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Page 1:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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After returning of migrantsin April and May ahead of

the onset of monsoon due tothe nationwide lockdown,Bihar, Chhattisgarh and UttarPradesh have witnessed arecord sowing of kharif cropsso far. Interestingly, the areasown in Punjab is estimated tohave declined due to lack offarm labourers.

According to AgricultureMinistry’s data, the area underkharif crops increased by 88 percent over to 433 lakh hectarestill Friday as against 230 lakh

hectares in the correspondingweek last year.

Due to good rainfall andadequate farm labourers, Bihar,Uttar Pradesh andChhattisgarh have witnessed arecord sowing of kharif cropsso far. The Ministry’s datashowed that the area sown inBihar is estimated 5.11 lakhhectare as against 1.17 lakhhectare last years during thesame period. Similarly, UttarPradesh has witnessed kharifcrops plantation of 5.96 lakhhectare as against the 1.52 lakhhectare last year.

Both these States have

faced influx of migrant work-ers during the lockdown peri-od. UP and Bihar that account-ed for nearly 75 per cent oftrains ferrying migrants backreceived 1,723 and 1,680shramik trains respectively.

Similarly, Chhattisgarhwhich also saw migrants’influx, reported 13.40 lakhhectare kharif crops sowingcompared to 4.38 lakh hectarelast year. As per the Ministry’sdata, farmers have planted

paddy over 68 lakh hectare sofar as compared to 49.2 lakhhectares last year.

Punjab has reporteddecline in kharif crops sowingdue to shortage of farm labour-ers in the State. The area sown

in the State is estimated 15.40lakh hectare as compared to21.07 lakh hectare last year. Bigfarmers have managed to bringback labourers from Bihar andUP while the small and mar-ginal farmers are finding diffi-cult in the absence of labour-ers during the kharif sowingseason.

The Ministry’s data showedoilseeds and pulses, which arepredominantly rain-fed crops,recorded highest increase ascompared to the same periodlast year. With Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtra planting soy-abean over 42.2 lakh hectaresand 29 lakh hectares as com-pared to 8.5 lakh hectares and1 lakh hectares, respectively,during the corresponding peri-od the total area under soy-abean cultivation zoomed 225per cent to 109 lakh hectares.

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The Central Governmenthas suspended flights link-

ing Kolkata’s NSI Airport to sixhotspot cities of Delhi,Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur inMaharashtra, Chennai in TamilNadu and Ahmedabad inGujarat following a requestfrom Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee.

A statement issued by theairport authorities said, “It isinformed that no flights shalloperate to Kolkata from Delhi,Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur,Chennai and Ahmedabad fromJuly 6 to July 19, 2020 or till fur-ther order whichever is earlier.”

According to sources, theorder was circulated by the air-port slot allocation team fol-lowing directives from theAviation Ministry.

Earlier, the StateGovernment had requested theCentre to suspend flights toand from these cities following

which a letter from the StateChief Secretary was sent to theAviation Ministry. It said, “WestBengal is also witnessing asteep rise in cases. A large num-ber of cases have been report-ed from people coming in theState from outside with infec-tion. The Government of WestBengal has decided to stop orcurtail the movement ofincoming flights and trainsinto the State.”

The Chief Minister toohad told the media “though ourrecovery rate at more than 65per cent is higher than thenational rate we have problemswith the infected people com-ing from outside, particularlythe hotspot areas … I haveasked the Chief Secretary towrite to the Centre about sus-pending flights from the high-ly affected regions.”

She, however, said that“the flights connecting thecities in Bengal and those toStates where the crisis is not

that deep can be carried on.”While Bengal has a total of

about 21,000 cases, out ofwhich 6,200 are still active,Maharashtra with a total of1,92,990 confirmed cases isthe worst-hit State in the coun-try. Tamil Nadu has 1,02,721cases whereas Delhi is at thirdspot with about 95,000 cases.Gujarat has registered about34,600 infections.

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With health experts raisingconcerns over the Indian

Council of Medical Research’s(ICMR) decision to set theAugust 15 deadline for thelaunch of the Covid-19 vaccine,the ICMR has said it has decid-ed to fast track the process tocut red tape and it is in accor-dance with global practice.

In a statement, the ICMRsaid the letter sent by DG-ICMR to investigators of theclinical trial sites was “meant tocut unnecessary red tape, with-out bypassing any necessaryprocess, and speed up recruit-ment of participants”.

“Just as red tape was notallowed to become a hindrancein the fast-track approval of newindigenous testing kits or forintroducing in the Indian mar-ket potential Covid-19 relateddrugs, the indigenous vaccinedevelopment process has alsobeen sought to be insulatedfrom slow file movement,” theICMR said in a statement.

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Washington: The US Navyhas deployed its two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers —USS Nimitz and USS RonaldReagan — to conduct exercis-es in the South China Sea, pil-ing pressure on an ambitiousBeijing that has opened multi-ple fronts, including one withIndia along the Line of ActualControl in Ladakh.

China carried out militarydrills that have been criticisedby the Pentagon and neigh-bouring States.

China and the UnitedStates have accused each otherof stoking tension in the strate-gic waterway at a time ofstrained relations over every-thing from the new coronavirusto trade to Hong Kong. TheUSS Nimitz and USS RonaldReagan were carrying out oper-ations and exercises in theSouth China Sea “to support afree and open Indo-Pacific,”the Navy said in a statement.

Detailed report on Page 7

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Aday after a Deputy SP andseven others were fatally

ambushed by history-sheeterVikas Dubey and his cronies atBikru village of Chaubepur inKanpur, the administrationrazed his palatial house to theground in two hours onSaturday. Ironically, the sameJCB machine that Dubeydeployed to hinder police raidon Friday, was used to demol-ish his house. Dubey’s twoluxury vehicles were also dam-aged beyond recognition.

During subsequent search,the police discovered an under-ground bunker used for storingarms and ammunition by theganglord.

The house had four newly-built rooms and it was sur-rounded by a 12 ft high bound-ary wall topped by two feetbarbed wire net.

Villagers told the officialsat site that the house was builtabout eight years ago. Theoriginal house within the cam-

pus was now being used a shel-ter for caretakers. The campushad four entry gates and allgates were wide enough forfour-wheeler to enter.

Besides, CCTV cameraswere found inside and outsideof the four gates to monitorentry and exit of visitors. Dubey

lived in the newly-built fourrooms about 80 metres awayfrom the main gate. While oneof the rooms was used by hisfather Ram Kumar Dubey,housemaid Rekha, her husbandand two daughters lived in aroom just behind it.

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At least 13 inmates of thejuvenile home in Noida

tested positive for coronaviruson Thursday and they have

been sent to GovernmentInstitute of Medical Sciences(GIMS) in Greater Noida fortreatment. There are total 162children at the observationhome and Covid antigen andPCR tests were conducted onall the inmates and 17 staffersof the observation homethroughout Thursday.

The results of the antigentest came on Thursday itself,and 13 of the inmates werefound positive.

Of them, seven were newinmates, who had been servingthe mandatory isolation of 14days in two separate roomsinside the premises.

While there are threerooms which have beenreserved for the new inmates toserve quarantine, the remain-ing reside in five different halls.However, there are multiplecommon areas used by all theinmates.

And officials suspect thatthe six other old inmates couldhave contracted Covid sincethey were using the same wash-rooms, water coolers in thecommon area.

“The health departmentofficials were of the view thatthe old inmates got infectedpossibly because they used thesame washrooms, water cool-ers and touched walls and win-dows of the premises. Anyway,we are offering warm water, teato the inmates twice to theinmates, who are also beingmade to do gargles. The watercoolers have been removed,”said Dharmendra Maurya,caretaker of Noida observationhome.

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������������������������������� ����������������!���������������"������#��$�%����#��$�&' Geneva: China did not come

forward on its own to report tothe World Health Organisation(WHO) that it had a problemin Wuhan following the virusoutbreak late last year, accord-ing to the updated informationthe UN health agency postedabout how it has handled theCovid-19 crisis so far.

On December 31, 2019, theWHO’s Country Office in

China picked up a media state-ment by the Wuhan MunicipalHealth Commission from theirwebsite on cases of “viral pneu-monia” in Wuhan, according tothe chronology of events enu-merated by the WHO. OnJanuary 1, the WHO request-ed information on the report-ed cluster of atypical pneumo-nia cases in Wuhan from theChinese authorities. IANS

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Page 2:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

From the chart topperKumkum Bhagya to thekids’ most loved shows

Aladdin: Naam Toh SunaHoga, our favourite shows areready to air fresh episodes aftera three-month hault. Actorscovered in masks and thecrew in PPE kits, is the newnormal on the sets. Joining thebandwagon is the sanitiserwhich is now leading from thefront.

Like everyone else, theactors are also struggling tomaintain social distancing onthe sets and not let thepandemic affect their actingskills.

“Day one on the set wasextremely difficult. You wakeup and get to hear so manydeaths and the increasingnumber of cases every day. Itis indeed disheartening. Itaffects you in some or theother way. You have the fear ofcatching infections. However,we all are taking utmostprecautions and there is aprocess of sanitisation thatwe have to go through beforeentering the sets. Also whenyou are shooting, you haveyour co-actors and it becomesextremely difficult to maintainsocial distancing. The newnormal on the sets haschanged completely,”Siddharth Nigam, who playsAladdin in Sony Sab’s Aladdin:Naam Toh Suna Hoga, tellsyou.

The whole day on the sets,he says, is spent on what if wecatch infection. “Earlier, ourfocus was completely on thescene, but now we have to takecare of other things as well,”Nigam says.

But like every coin has twosides, Nigam feels that thereare certain pros and cons ofthe shoots resuming.

“The good thing is that alot of people have got theirjobs back. The ones who weresitting at home, unsure ofwhat the future will bring arenow back at work especially allthe technicians and the spotdadas. They can now earn aliving. But one con of this newnormal is that, earlier we hada cast and crew of 200 people

but now that has been reducedto 50. But then it is foreveryone’s safety only,” headds.

Chhavi Pandey, who playsTara in Sony Sab’s Tera KyaHoga Alia, tells you that sheis excited to get back towork after a long gap.

“I am excited toenter the show as Tara. Ithas been a long gap sincewe have been shootingand I have beenmissing it a lot. It’slike a new startfor me as I willbe workingon a newshow aftert h i sd i f f i c u l tphase and Iam sure Iwill have funwith theentire cast.The characterof Tara is veryelegant and she isnow going to bethe Vice-

Principal of the Englishmedium section of the school.I am looking forward toplaying this character and Ihope the audiences will enjoyit too.”

Karan Jotwani whoplays Neel in Zee TV’sQurbaan Hua tells youthat his first first day onthe set was exciting yetapprehensive but the

production house hasmade sure that the set is

sanitised regularly.“That’s how it

was. But thatwas okayb e c a u s eeveryone wasa litt leapprehensiveabout gettingback to workamid the

Coronavirusscare,” Jotwani says.

The biggestapprehension was tofollow all the normsand guidelineswhile shooting.

“There were a fewapprehensions. One, once youget busy with a shoot, youforget about social distancing.Second, sometimes you justforget to wear a mask and youcan’t just take this risk whileon the sets. These are the twofears that I had,” he tells you.

For Jotwani, adapting tothe new normal is neitherhard nor that easy. “This is onething that we have to livewith. The rising number ofcases are of course a cause ofworry but then the recoveryrate of patients is high. Havingsaid that, no one wants to getthrough the pain of beingdiagnosed with COVID-19. Iagree that it is the new normal,but all we need to do is to bepatient and take proper safetymeasures,” Jotwani adds.

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2������������������������������3 �>>��+B6E60�F= "���0"��"1��������2�����2����� ������������!�����3-��� �������1����$�������$����������������3��������������!���� ����4�"51�1�4"�46�"��������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������� From modeling to an actor, how hasthe experience been?

It has been amazing and I can’tcomplaint. I started my modeling careerin Paris. I just wish I had explored thismore instead of coming to Mumbai anddoing TV. There were some decisions thatI was not sure of since I was only 18. If Icould turn back time and go back to Paris,it would be a dream come true.� How did your acting career begin?

Modeling and acting were nowhere onthe radar. I was studying Science andwanted to be a Genetic Engineer. But theroad completely changed for me. What Iam doing now, I am thoroughly enjoying.� Why TV?

Nobody from my family is from theentertainment industry. They are alldoctors or engineers. After my assignmentgot over in Paris, I was asked to come back.I was staying in Europe, there was a hugecultural gap between the two countries.The modeling world is also so differentfrom India hence I was asked to comehome. But I did a music video forUniversal and that was the video that Ekta(Kapoor) had seen. Everything thathappened was by fluke. It is only recentlythat I have started making career choicebecause it has taken me such a long timeto understand how the industry works andlooking to doing web series not that TVhas taken a backseat.� You have done so many TV show, whathas been the attraction?

For me, doing TV is just like any otherjob. I got into acting by a casting agent fora Balaji show. Since then it has been fromgetting into one contract to another. Thatis the reason how and why I ended upbeing part of so many back-to-back TVshows. It has been a combination ofquantity of work with quality. � What is a character that you loveddoing?

I loved playing Tanushree Ambolkarin Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani. A lot of peopleenjoyed watching the show. One of thereasons I enjoyed the role was becauseAmbolkar played fashionista in the serialand I love to dress up and got to wear thekind of clothes I wanted to wear.Everything about that character fell intoplace.� How important is it to identify withthe character one plays?

It has become an important part of menow after doing TV for so many yearswhere I am able to understand thatcontent. However, there were times whenI faced challenges while doing a show thatI could not relate to like the show Naaginwere I played a shapeshifter. I couldn’trelate to it. It was not like a sci-fi horror

drama. In Naagin, it was a full-on familydrama and in the middle of it, one wasshape-shifting and I couldn’t find aconnect.� What kind of roles do you love doing?

I been looking forward for a projectthat has action. I want to portray a strongcharacter. It could be a cop or an action-driven role.� Does that mean that you have hadsome sort of training in doing actionsequences?

No, I have not taken any formaltraining. But when I was in school it wascompulsory to be part of Taekwondo andgymnastics. We had to be part of othersports as well. Since childhood, I have beendrawn to sports so n action show is rightup my ally. Also, once doesn’t see too manywoman-centric characters on TV so Iwould love to explore this genre.� Are the OTT platforms changing the

content being shown?Definitely. I have been watching a lot

of shows now which have the concept ofwoman-centric drama. The latest one isAryaa starring Sushmita Sen. Because ofOTT platforms, a lot of content is beingrediscovered or is very close to reality. I amlooking to doing more web series. My webshow is releasing this month — TheGhost Thesis — a horror drama. I recentlyfinished dubbing for it. I play a professorhere and am part of a team who go huntingfor a ghost in a palace.� How do you choose your projects? Doyou have a checklist?

I don’t have one. I wish I had it. Wedon’t decide what kind of content comesour way. Sometimes, if you have a huge listof projects coming your way, it may bepossible to choose but the kind of workthat I get for TV is usually family dramaor saas-bahu sagas. There is no checklist.

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In this dark, senseless world ofultimate individual enterprise,you would get so many negative

vibes that chugging along the 10episodes will become compulsive.It all starts with Krystal Stubbs alsoknown as the Aligator Widow afterher husband gets eaten up by one,leaving her homeless, pennilessand for what it matters, betrayed.

The series takes some gestationepisodes to get going but once itdoes, Crystal’s compulsions,situations, survival kits and herundying ambition to make moneygets to you in more ways than one.You squirm, you get annoyed, youcringe and yet to support her fastgrowing unholy endeavours whichleave no friend or foe untouched.Played to the hilt by a well endowedKirsten Dunst, OBGICF, is a dittyon capitalism and some say, drawsits marrow from the famoushomeselling chain Amway.

Amwayish or not, it’s all due tothe machinations of a ruthlessentrepreneur (Ted Levine isbrilliant and in the skin of Garbo)making his billions using people bydriving them into falseentrepreneurial modes which makesthem mortgage their lives in theservice of Garbo, the God who is thereal demon.

Lives are torn apart, marriagesbreak, loving couples and fathersturn into maniacal liars — all thisas Garbo makes his money bygiving his workforce pittance.Whoever deigns to raise a protest oreven an eyebrow is dealt with by hisnaked foot assassin.

The story is dark, truthfullyloose on honesty, too dependent oneverything that’s not really right butthe way it is woven through may getit some converts.

There is humour to break intothe intense intrigue, there is pathosto ruffle up an unconventionalromance, there is a mirror to adream that is very American, andthere is a lot more for you to spendsome time with this series.

Put together by Robert Funke

and Matt Lutsky, the story encasesthe pull and predicament ofcapitalism in its most naked form,eating into middle class mentalitieslike a moth on a mission. Somescenes are so raw and telling thatyou are almost driven away fromyour next shopping binge.

But that would be putting itmildly. The spiralled life of Stubbswill catch the eye as much as theemotion of all discerning viewers ofthis differently enabled series.

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Now we know that whatever the casemaybe, the bad guys always end up inthe docks and the guy we thought was

the bad one, ends up saving the day. It bogglesthe mind how the writers can come up with astoryline where the only person who is able tocatch the bad guys is the bad guy himself. Thatdoes sound familiar and something that wefind in our Bollywood movies.

So while the faces may not be familiar, thereis a connection. Also, there is the whole chasesequence that even though one knows that thebaddies will die there is a kind of fascinationto keep clued in as to how things will progress,albeit along the expected lines, this one hour33-minute French film that is dubbed inEnglish has interesting moments but it isdefinitely not a patch on the Fast and Furiousseries when it comes to rigged cars that moveat lightning speed.

But if you love cars and know anythingabout the engines and how the mechanics work,you may want to see this one.

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Page 3:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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Though the national Capitalhas seen a drop in the

Covid-19 cases over the pastone week but the experts in cityclaimed that the city may gopast the coronavirus cases peakin early August.

However, they havewarned that if social distancingand hygiene norms prescribedby authorities are not adheredto by people, then there couldbe a surge again.

AIIMS Director RandeepGuleria said, “If the number ofcases in Delhi continues to bestatic or decreases over the nextfew weeks, and the decline is ata sustained pace, then we cansay that we may pass the peakin August.”

But that can only happen ifpeople continue to maintainsocial distancing and take pre-scribed precautions and thereis a strict implementation ofcontainment measures even aslockdown measures are eased.

“In some cities there was a

decline in trend, but once thelockdown was lifted peopledid not follow the dos anddont’s and this led to a surge incases. So, there is no space forcomplacency. A lapse on some-one’s part somewhere...Couldlead to a spike,” Dr Guleria said.

Dr Vikas Maurya, Director

& Head, Department ofPulmonology and SleepDisorders, Fortis Hospital,Shalimar Bagh, said cases inDelhi haven’t risen as project-ed earlier, so there is a chanceit will soon be past the peak, sayin August.

“But, again, it’s a novel

virus, and we don’t know itsbehaviour. So, we don’t knowhow it will behave. Anyway, apandemic lasts for a year or so,therefore as a society we mustbe prepared,” he said.

Maurya, however, warnedthat the city could see a “secondwave of the viral attack” inAugust or September, given itsfickle nature.

Various previous predic-tions on number of cases inDelhi and on peaking periodhave proven wrong, as thevirus is novel, he said.

“Only thing we can do tocontinue, to ensure less casesoccur, is by practising socialdistancing, adhering to hygieneand other norms prescribed bygovernment authorities.Otherwise, all our gains will belost, and we might see again aspike in cases,” Maurya said.

But, in the last one week,cases reported per day beinglesser than the week before it,positivity rate coming downand beds being empty in vari-ous hospitals, indicates flat-

tening of the curve, he argued.On June 23, the national

Capital had reported the high-est single-day spike of 3,947cases.

The city continued to seeover 3,000 fresh cases per daytill June 26, when it reported3,460 infections.

From June 27 to July 3, theaverage fresh cases per daystands at about 2,494 comparedto 3,446 cases per day theweek before.

Delhi recorded 2,520 freshcoronavirus cases on Friday,taking the tally in the city toover 94,000, while the death tollfrom the disease mounted to2,923, authorities said.

However, in the last fewdays, the number of fresh caseshave oscillated, not showing aparticular trend in figures.

The number of casesreported from June 27-July 3are — June 27 (2948), June 28(2889), June 29 (2084), June 30(2199) and July 1 (2442), July2 (2373) with steady rise indeath figures.

New Delhi: A 55-year-oldwoman sustained injuries aftershe was hit and later ran over bya car which was being driven bya man in an inebriated condi-tion. The incident took place onFriday evening in east Delhi’sChilla village. Police said thatthey have also nabbed theaccused.

The incident was alsorecorded in the CCTV camerainstalled in the area. The videoof the incident was also doingrounds on social media.

As per the video footage,the woman, identified asHajiran, falls off the bonnet ofthe car after being knockeddown in a narrow lane.

“While passers-by startedgathering and they were tryingto pull the woman from underthe vehicle, the car’s driver tooka left turn in an attempt to fleeand ran over her. The cardragged her for a few metresbefore it was blocked by thepassers-by,” as per video footage.

The accused, identified asBhanu and police said that he was under the influenceof alcohol at the time of theincident.

According to Jasmeet Singh,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), East district, anFirst Information Report (FIR)was registered against Bhanuand he was arrested. SR

���������������� *2��3245$

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) has

written to Union MinisterHardeep Puri demandingimmediate de-sealing of shopsin Delhi.

The traders’ body has alsodemanded an active participation in the consulta-tion process of Master Plan2041 which is being preparedfor Delhi.

“We have also demandedthat the Delhi Rent Act shouldalso be finalised, ending a longrunning dispute between the

landlords and tenants in Delhi,assessing all the related cir-cumstances and making such alaw in which the interests of thelandlords along with the ten-ants must be equally protect-ed,” the traders’ body said in astatement.

CAIT national secretarygeneral Praveen Khandelwalsaid that about six thousandshops are sealed in Delhi at pre-sent. Corona started since thebeginning of the year 2020 andthe traders of Delhi are facedwith a big crisis of livelihoodand in such a situation, it hasbecome imperative that shops

are immediately de-sealed.Keeping this in view, the

Central Government shouldtake an initiative in this matterand pass an ordinance in whichall sealed shops should beopened and all other problemsrelated to sealing should be postponed for the timebeing thereby giving all tradersa fair chance to do business, hesaid.

Khandelwal also said thatif required to approach theSupreme Court then theCentral Government and DelhiGovernment together must goto court and seal of shops

should be opened on human-itarian grounds.

“The subject of regularisa-tion of 351 roads is pending inthe Supreme Court. the Delhi government shouldimmediately go to court and getorders to regularise theseroads,” he said.

He also stressed on theimmediate need to de-sealMarble Godowns inChattarpur area of Delhi, whichare sealed for the last two andhalf years, despite the Govtnotifying a clear policy forregularisation of go-down clus-ters and stand alone go-downs.

���������������� *2��3245$

In the wake of frequent earth-quakes in the national

Capital, South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) hasissued notices to 103 buildingowners asking them to submita structure audit report with-in 30 days to ensure seismic sta-bility for the buildings.

A senior SDMC officialsaid that the civic body has sentnotices to residential grouphousing societies, educationalinstitutions and schools, “Wehave asked them to respondwith a structure audit report

within time limit.The official further said

that 30 notices sent on Saturdaywhile remaining were sent afew days back. “Responding tonotices, six of them havealready started the process ofengaging structural consul-tants and consulting the engi-neers of the civic body,” he said.

In addition to this, SDMChas also started conductingsurveys to identify high risebuildings and structures underits jurisdiction to examine theirseismic stability and urgingResident Welfare Associations(RWAs) and housing societies

to approach SDMC for theproper consultation and advicefrom experts and engineers.

“The list of empanelledstructural engineers is availableon SDMC websitehttps://mcdonline.nic.in/eodb.SDMC has also empanelledseven more structural engi-neers for consultation work.Apart this premier engineeringinstitute like IIT Delhi, Delhitechnical University (DTU),National Council for Cementand Building Materials(NCCBM) and other institu-tion recognized by All IndiaCouncil for Technical

Education (AICTE) can beapproached by public for thestructural audit of their build-ings,” he said.

The civic body has also

identified 27 municipal build-ings for structural audit andstarted engaging structuralconsultants for retrofittingwork and services to ensurestructural safety of these build-ings.

“The inspection work isbeing carried out at SDMC pri-mary schools at Keshopur andold Sagarpur, Dabri commu-nity centre, zonal office build-ing in Lajpat Nagar andJangpura,” he added.

To ascertain structural sta-bility of these municipal build-ings, the official said that struc-tural consultants and engi-

neers are ensuring that thepremises are safe and have norisk and finding critical areasfor immediate repair and alsosuggesting appropriate repairsand retrofitting measuresrequired for the buildings.

The East Delhi MunicipalCorporation had also issuednotices to 22 schools and 44residential group housing soci-eties in Shahdara followingthe instructions given by theDelhi High Court in view of theseismic stability and earth-quakes in Delhi. The northCorporation has sent similarnotices to building owners.

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The national Capital onSaturday witnessed 2,505

new coronavirus cases and 55deaths, pushing Delhi’s tally to97,200 and number of fatalitiesto 3,004, according to DelhiGovernment’s daily bulletin. Asper the report the total numbersof containment zones are 448and total 430 number of callsreceived in the control room.

The Delhi Government hasalso issued an order regardingrevised guidelines and alsoreviewed preparedness to com-bat the virus. An order regard-ing revised guideline for homeisolation of very mild, presymp-tomatic and asymptomaticCovid-19 cases has also been

issued, as per health bulletin.A total of 2,632 patients

recovered in the last 24 hours,increasing the number of curedpeople to 68,256. At present,25,940 cases are active.

Over 9,925 RT-PCR and13,748 rapid antigen Covid-19tests were conducted. In total,6,20,368 tests have been con-ducted in the national Capital.Delhi has 448 containmentzones.

Currently, 5,522 beds areoccupied, out of 15,283 in var-ious hospitals, 1,756 in thededicated Covid Care Centresand 153 in the dedicated CovidHealth Centres.

The Cabinet Secretaryreviewed the public healthresponse to Covid-19 and theimplementation of guidelinesand preparedness. Over 16,004people are under home isola-tion, it said.

���������������� *2��3245$

The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a 36-year-old woman for

allegedly stealing a total of Rs57 lakh in two installmentsfrom the house of her friend’smother in Hauz Qazi area ofCentral Delhi. Police said theyhave also arrested woman’stwo brothers with whom shehad shared the stolen amount.

The accused have been iden-tified as Pooja, a resident ofPratap Nagar and her brothersVarun (29) and Amit Dabar (40),who reside in Sitaram Bazar.

According to a seniorpolice official, an FIR was reg-istered in Hauz Qazi police sta-tion on June 29 on the com-plaint of a 65-year-old womanPushpa, a resident of SitaramBazar in Central Delhi.

“In her complaint, she toldpolice that she and her relativeshad sold a plot of land withjoint ownership for Rs 1.5crore in 2015. She told policethat out of the sale proceed, shehad got Rs 80 lakh as her share,which she had kept in a con-tainer in her house,” said thesenior police official.

“In her complaint, the vic-tim also stated that she did notexactly know how her moneywas stolen, but she suspectedher daughter’s friend Pooja’sinvolvement in it. On Pushpa’ssuspicion, Pooja was quizzedand she confessed to police herrole in the theft,” he said.

“Pooja admitted that as afriend of Pushpa’s daughter, sheoften visited their residence andeven did some household workto assist them. She said she spot-ted the money in a container afew years ago and in 2017, stoleRs 27 lakh out of it and gave Rs22 lakh to her brothers to buy ahouse,” said police.

“Later, on June 8, she againwent to Pushpa’s house andstole another sum of around Rs30 lakh. Police later recoveredRs 29.43 lakh from the trio andseized a flat worth Rs 22 lakhand jewelries worth Rs 3 lakh,bought from the stolen money,from the possession of theaccused,” said police.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday met

Pakistani Hindu refugees inNew Delhi and assured them oflong-term visas to enable themto settle in this country, asenior DSGMC official said.

The assurance came after adelegation of Pakistan’s Hinduswho met him under the lead-ership of Delhi Sikh GurdwaraManagement Committee(DSGMC) president ManjinderSingh Sirsa who pleaded forgrant citizenship to familieswho have come to India ontourist/pilgrims/visitor visa andwant to settle down in India.

Sirsa who led the delega-tion who were forced to leavePakistan after the religiouspersecution thanked the HomeMinister for taking various

measures and initiatives likeCitizen Amendment Act forgranting them citizenship.

Sirsa informed HomeMinister that around 750Hindus are living in bank ofyamuna off a busy road inmakeshift tents and un-plas-tered walls with metal roofs innorth Delhi’s Majnu ka Tilaarea who fled the neighbouringcountry to seek refuge herewhile many others live in reset-tlement colonies on the out-skirts of New Delhi in RohiniSector 9 and 11, Adarsh Nagarand near the Signature Bridge.

Union home minister hadassured the delegation that allHindu refugees will be accept-ed as country’s citizens and thehead of the family would get acertificate that will be valid forthe rest of the family as well,said Sirsa.

New Delhi: A Delhi PoliceSub-Inspector in inebriatedcondition was arrested after thecar he was driving allegedly hitand injured an elderly womanin east Delhi’s Ghazipur area

According to a seniorpolice inspector, the womanidentified as Noorjahan, wassitting outside her house inGhazipur Dairy Farm when thespeeding car hit her around 7pm on Friday,

“She was dragged for somedistance before the vehiclestopped. A case was registeredand the accused driver, a DelhiPolice sub-inspector (SI) post-

ed at PCR unit, has been arrest-ed,” said the senior police offi-cial. “The SI was drunk at thetime of the incident.The caseagainst him was lodged atGhazipur police station basedon the complaint ofNoorjahan’s son MohammadIlyaas,” said police.

Ilyaas stated that her moth-er was sitting on a chair outsideher house when a speeding carhit her and dragged her forsome metres before stopping.Noorjahan was rushed to MaxHospital, Patparganj where sheis undergoing treatment, policesaid. SR

���������������� *2��3245$

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) president Adesh

Gupta gave a presentation on“Seva hi Sangathan” abhiyanbefore the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and nationalpresident JP Nadda throughvideo conferencing in PradeshOffice and received furtherguidance. Around 55,520 BJPworkers participated virtually.

Addressing the workers,Adesh said, “All MPs andMLAs, office-bearers,karyakartas from State-levelto booth-level were involved inthe service work and as a resultmore than 1 crore food pack-ets, more than 31 lakh Modikits and more than 10 lakh facemasks were distributed.”

“1,617 karyakartas wereengaged in service to the elder-

ly and divyang people who livealone and worked to providethem all kinds of assistance andmore than 1,000 tonnes offodder was delivered to thecowshed, milk was made avail-able to the children living inSeva Basti. Karyakartasinspired 106,430 people to con-tribute to the PM Cares Fund,”he added.

On this occasion UnionMinister Harsh Vardhan, for-mer Delhi BJP president VijayGoel, LoP Ramvir SinghBidhuri, Delhi BJP formerpresident and MP ManojTiwari, MP Meenakshi Lekhi,Ramesh Bidhuri, Pravesh SahibSingh, Hans Raj Hans, GautamGambhir, former Delhi BJPpresident Satish Upadhyay,National Secretary Sardar RPSingh, and other senior leaderswere also present.

BJP provided Modi kits to5,000 North-East children andassisted migrants.

“7,376 people sought helpthrough the message help linenumber,” Gupta said, referringto the information received byCongress leader Adhir RanjanChaudhary through a tweet, hesaid Delhi BJP went beyond the

political differences at the timeof crisis and sent the stuck people home on theinformation received from that tweet.

He also informed that3,78,000 masks were made inthe houses by Mahila Morcha.In this time of crisis, the priests and granthis of the

temple were given financialassistance of Rs 5000 alongwith Modi kit.

Delhi BJP in associationwith the Delhi Police startedthe Mission Annivarya underwhich more than one lakhsanitary napkins were distrib-uted among women and ado-lescent girls living in service

settlements and this work isgoing on continuously.

Citing the example ofinspirational incident, Guptasaid, “National president par-ticipated in the service work ofDelhi unit as a karyakartawhich also boosted the moraleof Delhi BJP workers. He toldthat from the home of NationalPresident, 500 packets were dis-tributed daily for 90 days. Hesaid that the karyakartas ofDelhi BJP also provided all pos-sible help to the people formedical problems. During thelockdown, when an injectionwas not being received for theillness of a 17-year-old child,Delhi BJP workers went 25 kmaway to find that injection andbrought it to that child. Thefather of that child also wrotean emotional thank-you letterto the BJP for this.”

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Page 4:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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The beleaguered health offi-cials in Maharashtra went

into a tizzy on Saturday, as thestate witnessed an all-time highof 7,074 new Covid-19 positivecases and the total number ofinfected cases crossed 2 lakhmark to touch an astounding2,00,064 cases.

The day also saw a sub-stantial increase in the numberof reported deaths, as 295 morepeople succumbed to the pan-demic in various parts of thestate. The total number ofdeaths mounted to 8671 in thestate.

The number of new infect-ed cases has been rising for thepast three days. On Thursday,there were a record 6330cases, the number rose to 6334on Friday and touched a newall-time high of 7074 cases onSaturday.

Of the 295 deaths, 124deaths occurred in the last 48hours and rest 171 are from theprevious period.

Of the total 198 deathsreported on Friday, Mumbaiaccounted for 68 deaths takingthe total number of deaths inthe metropolis to 4,830, whilethe total number of infected

cases shot up by 1,163 cases totouch 83,237.

On a day when the totalnumber of patients dischargedfrom various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second weekof March this year touched 1,08,082, the recovery rate in thestate stood at 54.02 per cent.The mortality rate in the stateis 4.33 per cent. The state

health authorities pegged thenumber of “active cases” in thestate at 83,295.

Out of 10,80,975 samplessent to laboratories, 2,00,064have tested positive (18.51%)for Covid-19 until today.

Currently, 5,96,038 peopleare in home quarantine while41,566 people are in institu-tional quarantine.

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Asserting that the proposed�8,250 crore Chambal

Expressway could be a gamechanger for the poor and trib-als living in far-flung areas ofMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Uttar Pradesh, UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari onSaturday urged these States toexpedite land acquisition, envi-ronment clearances and taxrelief for the project.

The project will also pro-

vide cross-connectivity withthe Golden Quadrilateral'sDelhi-Kolkata corridor, North-South Corridor, East-WestCorridor and Delhi-Mumbai -Expressway.

"The upcoming express-way could be a game changerfor tribals and poor living in thefar-flung areas, speciallyChambal region which is con-sidered as one of the mostbackward areas in the country.

"While farmers of all three

states will be the biggest ben-eficiaries to send their produceto Delhi Mumbai markets, thisexpressway will be a boon forprimitive tribes like Saharia inMorena, Sheopur and otherareas," Road Transport andHighways Minister Gadkarisaid, reviewing the project.

The proposed expresswaywill prove to be the newestmodel of infrastructure devel-opment jointly between thestates and the Centre, he said.The about 404 km-long

expressway provides an alter-nate route from Kanpur toKota through Madhya Pradesh,and then it joins the Delhi-Mumbai corridor.

Reviewing the project withMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChauhan, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar and BJP leader andRajya Sabha MP JyotiradityaScindia, Gadkari emphasisedon expeditious environmentclearances, land acquisition

and royalty/local tax exemp-tions to make the project seethe light of the day soon.

He underlined that landacquisition should cater to thedevelopment of wayside ameni-ties, besides industrial andcommercial clusters withpotential for having smartcities, mandis, hunar haats,among others, on both sides.

The expressway will offerhuge employment potential inthese districts and adjoiningareas, he said.

Stressing on the need tobring down the cost, Gadkarisaid royalty and tax exemptionson the project material will savemore than �1,000 crore.

He suggested that chiefministers of the states throughwhich the road will pass shouldchair State-level High PoweredCommittee meetings to sort allstate-specific issues which willfacilitate faster implementa-tion of the project.

Madhya Pradesh hasalready exempted royalty on

minerals for this project.Gadkari also said he has

directed NHAI Chairman S SSandhu to prepare the DPR(detailed project report) at theearliest.

The project is expected tobe completed in about twoyears after land acquisition.

The states will share the�650 crore land acquisitioncost.

He also suggested forminga Chambal DevelopmentAuthority for better coordina-

tion and progress of the region.The minister said the pro-

ject can also have logisticsparks on the lines of multi-modal logistics parks beingconstructed in Indore, Jabalpurand Jaipur.

Senior officers of the stategovernments of MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan and UttarPradesh, as well as the UnionRoad Transport and HighwaysMinistry and NHAI partici-pated in the online reviewmeeting.

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Uttar Pradesh's GautamBuddh Nagar on Saturday

recorded five more deaths dueto Covid-19, while 83 morepeople,including the chief med-ical officer, were found positivefor the infection in the district,official data showed.

The death toll due to thenovel coronavirus has nowreached 28, while the tally ofpositive cases rose to 2,646, thehighest for any district in thestate, according to the datareleased by UP HealthDepartment.

The number of active casescame down to 972 from 1,005on Friday, as 105 more patientswere discharged after treat-ment, the data showed.

So far, 1,646 patients havegot discharged from hospitalsin the district, it showed.

The recovery rateimproved to 62.20 per centfrom 59.98 per cent on Friday.It was 61.60 per cent onThursday, 64.47 per cent onWednesday, 65.36 per cent onTuesday and 64.76 per cent onMonday, according to official

statistics.The mortality rate of pos-

itive patients grew to 1.05 percent from 0.89 per cent onFriday, according to the statis-tics.

CMO Deepak Ohri haddeveloped influenza-like ill-ness after which he was testedfor Covid-19 and resulted inpositive, Gautam Buddh Nagarofficials said.

"He has been admitted toan isolation ward for treatment.His condition is stable," DistrictSurveillance Officer SunilDohare said.

Meanwhile, senior doctorNepal Singh will officiate as thechief medical officer of GautamBuddh Nagar, the officer said,adding the CMO's office hasbeen sanitised as per protocolsfor Covid-19.

On the other hand, 3,328tests were carried out forCovid-19 across GautamBuddh Nagar on Saturday,according to official data.

Of the total tests, 20 wereTrueNat, 1,512 were RTPCRand 1,796 were antigen-basedtestings, the data stated, addingthat 1,488 surveillance teams

were deployed for door-to-door screening in the district.

Gautam Buddh Nagar cur-rently has the second highestactive cases of COVID-19 afteradjoining Ghaziabad district(1,118) in the state.

They are followed byLucknow (490), Kanpur Nagar(328), Meerut (283), Varanasi(231), Aligarh (210),Bulandshahr (167) andMathura (153), the data stated.

From Friday to Saturday,772 new COVID-19 cases werereported across districts in thestate, while 560 patients got dis-charged from hospitals and 24deaths were recorded duringthe 24-hour period, it showed.

As of Saturday, there are7,627 active COVID-19 casesin UP, while 18,154 patientshave got discharged from hos-pitals and 773 deaths havebeen recorded so far, it added.

There are 2,35,433 activecases across the country, while18,655 deaths have beenrecorded and 3,94,227 patientshave got discharged, accordingto a central government dataupdated till Saturday.

New Delhi: The Covid-19 pos-itivity rate in Delhi has declinedto 10. 58 per cent after rising tonearly 37 per cent, and the aver-age number of cases has alsodropped by almost 1,000 overthe previous week, indicating awelcome trend, though expertshave cautioned the peopleagainst lowering their guard.

The national capital's recov-ery rate too has risen signifi-cantly crossing 70 per cent,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia said. The national recov-ery rate is 60.81 per cent.

"Due to the efforts of Delhi's2 crore people, the hard workhas paid off. Congratulations toall corona warriors for takingthe recovery rate of Delhi toover 70 per cent. We all need towork hard to defeat corona,"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwaltweeted.

Sisodia also took to Twitterto inform that out of 97,200patients, 68,256 have beencured. He said that positivityrate, which is the percentage of

people who have been foundpositive out of the total tested forthe coronavirus, has dropped to10.58 per cent. It had risen to36.94 per cent earlier.

For the seventh consecutiveday, Delhi has recorded freshcases in the range of 2,000.

On June 23, the nationalcapital had reported the highestsingle-day spike of 3,947 cases.The city continued to see over3,000 fresh cases per day till June26, when it reported 3,460infections.

From June 27 to July 4, theaverage fresh cases per daystands at about 2,495 com-pared to 3,446 cases per day theweek before.

If the trend continues,experts have claimed that thecity may go past the COVID-19peak in early August.

However, they have warnedthat if social distancing andhygiene norms prescribed byauthorities are not adhered to bythe people, there could be asurge again. PTI

New Delhi: The DelhiUniversity on Saturdayannounced that the online reg-istration process for admis-sion to undergraduate, post-graduate, M.Phil and Ph.Dprogrammes has been extend-ed till July 18.

The registration processhas received tremendousresponse despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision toextend the date has been takenin view of the notification ofdeclaration of CBSE result andthe postponement of JEE andNEET examinations, accordingto an official of the varsity.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE)had announced that

the results for class 10 and12 exams will be declared by

July 15.The HRD Ministry on

Friday postponed medical andengineering entrance examsNEET and JEE to September inview of the spike in COVID-19cases. The last date was July 4but now it has been extendedto July 18. Students will be ableto register till 5 pm on the var-sity's admission portal.

Till 7.30 pm on Saturday,3,32,359 aspirants had regis-tered on the portal for admis-sion to undergraduate courses

while 2,17,971 had paid theregistration fees.

During the same time,1,30,781 aspirants had regis-tered for admission to post-graduate courses while 1,01,718candidates had made the pay-ment.

As many as 23,111 aspi-rants had registered on the por-tal for admission to M.Phil andPh.D programmes and 13,223candidates had completed theprocess by making the paymentfor registration fees.

The varsity had com-menced the registration processon June 20. This year, the reg-istration was delayed owing tothe coronavirus pandemic.

The entire process is hap-pening online due to the pan-demic situation. PTI

New Delhi: The process ofreorganisation of Delhi BJP hasbegun with the formation of 35teams to shortlist names oflocal leaders to be appointed aspresidents of the party's blockunits.

The 35 teams, each com-prising two senior leaders, willshortlist by July 9 the names ofpotential block-level workers tobe appointed as presidents.The shortlisting process willbegin from July 6, said a seniorDelhi BJP leader.

The party has decided tokeep the upper age limit forblock presidents to 45 years inorder to groom young leader-ship at the local level. There are280 block units of the BJP inDelhi.

The party leader said reor-ganisation of Delhi BJP was tostart immediately after theappointment of Adesh Gupta asits new president last month.

It has been delayed due topreoccupations with coron-avirus-related work and recentdevelopments in the country,he said.

Appointments of districtpresidents and new office bear-ers in the state team will alsobegin shortly. The process maytake at least a month, afterwhich all the names will beannounced simultaneously, headded.The reorganisation workwas discussed in a meeting ofDelhi BJP's core group lastweek. The meeting was also

attended by central observersfor supervising restructuring ofthe Delhi unit, includingnational general secretary ArunSingh and BJP Mahila Morchapresident Vijaya Rahatkar.

The names of potentialcandidates for the posts ofblock and district presidentswill be shortlisted after con-sultation with the present andformer presidents, MPs andcouncilors and state office bear-ers in respective blocks and dis-tricts, said a core group mem-ber present in the meeting.

The central observers hadguided the state leaders toensure that only "deserving"leaders with "good connect" inthe field were included in thenew team of Delhi BJP, hesaid. PTI

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Pune’s Mayor MurlidharMohol tested Covid-19

positive on Saturday, sendingthe waves of anxiety throughthe city at a time when thecivic health authorities arewaging a grim battle againstCoronavirus.

Making an announcementhimself about his having con-tracted the pandemic, MayorMahol said that he underwentCovid -19 test after sufferingfrom mild fever. The testturned out to be “positive”“My condition is stable. I willrecover soon and return toyour service again,” Mohol

said in the evening.With 841 deaths and

25,956 infected cases, the Punecity and district are the thirdworst-hit by Covid-19 afterMumbai and Thane in thestate.

Mohol, who belongs to theBJP, was elected as Pune’sMayor in November 2019.

Mahol is the fourth high-profile politician after Cabinetministers Jitendra Awhad,Ashok Chavan and DhananjayMunde to have tested positivefor Covid-19. Awhad, Chavanand Munde have long recov-ered from the epidemic andbeen discharged from the hos-pitals.

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The Tripura Government startedfree distribution of vitamin-C-

enriched pineapple and lemon juiceamong the people in urban areas toincrease their immunity against Covid-19, here on Saturday.

Launching the month-longMukhyamantri Corona PratirodhAbhiyan, Chief Minister Biplab KumarDeb announced one-day total lockdownin Tripura on Sunday.

The number of Covid-19 cases inthe state has increased to 1,534 with onedeath. Of this, 324 are active cases.“With the return of thousands ofnatives from different parts of thecountry, the number of Covid-19 caseshas increased,” he said.

He urged people to give ginger andTulsi leaves mixed hot water to theirparents and aged people at homes dur-ing the lockdown. Deb, who also holdsthe Health and Family WelfareDepartment, said the government

would spend Rs 1 crore on the publicimmunity boosting programme, to becarried out every Saturday this month.

The scheme was implemented at316 locations during the day by self-helpgroups (SHGs), municipal corpora-tions and municipal councils. Teams ofthe National Urban Livelihood Missionwill monitor the scheme for effectiveimplementation.

“While the scheme will helpincrease people's immunity, over 300farmers will be able to sell pineapples

and lemons at reasonable prices,” theChief Minister said and added, a healthysociety was must for the socio-economicdevelopment of any state.

Tripura produces 1.40 lakh tonnesof exotic and juicy varieties of pineap-ples -- Kew and Queen. President RamNath Kovind in 2018 announced the“Queen” pineapple as Tripura's statefruit. The state has exported the vita-min-C-enriched fruits to the UAE,Bangladesh and several other countriesin the last few years.

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From Page 1Prior to bulldozing the construction,

the police evacuated his father, the maidand her family from the house and bannedentry of people, including media.

The demolition drive lasted for abouttwo hours during which the constructiontransformed into debris. In the process,Dube’s two luxury cars and two tractorswere badly damaged. Heavy police forcedcontinued to be deputed at Bikru villageand some of the families chose to abandonthe village fearing backlash by the police.

Meanwhile, Station Officer (SO) ofChaubepur, Vinay Tiwari, was suspendedfor dereliction of duty and leaking inputsto ganglord Vikas Dube about the impend-ing police raid.

Earlier on Friday, sleuths of SpecialTask Force (STF) had detained Tiwari andquizzed him for several hours. His calldetail records (CDR) were also recoveredto figure out his links with the abscond-ing Dube. After Tiwari’s suspension,Inspector Krishna Mohan Rai was madethe SHO of Chaubepur.

Confirming this on Saturday, IG,Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal said that ifneeded, an FIR would also be lodged

against the SO. He said that if anybody wasfound hand in glove with the primeaccused, he would be immediately termi-nated and arrested.

ADG Kanpur Zone Jai Narain Singhalso said that Vinay Tiwari was beingprobed to ascertain his suspicious role inthe matter.

The STF suspected that the informa-tion on the impending police raid wasleaked by the SO to Dube. On the basis ofcall detail records, a sub-inspector, a con-stable and a homeguard posted atChaubepur police station were also on thepolice

radar and were quizzed by STF offi-cers. Meanwhile, several surveillanceteams were pressed into service to traceover 500 mobile phones in the area.

On Wednesday, Vinay Tiwari had vis-ited Dube’s house at Bikru village alongwith Rahul Tewari of Kanpur, who allegedthat Dube had tried to kill him after kid-napping him.

At the house, Dube brutally beat upRahul in the presence of the SO. WhenVinay Tewari intervened, Dube snatchedhis mobile phone and abused him afterwhich a heated exchange ensued.

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From Page 1But not convinced by the

ICMR statement, bothCongress and Left parties havesaid that the ICMR’’s plans tolaunch a coronavirus vaccineby August 15 was aimed onlyat enabling the Prime Ministerto make a big announcementfrom the Red Fort.

“Why is ICMR rushing foran unrealistic timeline ofAugust 15for Indiancorona(virus) vaccine whenglobal experts are giving 12 to18 months ‘ time frame,”Congress leader PrithvirajChavan tweeted.

Asserting that scientificadvances cannot be “made toorder”, CPI(M) general secre-tary Sitaram Yechury allegedthe ICMR was trying to fasttrack the production of a coro-navirus vaccine so that thePrime Minister i could makethe announcement onIndependence Day.

“A vaccine would be themost decisive redemption fromthe pandemic. The world iswaiting for a safe vaccine,which is universally accessible.

“But...scientific advancescan never be ‘made to order’.Forcing the development of anindigenous vaccine as a cure forCOVID-19, bypassing allhealth & safety norms, to beannounced by PM Modi onIndependence Day is fraughtwith horrendous human costs,”Yechury said in a tweet.

Accusing the ICMR of“using threats to get institutionsto fall in line” Yechury said thatsome of the institutions likeNIMS in Hyderabad are stategovernment institutions.

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From Page 1Similarly, Gujarat, which plant-

ed groundnut over 16.3 lakh hectaresas against 10 lakh hectares, account-ed for most of the increase in ground-nut planting, which went up by 60 percent to 25 lakh hectares.

The area under pulses crops, too,registered a whopping 289 per centincrease to nearly 37 lakh hectares ascompared to the same period lastyear. There was a five-fold increasein area under arhar crop which wentup to 16.5 lakh hectare from 2.8 lakhhectare in the corresponding periodlast year.

The area under urad and moong,on the other hand, increased by 369per cent and 200 per cent to 8.8 lakhhectares and 9.4 lakh hectares,

respectively. Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh reported maxi-mum increase in pulses sowing so far.As per the data, there is also a 100 percent jump in cotton planting to 91.7lakh hectares with Maharashtra andTelangana planting cotton over 33lakh hectares (4.6 lakh hectares)and 15 lakh hectare (7.9 lakhhectare), respectively.

Almost 96 per cent increase inmaize sowing to 45.6 lakh hectarespulled up the area under coarse cere-als to 70.7 lakh hectare, which was101 per cent more than 35.2 lakhhectare planted in the same week lastyear. Other major coarse cereal cropssuch as bajra and jowar, too, regis-tered more than 100 per cent increaseas compared to the previous year.

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Page 5:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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Close on the heels of ban-ning 59 Chinese apps,

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday invited the start-upand tech community to par-ticipate in the ‘AatmanirbharBharat App InnovationChallenge’ and exhorted themto create an ‘Aatmanirbhar AppEcosystem’.

“Who knows, I may alsouse some of these apps made byyou,” Modi said in a write-upon LinkedIn.

In a tweet, Electronics andInformation Technology (IT)Minister Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid that the PM has launchedthe challenge to encourageIndian application developersand innovators.

Today, there is immenseenthusiasm among the techand start-up community tocreate world class ‘Made inIndia Apps’, Modi said.

‘To facilitate their ideasand products, the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology along with the Atal

Innovation Mission are launch-ing the ‘Aatmanirbhar BharatApp Innovation Challenge’,’ theprime minister tweeted sharingthe link to the LinkedIn post.

Modi had given a call foran ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat” (aself-reliant India) and hadurged people to be ‘vocal forlocal’ products.

He said the app innovationchallenge is for those who havesuch a working product or ifthey feel they have the visionand expertise to create suchproducts.

“I urge all my friends in thetech community to partici-pate”, he said while sharing thewrite-up ‘Let us Code for anAatmanirbhar Bharat’.

India has a very vibranttech and start-up ecosystem,which has done India proudnationally as well as globally,Modi said.

The country’s youth haveexcelled in providing tech solu-tions across sectors, he said.

‘The COVID-19 pandem-ic has also brought about a bigdisruption, which is being tack-

led through the use of tech-nology to aid our day to daylives,’ the Prime Minister point-ed out.

Everyone is aware of thehuge potential of the marketand the scale products canachieve if they can satisfy thedemand, he said.

“Nowadays, we are seeinghuge interest and enthusiasmamong the start-up and techecosystem to innovate, developand promote homegrownapps,” Modi said.

“Today, when the entirenation is working towards cre-ating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,it is a good opportunity to givedirection to their efforts,momentum to their hard-workand mentorship to their talentto evolve apps which can sat-isfy our market as well as com-pete with the world”, he said inthe write-up.

To help the start-up andtech community achieve thisobjective, the challenge will runin two tracks, which arePromotion of Existing Appsand Development of NewApps, Modi explained.

This challenge will be joint-ly hosted by the Governmentand members of the tech com-munity to make it more holis-tic, he said.

The Government recentlybanned 59 Chinese apps, someof them immensely popularlike TikTok and Shareit, ongrounds of ensuring securityand safety of Indian cyberspace.

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Stating that the BJP is notmerely an “election win-

ning machine” but an organi-sation for the service of thesociety, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Saturdaylauded the “seva” of the partyworkers in the time of coron-avirus crisis and suggested thatevery ‘mandal’, district andState prepares a digital work ofits experiences during the pan-demic and releases it bySeptember 25, on the birthanniversary of the BharatiyaJan Sangh and BJP ideologueDeen Dayal Upadhyay.

The Prime Minister, whowas reviewing the work ofparty workers in the last fourmonths of crisis and watchingthe presentations of seven BJPstates through video confer-encing , said the digitalisationfrom all tiers could finally beconverted into one that of theentire country, “inspiring thefuture generation”, not onlywithin the country but global-ly too.

Modi said digitalisationshould be done at least inthree languages-mothertongue, Hindi and English. Hesaid the work would give agreat strength and inspirationto those who would get to readthe “commendable service”done by lakhs of people during

the pandemic.Almost all top leaders,

including BJP President J PNadda, Union Home MinisterAmit Shah, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,and BJP-run State ChiefMinisters including YogiAdityanath, Shivraj SinghChouhan and BJP state presi-dents were present in the BJPHeadquarters here. TheProgramme was titled “Seva hiSanghthan”.

Modi said he was proudthat BJP proved that “service”was its primary aim and powerwas only a means to an end.“This tradition we inheritedfrom our founding fathers andtheir hard work”.

He said some observers seean organisation in context ofelections only. “For us organ-isation is not an election win-ning machine, for us organi-sation means service foreveryone’s happiness and theidea of -Nation first”, Modi saidand went on to say that BJPhad tried to build an equalsociety.

He said BJP today repre-sents all section of societywith 52 dalit MPs, 43 tribalMPs, 130 OBC MPs and alsohaving 150 tribal MLAs in“Vidhan Sabhas”.

Presentations were madebefore the Prime Minister bythe state unit chiefs of seven

states including the election-bound Bihar as also Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,Delhi and Assam. All the pre-sentations detailed the distri-bution of food packets, face-masks, ‘Paduka’ and help ren-dered to stranded migrants inreaching their native places.Bihar state unit presidentmaintained that but for thehelp provided by them noteven 10 per cent of migrantscould have made it to theirhomes during the lockdown.

Intervening during theBihar session, the PrimeMinister briefly spoke in thenative language while laudingthe work done by the partywork. He said UP and Biharhas a great challenge and willhave to work with the samezeal in future.

Similarly, he congratulatedAssam unit saying they workedpro-actively and the work is“showing” with people’s confi-dence in BJP increased in thestate.

Modi asked all state unitsto be alert and aware of theapproaching festival season as“coronavirus danger is still thesame”. He asked the rest of thestate units to send their pre-sentations directly to him.

Nadda said 22 crore foodpackets were distributed inthe last 68 days and 5 crore“Modi ration kits” were alsodelivered.

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Zoya Khan from theVadodara district of Gujarat

has become the first transgen-der operator of the CommonService Centre (CSC) in India.

Union Minister ofElectronics and InformationTechnology, Ravi ShankarPrasad shared the news withher pictures of working in theoffice on his Twitter handle.

‘’Zoya Khan is India’s firsttransgender operator ofCommon Service Centre from

Vadodara district of Gujarat.She has started CSC work withTelemedicine consultation. Hervision is to support the trans-gender community in makingthem digitally literate & givethem better opportunities,’’ hesaid.

Common Service Centresare facilities provided by theGovernment of India for deliv-ering e-Services to rural andremote locations where avail-ability of computers andInternet was negligible or most-ly absent.

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Aday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi visited Leh

and addressed the soldiers, theCongress on Saturday said timehas come for him to follow his“raj dharma” and tell the peo-ple of the country about thereality of Chinese “incursions”.

The grand old party alsocountered BJP’s claim that itwas only Modi to visit a front-line. Former Union MinisterKapil Sibal said former primeministers Indira Gandhi andLal Bahadur Shastri had visit-ed forward locations to boostthe morale of Indian soldiersand Jawaharlal Nehru too hadalso visited soldiers in the forward locations in NEFA in1962 to boost their morale.

“But it appears that ourprime minister stayed 230 kmaway in Nimu, Leh,” Sibal said,taking a swipe at Modi’s visit.

Posing a set of f ive questions to the PrimeMinister, Congress askedModi to say whether the actu-al picture of “Chinese occu-pation of our territory” up tothe “Finger 4 Ridge” in thePangong Tso area depicts thetruth on the ground.

Sibal used satellite imagesof Ladakh’s Pangong Tso fromMay and June to showChinese structures in the areaand asked the Prime Ministerto at least speak the truthabout it.

Sibal also asked Modi tostop doing the politics of“illusion and delusion” andshowing “red eyes” to China,and protect Indian territory.

“The times warrant India

to look eye-to-eye at Chinaand unequivocally tell themto retreat f rom their illegal and brazen occupationof Indian territory. Mr PrimeMinister, this is the only ‘rajdharma’ that you must follow,”Sibal said at AICC virtualPress conference.

“They say ‘pictures donot l ie’. Will the PrimeMinister now tell the nation- is this Indian territory onwhich radars, helipad andother structures have beenbuilt by the Chinese in abrazen act of transgression?

“Have the Chinese occu-pied our territory in GalwanValley, including ‘Patrol Point14’, where our 20 jawans ofthe 16 Bihar Regiment madethe supreme sacrifice? HasChina also occupied Indianterritory in Hot Springs?” theCongress leader asked.

“Has China occupied ourterritory up to ‘Y-Junction’ (18kms inside the LAC) in theDepsang plains, threatening India’s strategicDBO airstrip, which is theli fel ine for our military supplies to theSiachen glacier andKarakoram pass?” he asked.

On Modi saying this isnot the India of 1962 and theera of expansionism is over,the former Union Ministersaid Jawaharlal Nehru, thefirst Prime Minister of thecountry, had told China thenthat India wil l never accept the Chinese claim-line.

According to Sibal, Nehruwrote to China, saying Indiawill never submit to thedemand for it to accept the

Chinese 1959 line, whateverthe consequences and how-ever long and hard the struggle may be.

The Congress leader saidparadoxically, the Chinese1959 line clearly depicted theentire Galwan Valley in Indiaand it was only on June 16,2020, a day after the fatalclashes, that China formallylaid claim, for the first timeever, to the entire GalwanValley.

“Isn’t it correct that thelocal councillors of Ladakh,including BJP councillors,submitted a memorandum toPrime Minister Modi inFebruary about the capture ofour land by China? Whataction did the prime ministertake? Had he acted, wouldn’twe have been able to pre-emptthe brazen Chinese transgressions?” Sibal askedwhich was also seconded bythe his party colleague and aformer Jammu Kashmir ChiefMinister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

In a clear message toChina, Modi on Friday saidthe era of expansionism isover and that India’s enemies have seen the “fireand fury” of its armed forces,as he made an unannouncedvisit to Ladakh, signallingIndia’s firmness in dealingwith the border row with the neighbouring country.

In an address to troops inNimu, the prime ministerpaid glowing tributes to the20 Indian soldiers killed in theGalwan Valley clashes andsaid tales of the bravery andvalour of the armed forces areechoing in every part of thecountry.

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The Army on Saturdaytermed reports in social

media as ‘malicious” claiminga hastily assembled hospitaland fit soldiers posing asinjured during Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s visit to a mil-itary hospital in Leh on Friday.

Taking exception to reportshinting the event was staged,the Army said these were“malicious and unsubstantiat-ed accusations” in some quar-ters regarding the status of thefacility visited by the PrimeMinister.

It is unfortunate that asper-sions are being cast on how ourbrave Armed Forces are treat-ed. The Armed Forces give thebest possible treatment to theirpersonnel, the statement said.

It is clarified that the saidfacility is part of the CrisisExpansion capacity of 100 bedsand is very much part of theGeneral Hospital complex.

The COVID-19 protocolhad necessitated some wards ofthe General Hospital to beconverted into isolation facili-ties. Hence, this hall which oth-erwise was normally used as aTraining Audio Video Hallwas converted into a ward eversince the hospital was alsodesignated as COVID treat-ment hospital.

The injured braves havebeen kept there since theirarrival from Galwan to ensure

quarantine from COVID areas.Army Chief General M MNaravane and the ArmyCommander have also visitedthe injured braves in the samelocation on earlier occasions, itsaid.

After the bloody skirmishon June 15 in the Galwan val-ley leaving 20 Indian armypersonnel dead, the injured sol-diers were kept there to ensureisolation from COVID-19affected areas.

On a surprise visit toLadakh on Friday, Modiaddressed troops at Nimu out-side Leh and later visited theLeh military hospital and metthe soldiers.

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The Union Health Ministryon Friday revised the pre-

scribed dosage of anti-viraldrug Remdesivir for coron-avirus patients from six days

to five.According to the updat-

ed version of its ClinicalManagement Protocol for thecoronavirus released by theMinistry, the patients must beinjected with 200 milligram of

Remdesivir on day one and100 milligram for the nextfour days.

The Ministry had on June13 al lowed the use of remdesivir for “restrictedemergency use” in moderatecoronavirus cases.

Hyderabad-based drug-maker Hetero has theapproval to manufacture remdesivir forthe treatment of coronaviruspatients.

Last month, the companyhad said that it will deliver thefirst set of the medicine toMaharashtra, Delhi, TamilNadu, Gujarat ata price of�5,400 per vial.

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The BSF that secures thefrontiers on Bangladesh and

Pakistan continues to be head-ed by the ITBP Director GeneralSS Deswal in a stop-gap mea-sure for the last nearly fourmonths after the former BSFchief Vivek Johri was repatriat-ed to his parent MadhyaPradesh cadre on March 11.

The ITBP is the designatedborder-guarding force and LeadIntelligence Agency on the Lineof Actual Control (LAC) withChina while the BSF is in a sim-ilar role along the frontierswith Bangladesh and Pakistan.

For the last over twomonths, the Indian Forces are ina standoff positions with theChinese Army at several pointsalong the LAC in easternLadakh where the role of theITBP has further increased asadditional troops have been

rushed to augment a matchingresponse to the buildup of theChinese forces amid the ten-sions between the two countries.

The BSF also faces addi-tional threat along theInternational Boundary (IB)with Pakistan in Rajasthan andPunjab as Pakistan’s army is a“brother” army for Chinesecounterparts and can potentiallyplay a spoilsport in the event ofan escalation with Beijing. Theneed for a full-fledged chief ofthe BSF is the need of the hour,insiders said.

While Johri is a 1984 batchIndian Police Service (IPS) offi-cer of the Madhya Pradeshcadre who heads the police inthe State, Deswal is a Haryanacadre officer of the same batchand took additional charge ofthe BSF on March 11 when theITBP was one of the lead forcesmanaging quarantine facility

in the country to screen andquarantine, at its Chhawla camphere, the Indians and foreignersevacuated from Wuhan whichwas then the epicentre of theCovid-19.

Besides the charge of ITBP,Deswal continues to hold theadditional responsibility of theBSF till now.

“Consequent upon repa-triation of Vivek Johri, (1984,IPS officer of MP cadre),Director General BorderSecurityForce to his parentcadre, competent authority hasapproved that SS Deswal (1984-batch IPS officer of the Haryanacadre), DG, ITBP (Indo-TibetanBorder Police) shall hold addi-tional charge of the post of DGBSF vice Shri Vivek Johri, till theappointment and joining of thesuccessor or until further orders,whichever is earlier,” an orderissued by the Home Ministry onMarch 10 had said.

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Reviewing the progress ofagriculture research, exten-

sion and education in Indiathrough video conference,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday stressed the needto adopt organic and naturalfarming practices on a cluster-based approach. He exhortedthe need to create awarenessregarding inclusion of milletslike Jowar, bajra, ragi and sev-eral other minor millets indiet to ensure a healthy diet.PM appreciated the effortstowards developing varietiesfocusing on specific require-ments of agro-climatic zonesand exhorted the need fordeveloping forward and back-ward linkages to assure betterreturns to farmers.

Reviewing the contribu-tions of ICAR in developingnew breeds of cattle, sheep andgoats, PM Modi stressed theneed for research on indige-nous breeds of dogs and hors-es. PM Modi exhorted thatstudy of grasses and local fod-der crops should be under-taken to understand theirnutritive value.

At the meeting, Dr.Trilochan Mohaptra, DirectorGeneral, Indian Council ofAgricultural Research cum-Secretary, Department ofAgricultural Research &Extension, presented the pri-orities, performance and pre-paredness to face various chal-lenges. ICAR has developedgeo-referenced OrganicCarbon Map of India, identi-fied 88 bio control agents and22 Bio pesticides which canpromote organic agriculture.

According to the agricul-ture ministry, the PM directed

that start-ups and agri-entre-preneurs need to be promotedto ensure innovation and useof technology in agricultureand allied sectors.

He highlighted the need toleverage information technol-ogy to provide information ondemand to the farmers. PMModi also directed thatHackathons may be organisedtwice a year to solve identifiedproblems and meet designneeds for tools and equipmentthat can reduce drudgery iffarming activity, given that alarge number of farm workersare women.

They said the PM appreci-ated the efforts towards devel-oping varieties focusing onspecific requirements of agro-climatic zones and exhorted theneed for developing forwardand backward linkages toassure better returns to farm-ers.

The PM highlighted thatavenues for enhancing bioethanol from sugarcane andother crops need to beexplored.

In an effort to bolster‘Kuposh Mukt Bharat’ (Indiafree from Malnutrition) 70 biofortified varities with enhancedIron, Zinc and Protein contenthave been developed. Bhagwa,

a variety of Pomegranate, isrich in Iron, Potassium,Vitamin C and Anti-oxidants.

Poshan Thali and Nutria-gardens are being promotedthrough Krishi VigyanKendras. Pilots were conduct-ed in Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh involving 76Krishi Vigyan Kendras and450 model farms. In its pre-sentation ICAR highlightedthe Magic seeder in Punjab,Haryana and Delhi to addressthe problem of stubble burningafter the harvest of paddy crop.There is a reduction of 52% inburning events in 2019 in com-parison to 2016.

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Covid-19 claimed 65 persons inTamil Nadu on Saturday while 4,

280 more persons were diagnosedwith the pandemic in the State.

The Tamil Nadu Government hasstarted making arrangements likeincreasing the number of beds andhospitals to accommodate more casesas there are no signs of the pandem-ic getting subsiding in the nearfuture. By Friday, Vijaya Hospital, oneof the largest private corporate hos-pitals offering medical care at rea-sonable rates was shut down follow-ing many medical staff testing posi-tive.

The total number of persons test-ed positive for the pandemic till datereached 1, 07, 001 while there are 44,956 active patients in the State. Theonly information which offers somesolace to the people is the number ofpersons cured of the pandemic in the

State. On Saturday, 2,214 patientswere discharged from various hos-pitals in the State and this took thenumber of persons cured of thepandemic till date to 60,592.

The State Government in itsmission to identify and isolate thecoronavirus continued to open morelaboratories as part of its aggressivetesting. The day saw three more lab-oratories starting testing for covid-19 taking the total number of labo-ratories in the State to 94. Tamil Naduis ahead of other States in the num-ber of testing . While Maharashtrawith a population of 12.31 crore tests8,521 persons per million, TamilNadu’s figure is 16, 325 persons forevery million. Neighbouring Kerala

tests 7,087 per million of its popu-lation.

On Saturday, 35, 426 personswere tested all over the State and totalnumber of persons tested till datereached 1.25 million.

Out of the 65 who breathedtheir last on Saturday, 59 died withco-morbidities. Chennai accountedfor 37 deaths.

The capital city continued to leadthe table with highest number ofcovid patients. 1,842 persons inChennai were diagnosed with thepandemic on Saturday. Chengalpet(215), Kancheepuram (134) andThiruvallur (251) the three neigh-bouring districts which have beenlocked down till July 5 along withChennai did not show any signs ofabatement.

Madurai tested 352 positive caseswhile Thiruvannamalai (173) andRamanathapuram (149) emerged asareas of worry for the authorities.

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In the absence of the start ofannual pilgrimage to the

holy cave shrine of Amarnath,located at a height of over13,000 ft above the sea level, thepublic broadcaster,Doordarshan is all set to broad-cast live telecast of specialaarti, two times during the daystarting from July 5 till August3.

CEO Prasar Bharti, ShashiShekhar in a tweet said “Happyto share that the ShriAmarnathji Shrine Board inassociation with Prasar Bharatiwill bring the live telecast ofAarti from the Holy Cave ofShri Amarnathji on variousDoordarshan channels “.

Lt-Governor GirishChandar Murmu is expected tovisit the holy cave shrine to per-

form the special pooja.Teams of State disaster

Response Force (SDRF) havealso been deployed along theyatra route in the wake ofVVIP visit.

The public broadcaster hasoffered two slots of 30 minuteseach for the live telecast. Thefirst telecast will take place at7.30 a.m in the morning andthe second at 5.00 p.m in theevening, official sources said.

The special arrangementshave been made in the wake ofthe prevailing situation due toCovid-19 pandemic across thecountry.

A fifteen member team ofDoordarshan is already camp-ing in the shrine area to makenecessary arrangements for thelive telecast.

In the absence of the startof the annual pilgrimage, as per

its original schedule, ShriAmarnath Shrine Boardauthorities had approached thenational broadcaster,Doordarshan, to explore thepossibility of live telecast fromthe cave shrine.

After receiving clearancefrom their head office, thetechnical teams were rushed tothe spot to assess the groundsituation and make necessaryarrangements.

On the other hand, ShriAmarnath Shrine BoardAuthorities are fully geared upon ground zero and making allnecessary arrangements for thestart of the yatra at the earliest.

So far, Shrine Boardauthorities have decided toconduct the yatra via Baltalroute. The annual pilgrimagewill not be allowed via anoth-er traditional route of

Pahalgam.At least four helipads and

a base camp have been madeoperational to facilitate pil-grims via Baltal route.

The 16 km track on thisroute is more treacherous anddifficult to climb.

Necessary security

arrangements and other logis-tics have been kept in place toensure incident free andsmooth conduct of the yatraeven for a limited time period.In Jammu and along the entireyatra route elaborate securityarrangements will be made toensure safety of the pilgrims.

Last year, the yatra was sus-pended on August 2 in thewake of terror threats andrecovery of explosive materialand other items along the yatraroute.

Shri Amarnath ShrineBoard, under the chairmanshipof Lt- Governor GirishChandar Murmu is expected totake a final decision on theconduct of the yatra soon afterthe reopening of Durbar moveoffices from July 6 in Srinagar.

On its part, Shri Amarnath

Shrine Board authorities arepreparing for conducting annu-al pilgrimage for a small peri-od after taking all necessaryprecautions in the wake ofCovid-19 pandemic.

As per the initial proposaldiscussed during the previousreview meetings, the annualpilgrimage is expected to beginin the third week of July 2020.However, the final decisionwill be announced after review-ing the prevailing situation. Sofar nine out of 10 districts inKashmir valley have beendeclared 'red zones' due tospread of coronavirus.

A total number of 8019cases have been reported in theunion territory of Jammu andKashmir. Out of this, 2825 areactive positive.

The pilgrims visiting theshrine will have to undergo

mandatory Corona screeningbefore entering the borders ofJammu and Kashmir at differ-ent locations. After finalisingthe final dates of the yatra, ShriAmarnath Shrine Boardauthorities are expected toissue a set of guidelines to befollowed by the pilgrims ifthey wish to undertake the pil-grimage to the cave shrine.

The final decision whetherto allow pithoo and pony-wallhs is expected to beannounced after the final deci-sion is taken on the date of startof yatra this year.

The Union Territoryadministration is also in touchwith some socio religiousorganisations who are expect-ed to set up communitykitchens to provide refresh-ments to the pilgrims duringthe yatra period.

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There was no let up in thenumber of coronavirus

cases in Kerala as 240 personswere diagnosed with the pan-demic on Saturday. This is thehighest number to test positivefor coronavirus in the State tilldate, according to a pressrelease issued by HealthMinister K K Shylaja.

This is a major setback forKerala which had declared onMay 8 that the coronaviruscurve has been flattened in theState which meant that thepandemic has been totallyeliminated. But the Covid-19virus has returned with full‘vigour’ and afflicted morenumber of people.

The release said that as onSaturday, there were 2,129persons under treatment in

various hospitals. The day saw209 patients getting cured ofthe pandemic and reachinghome safe.

The minister put theblame on the expatriates andpeople who returned to Keralafrom other parts of the coun-try for the hike in the numberof cases. Out of the 240 per-sons diagnosed with the pan-demic on Saturday, 152 werefrom foreign countries while52 were from other States ofIndia, said the release. 367 per-sons were hospitalised onSaturday. There are 135hotspots in the State.

Situation in Ernakulamand the capital city ofThiruvananthapuram contin-ued to be grave on Saturday.Community transmission ofthe pandemic has become areality in the capital city mak-

ing it a dangerous zone to visit.Kadakampalli Surendran,min-ister for tourism, templeadministration (devaswam)and cooperation pleaded withthe people of the capital city tomaintain social distancing andwear face masks without fail-ure. “What I see in the city isovercrowded market places,shopping malls, public parkswhere people openly violatethe covid-19 guidelines. Thisis disappointing and worri-some,” said the minister whocautioned the people that ifthey flout the rules, the admin-istration may have to resort toextreme measures.

Shops and establishmentshave been asked to down theshutters by 7pm. The mainvegetable and commoditiesmarket at Palayam and Chalaihas been closed down.

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Adozen female film and TVartists of Kerala have com-

plained to the Ernakulam CityPolice about a gang that threatensthem with kidnaps, ransom money,forced flesh trade and gold smug-gling, according to Vijay Sakhare,City Police Commissioner.

The first artist to boldly file acomplaint with the police wasShamna Kasim, an upcoming filmstar, who complained to the policethat a five-member gang was try-ing to extort money from her andkidnap her for ransom

. She told the police that thegang approached her parents witha marriage proposal for a youthworking in a West Asian country.They even sent the Kasims pho-tographs of a Dubai based youth asthe prospective groom. Shamna’sparents received phone calls from

the so called ‘parents’ of the youthand it ended up in the arrest of tenpersons. It was their dubious behav-iour that evoked doubts in theminds of Shamna’s parents, theartist told media persons.

“Shamna Kasim is just the tipof the ice berg. The gang hasestablished contacts with manyartists and some of them have con-fided to the police the entire hap-penings. This is not just a one-offcrime affair. A massive operation isunderway to exploit the film stars,”said Sakhare.

The modus operandi of thegang is as follows. They collect thecontact numbers of the gulliblestars, approach them with mar-riage proposals, roles in films,advertisement films and fully paidtrip to West Asian countries forstage shows.

“These stage shows are afaçade for their anti-social and anti-

national activities. There areenough links pointing towardssmuggling of gold and narcoticsmaking use of the services of thesestars,” said a senior police officer oncondition of anonymity.

The gang members are skilledenough to take pictures and videosof these unsuspecting stars and laterthey blackmail them with these pic-tures. “Many have fallen into sextrade as well as gold/narcoticssmuggling as a result of this tactics,”said the police officials.

Mankombu Gopalakrishnan,dubbing director, lyricist and scriptwriter, is of the view that manyupcoming stars and mimicry artistsin Mollywood (as Malayalam filmindustry is known) might have fall-en into this trap. “The last two yearshave been a period of crisis due tothe floods of 2018 and 2019. Theyear 2020 has been devoured bycoronavirus. More than the income

from films, these stars were sur-viving on the income from stageshows. The floods and the coronapandemic derailed their livelihoodand most of them are facing uncer-tainty,” said Gopalakrishnan.

Lalithasree, actress and dub-bing artist, based in Chennai, tooagreed to what Gopalakrishnansaid. “Their dreams have no bor-ders and limits. Whatever they earnis squandered away through shop-ping and high style living. Theynever expected the nature’s fury andthe corona pandemic would strikethem like this. We have the case ofSushant Singh Rajput before us. Illnot be surprised if some starsfrom Malayalam film industrychoose the path of Rajput. Situationis really bad,” said Lalithasree.

Ernakulam Police is probingthe matter. Ten persons have beenarrested so far and three of themmanaged to get bail and come out.

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With 14 new Covid-19cases and three deaths in

the last 24 hours, alarm bellshave begun to ring in the Tajcity. The district authoritieshave reviewed the grim situa-tion and scaled up testing in thehotspots.

In view of the spike incases, the authorities have againraised the number of contain-ment and buffer zones to 68.Earlier, the number haddropped to 54.

The new cases have takenthe tally to 1,267. Six patientswere discharged after recovery.The death toll now stands at 90,while the total number of dis-charged patients is 1,040.Health officials said the num-ber of active cases now was 137.

The recovery rate is 82.09per cent.

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Four people died in Bengal onSaturday with two falling

prey to political clashes betweenthe ruling Trinamool Congressand the Socialist Unity Centre ofIndia (SUCI) at Kultali in South24 Parganas. The other twodied while making bombs whichaccidentally went off in a housein Murshidabad district, policesaid.

In the first case a TMCworker was allegedly lynched bya 300-strong crowd mostly ledby reported SUCI workers aftera senior leader of that party wasreportedly killed by the TMCmen.

While a district Trinamoolleader Saukat Mollah said theSUCI and the CPI(M) goonsattacked and hacked a localTMC leader Aswhini Manna todeath. The death was a result of

clashes between the two sidesthat continued for several hours,locals said.

On the other hand SUCIleadership said that one of theirdistrict committee membersSudhanshu Jana was abductedfrom his house by the Ashwini’smen where after he was killedand hung from a tree.

While locals said that theclash was the result of a powertussle at Manipith-Baikunthapurpanchayat others said that thingscame to a flash point afterSudhanshu gheraoed the localTMC office alleging nepotismand corruption in distributingpost Amphan relief.

“As people came out inlarge number to protest againstmassive corruption in distribu-tion of relief funds to the peo-ple —as is the case throughoutthe State — the TMC leaderAshwini Manna went out with

his supporters to teach the SUCIleaders a lesson and went abouttorching their houses. This ledto mass fury when villagersmounted a counter attack,” for-mer SUCI MP Tarun Mandalsaid.

A large posse of police hasbeen deployed in the sensitivearea and investigations are on,district authorities said.

The second incident hap-pened at Suti town inMurshidabad district’s Jangipursub-division where two goonsdied while they were makingbombs. Some other people havebeen injured and were beingtreated in a nearby hospital,police said adding the house hasbeen damaged completely, andits owner is on the run.

The wife of the house ownerwas being questioned in con-nection with the incident, theofficer said.

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Ayodhya: Shri RamJanmabhoomi Teerth Kshetratrust will meet here on July 18to discuss the way forward oftemple construction and thedate for 'bhoomi pujan' (landworship). An invitation hasbeen sent to all the members ofthe trust.

“The trust meeting has beencalled in Ayodhya on July 18.Right now stones which havegathered moss are beingcleaned,” the trust general sec-retary Champat Rai said.

He said there is no discus-sion among the saints on theissue of increasing the height ofthe temple. “I have met 200saints and seers in the last 15days,” he said. He said the workof lining is being done on thelevelled land. The line disappearsdue to rains. Now the temple siteis being demarcated with pegs.The L&T company is doing thiswork. He said that any statementon the start of temple construc-

tion and 'Bhoomi Pujan' in themonth of Shrawan is just imag-inary. No decision has beentaken yet, he said.

Ashish Sompura, son ofChandrakant Sompura, thechief architecture of the Ramtemple model has taken thecharge of the technical work. Heoversaw the workshop. He said,“The stones have been lyinghere for a long time. They haveturned black and are beingcleaned to shine.”

Talking about increasingthe height of the temple,Sompura said, “It will be decid-ed in the trust meeting. But theold stones will be used. Thestones will be coated so that theydo not lose shine. Some stoneshave degraded and will bechanged. The life of these stonesis about 1,000 years.”

The Ram Lalla idol wasshifted in a temporary structurenear Manas Bhawan in Marchthis year. IANS

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Bollywood mega star AkshayKumar’s recent “secret” flying

visit to Nashik and his stay at anearby resort for some medicaltreatment has sparked a contro-versy over the “secrecy” main-tained and the manner in whichthe actor managed to obtain nec-essary permissions for his visit, thelanding of his chopper at a privatehelipad and stay at the resort.

Three days after Akshay flewin a private helicopter and landedat a private helipad of SapkalKnowledge Hub, at Anjaneri onthe outskirts of Nashik and laterstayed at a luxury resort “GrapeCounty” located on theTrimbakeshwar Road, a lot ofdetails of his “secret” visit to thegrape city have emerged.

According to available infor-mation, the actor was received byprominent office bearers of theeducational institution and somedistrict officials on his arrival at aprivate helipad of SapkalKnowledge Hub. Even at the resort,police officials were present.However, a lot of “secrecy” hadbeen maintained over the actor’svisit to Nashik.

Asked whether the actor hadobtained necessary permissionsfrom the authorities for his visit,Maharashtra Food & Civil SuppliesMinister Chhagan Bhujbal feignedignorance about the actor’s visit,coming as it did in the midst of theongoing lockdown.

Bhujbal, who incidentally thedistrict guardian minister of

Nashik, said: “I have no informa-tion about the actor’s visit toNashik. If there are any (lockdown)violations relating to the actor’svisit, an inquiry will be conduct-ed into them”.

The local media grilled theminister on how the actor was per-mitted to fly in a chopper fromMumbai to Nashik at a time whenthe inter-district travel continuesto be regulated and whether he hadbeen granted permission to land ata private helipad.

The local journalists also want-ed to know about the felicitationreportedly accorded to him by theNashik Police chief who also pro-vided a police escort despite thefact the area came under the juris-diction of the Nashik Rural Police.

On his part, the minister stead-fastly refused to answer questionsfrom the local journalists and saidhe would comment on the issueonly taking “full information”from the district collector.

Later in the evening, Bhujbalvirtually did a U-turn and went tothe defence of the actor, when hesaid: “I had received several com-plaints about Ashay’s visit toNashik. I have taken informationabout it from the district admin-istration. The actor had come toNashik for medical treatment. Hehad gone to meet Nashik policechief to congratulate him on thestupendous work by the police inpreventing the spread ofCoronavoirus in the Nashik city.The police personnel present atthat time were meant for thepolice chief and not for the actor”.

“Let me make it very clear thatthe police had not provided anysecurity to the actor. Hence thereshould not be any misgivings overthe actor’s visit to Nashik,” Bhujbalsaid.

Informed sources, meanwhile,said that the private helicopter,which flew the actor to Nashik, hadapplied permission from the dis-trict administration for landing ofchopper. For this purpose, theNashik rural police gave “NoObjection Certificate” to the heli-copter fir with ten conditions.Prima facie appears that the districtadministration gave permission tothe private helicopter firm forlanding the chopper at SapkalKnowledge Hub.

At a time when the peoplehave to still obtain e-passes forinter-district travel in Maharashtra,there are no official details as tohow the actor managed to obtainall permissions from the authori-ties for his visit to Nashik.

Akshay’s flying visit to Nashikshould be seen in the context of thefact that the VVIPS, including thechief minister, are avoiding air trav-el amid the Covid-19 scenario.

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray travelled by a ferryfrom Mumbai to Raigad lastmonth to assess the situation aris-ing out of Cyclone and drove byroad from Mumbai to Solapur forthe Ashadhi Ekadashi annual ‘puja’at Pandharpur town early this. Onhis part, senior minister AshokChavan travelled by road fromNanded to Mumbai for his Covid-19 treatment.

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People with endocrine disorders may see theircondition worsen as a result of Covid-19,

researchers have said in a study published in thejournal of Endocrine Society.

The virus that causes Covid-19 binds to theACE2 receptor, a protein which is expressed in manytissues. This allows the virus to enter endocrine cellsand cause the mayhem associated with the disease,said study researcher Noel PratheepanSomasundaram from the National Hospital of SriLanka.

“We explored the previous SARS outbreakcaused by the very rvicsimilar virus SARS-CoV-1to advise endocrinologists involved in the care ofpatients with Covid-19,” he said.

According to the study, SARS-CoV-2 cancause loss of smell and gain entry to the brain. Inpast coronavirus infections such as the SARS epi-demic in 2003, many patients developed a post-viralsyndrome with fatigue.

This could in part be caused by adrenal insuf-ficiency, a condition where the adrenal glands donot make enough cortisol, as a result of damage tothe pituitary system. During the SARS epidemic,patients who developed adrenal insufficiency typ-ically recovered within one year.

“Testing for cortisol deficiency and treatingpatients with steroids may become a vital treatmentstrategy,” Somasundaram said.

“Very recent studies have demonstrated loweredmortality in severely ill patients with Covid-19 treat-ed with the steroid dexamethasone,” Somasundaramadded.According to the researchers, Covid-19 alsocould lead to new cases of diabetes and worseningof existing diabetes.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus attaches to ACE2, themain entry point into cells for coronavirus, and dis-rupts insulin production, causing high blood glu-cose levels in some patients.

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Page 7:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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Washington: Two US aircraftcarriers were conducting exer-cises in the disputed SouthChina Sea on Saturday, the USnavy said, as China also carriedout military drills that havebeen criticised by the Pentagonand neighbouring states.

China and the UnitedStates have accused each otherof stoking tension in the strate-gic waterway at a time ofstrained relations over every-thing from the new coronavirusto trade to Hong Kong. TheUSS Nimitz and USS RonaldReagan were carrying out oper-ations and exercises in theSouth China Sea “ to supporta free and open Indo-Pacific,”the navy said in a statement.

It did not say exactly wherethe exercises were being con-ducted in the South ChinaSea, which extends for some

1,500 km (900 miles) and 90%of which is claimed by Chinadespite the protests of its neigh-bours.

“ The purpose is to showan unambiguous signal to ourpartners and allies that we arecommitted to regional securi-

ty and stability,” Rear AdmiralGeorge M. Wikoff was quotedas saying by the Wall StreetJournal, which first reported

the exercises.Wikoff, commander of the

strike group led by the RonaldReagan, said the exercises werenot a response to those beingconducted by China, which thePentagon criticised this week as“ counter-productive to effortsat easing tensions and main-taining stability” .

China dismissed the UScriticism of its drills on Fridayand suggested the United Stateswas to blame for increasing ten-sions. US carriers have longcarried out exercises in theWestern Pacific, including inthe South China Sea, accordingto the US navy.

At one point recently, theUnited States had three carri-ers in the region. Chinaannounced last week it hadscheduled five days of drillsstarting July 1 near the Paracel

Islands, which are claimed byboth Vietnam and China.Vietnam and the Philippineshave also criticised the plannedChinese drills, warning theycould create tension in theregion and impact Beijing’srelationship with its neigh-bours.

The United States accusesChina of trying to intimidateAsian neighbours who mightwant to exploit its extensive oiland gas reserves.

Brunei, Malaysia, thePhilippines, Taiwan andVietnam also lay claim to partsof the South China Sea,through which about $3 trillionof trade passes each year.

The US statement said thenaval exercises gave comman-ders the flexibility and capa-bilities “ that only the US Navycan command” . AGENCY

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New Delhi: Amid global con-cerns that China delayed givinginformation regarding the novelcoronavirus outbreak, a team ofWHO (World HealthOrganisation) will visit thecountry next week to investigatethe origins of the virus and itsspread to human beings.

The visit will take placemore than six months after theWHO’s Country Office inChina picked up a statementfrom the Wuhan MunicipalHealth Commission on cases of‘viral pneumonia’. WHODirector-General Dr TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus spokein January about an agreementwith China for sending a teamof international experts “ assoon as possible” to work onincreasing the understanding ofthe outbreak.

Covid-19 has killed over500,000 people in the world andcases and deaths are increasingby the day.

In an exclusive interviewwith ANI, Dr SoumyaSwaminathan, Chief Scientist,WHO said that a “ thoroughinvestigation” needs to be doneinto the origins of the virus.

She said that the WHO hasbeen working with the Chinese

government for the visit. “ Ateam is going to China nextweek to investigate the originsof the virus,” Swaminathan toldANI.

“ What is needed now is agood investigation going backbefore December to find outwhere and how it jumped fromanimal to human. Was there anyintermediate animal or not or itdirectly jumped from bat tohumans which are also possible?Bats have been implicated inother viral diseases — Nipah forexample. It is possible it camedirectly. It is also possible thatthere was an intermediate ani-mal-like in the case of SARS.That thorough investigationstill needs to be done,” she said.

Dr Swaminathan said thatthe Chinese government hadreported an outbreak of “ typ-ical pneumonia cases” fromWuhan on December 31. “ OurWHO country office in Chinapicked it up and on January 1,WHO activated its interna-tional mechanisms which we doas part of international healthregulations whenever there’sany new signal gets reported. Itis conveyed to everyone sothat the whole world knowsabout it,” she said. AGENCY

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Geneva: China did not comeforward on its own to report tothe World Health Organisation(WHO) that it had a problemin Wuhan following the virusoutbreak late last year, accord-ing to the updated informationthe UN health agency postedabout how it has handled theCovid-19 crisis so far.

On December 31, 2019, theWHO’’s Country Office inChina picked up a media state-ment by the Wuhan MunicipalHealth Commission from theirwebsite on cases of “ viralpneumonia” in Wuhan,according to the chronology ofevents enumerated by theWHO.

On January 1, the WHOrequested information on thereported cluster of atypicalpneumonia cases in Wuhanfrom the Chinese authorities.

On January 2, the WHOrepresentative in China wroteto the National HealthCommission, offering WHOsupport and repeating therequest for further information

on the cluster of cases.According to the WHO,

Chinese officials providedinformation to it on the clus-ter of cases of “ viral pneumo-nia of unknown cause” iden-tified in Wuhan only onJanuary 3.

The updated timeline ofWHO’’s response to Covid-19posted this week covers eventsup to June 26.

This timeline supersedesthe timeline statement pub-lished in April 2020.

US President DonaldTrump had earlier accused theWHO of being lenient onChina. Trump also suggestedthat the virus might have orig-inated in a laboratory in China.However, he did not present anyevidence to back up the claims.

The UN health body in amedia briefing earlier this weeksaid that it would send a team toChina next week to prepare toinvestigate the source of the virusresponsible for Covid-19 whichhas so far killed over 525,000people worldwide. IANS

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Kathmandu: A crucial meetingof Nepal’s ruling communistparty to decide the politicalfuture of embattled PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli waspostponed until Monday toallow more time for the topleadership to iron out their dif-ferences over his autocraticstyle of functioning and anti-India statements.

The meeting of the NepalCommunist Party’s 45-memberpowerful Standing Committeewas scheduled to be held onSaturday at 11 AM local time.But it was postponed at the lastminute. Prime Minister’s pressadvisor Surya Thapa said themeeting was postponed untilMonday as the top leaders of

the NCP required more time toforge an understanding on theoutstanding issues.

The meeting has beenpostponed as NCP chairper-sons Oli and Pushpa KamalDahal Prachanda were busyholding internal consultationsamid the rift in the party.

“ The Standing Committeemeeting has been postponeduntil on Monday as both thechairs needed time for furtherdiscussions,” said BishnuSapkota, the press advisor toPrachanda. The meeting wassupposed to begin at the PrimeMinister’s official residence inBaluwatar to find a way outfrom the intra-party crisiswhich is dragging the ruling

communist party close to asplit.

During the meeting,majority of the party leaderswere expected to demand Oli’sresignation from the post ofPrime Minister accusing hisgovernment of failing to live upto the people’s expectationsand responding effectively tothe COVID-19 pandemic.

Many top leaders, includ-ing former prime ministerPrachanda, have also slammedOli for his anti-India remarks.

“ The Prime Minister’sremarks that India was con-spiring to remove him was nei-ther politically correct, nordiplomatically appropriate,” hesaid on June 30. PTI

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Seoul: North Korea onSaturday reiterated it has noimmediate plans to resumenuclear negotiations with theUnited States unlessWashington discards what itdescribes as “ hostile” policestoward Pyongyang.

The statement by NorthKorean First Vice ForeignMinister Choe Son Hui camedays after President DonaldTrump’s former national secu-rity adviser, John Bolton, toldreporters that Trump mightseek another summit withNorth Korean leader Kim JongUn as an “ October surprise”ahead of the US Presidentialelection.

Kim and Trump have metthree times since embarking ontheir high-stakes nuclear diplo-macy in 2018, but negotiationshave faltered since their secondsummit in February last year inVietnam, where the Americans

rejected North Korean demandsfor major sanctions relief inexchange for a partial surrenderof its nuclear capability.

Kim entered 2020 vowingto bolster his nuclear deterrentin face of “ gangster-like” U.S.Sanctions and pressure.

Choe’s statement followeda series of similar declarationsby the North that it would nolonger gift Trump with high-profile meetings he could boastof as his foreign policy achieve-ments unless it gets somethingsubstantial in return.

“ Is it possible to hold dia-logue or have any dealingswith the US which persists inthe hostile policy toward theDPRK in disregard of theagreements already made at thepast summit?” Choe said,referring to North Korea by itsformal name, the DemocraticPeople’s Republic of Korea.

“ We do not feel any need

to sit face-to-face with the U.S.,as it does not consider theDPRK-U.S. Dialogue as nothingmore than a tool for grapplingits political crisis,” she said.

Some analysts believeNorth Korea would avoid seri-ous negotiations with theUnited States at least until theNovember presidential elec-tion as there’s a chance U.S.Leadership could change.

The North in recentmonths have also been ramp-ing up pressure against SouthKorea, blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office in its ter-ritory and threatening to aban-don a bilateral military agree-ment aimed at reduce tensions.

It follows months of frus-tration over Seoul’s unwill-ingness to defy US-led sanc-tions and restart joint eco-nomic projects that wouldbreathe life into the North’sbroken economy. AP

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Mount Rushmore NationalMemorial (US): At the foot ofMount Rushmore on the eve ofIndependence Day, PresidentDonald Trump made a directappeal to disaffected white vot-ers four months before ElectionDay, accusing protesters whohave pushed for racial justice ofengaging in a “ merciless cam-paign to wipe out our history.”

The president dug furtherinto American divisions onFriday, offering a discordanttone to an electorate battered bya pandemic and wounded byracial injustice following thehigh-profile killings of Blackpeople. He zeroed in on thedesecration by some protestersof monuments and statuesacross the country that honourthose who have benefited fromslavery, including some pastpresidents. “ This movement isopenly attacking the legacies ofevery person on MountRushmore,” Trump said.

He lamented “ cancel cul-ture” and charged that some onthe political left hope to “ defameour heroes, erase our values, andindoctrinate our children.”

He said Americans shouldspeak proudly of their heritageand shouldn’t have to apologizefor its history.

“ We will not be terrorised,we will not be demeaned, andwe will not be intimidated bybad, evil people,” Trump added.

“ It will not happen.” The speech and fireworks at

Mount Rushmore came againstthe backdrop of a pandemic thathas killed over 125,000Americans. The president flewacross the nation to gather a bigcrowd of supporters, most ofthem maskless and all of themflouting public health guidelinesthat recommend not gatheringin large groups.

The discord was height-ened as the Trump campaignconfirmed during the presi-dent’s speech that KimberlyGuilfoyle, a top fundraiser forthe campaign and the girlfriendof Trump’s eldest son DonaldTrump Jr., had tested positive forthe coronavirus while in SouthDakota. AP

3��!�!�������������*�������������*�����������0������Washington: On an average

day, President Donald Trumpsends about 14 posts to the 28million Facebook followers ofhis campaign account. HisDemocratic rival, Joe Biden,delivers about half that manyposts to an audience of just 2million.

The numbers are similar-ly skewed in other spheres ofthe social media landscape.

On Twitter, Trump’s 82.4million followers dwarf Biden’s6.4 million. The president hasspent years cultivating a ragtagdigital “ army” of meme mak-ers and political influencerswho retweet campaign mes-sages hundreds of times daily.Trump is outspending Bidenon Google and YouTube adver-tising by nearly 3 to 1.

As his reelection bid facesgrowing obstacles, his prima-cy in the dizzying digital worldis one of his top advantages,giving him a massive plat-form to connect with sup-porters and push a messagethat ignores his vulnerabilitiesrelated to the pandemic,unemployment and race rela-tions.

Biden and his allies arenow working feverishly toestablish a social media forceof their own.

For the first time, Bidenoutspent Trump on Facebookadvertising in June, pouringtwice as much money into theplatform as the president. AP

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Islamabad: Washington’s envoyto Afghanistan stressedSaturday the economic benefitsof the peace deal with theTaliban, forging ahead with anagreement that has run intonew political obstacles both inthe US and regionally.

Zalmay Khalilzad waswrapping up a week-long tripthat included stops inUzbekistan, Pakistan and theGulf state of Qatar, where theTaliban negotiators are head-quartered.

The US signed a peacedeal with the Taliban inFebruary to end 19 years of warin Afghanistan.

Khalilzad has sought tostress the economic benefits ofthe peace deal throughout histour. In a series of tweets earlySaturday, the U.S. Envoy said hehad met with the QatarInvestment Authority and theTaliban’s chief negotiatorMullah Abdul Ghani, in thetiny Gulf state’s capital of Doha.

“ We agreed development

plans in support of peace cannever start too early,” Khalilzadtweeted.

However, Washington hasrecently become embroiled in

a controversy over intelligencereports that Russia was payingmoney to insurgents with linksto the Taliban to kill Americanand NATO soldiers. AP

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Hong Kong: Books written byprominent Hong Kong democ-racy activists have started todisappear from the city’slibraries, online records show,days after Beijing imposed adraconian national securitylaw on the finance hub.

Among the authors whosetitles are no longer available areJoshua Wong, one of the city’smost prominent youngactivists, and Tanya Chan, awell known pro-democracylawmaker.

Beijing’s new national secu-rity law was imposed onTuesday and is the most radi-cal shift in how the semi-autonomous city is run since itwas handed back to China byBritain in 1997.

China’s authoritarian lead-ers say the powers will restorestability after a year of pro-democracy protests, will notstifle freedoms and will onlytarget a “ very small minority”.

But it has already sent fearcoursing through a city used tospeaking openly, with policearresting people for possessingslogans pushing independenceor greater autonomy and busi-nesses scrambling to removeprotest displays.

Wong said he believed theremoval of the books wassparked by the security law.

“White terror continues tospread, the national securitylaw is fundamentally a tool toincriminate speech,” he wroteon Facebook, using a phrasethat refers to political perse-cution.

Searches on the publiclibrary website showed at leastthree titles by Wong, Chan andlocal scholar Chin Wan are nolonger available for lending atany of dozens of outlets acrossthe city.

An AFP reporter wasunable to find the titles at apublic library in the district ofWong Tai Sin on Saturdayafternoon.

The city’s Leisure andCultural Services Department,which runs libraries, said bookshad been removed while it isdetermined whether they vio-late the national security law.

“ In the process of thereview the books will not beavailable for borrowing and ref-erence,” it said.

The law targets acts ofsubversion, secession, terrorismand colluding with foreignforces. AFP

�������$����������!!����������������������Tokyo: Heavy rain in southern

Japan triggered flooding andmudslides on Saturday, leavingmore than a dozen people pre-sumed dead, about 10 missingand dozens stranded onrooftops waiting to be res-cued, officials and news reportssaid.

More than 75,000 residentsin the prefectures ofKumamoto and Kagoshimawere urged to evacuate follow-ing pounding rains overnight.The evacuation was notmandatory and it was notknown how many actually fled.

“ I smelled mud, and thewhole area was vibrating withriver water. I’ve never experi-enced anything like this,” aman in a shelter in Yatsushirocity, in western Kumamoto,told NHK TV. He said he fledearly fearing a disaster.

NHK footage showed largeareas of Hitoyoshi town inKumamoto inundated inmuddy waters that gushed outfrom the Kuma River. Manycars were submerged up totheir windows.

Mudslides smashed intohouses and floodwaters carriedtrunks from uprooted trees.Several people were standingatop a convenience store asthey waited for rescuers. AP

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Intelligence that Afghan militants might have

accepted Russian bounties forkilling American troops did notscuttle the US-Taliban agree-ment or President DonaldTrump’s plan to withdraw thou-sands more troops from thewar.

It did give critics of the dealanother reason to say theTaliban shouldn’t be trusted.

The bounty informationwas included in Trump’s pres-ident’s daily intelligence briefon Feb. 27, according to intel-

ligence officials, and two dayslater, the US and Taliban signedan agreement in Qatar.

The agreement clears theway for America to end 19years in Afghanistan and givesTrump a way to make good onhis promise to end USInvolvement in what he calls “endless wars.”

On March 3, three days after the agreement wassigned, the president had a 35-minute phone call with MullahAbdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban andhead of their political office inQatar.

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Page 8:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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Greater Noida: The GreaterNoida Authority is providingonline services for its allottees,residents, farmers andinvestors. Due to coronavirus,most of its services have beenmade online by the authority.The desiredinformation/information canbe obtained as soon as peoplesit at home.

In order of the above,online services, Mitra App,Problem Solving System,WhatsAppp and HelplineCentre are also working by theauthority.

Through which continuous

efforts are being made fortimely and timely disposal ofapplications, complaints andapplications received by theAuthority. In the order of theabove, a brief description of thesettlements made in a monththrough various online ser-vices, Mitra app etc.

A month ago, the facility ofCitizen Dash Boardwas startedunder which any person ofgeneral public, institution,intellectual and journalists, etc.can go to the above dash boardto get the desired information,information and the latest sta-tus of pending case.

And by visiting the GreaterNoida Authority’s website(https://investgnida.in/Home.aspx) can be accessed by click-ing the link titled‘Contemporary content’.Information on the following 3points/update status and pend-ing cases can be obtained byclicking on the following:

1- Mitra App2- Online Services.3- Department wise

Pendency.The new facility for gener-

al public/Greater Noida resi-dents has been started by theGreater Noida Authority.

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Coal India Ltd (CIL) andNLC India will jointly

develop solar power assets of3,000 MW with a likely invest-ment of around �12,000 crore,sources said on Saturday.

The two State-run compa-

nies had on Friday said theywould form a JV to develop5,000 MW of solar and thermalpower assets across the coun-try.”A solar JV is already inprocess of formation with aninitial capital of �10 lakh. Oncethe company is formed, therespective company boards will

decide the final contours of theproject. At present, solar capexfor each MW is around �4crore,” they said.TheGovernment plans to impose20 per cent basic customs dutyduty on imported solar panelsto boost the domestic industry,the sources said.

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The Central Government isgoing all out to ensure that

liquidity concerns of theMSME sector are addressed onpriority under its EmergencyCredit Line Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS).

As of July 1, 2020 publicsector and private banks havesanctioned loans worth over �

1.10 lakh crore under the 100per cent Emergency CreditLine Guarantee Scheme, ofwhich more than �52,000 crorehas already been disbursed.

There has been a big jumpin sanctions in the last coupleof weeks. And just in the last sixdays up to July 1 sanctions haveincreased by a whopping �10,000 crore while disburse-ment has increased by � 7,000

crore.In a tweet, office of Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamansaid: “As of July 1, the totalamount sanctioned under the100 per cent Emergency CreditLine Guarantee Scheme by#PSBs and private banks standsat �1,10,343.77 crore, of which�52,255.53 crore has alreadybeen disbursed.”

The ECLGS scheme is the

biggest fiscal component ofthe �20-lakh crore Self-ReliantIndia Mission packageannounced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanin May.To ensure that thescheme achieves its objective ofproviding adequate liquidity tothe MSME segment duringthe current difficult period, thefinance ministry has regularlyheld meetings with the banks.

A finance ministry state-ment said that banks fromboth public and private sectorhave contributed to the successof the ECLGS. Of the �52,000crore disbursement, public sec-tor banks have released �33,000 crore to about 12,59,000MSME accounts while privatebanks have disbursed �19,000crore to about 1,45,000accounts.

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While video conferencingapp, Zoom has a 40-

minute limit on group meet-ings in its basic or free plan, JioMeet, soft launched onGoogle Playstore and iOS on Thursday, has a 24-hourlimit on group meetings,absolutely free.

Based on rate card ofZoom below where $15 permonth is the charge for morethan 40 minute meeting time(which is equivalent to $180 onan annual basis) to the host. Inan apple-to-apple comparison,JioMeet is providing the samefunctionality and more, free ofcost. This translates to �13,500 of spoiler savings for ahost per year.

Zoom in a statement onJioMeet said, “Zoom has expe-rienced intense competitionsince it was established in 2011and yet we have become theplatform of choice for millions

of participants around theworld.

We know what it takes tobecome the unified communi-cations platform we are today,including the immense amountof work and focus required tocreate our frictionless userexperience, sophisticated secu-rity, and scalable architecture.”

The zero restriction ontime limit targets is disruptingthe Zoom digital experience.For instance in education,with 24-hour free JioMeet ses-sions, teachers will not berequired to cut short theirclasses as they are forced tousing Zoom. Similarly stu-dent won’t be restricted tolimit their questions and thismay enhance the learningexperience in both formal andinformal education.

Friends, alumni networksand relatives will now not needto be caught in the “tyranny of40 minutes,” the free timeallowed by Zoom runs out.

National and internation-al seminars will experiencecomplete migration a similarlimitation because without anyentry fee they can host theirresearch - and conversation canspill over beyond 40 minuteseasily for mutual benefit.

Sales demonstrations, espe-cially, say, SMEs, kiranas, willbe disrupted leading toenabling e-commerce.Likewise, brokers and any others needing constant andprolonged group video con-nectivity.

Collaborative cultural,social, musical, spiritual andevents can be held which arelivelihood source of perform-ers and continue to keep socialstructure and fabric alive.Likewise democratic events.

Besides a price tag of zero,in terms of features and func-tionality JioMeet score onadvantages. In a Zoom meet-ing, users can’t expand a par-ticipant’s video.

In JioMeet meetings userscan expand any participant’svideo or Shared Screen’s videoby a double tap.

JioMeet has 2 advancedmeeting settings over andabove Zoom options. Allowparticipants only from myorganization: If enabled onlyusers from host’s organsation(eg tcs.com or hll.com) can jointhat meeting. No potentialsnoops from other IDs.

It does not allow guestusers. If enabled every user willbe required to Sign Up beforejoining the meeting hencerestricting anonymous usersfrom joining the call.

Unlike Zoom, JioMeetusers can switch from onedevice to another withoutdropping out of the call. Zoom allows Sign Up only withEmail ID.

JioMeet allows sign upwith Email Id and mobile number.

Inside the call, Zoom

shows 4 participants at a timeon a single mobile screen (for

others, users need to scrollthrough multiple pages).

JioMeet allows 9 active partic-ipants on single mobile screen.

New Delhi: M Taj Mukarrumhas assumed the charge ofDirector (Finance) of PowerGrid Corporation of IndiaLimited (POWERGRID) on 4July, 2020. Prior to taking upthis assignment, he was work-ing as Executive Director(Finance), POWERGRID. MTaj Mukarrum has about thir-ty five years of experience inPower Sector which includesLong term Financial Planning,Financial Concurrence,CAPEX & O&M payments,vetting of Detailed ProjectReports (DPR)/Revised CostEstimates (RCE), Coordinationfor Project Financial ViabilityAppraisal by external profes-

sional Agencies forConsultancy Business Verticalincluding Smart Grid andEnergy Efficiency such asElectric Vehicle Charging (eV),Energy Audits, setting upSmart Grid CitiesInfrastructure, RailwayElectrification Projects.

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The three-day nationwidestrike by coal workers

against the Government’s deci-sion to open the sector for pri-vate players led to almost nilproduction in most of themines, and dispatch of the fuelwas totally blocked, a tradeunion leader said on Saturday.Five trade unions, includingRSS-affiliated BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh, of Coal Indiahave been on strike sinceThursday to protest againstthe government’s decision tostart commercial coal min-ing.”The three-day strike incoal industry is big success...Inmost of the mines (in all thethree days), production was niland the dispatch was totally

blocked,” Nathulal Pandey,president of HMS-affiliatedHind Khadan MazdoorFederation, said.However, aCoal India official has said thatcoal production was 4.81 lakhtonne on Thursday, which isclose to 38 per cent of the nor-mal 13 lakh tonne per day, cal-culated as average of 10 daysimmediately prior to stoppageof the operations.CILdespatched 5.78 lakh tonnes onthe first day of strike. This isaround 42 % of the normal off-take of 14 LTs/day, as perreferred calculation.A coalMinistry official said that onFriday CIL produced 5.55 lakhtonnes of coal Friday, which is42.7% of the 10 days averageproduction (from June 22 toJuly 1) of 12.969 lakh tonne.

New Delhi:Breaking all previ-ous records, NFLhas achieved high-est-ever fertilizersale of 12.85 LakhMT in first quarter(April-June) of thisfinancial year.

This is about21.5% higher thanthe sales of 10.57 LMT made bycompany in the first quarter of2019-20.

Other than significantgrowth in Urea sale, P&K fer-tilizers also recorded a growth

of 13% during the quarter. Inthe month of June’20, the com-pany sold 5.30 LMT of fertil-izers, up by 15.5% than the 4.59LMT sold in the same monthprevious year.

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With Reliance Jio launch-ing a Make in India

free video-conferencing appli-cation JioMeet that directlytakes on Zoom, the US-basedcompany said on Saturdaythey are not worried about theupcoming competition andknow what it takes to becomea successful unified commu-nications platform.

JioMeet offers enterprise-grade host control and secu-rity that and can be used for1:1 video calls and hostingmeetings with up to 100 par-ticipants. The application has

already been downloadedmore than 1,00,000 times onGoogle Play Store within notime.”Zoom has experiencedintense competition since itwas established in 2011, andyet we have become the plat-form of choice for millions ofparticipants around theworld,” the company said in astatement.”We know what ittakes to become the unifiedcommunications platform weare today, including theimmense amount of workand focus required to createour frictionless user experi-ence, sophisticated security,and scalable architecture,”

Zoom added.JioMeet has cre-ated a solid buzz in India.Other highlights in the desivideo meet app include easysign up with either mobilenumber or email ID, meetingin HD audio and video qual-ity.It offers support where theusers can click on a JioMeetinvite link and join from hisor her browser without down-loading the application.

Back-end technologyoptimises experience withHD video quality even atlower bandwidths and intu-itive and user-friendly inter-face enhances overall confer-encing experience.

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On July 3, an earthquake of mag-nitude 4.7 on the Richter scalehit Delhi-NCR. However, thiswas not the first one. Therehave been 17 earthquakes in

Delhi-NCR between the magnitudes of 3 to4.5 on the Richter Scale lately, but it is nocause for panic even though some of theselasted longer and caused a bit of worry forDelhiites. Experts say that India is highly vul-nerable to earthquakes since the entireHimalayan belt falls on the tectonic plates.But the real cause of alarm is that Delhi fallsin the Zone IV (severe intensity) of seismicactivity. This means that if an earthquake ofeven a 6 on the Richter hits the metro, mostbuildings will flatten and an unimaginablenumber of people will die.

What makes this region vulnerable isthat it has not seen any activity in over 200years and now, experts insist, a shaker is longoverdue. What’s causing them to be anxiousis that while some plates in the region haveshown some activity, the major plateswhich were locked thus far, can move anytime. This, they tell you, is like a tickingbomb. Unlike a cyclone, which can now bepredicted, there can be no forewarning foran earthquake.

Professor TG Sitharam, Director, IITGuwahati tells you that the than 10 earth-quakes in Delhi have caused panic.“Knowing the seismic history of Delhi, theoccurrence of minor earthquakes in thevicinity of Delhi is not very unusual,” he says.

Seismotectonics of the Delhi regionindicates the presence of several lineamentsand faults in the region, which are respon-sible for earthquake activity in the region.The outcrops of Alwar quartzites in southDelhi, are generally highly jointed and fold-ed. Some activity near the junction of Delhi-Hardwar ridge and the Lahore-Delhi ridge.Most of the area of Delhi is covered by allu-vium due to Yamuna river.

“Earthquakes happen in and aroundDelhi-NCR because of its several faultlines.Maybe lockdown had an impact on the peo-ple (who are at home) to feel these vibra-tions and shocks. The Indian Plate is at pre-sent moving North-east at five cm (2.0 in)per year. Due to this movement, the intrafault lines around Delhi are subjected tomovements and these shocks are verycommon. Most of these shocks are shallowfocus and very small intensity (with only thequake occurring at Rohtak was above 4which falls under the medium intensityquake). Also, note the nearest point from theMain Boundary Thrust (MBT) to Delhi isat around 200 km. The MBT is a plateboundary on which large earthquakesgreater than 7 can happen,” Sitharam

explains.The Himalayas is known for its high

seismic activities. When it shears there, theshocks travel to Delhi and can cause dam-ages. If any quake occurs in the Himalayasor even the Hindukush, the impact couldbe felt in Delhi-NCR. The 2015 Nepal earth-quake which was felt across the Indo-Gangetic belt including Delhi is one suchexample. Delhi lies on the Indo-Gangeticbelt which has sediments and these sedi-ments amplify the earthquake motion andthus its impact is much more. No one cansay when earthquakes can happen and it isnot possible to predict earthquakes. Scienceof prediction of earthquakes has not pro-gressed much, one is told.

There is a reason why India is prone todisasters like floods, cyclones and earth-quakes. The collision zone between theIndo-Australian plate and Eurasian plate inthe Northern and Northeastern part of Indiamakes it more vulnerable for hazards.Floods, cyclones and earthquakes are nat-ural hazards. When there are natural haz-ards, they can't be prevented. These natur-al hazards are termed as disasters when theyoccur in places that are heavily inhabitedareas. Factors that are manmade which willhelp in turning a hazard into a disaster.Disaster risks in India are further com-pounded by increasing vulnerabilities relat-ed to high population density, changingdemographics and construction quality.

The main reason for India being moreprone to so many hazards floods, earth-quakes and cyclones is ignorance and lackof knowledge. People are not aware of theserious effects and scale of these disastersuntil they are affected by it. People are alsocomplacent and assume that it is not goingto hit us. It is not that only India faces a largenumber of disasters and many countries facemore disasters than we do. But, India's pop-ulation and density of urban areas are themajor reason for being prone to disasters.Earthquakes do not kill people it is the build-ings. The quality of construction also playsa major role.

Interestingly, while, it is easy to map theentire Gujarat region by testing the soilstrength and the areas that have beenshowing seismic activity, it will take a longtime to do the same in North India.

“Gujarat region and Northern Indiaregion are not comparable. Seismic activi-ty is much higher in Northern India due toits close proximity to the MBT and MainCentral Thrust (MCT). Himalayas — themountain belt of complex geo-tectonicset-up stretching about 2,400 km long in anEast-West direction with variable width of230 to 320 km is formed due to the conver-

gent movement of two plates of the earth'slithosphere. The Indo-Gangetic belt and thedeposited sediments make hazards muchmore significant in this area. These alluvi-um sediments amplify the earthquakemotion and thus its impact is much morein northern India. Many microzonation pro-jects have been done in Northern Indiancities, which have mapped the seismic activ-ity and the soil shear strength profiles withdepth,” Sitharam tells you.

Very few people know that when anearthquake occurs, it is not one point butin an area of say 150 to 200 km which is con-sidered as its epicentre. The area it coversand the depth at which it occurs determinethe extent of damage. In the Hindu Kusharea, the depth is at 210 km. So, a quake herewill have little impact on life and property.Also, the farther one is from the point ofimpact, the less the damage. Usually citesthat are more than 500 km away are safe.Unfortunately, Delhi is only 250 km or soaway from the frontal Himalayan region.

India is the 13th most vulnerable coun-try to climate change in the world. As perthe National Disaster ManagementAuthority of India, 58.6 per cent of India'slandmass is prone to earthquakes; over 40million hectares (12 per cent) of its land isprone to floods and river erosion; 5,700 kmof the 7,516 km long coastline is prone tocyclones and tsunamis; 68 per cent of its cul-tivable area is vulnerable to droughts and itshilly areas are at risk from landslides andavalanches. Therefore, teams like theNational Disaster Response Force (NDRF),under the aegis of National DisasterManagement Authority, are in place.

According to Professor CP Rajendranat the geodynamics unit of the JawaharlalNehru Centre for Advanced ScientificResearch in Bengaluru the recent seismicactivity in the Capital should not lead to anycause of worry among the people becausethis kind of sequence has happened in theregion before.

“There is no need for panic. What hap-pened in Delhi-NCR is a normal activity dueto the stress that are being built due to thestructure of the faultlines. The constructionthat is happening in the Himalayas shouldbe of more concern than what happened inDelhi. The Himalayas can generate large bigearthquakes and places in Delhi-NCR canbe impacted but it should not lead to panic,”Rajendran says.

He tells you that the sequences of eventsthat took place in the area may not neces-sarily lead to bigger earthquakes and the rea-son why Delhi is vulnerable is because outthe city’s proximity to the Himalayas.

“The reason why our country makes it

prone to disasters due though floods,cyclones and typhoons are due to climate butearthquakes are caused due to shift in plates.But yes, due to our positioning, we are inthe middle of the ocean and changes in theoceans due to global warming makes usmore vulnerable. As for earthquakes, againwe are more prone to them due to theHimalayas,” Rajendran tells you.

He says because we have had a historyof earthquakes, we today, have more instru-ments that can help us better understand andstudy earthquakes especially after Latur dis-aster. But whether, on is better prepared,especially whether Delhi is prepared is notvery clear. “We must take a leaf out of whatJapan and Taiwan have done — learnt to livewith earthquakes. There is need for publicawareness and education and also in termsof building proper structures. This can’t bedone in one day. It is a continuous processand should be built into and collapse sys-tem where people should be made aware tobring down casualties and collapse ofbuildings. For the already constructedbuildings, one must strengthen them,”Rajendran says.

Also, where the country is lacking arethe doers. One is told that while we have thetheoretical aspect down to a perfect T, thepracticalities need to be worked on. Whatis on paper needs to trickle down to the peo-ple at the grassroots level with required train-ing so that they are able to carry out the dis-aster instructions and rescue operations.

What is missing is the last link that ofconnectivity. It has been found that duringa disaster, the local administration has large-ly been unable to give the exact location tothe Air Force to drop food packages, lead-ing to a delay in trying to find out the lon-gitude and latitude of the maximum dam-age area.

According to Sitharam the solution liesin understanding our buildings subjected toearthquakes not really earthquakes. It isimportant to put an emphasis on sensitis-ing people and taking precautionary mea-sures. “There is a strong need to prepare thecommunity for earthquake disaster.Earthquakes don’t kill, it is the buildings thatdo. Thus, awareness on earthquake resistantdesign and earthquake preparedness isimportant to the community at large and itis critical to prepare the community for aneventuality,” he says.

Also, earthquake preparedness is not apart of the public consciousness even in thevulnerable regions of India. There aremany things that individuals and commu-nities residing in seismically active regionscan do that will reduce the havoc and lossduring a quake. These steps can be a com-

plementary measure, alongside other activ-ities that focus on the overall developmentof the community; with a team spirit. Thereis a need to bring this spirit of togethernessand solidarity well before a disaster so thata community can be prepared well to facethe disaster and thus reduce the loss of lifeand properties.

Dr Kalachand Sain, director, WadiaInstitute of Himalayan Geology in DehraDun tells you that there is no way thatonecan predict when the next earthquakewill hit nor can we predict what will be themagnitude.

“The Delhi-NCR is a path throughwhich the strain energy needs to come out.Without a path, it won’t happen. Due to theweak zones and faults and paths in thisregion, there is activity. Since, we have nothad a major activity in a long time, there isa chance that the energy may release. Butthere is no way earthquakes in this area canbe predicted. In order to predict we needthree things — epicentre, magnitude andwhen. This is not possible. We can only haveconjectures based on studies,” Sain explains.What can be said with certainty is that thereis a lot of strain energy in this region.

“If say 4 magnitude energy has beenreleased, it doesn’t mean that all energy hasexpanded because this area has also seenstrain energy release of 6 magnitude in thepast. For an earthquake of 6 on the RichterScale to occur, to release that amount ofenergy we need 1,000 earthquakes to releasethat much energy. Till now, this region hasseen 17 earthquakes but still there is no accu-rate prediction that is at work here. We makethese calculations on the basis of what hastaken place in the past,” Sain says.

The kind of disaster that will take placewill depend on the kind of energy that willbe released. Also, the destruction willdepend on the depth of the epicentre. If theepicentre is at 32 km with magnitude of 6the destruction will be less as compared todisaster that will occur at a depth of 5 kmof the same magnitude. The shallower ener-gy release will have a greater impact andthere is no way that the surface will not beaffected and besides building collapse,there will be cracks on the surface as well.

“There are three things that we can saywith certainty. First, Delhi is vulnerable.Second, we can tell up to what depth theearthquake can occur only after a thoroughin-depth study. Third, we can’t predict theamount of strain that will be released but wecan find out the lelve of strain but it does-n’t help to predict the earthquake. Thoughthere is some study and maybe with tech-nological advancement we may be able topredict them in the future,” Sain says.

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West Indies coach PhilSimmons says his team

will have to avoid early debacleswhich have often affected itsoverseas campaigns and takeinspiration from the 2017Headingley Test win to start thethree-match series againstEngland on the front foot.

A batting failure saw WestIndies lose the opening matchagainst England in Birminghamby an innings and 209 runs dur-ing their last Test tour in 2017.But they staged a remarkablecomeback in the second Test,chasing down 322 to record afive-wicket win in Headingley.

“We are drawing on that.The Test match beforeHeadingley we were horribleand that seems to be like thatmost times we go on tour. Weare trying to make sure that badmatch is taken out of the equa-tion and we start properly,”Simmons said during theCricket, on the Inside webinar.

“We are playing againstone of the best test teams inthe world and we need to starton the front foot. We’re tryingto bring back memories ofHeadingley and get the psy-chology right.”

The three-match Test series,which will mark the resumptionof International cricket follow-ing the coronavirus-forcedbreak, begins at Agaes bowl inSouthamption in a bio-secureenvironment on July 8.

The West Indies team has aworld class pace attack featuringthe likes of Kemar Roach,Alzarri Joseph, Shannon Gabriel,Chemar Holder and OshaneThomas but it is their battingthat has not been able to live upto expectations.

The 57-year-old Simmonssaid the batting unit is trying toget into the best mental stateahead of the series.

“I think the batters haveworked hard on getting to amental stage of where they needto be because most of them have

scored runs here,” he said.“(Shai) Hope has got back-

to-back hundreds here. It’sabout getting to the mentalstage where you are preparedfor a Test match in England,because it’s different to manyother places.

“The next three days of

practice is about sharpeningup the skills. But mentality isthe big thing.”

The Test series will beheld behind closed doors dueto Covid-19 pandemic andSimmons said it might affect afew seniors but for most itwon’t be an issue to play with-

out spectators.“I think maybe ... The

senior guys it might affect afew of them because they areused to sold-out matches inEngland. But in the Caribbeanthere’s not much crowds forTest so we are kind of accus-tomed to that,” he said.

����"������� Wicket-keeperJonny Bairstow and spin bowl-ing all-rounder Moeen Ali wereon Saturday left out of England’s13-man squad for the first ‘bio-secure’ Test against West Indies,starting July 8.

Ben Stokes will lead the sideand the squad features pacersJames Anderson, Stuart Broad,Jofra Archer and Mark Wood inaddition to all-rounders Stokesand Chris Woakes.

In the spin department,England have gone withDominic Bess. Jack Leach hasbeen left out of the main squadand is among reserves.

The most Notable omis-sions from the 30-man trainingsquad include Bairstow andMoeen.

Bairstow’s position in theside had first become uncertainin 2019 after a prolonged run oflow scores. He was initially leftout of England’s squad for theirtour of New Zealand but wasable to find a spot due to injuryto Joe Denly.

Bairstow then got a spot onthe tour of South Africa butscored only ten runs in twoinnings of the one Test heplayed. That left him with a tally

of only 334 runs in 2019 at anaverage of 18.55.

Moeen took a break fromred-ball cricket after beingdropped from England’s set upmid-way through the Ashes. Hewent wicket-less his first bowl-ing innings in the warm-upmatch and picked up two wick-ets in the second, but Bess andLeach both got more wickets.SQUAD: Ben Stokes (c), JamesAnderson, Jofra Archer,Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad,Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk),Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, OlliePope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakesand Mark Wood. PTI

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Australia pacer JoshHazlewood says his team

prefers to “stay clear of engage-ment” with Indian captain ViratKohli whenever he is batting asit brings out the best in him.

Hazlewood and his provenpace colleagues will be upagainst the Kohli-led Indianteam if its upcoming tour ofAustralia goes on as scheduled.

Speaking on Star Sportsshow Cricket Connected,Hazlewood talked about bowl-ing to Kohli.

“We try to probably stayclear of engagement, obviously.I think that was fully evidentthroughout the (last Test) series(in 2018),” Kohli said.

“I think he likes to get in thattussle and it probably brings outthe best in him, especially whenhe’s batting, that was always ano-go-zone for the bowlers.”

However, the ploy is notquite the same when Kohli isleading the team out on thefield, according to Hazlewood.

“I think it’s a different caseif the guys are batting and he’s

in the field, you know they canget him engaged there andsort of work him out a little bitif possible.

“...But certainly when hewas batting, it was just leavinghim to his own devices, andhopefully, we get him in a bitof a switched off mood andtake advantage of that,” thepacer said, referring to theplanned upcoming engage-ments.

During the show,

Hazlewood also said thatCheteshwar Pujara is the oneplayer who wears down thebowlers with his workman-likeapproach to batting.

“Pujara will grind youdown and make you work forhis wicket, he really puts a priceon his wicket and we saw thatlast time in Australia.”

Kohli’s men are scheduledto tour Australia for a four-Testseries, beginning on December3 at Brisbane.

(����� Jaipur shall soonbe getting one of thelargest cricket stadiumsin the world, with a seat-ing capacity to accom-modate around 75,000spectators.

The world-classgreen stadium shall havemodern grand pavilionstands, corporate boxes,plush sports field, mod-ern club house and manyother world class featuresfor indoor games andsports training facilities,said Rajasthan CricketAssociation (RCA)Secretary MahendraSharma. He added thatthe stadium will bespread over 100 acres ofland.

“The land has beenfinalised in Chonp vil-lage, 25 km from Jaipuron the Jaipur-DelhiHighway and the con-struction is expected tobegin in the next fourmonths,” he added.

Sharma said thatthose coming to the sta-dium, including playersas well as the audience,would get world-classfacilities. There would beflood lights installed in

accordance to the ICCguidelines, with mod-ern pressbox for mediaand broadcast.

A parking facility toaccommodate around4,000 vehicles would bemade in the stadium.

Sharma informedthat this will be the thirdlargest stadium after theMotera Stadium inAhmedabad and theMelbourne CricketGround in Australia.While Motera has a seat-ing capacity of 1.10 lakh,the MCG can accommo-date 1.02 lakh spectators.

The stadium wouldfurther accommodatetwo practice groundswhich can be used forRanji Trophy matches.Also, there will be tworestaurants, 30 practicenets for players and apress conference roomwith a seating capacity of250.

The stadium wouldbe constructed in twophases; first phase to bedeveloped with 45,000seating capacity whilethe second would have aseating capacity of30,000. IANS

������"� A full trainingcamp for boxers is likely tostart on August 1 at theNational Institute of Sport(NIS) in Patiala, accordingto men’s boxing HighPerformance DirectorSantiago Nieva. NISallowed the boxers toreturn to the facility and onFriday, the first batch con-sisting of 13 men and threewomen arrived.

While boxers weresent away to their respec-tive homes before the firstlockdown was declared onMarch 25, Nieva has beenstuck at NIS for threemonths now. Uncertaintyover how he would get tohis native Sweden and howhe would get back to Indiain time for a national camp,whenever it was held,meant that Nieva ended upstaying put in Patiala.

“I have not seen mywife and daughters for sixmonths. They were sup-posed to come in Marchbut that was not possibleand I was supposed to gothere in May or June whichwas also not possible,”Nieva said. “But this is avery extreme situation andwe just have to (deal) withit. At some point this willhopefully end and I will be

able to go.”Nieva said that there

have been conversationswith the BFI about poten-tially going back home.“But the situation was verydifficult. There were noflights and we also wantedto start the camp in June.I want to start the campbefore I go over therebecause it is possible thatonce I go I won’t be able toreturn,” he said.

While his wards aretrickling back into the facil-ity, Nieva cannot meet anyof them yet as they have tofirst go through theirmandatory self-isolationperiod. “Before the lock-down we sent all the box-ers home. Now the boxersare coming back, the first

batch of 13 men and threewomen have arrived. I can-not meet any of them forthe next one week at least.There are more to come inthe coming weeks,” he said.

In keeping with theSAI Standard OperatingProcedures (SOP) for theresumption of training, theboxers arriving at NIS arethose in the mix for theTokyo Olympics. “Formore people to join and getready it will take a mini-mum of two weeks. So Iwould be very happy if wecan start a camp by August1. We believe that weshould be able to startsomething before August 1maybe even from July 15.

“But I know that (thesituation is such that) you

say one date and then thenext week, it gets changed.So I won’t speculate on thedates. We will try to getthem all here in the nexttwo three weeks but it’sokay if that is also post-poned by one or two weeksbecause there is nourgency. There are nocompetitions right now sowe have time. But yes, ifthey are here by August 1it will be good,” he said.

Contact trainingbetween the pugilistsseems an unlikely prospectfor the foreseeable future.SAI’s SOP states that spar-ring and even use of a ringwill not be permitted.However, considering thefact that Nieva believesthe first thing they wouldneed to do is get the box-ers down to their normalweights, the lack of spar-ring is not a big worry atthe moment.

“The biggest thing isthat some boxers havegained weight. They areabove their normal weightwhich is expected in thissport. So we will have to getthem to come down totheir proper weight first. AsI said, there is a lot of timeso no urgency of any kind,”he said. IANS

Windies must draw on Headingley spirit: Simmons

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England middle-order bats-man Ollie Pope says the

absence of spectators in the firstTest against the West Indies willnot lessen the team’s intensity.

The three-Test series willbe played behind close doorsdue to the Covid-19 pandem-ic. The second and third Testwill be held in Manchester(July 16-20 and July 24-28).

“When we have big crowdsin and the Barmy Army arehere it is amazing but we’ll stillbe playing Test cricket and it’sstill the pinnacle,” Pope saidafter England’s intra-squadwarm-up game.

“Even if there’s not a singleperson in the crowd it’s stillwhat we all dreamed of doing.There will still be the samenerves in the morning becauseso much rides on it. When thatTest match starts up, crowd orno crowd, you are going to bereally up for it.”

The 22-year-old right-handed batsman said playingwithout spectators doesn’t affectthe quality of cricket.

“Whether we are going toplay a bit of music out of thespeakers I’m not sure but we

can find ways of creating ourown atmosphere I’m sure.We’ve got to find a way to dothat when we get on top orwhen we need a bit of energy.”

Pope said the intensity ofthe intra-squad three-daywarm-up game at the AgeasBowl here has put the team inthe right direction ahead of theopening Test.

The practice game betweenTeam Stokes and Team Buttlerended in a draw on the finalday on Friday. Pope made 55

not out in Team Buttler’s sec-ond innings to go with his 25in the first.

“The quality of competi-tion going on out there wasreally high-class throughoutthe three days. I think we’re get-ting there. We’re all moving theright direction,” Pope said afterthe game.

“I felt pretty good in thefirst innings, and it was nice tospend a bit more time out theretoday. We’re all moving in theright direction.”

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Manchester United poweredinto fourth place in thePremier League with a 5-2

rout of struggling Bournemouth,while Leicester got back on track ina 3-0 win against Crystal Palace onSaturday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sideboosted their bid to qualify for nextseason’s Champions League thanks toa swaggering display at Old Trafford.

Marcus Rashford, AnthonyMartial, Bruno Fernandes and MasonGreenwood, who netted twice, wereall on the scoresheet to lift United onepoint above fifth placed Chelsea.

Third placed Leicester are threepoints above United as the racereach Europe’s elite club competitionhots up.

United have won their last fourgames in all competitions, scoring 13goals in the process.

They were rocked in the 16thminute when Junior Stanislas gaveBournemouth a shock lead.

Stanislas’ initial effort wasblocked but he cleverly nutmeggedHarry Maguire on the touchline andshot past David De Gea at his nearpost.

United hit back 13 minutes laterwhen Greenwood finished off aflowing break for his 14th goal thisterm.

Fernandes picked out the 18-year-old on the edge of the area andhis strike raced past Bournemouthkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

United doubled their lead in the35th minute after Adam Smith waspenalised for handball in the area.

Rashford converted the spot-kick for his 20th club goal of the sea-son.

Martial joined the party in firsthalf stoppage-time.

Cutting in from the left, theFrench striker beat Ramsdale with asuperb curling effort fromthe edge of the area.

Martial and Rashfordboth now have 20 goals in allcompetitions this season —the first time a United pairhave managed that sinceDimitar Berbatov and JavierHernandez in the 2010-11campaign.

Eric Bailly gave Bournemouthbrief hope when he conceded apenalty just four minutes after com-ing on as a half-time substitute.

The United defender’s handballwas ruled by VAR to be just inside thearea and Josh King scored the spot-

kick. Solskjaer’s men were unfazedand Greenwood restored their two-goal cushion five minutes later as heshot into the top corner after eludedDiego Rico.

Fernandes capped another influ-ential display when the Portugal

playmaker bent a powerfulfree-kick beyond Ramsdalein the 59th minute.

FOXES WIN 3-0At the King Power

Stadium, Leicester wentahead five minutes into thesecond half thanks to a mis-take from Palace keeper

Vicente Guaita.Marc Albrighton and Ayoze

Perez combined to pick out YouriTielemans and when the Belgianswung a cross into the six-yard box,Kelechi Iheanacho poked home afterGuaita failed to collect.

Jamie Vardy bagged his 100thPremier League goal in the 77thminute, the striker becoming the 29thplayer to reach the milestone as hetapped in Harvey Barnes’ pass.

Vardy struck again in the 90thminute as Leicester won for the firsttime in five games.

Norwich manager Daniel Farkeconceded his side are heading for rel-egation after Trossard fired Brightonto a 1-0 win at Carrow Road.

Trossard netted in the first halfto move Brighton nine points clear ofthe relegation zone before the bulk ofthe weekend’s matches.

Brighton’s second win in fourgames since the restart puts them inposition beat the drop, but the pictureis much bleaker for Norwich.

With five matches left, Norwichare seven points from safety after los-ing all five games following the coro-navirus hiatus.

Farke knows Norwich’s chancesof avoiding an immediate return tothe Championship are almost over,especially with games against Chelseaand Manchester City still to come.

“It was more or less our lastchance to get back in the mix and weare disappointed,” he said.

“After a few losses, we don’thave the right to make any fightingmessages or to make any unrealisticclaims.”

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Legendary Chinese shuttler Lin Dan,the first men’s singles player to retain

the Olympic title, on Saturdayannounced his retirement, bringingdown curtains on a two-decade longillustrious career.

Considered as one of the greatestplayers in history, the two-timeOlympic champion, popularly knownas Super Dan, announced his retirementon China’s Twitter-like site Weibo.

“From 2000 to 2020, after 20 years,I have to say goodbye to the nationalteam. It is very difficult to say it outloud,” the 36-year-old, who had claimedGold medals at the 2008 and 2012Olympics, wrote.

“Being 37 years old, my physicalcondition and injuries no longer allowme fight alongside my teammates.There is gratitude, reluctance and frus-tration. In the days to come, I hope tospend more time with my family, andI will also look for a new ‘competition’,”

he said, according to Xinhua.He said he dedicated everything to

the sport he loved.

“After going through four Olympiccycles, I have never thought about leav-ing, nor would I want to think aboutit. ‘Persistence’ is the word I toldmyself in every suffering moment inorder to keep my career longer.

“Rather than simply pursuingrankings as a young shuttler, I’m chal-lenging my physical limits as an ‘old’athlete under the sports spirit of nevergiving up.”

During his glorious career, Lin Danhas also won five World Championshiptitle and six All England championcrowns. Lin, who had something of a

“bad boy” reputation during hisyounger days and has several tattoos,ends with 666 singles wins and a glutof medals.

“My thanks also go to my excellent‘opponents’ who inspired me,” he said.

Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei,who had retired just over a year ago,paid glowing tribute to Lin Dan,against whom he had raged many epicbattles with the two dominating theInternational stage for more than adecade.

“We knew this day would arrive,Heavy moment of our lives; You pulleddown the curtain gracefully, You wereking where we fought so proudly; Yourfinal wave all four disappear, Within thehush of silent tear. #lindan,” Chong Weiwrote on his Twitter handle.

Lin Dan had struggled in the lastphase of his career, with his world rank-ing plummeting to 19 and it would havebeen difficult for him to qualify forTokyo Olympics ahead of compatriotsShi Yuqi and Chen Long.

����"� Bayern Munich’s Spainmidfielder Thiago Alcantara isset to leave the Bundesligaside in the close season becausehe wants a new challenge, theclub’s CEO Karl-HeinzRummenigge has said.

The 29-year-old, whojoined Bayern in 2013 fromBarcelona for 25 million euros($28.12 million), has sinceplayed 230 games and wonseven league titles with theGerman champions.

“A top man on and off thepitch. We negotiated with himin a serious way and fulfilled allhis wishes. But it now seemsthat he wants to do somethingnew for one more time,”Rummenigge told Bild in aninterview on published onFriday.

Thiago’s deal with Bayernends next season and

Rummenigge said they hadno choice but to sell the play-er as they did not want to lethim go without receiving atransfer fee.

“We do not want to loseany player without any moneynext year,” he explained.

Bayern manager HansiFlick had said earlier on Fridaythat he hoped Thiago wouldstay at the Munich club.

Media reports have linkedThiago with a move toLiverpool. Agencies

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Alvaro Morata scored twice tohelp Atletico Madrid to a 3-

0 win over relegation-hauntedMallorca on Friday and stretchtheir unbeaten La Liga run to 12games.

The victory consolidatedtheir third place on 62 points tostay well on course for a returnto the Champions League nextseason.

Morata opened the scoringfrom the penalty spot in the 25thminute. He had been fouled byAleksandar Sedlar but then sawhis spot-kick saved by ManoloReina.

However, a Mallorcan play-er had encroached in the penal-ty area and Morata made nomistake with his second attempt.

“Missing and then gettingback up and trying again is partof football,” Morata said aboutthe penalty.

The striker added a secondgoal just before the break.

Ideally set-up by MarcosLlorente, he prodded the ball

into an empty net.Koke, with a deflected shot,

put away the third goal forAtletico in the 76th minute.

Atletico next visit Celta onTuesday, while Mallorca host12th-placed Levante onThursday.

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Gianluigi Buffon set a newSerie A appearances record

on Saturday as Juventus beatTorino 4-1 in the Turin derby tomove seven points clear at thetop of the table.

The 42-year-old goalkeep-er Buffon passed the previousrecord of 647 appearances hejointly held with AC Milangreat Paolo Maldini as he start-ed the game at the AllianzStadium.

Cristiano Ronaldo wasamong the scorers, becomingthe first Juve player to score 25Serie A goals in a season in 59years, as Maurizio Sarri’s menmoved further clear of second-placed Lazio, who host in-formAC Milan later on Saturday.

Buffon, who spent last sea-son at French club Paris Saint-Germain before rejoining Juvethis term, signed a one-yearcontract extension earlier thisweek.

It was the eighth Serie Aappearance this campaign forBuffon, with Polish interna-tional Wojciech Szczesny usu-ally the defending champions’number one.

The record comes 25 yearsafter Buffon made his Serie Adebut for Parma and 19 yearsafter he first signed for Juventus.

The hosts wasted little timein taking the lead as PauloDybala put them ahead in thethird minute with an excellentindividual goal, collecting JuanCuadrado’s pass before jinkingpast two defenders and firing aleft-footed shot into the roof ofthe net.

The advantage was doubledjust before the half-hour markas Ronaldo charged forward

before laying the ball off forCuadrado to drill a low driveinto the bottom corner.

Torino gave themselveshope when Andrea Belottiscored a penalty past Buffon inthe sixth minute of first-halfinjury-time.

Simone Verdi was deniedan equaliser early in thesecond half by the lines-man’s flag, but Ronaldoput the game to bed inthe 61st minute with abrilliant free-kick.

It was the first timethe five-time Ballon d’Or win-ner had scored a free-kick inSerie A and it was his 25thleague goal of the campaign,making the Portuguese the firstJuventus player to achieve thatfeat since Omar Sivori in the1960-61 season.

Juve were not done thereand made it four with threeminutes remaining as Torinodefender Koffi Djidji put

through his own net.Torino remain 15th in the

table, six points above the rele-gation zone with eight matchesto play.

ATALANTA FACE CAGLIARIAtalanta travel to mid-table

Cagliari on Sunday on a seven-match league winningstreak while Napoli hostRoma with both teamshoping to hold off thoseeyeing their places in theEuropa League.

Gennaro Gattuso’s sidewill surely be favourites againsta Roma side whose perfor-mance against Udinese waswidely reported as beingdescribed “shameful” by clubpresident James Pallotta.

On the pitch Roma havewon just six of their 16 match-es in all competitions and coachPaulo Fonseca admitted he was“worried” about his team fol-lowing Thursday’s awful display.

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Valtteri Bottas sur-vived a high-speed

spin as he upstagedMercedes team-mateLewis Hamilton with asizzling display onSaturday to claim poleposition for Sunday’sdelayed season-openingAustrian Grand Prix.

The Finnish driveroutpaced the six-timechampion with a bestlap in qualifying in oneminute and 2.939 sec-onds and then survivedan ‘off ’ into the graveland a spin on his finallap to remain 0.012 sec-onds clear of the Briton.

It was Bottas’ thirdpole at the AustrianGrand Prix and the 12thof his career, a feat thatfollowed Hamilton’sclean sweep of the threepractice sessions onFriday and Saturdaymorning.

“It feels really good— I’ve missed this feel-ing,” said Bottas.

“The qualifyingshakes! It’s somethingspecial when you pushthe car to the limit andI’ve been waiting for along time — we seem tobe in our own league.”

Hamilton said: “A

great job by Valtteri andit’s a great start to theseason. I think we showyear on year that we arethe best team — becausewe are open-minded,keep with the times andnobody is too stubbornto admit they arewrong.”

Max Verstappenwas third for Red Bull,half a second adrift ofthe two newly-painted‘black arrows’ carswhose dominating per-formance delivered a65th front row lock outfor the team, equallingFerrari’s record.

“I’m happy to beP3,” said Verstappen.“But we have a differenttyre — so it’s going to beinteresting.”

Lando Norris wasan impressive fourth forMcLaren ahead of AlexAlbon in the secondRed Bull and SergioPerez who was sixth inRacing Point’s ‘pinkMercedes’.

Charles Leclerc wasa disappointed seventhfor Ferrari ahead of hisfuture team-mate CarlosSainz in the secondMcLaren, Lance Stroll inthe second Racing Pointand Daniel Ricciardo ofRenault.

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‘KING’ DAN�In an eight year span between 2006and 2014, Lin waltzed to virtuallyevery major final he took part in,including five Worlds, two Olympicsand two Asian Games Golds.�Lin became the first badmintonplayer to seal the sport’s Super GrandSlam by winning all nine of itsmajor titles in 2011.

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Page 12:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

�From California to Mumbai,that is a long journey. How hasit been so far?

I never expected any of thisto happen. It has been a won-derful so far. In the US, two percent of the actors can make a liv-

ing out of it. I am one of the luckyones to be doing this. This sort of

recognition that I get in India issomething that I would never got

here in the US. My one character thatshot be to fame, I can literally walk intopeople’s apartments and they will offer

me tea and coffee since they havea con-

nection with that role. It has been a greatlearning experience. I have learnt Hindi,not a lot but enough.�When you did 3 idiots, did you thinkthat Chatur would be become so popu-lar?

Absolutely, I thought I would be thebest (laugh). Actually, that is incorrect. Ihad no idea. I think of 3 Idiots as a movieequivalent to one starring Will Smith anddirected by Martin Scorsese. I can nowthink back and say, okay I was in a filmwith Aamir Khan that was directed byRajkumar Hirani. Even today, I wonderhow I could have been so popular in thatmovie. I was focused on the character sinceI had no expectation. I thought it wouldbe only Bollywood film that I would getso why not give it my best.�Has comedy genre changed in India?

We have had slapstick and sexcomedies. But over the years therehave been changes; it has to change.The market (young people) is con-suming global content, their sensi-bilities are changing. The back-ground noise that is associated withcomedy, they are loud and are being

done away with. Disruption of OTTplatforms is allowing different stories

to come in. This is allowing for differ-ent kind of comedy to come in.�Actor, director, editor, writer, TV pre-senter, which role do you prefer?

They are all enjoyable and excitingrole. I love being in the room. Being partof doing something creative gets megoing every day. Acting is fun, but it is anelitist role where you sit around and takeall the credit. The work can be tough if therole is challenging. What challenges me osthe things that scare me. That is why I amnot doing too many Bollywood films oract. I don’t want to chase money but wantto grow. Hence, I keep doing differentthings.�What made you say yes to Metro Park?

The series is about a Gujarati familyliving in Metro Park in the US; a man whois married into a Gujarati family and howhe is about to have children and how hefeels. In real life into a married into aGujarati family and they are extremelyGujarati and I am not. The expectationthat you have when one is around theextended family, all this spoke to me andhad to take up the role.�What is the best thing about this spe-cial series?

If you are watching TV at present, onecan’t relate to them given what is hap-pening around us. Comedy series that youwatch where friends hugging or going outto lunch can be funny but they are notsince you can’t do these things anymore.This special mini-series is a mirror intoour lives and how they are struggling.When the makers ran this idea with us,

we immediately said yes because wewanted to be part of something that peo-ple can relate to.�What were the challenges that cameyour way while shooting for it underlockdown?

It was tough. My cameraman (mywife) has no experience on how to shootbut she did it any ways. We did it on hersmartphone. I have small kids who makenoise all the time. Quiet on the sets wastough to achieve. We also had to ensurecontinuity, ensure we changed our clothesto show different days and the backgroundand the setting had to be changed as well.As actors we take all this for granted andwe sit in our trailer. Doing this series washumbling on how much goes into mak-ing a scene. We think it is us but the truthis we are just the icing on the cake.�What next?

Even during this lockdown, I amdoing something. All that we can do issend some message and work with copywriters and wrote a video in the avatar thatI am famous for on Insta that talk aboutwhat we should doing in during this time.At present, it is not about me or my careerbut about the society and how we can getthrough these tough times. I am devel-oping some projects, some for the US. Iam in talks for a TV show for India. Iputting my work out there and hope some-body will pick it up.

You are dying out of boredom.You unlock your phone only toopen TikTok to spend or par-ticularly waste a good two

hours on the app watching other peo-ple dance to some random song or lipsync to some of the most famousBollywood films’ dialogues or just to getsome cheap thrills watching the gully’sKabir Singh proposing to his Preeti.

All this now sound a bit too old,since all the Chinese apps are under theGovernment’s scanner. From everyone’sgo-to scanning app Cam Scanner toyouth’s favourite pastimes like TikTok,Helo and Likee and to UC Browser, allthe leading Chinese applications arepaying the price of the Galwan valleyclash. However, the Government’s banon these applications seems like a bless-ing in disguise for the Indian app devel-opers. While the ban did upset some ofthe TikTok stars who had a colossalamount of followers which is now atstake, many of them seemed to havesuffered huge losses in their earnings.

Vishal Pandey, a member of theTeen Tigada group, famous for mak-ing short dance videos on the app saysthe ban did hit them at that verymoment. “We did not see this coming.When the ban was announced,Sameeksha Sud, Bhavin Bhanushaliand I were on a conference call. It didhit us because we were making videoson the platform for a few years now. Weused to wake up, make videos and editthem. It was a full circle for us. It didrequire a lot of hard work and efforts.Not only us, but everyone who hadbeen there on the app must have feltthe same. But, having said that I am infull support of the Government's deci-sion. There is nothing more importantthan my country,” Pandey tells you.

He adds that it is an interim banand we need to wait for further dis-closure on this. “I want to clarify thatthis is not a permanent ban. There aretalks going on and the Government willgive us clarification on the same.However, this ban has definitely takenaway the earnings of many TikTok starswho don’t have an alternative as of now.Though YouTube, Facebook andInstagram are there, it is not easy foreveryone to attract eyeballs on theseplatforms. The impact felt muchstronger because people were alreadylosing jobs because of COVID-19. Ifthe ban would have come after thingscame back to normal, it wouldn’t havemade much of a difference. For us, wedidn't suffer major losses because weare engaged in doing other things aswell, but some people have suffered alot. But as they say talent always findsa way and so these people will,” he tellsyou.

Amid all this, a lot of Indian alter-natives are also popping up likeChingari and Mitron TV to name afew. “I haven’t used any app yet.However, I am reading the reviewsabout some of these apps and peopleare finding a lot of bugs. I don't want

to name any particular app but we needa lot of developments. Also investingin these apps will be a good idea keep-ing in mind the likes of the youth,”Pandey says.

But many people were quick toswitch to the Mitron TV app, so muchso that the daily traffic jumped up bymore than 11 times just after the oneday of the ban. And that it has becomeone of the most downloaded apps inIndia during the last two months.

Not only the TikTok fanatics, butthe ban had also upset the ones whoare always on a shopping spree becauseShein and Club Factory were also aChinese product. More so, because theapps had a variety of clothing rangingfrom a size S to a 5XL, which is hardto find in that easy.

“I had ordered two tops from Sheinbefore the ban, just when I was aboutto return them because of their fit, theban was announced. Now I have to usethem anyway,” a 30-year-old Mumbairesident, Madhvi Pandey tells you, who

is now preferring to switch to Indianbrands for her retail therapy.

Another disheartened shopaholic,who had returned her order on Sheina few days before the ban, is now wait-

ing for her refund in despair. “I don’tknow whether I will get the amountback or not,” says Mumbai-basedNabanita Guha.

In the list of the 59 applications,another widely used one is SHAREit.And all of us might have had thatapplication on our mobiles because itwas on the priority list of our dukanwalas for some reason and they shiedaway from downloading it in all the cellphones that they used to sell.

Such is the case with Amit Pandey,senior scriptwriter at Cosmos Maya.“When I bought the phone, SHAREitwas among the few pre-installed appsby the shopkeeper. Since then, I hadbeen using it to transfer files betweendevices but later uninstalled it afterhearing so many cases of data theft andsnooping by mobile applications. Quickresearch helped me find alternate appslike Files by Google, ShareAll,Superbeam and others but later Iswitched back to the old and reliablestyle of file sharing — Bluetooth — to

nullify any chances of snooping or datatheft. Though Bluetooth transfer is alittle slow but completely safe. I feel itis ok to be old school rather than hav-ing some stranger looking at my per-sonal data,” he says.

Since the ban, switching to Indian-origin apps has become the new normand the ongoing movements like#MakeInIndia and #VocalForLocalwill get the much needed push.

“India is currently witnessing atense situation with China, however,the decision to ban Chinese applica-tions is a welcome move. It gives a mes-sage that we have to preach and prac-tice, the concept of AtmanirbharBharat for our country’s growth.Moreover, this decision opens up greatopportunities for the IT MSME sector.They can work on developing appli-cation software similar or better. It willact as a catalyst in boosting the greatereconomic condition of the country,”says RP Yadav, Chairman & ManagingDirector, Genius Consultants Ltd.

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�What is Corona Ki Adalat about?It is a fictional courtroom drama enacted in animation to

engage and educate people about the stigma, prejudices and mythsrelated to COVID-19. These are short 90 second films, populat-ed with very interesting characters and deals with a fresh topiceach time.�How did the idea to make the animation come from?

Since we were all in lockdown and confined to our homes,we could not shoot with live actors and in studios or locations.This was the best option we had under the circumstances.�From directing theatre and musicals to animation, how wasthe experience?

Initially, I was very reluctant and unsure as this was unchart-ed territory for me. However, as I got engaged with my writer IqbalRaj and the animators at Doublex studios, I got more comfort-able and excited, because the fundamentals of storytelling remainsimilar to theatre and cinema. It just needs to be adapted to a newmedium. The first step was clarity of concept, quirky charactersand unusual cases to be resolved. Once we had worked out all thesein detail, the writing and animation took over.�How did you come on board for directing the animationvideos?

I have been collaborating with Population Foundation Of India(PFI)f or the last eight years on various projects, notably the land-mark television series Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon which hasset a new benchmark for entertainment education. They had a man-date to create communication material around the pandemic andthey approached me to come on board. I am extremely gratefulto them for giving me this opportunity to make a meaningful con-tribution.�Will you be looking at similar projects in the future?

I am quite excited about the possibilities and challenges oftelling compelling and highly entertaining stories through ani-mation. Yes, I am quite hooked on to it and maybe do more pro-jects.�Things are not back to normal but are you working on a the-atrical?

At the moment I am not working on any new theatre projects.�How did you collaborate with PFI for this project?

The PFI wanted me to create communication material com-prising films and other postings on different digital platforms. Aftera quick scan I realised that a lot of stuff related to Corona was repet-itive, in your face moralising, or downright boring and people werenot paying much attention to them. They were tolerating the mes-sage with no impact on their behaviour or desire to change. Wehad to create a very entertaining and dramatic show that softlynudges them to change and share with others.

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TalktimeOMI VAIDYA

He shot to fame for his role as ChaturRamalingam or The Silencer in 3 Idiots. Since

then he has gone on to do films like DesiBoys and Players with the latest being a

web series Metro Park-QuarantineSpecial. Shalini Saksena chats

up the actor

Monsoons are hereand so is the desire

for tempting pakodas andlip-smacking chutneys!While these Indian mon-soon delicacies remainclose to our heart, why notadd a dash of Californiawalnuts to our recipes forthat extra crunch of nutri-tion and flavor. Packedwith the goodness ofAlpha Linolenic Acid —the plant based form ofomega-3 — walnuts arethe go-to-nut for all foodenthusiasts!

So let it rainCalifornia walnuts thismonsoon with excitingand yumilicious delica-cies.Walnuts Kanda Bhaji

�!���������1 cup onions, thin-

ly sliced

�1/4 cup California wal-nuts, chopped rough-ly

�1 tablespoon crushedcoriander seeds

�1 teaspoon green chillychopped

�1/2 cup gram flour�1 teaspoon salt�Oil for frying

������������Slice the onions thinly

and place in a mixingbowl.

�Massage the salt into theonions and allowthem to rest aside.

�Add gram flour to thesweating onions.

�Add walnuts, corianderseeds crushed andgreen chilies.

�Massage all of thistogether till the gramflour moistens andcoats every onionslice.

�Heat oil for deep fryingin pan.

�Make little clumps andfry on medium flame,fry till they turn crispand golden brown.

�Remove the bhaji onabsorbent kitchennapkins.

�Serve hot and crisp withfried green chilies.

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�!��������

�����Fresh corn on the cob,

husked (8 cobs)�1 teaspoon vegetable oil

������1 large bunch fresh basil �1/2 cup packed fresh

parsley, chopped�1 cup California wal-

nuts�1/2 cup grated parmesan

cheese�Juice and zest of 1 lemon�2 cloves garlic�1/4 teaspoon salt�1/4 teaspoon black pep-

per�1/4 cup extra virgin olive

oil

������8�1/2 cup walnuts

�����������1. Preheat oven to 180 C.

Place walnuts (forpesto and assembly)on a baking sheet.Toast walnuts for 5minutes. Remove fromoven. Chop when cool.

�����Preheat grill to medium

high heat. Clean and

lightly oil your grill.Brush each corn onthe cob with vegetableoil. Place on the grill.

�� Grill corn for 10-15minutes, rotating corn2-3 times throughoutcooking time. Removecorn from grill andplace onto servingplatter.

�������While corn is cooking,

prepare pesto. Addbasil, parsley, 1 cupwalnuts, parmesancheese, lemon juiceand zest, garlic, saltand pepper to a foodprocessor. Pulse untilfinely chopped, about30 seconds.

��Drizzle in olive oil andprocess until com-bined for 15-20 sec-onds. Spoon pesto intoa bowl.

������8�Smear pesto with a knife

over the top side ofeach corn on the cob.Sprinkle corn with 1/2cup chopped toastedwalnuts. Serve.

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“We are serving a mission much greaterthan ourselves, and in helping the voiceless atthis time of strife, we are truly following theVeterinarian’s Oath”

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19,has caused a sudden change in theoperations worldwide. With thelockdown commencing March 22,2020, citizens were urged to stay at

home to contain the spread of the virus. Tokeep ourselves entertained, many of usresorted to watching online films, many ofwhich were ironically based on Virus out-breaks! One noticeable feature in most ofthese ‘End of the world’ themed movies is theabsence of the adversities faced byanimals/pets.

The sudden home confinement of thehuman race has altered the lives of animals,pets and strays alike. On the one side, naturewas its best with self purification of rivers,migratory birds returning to nest, turtles seenon the Mumbai coast after decades, multiplesightings of peacocks, etc. and then, you havethe species that has domesticated itself overthe years, namely, cats and dogs suddenly leftstranded without a constant source of foodowing to closure of restaurants and malls. Petdogs had to be restricted to relieving them-selves on a balcony or a diaper mat at oneend of a room due to confinement con-straints. All outdoor activities for pets cameto a halt. Many pet owners have mentionedthat their pets were initially overjoyed to havetheir parents home all day. As with us, every-one wants their space, and pets starteddemanding some quiet at home. Then camethe question of pet health care..

With only essential services being permit-ted during the lockdown, veterinary clinicsremained open for limited hours with cur-tailed staff. CGS Hospital (a unit of CGSCharitable Trust), which is a part of the phil-anthropic wing of DLF Ltd., situated inGurugram, remained open only for emergen-cies primarily only during the first week, butlater due to increased number of pet illnesscases, surgeries, pet hospitalisation and criti-cal care requirements, the hospital was rou-tinely functional. Most of the pet clinicsbeing closed or running for a few hours onlywith shortage of staff caused an increase infootfall at CGS during the lockdown period.All vets were on duty with staff, even though

it was difficult at times for veterinary nursingstaff to cross the Delhi border and no publictransportation in Gurugram as well.Veterinarians at the hospital were extremelycommitted to helping pets in need in spite ofthe possibility of Covid-19 exposure on a reg-ular basis.

The Pasha wing, a dedicated unit of CGSHospital committed primarily to serving des-titute dogs and cats was also functional dailyto help stray dogs and cats as most NGOsalso were providing only Emergency cases. Anotable mention is the successful surgery ofstray dog, Ruby, who was struggling to deliv-er at the side of the road for two days, andowing to the lockdown, her regular feedersand caretakers couldn’t reach her. However,one family managed to bring her in the weehours of the morning for an emergencyCaesarean section that managed to atleastpreserve the life of one puppy after rigorousveterinary neonatal care. The jubilant cries ofthat healthy puppy gave reward to the attend-ing vet’s sleepless night!

With restaurants and roadside eateriesshut, as an initiative to help the hungry andstarving stray dogs and cats, CGS Hospitalprovided fresh food to approximately 300-500stray dogs. These strays were fed twice dailyby the hospital team.

It is only when one believes that there islight at the end of the tunnel, can one emergeas one’s best self and truly help another self-lessly. This was aptly showcased by two dailywage labourers who when rummagingthrough the garbage at Sikanderpur found anemaciated sickly puppy. They immediatelyrushed on foot to the hospital for urgent vet-erinary care and continued to bring thatpuppy for the next five days, both in themorning and evening for necessary treatment.“Blessed is the man who has nothing and yetgives”. They even managed to rustle up a smallleash and collar and gave the chap a name —Lucky! And indeed, lucky he was! This inci-dent moved me to tears and reinforced ourbelief in the goodness of humanity.

“Fearing Pandemic Covid-19 is not theanswer to the current situation. CGS hospitalis here to help you and your pets. We arereaching out to both pet owners to quelldoubts regarding the spread of Covid inpets,” says Dr. Samar Singh Mahendran,Director, CGS. The CGS Vets also providedfree tele-OPD assistance to our regular

clients who were unable to bring their pets tothe hospital.

During the 100 days of lockdown, thehospital kept even functional advanced diag-nostics like Computerised Tomogragaphy(CT) Scan, which was exceptionally benefi-cial to diagnose a disc prolapse in suddenlyparaplegic Labrador, Max. Dr. VikashChauhan, a certified veterinary radiologist atCGS hospital said: “ Unfortunately due to thelockdown, many veterinary clinics and exter-nal labs weren’t open routinely and pets wereaffected. We managed to diagnose three casesof long standing intestinal perforations viaabdominal CT Scans and successfully operat-ed and saved the lives of those pets. The joyand satisfaction of a life saved is the ultimatereward.”

Outdoor pets sometimes find it hard stay-ing indoors and numerous reports of falls ofcats and dogs from high rise building terracesand balconies during the lockdown wasstrange. Three cats had to undergo surgery torepair their hard palate injuries. Mirza, theyorkie who had a Humpty-dumpty like falland fractured his femur, has recovered wellpost fracture stabilisation surgeries at theHospital. It is best that pets aren’t allowed toventure out onto roof tops on their own andare supervised when left on balconies torelieve themselves.

Stray dogs seemed to have claimed thestreets during the initial lockdown phase butas the lockdown opened, a drastically highnumber of road accidents resulting in frac-tures were noticed sadly.

Pet shops in most areas were closed andeven online supply of pet supplies was lag-ging behind. Regular deworming andectoparasite treatment was not easily avail-able to pet owners and thus began the viciouscycle of intestinal worm infections.

Lyla, a friendly Dobermann was present-ed with the complaint of chronic vomiting.She was diagnosed with oesophageal nodulesvia an Endoscopy and is getting the appropri-ate medical treatment she deserves.Minimally invasive diagnostic and surgicaloptions have been in focus in the medicalworld recently. Lyla and many other pets havebenefitted from Endoscopic and laparoscopicprocedures at the hospital.

Richard, the diabetic Labrador, had hisvision restored just this month at theOphthalmology Unit of CGS hospital.

Dr. Shriram Ganesan, the veterinary ophthal-mologist has treated many emergency eyetrauma cases, corneal ulcers, glaucoma andcataract cases in pets during this lockdownperiod, referred from far and wide. Some petowners have crossed state borders with spe-cial permissions just to treat their pets’ ocularissues due to lack of such expertise at theirtowns.

Loneliness and a need for companionshiphas lead to a sudden surge in the number ofpuppies adopted or purchased in Delhi NCR.Sadly, many of them tend to fall prey to viralinfections like Parvo virus and require hospi-talisation. The hospital infectious ward wasfilled during the lockdown phase but thank-fully, most puppies emerged triumphant overthe disease. There is always a special bondbetween each vet and a Parvo survivor puppy.Having personally treated quite a few duringthis phase and now vaccinating them postrecovery, it is always a special experience forme. There is no thank you as heartfelt as seenin the eyes of a Parvo survivor pup!

These are only a few examples of petshelped by dedicated vets at CGS Hospital.Veterinarians all over the world need to beapplauded for the wonderful work they aredoing inspite the odds. It is our profession,but also our passion to serve the voiceless.

With resilience and peer support, notonly the vets, but each and every employee ofveterinary hospitals and clinics continue tobrave the odds, providing valuable service tothe dogs and cats that come to them. Webelieve in our hearts that we too are COVIDWarriors!

The writer is a post graduateveterinary surgeon practising at

CGS Hospital, Gurugram.

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Human mind is the main source of stress as well as itsmain victim. Stress has always been a major psycho-somatic issue afflicting human health from ancient

to the modern times. For the ancient man, the problem wasanxiety of the uncertain. Little knowledge, naturally, proveddangerous. The irony is that with more knowledge, we worrymore now. As technology infiltrated our lives, life got derailed,and went offline. George Orwell’s proverbial big brother isgetting bigger causing more and more anxiety and stress tohuman beings. Aadhar that was supposed to make life eas-ier has become a cause for concern. While the banks are insist-ing on data and digitisation, the cyber thugs are swindlingmoney from accounts with consummate ease giving sleep-less nights to the customers. But this is not the only causeof online driven anxiety. The Coronakaal, as we can call itnow, is giving a double whammy. On the one hand warn-ings galore from many sources are scaring people to abnor-mal levels, while on the other, the work from home is mak-ing many experience virtual hell. A new mega organism, theonline CEO, has emerged on the scene. Relaxing in the coolclimes of homes the corona age boss is keeping all employ-ees in his loop on the toes. Shooting mails at the oddest ofthe hours he is issuing directives by the minute. One stepforward two steps backwards, that is the nature of command,because he himself is not sure what to do. Needless to sayall this is leading to excessive stress as the hapless employ-ees are continuously on alert for the next mail or WhatsAppmessage on their mobiles. These nightmarish experiencesare slowly but surely threatening to become a full blown healthcrisis. Already, anxiety and stress related disorders are on therise and frustration is leading to depression and even sui-cides. And you cannot blame this on Corona only. It is thebig bug, the bloated bossy ego of haughty minded peoplethat is the root cause. While Corona related data of distressis available, the online distress is making life more miser-able. People are already feeling the Zoom fatigue which maybe a generic expression for all the different online platformrelated stress. There is ample evidence to suggest that exhaus-tion from excessive video chatting is harmful to both mindand the body, as the total psycho-biology gets affected. It istime we thought of a tweak in workmen’s compensation actto include executives who are increasingly becoming victimsof on line stress due to idiosyncratic fancies of some peo-ple. There could not be a better time to enact the right todisconnect legislation that is waiting assent as a private mem-ber’s bill, given the agony and torture employees are subjectto. Many western nations already have such legislation in placeto protect employees from online firing directed at them. Notonly privacy and freedom but life as a whole is at stake asthis round the clock monitoring and maneuvering is drivingpeople crazy. As oldspeak is being replaced by newspeak ina new Orwellian global order, human beings become pup-pets tied to online strings. And the key deliverables in thisnew order are stress and anxiety. What Orwell visualised in1984 is being realized in 2020.

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The answer is quality of life. Theword quality is defined as thestandard of something when it is

compared to other things like how goodor bad something is. Why is quality oflife all important? Because we are eter-nal souls and very small. This smallnessis in comparison to God, whose partswe are, who is far too big to be reallycomprehended by the human brain.God is omnipresent. The Cosmicdesign does not allow us to ever get big-ger, because these bigger souls will beginclashing for supremacy.

How can we improve our situation?The answer again is: we can improve thequality of our lives. Usefulness comesfirst. In this material world people arerespected/given attention as long as theyare useful. It is not possible to exist wellon the basis of your laurels. That wasearlier. This world is very cruel in thisrespect. Even the family membersbegin to treat those, who are no longeruseful as burden. We cannot blame any-one for this, because there are alwaysduties for everyone. In my case, if Ispend a lot of time establishing a bet-ter connection with God by doing var-ious spiritual practices, I am givenrespect for doing that. Rather my fam-ily feels more secure due to my spiritu-al acts. Following ‘dharma’ is veryimportant for me. This defines my per-sonality. Doing “paropkar” (good deedsby helping others) is similarly very sat-isfying to me, that is whatever I can do,limited as I am due to my resources.

Resources are important to me. Iam still engaged in doing business.These resources allow me facilities andcomforts, which are important to me.Essentially, I am a householder; becom-ing a sannayasi is not my goal in this life.Writing on spiritual topics, which relate

to current events as far as possible givesme enormous satisfaction, becauseGod is involved in this activity; Heguides. This activity actually gives methe maximum satisfaction. I mostlyjudge myself on the progress mode onthis front.

Lastly, my connection with Godprovides to me everything superior likepeace, bliss, support, security, guidance,wisdom, help, energies of various kindslike ‘atmabala’ — the strength of thesoul, maintenance of my family and for-giveness for mistakes made by me, inad-vertently of course. Thankfully, there isa good connection between God andme. I mostly get God’s guidance duringmy sleep in night, which I can recollectupon getting up.

Everyone must figure out what suitsone’s nature, circumstances, availableresources, etc. However, the followingguidelines will be quite handy in estab-lishing what will enhance the quality ofone’s life. Our lives revolve around ourduties, therefore, we have to keep themuppermost in our minds.

Similarly, dharma should define our

character and attitude. Without them,the quality can be ordinary only. Whatwe aim for must be lasting. This isensured by a connection with God, whocontrols everything mine or yours. Andthis connection will ensure peace,without which there is no superior exis-tence.

In the end, I must mention thatsense enjoyments occupy an importantplace in our lives, but these should beappropriate only, that is what is requiredindeed by our bodies, minds, intelli-gence, etc. Anything beyond degrades;does not enhance the quality of life.Sense pleasures of momentary natureare always temporary. They should notdominate our psyche. Only then, we willadvance in the quality of life index. Andthis effort should be ongoing life afterlife, because we exist eternally. Weshould ensure that the next life will bebetter than the present one. The Cosmicdesign allows this continuity; we shouldtake advantage of it. After all, the nextlife will also surely come. �������� ������� ������� ��� ����� ����

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You, me, the birds, the bees,the tree, its roots and everyatom in the cosmos, are partof the same source — thesupreme consciousness.

Experientially understanding this iswhere we need to get to. The buckstarts from, and eventually comesback to you.

We aspire for divinity even thoughwe are already divine, unaware of ourtrue whole self. Instead, we search fordivinity in other people, places andthings. Which door we knock on is alldestiny’s play, and if destiny is kind tous, we will find on the other side of theopen door, a Siddh Guru, who will leadus onto the path of spiritual evolution,back to our true selves.

In principle, a guru is not a person,but a concept that embodies infinitewisdom and universal knowledge.Thus, in a guru-disciple relationship,the disciple emulates not the person herefers to as his guru — but his gunas(qualities). With all the technology,information and spiritual contentbeing so easily available in every lan-guage, do people still need a guru?

Most of us know ourselves at asuperficial level. That is, what we per-ceive ourselves to be. Or worse, whatwe believe others perceive of us.

A Siddh Guru who has the intuitiveknowledge to recognise you beyondyour physical self, knows you at the

three distinct levels of the body, mind,and spirit. He knows you not only inthe physical form you are in now, butalso who you were and will be in livesof the past and future A siddh gurualways knows the strength of a poten-tial disciple’s spirit. He will also try tosense the connection between the per-son’s destiny and his spiritual growth.

Nobody can introduce you toyourself better than your Guru. Byintroducing you to you, he introducesyou to your destiny and gunas, help-ing you to accept yourself on an as-is-where-is basis. He leads you to under-stand and engage in self-acceptanceand self-respect leading to an egolessself-worth of your own spirit.

Only when a disciple understandsthe totality of who and what he is, canhe play music to the words ‘Tat TwamAsi’ or ‘That You Are’ which means, atthe core, you are a part of the con-sciousness supreme.

This responsibility is immense.The concept of a guru is far more exalt-ed and profound, because not only ishe a role model, he takes on the disci-ple’s karmic debt and leads him out ofit to whatever extent possible. It isimperative for the guru to ensure thedisciple’s spiritual transformation.

On his journey towards spiritualadvancement, a disciple goes throughvarious stages of evolution, from shrad-dha (devotion) to bhakti (worship).

The final stage however, is not of wor-shipping the guru, but instead, wor-shipping the guru within YOU. Whiledevotion is a matter of heightenedemotion, acceptance is a more centredapproach without emotion as its powersource. Therefore, even though thejourney may start with devotion, itends with acceptance and self-worship.

It is not easy to assess the stage ofevolution of spiritual people. There isno standard metric. A man on thestreet may be more spiritually advancedthan one in saffron. Looks and style,knowledge of scriptures and oratoryabilities do not necessarily a spiritual-ist make. There are other attitudes andpractices, coupled with destiny andintent that make an individual rise onthe spiritual ladder. A guru looks forcertain qualities in his disciple:

Sense of Awareness: For a disci-ple to observe his own thoughts, reac-tions and actions, which your guru mayrequire you to change for yourimprovement.

Flexibility: your guru may wantfor you to have mouldability andnimbleness to change behaviour andreaction patterns set from past expe-riences.

Non-dogmatism: Dogmaticthinking chains one down to rituals,defeating the purpose of freeing youfrom the illusion that is maya. A guruwants a disciple to let go of this one

form of execution.Sense of Sacrifice: There cannot be

service without sacrifice and practice.To acquire certain spiritual skills, onemay need to sacrifice certain pleasures.

Sheer Guts: Spiritual serviceincludes safeguarding people againstsuch external forces and negativeenergies transmittable through prac-tices like black magic.

Initiative: While philosophy doessound impressive, it takes initiative andintent to put that philosophy into prac-tice and go beyond expected levels ofattainment and act intuitively.

Obedience: Disobedience andobedience are the snakes and laddersin the game of Guruism. Disobedienceleads your guru to relinquish hisresponsibility towards you as you haveshown a lack of faith in him.

Loyalty: Loyalty to the guru andhis mission is a critical component foracceptance by any spiritual master.

Spiritual training in physical pres-ence of the guru ensures an interaction,where one learns not only through the-ory but also from the teacher’s respons-es, body language, instant correctionsand so on. The guru often leads byexample and it is a disciple’s curricu-lum to perfect the prescribed practicesand not just understand theory. Thereis vast difference between attending alecture in a classroom and readingscriptures online.

Discipleship needs continuousmonitoring and interaction. Suchtraining includes rewards and admo-nitions. Many use their guru as acrutch, and not a launch pad. It is nec-essary for us to understand that a guruis the remover of ignorance and the onewho bestows internal knowledge.

Physical presence of the guru is aluxury one cannot bank on for anextended period of time. His teachingsand philosophy will succeed him. Asa tribute to the teacher, the disciplemust implement a collection of histeachings and instructions.

Many a siddh guru can awaken thepower of knowledge or intuition in hisdisciples by using their will power orspiritual energy. A guru gives knowl-edge, gati and clarity. A guru facilitatesthe lifting off of the veil of maya. Hewalks you through every step of real-isation that the world we perceivethrough our five senses is only a delu-sion, the reality lies beyond it. He teach-es you not only to accept but also to seeand live in this reality.

The guru introduces the disciple tothe disciple’s inner being, and withinthat being lies the ultimate guru.Wishing you luck in the journey offinding the divine with you!

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The world today is technologicallyvery advanced. But, despite theseadvancements, no invention till date

has been able to predict the occurrence,place of origin or the frequency of theearthquake. Although science has beensuccessful in setting up departments anda Richter scale to measure an earthquake,but, they are still lacking in predictingtime, place and frequency of an earth-quake. Scientists only accept a handfulreasons behind the occurrence of theseearthquakes — movement of tectonicplates; breaking of rocks within the earthsurface; increase of temperature in theinnermost earth surfaces leading to gasformation and eventually volcanic erup-tion.

Vedic Astrology is part and parcel ofthe Vedas. Astrology is the science ofknowing what lies in the future. The utili-ty of astrology is as clear as that of meteo-rology. But, a meteorological departmentcan only predict the weather for only afew days with the help of their devices.

Indian astrology contains a few point-ers about the future of earthquakes, withthe help of which the astrologers predictthe occurrence of these earthquakes.However, Indian astrology, using thePanchang can calculate all the upcomingastronomy events with complete accuracy.

Eclipse and earthquake: No earth-quake ever happens during the eclipseperiod. However, there is a probability ofearthquake in the coming post-eclipselunar phase of full moon or new moon(Purnima and Amavasya, respectively).

Time of earthquake: As per vedicastrology, the probability of occurrence ofthe earthquake is high during mid-day(12 pm) to sunset and from midnight tosunrise.

Retrograde Planet and earthquake:When major planets such as Jupiter, Marsand Saturn move to retrograde, there is achance of earthquake.

Planetary transits and earthquake:In Planetary transit, apart from the posi-tion of major planets such as Jupiter,Saturn and Mars, there should be a com-pliance in the positions of major astro-nomical bodies such as Moon and Rahu,like: Mars and Saturn should be oppositeto each other; Sun, Mars, Saturn andRahu in Kendra (1st, 4th, 7th and 10thhouse of horoseope); Sun, Mars, Saturnand Rahu transit to 8th house of horo-scope; Shadasthak Yoga of Mars andSaturn, Mars and Rahu, and Sun andMars.

Such planetary transit situations

increase the prevalence of an earthquake.

Months and earthquake: As perVedic astrology, there is a high-probabili-ty of earthquakes during summer (mostlyMay and June) solstice, and winter (most-ly December and January) solstice.

Meteorite and earthquake: There areseveral meteorites in the universe. But,when these meteorites are in proximity tothe earth or sun, the chances of the occur-rence of the earthquake increases.

Apart from these, the position ofUranus, cruel planets (kur grah) and thecollision of stars too have an importantrole in bringing about a disastrous anddevastating earthquake.

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Even as the whole world is facingan unprecedented global health

and humanitarian crisis with therapid spread of Covid-19 pandem-ic, China sees this as an opportuni-ty to push her geopolitical agenda.And, the same is explicitly evident inSouth Asia and the Indian Oceanregion where China is unmistakablyaiding her geopolitical agenda withhumanitarian assistance. UnlikeIndia, the Chinese approach inSouth Asia or in the Indian Oceanregion (IOR) is neither benign norin accordance with the principle ofmutual benefits and inclusiveness. Infact, it is merely guided by China’snational interest. And, interestingly,amused with growing Chinese influ-ence in their economic and securi-ty domains, many small countries ofthe region are not interested torealise the long term consequencesof China’s growing clouts. As mostof the small countries of South Asiaand the IOR are set to face worse eco-nomic crisis in the post Covid peri-od, China is ready to exploit the sit-uation for its own political, economicand strategic gains.

The recent report titled “AGlobal Survey of US-ChinaCompetition in the CoronavirusEra” by Hudson Institute, the USA,explicitly mentioned that China’simmediate goal in South Asia is tolimit any “defiance “from India andthwart its expanding partnershipwith the US. China’s penetration intoIndia’s region of influence (SouthAsia and IOR) is indeed a strategicloss for India. The neighbours in theChinese debt trap are undoubtedlya potential threat for India’s securi-ty. Further, the report rightly men-tioned that now China, the secondlargest economy in the world, is suc-ceeding its South Asia strategythrough the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), which distributes loans andinvest in large infrastructure projectsacross the region.

After Pakistan and Sri Lanka,now Nepal, despite some resistancefrom its own citizens, is preparing toplunge into Chinese debt trap. Nepal’srecent political adventure, the con-stitutional claim after updating thecountry’s map without historical factsand evidence, is merely a conspiracyby ruling political party to ignite theanti-India sentiments for immediatedomestic political gains and toappease China. Certainly, it will notbe prudent to blame India’s neigh-bourhood policy for such a muddle

in the Indo-Nepal bilateral ties.The small countries of the region

such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, andMaldives choose to prefer “omnidirectional friendship with shiftingtilts” where ruling party or partiesand their leaderships primarily deter-mine the direction of the tilts. Thechange of guards in Sri Lanka andMaldives in 2015 and 2018 respec-tively assured the curtailment ofChinese influence in their respectivecountries. The ouster of the pro-China Mahinda RajapaskaGovernment in Sri Lanka in 2015and the Abdullah YameenGovernment in Maldives in 2018 wassighing of relief for India; while toIndia’s chagrin, KP Oli returned asPrime Minister of Nepal in 2018.

India, China’s jostle for influence

in the region is continued duringpandemic also, although, means andintentions are not the same. Yet, midof the Covid-19 crisis, India hasscaled up its diplomatic outreach andhumanitarian assistance in the mostpart of the world, including SouthAsia and the IOR. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s initiative to createan emergency Covid-19 fund forSAARC countries, India’s Covidmedical diplomacy and the IndianArmy and Navy’s initiatives to helpthe neighbouring countries to dealwith the growing numbers of coro-navirus cases in such an unprece-dented situation at domestic front,must be appreciated. India’s Covidmedical diplomacy is not only aboutexport of medicine, but also includesonline training programme for the

officials of health-care professionalsof SAARC countries and dispatch ofthe teams of military doctors toMaldives, Nepal and Kuwait. Indiasupplied medicine, both on com-mercial and the grant basis, to morethan 100 countries. But immediateneighbourhood remains the key priority for India as it suppliedthe medicine to immediate neigh-bours by Indian aircraft and Air force flights and to others by com-mercial couriers.

For India, Covid-19 pandemic isan occasion to coordinate, cooperateand lend assistance to smaller neigh-bours to fight against pandemic andcreate greater impact in the longterm. Medical diplomacy hasemerged as an effective tool of India’sCovid diplomacy, and certainly

enhancing India’s goodwill withmany countries. But China is notbehind; during the Covid pandem-ic, China is enhancing its influencein the region by providing medicalhardware and other assistance tosmaller countries of the region.China, which has already made herpotent presence in the region throughvarious means such as economy,trade, defence and soft power, is nowready to neutralise the Indian effortsin her immediate neighbourhood.And, undoubtedly, this is one of thekey reasons why despite the goodintension and approach India’s neigh-bourhood first policy has not beenmuch successful in last decades tomeet the expectations.

How to manage China’s risingprofile in South Asia in the post-

Covid period will certainly be anuphill task for India. However, it wasnever an easy task for any extraregional powers to dominate theperiphery of any regional power;advantage of geography blends withgood neighbourhood policy mighthelp India to balance China in theregion. Although, under the leader-ship of Prime Minister NarendraModi, to regain its influence in theregion India is making all efforts toengage neighbours more meaning-fully, but the situation demandssome extra efforts and calibrations.Finding ways to correct the past mis-takes in the neighbourhood policy isone of the most daunting tasks forIndia’s foreign policy makers.

In the neighbourhood, Indianeeds to embrace the logic of eco-nomic interdependence and ensurethe timely completion of ongoingconnectivity and development pro-jects. During his six years of tenure,Prime Minister Narendra Modi vis-ited all neighbouring countries andensured satisfactory progress onpolitical, diplomatic as well as phys-ical connectivity fronts. New Delhiseems determined to connect easternneighbours through BBIN(Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, andNepal) sub-regional initiative andwith the construction of more than10 new check points to facilitate tradeand movement of vehicles along theborders of eastern neighbours: Nepal,Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.Complaining against Chinese eco-nomic influence in the neighbouringcountries and China-linked securityconcerns in India’s vicinity, intangi-ble or tangible, is indeed a futile exer-cise. However, India should avoid thehabit of downplaying China-relatedsecurity concerns in South Asianwater. The China’s base and portstrategy in South Asian littoral statesor in the IOR or presence of Chinesesubmarines in the Andaman waterare definitely not only to serve theChina’s commercial interest. To bal-ance China in South Asian water orin the IOR, beside the capacity build-ing and capacity enhancement, withor without Quad India should nothesitate in engaging the US and otherlike-minded major and middle pow-ers in the region, especially in thevicinity of the Arabian Sea and theBay of Bengal.

(The writers are Delhi-basedInternational relations and foreignpolicy analysts)

The unprecedented situa-tion which has arisen glob-

ally because of the Covid-19pandemic has brought beforethe world many valuable learn-ings — sustainable and collab-orative practices to becomeself-reliant are the truest har-bingers of healthy societies,economies and healthiernations. As we battle Covid-19today and reconcile with thepossibility of a new endemicinfectious disease, we mustrealise that “atma nirbharta” isthe only way to not only cush-ion us from the socio-eco-nomic blow that this pandem-ic has dealt us but also prepareus for what lies ahead in a postCovid-19 world. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasgiven a clarion call to all ourscientists, start-ups, industrysaying that “a self-reliant Indiais the only way forward —Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

The Department ofBiotechnology (DBT), sinceits very inception in the late80s, has been committed todelivering solutions for societalchallenges with a focus on“Make in India.” Today, as weare positioned from discoveryresearch to translationalresearch, from academia tostartups from institutional col-laboration to knowledge trans-lational clusters DBT has trans-formed the scientific innova-tion spectrum in India.

As appropriately said byour Prime Minister it is imper-ative that we don’t conflate aself-reliant India with a self-centered India. International

cooperation and collaborationare at the core of self-reliance— India’s progress willundoubtedly contribute toglobal progress. TheDepartment of Biotechnologyand its Public Sector BIRAC(Biotechnology IndustryResearch Assistance Council)has epitomised this value byinitiating multiple collaborativeresearch and development pro-grammes with several coun-tries and philanthropic organ-isations in diverse areas ofbiotechnology.

Vaccine research and

development has been a corefocus-area for DBT. In a mat-ter of national pride, in 2018,ROTAVAC — a vaccine tofight rotavirus developed withsupport from the Departmentof Biotechnology — becameIndia’s first indigenous vaccineto be prequalified by WHO.Rotavirus is a highly contagiousdisease that claims lives ofnearly half a million childrenevery year across the world —prequalification allowedROTAVAC to be procured byGAVI and UN agencies for usein low and middle-income

countries. Today 1 out of 6 chil-dren in the world receive India-manufactured vaccines. In2019, DBT launched the Ind-CEPI mission programmealigned with the Global CEPI,to calibrate efforts on devel-oping vaccines for diseases inIndia that could have epidem-ic potential, even as it preparesa multi-year plan to focus ondevelopment of vaccines formalaria, dengue, chikungunyaand tuberculosis.

Similarly, since 1987, theIndo-US Vaccine ActionProgram (VAP), a bilateral

programme of the DBT,Ministry of Science andTechnology, Government ofIndia; and the NationalInstitute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases of theNational Institutes of Health,the USA, has supported count-less research and capacitystrengthening programmes inpriority areas like viral hepati-tis (such as hepatitis C),typhoid, rabies, rotavirus diar-rhoea, acute respiratory infec-tions, tuberculosis, parasiticdiseases (leishmaniasis, malar-ia), HIV co-morbidities, strep-tococcal infections and dengue.It’s no surprise then that theIndo-US VAP has been recog-nised internationally as amodel bilateral programme inbiomedical research. The Indo-EU collaboration for develop-ment of an influenza vaccine isanother such example.

In our effort towards self-reliance, Biotechnology IndustryResearch Assistance Council(BIRAC), established by theDepartment of Biotechnology,has consistently exemplified theideation-to-innovation modelby identifying and incubatingefforts towards needs-basedproduct-focused research anddevelopment.

More recently, in the fightagainst Covid-19, DBT-BIRAChas led from the front. Withinthe first few weeks of theCovid-19 pandemic, DBT-BIRAC announced a Covid-19 research consortiumto develop safe and effectivebiomedical solutions to combatSARS-CoV-2. The consortium

received an overwhelmingresponse and has, so far, sup-ported over 70 proposals fordevelopment of diagnostics,vaccines, novel therapeutics,repurposing of drugs and othertechnologies to find solutions for the healthcarechallenges of this pandemic.More than 20 different VaccineCandidates are being devel-oped by our indigenous devel-opers from industry, startupsand academia.

A true example of ourmission towards self-reliance isthe development of indige-nous diagnostic kits for Covid19. In March 2020, when thefirst few testing activities beganwe were totally dependent onimported kits. TheGovernment took immediateaction and with a combinationof enabling policies and fund-ing opportunities, today wehave over 20 Indian manufac-turers and a kit productioncapacity of more than 1 lakhkits per day. To meet thisrequirement, the Departmentof Biotechnology and BIRACthrough the NationalBiopharma Mission have set upa manufacturing complex atAMTZ Vishakapatnam. Therequirement of indigenouscomponents, reagents andother related parts is now beingmet through N-BRIC, aNational Biomedical ResourceIndigenisation Consortia set upin a PPP model to cater to ourneeds to meet the targets ofAtmanirbhar Bharat.

BIRAC has been fast track-ing many innovations such as

glucose-monitoring and hyper-tension monitoring which arecritical in Covid-19 manage-ment. Similarly, several com-panies are being supported toscale-up production and man-ufacturing of testing andscreening kits, PPEs, ventila-tors, etc. From extendingfinancial support to solutionsthat are ready for deploymentto accelerating vaccine devel-opment and encouraging vac-cine research, DBT-BIRAC areplaying a catalytic and enablingrole in battling Covid-19 withindigenous solutions throughits 16 research institutes, morethan 1000 startups, and 50bio-incubators. The DBT-BIRAC team is also workingalong with the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) toprovide a rapid response reg-ulatory framework for the dis-covery to delivery process ofCovid-19 innovations.

As the world is looking atfinding quick solutions formeeting the huge healthcarechallenges which Covid-19outbreak has brought before us,our effort is to ensure that ourinnovations continue to focuson scalability, sustainabilityand replicability.

As we prepare ourselves fora new world, our focus has to beon the importance of indigenousresearch and development ofimpact-driven innovation, thisis key for our march towards an‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’

(The writer is Secretary,Department of Biotechnology,Government of India)

Page 16:  · hectare as against 1.17 lakh hectare last years during the same period. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed kharif ... said Dharmendra Maurya, caretaker of Noida observation

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The truth is simple and sponta-neous. It is within everybody’ssight. We just need to look at

things with an open mind. The paradox,however, is that simple truth eludes ourattention. Our mind has become socomplexed that we can’t take note ofsimple things. We rather prefer going incircles in search of underlying truth,more often ending up having a frac-tioned view.

We all know that when glaciersmelt, water streams emerge, which endsin the sea. All through its run, it extendslife. But for water there will be no vege-tation on ground, in fact, no life. Fruitborn by trees and the crops grown sus-tain us. If we stop eating but we can stilllive on water, but mind will stop work-ing. So goes the saying: “Anna se bud-dhi, jala se prana”, meaning that foodgrains nourish our mind, and water sus-tains life. Not only that, the trees absorbcarbon dioxide that our body dis-charges, and in turn, release fresh oxy-gen to sustain our life. The trees alsomaintain weather cycle. Water runningdown the stream, as also in the seaevaporates, leaving behind all impuri-ties, forms cloud and then rains to

recharge our water resources and lifecycle. This way you can see, how inter-connected and interdependent our livesare.

You don’t need a rocket science tounderstand such fundamental truth.Such truths not in our reckoning, welose track of our collective obligations,and remain centred to our self-centricaspirational urges. Otherwise, we wouldhave cared not to vitiate environmentalconditions — not been careless to pol-lute our water resources and the envi-ronment around. Had the people inWuhan state of China maintained theirsense of hygiene, they would not havepicked up the Coronavirus, which hasovertaken the whole world. In fact, wehave lost our sense of proportion somuch that but for pandemics overtakingus, we don’t remember that the world isa unified organism, where no individualhas a reality independent of the whole.The obvious implication is that if eversomething happens at one end of thisworld, its effect will reach far and wideand so it happened. This pandemic istherefore a wake up call for all of us.

The question now is: how to remainlive to the above realities. It is again, not

a rocket science. You just need to clearoff the clutters of mind, purify yourmind so as to rise above all its limita-tions and preconditioning, and truthwill be forthcoming spontaneously. Theother day I was being interviewed onthe probable outcome of the recenteclipse. One of the viewer asked me:“Sun is the soul of the earth. If the Sunitself becomes afflicted during eclipse,how can people on earth remain good?”

Well, a cloud coming in way of thesolar light, will though restrict its reachto us, but can’t anyway bring down thesolar intensity. During the solar eclipse,Moon comes in between the Sun andEarth, and so, it is almost like a tempo-rary clouding effect. The Sun can noway be afflicted at all, I answered. Theanchor then asked me: “Sir, the punditsare suggesting so many remedial mea-sures to ward off the evil influence ofeclipse, but you have taken an altogetherdifferent approach. How is this differ-ence in approach?” Well, the pundits arestuck to their beliefs, and so are havinga coloured vision of this natural annularphenomenon, mostly to serve their vest-ed interest. Any of the remedial mea-sures they are suggesting can’t appeasethe cosmic forces nor could they change

their course. Nobody on the earth iscapable of changing the course ofnature. We have to bear with intelligent-ly, what the cosmos offers. Well, on mypart, I am looking at the whole phe-nomenon holistically and with an openmind, free from any preconditioningwhatsoever. So, I am able to see truth inblack and white.

Truth of life is that the cosmos issubject to continued twists and turnsand with related bearing on our lifecycle. We can’t change nature’s course.But we can certainly negotiate with thechallenges coming our way intelligentlyand minimise the damage, as we havebeen successively doing during cyclonesand such natural calamities. The call ofthe time is to purify our minds. We maythen remain alive about the living reali-ties of life. We may be able to sponta-neously and effortlessly strike truth.Accordingly, we could prepare ourselvesto negotiate with the challenges comingour way intelligently.

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