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T o save its ancient old local health traditions and ethno medical practices followed in the country for years from extinction, India has started documenting these age-old repositories to conserve them for future generations. So far over 25 thousand local medical practices have been docu- mented and the process is going on, said Union Ayush Secretary Rajesh Kotecha. The ethno-medicine is one of the form of healing diseases by using medicinally valued plants and is being practiced from ancient times. Kotecha said the tradi- tional healers are the reposi- tories of centuries of wisdom and knowledge of health prac- tices, transmitted through an incredibly effective system of oral transmission inherited through family lineage, at times also acquired under the Guru Shishya Parampara or through observation and expe- rience. The official said in the process (during documentation of ethno-medical practices), it will be ensured that rights of the traditional healers are pro- tected. “We are also firming up plans to ensure that they are not exploited and cheated by the commercial pharma firms as they share their traditional knowledge outside their lin- eage.” Also, the official said in order to give formal recogni- tion to traditional healers in the country, the Quality Council of India (QCI) has launched national voluntary certification scheme to certify their knowledge and skills and bring them in the mainstream. This is ongoing process, KG Dhiman, DG of the Delhi- based Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) said, adding that a brainstorming session was held a few months ago with scien- tists and stakeholders on the issue.Dhiman said the CCRAS, along with other stakeholders, agreed that a combined main- streaming of the folklore knowledge is needed to protect our traditions. He was sharing his views on the sidelines of the second day of the 7th International Congress of the Society for Ethnopharmacology (SFEC 2020) being held at Jamia Hamdard here where 60 renowned speakers and about 1,700 delegates from 40 coun- tries, including India, are delib- erating on crucial issues relat- ed to ethnomedicine, ethnopharmocology, medici- nal plants research and the reg- ulatory aspects. Many traditional healers from Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are also participating at the three-day event.KK Sharma from AIMIL Pharma, which is engaged in manufac- turing herbal-based drugs like BGR-34 (anti-diabetic formu- lation based on six herbs) and NEERI-KFT (for managing kidney ailments), welcomed the move to bring the tradi- tional healers in the main- stream, noting that tradition- al knowledge can be promot- ed by integrating with scientific method. Dr Ibrahim Jantan, Professor of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry at Taylor’s University, Malaysia, echoed similar views stating that while his country is yet to officially recognise AYUSH as mainstream medicine, many traditional healers have pre- served and promoted indige- nous herbal medicines for cur- ing various serious ailments. According to an estimate, there are around 1 million traditional healers in the coun- try but many work in the far flung, inaccessible areas. R iding over a massive man- date, Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row, becoming the second CM to have done so apart from Shiela Dikshit who had a 15-year uninterrupted run from 1998 to 2013. Kejriwal took oath of “office and secrecy”, along with six of his Cabinet colleagues, amid the thunderous ovation of his party supporters and peo- ple from all walks of life who had gathered at the historic Ram Lila Maidan carrying national flags, AAP flags, Hanuman printed flags, posters and placard chanting, “We love you Kejriwal”. In his thanksgiving speech, Kejriwal sought to allay appre- hensions about his Government’s style of func- tioning and promised that he will be the CM for all the peo- ple of Delhi and there will be no discrimination on political party lines. He said he will work with the same zeal and drive for the welfare of the each and every citizen of Delhi and will be equally receptive to the problems of the BJP and the Congress leaders. “Some people voted for the AAP, some cast their votes for the BJP and the Congress but the elections are over now and I am Chief Minister to every Delhiites even if s/he does not support my party or belong to some other party. “Everyone is welcome to my office with their problem and issues and I will meet you, address the issue and will pro- vide a solution to you all. You come from any party, caste, religion, rich, poor, you are my family, I will work for you,” said Kejriwal. “The elections are over and the politics is also over. I forgive all the opponents who made bad remarks on me and whatever they said about me. Now, we all should focus on the development of Delhi. I will work with the Central Government and will go to any point to develop and work to make Delhi a world number one city, he said. Kejriwal said, “I invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi also but he could not attend the swearing-in ceremony as he is busy with some other impor- tant schedule and meeting but I need his blessings on this day for smooth governance of Delhi.” He began his address with, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, ‘Inquilab Zinadabad’ and Vande Matram and ended with the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your son has won the CM post for the third time. This win and cele- bration is not mine, it is yours. I owe this victory to each and every Delhiites, my sisters, mothers, brothers, students, teachers, doctors and every sin- gle citizen of this city,” he said. Calling himself their son, he told the people, “Call your family members in the village and tell them not to worry and not fear for anything because your ‘son’ is back and is going to make Delhi safe.” “The people of Delhi have created a new history by choos- ing and electing us. A new pol- itics based on work, welfare, 24- hour electricity, better transport facility, heath, education, woman empowerment and a corruption free governance has born in this Delhi Assembly elections,” Kejriwal said. Commenting on the Opposition and people who call the AAP Government ini- tiatives a ‘freebies’ scheme, Kejriwal said, “The entire vital things created on this earth are made free by the God. Be it nature, mother’s love, father’s blessing or Shravan’s dedication towards his parents.” “Thus, how can I charge fees from my daughter and son to study in a school? An ill per- son is admitted to hospital and is fighting for his life and you want me to charge money to treat him and operate him? It will be a shame on me and my party, if I charge people for their own rights,” he said. Kejriwal said, “Politicians come and go but it’s you who make this city. But lakhs of “nirmatas” (makers) like you all run Delhi, not the politicians. You effort and hard work make the city feel proud.” Around 50 people from different professions ranging from students to doctors, woman metro pilots, teachers, auto drivers and others who contributed in the develop- ment of the national Capital in the last five years, were invited as ‘Delhi ke nirmata’ and also invited to share the stage with the CM during his swearing-in ceremony as Special Guests. U nion Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday advised the rank and file of the Delhi Police to deal with miscreants with “firm hands”, and at the same time remain calm despite “provocation”. Addressing the men and officers of the Delhi Police on its 73rd Raising Day ceremo- ny at the police lines, Kingsway Camp, the Home Minister hailed the Delhi Police as one of the finest metropolitan police forces which has foiled attempts to create disturbance without any fail. Quoting a speech of India’s first Home Minister ‘Iron Man’ Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1950, Shah said, “Despite all the anger and provocation, the Delhi Police should remain calm but it should also be ready to deal with the miscre- ants with firm hands to protect the people.” “I believe, on many occa- sions the Delhi Police has lived up to this advice of Saradar Patel,” the Home Minister said. Shah made special men- tion of the exemplary tasks performed by the Delhi Police in maintaining law and order in the city and also helping the Government on important occasions like celebrations of Independence Day and Republic Day, festivals and visits by foreign dignitaries. U nable to get the requisite permission from the police to march towards the residence of Home Minister Amit Shah for a dialogue over the new cit- izenship law on Sunday, the anti-CAA protesters of Shaheen Bagh returned to the venue. Before taking out the march, the protesters chose an eight-member delegation, including the elderly women called the ‘dadis’ of Shaheen Bagh, to approach the police “to allow them” to meet Shah and asserted that they will carry out the march peacefully. But they failed to impress upon the police which denied them per- mission to march. “Police said they have for- warded our request to meet the Home Minister and have sought some time to arrange it,” Javed Khan, one of the pro- testers, said. He said the pro- testers will replan their march after getting confirmation from the police. Anticipating trouble, the Delhi Police top brass further beefed up the security at Shaheen Bagh in south-east Delhi where hundreds of women protesters gathered to march towards the residence of Shah for a dialogue over the CAA. Barricades were placed at the site and the protesters were stopped after a little distance. T he oath taking ceremony of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was an impressive event laced with many shades of the city and its people. Ministers too deviated from the established norms and took oath in the name of Allah, martyrs and Lord Buddha. Thought the AAP had invited all the seven BJP MPs and 8 newly elected MLAs to the ceremony, only Leader of Opposition in the last Delhi Assembly, who won from Rohini, attended Kejriwal and his Ministers’ swearing-in cer- emony. “Little Mufflerman” who created quite a buzz during AAP’s poll campaign, was the cynosure along with elected legislatures and those present during the swearing-in-cere- mony of the AAP-led Government. With AAP chief Kejriwal, six Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and his colleagues including Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Kailash Gahlot, Rajendra Pal Gautam took the pledge and oath as the Ministers of the new Cabinet of the Delhi Government on Sunday. It has been learnt that Ministers will hold the same portfolios that they held dur- ing the last Government. There was no official com- muniqué from the Chief Minister’s office about the changes in portfolios. Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain who earlier headed the Labour Department and Food and Supply as Ministers also sworn in on Sunday for the new term. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated Arvind Kejriwal on taking oath as Delhi Chief Minister and extended him best wishes for a fruitful tenure. Kejriwal thanked Modi for the wishes and said the Centre and the AAP Government must work together to make Delhi a city of pride for all. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said his Government took major deci- sions, including abolition of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir and introduction of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the best interest of the nation and added that on such issues “hum kaayam hain aur aage bhi kaayam rehenge(we’re firm and will remain firm on our stand)”, giving a clear message to all those who are opposing the same in var- ious parts of the country. Though Modi did not name Shaheen Bagh while addressing a public meeting after inaugurating the first phase of Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Smriti Sthal at trans- Ganga Parao and about 50 projects worth over 1,254 crores, apart from flagging off the Kashi-Mahakal Express here on Sunday afternoon, he gave a clear message that his Government is determined on the CAA. Not only this, in an earlier address at the Jangambadi Math, where he released the Shree Siddhanth Sikhamani Granth in 19 languages and Shivshree Vedika mobile app, Modi said, “It’s an important period in history when all hur- dles delaying the construction of grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya were removed and the Government had also handed over its acquired 67 acres of land to the Ram Janambhoomi Kshetra Trust apart from being development of Kashi Vishwanath Dham in this holy city.”“Be it the scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir or the Citizenship Amendment Act, the country waited for decisions on these for years,” he told a public meeting here during a day- long visit to his Lok Sabha con- stituency.
16

The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

Sep 23, 2020

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Page 1: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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To save its ancient old localhealth traditions and ethno

medical practices followed inthe country for years fromextinction, India has starteddocumenting these age-oldrepositories to conserve themfor future generations. So farover 25 thousand local medicalpractices have been docu-mented and the process isgoing on, said Union AyushSecretary Rajesh Kotecha.

The ethno-medicine is oneof the form of healing diseasesby using medicinally valuedplants and is being practicedfrom ancient times.

Kotecha said the tradi-

tional healers are the reposi-tories of centuries of wisdomand knowledge of health prac-tices, transmitted through anincredibly effective system oforal transmission inheritedthrough family lineage, attimes also acquired under theGuru Shishya Parampara orthrough observation and expe-rience.

The official said in theprocess (during documentationof ethno-medical practices), itwill be ensured that rights ofthe traditional healers are pro-tected. “We are also firming upplans to ensure that they arenot exploited and cheated bythe commercial pharma firmsas they share their traditional

knowledge outside their lin-eage.”

Also, the official said inorder to give formal recogni-

tion to traditional healers inthe country, the QualityCouncil of India (QCI) haslaunched national voluntary

certification scheme to certifytheir knowledge and skills andbring them in the mainstream.

This is ongoing process,

KG Dhiman, DG of the Delhi-based Central Council forResearch in Ayurvedic Sciences(CCRAS) said, adding that abrainstorming session was helda few months ago with scien-tists and stakeholders on theissue.Dhiman said the CCRAS,along with other stakeholders,agreed that a combined main-streaming of the folkloreknowledge is needed to protectour traditions.

He was sharing his viewson the sidelines of the secondday of the 7th InternationalCongress of the Society forEthnopharmacology (SFEC2020) being held at JamiaHamdard here where 60renowned speakers and about

1,700 delegates from 40 coun-tries, including India, are delib-erating on crucial issues relat-ed to ethnomedicine,ethnopharmocology, medici-nal plants research and the reg-ulatory aspects.

Many traditional healersfrom Jharkhand, MadhyaPradesh, Kerala and TamilNadu are also participating atthe three-day event.KKSharma from AIMIL Pharma,which is engaged in manufac-turing herbal-based drugs likeBGR-34 (anti-diabetic formu-lation based on six herbs) andNEERI-KFT (for managingkidney ailments), welcomedthe move to bring the tradi-tional healers in the main-

stream, noting that tradition-al knowledge can be promot-ed by integrating with scientificmethod.

Dr Ibrahim Jantan,Professor of Medicinal andNatural Products Chemistry atTaylor’s University, Malaysia,echoed similar views statingthat while his country is yet toofficially recognise AYUSH asmainstream medicine, manytraditional healers have pre-served and promoted indige-nous herbal medicines for cur-ing various serious ailments.

According to an estimate,there are around 1 milliontraditional healers in the coun-try but many work in the farflung, inaccessible areas.

�������������� ,-.��-/0(�

Riding over a massive man-date, Arvind Kejriwal took

oath as Chief Minister of Delhifor the third time in a row,becoming the second CM tohave done so apart from ShielaDikshit who had a 15-yearuninterrupted run from 1998to 2013.

Kejriwal took oath of“office and secrecy”, along withsix of his Cabinet colleagues,amid the thunderous ovation ofhis party supporters and peo-ple from all walks of life whohad gathered at the historicRam Lila Maidan carryingnational flags, AAP flags,Hanuman printed flags, postersand placard chanting, “We loveyou Kejriwal”.

In his thanksgiving speech,Kejriwal sought to allay appre-hensions about hisGovernment’s style of func-tioning and promised that hewill be the CM for all the peo-ple of Delhi and there will beno discrimination on politicalparty lines. He said he willwork with the same zeal anddrive for the welfare of the eachand every citizen of Delhi andwill be equally receptive to theproblems of the BJP and theCongress leaders.

“Some people voted forthe AAP, some cast their votesfor the BJP and the Congressbut the elections are over nowand I am Chief Minister toevery Delhiites even if s/hedoes not support my party orbelong to some other party.

“Everyone is welcome tomy office with their problemand issues and I will meet you,address the issue and will pro-vide a solution to you all. Youcome from any party, caste,religion, rich, poor, you are myfamily, I will work for you,” saidKejriwal. “The elections areover and the politics is also

over. I forgive all the opponentswho made bad remarks on meand whatever they said aboutme. Now, we all should focuson the development of Delhi. Iwill work with the CentralGovernment and will go to anypoint to develop and work tomake Delhi a world numberone city, he said.

Kejriwal said, “I invitedPrime Minister Narendra Modialso but he could not attend theswearing-in ceremony as he isbusy with some other impor-tant schedule and meeting butI need his blessings on this dayfor smooth governance ofDelhi.” He began his addresswith, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’,‘Inquilab Zinadabad’ andVande Matram and ended withthe patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge

Kamyab’ (We shall overcome),the public also repeated the linewith him.

“I want to thank each andevery one of you. Today, yourson has won the CM post for thethird time. This win and cele-bration is not mine, it is yours.I owe this victory to each andevery Delhiites, my sisters,mothers, brothers, students,teachers, doctors and every sin-gle citizen of this city,” he said.

Calling himself their son,he told the people, “Call yourfamily members in the villageand tell them not to worry andnot fear for anything becauseyour ‘son’ is back and is goingto make Delhi safe.”

“The people of Delhi havecreated a new history by choos-ing and electing us. A new pol-

itics based on work, welfare, 24-hour electricity, better transportfacility, heath, education,woman empowerment and acorruption free governance hasborn in this Delhi Assemblyelections,” Kejriwal said.

Commenting on theOpposition and people whocall the AAP Government ini-tiatives a ‘freebies’ scheme,Kejriwal said, “The entire vitalthings created on this earth aremade free by the God. Be itnature, mother’s love, father’sblessing or Shravan’s dedicationtowards his parents.”

“Thus, how can I chargefees from my daughter and sonto study in a school? An ill per-son is admitted to hospitaland is fighting for his life andyou want me to charge money

to treat him and operate him?It will be a shame on me andmy party, if I charge people fortheir own rights,” he said.

Kejriwal said, “Politicianscome and go but it’s you whomake this city. But lakhs of“nirmatas” (makers) like you allrun Delhi, not the politicians.You effort and hard work makethe city feel proud.”

Around 50 people fromdifferent professions rangingfrom students to doctors,woman metro pilots, teachers,auto drivers and others whocontributed in the develop-ment of the national Capital inthe last five years, were invitedas ‘Delhi ke nirmata’ and alsoinvited to share the stage withthe CM during his swearing-inceremony as Special Guests.

��������������� ,-.�-/0(

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday advised

the rank and file of the DelhiPolice to deal with miscreantswith “firm hands”, and at thesame time remain calm despite“provocation”.

Addressing the men andofficers of the Delhi Police onits 73rd Raising Day ceremo-ny at the police lines, KingswayCamp, the Home Ministerhailed the Delhi Police as oneof the finest metropolitanpolice forces which has foiledattempts to create disturbancewithout any fail.

Quoting a speech of India’sfirst Home Minister ‘Iron Man’Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in1950, Shah said, “Despite allthe anger and provocation,the Delhi Police should remaincalm but it should also beready to deal with the miscre-ants with firm hands to protectthe people.”

“I believe, on many occa-sions the Delhi Police has lived

up to this advice of SaradarPatel,” the Home Minister said.

Shah made special men-tion of the exemplary tasksperformed by the Delhi Policein maintaining law and orderin the city and also helping theGovernment on importantoccasions like celebrations ofIndependence Day andRepublic Day, festivals andvisits by foreign dignitaries.

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Unable to get the requisitepermission from the police

to march towards the residenceof Home Minister Amit Shahfor a dialogue over the new cit-izenship law on Sunday, theanti-CAA protesters ofShaheen Bagh returned to thevenue.

Before taking out themarch, the protesters chose aneight-member delegation,including the elderly womencalled the ‘dadis’ of ShaheenBagh, to approach the police “toallow them” to meet Shah andasserted that they will carry outthe march peacefully. But theyfailed to impress upon thepolice which denied them per-mission to march.

“Police said they have for-warded our request to meet theHome Minister and havesought some time to arrange it,”Javed Khan, one of the pro-testers, said. He said the pro-testers will replan their marchafter getting confirmation from

the police.Anticipating trouble, the

Delhi Police top brass furtherbeefed up the security atShaheen Bagh in south-eastDelhi where hundreds ofwomen protesters gathered tomarch towards the residence ofShah for a dialogue over theCAA.

Barricades were placed atthe site and the protesters werestopped after a little distance.

������������ ���������������������������������������� �����������������������������������

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The oath taking ceremonyof the Aam Aadmi Party

(AAP) Government led byChief Minister ArvindKejriwal was an impressiveevent laced with many shadesof the city and its people.

Ministers too deviatedfrom the established normsand took oath in the name ofAllah, martyrs and LordBuddha.

Thought the AAP hadinvited all the seven BJP MPsand 8 newly elected MLAs tothe ceremony, only Leader ofOpposition in the last DelhiAssembly, who won fromRohini, attended Kejriwal andhis Ministers’ swearing-in cer-emony.

“Little Mufflerman” whocreated quite a buzz duringAAP’s poll campaign, was thecynosure along with elected

legislatures and those presentduring the swearing-in-cere-mony of the AAP-ledGovernment. With AAP chiefKejriwal, six Members ofLegislative Assembly (MLAs)and his colleagues includingManish Sisodia, SatyendarJain, Kailash Gahlot, RajendraPal Gautam took the pledgeand oath as the Ministers ofthe new Cabinet of the DelhiGovernment on Sunday.

It has been learnt thatMinisters will hold the sameportfolios that they held dur-ing the last Government.There was no official com-muniqué from the ChiefMinister’s office about thechanges in portfolios.

Gopal Rai and ImranHussain who earlier headedthe Labour Department andFood and Supply as Ministersalso sworn in on Sunday forthe new term.

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New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaycongratulated Arvind Kejriwalon taking oath as Delhi ChiefMinister and extended him best wishes for a fruitfultenure.

Kejriwal thanked Modifor the wishes and said theCentre and the AAPGovernment must worktogether to make Delhi a cityof pride for all.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday said his

Government took major deci-sions, including abolition ofArticle 370 in Jammu &Kashmir and introduction ofCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) in the best interest ofthe nation and added that onsuch issues “hum kaayam hainaur aage bhi kaayam rehenge”(we’re firm and will remainfirm on our stand)”, giving aclear message to all those whoare opposing the same in var-ious parts of the country.

Though Modi did notname Shaheen Bagh whileaddressing a public meetingafter inaugurating the firstphase of Pt Deen DayalUpadhyay Smriti Sthal at trans-Ganga Parao and about 50projects worth over �1,254crores, apart from flagging offthe Kashi-Mahakal Expresshere on Sunday afternoon, hegave a clear message that hisGovernment is determined onthe CAA.

Not only this, in an earlieraddress at the JangambadiMath, where he released theShree Siddhanth SikhamaniGranth in 19 languages andShivshree Vedika mobile app,Modi said, “It’s an importantperiod in history when all hur-dles delaying the constructionof grand Ram Temple inAyodhya were removed and theGovernment had also handedover its acquired 67 acres of

land to the Ram JanambhoomiKshetra Trust apart from beingdevelopment of KashiVishwanath Dham in this holycity.”“Be it the scrapping ofArticle 370 from Jammu &Kashmir or the CitizenshipAmendment Act, the countrywaited for decisions on thesefor years,” he told a publicmeeting here during a day-long visit to his Lok Sabha con-stituency.

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Page 2: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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The tradition of eating Paanoriginated in India before it

became popular in other Asiancountries. Travel anywhere inIndia and you might comeacross a paan shop selling thisage old traditional item.

Paan is made from betelleaves (paan patta) filled main-ly with chopped areca nuts(supari), slaked lime (chuna),catechu (red katha paste), fen-nel (saunf), sweetened andmashed rose petals (gulkand)and elaichi (cardomom) amongother items.

Though its primary pur-

pose is to be used as a mouthfreshner, many people also useit for the numerous healthbenefits it provides. Accordingto Ayurveda, the betel leaf isfull of medicinal properties.The regular consumption ofbetel leaf helps balance Vataand Kaph doshas of the humanbody.

Chewing betel leaf stimu-lates the release of saliva thatfurther helps in digestion offood. It has anti- microbialproperties that can protect theconsumer from minor bacter-ial and fungal infections. It is

really good for people sufferingfrom diabetes as it can regulatetheir glucose levels. It lowersyour cholesterol and protectsyour heart. Depression is a seri-ous condition that affects manypeople. One of the mostimportant herbal remedy forthis condition is to chew betelleaves.

Betel leaves play an impor-tant role in Indian tradition,customs and rituals. It isbelieved that Lord Shiva andParvati themselves had sownthe seeds of paan patta in theHimalayas. According to

Skanda Purana, the betel leafwas obtained by the gods dur-ing the churning of the oceanfor the nectar of immortality-Amrit.

That is why it is believedthat the different deities andplanets such as lord Indra,goddess Saraswati, Shiva,Shukra, Vishnu, goddessParvati and lord Suryanarayanreside in the leaf. In theRamayana, it is mentioned thatthe time when Hanumanreached Lanka to convey themessage of Rama, Sita wel-comed him with a garland of

betel leaves to express her hap-piness and gratitude. That iswhy people offer betel leavestoo while worshipping lordHanuman.

According to the Indiantradition, a combination ofbetel leaf and areca nuts isinseparable as they symboliseloyalty in love and a strongbond.

Thus, it is a tradition tochew a paan when the tilak cer-emony of groom is done in tra-ditional Indian weddings. Itmeans that the newly weddedcouple is now compatible to

each other just like the betel leafand areca nut. However, chew-ing paan can also be slightlyaddictive. But the addictionhere is to the tobacco in it andnot the leaf itself.

There is a risk of develop-ing oral cancer if you eat paanwith tobacco too often. Eventhough betel leaves have healthbenefits, they should be used ina limited quantity.

(The author is anastrologer, Prashna Kundalianalyst, numerologist and Vastuexpert)

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Conservationists andSanctuary Asia awardees

Arun Gour and Taukeer Alamwere felicitated by notedauthor Ganesh Saili at a pro-gramme organised by the cit-izens walking group BeenThere Doon That (BTDT) hereon Sunday. The duo was felic-itated for their outstandingwork in the field of conserva-tion of nature and wildlife inthe state.

Alam, who belongs to theVan Gujjar community is a selftaught bird expert who grewup near Rajaji National Parkand always loved the forest andits wildlife.

While talking about hisjourney, Alam said that hedropped out from school whenhe was in class IX and after-wards he started as a cook forNature Science Initiative’sSoumya Prasad who was con-ducting research near Rajaji.From there, his journey of

becoming a birder startedwhen his observational skillswere recognised by his men-tors. He also added that afterleaving the studies for threeyears, he started his educationagain, and currently he is anundergraduate student.“While I was still in the learn-ing phase, I realised thatresearchers from foreign coun-tries research and write thesisabout birds and go away.

What they found inresearch never actually reachedout to the people of the forestor anybody else. So I thoughtabout organising school pro-grammes to inform and edu-cate children about birdingand I also become a guide forthe people who came to see anyparticular bird in the area,”added Alam.

Talking about Alam, one ofhis mentors from NatureScience Initiative, RamanKumar said, “WhateverTaukeer has achieved till nowis all due to his hard work. He

is an exceptionally self-moti-vated person and without anyhelp he has learnt variousskills on his own whether it beoperating a computer, dataentry, or promoting aware-ness about the environmentand its conservation among thepeople.” Arun Gour is a bee-keeper who founded theDevalsari Samiti to nurture aculture of conservation amongthe people of his community.

He has also supported theforest department by reportingpoaching incidents and byhelping in tackling forest fires.He also trained many people ofthe mountainous areas in bee-keeping, butterfly walks andhomestays which will makethem self sufficient as well asavert their migration towardscities.

According to Gour, “It isvery important to save theenvironment and culture ofmountainous villages, thoughit is not easy. In the name ofdevelopment, hundreds of

trees are cut down in theforests of the villages and evenif some of us raise voice againstit, people don’t like it becauseaccording to them we are theobstacles in the way of urban-isation and development of thevillage. I have also receivedmany threats on this account.”He further said that he is notagainst the government poli-cies but it should be done with-out disturbing the balance in

the nature. One of the mentorsof Gour, Anchal Sodhi fromTitli Trust said, “Arun neverwanted to migrate but alwaysdesired to do something for hisvillage.

He was not in favour ofmigrating to the city and do amenial job like his fellows inthe village. He is an inspirationfor all the youth who migrateto cities to get jobs and betterlife.”

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Thousands of fruit treeswere planted in the

Saklana range of Tehri districton Sunday. Along with thelocals and environmentalists,the ambassador of Sweden toIndia, Klas Molin also attend-ed the plantation event organ-ised with the involvement ofEarth Day Network and OneTree Planted.

Speaking on the occasion,the Swedish ambassador saidthat Sweden and India areclose partners when it comesto environmental issues.Recalling that about 10 percent of Sweden’s GDP comesfrom ‘green gold’, he said thathis nation is also particularabout ensuring that trees arenurtured and more planted.

Expressing happiness atparticipating in the tree plan-tation in Saklana range, Molinsaid that he would mentionthis experience too when hegoes to meet the king ofSweden in the nearfuture.Meanwhile, tree

saplings were planted in thevillages of Manjgaon, Kalavan,Uniyalgaon, Haveli, Jaadgaon,Navagaon, Semvalgaon,Maroda, Lamkandai andHatwalgaon. The saplingsincluded those of apricot, wal-nut, plum, pear, papaya andlemon. The inaugural cere-mony for tree planting washeld at Rajkiya UcchatarMadhyamik Vidyalaya,Manjgaon. From there, thevillagers went on to plantthese saplings in their farm-land and homesteads. Thesaplings will be nurtured andmonitored by social enter-prise Sustainable GreenInitiative.

“We planted 15,000 treesin this area last year on VasantPanchami. Encouraged by theexcellent survival rate andwith the way the people hereare taking care of the saplings,here we are, again, working ongreening the world, one fruittree at a time,” said KarunaSingh, the regional director forSouth Asia and CountryDirector, Earth Day Network.

Sustainable GreenInitiative director Raj Mohansaid, “It may sound cliched,but indeed, where there is awill, there is a way. In the landof the ‘tree man’ VishweshwarDutt Saklani, the people treattree saplings like their ownchildren.”

SGI will help the villagersplant and nurture these fruittrees to not only increase thegreen cover but also providenutrition and secondaryincome by selling the fruits.According to SGI’s estimates,each fruit tree gives a quintalor more of fruits from thefourth year onwards.

Even at a marginal marketprice of Rs 10 per kilogramme,each tree will provide nutri-tional value or an additionalincome of Rs 1,000 to thefarmer. While helping farmersnurture these saplings intoyoung trees, SGI will stress onthe importance of organicfarming and help the villagersin taking care of them by notresorting to chemical fertilis-ers or pesticides.

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One hospital wassealed and action was

taken against another hos-pital for violation of PCP-NDT and other relevantacts here on the weekend.

The actions weretaken as part of raids con-ducted by the authoritieson the directions of theNainital district magis-trate Savin Bansal whohad been receiving com-plaints regarding privatehospitals not providingfacilities as per the PCP-NDT Act.

The additional chiefmedical officer (ACMO)Dr Rashmi Pant and herteam raided the Sparshhospital and infertilityclinic and the VivekanandHospital. According toDr Pant, during inspec-tion at the Sparsh hospi-tal, the establishmentcould not provide anydocumentation of its reg-istration with the pollu-

tion control board asrequired under theClinical EstablishmentAct. There was no druglicense available at thehospital’s medical storewhich also lacked arefridgerator for safelystoring medicines.Further, the establishmentdid not have IVF regis-tration under the PCP-NDT Act.

The hospital man-agement could not pro-vide any document toshow the training of thestaff members.Documents regardingestablishment of the hos-

pital were not availableeven as there was no fireexit plan. Consideringthese irregularities, theteam sealed the hospitalon the spot.

The ACMO furtherinformed that the regis-tration of Vivekanandhospital under PCPNDTAct had been cancelleddue to its ultrasoundmachine not being foundat the designated place.

the said machine wasalso sealed by the officials.Members of the PCP-NDT committee werealso present during theraids.

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Due to the insufficientdisposal of Refuse

Derived Fuel (RDF) fromthe solid waste manage-ment and recycling plantin Sheeshambada, theauthorities are consider-ing the construction ofwaste-to-energy plantnearby.

The waste manage-ment plant producesabout 100 tonnes of RDFin a day but considerablequantity of of RDF stillremains in the wastemanagement plant ofSheeshambada in spite ofits regular disposal.

The project managerof Sheeshambada wastemanagement and recy-cling plant MA Saify saidthat in view of this, theRamky Company is con-sidering the option ofconstructing a waste-to-energy plant near theSheeshambada plant orclose to the city so that

RDF can be disposed ofeasily. According to Saify,“RDF is being regularlydisposed by us but due tothe lack of cement facto-ries and waste-to-energyplant in Dehradun or else-where in the state, theRDF produced in theplant is not disposed com-pletely. This is the reasonwhy the company is con-sidering to set up a waste-to-energy plant nearby sothat full disposal of RDFcan be done within thecity.”

Saify also talkedabout the production ofRDF and compost in theplant. According to him,compost and RDF arebeing produced from thegarbage which is collect-ed by MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD) from the city anddumped in the plant atSheeshambada. After thegarbage is unloaded in theplant, it is thoroughly seg-regated so that the mate-

rials for making RDF andcompost can be set apart.Talking about the dispos-al of compost and RDF,Saify said that around 20tonnes compost is gener-ated in a day which is sup-plied to the enterpriseslike Krishak BharatiCooperative Limited(KRIBHCO) and to thelocal farmers as per therequirement so that theycan use the organicmanure for agriculturewhereas RDF is suppliedto cement plants andwaste-to-energy plant asper the demand.

Recently, the protest-ing locals ofSheeshambada allegedthat Ramky Companyhad dumped heaps ofmanure and garbage intoa trench inside the wastemanagement plant whichwill have a detrimentaleffect on the groundwaterin the area. However, theproject manager has refut-ed these allegations.

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Page 3: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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The Congress party’s Stateunit will undertake a Laltain

Yatra across the State to elicit theattention of the public on thefailures of the State Government

on various fronts. The Congress will begin

this state-wide campaign today

from chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat’s Doiwala con-stituency. The Pradesh CongressCommittee president PritamSingh and leader of oppositionIndira Hridayesh said this whileaddressing a Press conference at

the Congress Bhawan here onSunday. The State Governmentunder chief minister Trivendra

Singh Rawat will complete threeyears in office next month. Inthis context, the PCC presidentPritam Singh said that influ-enced by the pleasing promis-es made by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the people of

Uttarakhand had elected theBJP to office with a strongmajority in the 2017 Vidhan

Sabha elections. Out of the 70seats in the assembly, the BJPhad won from 57 seats. Singhopined, “However, contrary tothe expectations of the public,the State government has spentits three years in office execut-ing works which are detrimen-tal to the interests of the public.

The government has failedin executing development workswith the chief minister failing topresent any vision of his for this.The developmental works ini-tiated by the previous Congressgovernment were also stalled bythe current government. At thesame time, unemployment is onthe rise even as employed youthare being terminated from theirjobs. The government has no

control over price rise. Apartfrom this, by bringing in theDevsthanam Act, the state gov-ernment is tampering with thetraditions of religious places,”alleged the PCC chief.

The leader of opposition inthe Vidhan Sabha said that thestate’s economy is now in direstraits. She said, “The govern-ment does not have enoughfunds to pay the salaries ofemployees and pensions. Thegovernment is taking loan fromthe market for this purpose. TheLaltain Yatra of the Congresswill be held in every VidhanSabha constituency to throwlight on the failures of the stategovernment on various fronts,”she said.

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While senior Congressleader and former Chief

Minister Harish Rawat fuelledfurther speculation on rumoursabout change in the leadershipof the State Government, thePCC chief Pritam Singh opinedthat this is an internal matter ofthe party in office. Singh alsogave a diplomatic reply on theissue of reservation in promo-tions.

It will be recalled that acouple of days ago, Rawatspoke on the social mediaabout instability and uncer-tainty in the BJP inUttarakhand. However, whenasked about his view on this,Singh said that the Congress isnot interested in any possibil-ity of change of political lead-ership which is an internalissue of the BJP.

Replying to a query raisedduring the Press conference atthe Congress Bhawan, Singhsaid that if the BJP is consid-ering change in its leadership

in the state, the issue is inter-nal to the BJP. The Congresshas nothing to do with thisissue, he stressed. Referring toRawat, he said that HarishRawat is a senior leader withlong political experience.

However, he stressed thatthe Congress will now focus onstrengthening its organisationin the state. “The Vidhan Sabhaelection is slated for 2022 andnot much time is left.

Hence, we will focus onstrengthening the party fromthe booth level to the state level.We will decide our pro-grammes and work on makingthem successful. We willinform everyone about thefailures of the BJP state gov-ernment,” he said.

On being asked about thestand of the Congress on theissue of reservation in promo-tions, the PCC chief said thatthe Supreme Court has clarifiedthe situation in its order. TheState government has to take adecision as per the orders of theApex court, he added.

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The Bharatiya Janata Partyhas opined that the

Congress’ campaign againstthe state government is mere-ly a gimmick meant to divertthe focus away from its internalstrife. Reacting to the Congressdeclaring its plan to undertakea Laltain Yatra across the state,the BJP State media in-chargeDevendra Bhasin said that thisis nothing more than a politi-cal gimmick. He said, “At pre-sent the Congress party is in

dire straits with its internal fac-tionalism coming all out in theopen. Some leaders of theCongress are talking about acampaign while some othersare talking of taking out someYatra. At the same time, anational level party leader fromUttarakhand states that he issuspended from theUttarakhand unit of theCongress and is hence going toAssam.”

Referring to the Congressleaders talking about price rise,Bhasin said that all essentialcommodities are available atproper rates today. The price ofcooking gas was raised slight-ly due to international factorsbut it is still less than the Rs 900

for which it was available whenthe Congress was in power. Theprice of onion which hadincreased due to natural caus-es is now almost back to nor-mal. These days, there is noshortage of any commoditynor is any item being blackmarketed. However, black mar-keting was rampant during thetime of the Congress govern-ment.

When it comes to employ-ment, the state government istaking concrete measures.Along with facilitating self-employment, the procedure ofappointments in various gov-ernment departments is alsounderway, added the BJP Statemedia in-charge.

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The Kumbh Mela held inHaridwar during 2010

was held in a 650 hectare areabut considering the need formore land due to the largernumber of devotees expectedto attend the Kumbh Melahere in 2021, the KumbhMela area is proposed to be1454 hectares. The KumbhMela officer Deepak Rawatsaid this while chairing ameeting to review variousaspects here on Sunday.

For the macro and microlevel plants, officials of thedepartments concerned weredirected to ensure that thedepartmental plans arefinalised as per requirementswell in time.

Various aspects includ-ing the Mela area, sectoralplan, MahamandaleshwarNagar, media center, policeline, traffic line, radio line,cultural area, home guardline, amusement park, Lasershow, helipad AYUSH andwellness centre wil l beplanned and facilitated underthe micro and macro plans.Rawat said that during theMela area was spread across650 hectares for the lastKumbh Mela here.

However, considering thegreater number of devoteesexpected to visit and the landrequirement for this, theKumbh Mela for the 2021event is proposed to be a totalof 1454 hectares. This willinclude parking on 583hectares and camps on 874hectares. In comparison tothe previous Kumbh Mela,nine more sectors will bemade taking the total of sec-tors in the 2021 Kumbh to 41.

Parking sector will befacilitated at Shivalik Nagar,Jagjitpur, HaddipurGaurishankar II, Kangdi Park,Shyampur Rishikesh andTapovan.

In addition to this,Devpura Ehtmal was selectedfor Saptasarovar camping. InKumbh Mela, eco-friendlylow floor bus and DivyangGhat will be built with betteraccessibility for the differ-ently abled. Pink service e-rickshaws will be operated forwomen by womendrivers.Additional KumbhMela officer Lalit NarayanMishra informed that theprocess of facilitating aDivyang friendly ghat is alsogoing on. In addition to this,special shuttle service forwomen will also be facilitat-

ed. Additional Kumbh Melaofficer Harbir Singh said thatportable toilets will also beinstalled in the Kumbh Mela.Such toilets are useful for theKumbh Mela purpose andcan be rented for the Mela.

A presentation on thesame was made for theKumbh Mela officer whoasked information on aspectsincluding the waste disposal.The final decision on this willbe taken later.

Municipal commissionerNarendra Bhandari, sub divi-sional magistrate KusumChauhan, finance controllerVirendra Kumar and otherofficials concerned were alsopresent in the meeting.

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The Rishikesh mayor talk-ing about Shahi Snan at

Rishikesh during the KumbhMela stirred up objectionsfrom some members of thereligious fraternity. The issuewas settled later after theintervention of the cabinetminister and members of thereligious fraternity

On the weekend, theRishikesh mayor AnitaSharma addressed the mediaand later shared her views onthe social media. She said thatshe had requested theUttarakhand Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat andKumbh Mela administrationthat there should be a ShahiSnan at Rishikesh too.

In response to this, theadministration had approvedthe Shahi Snans at the placessought, she had claimed.

However, this elicited strongobjections from some mem-bers of the religious fraterni-ty and the Ganga Sabha. Thecabinet minister MadanKaushik had to intervene andpacify the ruffled tempers.

Ganga Sabha general sec-retary Tanmay Vashisht saidthat he had come to knowfrom media reports about theRishikesh mayor talkingabout a Shahi Snan atRishikesh during the 2021Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.Objecting to this, he said thataccording to the scripturesand religious beliefs, KumbhMela is organised only infour places.

And in Haridwar, thisevent takes place only at Harki Paidi Brahmakund becausethe drop of nectar –Amrit isbelieved to have fallen at Harki Paidi. For centuries, theShahi Snans of all the

Akhadas and followers ofSanathan Dharma have beentaking the holy dip during theKumbh Mela as per traditions.No one has the right to playwith the Sanatan faith. If anyperson or the governmentitself plays with the faith,then it will be stronglyopposed, he said.

Vasishth further said thatthe the date and place ofShahi Snan is decided by theGanga Sabha and AkhilBharatiya Akhada Parishad(ABAP). The StateGovernment and Melaadministration are responsi-ble only for manging thecrowds and events, he added.

The ABAP presidentNarendra Giri said that apartfrom Har ki PaidiBrahmakund, it is not possi-ble to take a Shahi Snan any-where else during the KumbhMela in Haridwar.

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The members of Vikram-Auto Sanyukt Sangharsh

Morcha (VASSM) warnedthat they will go on a strike ifthe Uttarakhand transportdepartment allows the e-rick-shaw drivers of DevbhoomiE-rickshaw Welfare Society tooperate on the main roads ona trial even for one week.

“We wil l meet theSuperintendent of Police (SP),Traffic on Monday and willdiscuss about the assurancesgiven by the department to e-rickshaw drivers. If they allowthem on the main roads on atrial basis even for one week,we will go on a strike,” saidone of the members ofVASSM, Vijay VardhanDandriyal.

According to him, policehas no right to allow theprotesting e-rickshaw driversto operate on the main roadsby ignoring the gazette noti-fication issued by the statetransport department. If thedepartment will permit the e-

rickshaw drivers due to polit-ical pressure then unions ofauto, bus, vikram, and tatamagic will protest against it,he said.

Meanwhile, talking aboutone week trial of e-rickshawson the main roads, one ofmembers of Devbhoomi E-

rickshaw Welfare Society said,“We met SP, Traf f ic onSaturday and he assured usthat one week trial will bedone to check the feasibility ofoperating the e-rickshaws onthe main roads.

We are allowed to run therickshaws on all the mainroads though the entry is stillrestricted on the main roadsfrom 1 pm to 3 pm and from5 pm to 7 pm.

They have not acceptedall our demands and the talksare still in progress but fornow at least we got some pos-it ive response from thedepartment,” he added.

The e-rickshaw unionmember further said that e-rickshaws started operatingon the main roads fromSunday and for now theirprotest has been suspended bythe drivers.

Besides, Devbhoomi E-rickshaw Welfare Society willalso organise a license campfor the drivers who do nothave the valid license to runthe rickshaws.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat participated

in a programme held by theSwami Vivekanand healthmission society at theAmbedkar international cen-tre in the national capital tomark seven years of the soci-ety’s work in Uttarakhand onSunday.

Addressing the gatheringon the occasion, the chiefminister said that the missionhas been working continu-ously in Uttarakhand forseven years despite difficultgeographical conditions inplaces l ike Kedarnath,Badrinath, Yamunotri andother remote locations.

The mission has been pro-viding medical facilities insuch remote and difficult ter-rain, which is highly com-mendable, said Rawat.

Referring to the state ofmedical services in the state,the chief minister said thatthree years ago the number ofdoctors in Uttarakhand was1087. The number of doctorshas now increased to 2,100while modern technology isbeing used to provide telera-

dioloy/telemedicine servicestoo for the people living in themountainous regions of thestate. Citing an example,Rawat said that the Ghes vil-lage in Chamoli district hadbeen linked to the Apollohospital in New Delhi toenable doctors and experts inthe national capital to providetheir services to people in thisremote mountain village. Hefurther said that free hosteland travel facility will be pro-vided for doctors.

Referring to comparative-ly recent developments, thechief minister said that a heli-copter service had been start-ed between Dehradun andGauchar in Chamoli district.Now, one can reach Gaucharfrom Dehradun in only 40minutes.

Appreciating theVivekanand health mission,Rawat said that the mission isfulfilling the dream of DrNityanand. He also releasedthe book “Devbhoomi-Chikitsa Seva ke Saat Varsh”on the occasion.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the SwamiVivekanand health missionsociety was established with

the aim of providing healthservices to the pilgrims arriv-ing in the Char Dham shrinesin addition to the local resi-dents of these places. Its firstcentre was set up atDharmawala in Dehradunduring 2012.

After that SwamiVivekanand charitable hospi-tals were also opened at

Maneri on the route toGangotri, Narayankoti on theroute to Kedarnath, Badkotion the route to Yamunotri andPipalkoti on the route toBadrinath.

The locals and pilgrimsare being provided medicalservices through these chari-table hospitals. More recent-ly, the mission also opened

charitable hospitals inBadrinath and Kedarnath dur-ing 2019. The Union Healthminister Dr Harsh Vardhan,Uttarakhand governor BabyRani Maurya, Vijay Kaushal,Mata Mangala, Krishna Gopaland Suresh Soni of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghwere also among those presenton the occasion.

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Page 4: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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Investigation by the PunjabPolice in narcotics cases fol-

lowing the arrest of a dreadedgangster Sukhpreet SinghDhaliwal alias Budha hasrevealed links of the othergangsters to the nexus leadingto Pakistan.

Days after the PunjabPolice claimed to have arrest-ed 23 criminals and seized 36weapons on the basis of inter-rogation of Budha, who wasarrested by the Interpol inArmenia some six monthsback, the Punjab Police onSunday maintained that theprobe into the drugs trail dur-ing Budha’s interrogation haveexposed further links ofJagdeep Singh alias Jagga (Billa)and Gurvinder Singh aliasPehalwan, who were arrestedthree days ago, revealing apowerful nexus of the big fishleading to Pakistan links.

The police maintained thatPakistan SIM cards have beenrecovered from the duo, bothresidents of Kot DharamChand Kalan village of TarnTaran district.

Billa and Pehlwan, whowere arrested in a joint opera-tion of the Organized CrimeControl Unit (OCCU) andSAS Nagar Police, have beenbooked under Section 21 ofNarcotics Drugs andPsychotropic Substance(NDPS) Act at Kharar citypolice station for possessingone kg heroin.

“The investigations intothe racket, in which around twodozen big fish have beenapprehended so far, are led byDSP Bikram Brar under thesupervision of the State SpecialOperation Cell (SSOC) AIGGurmeet Chauhan and ADGPRN Dhoke,” said the policespokesperson.

The spokesperson said thatthe investigations, so far, haverevealed that the duo, whohad been absconding since2014-15, had received largequantity of heroin and fakeIndian currency from Pakistan.

They had been wanted bythe Directorate RevenueIntelligence, Rajasthan Policeand Punjab Police in casesrelated to receiving huge con-signments of heroin from

Pakistan.Both Jagga and Pehalwan

had evaded arrest for the pastfive years by operating theirown Dhillon TransportCompany with a route span-ning New Delhi to MadhyaPradesh.

They had reportedly set uptheir own empire with thedrug money and had pur-chased a new house at Makhuin Ferozepur, along with fivenew trucks bought from NewDelhi. They had also pur-chased about four acres ofagricultural land at KotDharam Chand village in TarnTaran.

Investigations haverevealed huge money transac-tions in their bank accounts,said the spokesperson, addingthat the initial interrogation ofthe men revealed that theyreceived drug money trans-ferred by Pakistan dealersthrough Hawala.

Jagga had been involved incross-border smuggling ofheroin since 2008, when he firststarted using Pakistan SIMcards too. The same year, hecame in contact with Pehalwan,

and later connected with AbadAli alias Baadi of Pakistan.

Jagga received the drugconsignments from JeckaPehalwan and Abad Ali, bothPakistanis, in the area of vil-lages Rajetal and Mahawa drainnear Attari border by usingPakistan SIM cards, whichwere functional in this region.He also used to procure drugconsignment from Pak-resi-dent Bodi Lamma, nearFazilka-Ferozepur border.

Spokesperson said thatJagga came in contact with oneMalik, resident of Narwad vil-lage of Pakistan, in 2015, andhad been receiving huge con-signments of drugs fromPakistan from him since then.

Jagga received most of hisdrug consignments fromPakistan through Ravi riverand from the fencing in theplastic tubes. He used Alto,Lancer, Swift, Truck and TataSumo vehicles of his associateMahinder Singh alias Mindafor transportation the drugs.

In Tata sumo, he had madehidden boxes below the rearseat to conceal the drugs. Thedrug money was transferred to

Pakistan dealers throughHawala.

After he was arrested twicein NDPS cases, Jagga startedusing WhatsApp on an inter-national number. He was ini-tially arrested in a Directorateof Revenue Intelligence (DRI)case of 13 kg heroin registeredin 2009. He was convicted to 10years imprisonment in 2011 inthis case, but jumped the parolein 2014.

He was again arrested byDRI in a 42 kg heroin case inJanuary 2015. He fled from thepolice custody during his courtappearance at Tarn Taran inthis case in October 2015 andwas absconding since then.

Incidentally, his fatherGurdev Singh was also sen-tenced to 11 years imprison-ment in a drug case in 2005. Hegot parole and jumped theparole in 2014 and is stillabsconding.

Pehalwan, a cousin ofJagga, had been abscondingsince 2014 in a case of 10 kgheroin seizure. To evade arrest,he had changed his appearanceand had started tying a turban.

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Punjab Health MinisterBalbir Singh Sidhu on

Sunday said that the Centre hasadded two more countries forscreening of COVID-19(Corona Virus).

Earlier, the State wasscreening the passengers hav-ing travel history to China,Hong Kong, Thailand andSingapore. Now, passengersfrom Japan and South Koreawill also be screened. Theguidelines in this regard havebeen issued to all the districtsespecially Amritsar and Mohali

which have InternationalAirports, he said.

The Cabinet Minister saidthat acting on the guidelines,Department of Health hasidentified 23 passengers whocame from Singapore. Onepassenger, belonging to Jammuhad fever and was immediate-ly kept in isolation ward atGovt. Medical CollegeAmritsar. The test report of thepassenger has come negativeand he was discharged, he said.

He informed that till dateDepartment of Health hasscreened approximately 22000passengers at Amritsar and

Mohali airports. Around 7500passengers have been screenedat Wagah Border and DeraBaba Nanak posts.

Sidhu also said that till datestate has identified 1603 pas-sengers with travel history ortransit stay in these countries.

Of the 39 samples weretested, 38 have reported nega-tive. One child is admitted inisolation ward of BarnalaDistrict Hospital with transitstay in Thailand. The child ishealthy and the test reports ofthe sample sent to NCDC NewDelhi is awaited, he said.

The Minister further saidthat 947 passengers havecrossed 28 days observationperiod and 567 persons are inhome isolation and are beingtracked daily by staff of HealthDepartment.

The Cabinet Minister alsodivulged that Department of

Health has sufficient stock oftriple layered masks and N95masks apart from PPE(Personal ProtectiveEquipments) which are used byhealth care staff while manag-ing suspected cases of corona orother such infectious diseases.

The state has also pro-cured and provided infraredthermometers (non contactthermometers) to AirportMohali, all District Hospitalsand Govt. Medical Colleges sothat body temperature of thesuspected patients could betested without touching, headded.

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The Dehradun deputymunicipal commissioner

Rohitash Sharma wasappointed as the new head ofthe Uttarakhand CentralisedAdministrative Ser viceOrganisation (UCASO) exec-utive.

In the meeting, manyimportant proposals werepassed by organisat ion.Sharma said that 50 per centvacancies in urban local bod-ies should be filled fromcen-tralised services.

Further, with discontin-uation of classes of employeesin urban local bodies in UttarPradesh, same should alsobe done in Uttarakhand.

Sharma said that organisationwill work also in interests ofexecutive of f icers inUttarakhand as in UttarPradesh.

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Adelegation of the SIID-CUL Entrepreneurs

Welfare Society (SEWS) metthe Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat during his visit onthe weekend. The delegationtalked in detail about the issuesbeing faced at SIIDCULPantnagar with the ChiefMinister.

The issues discussed includ-ed the bad condition of roads,

bushes not being cleared,drains not being cleaned, thedemand for decreasing the 15per cent levy on land transferand the restriction imposed bythe National Green Tribunal onestablishement of new indus-tries and expansion of existingunits.

According to the delega-tion members, the chief min-ister assured them that thegovernment will soon takeconcrete action to address theseissues.

Along with the local MLARajkumar Thukral, SEWS headManoj Tyagi, former head AjayTiwari and other members ofthe industrial fraternity werealso present on the occasion.

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Social media platformserupted on Sunday after a

CCTV footage of police bru-tality inside the library ofJamia Millia Islamia wentviral. The video is related tothe alleged police brutality onthe campus on December 15.The 48-minute-long videoemerged purportedly showingparamilitary and police per-sonnel beating up students inthe library 15. It instantlyevoked sharp response fromseveral political leaders,including Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra.

Meanwhile, Jamia MilliaIslamia administration deniedto have issued any videofootage related to December15, 2019 violence. They saidthat the said video wasreleased by people behindthe Jamia CoordinationCommittee and is beinglooked into.

However, another videoof over two-minute durationwas accessed by a section ofthe media that clearly showedthat the miscreants who werepart of the large scale violenceand vandalism inside andoutside of the university cam-pus, entering the library andsome of them carrying stones.Those in the video could be

seen ushering alleged riotersinside the library and puttingup a large study table to blockthe doors being opened.Special Commissioner ofPolice (Crime andIntelligence) Praveer Ranjansaid that the video clips werebeing investigated by thecyber experts and they willtake action after the identityof the people seen in thevideo is established. The 48-second video, which appearsto be a CCTV footage, pur-portedly shows some seven toeight paramilitary and policepersonnel entering the OldReading Hall and beating up

students with batons. Theparamilitary and police per-sonnel are also seen coveringtheir faces with handker-chiefs.

Reacting to the videos,the Jamia Millia Islamia uni-versity administration clari-fied that it has not releasedthe new video, which is cir-culating on social mediashowing some men in para-military and police uniformbeating up students in theuniversity 's l ibrar y onDecember 15. "It has come toour notice that some videowith regard to police brutal-ity in Dr Zakir Husain Library

of the Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) is in circulation. This isto clarify that the video hasnot been released by the uni-versity," the institute's publicrelations off icer AhmadAzeem said.According to thepublic relations officer, theJCC is spearheading the stiragainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, theNational Population Register(NPR) and the NationalRegister of Citizens on theMaulana Mohammed AliJauhar Road outside the uni-versity ' ' s gate numberseven."This is to clarify thatJCC is not an official body of

the university. Any commu-nication from JCC shouldnot be taken as version of theuniversity," Azeem said.Thevideo was released by theJamia CoordinationCommittee (JCC), a groupcomprising Jamia MilliaIslamia (JMI) students andalumni. The group wasformed after the allegedpolice brutality on the campuson December 15. The JamiaCoordination Committee saidit received the video from an"anonymous" source. It alsosaid the university has sharedvideo footage of the policeaction in the library with theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC), whichis probing the episode.

Sharing the video onTwitter, Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi said if noaction is taken even after thevideo, then the Government's intentions wil l standexposed. She also accusedUnion Home Minister AmitShah and the Delhi Police of"lying" that Jamia studentswere not beaten up inside thelibrary. "Look at how DelhiPolice is blindly assaultingstudents in the library. A boyis flashing his book but thepoliceman is continuing toattack him with batons," shesaid in a tweet in Hindi. CPI-M general secretary SitaramYechury said the police''s act

is "unconscionable" and"unacceptable".

BJP IT cell head AmitMalviya, however, claimedthat the video of purportedpolice brutality at the JamiaMillia Islamia in Decemberalso showed that students inthe library were actually"stone pelters". In a tweet,Malviya tagged the video andclaimed that the students inthe library were wearingmasks and reading shutbooks. They were "lookinganxiously towards theentrance rather than beingrelaxed and immersed instudies, which is what alibrary is meant for", he said.

"Anatomy of Jamia rioterswho tried hiding in the libraryafter a stone pelting session?"Malviya asked. "Good ofJamia rioters to self identifythemselves. Agencies mustuse the video as evidence.

"It may be recalled thatJamia Millia, had turned intoa battlefield on December 15,2019 as police entered thecampus to look for ''outsiders''who were reportedly involvedin incidents of violence andarson a few metres away fromthe educational institute dur-ing a protest against theCitizenship (Amendment)Act. A law student of the uni-versity had alleged that he lostvision in one eye due to thepolice action.

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Having won a massive 62seats and forming the

Government for the thirdtime in a row, the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) is now planningto expand its reach nation-wide. The party's seniorleader Gopal Rai on Sundayformulated a three-pointaction plan with a tagline"Join AAP for NationBuilding" campaign to expandnationally.

Senior AAP leader andDelhi Minister convened ameeting of the State officebearers and in-charges in theChief Minister's residence inDelhi to deliberate upon theparty's future plans to expandnationwide. The meeting washeld after the oath-takingceremony of Arvind Kejriwalas the Chief Minister of Delhithird time consecutively andother cabinet ministers onSunday.

"The agenda of the meet-ing was to discuss two thingsmainly. First, the message ofthe historic win in the Delhielections purely on the basisof unprecedented develop-ment works in Delhi should

be disseminated across thecountry loud and clear. Withthis election, Arvind Kejriwaland Aam Aadmi Partychanged the entire nature ofpolitical discourse in thecountry. This is the righttime to channelize the ener-gy and enthusiasm of thevolunteers to expand theparty across the nation," saidRai.

Adding, AAP leader said,"This victory is emphatic anddecisive as the BJP put alltheir efforts to win the elec-tions deploying the PrimeMinister, Union HomeMinister and other ministersand the Chief Ministers fromother states, using their pol-itics of hatred.

People of Delhi taughtBJP a lesson and thereforeAAP's spectacular win with62 out of 70 seats has impor-tant national significance.Secondly, how this victory canbe used as a springboard forexpanding the party nation-ally."

The party has launchedan extensive campaign toinvite people to take part inthe Nation Building by join-ing AAP by using a missedcall number - 9871010101.

According to the AAP lead-ers, till February 11, nearly 15lakh people have alreadyjoined the Party through itsmissed call campaign. "Wewant to take this campaign tothe next stage", Rai. The threepoint action plans contains astate-level meeting of allactive volunteers and officebearers shall be conductedimmediately.

Posters inviting the peo-ple to join the 'NationBuilding' campaign using themissed cal l number -9871010101, shall be pub-lished in all legislative assem-bly constituencies in India. Itwill also take part in munic-ipal elections in other states.

"Since elections to thelocal bodies in many statesare to be scheduled in thecoming months we want totake this campaign aggres-sively to the grass roots, sothat we can contest localbody elections and get goodresults.

The state leadership willconduct a press conferencein the state capitals and laterin other major cities to dis-seminate message of nation-building by joining AamAadmi Party effectively", Rai.

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With thousands of peopleattending the swearing in

ceremony of the AAP-led DelhiGovernment on Sunday, thesmall internet sensation andDelhi's famous “Baby muffler-man”, Aavyan Tomar has set atrend for a bunch of other tod-dlers who dressed up like ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal withmufflers, maroon sweater andan eyeliner mustache grabbedthe eyeballs. AAP legislaturesSomnath Bharti and RaghavChaddha were seen clickingpictures with the BabyMufflerman.

About six toddlers wereseen in the Ram lila Maidan onSunday dressed up as CMArvind Kejriwal and accompa-nied by their parents andbecame the cynosure of alleyes. All the infants were fromthe same family, who attended

the ceremony. Unable to controlthemselves with the overloadedcuteness of the 'BabyMufflerman', newly electedMLAs Raghav Chaddha andSomnath Bharti stood up fromtheir seat and were seen playingwith him. The MLA's also tookselfies and posted on their

Twitter handle. Aavyan Tomar,whose photo dressed up likeBaby Mufflerman at AamAadmi party (AAP) headquar-ters on results day, went viral onsocial media, got a special invi-tation from AAP to attend theCM swearing in ceremony. Heattended the ceremony accom-

panies by his parents andgrabbed the crowds eye. AAPMLAs Raghav Chadha andSomnath Bharti also were seentaking selfies and playing withTomar. Three brothers, Kashif,Sajid and Wajid from the Mirzafamily of Old Delhi broughttheir children. There were five

others children, aged two to sixyears and dressed in matchingmaroon sweaters, black trousersand a muffler to boot.Theyoungest among them, AbuBakar, son of Sajid Mirza, 32,rode his father's shoulders as hewaved a big tricolour in hishands."I am 'Kejriwal',"

equipped the Abu, when askedhis name, and chanted, 'Lageraho Kejriwal'. Abbu goes to KG(kindergarten), so he is "aKGwall", Sajid said in a lightervein. His brother, Basit, 6, theeldest among the children of theMirza family, flashed a victorysign and showed his white 'aamaadmi' cap. Wajid Mirza, Sajid'stwin brother, also brought histwo sons — Hadi (5) and Umar(3), and 35-year-old KashifMirza, the eldest of the threebrothers, brought his sonAbdullah (3), the two genera-tions were super excited toattend the event.

"Our family supports poli-tics which is pro-developmentand one which does not try todivide people in the name ofreligions but unite them. Duringcampaign, so much of hatredwas being spread and attemptswere made to polarise people togain votes," said Sajid.

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Page 5: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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The Election Commission(EC) has collaborated with

IIT Madras to work on a newtechnology which will allowelectors to vote from far awaycities without going to the des-ignated polling station of theirrespective constituencies, asenior poll panel official hassaid. The project is at presentin the research and develop-ment stage with an aim todevelop a prototype, anotherofficial said.

Explaining the ‘block chain’technology involved in the pro-ject, Senior Deputy ElectionCommissioner Sandeep Saxenasaid the concept is a “two-wayelectronic voting system, in acontrolled environment, onwhite-listed IP devices on ded-icated internet lines, enabledwith biometric devices and aweb camera”.

He, however, made it clearthat voters will have to reach adesignated venue during a pre-decided period of time to beable to use this facility. It doesnot mean voting from home,Saxena explained, which is“any t i m e - any w h e re - anydevice” and would requiresome more time and techno-logical advancement.

Explaining the technicali-ties, the Senior Deputy ElectionCommissioner told PTI thatthe “two-way block chainremote voting” process wouldinvolve voter identification andauthorisation using a multi-lay-ered IT enabled system work-ing on the EC’s e-Governanceaward winning ElectoralRegistration Officer Network(ERO Net) using biometricsand web cameras.

After a voter’s identity isestablished by the system, ablock chain enabled person-alised e-ballot paper (SmartContract) will be generated.

When the vote is cast(Smart Contract executed), theballot would be securelyencrypted and a block chain

hashtag (#) will be generated.This hashtag notification wouldbe sent to various stakeholders,in this case — the candidatesand political parties, the officialsaid. The encrypted remotevotes so cast would once againbe validated at the pre-count-ing stage to ensure that theyhave neither been decrypted,nor tampered with or replaced.

“Suppose there is a LokSabha election and a Chennaivoter is in Delhi. Instead ofreturning to vote in his or herconstituency or missing out onvoting, the voter can reach apredesignated spot set up bythe EC, say in ConnaughtPlace, in a particular time win-dow and can cast his vote,”Saxena said.

He said such voters mayhave to apply in advance totheir returning officers to exer-cise the option. Another top ECfunctionary, who refused to getquoted, said at present it is onlya research and developmentproject. If the technology isfound to be “okay”, then onlyafter stakeholder consultationsand changes in the electionlaws and rules, it will be triedin actual conditions, he said.

There have been demandsfrom various parties that theElection Commission shouldensure that migrant workerswho miss out on voting as theycannot afford going home dur-ing elections to exercise theirfranchise should be allowed tovote for their constituency fromthe city they are working in.

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The number of honey-trapped Navy personnel

arrested in the espionage casehas reached 11 with four arrestsmade recently by the AndhraPradesh Police that is probingthe matter.

Apart from the 11 Navy per-sonnel, two civilians have alsobeen arrested in the case. TheNavy personnel apprehended bythe police are from the differentnaval bases, including Mumbai, Karwar (Karnataka) andVisakhapatnam. After beinghoney-trapped by Pakistaniintelligence agencies, the arrest-ed men had allegedly passed onsensitive information related tothe Indian Navy through theirsocial media profiles.

Besides these arrests, anumber of social media profilesof service personnel are undersurveillance for links with sus-picious accounts, according tosources.

In December, seven navypersonnel were arrested foralleged espionage by theAndhra Pradesh police. Thenon-officer rank personnelwere posted at three differentnaval bases including Mumbai,Karwar(Karnataka) andVisakhapatnam. A hawala

operator was also arrested thenin this connection.

All the sailors were arrest-ed in a joint operation code-named “Dolphin’s Nose””launched by the Naval intelli-gence wing, Andhra Pradeshpolice and central intelligenceagencies. The Andhra Pradeshpolice said in a statement, “AnFIR has been lodged and sevenNavy personnel and a hawalaoperator have been arrestedfrom different parts of thecountry. Some more suspectsare being questioned.”

The seven arrested weregiving out “unauthorised infor-

mation” through Facebook andother social media tools.

It is one of the biggest casesin recent past as the seven sailorswere arrested from three sensitivenaval bases. While Mumbai hasthe Western Naval commandheadquarters and most VIPsland at the helicopter base there,submarine construction base ofnuclear powered Arihant sub-marines besides the Eastern Navalcommand headquarters are inVisakhapatnam. Country’s loneaircraft carrier INSVikramaditya’s base is in Karwar.

Given the sensitive nature ofthese three locations, the Navy

along with other agencies carrieddetailed probe and surveillanceabout the kind of informationleaked by the arrested sailors tostrengthen their security appa-ratus, sources said.

Preliminary probe indicat-ed that all the seven sailors fellinto a honey-trap in September2018 after they were contactedby some women on theFacebook and lured them intoan online relationship. Thetrap was, most probably, set upby a Pakistani handler, accord-ing to the probe so far.

The sailors were thenreportedly blackmailed andforced to give information aboutthe position and movement ofwarships and submarines.

Following the busting ofthe espionage racket, the Navyhad banned use of smartphones and social media appli-cations and the Army warnedits personnel against 150 fakesocial media profiles, includingof phoney spiritual gurus andbabas, being used by Pakistan’sIntelligence officers to honey-trap officials for extractingsensitive military information.In an advisory issued in mid-October, the Army asked thepersonnel to avoid interactingwith unknown social mediaprofiles.

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Hydroponic farming —growing plants in micro

nutrients enrich-water solu-tion instead of soil — is fastcatching the attention of farm-ers struggling with shrinkingland and water resources.

Scientists from the Councilof Scientific and IndustrialResearch’s lab- Institute ofHimalayan BioresourceTechnology (CSIR-IHBT),Palampur have come forwardto arm the farmers with thetechnical know on plant prop-agation in hydroponic andaeroponic system, that is alsobeing termed as a game chang-er technology.

IHBT Director SanjayKumar said that as majority ofthe rural regions in India isexperiencing population shift inrecent years due to animal men-ace and poor returns from tra-ditional farming system, it ishigh time our youth adopt newtechniques of agriculture likehydroponics and aeroponics.

In this regard, the scientistsfrom the IHBT have been con-ducting training program onthis farming technique fromtime to time, the recent beingearly this month wherein farm-ers, unemployed youth, stu-dents from Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Gujrat

attended the four-day trainingworkshop.

Hydroponics is the tech-nique of growing plants with-out soil by using water solventwhich consists of mineralnutrient whereas aeroponic isthe technique of growing plantsin air without soil and usingexternal nutrients. These tech-niques provide higher yieldand economic returns com-pared to traditional agriculturalpractices, because of increase inharvest cycles and balancednutrient supply.

Kumar added that suchfarming systems are the need ofhour given that arable land perperson is projected to decreaseby 2050 to one-third of the

amount available in 1970. Also,the plant’s grown like this con-sume only 10 per cent of thewater used in the field and thussaves water.

“The interested farmerscan start startups for the pro-duction of nutrient enrichedspice, herbal and high valuecrops which has huge demandin the urban market. But beforeventuring into such new arena,they need to have technicalknowledge about it,” he said.

Dr. Rakesh Kumar,Programme coordinator atthe IHBT added : These eco-friendly techniques can bepracticed in smaller space andare successful in advancedcountries. “There is no envi-

ronmental risks due to less useof water, more productivityper unit area, labour saving, nouse of pesticides,” he said.

In India as the urban pop-ulation is expected to rise by 50per cent 2030, the overallhydroponics system market isprojected to grow at a CAGR of12.1 per cent by 2025.

Training Co-cordinator atthe IHBT, Dr Ashish Warghatsaid revenue generating culti-vations such as herbs, spices andfloriculture crops can be grownunder hydroponic and aero-ponic system. “although theinitial investment cost for settingup the system is high but in longrun it will provide better returnsto farmers,” he added.

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Aprivate member’s Bill hasbeen introduced in the

Rajya Sabha seeking to provideminimum nine months timewith assured income in case oftermination of employees dueto economic slowdown, employer becoming insolventand change in technologyamong others.

The TerminatedEmployees (Welfare) Bill, 2020,was introduced by BJP MPRakesh Sinha in recently con-cluded first phase ofParliament’s Budget session. Itproposes that, if an employeegets terminated due to eco-

nomic slowdown, change intechnology, court order,employer becomes insolvent,owner unable to carry businessand change of Government,then he is entitled for unem-ployment benefits.

The terminated employeeshall be entitled to unemploy-ment compensation healthinsurance benefits or any otherbenefits as may be prescribed by the CentralGovernment, if such benefitsare not part of the employee-employer agreement, for ninemonths or till the time he gets employedelsewhere, whichever is earlier,the bill reads.

In the Bill’s statement ofobjects and reasons, Sinha said,“At present, there is no law toensure that the employers pro-vide terminal benefits in timeand which makes provision foreducation, medical facilitiesetc., to the families of employ-ees who have been terminated.The bill seeks to achieve theabove objective.”

“After employment, a per-son often takes a few loans tomeet his needs, gets their chil-dren admitted at a certain levelof school. All this cannot cometo a halt without any of hisfault. The family of the employ-ee should not suffer because ofsuch events,” he said.

New Delhi: The Union HealthMinistry has constitutedCentral teams of experts forexamination of villages bor-dering Nepal for novel coron-avirus infection.

Villages bordering Nepalin the States of Uttarakhand,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim andWest Bengal will be inspected byCentral teams for community-level Information EducationCommunication (IEC) activitiesfor Coronavirus in regard to thenovel coronavirus, an order bythe health ministry datedFebruary 15 said.

Five separate teams of doc-tors from the National Centrefor Disease Control (NCDC),Safdarjung Hospital, Dr RamManohar Lohia (RML)Hospital among others havebeen set up.

“The teams will visit thebordering districts of the statesallotted to them. The regionaldirector (Ministry of Health)will coordinate with the respec-tive state health departmentsfor the visit of the team to thebordering villages,” the orderread.

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After the BJP’s loss in theDelhi election, the party’s

top brass believes its leadersshould restrain themselvesfrom making controversialremarks as it is gearing up forthe Bihar polls, with partychief JP Nadda cautioningUnion Minister Giriraj Singhagainst making such state-ments, sources said on Sunday.

BJP’s ally at Centre, UnionMinister and LJP leader RamVilas Paswan too said restraintover language by political lead-ers must be maintained andthat the Bihar Assembly pollslater this year should be foughton local development issues.

Nadda’s piece of advice forhis party men comes couple ofdays after Home Minister AmitShah, attributed controversialremarks made by some partyleaders in the run up to thecampaign as one of the reasonsfor the BJP’s defeat. Shah wasthe main force behind theBJP’s high-octane campaignin the Delhi Assembly polls.

Nadda summoned Singhand cautioned him against mak-ing such remarks after he stokeda controversy by describingDeoband, the seat of Islamicseminary, as the “Gangotri ofterrorism”. Singh has been foundmaking such remarks and withthis the BJP chief ’s messageseems to be clear that theyshould avoid any controversialstatements or remarks.

Speeches like ‘Indo-Pakmatch’ should not have been

made by BJP leaders during therecent Delhi election campaignand that such remarks mayhave resulted in the party’sdefeat, Shah had said whilespeaking about the party’sdefeat in Delhi assembly polls.Union Minister AnuragThakur and Delhi BJP MPParvesh Verma faced actionfrom Election Commission formaking controversial remarksin Delhi election campaignsand they were banned fromcampaigning for two days.

Paswan said the LJP chiefChirag Paswan had made theparty’s stand clear on this (lan-guage restraint) and the HomeMinister too admitted that itmight have been counterpro-ductive. “Restraint over lan-guage should be a must and Iwould like to appeal to the peo-ple of Bihar to vote on the basis

of performance, keeping inmind the work done by theCentral and State Governments,”said the Union Minister.

Sources in the party saidnow the party has set its eye onthe Bihar Assembly polls, whereit is in alliance with the JD(U)and wants to ensure their victoryin the state. Therefore, the BJPdoes not want its leaders toswitch to provocative rhetoricwhich brings bad name for theparty, the sources said, addingthat at the same time suchremarks may not go down wellwith the Janata Dal (United),which never hesitates in flaunt-ing its secular credentials. TheAssembly elections in Bihar areexpected to be held aroundOctober this year and theJD(U)-BJP alliance Governmentunder Nitish Kumar is seekingre-election.

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Political leaders on Sundayasked the Centre to take

action based on a viral videopurportedly showing Jamiastudents being beaten up bypolice. While the Congresssaid if no action is taken, theGovernment’s intentions wouldstand expose, Left stated thepolice’s act is “unconscionable”and “unacceptable”.

BJP IT cell head AmitMalviya, however, said theinvestigating agencies must use

the video as evidence, addingit was “good” of “rioters” toidentify themselves.

Sharing the video on socialmedia, Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhiaccused the Home Ministerand the Delhi Police of “lying”that Jamia students were notbeaten up inside the library.

“Look at how Delhi Policeis blindly assaulting students inthe library. A boy is flashing hisbook but the policeman is con-tinuing to attack him withbatons,” she said in a tweet inHindi. “Home Minister andthe Delhi Police lied when theysaid students were not beaten upin the library,” Priyanka said ina tweet in and shared the video.

“If no action is taken even

after watching this Jamia video,the Government’s intentionswould stand exposed before thewhole country,” she said. The 48-second video purportedly showssome seven to eight paramilitaryand police personnel enteringthe Old Reading Hall and beat-ing students with batons.

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury said police’sact is “unconscionable” and“unacceptable”. “Every defenceof police action on students inuniversities, offered by AmitShah, is untrue, misleadingand politically motivated. Delhipolice comes directly underModi-Shah and this is how ittreats young students studyingin a library. Shame,” Yechurytweeted.

BJP IT cell head AmitMalviya the investigating agen-cies must use the video as evi-dence.”Students in library with‘masks’ — Reading from shutbooks — Looking anxiouslytowards the entrance rather thanbeing relaxed and immersed instudies, which is what a library

is meant for... Anatomy of Jamiarioters who tried hiding in thelibrary after a stone pelting ses-sion?” he posted on Twitter.

The University on its partclarified that it has not releasedthe video which is circulatingon social media showing somemen in paramilitary and policepersonnel uniform beating upstudents in the university’slibrary on December 15.

“It has come to our noticethat some video with regard topolice brutality in Dr ZakirHusain Library of the JamiaMillia Islamia (JMI) is in cir-culation. This is to clarify thatthe video has not been releasedby the university,” the institute’spublic relations officer AhmadAzeem said.

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All 406 people, who werequarantined at an ITBP

facility here after being broughtback from Wuhan, have testednegative for novel coronavirusin the latest sample examina-tion and will be discharged ina phased manner beginningMonday.

The final samples of all theinmates of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)quarantine facility here werecollected by a team of doctorson Friday.

The final coronavirus testreports of all 406 people havebeen found negative, an ITBPspokesperson said on Sunday.

All 406 persons are goingto be discharged in a phasedmanner from Monday onwardsbased on the advisory issued bythe Ministry of Health with duemedical procedures and pro-tocols, he said.

The group includes sevenpersons from Maldives whichwas taken to the ITBP facilityon February 1 and February 2are being looked after at

Chhawla quarantine facility ofITBP by the expert team ofDoctors and medical profes-

sionals. The quarantined groupincludes seven children includ-ing an infant.

A total of 650 persons werebrought back from Wuhan,China on February 1 and 2 in

two 747 Boeing aircraft by AirIndia following the outbreak ofthe novel Coronavirus inChina. While 406 were quar-antined at the ITBP facility, restwere housed at an Army cen-tre at Manesar in Gurgaon.

The death toll fromCOVID-19 outbreak in Chinahas surged to 1,665 after 142more people died, mostly in theworst-hit Hubei province,according to reports quotingChinese officials.

There have been 68,500cases so far in China, the epic-netre of the outbreak.

India has so far reportedthree confirmed cases of thevirus, all in Kerala. One of thethree medical students, whohad tested positive for novelcoronavirus infection has beendischarged after recovery at aKerala hospital.

Passengers arriving inflights from China, HongKong, Thailand, Singapore,Japan and South Korea arebeing screened for possibleexposure to the respiratoryvirus at 21 identified airports inIndia.

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Page 6: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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Kerala Governor ArifMohammad Khan has

defended the citizens’ right todissent if such views are notsought to be imposed onauthorities and others.Speaking at a panel discussionon the topic of “ free speech,censorship, and media”, atDifficult Dialogues conferenceat the international centre,Goa, the Governor said, “thosedissenting against any decisionof the Government should notstart with a premise to force the authorities to overturnit.”

“ You have the right to dis-sent. You have the right topeacefully raise your concerns,but you can’t expect the author-ities to accept your point ofviews,” he said.

When asked the growingtendency to brand dissenters astraitors by persons or groupclose to power, the Governor

referred to excesses against theminority community inPakistan and said such hap-penings are finding echo inIndia. “ I don’t justify suchbrandings, but we have to alsounderstand the context inwhich such utterance are being

used.”Khan disagreed with the

rigid stand adopted by theShaheen bagh anti-CAA pro-testers and said that they haveclosed the door on possibilityof holding dialogues by hold-ing an open-ended talk.

“ They are not ready to set-tle for anything but scrappingof the Citizenships Act. This isnot dissent. This is impositionof views. Such rigid viewsshould not be confused asdemocratic dissent,” he said.

On alleged by theGovernment to muzzle themedia, the Governor said,Media faces much biggerthreats from within andauthorities have not been ableto curb the freedom of the presseven though such attempts goback to the first constitutionalamendment in 1951.

The Governor has a wordof advice for the media. He cau-tioned against blaming theGovernment for muzzling thepress whereas the real threatsare coming from several othersources. “ in the age of socialmedia, the Government cannotimpose it’s will disseminationof news. The media must standup and fight for its indepen-dence.”

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The BJP on Sunday ridiculedMamata Banerjee after her

‘brother’ and Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal‘ignored her’ when it came toinviting her in his swearing-infunction in the nationalCapital.

Taking a dig at the BengalChief Minister State BJP pres-ident Dilip Ghosh said“Mamata Banerjee shouldabandon her dreams of becom-ing a national leader aroundwhom the parties will rallybecause no one takes her seri-ously.

“Look at her much toutedbrother Arvind Kejriwal forwhose electoral success sheprayed at Kalighat and evenkept fasts. See what happened.She was not even invited by

him in his swearing-in cere-mony. Her brother pleasantlyforgot her. I feel really bad forher and her ambitions tobecome a national leader whoaims at galvanizing the partiesbehind her,” Ghosh said.

Drawing a reference to theBengal Chief Minister’s publicmoaning about her not beinginvited by the Railway Ministryat the inauguralfunction ofKolkata East-Metro corridorGhosh said “she shed tears fornot being invited by theRailway Ministry to a recentprogramme but what about hernot being invited by the DelhiChief Minister … I think shehas been more pained byKejriwal ji’s behavior than thatof the Railway Ministry.”

The Chief Minister hadearlier in a speech inside theBengal Assembly said that she

was really pained at the treat-ment meted out to her by theBJP-led Government. “Ibrought the East-West Metro toKolkata after much sacrifice butnow when its inaugurationdate came I was kept out of it,”she had said.

Asking her to refrain frommaking issues by dramatizing non-issues andadvising her to give good gov-ernance instead of nourishingnational ambitions, Ghosh said“she should stop making issuesout of non-issues by such pub-lic acts … instead of dreamingnational she should concentrateon the State and try to givegood governance to the peopleof Bengal which is gripped bypoverty, crime, police inac-tion, tolabaji (extortion) andpolitical victimization of theOpposition.”

Kolkata: The TrinamoolCongress MLA who had onSaturday made vile remarks ata Marxist colleague in theHouse have expressed her apol-ogy saying what she said was aslip of tongue and that she didnot intend to denigrate the per-sonal prestige of the otherMLA.

According to sources TMCMLA from Memari NargisBegum said “I unconditional-ly apologise for the particularchoice of a word which was aslip of tongue… I apologise ifI have hurt someone by the saidremark.”

Begum had reacted toCPI(M) MLA from Jamuria,Jahanara Khan’s repeated rais-ing of the issue of rising crimeagainst women in the Statehurling a ‘four-letter-word’ ather.

Subsequently SpeakerBiman Banerjee reprimandedthe erring MLA after receivinga complaint from the aggriev-ed Legislator and the CPI(M)leadership in the House.Begum was also pulled up byParliamentary Affairs MinisterPartho Chatterjee,, his Cabinetcolleague Tapas Roy and UrbanDevelopment Minister FirhadHakim.

The comment was laterexpunged from the record ofproceedings of the House.PNS

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Mahatma Gandhi’s greatgrandson Tushar Gandhi

on Sunday claimed theNational Population Registerand National Register ofCitizens were “real danger”and would lead to the poorbearing the brunt.

Participating in an eventorganised by the People’sPlatform Against Fascism here,he also said those protestingagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act and NPR andNRC had been painted as Muslims” and peo-ple must be worried about theamount of “hatred that hasbeen inculcated in thesociety.”

He alleged CAA was thefirst official act of the govern-ment which was discriminato-ry and went against the spiritof the Constitution and theNRC and the NPR were thereal danger.

“The rich will not be affect-ed. The poor in our cities andthe poor in the villages are theones who are going to face thebrunt of the promulgation ofthose two procedures whichgovernment is so keen toimplement,” he said.

The rural poor and uned-ucated masses would be madeto run from pillar to post justto satisfy the government offi-cial who would decide theirConstitutional right, heclaimed.

Without naming anyone,he : “Look at how subtly theyhave divided us. Without mak-ing any attempt they haveturned the CAA, NRC protestsinto us versus them.”They haveturned (the protests) into aHindu versus Muslim. Theyhave managed to convey to thepeople of India that the agitat-ing people are Muslims”, hesaid.

Patna: The Bharatiya JanataParty on Sunday asserted thatthe Citizenship (Amendment)Act was brought in by theNarendra Modi Government atthe Centre out of ‘humanitar-ian considerations’ and lam-basted the opposition for“politicizing the issue”.

The partys national gener-al secretary in-charge for Biharand Rajya Sabha memberBhupendra Yadav also toldreporters that denial of ascheduled meeting with UnionHome Minister Amit Shah toa delegation of Shaheen Baghprotesters was “a decision takenby the administration andpolice in Delhi taking intoaccount the situation on theground”.

He, however, declined tocomment on a video purport-edly a two-month-old CCTVfootage —viral on social mediawherein police personnel can

be seen storming a libraryinside the Jamia Millia Islamiaand baton charging the stu-dents engrossed inbooks.

“I am not sure about theauthenticity of the video andhence it would not be properfor me to comment on it,”Yadav said.

The BJP leader was here totake part in a meeting of thepartys office-bearers in Biharwhich was attended, amongothers, by state unit chief SanjayJaiswal and the latters prede-cessor and Union ministerNityanand Rai.

“I must say that the CAAwas a decision taken out ofhumanitarian considerations(maanavata ke aadhar par). Itis deplorable that the opposi-tion has politicized the issue tothe hilt,” said Yadav whoseparty is facing the heat ofcountry-wide protests against

the contentious legislation aswell as the NPR which manyfear would be followed bycountry- wide implementationof NRC despite statements tothe contrary by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“It is about granting citi-zenship to people, not snatch-ing it away from anybody,”said the BJP leader about thelaw that aims to provide Indiancitizenship to Hindus, Jains,Christians, Sikhs, Buddhistsand Parsis who entered Indiaon or before December 31,2014 from Bangladesh,Pakistan and Afghanistan, hav-ing fled religious persecution intheir countries.

Yadav also disclosed thatBJP president Jagat PrakashNadda will be here on February22 to give a pep talk to work-ers of the party ahead of theassembly polls due later thisyear. PTI

Mumbai: Former MaharashtraChief Minister and senior BJPleader Devendra Fadnavis onSunday said his party-ledGovernment at the Centre wasfacing a ‘perception war’ fromNCP chief Sharad Pawar onCAA and this will have to becountered by taking the political fight to the streets.

The Narendra Modi gov-ernment is facing protestsnationwide over its CitizenshipAmendment Act which aims togive persecuted minoritiesfrom Pakistan, Afghanistanand Bangladesh citizenship butexcludes Muslims.

Speaking on the second

day of the 2-day state level con-vention held in Nerul in neigh-bouring Navi Mumbai,Fadnavis said, “NCP chiefSharad Pawar is playing a per-ception war against the BJP-ledUnion Government, deliber-ately creating confusion overCAA. A disinformation thatcitizenship (of certain com-munities) will be taken away byCAA is being spread.”

Pawar has called the CAA‘divisive’ and ‘diversionary’ andhas been vocal in his supportto a plethora of national lead-ers who have said that theywould continue to oppose thelegislation till it is scrapped bythe Centre.

Fadnavis said the strategyof parties opposed to the CAAwas “if you cannot convincethem, then confuse them”.

“The opposition shouldeither prove that CAA is goingto affect the poor and nomadictribes in Maharashtra or theyshould apologise to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fortheir false claims,” Fadnavissaid.

He said the BJP wouldcontest polls on its own fromhereon and claimed the party’sfirst success with this decisionwill be upcoming NaviMumbai MunicipalCorporation polls.

Lashing out at former allyShiv Sena, which parted waysafter the October Assemblypolls and joined hands with theCongress and Pawar’s NCP,Fadnavis said “Congress lead-ers will continue insulting V DSavarkar” and asked “how longis the Sena leadership going totolerate it”

“If there is some courageleft in the Shiv Sena, it shouldban Shidori magazine pub-lished by the Congress,” hedared the Uddhav Thackeraygovernment.Shidori hadrecently published two articlesterming Hindutva iconSavarkar as an “apologist” and“rapist”. PTI

Chennai: The DMK on Sunday said the over twocrore forms collected as part of an anti-CAA sig-nature campaign by the party-led SecularProgressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu were sentto President Ram Nath Kovind.

Members of Opposition parties includingDMK, Congress and MDMK conducted theweek-long signature campaign from February2 demanding withdrawal of the CitizenshipAmendment Act, National Population Registerand the proposed National Register of Citizens.

DMK president M K Stalin had announcedthe campaign at a meeting of alliance party lead-

ers here in January.In a statement on Sunday, the DMK said

over two crore signatures were received duringthe campaign and were sent to the President byflight.

“The signatures reflected the sentiments ofthe people against the CAA, NRC and NPR.Tamil Nadu is hopeful that the President wouldrecommend withdrawal of CAA to safeguarddemocracy and Constitution...,” the statementsaid. The SPA has demanded that the CAA bewithdrawn claiming that it affected Indian cit-izens. PTI

Jaipur: Rajasthan BJP presidentSatish Poonia on Sundaydescribed Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot as the leader ofthe ‘tukde-tukde’ gang in thewake of his recent participationat a sit-in here against theCitizenship (Amendment)Act.

He said Gehlot has“attempted to push the stateinto anarchy” in the name offreedom of speech and expres-sion.

“The Chief Minister’s par-ticipation has encouraged suchprotests across the state. There

have been reports that theprotests are being funded byPopular Front of India (PFI)and the organisation has aconnection with SIMI,” Pooniasaid at a press conferencehere.

“These all indicate thatthere is a network workingbehind such protests. I don’thave any inhibition in sayingthat Rajasthan Chief Ministeris the leader of ‘tukde-tukde’gang,” he said, adding thatGehlot’s act was shameful as itaimed at taking politicalmileage. PTI

Chennai: Anti-CAA protestsby members of Muslim com-munity continued for the thirdday on Sunday in OldWashermanpet area in the cityand some other parts of TamilNadu.

The fresh round of agita-tions against CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA), aftera lull since December, fol-lowed the violence that brokeout during a protest here onFriday in which four police per-sonnel and some protesterssuffered injuries.

Agitators at OldWashermanpet area raised slo-gans against CAA and soughtits withdrawal during the

protest, which was peaceful.“Several Muslim outfits

have joined hands and are tak-ing part in the protest today.We seek withdrawal of theCAA..,” a protester said.

The state had witnessed aseries of protests against CAAby political parties, includingthe main opposition DMK andCongress, while some Muslimoutfits too had hit the streets toregister their opposition to thecontroversial law.

In a related development,several senior IPS officials havebeen assigned specified areas tomaintain law and order.

“In view of the develop-ments on CAA, NRC and NPR

issues, officers are directed totake charge immediately of theareas noted, take stock of lawand order development andadequate precautionery mea-sures”, the order issued byDGP JK Tripathy said.

A report from Coimbatoresaid members of variousMuslim outfits continued theirShaheenbagh-like demonstra-tion in Tirupur for the thirdday, condemning the policeaction on anti-CAA agitators inChennai.

The protesters, includinga large number of women,continued their sit-in on aroad despite being asked to dis-perse, police said. PTI

Aligarh :Resident doctors atthe AMU’s Jawaharlal NehruHospital on Sunday demandedthat the charges slapped againstDr Kafeel Khan under theNational Security Act be with-drawn.

Dr Khan was arrested bythe UP Special Task Forcefrom Mumbai on January 29 inconnection with a speech hehad delivered during an anti-CAA protest at Aligarh

Muslim University onDecember 12.

The Resident Doctors’

Association (RDA) held aprotest march on the hospitalcampus against the slapping ofthe NSA against the Gorakhpurdoctor after he was granted bailin connection with the allegedhate speech.

RDA president Dr HamzaMalik said the move was a “bla-tant attempt to crush dissentand a violation of theConstitution of india”. He saidby targeting the doctor, the UPgovernment had done a greatdisservice to the entire medicalcommunity. PTI

Varanasi (UP): Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundayinaugurated ‘Kashi Ek RoopAnek’, a cultural arts and hand-icrafts exhibition, at the PanditDeendayal Upadhyay HastkalaSankul in Varanasi.

He evinced keen interest inthe products on display as hewent around several stalls andpersonally interacted with buy-ers and artisans coming fromdifferent countries, includingthe US, England and Australia.

‘Kashi Ek Roop Anek’showcased products from over10,000 artisans from all overUttar Pradesh.

Artistes and weavers at thetwo-day event will be impart-ed skills for improving thequality and branding of theirwares suitable for the larger

national and internationalmarkets.

There are 23 lakh artisansand weavers residing in UttarPradesh. Of these, about35,800 artisans and 1.5 lakhweavers stay in Varanasi alone.

The Uttar PradeshGovernment had launched theambitious scheme ‘One

District, One Product’ (ODOP)in which one craft per districtwas identified.

The State Government hasestablished raw material banks,testing labs, common facilitycentres, and facilitated directmarket access to artisans andweavers and helping themimprove their income. PTI

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Bengaluru: A private school inthe city has landed in troubleafter it allegedly issued a dictatto its students asking them notto converse in Kannada on thecampus, prompting theKarnataka Government toorder a probe.

The international schoolat Channasandra here alleged-ly issued a recent commu-nique to the students and par-ents not to use Kannada on itspremises. It warned that stu-dents found talking in Kannadawould be slapped with a fine of�50 initially and if repeated, thepenalty would be doubled.

The matter was broughtto the attention of Karnataka

primary and secondary educa-tion minister S Suresh Kumarby some parents, who submit-ted copies of the purported let-ter and apprised him of theschool management’s allegeddisregard for the language ofthe State.

The Minister has written tothe Principal Secretary of hisdepartment to investigate thematter and submit an actiontaken report, official sourcessaid. PTI

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Page 7: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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Mumbai: Fifty six of the 60 people,who have been quarantined inMaharashtra so far for suspectedexposure to the novel coronavirus,have tested negative, with

50 of them beingdischarged fromhospitals, a State

Government official said on Sunday.A person who had alighted

from a Filipino cruise vessel inMumbai and was isolated after hecomplained of cough and fever hasalso tested negative for the virus, theofficial said, adding that the ship hasnow reached Porbandar in neigh-bouring Gujarat.

“Of the 60 people who were keptin isolation wards, 56 have testednegative and 50 of them have beendischarged. The test results of theother four are yet to arrive and isexpected in the next two days. Allsamples were tested at Pune’sNational Institute of Virology,” hesaid.

A Maharashtra governmentrelease said 36,028 people haveundergone screening at the Mumbaiinternational airport since January18.

It said 216 people have returnedto Maharashtra from Covid-19affected areas in China, of which 137have completed their 14-day followup period.

Those arriving from China andother areas affected by the virus arebeing kept under observation for aperiod of 14 days, the release said.

Maharashtra, where no positivecase for the virus has been report-ed so far, has set up 39 isolation com-partments comprising 361 beds.

The death toll in China from theepidemic has climbed to 1,665 onSaturday after 142 more peopledied, mostly in the worst-hit HubeiProvince, and the confirmed casesjumped to 68,500. PTI

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot here on Sundayaccused the BJP-led UnionGovernment of taking arbitrarydecisions, leading to an environ-ment of suspicion in the country.

He said the intention of thoseat the helm at the Centre was notclear due to which it was not knownwhere the country was headed to.

Gehlot said this while address-ing a dharna held in the backdropof an apex court ruling that Statesare not bound to provide reserva-tion in appointments or promo-tions.

The Supreme Court had giventhe judgment last week, upholdingthe contention of the UttarakandBJP Government.

Congress leaders also submitteda memorandum to the Presidentthrough the Rajasthan governor,urging to take action according tothe basic spirit of the Constitutionover the question ofreservation. “The intention of peo-ple ruling the country at present isnot clear. The Centre is takingdecisions arbitrarily. An environ-ment of doubt is inevitable as it isunclear in which direction thecountry is headed to,” Gehlot said.

He said the BJP was makingarbitrary decision despite gettingonly 39 per cent votes in the LokSabha elections.

Gehlot said the ruling party atthe Centre can go to any extent toimpose its agenda and in such a

case, danger on quota for deprivedcommunities was obvious.

He accused the BJP and theRSS of inciting people in the nameof nationalism.

“Their nationalism is pseudo-nationalism. Their only aim is towin elections by instigating people.Where would 20 per cent muslimminority population go,” he said.

Deputy Chief Minister SachinPilot said their protest is to alert theBJP government at the Centre thatno ideology or power can abolishthe fundamental rights of the citi-zens of the country.

He said Babasaheb Ambedkarhad made a provision for reserva-tion so that the standard of livingcould be improved by connectingthe Dalits and backward with themainstream.

He said the quota is not a pro-gramme like ‘Garibi Hatao’ but acontinuous process to ensure rightsto the Dalits and backward classes.

He said the aim of the BJP is tomislead people by diverting atten-tion from issues like inflation andunemployment.

AICC general secretary andstate in-charge Avinash Pandeysaid the BJP is trying to tamper withthe right to reservation which isenshrined in the Constitution.

He said uncertainty prevailedin the whole country as people wereconfused about policies of the BJPGovernment. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: In further relief toKerala, a student treated for the novel coro-navirus in the State was discharged onSunday after two consecutive test resultsreturned negative, becoming India’s secondpatient to recover from the infection, healthauthorities said.

The patient from Kasaragod, one ofthe three positive cases of coronavirusdetected in the country on their returnfrom China, would, however, remainunder home quarantine for ten days, thestate health department said.

“Two consecutive results of the patientcame negative and was then dischargedtoday morning. The patient will have toremain under home quarantine for tenmore days,” a senior health official told PTI.More than 2,000 people are still underobservation for the novel coronavirus inthe state, which had accounted for all threepositive cases in the country.

Earlier on Thursday, a student fromAlappuzha was discharged after his twoconsecutive samples sent for testing at theNational Institute of Virology (NIV) inPune turned out to be negative. India’sfirst coronavirus case, a woman medico

from Thrissur, is awaiting test results fromPune NIV after samples screened at theAlappuzha centre of the institute hadreturned negative last week.

“Now, we are waiting for the test resultof the student admitted to Thrissur MedicalCollege Hospital. Once the negative resultis received, we canproceed to discharge,”the official said.

Both the discharged students, study-ing in a university in Wuhan, the epicen-tre of the deadly virus that has claimed over1,600 lives in China, had earlier tested pos-itive for the infection and were treated inisolation wards set up in medical collegehospitals in Alappuzha and Kasaragod.

Of the 2,210 people under surveillancein various districts, as many as 16 were inisolation wards in hospitals and theremaining 2,194 are in home quarantine,Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said ina release on Sunday.

Of the 415 samples sent for testing atthe NIV in Pune, a total of 396 turned outto be negative and the results of the remain-ing were awaited, the release, quoting theMinister, said. PTI

Srinagar:The NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)has stumbled upon evidence offunding of terror groupsthrough cross-border tradeduring its probe into the caseof Deputy Superintendent ofPolice Davinder Singh whowas caught escorting militantsout of Kashmir Valley, officialssaid on Sunday.

The officials said NIAinvestigators grilled self-styledcommander of the bannedHizbul Mujahideen terrorgroup Syed Naveed MushtaqAhmed alias Naveed Babu,who was caught with Singh,about the funding of the organ-isation and the way they hadbeen in touch with their mas-ters in Pakistan.

The agency has stumbledupon evidence of terror financ-ing through cross-LoC tradeduring Naveed Babu’s ques-tioning, they said. The NIA hadregistered a case againstunknown people in connectionwith the trade across the Line

of Control (LoC) in Jammu &Kashmir in 2016 and carriedout raids at trade facilitationcentres in Salamabad inKashmir’s Baramulla districtand Chakan-da-bagh inPoonch district of Jammu.

During its probe in thepast four years, the NIA hadbeen unable to find the finalbeneficiary of the moneyreceived from traders, the offi-cials said, adding that afterNaveed’s questioning theagency had got a vital link.

The officials said that somemore people were likely to bepicked up for questioning inthe case as the probe in theDySP’s case has brought thefour-year-old case to focus.

Recently LoC trade organ-isation president TanveerAhmed Wani was arrested bythe NIA and was being ques-tioned. The cross-LoC trade,started in 2008 as a confidencebuilding measure betweenIndia and Pakistan, wasstopped in April last year by the

Centre citing “funnelling of ille-gal weapons, narcotics andfake currency”.

“The action has beentaken after reports that thecross-LoC trade routes arebeing misused by Pakistan-based elements for funnellingillegal weapons, narcotics andfake currency, etc.,” the gov-ernment had said then.

The officials said that theydid not rule out the possibili-ty of arrested police officerSingh having knowledge aboutthe funding pattern throughtrade as he had been associat-ed with Naveed Babu for long.

Singh was arrested lastmonth along with Naveed,Hizbul Mujahideen terroristRafi Ahmed Rather and IrfanShafi Mir, who claims to be anadvocate. He is at present injudicial custody.

The officials said that ifneed be Singh and others couldbe summoned in connectionwith the LoC trade case as well. PTI

Nashik: There was need forintrospection and change inBritish-era laws keeping inview changes in society, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraysaid at a law conference organ-ised here by Maharashtra andGoa Bar Council onSunday.

Speaking on the topic‘Marching Towards SpeedyModern Judiciary’ at LawConference 2020, Thackeraysaid all four pillars of democ-racy need to come together tothink of amendments in law toensure people get justice speed-ily.

“Many years afterIndependence, British-era lawsstill exist. As per the need of thesociety and changing situa-tion, there is need for intro-spection and change in theselaws,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to

create a society and judicial sys-tem where there will be noneed to hand over cases ofatrocities on women to fasttrack courts for speedy justice.In case of failure in creating anideal society, crime willincrease and there will be adearth of court buildings,” hetold the gathering.

The importance of goodvalues is more than laws andthe time to nurture these val-ues in society has arrived, he

told the gathering that includ-ed Justice Bhushan Gavai of theSupreme Court, Bombay HighCourt Justices MakarandKarnik and Sandeep Shinde aswell as State parliamentaryaffairs and Transport MinisterAnil Parab.

Justice Gavai laid the foun-dation stone of a new courtbuilding here and CMThackeray promised all helpand funds to complete its con-struction quickly. PTI

Jammu: The National Conference,one of the main political parties inJammu & Kashmir, has expressedwillingness to participate in nextmonth’s Panchayat polls but wants‘roadblocks’ placed in its way to beremoved so that it can campaignfreely.

The party, which had stayedaway from the 2018 Panchayatpolls, said the detention of its topleaders will hamper the process ofcandidate selection andcampaign.

It has expressed its willingnessto take part in the poll process this

time as the election will be held onparty lines.

In a letter to Jammu andKashmir Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Shailendra Kumar, NCcentral secretary Rattan Lal Guptasaid the party is a strong votary ofdemocratic process and wishes toparticipate in the eight-phase elec-tions starting March 5 in over11,000 seats.

A copy of the letter has beenmarked to the Chief ElectionCommissioner.

The letter States that it is prac-tically impossible for the party to

participate in the election when itstop leaders, including its presidentFarooq Abdullah, vice presidentOmar Abdullah, general secretaryAli Mohammed Sagar, are indetention under the stringentPublic Safety Act.

Therefore, the process ofselecting candidates and cam-paigning under the given circum-stances is impossible, the lettersaid.

As per the rule, either the partypresident or vice president have tosign the nomination papers ofprospective candidates. PTI

Bengaluru: Three Kashmiriengineering students, arrestedon sedition charges in Hubballidistrict were released after exe-cution of a bond under Section169 of the CrPC, police said onSunday.

The three students study-ing in a private engineering col-lege in Hubballi were arrestedon Saturday for raising pro-Pakistan slogans and posting iton social media on the firstanniversary of the ghastly ter-rorist attack that left scores ofCRPF soldiers dead at Pulwamain Kashmir.

The students were releasedafter they executed a bondunder 169 CrPC, wherein theycome back whenever they aresummoned, Hubballi-Dharwadpolice commissioner R Diliptold PTI. PTI

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The police’s description offormer Jammu & Kashmir

Chief Minister MehboobaMufti as ‘daddy’s girl’ is notamong the grounds for herdetention under the stringentPublic Safety Act (PSA),according to official records.

The seven-page orderserved on the 60-year-old PDPchief, the daughter of partyfounder and former ChiefMinister Mufti MohammedSayeed, has stated 12 groundsfor her detention under the‘Public Order’ segment of thePSA that was invoked againsther on February 6.

Senior officials in theJammu and Kashmir adminis-tration involved in the deci-sion-making process explainedthat the police dossier is sub-mitted to the district magistrate

who, in his/her wisdom,decides the grounds for detain-ing any person.

Citing section 13 of thePSA, the officials said thatwhen a person is detained inpursuance of a detentionorder, the authority concernedneeds to communicate thegrounds for detention to theperson to enable him/her to make a representa-tion against it to theGovernment.

In its dossier, the policerecommended Mufti’s deten-tion for her “dangerous andinsidious mechanization andusurping profile and nature bythe masses as ‘Daddy’s girl’ and ‘Kota Rani’”based on the profile of amedieval queen who rose topower by virtue of undertakingintrigues ranging from poi-soning of her opponents toponyardings.

Jammu: The Jammu &Kashmir administration hasextended the 2G mobile dataservice and fixed line inter-net connectivity whereverprovided across the unionterritory till February 24, anofficial spokesperson said onSunday.

However, the internetservice providers (ISP) havebeen given directions toensure access to 1,485 white-listed sites only and not toany social media applica-tions allowing peer-to-peercommunication and virtualprivate network (VPN) appli-cations, he said.

“The directions shall be

effective from February 16and remain in force tillFebruary 24, unless modifiedearlier,” he said quoting anorder issued by the HomeDepartment.

The 2G internet facilityon mobile phones wasrestored in Jammu andKashmir on January 25 afterremaining suspended since August 5 last year afterthe Centre announced abro-gation of Article 370 provi-sions and bifurcation of theerstwhile State into UnionTerritories— Jammu &Kashmir, and Ladakh.

“Whereas, reports have

been received from the intel-ligence and law enforcementagencies inter-alia bringingout the manner in which

s o c i a lmedia sitesare beinga c c e s s e dt h r o u g hthe virtualp r i v a t en e t w o r k( V P N )a p p l i c a -tions, forcoordinat-ing terroractivities aswell as tou p l o a d

provocative material aimed atdisturbing the public order.

“It has also been report-ed that attempts have been

made to disturb the publicpeace by spreading rumoursto incite the general publicover the last week whichnecessitated temporary sus-pension of the mobile dataservices for limited period oftime by the authorised offi-cers,” read the order issued byPrincipal Secretary, Homedepartment, Shaleen Kabra.

With regard to mobiledata service, he said ISPswould ensure access only tothe 1,485 whitelisted sites andnot to any social media appli-cations allowing peer-to-peercommunication and VPNapplications. PTI

Mumbai :Senior Shiv Sena leader SanjayRaut on Sunday said the Delhi Assemblypoll results indicate that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Union Minister AmitShah are not invincible.

In his weekly column in Sena mouth-piece ‘Saamana’, its executive editor Rautcriticised BJP’s “religion-centric” politicalstrategy while lauding the developmentalworks of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhigovernment.

He said the BJP, which appearedinvincible during the Lok Sabha polls, felllike a ‘house of cards’ in Delhi.

“No country is without religion, butreligion does not mean patriotism...A fol-lower of Lord Hanuman, Kejriwal brought‘Ram Rajya’ in Delhi though the BJPalmost fielded Lord Ram in this election,”Raut said in sarcastic comments.

“The picture of Delhi was of Kejriwalas devotee of Hanuman and people ofDelhi became Ram...Ram strongly stoodbehind Hanuman,” he said, adding thatthere are lessons to be learnt from this elec-tion”. BJP leaders earlier said those whodon’t vote for the saffron party would betraitors, so is the entire Delhi going to getthat stamp? Raut asked.

“The Delhi verdict indicates thatModi-Shah are not invincible any longer.It also points out that voters are not dis-honest. Religious whirlwinds were stokedfor political gains, but voters did not getcarried away,” he said.

People should get over the “myth” thatonly Modi and Shah can win elections, theRajya Sabha member said.

Sharing an experience from a recentinternational visit, Raut said while he wasat the Tashkent airport, two Indians liv-ing there for years told him that the “BJP

bubble has started to burst now”.“Even Lord Ram is not helping the

party to win polls. They (those twoIndians) shared their views on the day ofvote counting (for Delhi polls),” the Senaleader said.

The common factor between PrimeMinister Modi and Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal is that “both are self- cen-tered”, but Modi also has “huge arroganceand pomposity”, Raut alleged.

He said Kejriwal also once wanted to“conquer the entire country”, but after fac-ing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, he soonrealised his limitations and built his partyand its network in Delhi.

“The BJP has ridiculed Kejriwal’sfreebies, like free electricity and water.BJP’s definition of patriotism compriseswaging war against Pakistan, abrogationof Article 370, strong steps against infil-trators and random sloganeering of ‘VandeMataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’,” he said.

But, “the better form of patriotism”(referring to Kejriwal) is offering bettereducation, health services and providingelectricity, water and shelter to the needy,the Sena leader pointed out.

“Will you (BJP) call it patriotism whentwo crore people lost jobs in last twoyears?” Raut wondered.

He said before the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections, the BJP promised that �15 lakhwill be deposited in every citizen’s bankaccount, but not even �15 got deposited.

The BJP also pushed the Delhi pollnarrative towards issues like Ram temple,(abrogation of) Article 370, Jammu andKashmir, surgical strike and ‘Hindutva’, butpeople instead chose Kejriwal, who pro-vided them essential services, hesaid. PTI

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Page 8: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

Has the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), with its comprehensivehome run at the DelhiAssembly elections, managed tocarve an alternative space that

may just be a dot at the moment but can bethe cure to the fractured disease that theOpposition has become in our country? Anantidote rather than being an antithesis? Anequaliser in a society that’s predicated oninequity as social, economic and political cap-ital? Owning responsibility than harvestingblame games? Perhaps that’s the reason whythe party, while assuming charge for the thirdtime, gave a clarion call for “positive nation-alism” and has decided to participate in localself-governance polls across the country ina bit by bit lab experiment of welfarism. Itmay not be a pyramid yet but AAP is giv-ing a new ring to the bijli, sadak, paani plankof the past and making delivery-oriented gov-ernance its new credo, much in line withcountries like Denmark and South Korea,where the redress of people’s liveabilityindices, a happiness project if one could callit that, has changed traditional politics. Andin resource-depleted times, where sustain-ability will be the only measure of a nation’sprogress, this approach is set to redefine andreshape protectionism and nationalism as weknow it.

Unmistakably, AAP has masteredrealpolitik in its third avatar, neutralising theBJP’s campaign missiles with smart electoralstrategy. But if it uses its power and managesto make this neo-socialist logic visceral andgranular to the concerns of everyday life, thenit could transfer the ownership of national-ism to people instead of politicians. This isnot going to be an easy battle in deeply divid-ed times where nationalism has been pred-icated on identity politics, the imaginary fearof the others and the hurt of denial we did-n’t know existed. Polarisation and majoritar-ianism, of the kind that the BJP has encod-ed through its most repugnant avatars,need counter-strategies to begin with. Andwhen the manifestation of vitriol is throughthe emotive force of religion, then secular-ism seems like an angularity than an asset.And in the India of our times, secularism isthe new tormentor, the free radical that hasemaciated religiosity, a non-belief that hasdenied us the right to wear it comfortably onour sleeves. Therefore, each Opposition party,which is now tactically avoiding a confronta-tion with the BJP and refusing to bite the baitthat makes the latter look like the victim, iscoopting religion, too. AAP has successful-ly turned religion into a jan dharma of serv-ing the people and communities with itsactions, be it on public health, water, educa-tion or empowering fee exemptions.However, in the public war of chants andrants, it countered Jai Shri Ram with JaiBajrangbali, using the image of Ram’s servi-tor Hanuman. AAP is also using Hanumanas a metaphor for being a devotee of the peo-ple, serving with commitment and democ-

ratising religion as inclusive andcommon, pitting the BJP’s neg-ative projection against a posi-tive one. The TrinamoolCongress (TMC) chief MamataBanerjee is doing the same withher Jai Maa Kali slogans inBengal, invoking a deity whichis revered by everybody in thatState irrespective of their faith.The Congress, too, is nowemploying soft Hindutva of itskind. India had so far reconcileditself to a secular public lifewhere ritualism was lived as adaily habit rather than an exhi-bitionist practice. The BJP hasmanaged to overturn this para-digm, making public symbolismof religion a matter of pride anddisowning it as a matter ofnational shame. Insidiously, ithas throttled majoritarian liber-alism and compelled politicalparties to play by the rules of thisgame. Religion, tragically, isnow the domain of tactical war-fare and a test of loyalty to thenation, thanks to the BJP. Byestablishing religion as a tool ofpolitical play, it has skillfullyexiled secularism andConstitutional values to thedomain and responsibility ofcivil society. This dissociation issignificant. Simply because,

despite protests, sit-ins and dis-ruptors, there’s no political spacefor civil movements. As the BJPherds parties into Centre-Rightpositions, civil movements havebecome the cultivable space fortransformational strategies. TheAAP, which was born of such amovement, is then perhaps bestplaced to re-induct it in a man-ner that matters most, dailygovernance. And marry it to thelarger reclamation of dharma,that of changing people’s lives.For people give parties the elec-toral strength to change politics.This could yet reset our fulcrum.

Undoubtedly, the Delhi ver-dict stands out because it hasattempted creating a classlesssociety — elevating standardsand quality of Governmentschools so that their students aremainstreamed better, appointingproficient teachers with the rightpay, setting up neighbourhoodclinics that have become the firstresponders in a health crisis,allowing women free mobilitywithout worrying about burden-ing the family budget, ensuringcommunity-specific projects anddoorstep delivery of services,reducing power bills that showsthe Government’s intent toplough back its surpluses and

enhancing digital access. ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal him-self astutely asked people tovote for his performance, nomatter what religion or politicalideology they harboured. Thisempowerment explains why BJPand Congress supporters, too,voted for AAP, why nationalismas an abstract idea will have tobe translated into pride in thecity you live in, the street whereyour home is.

According to a report byMcKinsey, such a technique hasbeen used successfully as a gov-ernance tool. “In the UK, forinstance, the Local GovernmentAssociation undertook a projectto measure how satisfied resi-dents were with their local coun-cil’s performance. Their analysisshowed that perceived value forthe money — essentially,whether residents feel they’regetting a good return on their taxdollars — was by far the mostpowerful influencer of public sat-isfaction; it was far more impor-tant than the tax levels them-selves. Further, perceived valuefor the money was determinedlargely by how well residentswere informed about local ser-vices. Several councils used theseinsights to make specific

improvements; one grouplaunched a ‘cleaner, greener,safer’ public-relations campaignthat helped move the councilfrom the bottom 40 per cent ofperformance satisfaction rat-ings to the top 10 per cent in lessthan five years,” the report says.

Aware of its limited territo-riality and resources, the KejriwalGovernment has worked onsmart metrics, gathering publicfeedback to identify what mat-ters most to citizens and circlingout those that have the highestlevels of dissatisfaction. Then itgraded categories that beganwith basic infrastructure. Havingtaken care of those somewhat, ithas already prioritised pollutionas its next assignment, some-thing for which it has alreadybeen criticised but hasn’t forgot-ten to take up.

Denmark, which is amongthe top liveability and sustain-ability indices of the world, isdemonstrable proof of the suc-cess of a delivery-oriented gov-ernance model. The SocialDemocrats and the Farmers’Party stood out for their socialreform programmes when AdolfHitler was on the ascendant inGermany. They embodied thepower of a representativeParliament against his personal-ity cult that was changing thepolitical template of the times.With time they made the citi-zen feel valued for all the taxess/he paid by evolving a gover-nance model responsive to theirneeds and justifiable to their con-cerns. This automatically builtaccountability in systemicprocesses. And they includedwomen in their growth storyfrom the very beginning. Theresult? The nation has the high-est employment ratio, the high-est number of citizens on pub-lic allowances, the highest taxes(acceptable because it financespublic expenditure), and thehighest percentage of the econ-omy ploughed into the publicaccounts. And it figures amongthe top 10 in income and edu-cation.

Many critics argue that suchan approach builds a sense ofentitlement, kills enterprise andworks only on broad majorities,one that may actually coercepolitical parties into the game ofpopulism. They may even atro-phy on subsequent changes. Butin a dynamic such as India’s, wel-farism is empowering andencouraging and is needed tolevel out the basic indices. Theapplication of ingenuity and itsincentivisation can happen onlywhen we have crossed thisenabling threshold. Changedoesn’t happen overnight. Andyou need role models. But at leasta start has been made.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — The late Sushma Swaraj,who was one of the best ForeignMinisters of India, was recentlyhonoured by the Ministry ofExternal Affairs on the eve of herbirth anniversary. It renamed theprestigious Pravasi BhartiyaBhawan as Sushma SwarajBhawan and the Foreign Serviceinstitute as Sushma SwarajInstitute of Foreign Servicerespectively.

Earlier, the civic body in herhometown Ambala named a busstand after her. In my view, theNew Delhi Municipal Committeeshould name some prominentroad in the capital after her.Unlike the Congress regime, nowa healthy tradition has beenestablished where institutions arenamed after personalities ratherthan codifying monopolistic rulein the dynastic tradition.

Madhu AgrawalNew Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Total disclosure” (February15). The Supreme Court’s order

to political parties to furnishdetails of candidates with crimi-nal charges may encourage vot-ers to reject criminals in politics.The intent of the apex court isgood but unless reforms areundertaken in the criminal justicesystem, the problem will persist.

ShashiVia email

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Sir — In a candid admission,Union Home Minister Amit Shahsaid that his assessment of theDelhi Assembly election wentwrong. He maintained that state-ments like goli maaro and “Indo-Pak match” (with reference to

the Shaheen Bagh protests) by hisparty’s motormouths hurt theBJP’s prospects. Shah has, per-haps, come out too late to con-demn the hate speeches deliveredby party leaders like AnuragThakur and Parvesh Verma, whorepeatedly justified their polaris-ing speeches and no one from theBJP asked them to apply restraint.

Incidentally, the BJP lost fromthose very seats where Thakurand Verma made the controver-sial remarks. But more than thehate speeches or ideologies of theBJP, the people of Delhi chose tostay with the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government because ofthe schemes it rolled out. The pollresults are a proof that more thansensational speeches laced withhate, what people want is gover-nance. An ace at knowing thepulse of the people, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal struckat the root of the problems beingfaced by the people.

TK NandananChennai

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Sir — With US President DonaldTrump all set to visit India laterthis week, we must keep ourexpectations low. For he is knownfor his unpredictability, renegingon promises and an unilateralapproach, lacking all ingredientsfor a meaningful negotiation.

ShrutiVia email

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One of the most prestigious national insti-tutions of India, the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU), is in ferment. Not for

the first time. There is a general refrain amongacademics that it is the most pampered univer-sities in the country. With over 70 per cententrants getting scholarships, its professors arefree to enroll any number of scholars who con-tinue their research work, avail hostel facilitieswithout any time limit or restriction — all fortheir political pursuits.

While the amount of scholarships must beenhanced regularly, hostel rent must not betouched. Currently, even when over 80 per centof the students have already deposited the revisedfee and registered for the new semester, courtsare being approached to deliver justice with onedemand: No rise in fee. In fact, in JNU’s termi-nology, it is business as usual.

However, the level of investment that thenation has made in this one university makes itobligatory on its part to prove its worth onaccount of the confidence put in it by the peo-ple. They know where JNU stands. But the lat-ter is not interested in incisively securitising itsrole and contribution.

Central Universities and other national-levelinstitutions of higher learning and research mustregularly pose a very serious query to themselves— both individually and collectively: Are wereally equipped enough to take a fresh look? Aninstitution can play a leadership role only if itcollectively comprehends the dynamic nature ofits mission, objectives and goals in profession-al terms and consistently strives to understandthe importance of “looking within.” National-level institutions must remain ever-alert on“growing up” professionally. Reputations aremade only through persistence of single-mind-ed commitment to the cause over a long peri-od of time. When academics within an institu-tion get divided on ideological constraints, thereis a drastic reduction in the time available forhigh quality collaborative research and genuineinnovations. In the post-Independence period,India has witnessed a sharp decline in some ofits prestigious learning centres of earlier years.It would have been in the fitness of things if JNUhad studied such cases and came forward witha model of re-engineering and quality enhance-ment strategies.

The growth of unbiased and pure profession-al tradition of knowledge quest suffers in con-ditions of severe apathy towards the indigenoustradition of knowledge-creation and dissemina-tion, the essence of which may still be relevant.

It is now globally acknowledged that edu-cation in every country must be rooted in its cul-ture and must be committed to the progress ofthe country. The pre-Independence model ofGandhi and Zakir Husain was based upon thispremise. It is now being realised that had Indiagiven the importance education deserved,things would have been far more encouragingon the employment front. There would also havebeen no exodus from rural areas.

Education has suffered because of a lack ofcourage to link it to the national tradition ofgrowth of knowledge and scholarship. Instead,we have been overdependent on inherited lega-cy. It should never be tough for a professional,

unbiased educationist to conclude thateducation in every country must be aproduct of indigenous thought processand appropriate new scientific knowl-edge.

Consequently, the first requirementat the policy-planning level is full famil-iarity with the indigenous traditions ofknowledge quest, its creation, genera-tion, transfer and utilisation. This isnecessary but should not be a closedexercise. It would be equally necessaryto acquire a deep comprehension ofnew knowledge that could be availablefrom all possible sources and places.

Mahatma Gandhi had somethingto say about it and it appeared in theYoung India of June 1, 1921: “I do notwant my house to be walled in all sidesand my windows to be stuffed. I wantthe cultures of all the lands to be blownabout my house as freely as possible.But I refuse to be blown off my feet byany. I refuse to live in other people’shouses as an interloper, a beggar or aslave.”

One of the outstanding features ofthe freedom struggle was its persistentfocus on indigenous universal educa-tion in a free India. Our foundingfathers knew that the transplanted sys-tem forced by the alien rulers on thecountry would not work in free India.It was meant for a few to attain a spe-cific objective and would crash evenotherwise if extended on a universalscale. Sadly enough, India continuedwith it. Can one say that we preferredcontinuity and status quo instead ofcreating “our schools, our campuses,

our programmes, our curricula, ourlibraries and laboratories?”

Though Mahatma Gandhi hadwarned about all this in Hind Swaraj,he wrote in 1909: India remained tooenamoured of all that is Western; weare too overwhelmed; just too eager toborrow everything from “there andthem?”

With its overwhelming emphasison liberal education, JNU could haveresearched what was the best model forschool education that India mustimplement. It is certainly not toomuch to expect that it could have pre-sented to the nation how social cohe-sion and religious amity could becemented in the country and why it isa core element of economic growth,progress and development.

It is really depressing that there aretwo distinct ideological groups of stu-dents and teachers who have just fullyignored the dialogical tradition thatwas the hallmark of knowledge growthin the past and has become more rel-evant and necessary in present times.

Swami Vivekananda could put it infuturistic perspective as early as in 1896in one of his lectures delivered inLondon: “What we want is progress,development and realisation. No the-ories ever made men higher. Noamount of books can help us tobecome purer. The only power is inrealisation, and that lies in ourselvesand comes from thinking. Let menthink. A clod of earth never thinks butit remains only a lump of earth. Theglory of man is that he is a thinking

being. It is the nature of man to thinkand therein he differs from animals.”

Let JNU lead other universities toa major rethink that would let themfocus purely on knowledge quest forfulfilling the aspirations of the youthand the nation.

For those who are interested infinding solutions, one would like tosubmit the following from a letterAlbert Einstein wrote to MahatmaGandhi and which was quoted by APJAbdul Kalam in one his books: “Youhave shown through your works, thatit is possible to succeed without vio-lence even with those who have not dis-carded the method of violence.”

Are our universities and studentsof today not expected to strengthen thisphilosophy?

It is indeed depressing that todaywe have a culture where even premi-um universities, with all of their much-publicised achievements, never serious-ly try to listen to those who do notthink alike. It is sad that a culture ofintolerance pervades many famedinstitutions of higher learning.However, they must not forget that theyhave an obligation to the nation toencourage, nourish and nurture thegreat dialogical tradition of India.They must become a place of intellec-tual interactions and welcome everyidea with open arms. India needsleadership institutions that would pro-mote social cohesion and religiousamity.

(The writer works in education andsocial cohesion)

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Dr Kafeel Khan is a medicalpractitioner who did his MBBSand MD from the renowned

Manipal Medical College, Karnataka,and thereafter served as a lecturer inBRD Medical College, Gorakhpur.

When several children died in2017 in the Gorakhpur hospitalattached to the medical college for lackof piped oxygen, he was arrested andcharged with medical negligence.However, the enquiry revealed thatthere was a shortage of oxygen cylin-ders in the hospital and, in fact, DrKhan spent money from his ownpocket to obtain oxygen cylinders forthe patients and worked overtime dur-ing the crisis. It was also found that hehad written letters to several authori-

ties informing them of the shortage butto no avail. The Indian MedicalAssociation, several doctors of AIIMS,Delhi and over 200 health profession-als and allied activists wrote to the ChiefMinister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), YogiAdityanath, in Dr Khan’s support. Hewas released on bail in April 2019 afterspending nine months in jail.

Ultimately, in September 2019 DrKhan was acquitted by the court whichfound no evidence against him.Thereafter on December 12, 2019 hegave a speech at an anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) rally inAligarh Muslim University (AMU). AFirst Information Report (FIR) waslodged on December 13 regardingthis, for allegedly creating religiousdisharmony under Sections 153A and295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Dr Khan was arrested on January29 at Mumbai airport by the UPPolice, which then took him to the State.He was granted bail by the ChiefJudicial Magistrate (CJM), Aligarh onFebruary 10 but was not released fromMathura jail. Ultimately, a preventivedetention order was passed against himthree days later under the National

Security Act (NSA). Anyone who hascarefully heard Dr Khan’s speech willbear witness to the fact that nowheredid he speak against any religious com-munity. All that he said was, “We (i.e.Indian Muslims) are 25 crore peopleand we cannot be removed or scaredand you cannot take anything awayfrom us. (Tumhaari auqaat nahi ki tumhumse kuch chheen sakte, hamein daraasakte, hamein hataa sakte. Hum 25 crorehain).”

Dr Khan was voicing the feelingsof many Indian Muslims who have theimpression that this Government isanti-Muslim. No doubt his speech wasstrongly emotional but surely in ademocracy people should be allowedto vent some steam. I do not see howthis speech could attract Section 153AIPC, which makes promoting dishar-mony on the ground of religion and soon, or Section 295A, IPC which makesoutraging religious feelings a criminaloffence.

Even assuming those provisionswere attracted, does it justify passing apreventive detention order under theNSA? It may be mentioned that in pre-ventive detention no trial is held nor a

lawyer permitted. Hence it is undemo-cratic. In Rekha vs State of Tamil Nadu(2011) a three judge Bench of theSupreme Court observed, “Preventivedetention is by its nature repugnant todemocratic ideals and an anathema tothe rule of law. No such law exists in theUS or England, except in war time.Since, however, Article 22(3)(b) of theIndian Constitution permits preventivedetention, we cannot hold it illegal. Butwe must confine the power within verynarrow limits, otherwise we will be tak-ing away the right to liberty guaranteedby Article 21 of the Constitution,which was won after long, arduous, his-torical struggles. It follows, therefore,that if the ordinary law of the land (the

IPC and other penal statutes) can dealwith the situation, recourse to a preven-tive detention law will be illegal.Whenever an order under a preventivedetention law is challenged, one of thequestions which the court must ask is,was the ordinary law of the land suffi-cient to deal with the situation? If theanswer is in the affirmative, the deten-tion order will be illegal.”

It was also held in Rekha’s case, “Nodoubt it has been held in theConstitution Bench decision inHaradhan Saha’s case that even if a per-son is liable to be tried in a criminalcourt for commission of a criminaloffence, or is actually being so tried, thatdoes not debar the authorities frompassing a detention order under a pre-ventive detention law.

This observation, to be understoodcorrectly, must, however, be construedin the background of the Constitutionalscheme in Articles 21 and 22. Article22(3)(b) is only an exception to Article21 and is not itself a fundamental right.It is Article 21 which is central to thewhole chapter on fundamental rightsin our Constitution.

The right to liberty means that

before convicting a person, a trialmust be held in which he must be givenan opportunity of placing his defence.It follows that if a person is liable to betried, or is actually being tried, for acriminal offence, but the criminal law(IPC) will not be able to deal with thesituation, then and only then, can thepreventive detention law be takenrecourse to.”

As regards Dr Khan’s speech, itdoes not attract 153A or 295A, IPC andeven if it does, surely those provisionsare sufficient to deal with the situation.The preventive detention order underthe NSA is, therefore, clearly illegal andshould be struck down by the court.

Dr Khan and his family have beenvictimised by the Government. Hisbrother was shot at in 2018 but sur-vived. He and his family have beenbankrupted. Dr Khan has said peoplehave stopped doing business with hisfamily for fear of antagonising the ChiefMinister.

Jinhe naaz hai Hind par wohkahaan hain ab? (Where are the proudcitizens of Hind now?)

(The writer is a former judge of theSupreme Court of India.)

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Page 10: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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Telecom operators BhartiAirtel, Vodafone Idea and

Tata Teleservices are likely tomake payment for adjustedgross revenue (AGR) dues onMonday to avoid stringentpunitive action from theTelecom Department, accord-ing to an official source.

The three companies arejointly liable to pay dues of overRs 1 lakh crore, but they haveinformed the Department ofTelecom (DoT) of making onlypartial payment, as per theirrepresentatives.

“Airtel, Vodafone Idea andTata Teleservices have said thatthey will make payments onMonday. DoT will take actionafter evaluating the amountpaid by them,” an official

source told PTI. Earlier onFriday, Bharti Airtel offered theDoT to pay �10,000 crore byFebruary 20, but a DoT officialsaid that the department can’tgrant any extension.

Vodafone Idea on Saturdaysaid that it is assessing theamount that can be paidtowards AGR dues, even as itflagged concerns over the con-tinuation of its business.

Telecom operators are col-lectively liable to pay �1.47 lakhcrore in AGR dues as per theSupreme Court order datedOctober 24, 2019. The deadlineto pay the amount ended onJanuary 23, but none of the tele-com operators, except RelianceJio, paid the amount.

Even state-owned BSNLand MTNL did not pay thedues. As per the last available

estimates, Airtel owes nearly�35,586 crore, including licencefee and spectrum usagecharges, to the government.

Vodafone Idea is staring atdues worth �53,000 crore,which includes up to �24,729crore of spectrum dues andanother �28,309 crore inlicence fee. Tata Teleservicesowes around �13,800 crore,BSNL �4,989 crore and MTNL�3,122 crore.

Out of �1.47 lakh crore,around �1.13 lakh crore is like-ly to be recovered, as other com-panies, which are liable to payAGR dues, have folded up theirbusinesses. RelianceCommunications and Aircelare going through insolvencyproceedings. The apex court onFriday came down heavily onthe Telecom Department for not

taking steps to recover statuto-ry dues, estimated to be around�1.47 lakh crore from operators.The DoT issued fifth and finalnotice to telecom operators onFebruary 14 for making pay-ment on the same day, but noneof the companies paid the dues.

When asked about telecomoperators having sought time toassess the amount they have topay, the DoT official said thatthe court gave them threemonths to do so and even aftermissing January 23 deadlinetelecom operators had sufficienttime to calculate their dues.

“Before the due date, DoThas sent telecom operators 4notices and reminders to pay toavoid punitive action underlicense condition. After courtorder on modification plea,telecom players are not left with

any excuse to delay the pay-ment and the DoT can takeaction against them withoutserving any further notice,”the source said.

The SC pulled up telecomoperators and the governmenton non-payment of AGR duesdespite its order. It has askedmanaging directors and directorsof the company to be present inperson before court on the nexthearing, scheduled for March 17,in case there is violation of itsorder in the AGR case.

Public sector companies,that do not sell telecom ser-vices, owe DoT around Rs 2.65lakh crore, with GAIL Indiaalone owing around 65 per centof the total amount. However,these PSUs have the option toapproach court for a legalrecourse.

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State-owned Oil India is like-ly to move the TDSAT this

week against the telecomdepartment seeking about�48,500 crore in past dues onthe surplus bandwidth capac-ity it had leased to third parties,its Chairman and ManagingDirector Sushil ChandraMishra has said.

Other non-telecom firms,which have also been slappedwith similar demands, too arelikely to move the TelecomDisputes Settlement andAppellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

Those likely to go to theTDSAT include gas utilityGAIL India Ltd, from whom�1.83 lakh crore has beensought, Power Grid Corp thathas been slapped with�21,953.65 crore liability andGujarat Narmada ValleyFertilizers & Chemicals Ltdwhich faces a payout of�15,019.97 crore.

Following the SupremeCourt ruling of October 24,2019 that non-telecom rev-enues should be included forconsidering payments of thegovernment dues by firmsholding any sort of telecomlicense, the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)slapped �1.47 lakh croredemand on mobile phoneoperators such as Bharti AirtelLtd and Vodafone Idea Ltd and

another �2.7 lakh crore fromnon-telecom firms.

Non-telecom firms suchas OIL, GAIL and PowerGridfiled clarificatory petition onapplicability of the October 24order on them, but the apexcourt on February 14 askedthem to approach the appro-priate authority.

“As per our licence condi-tion, any dispute has to bereferred to TDSAT and so wewill be approaching TDSATwithin a weeks time,” Mishratold PTI here.

On February 14, theSupreme Court had pulled upthe DoT for not enforcing itsOctober 24 order that gave tel-cos three months time to paydues. Hours later, the DoT sentnotices to Airtel and VodafoneIdea asking them to clear duesimmediately but hadn’t so farraised such demand with non-telecom companies, industrysources said.

OIL, the nation’s secondbiggest state-owned oil pro-ducer, holds a National LongDistance Service Licence(NLD) with primary objectiveof monitoring and operation ofits pipeline network.

The surplus bandwidthcapacity available with thecompany was leased out to thetelecom operators/other users,on which the company regu-larly paid the applicable licensefee to the telecom department.

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National AgriculturalCooperative Marketing

Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED), the ApexCooperative MarketingFederation of the country andthe largest procurement agencyof the world for pulses in asso-ciation with Global PulseConfederation organised thecelebration of World PulsesDay on 10th February, 2020, atthe Ambedkar InternationalCentre, 15, Janpath, New Delhi.The curtain raiser of the eventwas held on 9th February, at theHotel Taj Mahal in New Delhi.

The celebration was inau-gurated by Union Minister ofAgriculture & Farmers Welfareand Rural Development &Panchayti Raj, Narendra SinghTomar. Member, Niti Aayog,Ramesh Chand, Minister ofFood, Civil Supplies & PublicDistribution, Youth Affairs,Manoj Kant Deb, president,GPC, Cindy Brown, Director,Lal Bahadur Shastri NationalAcademy of Administration,Mussoorie, Sanjeev Chopra,FAO Representative to India,

Tomio Shichiri were presentduring the inaugural session.

The conference had over-seas delegates from Canada,Australia, Argentina, UAE,Myanmar, etc. alongwith seniorGovt. of India officials, Stateofficials, Trade & Industry,Foreign Missions, Scientists,Trade Analysts, Media and thefarmers. The two days eventdeliberated on various issuesrelated to production, con-sumption, market and nutri-tional value of pulses.

Sanjeev Kr. Chadha, MD,

Nafed, expressed happiness onthe outcome of the event. Hementioned that Nafed hasorganised this kind of interna-tional event for the first time ona commodity, which it hasbeen handling for long as thenodal agency of Govt. of India.He hoped that the deliberationsof the conference will go a longway in future policy planningof management of pulses in thecountry in times to come.

In his inaugural address,the chief guest while mention-ing that India continues to be

the world’s largest producer andconsumer of pulses. Theimport dependence is graduallyreducing with increase indomestic production andcountry is moving towardsself-sufficiency of the pulseswhich continued to be majorsource of plant protein diet formajority of Indian population.He mentioned about the vari-ous pro-active measures takenby Government to enhancethe pulses production in thecountry including the hike inthe Minimum Support Priceand record levels of procure-ment of pulses made in recentpast to support the farmers. Hecomplimented the efforts ofNafed in procuring around 63 LMT of pulses in last2-3 years.

Speaking on the occasion,he mentioned that hisDepartment is targeting forpulses output of 26.30 milliontonnes this year, which may berecord production. He calledfor self-sufficiency in pulsesand also to ensure that the puls-es are available at affordableprices for the benefit of con-sumers.

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The Balangir Unit of KISSBhuabneswar, Motilal

Oswal-KISS Residential School,was inaugurated by ChiefMinister of Odisha NaveenPatanik on 15th of February,2020. Inaugurating the school,the Chief Minister said, “I amdelighted to inaugurate theMotilal Oswal-KISS ResidentialSchool at Balangir. I hope thisschool will play a key role forthe development of tribal chil-dren in a backward region likeBalangir. For such an accom-plishment, I congratulateFounder of KIIT and KISS Dr.Achyuta Samanta and theManaging Director of OswalGroup Motilal Oswal”.

“Education providesstrength to us to march ahead.It brings changes in society. TheState Government. has takenmany steps in educating chil-dren belonging to scheduled

caste and tribe. Besides, theGovt. has been prioritizing toprovide value-based educationto tribal children”, he added.

Gracing the occasion asGuest of Honour, Minister ofWomen & Child Welfare andMission Shakti, Govt. of OdishaTukuni Sahu said that the peo-ple of Balangir will be indebt-ed to Achyuta Samanta for hiscontribution in establishing amodern Residential School forthe tribal children of the dis-trict.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari will attend a two-

day conference on road safetyin Stockholm next week,according to an official state-ment.

The road transport andhighways minister will repre-sent India at the “third HighLevel Global Conference onRoad Safety”, being held onFebruary 19-20.

The objective of the two-day conference is to bring roadsafety on the global agenda andrenew the world community’s commitment tosafer roads, the statement said.

During the visit, Gadkariwill also hold bilateral dialoguewith Swedish Minister forInfrastructure Tomas Eneroth;Minister for Foreign TradeAnna Hallberg; Minister forBusiness, Industry &Innovation Ibrahim Baylanand also with the BritishMinister for Road SafetyBaroness Vere, as per the state-ment.

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India Inc expects tangibleoutcomes from US President

Donald Trump’s maiden visit tothe world’s fifth largest econo-my later this month, includinga bilateral “mini” trade deal andhigher investment commit-ments from American compa-nies, industry groups said onSunday.

The two countries arenegotiating a trade package to iron out certainissues and promote two-waycommerce.

India is demanding exemp-tion from high duties imposedby the US on certain steel andaluminium products, resump-tion of export benefits to cer-tain domestic products underthe Generalised System ofPreferences, and greater mar-ket access for its products fromsectors like agriculture, auto-mobile, auto components andengineering.

On the other hand, the USwants greater market access forits farm and manufacturingproducts, dairy items and med-ical devices, data localisation,and cut on import duties onsome information and com-munication technology (ICT)products. The US has alsoraised concerns over high tradedeficit with India.

“Expectations remain highon achieving a bilateral ‘mini’trade deal, which hopefully

lays the foundation for a morecomprehensive economic part-nership.

“As Indian industryenhances its investment andjob creation in the US, weexpect an interaction ofPresident Trump with leadingIndian companies operatingin the US,” Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII) DirectorGeneral Chandrajit Banerjeesaid.

“Trade negotiators fromIndia and the US have beenworking hard to add value tothe bilateral economic engage-ment, leveraging on theirmutual advantages. As PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hostsTrump to a national reception,the two leaders would give adecisive lift to bilateral ties,”Assocham Secretary GeneralDeepak Sood said.

At the invitation of PrimeMinister Modi, Trump is slat-ed to travel to India onFebruary 24 and 25. Accordingto sources, Trump will meet thecountry’s top business leadershere on February 25 in a bid topush for deeper trade andbusiness ties.

A CEO’s round-table willbe organised to facilitate ameeting between the USPresident and corporate hon-chos in the national capital.Senior bureaucrats are alsoexpected to attend the meeting,besides top executives fromAmerican corporations.

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The Government’s �2.1 lakhcrore sell-off target is

achievable with half of thisamount expected to be metthrough the spill-over deals ofAir India, BPCL and Concorand the remaining �90,000crore through just 6-7 per centstake dilution in state life insur-er LIC, Chief EconomicAdvisor KV Subramanian hassaid amid questions beingraised over meeting such ahuge amount when the currentfiscal disinvestment revenue

target was lowered by 40 percent.

As per Budget 2020, out ofthe �2.1 lakh crore target, �1.2lakh crore is expected to comefrom IPOs, strategic stake sales,buybacks, and OFSs, while theGovernment expects to raise�90,000 crore through the saleof stakes in state-owned lifeinsurance company LIC andIDBI Bank.

Doubts of disinvestmenttargets not being possible to bemet next fiscal have been raisedat various quarters as apartfrom a higher amount of �2.1

lakh crore, the governmenthas also lined up listing of LifeInsurance Corporation whichneeds a change in the LIC Actand several other changes prior,which could be time-consum-ing enough to be completed in10-12 months.

The uncertainty over meet-ing the target also arises asmost of these deals depend alsoon conducive market condi-tions (as in the case of IPOs) tobe able to sail through and alsoon the foreign and domesticbidders in case of BPCL andAir India.

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The coronavirus epidemiccould damage global eco-

nomic growth this year, theIMF head said on Sunday, buta sharp and rapid economicrebound could follow.

“There may be a cut thatwe are still hoping would be inthe 0.1-0.2 percentage space,”the managing director of theInternational Monetary Fund,Kristalina Georgieva, told theGlobal Women’s Forum inDubai. She said the full impactof the spreading disease thathas already killed more than1,600 people would depend onhow quickly it was contained.

“I advise everybody not tojump to premature conclu-sions. There is still a great dealof uncertainty. We operate withscenarios, not yet with projec-tions, ask me in 10 days,”Georgieva said. In its Januaryupdate to the World EconomicOutlook, the IMF lowered glob-al economic growth forecast in2020 by a 0.1 percentage pointto 3.3 per cent, following a 2.9per cent growth the previousyear, the lowest in a decade.

Georgieva said it was “tooearly” to assess the full impactbut acknowledged that it hadalready affected sectors such astourism and transportation.

“It is too early to saybecause we don’t yet quiteknow what is the nature of thisvirus. We don’t know howquickly China will be able tocontain it. We don’t knowwhether it will spread to therest of the world,” she said.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sunday said

the 2020-21 union budget wasprepared keeping the FRBM(Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management) in mindeven as she maintained shewould be remembered for pre-senting the “longest preparedbudget” than for “longestspeech” on it.

“So in a way all these (mea-sures) and more has been donethat the FRBM, as an Act, wehave to keep in mind and alsocomply with it. So we have notreally breached the FRBM. Wehave not gone outlandish on it.

“We have kept fiscal disci-pline, which is a USP for boththe Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment and also for theShri Narendra ModiGovernment,” she said.

The Centre had earlier saidit was committed to reducing fis-cal deficit — the gap betweentotal expenditure and revenue —to 3 per cent of Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) by 2020-21 andeliminate the primary deficit asper the FRBM Act.

The Government hasutilised ‘escape clause’ underthe FRBM Act, which allowsthe Centre to breach its fiscaldeficit target by 0.5 percentagepoints at times of severe stressin the economy, including peri-ods of structural change andwhen growth falls sharply.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sunday said

the idea behind introducingsecond alternative tax slabssans exemptions is to take thecountry towards “a simplified,exemption-free and reducedrate of tax regime.”

However, there was notimeframe set by the Govt toremove all exemptions, she saidafter an interactive session withtrade representatives and intel-lectuals on the Union Budget.

“At the moment we onlystarted a second alternativewith some exemptions removedor some exemptions included,although the original intentionwas to remove all exemptionsand give a clear simplifiedreduced rate of income tax,” thefinance minister said. TheBudget 2020-21 has introducedmore tax slabs and offers high-er limits provided the taxpayeris ready to forego all the exist-ing exemptions and deductionsincluding home loan interest,other tax savings investments.

“We have not made up ourminds as yet (on the removal ofall exemptions)... We are tryingstep by step, move forward andno particular timeline given,”she said when asked if there isany timeframe for removing allincome tax exemptions.

Addressing a post-budgetpress conference on February1, Sitharaman had said theGovernment intended toremove all I-T exemptions inthe long run.

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The GST Network onSunday said around 92 per

cent of large taxpayers withturnover of over �2 crore havefiled annual returns for 2017-18 fiscal.

With Goods and servicestax launches on July 1, 2017,this is the first time whenbusinesses registered underGST have to file annual returnGSTR-9 and reconciliationstatement GSTR-9C.

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The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India

(MSI) will not only defend itsmarket share but also “charge”at and “chase” competitors inthe wake of newcomers, such asKia and Chinese players, inten-sifying competition, according to a top companyofficial.

MSI, which had a share of50.59 per cent in the passengervehicles market in the April-January period of the currentfinancial year, is not new tocompetition and will focus notonly on new products but

enhance its customer relation-ship in order to maintain itsgrip in the Indian car market.

“I am not defending, I amcharging. We are charging any-time. If they are good products,we try to chase them,” MSIManaging Directror and CEOKenichi Ayukawa told PTI inan interview.

He was responding to aquery on how prepared is thecompany to defend its marketshare in India as competition ishotting up with the entry of KiaMotors and MG Motor, whileChina’s Great Wall Motors andHaima Automobiles is also setto enter the market.

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Page 11: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

Scheme NAV 1Yr %SBI Tax Advantage Fund-III-Reg(G)30.39 41.19SBI Tax advantage Fund-II(G) 43.57 36.57SBI LT Advantage Fund-IV-Reg(G) 15.40 34.50Sundaram Services Fund-Reg(G) 13.52 32.41Invesco India PSU Equity Fund(G) 19.83 30.55BNP Paribas India Consumption 13.73 30.27Fund-Reg(G)Kotak World Gold Fund(G) 10.65 30.20DSP Equity Fund-Reg(G) 45.77 30.12Sundaram Fin Serv Opp Fund(G) 48.06 29.85Sundaram Select Small Cap 11.07 28.65Series-VI-Reg(G)Franklin India Feeder - Franklin 37.99 28.55U.S. Opportunities Fund(G)Sundaram Select Small Cap 11.35 28.51Series-V-Reg(G)Sundaram Multi Cap Fund-Sr 11.83 28.26II-Reg(G)Sundaram Multi Cap Fund-Sr 11.85 27.99I-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Smallcap Fund(G) 27.56 27.36Tata Banking & Financial Services 21.30 27.33Fund-Reg(G)Axis Focused 25 Fund-Reg(G) 32.40 27.11Sundaram Select Small Cap 16.19 26.95Series-III-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Small Cap 16.21 26.81Series-IV-Reg(G)SBI Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 161.76 26.81Axis Long Term Equity Fund-Reg(G)51.90 26.30Invesco India Infrastructure Fund(G)18.96 25.98SBI Banking & Financial 20.42 25.81Services Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Smallcap 11.89 25.69Fund-Reg(G)PGIM India Global Equity Opp 22.45 25.63Fund(G)Nippon India US Equity Opp 18.55 25.37Fund(G)DSP World Gold Fund-Reg(G) 14.45 25.26Kotak Small Cap Fund(G) 80.26 25.09Invesco India Financial Services 63.73 25.03Fund(G)Baroda Banking & Fin Serv 25.86 24.99Fund(G)Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 28.55 24.57Fund-Reg(G)DSP Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 12.33 24.24Axis Emerging Opp Fund-1-Reg(G) 14.02 24.07UTI Focussed Equity Fund-I(G) 15.13 24.06Kotak Emerging Equity Fund(G) 43.28 24.06Motilal Oswal Focused 25 24.68 24.05Fund-Reg(G)Axis Bluechip Fund-Reg(G) 33.42 23.96UTI Focussed Equity Fund-IV(G) 10.91 23.92JM Multicap Fund(G) 35.99 23.87Axis Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 42.32 23.67Edelweiss Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 12.30 23.66DSP Focus Fund-Reg(G) 25.84 23.65ICICI Pru US Bluechip Equity 33.18 23.21Fund(G)Motilal Oswal Long Term Equity 19.33 23.03Fund-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage Fund-VI-Reg(G) 11.66 22.94Aditya Birla SL India GenNext 94.43 22.94Fund(G)Canara Rob Consumer Trends 45.17 22.91Fund-Reg(G)SBI Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 57.49 22.90DSP Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 60.88 22.86Axis Growth Opp Fund-Reg(G) 12.56 22.78BNP Paribas Large Cap Fund(G) 100.17 22.77Axis Emerging Opp Fund-2-Reg(G) 13.43 22.76Canara Rob Bluechip Equity 28.30 22.72Fund-Reg(G)L&T Emerging Opp Fund-II-Reg(D)10.89 22.67Axis Multicap Fund-Reg(G) 13.28 22.62BNP Paribas Long Term Equity 43.07 22.60Fund(G)JM Tax Gain Fund(G) 19.04 22.20UTI Focussed Equity Fund-VI(G) 11.04 21.87UTI Focussed Equity Fund-V(G) 10.53 21.79Nippon India Growth Fund(G) 1226.43 21.70BNP Paribas Multi Cap Fund(G) 51.88 21.70Kotak Equity Opp Fund(G) 133.24 21.65DSP Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 52.67 21.64DSP Top 100 Equity Fund-Reg(G) 228.81 21.59Canara Rob Equity Tax Saver 73.19 21.54Fund-Reg(G)L&T Business Cycle Fund-Reg(G) 16.48 21.32SBI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 16.20 21.19Kotak Tax Saver Fund(G) 48.82 21.14Mirae Asset Emerging 58.66 21.00Bluechip-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Equity Advantage 447.12 20.95Fund(G)Principal Focused Multicap 71.53 20.95Fund(G)SBI LT Advantage Fund-V-Reg(G) 11.18 20.86BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund(G) 35.14 20.77DSP Equity Opportunities 241.38 20.74Fund-Reg(G)Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund(G) 151.97 20.43Axis Capital Builder Fund-4-Reg(G)12.03 20.42ICICI Pru Banking & Fin Serv 68.82 20.27Fund(G)Canara Rob Emerg Equities 103.85 20.27Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru LT Wealth Enhancement 11.84 20.20Fund(G)Canara Rob Equity Diver 149.98 20.20Fund-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Comma Fund-Reg(G) 38.27 20.18DSP A.C.E. Fund-Sr 2-Reg(G) 10.90 20.07UTI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 55.74 20.05

Sundaram Select Focus(G) 197.85 20.03Tata Large & Mid Cap Fund(G) 223.24 19.98PGIM India Midcap Opp 19.91 19.94Fund-Reg(G)DSP A.C.E. Fund-Sr 1-Reg(G) 10.96 19.88DSP 3Y Close Ended Equity 16.45 19.83Fund-Reg(G)UTI Equity Fund-Reg(G) 160.58 19.71Kotak India Growth Fund-Sr 5(G) 10.60 19.67Sundaram Large and Mid Cap 37.94 19.61Fund(G)L&T Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 11.88 19.61Aditya Birla SL Banking & 31.03 19.58Financial Services Fund-Reg(G)PGIM India Diversified Equity 14.51 19.52Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Midcap Fund(G) 53.90 19.46IDFC Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 40.42 19.44Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 29.03 19.30BNP Paribas Focused 25 Equity 10.50 19.21Fund-Reg(G)Principal Emerging Bluechip 113.97 19.20Fund(G)L&T Emerging Opp Fund-I-Reg(D) 10.26 19.12JM Value Fund(G) 34.80 19.00Aditya Birla SL Focused Equity 64.39 18.78Fund(G)Invesco India Tax Plan(G) 56.15 18.76

Tata Resources & Energy 15.17 18.70Fund-Reg(G)L&T India Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 29.60 18.66IDBI India Top 100 Equity Fund(G) 26.30 18.63DSP US Flexible Equity Fund-Reg(G)28.71 18.60Nippon India Vision Fund(G) 555.70 18.44Axis Capital Builder Fund-1-Reg(G)11.34 18.37IDFC Equity Opportunity-6-Reg(G)11.28 18.36Kotak Standard Multicap Fund(G) 38.14 18.35Edelweiss Large & Mid Cap 34.36 18.33Fund-Reg(G)SBI Equity Opp Fund-Sr I-Reg(G) 17.30 18.21Aditya Birla SL Equity Fund(G) 791.00 18.19Aditya Birla SL Global Emerging 14.68 18.15Opp Fund(G)Kotak Bluechip Fund(G) 254.93 18.11Kotak US Equity Fund(G) 19.16 18.10Invesco India Multicap Fund(G) 51.77 18.03Nippon India Consumption Fund(G)72.11 17.88ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 11.62 17.85Fund-5-(G)SBI Magnum Equity ESG 114.68 17.84Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Growth Opp Fund(G)37.31 17.81Franklin Asian Equity Fund(G) 25.16 17.79SBI Magnum Multicap Fund-Reg(G)52.29 17.73DSP India T.I.G.E.R Fund-Reg(G) 92.33 17.65Tata India Pharma & Healthcare 10.08 17.54Fund-Reg(G)Mirae Asset Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 19.11 17.50ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 11.05 17.43Fund-4-(G)IDFC Multi Cap Fund-Reg(G) 100.49 17.30Sundaram Mid Cap Fund(G) 498.51 17.27UTI LT Equity Fund (Tax 94.91 17.26Saving)-Reg(G)IDBI Banking & Financial Services 11.28 17.26Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 24.41 17.21Fund-A(G)IDFC Equity Opportunity-5-Reg(G)10.63 17.20L&T Large and Midcap Fund-Reg(G)50.55 17.15UTI India Consumer Fund-Reg(G) 28.23 17.14Canara Rob Infrastructure 46.85 17.13Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Growth Fund-1(DP) 11.91 17.11SBI LT Advantage Fund-III-Reg(G) 14.29 17.05UTI Value Opp Fund-Reg(G) 66.38 17.05DSP Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 57.83 16.98ICICI Pru Value Fund-18(G) 12.34 16.97SBI Large & Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 239.50 16.92Kotak Infra & Eco Reform Fund(G) 20.63 16.89Tata India Tax Savings Fund-Reg(G)19.52 16.86Sundaram Emerging Small 11.54 16.85Cap-Sr-VI-Reg(G)Invesco India Contra Fund(G) 51.29 16.81SBI Equity Opp Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G) 16.50 16.79Mirae Asset Healthcare 12.00 16.76Fund-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage Fund-II-Reg(G) 14.74 16.69SBI BlueChip Fund-Reg(G) 41.64 16.56Parag Parikh Long Term Equity 28.02 16.50Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Emerging Small 11.58 16.37Cap-Sr-VII-Reg(G)

Edelweiss Long Term Equity 50.20 16.28Fund (Tax Savings)-Reg(G)Sundaram Emerging Small 10.10 16.19Cap-Sr-IV-Reg(G)HDFC Sensex ETF 4342.10 16.18Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 12.73 16.15Fund-2-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Sensex ETF 385.66 16.15Edelweiss Large Cap Fund(G) 38.63 16.11Mirae Asset Great Consumer 37.92 16.09Fund-Reg(G)Tata Value Fund-Sr-2-Reg(G) 10.27 16.07Sundaram Rural and Consumption 44.71 16.02Fund(G)Kotak Global Emerging Mkt 17.38 16.02Fund(G)UTI Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 106.84 16.00Tata Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 56.13 15.92Sundaram Emerging Small 9.69 15.91Cap-Sr-III-Reg(G)IDFC Sensex ETF 425.65 15.87Tata Value Fund-Sr-1-Reg(G) 10.58 15.76ICICI Pru LT Equity Fund 393.80 15.76(Tax Saving)(G)HDFC Index Fund-Sensex(G) 366.58 15.65IDBI Diversified Equity Fund(G) 22.74 15.55Principal Global Opportunities 32.76 15.54Fund(G)Sundaram Infra Advantage Fund(G)33.19 15.45ICICI Pru Sensex Index Fund(G) 12.82 15.45Tata Index Fund-Sensex Plan(G) 101.68 15.40Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 15.68 15.40II-Reg(G)SBI PSU Fund-Reg(G) 10.18 15.39Franklin India Focused Equity 42.26 15.37Fund(G)IDFC Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 47.55 15.36Tata Large Cap Fund(G) 232.56 15.27ICICI Pru Value Fund-14(G) 11.19 15.24IDFC Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 35.09 15.24Edelweiss Eur Dynamic Equity 12.06 15.19Off-shr Fund-Reg(G)Baroda Large Cap Fund(G) 15.62 15.19UTI Mastershare-Reg(G) 131.86 15.19Sundaram Emerging Small 8.89 15.18Cap-Sr-II-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage Fund-I-Reg(G) 14.10 15.17PGIM India Large Cap Fund(G) 179.28 15.14Baroda Multi Cap Fund(G) 104.40 15.12Nippon India Power & Infra Fund(G)98.14 15.04Tata Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 11.12 14.98Nippon India Small Cap Fund(G) 41.53 14.97L&T Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 140.81 14.91Motilal Oswal Multicap 35 27.62 14.88Fund-Reg(G)Nippon India Index Fund - 20.26 14.85Sensex Plan(G)Nippon India Focused Equity 48.18 14.85Fund(G)Edelweiss ETF - Nifty Bank 3141.33 14.84Nippon India India Opp 11.00 14.76Fund-Sr-A(G)Kotak India EQ Contra Fund(G) 56.43 14.75Nippon India Value Fund(G) 76.26 14.65L&T Tax Advt Fund-Reg(G) 56.78 14.62ICICI Pru Global Stable Equity 17.21 14.58Fund(FOF)(G)Nippon India Banking Fund(G) 284.29 14.57Sundaram Value Fund-III-Reg(G) 17.71 14.52IDBI Equity Advantage Fund-Reg(G)28.54 14.39SBI Magnum Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 77.34 14.30Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund-Reg(G)53.97 14.28Invesco India Largecap Fund(G) 30.83 14.23ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund(G) 44.34 14.19Tata Ethical Fund-Reg(G) 169.59 14.19JM Core 11 Fund(G) 9.68 14.17Edelweiss Multi-Cap Fund-Reg(G) 15.53 14.16Nippon India Japan Equity Fund(G)14.27 14.15Mirae Asset Nifty 50 ETF 122.84 14.14Tata Nifty ETF 122.71 14.13Sundaram Emerging Small 8.60 14.13Cap-Sr-I-Reg(G)Nippon India ETF Nifty 66.90 14.09Midcap 150Nippon India Capital Builder 10.37 14.08Fund-IV-A(G)HDFC Nifty 50 ETF 1271.60 14.01Axis Nifty ETF 1249.29 14.00HDFC Growth Opp Fund-Reg(G) 116.36 13.98Aditya Birla SL Digital India Fund(G)60.08 13.92UTI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 79.51 13.83Sundaram Small Cap Fund(G) 82.51 13.83Baroda Mid-cap Fund(G) 9.48 13.81DSP Global Allocation Fund-Reg(G)13.77 13.76ICICI Pru Growth Fund-2(DP) 12.74 13.75IDFC Nifty ETF 125.24 13.72SBI Magnum Global Fund-Reg(G) 183.86 13.62ICICI Pru Value Fund-8(D) 11.18 13.62SBI Healthcare Opp Fund-Reg(G) 131.50 13.61Invesco India Feeder - Invesco 14.19 13.58Global Equity Income Fund(G)HDFC Index Fund-NIFTY 50 110.60 13.54Plan(G)Sundaram Diversified Equity(G) 105.14 13.44IDFC Nifty Fund-Reg(G) 25.12 13.44ICICI Pru Nifty Index Fund(G) 117.39 13.41ICICI Pru Large & Mid Cap 333.98 13.41Fund(G)Edelweiss Emerging Markets Opp 14.08 13.39Eq. Offshore Fund-Reg(G)HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities 56.45 13.33Fund(G)PGIM India Euro Equity Fund(G) 14.80 13.32UTI MEPUS 113.90 13.31Tata Index Fund-Nifty Plan(G) 73.34 13.28Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 14.31 13.24

Franklin India Equity Advantage 80.72 9.18Fund(G)IDBI Long Term Value Fund-Reg(G)10.76 9.02Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 8.38 9.01III-Reg(G)IDFC Equity Opportunity-4-Reg(G) 7.54 8.96IDFC Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 14.24 8.95Franklin India Bluechip Fund(G) 472.81 8.94DSP World Agriculture Fund-Reg(G)17.49 8.92ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.81 8.86Fund-3-(G)Franklin India Opportunities 73.85 8.85Fund(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-IV(G) 10.47 8.82Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 9.91 8.78Fund-4-Reg(G)Principal Personal Tax saver Fund 195.82 8.77Nippon India Quant Fund(G) 26.67 8.76ICICI Pru India Opp Fund(G) 10.37 8.59UTI LT Adv Fund-V(G) 9.61 8.53Nippon India Tax Saver (ELSS) 54.29 8.49Fund(G)Nippon India Pharma Fund(G) 163.31 8.49UTI MNC Fund-Reg(G) 206.09 8.49Aditya Birla SL Mfg. Equity 13.27 8.15Fund-Reg(G)HDFC Top 100 Fund(G) 484.90 8.13Principal Nifty 100 Equal Weight 71.69 8.11Fund(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 13.05 7.84IX-Reg(G)Nippon India Capital Builder 7.65 7.81Fund-IV-C(G)Franklin India Equity Fund(G) 597.32 7.79Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 13.12 7.75VIII-Reg(G)UTI Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 61.73 7.70UTI Dividend Yield Fund-Reg(G) 66.53 7.68IDFC Sterling Value Fund-Reg(G) 49.59 7.62HDFC TaxSaver(G) 507.29 7.40Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 9.66 7.39IV-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Nifty Low Vol 30 ETF 92.10 7.31UTI LT Adv Fund-VII(G) 8.97 7.30Sundaram Smart NIFTY 100 Eq 11.79 7.28Weight Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru NV20 ETF 57.91 7.22Edelweiss ETF - Nifty 100 288.84 6.48Quality 30DSP World Mining Fund-Reg(G) 8.70 6.37Templeton India Equity Income 46.56 6.32Fund(G)Sundaram Value Fund-VIII-Reg(G) 10.96 6.31HDFC Equity Opp Fund-Sr 10.21 6.182-1126D-May 2017(1)-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Manufacture in India 10.23 6.12Fund(G)Invesco India Feeder - Invesco 11.14 5.97Pan European Equity Fund-Reg(G)JM Large Cap Fund(G) 68.22 5.93ICICI Pru Focused Equity Fund(G) 29.02 5.84DSP Natural Res & New Energy 30.20 5.80Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 12.71 5.78X-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 8.55 5.78XIV-Reg(G)Sundaram Value Fund-VII-Reg(G) 8.62 5.68Tata Digital India Fund-Reg(G) 15.99 5.55ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund(G)141.39 5.48UTI LT Adv Fund-VI(G) 8.57 5.44DSP Equal Nifty 50 Fund-Reg(G) 9.79 5.37SBI-ETF Sensex Next 50 324.17 5.33Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 9.28 5.11XII-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 9.63 5.05XI-Reg(G)SBI Contra Fund-Reg(G) 105.01 4.55Aditya Birla SL Small Cap Fund(G) 32.07 4.45HDFC Capital Builder Value 283.52 4.17Fund(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 8.26 4.03XV-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax Adv 8.16 3.94Fund-Sr V-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax Adv 8.30 3.82Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 7.75 3.78XVI-Reg(G)Franklin India Smaller Cos Fund(G)51.07 3.61ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 9.81 3.48Fund-2-(G)Aditya Birla SL CEF-Global 23.82 3.13Agri-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax Adv 7.58 3.05Fund-Sr VI-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax Adv 9.73 3.00Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 7.29 2.93XVII-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Dividend Yield Equity 15.54 2.91Fund(G)L&T Emerging Businesses 23.39 2.32Fund-Reg(G)Templeton India Value Fund(G) 238.90 2.21Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 7.94 2.19Fund-7-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Technology Fund(G) 62.05 2.12Sundaram Value Fund-X-Reg(G) 8.84 2.03Sundaram Value Fund-IX-Reg(G) 8.89 1.94DSP World Energy Fund-Reg(G) 13.25 1.67HDFC Infrastructure Fund(G) 14.71 1.57Aditya Birla SL Pure Value Fund(G) 46.51 -0.11UTI Transportation & Logistics 90.74 -1.34Fund-Reg(G)FC Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 39.51 -1.85

I-Reg(G)ICICI Pru S&P BSE 500 ETF 161.06 13.23Edelweiss Tax Advantage 42.07 13.23Fund-Reg(G)Kotak India Growth Fund-Sr 7(G) 11.16 13.21Sundaram Emerging Small 10.19 13.14Cap-Sr-V-Reg(G)L&T India Value Fund-Reg(G) 37.08 13.10SBI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 104.08 13.07Principal Multi Cap Growth 148.41 12.95Fund(G)IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) Fund-Reg(G)56.96 12.93IDBI Midcap Fund(G) 11.30 12.89UTI Banking and Financial 100.46 12.88Services Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Index Fund-Reg(G) 118.78 12.88IDBI Nifty Index Fund(G) 22.33 12.87Nippon India Index Fund - Nifty 20.26 12.85Plan(G)IDBI Dividend Yield Fund-Reg(G) 11.35 12.82ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund(G) 49.59 12.76IDBI Focused 30 Equity Fund-Reg(G)10.41 12.66Franklin India Index Fund-NSE 95.72 12.62Nifty(G)Principal Dividend Yield Fund(G) 56.09 12.61SBI Technology Opp Fund-Reg(G) 72.09 12.44Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 19.53 12.39Fund-B(G)ICICI Pru Multicap Fund(G) 299.75 12.30Aditya Birla SL MNC Fund-Reg(G) 819.69 12.28Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(ELSS 33.37 12.13U/S 80C of IT ACT)(G)Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(G) 33.37 12.13Franklin India Prima Fund(G) 989.49 12.09Baroda ELSS 96(G) 46.33 12.04L&T Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 15.92 12.03Sundaram Global Brand Fund(G) 18.65 12.03ICICI Pru Value Fund-15(G) 10.84 11.98Aditya Birla SL Frontline Equity 232.61 11.94Fund(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-13(D) 10.66 11.86L&T Equity Fund-Reg(G) 85.10 11.85PGIM India Large Cap 13.09 11.82Fund-2-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Infrastructure 31.17 11.72Fund(G)Franklin Build India Fund(G) 41.27 11.63Franklin India Technology Fund(G)180.13 11.53UTI-Nifty Next 50 ETF 293.27 11.38ICICI Pru Value Fund-16(G) 11.22 11.31Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 9.79 11.25Fund-5-Reg(G)Nippon India Large Cap Fund(G) 35.51 11.23Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 12.19 11.22Fund-3-Reg(G)IDBI Small Cap Fund(G) 9.56 11.16Aditya Birla SL Midcap Fund(G) 289.30 11.04Sundaram TOP 100-Sr VII-Reg(G) 12.74 11.04ICICI Pru Exports & Services 58.92 11.02Fund(G)

Aditya Birla SL Global Real Estate 21.80 11.01Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Nifty Next 50 ETF 287.24 10.94Sundaram TOP 100-Sr VI-Reg(G) 12.95 10.88Aditya Birla SL Dividend Yield 165.63 10.87Fund(G)Tata Equity P/E Fund(G) 137.60 10.70Tata India Consumer Fund-Reg(G) 18.56 10.60Nippon India Multi Cap Fund(G) 99.28 10.51UTI LT Adv Fund-III(G) 13.90 10.42UTI Nifty Next 50 Index 10.16 10.41Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 ETF 28.77 10.36Franklin India Taxshield(G) 578.34 10.29ICICI Pru Growth Fund-3(DP) 10.94 10.28SBI Consumption Opp Fund-Reg(G)122.02 10.26ICICI Pru Value Fund-17(G) 10.84 10.16ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.76 10.13Fund-1-(G)UTI Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 91.07 10.05HDFC Focused 30 Fund(G) 75.76 10.00SBI Magnum TaxGain'93-Reg(G) 146.13 9.97ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 Index 25.23 9.83Fund(G)ICICI Pru FMCG Fund(G) 252.85 9.76PGIM India LT Equity Fund-Reg(G)14.63 9.75Nippon India Capital Builder 7.81 9.75Fund-IV-B(G)IDBI Nifty Junior Index Fund(G) 21.46 9.68ICICI Pru Midcap Fund(G) 95.95 9.62HDFC Equity Fund(G) 656.70 9.29Nippon India Capital Builder 7.91 9.28Fund-IV-D(G)Principal Tax Savings Fund 209.44 9.25Kotak India Growth Fund-Sr 4(G) 9.62 9.20

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Page 12: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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Palm Beach: President DonaldTrump mixed reelection busi-ness with pleasure during aweekend stop at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, attend-ing a fundraiser on Saturdayevening expected to raise USD10 million for his campaignand the Republican NationalCommittee.

The event was believed tobe his most expensive fundrais-er ever, with invitations goingto donors who gave $580,600per couple, according to TheWashington Post, whichobtained an invitation to theevent at the Palm Beach estateof billionaire investor NelsonPeltz. Pro-Trump groups havebeen shattering fundraisingrecords on the path toward agoal of raising $1 billion thiselection cycle.

Advocacy groups that have

sought campaign financereform said the Supreme Courtpaved the way for suchfundraising hauls by strikingdown in 2014 the limit on thetotal amount of money anindividual could give to allpolitical party committees in atwo-year election cycle.

“The ability of Trump toraise these astronomicalamounts of influence moneyfrom billionaires and multi-

millionaires is a direct result ofthe Supreme Court’s utter fail-ure to understand the nation’scampaign finance laws or theimplications of its decision,”said Democracy 21 PresidentFred Wertheimer in an op-edpublished in Medium.

In that 5-4 decision theSupreme Court found that lim-its on the total amount ofmoney donors can give to allcandidates, committees andpolitical parties were uncon-stitutional.

Sen Bernie Sanders hascriticized some of his fellowDemocratic presidential can-didates for accepting campaigndonations from the extremelywealthy, questioning whetherthose who accept the donationswould stand up to those whoprovide them if the situationcalled for it. AP

/���!�8!������������=)7��������"��������! Baghdad: Multiple rockets hit

an Iraqi base hosting Americantroops near the US embassyearly Sunday, the latest in a flur-ry of attacks against US assetsin the country.

“The Coalition confirmssmall rockets impacted theIraqi base hosting (coalition)troops in the InternationalZone... No casualties,” saidcoalition spokesman MylesCaggins.

That base, known as UnionIII, is the headquarters for theUS-led coalition, deployed inIraq since 2014 to help localtroops fight the Islamic Statejihadist group.

Iraq’s military said threeKatyusha rockets hit inside theGreen Zone, the high-securityenclave where the US missionand Union III are located, aswell as Iraqi government build-ings, United Nations officesand other embassies.

A fourth rocket hit a logis-tics base in a different neigh-

bourhood operated by theHashed al-Shaabi, a militarynetwork officially incorporat-ed into the Iraqi state, theIraqi military said.

There was no immediate

statement from the Hashed.Strikes on assets of both the

US and Hashed at the sametime are unusual, asWashington has blamed hard-line elements within the mili-

tary network for repeated rock-et attacks on American instal-lations across Iraq.

Sunday’s was the 19thattack since October to targeteither the embassy or theroughly 5,200 US troops sta-tioned alongside local forcesacross Iraq.

No group has claimedresponsibility for any of theincidents. In late December, arocket attack on the northernIraqi base of K1 left one UScontractor dead and unleasheda dramatic series of events.

Washington respondedwith retaliatory strikes againstKataeb Hezbollah, a hardlineHashed faction in western Iraq.

Days later, an Americandrone strike in Baghdad killedtop Iranian general QasemSoleimani and his right-handman, Hashed deputy chief AbuMahdi al-Muhandis.

Hashed factions havevowed revenge for the pair’sdeath but said they would pri-

oritise a political objective first:the withdrawal of US troopsfrom Iraq.

But the network includes abroad range of groups andsome have appeared more will-ing to harass US troops mili-tarily. Sunday’s attack camejust hours after one of theHashed’s Iran-backed factions,Harakat al-Nujaba, announceda “countdown” to oustingAmerican forces from thecountry.

A top leader withinNujaba, Nasr al-Shammary,tweeted a photograph of whathe claimed was an Americanmilitary vehicle, adding: “Weare closer than you think.”

Sunday’s assault sent warn-ing sirens blaring across thediplomatic compound, a USmilitary source and a Westerndiplomat based nearby told AFP.AFP’s correspondents heardmultiple strong explosions fol-lowed by aircraft circling nearthe Green Zone. AFP

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Riyadh: Rima settles in a chairat an upscale Riyadh cafe, looksaround carefully, and seeing noone she recognises, drags onher electronic cigarette andexhales a cloud of smoke.

“I feel that smoking inpublic is a part of exercising mynewly won freedoms. I amhappy that now that I canchoose,” the 27-year-old Saudiwho works for a private com-pany in the capital told AFP.

Like Western feminists ofthe early 20th century, in an eraof social change in SaudiArabia some women areembracing cigarettes, shishapipes or vaping as a symbol ofemancipation.

The sight of women smok-ing in public has become muchmore common in recentmonths, an unthinkableprospect before the introduc-tion of sweeping reforms in theultra-conservative kingdom.

The kingdom’s ambitiousde facto ruler, Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman, hasrolled out an array of econom-

ic and social innovations toproject a moderate, business-friendly image.

Women are now allowed todrive, attend public sportingevents and concerts, and obtainpassports without the approvalof a male guardian.

Rima, who started smok-ing two years ago, dismisses

concerns about the harmfuleffects of tobacco, but is wor-ried her family will find out.

She says she is prepared fora showdown.

“I won’t tell them that thisis about my personality liber-ty, because they won’t under-stand that women are free tosmoke like men,” said Rima,

dressed in a traditional blackabaya with gold embroiderymatching the hijab that coveredher hair.

Najla, 26, who like Rimaasked to use a pseudonym, saidthat despite the rapid socialchanges, double standards stillexisted, and that it was still con-sidered a “scandal and disgrace”if women smoked.

The only woman lightingup amid several tables of malesmokers, she said she intendedto “challenge society” and ignorethe occasional dirty looks.

“My rights will be fullyrespected when my familyaccepts me as a smoker,” shesaid, recalling that a friend wassent to an addiction clinicwhen her parents found outabout her smoking.

Najla started smokingwhile still a school student, andlike her, up to 65 percent offemale Saudi high schoolerslight up secretly, according toa 2015 study by the medicalfaculty at King AbdulazizUniversity cited by Arab News.

Despite the limitations, ina country where until just a fewyears ago religious police wouldchase and hit women forinfractions like wearing nailpolish or allowing a strand ofhair to escape from their hijab,the changes have been head-spinning.

“Most of our womenclients order shisha. It’s some-thing that was totally unimag-inable just three months ago,”a Lebanese waiter told AFP atan upscale cafe in northRiyadh.

Heba, a 36-year-old long-time smoker who sat at a tablenearby, described growing up ina closed country where “every-thing was forbidden to women”.“I never imagined I would beable to smoke shisha in publicnext to men,” she told AFP.

“Now, everything isallowed. Women venture outwithout hijab, without abayaand they even smoke publicly.”But even as the kingdom hasintroduced reforms, it hasattracted condemnation for a

heavy-handed crackdown ondissidents including intellec-tuals, clerics and femaleactivists.

In 2018, authorities arrest-ed at least a dozen womenactivists just before the historiclifting of the decades-long banon female motorists.

Many of the detained haveaccused interrogators of sexu-al harassment and torture.Saudi authorities reject theaccusations.

“There is no doubt that atthe persona level there is morefreedom,” said Walid al-Hathloul, whose sister Loujainis on trial over allegations ofhaving contacts with foreignmedia and diplomats.

“But the reforms in favourof women are part of a publicrelations campaign to improvethe kingdom’s human rightsrecord,” he told AFP. “The arrestand demonisation of womenactivists is proof of this — it’sdesigned so that the reforms willnot be credited to the activists,”he told AFP. AFP

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Munich: The Palestinianprime minister lashed outSunday at US PresidentDonald Trump’s proposal toend the Mideast conflict, say-ing it would be “buried verysoon.”

Speaking at the MunichSecurity Conference,Mohammad Shtayyeh said theUS plan was “no more than amemo of understandingbetween (Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin) Netanyahu andTrump.”

Shtayyeh criticised the factthat the proposal would leavea future Palestinian state frag-mented and with “no sover-eignty,” allowing Israel toannex large parts of the WestBank.

He urged other countriesto reject the Trump proposal

while maintaining thatPalestinians “are open to seri-ous negotiations.”

Shtayyeh suggested thePalestinians would seek toincrease pressure on Israelthrough international organ-isations, citing the recentrelease by the UN humanrights office of a list of morethan 100 companies alleged-ly complicit in violatingPalestinian human rights byoperating in Israeli settle-ments in the occupied WestBank.

Referring to the upcomingIsraeli election, Shtayyeh saidthe difference between Israeliopposition leader BennyGantz and Netanyahu was“not more than the differencebetween Coca-Cola and PepsiCola.” AP

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Colombo: Sri Lanka on Sundayasked the US to review its deci-sion to impose a travel ban onits army chief Lt Gen ShavendraSilva, who has been accused ofgrave human rights abuses dur-ing the final phase of the coun-try’s civil war against the LTTE,and warned that America’smove “unnecessarily compli-cates” bilateral ties.

The US last week imposedtravel restrictions on Lt GenSilva and his immediate familymembers over alleged grossviolations of human rights dur-ing the final phase of the mili-tary conflict that ended in 2009with the killing of LTTE supre-mo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

US ambassador AlainaTeplitz was summoned by SriLanka’s Foreign Minister DineshGunawardena on Sunday.

Gunawardena conveyed toTeplitz Sri Lanka’s strong objec-tions on the imposition of trav-el restrictions by the US on LtGen Silva and his family.

He said that the moveunnecessarily complicates theUS-Sri Lanka relationship.

Noting that Lt Gen Silvawas one of the senior militaryofficials who contributed sig-nificantly to liberate Sri Lankafrom terrorism over a decadeago, the minister said it is dis-appointing that a foreign gov-ernment should question theprerogative of a democraticallyelected President to call uponpersons of proven expertise tohold key positions on nationalsecurity related matters.

Noting that the designationwas not based on independent-ly verified information, theminister requested the UnitedStates to verify the authenticityof the sources of information.

Gunawardena asked thatthe United States Governmentreview its decision.

Ambassador Teplitz saidthat she would convey SriLanka’s concerns to the US.

Earlier, Sri Lanka’s ruling

and opposition parties strong-ly opposed the US move toimpose a travel ban on Lt GenSilva.

“Silva was only conductinga war against a designated ter-rorist group which was theLTTE. The US themselvesnamed many organisations ter-rorist after 9/11 attacks,”Gunawardena told reporters.

Sajith Premadasa, the mainopposition leader, echoed asimilar view.

“Imposition of a travel banon army commanderShavendra Silva and his imme-diate family is regrettable andunfortunate. He is one of theheroic field commanders whospearheaded the national effortto eradicate terrorism,”Premadasa tweeted.

“All of us stand by him andhis family at this hour of need.As a country we shall alwaysstand with the war heroes thatbrought about an end to 30years of terrorism,” he said.

Other opposition figuresalso said that Silva was doing hisjob as a battle commander andshould therefore not be pun-ished for fighting the LTTE.

Lt Gen Silva, 55, wasappointed as the Sri LankanArmy Commander last year andpreviously headed the Army’s58th Division in the final battleagainst the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels ofthe civil war in 2009.

His brigade was accused ofattacking civilians, hospitalsand stopping humanitariansupplies to trapped Tamil civil-ians.

The Sri Lanka Army hasdenied the alleged rights abus-es. After the brutal civil warended, Silva served in NewYork as Sri Lanka’s DeputyPermanent Representative atthe UN Mission. According toa United Nations report, some45,000 Tamil civilians werekilled in the last months of thewar alone. PTI

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Juba: South Sudan rebels reject-ed on Sunday a governmentpeace offer to return to a systemof 10 states, dashing hopes ofending a six-year war that hasleft 380,000 dead.

President Salva Kiir hadsaid he would compromise bycutting the current 32 regionalstates back down to the original10 -- a key rebel demand -- topave the way for a unity gov-ernment. But Kiir also includedon top of the 10, three “admin-istrative areas” of Pibor, Ruwengand Abyei.

Rebel chief Riek Macharsaid he opposed those threeareas, saying it “cannot bereferred to as reverting to 10states” and “as such cannot beaccepted”. “We therefore callupon President Kiir to recon-sider this idea of creating admin-istrative areas,” he said in a

statement. Machar warned thethree areas risked causing fur-ther problems, calling the issuea “Pandora’s box”.

Kiir and Machar — wholives in exile — are underincreasing international pressureto resolve their differences beforea February 22 deadline.

Machar has repeatedly saidhe could not return to his old jobas vice-president if country’sstructure of states did not returnto its original form.

The number of states iscontentious because the borderswill determine the divisions ofpower in the country.

When it gained indepen-dence from Sudan in 2011,South Sudan had 10 states, as setout in its constitution. Kiirincreased that in 2015 to 28, then32 -- and has now reducedthem back to 10, plus the three

areas. He issued an order lateSaturday relieving all governorsof the 32 states of their posts. Hehas said the final matter ofstates would be debated once theunity government forms.

Of the three areas, the mostcontentious is thought to be oil-rich Ruweng, in the north. Oilprovides almost all of the gov-ernment’s revenue in SouthSudan, one of the world’s mostoil dependent nations.

Ruweng has been one of themost heavily fought over areasin the civil war and is claimed byboth the Dinka people of Kiirand the Nuer of Machar. Abyei,another of the three areas, is aborder zone contested withneighbouring Sudan. Pibor liesin the eastern Jonglei region, anarea long troubled by militiasand rebels fighting over localgrievances. AFP

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Kano (Nigeria): Armed gangskilled 30 people in raids on twovillages in an area of northwestNigeria plagued by cattle rustlersand kidnappers, police said onSunday.

Dozens of gunmen onmotorcycles attacked the villagesof Tsauwa and Dankar inKatsina state on Friday, shoot-ing residents and burninghomes. “The bandits killed 21people in Tsauwa and anothernine in nearby Dankar,” Katsinapolice spokesman Gambo Isahsaid. “Most of those killed wereold people and children whocouldn’t escape.” Police and sol-diers deployed in the area afterthe attack and arrested one sus-pect, Isah said. The attackersburnt homes, livestock and foodsupplies before fleeing, saidTukur Mu’azu, traditional chiefof Batsari, a district the straddlesthe two attacked villages. AFP

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Beijing: China on Sundayannounced a “significant drop”in coronavirus cases, as theWHO team scrambled to assistBeijing in containing thespread of the virus that hasclaimed 1,665 lives so far.

The death toll from China’scoronavirus (COVID-19) epi-demic has climbed to 1,665 onSaturday after 142 more peo-ple died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei Province, and theconfirmed cases jumped to68,500.

China’s National HealthCommission(NHC) confirmed2,009 new cases across thecountry.

Hubei and its provincialcapital Wuhan, where the virusfirst emerged in December,reported 1,843 of the newcases. The latest report broughtthe total confirmed cases inHubei to 56,249 cases.

Of the new deaths, 139were in Hubei, two in Sichuan,and one in Hunan, the state-run Xinhua news agency

reported. The report said 9,419

infected patients had been dis-charged from hospitals afterrecovery so far.

The Commissionannounced that the proportionof severe and critical cases ofthe novel coronavirus diseaseamong all confirmed cases hasdecreased significantly inChina.

“In Wuhan, the epicentreof the epidemic, the proportionof severe cases among the con-firmed cases fell from a peak of32.4 per cent on January 28 to21.6 per cent on February 15,”Mi Feng, a spokesperson withthe NHC said during a mediabriefing here.

Mi said the proportion inother parts of Hubei Provincealso dropped from a peak of18.4 per cent on January 27 to11.1 per cent on February 15.

The percentage in otherprovinces in China alsodecreased significantly, fallingfrom a peak of 15.9 per cent on

January 27 to 7.2 per cent onFebruary 15, Mi was quoted assaying by the Xinhua newsagency.

He said the change in sta-tus of the coronavirus cases hasproven the current epidemicprevention and control mea-sures were effective.

The authorities and medicsare carrying out differentiatedmeasures on the patients withconfirmed or suspectedCOVID-19, close contacts ofthe confirmed cases, and feverpatients, he said.

“The differentiated mea-sures ensure that a large num-ber of mild cases are treated intime, reducing the possibility ofbecoming severe cases,” he said.

Mi’s assertion of the casesdropping significantly cameas the 12 member WorldHealth Organisation expertsteam is set to begin workingalong with the Chinese healthexperts to speed up the con-tainment process of the dead-ly virus. PTI

Taipei: Taiwan reported itsfirst death from the new coro-navirus Sunday.

A 61-year-old man fromcentral Taiwan with underly-ing health problems but norecent overseas travel historydied in hospital on Saturdayafter testing positive for thevirus, officials confirmed.

It is the fifth recorded

death outside mainland China— previous victims were in thePhilippines, Hong Kong,Japan, and France.

“This latest case was anunlicensed taxi driver. Hismain clients were people whohad been to China, HongKong and Macao,” health andwelfare minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters.

Chen said authorities wereexamining the driver’s clientlist and their travel history, inan attempt to trace the possi-ble source of infection.

A 50-year-old male rela-tive of the victim was laterconfirmed to have contractedthe virus, Chen added,although he was not showingany symptoms. AFP

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Kathmandu: The NepalGovernment on Sunday evacu-ated 175 Nepali citizens, most-ly students, from Hubeiprovince, the epicentre of thenovel coronavirus, by a specialaircraft and put them underquarantine for two weeks.

A chartered plane- AirbusA330- took off from TribhuvanInternational Airport to WuhanTianhe International Airporton Saturday afternoon to bringback the Nepali nationals,including 170 students, anemployee, two visitors and twochildren. Three pilots, six crewmembers, an engineer, a load-master and a medical team

comprising a doctor, nurses andparamedics from the NepalArmy were on board the flightto China. The Nepalese wereevacuated from six cities of theprovince, including provincialcapital Wuhan, Enshi, Shiyan,Yichang, Jingmen and Jingzhou.

Highest number ofNepalese, 55, were evacuatedfrom Wuhan, according to apress release issued by theEmbassy of Nepal in China.

Out of the 185 applicantswho expressed willingness to flyback home, four later decided tostay back in China, while sixcould not board the plane dueto medical reasons. PTI

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Yokohama: The number ofpeople infected with the dead-ly new coronavirus on a quar-antined ship off Japan has risento 355, the country’s healthminister said on Sunday, as theUnited States, Canada and HongKong prepare to repatriate theirresidents on board. The figure isa jump of 70 cases from a Govttally released on Saturday andcomes as Katsunobu Kato voicedworries that the rising infectioncount among the nation’s generalpopulation could mean thevirus’s spread has entered a newphase. AFP

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Dhaka: Thousands of tons ofBangladesh crabs earmarkedfor Chinese dining tables arebeing left to rot because thecoronavirus has halted exports.

The Bangladesh crabindustry — which involvessome 500,000 mostly poorfarmers — is facing its worst-ever crisis as some 90 percentof all crabs from the USD 30-million market are exported toChina.

Farmers told AFP not asingle shipment of crabs wasflown to China since exportswere halted in the last week ofJanuary.

That period is usually thebusiest of the year because ofthe Lunar New Year, whereChinese families have lavishbanquets.

Many farmers had bor-rowed from banks and moneylenders at high interest rates toboost stocks ahead of the Lunar

New Year. “My stock is 70 percent damaged and if I cannotmove the rest in a day, those(the rest) will die too,” BidyutGhosh, a crab farmer from thesouthwestern town ofPaikgacha, told AFP.

The crabs are harvested liveand can survive for up to 10days in the right conditions, butonce taken from their pondsthey can’t be returned withoutlosing quality and condition.

Crab trader Ranjit Mondol— from in the coastal districtof Bagerhat where some 12,000tonnes or 72 million crabswere produced last year —said prices usually doubled ortripled at this time of the year.

“I have lost over 12 tonnesof live crabs in the past week.That was worth at least$420,000,” Mondol he told AFPas he broke down in tears,adding that he had taken out abig loan. AFP

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Page 13: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

Asmall, white tent made ofmild steel and tensile fabricstood in the middle of inte-

rior designer Iram Sultan’s booth atthe India Design Week. TitledOne, the words, “create,” “happy”and “love” were written in variousIndian languages on its surface.Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, LetMy Country Awake, occupied itscentre. It invited people to questiontheir existence and define them-selves in a world divided by hate.At a distance, was another instal-lation, Hope Has Wings. It was acurved black board depicting dif-ferent shades of human emotionsthrough a number of corked pegsspread in the shape of a butterfly.As one crossed the installation, onecould hear Emily Dickinsons’ poemHope Is A Thing With Feathers, onloop. It was narrated by voices ofdifferent age groups. If there wasone message that went out, it wasthat creativity is about unboxingthe mind and setting it free. Surely,this will inform design disciplinesof our times.

Another major design with amessage was What’s Your Story, acollection of 30 objects fromaround the country, each telling atale. Presented by Bengaluru-basedarchitect and designer-duo Sandeepand Tania Khosla, the stories werebroadly divided into themes like —craftsmanship, conscious consump-tion, whimsy and beauty, nostalgiaand memory, and functionalityand accessibility. The objects, rang-ing from layered bowls to bambooarmchairs, low-lying wooden tablesand penta-cluster lamps, drewattention because of their unique-ness and neatness. However, it wasthe asymmetrical single seaterswing, Cocoon, by Nishita Kamdarand Veeram Shah, that stood out.Made from teak wood, cane andbrass accents, the piece stirrednostalgia and reminded one of thesingle-seater wooden swings inthe aangan (lobby) of Indian homes— just with a hint of luxury. Itreflected the idea of sitting com-pletely at ease or reading a bookwith a lavish armrest to lean on.

For Sandeep, his collectionisn’t just a piece of “good design”but also a result of his various ques-tions to himself, the most impor-tant of them being, “Why do wemake whatever we make?” He said,“How does an object add value toour already cluttered lives? Does itconnect with us emotively, to tran-scend time and to sustain, not just

physically but in our beings? Doesit uplift us from our everydaymonotony? Should objects be pro-viding sustenance and livelihood tocommunities that make them?Should beautiful objects and gooddesign be for a privileged few or isaccessibility an important filter? Inputting objects together for thisshow, we have considered thesecompelling questions. We pausedto ask ourselves why we respond tocertain objects and began diggingdeeper to uncover the storiesbehind them. We took a step backto think about what objects reallyhave a ‘reason to exist’ — in thesemanic times of excessive consump-tion, transience and a depletingplanet.”

If mindful living is the newcredo, then there are more ideas tobe inspired by at the design fair.

�� �� �����A lagoon bed

by Script wouldmake one recall theminimalistic decortrends that have beenruling for a while.Products like stor-age beds, sofa-c u m - b e d s ,c o l l a p s i b l eshelves andstorage seatershave been in greatdemand and will continue tobe, but here, we foundsome twists. The sound-absorbent bed, withacoustic foam on itssides, at the booth cateredto aesthetic as well as func-tional needs. A small side tableand a book shelf was attached toit and there was extra lumbarsupport for a comfortable seat-ing — a perfect space optimisa-tion, especially for theurban loft.

We came across agender-neutral kids’bedroom. With a subtleplay of pastel green and

blue, and grey, the bed had a hut-like slope on its head. On its cor-

ner, was a quirky deskattached to makestudy space a bit

more exciting. Withwooden panels on its othercorner, it seemed as thoughlitt le windows wereattached to the bed’s end.An orange clock was hungon its side, the perfectangle of placing it in the

room. Conceptualisedby Habios, spokesper-son Abu Laskar said,“The minimalistic

trend seems tobe rising. Thatis why we have

brought such akids’ bedroom

this time, whichoccupied less space yet

comprises more ele-ments. We’re glad peo-ple are liking it.”

��������,��We all know that the Pantone

colour for 2020 is Classic Blue. Thefair made the most of it. Almostevery product had an accent —some minute, some overpower-

ing.Bathline had it all blue —

right from the flooring to theceramic basins. Said owner MehakJain, “Blue has been the favouritecolour of bathrooms initially tooand now the trend seems to beback.”

Next in line, Nivasa show-cased how the colour is alluring butneeds proper use. “The best partabout this colour is that it can beused in various patterns, furniture,wallpaper, accessories and muchmore,” said the spokesperson.

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Wooden plates shaped as tur-tles, silver-coloured crocodilesculptures, showpieces with animalprints, and many more such piecesthat had in them an element ofwildlife, seemed to have taken thecentre stage. Lotus arts de vivre, ahome-décor, jewellery and hand-bag company that deals with nat-ural wood, exhibited the SpiritingCheetah — its only installation —at the centre of the booth, calledthe Safari collection. Made frombamboo, iron and teak wood, theartwork was a major attraction for

the viewers. “It weighs 100 kg. Ittook two months for us to prepareit,” said the spokesperson. Besideit, was a tree trunk, which appearedto have retained its original shape.On it lay a small silver cheetah andsome silver-coloured artificialleaves. They have tried to retain theoriginal texture of the wood so thatit appears more natural.

���������������The fair seemed to strike a bal-

ance between luxury and sustain-

ability as a more mindful way oflife. Sustainability will continue todefine our choices in climate-challenged times.

Brands such as EmanateHomes and The Park Hotels exhib-ited transterior spaces, ones whichare open and mix the interior withthe exterior effortlessly to utilise aroom in multiple ways. The Frenchdoors that allow natural lighting isanother judicious way to utiliseenergy.

Edida India featured bamboochairs, buckets, stools, chande-liers and mats. Hung on a teal bluewall, the products reflected thisconcept well. There were some car-pets made from different colourednatural fibre, Sisal, and the leavesof agave plant, too.

Iqrup and Ritz’s peacockindoor cane chair was a perfectexample of how durability and sus-tainability goes hand in hand. “Wehave attempted to span from lim-ited-edition and luxe to mass-produced and accessible — eachresonates with us as a piece of‘good design’.”

Inspired by opera, an Opheliatable lamp, by Josmo studio, gavea setup of eclectic colours, trans-porting one to a theatre evening.

,��<����������� Sustainability means that there

has been a cultural shift back to tra-dition manifesting itself in tribalartforms, indigenous artworks andmuch more. A first timer broughtMata-ni-Pachedi paintings, a form ofGujarati Kalamkari.

What grabbed our attention werethe Gond sculptures from MadhyaPradesh and Maharashtra, whichwere basically faces carved out ofwood in the form of some protectivedeities. Besides it, the ‘Bhuta’ masksfrom Kerala, made from bronzemetal casters, looked like a symbol ofgod. “It originated in Tulu district ofSouth Karnataka where Bhuta is cel-ebrated every year to honour localdeities. We wanted to showcase all ourworks at a cultural level so that theyrepresent the process that an Indianhas gone through over the years,” saidthe mask-maker.

Jaipur Rugs, known for launch-ing something new every year at thefair, exhibited a carpet with over3,000 colours. It launched a new col-lection by Italian designer Matteo,Jaipur Wunderkammer. It wasinspired by the designer’s visit to thecity. A pink wool and viscose rug,showcasing ghungroos tied to a footon its four sides, was inspired by adance performance that the design-er had seen at the Hawa Mahal. Lyingon the floor was another brown-coloured carpet with orange liningsand blue intersections. “It depicts thearchitecture of Jaipur’s variouspalaces through vintage doors andjharokas (windows). We set thetrend every year,” said representativeVikas Chaudhary.

What’s Your Story, too, had a sec-tion of hand-knotted Kolam carpetsinspired from ancient South Indianritual of creating patterns with ricepowder.

Well, when more than 20 archi-tects and designers come together,objects have a reason to exist, aretimeless and certainly add value topeople’s everyday lives.

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What has been your creativeprocess?

Amaan Ali Bangash: To be amusician is in itself a blessing as youare really not answerable to anyonebut yourself. For the few hours whenyou are onstage, you are in a creativefrenzy, sometimes supernaturallyunreal. There are times when youget off stage only to realise thatsomething special happened upthere on stage that day.

Ayaan Ali Bangash: It’s ablessing to be in a profession whereyou love what you are doing. It isalso non-debatable that music isindeed the best way to connect tothat supreme power who we havenever seen. Be it any religion, musichas always been the pathway to spir-ituality. It’s therefore not time-bound but a part of a larger journey.

What would you say about thecharm of Sufi music? Do youthink it’s charm is still intact?

Amaan: Frankly there is nosuch thing or term as sufi music.Only the text can be sufi not themusical notes. Therefore the songsor compositions of course are with-in the same 12 notes of music.Though it’s a spiritual path for us,the text makes it sufi or otherwise.

Ayaan: The base is 13th centu-ry sufi songs composed by AmirKhusro. He was not just an Indianmusician, scholar and poet but alsoan iconic figure in the cultural his-tory of the Indian subcontinent. A

sufi mystic and a spiritual discipleof Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi,Amir Khusro was not only a notablepoet but also a prolific and seminalmusician. He wrote poetry pri-marily in Persian, but also inHindavi. This album has us on thesarod and vocals along with the tra-ditional qawwali singers who sing atKhusro’s shrine in Delhi. Qawwalisand folk songs, the most populargenres in the Khusro tradition,have kept his name alive among themasses for more than seven cen-turies. These are our interpretations.

What are the music trends of2020?

Amaan: We have been very for-tunate to have had a certain kind ofa grooming where music for us was-n’t a profession but a way of life.Today there is talent in abundancebut there is a lack of consistency. It’s

a very long journey and one has tohave patience, tolerance and perse-verance. Having been reared on adiet of tradition and continuity, it’sdifficult to be living in a modernworld with classic values. Yet, wechose to belong to a system, whereoral knowledge is passed on fromguru to student along with actualmusic lessons.

How can emerging artistesimbibe traditions in their art?

Ayaan: We’re doing a lot of stuffourselves. The instant success of anyof these, as opposed to the longhours of dedication required in thetraditional set up, sometimes standsin the way of progress. We think it’sgreat to imbibe cultures from allaround the world but let’s not for-get who we are or what we have tooffer. We need to be, first and fore-most, proud of ourselves. Let’s not

get embarrassed about the Indianway.

How have you explored differ-ent music genres over the years?

Ayaan: It’s a great time for cre-ativity. We recently heard a Jazz bha-jan in a studio in Chennai. We havebeen very fortunate to have workedwith some fabulous artists. RahimAlhaj of course was the most recentone who is also a three timeGrammy nominee. We have alsocollaborated with Derek Trucks,who is one of the top 10 guitaristsin the world, at Savanaah MusicFestival in Georgia as well as theEvelyn Glinnie, New JerseySymphony Orchestra, Joe Walsh andmany others. Every collaborationhas had it own beauty, charm andjourney.

Over the years, we feel veryblessed to have received so muchlove and warmth from musiclovers. It’s always both inspiring andchallenging to perform here. Welook forward to the concerts withSharon Isbin. The idea is to achievea cross-fertilisation at both the cel-lular and cosmic levels of twoclassical music traditions, which areoften held to be radically different.

Amaan: Our goal through thisprocess is to engage and celebratethe shared and discrete musical“DNA” of both traditions from aperspective of abundance. This isa blissful dream of a project,infused with the unique amalga-mated contributions of artistesunited under a common aegis,regardless of their diverse back-ground, cultures, traditions, gener-ations, genders, religions, upbring-ing, and career paths. I am lookingforward to our concerts coming upwith Singapore Chinese Orchestraand Chicago PhilharmonicOrchestra.

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Sonam Sherpa, foundingmember and the lead gui-

tarist of the Indian rock bandParikrama, passed away at theage of 48 on Friday. Althoughno cause of death was specifiedin the official tweet, an onlineportal quoted a bandmate say-ing that Sherpa had suffered acardiac arrest.

Among the first to offercondolences was actor-singerFarhan Akhtar, who has per-formed with the guitarist. Hetook to Instagram to pay trib-ute, along with a picture ofhimself with Sherpa. “In 2008,post Rock On!!, I was part of afour city tour with the amazingParikrama and I can never for-get or adequately say howthankful I am for the love andwarmth that he extended tothis first timer on stage. He wasa gifted guitarist, a supremelycool and a true rock star. RIPbrother. Deepest condolences

to his family,” wrote Farhan.He was born in the West

Bengal hill town of Kalimpongon October 8, 1971. Along withSubir Malik, he formedParikrama in Delhi on June 17,1991. The band’s memorablesongs include But it rained, TillI’m no one again, Open skies,Whiskey blues, Am I dreamingand Superhero.

The band’s 1996 single,But it rained, made it to the listof “25 Greatest Indian RockSongs Of The Last 25 Years” ofRolling Stone India.

Nitin Malik, vocals,Parikrama says, “We (SubirMalik, Sherpa and I, started thejourney together in 1991.Sonam meant so much to all ofus. To him, the most importantthing was to have fun but at thesame time, I’ve never seen amore disciplined musicians.He would practise a difficultpiece through the night andcould show up for a session atfour in the morning. He wascertainly the best musicianamong us all. He was like fam-ily. In a band, you end up trav-elling more with the membersthan you would ever do withyour own family. Every outsta-tion concert was like a vacationfor us as we had so much funtogether. We were almost like,to use a cliche, a band ofbrothers. We were the first onesto be there in case of an emer-gency. Even right now Subir iswith the family in Kalimpong.”

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According to scriptures, there are 36 divinequalities in a human being (36 gun). If onedoes not possess any one out of these, it

means s/he has the opposite — demoniacal qual-ities — which result in sorrow and sufferings.Most people do not know that the absence ofthese qualities is the major cause of misery. They,therefore, try to find out its cause in political, eco-nomic, cultural or social system. The truth, how-ever, is that positive or negative qualities mani-fest themselves through human behaviour oractivity, whether it be political, economic, cultur-al or any social activity. One should, therefore,try to trace thenegativity andwork for positiv-ity rather thansearching for thecause elsewhere.

Society hasmade progress invarious fields butemotionally it ismuch weakerthan before. Manhas not been ableto control hisimpulsiveness,ambitions, angerand anxiety.Imbalance hasbeen created by rapid advancement in science andtechnology on the one hand and lack or absenceof parallel progress in emotional maturity, self-control and ethics on the other hand. This hasresulted in many problems that we are facingtoday. It can thus be said that the qualities in aperson determine the quality of his/her lifewhether it is peaceful and happy or peaceless andsorrowful. But, it is a pity that people are tryingto find happiness in ruling over big territories,possessing a large amount of property or wealth.Therefore all efforts are directed towards econom-ic prosperity even at the cost of adopting demo-niac qualities. People try to achieve success, nameand fame or political and economic power evenif the soul has to give up divine qualities. This has,evidently, led to corruption of the soul, degen-eration of the society and to disturbance and suf-ferings. If we accept this analysis of our presentpredicament, then we have to admit that ourmoral values and divine qualities have fallen andwhat we require today is to extricate and upliftourselves from this situation with the help of edu-cation that can restore these. All our other effortsto make the world a better place to live in wouldbe of no avail until and unless there is a qualita-tive change in our nature and behaviour.Complete peace, it should be remembered,comes from complete purity or divine nature.Even a fraction of one demoniacal quality leadsto lessening of peace in that proportion if notmore. It should also be noted that demoniacalqualities have linkages among themselves evenas divine qualities are connected among them-selves and strengthen and sustain each other. Soliberation from one negative quality leads to atleast some liberation from other negative quali-ties. Thus even our little effort to inculcate, in our-selves, some divine qualities leads ultimately toa great over-all change in our nature and resultsin enhancement in the quality of our inner hap-piness. One must, therefore, in one’s own inter-est and in that of building a better world, payattention to the task of restoration of divine qual-ities and elimination of the devilish qualities ornegative traits. In doing this lies the hope of ourown liberation and improvement of the world-conditions.

Ravindra Chhagan Chaudhary, 29,lives with his two children in a jointfamily in Toranmal Dhadgaon,

Nandurbar. He has worked extensively inhis area to fight against malnutrition.After completing his SSC Board exams,he started assisting other villagers’ ineveryday governance.

Toranmal is an area whose primaryresidents are Adivasis. The number ofmalnourished children is staggeringdespite UNICEF, Shabari, CORO and anumber of organisations having joinedhands to end the problem which contin-ued to persist.

Ravindra’s journeyRavindra was an avid reader since

childhood. It helped him to understandthe social realities around him better. Hedeveloped a social conscience and wasacutely distressed about the issues aroundhim. The chronic malnutrition inNandurbar troubled him even morewhen a close relative’s daughter wasdiagnosed with it. No one around himeven knew the word at the time. With thehelp of the local Primary Health Centreand Anganwadi workers, he tried todecode this word and, also, resolve theissue. Ravindra resolved to create a gen-eration of adivasis who were not onlyaware of malnutrition, but also free fromit. At about the same time, ShabariFoundation was working to boost the lev-els of nutrition in the village. Ravindrajoined hands with their effort and this wasthe beginning of a decade and a half longfight for children’s nutritional rights in hisvillage.

Ravindra’s work and the issues inToranmal

Ravindra procured a list of all themalnourished children in the villagewith the help of Anganwadi sevikas. Mostof the children in his neighbourhoodweren’t even registered in the localAnganwadi. He visited every house whichhad a malnourished child. He started peercounseling and told every family aboutmalnourishment and its grave effects. Herealised that nourishment was intrinsical-ly related to other social realities in thevillage as well. Early marriage and preg-nancy, toiling day and night for earninga decent livelihood, delay in breastfeed-

ing children due to erratic work hours,lack of appropriate nourishment, were thechronic and interlinked reasons for themalnourishment. Over a time, he slow-ly started exploring ideas of nourishmentand nutrition from the Anganwadisevikas.

To break this cycle, with the help ofhis peer circle, he started opposing childmarriage in his area. When they wenttogether and in large numbers, mosthouses were willing to listen and startedcoming on board. Together, they startedkeeping a vigilant eye on every child bornin the area. Their weight, food intake andthe frequency of breastfeeding werestrictly monitored through peer counsel-ing and home visits. Another area of focuswas the mother’s nutritional intake,cleanliness and breastfeeding practices. Inthis manner, every child’s growth andprogress was monitored and the commu-nity also felt involved in the solution.

Every three months, Ravindraaddresses at least a hundred houses.Ravindra and his group counselled fam-ilies who migrated for work and request-ed them to not to take their child along.He insisted that this was a question of thechild’s rights.

Impact of his work Ravindra’s work inspired the youth

around him. Some of them started thiswork from their own families. Since chil-dren were the focus, they also took upother child rights-related issues with thehelp of the Gram Panchayat. They’ve hadto continually face the resistance fromblind-faith and ignorant mindsets, butthey persisted working for child rightswithout losing hope or conviction. Mostchildren whose families were counselledby Ravindra have been declared malnu-trition-free. Now, he’s turned his attentiontowards the neighbouring villages. Seeingthe students now, one can easily see hopeand aspiration in the community.

Plans Ahead Ravindra wants to start and organi-

sation in collaboration with the localyouth and get it registered. This wouldfocus extensively on children’s rights.Going beyond peer counseling, theynow want to create decent and dignified

livelihood opportunities in Nandurbaritself. They’re hoping livelihood wouldaddress both economic and social reali-ties which form the root cause of malnu-trition in the area. They want to makeToranmal a self-reliant village, leveragingthe experience they’ve gathered fromworking with different organisationsover the years.

Ravindra’s Message Ravindra is firmly convinced that

each one of us needs to work hand inhand to end malnutrition. Only then willour future generations and our nation willhave able and strong-willed citizens.

His efforts have significantly reducedmalnutrition in Toranmal and havepaved the way for creating a healthierfuture. His work is inspirational as it cre-ates a possibility for a healthier, happierlife for children in his area.

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Remind me not to plant camel-lias. Not that camellias

(Camellia japonica) aren’t won-derful plants, with their elegant,sometimes fragrant, blossomsand their glossy, evergreen foliage.But where I garden, with winterlows dipping to minus 20 degreesfahrenheit, it’s just too dang coldfor camellias — outdoors, atleast. Still, some new, relativelycold-hardy varieties are bringingcamellias farther North than theyused to grow.

SOME TOLERATE MORECOLD THAN OTHERS

Camellias are among theSouthern belles that I and manyother gardeners contending withfrigid winters long for. (Twoother favourites of mine aresouthern magnolia and garde-nia. I can just imagine the fra-grance of a full-size gardenia inbloom near my terrace!).Camellias are generally consid-ered to be reliably cold-hardywhere temperatures stay aboveabout 10 degrees fahrenheit.Even there, they are occasional-ly burned back by cold or killed.

Most of the 2,000-plus vari-eties are so-called Japanesecamellias. They are the ones that

spread their single, semi-doubleor double blossoms up to fiveinches in diameter in fall, win-ter or early spring. In mild win-ter climates, this plant mightgrow 20 feet high. Varieties dif-fer in how much cold they cantolerate, with Lady Clare, WhiteEmpress, Bernice Boddy,Governor Mouton, Kumasakaand Pink Perfection being

among the toughest.

NEW, COLD-HARDIERCAMELLIAS

Sasanqua camellia, anotherspecies (C. sasanqua), is cold-hardy below zero but not muchbelow zero. It has smaller flowers,leaves and stature than Japanesecamellias, and a more lax andopen growth habit. Still, it would

be folly to try growing eithersasanqua camellia or Japanesecamellia this far North.

My near foray into the worldof camellias can be blamed onWilliam Ackerman, a plantbreeder at the US NationalArboretum. We can also blameMaryland’s frigid winter of 1977because that winter decimatedmost of the arboretum’s camellia

collection, survivors spurredinterest in cold-hardier camellias.

Among the survivors of that1977 onslaught was a variety ofTea Oil camellia (C. oleifera )named Lu Shan Snow. AlthoughTea Oil camellia is not particular-ly hardy, Lu Shan Snow is, andAckerman incorporated it intobloodlines for the super-hardycamellias he developed. Lu Shan

Snow, incidentally, was a find inits own right. Its fragrant flowersappear in late fall or in colderareas, early spring. The plant tol-erates temperatures to minus 10degrees fahrenheit!

Ackerman’s hybrids are a bithardier than even Lu Shan Snow,down to about minus 12 degrees.They blossom in fall, the blos-soming season lasting a month ormore and beginning at a veryyoung age. These new hybridvarieties include Polar Ice, SnowFlurry, Winter’s Hope, Winter’sRose, Winter’s Star, and Winter’sCharm.

ATTENTION TO SITE ANDSOIL

Cold-hardy or not, camelliais not the kind of plant you juststick in the ground and thenwatch grow. These plants demandan acidic soil that is high inhumus and moisture but welldrained and low in fertility. Theyalso enjoy a bit of shade as wellas shelter from winter winds, thelatter, especially important thefurther north camellias are plant-ed. An organic mulch is a must.

These conditions are almostthe same as those enjoyed bymountain laurels and rhododen-dron’s. A camellia would look nicein the partially shaded bed ofrhododendron’s and mountainlaurels I planted near my house.I’m tempted but I don’t want topush the limits of a camellia’s coldendurance. Just a little morecold-hardiness please.

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Jurgen Klopp described histeam’s 25-point lead at the topof the Premier League as

“insane” after Sadio Mane struckto give Liverpool a 1-0 win atstorm-hit Norwich on Saturday.

The champions-elect wereshort of their fluent best in blus-tery conditions caused by StormDennis at Carrow Road butreturned immediately to winningways after their winter break.

They have now gone 43 top-flight matches unbeaten, just six

behind Arsenal’s record of 49games in 2003-04 and are sprint-ing towards their first league titlefor 30 years.

Liverpool have earned 103points from the past 105 availableto them in the Premier League,winning 34 of their past 35matches, and have one morepoint — 76 — than ManchesterUnited accrued in winning theleague in 1996/97.

Klopp said the wind andNorwich’s organisation made it atricky game but that his playersremained calm.

“I could tell inall the players’ faces that theyweren’t nervous, they were enjoy-ing it, and if one team wasgoing to score it was going tobe us,” he told Sky Sports.

“We protected againstthe counter-attack well too.It’s really all about thesewonderful football players.

“The gap is so insane, Idon’t really understand it. I’m notsmart enough. I’ve not had thatbefore. It’s outstanding, it’s so dif-ficult. I go back into the chang-ing room and we chat about the

things and then I’m like’oh, butcongratulations. We won the

game, another three points’.”The result leaves Daniel

Farke’s Norwich rooted tothe bottom of the table, six

points behind 19th-placedWatford. They look set foran immediate return to theChampionship despite their

battling performance.Klopp brought back mid-

fielder Naby Keita for his firststart in a Premier League matchsince December and Mane was

on the bench as Liverpool start-ed full of confidence.

The visitors controlled pos-session in the early stages with-out creating many clear-cutopenings but Norwich managedsome brief spells of attractivepassing football themselves.

Liverpool forward RobertoFirmino was particularly impres-sive, producing an exquisitepiece of skill to control a longJordan Henderson pass beforethe ball was stolen off his toes ashe shaped to shoot.

But Farke’s men keptLiverpool quiet and came closeto snatching the lead them-selves.

MANE BREAKS DEADLOCKLiverpool were quickly on

top again in the second half butstruggled to create clear chancesuntil Keita tested Tim Krul fromdistance in the 58th minute.

Keita should have done bet-ter when he reacted quickly to arebound off Krul but the goal-keeper dived to his right to denythe Guinea international.

Alexander Tettey almostcaught Becker out on a rareNorwich foray into the Liverpoolhalf, thundering a shot againstthe near post as the home crowdroared their team on.

Just when it seemedNorwich could become only thesecond team this season, afterManchester United, to denyLiverpool all three points, Manebroke the deadlock.

The second-half substitutecontrolled a long ball fromHenderson with his right foot inthe 78th minute before lashinghome with his left.

�� ������� Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said onSaturday he felt a sense of “shock” after Premier Leaguerivals Manchester City were hit with a two-season banfrom European football.

“It was a shock,” said Klopp, whose ChampionsLeague title holders are well on the way to succeedingCity as champions of England.

“Complete wow. The only thing I can say is aboutfootball,” added the German as he expressed sympa-thy for City counterpart Pep Guardiola.

“What they have done on the football pitch isexceptional. The rest, I don’t know.

“You believe the people you work with, that’s howit is,” added Klopp.

“I really feel for them, Pep and the players, but thatis how it is. They can appeal so we will see what hap-pens then. It is obviously serious.

“But the football they played was exceptional andwill always be exceptional,” insisted Klopp.

Meanwhile former City midfielder Joe Barton saidit would be a blow to English football if his old club’sEuropean ban was upheld.

“I don’t like the thought of seeing City not in theChampions League,” said Barton, now the manager ofthird-tier Fleetwood.

“With that level of a manager and players...you haveto be in Europe’s major competition.

“For English football, you want your best teamsin that competition,” he added. AFP

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Golfer Tiger Woods, cham-pion marathon runner

Eliud Kipchoge and F1 driverLewis Hamilton are the topcontenders to grab theLaureus World Sportsman ofthe Year award in Berlin today.

Woods is in the runningfor his career-redeeming firstmajor title in 11 years, whileKipchoge’s incredible sub-two-hour marathon run andHamilton’s sixth F1 world titlealso put them in contention forthe prestigious award.

The Laureus World SportsAwards is the pinnacle ofsport, honouring the world’sgreatest achievers and recog-nising sport’s ability to changelives for the better.

Kipchoge, became the first

athlete to run a marathon inunder two hours. The 34-year-old recorded 1hr 59mins40secs, in Vienna, although thetime is not recognised as anofficial world record becauseit was not in open competitionand he used a team of pace-makers.

Woods, who has grabbedthe 2019 comeback of theyear award, won his 15thMajor Championship at theMasters in April. It was his firstMajor title since the US Open-winning effort in 2008.

Hamilton is also amongthe six nominees in the list,which also has tennis greatRafael Nadal, Lionel Messiand Marc Marquez.

The British F1 ace won hissixth World C’ship title in2019 to be second in the all-

time list, one behind the inspi-rational Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton won 11 of the21 Grand Prix during the2019 calendar, taking his tallyto 84 career race victories,seven behind Schumacher.

Barcelona skipper Messiscored his 600th career goalfor Barcelona. With 36 goalsin 2018-19, he was the topscorer in La Liga for thesixth time. In November hepassed 40 goals in a year forthe 11th time.

The 26-year-oldMarquez, one of the mostsuccessful motor cycle racersof all time, won his sixthWorld MotoGP title in 2019.

After being nominatedfour times before, it remainsto be seen if Jamaican greatShally-Ann Fraser-Pryce gets

lucky this year. She wasnominated for World Sportswoman of the year in 2010,2013, 2014 and 2016 butcould not win it.

After winning her fourthworld 100m title at the DohaWorlds, she will be a strongcandidate this time.

She is competing withtwo-time winner AmericanSimone Biles, the most dec-orated gymnast, who hasfive world Gold medals.

Also competing isAmerican footballer MeganRapinoe, who at the age of 34is the oldest to score a goal ina World Cup final. She wonthe golden ball and the gold-en boot in USA’s title-winningtriumph last year.

Japanese tennis sensationNaomi Osaka has been strug-

gling of late and was evenrecently benched during theFed Cup by her team but herAustralian Open winning per-formance in 2019 made herthe first woman to win con-secutive Grand Slam titlessince Serena Williams in 2015.

American track and fieldathlete Allyson Felix is also inthe race after winning twogold at the Doha Worlds. Shehas won 13 world titles so far.

Considered the greatestwoman skier ever, MikaelaShiffrin won her third straightWorld Cup in 2019.

There are four other cat-egories: World Team of theyear, World breakthrough ofthe year, the comeback of theyear, sportsperson of the yearwith a disability and the actionsportsperson of the year.

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Britain’s Kyle Edmund found a secondgear in the last game of the match to

book his spot in final of the New YorkOpen where he will face Italy’s AndreasSeppi.

The eighthseeded Edmundroared to a 6-1,6-4 victory overSerbian MiomirKecmanovic inthe semi-finalsof the ATP Tourtournament.

The 25-yearold is gunningfor his secondTour title afterwinning 16months ago inAntwerp whenhe beat GaelMonfils.

Standing between Edmund and his sec-ond ATP Tour title is Seppi, who ended thedream run of American-born Taiwaneseplayer Jason Jung.

Seppi, 35, also beat Jung in straight sets,6-3, 6-2. He is ranked No 98 in the worldand is trying to win his first title since 2012in Moscow.

Edmund and Seppi have met fivetimes with the Brit losing just once.

�,���Four-time Grand Slamchampion Kim Clijstersrevealed on Sunday that a per-sistent inner feeling andadvice from her husbandserved as the key to her WTAreturn at the Dubai C’ships.

“It was a feeling that I hadinside for a little while,” the36-year-old mother-of-threesaid. “Once in a while thatfeeling would go away whenI was home with the (three)kids. A couple times it wouldcome back. It got stronger andstronger.”

The Belgian has beenhanded a tough first roundassignment against lastmonth’s Australian Openfinalist Garbine Muguruzafor her first match since the2012 US Open today.

Clijsters retired initially in2007 to marry and have herfirst child, returned in 2009winning three of her fourtitles at the Majors.

“I talked to my husband.He was like, ‘stop worryingabout why and ask yourselfwhy not.’ “He made a verygood point. I was like, ‘Thereis no ‘why not’. Why would-

n’t I do it?”Clijsters, playing as a wild

card entry at her debut in theemirate, added: “I’ve enjoyedthe challenge since the dayI’ve decided to go for it. It’s

been with ups and downs.“Being 36 years old, you

know that’s how it’s been foryour whole career. It’s howyou mentally stay through it,how strong you stay throughthose kind of situations.”

Clijsters had originallyplanned to return for theAustralian Open last month,but the date was put back dueto an elbow injury.

“When things don’t gowell, that’s obviously whenyou have to be committed andfocused. I’ve been doing that.

“It’s been an interestingbut very challenging processthat I’m really enjoying,” saidthe winner of 41 singles titles.

Wimbledon championSimona Halep takes the topDubai seeding, with CzechKarolina Pliskova on second,Elina Svitolina the third seed,Swiss holder Belinda Bencicfourth and Aus Open winnerSofia Kenin fifth. AFP

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Punjab FC extended its unbeaten home runin Ludhiana on Sunday as Cameroonian for-

ward Dipanda Dicka’s solitary first half goalhelped 2017-18 champions beat Real KashmirFC 1-0 in the I-League clash.

Dicka’s strike was the differentiator as hewent to the top of the goal-scoring charts withnine goals in the league — tied with MohunBagan’s Fran Gonzalez. Punjab FC now have 21points from 13 games whereas Real Kashmirhave 15 points from 10 games.

Punjab played the first half looking to main-tain possession and ended the first 45 minuteswith 67% of the ball.

With very less possession, RKFC were leftto do a lot of chasing and depended oncounter attacks to make something happen.With a lot of game being played in midfield, itlooked like as if the half will end with parity.

But home team had other ideas. In the 44thminute, an attack which started with thePunjab talisman Dipanda Dicka was joined inby Cavin Lobo. Dicka played a beautiful one-two with Lobo and with a delightful first-timestrike, he sent the ball between the legs of theReal Kashmir FC keeper to put his team in frontat the brink of half-time.

In the second half Punjab carry themomentum and built pressure upon the SnowLeopards. It was again Dicka who came up with

a strong left-footed strike from the edge of thebox and it needed Phurba Lachenpa to comeup with a diving save on the near post to keepthe scoreline intact.

With less than 10 minutes to go in regulartime, it was second-half substitute Souvik Daswho had a go at the Real Kashmir goal from dis-tance with an out-swinging strike which againdemanded the keeper from Kashmir to comeup with flying one-handed save.

In the fifth minute of stoppage time, RealKashmir got their best opportunity of the match.A ball from the right flank by Mason Robertsonfound a leaping Bazie Armand's head inchesaway from the goal but instead of finding theback of the net, the ball went over the crossbar.

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Mario Pasalic scored thewinner seconds after

coming off the bench asAtalanta came from behindto beat Roma 2-1 and con-solidate fourth place in SerieA on Saturday at theexpense of their ChampionsLeague rivals from the capital.

The Croatia midfieldercame on just before the hourmark in Bergamo to fire in thecrucial goal 19 seconds later, toboost confidence ahead of hisside’s first ever ChampionsLeague last 16 game againstValencia at the San Siro nextweek.

Josip Ilicic had threatenedafter half an hour for the hosts,firing wide, with a Rafael Toloioverhead kick off target min-utes later.

But it was Roma who

broke through first with EdinDzeko pouncing on a defend-ing blunder from Jose LuisPalomino.

Dzeko dispossessed thecentre-back to rifle in past ahelpless Pierluigi Golini in theAtalanta goal.

Palomino made up for hisearlier error just after the breakvolleying in the equaliser in an

action started off a PapuGomez corner.

On-loan Chelsea play-maker Pasalic came on forDuvan Zapata after 59 minutesand curled in to seal the threepoints. Atalanta pull six pointsahead of fifth-placed Roma,who fell to their third consec-utive defeat for the first timethis season.

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Amiens’ Serhou Guirassyscored an injury time

equaliser on Saturday to securea roller-coaster 4-4 draw with aParis Saint-Germain side with-out Neymar and Kylian Mbappeahead of next week’s ChampionsLeague last 16 tie at BorussiaDortmund.

Relegation-haunted Amienshad been on course for a shockwin when they surged into a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes before theFrench champions clawed theirway back to lead 4-3 on the backof Tanguy Kouassi becomingPSG’s youngest scorer in 44years.

Brazil forward Neymar hasbeen sidelined since February 1with a rib injury while FranceWorld Cup winner Mbappe wasrested ahead of Tuesday’s trip toGermany.

PSG coach Thomas Tuchelsaid the world's most expensiveplayer remained a doubt for thefirst leg tie.

“For Tuesday I don’t know.I have to wait until tomorrow’straining session,” Tuchel told

broadcaster Canal+.“Everybody’s talking about

the match so for that we can feelit’s in our heads and we havebeen a little bit distracted by it.

“We showed a reaction, ourquality, and our mentality was

really good, we deserved towin,” he added.

PSG move 13 points clear ofsecond-place Marseille whilethe home side remain in the rel-egation zone and withouta league win sinceNovember 2.

Former French youthinternational Guirassyopened the scoring afternine minutes before ex-Chelsea midfielder Gael Kakutadoubled the lead 20 minuteslater.

Fousseni Diabate, on-loanfrom Leicester City, made it 3-0on the 40-minute mark after hislow effort was deflected by PSGcaptain Thiago Silva.

Midfielder Ander Herreracut the league strugglers’ leadseconds before half-time with aside-footed volley.

Tuchel made two changes atthe break with Marco Veratti and

Marquinhos replacing IdrissaGueye and Silva.

Teenager Tanguy Kouassiscored his first senior goal afteran hour from a Julian Draxler

header to become PSG’syoungest goal scorer sinceLionel Justier in 1976.

The 17-year-old hold-ing midfielder, whoremains on an academycontract with the

Parisians, equalised five minuteslater from an Angel Di Maria asPSG pushed on.

The visitors thought theyhad completed a huge comebackas Juan Bernat found MauroIcardi at the back-post and theon-loan forward hit his 19th goalof the season.

But after one minute ofinjury time, Guirassy was fed bywinger Quentin Cornette toequalise for his eighth effort ofthe campaign.

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Dicka’s strike gives Punjab crucial win

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�����������Canadian rising star FelixAuger-Aliassime closed to within onematch of ending his wait for a maiden ATPtitle by beating Pablo Carreno Busta toreach the Rotterdam final.

The 19-year-old booked a place in hisfourth Tour final with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 winover Spain’s Carreno Busta.

World number 21 Auger-Aliassimewill face French third seed and defendingchampion Gael Monfils in final.

The 33-year-old Monfils, who won thetitle in Montpellier last weekend, defeat-ed Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).

Auger-Aliassime has lost all three ofhis previous ATP finals last year in Rio,Lyon and Stuttgart, while he was also amember of Canadian side which lost toSpain in Davis Cup final. AFP

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Page 16: The Pioneer · the patriotic song, ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (We shall overcome), the public also repeated the line with him. “I want to thank each and every one of you. Today, your

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Mayank Agarwal foundform on his birthday andRishabh Pant mixed cau-

tion with his customary aggressionas India’s warm-up fixture againstNew Zealand XI ended in a drawat Seddon Park on Sunday.

The match was called off anhour after lunch with India reach-ing 252 for four just 48 overs intotheir second innings.

Agarwal, who had gonethrough a wretched period since

the second Test against Bangladesh,retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian teammanagement, Pant played in hiscustomary manner to reach 70 off65 balls, but also showed discretionwhen the opposition bowlers werein the midst of a good spell.

There were four sixes — twoeach off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi andoff-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down theground, Cooper was dispatchedover extra cover on a couple of

occasions. He didn’t curb hisaggression though; there weretimes when he was ready to defendagainst the spinners and also leavesome of the deliveries that the Kiwipacers bowled.

Even though Pant is easily thebetter batsman compared to hissenior Wriddhiman Saha, theinnings might have come too latein the day considering that the lat-ter is a better keeper and possiblya more responsible batsman inpressure situations.

The biggest positive to have

emerged from the New Zealandsecond innings is Agarwal’s poorrun coming to an end. The SeddonPark track easing out was definite-ly a factor but Agarwal’s footworkwas more assured as he playedsome glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal hadplayed 10 competitive gamesincluding first-class, ODIs and ListA matches and couldn’t cross the40-run mark in 11 completedinnings. He even bagged a pairagainst New Zealand A in an unof-

ficial Test match.Once he had got his form back,

he didn’t come out to bat after lunchgiving Saha an opportunity toscore an unbeaten 30, his runs com-ing mostly against non-regularbowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added100 runs in 14.3 overs and it alsohelped that part-timers like Cooperwas introduced into the action.

In the morning, Prithvi Shaw(39 off 31 balls) was bowledthrough the gate by Daryl Mitchellas the batsman left a gaping hole

between his bat and pad.Shaw, though, seemed to have

done enough during his brisk 72-run stand with Agarwal, whichcould put an end to the debatearound the opening slot eventhough the tracks in Wellingtonand Christchurch could be a test oftechnique for the flamboyantMumbaikar. It was a match thatShubman Gill would perhaps liketo forget in a hurry as he was dis-missed cheaply for the second timein a row. He scored 8 before DarylMitchell trapped him leg before.

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India’s Mayank Agarwal avoided frettingabout what went wrong during his wretched

run on the tour of New Zealand, which hefinally ended with a morale-boosting 81 in awarm-up game on Sunday.

Prior to his latest knock, Agarwal’s seriesof scores read 8, 32, 29, 37, 24, 0, 0, 32, 3, 1,1, raising questions about his confidence goinginto the two-Test series against the Black Caps.

“It’s been a little different playing here butI want to leave all that behind. Whatever hashappened has happened. Yes, I got an 81 inthe second innings of this practice game andI want to take this confidence forward into theTest match,” Agarwal told reporters.

While he wasn’t keen on dissecting whatwent wrong, Agarwal did say that he had ses-sions with batting coach Vikram Rathour tosort out the technical glitches that might havecropped into his batting.

“Vikram sir and me, we have sat downand spoken about the areas where we needto improve. Yes, we have worked on it. AfterI got out in the first innings, I went backbehind to the nets, did a lot of drills. I amhappy whatever I have worked on is cominggood now.”

When asked about the specifics, he saidthat one of the issues was his closed stance.

“Just being a little too closed. That’s justone part of it. But it is what it is and I don’twant to discuss too much about it. Yes, weworked on and we’ve moved forward and Iwould leave all that behind.

“It’s just one of those things that has hap-pened while batting and I am glad that we areable to rectify it and move ahead.”

Agarwal believed in letting bygones bebygones and wants to now cash in on thenew-found form.

“There’s no point thinking about what’shappened. Obviously, I can’t bring that back.The last thing I can tell myself is yes, I havegot 81 not out here and I can carry that intothe Test match.”

So what exactly is his go to shot whichtells him that he is in the groove?

“I got a couple of on-drives in this inningsand as a batsman, you know that you have tobe doing a lot of things correct to hit an on-drive. When I got a couple of those, it gaveme the assurance that was required.”

Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw are likely to bethe new opening pair in Wellington and thelatter is confident that communicationbetween them will work wonders for him.

“We (him and Shaw) have played a lot ofcricket together and we have a good under-standing. Whatever needs to be communicat-ed between us, we do that,” he concluded.

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India will play a day-night Testduring their much-anticipated

tour of Australia later this year,BCCI president Sourav Gangulysaid on Sunday.

This comes a month aftercaptain Virat Kohli asserted thathis team was ready to play a day-night Test anywhere in Australia.

“Yes, India will play aDay/Night Test in Australia. Aformal announcement willbe made soon,” BCCI presi-dent Sourav Ganguly said.

Ganguly, a formercaptain, also said that thesecond Test of the nexthome series againstEngland will be a day-night affair. He addedthat the Board will try tohave at least one day-nightTest in each series moving for-ward.

India played their maidenday-night Test against Bangladeshlast November at the EdenGardens, winning the matchquite comfortably with plenty oftime to spare.

While the venue has notbeen finalised yet, the pink ballgame is likely to be held in eitherAdelaide or Perth. Hosting the

game in one of these venuesmakes sense given the better timeslot for Indian broadcast audi-ence.

On the eve of India’s three-match ODI series opener athome against Australia lastmonth, Kohli had said, “We’reready and up for the challenge —whether it’s Gabba, Perth... Itdoesn’t matter to us. It’s becomea very exciting feature of any Testseries and we’re open to playingday-night Tests.”

India declined Australia’soffer to play a day-night Test inAdelaide in 2018-19, citinglack of experience.

However, with day-nightmatch seen as a possibleanswer to Test cricket’s

dwindling attendances,Australia had been hop-

ing that India will agreeto play one game at theGabba this year.

A Cricket Australia(CA) delegation met

top BCCI officials on thesidelines of a limited-overs seriesin January with the day-night Testfiguring on the agenda.

Meanwhile, it is also learntthat India is set to play three ODIsand three T20Is in Sri Lanka afterthe IPL.

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India’s f irst ICCWomen’s T20 World

Cup warm-up matchagainst arch-rivalsPakistan was washedout in Brisbane onSunday without a ballbeing bowled, dentingthe HarmanpreetKaur-led side’s last-minute preparations.

Heavy downpourresulted in the matchbeing called off with-out the toss being heldat the Allan BorderField, days of theshowpiece starting February 21.

India will face West Indies in their second and finalwarm-up game at the same ground on February 18(Tuesday).

The T20 World Cup will begin on February 21 witha mouth-watering contest between the Indian womenand current champions and four-time winners Australiawomen in Sydney.

Elsewhere, England defeated New Zealand by sixwickets in Adelaide in their first official warm-up game.

Australia’s preparations were also hampered as theywere unable to play their warm-up match against theWest Indies here on Saturday due to a wet outfield.

Bangladesh’s match against World Cup debutantsThailand here was also called off.

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Bangladesh have dropped bats-man Mahmudullah and

recalled pace bowler MustafizurRahman for the one-off Testagainst Zimbabwe starting nextSaturday.

Wicketkeeper-batsmanMushfiqur Rahim also returns tothe side for the Dhaka matchafter opting out of the Testagainst Pakistan earlier thismonth over safety concerns.

The 16-member squadnamed on Sunday has fourchanges from the team that lostto Pakistan by an innings and 44runs in Rawalpindi.

Spinner Mehidy Hasan andpacer Taskin Ahmed are backafter recovering from injurywhile batsman Soumya Sarkar,pacers Rubel Hossain and Al-Amin Hossain were dropped.

Batsman Yasir AliChowdhury and fast bowlerHasan Mahmud are the twouncapped players in the squad.

“I believe we have selectedthe best possible Test squadunder present circumstances.There is a very nice blend ofexperience and potential,” chair-man of the selection panel,Minhajul Abedin said.

“It is unfortunate that someplayers had to miss out but ourpriority has been to ensure bal-ance and continuity. We felt thatMahmudullah needed a breakfrom the red ball.”

Mahmudullah has scored

only one half-century since mak-ing 146 runs against NewZealand in March 2019.

Bangladesh are currently ona bad run of form in Tests, los-ing their last six matches — threeof them by an innings margin.

The hosts will also play threeone-day and two Twenty20s inthe upcoming series in March.Squad: Mominul Haque (cap-tain), Tamim Iqbal, Saif Hassan,Najmul Hossain, MushfiqurRahim, Mohammad Mithun,Liton Das, Taijul Islam, AbuJayed, Nayeem Hasan, EbadatHossain, Taskin Ahmed, MehidyHasan, Mustafizur Rahman,Hasan Mahmud, Yasir Ali.

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���������Heinrich Klaasen hit 66 off33 balls as South Africa posted an impos-ing 222 for six in the third and finalTwenty20 international against Englandat SuperSport Park on Sunday.

Klaasen, 28, took full advantage ofhis first appearance in a home interna-tional this season, hitting four sixes andfour fours just as it had seemed SouthAfrica were faltering after a blisteringstart between Temba Bavuma andQuinton de Kock.

Bavuma (49) and De Kock (35)raced to 84 for the first wicket beforeboth were out in quick succession. DeKock fell to Ben Stokes in the eighth overand Bavuma was bowled by leg-spinnerAdil Rashid three balls later.

Stokes and Rashid bowled well intandem until Klaasen got into his stridewith some powerful strokes.

Stokes (two for 35) and Tom Curran(two for 33) were England's best bowlersagainst a sustained assault by the hosts.

The tourists conceded nine wides asbowlers were put under pressure. AFP

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In his maiden season asChelsea manager, Frank

Lampard has made it clearthat he is looking at hisyoung guns to make it countas the team looks to finish inthe top four in the league.Having failed to acquireexperienced players due tothe transfer ban last summer,it is now on the youngstersto step up.

"It's a critical time for usand I need the young play-ers to do their thing. I thinkwhen you come throughthis academy, you shouldunderstand what playing forthe first team at Chelsealooks like. You must alwaysdrive yourself and driveyourself and, if there's timeswhen you're not necessarilyat your best, you need todrive yourself again,"Lampard said.

"The young players havemade a great impact this sea-son and we've had relianceon them to a degree, becausewe knew we couldn't bringanyone in at the start.Through the season I thinkthere are going to be somedifficult times and, if youlook at Tammy Abraham atthe moment, and maybeMason (Mount), I think thebreak was particularly goodfor them as they can come

back and hopefully showmore levels in their game.

"There's been tough lit-tle times recently and I thinkit's up to them now. They'veshown they are part of thisfirst-team squad and they'veall had their good inputs butI want more and I think Iwant more now."

Commenting on hisown stint, Lampard saidthat he keeps introspectingand thinking of ways inwhich he can make the teamplay better.

"I always like to reflecton myself and how I work.When you're a new manag-er at a club, and I only camein last summer, you alwaysthink: "What small tweakscan I make to how we pre-pare and how we train daily?

"There was a lot of self-reflection (during the break).And just having some timeaway, having a bit of clarity,I think we should be happythat we're in fourth position.I think that would havebeen a plus at the start of theseason.

"At the same time howcan we get that extra 10 or15 per cent which I thinkwe've been lacking? Wewould have had a lot morepoints on the board (if wedid) and made fourth looka lot more comfortable," hesaid.

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B’desh axe Mahmudullah for Zim Test

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��<�� Zimbabwe batsmanBrendan Taylor has said his side’sperformance in the recent seriesagainst Sri Lanka would motivatethem to do well againstBangladesh in the one-off Test.

Zimbabwe, playing their firstTest series in more than a year,pushed Sri Lanka hard in twohome matches in January beforenarrowly going down 0-1.

They lost the first Test, andthen an unbeaten second-inningscentury from Kusal Mendis deniedthem a series levelling-win in thesecond Test.

“We have had two good Testmatches that went five days againstSri Lanka. We took a lot of posi-tives from that. Hopefully, we can

carry that on to the first Test(against Bangladesh),” Taylor toldreporters at Dhaka airport.

Zimbabwe will play their Testagainst Bangladesh at Dhaka’sSher-e-Bangla National Stadiumfrom February 22.

“Bangladesh have always beenvery difficult to... (beat) here. Weknow what we are up against... Butwe look forward to it,” said the 34-year-old Taylor.

Taylor also warned that wouldnot give his side any leveragedespite hosts recent dip in form.

“I think they always play wellat home. That’s their comfortzone, where they thrive... Andalways have a good record,” hesaid. AFP

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