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I ndia and Bangladesh must remain vigilant and united to counter threats like terrorism as well as ideas and powers behind such inhumane acts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday as he hailed ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s leadership and the contributions of the Indian Army in Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. Addressing the main gold- en jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh’s Independence and the birth centenary of its founder here in the presence of his counterpart Sheikh Hasina and President Abdul Hamid, Modi said both nations possess the power of democracy, with a clear vision to move forward. “That India and Bangladesh move forward together is equally important for the development of this entire region,” said Modi, who is visiting Bangladesh on his first trip to a foreign country since the Covid-19 outbreak. “We must remember that we’ve similar opportunities in fields of trade and commerce, but at the same time, we’ve sim- ilar threats like terrorism. The ideas and powers behind such types of inhumane acts are still active. We must remain vigilant and united to counter them,” he added. Modi recalled the role played by the Indian Army in Bangladesh’s freedom war. “I salute the brave soldiers of the Indian Army who stood with the brothers and sisters of Bangladesh in Muktijuddo. Those who gave their blood in Muktijuddo, sacrificed them- selves, and played a very big role in realising the dream of independent Bangladesh,” said Modi, who was wearing a “Mujib Jacket” as tribute to Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation, said that Bangabandhu had a mesmerising personali- ty and was blessed with an unwavering commitment to further human empowerment. Continued on Page 11 I n the wake of sharp surge in Covid-19 cases in Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh, the Union Health Ministry has rushed there two high-level multidisciplinary teams even as there has been big spurt in infection in Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Gujarat taking the total daily tally to above 62,000. At least 257 peo- ple died on Friday. Meanwhile, a record 5.5 crore people have been vacci- nated through 9,01,887 sessions throughout the country according to a provisional report till 7 am on Friday. The Ministry said the team to Chhattisgarh is headed by Dr SK Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The team also has experts from the AIIMS, Raipur and All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. The team to Chandigarh is led by Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Textiles Ministry Vijoy Kumar Singh and also has experts drawn from the RML Hospital and the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, it said. These teams will work with the respective Governments of the State and the UT to ascertain the reasons behind the surge, assist in undertaking gap analysis and recommend requisite Covid-19 control, and containment measures. “Chhattisgarh has recently witnessed a significant spurt in fresh Covid-19 cases as well as new deaths every day. Chandigarh has also seen a sig- nificant surge in new cases. “The deployed teams shall visit the most affected districts/hotspots in the State and UT to take stock of on- ground implementation of public health interventions. They will share the key find- ings, recommendations and remedial measures to be taken up with the Chief Secretary/Chief Continued on Page 11 I ndia and Pakistan on Friday reviewed the ceasefire situ- ation on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir and agreed to maintain peace and continue the dialogue process. This meeting between the Brigadiers of the two Armies was the first one since both the sides on February 24 agreed to uphold ceasefire on the 750-km long LoC. The crucial meeting came after Amy Chief General MM Naravane on Thursday said not a single shot was fired since the agreement last month. He also said silence prevailed on the LoC for the first time in the last five to six years. At the same time, he cautioned that the terror infrastructure, including ter- rorist launch-pads on the Pakistani side, remained intact. The meeting last month was held between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGsMO) where- in both the Armies agreed to adhere to the 2003 ceasefire pact on the LoC. The truce was called in order to avoid casualties of innocent citi- zens on both sides of the bor- der. Continued on Page 11 C onsidering the “grim” pan- demic situation and the need to prevent the spread of Covid-19 across the country, the Road Transport Ministry has again advised enforcement authorities to treat as valid all the vehicle related documents Continued on Page 11 I n a big victory for the Tata Group, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld its removal of Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the $100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate, bringing the curtains down on a bitter four-year long pub- lic and legal battle. Setting aside NCLAT’s order which had restored Mistry to the top post, the apex court in a unanimous 3-0 deci- sion dismissed a plea of Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group seeking separation of owner- ship interests in Tata Sons Pvt Ltd (TSPL). The SP Group owns 18.37 per cent shares in TSPL, and the next fight could be over its valuation. “A person who tries to set his own house on fire for not getting what he perceives as legitimately due to him, does not deserve to continue as part of any decision making body (not just the Board of a com- pany),” the SC said, in a hard- hitting observation, question- ing the conduct of Mistry. The court said the conduct of Mistry in leaking his mail dated October 25, 2016 to the Press and sending replies to the Income Tax authorities enclos- ing four box files, even while continuing as a Director, justi- fied his removal even from the Directorship of Tata Sons and other group companies. Mistry had succeeded Ratan Tata, 84, as the chairman of the TSPL in 2012, but was dramatically ousted four years later, triggering one of the ugliest boardroom battle at the country’s biggest business conglomerate that brought top lawyers face to face in the apex court. “Thus in fine, all the ques- tions of law are liable to be answered in favour of the Continued on Page 11 Mumbai: Nine coronavirus patients died in a fire at a Covid-19 hospital in a Mumbai mall on Friday, officials said. All nine patients died due to suffocation as a result of the fire, the BMC said. The hospital, however, claimed that there was no casu- alty due to the fire. “All the patients were shift- ed alive but there were a few patients on ventilator and were extremely critical. We believe the casualties are not due to the fire, but either in transit or at other hospitals (where they were shifted), it said. T he Supreme Court on Friday dismissed pleas seeking stay on further sale of electoral bonds ahead of Assembly elections, saying the scheme was in place since 2018, the bonds were released at periodical i ntervals without any imped- iment and safeguards were in place to prevent their mis- use. A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said it saw no justification to grant stay at this stage. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for the first time boarded the Air India One aircraft to fly to Bangladesh. The newly- inducted custom-made Boeing 777 aircraft has been acquired to facilitate VVIP movements within India and on state visits abroad. The B777 aircraft, which has registration number VT- ALW, was delivered by Boeing to the Indian Government in October last year. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurat- ed Air India One when he boarded the B777 aircraft on its inaugural flight to Chennai in November 2020. The aircraft, which has call sign AI1 or Air India One, departed from Delhi around 8 am and landed at the Dhaka airport around 10.30 am on Friday, officials said. Another custom-made B777 aircraft, with registra- tion number VT-ALV, was also delivered by the American aircraft giant to the Indian Government in October last year. Both of them will be on par with the US President’s Air Force One in terms of security mea- sures. The planes are to fly only President, Vice President and Prime Minister. These two aircraft were part of Air India’s commercial fleet for a few months in 2018 before they were sent back to Boeing for retrofitting for VVIP travel. T he Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission, on Friday, announced the poll schedule for the three tier pan- chayat bodies. As per the poll notification, the UP panchayat elections 2021 will be held in four phas- es and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 2. The panchayat elections will take place on April 15, April 19, April 26 and April 29 for gram panchayats, kshetra panchayats and members of zila panchayats. Polling in Lucknow will be held on April 19. State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar announced the dates of the elections, issuing strict guide- lines for following the Covid protocol during the poll process and also the model code of conduct. It may be mentioned here that the final reservation list was released on Thursday. Earlier this week, the State Election Commission (SEC) had issued a detailed advisory in view of the fresh surge in COVID-19 cases and sought strict adherence to the proto- col while conducting the pan- chayat polls. As per the guidelines, no voter will be allowed to enter the polling centre without wearing a mask. However, if the polling official has any suspi- cion, he/she can ask a voter to remove the mask. It will be mandatory to have thermal scanners at all the polling booths and centres to keep a vigil on the entry of infected persons. The notification for the first phase of the polls to be held in 18 districts will be issued on April 3; scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on April 5 and the last date of nominations is April 7. Notification for the second phase polls in 20 districts will be issued on April 7, scrutiny of nominations will be done on April 9 and the last date of withdrawal will be April 11. The notification for the third phase polls in 20 districts will be issued on April 13, scrutiny of nominations will be done on April 16 and the last date for withdrawals will be April 18. The notification for the fourth and last phase polls in 17 districts will be issued on April 17, scrutiny of nominations will be done on April 19 and the last date of withdrawals will be April 21. The voting, to be held through ballot papers, will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. The counting of votes will be taken up on May 2 from 8 am. In the first phase, the dis- tricts going to polls include Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Hathras, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi, Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi. In the second phase, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bijnor, Amroha, Budaun, Etah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, Gonda, Maharajganj, Varanasi and Azamgarh districts will go to polls. In the third phase, pan- chayat polls will be conducted in Shamli, Meerut, Moradabad, Pilibhit, Kasganj, Firozabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Ballia. The districts going to polls in the fourth phase of polling are Bulandshahr, Hapur, Sambhal, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Farrukhabad, Banda, Continued on Page 11 A fter issuing notification to further introduce police commissionerate system in Varanasi and Kanpur Nagar, the state government on Friday morning appointed ADG\IG Range Agra, A Satish Ganesh and ADG Dial-112 Aseem Arun as the first police com- missioners of Varanasi and Kanpur Nagar respectively. Varanasi is the parliamen- tary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Late Thursday night, the state cabinet had approved the police commissionerate sys- tem in Kanpur Nagar and Varanasi, and the appoint- ments of the police commis- sioners were made early Friday morning. Besides the two police commissioners, the gov- ernment posted two IG or DIG rank officers, and eight SP rank officers in Kanpur Nagar. At the same time, in Varanasi Police Commissionerate, the govern- ment post of two additional commissioners of police level of DIG and nine deputy com- missioners of police (SP rank). The new commissioner of police of Varanasi, an1996 batch IPS officer A Satish Ganesh, was presently posted as ADG Zone in Agra. A Satish Ganesh, a resident of Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, was born in 1969. At the same time, Aseem Arun, the new CP of Kanpur Nagar, is a 1994 batch IPS, and was currently handling the responsibility of Dial 112. Aseem Arun, a native of Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh, was born in 1970. Lucknow and Noida already have the police com- missionerate system. Both were brought under the police com- missionerate system in January 2020. Both police commis- sioners will have magisterial power. The system gives more powers, including magisterial powers, to police officers and is aimed at better and effective policing, the official here said. In Kanpur Nagar, 45 police stations will be brought under the police commissionerate system. The system will be headed by an ADG rank offi- cer as commissioner and there will be two DIGs, five SPs, a SP- rank lady officer and an ASP rank official. “The government decided to bring Kanpur Nagar and Varanasi under the commis- sionerate system following the success of this system in Lucknow and Noida,” an offi- cial said. New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court Friday directed the Punjab government to hand over the custody of gangster- turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is lodged in Rupnagar jail there, to Uttar Pradesh Police. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and RS Reddy said that the custody of Ansari, an MLA from Mau constituency, be handed over to the state of Uttar Pradesh within two weeks. The top court also dis- missed a plea by Ansari seeking transfer of cases lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh to some other place outside the state. The top court delivered the verdict on the plea of Uttar Pradesh government seeking a direction to the Punjab govern- ment and Rupnagar jail author- ity to immediately hand over the custody of Ansari, to the district jail Banda. On March 4, the top court was informed by Punjab gov- ernment that Yogi Adityanath- led government has got no fun- damental right to seek Ansari’s transfer from Rupnagar jail to a district jail in Banda in Uttar Pradesh. Ansari is lodged in dis- trict jail Rupnagar in Punjab in connection with an alleged extortion case since January 2019. He is also accused in sev- eral cases of heinous crimes lodged in Uttar Pradesh. The UP government has earlier contended that Ansari has been dodging the judicial system and is running his alleged illegal activities from Rupnagar district jail in Punjab. While Uttar Pradesh had alleged in the apex court that there is collusion between Ansari and Punjab Police, the Amarinder Singh government has refuted these claims and raised questions over the main- tainability of plea filed by the Yogi Adityanath government. The UP government has referred to the prison rules and said that though the state itself does not have fundamental rights, it can espouse the cause and the fundamental rights of the victims and it may assume the position of the victim. It said Ansari had flouted the jail manual rules and rights of the victim and the State at large cannot be overlooked and the accused cannot be allowed to jettison the fair trial. It had said that the top court under Article 142 can order transfer of Ansari from Punjab jail to a jail in Uttar Pradesh as around 14 and 15 cases are at final stages. Ansari who has also filed petition seeking transfer of his cases in UP to outside the state, had submitted that because of his political affiliation to a party in opposition, he is being tar- geted. Punjab government had said that Ansari has been unwell and central government owned PGI Chandigarh has been given him the medical certificates from time to time.
Transcript of ...Mar 26, 2021 · ˘ˇˆ˙ˆ˝˛˚ˆ˜ˆ˙ ! ˘ ˇ ˆ ˘ˇ ˙ ˝ˆ ˆ ˝ˆ ˛ ˚˜ ˆ ˇ ˝ ˙ ˆ
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India and Bangladesh mustremain vigilant and united to
counter threats like terrorism aswell as ideas and powersbehind such inhumane acts,Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid on Friday as he hailed‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh MujiburRahman’s leadership and thecontributions of the IndianArmy in Bangladesh’s 1971Liberation War againstPakistan.
Addressing the main gold-en jubilee celebrations ofBangladesh’s Independence andthe birth centenary of itsfounder here in the presence ofhis counterpart Sheikh Hasinaand President Abdul Hamid,Modi said both nations possessthe power of democracy, witha clear vision to move forward.
“That India andBangladesh move forwardtogether is equally importantfor the development of thisentire region,” said Modi, whois visiting Bangladesh on hisfirst trip to a foreign country
since the Covid-19 outbreak.“We must remember that
we’ve similar opportunities infields of trade and commerce,but at the same time, we’ve sim-ilar threats like terrorism. Theideas and powers behind suchtypes of inhumane acts are stillactive. We must remain vigilantand united to counter them,” headded.
Modi recalled the roleplayed by the Indian Army inBangladesh’s freedom war.
“I salute the brave soldiersof the Indian Army who stoodwith the brothers and sisters ofBangladesh in Muktijuddo.Those who gave their blood inMuktijuddo, sacrificed them-selves, and played a very bigrole in realising the dream ofindependent Bangladesh,” saidModi, who was wearing a“Mujib Jacket” as tribute toBangladesh’s Father of theNation, said that Bangabandhuhad a mesmerising personali-ty and was blessed with anunwavering commitment tofurther human empowerment.
Continued on Page 11
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In the wake of sharp surge inCovid-19 cases in
Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh,the Union Health Ministry hasrushed there two high-levelmultidisciplinary teams even asthere has been big spurt in
infection in Maharashtra,Punjab, Karnataka and Gujarattaking the total daily tally toabove 62,000. At least 257 peo-ple died on Friday.
Meanwhile, a record 5.5crore people have been vacci-nated through 9,01,887 sessionsthroughout the countryaccording to a provisionalreport till 7 am on Friday.
The Ministry said the teamto Chhattisgarh is headed by DrSK Singh, Director, NationalCentre for Disease Control(NCDC). The team also has
experts from the AIIMS,Raipur and All India Instituteof Hygiene and Public Health.The team to Chandigarh is ledby Additional Secretary and
Financial Adviser in theTextiles Ministry Vijoy KumarSingh and also has expertsdrawn from the RML Hospitaland the Safdarjung Hospital inNew Delhi, it said.
These teams will work withthe respective Governmentsof the State and the UT toascertain the reasons behindthe surge, assist in undertakinggap analysis and recommendrequisite Covid-19 control, andcontainment measures.
“Chhattisgarh has recentlywitnessed a significant spurt in
fresh Covid-19 cases as well asnew deaths every day.Chandigarh has also seen a sig-nificant surge in new cases.“The deployed teams shall visitthe most affecteddistricts/hotspots in the Stateand UT to take stock of on-ground implementation ofpublic health interventions.They will share the key find-ings, recommendations andremedial measures to be takenup with the ChiefSecretary/Chief
Continued on Page 11
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India and Pakistan on Fridayreviewed the ceasefire situ-
ation on the Line of Control(LoC) in Jammu & Kashmirand agreed to maintain peaceand continue the dialogueprocess. This meetingbetween the Brigadiers of thetwo Armies was the first onesince both the sides onFebruary 24 agreed to upholdceasefire on the 750-km longLoC.
The crucial meeting cameafter Amy Chief General MMNaravane on Thursday saidnot a single shot was firedsince the agreement last
month. He also said silenceprevailed on the LoC for thefirst time in the last five to sixyears. At the same time, hecautioned that the terrorinfrastructure, including ter-rorist launch-pads on thePakistani side, remainedintact.
The meeting last monthwas held between the DirectorGenerals of Militar yOperations (DGsMO) where-in both the Armies agreed toadhere to the 2003 ceasefirepact on the LoC. The trucewas called in order to avoidcasualties of innocent citi-zens on both sides of the bor-der. Continued on Page 11
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Considering the “grim” pan-demic situation and the
need to prevent the spread ofCovid-19 across the country,the Road Transport Ministryhas again advised enforcementauthorities to treat as valid allthe vehicle related documents
Continued on Page 11
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In a big victory for the TataGroup, the Supreme Court
on Friday upheld its removal ofCyrus Mistry as the executivechairman of the $100 billionsalt-to-software conglomerate,bringing the curtains downon a bitter four-year long pub-lic and legal battle.
Setting aside NCLAT’sorder which had restoredMistry to the top post, the apexcourt in a unanimous 3-0 deci-sion dismissed a plea ofShapoorji Pallonji (SP) Groupseeking separation of owner-ship interests in Tata Sons Pvt
Ltd (TSPL). The SP Groupowns 18.37 per cent shares inTSPL, and the next fight couldbe over its valuation.
“A person who tries to sethis own house on fire for notgetting what he perceives aslegitimately due to him, doesnot deserve to continue as partof any decision making body(not just the Board of a com-pany),” the SC said, in a hard-hitting observation, question-ing the conduct of Mistry.
The court said the conductof Mistry in leaking his maildated October 25, 2016 to thePress and sending replies to theIncome Tax authorities enclos-
ing four box files, even whilecontinuing as a Director, justi-fied his removal even from theDirectorship of Tata Sons andother group companies.
Mistry had succeededRatan Tata, 84, as the chairmanof the TSPL in 2012, but wasdramatically ousted four yearslater, triggering one of theugliest boardroom battle atthe country’s biggest businessconglomerate that brought toplawyers face to face in theapex court.
“Thus in fine, all the ques-tions of law are liable to beanswered in favour of the
Continued on Page 11
Mumbai: Nine coronaviruspatients died in a fire at aCovid-19 hospital in a Mumbaimall on Friday, officials said.
All nine patients died dueto suffocation as a result of thefire, the BMC said.
The hospital, however,claimed that there was no casu-alty due to the fire.
“All the patients were shift-ed alive but there were a fewpatients on ventilator and wereextremely critical. We believethe casualties are not due to thefire, but either in transit or atother hospitals (where theywere shifted), it said.
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The Supreme Court onFriday dismissed pleas
seeking stay on further sale ofelectoral bonds ahead ofAssembly elections, sayingthe scheme was in placesince 2018, the bonds werereleased at per iodical intervals without any imped-iment and safeguards were in place to prevent their mis-use.
A Bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde said it sawno justification to grant stayat this stage.
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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday for the
first time boarded the AirIndia One aircraft to fly toBangladesh. The newly-inducted custom-madeBoeing 777 aircraft has beenacquired to facilitate VVIPmovements within India andon state visits abroad.
The B777 aircraft, whichhas registration number VT-ALW, was delivered by Boeingto the Indian Government inOctober last year. PresidentRam Nath Kovind inaugurat-ed Air India One when heboarded the B777 aircraft onits inaugural flight to Chennaiin November 2020.
The aircraft, which hascall sign AI1 or Air India One,departed from Delhi around8 am and landed at the Dhaka
airport around 10.30 am onFriday, officials said.
Another custom-madeB777 aircraft, with registra-tion number VT-ALV, wasalso delivered by theAmerican aircraft giant tothe Indian Government inOctober last year. Both ofthem will be on par with theUS President’s Air Force One
in terms of security mea-sures.
The planes are to fly onlyPresident, Vice President andPrime Minister. These twoaircraft were part of AirIndia’s commercial fleet for afew months in 2018 beforethey were sent back toBoeing for retrofitting forVVIP travel.
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The Uttar Pradesh StateElection Commission, on
Friday, announced the pollschedule for the three tier pan-chayat bodies.
As per the poll notification,the UP panchayat elections2021 will be held in four phas-es and the counting of voteswill be taken up on May 2.
The panchayat electionswill take place on April 15,April 19, April 26 and April 29for gram panchayats, kshetrapanchayats and members ofzila panchayats.
Polling in Lucknow will beheld on April 19.
State ElectionCommissioner Manoj Kumarannounced the dates of theelections, issuing strict guide-lines for following the Covidprotocol during the pollprocess and also the modelcode of conduct.
It may be mentioned herethat the final reservation listwas released on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the StateElection Commission (SEC)had issued a detailed advisoryin view of the fresh surge inCOVID-19 cases and soughtstrict adherence to the proto-col while conducting the pan-chayat polls.
As per the guidelines, no
voter will be allowed to enterthe polling centre withoutwearing a mask. However, if thepolling official has any suspi-cion, he/she can ask a voter toremove the mask. It will bemandatory to have thermalscanners at all the pollingbooths and centres to keep avigil on the entry of infectedpersons.
The notification for thefirst phase of the polls to beheld in 18 districts will beissued on April 3; scrutiny ofnomination papers will bedone on April 5 and the lastdate of nominations is April 7.
Notification for the secondphase polls in 20 districts willbe issued on April 7, scrutinyof nominations will be done onApril 9 and the last date ofwithdrawal will be April 11.
The notification for thethird phase polls in 20 districtswill be issued on April 13,scrutiny of nominations will bedone on April 16 and the lastdate for withdrawals will beApril 18.
The notification for thefourth and last phase polls in 17districts will be issued on April17, scrutiny of nominations willbe done on April 19 and the lastdate of withdrawals will beApril 21.
The voting, to be heldthrough ballot papers, will be
held from 7 am to 6 pm. Thecounting of votes will be takenup on May 2 from 8 am.
In the first phase, the dis-tricts going to polls includeSaharanpur, Ghaziabad,Rampur, Bareilly, Hathras,Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi,Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli,Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti,Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur,Jaunpur and Bhadohi.
In the second phase,Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat,Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bijnor,Amroha, Budaun, Etah,Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah,Lalitpur, Chitrakoot,Pratapgarh, Lucknow,Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur,Gonda, Maharajganj, Varanasiand Azamgarh districts will goto polls.
In the third phase, pan-chayat polls will be conductedin Shamli, Meerut, Moradabad,Pilibhit, Kasganj, Firozabad,Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun,Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Unnao,Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur,Siddharthnagar, Deoria,Chandauli, Mirzapur andBallia.
The districts going to pollsin the fourth phase of pollingare Bulandshahr, Hapur,Sambhal, Shahjahanpur,Aligarh, Mathura,Farrukhabad, Banda,
Continued on Page 11
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After issuing notification tofurther introduce police
commissionerate system inVaranasi and Kanpur Nagar,the state government on Fridaymorning appointed ADG\IGRange Agra, A Satish Ganeshand ADG Dial-112 AseemArun as the first police com-missioners of Varanasi andKanpur Nagar respectively.
Varanasi is the parliamen-tary constituency of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.
Late Thursday night, thestate cabinet had approved thepolice commissionerate sys-tem in Kanpur Nagar andVaranasi, and the appoint-ments of the police commis-sioners were made early Fridaymorning. Besides the twopolice commissioners, the gov-ernment posted two IG or
DIG rank officers, and eight SPrank officers in Kanpur Nagar.
At the same time, inVaranasi PoliceCommissionerate, the govern-ment post of two additionalcommissioners of police level ofDIG and nine deputy com-missioners of police (SP rank).
The new commissioner ofpolice of Varanasi, an1996batch IPS officer A SatishGanesh, was presently postedas ADG Zone in Agra. A SatishGanesh, a resident of Bilaspur,Madhya Pradesh, was born in1969. At the same time, AseemArun, the new CP of KanpurNagar, is a 1994 batch IPS, andwas currently handling theresponsibility of Dial 112.Aseem Arun, a native ofKannauj district of UttarPradesh, was born in 1970.
Lucknow and Noidaalready have the police com-
missionerate system. Both werebrought under the police com-missionerate system in January2020. Both police commis-sioners will have magisterialpower. The system gives morepowers, including magisterialpowers, to police officers andis aimed at better and effectivepolicing, the official here said.
In Kanpur Nagar, 45 policestations will be brought underthe police commissioneratesystem. The system will beheaded by an ADG rank offi-cer as commissioner and therewill be two DIGs, five SPs, a SP-rank lady officer and an ASPrank official.
“The government decidedto bring Kanpur Nagar andVaranasi under the commis-sionerate system following thesuccess of this system inLucknow and Noida,” an offi-cial said.
1����� ����������2� �������3���������%������ ����&�$�� �New Delhi (PTI): The SupremeCourt Friday directed thePunjab government to handover the custody of gangster-turned-politician MukhtarAnsari, who is lodged inRupnagar jail there, to UttarPradesh Police.
A bench of Justices AshokBhushan and RS Reddy said thatthe custody of Ansari, an MLAfrom Mau constituency, behanded over to the state ofUttar Pradesh within two weeks.
The top court also dis-missed a plea by Ansari seekingtransfer of cases lodged againsthim in Uttar Pradesh to someother place outside the state.
The top court delivered theverdict on the plea of UttarPradesh government seeking adirection to the Punjab govern-ment and Rupnagar jail author-ity to immediately hand over thecustody of Ansari, to the districtjail Banda.
On March 4, the top courtwas informed by Punjab gov-ernment that Yogi Adityanath-led government has got no fun-damental right to seek Ansari’stransfer from Rupnagar jail to adistrict jail in Banda in UttarPradesh. Ansari is lodged in dis-trict jail Rupnagar in Punjab inconnection with an allegedextortion case since January2019. He is also accused in sev-eral cases of heinous crimeslodged in Uttar Pradesh.
The UP government hasearlier contended that Ansarihas been dodging the judicial
system and is running hisalleged illegal activities fromRupnagar district jail in Punjab.
While Uttar Pradesh hadalleged in the apex court thatthere is collusion betweenAnsari and Punjab Police, theAmarinder Singh governmenthas refuted these claims andraised questions over the main-tainability of plea filed by theYogi Adityanath government.
The UP government hasreferred to the prison rules andsaid that though the state itselfdoes not have fundamentalrights, it can espouse the causeand the fundamental rights ofthe victims and it may assumethe position of the victim.
It said Ansari had floutedthe jail manual rules and rightsof the victim and the State atlarge cannot be overlooked andthe accused cannot be allowedto jettison the fair trial. It hadsaid that the top court underArticle 142 can order transfer ofAnsari from Punjab jail to a jailin Uttar Pradesh as around 14and 15 cases are at final stages.
Ansari who has also filedpetition seeking transfer of hiscases in UP to outside the state,had submitted that because ofhis political affiliation to a partyin opposition, he is being tar-geted.
Punjab government hadsaid that Ansari has been unwelland central government ownedPGI Chandigarh has been givenhim the medical certificatesfrom time to time.
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In sync with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s aim to
make India a USD 5-trillioneconomy, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onFriday said that the state gov-ernment had targeted tobecome a USD 1-trillion dol-lar economy. Uttar Pradeshhas achieved the secondposition in the ease of doingbusiness (EODB) annual rank-ing.
“Prime Minister NarendraModi has aimed to make Indiaa five-trillion dollar economy.In a bid to help the countryachieve this goal, Uttar Pradeshis also targeting to become aone-trillion dollar economy asevery sixth citizen of India is anative of UP,” the chief minis-ter said while addressing IndiaEconomic Conclave throughvirtual medium.
“The EODB has generatedpositive environment for busi-ness and investment leading toinvestment of over Rs 3 lakhcrore during the last four yearsand even during the period ofpandemic there was invest-ment of Rs 60,000 crore in thestate,” the CM said and added,“the first display unit of Indiaand first data centre is being setup in UP.”
He said along with theEODB, the state governmenthad focused its attention onease of living which had addedto business potential and theincome of the common people.
On the development ofUttar Pradesh, the CM said,
“The state has been trans-formed in the last four yearsand there has been positivechange. In 2015-16, the stateeconomy ranked sixth andtoday it is the second largesteconomy of the country.”
The CM said with the sus-tained efforts by the state gov-ernment, there was a significant
improvement in state’s rev-enue.
“The government identi-fied certain sectors of the econ-omy and focused its attentionon farmers and agriculture.The MSP was effectively imple-mented and irrigation projectspending for decades were com-pleted,” he said.
Yogi Adityanath said UPhad the largest MSME sector inthe country which was less cap-ital intensive and had hugeemployment potential. TheCM said the UP governmentimplemented One District OneProduct (ODOP) scheme inJanuary 2018 under which tra-ditional cottage industry was
being promoted. He said dur-ing the Covid induced lock-down, as many as 40 lakhmigrant labourers returned tothe state and the state govern-ment ensured their safe journeyto their native villages.
Referring to the coron-avirus pandemic, the CM said,“last year was the most chal-
lenging period and UPachieved remarkable success inmanaging the pandemic. TheWHO has also praised theCovid management by the UPgovernment.”
Yogi Adityanath said thestate government was vigorous-ly pursuing the infrastructuredevelopment in the state and all
border roads had been devel-oped to four lane roads and alldistrict headquarters had beenlinked with four lane roads.
He said the PurvanchalExpressway and BundelkhandExpressway would be openedfor traffic this year.
He said the work onGorakhpur Link Expressway
was being done on a war foot-ing and work on Ballia LinkExpressway is also progressingat a fast pace.
The CM said till 2017,only two airports were opera-tional in the state and thisnumber had increased to eightand international airport atJewar was under construction.
Lucknow (PNS): The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment, in the wake of the ongoing four-month-long farmers’ agitation against thenew farm laws, is gearing up to purchasewheat directly from farmers. For the firsttime in many decades, the government hasset no target for wheat procurement from thefarmers.
The procurement will start from April1 and continue till the stocks last with thefarmers. The wheat will be purchased fromthe farmers at the minimum support price(MSP) of Rs 1,975 per quintal for the 2021-22 seasons, an increase of Rs 50 per quintalover the previous year.
Against the usual 3,400-3,600 wheat pro-
curement centres opened across the state,the government has almost doubled thenumber to 6,000 this time. A Food CivilSupplies Department official said “6,000 pro-curement centres will be opened across thestate by the department and other purchas-ing agencies”.
“This year, the government has not fixedany target for wheat procurement. Instead,it has been decided that we will continue tobuy wheat on the increased MSP till farm-ers' stocks last. Farmers can sell as much
wheat as they want on MSP between April1 and June 15,” the official said, adding thatto keep middlemen out of the procurementprocess, the government had made registra-tion mandatory for farmers on the portal ofthe Food and Civil Supplies Department.
For those farmers who are willing to sellmore than 100 quintals of wheat to the gov-ernment agencies, the Revenue Departmentwill verify them and to ensure transparen-cy, the government has decided that theentire wheat purchasing will be done through
biometric authentication through e-PoSmachines in order to keep the middlemenout. The state government will also be geo-tagging the purchase centres and storagewarehouses.
For ensuring transparent procurement,wheat procurement will be done through‘Electronic Point of Purchase’ and the facil-ity of nominee has been arranged for the con-venience of the farmers. If a farmer is unableto come to the purchasing centre himself, hecan nominate a member of his family. The
nominated member will have to be men-tioned in the registration form. Aadhaarauthentication of the nominated memberwill also be done.
It may be mentioned that while thewheat procurement target in 2020-21 was 55lakh MT, the actual purchase was 35.76 lakhmetric tons (MT) only.
“We are planning to create extra storagespaces in case we get more wheat than lastyear. We are looking at setting up temporarysheds at government factories and sugar millcomplexes. Additionally, as a short-termmeasure, we are also considering inter-dis-trict and interstate movement of the stock,”the official said.
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Just before the enforcement of the model codeof conduct following announcement of the
three-tier panchayat election schedule in theUttar Pradesh, the state government made amajor reshuffle in the police department, trans-ferring 45 senior IPS officers, including thepolice chiefs of 15 districts and eight ranges.
Besides, the government also introduced thepolice commissionerate system in Varanasiand Kanpur Nagar and posted new officers there.
According to an official communiqué releasedhere on Friday, ADG of Dial 112, Aseem Arun,has been made the commissioner of police ofKanpur Nagar while ADG Agra, A Satish Ganeshhas been made the CP of Varanasi.
Piyush Mordiya, IG Aligarh Range, has beenmade joint commissioner of police in Lucknow,IG PAC Moradabad Akash Kulhari has been madeACP Kanpur, DIG Jail Akhilesh Kumar has been
made ACP Varanasi, Anil Kumar Singh, DIGSCRB, has been made ACP Varanasi, ManojKumar, DIG PAC Lucknow, has been made ACPKanpur and Ms Pushpanjali, DIG Rail, has beenmade ACP in Gautam Buddha Nagar. ADGTraffic, Ashok Kumar Singh, will be new ADGDial-112, IG Varanasi Range, Vijay Singh Meena,will be ADG Vigilance, JCP Lucknow, NaveerArora will be IG Range, Agra, IG (Law and Order)Jyoti Narain will be ADG (Traffic), IG MoradabadRange Ramit Sharma will be IG Bareilly Range,in place of Rajesh Kumar Pandey, who will be IG(Election Cell) at the DGP office here.
IG Gorakhpur Range, Modak Rajesh D Rao,will be IG (Law and Order), IG Vigilance, SKBhagwat, will be IG Range Varanasi, while IGMirzapur range, Piyush Srivastava, will beattached with the DGP office.
DIG/ SSP Ayodhya Deepak Kumar has beenmade DIG of Aligarh range, DIG (SpecialInvestigation Cell) Shalab Mathur has been
made DIG Moradabad, DIG/SSP Kanpur NagarDr Preetinder Singh has been made DIGGorakhpur, DIG Ravindra Gaur has been madeDIG Mirzapur, DIG/SP Kushinagar Vinod KumarSingh has been made DIG (Security), SSPVaranasi Amit Pathak has been made SSP ofGhaziabad and ACP Gautam Buddha Nagar.
SSP Ghaziabad Kalanidhi Naithani has beenmade SSP of Aligarh, replacing Muniraj G whohas been shifted as SSP Agra. Commandant ofPAC Sitapur, Rohan P Kanhai, has been made SSPof Jhansi, replacing Dinesh Kumar P who goes inthe same capacity to Gorakhpur.
SP (ATS) Sachindra Patel will be the new SPof Kushinagar while SP Headquarters SantoshKumar Mishra will be the SP of Gonda, replac-ing Sailesh Kumar Pande who has been made SSPof Ayodhya. SP (Railway Gorakhpur) BrijeshKumar Singh has been made SP of Etawah, replac-ing Aakash Tomar who goes as SP Pratapgarh.
SSP Gorakhpur, Yogendra Kumar, has been
shifted as DIG range Jhansi in place of SS Baghel,who has been attached with the DGP office.Additional Police Commissioner in Noida,Sriparna Ganguly, has also been attached with theDGP office. SP, Special Investigation Team (SIT)Rathore Kirat K Haribhai, will be the new SP ofPilibhit, replacing Jai Prakash, who goes asCommandant of PAC 32nd Battalion in place ofSujata Singh, who will now go to Bahraich. SPBahraich, Vipin Kumar Mishra, goes to Sultanpurin the same capacity replacing Dr ArvindChaturvedi, who has been shifted to Lucknow asSP Vigilance Establishment while SSP Agra,Babloo Kumar, will be SSP ATS.
Commandant of 42nd Battalion PAC inPrayagraj, Udai Shankar Singh, has been shiftedas SP Etah in place of Sunil Kumar Singh, whohas been attached with the DGP office. HemrajMeena and Satyarth Anirudh Pankaj, bothattached with DGP office, will be SP STF and SPSIT respectively.
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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath
instructed officials on Fridayto invoke the Uttar PradeshGangster Act and, if necessary,also to seize the properties ofthose involved in the sale ofspurious liquor in the state.
The properties should beauctioned and the amountgenerated from it should beused to provide support to thefamilies of the victims, thechief minister said.
A government spokesper-son said that Yogi Adityanathinstructed officials to bookthose involved in the sale ofspurious liquor under theGangster Act. He said theCM also asked the officials tokeep a close vigil on those whowere involved in sale of illicitliquor despite the local admin-istration having sealed theirestablishment and booked
them for the crime.The CM said that in case
any causality took place due tospurious liquor then not onlythe guilty would be punishedbut the accountability of thegovernment officials in thecase would be also fixed andtough action would be initiat-ed against them.
Yogi Adityanath said thathis government was commit-ted to checking the sale of spu-rious liquor in the state andthose involved in it would facethe music.
The communiqué saidthat it was due to the newexcise policy of the BJP gov-ernment that the revenue gen-erated through liquor sale hadwitnessed a steep increase. In2016-17, the governmentearned Rs 13,000 crorethrough liquor sale and in thefinancial year 2020-21 it hadalready reached Rs 34,500crore, the release added.
LUCKNOW (PNS): The YogiAdityanath government’s ‘SponsorshipScheme’, launched for the welfare,growth and security of children belowthe poverty line, has successfullyencouraged thousands of students com-ing from poor backgrounds from var-ious districts to continue their studies.
Under the scheme, the governmentprovides monthly financial assistance ofRs 2,000 to the underprivileged childrenor children having single or disabledparents.
Deputy Director of Women andChild Welfare Department, Brijendra SNiranjan, said the government hadalready transferred Rs 1.7 crore to theaccounts of eligible beneficiaries in thisfiscal.
“We believe better education leadsto a bright future of children andtherefore the department has set a tar-get of connecting over 3,000 children tothe scheme. So far, about 1,026 childrenin different districts of the state havebenefited from this scheme,” Niranjansaid.
At the district level, the district pro-bation officer DPO, DCPU and BalKalyan Samiti and gram panchayats areaccepting funds coming from the blocklevel and are sending the amount to thechildren within the period of sixmonths.
Niranjan said that the initiatives likeBeti Bachao Beti Padhao and SchoolChalo Abhiyan were also getting a boostfrom the 'Sponsorship Scheme'. Thescheme aims at benefiting children up
to 18 years of age.“The scheme has proved effective in
curbing the evil practices such as childlabour and child abuse which areprevalent in the current times. Besides,it has also played a vital role in endingthe humiliation and sufferings of thefamilies which had to migrate to othercities in search for better facilities andjobs,” the official said.
In a multi-pronged strategy toensure the development and dignity ofdaughters and women, the governmenthas linked the Sponsorship Scheme withMission Shakti to encourage the pub-lic and non-government institutions toadopt the schemes, District ProbationOfficer Sudhakar Sharan Pandey said.
“Around 50 NGOs includingChildline, Bal Kalyan Samiti, haveadopted the scheme. Through theadoption process, the children identi-fied by the institutions are being direct-ly benefited from the scheme,” he said.
A proposal has also been sent to thegovernment by the Women WelfareDepartment to increase the incomelimit of the beneficiaries under theSponsorship Scheme and to benefit thechildren of people earning up to Rs 3lakh per annum. “It is our goal to pro-vide the benefit of this scheme to chil-dren of more and more poor families.The sponsorship scheme is pushing theunderprivileged children on the path ofeducation and also playing a crucial rolein securing their future,” said ManojKumar Rai, Director, Women WelfareDepartment.
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Claiming that the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment has efficiently converted
all the challenges into opportunities,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saidthat the COVID-10 pandemic was achallenge and his government notonly saved lives but also built medicalinfrastructure and provided jobs to themigrant people who returned to thestate.
“We have made continuous effortssince the time my government assumedoffice to identify all those sectorswhich will help establish a new dimen-sion in the state's economy,” Yogi saidwhile addressing a conclave organisedby a private media house on Friday.
Stating that Uttar Pradesh wasknown for its rich and fertile land, hesaid that the government had identifiedsome sectors which would help thefarmers to double their incomes.
The CM claimed that not a singleriot was reported in UP in the last fouryears. “Earlier, the state used to witnessfrequent riots but now the law andorder of UP has become a model for thecountry,” he said.
“We have been successful in chang-ing the perception. This has resulted in
large-scale investment. We have takena quantum leap in the rise of the MSMEsector which also created employ-ment opportunities on a large scale,” hesaid.
Yogi said that Uttar Pradesh wasthe only state to have doubled the percapita income from Rs 47,000 to Rs97,000 in just four years i.e. from 2017to 2021.
The chief minister said that UP wasnow on the path of realising its muchcherished dream of attaining one tril-
lion dollar economy status in thecountry while contributing to thecountry’s five trillion dollar economytarget set by Prime Minister NarendraModi.
Taking a dig at Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, Yogi said he does notspeak with his own mind. He statedthat everyone had the right to contestelection from the constituency of one’sliking.
He said Rahul Gandhi was reject-ed by the people of Amethi as they no
longer felt connected to the partyleadership.
“When he addresses people inNorth India, he criticises South India,and when he is in South, he uses badwords about North. He is facing a cred-ibility crisis and it is the prime reasonfor the downfall of the Congress party,”he said.
Launching an attack on MamataBanerjee, CM Yogi said that no devel-opment had taken place in WestBengal.
“The West Bengal elections for usare election to bring prosperity to farm-ers, women, and youth,” the chiefminister said, adding that it was a mat-ter of days when the magnificent statewould get rid of the hooliganism ofTrinamool Congress, and the BharatiyaJanata Party would re-establish theidentity of Bengal and bring a new pos-itive change.
Stating that the BJP had neveruttered a word against any religious cel-ebration, Yogi asked Mamata Banerjeewhy Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja cel-ebrations stopped in the state.
He also said that once the BJP wasvoted to power, no one would stop peo-ple from performing Saraswati andDurga Puja.
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Public Notice is given about loss of OriginalAllotment Letter No. 39729 dtd. 23.03.2002and power of attorney dtd. 14.03.2008 exe-cuted was Ram Naresh Awasthi in favourof Smt. Hemawati in respect of KDAFreehold Plot No. 371, MIG Scheme-Tatya Tope Nagar, Phase-2, Kanpur area112.50 sq.mtrs. are misplaced/lost. Forwhich Police report has been lodged.
Housing Loan over said property is underconsideration by the LIC, HFL. If any onehas any objection/claim over said proper-ty, same can represented before B.N. BajpaiAdvocate (Mob. No. 09450514381) within15 days of publication of this Notice.
(B.N. Bajpai)Advocate
Civil Court, Kanpur Nagar.
PUBLIC NOTICE
NOTICE
I, JC-749797A HONY SubMajor, Rishi Kumar Dikshit S/oLate Rameshwar Prasad R/oB-84, A.W.H.O., Tyagi Vihar,Rashmi Khand, Sharda Nagar,Lucknow have changed mydaughter's name from SmithaShri to Smita Shree Dikshit forall future purposes.
NOTICE
I, JC-749797A HONY SubMajor, Rishi Kumar Dikshit S/oLate Rameshwar Prasad R/oB-84, A.W.H.O., Tyagi Vihar,Rashmi Khand, Sharda Nagar,Lucknow have changed myname from Rishi Kumar toRishi Kumar Dikshit for allfuture purposes.
NOTICE
I, JC-749797A HONY SubMajor, Rishi Kumar Dikshit S/oLate Rameshwar Prasad R/oB-84, A.W.H.O., Tyagi Vihar.Rashmi Khand, Sharda Nagar,Lucknow have changed myWife's name from Indira toIndira Dikshit for all future pur-poses.
BUREAU OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY(A Statutory body under Ministry of Power, Government of India)
4th Floor, Sewa Bhawan, R.K. Puram, New Delhi - 110066Website : www.beeindia.gov.in, Ph: 011-26766700
21st NATIONAL CERTIFICATION EXAMINATION FORENERGY MANAGERS & ENERGY AUDITORS
REVISED SCHEDULE OF EXAMINATIONBureau of Energy Efficiency has rescheduled the 21st NationalCertification Examination for Energy Mangers and Energy Auditors from27th & 28th March, 2021 to 22nd & 23rd May, 2021 (Saturday andSunday) in all 24 centres since coinciding with the State Assembly Electionsof some States.For the benefit of candidates who couldn't register during the period of07.01.2021 to 06.02.2021, the registration portal has been re-opened upto 09th April 2021 to enable interested candidates to register for the same.
SECRETARY, BEEdavp 34106/11/0019/2021
No.A.12026/2/2021-Admn.IIGovernment of India
National Institution for Transforming India(Administration-IA Section)
NITI Bhavan, Sansad Marg,New Delhi- 110001.
Subject : Recruitment of 08 (eight) posts of Senior Specialist/ Specialistin NITI Aayog by Contract from private personnel / Deputation (includ-ing short-term contract) basis.
Government of India, National Institution for Transforming India (NITIAayog) invites applications for 08 (eight) posts of Senior Specialist/Specialistin the areas of (i) Agriculture (ii) Economic Policy (iii) DevelopmentEconomics (iv) Frontier Technology (v) Higher Education(vi) MSME (vii)Rural Development (viii) Urban Development on Contract basis from pri-vate; personnel, on consolidated monthly remuneration of Rs.2,20,000/Rs.1,45,000 and on Deputation (including short-term contract) basis inthe Pay Level-13 in the Pay Matrix| (Rs.1,23,100—Rs.2,15,900) / Level-12 in the Pay Matrix (Rs.78,800-Rs.2,09,200) from the eligible officersworking in the Central Government/ State Governments / Union Territories(including their attached and subordinate offices)/ Universities / RecognisedResearch Institutions / Public-Sector Undertakings / Semi-Government orStatutory or Autonomous Organisations. The details relating to the postsas well as the requisite eligibility conditions and the procedure for apply-ing for these posts are available on NITI Aayog’s website niti.gov.in underthe link https://niti.gov.in/career/vacancy-circular.2. The closing date of receipt of application in NITI Aayog willbe 60 days from the date of publication of this advertisement in theEmployment News.
Gopala KrishnaUnder Secretary (Admn.IA & Rectt.)
Ph. No. 23096759davp 54101/11/0023/2021
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In view of the surge in Covidcases in Lucknow, District
Magistrate Abhishek Prakashsaid the Integrated Commandand Control Centre will remainfunctional round the clock foreffective containment of coro-navirus spread. He said the offi-cials should have better coor-dination to ensure contact trac-ing within four hours. Thecentre will work in three shifts— 8 am to 2 pm, 2 pm to 8 pmand 8 pm to 8 am.
Nodal officers have beenappointed for all the Covid-related activities such as contacttracing, screening, door-to-door surveillance and shiftingof patients to hospitals, ifrequired. The centre will makea strategy for the samplingteams on a daily basis and thenreview the cases. It will alsostrategise for testing, quickcontact tracing, monitoring ofCovid hospitals, taking feed-back from patients, ensuringcentralised system of sendingambulances, monitoring ofcleanliness and diet of patients.
The DM said that theCMO will monitor the activi-ties of these teams. “Once theyreach hospitals with patients,the ambulance drivers have toinform the command centre. If
any phone number given by thepatient turns out to be wrong,the contact tracing team mustcontact local police station andseek help,” the said.
The DM on Friday inspect-ed the containment zone inNarhi where 14 patients testedpositive in three houses and sixof a family. “This is a propercontainment zone where segre-gation is being maintained andmovement restricted. The sup-ply of food is through homedelivery and online orders,” hesaid. The infection spreadmainly because of a huge influxof people from other parts ofthe country, he claimed.
In a meeting held for con-verting hospitals into Covidfacilities, the DM said swiftresponse can help in stalling the
death rate. “The hospitals capa-ble of carrying out both Covidand non-Covid activities canbecome Covid facilities ontheir own and create separateblocks for the treatment ofpatients,” he said.
Prakash issued directionsfor regular maintenance ofhygiene and cleanliness at theCovid hospitals.
Charak Hospital is expect-ed to start the Covid facilityfrom April 10, Sahara Hospitalfrom March 30 while Integral,Vivekanand and TS Mishrahospitals by April 1. The DMdirected the CMO to continu-ously monitor the hospitals toensure adherence to Covidprotocols. He said private hos-pitals will only take the amountfixed for each patient.
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Asking officials to be on alertin view of Holi and pan-
chayat elections, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath said that aneffective system of preventionand treatment should be main-tained across the state to pre-vent the spread of novel coro-navirus.
The chief minister wasreviewing the Covid situationat a high-level meeting con-vened at his government resi-dence here on Friday.
He said that all necessaryfacilities should be ensured inCovid hospitals. "Adequatenumber of medical personnel,medicines, medical equipmentand proper provision of oxy-gen, including backup, shouldbe available in these hospitals,"he said.
The chief minister said
that the previous system ofCovid help desk should berun smoothly. "Symptomaticindividuals should be identifiedusing infrared thermometersand pulse oximeters. IntensiveCovid check of passengersshould be done at bus stations,railway stations and airports. Iffound infected, arrangementsshould be made to quarantinethem," he said.
The chief minister saidthat more than 1.50 lakh Covidtests should be done daily. Heinstructed the officials to con-duct contact tracing and saidthat people who had come intouch with the COVID-19patients should be identified sothat the spread of the diseasecould be checked.
“Information about peoplecoming from other statesshould be collected throughmonitoring committees in rural
and urban areas. The integrat-ed command and control cen-tre should be kept fully func-tional at the district level so thatthey pass on the right informa-tion to the people,” he said.
Yogi said that all the districtmagistrates and chief medicalofficers should meet everymorning in the Covid hospitalsand in the integrated commandand control centres in theevening.
The chief minister saidthat people should be constant-ly made aware about COVID-19 and for this public addresssystems should be used. Hesaid people should be informedabout the mandatory use ofmasks and adherence to socialdistancing.
He also instructed thepolice to take necessary steps toensure that crowds do notgather at public places.
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Alarge number of Covidcases were detected in
three government departmentson Friday, two of which weresealed by the district adminis-tration after sanitisation.
ADM (East) KP Singh said13 people at the DRM (NER)office and seven of their fami-ly members tested positive atthe DRM (NER) office, whichwas sealed after sanitisation. Itwill now open after Holi. Therewere five officers among the 13cases. A senior railway officialsaid the numbers were increas-ing and more cases could befound. “The numbers are in adynamic state and mayincrease. This is also becausewe carried out a large numberof tests as it’s the best way todetect Covid positive casesand segregate them for treat-ment. Incidentally, all thesepatients were asymptomatic. It’sobvious that they contractedthe infection because of beingexposed to public,” he said.
A railway official who test-ed positive said he was con-cerned because his 10-year-oldson had also diagnosed withCovid-19.
Besides, the ADM said 14people tested positive in theFood and Civil Supplies depart-ment at secretariat. “We will becarrying out sanitisation inSachivalaya, Bapu Bhawan andLok Bhawan on Saturday,” hesaid. According to DIOSMukesh Singh, 14 cases weredetected at the EducationDirectorate in Hazratganj andit was sealed by the districtadministration.
In an alarming increase,347 tested positive for Covid inLucknow while 1,032 in thestate on Friday. Two patientssuccumbed in the state capitalwhile 57 patients recovered.The active cases climbed to1,648. In Lucknow, the freshcases included 28 fromHazratganj, 23 fromIndiranagar, 20 fromAlambagh, 18 each fromGomtinagar & Manaknagar,16 each from Madiaon &Ashiyana, 15 from Mahanagar,14 from Chowk, 13 fromJankipuram, 11 fromHussainganj and 10 fromBazaarkhala.
Across the state, the newcases included 54 fromGhaziabad, 46 from Meerut, 45from Varanasi, 43 from
Gautam Buddh Nagar and 21from Kanpur, pushing the tallyto 6,10,279. There were sixdeaths in the state. Apart fromthe two fatalities in Lucknow,one each was reported fromVaranasi, Kushinagar, Etawah& Bijnore. Besides, 247 patientsrecovered across the state, tak-ing the recovery figures to5,96,698 while there are 8,779active cases in the state.
Meanwhile, district immu-nisation officer Dr MK Singhsaid that a total of 6,120 peo-ple were vaccinated inLucknow on Friday, including3,096 senior citizens and 1,049those above 45 years with co-morbidities.
With Holi approaching,the vaccination figures havedipped across the state. Asenior health official said UPwas witnessing almost 4 lakhvaccinations per day, but thenumbers have come down to2.6 lakh per day, primarilybecause of Holi. “According tothe CMOs, people do not wantto get themselves vaccinated onthe occasion of Holi because itmay lead to fever. They may beplanning to get themselvesvaccinated later,” the healthofficial said.
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Aclass IV railway employeewho resided in a servant
quarter on RAK road nearSomnath Dwar underCantonment police station wasfound murdered with his throatslit around 3:30 pm on Friday.He was identified as BrijBhushan, who was a native ofFirozabad district.
Police said caretaker of therailway officers’ guest houseVinay Kumar Tiwari reachedBrij Bhushan’s counter for somework and found him lying in apool of blood. The victim hadhis hands and legs tied with arope. The caretaker raised analarm which drew the attentionof others working in the com-
pound. The deceased had beenliving here for the past fiveyears and was a domestic helpworking for deputy chief engi-neer Puneet Kumar. His serviceswere regularised last year. Tiwariinformed Kumar, who is post-ed outside of the district.
Kumar informed theCantonment police station aboutthe incident. He also informedsenior railway officers. A policespokesman said the probe hadbeen started and the killerswould be arrested soon.
����"� �%������"��A dentist reportedly ended
his life by hanging himselffrom the ceiling at his house inNagaria in Thakurganj policestation area on Friday. He was
identified as Dr Waseem HasanRizvi. However, no suicidenote was recovered from thescene. Syed Wazir Hasan Rizvi,who is a retired governmentofficer, informed the policeabout his son’s death around10:30 am. Police said Waseemand his father had gone toKanpur to attend a weddingreception on March 24 andcame back around 4 pm thenext day. Waseem retired to hisroom around 10:30 pm afterhaving dinner.
On Friday, when he did notwake up till 9 am, his fatherwent to his room but found thedoor bolted from inside.
Waseem used to leave for hisclinic in Para around 8 am. Hisfather repeatedly knocked thedoor but there was no responsefrom inside. He raised an alarmafter which neighbours reachedthe house. Neighbours brokeopen the door in presence ofpolice, only to find Waseemhanging from the ceiling in thebathroom.
In another incident, ateenager, identified as Ayushi,who was living in a rentedhouse in Shyam Nagar areaunder Manaknagar police sta-tion, was found hanging fromthe ceiling. Police said the girlhad a telephonic conversation
with her aunt, Neha, who is aresident of Geeta Nagar, on theintervening night of Thursdayand Friday.
She had told her aunt thather mother was unwell andadmitted in Queen Mary’sHospital. Neha and her husbandAnil went to the hospital to seeAyushi’s ailing mother. Theythen went to Ayushi’s house inthe morning to inform her thatthe condition of her mother wasgetting better. However, thecouple found the doors openand lights switched on. Theywent inside and found Ayushihanging from the ceiling with arope tied around her neck.
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F. No. 2/1/2021-REGovernment of IndiaMinistry of Finance
Department of Economic Affairs(Financial Markets Division)
Filling up the post(s) of Whole Time Member in Securities and Exchange Boardof India
The Government of India invites applications from the eligible candidates for fillingup two posts of Whole time Member in Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI), Mumbai. The appointment shall be made for a maximum period of five yearsfrom the date of assumption of charge or till attaining the age of 65 years of the appointee,whichever is earlier. The Whole Time Member shall have an option to receive pay —(a) as admissible to a Additional Secretary to the Government of India; or (b) a con-solidated salary of Rs. 4,00,000/- (Rupee four lakh only) per month.
The particulars of the post and eligibility conditions may be seen on the Ministry'swebsite at https://www.dea.gov.in/vacancy-deputation-department-economic-affairs under Department of Economic Affairs.Applications of eligible candidates in the prescribed proforma along with certified copiesof required documents may be forwarded, through proper channel (wherever applic-able) so as to reach to the undersigned in the Department of Economic Affairs,Ministry of Finance, Room No. 71B, North Block, New Delhi-110001 on or before30th April 2021.Incomplete applications and applications received after the last date shall notbe considered.
(Manish Kumar Jha)Deputy Secretary (RE)
Tel: 23093510davp 15201/11/0006/2021
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Lucknow (PNS): The Food Safetyand Drug Administration (FSDA)is setting up Covid help desks atsweet shops, hotels and restau-rants and spreading awareness inview of the spurt in coronavirusinfection cases in Lucknow.
Suresh Mishra, a senior FSDAofficial, said they are puttingbanners at the hotels and restau-rants, telling them how to estab-lish Covid help desks. “Thesedesks have employees from thesame unit who take temperatureof a visitor at the entrance and noone without mask on is allowedentry,” he said. Names and mobilenumbers of visitors will be noteddown and if there is a variation inthe temperature, information hasto be provided to the control
Lucknow (PNS): The CentralInstitute for SubtropicalHorticulture (CISH) organiseda training programme on ‘Pestmanagement in sub-tropicalfruit crops with special referenceto mango, guava citrus andpomegranate’ from March 22 to
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���"�����Chief scientist of NBRI Dr
TS Rana has been nominatedas vice-president of the 44thAll-India Botanical Conference(AIBC) to be held in Jodhpurby the ends of this year, accord-ing to secretary of IndianBotanical Society Dr SeshuLavania. Dr Rana was theorganising secretary of the43rd All-India BotanicalConference, held in Lucknowrecently. He is the head of thedepartment of Plant Diversity,Systematics and HerbariumDivision of NBRI, and active-ly engaged in the fields ofmolecular systematic, plantdiversity and conservation biol-ogy. The Indian BotanicalSociety is an important scien-tific body of the country whichhas completed 100 years of itsestablishment this year. Thesociety works in the field ofspreading botanical knowledgein the country, which, alongwith other activities, alsoorganises a national-levelbotanical conference every yearin which botanists from all overthe country gather, presenttheir research work and discussvarious issues in the field ofbotany.
�"���#%�"�6��Four tiger cubs have been
brought to Lucknow zoo fromthe Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. Zoodirector RK Singh said theyhave kept the cubs in isolationat the hospital and they will bemonitored for 72 hours. Thecubs appeared to be scared andsat in close proximity witheach other. He also appealed topeople to suggest names for thefour cubs, two of which arefemales.
#� ���#����7#��City Montessori School,
Aliganj (Campus II) teachersRachna Bansal andSharmishtha Sengupta havecome up trumps in CENTATeaching ProfessionalsOlympiad. Rachna Bansaltopped in middle school-levelmathematics whileSharmishtha Sengupta inEnglish. CENTA TeachingProfessional Olympiad is asubstantiation for teaching
excellence in which schoolteachers from all over Indiacompete. The olympiad wasorganised under the aegis of theCentre for TeacherAccreditation (CENTA) inwhich teachers from over10,000 schools participated.CENTA organises TeachingProfessionals Olympiad (TPO)every year with the aim toencourage teachers to developtheir skills and talents. Theteachers are selected on thebasis of their proficiency insubjects, experience and highacademic standards.
���"��� ����The UP Housing and
Development Board securedpossession of 9 acres of land forfarmers under Ayodhya BhumiVikas Evam Grah Yojana andBazaar Yojana, according to anofficial communique. The landwas allotted to eight farmers ata function held on Thursday. Itwas presided over by AyodhyaDistrict Magistrate AK Jha inthe presence of additionalhousing commissioner NeerajShukla. The land was given tothe farmers whose land wasacquired under the scheme tothe make Ayodhya mega city.
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On the second day of theBharatiya Janata Party's
mass contact campaign, seniorministers in the YogiAdityanath government,including Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma, metpeople and apprised them ofthe achievements of the Yogigovernment.
Dr Sharma interacted withpeople at booth number 13 ofAishbagh ward of CentralVidhan Sabha constituency.He distributed leaflets amongthe people to inform them
about the achievements of theYogi government.
Law and Justice MinisterBrajesh Pathak, along withsenior party leaders, toured theHazratganj ward and met peo-ple at booth number 280while lawmaker SureshSrivastava met people at boothnumber 323 in Sheetla Deviward and distributed pam-phlets on the government'sfour-year rule.
Another lawmaker, SureshChandra Tiwari, met traders atbooth number 210 in BabuKunj Bihari ward inCantonment assembly con-
stituency and senior party lead-ers Piyush Dewan, RakeshSrivastava, Ashok Tiwari andothers distributed leaflets atbooth Nos. 76 and 77 inLucknow East assembly con-stituency.
BJP media in-chargePraveen Garg said that pam-phlets distributed among peo-ple carried information aboutvarious schemes being run bythe Central and state govern-ments for the welfare of themasses.
"The leaders appealed tothe people to take advantage ofthese schemes," he said.
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The various makeshift shopswhich have dotted the city
roads are presenting a differentpicture this Holi. The shopswhich used to remain abuzzwith customers are largelywearing a deserted look withjust a couple of days to Holi.
A vendor, who was appar-ently waiting for the customers,said Covid has impacted thesales terribly. “I have displayedonly the old stocks which wereleft unsold last year. There areno new stocks available asthere are no buyers,” he said.
A furlong away, anothervendor who has displayedheaps of vibrant colours, saidno one was touching thecolours sold in loose. “The cus-
tomers are categoric about thiseven as sales of herbal colourshave also been dull,” he said,adding that people are a littlefearful of playing Holi becauseit is an antithesis to social dis-tancing. He pointed out thatmasks and caps were a com-plete no-no for the customerand only sprinklers are selling.Strict directives from the stategovernment have also restrict-ed the sales to a large extent.
However, from some peo-ple these restrictions have comeas a boon. A senior scientistsaid the use of synthetic coloursand their blatant as well as bois-terous use is hazardous forhealth. “The restriction are ablessing in disguise for young-sters as they will not be exposedto toxic colours,” he added.
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room. He added that they areonly spreading awareness andnot issuing challans.
Regarding their drive tocheck food adulteration in therun-up to Holi, he said therehave not been too many com-plaints from the khoya marketbecause of less demand andconsumption this year. “Khoya,which used to be overpriced atthis time of the year, is sellingat an average rate of Rs 200 perkg,” he pointed out.
He said since there are nogatherings allowed, the biggershops are not purchasingkhoya because of less demand.“People are more inclinedtowards sweets with dryfruiteven though the quality of thekhoya is not an issue,” hepointed out. Mishra said thatfor the several campaignswhich they carried out in themarkets, the shopkeepers andcustomers were ready to gettheir khoya samples tested.However, he said they arefocusing on coloured soybean& potato papads which couldbe harmful for health.
“We are also inspectingcold storages from whereexpired dry fruits have beenseized. We are also conductingchecking drives for oil adulter-ation. However, there have nobeen any major anomalies,” hesaid. “With restrictions havingbeen imposed on the sales ofunpacked oil, local companiesneed to package it and itincreases the cost of the prod-uct, and hence the local play-er is getting wiped out,” hepointed out.
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Opposition parties and therecently removed IPS offi-
cer Amitabh Thakur reactedstrongly to the government'smove to introduce police com-missionerate system in twomore districts of the state.
They claimed that it wouldhave no positive effect andinstead worsen the situation onlaw and order front.
“Police commissioneratesystem “wasooli key naye chan-nel”? commented AmitabhThakur, claiming that until themanpower in the police forcewas increased and the realproblems were resolved, justimplementing a police com-missionerate system was goingto do nothing fruitful butinstead open new gates for theofficers to extort money.
Thakur was given compul-sory retirement just two days
back by the Yogi Adityanathgovernment.
Reacting to the govern-ment’s move, AmarnathAgarwal, spokesman of UttarPradesh Congress, said theoutcome of introducing policecommissionerate system wasbefore everyone in Lucknowand Noida, where it had beenlaunched almost a year back.
“The law and order situa-tion in the two police commis-sionerate districts, especially inLucknow, is the worst in UttarPradesh with daily reports ofkilling, rape, loot or dacoitycoming from the state capital,”Agarwal said, adding that thetraffic chaos, fear among girlsetc remained the same as it waswhen Lucknow had just oneIPS officer to maintain law andorder.
“Appointing several IPSofficers is not going to give anydesired results as the junior
force remains the same andjust their designations havebeen changed,” Agarwaladded.
Vinod Mishra, leader andspokesman of Aam AadmiParty, also questioned theintroduction of the policecommissionerate system.
“Chief Minister YogiAdityanath is continuouslymaking propaganda that lawand order is completely undercontrol so a question arises, ifeverything is well then whatprompts Adityanath to go forintroducing commissioneratesystem in one after anotherdistrict,” Mishra said.
He claimed that the lawand order situation hadreached its worst in the statecapital since introduction ofthe police commissioneratesystem and the common manwas feeling the pinch of dete-rioration in law and order.
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The Bharat Bandh call givenby various farmers' groups
in protest against the newagricultural law evoked verylitt le response in UttarPradesh on Friday.
In Meerut, members ofBharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)staged a dharna at more thansix places while creating jams,including on the Delhi-Haridwar National Highwayand the Karnal Highway,which led to a lot of hardshipespecially for vehicles passingthrough the highways. Alongwith this, long queues of vehi-cles started lining on bothsides of the road. The impactof the bandh was not general-ly seen in the city and all themarkets opened up as before.
BKU Meerut district pres-
ident Manoj Tyagi said thatthe agitation would continuetill the three agricultural lawswere withdrawn. He said thaton Friday, the activists ofBKU created a jam at sixmajor places in Meerut, atPratapur, Daurala, Mawana,Jani, Jangethi and Dabathuwa.The BKU office-bearers sur-rounded the outer areas of thecity from the morning itself totake command of the jam.Some of these office-bearerswere posted on the Ghazipurborder while others weregiven the command ofMeerut. Apart from this, theoffice-bearers of the kisanunion were spotted sitting onthe main roads inBulandshahr, Baghpat, Bijnor,Shamli, Saharanpur andMuzaffarnagar districts. Roadtraffic was partially affected by
this. Apart from West UP,the bandh in other areas of thestate generally proved ineffec-tive. According to a reportreceived from Gonda, thebandh did not have any effectin the district. No organisationor political party protested orsubmitted a memorandum.
In view of the bandh call,the police administration wasready to deal with every situ-ation at sensitive places.
The bandh was called forthe repeal of three agricultur-al laws, for law on minimumsupport prices (MSP) andprocurement, cancellation ofall police cases against farm-ers, rollback of electricity billand pollution bill and forreducing prices of diesel,petrol and gas, according to astatement by the SanyuktaKisan Morcha (SKM).
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-%�*�,���!�#)�!�������+*���#$� �!��%�����!� Lucknow (PNS): Seven stu-
dents of the EngineeringFaculty, Lucknow University,and two students of affiliatedcolleges received campusplacement in the UK-basedmult inat ional company,‘Deloitte’. In a virtual place-ment drive organised by theTraining and Placement Cellof the Engineering Faculty ofLucknow University onMarch 25, nine students wereselected by Deloitte.
“Deloitte selected sevenstudents of BCA from theEngineering Faculty (MahakRastogi, Ayush Joshi, YashJain, Aashwal Dixit, AnuragTiwari, Usman Ahmed andAnubhav Singh) along withBCA student Vaibhav Bishtfrom GITM and BCA studentShivani Pandey from LalBahadur Shastri College. Thecompany has offered thesestudents the post of associateanalyst with a package of Rs3.82 lakh per annum,” LUspokesperson DurgeshSrivasatava said.
As many as 137 studentsof the Engineering Faculty ofLucknow University havebeen selected by variousreputed multinational com-panies t i l l now. Vice-Chancellor Prof Alok KumarRai congratulated all the stu-dents who were selected byDeloitte.
� ������������#������!� ����!���� "� � ���� Lucknow (PNS): Distributionof sarees to influence the vot-ers in the coming panchayatelections led to a clash betweenthe two parties, one led by for-mer gram pradhan and theother by the sitting pradhan,which left three persons criti-cally injured. The clash tookplace in Tarabganj locality ofGonda late Thursday nightand a heavy police force rushedthere to maintain peace.
The police later held 18persons from both the groupsand detained them at the policestation to initiate further legalproceedings. The cops saidthat both the parties had a veryold political rivalry.
Reports said that one of thegroups led by former pradhanChintamani Pandey, who ispreparing for panchayat elec-tion, took a jeep loaded withsarees late Thursday night andwent to Dhancha Bikapur ham-let in Tarabganj to distributethem amongst the voters and
influence them to vote infavour of their candidates.However, when this newsreached the other group led byBharatiya Janata Party leaderand sitting pradhan AnilPandey, who is also preparingto fight panchayat polls, theyreached the spot and both theparties clashed. The situationtook an ugly turn when somemiscreants opened fire withcountry-made weapons inwhich three persons wereinjured. The condition of two,Ramendra Nath Pandey andAnil’s nephew AkhileshPandey, was stated to be criti-cal and they were referred tothe district hospital.
Anil Pandey later told thelocal media persons that theywent only to oppose the distri-bution of sarees and the oppo-site party first attacked themand later also opened fire. Aheavy police force is campingin the area to avert any furtherclash.
25 for the horticulture officers ofHimachal Pradesh.
CISH director ShailendraRajan said Himachal Pradesh isknown for apples, but now aconsiderable area is coming upunder tropical fruits like guava,citrus, litchi and pomegranate.
Foreseeing the problemsassociated with mango andguava production, the HimachalPradesh government nominat-ed the horticulture officers toattend a specific training atCISH on pest management ofsubtropical fruits. “Several thou-sand hectares under subtropicalfruits are coming up in the val-ley areas of Himachal Pradesh.In lower hills too, subtropicalfruits are being planted now,” hesaid. Insect pests are becominga threat to the fruit cultivationand lots of pesticides are beingsprayed for their management.
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In the memory of its founderGD Birla, the UCO Bank
organised a lecture on‘Discipline in Bank’ under GDBirla Series of Lectures, 2020-21at zonal office here.
The key speaker was for-mer General Manager of thebank Virendra Prasad Singhwho described that the disci-pline as an important part oflife and said, the discipline is alife style and it is also like abridge between effort and suc-cess.
The more a person’s life is
disciplined, the more he or shegets success in the life, he saidadding, the nature’s creaturesare themselves disciplined andif the nature becomes withoutdiscipline, there will be noexistence big human being.
Any organisation or insti-tution can progress only withits disciplined employees, hesaid adding, the arrival ofemployees to office on time, thedeparture of employees fromoffice on time and to dischargethe official works with honesty,integrity and dedication by theemployees is the best exampleof the discipline, he said fur-
ther. Presiding over it, the
AGM/Zonal Head of the bankGhanshyam Parmar encour-aged the employees for adopt-ing the disciplined life style andsaid, the the disciplined personcan achieve the highest point ofsuccess and a healthy societyand nation could be build upwith the discipline.
The Senior Manager,Rajbhasha Punam KumariPrasad conducted the proceed-ings, while many were presenton the occasion including theAssistant Director,(Implementation), Regional
Implementation Office(Northern Region), GhaziabadNarendra Singh Mehra,Sub-Zonal Head SanjayKumar Sinha, PramodVerma and Amal ShekharKaranseth.
BODY FOUND: Sensationprevailed at Ayar village underthe Cholapur police station onFriday after body of a youthwas found in a field. The vic-tim was strangulated. The fam-ily members alleged that thebody was dumped in the fieldafter killing. The police sentbody for the postmortemexamination.
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The district administrationand Health department
have geared up for the forth-coming challenging phase ofvaccination from April 1 whenall persons above 45 will getCOVID-19 vaccine. At present,vaccination is going on cover-ing all persons above 60 and45-60 with co-morbidities.‘Vaccination is necessary forpublic health protection,’ saidChief Medical Officer (CMO)Dr VB Singh.
In view of a spike in casesof COVID-19 positive duringthe last few weeks, it has
become a challenging task tospeed up vaccination whichaims to contribute significant-ly to the prevention of danger-ous coronavirus pandemic. ‘Inthe first phase started fromJanuary 16 last, the healthworkers risking their livesdirectly in fight against pan-demic were vaccinated, fol-lowed by frontline workers’,said that CMO, adding that atpresent the protection of pub-lic health and reducing the sideeffects of the pandemic is a toppriority.
According to the CMO,from January 16 to March 23,21,520 health workers got their
first doses apart from 15,256second while 16,833 frontlineworkers received first doses,while 11,396 second. Besides,first doses were also given to5,978 beneficiaries from above60 and 45-59 with co-morbidi-ties. In all, by the time, DrSingh informed that 44,468beneficiaries received the firstshot. He further informed thatso far, 22,285 positive cases and7,27,444 negative cases havebeen found in the district andout of positive patients, a totalof 21,698 have been recovered,while 377 people have died.
‘Take care even after apply-ing the vaccine,’ said the CMO
adding that even after receiv-ing the COVID-19 vaccine,we must take all precautionssuch as the use of a face coveror mask, hand sanitisation andtwo yards of physical distance.‘Although the vaccine is animportant part of safety,COVID-19 continues to adoptappropriate behaviours for per-sonal protection and commu-nity infection prevention. ‘Weall need to keep in mind thateven after getting vaccinated orrecovering from COVID-19,we will have to be aware of thepublic while continuing theappropriate behaviour toreduce the risk of infection.
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Taking a serious note ofgross negligence shown in
maintaining the record of miss-ing persons of second dose ofcorona vaccination and alsomaking the waste of doses, theDistrict Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma has directed theChief Medical Officer Dr VBSingh to furnish the report oftotal doses of vaccination andwaste doses so far by Saturday.
During the review of vac-cination work with the officersof Health department at CovidCommand Centre on Thursdayafternoon, when the DM cameto know that the detail of miss-ing persons, who did not turnup the vaccination centres forthe second dose after takingfirst dose, was not fed proper-
ly at government hospitals,community and primary healthcentres, he expressed annoy-ance. He also expressed displea-sure over the laxity shown infeeding the detail of wastedoses and asked the CMO tofurnish the detail report aboutthis by Saturday. The responsi-bility will be determinedagainst those who wasted thedoses and FIR will be madeagainst them by making recov-ery too, the DM said.
The vaccination works arealso being done in the privatehospitals and the DM alsosought report from there. Thedata of vaccines administeredon persons and fed in comput-er will be matched and if thedifference is found the actionof FIR by making recovery willbe done against the responsible
persons, the DM added. The DM also directed for
issuing showcause notice toRamashish of CHC- Gangapur,Dr BD Chaturvedi of ADPHC-Kashipur, Gulshan of SubCentre-Sindhora, Dr LilliSrivastava of DWH-Kabirchaura and Dr SKMaurya of Centre Hospital-BLW for showing laxity invaccination.
Sharma asked all the SDMsand BDOs to ensure the anti-gen and RTPCR test of thosewho have come from other dis-tricts in their respective areasand also inform the commandcentre about this. This couldalso be informed on the tele-phone number 0542-2720005of command centre, he added.
He hoped that the munic-ipal commissioner and coun-
cilors will also ensure the anti-gen and RTPCR test of out-siders and also inform to com-mand centre about this.
30 MORE TEST POSI-TIVE: As many as 30 havetested COVID-19 positive,increasing the tally of con-firmed cases to 22,368 byFriday evening.
With no COVID-19 deathbeing reported in the last 24hours, the death toll remains at377. With 10 Covid patientshaving been cured in home iso-lation and two in Covid hospi-tal, the number of Covidpatients recovered in the dis-trict so far is 21,716 including18,719 in home isolation and2,997 in Covid hospitals. Aspresent 275 active casesare under treatment in thedistrict.
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In view of the upcomingthree-tier Panchayat election
and festivals of Holi and Shab-e-Barat and to check theincreasing cases of COVID-19effectively, the district admin-istration has decided thatexcept the medicine shops, allthe business establishmentswill remain closed after 9 pm.
Holding a meeting with theadministrative and police offi-cers at traffic Police Line hereon Thursday in view of theupcoming three-tier Panchayat
election, festivals of Holi andShab-e-Barat and to check theincreasing corona cases, theDistrict Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma and DIG/SSP AmitPathak said that barring themedicine shops, all the businessestablishments will be closedafter 9 pm. There will also notbe gathering of people in themarket and crowded places,they added and directed theofficers to ensure that noneshould be allowed to enter themarket, shopping complex,government departments, hos-pitals, banks, restaurants, etc
without the face masks. They directed for ensuring
the submission of firearms bySaturday and asked the officersto conduct an inspection ofliquor shops before the festivalof Holi by constituting a jointteam of administration, policeand Excise department.
The zonal magistrates, sec-tor magistrates, returning offi-cers and assistant returningofficers should conduct visit ofthe sensitive villages of theirrespective jurisdictions in aweek, they said and asking theSDMs and COs to take action
to minimise the sensitivity ofmost sensitive and sensitive vil-lages and also furnish every dayreport regarding this. Theydirected for broadcasting thesafety norms of corona throughpublic address system andmobile vans to make peopleaware about guidelines ofCOVID-19. Penalty should beimposed against those notusing face masks and disobey-ing the guidelines of coronapandemic, they directedadding, the social distancingshould also be followed even atGanga Aarti at ghats.
ALLAHABAD (PNS): There isacute shortage of water in thearea falling along the Gangariver which is believed to flowuninterrupted. Farmers arecompelled to do deep boringfor irrigation. Farmers are alsotroubled by the depleting levelof ground water. The heat hasalready knocked, and inPrayagraj, the Ganga hasshrunk and remained fit in thename only. Farmers who usedto cultivate five to six feet ofditch and irrigate fields in theGangetic plains, now have tobore 30-35 feet deep in thekachar areas falling along withGanga. This situation hasarisen for the last eight years.
Farmers said Mahesh Giri,
Rakesh Yadav and MathuraPrasad, who are boring inKachari area, said that earlierriver water was easily availablefor irrigation. This time thewater stream has gone away.Boring has to be done at about30 feet deep for irrigation.
To meet its needs, theearth’s womb is drying up dueto the tremendous exploitationof ground water. Prayagraj cityand Chaka block are in theovercrowded category. Out of20 blocks, four blocks areincluded in the critical andthree blocks in the semi-criti-cal zone. Apart from this, bor-ing in the womb of Gangashows farming and the terriblesituation. Due to the exploita-
tion of groundwater, the waterlevel is falling in all the blocks.Prayagraj city and Chaka blockare in the overcrowded catego-ry. Bahadurpur, BahriaDhanupur and Pratappurblocks are included in theCritical Zone and Holagarh,Mauaima and Saidabad Blocksin Semi Critical Zone.
The water level ofKaushambi, Pratapgarh andFatehpur of Prayagraj divisionhas been recorded. The Chailand Muratganj blocks inKaushambi are overcrowded,while Kada, Manjhanpur,Nevada and Sirathu blocks areincluded in the semi-criticalzone. Mandhatata, PratapgarhSadar, Sandwa Chandrika and
Shivgarh blocks are overrun inPratapgarh. Mangraura andPatti block areas are in theCritical Zone and the AspurDevsara, Baba Belkarnath,Gaura, Laxmanpur, Lalganjand Rampur Sangramgarh etc.blocks are in the Semi-CriticalZone. There is no rain waterharvesting in Kaushambi. Sincecultivation in bananas andpaddy requires more water. Atthe same time, water is notavailable in the canals on time.Therefore, underground wateris being misused. However,under the Pradhan MantriIrrigation Scheme, farmers areprovided with a drip system ofaround � 52,000 and 90 percent grant is also available in it.
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The Allahabad High Courtdirected the state govern-
ment counsel to seek instruc-tions from the state authoritiesconcerned with regards to apetition moved by Dr KafeelKhan, a paediatrician seekingto quash the chargesheet andcriminal case filed against himfor his alleged inflammatoryspeech delivered at AligarhMuslim University (AMU)during CAA protests inDecember 2019.
Hearing a petition filed byDr Khan, Justice JJ Munirdirected to put up this petitionbefore the court on April 6 forthe next hearing.
In the petition filed undersection 482 (saving of inherentpowers of High Court) ofCriminal Procedure Code
(CrPC), Dr Khan had chal-lenged the order passed by theChief Judicial Magistrate ofAligarh taking cognizance ofthe chargesheet for the allegedoffences under sections 153-A(promoting enmity betweendifferent groups on groundsof religion, race, place ofbirth, residence, language, etc., and doing actsprejudicial to maintenanceof harmony), 153-B(imputations, assertions preju-dicial to national-integration)and 505 (2) (statements creat-ing or promoting enmity,hatred or ill-will between class-es) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).
To recall, on December12, 2019, Dr Khan hadaddressed a rally at AMUwhich was organised in protestagainst the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2019. AnFIR was lodged against him inthis connection on December13, 2019, at Aligarh police sta-tion. Later, the police investi-gated the matter and submitteda chargesheet against him. TheCJM took cognizance of thechargesheet on July 28, 2020.Both chargesheet and cog-nizance order are underchallenge in the present peti-tion.
In the present petition, thecounsel for Dr Khan has takenthe plea that the police, whilelodging the FIR andchargesheet against him, hasnot followed proper legal pro-cedures. It was contended thatorder of taking cognizance forthe above mentioned offenceswithout prior sanction from theCentral or state government iswithout jurisdiction and is nul-
lity in law. Further, the entirespeech does not disclose hatespeech and no ingredients areavailable to attract sectionsunder which FIR was lodgedagainst him.
Subsequently, on February13, 2020, Dr Khan was bookedunder the National Security Act(NSA) alleging that he deliv-ered inflammatory speech inAMU during anti-CAAprotests.
On September 1, 2020, theAllahabad High Court had setaside the detention of Dr Khanunder the NSA and had direct-ed the state government toimmediately release him. Inthis decision, the High Courthad observed, ‘Dr Kafeel Khan’sspeech does not promotehatred or violence, it gives a callfor national integrity and unityamong citizens.’
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As the religious fervour forfestival of Holi began in
this holy city since the celebra-tion of Rangbhari Ekadashi acouple of days ago, differentgroups are organising pro-grammes at various ghats andother places almost daily and inthis direction, a group ofMuslim women showed a rareexample of harmony whenthey played Holi with the petalsof flowers especially rosesunder the joint auspices ofVishal Bharat Sansthan (VBS)and Muslim MahilaFoundation (MMF) at Lamahihere on Friday. They said thatthey organised the festival tosend a message of love to thepeople of West Bengal where allattempts are being made to cre-ate social disharmony for petty
political gains. They also sang Holi songs
in local dialects to send a mes-sage of love, harmony andbrotherhood among the peo-ple. Speaking on the occasion,MMF chief Nazneen Ansarisaid “they have made it clear tothe Islamic fundamentalists,
who are trying to throw thewhole world into the flames ofviolence in the name of reli-gion, that they cannot dividethe Indians in the name of reli-gion.’ She further said ‘the fes-tivals are messengers of the cul-ture of countries, not of anyreligion. Culture never changes
by changing religion. There isa redness of the colours of Holiin the blood of our ancestors.Our DNA is found only fromRama and Krishna. We are partof Indian culture.’
VBS founding presidentDr Rajeev Srivastava said thatMuslim women gave the mes-sage to all the countries of theworld that changing religiondoes not change culture. Holicolours extinguish the flames ofhate. Holi gives the message ofsocial harmony, unity, brother-hood through being filled withcolours. The function was alsoattended by Najma Parveen,Khushi Raman, Ujala, Illy,Archana Bharatvanshi, DrMridula Jaiswal, Nagina,Shabina, Shabnam, Hazra,Tabassum, Nazia, Saina,Nazma, Shamsunnisha,Hadisun and Nasibun.
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The District Panchayat RajOfficer has released the
final list of reservation forthree-tier panchayat elections.In the process of disposal ofobjections that lasted for threedays, changes have been madein only five panchayats, whilethe other seats have the samestatus as before.
Since the release of the pro-visional list of reservation ofthree-tier panchayat electionson March 20, the work of dis-posal of objections that came toit was going on. The disposal ofobjections was completed byThursday night. On Fridaymorning, District PanchayatRaj Officer Renu Srivastavareleased the final list of reser-vations, disposing of objec-tions.
District Panchayat RajOfficer Renu Srivastava saidthat a total of 2346 objectionswere received this time. Onlyfive were found correct whenthese objections were checked.Apart from this, all the objec-tions were irrational. Thosewho were making objectorswere seeking reservation asper their mind, whereas it maynot be so. Reservation has
been done according to theguidelines that the govern-ment has made for reservation.According to the people’s mind,they were alleging for not get-ting reservation.
According to the DistrictPanchayat Raj Officer, the vil-lage head has 1,540 seats acrossthe district. Most of the seatswere objectionable in this.
There were many objections tosome seats. In the midst of allthis, five people had madesuch objections, which seemedright, and then keeping theirpoint, those seats have beenchanged. With this, this is thefinal list and the election will bebased on the same now.
With the release of thefinal list of reservations, the
claimants have started appear-ing. Those who have to contestelections have got their paperscompleted. Some people haveeven started campaigning inthe village with posters andbanners. Lots of disputescropped up in the Panchayatelections, hence the activenessof the police in the village hasincreased.
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In a tragic incident, a 19-year-old youth was killed while
three other sustained grieviousinjuries in a road accidentoccurred under the Kheripolice station of Prayagraj dis-trict. Two bikes collided head-on on Friday morning in whichone youth was killed, whilethree youths were injured.
On receipt of information,police reached the spot and gotthe injured admitted to the hos-pital for treatment with the helpof the people.
The accident took place ataround 9 am in Jorwat villageunder the Kheri police stationof Yamunapar. Qamar Ali (19)son of Syed Ali from Kheripolice station area, and QasimRaza (18) son of MohammadRoshan Ali were going by bike.They were also accompaniedby Mohammad Rafiq (20) akaChand Babu son of Ali Ahmedalias Bhullan Mohammad, whohailed from village Itwa Kalapolice station Kheri. All three
were coming towards Kherifrom Naribari.
On the other hand, VishnuKotar (18) son of Kanhaiya Lal,resident of Kheri village wasgoing by bike. He was on hisway to Naribari to pick up hisbrother returning fromBangalore. In the meantime,the two bike borne youths col-lided head-on near Jorwat vil-lage. Mohammad Rafiq aliasChand Babu died on the spotin the accident. At the sametime, Qamar Ali, Qasim Razaand Vishnu Kotra were injured.They have been admitted to theCommunity Health Centre atKoraon.
INDIGO AIRLINES TOSTART DIRECT FLIGHTSTO BHUBANESHWAR,BHOPAL: After introducingdirect flight for several citiesacross the country, the air pas-sengers of the Sangam citywould be able to now fly direct-ly to two more destinations,which are Bhubaneshwar andBhopal. The flights from theCivil Enclave of the Bamruali
would start from the end of thismonth.
IndiGo Airlines is all set tostart air connectivity for thesetwo cities from the end of thismonth. However, the schedulefor Dehradun has not beencleared yet because of whichthe air connectivity for this cityhas to wait for more time.
According to the authori-ties of the Airport Authority ofIndia (AAI), to start a directflight from the Civil Enclave ofPrayagraj, the slots ofBhubaneswar and Bhopal havebeen decided.
As per the flight schedule,direct air service will startfrom March 28 for Bhopal andback to Prayagraj. On the samedate, the direct flight fromBhubaneswar for Prayagrajwould land. The flight fromPrayagraj to Bhubaneswar willstart from March 29 onward.According to Indigo Airlinesofficials, direct flight service toDehradun is still in the propos-al stage.
The IndiGo Airlines flights
to Bhopal and Bhubaneswarwould follow the followingschedule. The flight fromBhopal to Prayagraj will departat 9.20 am from Bhopal andreach Prayagraj at 10.55 am. Onits return flight, the flight fromPrayagraj to Bhopal will takeoff at 11.55 am and will reachBhopal at 12.55 pm.
In the same sequence, thefirst direct f light fromBhubaneswar to Prayagraj willtake off from the capital ofOdisha at 7.55 am on March 28and after 2 hours 15 minutes,it will reach Prayagraj at 10.05am. From March 29, a directflight to Bhubaneswar willleave at 10.30am.
IndiGo Airlines assistantmanager, AnubhavBhattacharya said that the flightto Dehradun is not yet startingas the clearance has not beenreceived but the service will bestarted soon. He added that theairlines are expecting 40 percent occupancy in the maidenflight for the two cities i.e.Bhubaneswar and Bhopal.
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Under the aegis of North Eastern RailwayBharat Scouts and Guides District
Association, Gorakhpur, the sixth district rallyis being organised from March 22 to 26 at stateheadquarters office, Syed Modi Railway Stadium,here. The ‘Mahashiviragini’ (camp fire) pro-gramme was inaugurated by chief guest VinayKumar Tripathi, NER GM and patron NERBharat Scouts and Guides and Meena Tripathi,NERWWO chairperson on the last evening(Thursday evening) of the rally. On the occasionGM extended his greetings and best wishes tothe Scouts and Guides who participated in therally. He said Scouts Guides is such a well-organ-ised organisation which by incorporatinghuman values in boys/girls since childhood hasbeen playing an important role in making thema worthy citizen. A colourful cultural pro-gramme was organised. The ‘Mahashiviragni’programme was conducted by district secretaryShailesh Srivastava. Chief State Commissionerand Chief Workshop Engineer BS Dohre saidDistrict Association, Gorakhpur, has alwaysmade NER proud with outstanding participa-tion at national/state level in Scouts/Guidesactivities. Chief District Commissioner andDeputy Chief Engineer/Gorakhpur region wel-comed chief guest and other guests and high-lighted the activities and achievements ofGorakhpur District Association. DistrictCommissioner (Scouts) Dilip Kumar proposed
the vote of thanks to GM, chairperson, NER-WWO, principal head of department, senior rail-way officers, NERWWO members, state office-bearers besides DK Khare, state secretary(Scouts) and secretary to GM, CP Chauhan,assistant state secretary (Scouts) and SeniorPublic Relations Officer (SPRO) and others. Inthe rally from different units of DistrictAssociation, Gorakhpur, Railway School etcaround 200 Scouts and Guides took part. In mak-ing the rally a success support of state office-bear-ers Ranjit Kumar Sharma and Anuj Ranjan,senior office-bearers of District Association alongwith volunteers, Arvind Chand, Sarika Rai, PNSengupta, Jagdish Yadav, Anita, Zeenat Begum,Vandana Gupta, Rajan Shukla, PremnathUpadhyay, Kamal, Vijay, Ramashish, Satish, Anil,Mohit, Kamlesh, Rahul Rajendra, Sanoj, SunnySingh, Radhey Shyam, Sheelam, Rangita Neha,Alka, Jyoti, Pramod, Sampurnanand, Imamudinand Rakesh etc was praiseworthy.
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Commissioner of RailwaySafety (CRS), North
Eastern (NE) Circle,Mohammad Latif Khan, onThursday completed the safe-ty inspection of electrificationworks on Indara-Phephna sec-tion. During the inspectionNorth Eastern Railway (NER)’sChief Administrative Officer(Construction) RK Yadav,Divisional Railway Manager(DRM), Varanasi, Vijay KumarPanjiar, Chief Electrical Engineer(CEE) Santosh Bairwa, ChiefEngineer, (Construction),Pannalal, Chief Signal andTelecom Engineer (CSTE),Construction, Neelabh Mahesh,Chief Electrical Design EngineerRK Gupta, Deputy ChiefEngineer (Construction) ArunKumar, Deputy Chief ElectricalEngineer (Construction) SPYadav besides ConstructionOrganisation and divisional offi-cers were present. CRS firstinspected the Indara railwaystation and of the electrified rail
section did through inspectionaccording to the standard ofyard plan, interlocking stan-dard, block machine, stationworking rule, centralised sta-tion panel, foot over bridge,platform clearance, height ofoverhead traction, relay room,battery room, power distributionroom, maintenance room etc.After this he did safety test of thefeeder power supply distributionsystem and control feeder iso-lation etc. at Indara’s powersub-station and did a throughinspection of the power sub-sta-tion. He tested the safety knowl-edge of the employees workingat the power sub-station. TheCRS then did thorough inspec-
tion of the level crossing No 20-B between Ratanpura-Rasra andchecked boom lock, heightgauge and traction line clearancedeveloped as per the electrifiedrail section. Thereafter, the CRSdid a thorough inspection of theRasra railway station. He didthrough inspection of majorbridge on Basahi river betweenRasra-Chilkahar railway sta-tions. In the final phase ofinspection the CRS reachedPhephna railway station andbriefly inspected it. After thecompletion of inspection,speed trial was conductedfrom Phephna to Indara whichwas efficiently completed at anaverage speed of 105 km/h.
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The railway administrationwill run 05033/05034
Gorakhpur-Barhni-Gorakhpurdaily unreserved DEMUexpress special train March 30from Gorakhpur and fromMarch 30 from Barhni. It willalso run the 05147/05148Bhatni-Varanasi City-Bhatniunreserved MEMU specialtrain from Bhatni from March28 and from Varanasi Cityfrom March 27 for the conve-nience of passengers. KeepingCovid-19 in mind, these specialtrains will be run as unreservedexpress special trains so thatthere is no extra rush in themand to ensure compliance ofCovid-19 safety standards. It isnecessary to comply with theCovid-19 safety guidelinesissued by the Government ofIndia in the larger health inter-ests of the passengers travellingin these special trains and theirco-passengers, Chief PublicRelations Officer PK Singhsaid.
GKP-BARHNI SPL: The05033 Gorakhpur-Barhni unre-served DEMU express dailyspecial will from March 30
leave from Gorakhpur daily at09.00 hrs and after stopping atNakaha Jungle, Maniram,Kauriaa Jungle, Peppeganj,Rawatganj, Mahawankhor HaltRamchaura, Campierganj,Loharpurwa, Anandnagar,Lehra, Bridgemanganj, UskaBazar, Siddharthnagar,Ahirauli, Chilhia, Shohartgarh,Mahtha Bazar, Parsa andMahadeva Buzurg and reachBarhni at 12.55 hrs.
BARHNI-GKP SPL: Inthe return journey the 05034Barhni-Gorakhpur unreservedDEMU express daily specialtrain will from March 30 dailyleave from Barhni at 15.20 hrsand after stopping at MahadevaBuzurg, Parsa, Mahtha Bazar,Shohargarh, Chilhia, Ahirauli,Siddharthnagar, Uska Bazar,Bridgemanganj, Lehra,Anandnagar, Loharpurwa,Campierganj, Ramchaura,Mahawankhor Halt, RawatganjPeppeganj, Kauriaa Jungle,Maniram, Nakaha Jungle andreach Gorakhpur at 18.40 hrs.A total of eight coaches ofDEMU will be attached in thisspecial train.
BHATNI-VNS CITY SPL:The 05147 Bhatni-Varanasi
City unreserved MEMUexpress special train to run sixdays a week except Friday willleave from March 28 Bhatni at06.00 hrs and after stopping atPeokol, Salempur, Lar Road,Turtipar, Belthara Road,Gobindpur Dugali,Kiriharapur, Chakra Road,Indara, Mau, Paniara Halt,Pipri Dih, Naik Dih,Dullahapur, Jakhanian,Hurmuzpur Halt, Sadat,Mahpur, Aunrihar, Rajawari,Kadipur and Sarnath and reachVaranasi City at 10.05 hrs.
VARANASI CITY-BHATNI SPL: The 05148Varanasi City-Bhatni unre-served MEMU special to runsix days a week exceptThursday will from March 27will leave Varanasi City at 15.25hrs and after stopping at Sarnath,Kadipur, Rajwari, Aunrihar,Mahpur, Sadat, Hurmujpur Halt,Jakhanian, Dullahapur, NaikDih, Pipri Dih, Paniara Halt,Mau, Indara, Chakra Road,Kiriharapur, Gobindpur Dugali,Belthara Road, Turtipar LarRoad, Salempur and Peokolreach Bhatni at 19.30 hrs. A totalof 10 MEMU coaches will beattached in this special train.
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Under the joint operation of Chunar policeand SWAT team four accused in a triple
murder case were nabbed from Bihar onWednesday night. Giving details on Thursday,SP Ajay Kumar Singh said that on March 14three bodies were found in Nandupur villageunder Chunar police station which could beidentified through the driving license of adeceased Raj Kumar Yadav. On very that dayGhughuli Yadav, father of Raj Kumar Yadav (oneof the deceased) had lodged a named FIR againstKrishna alias Vinod and Lal Bahadur Yadav. Hesaid that after registering a case under Section302/201 of IPC three teams were formed toinvestigate the case under the supervision of ASP(Operation) Mahesh Singh Atri. SP said thepolice succeeded in nabbing the culprits fromSailas village under Kochas police station in Rohtasdistrict, Bihar, who confessed their crime. Theysaid they had committed the murder in Sailas vil-lage on March 13 night and to confuse the policethe bodies were thrown at Nandupur village. Afterthe recovery of countrymade gun which was usedin murder along with the cartridges the policeadded Section 3/25 of the Arms Act in the case.Police said Pintu Singh (one of the slain) was ahardcore criminal and wanted in several cases. Theaccused were identified as Vikas Rai, a residentof Sailas village under Kochas police station inRohtas, Bihar, Afzal Ansari of Dangari villageunder Kundri police station in Kaimur district,Bihar, Anshu Yadav of Chitaini village under
Kochas police station in Rohtas, Bihar, and AmitSingh of Badki Ka Purva village under Darigaanvpolice station in Rohtas, Bihar. SP announceda reward of �25,000 for police team.
MEETING: The meeting of district unit ofNational Integration Committee was held atCollectorate on Thursday. It was chaired by CDOAvinash Singh. The speakers suggested to theadministration to declare awards in the nameof our heroes and give to those who contributedin the direction of national integration. CDOsaid suggestions had been included in the agen-da and administration will consider all pointswith a positive approach. He said all suggestionswere valuable and will be sent to departments con-cerned. Among those present were CMO Dr PDGupta, Lalganj SDM Amit Shukla, SDM MadihanRoshni Yadav, CO (City) Prabhat Rai, SocialWelfare Officer Girish Dubey besides Rajpati Ojha,Ataullah Siddiqui, Bhupendra Singh Dang, SalilPandey, Dr Ramesh Ojha and Santosh Srivastava.
DRIVE: Under the drive to check over-loading and tax evasion Mines departmentcaught 12 trucks in areas under Dehat Kotwali,Chunar Kotwali and Ahraura police stationsrecently. Mines officer Pankaj Kumar Singh said thatunder the direction of the DM the team of Minesdepartment comprising mines inspector AKDwivedi, surveyor Manoj Kumar and staff duringpatrolling found 12 overloaded trucks transportingmining produce without proper documents. Theteam handed over the trucks to police stationsand they could be released on the DM’s orderonly after depositing �7.60 lakh as fine, he added.
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Aday after the YogiAdityanath cabinet gave
its approval for police com-missionerate systems inKanpur Nagar and Varanasi,Additional Director General ofPolice Asim Arun became thefirst police commissioner ofthis industrial city.
An IPS officer of the 1994batch, ADG Asim Arun is anative of Kannauj district ofKanpur Division and was bornin Budaun on October 3, 1970.His father, Sriram Arun, wasalso considered to be a highspeed officer and rose to thelevel of Director-General ofPolice of Uttar Pradesh. Hismother, Shashi Arun, is arenowned litterateur andwriter.
After completing his basiceducation from St FrancisSchool in Lucknow, and BSc
from St Stephen’s College,Delhi, Asim Arun tried hisluck in civil services as hisfather wanted to see him as anIPS officer. After becoming anIPS officer, Asim Arun con-tinued to increase his ratingand became the backbone ofthe UP Police. While headingthe UP Anti-Terrorist Squad(ATS), he stole the limelight bykilling dreaded ISIS terrorist
Saifullah of KDA Colony,Kanpur, in a police encounterin Thakurganj area ofLucknow, when the terroristwas planning to commit a bigcrime there.
Asim Arun was alsoincluded in various other spe-cial anti-criminal campaigns.He was included in the highsecurity squad of formerPrime Minister Manmohan
Singh and headed the CloseProtection Team of SpecialProtection Group (SPG).
Asim Arun also served inthe Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI), SPG, NSGand earned credit for settingup the first Special Weaponsand Tactics Team (SWAT) ofthe country during his postingin Aligarh. The SWAT startedfunctioning during his postingas DIG in Agra.
After joining the force, healso served as Superintendentof Police and DeputyInspector-General of Policein Hathras, Balrampur,Siddharthnagar, Agra, Aligarhand Gorakhpur.
Dr Manoj Kumar of DIGrank is an IPS officer of 2006batch and a native of Delhi.After passing MBBS, he didMD in psychiatry. He alongwith Akash Kulhari has beenposted as Additional PoliceCommissioner of Kanpur.
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The 132nd meeting ofKanpur Development
Authority Board was held onFriday. It was chaired byKanpur DivisionalCommissioner Raj Shekhar.The members discussed thecity development plan, includ-ing rehabilitation of slumsdwellers.
Apart from identificationand protection of historicalmonuments and memorials,the members also discussed theproposal for giving a facelift tothe Ganga ghats.
A proposal to appoint aconsultant for preparing thedraft of the city developmentplan was also put up in themeeting. The proposal for con-struction of a house for chiefengineer on the vacant landbehind KDA headquartersinvolving investment of over Rs50 lakh was also discussed.
It may be recalled that asmany as 21 departments wereassigned the job of preparingthe city development plan andKDA was made the nodalagency for this.
The proposed planinvolved the discussions onproposals relating to tourism,potable water, rainwater har-vesting, solar energy, seweragedisposal, smart road, garbage
disposal and disaster manage-ment departments.
Other issues which alsoformed part of the agenda ofdiscussions were: giving con-cession in interest rate of newprojects; setting up of moderncity on the Ganga basin; dou-bling the rent of KDA colonies;reducing the rates of flats inSignature Greens City Housing
Scheme, Vikas Nagar, allottedprior to April 2019; appointingagents/brokers to sell KDAflats; according special sanctionfor construction of seweragepumping station in NaramauKachhar; nomination of boardmembers in different commit-tees; initiating action againstnursing homes, guest houses,hotels and shopping complex-
es of without parking; allot-ment of plots under NewTransport Nagar Scheme andwaiving of interest chargeableon many allotted disputedproperties.
KDA Vice ChairmanRakesh Kumar Singh alongwith senior officers of variousother departments were alsopresent at the Meeting.
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Noted counsellor for per-sonal and holistic devel-
opment, Sneha Gupta, whileaddressing the virtual gradua-tion ceremony of Sir PadampatSinghania Education Centreon Friday, said it was beyonddoubt that parents can influ-ence their children.
She said it was scientifical-ly proved that children’s genet-ic makeup affected their ownbehavioural characteristics andalso influenced the way theywere treated by their parents.
She said children’s geneticpredispositions and their par-ents’ childrearing regimes wereseen to be closely interwoven,and the ways in which theyfunctioned jointly to affectchildren’s development. Shesaid it was equally obviousthat children were learningmany things through theirdaily experiences while inter-acting with the physical andsocial world, and some of theexperiences children had wererandom — not planned ororganised by any outsideagency — but some occuraccording to what might be
called a socialisation time tableand at this juncture parentingcame into picture.
She said in all societies,training of children occurred,and social controls were inplace to ensure that childrenwere socialized — that was,brought up in such a way thateach new generation acquiredthe prescribed patterns ofbeliefs and behaviors. She saidthe children need to adapt toconditions that the parent gen-eration did not face. She saidraising kids was never easy butthe best parents were alwayslooking for ways to improve.
Gupta said being a goodparent could offset those neg-ative experiences. She said ifone wanted to be sure if onewere consistently improvingone’s parenting skills, the onemust always listen to the kids.She said active listening meantone focused on what was beingsaid without thinking abouthow one was going to respond.She suggested that parentsneed to give kids completeattention and make good eyecontact. She said parents needto understand that their disci-pline was consistent, but flex-ible. She said parents need to
control their emotions too.The programme began
with the welcome song andthen the choir presented agroup song followed by speech-es and poetry recital.
The highlight of the eventwas the Prince Singhania andthe Princess Singhania contestin which the former title waswon by Vatsal Jain and the lat-ter by Ayra Zain.
Principal Bhawna Guptaproposed the vote of thanks.
TWO AUTO-LIFTERSARRESTED: The Kohnapolice, on Friday, busted agang of auto-lifters with thearrest of two persons in pos-session of three stolen motor-cycles. Sasamau Circle OfficerTripurari Pandey identified thearrested auto-lifters asShahrukh and Faiz. The policealso recovered firearms withlive cartridges, and sedativepowder and tablets from theirpossession. The police teamwhich made the arrests was ledby Station House Officer AdeshChandra, Arya Nagar outpostincharge Ajay Kumar Mishra,Rani ghat outpost inchargeArun Kumar Tewari and con-stable Amod Kumar Mishra.
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Principal of GSVM MedicalCollege, Dr RB Kamal, said
in view of the fresh spike inCOVID-19 cases, the UttarPradesh government had gird-ed up its loins to increase facil-ities to combat the resurgenceof the pandemic in the state,
He said the LLR Hospitalwas being further upgraded tohandle the COVID-19 patients.He said once again the100-bed
Maternity Wing of the LLR wasbeing converted to Level-3Covid hospital.
He said a requisition hadbeen made to the governmentto provide 20 multi para mon-itors and one AGB machine atthe earliest. He said the gov-ernment had sanctioned 26lakh for the purchase of gadgetsand equipment. He said therequisition which had beenmade earlier was still pendingwith the DGME and very soon
it would be sent to the hospi-tal.
He said to find out the newstrain of novel coronavirus,samples were being sent toKGMU in Lucknow. He saidthis would help in identifyingthe strain of the virus.
It is claimed in the medicalcircles that three strains ofnovel coronavirus are verydeadly and are being found inpatients in India.
He said two batches of
samples had already been sentand the report was awaitedfrom the microbiology depart-ment of KGMU, Lucknow.
Meanwhile, private hospi-tals were reported to be shift-ing serious patients to LLR hos-pital. Dr Kamal said all the hos-pitals were informed that theyhad to keep in touch with thechief medical officer and beforeadmitting or dischargingpatients, they should take sanc-tion from the CMO.
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Uttar Pradesh StateIndustrial Development
Authority Chief ExecutiveOfficer Mayur Maheshwarisaid to give a boost to indus-trialisation, 24 services hadbeen made online by the gov-ernment and it would benefita very big number of benefi-ciaries. He said the prominentservices which had been madeonline included plan sanction,payment of dues, mutationand several others.
It may be mentioned herethat earlier the person con-cerned had to personally run tothe office several times to getthe work done. Now with theseservices made online, it willsave people from the tediousprocess of running to the officeconcerned. Now transfer ofland plots, project transfer,lease deed, etc can all be doneonline.
Maheshwari said that thefollowing had been now madeonline — start production cer-tificate, land plot surrender,position of outstanding dues,no dues, lease deed possession,notice, land plot cancellation,water connection sanction,KYC updation and severalother facilities which could beavail people.
Earlier, individuals inter-ested in purchasing land plotsused to visit the office and nowthey can see on the website andget a feedback on the freeplots. Besides, the roads andtheir length and breadth arealso clearly mentioned andeven the rates of the plots aregiven clearly. The process ofonline action has also beenintroduced.
&�����" �� �$�!��5���"� � �� 2KANPUR (PNS): Hundredsof animal lovers, under thebanner of Team Kanpur forVoiceless Animals, staged animpressive campaign at NaveenMarket on Friday to spreadawareness against cruelty toanimals.
The members holdingposters, placards and bannersdrew the attention of the mass-es that they need to be kind cancaring towards animals andalso take it as their duty toinform the authorities if therewas any case of animal crueltyin their vicinity.
Addressing the gathering,key person and Team Kanpurfor Voiceless Animals founderGaurav Bajpai said animalswere dependent on humanbeings and thus it was themoral duty of the people toensure they helped them in var-ious ways like providing foodand shelter. He said the majorcause of concern was thosepeople who had pets but resort-ed to violence and extendedcruel behaviour of the voicelessanimals.
He said TKVA had takenup a mission to spread aware-ness and prevent crueltytowards animals, be it on roadsor in homes. He said animalcruelty encompassed a range ofbehaviours harmful to ani-mals, from neglect to maliciouskilling. He said other formswere depriving an animal offood, water, shelter, socialisa-tion or veterinary care to mali-ciously torturing, maiming,mutilating or killing an animal.
Bajpai, who runs manyNGOs and Sudershan LeadingLeadership which campaignedfor Save Sparrow, said therewere people who were notkind to animals. He said animalabuse was a sadly overlookedissue that affected not only pets,but livestock and the poor ani-mals used in laboratories. Heappealed to the Kanpurites tobring attention to this cause likeif any person contravened, orabetted the contravention of,any rules made under this sec-tion, he or she shall be pun-ishable with fine which mayextend to Rs 100 or withimprisonment for a term whichmay extend to three months orwith both.
He said often when abusedanimals were taken to a shelter,they were very afraid of peopleand it took a lot of time andpatience to rehabilitate anabused pet, and many sheltersdid not have enough staff totackle the job.
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Ahead of the first round ofvoting for the Assembly
elections in Assam onSaturday, former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhon Friday appealed to thepeople to “vote wisely” for aGovernment that upholds theconstitution and democracy.He said if the Congress comesto power, it will not imple-ment the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA).
“You must vote for aGovernment that will care forevery citizen, for every com-munity. You must vote for aGovernment that will ensureinclusive growth,” he saidhrough a video message.
The Congress lost powerin Assam in 2016 after 15years as the BJP ousted theparty’s Government led bythen Chief Minister TarunGogoi.
“For many years, Assamhas been my second home,”said the former PM referring
to what he called his “friend-ship” with former ChiefMinisters Hiteshwar Saikiaand Tarun Gogoi.
Manmohan Singh, 88, wasa Rajya Sabha member fromAssam from 1991 to 2019,after which he was elected tothe Upper House of parlia-ment from Rajasthan.
“The people of Assamenabled me to serve our coun-try as Finance Minister ofIndia for five years and asPrime Minister for 10 years.Today I am speaking as one ofyou. Once again the time hascome for you to cast your bal-lot... You must vote wisely,”Singh said.
The people of Assamendured terrible sufferingthrough a long period ofinsurgency and unrest, saidthe former PM, and it wasunder the leadership of Tarun
Gogoi in 2001-2016 thatAssam made a “new begin-ning” towards peace anddevelopment.
“However it is now facinga very serious setback. Societyis being divided on the basisof religion, culture and lan-guage. The basic rights of thecommon man are beingdenied. There is an atmos-phere of tension and of fear.The ill-conceived notes banand badly implemented GST(Goods and Services Tax)have weakened the econo-my,” said the former PM.
Lakhs of people andwomen had lost their liveli-hoods, youths were desperatefor decent jobs, the rise inprices of fuel and cooking gashad made life difficult for thecommon man, “the poor arebecoming poorer andCOVID-19 is making matters
much worse”, he said.“You must vote for a
Government that will putAssam once again on the pathof peace and development.”
According to Singh,Congress was committed toprotecting the unique lan-guage, culture and history ofAssam.
Singh went on to list thefive promises in the Congressmanifesto, which include notimplementing the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA), jobsfor unemployed youth in thepublic and private sector,increasing the wages of teaplantation workers, free elec-tricity of up to 200 units forever y home and �2,000allowance for every housewife.
“Brothers and sisters. Yourfuture and the future of yourchildren is in your hands,” hesaid, appealing for votes forthe Congress.
Assam will vote fromSaturday to April 6 in threerounds for a newGovernment. The results willbe declared on May 2.
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President Ram Nath Kovindvisited the Army’s Research
and Referral hospital on Fridayafter he complained of chest
discomfort in the morning.As per a statement from
the hospital, he is undergoinga routine check-up and isunder observation. His condi-tion is stable, the hospital said.
“President of India visitedArmy Hospital (R&R) follow-ing chest discomfort thismorning. He is undergoingroutine check-up and is underobservation,” the hospital said
in a medical bulletin. His con-dition is stable,” it said. PrimeMinister Narendra Modienquired about the President’shealth and prayed for his wellbeing.
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The Supreme Court onFriday dismissed pleas
seeking stay on further sale ofelectoral bonds ahead ofAssembly polls, saying thescheme was in place since2018, the bonds were releasedat periodical intervals withoutany impediment and safe-guards were in place to preventtheir misuse.
A Bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde said it saw nojustification to grant stay at thisstage and dismissed the twoapplications moved by NGOsto put on hold any further saleof the electoral bonds ahead ofthe upcoming Assembly elec-tions in Tamil Nadu, WestBengal, Assam, Kerala andUnion territory of Puducherryfrom March 27 to April 29.
“In light of the fact that the(electoral bond) scheme wasintroduced on January 1, 2018,that the bonds are released atperiodical intervals in January,April, July and October ofevery year, that they had beenso released in the years 2018,2019 and 2020 without anyimpediment and that certainsafeguards have already beenprovided by this court in itsinterim order dated April 12,2019, we do not see any justi-fication for grant of stay at thisstage,” the apex court said.
The NGOs — Associationfor Democratic Reforms andCommon Cause had alsosought stay on sale of the elec-toral bonds during the penden-cy of the PIL filed pertaining tofunding of political parties andalleged lack of transparency intheir accounts.
The Bench, also compris-ing Justices A S Bopanna andV Ramasubramanian, observedthat there may not be completeanonymity in financing of
political parties by corporatehouses, as apprehended by theNGOs. It said as the purchaseof the bonds and their encash-ment can only happen throughbanking channels and onlythose customers who fulfilKYC norms can engage insuch transactions details ofwhich would be with the StateBank of India as it was the soleauthority for issuance andencashing of the bonds.
“Moreover, any expendi-ture incurred by anyone in pur-chasing the bonds throughbanking channels, will have tobe accounted as an expenditurein his books of accounts. Thetrial balance, cash flow state-ment, profit and loss accountand balance sheet of companieswhich purchase electoral bondswill have to necessarily reflectthe amount spent by way ofexpenditure in the purchase ofelectoral bonds,” the apex courtsaid in its order.
It further said that thefinancial statements of compa-nies registered under theCompanies Act 2013 are filedwith the Registrar ofCompanies and were accessibleonline on the website of theMinistry of Corporate Affairsfor anyone.
The NGOs had claimedthat there was a serious appre-hension that any further sale ofelectoral bonds before theupcoming Assembly elections,including in West Bengal andAssam, would further “increa-seillegal and illicit funding ofpolitical parties through shellcompanies”.
“Since the scheme man-dates political parties to fileaudited statementof accountsand also since the CompaniesAct requires financial state-mentsof registered companiesto be filed with the Registrar ofCompanies,the purchase as
well as encashment of thebonds, happening onlythrough banking channels, isalways reflected in documentsthat eventually come to thepublic domain.
“All that is required is a lit-tle more effort to cull out suchinformation from both sides(purchaser of bond and polit-ical party) and do some ‘matchthe following’. Therefore, it isnot as though the operationsunder the scheme are behindiron curtains incapable ofbeing pierced,” the Bench said.
The court also termed asmisconceived the apprehen-sion of the NGOs that foreigncorporate houses may buy thebonds and attempt to influencethe electoral process in thecountry, saying that under thescheme, the bonds can be pur-chased only by a person whois a citizen of India or incorpo-rated or established here.
The Bench also rejectedthe NGO’s contention that theReserve Bank of India wasopposed to the scheme, sayingthat the central bank of thecountry was concerned with theissue of the bonds in scrip formrather than in demat form.
“What RBI wanted toachieve was, in their ownwords, the twin advantage of(i) providing anonymity tothe contributor; and (ii) ensur-ing that consideration fortransfers is through bankingchannels and not cash or othermeans.
“In fact RBI called theelectoral bonds as ‘an enduringreform, consistent with thegovernment’s digitization push’.Therefore, the concernsexpressed by RBI, to the formand not to the substance, can-not really advance the case ofthe petitioner(s),” it said.
The court also said in itsorder that repeated applica-tions for the same relief cannotbe filed merely because thebonds are being issued at peri-odical intervals of time.
The bench said that underthe electoral bonds scheme of2018 they available for pur-chase for 10 days each inJanuary, April, July andOctober and once the apexcourt put in place an interimarrangement in April 2019,applications for stay of sale ofthe bonds cannot be movedevery time a window is openedfor issuing them.
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Twenty-six per cent of the205 candidates contesting
in the third phase of the WestBengal Assembly polls thisyear have declared criminalcases against themselves, saysa report by the Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR).
The West Bengal ElectionWatch and the Associationfor Democratic Reforms(ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all the 205candidates who are contesting
in the polls to be held on April 29.
“Out of 205 candidatesanalysed, 53 (26 per cent)candidates have declared crim-inal cases against themselvesand 43(21 per cent) havedeclared serious criminal casesagainst themselves,” the reportsaid.
Among the major parties,19 (61 per cent) out of 31 can-didates analysed from the BJP,eight (62 per cent) out of 13candidates analysed from theCPI(M), three (43 per cent)
out of seven candidatesanalysed from the Congress,11 (36 per cent) out of 31 can-didates analysed from theAITC and two (11 per cent)out of 18 candidates analysedfrom the SUCI(C) havedeclared criminal cases againstthemselves in their affidavits.
It said 16(52 per cent) outof 31 candidates analysed fromthe BJP, 5(39 per cent) out of13 candidates analysed fromthe CPI(M), 10(32 per cent)out of 31 candidates analysedfrom the AITC and 2(11 per
cent) out of 18 candidatesanalysed from the SUCI(C)have declared serious criminalcases against themselves intheir affidavits.
According to the report,nine candidates have declaredcases related to crime againstwomen. Three candidateshave declared cases related tomurder (IPC section 302)against themselves and 16candidates have declared casesrelated to attempt to murder(IPC section 307) againstthemselves, it said.
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Union Home Ministry onFriday asked States and
Union territories to regulatecrowd during upcoming festi-vals like Holi, Easter and Eid inview of rising cases of Covid-19. In a letter to ChiefSecretaries of all States andUnion Territories, UnionHome Secretary Ajay Bhallapointed out that the country ispassing through a critical junc-ture as COVID-19 cases anddeaths have been on the rise.
The Home Secretary saidafter assessing the situation,guidelines for effective controlof COVID-19 were issued bythe Ministry of Home Affairson March 23 and it has beenemphasised that states andUTs should strictly enforcethe ‘test-track-treat’ protocol.
“In view of upcoming fes-tivals such as Holi, Shab-e-Barat, harvesting festivals,Easter, Eid-ul-Fitr, etc. TheState Governments and UTadministrations should takenecessary measures to regulatecrowds during these festivalsby ensuring strict observanceof COVID appropriate behav-iour, such as wearing of maskand maintaining social distanc-ing, as mandated in aforesaidguidelines and in the NationalDirectives for COVID- 19Management,” the communi-cation said.
The Home Secretary alsoasked Chief Secretaries to issuenecessary instructions to dis-trict administrations andpolice authorities to scrupu-lously enforce COVID-19appropriate behaviour andSOPs in all public gatheringsduring the upcoming festi-vals. Further, Bhalla said, thecampaign should also be inten-sified for creating publicawareness.
“As has been emphasizedtime and again by healthexperts, strict adherence toCOVID appropriate behav-iour in public places and gath-erings will help in breaking thechain of transmission andreduce the incidence ofCOVID cases in the country,”he said.
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ing to the hotel, he came outand started walking on thestreet to see the city.Meanwhile, he was telling tohis companion: “ThisSantanu is a big guy. Hehumbly invited me to attendthe literary festival, and Ithought it must be a smallaffair with some like-mindedpeople in a homely atmos-phere. But he put me in a five-star hotel, that too air-condi-tioned. Being a communist atheart, how can I stay here?”That defines Sagar Sarhadi.
In 2017, the DehradunInternational Film Festivalhonoured him with theLifetime Achievement Award.The award was presented tohim by the then ChiefMinister Harish Rawat.Before the event, we went tohis Mumbai home in Sion toinvite him. The small flat witha nice place to sit and brain-storm for projects turned outto be a nice place to recollectbeautiful memories.
I saw the Black Lady, theprestigious Filmfare Awardtrophy, among the variousawards on his rack. A hugecollection of books, too,mostly written in Urdu. Verysadly, Sagar Sa’ab said: “Youknow, now I am old. I can’t
take good care of these books.I wanted to gift all my Urdubooks to the library, but theydon’t want these since theysay there are no Urdu read-ers. So the books are lyingwith me only.”
He used to praise hisbirthplace, Abbotabad, nowin Pakistan, and also in newsbecause of Osama bin Laden.Sagar Sa’ab was so muchinfluenced by the scenicbeauty of Abbotabad that thestory of Noorie was completebased on that background.The shooting, however, hasbeen done in Kashmir.
The memories of the oldgood days were always freshin his mind, though by thetime he had become forgetfuland repeated the same con-versation. But his associationwith Yash Chopra was knownto everyone. From KabhiKabhie to Silsila to Chandni,an amazing journey altogeth-er. He recalls that he first wentto the south, then to Shimla,Delhi and Punjab. At theend of it, when he submittedthe bills to Yash Chopra, thelatter jokingly said: “Kya kilo-metre ke hisaab se likhte ho?(Do you write on the basis ofkilometres travelled?)”.
Yash Chopra was keen to
make Bazaar, but Sagar Sa’abwas reluctant to pass on thestory to anyone. He wanted tomake the film by himself. Heproudly said: “That time I gaveSmita Patil �25,000 as theremuneration and �20,000 toNaseeruddin Shah.” Manypeople talk about his affectiontowards Smita but, in our sev-eral conversations, honestly, Inever found any such thing.
In 2019, at the KolkataInternational Film Festival, hewas a special invitee to paytributes to Khayaam Sa’ab.The whole city was coveredwith the posters and bannersof Chief Minister MamataBanerjee. He innocentlyasked one of the organisers:“Why is there no film posterbut only her face?”
In his last days, after see-ing Sagar Saab’s struggle forsurvival, whenever we invit-ed him, the organiser mustoffer some monetary assis-tance to the veteran writer.Since he didn’t ask for moneyfrom anyone, I strongly feel,even the super rich Hindifilm industry is partly respon-sible for such neglect as his.
(The writer is a Delhi-based film festival curator, film-maker and producer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)
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No one remembers hisreal name, GangaSagar Talwar, but hisnom de plume, Sagar
Sarhadi, is a household name inpopular Hindi cinema as a storyand screenplay writer whoseincredible creations KabhiKabhie, Silsila, Noorie, Faasle,Anubhav, Zindagi, Chandni,Rang and Kaho Na Pyar Hai,among others, are pieces of gem.And, of course, his immortal cre-ation, Bazaar.
My first interaction withSagar Saab was in 2005 when hemade his last feature film,Chausar. As the festival pro-grammer at the Osian’s-CinefanAsian Film Festival, my respon-sibility was to present meaning-ful cinemas to the festival. To behonest, I was attracted towardsChausar not only for its contentbut also the name behind it –Sagar Sarhadi. At the time,though old, he was quite active.He brought a VCD of Bazaar forme as a token of affection. Ofcourse, I got him to sign on thecover. What still remains withme is the simplicity of theextremely talented man. Nofuss, no celebrity tantrums. Anindependent film festival cura-tor considers such personalitiesa precious asset to promotecinematic culture.
After Chausar, we invitedhim to attend the Jagran FilmFestival in Meerut, UttarPradesh. At the small hotel wewere put up in, his only demandwas to have some “good vegeta-bles”. But the waiter insisted ona mixed-vegetable dish. SagarSa’ab said: “I came all the wayfrom Bombay, which is a con-crete jungle, to your city, whichis totally surrounded by green-ery. Why can’t you give me somegood, green vegetable? Whyyou emphasising on mixed veg-etables that must be seven daysold?” Everyone started laughing.
After a long gap, we invitedhim as a speaker to the KalingaLiterary Festival inBhubaneswar in 2016. By thetime, the veteran had alreadycrossed his 80s and needed anassistant to travel. And, ofcourse, on a simple, low-costflight. Immediately after reach-
�������������������� �����������Sir —A request by the State Government isthe primary requisite for the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) to probe any caserelated to corruption, economic offences orany other crime that occurred within thelimits of the State. But the Supreme Courtand the High Courts can order a CBI inves-tigation in any case without the State’s nod.Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Kerala,Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Mizoram andJharkhand are the seven States that havetaken back the “general permission” grant-ed to the CBI to probe cases within theirjurisdiction. The CBI’s slide began the dayit started dancing to the tune of theGovernment at the Centre.
Top Opposition leaders were targetedby the Centre by using the CBI as aweapon against them. The Chief Ministersof the Opposition parties literally shiver atthe thought of the CBI probing politically-sensitive cases in their States. The agency isconsidered as a “caged parrot”. Politicalobservers are aghast at the recommenda-tions of the parliamentary committee ask-ing the Government to assess the need foramending existing laws or bring out a newlegislation to clearly define the mandate ofthe CBI and vest more powers in it. The rec-ommendation came after the CBI apprisedthe panel that its investigations are imped-ed by the withdrawal of “general consent”by the States, mainly those ruled by theOpposition parties. The federal system ofgovernance in India has clearly demarcat-ed powers between the Centre and theStates.The CBI is an agency that has noautonomous powers. Prior consent from theState concerned is mandatory.
Ganapathi Bhat | Akola
��������������������������� �������Sir — Mamata Banerjee, the central figurein West Bengal elections, represents thequintessence of Bengali culture; she islooked up to for her leadership qualities, herinexhaustible energy and her devotion toduty. She has an emotional connect withpeople cutting across all sections of society
and relates to them; one of her manystrengths is that people relate to her subcon-sciously.
It is brave of her to stand up to the BJPthat is using all its might to wrest powerfrom Didi. With great personal charismaand mass appeal, Didi is well-positioned tostop the BJP juggernaut. While we needmore women in leadership positions, theBJP leaders, quite regrettably, have stoopedso low as to make comments on her dressand the bandage around her broken leg. TheBJP has failed to fulfil its promises at thenational level, the State may not fall for itssugarcoated promises of “asol poriborton”and “Sonar Bangla”.
G David Milton | Tamil Nadu
���������������Sir — It’s a sad news that the United ArabEmirates’ Finance Minister and the deputy
ruler of the emirate of Dubai, SheikhHamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has died.In 1971, when the UAE was formed as anindependent nation, he was appointed thefirst Finance Minister in the federal Cabinetand occupied this position till his demise.He was the world’s longest serving FinanceMinister, working for nearly five decades.Hamdan was a great statesman who playeda pivotal role in shaping the economic andindustrial policies of the UAE.
Great people die leaving a legacy to beproud of and achievements that are longremembered even after their demise. Hisdeath is an irreparable loss not only for peo-ple of Dubai and the UAE but for the GulfCooperation Council (GCC) countriesand beyond.
Ramesh G Jethwani | Bengaluru����������!!���# "�����:
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The eldest is 56-years-old and the youngestis 21. Despite this age difference, the mem-bers of the all-women rural band in India
‘Arohini’ are united in a common bond to pushfor women’s empowerment. All band membersare marginalised village women who werealmost never allowed to leave the house. But eversince ‘Arohini’ was born, they became agents ofchange in Uttar Pradesh (UP).
“I was married young and not allowed tostudy. I got the opportunity to express my painand life of oppression through this band. NowI write and sing songs to raise awarenessagainst chid marriage so that other girls can bestopped from meeting this fate,” says 56-year-oldPushplata Devi.
In fact, a majority of the 20-member bandwere child brides. Both their natal and maritalfamilies did not consider education importantand denied them opportunities to pursue stud-ies. This is not unusual for a State where everyone in five girls has been married before the legalage of 18. Neither is it surprising that UP topsthe list of the most out-of-school girls in thecountry and has scored the lowest on the gen-der equality indicators among all States, accord-ing to the 2018, Sustainable Development Indexreport by the NITI Aayog, the Government’s pol-icy institution.
However, this is what the band was hopingto change. Supported and trained by the StateMahila Samakhya (MS), an organisation work-ing for rural women’s development that is runby the Government, the band travelled to dif-ferent districts across UP, singing songs ofwomen empowerment. Through their songs, theband tried to debunk myths related to menstru-al hygiene, early marriage, domestic violence andthe critical need for the girl child’s education. Butsince December 2020, the band and over 600 MSwomen employees have been out of work afterthe Government issued a formal notice of clo-sure of the MS programme. This came as a dou-ble whammy, with the women already reelingunder a financial crisis due to the non-paymentof salaries since 2018. Their situation was fur-ther exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic inMarch 2020 and the subsequent lockdown in thecountry.
Although the State Government has oftenstated its commitment towards empowermentof women and promised requisite funding forrelated programmes, it has not deemed it nec-essary to address the resource crunch faced bythe MS. The Budget allocation for the pro-gramme running in 19 districts has been steadi-ly dipping. In 2018-19, the State Governmentapproved �10 crore for it while presenting theannual Budget but released only half theamount. As a result, the remaining sum of �5crore lapsed as it couldn’t get used.
Any hope that this lapse would be rectifiedin the 2019-2020 State Budget was dashed whenonly �2 crore was allocated. With such a mea-gre budget, it was only a matter of time beforethe programme, running in the State for the last30 years, collapsed.
The closure of MS means the end of thedreams of over 2,00,000 rural women who gotan opportunity to exercise their agency and
realise their potential. It also rollsback years of untiring work to raiseawareness of women’s rights andtheir empowerment through liter-acy programmes. For this to hap-pen on a sustained basis for threedecades in a State steeped in patri-archy, is admirable.
Expectedly, this wasn’t easy inthe beginning because the firsthurdle that the women had toovercome was opposition fromtheir own families. So MS firstbegan by bolstering the women’sself-confidence before embarkingon their education programme. Itwas only after they learnt abouttheir rights that the women gath-ered the courage to step out of theirhouses and form collectives.“When I first started going for theMS meetings, my family forciblystopped me from going out of thehouse. They said a woman’s placewas in the house and not outside.But I was determined. I was alsobeaten up, but even then I didn’tgive up and became a member ofthe MS women’s group. Thanks tothem, I also started to study again.Then I became a member of theband,” recalled Pushplata Devi.
It was when feisty women likePushplata began articulating theirthoughts and hopes through songsat the MS meetings that the ideaof forming a band that could usetheir stories to inspire others ger-minated. Smriti Singh, then StateDirector, felt that with a member-ship of over 1,20,000 rural womenin 19 districts, the band was theperfect platform to showcase theirtalent. She wanted the band to givemembers the chance to fulfil theirdreams and also mo tivate otherwomen to come forward.
In order to give representationto all districts where the MSworks, all women groups wereasked to showcase their talent. Outof these, 20 women were chosenand then trained. To give them anidentity, the band was named‘Arohini’ (meaning moving for-ward). It was decided that bandmembers would wear identicalpink kurtas, black salwars, and yel-low turbans during their perfor-mances.
This uniform has become aprized possession of 32-year-oldband member Seema Kumari. Aresident of Araria district, Kumarihad to drop out of school and getmarried at the age of 15. “Sincethen, my only identity has beenthat of a wife, daughter-in-law andmother. When I wear this uniformand sing, it gives me an identity ofmy own. Now I have a voice in thedecisions in my house,” she reveals.
For Maya Devi, being a part ofthe band gave her the opportuni-ty to learn new things and use thelearning to inform others throughsongs. She now knows that underthe Prohibition of Child MarriageAct (PCMA), 2006, the marriageof a woman below 18 years of ageis illegal and is punishable withimprisonment up to two years. Shealso knows that girls aged 15-19 aretwice as likely to die in childbirthas compared to women in their20s.
“When we give this informa-tion through our songs, it is bet-ter understood by the communi-ties because the message is givenin an entertaining way. We knowwe are making an impact whenthey share their problems with usand seek our help,” she said. The
evidence that MS provided theimpetus for women to challengerigid social norms is reflected intheir stories, their increased par-ticipation and greater voice inhousehold decisions. Greaterawareness and knowledge hasimproved their mobility and boost-ed their visibility in public spaces.The performance at various dis-trict and State public events is justone example.
When the women and childrights forum project started underthe direction of the StateGovernment in 2017 to eliminatechild marriage, they took the lead.They took the help of their collec-tives to prevent 437 child mar-riages over the next two years.
Work by all such women andchild rights forums set up in eachof the 19 districts has come to ahalt now. Just as it has in the 150MS Nari Adalats (women’s courts).Thanks to these courts, womenhad access to affordable andspeedy justice that addressed com-plaints of violence and economicdiscrimination. With courts beingclosed, many women will nolonger have access to justice.
Crimes against women, espe-cially from the Dalit, Adivasi andMuslim communities, are on therise in the State. The child sex ratiostands at 885 girls per 1,000 boys.This is likely to skew further infavour of boys, according to recentresearch which indicates that UPis likely to have the most missingfemale births due to son prefer-ence. This underlines again justwhy programmes like MS that pro-mote gender equality are urgent-ly needed. Is the Government lis-tening?
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Water and soil areessential for sustain-ing life on Earth.
Each year, the World ForestDay is celebrated on March 21and, since 1993, March 22 isobserved as World Water Day.All across the globe, land, for-est and water resources havebeen degraded due to overex-ploitation by humans. Becauseof the growing population,these resources are understress and their blatant misusehas made the condition worse.The problem is compoundedby the climate change threatthat is looming large overmankind.
Forests are essential forsustaining the flow of water inrain-fed rivers, for aquiferrecharge and maintaining thelevel of ground water. Water isthe most precious gift ofnature but, across the world,over one billion people haveno access to safe drinking
water and more than three bil-lion people face shortage ofwater for a few months everyyear.
Water scarcity repeatedlyoccurs in areas with scantyrainfall and high populationdensity or in areas whereintensive agricultural is prac-tised and those which areheavily industrialised. Thecountries in Asia and Africaare the most water-stressed,and that includes India.
It seems that the worldleaders are only paying lip ser-vice as nothing substantialhas been done to deal with thewater crisis. We must remem-ber that due to climate changeand lopsided development,many civilisations, includingour own Indus Valley civilisa-tion vanished.
The countries in theMiddle East are the mostthreatened by water scarcity,however, Israel is a brilliant
example of how to meet thethreat of chronic water short-ages. This is because though 90per cent of Israelis live inwater scarce areas, they havesolved their problem.
India is one of the top 10water-rich countries withmore than 4,000 Billion CubicMeter (BCM) of water avail-ability (sufficient to cater tofour-five times our currentpopulation). However, ironi-cally, as many as 256 districtsin the country are facing acutewater crisis. It has also beenestimated by the NITI Aayogthat 70 per cent of our waterresources are contaminatedand 600 million people are fac-ing severe water stress. It is fur-ther estimated that more than200,000 people die every yeardue to inadequate access tosafe water.
According to a report ofthe Central Ground WaterBoard (CGWB) 70 per cent of
the blocks in country arewater-deficient with respect tothe groundwater levels. Morethan 60 per cent of the farm-ers depend on groundwater forirrigation. The way the farm-ers of Punjab, Haryana andWestern Uttar Pradesh areutilising ground water, theday is not far when food grainproduction will come to astandstill in these areas.
The water table is alreadygoing down by a few metres
every year, especially inPunjab. The Central WaterCommission (CWC) has indi-cated that per capita wateravailability in the country hasalready reduced by one-fourthto 1,368 cubic metres a yearover the past seven decades. Itis also ironical that some of theheavy rainfall districts likePalakkad in Kerala andHooghly in West Bengal, thatwitness more than the averagerainfall, are water stressed fora few months each year. InPalakkad, it is due to unevendistribution of rainfall andoveruse by brick kilns andfarmers, while in Hooghly it isdue to overuse by industries.
But where there is a willthere is a way. Israel has solvedits water shortage by buildingdesalination and water-treat-ment plants and by adoptinginnovative agricultural prac-tices. Back home, Gujarat hascreated a people-centric
demand-driven approach tosolve the potable water prob-lem by creating lakes, de-silt-ing ponds and the use of theNarmada water through theSardar Sarovar canal network.It tapped every drop of rainwater in the farms and as aresult the irrigated area of theState has jumped from 38lakh hectares in 2011 to 68.88lakh hectares today.
The creation of theMinistry of Jal Shakti in 2019was to implement and repli-cate the Gujarat model allover the country. Of the 19crore households in the coun-try, till 2019, only a little overthree crore homes had accessto tap water for drinking. Inthe last one year, another fourcrore families have been cov-ered. The ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’has made a mark within oneyear of its launch and the rea-sons for its success is the factthat it focuses on decen-
tralised, village-baseddemand-driven governanceby the communities, coupledwith innovative technologybased on real-time monitor-ing. Recently the ‘Jal JeevanAbhiyan’ has been launched tofurther scale up rain water har-vesting and focus is on mobil-isation of women groups at thegrassroot level.
The larger participation ofcivil society is the key to suc-cess of any Government pro-gramme. Before the ‘Jal JeevanMission’ the Joint ForestManagement was successfulbecause it involved the com-munities to manage the forests.If the Jal Shakti Ministry suc-ceeds in supplying potablewater to every household itwill be one of the biggest pub-lic welfare programmes post-Independence. It will bringhealth and prosperity andreduce the mortality rate inrural areas.
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PEL 1868.00 1868.00 1775.60 1798.00AUROPHARMA 841.00 857.20 838.30 849.90ABCAPITAL 118.55 124.60 117.00 122.95GNFC 282.40 288.00 281.65 286.00QUESS 685.00 707.00 675.20 681.00HAVELLS 1025.00 1056.00 1025.00 1050.30JUBLFOOD 2875.00 2916.00 2867.35 2882.25SPICEJET 69.00 70.70 69.00 69.25IRCON 81.00 81.90 80.60 80.90NESTLEIND 16398.00 16600.05 16250.5016551.00DMART 2827.00 2897.00 2807.20 2854.80PIDILITIND 1761.00 1814.00 1761.00 1793.00BRITANNIA 3445.00 3513.15 3445.00 3503.45BEL 120.65 124.10 120.00 122.45POLYCAB 1368.00 1444.00 1358.00 1390.20GUJGAS 517.00 523.00 502.70 517.25NTPC 106.40 106.40 103.70 104.15APOLLOTYRE 221.30 226.80 221.30 224.70INDIACEM 162.35 166.90 160.25 162.35ESCORTS 1285.00 1287.85 1260.35 1274.00BALRAMCHIN 209.50 214.55 206.55 212.55EICHERMOT 2617.60 2619.85 2551.10 2559.85INDIAMART 7836.00 7936.90 7714.05 7768.00HINDPETRO* 228.20 231.90 228.20 229.80NATIONALUM 52.25 54.20 52.25 53.70BIOCON 396.25 398.90 390.65 395.25ASTRAL 1545.00 1637.50 1504.25 1606.40FORTIS 205.90 205.90 196.55 198.55JSWENERGY 85.50 88.05 83.65 87.35AARTIDRUGS 721.00 730.00 711.00 714.35GODREJPROP 1340.00 1393.65 1340.00 1367.55HAL 990.00 1005.20 980.30 987.00SBILIFE 866.55 876.75 866.55 873.75HINDZINC 272.00 287.65 270.00 277.75MINDTREE 1972.00 2007.35 1964.00 1981.95COALINDIA 129.70 130.35 128.75 129.55L&TFH 94.50 96.80 94.50 95.20TATACOFFEE 118.95 123.60 116.75 120.90DIVISLAB 3415.35 3504.50 3415.35 3463.05OFSS 3140.40 3159.95 3073.25 3119.95UBL 1224.95 1244.60 1216.00 1238.80DBL 555.00 567.55 551.55 559.15ICICIGI 1409.20 1416.25 1392.05 1400.60VOLTAS 962.00 987.25 962.00 978.95NMDC 125.00 128.75 125.00 126.75GLENMARK 450.35 461.40 442.70 451.20PAGEIND 29700.00 30164.55 29336.3030000.00MFSL 845.00 883.90 845.00 864.05BATAINDIA 1425.00 1444.50 1410.20 1411.45CADILAHC 423.00 425.00 415.00 420.00WELSPUNIND 80.80 84.65 77.80 83.60HEG 1435.00 1477.85 1390.00 1420.05TATAMTRDVR 128.00 131.50 126.50 128.50GRAPHITE 476.00 484.00 474.00 474.00NBCC 46.75 46.90 45.70 45.95ICICIPRULI 436.05 439.40 429.65 433.25RAJESHEXPO 478.80 478.80 473.00 474.85AARTIIND 1314.05 1338.20 1296.00 1319.85ADANITRANS 843.00 882.95 843.00 869.00BEML 1269.90 1314.25 1265.00 1275.65JUSTDIAL 880.00 890.00 854.05 860.30COROMANDEL 752.70 757.00 744.95 752.05FRETAIL 50.80 52.00 47.05 47.25SUNTECK 295.00 307.15 289.85 292.85SOLARA 1281.90 1415.00 1272.50 1346.40IEX 344.80 347.05 335.65 339.35AMARAJABAT 846.00 856.45 838.10 841.75MUTHOOTFIN 1193.60 1246.65 1183.15 1236.00CUMMINSIND 859.40 875.75 852.85 871.55BANKINDIA 71.25 71.95 69.30 69.70DABUR 518.00 530.90 518.00 529.50GODREJIND 527.00 540.00 507.00 531.95ISEC 398.00 402.05 394.00 394.40BHARATFORG 571.95 592.65 571.95 590.25TVSMOTOR 560.00 573.20 551.00 570.90COFORGE 2706.00 2843.20 2706.00 2827.20ACC 1886.00 1887.80 1848.40 1859.05RADICO 545.30 564.40 545.30 561.00INDHOTEL 103.35 109.05 103.30 108.30ASHOKA 93.85 98.05 93.85 95.00TV18BRDCST 30.05 30.45 29.30 29.50GRANULES 310.00 312.00 300.10 301.10SOUTHBANK 8.60 8.60 8.31 8.40SUZLON 5.46 5.57 5.29 5.50UCOBANK 11.09 11.30 10.90 10.96RAIN 143.65 145.30 137.70 140.20SHREECEM 27850.00 28275.10 27800.0028145.00SWANENERGY 131.75 135.10 130.50 132.25JKCEMENT 2778.00 2827.00 2778.00 2791.50KPITTECH 174.40 182.00 172.30 177.00IRB 106.00 106.65 102.30 102.85FSL 112.95 112.95 105.65 106.55HSCL 42.10 42.40 41.35 41.50VIPIND 361.15 362.00 348.30 351.05EDELWEISS 74.90 74.90 70.30 70.30TATAMETALI 723.00 727.15 705.70 720.10BSOFT 247.30 253.30 244.30 252.40JKTYRE 109.20 111.50 109.10 109.45AUBANK 1160.00 1195.00 1148.80 1176.80ALKYLAMINE 5562.95 5638.30 5382.05 5444.05AMBER 3130.00 3130.00 3005.00 3075.45BALMLAWRIE 129.75 131.00 127.00 128.25MAHABANK 21.05 22.00 20.80 20.90TRIDENT 13.80 14.01 13.40 13.71ALOKTEXT 20.65 20.85 20.25 20.35HINDCOPPER 126.75 127.45 120.80 123.05CROMPTON 373.00 387.00 361.00 383.00BERGEPAINT 734.30 763.05 734.30 759.85UNIONBANK 35.40 35.50 33.75 33.90
INDUSTOWER 247.00 247.50 235.30 240.40CASTROLIND 123.80 124.35 122.65 123.00HFCL 25.50 26.50 25.40 25.50DEEPAKFERT 225.00 227.00 221.35 222.00BAJAJCON 251.05 267.40 251.05 264.15COLPAL 1533.00 1548.95 1520.00 1539.60NLCINDIA 49.95 49.95 48.30 49.10BOMDYEING 71.30 72.65 70.85 71.05MAHSEAMLES 284.75 284.75 273.20 273.20PETRONET 221.60 226.40 221.60 224.05SUDARSCHEM 511.20 530.75 508.85 516.40ABB 1394.60 1497.95 1379.60 1453.55MAHINDCIE 161.95 168.55 161.95 163.15TORNTPOWER 410.85 417.25 406.80 414.00CENTURYTEX 475.25 476.55 462.15 466.25GODFRYPHLP 880.60 891.95 848.75 883.80EXIDEIND 184.05 184.05 181.80 182.35GSPL 279.90 279.90 256.55 265.90UJJIVAN 213.05 218.55 211.85 213.25DCAL 106.60 118.35 105.80 109.30TRENT 775.00 777.70 755.60 760.30ABBOTINDIA 15000.00 15079.50 14755.1015035.85CGCL 353.45 358.80 348.25 357.90LTI 3900.00 3968.00 3859.20 3953.20WHIRLPOOL 2187.50 2220.25 2150.10 2171.05SRF 5245.00 5345.95 5229.15 5267.60BIRLACORPN 867.00 924.55 867.00 911.00J&KBANK 26.05 26.45 25.65 25.75IOB 16.10 17.00 15.95 16.05MANAPPURAM 150.00 153.15 148.90 151.05SCI 115.95 116.90 113.80 114.40RECLTD 131.15 133.50 130.90 131.50AEGISLOG 290.00 303.00 287.50 299.70SCHNEIDER 94.00 96.85 93.90 95.40GODREJAGRO 488.00 495.70 488.00 492.20HDFCAMC 2823.95 2874.55 2818.55 2858.65NATCOPHARM 816.00 816.90 800.20 803.15AFFLE 5250.00 5359.40 5160.00 5177.95JMFINANCIL 88.75 89.75 87.25 87.85KALPATPOWR 368.10 383.25 362.50 368.30KAJARIACER 913.00 935.00 896.10 906.10IPCALAB 1855.00 1865.35 1845.00 1861.25SPARC 144.00 148.65 144.00 148.00CARERATING 430.00 433.00 420.00 421.90BOSCHLTD 13992.00 13992.00 13627.9013801.25REDINGTON 178.00 179.45 161.75 163.95SONATSOFTW 490.00 504.90 486.00 496.00JINDALSAW 72.00 74.00 71.30 71.90
DCMSHRIRAM 510.90 513.00 482.65 486.00DCBBANK 104.10 106.15 101.50 102.90SIEMENS 1801.15 1828.45 1799.00 1814.50NOCIL 168.00 179.85 163.65 177.05ALLCARGO 126.80 128.00 124.20 124.30IFBIND 997.00 1165.90 995.60 1091.10ENGINERSIN 75.55 75.55 73.55 73.75NIACL 152.10 156.90 152.10 152.50TANLA 792.00 839.95 792.00 823.80HONAUT 45810.00 45810.00 44548.4045349.90IDFC 48.50 49.60 47.30 47.55TORNTPHARM 2448.80 2481.95 2424.85 2455.05IFCI 12.89 13.15 12.49 12.75OIL 119.50 119.50 116.20 118.45RELAXO 860.00 883.40 852.05 875.10HATHWAY 26.30 27.70 25.55 25.70SYNGENE 530.00 536.30 530.00 531.50MPHASIS 1697.60 1697.60 1627.05 1642.50MEGH 117.25 117.25 113.20 114.30LTTS 2530.00 2568.50 2508.10 2550.20LUXIND 1714.45 1790.00 1714.45 1790.00MCX 1534.90 1573.95 1516.20 1563.00WOCKPHARMA 410.00 416.20 401.10 403.00RCF 76.70 76.95 74.90 75.80PRESTIGE 309.90 312.65 302.85 306.80PFIZER 4380.00 4443.15 4360.40 4370.00UJJIVANSFB 30.80 31.50 30.40 30.55RAMCOCEM 950.00 971.55 950.00 958.10HAWKINCOOK 5609.95 5610.00 5361.05 5425.50ASTRAZEN 3112.00 3130.20 3060.05 3088.003MINDIA 28147.30 29200.00 27188.3029100.00SEQUENT 232.70 240.00 229.00 232.95ITI 114.00 117.50 114.00 115.65PERSISTENT 1849.95 1849.95 1771.50 1812.75TATAINVEST 1014.00 1047.95 1010.85 1035.10VARROC 379.85 393.20 375.50 385.20FINEORG 2240.00 2300.00 2219.45 2268.75WELCORP 134.00 135.95 132.35 134.35THYROCARE 871.00 900.00 862.25 867.30ORIENTELEC 309.95 319.40 308.45 311.75GSFC 81.55 83.50 81.55 82.25MMTC 43.05 43.70 42.35 42.55
CANFINHOME 571.00 591.40 566.15 578.40APLAPOLLO 1298.00 1373.05 1298.00 1334.00LALPATHLAB 2501.95 2589.95 2485.65 2589.00ATUL 7109.00 7194.50 6907.00 7005.00VAKRANGEE 50.60 51.10 50.45 50.90MARICO 398.00 403.65 397.30 401.00AVANTI 427.00 439.40 423.70 425.80JKPAPER 146.05 153.40 146.05 152.25CENTRALBK 16.60 16.75 16.30 16.30BLUESTARCO 867.00 950.00 862.30 895.90STLTECH 197.50 201.00 193.00 194.15MIDHANI 176.00 180.55 176.00 177.35RAYMOND 347.90 354.85 344.00 354.35SHILPAMED 340.00 340.00 331.00 332.00BLUEDART 5000.00 5363.15 4937.80 5290.00GREAVESCOT 128.90 131.40 125.00 126.60CARBORUNIV 459.90 481.55 453.30 474.60CEATLTD 1503.00 1534.50 1493.70 1512.00UFLEX 379.90 380.95 374.75 378.55BBTC 1133.90 1138.00 1105.85 1111.85METROPOLIS 2030.00 2096.10 2018.35 2079.75HUDCO 44.60 45.45 44.00 44.25MOIL 136.80 139.85 136.80 138.05PNBHOUSING 371.80 380.00 368.95 372.15KRBL 190.00 190.00 183.20 183.80CHAMBLFERT 224.00 228.25 224.00 226.85MAHSCOOTER 3625.00 3690.00 3483.90 3513.70CUB 160.00 164.90 158.70 160.50PRSMJOHNSN 125.00 126.80 123.60 126.20KEI 523.80 525.00 510.50 525.00OBEROIRLTY 561.90 562.20 550.95 556.00LINDEINDIA 1729.80 1753.40 1704.50 1721.90PTC 80.95 81.45 78.90 79.30CAPPL 417.50 422.00 412.75 415.00ERIS 614.00 620.00 603.55 613.00SUPRAJIT 272.00 279.00 266.00 271.00ALKEM 2655.00 2680.45 2628.05 2648.80KEC 420.00 422.00 410.00 411.85BAJAJHLDNG 3225.00 3296.35 3212.00 3285.10JSL 65.70 67.20 65.40 66.25NAM-INDIA 330.95 334.20 328.50 330.30DALBHARAT 1560.00 1578.30 1520.85 1541.65PNCINFRA 252.00 255.95 247.95 253.80CESC 599.95 613.10 599.00 604.10GMM 4224.10 4251.00 4134.35 4150.50BAJAJELEC 949.95 962.00 934.30 940.00GMDCLTD 54.75 55.70 54.00 54.50PGHL 6130.00 6244.45 6130.00 6210.00ENDURANCE 1400.00 1453.05 1377.25 1425.05SYMPHONY 1246.00 1294.00 1246.00 1292.00PIIND 2245.00 2320.00 2245.00 2269.00NETWORK18 38.60 39.70 37.45 37.80EIDPARRY 331.65 334.50 320.70 322.60SHOPERSTOP 215.50 216.50 206.15 212.30JAICORPLTD 84.90 86.35 84.00 84.60VENKYS 1531.00 1562.95 1530.50 1539.55CHENNPETRO 97.25 98.90 94.85 95.50VBL 1013.00 1013.00 976.85 992.40NBVENTURES* 70.10 70.70 69.05 69.50SIS 396.55 399.05 390.55 392.90TASTYBIT 13720.00 13982.05 13489.7013892.80LEMONTREE 36.90 37.75 36.25 36.75ZENSARTECH 287.90 287.90 276.00 278.80ECLERX 1006.60 1034.80 996.60 1031.00KANSAINER 554.00 570.00 551.85 567.65MRPL 40.15 40.55 38.55 38.80ITDC 355.00 372.05 353.95 356.70JBCHEPHARM 1249.00 1249.00 1212.20 1230.00INDIANB 118.30 119.50 117.20 117.45IIFL 285.40 293.50 270.60 277.30NHPC 23.60 23.70 23.10 23.25KTKBANK 61.55 62.80 60.10 60.30INOXLEISUR 300.00 303.95 298.15 301.00CHALET 158.10 158.10 151.00 154.15DHANUKA 691.80 692.90 671.30 682.20GICRE 206.30 211.20 201.90 202.45PHILIPCARB 190.00 193.10 190.00 192.50AIAENG 1900.00 1928.00 1893.65 1909.05GILLETTE 5533.00 5663.00 5491.15 5611.20SUMICHEM 274.20 276.75 270.45 273.25EQUITAS 87.95 88.95 86.20 86.80ORIENTCEM 96.50 98.50 95.30 96.55FCONSUMER 6.76 7.01 6.46 6.49JAMNAAUTO 68.10 69.85 68.10 68.40SJVN 25.25 25.45 25.10 25.20HEIDELBERG 235.00 236.50 231.65 234.80PHOENIXLTD 778.90 792.70 755.55 776.35HERITGFOOD 297.00 317.95 297.00 304.35ZYDUSWELL 1969.65 1985.00 1934.40 1984.00KNRCON 204.25 208.90 202.90 207.40VGUARD 232.05 236.00 229.35 230.60KSCL 493.00 495.25 484.00 489.35VRLLOG 239.95 243.00 230.75 239.15GARFIBRES 2443.95 2455.00 2391.65 2402.45AJANTPHARM 1839.00 1839.00 1763.00 1773.35TCIEXP 902.35 908.60 888.30 905.15BRIGADE 248.20 274.30 245.40 263.20CYIENT 654.60 654.60 639.45 643.00CENTURYPLY 303.30 304.95 298.55 303.10BAYERCROP 4997.00 5056.05 4960.60 5019.70MINDACORP 93.05 95.75 93.00 95.05SHRIRAMCIT 1376.35 1420.00 1360.00 1369.40BDL 331.35 348.75 331.35 346.45FINOLEXIND 620.00 620.00 610.10 618.35TVSSRICHAK 1768.95 1830.05 1738.70 1796.15TIMETECHNO 59.05 60.85 59.05 59.75NESCO 528.35 537.40 518.50 522.70LAXMIMACH 6784.05 6784.05 6656.70 6665.10COCHINSHIP 350.00 360.15 350.00 354.55
TIINDIA 1105.25 1138.50 1105.25 1119.05GHCL 224.20 226.50 217.25 218.05RESPONIND 167.90 167.90 157.30 160.50EMAMILTD 460.15 477.00 460.15 477.00SANOFI 7817.95 7880.00 7769.95 7857.50CERA 3725.00 3982.00 3698.70 3786.00MAHLOG 552.00 552.00 532.30 550.80JSLHISAR 116.40 120.65 115.25 119.70SUNDRMFAST 720.30 752.05 720.30 732.00MAHLIFE 548.00 557.90 541.05 553.00FDC 275.45 276.90 273.60 275.10RITES 240.00 245.40 240.00 243.10RALLIS 265.10 267.40 262.20 263.70KSB 879.00 894.55 860.90 885.45GEPIL 272.40 279.45 272.40 278.15GRINDWELL 855.00 909.15 855.00 888.15NILKAMAL 1959.70 1976.20 1909.70 1928.85TCNSBRANDS 506.35 514.60 502.20 505.85CREDITACC 660.10 678.70 660.10 667.85JKLAKSHMI 391.00 417.20 391.00 410.40BASF 2004.20 2019.95 1978.05 2008.00FORCEMOT 1228.00 1255.00 1168.25 1181.80TTKPRESTIG 7199.10 7230.55 7100.00 7131.55INDOCO 281.40 297.90 280.65 292.75VMART 2737.90 2788.30 2701.50 2756.00GESHIP 319.75 319.75 305.35 306.70GLAXO 1408.00 1411.45 1399.50 1406.65WESTLIFE 452.00 460.00 447.45 458.50PGHH 12883.90 12969.60 12686.6012686.60JCHAC 2550.00 2571.60 2529.60 2540.00SUPREMEIND 2002.70 2020.30 1990.45 2013.00SUVENPHAR 455.00 470.95 455.00 467.00BLISSGVS 104.90 104.90 100.85 101.50GRSE 190.05 191.20 186.75 189.60AKZOINDIA 2215.00 2234.80 2191.50 2217.70TRITURBINE 107.00 107.00 101.25 101.70THERMAX 1340.70 1340.70 1309.00 1321.50MOTILALOFS 644.10 656.85 630.55 630.55JAGRAN* 59.90 59.90 58.60 58.80FINCABLES 375.00 389.55 372.90 389.00VTL 1200.00 1219.95 1193.85 1215.80CRISIL 1931.00 1942.45 1873.15 1884.00EIHOTEL 96.50 97.90 95.30 96.80GPPL 97.00 97.50 95.80 96.00TVTODAY 271.75 275.00 267.85 269.80POWERINDIA 1362.65 1370.95 1328.95 1343.05ORIENTREF 229.55 235.90 227.00 234.00LAOPALA 216.60 217.80 212.60 213.50POLYMED 835.80 841.00 808.10 809.00SOBHA 427.15 450.00 427.15 441.00JYOTHYLAB 140.00 140.70 137.30 137.60STARCEMENT 96.00 96.85 93.95 96.00GALAXYSURF 2396.20 2403.75 2361.10 2385.00AAVAS 2334.75 2334.75 2251.35 2313.50KPRMILL 1047.00 1047.00 1015.00 1030.85FLUOROCHEM 579.30 585.95 576.65 582.00SKFINDIA 2156.05 2186.15 2150.55 2170.90SPANDANA 561.95 595.30 561.95 595.30SOLARINDS 1301.25 1325.00 1280.00 1290.00TIMKEN 1221.35 1262.90 1221.35 1261.90SCHAEFFLER 5259.70 5370.00 5237.80 5352.00ASTERDM 137.80 139.20 132.55 133.50CHOLAHLDNG 594.00 602.95 583.25 588.00NAVNETEDUL 82.40 83.75 81.50 81.65CSBBANK 241.50 241.50 237.35 238.85GUJALKALI 335.00 340.40 334.05 335.95VINATIORGA 1365.05 1421.00 1365.05 1418.00SFL 1995.95 2000.45 1936.15 2000.45SHK 112.35 114.30 111.85 112.95EPL 217.40 224.15 217.40 223.00IIFLWAM 1210.00 1223.70 1197.70 1197.80DBCORP 90.95 91.90 89.90 89.95VSTIND 3363.20 3377.80 3322.00 3323.00GDL 174.55 177.75 173.05 177.50JTEKTINDIA 85.10 86.50 84.70 85.50CCL 230.05 239.40 230.05 237.00TEAMLEASE 3535.95 3562.00 3471.30 3562.00NH 395.00 397.00 381.60 383.65RATNAMANI 1853.70 1873.40 1847.95 1872.25ESABINDIA 1833.50 1833.50 1809.00 1809.00GULFOILLUB 725.60 745.00 711.70 745.00INDOSTAR 319.50 320.25 315.05 318.00MHRIL 213.10 215.80 211.40 211.40MASFIN 862.00 872.60 862.00 867.00OMAXE 69.40 70.00 68.10 68.10
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 14506.30 14572.90 14414.25 14507.30 182.40TATASTEEL 730.40 774.90 725.20 765.75 42.60BAJAJFINSV 9140.00 9507.00 9140.00 9460.20 402.65TITAN 1459.90 1512.40 1457.00 1508.70 57.85TATAMOTORS 290.50 301.40 290.50 296.90 11.35ASIANPAINT 2425.00 2513.95 2409.10 2497.40 95.20HINDALCO 318.10 328.50 318.10 326.05 12.05GAIL 130.25 132.80 128.65 132.70 4.70HINDUNILVR 2255.00 2325.00 2248.80 2309.00 71.95BHARTIARTL 512.10 524.90 510.60 522.90 15.15BAJAJ-AUTO 3517.10 3619.25 3517.10 3599.70 98.10NESTLEIND 16299.00 16618.45 16254.00 16566.60 396.50HDFCBANK 1494.00 1499.00 1474.00 1497.65 34.30HDFC 2506.75 2548.00 2491.20 2528.05 57.30TECHM 977.90 997.80 977.00 990.10 21.40SUNPHARMA 580.85 590.30 574.60 588.40 12.65GRASIM 1381.00 1411.45 1379.00 1402.30 29.55SHREECEM 27810.70 28319.95 27673.05 28150.00 569.65ADANIPORTS 698.00 710.70 692.60 702.35 14.10LT 1386.30 1408.00 1382.00 1398.00 26.90BRITANNIA 3455.35 3515.00 3455.35 3505.00 61.15WIPRO 404.80 407.70 400.65 405.90 6.25BPCL 425.90 431.80 421.40 425.50 6.55ICICIBANK 584.50 584.50 574.30 580.40 8.85JSWSTEEL 443.60 452.25 436.20 443.90 5.90BAJFINANCE 5170.00 5248.00 5135.00 5190.00 67.80NTPC 105.75 105.75 103.70 104.25 1.25ULTRACEMCO 6729.80 6785.00 6686.45 6742.00 75.50AXISBANK 707.00 707.00 693.15 701.80 7.20COALINDIA 129.10 130.40 128.70 129.40 1.30SBIN 360.00 362.00 354.55 358.70 3.50KOTAKBANK 1785.00 1792.40 1762.75 1780.00 17.10SBILIFE 870.00 876.90 868.10 871.25 7.15M&M 799.85 814.65 792.15 797.70 6.00HDFCLIFE 672.40 676.80 666.55 671.75 4.75ONGC 103.00 104.00 100.25 102.60 0.60DRREDDY 4420.00 4423.00 4347.70 4400.95 20.40HCLTECH 965.00 975.00 953.80 961.25 4.20DIVISLAB 3450.00 3509.95 3411.80 3465.00 14.80INFY 1344.70 1356.70 1332.00 1337.05 3.25CIPLA 791.00 799.00 781.25 789.00 1.75RELIANCE 2012.00 2013.70 1973.70 1993.95 2.50TCS 3090.65 3118.00 3043.05 3068.30 3.45MARUTI 6889.00 6898.95 6771.00 6788.75 1.90IOC 91.80 92.20 90.60 90.90 0.00HEROMOTOCO 2972.00 2982.80 2931.00 2941.05 -0.60INDUSINDBK 973.80 976.50 950.00 955.95 -1.85ITC 214.25 214.45 210.35 210.90 -0.70EICHERMOT 2620.00 2620.95 2551.05 2558.90 -21.55UPL 606.00 606.00 581.00 588.00 -7.65POWERGRID 219.35 222.00 212.15 213.40 -3.00
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 33826.70 34068.35 33724.90 33962.55 408.35CONCOR 550.45 592.35 550.45 590.50 40.55GODREJCP 693.80 713.00 688.50 711.00 31.20ADANITRANS 850.50 884.00 844.00 872.00 37.30MUTHOOTFIN 1201.50 1247.00 1170.50 1237.35 50.30HINDZINC 271.85 287.90 270.20 277.10 10.40LTI 3865.30 3975.00 3859.40 3960.05 122.35BERGEPAINT 740.00 763.50 738.00 757.05 22.50HAVELLS 1030.55 1062.45 1026.30 1051.45 25.30SBICARD 934.00 949.75 926.00 947.05 22.75DMART 2829.00 2898.80 2805.00 2864.00 68.00DABUR 517.60 531.00 517.60 528.60 11.25PNB 36.20 36.40 35.70 36.25 0.75TATACONSUM 620.00 634.95 615.10 627.80 12.95NMDC 125.45 128.80 125.45 126.65 2.60PIDILITIND 1776.85 1814.90 1765.25 1799.90 35.50MOTHERSUMI 199.00 201.95 196.55 200.00 3.95HDFCAMC 2816.20 2865.25 2816.20 2863.00 55.00PETRONET 223.00 226.40 222.40 224.40 3.65UBL 1220.20 1244.45 1215.00 1237.00 20.00BANKBARODA 71.40 71.90 70.20 71.05 1.00MCDOWELL-N 550.00 559.90 548.70 553.55 7.15NAUKRI 4482.00 4499.00 4391.45 4460.00 57.20AUROPHARMA 843.70 857.50 838.30 851.00 10.85BAJAJHLDNG 3255.00 3300.00 3208.65 3292.80 38.50DLF 282.80 284.30 277.05 280.15 3.15ABBOTINDIA 14988.80 15099.00 14761.05 15050.00 156.65ICICIGI 1402.00 1425.00 1390.50 1399.95 11.70HINDPETRO 229.50 232.00 228.35 229.10 1.85MARICO 398.70 403.80 396.95 401.15 3.15PFC 114.00 116.65 113.75 114.45 0.85SIEMENS 1816.00 1830.00 1797.75 1815.25 12.75BOSCHLTD 13800.00 13898.25 13619.90 13767.35 79.35ICICIPRULI 434.50 440.00 429.50 432.45 2.40ACC 1865.00 1888.00 1848.00 1860.05 10.05TORNTPHARM 2448.50 2482.00 2425.00 2455.65 11.90AMBUJACEM 297.65 301.60 293.55 295.30 1.20ALKEM 2685.50 2685.50 2627.50 2650.00 9.65IGL 506.00 508.80 497.15 504.25 1.80COLPAL 1535.05 1549.45 1519.10 1535.55 5.30PEL 1823.00 1829.95 1776.00 1799.00 6.00CADILAHC 423.00 424.65 415.20 421.00 0.80INDUSTOWER 243.85 248.05 235.10 240.90 -0.25PGHH 12915.90 13000.00 12601.00 12650.25 -78.05BIOCON 396.50 399.00 390.75 395.70 -2.80BANDHANBNK 355.25 358.90 344.10 346.90 -3.05OFSS 3159.00 3188.75 3071.90 3120.60 -28.55GICRE 209.00 212.60 202.20 202.55 -1.95LUPIN 1004.00 1004.00 975.00 980.80 -11.45ADANIGREEN 1215.00 1260.00 1178.20 1211.05 -15.75INDIGO 1654.00 1676.35 1600.00 1611.80 -51.75
New Delhi:Tata Group stocksgained up to 6 per cent onFriday after the Supreme Courtset aside the NCLAT orderrestoring Cyrus Mistry as exec-utive chairman of the con-glomerate.Tata Steel jumped6.05%, Tata Power Company4.92%, Tata Communications4.11 per cent and Tata Motors3.78% on the BSE.
Among others, TataMetaliks gained 3.08%, TataInvestment Corporation 2.59%, Tata Steel Long Products2.57%, Tata ConsumerProducts jumped 2.04%, Voltas2.01% and Tata Chemicals 1.77%. In a major victory for theTata Group, the Supreme Courton Friday set aside the NCLATorder restoring Cyrus Mistry as
the executive chairman of theconglomerate.
A bench of Chief Justice SABobde and Justices ASBopanna and VRamasubramanian said it isallowing the appeals filed byTata Group.
"The order of NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT) datedDecember 18, 2019 is set aside,"the bench said.
The court said, "All thequestions of law are liable to beanswered in favour of theappellants Tata Group and theappeals filed by the Tata Groupare liable to be allowed andthose by Shapoorji PallonjiGroup are liable to be dis-missed." PTI
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Equity indices ratchetedhigher on Friday after two
sessions of heavy losses asinvestors snapped up recently-battered banking and financestocks in lockstep with arebound in global markets.
A recovering rupee alsobolstered market sentiment,traders said.
The 30-share BSE Sensexsurged 568.38 points or 1.17per cent to finish at 49,008.50.Similarly, the broader NSENifty cimbed 182.40 points or1.27 per cent to 14,507.30.
Bajaj Finance led theSensex gainers' chart with ajump of 4.49 per cent, followedby Asian Paints, Titan, HUL,Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel,HDFC and Nestle India.
The HDFC twins account-ed for most of the index'sgains.
Tata group stocks ralliedafter the Supreme Court setaside the NCLAT order restor-ing Cyrus Mistry as executive
chairman of the conglomerate. On the other hand,
PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank,ITC and Maruti were the lag-gards, dropping up to 0.97 percent.
On a weekly basis, theSensex declined 849.74 pointsor 1.70 per cent, while the Nifty
fell 236.70 points or 1.60 percent. "Equity market has beenconsolidating under fear oflosing its traction of econom-ic growth recovery. Positive USjob data and climb in fourth-quarter US GDP to 4.3 per centhelped to reduce the gravity ofthe contraction.
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The Government has infused�5,500 crore equity capital
into Punjab & Sind Bank in lieuof allotment of over 335 crorepreference shares to it.
The lender on Thursdayallotted 3,35,16,14,868 equityshares of the bank at an issueprice of �16.41 per equity shareto the Government aggregatingto �5,500 crore.
The shareholders approvedthe allotment of shares to thegovernment with requisitemajority of 99.018 per cent, cast
in favour of the resolution, thebank said in a regulatory filingon Friday.
With the allotment,Government of India holdinghas increased from 83.06 percent to 97.07 per cent, it said.
Punjab & Sind Bank stockwas trading at �16.10 on BSE,down 1.83 per cent from theprevious closes.
Mumbai:Shares of Sterling and Wilson Solar, a Shapoorji PallonjiGroup (SP Group) company, plunged over 10% after the SupremeCourt dismissed appeals of the group and set aside the judge-ment which had ordered the reinstatement of Cyrus Mistry asChairman of Tata Sons. Around 2.30 p.m., shares of Sterling andWilson Solar Ltd on the BSE were trading at �244.95, lower by�27.45 or 10.08 per cent from its previous close.A bench head-ed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said all questions of law are in favourof Tata Group and dismissed the appeals filed by Mistry. The topcourt upheld the Tata Sons decision to sack Cyrus Mistry onOctober 24, 2016. Shapoorji Pallonji Group counsel had arguedthat Mistry was removed because he was going to place a draftgovernance structure at the Board meeting on October 24,2016.“We find all the questions of law are liable to be answeredin favour of the appellants (Tata Group) and the appeals filedby the Tata Group are liable to be allowed and Shapoorji Pallonjigroup is liable to be dismissed,” said the top court. IANS
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The country's foreignexchange (forex) kitty rose
USD 233 million to USD582.271 billion in the week toMarch 19, the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) said on Friday.
The overall reserves hadrisen USD 1.74 billion to USD582.04 billion in the previousreporting week.
The increase in the over-all reserves during the report-ing week was largely onaccount of a swelling of the for-eign currency assets, whichrose USD 157 million to USD541.18 billion.
Expressed in dollar terms,the foreign currency assets
include the effect of apprecia-tion or depreciation of non-USunits like the euro, pound andyen held in the foreignexchange reserves.
Value of the gold reservesincreased for the second con-secutive week, and was upUSD 80 million to USD 34.63billion in the reporting week,the RBI data showed.
The special drawing rights(SDRs) with the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) fell byUSD 2 million to USD 1.5 bil-lion in the reporting week.
The country's reserve posi-tion with the IMF also declinedby USD 1 million to USD 4.96billion in the reporting week,the data showed.
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Oil marketing companieson Friday went on pause
mode and decided againstrevising petrol and diesel aftercutting its retail rates in the pre-vious two days.
Accordingly, the pumpprice of petrol and dieselremained at previous days levelof �90.78 and �81.10 a litrerespectively in the nationalcapital. Petrol and diesel pricesfell by 39 paise and 37 paise perlitre respectively in two con-secutive days of revision onWednesday and Thursday inwake global softening of oilprices. OMCs have decide topause price revision as crudehas again gained and climbedup to close to $63 a barrel froma lower $ 60 a barrel earlier.
Across the country as wellthe petrol and diesel pricesremained static on Friday butits retail levels varied depend-ing on the level of local leviesin respective states.
In Mumbai, petrol contin-ues to be priced at �97.19 a litreand diesel at �88.20 a litre.Premium petrol, however, con-tinues to remain over Rs 100 alitre in the city as is the casewith several other cities acrossthe country.The OMCs wenton a price cut for the first timethis year on Wednesday afterkeeping oil prices steady for thepast 24 days.
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Mumbai:The rupee snapped itsthree-day losing streak andclosed 11 paise higher at 72.51against the US dollar on Friday,supported by positive domes-tic equities and weakening ofthe American currency in theoverseas market.
At the interbank forexmarket, the local unit openedat 72.51 against the greenbackand witnessed an intra-dayhigh of 72.37 and a low of72.53.It finally ended at 72.51,registering a rise of 11 paiseover its previous closing. PTI
New Delhi:Gold in the nation-al capital declined by �147 to�44,081 per 10 gram on Fridayamid rupee appreciation andovernight selling in global pre-cious metal prices, according toHDFC Securities. In the pre-vious trade, the precious metalhad closed at �44,228 per 10gram.In contrast, silver rose by�1,036 to � 64,276 per kilogramfrom � 63,240 per kilogram inthe previous trade. PTI
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In a much awaited develop-ment, JSW Steel has imple-
mented the resolution plan forBhushan Power and Steel Limited(BPSL) making the payment ofRs 19,350 crore to the financial
creditors to acquire the bankruptcompany.
Post the transaction,Piombino Steel Limited (PSL), awholly-owned subsidiary of thecompany, now owns 100 per centequity share in BPSL.
In a regulatory filing, JSW
Steel said a sum of Rs 8,614 crorewas arranged in Piombino Steelthrough a mix of equity issued tothe company and optionally con-vertible instruments issued toJSW Steel and JSW Shipping andLogistics along with debt availedby PSL.
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The death toll for protestersconfirmed killed in
Myanmar since last month'smilitary takeover has surpassed300, a group that verifies detailsof deaths and arrestsannounced on Friday.
Myanmar's AssistanceAssociation for PoliticalPrisoners said its tally of 320dead includes only documentedcases, with the actual number ofcasualties “likely much higher.”
It said 11 people were killedThursday, when it also man-aged to verify 23 deaths thatoccurred previously.
The group also said that asof Thursday, 2,981 people hadbeen arrested, charged or sen-tenced in the crackdown sincethe Feb. 1 coup that ousted theelected Government of AungSan Suu Kyi. Most, includingSuu Kyi and President WinMyint, remain detained.
The Army's seizure ofpower halted the SoutheastAsian nation's move towarddemocracy that began whenSuu Kyi's party took office in2016 for its first term, aftermore than five decades of mil-itary rule.
The movement against thejunta and its takeover receiveda major boost on Thursdaywhen the United States andBritain announced tough sanc-tions against two military-owned conglomerates with vastholdings in many sectors.
The US TreasuryDepartment said its action
against Myanma EconomicHoldings Public CompanyLimited and MyanmarEconomic Corporation Limitedtargets the army's control of largeparts of the country's economy,“which is a vital financial lifelinefor the military junta.”
The sanctions against thetwo companies and their hold-ings block access to any prop-erty they control in the UnitedStates and effectively bars anyUS person or company fromconducting any sort of businesswith them, including supplyingthem with funds or providinggoods or services.
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The United States, workingwith its partners and allies
is going to hold China"accountable" in the regionand also press Beijing to followthe rules on a range of issues,including the South China Sea,President Joe Biden has said.
Addressing his first formalnews conference in the WhiteHouse on Thursday, Bidenreferred to his recent meetingwith leaders of the Quad coun-tries involving India, Australiaand Japan and said that soon heis going to invite an alliance ofdemocracies to come toWashington DC to “discussthe future”.
“Earlier this month, andapparently got the Chineseattention, that's not why did it,I met with our allies and —how we're going to hold Chinaaccountable in the region,Australia, India, Japan, theUnited States, the so-calledQuad, because we have to have
democracies working together,”he said while answering a ques-tion on US-China relationsunder his watch.
“We are going to make itclear that, in order to deal withthese things, we are going tohold China accountable to fol-low the rules, to follow therules, whether it relates to theSouth China Sea or the NorthChina Sea or the agreementmade on Taiwan or a wholerange of other things,” heasserted.
The virtual summit onMarch 12 was attended byPresident Biden, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Australian Prime MinisterScott Morrison and JapanesePrime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
In a joint statement, thefour leaders of the Quad hadpledged to strengthen cooper-ation on the "defining chal-lenges of our time" and saidthey will continue to prioritisethe role of international law inthe maritime domain.
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Washington: US PresidentJoe Biden has said his plan isto run for re-election in 2024,signalling that at the age of 82years he may seek a secondterm in the White House.
Biden also said he “wouldfully expect” that VicePresident Kamala Harriswould be his running mate fora second term and describedher as a “great partner”.
The confirmation by Bidenin response to a question at hismaiden solo news conferenceon Thursday thus sets the stagefor a potential clash with his pre-decessor Donald Trump, whoso far has not ruled out his 2024re-election bid and thrown a fewindications in this regard. PTI
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Acoalition of nongovern-mental organisations is
calling on President Joe Bidento immediately begin develop-ing plans to share an expectedsurplus of hundreds of millionsof Covid-19 vaccine doses with
the world, once US demand forshots is met.
Biden has repeatedly said hisprimary focus is on ensuring allAmericans can get vaccinated,and on Thursday he outlined anew goal to deliver 200 milliondoses cumulatively over his first100 days in office.
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London: China has imposedsanctions on British politiciansand organisations as a tit-for-tatretaliation over the UK Govt'ssanctions against Chinese offi-cials for alleged human rightsviolations against its Uyghurs.
MPs including formerConservative Party leader IainDuncan Smith and ForeignAffairs Committee chairmanTom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani,Tim Loughton and House ofLords peers Baroness Kennedyand Lord Alton — all membersof the Inter-ParliamentaryAlliance on China — arenamed on the Chinese foreignMinistry’s ban. PTI
Seoul: North Korea on Fridayconfirmed it had tested a newguided missile, as President JoeBiden warned of consequencesif Pyongyang escalates ten-sions amid stalled nuclearnegotiations.
The North's official KoreanCentral News Agency said thetwo “new-type tactical guidedprojectiles” accurately hit thetarget off the eastern coast onThursday. Photos on the web-site of the North's mainRodong Sinmun newspapershowed a missile lifting offfrom a transport erector
launcher amid bright flames.KCNA quoted top official
Ri Pyong Chol, who supervisedthe test, as saying that the newweapon's development “is ofgreat significance in bolsteringup the military power of thecountry and deterring all sortsof military threats existing onthe Korean Peninsula.”
Japanese officials said bothweapons tested Thursday wereballistic missiles, which areprohibited by UN SecurityCouncil resolutions. Accordingto South Korean officials.
AP
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Dubai: A fuel tank at an oilfacility in Saudi Arabia caughtfire after being struck in anattack by Yemen's Houthi rebels,officials said on Friday, an attackthat came on the sixth anniver-sary of the kingdom's entry intoYemen's yearslong civil war.
The assault at Jizan insouthwest Saudi Arabia near theborder with Yemen came cameduring what Saudi defense offi-cials described as a barrage of
eight bomb-carrying droneslaunched by the Houthi rebels.
A Houthi militaryspokesman later claimed aseries of attacks on severalSaudi military sites and oilfacilities, some acknowledgedby the kingdom and others not.
The kingdom has faced anincreasing number of such assaultsand the tempo hasn't slowedsince it offered a cease-fire deal tothe Houthis on Monday. AP
London: Britain on Fridaybranded as "unacceptable" inci-dents of threats and protests byparents at a school in theMidlands region of England,where a teacher was suspendedafter an "inappropriate" cartoonof the Prophet Mohammed wasshown to pupils in class.
The image was used in alesson at Batley GrammarSchool in West Yorkshire ear-lier this week and triggered
protests outside the school.The teacher in question hassince been suspended pendingan investigation, with HeadTeacher Gary Kibble apologis-ing "unequivocally".
"It is never acceptable tothreaten or intimidate teachers.We encourage dialoguebetween parents and schoolswhen issues emerge,” aDepartment for Education(DfE) spokesperson said. PTI
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Ethiopia's prime ministersaid Friday that Eritrea has
agreed to withdraw its forcesfrom the Tigray region, wherewitnesses have described themlooting, killing and raping civil-ians. The statement by PrimeMinister Abiy Ahmed's officecomes after intense pressurefrom the United States and oth-ers to address the deadly crisisin Tigray. Abiy's statementafter a visit to Eritrea said thatEthiopian forces will take overguarding the border areas“effective immediately.”
Abiy only in the past weekhas acknowledged the presenceof soldiers from Eritrea, long anenemy of the Tigray leaderswho once dominated Ethiopia'sGovernment.
The new statement doesn'tsay how many Eritrean soldiershave been in Ethiopia, thoughwitnesses have estimated wellin the thousands.
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Two trains collided onFriday in southern Egypt,
apparently after someone acti-vated the emergency brakes,killing at least 32 people andleaving at least 66 injured,Egyptian authorities said.
Dozens of ambulancesrushed to the scene in thesouthern province of Sohag,according to a statement byEgypt's heath ministry. At least50 wounded were transferredto nearby hospitals.
Egypt's Railway Authoritiessaid the accident happenedwhen someone activated theemergency brakes of a passen-ger train that was headed to theMediterranean city ofAlexandria.
The train stopped abrupt-ly and was struck from behindby another train. The collisioncaused two cars from the firsttrain to flip over.
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No wonder all sections of society wereinspired by him. His leadership andbravery had ensured that no power couldenslave Bangladesh, Modi said, adding thatBangabandhu was a ray of hope for thepeople of this land and for Indians.
Under his leadership, common peopleof Bangladesh across the social spectrumcame together and became ‘Muktibahini’,Modi said, adding Bangladesh’s LiberationWar had support from all corners of India,from all parties, every section of the soci-ety.
“This is one of the most memorabledays of my life. I am grateful thatBangladesh has included me in this event.I am grateful that Bangladesh has invitedIndia to take part in this function. It is amatter of our pride that we got the oppor-tunity to honour Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanwith Gandhi Peace Prize,” he said.
The Gandhi Peace Prize 2020 was con-ferred on Bangabandhu this week.
Recalling the 1971 war of indepen-dence, Modi said the pictures of atrocitiesthat the Pakistan Army inflicted on thepeople in then East Pakistan (nowBangladesh) used to distract people inIndia.
“I must have been 20-22 years oldwhen I and my colleagues did Satyagrahafor Bangladesh’s freedom,” he said.The war broke out after the sudden crack-down at midnight past on March 25, 1971in the erstwhile East Pakistan by thePakistani troops and ended on December16. The same year Pakistan concededdefeat and unconditionally surrendered inDhaka to the allied forces comprising thefreedom fighters and the Indian soldiers.
Modi said the efforts of the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi and her importantrole in Bangladesh’s freedom war are wellknown.
He also named several Indian Armyofficials such as Field Marshal SHFJManekshaw, General Jagjit Singh Aurora,General JFR Jacob, Lance Nayak AlbertEkka, Group Captain Chandan Singh,Captain Mohan Narayan Rao Samantand others who were instrumental inBangladesh’s freedom.
Modi said the next 25 years are cru-cial for both India and Bangladesh. “Forboth our nations, the journey of the next25 years in the 21st century is crucial. Wehave descended from a shared heritage,and we are advancing towards shareddevelopment. We have shared goals, andshared challenges,” Modi said.
He also invited 50 Bangladeshi entre-preneurs to India to get associated withinnovation ecosystem and meet venture
capitalists. Modi also invoked Bengalipoets and writers Kazi Nazrul Islam andRabindranath Tagore in his speech to high-light the common heritage of the twocountries.
Earlier, the programme began with thereligious leaders from Islam, Hinduism,Buddhism and Christianity reciting prayersfrom their holy books, projecting a secu-lar image of Muslim-majority Bangladesh.Bangladesh was founded as a secular state,but Islam was made the state religion inthe 1980s. In 2010, the High Court heldup the secular principles of the 1972 con-stitution.
Modi was the guest of honour whilePresident Hamid was the chief guest at thefunction chaired by Prime MinisterHasina.
Meanwhile, at least four persons werekilled and dozens injured when someIslamist organisations protesting Modi’svisit to Bangladesh clashed with police onFriday afternoon.
In Chittagong’s Hathazari upazila, atleast four persons, including two students,were killed and dozens injured when firedtear shells followed by rubber bullets andshotguns to disperse crowd, the DhakaTribune reported. In Dhaka, at least 50people, including two journalists, wereinjured when clashes broke out betweena group of protesters, mostly members ofIslamist groups, and police in the BaitulMukarram area on Friday.
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Kaushambi, Sitapur, Ambedkarnagar,Bahraich, Basti, Kushinagar, Ghazipur,Sonbhadra and Mau.
Over 12.30 crore voters are eligible toexercise their franchise in the world'slargest rural elections. A total of 12.39 crorevoters are eligible to vote in this 3-tier elec-tions out of which 53.01 per cent voters aremales and 46.99 per cent are females.
According to the State ElectionCommission, there will be over two lakh(2,03,050) polling booths in 80,762 pollingstations. Each voter will be eligible to castfour votes each separately for gram pan-chayat members, gram pradhan, kshetrapanchayat members and district pan-chayat members.
The election of kshetra panchayatchairman and zila panchayat chairman willbe held by the elected members of kshetrapanchayat and zila panchayat memberselected directly by the voters.
The State Election Commission saidthat the elections would be held for58,189 village panchayat heads or grampradhans, 7,32,563 gram panchayat mem-bers, 75,855 members of 826 kshetra
panchayats and 3,051 members of 75 zilapanchayats. However elections in ninegram sabhas in Gonda, three in Sitapur andone in Bahraich will not be held as theirterms are yet to be completed.
>�01+1#=�<:�+(1>1.*01�/.�/&�>/,1�0/���/( �/Q#/.+/+�#100);./P�!1.1 #(=such as fitness, permit, registration and dri-ving licence whose validity expired onFebruary 1, 2020, or would expire by June30, 2021.
The Road Ministry has said all suchvehicle-related documents may be treat-ed to be valid till June 30, 2021.
“Enforcement authorities are advisedto treat such documents valid till June 30,2021. This will help out citizens in avail-ing transport-related services, while main-taining social distancing,” said RoadMinistry advisory.
Earlier, in the backdrop of Covid-19in 2020, the MoRTH had issued advisorieson March 30, June 9, August 24, andDecember 27 regarding the extension ofvalidity of documents related to MotorVehicles Act, 1988 and Central MotorVehicle Rules, 1989. It was advised that thevalidity of Fitness, Permit (all types),License, Registration, or any other con-cerned document(s) might be treated tobe valid till March 31, 2021.
The advisories were issued in view ofthe long queue in front of transportoffices for the renewal of such documents.
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Administrator,” the Ministry said in astatement.
According to the Ministry,Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka,Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Gujarat collec-tively account for 80 per cent of the newCovid-19 cases. After touching its lowestmark in mid-February, India’s activeCovid-19 caseload is on a steady rise andhas breached the 4-lakh mark again afteraround three-and-half months.
The lowest daily increase of 8,635Covid-19 cases was reported on February2 this year. The active caseload was at itslowest at 1,35,926 on February 12. As ofdate, there are 4.21 lakh active cases in thecountry, a net rise of 25,874 infections ina day.
As for daily Covid-19 cases,Maharashtra reported the highest 35,952infections in a day, followed by 2,661 inPunjab and 2,523 in Karnataka.
Ten States -- Maharashtra, Gujarat,Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, TamilNadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Haryanaand Rajasthan -- are displaying an upwardtrajectory in daily new cases while India’scumulative recoveries stand at 1,12,64,637with 32,987 people recuperating in a day.Six States account for 78.6 per cent of thenew deaths with Maharashtra reporting111 fatalities and Punjab 43, the HealthMinistry said.
Meanwhile, Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan on Friday asserted that anadequate system is in place to manage thesecond wave and soon more populationgroups will be brought under the ambit ofthe Covid-19 immunisation drive. TheGovernment’s decision to cover morebeneficiaries for inoculation comes daysafter everyone above 45 years has beenmade eligible to get vaccinated from April1.
“People have embraced the ‘Made inIndia’ vaccines, and it is due to thisenthusiasm and trust that the countrycrossed the last one crore vaccination injust under four days,” he said.
The countrywide vaccination drivewas rolled out on January 16 with health-care workers getting inoculated first andimmunisation of frontline workers beganfrom February 2.
“The Government is already planningto widen the umbrella of Covid-19 vaccinebeneficiaries soon to cover other sectionsof the population,” Vardhan said.
Dr Rajendra Prasad, senior consultant,neuro and spine surgeon at Delhi-basedIndraprastha Apollo Hospital welcomedthe proposed decision to vaccinate every-one above 45 years of age saying that thevaccination coverage should also includethe caretakers of the feeble bed-ridden rel-atives.
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appellants Tata group and the appealsfiled by the Tata Group are liable to beallowed and the appeal filed by SP Groupis liable to be dismissed,” a bench of ChiefJustice SA Bobde, justices AS Bopanna andV Ramasubramanian ordered in its 282-page judgement.
“In the result, all the appeals exceptCivil Appeal No...(appeal of CyrusInvestments Pvt Ltd versus Tata Sons Ltdand others) are allowed and the order ofNCLAT dated December 18, 2019 is setaside”.
The SP Group had said the TSPL
moved the top court to block its plan topledge shares for raising funds and thatreeked of vindictiveness and oppression ofminority shareholder rights.
The top court had, on January 10 lastyear, granted interim relief to the TataGroup by staying the National CompanyLaw Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order bywhich Mistry was restored as the execu-tive chairman of the conglomerate.
Ratan Tata, the Tata Group ChairmanEmeritus, and Tata Sons hailed the verdictas a validation of the conglomerate’s val-ues and governance standards. There wasno immediate reaction from the Mistrycamp.
“It is not an issue of winning or los-ing,” Ratan Tata said in a social media post.“After relentless attacks on my integrity andthe ethical conduct of the group, the judge-ment upholding all the appeals of Tata Sonsis a validation of the values and the ethicsthat have always been the guiding prin-ciple of the group,” he added.
“It (verdict) reinforces the fairness andjustice displayed by our judiciary.”
Tata Sons, the holding firm of the Tatagroup companies, said the judgementvindicates its position and upholds the gov-ernance standards adopted by the con-glomerate over the years.
“The judgment of the Hon’bleSupreme Court vindicates the position ofTata Sons and upholds the governancestandards adopted by the Tata Group overthe years. Tata Sons is grateful to theHon’ble Supreme Court,” it said in a state-ment. Tata Group stocks gained up to 6 percent after the verdict. Days after theouster, Ratan Tata had explained to share-holders of group firms that Mistry wasreplaced as chairman on October 24, 2016“because the board of Tata Sons lost con-fidence in him and his ability to lead theTata Group in future”.
He also had stated that the board feltthat Mistry’s removal was “absolutely nec-essary” for the future success of the group.
On the other hand, Mistry, whotermed his sacking as an “illegal coup”,alleged that his ouster was aimed to cutshort his “attempt to bring about reform”at the Tata group.
In its verdict, the top court further saidthe petitions filed before the NCLT by thetwo firms belonging to the SP Group shallstand dismissed.
It said the appeals filed by CyrusInvestments Pvt Ltd and SterlingInvestments Corporation Pvt Ltd seekingproportionate representation on theboard of Tata Sons and in all committeesformed by it are also dismissed.
“All IAs (interlocutory applications)including the one for causing separationof ownership interests of the SP Group inTata Sons namely IA No...Are dismissed,”it said. SP Group has moved an applica-
tion seeking direction to Tata Sons andothers for separation of ownership inter-ests in the conglomerate via reduction ofcapital by extinguishing its shares in lieuof fair compensation.
It sought the separation be effectedthrough a transfer of proportionate sharesof the listed companies of Tata Sons, withthe balance value of unlisted companiesand intangibles including brand valuebeing settled in cash.
The court said, interestingly, such anapplication was filed after Tata Groupmoved an application for restraining SPGroup from raising money by pledgingshares and this court passed an order ofstatus quo on September 22, 2020.
“For the first time, SP Group seemsto have realized the futility of the litiga-tion and the nature of the order that theTribunal can pass under Section 242. Thisis reflected in Paragraph 62 of the appli-cation, where SP Group has stated that theyare seeking such an alternative remedy asa means to put an end to the matters com-plained of,” it added.
The court said that as a matter of fact,the SP Group should have sought such arelief from the Tribunal even at the begin-ning as “we have pointed out elsewherea divorce without acrimony is what isencouraged both in England and in Indiaunder the statutory regime”.
It said, but in an appeal underSection 423 of the Companies Act, 2013,this Court is concerned with questions oflaw arising out of the order of NCLAT.
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As regards the Friday meeting, Armysources said post the DGsMO, a BrigadeCommander Level Flag Meeting was heldbetween Indian and Pakistan Army atPoonch- Rawalkot crossing point to dis-cuss implementation mechanism as per theunderstanding reached in the last month’sdiscussions.
The two officers took stock of the pre-sent situation and agreed to maintain peaceon the LoC. In case of any misunder-standing leading to flare-up, both sides alsoagreed to immediately hold a meeting atthe local level to cool down the tempera-ture, sources said.
Releasing a joint statement after thefirst meeting on the hotline in February,India and Pakistan said it was decided tostrictly adhere to a ceasefire for “mutual-ly beneficial and sustainable peace.”
The latest ceasefire, which came intoforce from midnight of February 24-25,however, will not restrict the Indian secu-rity forces from carrying out anti-terror-ist and anti-infiltration operations inJammu & Kashmir, it was clarified here.
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Actor AyushmannKhurrana is a self
made success story forthe youth of the coun-try. He is an inspira-tion to all the out-siders who want tomake it big in anyindustry throughsheer talent and hardwork. During thep a n d e m i c ,Ayushmann’s brandequity soared as India
turned to a more relat-able star who stood for
strong values. Accordingto a recent survey,
Ayushmann is in the eliteleague of endorsers who thebrands are lining up to signbecause of his credibility asthe poster boy of contentcinema in India. Along withAkshay Kumar, Virat Kohli
and Ranveer Singh,Ayushmann is one of the
topmost endorsers in Indiacurrently with over 20 plus big
brands to his credit.Ayushmann says, “It is truly
humbling to know that the peopleof India find me relatable. It’s ahuge compliment because I doconsider myself to be one of themasses and my journey is the sameas every Indian who is trying tomake a name, build a legacythrough pure dedication and hardwork. I have tried to bring outtheir lives on screen, tell their
unique and inspiring stories andshow everyone where the heart ofmy country lies. I guess that’s whathas resonated the most with peo-ple and, in turn, resonated with thebrands that I currently endorse.”
According to the IndianInstitute of Human Brands survey,India identifies most withAyushmann as he is currently theMost Relatable Star in the coun-try. As a rank outsider toBollywood, his journey to stardomis inspiring for the youth of thecountry who want to dream bigwithout any apprehension. TheDuff & Phelps Most ValuableCelebrity in India report highlight-ed Ayushmann as the fastest grow-ing icon on social media, as his fol-lowing has increased by 70 percent.
Ayushmann says that he willcontinue to be disruptive and tryand give fresh cinema every timehe comes on the big screen.
He says, “I truly believed thatthe audience wanted to see new,disruptive cinema and I’m gladthat my vision for content standsvindicated today. I’m happy that Icould provide people with whole-some entertainment that couldalso spark a necessary conversa-tion about change in society. I’mat a very exciting phase in my lifewhere I want to do the best cine-ma that is being made by myindustry and hopefully create animpact in the minds of peoplethrough the stories I tell.”
When digital artistBeeple put an NFTdigital artwork up for
auction this month, he becameinstantly famous when it soldfor almost $70 million. Therecord sale also sparked hugeinterest in digital certificates ofauthenticity based on cryp-tocurrency technology that arecalled “non-fungible tokens”(NFT).
These NFTs are undergo-ing a boom. We caught up withBeeple, whose real name isMike Winkelmann, to talkabout the auction result, NFTsand how the crypto art boomis affecting him and otherartists who haven’t previouslyhad a way to guarantee exclu-sive ownership of digital works,which by their nature can nor-mally be freely copied.
Beeple spoke with the usvia a Zoom call. This interviewhas been edited and condensedfor clarity.
�Why do you think your art-work Everydays: The First5,000 Days fetched such ahigh price?
There are a couple of rea-sons. One, it represents 13years of work. You can very eas-ily see that this is somethingthat took a very, very, very longtime to make. Another part ofit is a lot of excitement aroundNFTs. The people in this space,the people who bid on them, Ithink they personally under-stand what NFTs are going tobe much more than the restthan the general public. Thetechnology is simple enoughthat it can be used for many dif-ferent things. And a lot of peo-ple are comparing it to thebeginning of the internet.
�How do you respond to con-cerns that the buyerMetakovan, who bought 20 ofyour other NFT artworks in
an earlier sale and founded anNFT investment fund, wastrying to pump up prices ofhis holdings?
Say somebody goes outand buys a painting for $5 mil-lion. So that person has $5 mil-lion invested in the career ofthat artist. If the next paintinggoes for way less, what does thatsay about the $5 million you’vespent? It’s kind of how the artmarket works. So I think a lotof people are trying to look forsome crazy scheme or scamhere. I personally don’t see it.
�What exactly did Metakovanbuy?
The biggest thing he actu-ally bought is a relationshipwith me to promote his pur-chase. He and I are veryaligned. I want to see this art-work go up in value. He wantsto see the artwork go up invalue, which benefits me. Sothe idea that he bought noth-ing is kind of misleading.
(Beeple noted that heretains the copyright toEverydays.) I’m very interest-ed in having (the artwork)take a bunch of differentforms to promote it, to displayit, to educate people abouthow it was made. So I thinkpeople are looking at this
(and thinking), “There’s noth-ing there.” It’s more like, thinkabout it like a piece of art thatcan like live on and take dif-ferent forms over time versus,like, you’re buying nothing.
�For the first time, Christie’saccepted cryptocurrency aspayment for a sale. But somepeople wonder if this trans-action actually happened.Have you been paid?
Of course, 100 per cent.That’s the craziest part aboutthis. So literally the thingclosed Thursday morning. ByFriday night at about mid-night the transaction was lit-
erally 100 per cent complete.(Metakovan) had the NFT, Ihad $55 million in Ethereum,which was immediately goingup and down (in value).
(Beeple said he has con-verted all the cryptocurrencyto cash and flashed his cryp-tocurrency app showing abalance of about $56 million— his take after Christie’stook its cut.) According toChristie’s this is somethingthat usually takes like twomonths.
�There are so many NFTprojects now. Are we in themidst of an NFT bubble?
There is definitely somefroth. There is absolutely a lotof excitement. And some peo-ple are putting money intothings that I can almost guar-antee you are going to beworthless.
So it’s one of those thingswhere people are going torush in like there’s going to bea ton of money. But again, justlike the internet (dot-comboom), there was a bubbleand the bubble burst, but itdidn’t make people stop usingthe internet. So people need tobe careful. It’s very speculative.It’s very early days.
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Pallavi Joshi won theNational Award as Best
Supporting Actress for husbandVivek Agnihotris The TashkentFiles, while the director tookhome the award for the samefilm in the Best Dialogues cat-egory.
This is Pallavi’s secondNational Award. She had ear-lier received a Special JuryAward at the 1994 ceremonyfor her role in Woh Chhokri.For Vivek Agnihotri, this is thefirst time he has been given aNational Award.
“There is no ego clashbetween me and Vivek. Ratherwe feel proud of each other’sachievement. I know it is quitenatural in a patriarchal societyand the kind of social condi-tioning men have on theachievement of their wives,but since the beginning of ourjourney our equation as a cou-ple was different,” Pallavi said.
She continued: “When Imarried him, I was quite a pop-ular face on TV and therewere times when we would goto restaurants and my fans willwalk up to me and ask Vivek toclick my picture with them. So,yes, as a wife it did cross mymind that I hope my fame doesnot hurt his male ego. But withtime I realised it never did.”
“This was my secondNational Award and Vivek’sfirst, and I was happier for him.I think as mature individualswe also understand that whenyou are an actress, the chancesare there that your face wouldbe more recognised than thatof a filmmaker. I know hefeels proud of me. We both are
talented but differently — likeVivek could be a very badactor and I could be a very badfilm director. I don’t think it isfair to set the parameter ofsomeone’s talent, based onfame. I think that goes for everycouple who are successful in
their own right. Especially formen feeling proud of your wifeshould not hurt your ego,” sheadded.
Pallavi being the producerof the film also mentionedhow the National Award givesvalidation to the film, consid-
ering it received criticism frommany quarters in the mediaand the audience upon release.
“Look, you can like, dislikeor even be critical about a film,but there is a differencebetween critiquing and ridicul-ing a film. There was a section
of people who refused to evenwatch the film because it ismade by Vivek. There are peo-ple who said that the film is a‘laughing stock’ and absolute-ly ‘disgusting’. With the awardthat we got for ‘Best Dialogues’it only shows that their wordswere wrong and they all triedto do nothing but sabotaged thefilm,” Pallavi claimed.
Asked if she and VivekAgnihotri faced such a situationbecause of their political ideol-ogy, and Pallavi said, “Yes, andI’ll explain how. Differences ofopinion and healthy debateare part of a democracy andthat has always existed. Butthings have changed post-2014.Just because Vivek and I open-ly said we admire the leadershipof Prime Minister NarendraModi, a section of people evenwithin our fraternity give us thecold shoulder. You critic a filmor an actor based on their skillset, why base it on their polit-ical ideology?”
“Abusing people on socialmedia, ridiculing their work —is this a true expression of free-dom? I do not abuse and willnever do such a thing to any-one even though their politicalideology differs from mine.That is how my mind function,”Pallavi signed off.
=����
Indie music scene is gradual-ly making its mark in India.
The sudden rise of indepen-dent artistes can be attributedto the pandemic majorly and ofcourse, the technological medi-ums. It seems that musiciansno longer need the film indus-try to sustain themselves. Onthat note, singer Shweta Shetty,who recently releases her latestsingle Jine Mein Hai Mazaa,shares five best indie songs ofall times.
�Krishna by ColonialCousins
Just the voices of Hariharanand Lesle Lewis are magic. Theflow of Hindi and Englishlyrics have been so meticulous-ly-crafted. Ragas to rich pop...It’s a perfect 10 for me. It’sunmatched!
�Made In India by AlishaChinai
I loved Biddu’s (Appaiah)disco beats and the whole feelthe song. There is no one likehim when it comes to disco.People have tried to copy himbut failed miserably. He isfamous for his hookline, be itJohnny Joker or Made in India.Once his hookline enters yourears, it just doesn’t leave. Ofcourse, Alisha is brilliant tooand so is her voice.
�Tunak Tunak Tun by DalerMehndi
What a beat, what energyand Daler’s powerful vocals...Could crack every disco’sstrobe light. I guess it’s one ofthe favourites of everybody. I
feel it is difficult to just standstill the moment this songstarts to play.
�Q Funk by Shaan, BabulSupriyo, Sagarika and me
It was one of the first re-mixed song in the 90s and whata rage it was. Each one a pop-ular artist in their own rightcoming together under oneroof. This song is completemayhem on and off the stage.This song started the re-mixrage.
�Saiyaan Ji by Yo Yo HoneySingh and Neha Kakkar
Honey Singh is the onlyrapper/singer that has caughtmy eye among many talentedartists around. I love the atti-tude, production and video,and everything about this song.Incredibly catchy and a sensa-tional groove!
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The excitement around SSRajamouli’s Pan-India film
RRR has been at its peak. Thefilm will be released in 10 lan-guages, and has recorded incom-ing offers worth over 348 crorefor theatrical rights of only fivelanguages.
RRR tells the fictional tale oftwo real fighters, KomaramBheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju,who made a difference in the his-tory of freedom struggle, whichis why they stand out even today.
Taking a new direction,Rajamouli wishes to depict theheroes in a monumental wayagainst the typical rebellion andstruggling phase, showing themas the real fictional superheroesthat they can now be looked backas. “I want to paint the entire can-vas with a new brush altogetherso that the universe I createcontains valour, energy, and grit,”he says explaining the thought.
Elaborating on his approachto narrating RRR and his fiction-al take on the film’s storyline,
Rajamouli reveals, “I use myimagination to create a world thatcould have made them whatthey are. I am excited for theworld to see it all come to life andshow us what these superheroescould have done to get so far!”
Talking of why he chose totell the story of them in a fiction-al form, he shares, “The film is afictional take on two real menAlluri Sitarama Raju andKomaram Bheem who inspiredme with their stories. It excitesme to even think of what wouldhave inspired them to do thingsthat made them such legends,such superhumans.”
The film brings an ensemblecast starring Jr NTR, RamCharan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt,Olivia Morris, Samuthirakaniand Allison Doody. Recently,the makers also released the firstlook of Alia Bhatt as Sita. Andnow the first look of actor RamCharan as Alluri Sitarama Rajuhas been unveiled. In the picture,Ram can be seen donning adhoti and has a bow and arrowpointing at a fiery red sky.
It will have a worldwiderelease on October 13, 2021 onthe festive occasion of Dursshera.
British singer-songwriter Dua Lipahas released a remix of her hit sin-
gle Levitating. The remix has beendone by Indian composer-singerAmaal Mallik.
“I am so thrilled with the responsefrom my Indian fans to FutureNostalgia (the album that featuresLevitating). I had an amazing time inIndia in 2019, and so I always wantedto do something special for them.Indian music icon Amaal Mallik hasremixed the track, adding his touchwith beautiful Indian instruments.This is my gift to my Indian fans, andI hope you all will love the remix asmuch as I do,” she says.
Amaal adds, “It is a tremendousfeeling to be collaborating with such
a talented pop star and global icon!Dua Lipa’s music is something we alllove, hence, it’s quite an honour for meto be doing the official India remix,giving an Indian touch to one of herbiggest tracks.”
The 30-year-old composer ropedin twin sisters Prakriti and SukritiKakar sing the funk-driven numberand has used traditional Indian ele-ments such as the ‘tumbi’ to give it a‘desi’ twist.
“Dua Lipa was the reason I wrotemy first single in 2019. I’ve been fol-lowing her work so closely since thevery beginning. We’ve been so inspiredby her work for as long as I canremember. Levitating has been literal-ly everywhere, and everyone knows it
word for word. We’ve made an Indianversion of the song, and I can’t wait toshare it with the world!” says SukritiKakar.
This comes just a week after DuaLipa stunned the global audience withher performance of Levitating at the2021 Grammy Awards, where shewon the Best Pop Vocal Album awardfor her 2020 album Future Nostalgia.
“We feel elated to be comingtogether. Congratulations are in orderfor Dua on her Grammy win, and Ithink it’s the best time to be droppingthis track of ours. I look forward to thereception,” adds Amaal, who in thepast had also collaborated with theIrish rock band U2 for a reprise ver-sion of their track Beautiful Day.
�What prompted you tomake Mary Magdalene as onemay not call it a ‘commercialfilm’ for the masses?
I think rarely do ‘commer-cial films for the masses’ delvedeep. So unless they do, Iwon’t be playing. Ultimately, Iwas moved by this scriptbecause of its deep mediationon spirituality and humanity. Iam not religious, but this ver-sion of the story really resonat-ed with me. I was particularlyupset to learn how Mary hasbeen misrepresented for thou-sands of years, so felt evenmore compelled to make it.Women have been silencedfor far too long, and if I can
help unearth their stories I will.
�How much research wentinto the making? Were you atany point hesitant in goingahead with this subject sinceit may be controversial?
The script and every facetof production underwentimmense research, from lots ofdifferent theological and his-torical texts, along with bibli-cal and historical consultants— Jewish, Greek Orthodox,Catholic. We also drew fromthe Gospel of Mark, primarily,to the Gospel of Mary. The coreteam also visited Magdala atthe ‘Sea of Gali lee’, andJerusalem, meeting various
archeologists and historians. Atfirst, I was hesitant, but thatgave way to excitement… I alsoknew that whatever we make isalways going to be less offen-sive than those films before us— films that have up until nowignored Mary’s truth and mis-represented women. An inex-cusable travesty.
�How important is it to staytrue to the reality of the sub-ject in a religiously sensitivefilm like this one? Does thataffect the creative process?
In a way, this was aboutstripping away all the noise, theideological arguments and get-ting back to the core messagelost to institutions poweredby control and guilt. The coremessage being that god is with-in us and we can change theworld through our act of loveand kindness.
�You managed to bringtogether a powerful ensembleconsisting of Rooney Mara,Joaquin Phoenix, ChiwetelEjiofor and others. Could youtell us about working withthis bunch of talented castand crew?
This was the most talentedcast and crew anyone couldmuster. We all felt we weremaking something profoundand important, radical in a waythat felt right.
�What do you think may bethe pull of this film for theIndian audience, who don’tfollow Christianity?
This is not a religious film,rather a spiritual meditation onJesus’s journey seen throughthe eyes of Mary. It exploresuniversal themes of family,customs, gender politics, andbrims with reality to detail.Indian audience, I hope, willappreciate the humanity thisfilm holds… Something I expe-rience in India every time I amthere.
�Were there any challenges indirecting a film like this?
There is always this fear ofmisrepresenting figures sobeloved. History is mostlyabout filling in the gaps fromwhat we think we understandand what we know, and thissubject matter holds such wide-ly disparate views. So decidingon the path to take was feltwith a real sense of responsibil-ity. But it was invigorating tobring a reality to the landscapesand worlds, and a fresh dimen-sion to Jesus seen through theeyes of Mary.
�What are your forthcomingprojects? If and how COVIDhave affected them?
I have a few things in var-ious stages of development.And yes COVID has impactedthem, largely through actors’avails and border closures. It isfrustrating on one hand, butthis time at home with the fam-ily has been well needed.
(The film premieres onApril 2 at 9 pm on Sony PIX.)
Actor Amit Sadh, who will soon be seenin the web series 7 Kadam, says that the
biggest change in Bollywood over theyears has been the process of cast-ing actors.
The actor says that thanksto casting directors, more peo-ple are getting work now.
“I think the biggest changein the industry is the process ofcasting. I am grateful to all mygreat casting directors — TessJoseph, Shruti Mahajan, Shanu, andMukesh Chhabra, who I respectand will always be grate-ful for casting me inKai Po Che. If thesecasting directorsweren’t around, Iwouldn’t be around.”he said.
The actor addsthat there are a lotof other changes inthe industry thatare making it abetter workplace.
“We areevolving, we arechanging, wewere a greatindustry, and wewill continue tobe a great industry.There is no criti-cism here or (any-thing) negative. Itis just great; wewill keep gettingbetter, loving eachother, communicat-ing with each other, makingbetter and great films,” he said.
He says that the industry
has been very kind to him.“The Indian film industry has given me
a lot. I learned a lot and I have no com-plaints. I keep looking forward to bettering
myself, my craft, and my work. Thebond, the love I share with my people,
my audience, my fans is my biggestreward. I am proud to representmyself as an artist from Indian cine-ma,” said he.
Talking about 7 Kadam, Amitsays that he is happy that the audiencewill finally get to watch it.
"I had signed this project in2014 and started filmingfor it in 2015. All I can
recollect is that theexcitement was reallyhigh. As an actor, I cansay that one of thebiggest joy is gettingmy work, which wasstuck, is releasing.At this moment, Iam very happy andhave a broad smileon my face whenI know all mywork is now outof its vault," hesays.
He hopes theseries is loved byeveryone.
"This is afamily-themed
series ; footbal lhappens to be oneaspect of it. I hope
that the audiencewill connect with thisstory that we are bringingto them; many nuances
are relatable," he says.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a winning return toInternational football with Sweden on Thursday after
nearly five years away as Germany came out for humanrights in their opening qualifier for the 2022 World Cupin Qatar.
Ibrahimovic set up Viktor Claesson’s 35th-minutewinner in the 1-0 win over Georgia at the Friends Arenajust outside Stockholm in his 117th appearance for hisnational team, his first since Euro 2016. The AC Milanforward had to hold back the tears as he spoke toreporters on Monday about his international comeback,and he was in good spirits after a win that puts Swedentop of Group B. “It felt good. It felt like it was my firstInternational match. It was a lot of adrenaline,”Ibrahimovic told Sverige Radio.
Sweden lead their group two points ahead of Greeceand Spain, who played out a surprising 1-1 draw inGranada.
Alvaro Morata opened the scoring with a superbcontrol and finish from Koke’s clipped pass in the 33rdminute. But the Greeks levelled through their only shotof the entire match, Anastasios Bakasetas’ penalty in the57th minute after Inigo Martinez fouled GiorgiosMasouras.
Germany lined up with T-shirts that spelled outHuman Rights ahead of their 3-0 Group J win overIceland amid concerns over alleged human rights abus-es in Qatar, the controversial hosts of next year’s finals.
Once on the pitch Joachim Loew’s side got off to arapid start, with Goretzka and Kai Havertz firing thehosts into a two-goal lead inside seven minutes.
Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan continued his finerecent goalscoring form, collecting the ball 10 minutesafter the break and drilling home a low shot.
Elsewhere, first-half goals from Domenico Berardiand Ciro Immobile were enough for Italy to ease pastthe Northern Ireland 2-0 in their first World Cup matchsince their humiliating failure to qualify for the 2018 tour-nament in Russia.
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Apatient, unbeaten maidenTest hundred by
Nkrumah Bonner anchored aday of West Indies battingresistance against Sri Lanka asthe home side ground throughthe fifth and final day of thefirst Test to ensure a draw onThursday.
In just his third Test,the 32-year-old Bonner fur-ther enhanced an alreadyburgeoning reputa-tion as a middle-order batsman withconsiderably moresubstance thanstyle.
He compiled adogged 113 notout in just overseven hours dur-ing which hefaced 274 balls,stroking 13fours and onesix. It ensuredhis team com-
fortably saved the match at236/4, having been set theunlikely target of 375.
After missing out on hun-dreds in each of his first twoTest matches in Bangladeshlast month, the Jamaicanright-hander was not to bedenied third time round on a
day when the home sideneeded his brand of res-olute solidity once it wasdetermined that getting
341 more runs on thefinal day with nine
wickets in hand wasnot a realisticprospect.
He featured ina 105-run third-wicket partner-ship with Kyle
Mayers whichoccupied almost
three hours and effec-tively killed off Sri
Lankan hopes of com-pleting an excellent fight-back from a poor first daywith victory.
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India were left shell-shocked byJonny Bairstow (124) and BenStokes’ (99) relentless assault as
world champions England chaseddown a mammoth 337-run targetin the second ODI with utmost easeto level the three-match series 1-1here on Friday.
England did not throw it awaylike the opening game and capi-talised on a flying start provided byBairstow (124 off 112) and JasonRoy (55 off 52) to gun down the tar-get in just 43.3 overs with six wick-ets in hand.
Stokes (99 off 52) played abreathtaking knock and missedout on a deserving hundred after ablazing 165-run stand withBairstow. A mind-boggling 87 runswere scored between the 31st and35th over. Stokes and Bairstowshared 17 sixes between them.
“We were bitterly disappointedin the first game with the way weplayed in the chase, but it was pret-ty clear that we were going out withthe same intent as we always do,”Stokes said after the game.
“Great chase, really happy thatwe managed to get over the line eas-ily specially when India set a chal-lenging total,” he added.
The third and final game isscheduled here on Sunday.
India amassed 336 for six cour-tesy KL Rahul (108 off 114) andRishabh Pant (77 off just 40) afterEngland won the toss and opted tofield again.
After Roy’s dismissal, Stokes hitsixes for fun, 10 in total, to make theseemingly daunting task a rathercomfortable one for the visitors.
Bairstow, who struck his 11thODI hundred, too was not farbehind with seven sixes and 11fours.
Barring pacers BhuvneshwarKumar and Prasidh Krishna, theIndian bowlers had no answer tothe onslaught of Stokes andBairstow, who produced a displayof sensational hitting.
The duo was brutal against theIndian spin combination of KuldeepYadav (0/84 in 10 overs) and KrunalPandya (0/72 in 6), who concededas many as 14 sixes.
Like the previous game,England self-destructed by losingthree quick wickets in the middle
overs, including the set Stokes andBairstow.
But debutant Liam Livingstone(27 not out off 21) and DawidMalan (16 not out off 23) held theirnerve to take the team home safe-ly. It was England’s fifth highestchase in ODI cricket.
Earlier, Rahul, who anchoredthe innings, hit seven fours and twosixes in his 114-ball knock whilePant plundered seven sixes andthree boundaries to help the hostsgo well past the 300-run mark.
Skipper Virat Kohli (66 off 79)and Rahul laid the foundation forthe big total with their 121-runthird wicket stand after being putin to bat at the Maharashtra CricketAssociation stadium.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan (4) fellcheaply after he nicked a ReeceTopley delivery to Ben Stokes in theslips.
Kohli joined Rohit Sharma(25), who looked in his elementsand hit three boundaries off Topley(2/50).
But in the next over, Curran(1/47) cut short his stay at thecrease. Rohit flicked a full pitcheddelivery straight to Adil Rashid atshort fine leg, as India slipped to37/2.
Kohli and Rahul kept the score-board ticking, with the captainbeing the bit more aggressive one,while Rahul initially played secondfiddle.
Kohli, who got a ‘life’ on 35when Buttler dropped a regulationchance off Adil Rashid, notched uphis 62nd fifty with a single.
The duo then completed their100-run stand off 119 balls, with-out any fuss. However, Rashid(1/65) removed Kohli, whose thick
outside edge was caught by Buttler,with India at 158/3.
Rahul then put his foot on theaccelerator, while mostly relying onpulls and drives.
Rahul, who hit his fifth ODIcentury and Pant then launchedhimself into England attack. Pant
pulled Rashid for his first six, histrademark pull-shot and did notlook back.
Left-handed Pant smacked suc-cessive sixes off Stokes in the 41stover, completing his second ODIfifty, in 28 balls.
After Rahul fell, Pant continued
his six-hitting show with HardikPandya (35 off 16) joining the funas India amassed 126 runs in thefinal 10 overs.
This was the second instancewhen India hit successive 300 plusscores in five ODIs, the other onebeing in 2017.
‘WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT’India skipper Virat Kohli on
Friday said star all-rounder HardikPandya has not bowled in theongoing ODI series as part of hisworkload management ahead ofcrucial assignments like the tour ofEngland later this year.
Pandya had bowled well in theT20 series, giving India an extraoption. In ODIs, India have stuckto the usual five-bowler strategy.
“We need to manage his(Hardik) body. Need to understandwhere we need this skill set. (We)did utilise him in the T20Is but inthe ODIs, it’s about managing hisworkload,” Kohli said in thepost-match presenta-tion.
“We haveT e s t
cricket inEngland com-
ing up too. So itsimportant for us to have
him fit,” added Kohli, hinting thatPandya could be in the scheme ofthings for that high-profile series inAugust.
The 27-year-old Pandya under-went a back surgery in October2019 and made a comeback withthe IPL last year but did not bowl.
He did bowl once during thelimited overs series in Australia butthat was that.
He was part of the Test squadfor the home series againstEngland and used the time on thesidelines to get ready for his fullfledged bowling comeback with theT20s.
He last played Test cricket forIndia back in 2018, incidentally inEngland. His appearances in thelongest format add up to only 11.
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Maiden centuries for DevonConway and Daryl
Mitchell set up a crushing 164-run win for New Zealand in thethird One-Day International inWellington on Friday, giving thehosts a series clean sweep.
Conway blasted 126 from110 balls and Mitchell finishedon 100 not out after NewZealand won the toss and elect-ed to bat, making 318/6.
Bangladesh were never in
the hunt for the 319 target, allout for 154 after 42.4 overs, withMahmudullah’s unbeaten 76the only highlight as eight bats-men failed to reach double fig-ures.
Jimmy Neesham and MattHenry did the damage for NewZealand with the ball, taking5/27 and 4/27 respectively.
“We were just not goodenough,” Bangladesh skipperTamim Iqbal said. “No doubtthe Black Caps played unbeliev-ably well but we didn’t perform.
Sometimes the small thingscan hurt you, the (dropped)catches and the run-outchances.”
Conway capitalised on thetourists’ woes and his centurywas just reward for the SouthAfrica-born batsman, who hasbeen in outstanding form sincehe was first selected for theBlacks Caps late last year.
His performances include72 in the second ODI and anunbeaten 99 when he was leftstranded in a T20 match againstAustralia last month.
Mitchell looked like hewould suffer a similar fate inWellington before scramblinghome to bring up his century onthe last ball of the innings aswicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahimtried to stump him.
Both Conway and Mitchellwere making only their thirdODI appearances for NewZealand after debuting in theseries opener againstBangladesh in Dunedin lastweek.
The teams will met next ina three-match T20 series open-ing in Hamilton on Sunday.
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Indian ace Saina Nehwal ekedout a thrilling three-game
win over USA’s Iris Wang toadvance to the women’s singlessemifinals but Kidambi Srikanthcrashed out of the men’s singlescompetition at the OrleansMasters tourney here on Friday.
It is the first semifinals intwo years for world No 20Saina, who is desperate to accu-mulate ranking points to makeit to her four Olympics at theTokyo Games. Her last semifi-nal appearance was in January
2019 in the Indonesia Masters500 tournament which she hadwon.
The fourth seeded Indian,who had withdrawn from theAll England Championshipslast week due to an injury, hadto dug deep to script a 21-19, 17-21, 21-19 win over world No 36Wang in a gruelling quarterfinalsmatch that lasted exactly anhour.
Former world number oneSrikanth, however, cut a sorryfigure as he went down 19-21,17-21 to France’s Toma JuniorPopov in a 31-minute men’s sin-
gles quarterfinals.Star doubles player Ashwini
Ponnappa dished out a superbgame as she first paired up withN Sikki Reddy to notch up astunning 21-14, 21-18 win overEngland’s third seeded duo ofChloe Birch and Lauren Smithin women’s doubles.
Ashwini then combinedwith Dhruv Kapila to outwitEngland’s Max Flynn and JessicaPugh 21-13, 21-18 in mixeddoubles quarterfinals.
Young Ira Sharma also wasno match for Christophersen,going down 11-21, 8-21 inanother women’s singles quarter-finals.
Earlier, the Indian men’sdoubles pair of Krishna PrasadGaraga and Vishnu VardhanGoud Panjala outwitted worldNo 47 French duo of ChristoPopov and Toma Junior Popov21-17, 10-21, 22-20 in an hourand three minutes to make it tothe semifinals.
The English pair had endedthe campaign of Indian seventhseeds MR Arjun and DhruvKapila 21-19, 18-21, 23-21 in thequarterfinals.
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A16th Olympic quota eludedIndia but the Gold rush contin-
ued unabated as the host nationconsolidated its top position in thepecking order with two more yel-low metals in the ISSF shootingWorld Cup here on Friday.
India leads the chart with 25medals, including 12 Gold, sevenSilver and six Bronze.
On Friday, the seasoned duo ofSanjeev Rajput and TejaswiniSawant began the day on a rousingnote, winning the Gold in the 50mrifle 3 positions mixed team eventby beating Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulishand Anna Ilina 31-29.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomarand Sunidhi Chauhan won theBronze medal after getting the bet-ter of USA’s Timothy Sherry and
Virginia Thrasher 31-15 at the DrKarni Singh Shooting Range.
Then, the troika of Niraj Kumar,Swapnil Kusale and Chain Singhclaimed Gold in the 50m rifle 3
positions men’s team event, com-fortably getting the better of USA47-25 in the final.
Vijayveer Sidhu, 18, settled forthe Silver medal behind Estonia’sPeeter Olesk in the men’s 25m rapidfire pistol final, a result not goodenough to secure a quota place forthe Tokyo Olympics as it was onlyreserved for the Gold-medallist.
The lone Indian in the trap finalamong both men and women,Kynan Chenai, finished in fourthplace with 27 hits after suffering anequipment malfunction, dashing hishopes of securing a quota.
But there was disappointmentin store for the likes of AnishBhanwala and Gurpreet Singh, whocould not shine in the rapid fire finalto bow out of Olympic contentionon the basis of rankings points.
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New Delhi: Indian shooters arefavoured to win medals in theupcoming Olympics but perfor-mance in the ongoing ISSF WorldCup here is “not a marker” forsuccess at the Tokyo Games, thehead of the national federationRaninder Singh said on Friday.“This World Cup is not a mark-er for the Olympics, teams haveonly sent those guys who are
looking for ranking points, but wehave the talent and the resources,and then it’s between them(shooters) and God,” Ranindertold Sony Liv. Raninder, who isthe president of the NRAI, hasplayed a part in the Indian shoot-ers’ meteoric rise in recent years,with the country finishing at thetop in all four rifle/pistol WorldCups in 2019. PTI
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His skipper Virat Kohli after oneof his Test hundreds, had ges-
tured that his bat does all the talk-ing and on Friday teammate KLRahul had a unique “shut out thenoise” celebration after reaching thethree figure mark in the secondODI against England.
Rahul scored 108 off 114 ballson Friday, following an unbeaten 62in the first ODI. He pointed his battowards the dressing room beforecovering his ears to indicate that hedidn’t pay heed to any criticalcomments for his failures in theT20 series.
“It (the celebration) is just toshut out the noise, not to disrespectanyone,” he told the host broadcast-ed during the innings break.
“There are people out therewho try to pull you down, at timesyou need to neglect them. So that’sjust a message to shut out thatnoise,” the relief was palpable in hisvoice.
“I was disappointed after theT20 series, but that’s how the gamegoes. Few quality shots eased mynerves. Really happy I was able tobuild those partnerships with Viratand Rishabh.
�"�#�������" �������Shia PG College defeated JNPG College by
54 runs to lift the qualifying round trophy of RedBull Campus Cricket tournament at Ras BihariTiwari Stadium. Batting first, Shia Collegepiled up 192 runs for the loss of three wicketsin the allotted 20 overs. Saad Khan cracked the64-ball ton with the help of 10 boundaries andfive sixes. In reply, JNPG could manage only 138runs in 18.4 overs.BRIEF SCORES:Shia: 192 (Saad Khan 112, Anubhav Srivastava30, Ayush Negi 22, Nikhil Singh 15; Dhruv Bipin1/23)JNPG: 138 (Zeevesh Tripathi 34, Sanket Kumar30, Dhruv Bipin 26, Pradeep Kumar 20; RishabhShukla 3/22, Vikram Singh 2/31)
�%��"����0"�Sound Images Cricket Club edged past
North Eastern Railway by two wickets in a leaguematch of the 16th Timber Trophy at AkhileshDas Stadium on Friday.BRIEF SCORES:NER: 221 (Deepak 66, Shubham 48, Saurabh 37,Awanish 37; Almas 32/2)SI: 222 (Almas 57, Anshuman 47, Yadvendra 37;Saurabh 37/3, Saurabh Dubey 40/3)
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UP Para Badminton Association chairmanViraj Sagar Das distributed kit to Indian parabadminton players on Thursday. The Indianplayers will take part in the Dubai Internationaltournament from March 30 to April 4. The tour-nament is also a qualifying event for BWF WorldPara Badminton Championship.
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Prithvi Singh held Tanishq Gupta in the finalround to win the district open chess champi-onship on Thursday night. Prithvi finished with6 points while Tanishq settled for 5.5 points. Onthe second table, Medhansh claimed the three-fold against top seed Pawan Batham to earn adraw. Prithvi, Tanishq, Sanyam and Medhanshwill now represent Lucknow in the state cham-pionship to be held at Mathura from April 3.
���������������"��"(�7"Global Stars beat Kriative XI by seven wick-
ets in a league match the 1st Mumtaz BegumMemorial Cricket Tournament at ChowkStadium on Friday.BRIEF SCORES:KXI: 85 (Vaibhav 32, Pankaj 12; Satyam 16/5,Amar 11/2, Shivam 21/2)GS: 88 (Amar 25, Kuldeep 24; Shubham 21/2,Abhay 9/1).
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