The number of people underhome isolation dipped to 2,327from 2,855 on Saturday.

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Making a case for vaccinat-ing pregnant women, a

report by a group of doctorsfrom a Central Governmenthospital in Delhi has pointedout that it can have dual ben-efits—both the mother andnewborn get antibodies whichhave been demonstrated incord blood and breast milk.

Currently, a pregnantwoman is either not includedfor vaccination or the policiesare not clear as the decision forinoculation is left on thewoman herself, the report pre-pared by doctors fromSafdarjung Hospital andVardhman Medical College inDelhi said as it made a case fortheir vaccination on a prioritybasis in the routine protocol forantenatal care.

“For Covid not to furtheraggravate the already heavyburden of maternal and under-five mortality, there is a strong

case for inclusion of pregnantwomen as a high priority groupfor vaccination, ‘’ said thegroup of medical experts led byDr Yamini Sarwal.

Their observation is in linewith the global studies whichhave made the case for vacci-nating pregnant women againstthe influenza virus. “It isappears to have a significantpositive effect on birth weightin babies,” said a study pub-lished in CMAJ (CanadianMedical Association Journal).

Hence, evidence is emerg-ing of the safety and efficacy ofCovid vaccination, which alongwith benefits of passing on theprotection to the newborn,call for including pregnantwomen in the high prioritygroup for vaccination, it said.

Observing that pregnantwomen are known to be at sig-nificantly higher risk for severeCoronavirus-related compli-cations compared with non-pregnant women, it said, the

issue of protecting such womenis critical.

Vaccination has emergedas a reliable protective measureagainst severe COVID-19infection, the report noted.

Arguing for prioritisation,the report said pregnantwomen experience more severeCOVID-19 disease than non-pregnant women.

They are more likely to

require hospitalization, admis-sion to ICU, receive invasiveventilation and extracorporealmembrane oxygenation whencompared with non-pregnantwomen, it said, adding, there is

a 70 per cent increased risk ofdeath among symptomaticpregnant women as comparedto non-pregnant ones.

In fact, a study inAmerican Journal of Obstetricsand Gynecology has said thatcontracting COVID-19 whilepregnant can have deadly con-

sequences for the mother.The study, which followed

240 pregnant women betweenMarch and June 2020, foundthat the Covid-19 mortality ratein the pregnant women wassignificantly higher when com-pared to the Covid-19 mortal-ity rate in similarly aged indi-

viduals within Washingtonstate.

The study also found thatpregnant women with Covid-19 had 3.5 times higher Covid-19 associated hospitalizationrate than the similarly agedgeneral population inWashington state.

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Seeking to counter theOpposition, especially

Congress’ unrelenting criti-cism of the under-constructionCentral Vista project amid thepandemic, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs onSunday came out with a docu-ment titled “Myths andRealities”, wherein it talkedabout the funds for the projectand environmental issues sur-rounding it among others.

Rebutting the Oppositioncharge that the Centre wasspending �20,000 crore on theambitious project and the fundscould have instead been uti-lized to fight the Covid-19pandemic, the Ministry said:“Till date, only two projects ofNew Parliament Building withtendered cost �862 crore andRedevelopment of CentralVista Avenue with tenderedcost �477 crore have beenawarded and works are under-

way. Expenditure incurred onthese 2 projects till March2021 is �195 crore and budgetprovision for 2021-22 is �790crore.”

The ministry said that theredevelopment plan was envis-aged in 2019 much before theoutbreak of the pandemic. It isa generational infrastructureinvestment project, involvingmultiple projects spread oversix years and the �20,000 crorebeing talked about is a grossrough estimate of all theplanned development/redevel-

opment works, the Ministrymaintained.

It also rubbished thereports that �13,450 crore isbeing incurred on new housefor Prime Minister. The esti-mate includes multiple pro-jects, including 10 buildings,the ministry said, adding thatthe construction work for thePrime Minister’s residence hasnot yet been tendered and nosanction has been accorded bythe Government. “The cost forthe PM’s residential complexhas been mischievously exag-

gerated in media,” the ministrysaid.

Further, the ministryrejected the charge of divertingfunds from public healthcareand Covid-19 response to theCentral Vista Project. Theministry said that in UnionBudget 2020-21, there was a137 percent increase from pre-vious year’s budget estimate inallocation for public healthcareand well-being expenditure.

“�35,000 crore of theannual allocation has beenallocated as a one-time granttowards Covid-19 vaccination,significantly more than thecost of the Central Vista rede-velopment project. Thus, theone-time amount for vaccina-tion for FY 2021-22 is 175%more than the total budget forthe Central Vista project,which is expected to be com-pleted by 2026,” the ministrysaid.

Union Minister for hous-ing and urban affairs Hardeep

Singh Puri had recently lashedout at the Congress for its“bizarre” objections.

Amid demands for stop-ping the work, the Ministrysaid that doing so at this stagewill entail creating liabilities forthe government under theexisting contracts and theworkers’ interest. It also citedinflation as a key issue if theproject is delayed.

Justifying the need for anew Parliament house, theMinistry said that the presentParliament House, completedin 1927, was never designed toaccommodate a bicameral leg-islature for a full-fledgeddemocracy and it is alreadyhighly stressed. “If the strengthof the Parliament is increasedafter the freeze on its expan-sion lifts in 2026, it will be nec-essary to ensure thatParliament House has the facil-ities for a larger Parliament tofunction,” the ministry’s releasesaid.

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With the Centre and theState continuing to be at

loggerheads, a Union HomeMinistry team, headed by aJoint Secretary, will visit WestBengal to assess the damagecaused by Cyclone Yaas. TheCentral team, constituted byMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA), will visit the State forthree days for spot visits anddiscussing the situation withthe State Government officials.

Recently Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee had said thatas preliminary assessment, thecyclone had led to a damage ofan estimated �20,000 crore tothe property and agriculture.She had also said that 18 lakhpeople were affected by thecyclone and around 2. 21 lakhhectares of crops and 71,560hectares of horticulture areasuffered damage.

Prime Minister NarendraModi conducted an aerial sur-vey of the cyclone-affectedarea of West Bengal on May 28and later called a review meet-ing at the Kalaikunda air forcestation.

The Chief Minister didnot attend the meeting chairedby the Prime Minister, leadingto the Centre issuing severalnotices to the Chief Secretary.

The Department ofPersonnel and Training(DoPT), the cadre controlling

ministry for the IAS officers,summoned Chief SecretaryAlapan Bandyopadhyay forserving in the central govern-ment.

However, he did not cometo the capital and chose toretire on May 31, instead ofaccepting a three-monthextension sanctioned to him bythe state and CentralGovernment. Subsequently, hewas appointed as the chiefadvisor to the StateGovernment by Banerjee.

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Anti-helminitic drugNiclosamide, which has

been extensively used for treat-ment of tapeworm’s infectionin adults as well as children, isnow being evaluated for treat-ment of hospitalised Covid-19patients. The Council forScientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR) in collabora-tion with Laxai Life SciencesPvt. Ltd., has initiated Phase-II clinical trials with this repur-posed drug.

“Having received approvalfrom the drug regulator, theclinical trial has been initiatedthis week at different sites andwe hope that the trial will becompleted within 8-12 weeks.Based on clinical evidencegenerated during clinical trialsin Indian studies, emergencyuse authorisation may besought so that more treat-ment options are available toCovid-19 patients,” said Dr

Ram Upadhayaya, CEO, LaxaiLife Sciences

The trial is a multi-centric,phase-II, randomized, openlabel clinical study to evaluateits safety and tolerability for thetreatment of Covid-19 patients.

The safety profile of thisdrug has been tested over timeand has been found safe forhuman consumption at dif-ferent dose levels.

Dr Ram Vishwakarma,Advisor to DG-CSIR,explained that in a screen toidentify drugs that can inhib-it syncytia formation,Niclosamide was identified asa promising repurposed drugby a research group fromKing’s College, London, whocollaborated in this project.

“The syncytia or fusedcells observed in the lungs ofpatients with Covid-19 prob-ably results from the fusogenicactivity of the SARS-CoV-2spike protein and Niclosamidecan inhibit syncytia forma-tion,” he said.

Also, said DrVishwakarma, independentcollaborative research betweenCSIR-IIIM, Jammu and NCBS,Bangalore has recently demon-strated that Niclosamide isalso a potential SARS-CoV2entry inhibitor blocking theviral entry through pH depen-dent endocytic pathway.

“Given these two inde-pendent experimental stud-ies, Niclosamide has nowemerged as a promising drugcandidate for clinical trials inCovid-19 patients.”

Dr SrivariChandrashekhar, DirectorCSIR-IICT Hyderabad, high-lighted that the ActivePharmaceutical Ingredient(API) is being made by LaxaiLife Sciences based onimproved technology devel-oped at IICT and the lab is apartner in this important clin-ical trial which could providecost effective therapeuticoptions for patients if trial issuccessful.

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During the nearly one-month period from May 7

to June 4, the Central para-military forces have recordeda downward spiral of activecases of Covid-19 from 8,564to 3,410, which is about 60 per-cent decline during the period.

However, the death tollfrom the pandemic increasedfrom 263 to 320 during theperiod.

As on May 7, the paramil-itary forces had recorded68,998 cases of coronavirusinfection of which 60,169patients were cured and 263patients died due to the viraldisease.

On June 4, the total num-ber of Covid-hit patients stoodat 81,216 including 77,486recoveries and 320 casualties.

Till May 7, the three para-military forces—CRPF, BSF

and CISF—recorded close to80 percent of the total Covidcases among the Forces thatalso included the ITBP, SSB,NDRF and NSG. The com-bined figure of the total Covidcontractions in CRPF, BSFand CISF was 54,782 out ofgrand total of 68,998 casesamong all the seven forces.

By June 4, the total num-ber of infected personnel roseto 81,216 of which 65,012cases were from CRPF, BSF

and CISF which is roughly 80per cent of the cases across allthe seven forces. The remain-ing 16,204 cases were fromother paramilitary forces, ITBP,SSB, NSG and NDRF.

The CRPF has topped theparameters of Covid infectionwith 23,987 cases and 22,939recoveries besides 122 casual-ties. The number of activecases as on June 4 in the CRPFwas 926 which is slightly lowerthan 1,024 cases in the BSF.

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India reported 1,14,460 newcoronavirus infections, the

lowest in 60 days, while theCovid-19 death at 2,677 wasthe lowest in 42 days even asthe active cases also droppedbelow 15 lakh, as per the dataupdated at 8 am on Sunday,said the Union Health Ministryin a statement here.

With the fresh cases, thetotal tally of coronavirus casesin the country climbed to2,88,09,339 while the death tollhas touched 3,46,759. Also,20,36,311 tests were conduct-ed on Saturday taking the totalcumulative tests conducted sofar for detection of COVID-19in the country to 36,47,46,522.

The daily positivity hasfurther declined to 5.62 percent . It has been less than 10per cent for 13 consecutivedays, the ministry said.

The weekly positivity ratehas declined to 6.54 per cent.

The active cases have reducedto 14,77,799 comprising 5.13per cent of the total infections,while the national Covid-19recovery rate has improved to93.67 per cent. A net decline of77,449 cases has been record-ed in the COVID-19 caseloadin a span of 24 hours.

Recoveries continue tooutnumber daily new casesfor the 24th consecutive day.The number of people whohave recuperated from thedisease surged to 2,69,84,781,while the case fatality ratestands at 1.20 per cent, thedata stated.

A total of 23,13,22,417vaccine doses have beenadministered so far. “A total of1,63,85,701 COVID-19 vac-cine doses are still availablewith the states and UTs to beadministered,” it said.

India’s COVID-19 tallyhad crossed the 20-lakh markon August 7, 30 lakh onAugust 23, 40 lakh onSeptember 5 and 50 lakh on

September 16.It went past 60lakh on September 28, 70lakh on October 11, crossed80 lakh on October 29, 90lakh on November 20 andsurpassed the one-crore markon December 19.India crossedthe grim milestone of 2 croreon May 4.

The 2,677 new fatalitiesinclude 741 fromMaharashtra, 443 from TamilNadu, 365 from Karnataka,209 from Kerala, 120 fromUttar Pradesh and 118 fromWest Bengal.

A total of 3,46,759 deathshave been reported so far inthe country including 99,512from Maharashtra, 31,260from Karnataka, 26,571 fromTamil Nadu, 24,557 fromDelhi, 21,151 from UttarPradesh, 16,152 from WestBengal, 15,009 from Punjaband 13,192 from Chhattisgarh.

The ministry stressed thatmore than 70 per cent of thedeaths occurred due tocomorbidities.

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The Congress and the BJP onSunday sparred over the

ongoing Twitter row. FormerCongress President RahulGandhi took a swipe at theModi Government, saying it isfighting for a blue tick whileleaving people to become “aat-manirbhar” (self-reliant) to getCovid vaccines. Hitting back,the BJP said he should get outof social media and work onthe ground. The BJP also askedhim to speak to Chief Ministersof Congress-ruled Statesregarding alleged scams andirregularities in the Covid vac-cination programme there.

Rahul’s remarks came aday after outrage over theremoval of ‘blue tick’ badgefrom the personal accounts ofVice President M VenkaiahNaidu and RSS’ top func-tionaries, including MohanBhagwat, by Twitter, only torestore it later.

“The Modi government isfighting for the blue tick. If youwant a Covid vaccine, then beself-reliant,” he said in a sar-castic tweet in Hindi, using thehashtag “#Priorities”.

Taking a dig at the formerCongress chief, BJP spokesper-son Sambit Patra said doingpolitics on Twitter is his(Rahul’s) “most important sub-ject” and “biggest platform”.

Patra asserted that theModi government has done anadmirable job in spearheadingsuch a big inoculation pro-gramme and providing freeration to the poor.

For her part, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra alleged that the Modigovernment reduced oxygenbeds by 36 per cent, ICU bedsby 46 per cent, ventilator beds

by 28 per cent betweenSeptember 2020 and January2021.

“Is the health of Indian cit-izens less important than theCentral Vista project?” sheasked, alleging that theGovernment has declared theproject as an essential servicewith people working day andnight to complete it by 2023.

“When every expert in thecountry, the ParliamentaryCommittee on Health and theirown sero-surveys warned themthat additional beds would beneeded for an inevitable secondwave,” she said as part of her‘ZimmedarKaun’ (Who isresponsible) campaign.

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Rahul and Priyanka alsocommented on the con-

troversy over DelhiGovernment-run GovindBallabh Pant Institute of PostGraduate Medical Educationand Research asking its nurs-es not to converse inMalayalam.

The hospital order has,however, been revoked.“Malayalam is as Indian as anyother Indian language. Stoplanguage discrimination,”Rahul tweeted. Priyankatweeted in Malayalam saying:“This order is a violation of thebasic values of our country. Itis racist, discriminatory andutterly wrong.”

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With climate change posingchallenges in various sec-

tors and daily life, researchersfrom across the States underthe aegis of Department ofScience and Technology ( DST)are tracing the impact of glob-al warming on the country,finding new ways to track theglobal problem, improving theprojection of climate, its impactas well as vulnerability to pre-pare for the future.

For instance, Dehradun-based researchers have foundthat small-sized glaciers inSikkim are melting at a highermagnitude as compared toother Himalayan regions in astudy published in ‘Science’conducted by the WadiaInstitute of HimalayanGeology. Researchers from thesame institute have also foundthat black carbon from agri-cultural burning and forestfire has alerted over the yearsmay influence melting ofGangotri Glacier.

Similarly, a team of scien-tists from IIT Kanpur hasfound that aerosols like blackcarbon and dust, which makesthe Indo-Gangetic Plain one ofthe most polluted regions of theworld, have led to increasedincidents of high rainfall eventsin the foothills of theHimalayan Region, said asenior official from the UnionMinistry of Science andTechnology.

In another work support-ed by DST, IISc researchersshowed that a planetary wavefrom the North Atlantic iscapable of derailing the Indianmonsoon on which the Indianeconomy is heavily dependent.

In fact, Centres of excel-lence in Climate Change in

four Indian Institute ofTechnologies – Delhi, Bombay,Kharagpur, and Madras, areworking on improving climateprojection models to makethem more comprehensive andaccurate, said the official.

For it's part, the Centres ofExcellence (CoEs) Centre forClimate Change, IIT Delhi,has contributed to significantimprovements to the basemodel, moving towards devel-opment of the India CentricClimate Model (ICCM).

Connection betweenmonsoon and irrigation prac-tices has been established byDST Centre for Excellence inClimate Studies, IIT Bombay."They have underlined theneed for representation ofirrigation practices, farmer’sbehavior, and vegetation- landand atmosphere interactionsto improve model predictionsand also develop agriculturalvulnerability maps at theNational level," added theofficial.

Meanwhile DST Centrefor Excellence in ClimateChange Impact on CoastalInfrastructure and theAdaptation strategies, IITMadras is developing suit-able climate change adaptationmeasures for coastal infra-

structure and utilization ofwater resources. "A techniqueis known as “pseudo globalwarming method” has beenadapted and successfully usedfor prognostic understandingof how cyclones originating inthe Bay of Bengal wouldbehave in the near future(2025) and in far future (2075)under different RCP scenarios(a greenhouse gas concentra-tion trajectory adopted by theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change)."It is pre-dicted that cyclone damagepotential will increase signif-icantly in future. This strate-gic knowledge is essential forall the studies related to adap-tation of coastal infrastruc-ture, water resources man-agement in coastal areas andpreparedness of coastal com-munities to extreme events inthe future.

Historical climate data forthe Indian Ocean region hasbeen used by Center ofExcellence (CoE)- IITKharagpur to understand thetemporal variability of waveheight (SWH) over the Bay ofBengal (BoB) region for theperiod 1997-2015, which havebeen published in reputedinternational and nationaljournals.

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The beleaguered president ofKerala BJP, K Surendran,

who is held responsible for theelection debacle of the party bythe entire State leadership, had tofield former Governor ofMizoram K Rajasekharan to savehimself from the grilling by themedia on Sunday. Interestingly,the presence of Union MinisterV Muraleedharan did not go wellwith Kerala Police and they stoodtheir ground that the meetingwould not be allowed come whatmay.

The 11-member core com-mittee of the party which was tomeet at Ernakulam’s BharatTourist Home, to take stock of thesituation arising out of the BJP’swash out in the Assembly elec-tion had to be shifted to the dis-trict committee office followingthe instruction of the KeralaPolice that a meeting of this mag-nitude could not be allowed in ahotel.

Before moving out of thehotel, the State leaders includingRajasekharan and union minis-ter of State V Muraleedharanaddressed the media and alleged

that the police action was inresponse to directive issued bythe political boss of Kerala (readPinarayi Vijayan, ChiefMinister).

Rajasekharan alleged thatthe CPI(M) and CPI with thehelp of the media were selectivelytargeting the BJP and its presidentSurendran in connection with theheist and seizure of hawalamoney of �3.5 crore, reportedlybelonging to the Hindutwa party.“A part of the money was seizedfrom Dharmarajan. It was the BJPleadership that approached thepolice with a complaint that themoney meant for election cam-paign has been stolen. If it washawala money, do you think wewould have approached thepolice? Moreover, Dharmarajanis an activist of the BJP and we donot have any issues in acceptingour links with him,” saidRajasekharan.

Though Union MinisterMuraleedharan and formerKerala chief were present duringthe media conference along withSurendran, they maintainedsilence.

When asked why theEnforcement Directorate could

not be entrusted with the inves-tigation, the union minister saidit was not possible.

C P Radhakrishnan, theparty leader in charge of Keralaaffairs had flown ito Kochi to pre-side over the meeting.

“It is really shocking to notethat the Kerala Police did notallow a meeting which was to be addressed by a UnionMinister and a two-time memberof the Lok Sabha to take place.Rajasekharan is correct when hestated that this was an act of vic-timization by the CPI(M),” saida political commentator based inThiruvananthapuram.

The BJP in Kerala is facingthe worst crisis it has comeacross during the last fourdecades. Sundara, an indepen-dent candidate who had filed hisnomination from Manjeswaramhad alleged the other day that hewas forced to withdraw from therace at the instance of Surendranwho had paid him �2.5 lakh anda mobile phone.

He also said that he had beenoffered licences to open twoliquor outlets in Karnataka if Surendran wins theelection.

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The Kerala PradeshCongress Committee finds

itself between a deep sea anddevil syndrome. Following thedisastrous performance of theparty in the recent Assemblyelection, the reigning KPCCchief M Ramachandran hasexpressed his desire to quit. Thedecision has been hastened bythe appointment of V DSatheeshan as the Leader of theOpposition in place of RameshChennithala was was oustedfrom that post.

Though a team of AICCobservers led by MallikarjunKharge who were deputed byparty president Sonia Gandhiheld many rounds of talks withthe new legislators and theformer chiefs of the KPCC, asolution remains elusive. Anumber of leaders have pitchedin for the coveted post and thisinclude Kodikkunnil Suresh,

Sashi Tharoor (both formerunion Ministers), KMuraleedharan, BennyBehannan, K Sudhakaran (allMPs) ,P T Thomas MLA andK C Joseph, former Minister.

The information tricklingout of Indira Bhavan (KPCCheadquarters) atThiruvananthapuram is thatformer Chief MinisterOommen Chandi and RameshCVhennithala are cut up withthe move by the HighCommand to bring in a newleader as the party chief. KSudhakaran, popularly knownas Kerala Simham (Malayalamfor Lion), and has proved hisorganisational skills is thepreferred leader of the newgeneration of Congressmenthough he is 70.

But Oommen Chandi andRamesh are totally opposed toSudhakaran becoming theKPCC president .”Both of themhave made it known that they

would not accept any organi-sational responsibilities if theHigh Command appointsSudhakaran,” said a formerleader of the KPCC.

Tariq Anwar, the specialrepresentative of Sonia Gandhiis in the capital city to know thepulse of the other leaders.Though Anwar held a series ofmeetings with all the leaderswho matter in the KPCC, thename of the new chief remainsa mystery.

“The person who isappointed as the KPCC presi-dent by the Congress HighCommand would command allsupport from all sections.There is no confusion in it,”Chandy told reporters atKottayam. The incomingKPCC president would have tolift the party from the abyss ofdefeat as the Congress has losttwo successive elections to theassembly, something unheardof in the last four decades.

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The week beginning onMonday will see a series of

agitations and demonstrationsin the hitherto peaceful islandsof Lakshadweep against themove to introduce “reforms” bythe Administrator Praful Patel.

Fearing a backlash fromthe people, the LakshadweepDevelopment Authority by aspecial order on Saturday askedall non-residents and outsidersto leave the island immediate-ly. People from Kerala andother States who have come tothe islands as visitors and con-tract workers have to leave thearchipelago by Monday, saidthe order.

“Ours is a peace-lovingpopulation and we are happy ifwe are left alone,” MohammedFaizal, MP, told The Pioneer onSunday. He said a latest orderissued by the Administrationthat all fishing boats operatingfrom the islands should have aGovernment official in themwas bizarre.

“There are more than 100fishing boats operating fromeach of these islands and howare they ging to post govern-ment officials in all these boats?It is these kinds of laws thatmake us alien in our ownland,” said Faizal.

Wajahat Habibullah, a for-mer IAS officer who was ahighly revered bureaucrat andwas the Administrator ofLakshadweep for many yearssaid that the reformsannounced by the presentadministrator were somethingwhich the islands could dowithout.

He cautioned the authori-ties that the slew of draft leg-islation will have wide rangingimpact on the islands.“Lakshadweep with its landownership constitutionally pro-tected be opened to interna-tional tourism not as a meansfor generating wealth forinvestors from the mainlandbut to bring prosperity to theislanders,” he pointed out in arecent article on the issue.

Meanwhile 93 retired civilservants from across the coun-try have sent a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modiagainst the controversial deci-sions by administrator PrafulPatel. The former officials saidthe move to bring in reforms asdesired by Patel would alienatethe islanders.

“Each of these draft regu-lations is part of a larger agen-da that is against the ethos andinterests of the islands andislanders,” said the officialsstating that these decisionswere taken without consulting the people ofLakshadweep.

The Kerala High Court bya special order issued last weekhad asked the LakshadweepAdministration to submit itsexplanation and affidavit withrespect to the draft resolu-tions within a fortnight.

The retired officials haveasked for the immediate recallof the administrator and theappointment of a servingbureaucrat in his place.

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People have not yet forgottenthe incident of getting 29

vaccine filled syringes in thedustbin at Jamalpur UrbanPrimary Health Center(UPHC) of Aligarh, a newcase has came to limelight inwhich the vaccines which wereallotted to Aligarh'sNaurangabad UPHC werebeing administered in Noida'sJaypee Greens Society.

The officials of healthdepartment are in denial on theone hand, but also on theother hand they are saying totake strict action against thedefaulters.

Now the question arisesthat when the vaccine cannotgo from one center to anothercenter in the district, then howdid the entire consignment of

this vaccine allocated forAligarh reached Noida.

That too when these vac-

cines are audited daily in theofficial document of the HealthDepartment.

Aligarh: The key accused in the lastmonth's Aligarh hooch incident, whichhas claimed at least 35 lives so far, wasnabbed in the early hours of Sunday,police said.

Accused Rishi Sharma, who carrieda reward of �1 lakh on his arrest, washeld near Bulandshahr border in west-ern Uttar Pradesh, Aligarh SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP) KalanidhiNaithani said.

Sharma, whom the police describedas the kingpin of the liquor mafia, wasnamed in 13 different cases connectedto the recent liquor tragedy, and wasnabbed this morning on the Aligarh-Bulandshshar border as he was about toslip out of the district after being holedup in his hideouts since the past ninedays.

On Saturday, the police had raisedthe bounty on Sharma from �75,000 toRs 1 lakh.

His wife, son, two brothers and anephew were arrested in the last fivedays.

The search for Sharma was extend-ed to half a dozen neighbouring states

and several districts, where he had hisnetwork.

The police were tracking over 500cell phone numbers belonging to hisclose circle. Police were tipped off onSaturday night that Sharma would betravelling to Bulandshshar in an SUV.

He was nabbed in his vehicle, whichwas carrying a large cache of spuriousliquor, police said.

Nearly 50 people have died inAligarh since consuming spurious liquoron two different occasions recently,according to police, while officials esti-mated that the death toll could go up to100 as autopsy reports of another 50hooch consumers were awaited.

"In a major breakthrough in thehooch incident, key accused and Rs 1lakh rewardee Rishi Sharma has beenarrested from near Bulandshahr border,"Naithani said.

"Earlier, the police had arrestedaccused Vipin Yadav, with �50,000reward on his arrest, and Rishi Sharma'sbrother Munish Sharma carrying abounty of �25,000 in this case," the SSPsaid.

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Thespian Dilip Kumar was admittedto PD Hinduja at Khar in north-

west Mumbai on Sunday morning,after he complained of breathless-ness. His condition was described inthe evening as “stable” by the doctorsattending on him at the hospital.

“Dilip Sahab has been admitted tonon-Covid PD Hinduja Hospital Kharfor routine tests and investigations. He’shad episodes of breathlessness. A teamof healthcare workers led by Dr. NitinGokhale is attending to him. Pleasekeep Sahab in your prayers and pleasestay safe,” the official Twitter handle ofDilip Kumar said. The veteran actor'sofficial twitter handle is managedpersonally by the thespian’s actress-wifeSaira Banu.

“Don’t believe in WhatsApp for-wards. Saab is stable. Thank you foryour heart-felt duas and prayers. As perdoctors, he should be home in 2-3 days.Insh’Allah,” the veteran actor’s twitterhandle said later in the evening.

Meanwhile, pulmonologist Dr.

Jalil Parkar who is treating him, saidthat the actor has been diagnosed withbilateral pleural effusion and kept onoxygen support in the Intensive CareUnit ward, where “his condition is sta-ble”.

Nationalist Congress PartyPresident Sharad Pawar, who visitedthe PD Hinduja hospital and enquiredafter the actor’s health from Saira Banuin the afternoon, tweeted: “Visited leg-endary actor Dilip Kumarji at HindujaHospital today to check on his healthand treatment, with the veteran actressSaira Banu. I wish Dilip Kumarji aspeedy recovery and good health!”.

Minister of State in the PMO Dr.Jitendra Singh said in a tweet: “Wishingthe living legend, the ultimate thespi-an, clearly the last word in the schoolacting and our all-time favourite… aspeedy recovery”.

Dilip Kumar, who turned 98 onDecember 11, 2020, did not celebratehis birthday as he lost his two youngerbrothers --Ehsaan Khan and AslamKhan –who died of Covid-19 duringlast year.

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In a relief to the health authorities, theCovid-19 infections in Maharashtra

dropped to a low 12,557 on Sunday, evenas the State – with 618 new fatalities –breached the grim milestone of total 1 lakhdeaths.

A day after the State logged 13,659infections and 741 deaths, the daily infec-tions went down by 1102 and the deathsdropped by 123. Of the 618 deaths report-ed on Sunday, 233 were current ones whilethe remaining 385 were previous unac-counted fatalities.

With 618 deaths reported inMaharashtra on Sunday, the total numberof deaths in the state breached the one lakhmark of total deaths as the fatalities rosefrom 99512 to 1,00,130. Similarly, with12,557 new infections, the total number ofcases climbed from 58,19,224 to 58,31,781.

As 14,433 patients were dischargedfrom the hospitals across the state after fullrecovery, the total number of people dis-charged from the hospitals since the sec-ond week of March last year increased from55,28,834 to 55,43,267. The recovery rate

in the state rose from 95.01 per cent to95.05 per cent.

The total “active cases” in the statedropped 1,88,027 to 1,85,527. The fatalityrate in the State rose from 1.71 per cent to1.72 per cent. Mumbai logged 20 deathsand 786 infections. As a consequence, theCovid-19 toll in the metropolis increasedfrom 14,951 to 14,971, while the infectedcases went up by 786 to trigger a jump inthe infections from 7,09,857 to 7,10,643.

Pune with 21,216 cases continued to beremain first in terms of maximum num-ber of “active cases” in the state, whileKolhapur with 18,734 “active cases” stoodsecond, followed by Mumbai (18,041),Thane (16,672), Satara (15,151), Sangli(10,349), Nagpur (9244), Ahmednagar(7278), Ratnagiri (6109), Nashik (5981),Solapur (5878), Sindhudurg (5870), Beed(4277), and Raigad (4932).

Of the 3,65,08,967 samples sent to var-ious laboratories across the state so far,58,31,781 have tested positive (15.97 percent) for COVID-19 until Sunday.

Currently, 13,46,389 people are inhome quarantine while 6426 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Twenty-four cases have been registered in different policestations across eight districts of Tripura for attack on

journalists since 2020, police said on Sunday.The Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of police (law

and order), Subrata Chakraborty said, the Director-Generalof Police (DGP) has taken note of the recent reports pub-lished in newspapers, expressing his concern over theincreasing incidents of violence against journalists and thealleged failure of the police to take action against the attack-ers. "The Director-General of Police (DGP) VS Yadav helda detailed review meeting with the district superintendentsof police on June 5.

"During the discussion with the SPs, it was found that17 cases were registered in 2020 and 7 cases were regis-tered in 2021 as on date", the AGP said.

Chakraborty said that out of the 24 cases registered,16 cases have ended in charge sheets, three cases were com-promised by the parties involved while the remaining fivecases are still under investigation.

"In some of these cases where the victims were unableto identify the miscreants, all-out efforts were made bypolice to identify them. Consequently, more than 15 per-sons were identified during the investigation and charge-sheeted. The investigation of cases registered was carriedout purely on merit and evidence", the police official said.

He informed that the arrests were made in cases wherethe punishment was more than seven years as per the laiddown procedure and applicable sections of the CriminalProcedure Code. In other cases, notices were issued.

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Aligarh: An inquiry has beenset up in Noida's Jaypee GreensSociety in connection with thevaccination of Naurangabad,the urban primary health cen-ter of Aligarh. The CMO has constituted atwo-member panel of doctorsfor the investigation. This panelwill submit the report in aweek.

Vaccination camp wasorganized in the last week ofMay at Jaypee Greens Society,

Noida. In this, the healthdepartment team of Noida hadvaccinated the people of thesociety.

People's heads were shak-en when the people there gotthe certificates of the UrbanPrimary Health Center ofNaurangabad in Aligarh anddifferent dates were writtenon them. Whereas the campwas held for only one day.When the complaint was made,there was a stir.

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The Goa Forward Party onSunday wrote to the

Election Commission of Indiato ensure a "prioritised vaccinedrive" against Covid-19 in theState as it would be facingAssembly polls in early 2022.

In the letter, GFP chief VijaiSardesai said campaigns in fivepoll-bound States recently wereconducted without adherenceto Covid-19 norms which ledto a spike in cases.

"It is our firm belief andhope that a prioritised vaccinedrive and allocation of dosesfor poll-bound states wouldmassively help reduce the riskof spreading the virus," Sardesaisaid in the letter.

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Agra: Lockdowns due to thecoronavirus pandemic have hitcoolies at Agra's railways stationshard, forcing many of them out ofwork.

Some of them now pull rick-shaws, others work as labourers.

Sharing his ordeal, MunnaKhan (50), a coolie at Agra Canttrailway station, told PTI, "Thereare 102 coolies at the station whoare divided into two shifts. In oneshift about 52 coolies are allowedto work, but these days only 10-25 coolies are coming due to lessnumber of passengers."

"Moreover, the passengersavoid taking our service due tofear of COVID-19. This adversesituation is forcing us to do otherwork to run the house," he added.

There are about 240 cooliesworking at four major railway sta-

tions in Agra - Agra Cantt, AgraFort, Raja Ki Mandi and Idgah.

Another coolie at the AgraCantt station, 40-year-old Fakirashared that he now also pulls arickshaw as there is no work at therailway station since the outbreakof the second wave of Covid.

"I come to the station in thehope of getting work but spendthe entire day sleeping. At nightI pull a rickshaw to fulfil the needsof my family," he said.

Talking about the difficulties,Rajveer said he spends Rs 150 ontravelling to the Agra Cantt stationfrom his home, which is about 15kms away, in the hope to earnsome money.

"At the station, I spend myentire day sleeping or waiting forpassengers. Most of the day, I don'tget any money," he said. PTI

Puducherry: Puducherry reported 640fresh coronavirus cases during last 24hours as the overall tally rose to 1,09,079,a senior official of the Department ofHealth and Family Welfare Services saidon Sunday.

The new cases were identified at theend of the examination of 9,215 swab sam-ples projecting a positivity rate at 6.95 percent, Director of Health Department SMohan Kumar said. The 640 new caseswere spread over Puducherry (470),Karaikal (136), Yanam (15) and Mahe (19).

Fifteen people succumbed to thevirus during the last 24 hours ending 10AM Sunday pushing the toll to 1,628, hesaid, adding seven of the victims had nocomorbidities. The Health depart-ment Director said as many as 1,138patients were discharged after recoveryduring the last 24 hours from hospitals.

The number of active cases in theunion territory stood at 8,270 (1,236 inhospitals and 7,034 in home isolation), headded.The total recoveries so far climbedto 99,181 with the 8,270 on Sunday.Mohan Kumar said 11.03 lakh sampleshave been examined so far and 9.51 lakhof them turned out to be negative. PTI

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Uttar Pradesh has crossed the milestone of administer-ing 2 crore cumulative vaccine doses and also emerged

as a leader by crossing the 30 lakh-mark in the 18-44 agecategory, the highest in the country.

Enthused by the response, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said the State must intensify the vaccinationdrive to prevent a severe third wave and start targeting atleast 10 lakh doses a day from July onwards. The target isto vaccinate at least 10 crore people in the next three months,he said.

“Till now, we have administered more than 2 crore(2,02,34,598) doses of vaccine. In view of the huge popu-lation of Uttar Pradesh, we have to speed up the vaccina-tion drive. We must now work upon expanding the ‘MissionJune’ target by three times in July,” Yogi said while address-ing a high-level Covid review meeting on Sunday.

So far, around 1,66,27,059 people have received the firstdose of vaccine while 36,27,433 have been fully vaccinat-ed. It is notable that so far, India has administered around22.80 crore vaccine doses, of which UP accounts for around8.9 per cent of the total doses. In the last 24 hours, around3.88 lakh people were vaccinated in the State.

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Page 6:  · released to HLL Lifecare Limited (the procurement agency for the Union Health Ministry) till date towards pro-curement of Covid-19 vac-cines Covishield (21 crore doses) manufactured

to ensure peace and security inthe region and thereby to con-tain China’s assertive postur-ing. At the same time, there isalso an emerging understand-ing among the strategic circlesin Washington that the US’unilateral actions againstChina could not garner muchsupport from other regionalpowers as they are aiming topromote a multi-polar worldorder in the Indo-Pacific.

It is in this context thatsuccessive US Presidents sinceGeorge W Bush have deliber-ately invested in transformingties with the rising powers,like India, so that a strong andunchallenged balance ofpower can be developedagainst China. Thus, theTrump Administration placedIndia at the centre of the FOIPstrategy. India has also explic-itly indicated its desire towork with the US to promotesecurity, openness, democra-cy and development in theregion. In turn, India and theUS have taken a slew of mea-sures, including the signing ofthe Communications,Compatibility and SecurityAgreement to transform theirsecurity and defence rela-tions to new heights. TheBiden Administration hasalso indicated towards contin-

uing his predecessor’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

Undoubtedly, there arestructural and practical fac-tors bringing India and the UStogether against China. Forthe US, a rising India, condi-tioned by democratic values,the idea of freedom and theprinciple of coexistence, is notseen as a threat to its leader-ship position in Asia. In fact,given the size of India’s terri-tory, population, economy,military, geographical prox-imity and historical borderdispute with China and itsdesire to emerge as a globalplayer, Washington viewsNew Delhi as the most suit-able balancer against Beijing.India’s “Act East Policy” hasalso been viewed in conformi-ty with the US’ strategytowards the Indo-Pacific.India’s open willingness towork with the US in recenttimes has been an encourag-ing development for theAmerican administration.

For India, the relationshipwith China has largelyremained fragile and tense andXi Jinping’s recent assertiveposturing on the contestedborder issue has only intensi-fied its security concerns.

China’s support toPakistan against India and

Beijing’s efforts to foster a newnexus among China, Pakistanand Russia, as well as to devel-op a “String of Pearls” againstIndia through the Belt andRoad Initiative and othermeans have further posedmultilayered challenges toIndia. Therefore, India needsto build a strong and robustpartnership with the US toeffectively contain China.India thinks that the presenceof the US in South Asia willhelp maintain a balance ofpower in its favour. Withoutgaining access to US’advanced weaponry and tech-nology, India cannot mod-ernise its military and the US’changed policy towardsPakistan has also embold-ened India to make closeengagement with America.

While it becomes aptlyclear that the current phaseof the triangular relationshipis tilted towards India andthe US, its future directionlargely depends on Biden’sChina policy.

(Shahi is the Principal, ANCollege, Patna; and Sumit is aformer Ministry of ForeignAffairs Visiting Fellow, NCCU,Taipei, and Research Fellow,the Chennai Centre for ChinaStudies. The views expressedare personal.)

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The rise of China as amajor economy and mil-itary power has been amajor development in

the 21st century. While China’seconomic clout is being feltacross all the regions of theworld, it has also been aggressive-ly pursuing its military moderni-sation programme. ThoughChina has been projecting itsascent as a “peaceful rise”, thetruth is that Beijing has begun toredefine the prevailing powerstructure in its favour in Asia,leading sections of internation-al relations experts to argue thatthat the rise of China must beseen in the historical context ofthe rise and fall of great powers.

Unfortunately, for a longtime in the post-Cold War era,the US too had the illusion ofChina’s “peaceful rise”. While itwas only after the coming ofPresident George W Bush topower that the US began toview China as a major strategiccompetitor, the US under DonaldTrump launched a trade waragainst China and also initiatedefforts to strengthen the relation-ship with its allies and partnersunder the overarching umbrellaof the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Strategy with theaim of having the “sole super-power status” in the region.

Of course, the change in theapproach of the US towardsChina has been driven by sever-al factors, including China’sincreasing control over the SouthChina region, improved tiesbetween Beijing and Moscow, theChinese CommunistGovernment’s support to Iranand North Korea, its aim tobecome a major space power andChina’s increased threat toTaiwan, besides its attempt tosubvert the liberal internationalinstitutions. Consequently, thesemoves by China, coupled with anincreasing trade surplus withthe US, have directly challengedAmerica’s eminent position inAsia and beyond.

But there is now a growingsentiment among the US securi-ty officials and experts that,given its economic conditions aswell as its security commitmentsin the Middle East and elsewhere,it is not possible for the US alone

SOUNDBITE������������� ��������������Sir — The Supreme Court has recently ruledthat the Government’s criticism, even instrong words of disapproval, does not con-stitute sedition. Sedition is a colonial-eracharge based on Section 124A of theIndian Penal Code. It seeks to punish any-one who attempts to foment hatred, con-tempt or disaffection towards theGovernment by words, either spoken orwritten, or by signs, or by visible represen-tation, or otherwise.

Journalist Vinod Dua faced the chargefor his criticism of the Government’s andPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s handlingof the migrant crisis during the first waveof the COVID-19 pandemic. In the case,filed by a BJP leader in Himachal Pradesh,the State Government had argued that Duatried to spread disinformation and panic.

While quashing the case against him,the Supreme Court also extended its obser-vations to all journalists. It observed thatevery journalist is entitled to protectionunder the Kedar Nath Singh judgment. Thecourt reiterated this view from its 1962 ver-dict while quashing the case against Dua.There have been several calls to scrap thesedition law over the years as it tends to bemisused by the States and UnionGovernments, particularly against journal-ists. The new verdict reiterates the protec-tion that journalists enjoy from the law, andalso strengthens the case for scrapping it.

CK Subramaniam | Navi Mumbai

�������������������Sir — The World Environment Day isobserved on June 5 every year. The day isobserved to remind people about theimportance of nature and to create aware-ness and highlight the significance of whynature should not be taken for granted.

Since 1974, the day is celebrated byengaging the Governments, businesses andcitizens in an effort to address pressing envi-ronmental issues. With the Coronavirus out-break and people being confined indoors,Mother Earth seems to have benefited con-siderably as, in the absence of human activ-ity outdoors due to the recurring lockdown,

nature has been able to clean itself andreclaim its space. Perhaps, the COVID-19pandemic has taught an important lessonto humankind that nature can exist with-out us, but we can’t exist without nature. We,the humans, must know that by harmingnature we harm ourselves even more.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

������������������ �������������Sir — Thousands of patients across India areroutinely experiencing the arbitrarinessover the billing methods of private hospi-tals and nursing homes because ourGovernment-run hospitals are not quitecapable of handling the huge rush of ourpopulation and a disease doesn’t carewhether the patient is poor or rich.

Despite the implementation of the

health insurance programmes, not all the cit-izens out there were benefited by this. UnderArticle 21 of the Indian Constitution, it isthe primary duty of the Government tosecure and safeguard the right to life of everycitizen, which should not get violated byanyone. So, as a responsibility, both theCentre and the State Governments shouldprotect people facing such troubles againstthe monopoly being enjoyed by the privatehospitals and nursing homes by exercisingtheir executive power to control the pric-ing strategy to protect the larger interest ofthe public. Because, at the end of it all, thepreservation of human life is paramount.

PS Swagatika Sahoo | Jagatsinghpur

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Today as India battles the corona virus pan-demic, the old saying "adversity uncoversthe real nature of your friends and foes" isbeing put to test. If there was ever a time

to forget ideological and political differences anduse co-operative federalism to protect our citizens,this was it. Yet many politicians chose human suf-fering as a laboratory for their debauched politics.Through their malevolent toolkits and through theircontroversial actions, they weakened a nation's fightagainst a common enemy. For every Oppositionleader like Naveen Patnaik who chose to walk onthe path of statesmanship, we got a Mamata Banerjeewho chose to stoke her pitiful ego over commongood. Rajasthan unfortunately saw a man at thehelm of affairs who peddled untruths to hide hisGovernment's lackadaisical attitude in the fightagainstCovid. This article is a fact checking exer-cise against their claims.

One of the most contentious issues that theChief Minister and his fellow leaders had againstthe Centre was the availability of oxygen. StartingfromApril 22 till the better part of May, the ChiefMinister, the health Minister and Rajasthan'sCongress unit chief levelled allegations of step-moth-erly treatment towards non-BJP ruled states in oxy-gen allocation. On April 29 and 30 theChiefMinister gave media bites on the issue, but thetruth was something different.

Data clearly shows that on April 29, non-BJPstates like Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Punjaband Tamil Nadu were allocated more oxygen thandemanded, with Rajasthan getting exactly 205 MTof oxygen that it had demanded for. Further on May14 when the Chief Minister expressed his unwill-ingness in lifting oxygen from sanctioned plants ineastern India and demanded for an increase in allo-cation from Gujarat's Jamnagar plant, the Centrecovered up for his inefficiency and swiftly increasedthe allocation from the plant from 70 MT to 120MT, while increasing overall allocation of oxygenfrom 330 MT to 380 MT. These are just two of themany instances when the Chief Minister was pur-posefully using lies to hide his ineptitude in han-dling the corona crisis.

Similarly, on the issue of ventilators, the state'sCongress unit went all out against the Centre, andon May 14, 15 and 17 levelled allegations and wentas far as calling them "kabad" and "kachra". A sim-ple fact-check shows that 1500 ventilators sent toRajasthan under PM Cares Fund were lyingunused since the last 10 months. While the Centreprovides ventilators, installation and maintenanceis the work of the State governments. Despite know-ing fully well their mistake, the Congress party stillhad the temerity to call indigenously built and inge-niously designed ventilators as "Kabads". If theCentral government could provide a ventilatorworth Rs 4 lakh, what stopped the Gehlot govern-ment from spending Rs 300 to operationalise andmaintainthem?Even the Rajasthan High courtwhile replying to a PIL on ventilator related deathsin Sirohi sought clarifications from the State gov-ernment on why 1500 ventilators were not put touse.

Another shocking case of apathy came to lightwhen it was discovered that the State government

had given the ventilators sanctionedunder PM Cares Fund

to private hospitals which werecharging a princely sum of Rs. 35-40,000 per day from patients.Numerous ventilators that wereleased out to private hospitals werelisted down as faulty to cover thisfraud. The State government's asser-tion of faulty ventilators has to beviewed with clinical suspicion andthe truth shall soon be uncoveredafter proper audit by theUniongovernment.

After oxygen andventilators, thestate Government's tirade against theUniongovernment didnot stop evenfor vaccines. India had a reputationof being a laggard in vaccination pol-icy before 2014. For example, poliovaccination in India started in 1979,a quarter century after it waslaunched in USA, and India wasdeclared polio free only in 2014, aftera full 26 years. In contrast Indiabecame one among an elite club of12 countries which has been able todevelop their own vaccine within oneyear. Yet, Rahul Gandhi and his tri-umvirate of Chief Ministerslauncheda malicious campaign against domes-tic producers and the Centre.

What could one expect from theCongress party which had side-stepped Bharat Biotech's vaccine forencephalitis and Rota Virus forChinese vaccines, effectively hand-ing our vaccine security to foreign,particularly Chinese,companies. Thisgovernment, post-2014, put vac-cine security at the centre of the uni-versal immunisation program.

At the end of May, nearly 1.75Crore doses were still available withthe states. Vaccination is going togather considerable speed in the

month of June as more than 12 croredoses will be made available. Vaccineadministration in Rajasthan howev-er tells a different story. During thesubsequent weeks of May 15-21and 22-28, when the vaccine admin-istration in India grew by 26 per cent,Rajasthan saw a decline of 27 percent. The reasons behind the declinehas to be viewed suspiciously citingthe disturbing news of 500 vials ofvaccines being discovered in the trashbins of 35 centers in Rajasthan. Thewastage of vaccines in some parts ofRajasthan like Churu (39.7 per cent),Hanumangarh (26.40 per cent),Bharatpur (17.13 per cent),etcis

criminally high. It is impossible to overlook the

fact that a state which was showingreasonable progress in vaccinationand reporting miniscule wastagesuddenly screeched to a grinding haltin mid-May. Knowing that vaccina-tion is our only shield against a thirdwave, vaccine wastage done unknow-ingly is an unpardonable mistake, butif done knowingly is downrightseditious in nature. The article does-n't insinuate anyone but as a princi-pled member of the political frater-nity, one cannot be blind to the polit-ical machinations being played at thecost of human lives.

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In 12th standard like a typ-ical Indian teenager, it wasall about studying and

putting my 100 per cent tosecure a seat in a regular col-lege -- no socializing, andattending five extra classes aday to go past the high admis-sion cutoffs. By the time I was19 and got into a tier-A college,I was like a happy teenager fullof dreams and feeling how myhard work was worth it. But itdidn't last long.

Around December last,there was a news in the cornerof a newspaper about a virusflu spreading in China. Fastforward to March, I was amidmy internal assessments whenthe Delhi government issueda notice about colleges beingclosed for few weeks. Thebreak was not as simple at itinitially looked, transforminginto quarantine and lockdown.

By the time I could figure

things out, Covid-19 lock-down 1.0 was implemented.My immediate concern was ofpanic and also a worry aboutpeople I knew, like the laundryperson and vegetable vendor.The confinement took a toll onme, more so because I am anoutgoing person and not ableto travel around or meet afriend added to my state ofconfusion and woe.

Months passed with mehoping for colleges to open forthe second year. I was disap-pointed when our semesterwas converted fully digital.Staying at home and studyingonline was not the only strug-gle out there. Internet connec-tion issues and a suddenchange of technology left all ofus puzzled.

Come early March, 2021and with a low positivity ratemost of the restrictions werebeing lifted and I felt a hope

that we have won and this isover and everything will benormal in just a couple moremonths. However, thingsturned for the worst. All thiswhile I saw the pandemic as abystander. But even afterstrictly being at home formore than a year, the virus gotto me and I tested

positive..From being the onespreading positive vibes andadvice I was now a cluster ofconfusion, depression andloneliness. We were by then inthe midst of the biggest Covid-19 outbreak India ever wit-nessed.

News channels, papersand journals were filled up

with depressing headlinesabout no oxygen, no plasma,no vaccine. shortage of every-thing, people dying on streets,cremation grounds full - arecipe for overall misery. Ifbeing Covid positive was notenough, I was having everysymptom there is for the dis-ease and my worry was where

would I go if the situationworsened. What if anyoneelse in my family tested pos-itive?

In the last one and a halfyears, this pandemic haschanged me, isolated me, leftme only questioning why thishappened, why lakhs lost theirlives, who was at fault, werescientists not aware of howlethal this virus can be, whyWHO took three months todeclare it an epidemic and soon.

So many of my closefriends and relatives passedaway in the second wave thiswave. I was in mid-crisis notable to figure out what wasgoing on any more and wherewe were headed. Searching forthe elusive answers, I startedpraying but the questionsremained unanswered andme short of peace.

Now as we enter June,

cases are again taking a dip,but experts have alreadywarned about another wave inthe near future. I am not veryhopeful but maybe thingsmight get better. As a teenag-er I got into college full ofdreams and hopes of goodexposure and experience. Butall that was short-lived and itis six months now since I amconfined to my bedroom,nearly certain that I will begetting a digital degree withdigital classes and digitalexaminations. Half of us areatleast in touch with one anoth-er thanks to the web, even ifthat means continuing toworry about our future. Theother does not have access tobasic services like internetand is unable to even commu-nicate. Let us hope thingswill get better because there isno option for them but to getbetter.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The author is Ministerfor Jal Shakti,

Government of India.The views expressed

are personal.)

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(Pragya is a B Com(Hons) student at Sri RamCollege of Commerce, NewDelhi. The views expressed

are personal.)

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Anew Constitutional Benchof the Nepal Supreme

Court was formed on Sundayto hear a bunch of petitionsagainst the May 22 dissolutionof the House of Representativesafter differences among justicesover its composition delayedthe crucial hearing, accordingto media reports.

The bench was formed byNepal's Chief Justice CholendraShamsher Rana on the senior-ity and expertise of theSupreme Court Justices.

The new ConstitutionalBench includes justices DipakKumar Karki, Anand MohanBhattarai, Mira Dhungana,Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada andthe chief justice himself, TheHimalayan Times reported.

Nepal President Bidya DeviBhandari dissolved the 275-member House ofRepresentatives on May 22 for

the second time in five monthsand announced snap electionson November 12 andNovember 19 on the advice ofPrime Minister K P SharmaOli, heading a minority gov-ernment.

Following the illness ofJustice Bishwambhar PrasadShrestha, his successor justicesBhattarai and Khatiwada wereincluded in the ConstitutionalBench.

Earlier, the hearing wasaffected due to a dispute in the

formation of the ConstitutionalBench.

Chief Justice Rana had ear-lier picked justices DipakKumar Karki, Aanand MohanBhattarai, Tej Bahadur KC andBam Kumar Shrestha for thebench to hear about 30 peti-tions registered against the"unconstitutional" dissolution,the report said.

As many as 146 membersof the dissolved House, includ-ing Nepali Congress PresidentSher Bahadur Deuba, who had

staked a claim to form the newgovernment under Article 76(5) of the Constitution, havealso filed a petition in theSupreme Court seeking rein-statement of the House.

President Bhandari reject-ed the separate bids of bothPrime Minister Oli and theOpposition alliance's claims toform a new government, say-ing the “claims were insuffi-cient.”

A controversy erupted aftera lawyer of Deuba raisedquestions over two justicespicked as members of theConstitutional Bench giventheir previous decision on thecase of reviewing theCommunist Party of Nepal'sunity and registration.

After the justices underquestion -- Tej Bahadur KCand Bam Kumar Shrestha --decided not to leave the bench,two other justices picked for theConstitutional Bench chose to

opt-out of the bench.This forced Chief Justice

Rana to reconstitute the benchto hear the writ petitions filedagainst the dissolution ofParliament.

Meanwhile, the Oppositionalliance issued a joint statementon Saturday condemning theCabinet reshuffle done by theOli government.

Oli on Friday reshuffledthe Cabinet. The new Cabinethas three Deputy PrimeMinisters, 12 cabinet ministersand two state ministers.

Oli has made a mockery ofconstitutional and democraticvalues by reshuffling theCabinet at a time when hismove dissolving the House issub judice in the SupremeCourt, the Opposition alliancesaid in a statement.

The five-party alliance alsosaid the government'sannouncement in the budgetthat it would allow the export

of river materials from theChure range could lead todesertification of the Tarai,and thus it was an anti-nation-al and anti-people move.

The alliance also con-demned the government moveto allow middlemen and rack-eteers to supply iodised salt.

Nepal plunged into a polit-ical crisis on December 20 lastyear after President Bhandaridissolved the House at the rec-ommendation of PrimeMinister Oli, amidst a tussle forpower within the ruling NepalCommunist Party (NCP).

Oli's move to dissolve theHouse sparked protests from alarge section of the NCP led byhis rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal'Prachanda'.

However, two months later,Chief Justice Rana-ledConstitutional Bench onFebruary 23 overturned thedecision and reinstated theHouse of Representatives.

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NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg on

Sunday warned Russia andBelarus against threatening thealliance's allies, following theforced landing of a passengerplane within the EuropeanUnion (EU0 by Belarusianauthorities.

"We are of course ready, inan emergency, to protect anddefend any ally against anykind of threat coming fromMinsk and Moscow," dpa newsagency quoted Stoltenberg assaying to the Welt am Sonntagnewspaper.

"We are vigilant and we arefollowing what is happening inBelarus very closely," he said.

Belarus is becoming "moreand more dependent" onRussia, he added.

Stoltenberg said NATOwas seriously concerned about

the closer cooperation betweenMoscow and Minsk in recentmonths.

"We have had to learn inthe past that Russia has mas-sively violated the territorialintegrity of states such asUkraine, Georgia andMoldova." He did not want tospeculate too much,Stoltenberg said, noting,"NATO is a defensive alliance."

Lithuania, Latvia andPoland, all members of NATO,share borders with Belarus.

On May 23, BelarusianPresident AlexanderLukashenko forced a Ryanaircommercial flight between twoEU capitals, Athens andVilnius, to make an emergencylanding in Minsk.

Dissident journalist RomanProtasevich and his girlfriendSofia Sapega, passengers on theplane, were arrested and arebeing held in custody.

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For decades, the explorationof our solar system left one

of our neighbouring planets,Venus, largely unexplored.Now, things are about tochange.

In the latest announce-ment from Nasa's solar systemexploration programme, twomissions have been given thego-ahead – and they're bothbound for Venus. The twoambitious missions will launchbetween 2028 and 2030.

This marks a considerablechange in direction for Nasa'splanetary science division,which hasn't sent a mission tothe planet since 1990. It's excit-ing news for space scientistslike me.

Venus is a hostile world. Itsatmosphere contains sulphuricacid and the surface tempera-tures is hot enough to melt lead.But it has not always been thisway. It is thought Venus start-ed out very similar to theEarth. So what happened?

While on Earth, carbon ismainly trapped in rocks, onVenus it has escaped into theatmosphere – making it rough-ly 96 per cent carbon dioxide.This has led to a runawaygreenhouse effect, pushing sur-face temperatures up to 750kelvin (470 degree celsius or900 degree Fahrenheit).

The planet's history makesit an excellent place to study thegreenhouse effect and to learnhow to manage it on Earth. Wecan use models which plot the

atmospheric extremes ofVenus, and compare the resultsto what we see back home.

But, the extreme surfaceconditions are one of the rea-sons planetary exploration mis-sions have avoided Venus. Thehigh temperature means a veryhigh pressure of 90 bars (equiv-alent to roughly one kilometreunderwater) which is enoughto instantly crush most plane-tary landers. It might not comeas a surprise, then, that mis-sions to Venus haven't alwaysgone to plan.

Most of the explorationdone so far was carried out bythe then Soviet Union betweenthe 1960s and the 1980s. Thereare some notable exceptions,such as Nasa's Pioneer Venusmission in 1972 and theEuropean Space Agency'sVenus Express mission in 2006.

The first landing happenedin 1970, when the SovietUnion's Venera 7 crashed dueto the parachute melting. But itmanaged to transmit 20 min-utes of data back to Earth. Thefirst surface images were takenby Venera 9, followed byVeneras 10, 13 and 14.

The descent missionThe first of the two select-

ed Nasa missions will beknown as Davinci+ (a short-ening of Deep Atmosphere ofVenus Investigations of NobleGases, Chemistry andImaging). It includes a descentprobe, meaning it will bedropped through the atmos-phere, taking measurementsas it goes. The descent has three

stages with the first investigat-ing the entire atmosphere.

The probe will be lookingat the composition of theatmosphere in detail, providinginformation on each layer as itfalls. We know sulphuric acidis confined to cloud layers ataround 50km (30 miles) up,and we know that the atmos-phere is 97 per cent carbondioxide.

But studying trace ele-ments can provide informationon how the atmosphere endedup in this state. The secondstage will be looking at loweraltitudes to measure weatherproperties such as wind speed,temperature and pressure indetail.

The last stage take surfaceimages in high resolution.While this is very common forMars, it has always been a chal-lenge on Venus. The thickcloud layer means visible lightis reflected, so observing fromEarth or from orbit isn't prac-tical. The intense surface con-ditions also mean rovers areimpractical. One suggestionhas been a balloon mission.

We have a low resolutionimage of the surface of Venus,thanks to Nasa's Magellan mis-sion in 1990, which mappedthe surface using radar.

The Davinci probe willtake surface images usinginfrared light during itsdescent. These pictures will notonly allow better planning forfuture missions but also helpscientists investigate how thesurface formed.

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The Delta variant of Covid-19, or the B1.617.2 variant

first identified in India, isaround 40 per cent more trans-missible than the Alpha or so-called Kent variant of concern(VOC), UK Health SecretaryMatt Hancock said on Sunday.

The senior Cabinet minis-ter said the spread of the Deltavariant, behind a recent rise incoronavirus infections in thecountry, had made the unlock-ing plans set for June 21 moredifficult. However, he pointedout that a majority of those inhospital as a result of the Deltavariant had not had a vaccineat all and only a "small minor-ity” had had both doses of aCovid-19 vaccine, which theminister said reflects the sci-entific advice that one vaccineis not quite as effective againstthe Delta VOC as against theAlpha variant but both dosesare just as effective.

“That figure, around 40 percent more transmissible, is thelatest advice that I have. Thatmeans that it is more difficultto manage this virus with thenew Delta variant, but crucial-ly we believe that with twodoses of the vaccine you get thesame protection as the oldvariant," Hancock told ‘SkyNews'.

The minister also con-firmed that vaccines would beopened up to the next agecohort of under-30s in thenext few days by the NationalHealth Service (NHS).

"This week we will be

opening up vaccines to theunder-30s and so we are gettinga step closer to the point whenwe've been able to offer the vac-cine to all adults in this coun-try," he said.

"Everybody must go andget their second jab thoughbecause the first isn't as effec-tive on its own. We all need togo and get vaccinated and thatway we will break this linkbetween the number of casesand the number of hospitali-sations," he added.

Asked if there could be adelay to the June 21 timelinefor an end to all lockdownrestrictions in the country,Hancock said the governmentis “absolutely open” to a delayif it needs to happen and if allthe requisite tests set as part ofthe roadmap are not fully met.One of the four critical tests setby the government for areopening is that the assess-ment of the risk from thedeadly virus is not fundamen-tally changed by new VOC.

The other three tests coverthe vaccine deployment pro-gramme continuing success-fully; evidence showing vac-cines are sufficiently effectivein reducing hospitalisationsand deaths in those vaccinat-ed; and infection rates do notrisk a surge in hospitalisa-tions, which would put unsus-tainable pressure on the NHS.

Three out of the four testsare currently being met, withthe risk assessment from theDelta VOC the only unknownfactor ahead of June 14 whenthe government is expected to

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China has authorised theemergency use of

CoronaVac, a Covid-19 vaccinemanufactured by Chinese firmSinovac, for children agedbetween 3 and 17 years,Sinovac Chairman YinWeidong said.

"But when the vaccine willbe put into (emergency) use,and starting from what age inthe group has yet to be decid-ed," he was quoted as saying bythe state-run Global Times onSunday. Sinovac has finished thePhrase I and II clinical researchstage, involving several hundredvolunteers in this age group,which has proved that the vac-cine is as safe and efficient as itis for adults, Yin told ChinaCentral Television (CCTV) inan interview on Friday.

The Wold HealthOrganisation (WHO) hasgranted approval on June 1 toChina's second COVID-19vaccine, Sinovac, which wasexpected to strengthen China'svaccine diplomacy.

Earlier, WHO granted asimilar approval to China'sSinopharm. Besides adminis-tering the vaccines at home,China has been donating andexporting the vaccines to num-ber of countries as part of itsvaccine diplomacy.

China's National HealthCommission said on Sundaythat over 763 million doses ofCOVID-19 vaccines had beenadministered across China sofar. For its part, China hasapproved about five of its vac-cines for emergency use. Chinahas offered 10 million vaccinedoses to COVAX facility whichis WHO backed initiative toprovide vaccines to developingcountries.

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The US will give Taiwan750,000 doses of COVID-

19 vaccine, part of President JoeBiden's move to share tens ofmillions of jabs globally, threeAmerican senators said Sunday,after the self-ruled island com-plained that China is hinderingits efforts to secure vaccines asit battles an outbreak.

Democratic Sen. TammyDuckworth of Illinois, whomade a three-hour stop inTaiwan with fellow DemocratChristopher Coons ofDelaware and Republican DanSullivan of Alaska, said theirvisit underscores bipartisanUS support for the democrat-ic island that Beijing claims asits own renegade territory.Taiwan faces a severe vaccineshortage and has geopoliticalsignificance as a flashpoint inUS-China relations.

“I'm here to tell you thatthe United States will not letyou stand alone,” Duckworthsaid at the airport after landingon a US military transportplane.

“We will be by your side tomake sure the people of Taiwanhave what they need to get tothe other side of the pandem-ic and beyond.”

Taiwan was included on along list of places announcedlast week that would receive 25million doses from the UnitedStates in what the Bidenadministration says is the firsttranche of at least 80 milliondoses to be distributed global-ly. Most of the first tranche,including Taiwan's, will be sentthrough COVAX, a U.N.-backed program to distributevaccines to low and middle-income countries.

The island of 24 millionpeople, which lies 160 kilome-ters (100 miles) off China's eastcoast, is desperate for vaccinesafter a sudden outbreak thatstarted in late April caughtauthorities by surprise. Japanshipped 1.2 million doses toTaiwan on Friday, opting toskip the COVAX process in theinterest of speed. It was unclearwhen the 750,000 Americandoses would arrive.

Taiwan has accused Chinaof blocking its efforts to reacha deal with BioNTech to importthe vaccine co-developed bythe German company andPfizer. Beijing has said it is will-ing to supply vaccines toTaiwan, including BioNTech,through Chinese partnerFosun, and that the island'sgovernment is to blame forputting politics above the livesof its people. Taiwanese lawbans the import of Chinese-made medicines.

Foreign Minister JosephWu, welcoming the senators atthe airport, said that Taiwan isfortunate to have like-mindedcountries showing support,which he said is about sus-taining freedom and democ-racy in the face of autocracy.

“Taiwan is facing uniquechallenges in combating thevirus," he said. "While we aredoing our best to import vac-cines, we must overcome obsta-cles to ensure that these life-saving medicine are deliveredfree from troubles of Beijing.”He said China is trying toblock

Taiwan's internationalassistance and prevent it fromparticipating in the WorldHealth Organization. "We areno strangers to that kind ofobstructionism,” he said.

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British Prime Minister BorisJohnson will use the Group

of Seven wealthy democracies'summit next week to urge

world leaders to commit to vac-cinating the global populationby the end of 2022.

Johnson is expected tostress the importance of a glob-al vaccination drive when he

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At least 14 people have diedand over 240,000 affected

in flash floods and mudslidestriggered by heavy rains in SriLanka, officials said on Sunday.

Rains have been poundingseveral districts of the islandnation since Thursday night,and many houses, paddy fieldsand roads have been inundat-ed, blocking traffic.

The National DisasterManagement Centre chief, MajGen Sudantha Ranasinghe said245,212 people.

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Israeli police arrested aPalestinian protest leader in

the contested Sheikh Jarrahneighbourhood of Jerusalemon Sunday, a day after forcefullydetaining a prominent AlJazeera journalist covering thecampaign by Jewish settlers toevict dozens of Palestinianfamilies from the area.

The arrest Sunday of Munaal-Kurd, confirmed by phoneby her father, Nabil, was the lat-est move by Israeli police toquell several days of tension inone of the most sensitive neigh-bourhoods in Jerusalem.

It came as Givara Budeiri, aveteran correspondent for the AlJazeera satellite channel whoregularly covers the story, wasreleased from a hospital with abroken hand that her boss saidshe sustained on Saturday. Nabilal-Kurd said Israeli police earlySunday “stormed the house inlarge numbers and in a barbar-ic manner,” saying they wantedto arrest Muna, 23, and her 22-year-old brother.

“I was sleeping and I foundthem in my bedroom,” Nabil al-Kurd said in a telephone inter-view. While his son was nothome, police searched thehouse and arrested Muna, oneof the most widely-knownactivists resisting the Israelieviction drive. Video posted onsocial media, confirmed byNabil, showed Muna beingtaken from the home in hand-

cuffs.“The reason for the arrest

is that we say that we will notleave our homes, and they donot want anyone to express hisopinion, they do not want any-one to tell the truth," he said.“They want to silence us.”

Police did not immediate-ly respond to a request for com-ment.

The weekend's tensionsbegan Saturday as Budeiri,wearing body armor marked“press,” covered a sit-in amongactivists. Witnesses and thesatellite channel said that afterthe protest was over, Israelipolice asked her for press iden-tification. Budeiri offered to callher driver to retrieve it. Policeinstead surrounded her, pushedher and handcuffed her beforeleading her to a border policevehicle with darkened win-dows. Budeiri was held forfour hours before she was hos-pitalized with a broken hand,said Walid Omary, theJerusalem bureau chief for AlJazeera. Budeiri had beenreporting regularly fromSheikh Jarrah, Omary said.

In video footage postedonline, Budeiri can be seenhandcuffed and surroundedby border police. Clutchingher notebook, she is heardshouting, “Don't touch,enough, enough.”

Israeli police said Budeiriwas detained after she wasasked for identification, refused— and pushed a police officer.

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meets with fellow world lead-ers on Friday in Cornwall, onthe coast of southwesternEngland, for the first face-to-face G-7 summit since thepandemic hit.

“The world is looking to usto rise to the greatest challengeof the postwar era: defeatingCOVID and leading a globalrecovery driven by our sharedvalues,” he said in a statementSunday.

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The G7 group of leadingeconomies have reached “a

historic agreement” to reformthe global tax system to makeit fit for the global digital age.

Speaking outside WinfieldHouse in London’s RegentsPark on Sunday, the USTreasury Secretary Janet Yellensaid the minimum rate of atleast 15 per cent would end “therace to the bottom in corporatetaxation”.

In a tweet later, she addedthat global minimum taxwould end the race-to-the-bottom in corporate taxation,and help the global economythrive, by levelling the playingfield for businesses and encour-aging countries to compete onpositive bases, such as educat-

ing and training their workforces and investing in researchand development and infra-structure.

“Today G7 FinanceMinisters and Central BankGovernors chaired byChancellor Rishi Sunak agreeda landmark deal on global tax,and ways to build a strong, sus-tainable, balanced and inclusiveglobal economic recovery,” theG7 said in a tweet.

A G7 statement said: “Westrongly support the effortsunderway through theG20/OECD InclusiveFramework to address the taxchallenges arising from glob-alisation and the digitalisationof the economy and to adopt aglobal minimum tax.

“We commit to reaching anequitable solution on the allo-

cation of taxing rights, withmarket countries awarded tax-ing rights on at least 20 per centof profit exceeding a 10 per centmargin for the largest andmost profitable multinationalenterprises. We will provide forappropriate coordinationbetween the application of thenew international tax rulesand the removal of all DigitalServices Taxes, and other rele-vant similar measures, on allcompanies.

“We also commit to a glob-al minimum tax of at least 15per cent on a country by coun-try basis. We agree on theimportance of progressingagreement in parallel on bothPillars and look forward toreaching an agreement at theJuly meeting of G20 FinanceMinisters and Central BankGovernors.

“I am delighted toannounce that the G7 FinanceMinisters today, after years ofdiscussions, have reached ahistoric agreement to reformthe global tax system to makeit fit for the global digital ageand crucially, to make sure thatit’s fair so that the right com-panies pay the right tax in theright places,” Sunak said in avideo clip posted on Twitter.

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India is likely to benefit fromthe global minimum 15 per

cent corporate tax rate pactinked by the world’s richestnations as the effective domes-tic tax rate is above the thresh-old, and the country wouldcontinue to attract investment,tax experts said on Sunday.

The Finance Ministers ofG-7 countries, comprising US,UK, Germany, France, Canada,Italy and Japan, on Saturdayreached a landmark deal ontaxing multinational compa-nies as per which the minimumglobal tax rate would be at least15 per cent. They also agreedto put in place measures toensure businesses pay taxes inthe countries where they oper-ate, a move aimed at pluggingloopholes in cross-border tax-ation.

Nangia Andersen IndiaChairman Rakesh Nangia saidthe G7 commitment to globalminimum tax rate of 15 per

cent works well for the US gov-ernment and most other coun-tries in western Europe.However, some low-taxEuropean jurisdictions suchas the Netherlands, Irelandand Luxembourg and some inthe Caribbean rely largely ontax rate arbitrage to attractMNCs.

“The global pact wouldface the challenge of gettingother major nations on thesame page, since this impingeson the right of the sovereign todecide a nation’s tax policy,”Nangia added.

India had in September2019 slashed corporate taxesfor domestic companies to 22per cent and to 15 per cent fornew domestic manufacturingunits. The concessional taxrate was extended to the exist-ing domestic companies aswell, subject to certain condi-tions.

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Niti Aayog Member(Agriculture) Ramesh

Chand on Sunday said thesecond Covid-19 wave will notimpact the Indian agriculturesector in anyway as rural areassaw spread of infections inMay when agriculture activitiesremained at bare minimum.

In an interview with PTI,Chand said that India’s policieson subsidy, price and technol-ogy have remained too much infavour of rice, wheat and sug-arcane, and there is need tomake the procurement andminimum support price poli-cy favourable to pulses.

“Covid-19 cases startedspreading in the rural areas in

the month of May, with thebeginning of the month ofMay, and agriculture activity inthe month of May is bare min-imal, particularly land-basedactivities,” he added. “...It (May)is a peak summer month andno crop is sown, no crop is har-vested except little bit vegetablesand some off-season crops,”Chand further explained.

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SIDBI on behalf of theGovernment has floated

Request for Proposal (RFP)inviting bids from consultantsto help set up a �20,000 croreDFI called the National Bankfor Financing Infrastructureand Development (NaBFID) tocatalyse investment in fund-starved infrastructure sector.Parliament in March clearedNational Bank for FinancingInfrastructure andDevelopment (NaBFID) Bill2021 to support the develop-ment of long-term non-recourse infrastructure financ-ing in India, including thedevelopment of the bonds andderivatives markets necessaryforinfrastructure financing.

The objective of the assign-ment is to select a managementconsultant to support in the set-ting up of an infraDevelopment FinanceInstitution (DFI), as an All-India Financial Institution

(AIFI) to provide, enable andcatalyse infrastructure financ-ing, the RFP said.

The Infra DFI is beingestablished through an Act ofParliament as a statutory bodyto address market failures thatstem from the long-term, lowmargin and risky nature ofinfrastructure financing.

The DFI would, therefore,have both developmental andfinancial objectives.

To begin with, the institu-tion will be 100 per cent gov-ernment owned. “Consultantwould be required to helpensure successful launch ofthe newly formed Infra DFI.The work would require devel-oping products related to infra-structure financing and to fur-ther enable private capital toinvest in infrastructure pro-jects. It also needs to be ensuredthat the Infra DFI has a clearstrategy and governanceprocess along with a clear roadmap of implementation,” itsaid.

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Petrol price on Sundaycrossed �95 a litre in Delhi

and diesel breached �86 perlitre mark for the first time everas fuel prices were hiked again.

Petrol price was increasedby 21 paise per litre and diesel20 paise a litre, according to aprice notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

The hike - 20th since May4 - took fuel prices across thecountry to a historic high.Petrol is now above �100 perlitre mark in six states andunion territories - Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Telanganaand Ladakh. In Delhi, petrolhit an all-time high of �95.09a litre, while diesel is nowpriced at �86.01 per litre. Fuelprices differ from state to statedepending on the incidence oflocal taxes such as VAT andfreight charges.

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Mixed views were expressedby various experts on the

impact of the new wage codeon the pay packets and theretirement benefits of employ-ees/workers.

They also said it is“myopic” to term social secu-rity as a cost to the company.

One view is that the com-panies may rejig the salarystructure in such a way thatthere will not be any addition-al outgo, which, in turn, mayreduce the monthly take homepay.

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The Board of Directors ofReliance Infrastructure Ltd

(RInfra) at its meeting held onSunday has approved raising offunds upto �550.56 crore bypreferential allotment of upto8.88 crore equity shares and/orwarrants convertible intoequivalent number of equityshares of the company to pro-moter group and VFSIHoldings Pte Ltd, an affiliate ofVärde Investment Partners LP.

The funds raised would beutilised for long term resources,for general corporate purpos-es, fund future growth, and also

to reduce debt.The Board approved seek-

ing approval of the members ofthe company for the aboveproposal through postal ballot.

The above shall be subjectto all requisite permissions,sanctions and approvals as maybe necessary.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd(RInfra) is one of the largestinfrastructure companies,developing projects throughvarious Special PurposeVehicles (SPVs) in several highgrowth sectors such as power,roads and Metro Rail in thednfrastructure space and thedefence sector.

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RIL’s FY21 Annual Reportshowed improved quality of

earnings, elevated capex, cash-flows impacted by repaymentof interest-bearing liabilitiesand sharp reduction in netdebt, as per a report by Jefferies.

Digital and omnichannelare focus areas in Retail wheredisclosures didn’t include seg-mental details. Driving 2G to4G transition is the key focusarea for Jio. Shift to renewablesfor captive consumption,increased ESG focus and high-er chemical conversion arefocus areas in O2C, the reportsaid. RIL extinguished $4.6bncapex creditors in FY21. Retailcapex was elevated at $1.4bnpartly led by Jiomart rollout.

Facilities capex under RelianceProjects & PropertyManagement Services was alsoelevated at $2.1bn.

RIL net debt declined toS$13bn, expect sharp reduction

in FY22E. Net debt includingspectrum debt and capex cred-itors declined 70 per cent y/y.This should fall below $6bn inFY22E on realization of balancerights issue proceeds and FCF.

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The 21st-century Indian fashionindustry is way beyond fabric,colour and patterns. It is now

approaching numerous other ever-evolving factors such as the modifica-tion of technology, lifestyle, the impor-tance of Artificial Intelligence, customi-sation and value-adding services toexpand the customer base. Technologyhas played a major role in boosting theindustry. The significance of digital evo-lution is, indeed, escalating at a substan-tial pace in the fashion industry and isbolstering its growth like never before.

�Why invest in both creativity andtechnology to adapt and outperformpeers?

It is viewed as a way to compete andsurvive in the industry and providevalue-added services to the customersin order to achieve several importantmilestones in the fashion industry.Basically, innovation in this industry isthe profitable implementation of ideasthat deliver quality and value to the cus-tomers. Among many other keymantras of innovation, comfort, cus-tomisation, flexible strategies and sus-tainability matter the most. These fac-tors speak volumes about the brands inthe market and also help in attractingthe business.

The undeniable fact is that the cre-ative industries — espeically fashion —run, compete, survive and jump on theability to generate ideas that fascinatethe customer base. Design capabilitieshave emerged as progressively moreimportant in the fashion industry.Design-centric products and aestheti-cally rich styles are predominant fac-tors that businesses, trends and marketscannot afford to ignore. Indian fashionbrands are now focussing more on thedesign-centric way of dealing with thepresent fashion scenario. Brands offer-ing uniqueness, effective marketing,trends with comfort, and servingaccording to the customer’s need, dis-play the ability to convert internation-al runway trends into a viable commer-cial concept which is a key strength ofa brand that wants to survive in the longrun and outperform its peers.

Over the years, Indian brandshave realised the significance of invest-ing in professional design teams to worktowards a highly complex and ambiva-lent process of product development.

Fashion brands are leveraging cutting-edge technology to simplify the com-plete production process. The Indianfashion brands are boosting the indus-try by working towards building a plat-form of smart clothing with sensors thatcan help them to iterate with featuressuch as touch, gesture, posture recog-nition, navigation in order to providethe best services in the domains ofhealth, fitness, wellness, et al.

�New digital trends reshaping thefashion industry

Understanding the customer’sdemands and tastes is reshaping theapproach to the clothes designingprocess and predicting what cus-tomers will want to wear next is yetanother factor that is reshaping andredefining the fashion industry. Byharnessing the data directly fromusers, brands are finding their way toreach customer’s hearts and minds.Predicting fashion trends withmachine learning is now fetching

massive benefits, nationally and glob-ally as well.

There are several softwares avail-able in the market for clothes design-ing that enable customers to come for-ward and design their own items andscale up the level of satisfaction. Ready-to-use software is easily available in themarket and it is easy to integrate intoan existing e-commerce website or tooffer customisation services. Moreover,“I designed it myself, for myself ”leaves a huge impact on the market andfuture businesses. As per the industry

experts, around 80 per cent of cus-tomers are attracted to a brand thatoffers personalised experiences.

�Change in consumer behaviours andrise of customisation: Role of innova-tion

Customised apparel has a gooddemand and customers now look for-ward to customising their apparelaccording to their liking. Today, theproduct customisation software costsless money and is easily available.Several fashion trends driven by

advances in digital tools and technolo-gies are transforming the fashionindustry landscape.

The major and new fashion mod-els like customer segmentation, com-munication, value proposition anddistribution channels are among a fewmodels that the fashion industryrevolves around. Also, the trendsinclude the ever-increasing impact offaster fashion, discounting offers, socialinfluencers, increasing e-commerce,global extension, consumer approachand more. Catering to the changingneeds of the consumer, upgradingthemselves according to the buyer’sneeds are the need of the fashion indus-try in India.

�Demand, usage and benefits for AIWith the changing times, the fash-

ion industry has witnessed a massivedemand, usage and benefits of AI in theapparel industry. Designers are using AIanalytics to hyper-personalise the shop-ping experience and stay updated.The technology caters to various seg-ments of customer’s demands, likesewing patterns, fittings, patterns, mak-ing it easier for the customers to com-pare and choose, aligns prices and styleas per customer’s preferences.

Making use of algorithms toanalyse previous styles and trends is oneof the major benefits of using ArtificialIntelligence and is helping the brandsto make future decisions. They now useAI to recognise the needs of customersand enhance their shopping experiencebased on their history of purchases,favourite colours, fabrics etc.

�Summing up...Innovation, technology and new

business models are the influencing fac-tors that are boosting the Indian fash-ion industry. Technology and innova-tion are indeed transforming most ofthe aspects of the fashion industry inthe country. In today’s world of style andvogue, brands and retailers arefocussing on intangible innovations likebusiness models, innovation and net-working to fetch long-term benefits andthe market seems to have an upwardgrowth trajectory, all thanks to theadoption of cutting-edge technologicalsolutions.

(The writer is the founder of a fash-ion brand — DressBio.)

Actress Amyra Dastur shared asocial media note talking about

her father’s experience with Covid-19. She says she’ll never forget the feel-ing of utter terror and helplessness.

Amyra posted a string of pictureswith doctors and healthcare workers.Alongside the image, she wrote, “Myfather was admitted into hospital onthe 12th of May 2021. What startedas fever and a cough developed intopneumonia caused by covid (eventhough all his tests were negative). HisO2 dropped and his body began dete-riorating to the extent he had to beshifted into the ICU. It was touch andgo over that weekend.”

The actress said that she willnever forget that feeling of helpless-ness.

“I’ll never forget that feeling ofutter terror and helplessness... (which)almost all the families in India haveexperienced or are currently experi-encing. Dad managed to stabilise bythe 17th of May but had to undergoother tests which basically lead to himneeding a double bypass that wasconducted in Masina Hospital,” shewrote.

Now, her father is back home andrecovering. “Dad came home yester-day. Still recovering but definitely bet-ter. That’s only because of the amaz-ing doctors and nurses who madesure he fought everything and trulytook care of him. I can’t thank theseheroes enough,” she said.

Amyra added, “The long shiftsthey’re working and with constant

hope in their eyes for all theirpatients. It truly was something else.”

She then spoke about violenceagainst doctors. “I just want to endthis post by requesting everyone notto harm doctors or nurses. As some-one who’s been on the other side, see-ing their loved one almost taken fromthem, I can only try to imagine thepain some families have gonethrough. I can’t imagine what Iwould've done if I lost my father butattacking doctors and nurses surelyisn’t fair.”

She concluded, “They truly areworking their hardest and they needour support. We can’t afford to hurtthe people who are risking their livesto save ours. #stopattacksondoctors#staysafe everyone and take care ofyourselves and your families.”

8&"(�

Long gone are the times when teachers andeducators would rely on blackboard-based

knowledge transfer to provide information tostudents. Shared documents, presentations andonline lectures are the current modus operan-di and the efficiency of education is all the bet-ter for it.

Online learning platforms and videohosting services are the norms in the COVID-predominant world. While transitioning toonline education was a lot harder on schooleducators, it’s important to note that mostIndian degree-level institutions have been usingonline learning methods in tandem with theirdaily teaching. This clearly indicates the will-ingness of Indian educators to adapt to edu-cation technology processes and acknowledgethe benefits of edtech for Indian students.

THE ROLE OF GOOGLE IN CLASS-ROOM EDUCATION

Google has always been at the forefront ofmost game-changing technologies. Googleapps are a staple in most mobile phones andsystems. As a result, Google Clould’s simpletools such as Gmail, Docs, Calendar and Driveoffer many benefits of technology in high-er education and are very commonlyused. These technologies allow multi-user editing and real-time collaborationbetween students and faculty at all times.This proves to be immensely useful for jointprojects, especially during the pandemic-rid-den times. Google Docs, in particular, allowseducators to build out templates in thecloud so that they don’t lose the for-matting. All these tools allow studentsto maintain easy communication witheducators, make citations, coordinategroup projects and so much more.

STUDY ABROAD APPLICATIONSDIGITISED

In a recent survey by edtech leader,iSchoolConnect, more than 36 per cent of

Indian students stated that they would studyabroad despite the global pandemic. This factbeing presented in the middle of the secondwave of COVID-19 clearly indicates the intentof Indian students who plan on studyingabroad. However, applying to universitiesabroad can be a slightly confus-ing process. That, along withthe fact that, most tradi-tional education consul-tants in India prefer the

offline

approach, made things verydifficult for Indian students.That is where online educationplatforms like iSchoolConnectcome into the picture. These

platforms assist studentswith their end-to-endstudy abroad applica-tions and address themajor student prob-lems involving essays,

university interview assis-tance, and more all withthe help of advanced AI

technology.

EFFICIENT STUDENT MAN-AGEMENT PROCESSES

For many years now, universities abroad

have incorporated AI-powered or real-timechatbots in their university websites to allowstudents to interact better with the institution.Managing incoming student or parent queries,managing fee payments, and training studentsfor future job prospects, are some of the mostpressing concerns that Indian universityofficials have. To counter these issues, thereare several software in the market that man-age student recruitment and job training. Thisvideo interview training, especially benefitsall students venturing into the professionalworld.

ONLINE PROCTORING IS THE KEYTO UNBIASED EVALUATION

This factor may be slightly unexplored inthe Indian education system but I have nodoubt that it won’t be the case for long. Datafrom the Human Resource DevelopmentMinistry states that the Indian students pur-suing higher education increased by 8,00,000in 2018-19 as compared to the previous year.The statistics have undoubtedly increased inthe year 2020-2021. As a result, schools andcolleges in India often face problems proctor-ing students’ exams and struggle with time-ly assessments. With the use of AI and MLtechnologies, several companies have devel-oped technologies that assess students dur-ing their exams and allow educators to eval-uate them based on the data gathered.

Change in the way Indians approachedseveral education processes was imminentlong before the global pandemic. It was evi-dent in the way Indian students overcame theeducation-based hurdles during COVID-19.The impact of edtech in educational process-es runs much deeper than we thought andwith the newer AI-powered edtech enteringthe game, Indian students only stand to reapmore and more benefits from these advance-ments.

(The writer is the founder and CEO of anedtech company — iSchoolConnect.)

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A modern take on Charles Dicken’s classic tale of ayoung orphan who is able to triumph over many obstacles.It releases on Amazon Prime Video on June 11.

��� ��A jaded forest officer (Vidya Balan) leads a team of

trackers and locals intending to capture an unsettledtigress, while battling intense obstacles and pressures,both natural and man-made. The film releases onAmazon Prime Video on June 18.

��������� �������A recently widowed father with two daughters is encour-

aged by his friends to re-enter the dating scene. Surprisinglyto both him and his friends, he becomes the most soughtafter single guy due to his description as an attractive work-ing father. The show starts on June 15, airing weekdays at10 am on Zee Cafe.

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Living during a pandemic has taughtus that we simply can’t run awayfrom ourselves. Our lives have

changed drastically, we can’t run to ournext vacation, we can’t drown our wor-ries at bars or bury our heads in high-paying jobs. Things have changed but wecan choose to have a loving and nurtur-ing relationship with ourselves. We canstart by remembering who we are andhonouring ourselves with some simplepractises.

One of the things which often sur-prises people about mindfulness is howsimple it is to bring it into your day. Bysticking to a morning routine inspiredby mindfulness, we can learn tobecome present in the moment,every moment. Each moment inour lives is an opportunity to startfresh and become better versions ofourselves. There’s something about theharmonious chirps of the birds and thefresh smell of flowers in the earlyhours that remind us that weare one with nature.

The morning hours pro-vide us with the opportunityto visualise our potential forthe day while forgettingabout the worries of thepast. Mindful morningsare a great way to reflect onyour inner-self and how youplan to treat or react to others movingforward. Here are three empowering tipsyou can adopt to nourish your morningsand ensure that you get the best out ofyour day:

�-,�.��7�&/���-!&�*-A mindful morning starts the night

before. To prepare and ease into a newday, it’s essential to rest and get a good

night’s worth of sleep. Take a few hoursto detox from screen time beforegoing to bed.Reading, sip-ping oncalming teasand nighttimeyoga, all hap-pen to besome excellenttools that will aid you in sleeping well.

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Does chaos fill your morning? Areyou rushing to get the kids to school?Are you bombarded by a multitude of

tasks to makesure everythingruns smoothly

throughout theday? Does this sound

familiar? As soon as wewake up, our very first

instinct is to check ourphones. And that is under-standable, most of us lead

busy lives.However,we haveto realise

that that canwait, there are

many moreimportant thingsto be thankful for.

In its place, we should try to sit up andbe aware of our senses as our mind slow-ly comes to terms with a new day andnotice what it feels like. Take a momentto breathe in and out slowly, notice thesensation of your breath in your body.We are so used to the hustle and bus-tle of life that most of us take silence

for granted. Greet your body withsilence in the morning and avoid thetemptation of technology around you.Practise healthy boundaries such asswitching off your gadgets for longerperiods and placing them out of yourreach.

'-&��*-!�& &�2.���-��02)�-(� �-

Meditation is a great way to kick-start your morning routine because itwill inspire you to start your day, readyfor the challenges ahead and it can bepractised anywhere. Whether yourcomfort zone is on the bed, the carpetor the grass, having true peace of mindis a gift to the self. Contrary to popu-lar belief, just about every act can berooted in meditative awareness. Forinstance, a great way to begin to settleyour mind in the morning while tak-ing no extra time is by noticing tastes,

smells, sounds and tex-ture as you brush yourteeth.

(The writer is anauthor, inspirationalspeaker, radio host and

producer.)

In October 2019, almost every news channel andother media platforms were dominated by the

news of the elimination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,the then-leader and self-proclaimed caliph of theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a ter-rorist organisation, by US special forces inOperation Kayla Mueller. It was no doubt one ofthe most prominent news pieces, back then, andcreated a lot of waves in the world as the terror out-fit’s activities came to light.

There aremany lessonsthat one canlearn from thisevent. Despitewaging highlyexpensive waro p e r a t i o n sagainst terroroutf its in theMiddle Eastregion, the huntfor the terrorkingpin hadproved elusivefor the US forces.Yet karma ordivine justicecatches up witheveryone and as per the law of karma, no offend-er can remain elusive forever. Because every offend-er or karmic offence leaves a trail that leads to theculprit being cornered. No matter however metic-ulous and elaborate measures they take to guardthemselves and live in hiding, ultimately somethinghappens and they get caught. History is witness tomany such leaders who met an inglorious end.Hence, one must realise that security and safetycannot be bought by weapons and clever machi-nations.

The manner in which the US carried out theentire operation to eliminate the founder of oneof the most dreaded terror organisations is proofthat no extent of fortification, scheming or sup-port system can protect a person. Death can comemost unexpectedly. Almost every terrorist leaderjustifies their cause but the means they employ areunrighteous and criminal. They vent their angerby killing innocent people and take delight inspreading terror and fright. But they forget that bydoing so, their cause is not fulfilled. Another les-son that can be learnt from this episode is that evilmen can be eliminated but evil does not end withthem. The world, even now, fears retribution byhis supporters who have vowed to avenge theirleader’s killing. It creates a vicious circle of end-less violence and hatred that is kept going by per-petrators and defenders. Thus we must all realisethat violence can never end violence or evil.Violence begets more violence. Hence, to create acrime-free society we must understand the law ofkarma that is very clear and straight. We sow whatwe reap. Nobody can escape the law of karma.Whenever a person commits a wrong deed andeven if he is not caught or punished by the law ofthe land, he will suffer by living in fear, guilt andrestlessness. Just like most of the global terroristsand their group members have been living like aprisoner in their hideouts. The global terrorist whogot killed, could not move around freely and hadcut off all communication lines to avoid beingtraced but he was finally tracked down.

In the last few years, it has been observed andexperienced that that evil can be vanquished onlyby spiritual power. Because violence is born in theminds of men and spiritual wisdom can help themunderstand their true inner self and further helpto control and transform their violent tendencies.Spirituality gives us the clarity and power to realise,observe, choose and change our pre-conditionedthoughts, beliefs and responses towards people andsituations. Remember, peace and love are the innatequalities of every human being and spiritualityenables us to live life embedded with these corevalues even when faced with adverse or negativethings. Thus, the answer to terrorism is not moreviolence. Spiritual empowerment is the key totransforming all evils.

Sakshi is one of the 204 womenpolice officers roped in for

COVID-19 duties in Kangra district,one of the worst affected by the sec-ond wave of the pandemic, in the hillstate of Himachal Pradesh. Hailingfrom Palampur, Sakshi was deployedat the Behin village, a containmentzone under Dehra police station, tillMay 24. After that, she moved toShantala Containment Zone forsome days before being stationed atthe Police Lines in Dharamshala.While in Behin, Sakshi stayed in aschool building along with fourother women constables who cookedafter a strenuous day’s duty thatincluded standing guard at the villageentry points or patrolling to ensurethat no one entered the villagethrough fields or other routes. If theforce was curtailed because of someexigency, then they had to be on dutyfor 10 to 12 hours including the nightshifts.

“We are in constant touch withthe Panchayat Pradhan of the village.With his help and only after check-ing the necessary documents, do weallow people to enter the village. Weneed to be vigilant and patrol all thepoints that could be used for enter-ing the village including agriculturefields,” Sakshi informed. Explaininghow these police officers helped thevillage contain the spread of the virus,Tarsem Kumar, the Gram PanchayatPradhan, said that the police force

deployed at Behin during the con-tainment period was quite effective.“Three camps for Covid-19 testingwere organised successfully as thesepolice personnel made sure properprotocols were followed. Thesewomen police officers had built agood rapport with the people andthere were no untoward incidentsduring containment,” he explained.

Sakshi is among the 76 womenpolice personnel from the IndianReserve Battalion who can bedeployed anywhere in the state basedon the requirement at any particu-lar time. Sakshi, who had joined thepolice force in 2018, has been on themove since then. Last year, when thefirst wave of the novel Coronavirushad strengthened its grip across thecountry, she was deployed for sixmonths at Baddi, which was ahotspot. Then, Sakshi was sent tomanage crowds during the Navratrifestival at the Naina Devi temple.This was followed by stop-gap dutiesin Mandi, a district that had the sec-ond-highest number of COVIDcases during the first wave.

�����������������������Aarti, another women constable,

also deployed in Behin village sharedthat their duty demands them toadapt as they move from place toplace. “Sometimes, we have to stay inschools, panchayat bhawans or evenpolice stations. We can be accommo-

dated at any place, at short notice,with bare minimum facilities,” sheinformed.“There are times whenwe manage to get good food, whilethere are days when we are not solucky. However, we have learnt tomanage. We are always ready withour bedding and other necessities sothat we can move swiftly wheneverand wherever we are asked to go,”shared these two young, gutsywomen officers. Over the years,they have learnt to strategise tomake their stay a little less uncom-fortable especially during physicallyand mentally demanding times likethese. “We are assigned duties inshifts. This way, whoever is not onduty, cooks for others. This arrange-ment works well for the five of usdeployed here,” explained Aarti whowas deployed in Behin since April 12.

��E��8��������(��8����“Yes, the risk of being infected is

always there,” said the women offi-cers. However, they are provided withthe necessary gear like masks, gloves,sanitisers and PPE kits. “Last year,during the first wave, while I wasposted on the Baddi border, I had towear a PPE kit the entire time to pro-tect myself and others,” informedSakshi. It is not just the officers post-ed on site who are at risk but thewomen police personnel posted inthanas (stations) have also beenassigned roles as frontline workers.

They too have to travel to nearby vil-lages to ensure villagers are follow-ing the lockdown rules. However,they are not required to stay there.Bindu, a station house officer (SHO),at a woman police station inDharamshala was infected byCOVID-19 while she had gone toinvestigate a rape case. Today, sheinspects and monitors various Covid-19 related activities assigned to thepolice officers in addition to otherduties. According to Dinesh Kumar,Additional Superintendent of Police,Kangra, said, “Apart from duties incontainment zones, the policewomenare deployed at vaccination centresand markets to prevent chaos duringrelaxation of curfew and to ensurethat Covid-19 protocols are fol-lowed. They make sure that peoplefollow rules of social distancing andthat the shops close on time. They arealso posted at traffic points to makesure that COVID-19 appropriatebehaviour is being followed at alltimes.”

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These women have to confrontunruly, uncooperative, rude andaggressive behaviour when violatorsare warned to follow the relevant pro-tocols. Additionally, long hours ofduty, lack of washroom facilities aresome of the challenges that they haveto take in their stride. When thesepolicewomen are deployed at placesfor a long time at places which do noteven have the basic facilities, they dofeel a little dispirited. But thismomentary feeling is nothing com-pared to the happiness and satisfac-tion they derive from serving thenation. “I feel proud of being a partof the force that ensures law andorder in the country and protectspeople,” shared Sakshi. Police areoften at the receiving end, but theseplucky policewomen are riskingtheir own lives to ensure that we aresafe, like so many other frontlineworkers in these trying times.

8-������9�������

No matter what the lyrics of life are, what is mostimportant is how we sing it. Amid the effects of the second wave of COVID-

19, people have started purchasing herbal plants forterrace and balcony gardens in an attempt to accu-mulate resources that will help boost immunity.

At this juncture, it is being seen that demand formedicinal plants such as peepal, neem, tulsi (basil),brahmi (waterhyssop), giloy(heart-leavedm o o n s e e d ) ,ashwagandha(winter cherry)and lemongrasshave amplified.All across India,nurseries havebeen doingbrisk businessselling plants.There is thehumming of ahealthy lifestyle.

Undoubtedly, sometime in the past, we discon-nected from our roots. Our nation was renowned allover the world as one where the citizens lived in closeharmony with nature. However, that is not the caseanymore. We need to think about our detachmentfrom nature and if possible, adopt a reverse gear withrespect to our mentality regarding nature.

Connecting with the earth, healthy and organicliving are terms we have all heard in the past few years.Saturday, June 5 was celebrated as World EnvironmentDay. The government initiates tree plantation drivesand there are multiple trusts and NGOs which obtaingrants for this but whether this does anything sub-stantial or not, that is another discussion altogether.

We need to admit that just like other creatures onthis planet, we too are dependent on Mother Earth.It is somewhat narcissistic to consider ourselves as thesmartest beings on the Earth and to declare ourselvesto be at the top of the food chain. We should not abusenature as per our whims and fancies and instead makeplans and policies centred around the well-being ofour environment.

(The author is a journalist with Lok Sabha TV.)

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Awinless India desperatelyneed a positive result against

neighbours Bangladesh in theirjoint World Cup and Asian Cupqualifiers match here onMonday, if they want to avoidthe ignominy of playing in thequalifying play-off round of thecontinental showpiece.

India are already out ofcontention for a World Cupberth but still in the reckoningfor a place in the 2023 AsianCup.

But with just three pointsfrom six matches, India are at thefourth spot in Group E and arenot yet guaranteed an automat-ic berth in the third round of theAsian Cup qualifiers.

Only the best four fourth-place finishers in each of theeight groups directly qualify forthe third round of the Asian Cupqualifiers. The other four fourth-place finishers and all the bot-

tom place finishers of the eightgroups will play in a play-offround from which eight will re-enter the qualifying processagain.

Among the fourth-place

finishers, six teams have morepoints than India currently.That would mean that IgorStimac’s men will have to beatBangladesh to have any chanceof an automatic berth in thethird qualifying round of theAsian Cup.

A win on Monday will alsobe India’s first in six years in theWorld Cup qualifiers. The lastwin for India had come in

November 2015 in a 1-0 resultagainst Guam in a 2018 WorldCup qualifying round match inBengaluru.

Historically, 105th-rankedIndia have the edge overBangladesh (184th). India hadbeaten Bangladesh twice in theWorld Cup qualifying round,though the wins were registeredway back in 1985 (2-1 result inboth double-legged matches).

India cannot be complacentas Bangladesh can be toughopponents as they had shown inthe first leg of this qualifiers in2019 in Kolkata where theyhad taken an early lead. An 88thminute header from defenderAdil Khan helped India to drawthat match in front of a hugecrowd at the Salt Lake Stadium.

At the bottom of the groupwith two points, Bangladeshare coming into Monday’s matchafter a 1-1 draw againstAfghanistan and they would alsobe desperately looking for a win.

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Lack of match practicebefore the World Test

Championship final is not a bigworry for Virat Kohli but thelegendary Dilip Vengsarkarbelieves that it ‘may hurt’ theIndian captain.

Kohli-led India reachedEngland on Thursday and head-ed into a three-day quarantinein Southampton, the venue forthe eagerly-awaited match fromJune 18.

Vengsarkar, a veteran of116 Tests, said that Kohli andRohit are in very good form, butlack of competitive time in themiddle might affect their perfor-mance at least in the tour-open-ing WTC final.

“Well Kohli has beenaround for a long time. He isone of the best batsmen inworld cricket at the moment.Players like Virat or RohitSharma, they are world classplayers, they take a lot of pridein their performance and pridein winning matches for India.

“It is a good thing and bothare in very good form. But hav-ing said that, I think lack of

match practice may hurt themin the first Test match that iswhat I feel,” Vengsarkar, the for-mer chairman of selectors, saidon Sunday.

Vengsarkar reckoned thatNew Zealand could have slightadvantage given that they arealready in the zone competitive-ly. “India is a better team and ingreat form. The advantage withNew Zealand is that it is a low

profile team and they are gettingto play two Test matches beforethe Test (World TestChampionship final).

“So it is important... It is aslight advantage to NewZealand... Because they havealready played two Test match-es before they start (of the WTCfinal), they are acclimatised tothe conditions,” reckonedVengsarkar.

“What I feel is that Indiashould have played games, youknow matches, at least two-threegames before the Test match(WTC), to get acclimatised tothe conditions.”

The former captain feels thateven the bowlers will shouldhave got some practice beforethe game.

“It is advisable to playmatches and spend time in themiddle, both for batsmen as wellas for bowlers. A match practiceis ultimate, you may have netpractice, you know a matchstimulation, but playing a matchin the middle and spending timein the middle always helps,when you play the big game,”said the former batsman, whohas three centuries at Lord’s.

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England and New Zealand drew the firstTest at Lord’s on Sunday to leave the two-

match series all square heading into nextweek's finale at Edgbaston.

England, set a target of 273 in 75 overswhen New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson declared at lunch on Sunday,were 170-3 when a draw was agreed.

Earlier, Neil Wagner saw off first-innings century-maker Rory Burns as NewZealand pressed for an enterprising win overEngland.

Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson'sbold declaration at lunch on Sunday's fifthand final day left England with a target of273 in 75 overs to win the first of this two-match series after the whole of Friday's playwas washed out.

But England did not appear in anymood to take up the challenge as theyreached tea on 56-2, needing a further 217runs from 43 overs.

Burns, who anchored England’s mod-est first-innings 275 with 132, had made 25when he edged a swinging delivery from left-

arm paceman Wagner low to second slipTim Southee. And England’s 49-1 soonbecame 56-2.

Southee, who had taken 6-43 inEngland's first innings, had Zak Crawley outfor a second two of the game when his sliceddrive off a swinging ball to Henry Nichollsin the gully.

Dom Sibley, out for nought in the firstinnings, had ground his way to just 19 notout off 83 balls, with England captain JoeRoot yet to score after coming in just beforethe break.

Wagner, one of several South Africa-born players in New Zealand's XI, had teafigures of 1-5 in six overs, with Southee tak-ing 1-21 in nine.

Meanwhile, towering paceman KyleJamieson started his miserly spell of 0-8 in10 with five straight maidens.

New Zealand's Devon Conway hadmarked his test debut with a remarkable 200in the tourists’ first innings 378.

But New Zealand were missing left-armspearhead Trent Boult, who only arrived inthe UK on Friday after a period of familyleave.

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Spinner Kuldeep Yadav isdisappointed at missing out

on India’s tour of England forthe World Test Championship(WTC) final against NewZealand and a five-match Testseries against the hosts. Hehopes he would get picked forupcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

“I am disappointed not tobe part of the Indian teambecause I wanted to go and per-form and contribute to theteam’s win. These things hap-pen, yes you are sad, but atthe same time you areready to perform inthe next opportu-nity,” Yadav said.

However, theChinaman bowlerwas hopeful ofsecuring a spot inthe limited-oversseries against SriLanka in July.

“I haven’t gonethere (toEngland), sohopefully I willgo to Sri Lankaand get thechance to per-

form there. Cricket shouldcontinue happening, everyplayer is sad when he is not inthe team, everyone wants toremain in the team but some-times the situation is such thatyou are not part of the team,”Yadav told India News.

India will play the WTCfinal in Southampton fromJune 18, followed by a five-Testseries against England, startingAugust 4 in Nottingham.

Yadav, who has played onlyseven Tests and has taken 105wickets in 63 ODIs, feels that

given the way the team hasbeen playing in the lastfew years, it is better

placed than New Zealandto win the WTC final.

“The sort of cricket weare playing for the lastthree-four years and thepositive atmosphere in the

team, even when weplay away we treat it asa home series, theway the team playedin Australia and thenagainst England, I

feel weshould andwe will win,”he said.

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Doha: India midfielderAnirudh Thapa, who testedpositive for Covid-19 a fewdays back, on Sundayrejoined the team after beingcleared by the organisingcommittee doctor. The 23-year-old Thapa had testedpositive on June 3 and hadbeen under quarantine in aseparate room in the teamhotel here since then. PTI

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Serena Williams was stunned by 21st seedElena Rybakina while Tamara Zidansek,Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Paula

Badosa reached the quarter-finals of this year’sFrench Open on Sunday.

The 39-year-old American’s quest for arecord-equalling 24th Grand Slam title endedwith a 6-3, 7-5. She has not gone beyond thefourth round at Roland Garros since losing the2016 final.

The exit of Williams leaves just two of thewomen’s top 10 seeds in the competition,reigning champion Iga Swiatek and last year'srunner-up Sofia Kenin.

Russian-born Rybakina, 21, extendedher best run at a Major as she advanced to herfirst quarter-final, where she will facePavlyuchenkova for a spot in the last four.

Spaniard Badosa reached her first-everMajor quarters, Zidansek became the firstwoman from Slovenia to reach this stage aswhile Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova returned to thelast eight at Roland Garros after a decade.

Pavlyuchenkova came from a set downbeat Victoria Azarenka 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Sheknocked out Aryna Sabalenka, the highest-ranked player left in the draw, in the previousround.

The Russian 31st seed broke formerworld No 1 Azarenka eight times to advanceto her seventh Grand Slam quarter-final. Shewill play Serena Williams or Elena Rybakinafor a place in the last four.

“It's really incredible I'm still playing ten-nis 10 years later," said Pavlyuchenkova, whoturns 30 next month. “It’s a surprise for me tobe here. I fought for each ball and each pointand played very well.”

Pavlyuchenkova, who lost to eventual run-ner-up Francesca Schiavone here a decade ago,matched her best run at a Major.

She has made the last eight at all fourSlams, including three of the past fiveAustralian Opens.

World No 85 Zidansek won 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 and will face the in-form Badosa of Spainfor a place in the semi-finals.

The 23-year-old had never previously gotbeyond the second round of a Grand Slam.However, she illustrated her potential byknocking out sixth-seeded former US Open

winner Bianca Andreescu in the first roundwhere she had twice been just two points fromdefeat.

“For me, the key was to start to real-ly believe that I can beat the top play-ers, to believe that I am better than themand that I belong there,” said theSlovenian.

Zidansek, a keen snowboarder inher winter off-time, finished runner-up on clay in Bogota in April.

However, before seeing offAndreescu in the first round inParis, she had never defeated atop 10 player.

Badosa reached her firstGrand Slam quarter-final bydefeating 2019 runner-upMarketa Vondrousova of theCzech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-2

The 23-year-old, a formerjunior champion at RolandGarros, is this season’s bestperforming clay courtplayer.

She now has 17wins against just twolosses on the surface, arun which includesthe Belgrade claycourt title on theeve of the FrenchOpen.

In a women’sdraw thrownwide open by theearly exits of topthree seedsAshleigh Barty,Naomi Osakaand ArynaS ab a l e n k a ,the opportu-nities existfor a shockchampionto emerge.

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Sergio Perez won theAzerbaijan Grand Prix in a

two-lap shootout after cham-pionship leader MaxVerstappen crashed whileleading with a tire failure andLewis Hamilton went offcourse trying to seize the winon the standing restart.

Verstappen was four lapsaway from a second consecu-tive victory Sunday when hisRed Bull suddenly slammedhard into the wall with apuncture to his left rear tire.The Dutchman climbed fromhis car, inspected the tire andkicked it in anger beforestomping off in disgust overthe race-changing failure.

“Is he OK?” radioed rivaland seven-time championHamilton.

Verstappen was fine butRed Bull was furious over asecond failure of a Pirelli tirein the race and asked for astoppage to allow tire changesfor safety reasons. Lance Strollhad crashed earlier in therace after his own unexpect-ed tire failure.

Formula One red-flaggedthe race and brought the fieldto pit lane before deciding to

resume with a standing startfor a two-lap sprint to the fin-ish.

Perez was the leader butHamilton shot past him in hisattempt to win the race andreclaim the points lead fromVerstappen. But he failed tobrake in the first corner andhis Mercedes slid off track.Hamilton dropped to 15th,snapping a streak of 54 con-secutive races of earning apoints position finish.

“So sorry, guys,” he told

the team.Four-time champion

Sebastian Vettel took secondfor Aston Martin after animpressive drive after qualify-ing 11th. Pierre Gasly wasthird for AlphaTauri.

It was the second careerwin for Perez, who is in hisfirst season with Red Bulland it somewhat salvaged therace for the team that hadbeen headed toward a 1-2 fin-ish before Verstappen’s tirefailed.

Perez wins chaotic Azerbaijan GP

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Roger Federer on Sunday saidhe is withdrawing from theFrench Open despite having

reached the fourth round, opting tofocus on his primary objective ofwinning a ninth Wimbledon title.

“After discussions with myteam, I’ve decided I will need

to pull out of RolandGarros today,” the 39-

year-old said.“After two knee

surgeries and overa year of rehabili-

tation it’s importantthat I listen to my body

and make sure I don’t push myselftoo quickly on my road to recov-ery.

“I am thrilled to have got-ten three matches under mybelt. There is no greater feelingthan being back on court.”

Federer, a 20-time GrandSlam title winner, who will be40 in two months’ time, battledover three and a half hours until12:45 Sunday morning to reach

the last 16 with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-7(3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 win over 59th-ranked Dominik Koepfer.

He was due back on court onMonday to tackle Matteo Berrettinifor a place in the quarter-finals.

However, having undergonetwo knee surgeries in 2020, theSwiss star had admitted there weredoubts over whether he’d make it.

Federer is playing only histhird tournament since last year’sAustralian Open and has alwayssaid Wimbledon is his main goal.

He is chasing a ninth title atWimbledon which starts on June28.

He is also scheduled to play thewarm-up grass court tournamentin Halle beginning on June 14, theday after the French Open ends.

Federer, who made his RolandGarros debut in 1999 and waschampion in 2009, was playing anight session for the first time in histhird round tie.

However, the almost empty15,000-capacity Court PhilippeChatrier was eerily silent due to aCovid-19 curfew.

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SERENA OUT

�������3�����(Second seed Daniil

Medvedev of Russia made theFrench Open quarter-finals for

the first time on Sunday whileGreek fifth seed Stefanos

Tsitsipas advanced to thelast-eight stage for the

second year running.Medvedev, who had

never won a match atRoland Garros beforethis year, defeated

Cristian Garin of Chile6-2, 6-1, 7-5 in his last 16

tie. Tsitsipas, a semi-finalist in2020, eased past Spain’s Pablo

Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.Tsitsipas, 22, has reached the

semi-finals at the past two majors,and was beaten in a thrilling five-setter by Novak Djokovic at lastyear’s Roland Garros. He haswon a tour-leading 37 matchesthis season, including 20 on

clay.

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India’s Rohan Bopanna and hisCroatian partner Franko Skugor

advanced to the quarter-finals ofthe French Open after receiving awalkover from their opponents onSunday.

The Indo-Croat duo got awalkover in its men’s doubles pre-quarterfinal clash againstNetherlands’ Matwe Middelkoopand Marcelo Arevalo of ElSalvador.

Bopanna and Skugor will facethe Spanish pairing of PabloAndujar and Pedro Martinez in thequarter-finals.

The unseeded Bopanna andSkugor had notched up a straightset win over Americans FrancesTiafoe and Nicholas Monroe in thesecond round earlier this week.

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