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U nion Home Minister Amit Shah has tested positive for coronavirus and has been admitted to hospital for the treatment. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh too have tested positive for Covid-19. Amit Shah took to Twitter to inform about his Covid positive status and requested all those who have come in con- tact with him in the last few days to get themselves tested for coronavirus. Shah said that his health is fine and he is being admitted to hospital on the advice of doctors. Amit Shah was admit- ted to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram in the afternoon. “On getting initial symp- toms of coronavirus, I got the test done and the report came back positive. My health is fine, but I am being admitted to hospital on the advice of doc- tors. I request that all those who have come in contact with me in the last few days, please iso- late yourself and get your enquiry done,” Home Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet. Shah was also on the list of 200 invitees of the Ayodhya Ram temple “bhoomi pujan” that is to take place on August 5, however, sources had con- firmed that Shah was not going to attend the event. Shah test- ing positive for Covid-19 is likely to have an impact on the Ayodhya event as several Cabinet Ministers and BJP leaders who may have come in close contact with Shah in recent meetings were also on the invitee list for the event. As per doctors, Amit Shah has comorbidities and thus comes under the vulnerable category. His oxygen levels will be monitored from now on. The Home Minister attended a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the Prime min- ister’s residence where the new National Education Policy was passed. “I have tested positive for coronavirus. Whilst I am fine, I am being hospitalised as a pre- caution on the recommenda- tion of doctors. I request those who have come in contact with me recently to be observant and exercise self-quarantine,” Yediyurappa tweeted. Among the high-profile cases Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is also currently down by the virus and recuperating in hospital. Prior to this, BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and Delhi Health Minister Satendra Jain were also inflicted by Covid19 and recovered. The 55-year-old Home Minister has been admitted in a room on the 14th floor of the Medanta Hospital and is under Dr Sushil Kataria’s observation. The entry to the hospital has reportedly been barred for now. Amit Shah’s contact-tracing is being done. Shah has come in contact with all his Cabinet colleagues in recent meetings, however, it is unclear whether all Cabinet ministers will be tested for coronavirus or not. BJP leader Babul Supriyo said that he had met Shah a day before and has been advised by doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few days with a test to be done soon. Shall abide with all pre- cautionary measures as per rules and protocol. “ said Babul Supriyo. West Bengal BJP leaders also met Amit Shah on Friday to demand a CBI probe into the deaths of its two members who were found hanging in West Bengal’s East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas districts this week. Lok Sabha members Soumitra Khan and Nishith Pramanik met Shah in New Delhi and urged for an inves- tigation by the CBI into the deaths of 52-year-old Gautam Patra in Ghora Mara area of South 24 Parganas on Thursday and Purnachandra Das (44) in the Ramnagar area of the East Midnapore district on Wednesday. Continued on Page 2 M umbai BJP general secre- tary and MLA Ameet Satam on Sunday sought to give a new dimension to the ongoing controversy over Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide by raising sus- picions over the actor’s ex- manager Disha Salian’s alleged suicide, amid the efforts by the Bihar Police to obtain details about Disha’s death. In a letter he shot off to Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone- -IX) Abhishek Trimukhe, Satam sought to raise questions about Disha’s death in the con- text of Sushant’s sensational sui- cide, by saying that “there are a lot of stories and theories that are being talked about and there is a deep desire in public to know the truth”. Sushant (34), who had acted in films like “MS Dhoni: The Untold Story”, “Shuddh Desi Romance”, PK, “Raabta”, “Kedarnath”, “Detective Byomkesh” and Chhichore, committed suicide at his rent- ed duplex flat in Bandra on June 14. Sushant’s death came on the heels of his former manag- er Disha Salian (28) who had reportedly committed suicide by falling from the 14th floor of a building in Malad in north Mumbai on June 8. The police termed it as “suicide”. Satam’s letter to DCP Trimukhe came a day after the Bihar Police reached the Malwani police station in north Mumbai and sought details about Disha’s death. The Malwani police told the visiting police team that the folder about Disha’s file had been “deleted by accident” and could not be retrieved. However, there were unconfirmed reports on Sunday that the Malwani police were very much in the possession of the Disha’s death file, but till Sunday evening they had not handed over the file to their Bihar counterparts. Continued on Page 2 A greeing to sustain the tempo of dialogue to defuse tension on the volatile Line of Control(LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, India on Sunday insisted that China completed the process of dis- engagement from all the “fric- tion points.” including the Pangong Tso (lake) at the ear- liest. While the pace of pullback is positive at three face-off sites, China is reluctant to ease the situation at the Pangong and has deployed additional troops. The fifth round of talks between the Corps Commanders of the two armies — Lt General Harinder Singh and Major General Liu Lin — at Moldo on the LAC in Ladakh region on Sunday also reviewed the progress of with- drawal of troops by both the sides, including the front and depth areas, sources said here. The Indian security estab- lishment was keenly watching the evolving ground situation since the last Corps Commander-level talks were held on July 14. The two sides had agreed for complete disengagement at the earliest but China refused to step the pace. The local commanders of the Indian Army have monitored the sit- uation every 72 hours and sources said there was little movement by the Chinese since July 14. During the latest round of parleys, the Indian commander reiterated that complete disen- gagement is part of major con- fidence building measure to end the ten-week old impasse at the border. Continued on Page 2 E ight months after he detect- ed “Vikram”, the lander payload of Chandrayaan-2, India’s second unmanned mis- sion to moon which went hay- wire minutes before it was to land on the lunar surface, a Chennai-based software engi- neer Shanmuga Subramanian has spotted “Pragyan”, the Rover which travelled piggy- back on Vikram. Shanmuga Subramanian, addressed as Shan by friends, tweeted on Sunday that Chandrayaan-2’s Pragyan “Rover” is intact on Moon’s sur- face and has rolled out a few meters from the skeleton Vikram lander whose payloads got disintegrated due to rough landing. This was followed by a series of tweets by him (@Ramanean) in which he said that the rover has rolled out from lander and has actually travelled a few metres from the surface. He said he had intimated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) about his findings. In 2019 December, Shan had spotted the lan- der Vikram, the main pay- load in the Chandrayaan- 2 space mission, with the help of satellite images provided by the NASA. The Chandrayaan-2 mis- sion was launched by ISRO from Satish Dhavan Space Centre at Sriharikotta, 100 km north of Chennai on July 22, 2019 onboard a Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III rocket and the project cost the exchequer 978 crore. The spacecraft entered the Moon’s orbit on August 20, 2019. The ISRO engineers and sci- entists h a d sched- uled to make a s o f t land- ing of Vikram on the lunar surface on September 6, 2019. But a software glitch resulted in Vikram making a crash landing on Moon and the Space scientists were under the impression that the mission had a premature death. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had travelled to the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore to be with the scientists and to watch the soft landing of Vikram and Pragyan on the lunar surface. He was seen hugging and consoling K Sivan, ISRO chairman who broke down after the master control room lost track of the second lunar mission of India in the last moment. Shan’s finding proves that the rover Pragyan remains intact despite the crash landing. It is for the ISRO to take the lead and find out the possibil- ities of getting any communi- cation from the rover. T he Special Protection Group (SPG) has repatri- ated over 200 personnel, including 85 from CRPF, who were on deputation from the Central paramilitary forces. . The others include 45 BSF, 23 from the CISF, 17 from Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and 24 from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Apart from the paramili- tary forces, personnel from the Central Police Organisations (CPOs), includ- ing three officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and four from Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), have also been repatriated to their respective parent organisations. The SPG needs only 500 staff, not the earlier 3,000, since it is deployed for the secu- rity of the PM only now. “On completion of their extended tenure of deputation to SPG, services of 85 officer (s) of CRPF ....are replaced at the disposal of their parent depart- ment with effect from the fore- noon of 01st August, 2020. These officer (s) will accord- ingly stand relieved from SPG from the fore-noon of 01st August, 2020 and will report to the Deputy Inspector General (Pers/Estt/Org), Directorate General, CRPF, Lodhi Road, New Delhi for duty and further orders, after availing leave sanc- tioned in conjunction with repatriation, if any and admis- sible joining time,” reads the order issued by the SPG (Cabinet Secretariat). Separate orders on similar lines were also issued on Saturday for the repatriation of 201 paramilitary personnel of the forces like BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB. Orders were also issued for repatriation of three more men from CRPF, one inspector from Railway Protection Force (RPF) and one constable each from the Rajasthan and Haryana Police besides another from Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC). Continued on Page 2 W ith the corona threat looming large over the groundbreaking ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the organisers have further pruned the list to 170 people and issued instruction that there should be no crowding at the dais as well as Ram Janmabhoomi Complex where the main function will be held on August 5. Former Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi — considered the architect of the Ayodhya movement — will attend the function virtually from Delhi. “This is being suggested because of their age and spread of corona infection in the region. Some senior officials of the Trust have spoken to both of them,” a source said. A senior official in the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust said earlier the Trust wanted to invite 280 people but after the interven- tion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the list was reduced to 200 members. After one of the temple priests and several cops posted at the com- plex were found corona posi- tive the number of invitees has further gone down to 170. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the temple. Continued on Page 2 U ttar Pradesh Minister Kamal Rani Varun, the only woman Cabinet Minister in the State, died of Covid-19 at a hospital here on Sunday. She was 62. The Technical Education minister, who tested positive for Covid-19 on July 18 and is the first minister in the State to succumb to the disease, breathed her last at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPIMS). She had comorbidities, including diabetes, hyperten- sion and hyperthyroidism, a senior doctor at the hospital said. Kamal Rani, who is sur- vived by her daughter, was cre- mated at the Bhairo Ghat cre- matorium here in accordance with Covid-19 protocols. “A guard of honour was given as soon as her body reached Bhairo Ghat crema- torium,” District Magistrate Dr Brahmdeo Ram Tiwari said. Continued on Page 2 Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday said that he has tested negative for Covid-19 and will now be quarantining at home. The 77-year-old actor, who was admitted to Nanavati hospital along with son Abhishek after testing positive for Covid-19 on July 11, expressed his gratitude to well-wishers for their contin- ued support and prayers. “I have tested Covid -ve, have been discharged. I am back home in solitary quar- antine. Grace of the Almighty, blessings of Maa, Babuji, prayers, duas of near and dear and friends fans EF and the excellent care and nursing at Nanavati made it possible for me to see this,” Amitabh wrote on Twitter. Minutes before the screen icon, Abhishek shared on the microblogging site that his father has tested negative for the virus. The 44-year-old actor, however, said he is still Covid- 19 positive and will remain under medical care. “I, unfor- tunately due to some comor- bidities remain Covid-19 pos- itive and remain in hospital. Again, thank you all for your continued wishes and prayers for my family. Very humbled and indebted. I’ll beat this and come back healthier! Promise,” he wrote. New Delhi: The Centre has written to all States and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Transcript of 2 D ˆˇ#˝ˆ˘˙ ! - ˜˘˘.0 ˘+E ˆˇ#,ˆ˘˙ ! ˆ˙$ ! +0 ˘+E ˆˇ#,ˆ˘˙ !E · 1 day ago...

Page 1: 2 D ˆˇ#˝ˆ˘˙ ! - ˜˘˘.0 ˘+E ˆˇ#,ˆ˘˙ ! ˆ˙$ ! +0 ˘+E ˆˇ#,ˆ˘˙ !E · 1 day ago  · 200 invitees of the Ayodhya Ram temple “bhoomi pujan” ... project cost the

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Union Home Minister AmitShah has tested positive for

coronavirus and has beenadmitted to hospital for thetreatment. Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa,Tamil Nadu GovernorBanwarilal Purohit and UPBJP chief Swatantra Dev Singhtoo have tested positive forCovid-19.

Amit Shah took to Twitterto inform about his Covidpositive status and requested allthose who have come in con-tact with him in the last fewdays to get themselves testedfor coronavirus.

Shah said that his health isfine and he is being admittedto hospital on the advice ofdoctors. Amit Shah was admit-ted to Medanta Hospital inGurugram in the afternoon.

“On getting initial symp-toms of coronavirus, I got thetest done and the report came

back positive. My health isfine, but I am being admitted tohospital on the advice of doc-tors. I request that all those whohave come in contact with mein the last few days, please iso-late yourself and get yourenquiry done,” Home MinisterAmit Shah said in a tweet.

Shah was also on the list of200 invitees of the AyodhyaRam temple “bhoomi pujan”that is to take place on August5, however, sources had con-firmed that Shah was not goingto attend the event. Shah test-ing positive for Covid-19 is

likely to have an impact on theAyodhya event as severalCabinet Ministers and BJPleaders who may have come inclose contact with Shah inrecent meetings were also onthe invitee list for the event.

As per doctors, Amit Shahhas comorbidities and thuscomes under the vulnerablecategory. His oxygen levels willbe monitored from now on.

The Home Ministerattended a Cabinet meeting onWednesday at the Prime min-ister’s residence where the newNational Education Policy was

passed.“I have tested positive for

coronavirus. Whilst I am fine,I am being hospitalised as a pre-caution on the recommenda-tion of doctors. I request thosewho have come in contact withme recently to be observant andexercise self-quarantine,”Yediyurappa tweeted.

Among the high-profilecases Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan is also currently downby the virus and recuperating inhospital. Prior to this, BJPleader Jyotiraditya Scindia and

Delhi Health Minister SatendraJain were also inflicted byCovid19 and recovered.

The 55-year-old HomeMinister has been admitted ina room on the 14th floor of theMedanta Hospital and is underDr Sushil Kataria’s observation.The entry to the hospital hasreportedly been barred for now.

Amit Shah’s contact-tracingis being done. Shah has comein contact with all his Cabinetcolleagues in recent meetings,however, it is unclear whetherall Cabinet ministers will betested for coronavirus or not.BJP leader Babul Supriyo saidthat he had met Shah a daybefore and has been advised bydoctors to isolate himself.

“I had met Amit Shah jiday before in the evening. I amadvised by doctors to confinemyself, away from my familymembers, for the next few

days with a test to be donesoon. Shall abide with all pre-cautionary measures as perrules and protocol. “ saidBabul Supriyo.

West Bengal BJP leadersalso met Amit Shah on Fridayto demand a CBI probe into thedeaths of its two memberswho were found hanging inWest Bengal’s East Midnaporeand South 24 Parganas districtsthis week.

Lok Sabha membersSoumitra Khan and NishithPramanik met Shah in NewDelhi and urged for an inves-tigation by the CBI into thedeaths of 52-year-old GautamPatra in Ghora Mara area ofSouth 24 Parganas on Thursdayand Purnachandra Das (44) inthe Ramnagar area of the EastMidnapore district onWednesday.

Continued on Page 2

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Mumbai BJP general secre-tary and MLA Ameet

Satam on Sunday sought togive a new dimension to theongoing controversy overBollywood actor Sushant SinghRajput’s suicide by raising sus-picions over the actor’s ex-manager Disha Salian’s allegedsuicide, amid the efforts by theBihar Police to obtain detailsabout Disha’s death.

In a letter he shot off toMumbai’s DeputyCommissioner of Police (Zone--IX) Abhishek Trimukhe,Satam sought to raise questionsabout Disha’s death in the con-text of Sushant’s sensational sui-

cide, by saying that “there area lot of stories and theories thatare being talked about andthere is a deep desire in publicto know the truth”.

Sushant (34), who hadacted in films like “MS Dhoni:The Untold Story”, “ShuddhDesi Romance”, PK, “Raabta”,“Kedarnath”, “Detective

Byomkesh” and Chhichore,committed suicide at his rent-ed duplex flat in Bandra onJune 14.

Sushant’s death came onthe heels of his former manag-er Disha Salian (28) who hadreportedly committed suicideby falling from the 14th floorof a building in Malad in north

Mumbai on June 8. The policetermed it as “suicide”.

Satam’s letter to DCPTrimukhe came a day after theBihar Police reached theMalwani police station in northMumbai and sought detailsabout Disha’s death.

The Malwani police told thevisiting police team that thefolder about Disha’s file hadbeen “deleted by accident” andcould not be retrieved. However,there were unconfirmed reportson Sunday that the Malwanipolice were very much in thepossession of the Disha’s deathfile, but till Sunday evening theyhad not handed over the file totheir Bihar counterparts.

Continued on Page 2

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Agreeing to sustain thetempo of dialogue to

defuse tension on the volatileLine of Control(LAC) inEastern Ladakh, India onSunday insisted that Chinacompleted the process of dis-engagement from all the “fric-tion points.” including thePangong Tso (lake) at the ear-liest.

While the pace of pullbackis positive at three face-offsites, China is reluctant to easethe situation at the Pangongand has deployed additionaltroops.

The fifth round of talksbetween the CorpsCommanders of the two armies— Lt General Harinder Singhand Major General Liu Lin —at Moldo on the LAC inLadakh region on Sunday alsoreviewed the progress of with-

drawal of troops by both thesides, including the front anddepth areas, sources said here.

The Indian security estab-lishment was keenly watchingthe evolving ground situationsince the last CorpsCommander-level talks were

held on July 14. The two sides had agreed

for complete disengagementat the earliest but China refusedto step the pace. The localcommanders of the IndianArmy have monitored the sit-uation every 72 hours andsources said there was littlemovement by the Chinese sinceJuly 14.

During the latest round ofparleys, the Indian commanderreiterated that complete disen-gagement is part of major con-fidence building measure toend the ten-week old impasseat the border.

Continued on Page 2

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Eight months after he detect-ed “Vikram”, the lander

payload of Chandrayaan-2,India’s second unmanned mis-sion to moon which went hay-wire minutes before it was toland on the lunar surface, aChennai-based software engi-neer Shanmuga Subramanianhas spotted “Pragyan”, theRover which travelled piggy-back on Vikram.

Shanmuga Subramanian,addressed as Shan by friends,tweeted on Sunday thatChandrayaan-2’s Pragyan“Rover” is intact on Moon’s sur-face and has rolled out a fewmeters from the skeletonVikram lander whose payloadsgot disintegrated due to roughlanding.

This was followed by a

series of tweets by him(@Ramanean) in which he saidthat the rover has rolled outfrom lander and has actuallytravelled a few metres from thesurface.

He said he had intimatedthe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) about hisfindings. In 2019 December,Shan had spotted the lan-der Vikram, the main pay-load in the Chandrayaan-2 space mission,with thehelp ofs a t e l l i t ei m a g e sprovidedby theNASA.

The Chandrayaan-2 mis-sion was launched by ISROfrom Satish Dhavan SpaceCentre at Sriharikotta, 100 km

north of Chennai on July 22,2019 onboard a GeoSynchronous Satellite LaunchVehicle Mark III rocket and theproject cost the exchequer �978crore.

The spacecraft entered theMoon’s orbit on August 20,

2019. The ISROengineers and sci-

e n t i s t sh a ds c h e d -uled tomake a

s o f tland-ing of

Vi k r a mon the lunar

surface onSeptember 6, 2019.

But a software glitch

resulted in Vikram making acrash landing on Moon and theSpace scientists were underthe impression that the missionhad a premature death.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had travelled to the ISROheadquarters in Bangalore tobe with the scientists and towatch the soft landing ofVikram and Pragyan on thelunar surface. He was seenhugging and consoling K Sivan,ISRO chairman who brokedown after the master controlroom lost track of the secondlunar mission of India in thelast moment.

Shan’s finding proves thatthe rover Pragyan remainsintact despite the crash landing.It is for the ISRO to take thelead and find out the possibil-ities of getting any communi-cation from the rover.

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The Special ProtectionGroup (SPG) has repatri-

ated over 200 personnel,including 85 from CRPF, whowere on deputation from theCentral paramilitary forces. .

The others include 45 BSF,23 from the CISF, 17 fromIndo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) and 24 from SashastraSeema Bal (SSB).

Apart from the paramili-tary forces, personnel fromthe Central PoliceOrganisations (CPOs), includ-ing three officials of theIntelligence Bureau (IB) andfour from Research andAnalysis Wing (RAW), havealso been repatriated to theirrespective parent organisations.

The SPG needs only 500staff, not the earlier 3,000,since it is deployed for the secu-rity of the PM only now.

“On completion of theirextended tenure of deputationto SPG, services of 85 officer (s)of CRPF....are replaced at thedisposal of their parent depart-ment with effect from the fore-noon of 01st August, 2020.These officer (s) will accord-ingly stand relieved from SPGfrom the fore-noon of 01stAugust, 2020 and will report tothe Deputy Inspector General(Pers/Estt/Org), Directorate

General, CRPF, Lodhi Road,New Delhi for duty and furtherorders, after availing leave sanc-tioned in conjunction withrepatriation, if any and admis-sible joining time,” reads theorder issued by the SPG(Cabinet Secretariat).

Separate orders on similarlines were also issued onSaturday for the repatriation of201 paramilitary personnel ofthe forces like BSF, ITBP, CISFand SSB. Orders were alsoissued for repatriation of threemore men from CRPF, oneinspector from RailwayProtection Force (RPF) and oneconstable each from theRajasthan and Haryana Policebesides another from RajasthanArmed Constabulary (RAC).

Continued on Page 2

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With the corona threatlooming large over the

groundbreaking ceremony ofRam Mandir in Ayodhya, theorganisers have further prunedthe list to 170 people andissued instruction that thereshould be no crowding at thedais as well as RamJanmabhoomi Complex wherethe main function will be heldon August 5.

Former Deputy PM LalKrishna Advani and MurliManohar Joshi — consideredthe architect of the Ayodhyamovement — will attend thefunction virtually from Delhi.“This is being suggestedbecause of their age and spreadof corona infection in theregion. Some senior officials ofthe Trust have spoken to bothof them,” a source said.

A senior official in the SriRam Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra Trust said earlier theTrust wanted to invite 280people but after the interven-tion of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, the list wasreduced to 200 members. After

one of the temple priests andseveral cops posted at the com-plex were found corona posi-tive the number of invitees hasfurther gone down to 170.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will lay the foundationstone of the temple.

Continued on Page 2

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Uttar Pradesh MinisterKamal Rani Varun, the

only woman Cabinet Ministerin the State, died of Covid-19at a hospital here on Sunday.She was 62.

The Technical Educationminister, who tested positivefor Covid-19 on July 18 and isthe first minister in the Stateto succumb to the disease,breathed her last at the SanjayGandhi Postgraduate Instituteof Medical Sciences(SGPIMS).

She had comorbidities,including diabetes, hyperten-sion and hyperthyroidism, asenior doctor at the hospitalsaid.

Kamal Rani, who is sur-

vived by her daughter, was cre-mated at the Bhairo Ghat cre-matorium here in accordancewith Covid-19 protocols.

“A guard of honour wasgiven as soon as her bodyreached Bhairo Ghat crema-torium,” District Magistrate DrBrahmdeo Ram Tiwari said.

Continued on Page 2

Mumbai: Megastar AmitabhBachchan on Sunday said thathe has tested negative forCovid-19 and will now bequarantining at home.

The 77-year-old actor,who was admitted to Nanavatihospital along with sonAbhishek after testing positivefor Covid-19 on July 11,expressed his gratitude towell-wishers for their contin-ued support and prayers.

“I have tested Covid -ve,have been discharged. I amback home in solitary quar-antine. Grace of the Almighty,blessings of Maa, Babuji,prayers, duas of near anddear and friends fans EF andthe excellent care and nursingat Nanavati made it possiblefor me to see this,” Amitabhwrote on Twitter.

Minutes before the screenicon, Abhishek shared on themicroblogging site that hisfather has tested negative for

the virus.The 44-year-old actor,

however, said he is still Covid-19 positive and will remainunder medical care. “I, unfor-tunately due to some comor-bidities remain Covid-19 pos-itive and remain in hospital.Again, thank you all for yourcontinued wishes and prayersfor my family. Very humbledand indebted. I’ll beat this andcome back healthier!Promise,” he wrote.

New Delhi: The Centre has written to all States and UnionTerritories stating that smartphones and tablet devices shouldbe allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they caninteract with family and friends through video conferencing,which would provide them psychological support.

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New Delhi: The HomeMinistry has sought an addi-tional three months'' time forframing rules of the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA), offi-cials said on Sunday.

The plea was made beforethe Department RelatedStanding Committee forSubordinate Legislation asaccording to the Manual onParliamentary Work, the rulesfor any legislation should beframed within six months ofthe presidential assent or an

extension must be sought.The controversial CAA,

which facilitates granting ofIndian citizenship to perse-cuted non-Muslim minoritiesof Pakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan, was passed byParliament nearly eight monthsago and had led to protests indifferent parts of the country.

The President had givenhis assent to the legislation onDecember 12, 2019.

"The home ministry hassought an additional three

months time to frame the rulesfor the CAA. The plea wasmade before the DepartmentRelated Standing Committeefor Subordinate Legislation," asenior official told PTI.

The home ministry''s movecame after the panel enquiredabout the status of the rules forthe CAA.

The committee is likely toaccept the request, the officialsaid. The objective of the CAAis to grant Indian citizenship topersecuted minorities -- Hindu,

Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi andChristian -- from Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

People from these com-munities who had come toIndia till December 31, 2014due to religious persecution inthese countries will not betreated as illegal immigrantsbut given Indian citizenship.

After the CAA was passedby Parliament, widespreadprotests were witnessed in thecountry. Those opposing theCAA contend that it discrim-

inates on the basis of religionand violates the Constitution.They also allege that the CAAalong with the NationalRegister of Citizens is intend-ed to target the Muslim com-munity in India.

However, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah had dis-missed the allegations anddescribed the protests againstthe CAA as "mostly political".He had asserted that no Indianwill lose citizenship due to theAct.

Clashes between pro andanti-CAA groups had spiralledinto communal riots inNortheast Delhi early this yearwhich had left at least 53 peo-ple dead and around 200injured.

Lok Sabha had passed theCAA legislation on December9, 2019 and Rajya Sabha onDecember 11, 2019.

The Manual onParliamentary Work states that,"statutory rules, regulationsand bye-laws will be framed

within a period of six monthsfrom the date on which the rel-evant statute came into force".

The manual also states thatin case the ministries/depart-ments are not able to frame therules within the prescribedperiod of six months, "theyshould seek extension of timefrom the Committee onSubordinate Legislation statingreasons for such extension"which cannot be more than fora period of three months at atime. PTI

#9�����&��:�� ��������������������������������Chandigarh: The death toll inthe Punjab hooch tragedy roseto 98 on Sunday with 12 morepeople reported dead in TarnTaran district after drinkingspurious liquor.

“In Tarn Taran, the deathtoll is now 75,” DeputyCommissioner Kulwant Singhsaid over the phone.

He, however, said theadministration put the figure at75 on the basis of the infor-mation “received from thefield” as the victims’ last riteshave already been performedby their families in the past acouple of days.

Some of them even didn’tcome forward for autopsy, hesaid.

Apart from Tarn Taran, 12deaths have been reportedfrom Amritsar and 11 fromGurdaspur’s Batala, in a tragedyunfolding since Wednesdayevening.

Officials said some of thefamilies were not even comingforward to report the death oftheir kin after drinking spuri-ous liquor.

A senior police official saidthey have been persuadingthem to report the death oftheir family members.

Meanwhile, the OppositionAAP held protests at severalplaces, including Patiala,Barnala, Pathankot and Moga,against the Punjab govern-ment.

The protesters accused thegovernment of “negligence”,leading to death of people,mostly belonging to poor fam-ilies.

Aam Aadmi Party MPBhagwant Mann also went toTarn Taran and met families ofthe deceased.

Mann sought a probe by asitting judge into the matter.

The Punjab governmenthas ordered a magisterial probeinto the case.

Chief Minister AmarinderSingh on Saturday hadannounced the suspension ofseven excise and six policeofficials.

He had described thepolice and excise departmentfailure to check the manufac-turing and sale of spuriousliquor as “shameful".

The state government hasannounced Rs 2 lakh ex gratiafor each of the families of thedeceased. PTI

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Mirzapur: In an incident thathas sent shock waves across thedistrict, a man in Sikandarpurvillage in Uttar PradeshsMirzapur district woke up torealise that a cobra had slith-ered into his jeans while he wasasleep.

The incident took place lastweek but came to light after avideo of the same went viral onsocial media.

Lovekesh Kumar, labourerwho was installing electricitypoles and wires, had gone tosleep during lunch time andwhen he woke up with thecobra in his pants, he slowlystood up and held on to a pole.

Reports claim that Kumarstood holding the pole foralmost seven hours till a snakecharmer was called in.

The snake charmer cutopen his pants and took out thesnake.

Local officials and police-men also reached the village ongetting information.

Meanwhile, LovekeshKumar told local reportersthat, "I am a devotee of LordShiva and it was he who savedme. Though I was petrified, Iremained calm and the snakedid not bite me."

He said that he will nowfast on Mondays as a thanks-giving gesture to Lord Shiva. IANS

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The idea of various StateGovernments to quickly

make up for revenue deficit dueto lockdown through heavytaxation on sale of liquor hasbackfired. Data collated by theConfederation of IndianAlcoholic Beverage Companies(CIABC), representing Indianliquor manufacturers, revealsthat states which imposedheavy corona cess on liquorsaw sales of booze going downby more than half during relax-ation in lockdown. The stateswhich imposed no or moder-ate corona taxes (0-15%) sawtheir sales falling by just 16 per-cent while those which leviedCorona tax by over 50% sawtheir sales dip by 59 percent.

As per the data, the stateswhich have imposed coronacess on liquor up to 15 percentthe sale of liquor fell by 16 per-cent; those imposed from 15 to

50 percent cess, the sale fell by34 percent while those imposedabove 50 percent cess, the saleof liquor fell by 59 percent.CIABC data shows that in Mayand June last year, the totalliquor sales stood at 5.87 crorecases while this year it fell downto 4.37 crore cases of liquor, adrop of 25 percent.

While in the first categoryof states (with up to 15%Corona tax), the sale fell downfrom 4 crore cases to 3.42crore cases (a drop of 16%), insecond category of states (15-50% additional tax), it fell from87.96 lakh cases to 57.83 lakhcases (a fall of 34%) and inthird category (above 50% tax),it saw a steep fall from 91.34lakh cases to 37.79 lakh cases(a fall of 59%). “This in effectconveys that tax increases mostlikely did not lead to anincrease in tax collection inabsolute terms. This clearlyindicates that levying of hefty

Corona tax did not lead to anincrease in total tax collection.In fact, the trend in sales recov-ery in June, when unlockingbegan, was stronger in statesthat imposed lower tax increas-es,” said CIABC DirectorGeneral Vinod Giri.

While comparing May and

June data when liquor tradewas opened up after six weeksof complete closure of liquorvends, CIABC categorizedstates into three categories asper Corona cess levied by var-ious state governments. Thefirst group of states whichlevied up to 15 percent Corona

tax include Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Telangana,Karnataka, Chhattisgarh,Haryana, Tamil Nadu,Himachal Pradesh,Maharashtra, Assam,Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh,Goa and Punjab.

The second group of states

with 15-50% Corona tax com-prise Arunachal Pradesh,Meghalaya, Rajasthan, WestBengal, Kerala and Jharkhand.The third group of states withabove 50% Corona cess areAndhra Pradesh, Odisha,Jammu and Kashmir,Pudducherry and Delhi (thoughsome states like Delhi laterreduced tax from 70% to 5%).

Giri also pointed out thatthe liquor industry was sub-jected to a longer lockdowncompared to most other con-sumer products. It was per-mitted to restart trade by theCentral Government after 6weeks of total closure. Manystate Governments -Mumbai,Odisha, Punjab, Kerala,restricted sale from retail out-lets due to local lock downseven after it was permitted bythe Central Government.Further, bars, restaurants andother on-premise shops whichcontribute up to 10% of liquor

and much more of beer andwines sales have remained shuttill date.

According to Giri, “liquorindustry today contributesaround 2.5 lakh crore in taxrevenues to state governments,but this fiscal this collection islikely to see a fall and sales isgoing to see a downfall of 25-30 percent. High taxation insome states has led to steep fallin sale of liquor, while the delayby the government in openingbars and restaurants, whichaccount for up to 10% of liquorsales, will further aggravatethe situation.”

Interestingly, CIABC pre-sented similar analysis to theGovernments of Delhi, AndhraPradesh, Odisha, West Bengaland Jammu &Kashmir It isworth noting that Delhi,Odisha and Jammu andKashmir subsequently rolledback tax increases to muchmore sustainable levels.

Srinagar: Former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister DrFarooq Abdullah on Sundaydemanded a probe by a retiredjudge of the Supreme Courtinto the exodus of KashmiriPandits from the Valley inearly 1990s.

At a webinar, the NationalConference President blamedthe then Governor, Jagmohanfor engineering the exodus ofthe local Pandit community bypromising to bring them backwithin three months afterrestoring peace in Kashmir.

Kashmir was in the throesof a bloody insurgent violencein early 1990s.

Some prominent membersof the Pandit community,

including state BJP chief TikaLal Taploo, retired judgeNeelkant Ganjoo - who hadsentenced JKLF founderMaqbool Bhat to death, poetand activist Sarvanand Koul'Premi' and many others werekilled by militants at the begin-ning of separatist violence.

Abdullah claimed that theprobe into the exodus ofKashmiri Pandits by an honest,retired Supreme Court judgewould clear many misconcep-tions about the exodus.

Citing many examples oflocal Muslims standing along-side their Pandit brothers todispel the impression that thecommunity had conspired tothrow the Pandits out of the

Valley, he said: "Kashmir isnever going to be completeunless the Kashmiri Panditscome back and live in peacewith us.

"My father (SheikhAbdullah) never believed in theTwo Nation theory. He neverbelieved that Muslims, Hindus,Sikhs, Christians and Buddhistsare different from each other.We believe that all of us are chil-dren of Adam and Eve," he said.

Abdullah, however, saidhe could not support the ideaof a separate homeland forKashmiri Pandits withoutgoing into the details of theproposal floated by KashmiriPandit organisation 'PanunKashmir'. IANS

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From Page 1Sources say he will reach Ayodhya on August 5 at 11 am and will

remain in the temple city till 1:10 pm.“The list could further be pruned after reports of Union Home

Minister Amit Shah and BJP State president Swatantra Dev Singh werefound Covid-19 positive,” he said.

While UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, being the main host,will be invited for the function, no other Chief Minister, not even fromthe ruling BJP States, would be invited, the general secretary of theSri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust said.

Other invitees among the BJP leaders are: Yogi Adityanath, UmaBharti, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Kalyan Singh, Jai Bhan SinghPowaiya, Rajnath Singh. RSS leaders include RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat,Krishna Gopal and Indresh Kumar. Among the VHP leaders the invi-tees are: Alok Kumar, (VHP working president), Sadashiv Kokje, (inter-national president), Dinesh Chandra, (chief patron), Prakash Sharma,(former Bajrang Dal president) and Milind Parande, (general secre-tary). The 15 members of ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust’including Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Swami Govind Dev Giri, ChampatRai, Nripendra Mishra, K Parasaran, Swami VasudevanandSaraswati,Swami Vishwa Prasanna Tirtha Ji Maharaj, Yug PurushParmanand Giri, Vimalendra Mohan Pratap Mishra, Anil Mishra,Kameshwar Chaupal, Mahant Dinendra Das ji, Gyanesh Kumar fromthe Ministry of Home Affairs, Avneesh Awasthi from the UPGovernment and Anuj Jha, District Magistrate, Ayodhya are also invit-ed. Special invitee will be Baba Ramdev.

From Page 1This insistence by India

came as China has substantiallyreduced and withdrawn itstroops from Galwan valley,Gogra and Hot Springs but hasnot done so at the Pangong Tso.In fact, the first faceoff tookplace at this place on May 5when the Chinese intrudedmore than five km into Indiaand obstructed an Indian armypatrol. It led to exchange ofblows.

Since then, the Chinesebolstered their troop strengththere forcing India to take pre-ventive steps to thwart anymajor challenge, sources said.As per the latest satellite pho-tographs of the Pangong Tso,the Chinese have not with-drawn their troops despiteagreement reached between

the sides the last round ofCommander level talks.

The Chinese continue tooccupy positions in depth onslopes along ‘Finger 5’ and onslopes extending towards‘Finger 8.’ India maintains theLAC is at Finger 8. Mountainspurs are called Finger.However, China is insistingthat the LAC is at ‘Finger 4.’

Besides deploying on thecrucial spurs, the Chinese havealso built a jetty in the Indianside of the Pangong lake andmoved several fast interceptorboats thereby posing a threat tothe Indian security interests,they said.

Flagging its concern ontardy pace of disengagement,India on Thursday last week ina statement said the process ofdisengagement of troops in

eastern Ladakh has not yetbeen completed though someprogress has been made. Thiswas a counter to China’s claimthat frontline forces of the twocountries have “completed”this exercise at most locationsalong their border.

After the last round oftalks between the CorpsCommanders, the statementsaid

India and China have beenengaged in discussions throughestablished military and diplo-matic channels to address theprevailing situation along theLAC. The engagement(July 14)was consistent with the con-sensus reached between theSpecial Representatives of Indiaand China earlier, on July 5, todiscuss complete disengage-ment.

From Page 1The nearly 3,000-strong

SPG is now mandated to pro-tect only Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for whom over500 personnel are required forhis security, officials said.

The Government hadwithdrawn the SPG securitycover of former PMManmohan Singh in Augustlast year. In November lastyear, the SPG protection of for-mer PM Rajiv Gandhi’s familymembers --- Sonia, Rahul andPriyanka Gandhi --- was with-drawn. After the removal ofSPG cover of these Congressleaders, the SPG is now man-dated to only to secure Modiand more thinning of person-nel is possible in the agency in

future, officials said.Paramilitary officials said

the pruning of SPG strengthwill shrink the deputationopportunities for the forces’personnel.

The SPG is a special forceconsisting of personnel drawnon deputation for providingproximate security to the PMin India as well as abroad dur-ing his travel. It draws person-nel from the various paramil-itary and police forces to keepthe profile of the commandosyoung.

From Page 1The ambulance carrying her body wrapped in plas-

tic reached the crematorium at 2 pm where family mem-bers, BJP colleagues and senior police and administrationofficials waited to pay their respects from a distance.

Kamal Rani, who was the MLA from Ghatampur inKanpur and had been elected to the Lok Sabha twice, wasinitially admitted to the Shyama Prasad MukherjeeHospital here. She was later shifted to the SGPIMS.

Condoling the death of the minister, President RamNath Kovind said she was well respected for serving peo-ple at the grassroots.

“Very sad with the death of Uttar Pradesh GovernmentMinister Kamal Rani Varun. Her whole life was dedicat-ed to social service. She played an important in strength-ening the BJP in the state. My condolences with her fam-ily and supporters in this hour of grief,” Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saidKamal Rani died around 9.30 am. “She was an experiencedand capable leader. She discharged her responsibilities withcompetence. She was a dedicated public representative,who was always working for the welfare of deprived andoppressed sections of the society,” Adityanath said in hismessage.

From Page 1The Home Minister has

been leading the efforts tocounter the novel coronavirusand also assisted Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal inbringing the Covid situation inDelhi under control when theinfections were at peak in thenational capital.

A number of political lead-ers including former Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi havewished Shah a speedy recoverysoon after he informed of hisCovid report on Twitter.

BJP leaders Ravi ShankarPrasad, Ram Madhav, TajasviSurya wished the home minis-ter a quick recovery and that hereturns to serving the countrywith “same energy” soon.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwalalso wished the home ministera speedy recovery.

Union Minister Gen VKSingh said, “You have defeatedmany adversities in life, and Iam sure you will overcome thisone too. I wish you a speedyrecovery.”

In Tamil Nadu i, the dayalso saw the First Citizen of theState too getting infected withthe pandemic. GovernorBanwarilal Purohit was testedpositive for covid-19 at a cor-porate hospital in Chennai. Abulletin issued by the hospitalon Sunday said the Governorhas been advised home isola-tion and would be monitoredby the medical team of the hos-pital.

In UP, The chief of stateBJP unit, Swatantra Dev Singh,tested positive for COVID-19and quarantined himself at hishome as per doctors’ advice.Singh made public this infor-mation on Sunday in a tweet inHindi.

“I had been experiencinginitial symptoms of COVID-19and underwent a test for it. Iwas found positive for COVID-19,” said Singh in his tweet. Theleader also requested hisacquaintances who came in his

contact recently to get them-selves tested for the infection.

“I request every personwho came in my contact to getthemselves tested for infectionand quarantine themselves asper the guidelines,” he added inhis tweet. “On the advice ofdoctors, I have quarantinedmyself at my home. I request allthe residents of UP to exercisecaution and strictly adhere tothe guidelines of the govern-ment,” he said in another tweet.

From Page 1Currently, the visiting Bihar

police team is in the process ofrecording the statements ofDisha's family members.

Meanwhile, in one of aseries of questions that he askedin his letter to DCP Tirmukhe,Satam wanted to know as towhat Disha's post-mortemreport say, were the circum-stances leading to her suicideprobed, considering that shehad attended a party the previ-ous night and who were presentat the party.

Satam sought details of herphone calls/messages of the 24hours preceding her death andasked if the mobile tower loca-tion of the place where she diedwas ascertained as to who allwere present and she met before

her death.He also asked the DCP if

the statement of Sushant's sis-ter was recorded to find out ifhe was threatened or scared ofsomething after Disha's deathand whether he had mentionedit to her (the sister).

"Did Sushant use differentSIMs from 8thJune to 14thJune? If so, why?" Satam want-ed to know.

Satam also wanted to knowdetails whether any party washeld at Sushant's home or someother location on June 13, thosepresent at that gathering, localCCTV footage records, andmobile tower locations of cer-tain people who were report-edly present at that party thatnight.

He also sought to know

whether the statements ofSushant's three servants, thebuilding security staff and otherbuilding persons pertaining tothose who visited the actor'shome on June 13 were record-ed. He also wanted to know ifthe statements of Sushant'sclose friends like SandeepSingh, Mahesh Shetty andSiddharth Pithani were record-ed.

"Why was the body takento Cooper Hospital and not toBhabha or any other hospital inBandra close to the location ofdeath? Is a reinvestigation intothe preserve viscera of Sushantordered?" Satam asked, whileurging the DCP that if this hadnot been done yet, then itshould be complied with at theearliest.

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While the entire world isstruggling to overcome

Covid -19 pandemic and itsafter effects mental trauma’,prominent hospitals inGhaziabad have introduced'Indirect Sports Therapy' withan aim to shift the attention ofthe patients that has helped thepatients to overcome the trau-ma during the quarantine peri-od.

Recently a study conduct-ed by some prominent hospi-tals in Ghaziabad has claimedthat following Indirect sportstherapy helped in improvingpsychological conditions ofCovid-19 patients who arereally under a trauma andneed such timely interventionto improve their overall feelgood factor.

In this therapy the hospi-

tals ditched the News channeland showed only sports chan-nels on the TV set to theCovid patients and analysed itsimpact on patients throughpsychologists.

Speaking to The Pioneercorrespondent, the man behindthis study Dr Kanishka Pandey,head Sports research centreIMT Ghaziabad said that thefields and playgrounds are verymuch an integral part of sportstherapy for overcoming nega-tivity and depression.

“However, in tough timeslike the present one wherephysical and social distancingis prevalent, the option of thefield is out of bounds. Keepingthe government norms in mindand the hardships that COVIDpatients have to undergo interms of facing uncertainty, liv-ing away from loved ones, it'snot hard to imagine the psy-

chological impact it can haveon them. Therefore, I suggest-ed indirect sports therapy athospitals. It helps in creatingpositivity and gives emotionalstability,” he said.

“Earlier, patients were mis-behaving with health staff. Isent a recommendation toYashoda Hospital, SantoshMedical College and MaxHospital to study how thepatients behave with the health staff. The outcome wasthat the patients were irritated,stressed, anxiety etc,” said DrPandey.

“I asked them what thepatients do for their enter-tainment? The hospitals repliedthat the patients watch newschannels all day. I suggestedthey switch into the sportschannels instead of news chan-nels and see whether anybehavioural change is coming

in them. In the beginning theywere reluctant to watch sportschannels but when they didthey started taking interest insports,” said Dr Pandey.

Dr Amoolya Seth, Dept ofPsychiatry, Santosh Medicalcollege said, due to ongoingpandemic and lockdown, peo-ple are not able to indulge insports. “Moreover, all the NewsChannels are mainly telecastingabout Covid-19, which hascreated panic. We have intro-duced indirect sports therapyand telecasted sports channelsthrough our psychologist forpatients. The recovery rate hasgone high and duration oftreatment has also drasticallyreduced,” Dr Seth said.

“There is remarkablechange in the Recovery Rate ofthe Covid-19 patients priorand after 20 June 2020 the daythe Hospital started using

Indirect Sports Therapythrough Sports Channel.Average days of duration in theHospital has reduced from20/22 days to 6/8 days,” headded.

The same was the result atthe Max hospital Ghaziabad,where two groups were madeand one group was shown asports channel while the otherwas shown a news channel.

“Initially some people inthe Sports group showed resis-tance but they were coun-selled. Finally the result wasthat the people who watchedsports channels were psycho-logically stronger and it helpedin removing negative thoughtsand these people were happierthan others,” said the official atMax hospital adding that pro-motion of sports channels canhave positive psychologicalimpact on patients.

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Minister of GurdwaraElections Rajendra Pal

Gautam on Sunday said thatthe Information TechnologyDepartment will develop ded-icated software for the prepa-ration and customization ofnew photo electoral rolls ofGurdwara wards in the capitalfor upcoming GurdwaraElections, 2021.

A Delhi government offi-cial said, “For this, theDirectorate of GurdwaraElections has requested theInformation TechnologyDepartment.”

"Directorate of GurdwaraElections has also requested theOffice of Chief ElectoralOfficer, to help in matching

and verifying the data of elec-toral rolls of Gurdwara wardswith the data of state electoralrolls. This cross-checking willensure transparency in thepreparation of photo electoralrolls for the elections of theDelhi Sikh GurdwaraManagement Committee. Toexpedite the process, theDirectorate of GurdwaraElections will extend the man-power support to the Office ofChief Electoral Officer.”

According to Delhi gov-ernment officials, theInformation TechnologyDepartment will develop soft-ware as per the requirement ofthe Directorate of GurdwaraElections. “This decision wastaken in a meeting held underthe Chairmanship of Minister

of Gurdwara Elections to dis-cuss various issues relating tothe conduct of elections of theDelhi Sikh GurdwaraManagement Committee andpreparation of photo electoralrolls.”

Directorate of GurdwaraElections conducts the elec-tions of members of the DelhiSikh Gurdwara PrabandhakCommittee and the members

have a term of four years.The last general elections

were held in February 2017.The next general elections

are to be held in March 2021.Directorate of GurdwaraElections, Government of NCTof Delhi was established in theyear 1974 by an Act ofParliament called the DelhiSikh Gurdwara Act, 1971.

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To curb the drug menace inGurugram district, the city

Police on Saturday said theyhave registered over 98 FIRs inthis regard since the operationbegan and have arrested over103 people.

The operation was alsoaimed at tackling illegal drugs,possession of illegal weapons,and sale of illicit liquor.

The Police said that writtendirections were issued by

Gurugram police commis-sioner KK Rao on July 15, 2020to run the operation untilAugust 15, 2020.

Rao said that 98 FIRs wereregistered regarding sale, pos-session, and trade of illicitliquor, with 103 people beingarrested for the crime.

“Under the Narcotics,Drugs, and PsychotropicSubstances Act, 50 FIRs wereregistered and 57 people arrest-ed, from whom 40 kg of ganja,124 grams of charas, and 515grams of sulfa and 750 grams

of marijuana were seized tillJuly 31st,” Rao said.

On illegal weapons, thepolice said that 48 cases wereregistered and as many as 50people were arrested with 29country-made guns, 17 coun-try-made pistols and 25 livecartridges seized from them.

“The crime units of the citypolice continuously work totrack and arrest drug ped-dlers. The main objective ofthis special campaign is tostop crime by possessing illegalweapons and selling illegaldrugs. This campaign is stillgoing on and such campaignswill be conducted from time totime as per the orders of high-er officials,” Rao said.

Apart from this, in the lasttwo months, even as the lock-down restrictions were in place,a large amount of drugs,including an entire truckloaded with marijuana wasrecovered in the neighbouring

district of Mewat.In April, the Gurugram

police had made a major recov-ery of around 107 kg of mari-juana from a shop in UdyogVihar and had arrested threepeople, including a Bangladesinational.

In June, the police seized112 kg marijuana fromSadhrana village and arrestedthe accused in relation to drugtrafficking. A few days later,police had arrested anotherman with 680 gm of heroinworth Rs 89 lakh from Sector66.

"Marijuana is smuggledinto Delhi-NCR fromRajasthan, West Bengal, Odishaand UP," a senior police officialsaid, adding that the drug isthen supplied to retailers insmall parcels weighing 1 kg to2 kg each, and from them, itreached the individual con-sumer in even smaller packetsof 5 gm and 20 gm.

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A25 year-old woman wasallegedly strangulated to

death by her husband in Delhi’sNarela area on Sunday morn-ing. Police said that the accusedis absconding and manhunt hasbeen initiated to nab him.

According to a seniorpolice official, on Sundaymorning at 8:25 am a policecontrol room (PCR) callregarding murder of a woman by her husband wasreceived following which apolice team was dispatchedfor the spot.

“On reaching the spot, thepolice team found the woman'sbody lying on the bed in herhouse. On enquiry it is foundthat, her husband identified asRehmattullah strangulated herwife and absconded,” said thesenior police official.

“The accused is a habitualdrinker and he does paintingswork in the city. They weremarried 6 years ago and hadthree children. A case underrelevant sections of IndianPenal Code (IPC) has been reg-istered at Narela police stationand further investigation isgoing on,” said police.

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The Police Families WelfareSociety (PFWS) organised

a virtual musical concert ‘WeCare’ in the National Capital onSunday.

PFWS official said that thevirtual music concert wasenjoyed by a large spectrum of

viewers coming from policeorganizations of the countryincluding Delhi Police.

The concert was displayedon digital media platformsincluding Facebook, You Tube,Twitter and Instagram.

Sonal Shah, wife of UnionHome Minister Amit Shah wasChief Guest on the occasion.

The virtual music concert wasalso attended by Mala Baijal,wife of Anil Baijal, DelhiLieutenant Governor andAruni Doval, wife of Ajit Doval,National Security Advisor.

Shah appreciated variedactivities undertaken by PFWSduring the Covid pandemicand appreciated the focus on

undertaking schemes whichpromoted self-reliance amongstwives of policemen.

“On the occasion thePFWS song and E-Recipe Bookwas released by the ChiefGuest. The recipe book consistsof selected and adjudged bestrecipes crafted by wives ofpolicemen during the lock-

down and winners of KhanaKhazana competition,” saidPolice Families Welfare Societyofficial.

“Another dimension ofthe programme was to show-case the tremendous talenthidden in the families ofDelhi Police. Inter genera-tional talent was witnessed

live by mother daughter duoitems apart from the melodi-ous voice of young talentedsingers who also gave a trib-ute to the 13 coronaviruswarriors of Delhi Police whosacrificed their lives in thedischarge of the duties and inservice of the country,” saidthe official.

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Delhi on Sunday reported961 new cases of Covid-19

taking the total number ofpeople infected withCoronavirus to 1,37,677, whilethe death toll touched 4,004.

According to Sunday’shealth bulletin, which detailsinformation about the freshcases registered in the last 24hours, 12,730 tests (4,289 RT-PCR, CBNAAT and TrueNAAT tests figures; 8,441 -Rapid Antigen). The number ofcontainment zones stood at496.

The number of tests doneper million, as on Sunday was55,982, it said. A total of1,23,317 patients have recov-ered, migrated or been dis-charged while the number of

active cases in the capital cur-rently stands at 10,356. On July20, the fresh cases count haddipped to 954. The active cases

tally was 10,356 while therecovery rate stands at 88 percent.

According to the IndianCouncil of Medical Research,suspected individuals who testnegative for COVID-19 inrapid-antigen test shouldundergo RT-PCR to rule outthe infection.

Rapid-antigen testingrequires a prescription and anICMR form filled by a regis-tered doctor, and a governmentidentity proof, same as that forRT-PCR test.

On June 23, the nationalcapital had reported the high-est single-day spike of 3,947cases. According to theSaturday bulletin, out of thetotal number of beds inCOVID hospitals, 10692 arevacant.

Also, 4170 beds in COVIDcare centres are occupied bypersons under quarantine,including travellers who havereturned by Vande BharatMission and bubble flights, itsaid.

Testing was ramped upJune 18 onwards, when Delhistarted conducting teststhrough the faster rapid-anti-gen methodology. Since then,tests have increased almostthreefold -- from an average ofaround 7,000 a day duringJune 12-18 to an average ofaround 20,000 per day at pre-sent.

As per Government’sreport, both Government andprivate hospitals have done afair job in tackling coron-avirus. Delhi Government’sRajiv Gandhi Super SpecialtyHospital with seven per centdeath rate is on top ranking forgiving treatment to coronainfected patients.

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The new sero-prevalencesurvey in the national

Capital will exclude those whowere part of the previous exer-cise and 25 per cent of thefresh samples in all districtswill be taken from personsaged 50 and above, accordingto a standard operating pro-cedure prescribed for it.

"All districts are to ensurethat out of total number ofsamples, 25 per cent are ofthose younger than 18 years ofage, another 50 per cent are inthe age group of 18-49 yearsand remaining 25 per cent ofthose in the age group of 50years or more," reads the SOPprescribed by the Delhi'sDirectorate General of HealthServices.

The fresh exercise is being

undertaken for a comprehen-sive assessment of the Covid-19 situation in Delhi, but dueto Eid holiday not many sam-ples could be collected onSaturday, officials said.

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New Delhi: A furniture showroom was gutted here after a firebroke out in Lajpat Nagar Central Market on Sunday, officialssaid. No casualties, however, have been reported.

Ten fire tenders rushed to the spot and doused the flames."We received a call at 11.26 a.m. about the fire. Our teams

reached the spot and it was brought under control. No casual-ty has been reported so far," said Atul Garg, Director Delhi FireServices.

IANS

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International passengersseeking exemption from

mandatory seven-day institu-tional quarantine in India willhave to submit a negative RT-PCR test upon arrival whichshould have been conductedwithin 96 hours prior toundertaking the journey.

The passenger will alsohave to submit a declarationwith respect to authenticity ofthe report and if found other-wise will be liable for “crimi-nal prosecution” as per theGovernment’s revised guide-lines issued on Sunday.

Those travelers in situa-tions of distress like death,serious illness, pregnancy or toparents with children under10-years of age, have also beenexempted from the mandato-ry institutional quarantine.

These people citing thecompelling reasons will needto undergo 14 days of homequarantine instead. However,they will be eligible for avail-ing this exemption only ifthey apply 72 hours beforeboarding the aircraft on theonline portal—www.newdel-hiairport.in, the Health

Ministry clarified.“Only for compelling rea-

sons/ cases of human distresssuch as pregnancy, death infamily, serious illness and par-ent(s) with children of the ageof 10 years or below, homequarantine may be permittedfor 14 days,” as per the guide-lines.

“At the time of boardingthe flight/ ship, only asymp-tomatic travelers will beallowed to board after thermalscreening while suitable pre-cautionary measures such asenvironmental sanitation anddisinfection shall be ensured atthe airports.

“On arrival, de-boardingshould be done ensuring socialdistancing and thermal screening would be carried outin respect of all the passengersby the health officials presentat the airport/ seaport/Iandport, the guidelines pointout.

Also, the passengers foundto be symptomatic duringscreening shall be immediate-ly isolated and taken to med-ical facility as per health pro-tocol.

Post thermal screening,the passengers who have been

exempted from institutional quarantine (deci-sion as indicated on the onlineportal in advance) will showthe same to the respective

State Counters on their cellphones/other mode beforebeing allowed home quaran-tine for 14 days.

These passengers shall be

kept under institutional quar-antine for a minimum periodof 7 days after which they shallbe tested as per ICMR proto-col, said the guidelines.

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The Union Health Ministryhas asked all the States

and Union Territories to allowhospitalised Covid-19 patientsto use smartphones and tabletdevices to help them interactwith their kin through video-conferencing, which wouldease their mental stress.

Though mobile phones areallowed in hospital wards, themissive was issued followingsome representation from thekin of patients alleging other-wise. States like Uttar Pradeshand West Bengal too had ini-tially banned the phones in thehospitals but later on withdrewtheir order following protestsfrom the families.

Director General of HealthServices (DGHS) in the HealthMinistry Dr Rajiv Garg in theletter to the principal secre-taries of health and medicaleducation of states and Unionterritories said appropriateprotocols for disinfectingdevices and allotting time slotscan be developed by the hos-pital concerned to facilitatecontact between patients andtheir family.

He underlined that admin-istrative and medical teamsshould be responsive to thepsychological needs of patientsadmitted in COVID-19 wardsand ICUs of various hospitals.

“Social connection cancalm down patients and alsoreinforce the psychologicalsupport given by the treatingteam. Please instruct all con-cerned that they should allowsmartphones and tabletdevices in the inpatient areaso that the patient can videoconference with their familyand friends,” as per the letter.

“Though mobile phonesare allowed in the wards toenable a patient stay in touchwith his or her family, wereceived representations from

the patient families fromsome states stating mobilephones are not being allowedby hospital administrationsbecause of which they werenot being able to stay in con-tact with the patient,” said DrGarg.

Dr Smita Deshpande,senior psychiatrist and con-sultant at RML Hospital,Delhi welcomed the movesaying,” It is important for thepatients staying alone in thequarantine to keep talkingand sharing with their fami-ly members and friends howthey feel and what they aregoing through. Interactionwith their family membersand friends will help themrecover well.”

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With more and more peo-ple seeking information

about financial difficulties anddisaster relief during theCovid-19 outbreak which hasbrought the world economy toalmost standstill, researchershave sounded the alarm bellswarning that the trend predictsa ‘suicide pandemic’.

Researchers at ColumbiaUniversity Irving MedicalCenter found dramatic relativeincreases (in the thousands ofpercentages, in some cases) inGoogling search terms relatedto financial distress — e.g., “Ilost my job,” “unemployment,”and “furlough” — and for thenational Disaster DistressHelpline.

“The scale of the increasein Google searches related tofinancial distress and disasterrelief during the early monthsof the pandemic was remark-able, so this finding is con-cerning,” said Madelyn Gould,Professor of Epidemiology inPsychiatry at ColumbiaUniversity Vagelos College ofPhysicians and Surgeons andsenior author of the study.

Because previous researchhas shown that financial dis-tress is strongly linked to sui-cide mortality, the researchersfear that the increase may pre-dict a future increase in deathsfrom suicide.

The findings have beenpublished online in PLOS One.

Researchers in the UnitedStates and elsewhere havebegun studying the effects ofthe Covid-19 pandemic onmental health, but the impacton suicidal behavior anddeaths is difficult to assessdue to lag time in the avail-ability of mortality data.

Previous studies suggestthat suicide rates often decreasein the immediate aftermath ofnational disasters, such as 9/11,but may increase severalmonths later, as seen after the1918 flu pandemic and the2003 SARS outbreak in HongKong.

The researchers used analgorithm to analyse Googletrends data from March 3,2019, to April 18, 2020, andidentify proportional changesover time in searches for 18terms related to suicide andknown suicide risk factors.

“We didn’t have a clearhypothesis about whether therewould be an increase in sui-cide-related queries duringthis period of time, but weanticipated a national sense ofcommunity during the pan-demic that might mitigate sui-cidal behavior in the shortterm,” says Emily Halford, dataanalyst and the study’s firstauthor.

The proportion of queriesrelated to depression was

slightly higher than the pre-pandemic period, and moder-ately higher for panic attack.

“It seems as though indi-viduals are grappling with theimmediate stresses of job lossand isolation and are reachingout to crisis services for help,but the impact on suicidalbehavior hasn’t yet manifested,”says Gould. “Generally, depres-sion can take longer to devel-op, whereas panic attacks maybe a more immediate reactionto job loss and having to dealwith emotionally chargedevents amidst the social isola-tion of the pandemic.”

Searches for terms relatedto loneliness were also mean-ingfully higher during the earlypandemic period versus theprior year.

Gould adds that social dis-tancing is one of the primarymeasures implemented to slowthe spread of the coronavirus,“but this approach may havedetrimental secondary effects,such as loneliness and exacer-bation of preexisting mental ill-nesses, which are known sui-cide risk factors.”

The researchers said that inlight of an anticipated increasein suicidal crises, it will beimportant to ensure continuedavailability and accessibility ofcrisis services and other men-tal health services during thelater stages of the pandemic.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) is

planning to use artificial intel-ligence in weather forecasting,especially for issuing now-casts, which can help improve3-6 hours prediction ofextreme weather events. TheIMD has invited researchgroups who can study howartificial intelligence (AI) beused for improving weatherforecasting and the Ministry ofEarth Sciences is evaluatingtheir proposals. According toIMD Director GeneralMrutunjay Mohapatra, the useof artificial intelligence andmachine learning is not asprevalent as it is in other fields

and it is relatively new in thearea of weather forecasting.

Mohapatra said the IMD isalso planning to do collabora-tive studies on this with otherinstitutions. The IMD uses dif-ferent tools like radars, satelliteimagery, to issue nowcasts,which give information onextreme weather events occur-ring in the next 3-6 hours. TheIMD issues forecasts forextreme weather events likethunderstorms, dust storms.Unlike cyclones, predictionsof thunderstorms, which alsobring lightning, squall andheavy rains, are more difficultas the extreme weather eventsdevelop and dissipate in a veryshort period of time.

Last month, over 160 peo-

ple died due to lightning alonein Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. TheIMD wants to better the now-cast predictions through AIand machine learning.“Artificial intelligence helps in

understanding past weathermodels and this can makedecision-making faster,”Mohapatra said.

The National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration

(NOAA) of the US announcednew strategies this year toexpand the agency’s applicationof four emerging science andtechnology focus areas —NOAA Unmanned Systems,artificial intelligence, Omics,and the cloud -- to guide trans-formative advancements in thequality and timeliness ofNOAA science, products andservices.

Omics is a suite ofadvanced methods used toanalyse material such as DNA,RNA, or proteins. With regardsto AI, it said the overarchinggoal of the NOAA ArtificialIntelligence (AI) Strategy is toutilise AI to advance NOAA’srequirements-driven missionpriorities. The NOAA said

through this, it seeks to reducethe cost of data processing, and

provide higher quality andmore timely scientific products

and services for societal bene-fits.

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Undeterredby the

Corona scare,the civil ser-vants of thecountry haveplanned thefirst ever ‘vir-tual’ sportscompet it ionbeginning withcarrom next week. The onlinecarrom competition, to be heldfor both the men and womenGovernment employees, isbeing organised by the CentralCivil Services Cultural andSports Board on the FacebookOnline Platform.

The Government as per theDepartment of PersonnelTraining (DoPT) has alreadyimplemented work from homeCOVID rules and is conduct-ing online meetings besideswebinars where even UnionMinisters have been partici-pants.

In a letter to the ChiefSecretaries of the States’ andUTs, CCSCSB SecretaryKulbhushan Malhotra said theStates/UTs and Regional SportsBoard are requested to consid-er sending names of the par-ticipants for the FacebookGroup CCSCSB OnlineCarrom Challenge 2020 sched-uled from August 10 to August15.

The circular also says theparticipants should have AICF-approved Carrom Board,

Carrom Men (CM) Set, LampShade, Strikers besides aFacebook profile and all nec-essary equipments such asmobile, camera and signifi-cantly, an internet connectionto allow the live performancelikely to be witnessed by thou-sands who will be able to watchthe virtual competition.

“We are confident aboutthe event’s success. Other com-petitions will follow thereafterfollowing similar SOP,” said anoffice bearer of CCSCSB.

The organisers have askedthe players to fix the camera infront of them in such a positionthat the entire carrom board isvisible during the live perfor-mance.

“For better visibility all theplayers are required to place awhite sheet on the frame forkeeping CM as indicator ofmissed chances. The missedchance CM shall be placed onthe white background onlyand in the order of missingstarting from player’s side toupward side of the frame,” saidthe circular.

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The Central Association ofPrivate Security Industry

(CAPSI) has written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, say-ing private security servicesshould be exempted from pay-ing service tax.

In a letter to the PrimeMinister on July 29, CAPSIChairman Kunwar VikramSingh said in order to “creategoodwill among its citizenspost Covid, the private securi-ty services should be declaredtax free as majority of such ser-vices are now being availed by

lakhs of resident welfare asso-ciations (RWAs) and small andmedium enterprises (SMEs)”.

If the private security indus-try is exempted from service taxpayment, consumers of the pri-vate security services will behugely benefited as such serviceswill become more affordable, headded. Singh is of the view thatit is the basic and fundamentalduty of the Government toensure that every citizen of thecountry feels safe and secure byproviding adequate internalsecurity infrastructure.

The Government createdpolice and paramilitary forces torespond to the security and safe-

ty situation for its citizens anddoes not send invoices to peo-ple for availing such serviceswhich are provided to ensuresafe living for all, he pointed out,he wrote in the letter.

This need is felt by them asthey don’t feel secure due to var-ious prevailing factors that cre-ate a fear psychosis amongthem that force them to buy pri-vate security for a cost, accord-ing to the letter.

The circumstances aroseout of the factor that the gov-ernment’s internal securityinfrastructure is not adequate togrant the right to security to cit-izens, it said.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Sunday

conducted searches at theresidential premises of DelhiUniversity professor HanyBabu Musal iyar veett i lTharayil at Noida (GautamBuddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh)in connection with the inves-tigation of Bhima KoregaonElgar Parishad Case.

he case relates to organi-sation of Elgar Parishad atPune, Maharashtra onDecember 31, 2017 whichpromoted enmity betweenvarious caste groups and ledto violence resulting in loss oflife and property and state-wide agitation inMaharashtra.

“ The investigationrevealed that the ElgarParishad along with Maoistleaders used the incident tospread the ideolog y ofMaoism/Naxalism andencourage unlawful activitieson the instructions of theleaders of CPI (Maoist), abanned organisation,” theNIA said in a statement.

Accused Hany Babu M.T., son of Kunhu Mohammad,was found to be a co-conspirator along withother accused persons prop-agating Naxal activities andMaoist ideology, and wasarrested on July 28.

The NIA investigationfurther revealed that accusedHany Babu was in contactwith Paikhomba Meitei,Secretary Information &Publicity, Military Affairs,Kangkeipak Communist

Party (MC), an organisation banned underUnlawful Activit ies(Prevention) Act.

“An inter view ofGanapathy, General Secretaryof CPI (Maoist) was shared by

Paikhomba Meitei with theaccused Hany Babu.Communications of HanyBabu with other Maoists ofManipur have also beenretrieved,” the NIA furthersaid.

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The Congress on Sunday saidthe National Education

Policy (NEP) was “‘high oncatchwords, gloss, appearanceand verbosity”, but lacked clar-ity on key issues like roadmapand strategy, and did not detailthe scale of finances required toexecute it.

Addressing a Press confer-ence, former HRD MinisterMM Pallam Raju said the poli-cy not only comes at a time ofthe coronavirus pandemic, butalso circumvents parliamentaryoversight indicating that it couldraise the issue in the next session.

Some of the key concernsraised by Congress include lack

of transparency in consulta-tions, record of the union gov-ernment’s public spending oneducation, pushing digital dividefor the less privileged and impacton socially disadvantagedgroups.

“The timing of the NEP2020 in the middle of theCorona pandemic when all edu-cational institutions are closed is,in itself, questionable,” said Rajujoined by Congress chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalaand Rajya Sabha MP RajeevGowda.

“On a policy that impactsand affects our present andfuture generations, even parlia-mentary oversight has been cir-cumvented. Contrast this with

the rigorous parliamentary andwidespread consultation thatpreceded the Right to EducationAct,” Raju said ahead of theMonsoon session of theParliament nearing.

“There is thus a huge mis-match between promise anddelivery with no clarity onwhether NEP 2020 proposesfinancing of 6% of GDP tocome from public funds or pri-vate investment,” the grand oldparty said in a statement.

“What about affirmativeaction. India over 70 years hasput in a huge amount of effortto be inclusive and take care ofthe disadvantaged groups interms of education and relatedjob opportunities.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Sunday issued yellow andorange alert for several dis-tricts in Kerala for the nextfour days (Monday onwards).The districts of Alappuzha,Kottayam, Ernakulam,Idukki, Thrissur,Malappuram, Kozhikode,

Wayanad, Kannur andKasaragod are among otherdistricts where the IMD hasissued yellow alert. On somedays, an orange alert has beenissued in these districts.

The IMD website alsoindicates the formation of alow-pressure area over northBay of Bengal towards thelater part of the first week ofAugust and says it’s likely to

intensify over northwest Bayof Bengal off Odisha coast atthe end of the first week.

The Orange warning indi-cates heavy to very heavyrainfall, while yellow warningindicates moderate rain isexpected. The Red alert is themost serious kind of weatherwarning which indicates theweather is likely to causedamage.

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The NIA on Sunday con-ducted searches at six

places in Kerala in connectionwith the Kerala GoldSmuggling case and recoveredone Tablet PC, eight mobilephones, six SIM cards, one dig-ital video recorder and fiveDVDs besides bank passbooks,credit/debit cards and trav-el/identity documents. A PFI-linked accused has also beenarrested in the case.

The agency has so fararrested 10 accused persons inthe case including six duringthe last week whose premiseswere searched during the day.

On Saturday, the NIAarrested two accused persons,Muhammad Ali Ebrahim andMuhammad Ali, both resi-dents of Muvattupuzha,Ernakulam district, Kerala,after investigation revealedthat they were also a part of theconspiracy besides aiding and assisting arrestedaccused Jalal A. M. in collect-ing the smuggled gold fromRamees K. T. atThiruvananthapuram and dis-

tributing the contrabandamongst other conspirators,the NIA saud in a statement.

“Muhammad Ali is amember of the Popular Frontof India and was earlier charge-sheeted by Kerala Police inProfessor’s Palm ChoppingCase but got acquitted aftertrial in 2015,” the agency said.

On Friday, two accused,Mohammed Shafi P. resident ofAyikkarapadi, Malappuramdistrict and Abdu P. T. ofKottakkal, Malappuram dis-trict of the State were arrestedfor playing similar roles in thecrime.

On July 30, the agencyarrested two accused— Jalal A.M., resident of Muvattupuzha,Ernakulam district, Kerala andSaid Alavi E. Alias Bawa ofVegara, Malappuram district ofthe State for conspiring withalready arrested accusedRamees K. T. and for smug-gling gold through diplomat-ic baggage addressed to theUAE Consulate atThiruvananthapuram, it said.

Further investigation inthe case is continuing, theagency added.

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98 persons died and 5,875new patients were diag-

nosed with Covid-19 duringthe last 24 hours that ended onSunday evening in Tamil Nadu.The day also saw the FirstCitizen of the State too gettinginfected with the pandemic.Governor Banwarilal Purohitwas tested positive for covid-19at a corporate hospital inChennai.

A bulletin issued by thehospital on Sunday said theGovernor has been advised

home isolation and would bemonitored by the medical teamof the hospital.

As on Sunday evening,there were 56, 998 Covid-19patients in Tamil Nadu. Tilldate 2.57 lakh persons havebeen tested positive in theState while 1.96 lakh has been

discharged following recoveryfrom the pandemic.

The only positive newsfrom the State was the fall inthe number of new patients inChennai. The Metropoliswhich was the epicentre of thepandemic during the last twomonths with the highest num-ber of persons testing positiveexperienced a fall in new cases.On Sunday, 1,065 persons test-ed positive in Chennai whilethe situation in the three neigh-bouring districts of Chengalpet(446), Kancheepuram ( 393)and Thiruvallur (317) remain-ing critical.

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Number of persons diagnosed with Covid-19reached new high in Kerala as 1,169 persons

tested positive on Sunday. Though there were reports that four persons

died in different parts of the State, the releaseissued by the Government of Kerala on Sunday evening said only one person has suc-cumbed to the pandemic. With the death of oneperson on Sunday, the State’s fatality toll reached82.

The speed with which Covid-19 is spreadingall over Kerala indicates that things are going outof control in the State.

Out of the 1,169 persons tested positive onSunday, 991 contracted the pandemic throughlocal transmission. The total number of personstested positive on Sunday included 43 expatriateswhile 95 were those from other parts of the coun-try.

The capital city of Thiruvananthapuram con-tinued to be the epicentre of coronavirus.

There are 377 new covid patients in the dis-trict out of which 363 developed the pandemicthrough contacts. The cosmopolitan district ofErnakulam had 128 patients out of which 121 wereinfected through local transmission.

By Sunday evening, 11,342 persons have beenadmitted to hospitals with Covid-19 and there were497 hotspots in the State. By Sunday, all 14 dis-tricts in the State have come under the grip of coro-navirus.

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If the views expressed by someof the political parties in

Tamil Nadu and students andparents are any indication, theDravidian parties may get iso-lated in their stance viz-a-vizHindi and Sanskrit.

The DMK and its offshootsthe MDMK and the DK havecome out in the open lambast-ing the new National EducationPolicy announced by theCentre. M K Stalin, president,DMK, declared that Hindi andSanskrit were not welcome inTamil Nadu and his partywould not allow to disturb thetwo-language system adoptedby the State.

Tamil Nadu is the onlyState in the country whichdoes not have JawaharNavodaya Vidyalays, the con-cept public school introducedby former Prime Minister RajivGandhi as part of hisGovernment’s New NationalEducation Policy in 1987. Allremaining States in the countryboast of each NavodayaVidyalaya in each districts.These schools offer qualityeducation at unbelievable ratesof fee and charge nothing forboarding and lodging.

Though the Madras HighCourt issued a directive to theTamil Nadu Government toprovide land and infrastructurein the State so that the Centrecould launch Navodaya

Vidyalayas, the AIADMKGovernment challenged theorder in Supreme Court andmanaged to get a stay on theverdict.

“The politicians are forget-ting the fact that there exists avast country outside TamilNadu. The Dravidians are vio-lating fundamental rights of thechildren in Tamil Nadu to learnadditional languages,” saidVijayashree Ramesh, a lawyer -turned-activist questioning thelegality of the Dravidian partiesto oppose the NationalEducation Policy. She said evenwhile the DMK opposed teach-ing Hindi and Sanskrit in StateGovernment schools, the edu-cational institutions owned bythe DMK leaders and their

relations taught Hindi andSanskrit charging exorbitantfees.

Devika, a Plus Two studentin Chennai, said that it was onlyif one had knowledge in Hindione could move to North Indiafor higher learning and employ-ment. “There were instances ofsome post graduate studentsfrom Tamil Nadu studying inNorth India committing sui-cides because of their failure tocomprehend Hindi,” she point-ed out.

Interestingly, PuthiyaTamilakam founder DrKrishnasamy and Tamil ManilaCongress leader and formerunion minister G KVasan wel-comed the NEP terming it pro-gressive and students friendly.

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AUnion Minister hasdemanded the resignation

of Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan for his association withpersons involved in gold smug-gling and anti-national activities.

“Pinarayi Vijayan has pro-vided his office as a haven forgold smugglers and anti-nation-al elements. His principal sec-retary (since removed) MSivsankar was helping goldsmugglers and was friendly withpeople of questionable charac-ters. The Chief Minister gave

tacit support to Sivsankar toappoint a school drop-out to animportant position,” chargedUnion Minister of State forExternal Affairs VMuraleedharan while addressinga meeting held at New Delhi onSunday.

Muraleedharan observed aday’s fast demanding Vijayan’sresignation as part of BJP’s State-wide agitation in Kerala. He alsocharged that Vijayan’s familymembers too were engaged inquestionable deeds and howcan he keep away people likeSivsankar who were helping

them.The Kerala Government led

by Pinarayi Vijayan has comeunder the scanner for its asso-ciation with the three kingpinsof gold smuggling racket,Swapna Suresh, Sarith P S andSandeep Nair who have beenarrested by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA). “KT Jaleel, a Minister in Vijayan’s council of Ministers,has violated all Constitutionalproprieties and laws of the landby accepting gifts and help fromthe UAE Consulate inThiruvananthapuram.

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It is rare to see astrologers inSouth India agreeing on an

issue, especially when it comes tofix the Muhurtha (auspicioushour) for events like weddings,naming ceremony and even on theideal time to consecratetemples.

But two prominentSanskrit/Vedic scholars of SouthIndia are unanimous in theirastrological forecast that the SreeRam Temple to be built up atAyodhya would change the face ofthe city as well as the State. Thefoundation stone for the temple isbeing laid on August 5 between 12pm and 12 40 pm in the presenceof Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and other Hindu Sants. The SouthIndian astrologers' forecast comesat a time when in the backdrop ofdoubts raised by some of the lead-ing Hindu sants

Parappanangadi UnnikrishnaPanicker, Sanskrit and astrologi-cal scholar of repute who is a reg-ular columnist in national news-papers is of the view that the date,day and time chosen for the func-tion could be rated as excellent. “Itis Wednesday, the 14th day in themonths of Shravan. According toSasthra (science), at 12.15 pm itwould be 16 Ghatis and 49Vighatis (astrological time) aftersunrise in Ayodhya.

Each Muhoortha lasts for 16Ghatis (24 minutes). At 12 15 pmit would be Virinca Muhoortha.

The Lord of Virinca Muhoortha is Brahma, the Lord ofCreation. “Week, Star, Thithi,Yoga and Karana (all astrologicalfactors ) are good at thisMuhoortha. This will alleviate alldisorders and defects. TheMuhurtha ascendant is Tula. Thisis also great. Mercury which rep-resents Lord Sri Rama is also in amost favorable position at thisMuhoortha,” explained Panicker.

Panicker, addressed as Guruji,by Marxists, Congressmen andrationalists Dravidians alike, is ofthe view that the temple wouldbring prosperity and richness tothe city of Ayodhya. “Thiswould also be of great and auspi-cious for the country and the

rulers,” he said.Pandhappili Gopala Menon

and his son Prof M G Gireeshan,a physicist-turned-astrologer toowere of the view that the templetrust authorities could not haveselected a most ideal muhoorthamthan this.

“Lord Rama was born in themonth of Shravan, the Malayalamequivalent of Karkkataka, whenKerala experiences heavy down-pour. It is the month whenRamayana is recited non-stop inall Hindu homes in the State, atradition dating back to thousandsof years,” said Menon and ProfGireeshan, who is also known asKerala Edison because of thenumber of scientific inventions hehas made.

Bengaluru: People in Karnatakabreathed easy as the Sunday lock-down was lifted and the night cur-few withdrawn despite surge incoronavirus cases, according to anofficial, here on Sunday.

“As decided by the state gov-ernment on July 30 on the advice ofthe Union Ministry of HomeAffairs, the Sunday lockdown hasbeen lifted and the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.night curfew withdrawn,” a statehome department official toldIANS.

Lockdown had been re-imposed on four Sundays since July5, and the 8 p.m. to 5 a.m night cur-few since July 1 to July 31 to con-tain the spread of coronavirus.

Though hotels, shops, markets,malls and parks re-opened, major-ity of people preferred to stay athome. It was evident from fewerpeople and less vehicular traffic incities and towns across the state.

“As festival holidays began onFriday for VaramahalakshmiVratam, Bakrid on Saturday andholiday on Sunday, most outstationpeople had left for their nativeplaces by Thursday night,” the offi-

cial said.But lockdown restrictions will

remain in containment zones andonly essential services and suppliesare exempted. “With more relax-ations of lockdown, gyms and yogainstitutes will reopen from August5,” said the official. Schools, colleges,theatres, bars, entertainment parks,

auditoriums, assembly halls andswimming pools will continue toremain shut till August 31.

“Ban on social, political, sports,entertainment, academic, cultural,religious functions and other largecongregations will also continue tillfurther orders,” the officialsaid. IANS

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KANPUR : The Uttar PradeshGovernment has decided torecommend a CBI inquiry intothe kidnapping and murder ofa lab technician in Kanpur,Additional Chief Secretary(Home), Awanish Awasthi, saidon Sunday. He said the recom-mendation is being made onthe demand of the family of the27-year-old technician S Yadav.

According to the police,five people, including a womanand two friends of Yadav, havebeen arrested in connectionwith the case.

Later, the lab technician'ssister, Ruchi, “After getting toknow from the police that aCBI probe has been recom-mended, we feel satisfied. Wehad demanded a probe by thecentral agency.”

The lab technician inKanpur was kidnapped in Juneand killed within a week ofbeing held captive. His familyhas claimed that ?30 lakh ran-som was paid for his release inthe presence of police, butpolice say that it was not true.

Eleven police personnel,including two senior officers,were suspended for laxity ininvestigation.

Kanpur SSP Dinesh KumarPrabhu had said a police probeconfirmed that Yadav was mur-dered by his abductors. He saidthat several suspects weredetained and grilled intensive-ly, and two of them confessedto the crime. Agencies

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Notwithstanding her differ-ences with the Union

Home Minister Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSunday wished Amit Shah wellsoon after he was hospitalisedtesting positive for the coronavirus.

Banerjee wrote, “heardabout the Union HomeMinister Shri @AmitShah Jibeing tested positive for

#COVID-19. Wishing him aspeedy recovery. My prayers arewith him and his family!”

At least three Bengal BJPleaders who recently met theHome Minister withdrew intoself-isolation soon after Shah’shospitalization, sources said.

“I met Amit Shah ji a fewdays ago and so I have isolatedmyself in a room in my house,”Union Minister Babul Supriyosaid adding “I have my old par-ents both of whom are morethan 80-years’-old and a smallchild so I cannot take any risk.”

Supriyo said he had con-sulted a senior cardiac special-ist who has asked him to

remain quarantined till histests were conducted. “It is tooearly and signs may not showso I am will have to wait for afew days… I will be tested onTuesday for the corona virus.”The Minister however said hewas not feeling any discomfortas of now.

Other two Bengal BJPleaders who have gone into selfisolation are Nisit Pramanik theCoochbehar MP and SoumitraKhan MP from Bishnupur,sources said.

Meanwhile, in a majordecision Bengal State HealthCommission a quasi judicialbody on Sunday issued a

mandatory advisory for thehospitals treating coronapatients.

Capping costs of coronatreatment the directed the hos-pitals not to charge more than�2,250 for testing for the virus.The Commission also directedthe hospitals not to chargemore than �1,000 per day forthe personal protective equip-ment, masks etc required forthe treatment givers.

Besides, the order alsofixed �50 as “corona protection’charges for outdoor patientsand �10 per km for collectingsamples from homes, sourcessaid.

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Some miscreants attacked Congress Lok Sabhaleader Adhir Chowdhury’s house at Behrampore

in Murshidabad district, police said.According to sources the attack took place in the

night intervening Saturday and Sunday when allegedgoons pelted stones at Chowdhury’s house breakingthe glass panes. The senior Congress leader escapedunhurt as he was not in the house during the time ofthe attack.

Sources also said that some suspected miscreantshave been caught in the CCTV camera moving sus-piciously around his house carrying gun during thetime of the attack. Senior State Congress leader ManojChakrabarty rushed to Chowdhury’s house soon after,sources said.

The police are investigating the incident.Chowdhury also a former Pradesh Congress presi-dent and a firebrand leader has been the five-time MPfrom Behrampore.

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Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar on Sunday launched a

fresh attack on the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment for refusing to shareinformation with the Raj Bhavan onvital issues.

In a series of tweets the Governoralleged that though it was the “rightand duty of Governor to seek infor-mation” the Government was hidingfacts about issues like “political vio-lence, Bengal Global BusinessSummit,” and alleged “corruption” in“Public Distribution System” and dis-tribution of relief to the victims ofsuper cyclone Amphan.

Curiously the Governor found aspontaneous support from an unlike-ly quarter, the Left Front whosesenior leaders said the Governor hadafter a long time made a validdemand and asked the Chief

Minister to “take up challenge andshare information.”

The Governor who has no lovelost with the State Governmentasked as to “why information is notprovided? What is there to hide?Government must clarify. For sake ofaccountability and transparency,responsibility be fixed on those …who defaulted in giving information.Opacity would breed scams andadd skeletons to cupboards.”

Wondering how the basic rightsunder the Right to Information Actwas violated the Governor said “fail-ure … to give information toGovernor reveals worrisome state ofRTI. I had earlier cautioned ChiefInformation Officer at low RTIapplicants - for fear of police knockand repression if they seek informa-tion. Sharing information is a deter-rent to corruption.”

The Left Front which is usually

skeptic about what they callGovernor’s “mock fight with ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee” imme-diately jumped into the fray saying“this is for the first time that he hasraised a genuine issue.”

CPI(M) legislator party leaderand its central committee memberSujan Chakrabarty said the LeftFront too had on several occasionsraised the issues in the StateAssembly mentioned by theGovernor but they were notanswered by the Government. “Weasked the state government to comeup with the information during theAssembly sessions. But our questionswere never answered,’’ Chakrabartya former MP said.

CPI(M)’s legal spearhead andRajya Sabha MP Bikash Bhattacharyasaid how “this is the first time theGovernor raised relevant issueswhich are related to common man…

now the Chief Minister must take upthis challenge and come out withinformation or else the people willhave no option but to call herGovernment a government ofthieves.”

Giving his reactions senior TMCleader Partho Chatterjee said theGovernor was behaving like a BJPcadre and faulted the Left for “show-ing their true colours.” He said“today’s statements by the Left lead-ers only prove our allegation that theCPI(M) was behind the BJP’s per-formance in the Lok Sabhaelections.”

Trinamool MP and senior coun-sel Kalyan Banerjee said that theGovernor should not cross the hisconstitutional limits while dealingwith the State Government even ashe said that the Governor was “theface of the BJP in Bengal alwaysspeaking like a BJP leader.”

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In the run up to the first anniver-sary of Abrogation of Article 370

and reorganisation of the erstwhileState of Jammu & Kashmir into twoUnion Territories the biggest worryremains providing job opportunitiesto the growing Army of unemployedyouth in the region.

In the absence of any major pri-vate investment coming its way inthe near future the majority ofunemployed youth are keenly wait-ing for the Government depart-ments to advertise their vacantposts and fill the vacancies.

In the second week of July thisyear, the Jammu & Kashmir ServicesSelection Board had advertised8575 Class IV posts forDistrict/Divisional/Union Territorycadre in various departments underthe provisions of the Jammu &

Kashmir Appointment to the Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules,2020.

So far a total number of 4,04,200Registrations have been done by thecandidates on JKSSB’s Online Portal,and 2,05,400 candidates have com-pleted their online application sub-mission process for Class IV poststill August 2.

Official sources said, an averagenumber of 47 unemployed youth areset to compete with each other forone single post of Class IV employ-ee as on date.

In addition to this, 46,100 appli-cations have been submitted onlinefor the post of Accounts Assistant.

Meanwhile, to attract freshinvestment in Jammu & Kashmir theGovernment had earlier decided tohold global Investors meet early thisyear but in the wake of Covid-19pandemic the plan was shelved.

The Government is now con-templating to organise the investorssummit early next year and hopingto revive its contacts with all thoseinvestors who had previously shownkeen interest in investing money inthe region.

Various Government depart-ments had also conducted roadshows and preliminary meetingsacross different states of India to woobig investors.

The Jammu & Kashmir gov-ernment had also identified 6,000acres of land across the Union ter-ritory for potential investors.

The land was identified in thedistricts of Samba and Kathua inJammu region, and Pulwama andAnantnag districts in the KashmirValley. Jammu & Kashmir TradePromotion Organisation was alsoconstituted as a nodal agency fororganising the investors meet.

Jammu: The total number of coronavirus positive cases in theUnion Territory of Jammu & Kashmir on Sunday rose to 21,416, with 444 new positive cases. A total number of 256 patientsrecovered while 8 patients died due to Covid -19 taking the tallyto 396.

According to the media bulletin, 206 fresh cases of coro-navirus were detected from Jammu division and 238 fromKashmir division.The highest number of 68 cases were report-ed from Udhampur and 65 from Jammu district whileSrinagar and Pulwama districts recorded 62 cases each. Outof 68 cases, 50 jawans of BSF tested positive late Saturday eveningin Udhampur. In Jammu, seven members of a family tested pos-itive from the Rehari area forcing the local authorities to strict-ly enforce lockdown guidelines in the area. Already several local-ities with corona positive cases have been declared as con-tainment zones by the district administration.

Out of 21.416 positive cases, 7893 are Active Positive, 13127have recovered and 396 have died; 28 in Jammu division and368 in Kashmir division. The Bulletin further said that out of6,54,117 test results available, 6,32,701 samples have been test-ed as negative till August 02, 2020. PNS

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Aday after a record 322 peo-ple succumbed to Covid-

19 in Maharashtra, the pan-demic claimed 260 lives, while9,509 people tested positive invarious parts of the state.

With fresh fatalities andinfections, the total number ofdeaths in the state mounted to15,576, while the total positivecases jumped to 4,41,228.

Of the total 260 deathsreported on Sunday, Puneaccounted for 51 deaths, fol-lowed by 49 deaths in Mumbaiand 48 deaths in Thane district

The deaths in Mumbai fellbelow 50-mark for the thirdtime in a week. With 49 newdeaths, the pandemic toll in thecity rose from 6,398 to 6447,while the number of infectedcases went up by 1105 to touch1,16,436.

In addition to 51 deaths inPune, 49 deaths in Mumbaiand 48 deaths in Thane district,there were 19 deaths in Palghar,12 in Solapur, 11 in Latur, 8 inNashik, 7 in Ahmednagar, 6each in Satara and Sangli, 5each in Raigad, Aurangabadand Akola, 4 in Dhule, 3 each

in Kolhapur, Amravati andWashim, 2 each in Jalgaon,Hingoli, Jalna, Osmanabad andNagpur and one death each inParbhani, Nanded, Yavatmal,Buldhana and Chandrapur.

Meanwhile, as many as9926 patients were dischargedfrom hospitals in the state afterfull recovery, taking the totalnumber of patients dischargedfrom various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second weekof March this year to 2,76, 809.The recovery rate rose to 62.74per cent.

The mortality rate in thestate is 3.53 per cent. The statehealth authorities pegged thenumber of “active cases” in the

state at 1,48,537. With 96,120 infected cases

and 2,674 deaths, Thane con-tinued to be the second-worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emergedas the third worst-affected dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded 94,911infections and 2226 deaths tillnow.

Out of 22,55,701 samplessent to laboratories, 4,41,228have tested positive (19.56 percent) for COVID-19 untilSunday.

Currently, 9,25,269 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 37,944 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Over a century-old womanrecovered from Covid-19

within a week after she contract-ed the virus from an infected per-son in Karnataka's Chitradurga, adistrict doctor said on Sunday.

“Siddamma, who is about 100years old, recovered from theinfection and was discharged onSaturday from a Covid designatedhospital in the town where she was

admitted on July 27 and treated asan asymptomatic patient,” districthospital doctor Rangareddy toldIANS on phone.

Chitradurga is 205 km north-west of Bengaluru.

“Though a native ofBurujanahatti village in the district,Siddamma was living with her fam-ily in police quarters near thestate-run hospital in the town.

“Siddamma is said to be amother of 5 children, 17 grand chil-dren and 22 great grandchildren,”said Rangareddy.

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Edwin A Grosvenor (1845-1936), an American histori-an and author, who for someyears lived and taught inConstantinople — as Istanbul

was still called in the late 19th centu-ry — found that the Turks regardedAya Sofia (Hagia Sophia) with “prideof conquest than affection.” The exquis-ite cathedral was still functioning as amosque when Grosvenor wrote thehistory of the Ottoman capital in twovolumes, Constantinople (1895).Nevertheless, since the end of theCrimean War (1854-56), its groundfloor and the gallery were thrown opento the visitors for payment of a fee. TheChristian characteristics of the cathe-dral were so pronounced that “its struc-tural form has always resisted therequirements of Moslem ritual.”

The Turks, being conscious that“though the mosque is theirs, it is notof them”, had to import two distinctivesymbols connected with the pulpit. Thefirst was a pair of silken flags, “signif-icant of victory of Islam over its par-ent faiths, Judaism and Christianity.”Second, every Friday, when its Sheikh(Imam) climbed the steep pulpit stepsto preach, he held in his right hand anunsheathed sword, indicative of themanner in which the Hagia Sophia wasconquered. “So, would the Moslem for-get the long past of the church?” askedGrosvenor. “He cannot, for the flagsand sword are there” (Constantinople,Vol-II, Pg, 543)

It is speculative whether the flagsand sword would be reintroduced inHagia Sophia, which was recentlyreverted to a mosque. Turkey’sPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan, how-ever, did not re-reclaim Hagia Sophiafor Islam in a manner reminiscent ofSultan Mehmed II in 1453 AD.Erdogan achieved his end through apresidential decree, published in theofficial gazette on July 10. He has, thus,clothed himself in the role of “GazetteGhazi.”

Mustafa Kemal Pasha, formerPresident of Turkey, was also known asa “Ghazi” (vanquisher of infidels) for14 long years before he adopted his lastname Ataturk in 1935. This title wasconferred upon him by the newTurkish National Assembly inSeptember 1921, at the height of theGreco-Turkish War (1919-1922) thathe led as the Field Marshal. To manyof his countrymen, especially thosewho never saw him, the title conjureda glamourised image.

Once, when Kemal Pasha “Ghazi”,as biographer Patrick Kinross informs,was visiting a mountainous village inTurkey, he found that an artist haddrawn his portrait from imagination on

a wall. It was that of a formida-ble warrior, with sweepingmoustaches and a seven-footlong sword. The villagers, how-ever, were shocked to discovera clean-shaven Ghazi inEuropean style summer suit, asports shirt open at the neckand a Panama hat. So great wastheir disbelief that they barelymanaged to clap as the Ghaziwalked past his imaginary por-traiture. The conqueror waswearing the costume of the infi-del (Ataturk: The Rebirth of aNation, Pg, 414).

More than his westernattire, Kemal’s westernising pol-icy was likely to scandalise hiscountrymen, who had beendirect subjects of the Caliphatefor 400 years. However, it wasmuch less than what we mightassume. Kemal, by sheer forceof his personality, no less thanthe weight of his achievements,was able to ramrod secularisa-tion in matters of State policyand national life of Turkey. Heabolished the Caliphate, elim-inated religious courts, abol-ished the fez cap, discouragedveil for women, suppressedreligious brotherhood, closedsacred tombs as places of wor-ship, declared the Gregoriancalendar as a national calendar,replaced Sharia with a newcivil code law, introduced Latinalphabets in place of Arabic forwriting Turkish and made theadoption of the last name

mandatory (himself took upAtaturk) among others.

Even the name of therepublic viz, Turkey (whichcitizens called Türkiye), clear-ly revealed its European origin.The term Turk, profoundlyconnected with Islam, had orig-inally been given by theEuropeans in the 11th century.Whether the modernisation ofTurkey could have beenachieved without brazen west-ernisation is a matter of opin-ion. However, through thesemeasures, Ataturk built up aTurkish identity founded onlanguage and territory butdelinked from religion.

“In the imperial society ofOttomans, the ethnic term Turkwas little used and then chieflyin a derogatory sense” saysBernard Lewis, “to designateTurcoman nomads or laterignorant and uncouth Turkishspeaking peasants of Anatolianvillages. To apply it to anOttoman gentleman ofConstantinople would havebeen an insult” (The Emergenceof Modern Turkey, Pg 1-2).Until the 19th century, theTurks had thought of them-selves purely as Muslims.Turkish nationalism could onlyemerge at the expense ofMuslim identity. Ataturk’srepublic, however, was one-party rule. Therefore, he couldenforce his policies withoutany organised opposition. He

did not banish religion from therepublic but controlled its insti-tutions, clergy and instructionsthrough State apparatus.

For the Greeks, by contrast,religion continued to be a deci-sive factor in shaping theirnational identity. The LausanneConvention on the compulso-ry exchange of populationbetween Greece and Turkey(January 30, 1923) defined aGreek as one belonging to“Greek Orthodox religion” andTurk as “Moslem” without anyreference to a person’s mothertongue. Greece’s democraticConstitution (2001) beginscounter-intuitively “in the nameof Holy and Consubstantialand Indivisible Trinity” ratherthan Solon, Clisthenes,Themistocles and Pericles.

The reason for the indissol-uble bond between EasternOrthodox Christianity andGreek identity is two-fold. First,during the Byzantine era (mid-fourth to mid-15th centuryAD) orthodox religion cement-ed spiritual and national unityof the Greeks. The Hellenic pastof the Greeks witnessed conflictof philosophy and religion aswell as extreme political disuni-ty. Second, under the Ottomanrule (mid-15th century to 19thcentury), the Church formedthe nucleus of the Greek nation.Under the millat system, theGreek patriarch based inConstantinople also acted as the

secular head of the Roum mil-let (Roman nation) comprisingall Christian subjects in theOttoman empire. It, thus, func-tioned as a State within theEmpire, whose influence con-tinued to increase as Ottomanpower declined vis-à-visEurope.

The pioneer of the GreekWar of Independence (1821-29)was Germanos, the Archbishopof Patras, who on April 4, 1821,proclaimed the insurrectionagainst the Turks. Several highdignitaries of the OrthodoxChurch, including Patriarch ofConstantinople Gregory IVhimself, suffered martyrdom.Thus, Church and Greek inde-pendence somehow got inter-connected from the beginning.This is a legacy that even 21stcentury Greece continues torespect. However, the Churchand the State were separate evenduring the Byzantine Empire,with no scope for conflictbetween the Emperor and thePatriarch, unlike between thePope and the monarchs inLatin Christendom. The samecontinues to be true in therepublic of Greece, where theChurch has no role in statecraft.Turkey, meanwhile, has dentedits own image by reversion ofHagia Sophia into a mosque.

(The writer is an author andindependent researcher. Theviews expressed herein are personal.)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “New curriculum” (July 31).Coming after a gap of 34 years,the new educational policyunveiled by the Government isstill idealistic. But it is timely con-sidering that in a post-COVID-19 world, the educational patternwill undergo a sea change. Theproposed shift in the existing(10+2) system to (5+3+3+4) willlead to the overall developmentof children. Vast changes willensure universal access to schooleducation, focus on early child-hood care and education, restruc-ture the school curriculum andpedagogy, reform the assess-ment system and invest inteacher training. All of this willsignificantly transform the edu-cational system.

Yet NEP’s success dependson the finer details. It is up to theGovernment to create an atmos-phere, infrastructure and teach-ing resources for the smoothphasing of this transition stage.And it must ensure transparen-cy and accountability. But mostimportantly, it must bring out anaction plan for a pan-Indiaimplementation,

Kirti WadhawanKanpur

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Sir — The induction of fiveRafale jets will boost the IndianAir Force (IAF)’s airpower andmilitary prowess. The procure-ment of the jets is a very signif-icant development for India,

which is in the midst of a bittermilitary standoff with China ineastern Ladakh and heightenedtensions with Pakistan alongthe LoC.

Technical experts claim thatthe supersonic Rafale can beused for ground and sea attacksand can undertake electronicwarfare, air defence, groundsupport and in-depth strikes.The biggest asset, however, is its

weapon carrying capability andair-to-air missile feature. Beingclaimed as the most potent air-craft in South Asia, the flight isequipped with scalp long-rangemissile and can hit a targetmore than 300 km away. It canalso detect threats well inadvance and neutralise them.

However, in the context ofthe border confrontation withChina, so long as Beijing refus-

es to restore status quo antealong the LAC, the Rafalesshould be used as a bargainingchip or as a contingency tactic.But in the changed securityenvironment, India needs tofast-track the procurement of thesubsequent batches of the jets.Unfortunately, the political sys-tem is always more concernedabout accusations of scandalsregarding arms purchases thanwhat they mean for security.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “New curriculum” (July 31).The NEP offers a lot of hope butthe Government must simulta-neously work on improving thequality of teaching and research.It must also improve its fundingstructure. Due to the lack ofopportunities, researchers prefermoving abroad to pursue PhD.We need to give them job offersand financial security.

Rati AgrawalVia email

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The modern military is increasingly becomingtechnology-reliant and, therefore, industry-dependent. Hybrid warfare — the current

flavour of war-fighting — is fast transforming intoa technology-based, non-contact, ambiguous andtransitory model. The rapidity of change comes fromexponential growth in every facet of human life,largely fuelled by computers, generating competi-tion between man and machine as well as combinedman-machine teams. Bursts of concentrated tech-nology innovation periods like these — so produc-tive, so game-changing — move into an entirely newcategory: Industrial revolution.

The military has been constrained to follow andadapt to what technology and the industry providethrough these cycles. Throughout revolutions his-torically, the industry has been just a level ahead ofthe military. Today we are deep into IndustrialRevolution 4.0, marked by data and machine learn-ing (ML). For the military, that means moving ourindustrial platforms and war machines to be runby Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines. The currentsecurity dynamics dictate that the military must dothat, albeit with caution, to finally pull a half-levelahead of the industry.

The armed forces must set the tone for tech-nology-based warfare and create the roadmap sothat they can reach ‘Military 4.5’ as quickly as pos-sible and guide the industry rather than be dictat-ed by it. This is a call for the military fraternity andtheir counterparts in the industry. If a country isinferior in technology, by inference, it would be infe-rior in national security.

Facing an adversary with better technology, youare that much weaker, more porous and behind thecurve. If you are vulnerable, you are also exploitableby nations that are high on research and develop-ment and innovation. That advantage extends wellbeyond military might to the negotiating table, todiplomatic efforts, to trade and financial markets.Overall, security is driven by accelerating techno-logical prowess. For example, China feels comfort-able, as it projects and flexes its muscles, leverag-ing technology and military power in tandem.

Moving the military to 4.5 will represent a majorhurdling of significant obstacles i.e. our cultural aver-sion to swift change. Right now, we have yet to fullysubsume the elements of Industrial Revolution 4.0.We’re frankly closer to 3.5. But who better to deter-mine what is needed and put forth to the industrythan the armed forces, the tip of the spear. We needthe industry to deliver today on the most promis-ing technologies of tomorrow.

Neo-Nanotechnology: Light, small and fast,nanotechnology and miniaturised componentsoffer the military some obvious benefits in termsof portability, protection and connection. But itneeds to go further. We need the military version— neo-nanotech — that’s even smaller, refined forreliable performance, and rugged and hardenedenough to withstand the rigorous demands of fieldoperations.

Human augmentation to match the machine:As systems become more networked and themachines get smarter, the sheer speed and connec-tivity will challenge the human beings they aremeant to serve. They will need to keep up. Fast andcapable, these systems will easily outstrip their oper-ators unless some augmentation technology pairswith the person to prevent fatigue, circumvent rel-atively slower thinking and fuels a better decision-making cycle. This intelligent augmentation is cru-cial to controllable autonomous applications. Forcontext, consider the modern-day flight deck, whichrelies on human input to set up a flight plan. But

the execution of that flight is now under-taken by the onboard flight computer, amachine. Why? Humans are now theweakest link in the chain, vulnerable tolapses in attention, fatigue, even informa-tional, psychological, biological andchemical warfare. Autonomous systemsare much more impervious to suchinfluences.

True network-centric operations:When target acquisition and robotics arebrought together, we will have nearlyachieved the Industrial Revolution forMilitary 4.5. Call it C5ISR-STAR2(Command, Control, Communications,Computers, Cyber, Intelligence andInformation — Surveillance, TargetAcquisition, Reconnaissance andRobotics). It is a substantial name for asubstantial capability, a networked battle-field where decentralised, robotic-initiat-ed decision-making would be the norm.The Command, Control and Surveillancewould largely be linked through space.These assets in space would need protec-tion. How that is achieved is another race.

Imagine, for example, that humanspre-programme a satellite to identify tar-gets in a certain area. AI can enable themto set the parameters by which the targetwould be eliminated autonomously — thesystem would designate the weapon fordoing so and take action if the criteria fits.In another situation, humans mightserve as the final confirmation before theautonomous system locks on to a targetfor action. Another step forward wouldbe to designate pre-sanctioned targets, tobe engaged on appearance.

The Internet of Military Things(IoMT): Network-centric operationswon’t happen without the fusion ofsmaller, smarter sensors, network connec-tivity, signal intelligence devices, aircraft,UAVs and so on. A secure, private net-work is the core layer to communicatingthis data. That will require scalable satel-lite connectivity for narrowband applica-tions plus fibre and microwave links to

support broadband applications. Thesewould ultimately connect millions ofdevices and sensors operating ubiquitous-ly and support data transfer. AI wouldplay a critical role, enabling the IoMT totransition from mostly telemetry andsensing to complete autonomous actionguided by rules defined by individualcountries.

Computer networks are efficient,desirable tools as they can move massivemachine data simultaneously to multiplesubscribers. This can also turn disastrousif disruption is caused through technol-ogy limitations, an incident driven byadversarial action or a simple humanerror. The military has this challenge —it needs its machines and networkssecured and protected against these pos-sibilities. High assurances and strong pro-tection tools will need to be delivered bythe industry. Call it military-grade secre-cy; security protocols would need to bewell-defined.

Secure Chips, Quantum Technologyand IP concealment (ie, no IP Address)would essentially form this baseline.None of the above will be possible if theindustry cannot pin down the fundamen-tal, base-layer PME (Power, Materials, andElectronics) capabilities. Military superi-ority will come from innovations that candeliver lighter, more sustainable power,perhaps delivered through nuclear, renew-ables or rechargeable through motion.

It will come from lighter, stronger,self-healing materials designed to max-imise survivability for the war-fighter andbear up under temperatures that span theextremes of heat and cold.

It will come from next generationelectronics that are tiny, light and pro-grammable. It will come from develop-ing the technological mechanisms thatmake it possible for humans andmachines to partner in powerful newways. PME would expand the possibili-ties for a single fighting machine to per-form operations in all three spheres — air,

ground and water — with almost equalefficiency and sustainability. The AIengines would enable them to be net-worked as swarms and self-assign targetsbetween machines. Networks will makeit possible to build H-M2M-H (Human-Machine to Machine Human) interfacesto bring battles to be planned, regulatedand controlled from manned war rooms,yet fought by machines in the field. Thegroundwork has clearly been laid. Wehave data, advanced computing, newmaterials and engineering methods thatare translating into the fastest evolutionof physical systems in human history.

We can process data in seconds andrun experiment after experiment basedon the evolving results. Even small com-panies can better innovate at scale becauseit’s cheaper and faster to do so. There aresimply no excuses for failure.

If the industry can deliver on this con-siderable potential, the military candeliver and fulfil its prime directive:Ensuring national security that underpinsall else. We can do it while preservinghuman life and outsourcing the truly dan-gerous jobs to robotics and autonomoussystems. Military 4.5 is not a holistic war-fighting solution but a concept to guidethe industry to push the envelope beyond4.0.

For all actors, elements of war-fight-ing (ethical, unethical and ambiguous) arecoming together in a new technology-enabled paradigm — hybrid war — thatwill challenge us to be more thoughtful.The Grey Zone is expanding, stitchingnon-State and State actors as legitimateparticipants of the hybrid war. The con-ventional battles are subsuming the sub-conventional. Technology is the commondenominator but it needs ethical militaryguidance along the way.

(The writer is a military veteran andformer Deputy Chief of Integrated DefenceStaff of India. He raised the Defence SpaceAgency, Defence Cyber Agency and SpecialOperations Division.)

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An acquaintance associated withan advertising firm once relat-ed a rather telling anecdote.

Two years ago, his firm prepared acampaign for a food company ownedby a gentleman from Faisalabad. Theowner of the company was a self-made-man who, decades ago, hadbegun his career as a worker in a fac-tory after arriving as a teenager froma village.

He had passed his matriculateexams but because of his family’s dete-riorating economic situation, he couldnot attend college. However, this did

not stop him from diligently workinghis way up. From a factory worker, hebecame a foreman and then, yearslater, with some money borrowedfrom a friend, he first set up a grocerystore and then a small food company.The business was a success and by2006, he was a rich man.

The campaign that the advertis-ing firm presented to him was basedon phrases and antics popularised byarchetypal Punjabi films. After thefirm was done presenting, the ownerbegan giving his feedback. He told theagency’s executives that he wouldnever want to use the campaign.

He then explained: “For years,Punjabis like me have been strugglingto eliminate this image of us as peo-ple who look and do things like SultanRahi in Punjabi films.” The business-man was disappointed that a group ofeducated executives from Karachicould not visualise his company as amodern entity as they would do for amultinational.

This was a case of how superficial-ly sometimes members of urban mid-dle-classes perceive people from hum-bler backgrounds. The advertisingexecutives had been told by “insiders”in the company about the owner’srural origins. So, in a bid to appeal tothis aspect of his personality, theyassumed that Punjabi films wereaccurate depictions of the province’srural life and, therefore, such imagerywould suffice to get the owner’sapproval.

In the early 1990s, Imran Aslam,playwright and former editor of anEnglish daily where I worked as areporter, told me that when he was ayoung man and “experimenting” withcommunism, there used to be a trendamong communists from well-to-domiddle-class families to “prove theirsocialist credentials” by taking up“working class vocations.”

Imran said that he once joined agroup of labourers working at a con-struction site but the workers simply

refused to let him work. This was notbecause his presence threatened them.In fact, according to Imran, it actual-ly amused them no end. They justcould not figure out why a person witha good education, spacious home andthe potential to bag a lucrative jobwould leave all of it to lift bricks witha group of men who would rather havea good education, spacious homes andthe potential to bag lucrative jobs.

According to Imran, his young,idealistic self had sketched a roman-ticised picture of how working classpeople think. He believed they wouldbe pleased to see a member of a moreprosperous class join them in doingwhat they did for a living. Imran saidthat, eventually, some of the labour-ers told him that one day they wouldlike their children to have the kind oflife he had before he arrived at the con-struction site. Imran went back home.

In 2015, at that year’s KarachiLiterature Festival that I attended asa speaker, I bumped into a relative of

the late communist leader HasanNasir. Nasir, who hailed from an aris-tocratic family in India, was associat-ed with the Communist Party ofPakistan. He was arrested by the AyubKhan dictatorship in 1960, torturedand killed. His relative is married toone of my mother’s cousins. He (therelative) told me that Nasir was arrest-ed from a shanty town in Karachi.When I asked him if he was hidingthere, the relative smiled and said, “No,he was living there.” He said that Nasirwas constantly at odds with his priv-ileged background and made sure hechallenged it by residing in areas whereworking-class people lived, in theirhuts and tiny apartments.

As I showed my appreciation, therelative smiled again and said, “Butthey (the poor) always treated him dif-ferently. He was never accepted as oneof their own. All they were interestedin was whether he could get them bet-ter jobs or a better education for theirchildren. All else they understood as

just talk by a young man.” This is interesting because, as a

student leader, during my involvementin a campaign for a political party forthe 1988 elections, I remember thatwhen we used to visit low-incomeareas, the people there would nod,smile and applaud the fiery speechesthat the party’s younger cadres deliv-ered. But they were far more interest-ed to meet the candidate and talk tohim about whether he was capable ofproviding them jobs or schools, orhow the candidate planned to resolvethe area’s infrastructural issues.

Finally, one day, I asked the can-didate how he was able to engage withthe voters in such areas where our rev-olutionary speeches about solidaritywith the poor were failing to attractsimilar traction. He replied: “Theydream about becoming what youare. They don’t want to see anotherthem. They want to see themselvesbecoming you, or at least believe thattheir children can. That’s what I

promise them. Things and tools to bet-ter their lot.”

In his 1937 book, The Road toWigan Pier, George Orwell writesabout his experiences living as asocialist among coal miners and fac-tory workers. According to Orwell, thepoor were simply interested inimproving their lives with better payand conditions. They had no interestin the theoretical aspects of any ide-ology. Orwell believed that the reasonthe socialists failed to fully engage withthe workers was because the socialistsbring with them people who preachcomplex political and cultural ideasthat have everything to do with upperand middle-class discourses and noth-ing to do with the realities and aspi-rations of the working-classes. Insome cases, this may also mean usingideological rationales to keep thepoor from even thinking about anyupward mobility because that wouldbe “beneficial to capitalism.”

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Kabul/Islamabad: Pakistan-origin intelligence head of ter-ror group Islamic State'sKhorasan unit (ISIL-K) hasbeen killed by special forcesnear the eastern town ofJalalabad, according to theAfghan security agency.

Zia-ur-Rehman known asAssadullah Orakzai was killedduring an operation nearJalalabad, close to Pakistanborder, the NationalDirectorate of Security or NDSsaid in a statement on Saturday.

Orakzai was the head ofintelligence for Islamic State'sKhorasan branch, which isactive in South Asia andCentral Asia.

"The Special Units of theNational Directorate ofSecurity NDS have eliminatedAssadullah Orakzai, the nativeof Akhel Orakzai agency ofPakistan during a targetedoperation," the TOLOnewsreported, citing the statement.

He was involved in sever-al deadly attacks against bothmilitary and civilian targets inAfghanistan, it said.

"Afghanistan's regional andinternational partners shouldremember that Afghanistan isa key player in the fight againstterrorist and will crush terror-ists' roots anywhere," the NDSsaid.

Last week, the 26th reportof the UN's Analytical Supportand Sanctions MonitoringTeam concerning ISIS, al-Qaeda and associated individ-uals and entities said that manyformer Tehreek-e-Taliban mil-itants have joined ISIS-Khorasan (ISIL-K).

"The total number ofPakistani foreign terrorist fight-ers in Afghanistan, posing athreat to both countries, isestimated at between 6,000and 6,500, most of them withTTP," it said.

The monitoring team alsoestimates the current ISIL-Kmembership in Afghanistan at2,200. In April and May, theAfghan special forces con-ducted a series of countrywideoperations that led to the arrestof the group's leaders, includ-ing Aslam Farooqi (also known

as Abdullah Orakzai), the headof ISIL-K, his predecessor Ziaul-Haq (also known as AbuOmar Khorasani) and othersenior members.

In March, at least 25 Sikhworshippers were killed andeight others injured when aheavily armed ISIS suicidebomber stormed his way intoa prominent gurdwara in theheart of Afghanistan's capital ofKabul, in one of the deadliestattacks on the minority com-munity in the strife-torn coun-try.

Eighty people, includingwomen and children, strandedinside the gurdwara were res-cued by the security forces.

The ISIS terrorist groupclaimed responsibility for thelatest attack.

In July 2018, ISIS terroristsbombed a gathering of Sikhsand Hindus in the eastern cityof Jalalabad, killing 19 peopleand injuring 20.

Awtar Singh Khalsa, one ofthe country's best-known Sikhpoliticians then, was amongthose killed in the attack. PTI

Berlin: Some 45 police officerswere injured in a wave of week-end demonstrations in Berlinincluding protests against coro-navirus restrictions, police saidas protesters gathered again insmaller numbers on Sunday.

The unruly protests, inwhich many demonstratorsfailed to wear masks or respectsocial distancing rules, havesparked a chorus of condemna-tion including calls for tougherpenalties against those who vio-late restrictions aimed at curb-ing transmission of the deadlyvirus. A total of 133 people werearrested during Saturday'sprotests, which included a huge"day of freedom" demo againstcoronavirus restrictions, policesaid in a statement on Sunday.

The arrests were for offencesincluding resisting police offi-

cers, breach of the peace and theuse of unconstitutional symbols.

Three officers required hos-pital treatment, police said.

Around 20,000 people tookpart in the "day of freedom"demonstration, the majority notcovering their nose and mouthor respecting Germany's 1.5-metre (five-foot) social distanc-ing requirement.

The crowd, a mixture ofhard left and right, and con-spiracy theorists, shouted "Weare the second wave" as theyconverged on the BrandenburgGate, demanding "resistance"and dubbing the pandemic "thebiggest conspiracy theory".

Police began dispersing thecrowds in the late afternoon, buthundreds of protesters remainedat the Brandenburg Gate lateinto the evening. AFP

Kampala: After 23 days inquarantine in Uganda — farlonger than required — JimmySpire Ssentongo walked free inpart because of a cartoon hedrew. It showed a bound pris-oner begging for liberationafter multiple negative tests,while a health ministerdemanded to know where hewas hiding the virus.

“The impression was thatwe were a dangerous group andthat what was necessary was toprotect the rest of society fromus,” said Ssentongo, a cartoon-ist for Uganda's Observernewspaper who was put inquarantine when he returnedfrom Britain in March.

The fear he describes isindicative of the dangerousstigma that has sprung uparound the coronavirus inAfrica — fuelled, in part, bysevere and sometimes arbi-trary quarantine rules as well asinsufficient information about

the virus.Such stigma is not unique

to the continent: Patients fromEcuador to Indonesia havebeen shamed when their diag-nosis became known.

But with testing in Africalimited by supply shortagesand some health workers goingwithout proper protective gear,

fear of the virus on the conti-nent as it approaches 1 millionconfirmed infections is hin-dering the ability to control itin many places — and also dis-couraging people from seekingcare for other diseases. The waypeople were treated early in thispandemic is “just like the way,early on in the HIV epidemic,

patients were being treated,”Salim Abdool Karim, an epi-demiologist who chairs SouthAfrica's COVID-19 ministeri-al advisory committee, told aWorld Health Organizationevent last month. People withHIV were often shunned bytheir own families, and reportsof health workers refusing tocare for them were common inthe 1990s.

Now, some people avoidtesting for the coronavirus"because if they test, they'reostracised," Karim said. Orsimply locked away. Ssentongo,who was released from quar-antine on the 24th day aftertesting negative three times,told The Associated Press thathe and others were poorlytreated at the facility, a hotel.Like him, many were held forfar longer than the required 14days, and he saw some bribetheir way out. He was amongthose that went on hunger

strikes in a bid to be freed.“It was dehumanising,” said

Ssentongo, who also noted thatthere was no social distancingat the facility, and medicalworkers were rarely seen andinconsistent in their efforts tocontrol the virus. A medicalteam once took a woman sus-pected of having the virusfrom her room and sprayed herwith disinfectant, but ignoredher partner.

In neighbouring Kenya,people in quarantine reportedsimilar poor treatment anddiscrimination.

At one facility, those insidesaid their money was rejectedby the staff and the surround-ing community when theytried to buy food, according toa Human Rights Watch reportin May. At another, kitchen staffsometimes declined to servethem, forcing a security guardto bring the food.

Some humanitarian groups

warn that stigma could setback Africa's pandemicresponse.

In Somalia, "our teams areseeing people who have testedpositive running away fromtheir homes out of fear ofbeing stigmatised by the com-munity,” Abdinur Elmi, an offi-cial with the aid group CARE,said in a statement.

As a result, the group said,contact tracing has becomenearly impossible in the Hornof Africa country, which hasone of the world's weakesthealth systems after nearlythree decades of conflict.

Worryingly, the stigma hasattached to health and aidworkers in some places. In theWest African nation of BurkinaFaso, a nurse's assistant whofound employment as a clean-er in a hospital said her unclegave her an ultimatum: quit orleave home.

“He said, 'Pack your bags

and find another place to live,'”said the woman, who spoke oncondition of anonymity inorder to avoid retribution fromher family.

Health Minister PierreSomse, of Central AfricanRepublic, said humanitarianworkers have been targetedbecause the idea has spread thatWesterners, who often do suchwork, brought the virus. Heurged governments to “de-dra-matize” the response to calmpanicked communities.

Aid workers have raisedsimilar concerns about how theresponse is described inUganda, where health officialsfrequently speak of “huntingdown” suspected patients.

The blaring horns andsirens of the vehicles used bythose tracing the contacts of theinfected add to a sense of fearin some communities, such asthe village of Bugomoro nearthe Congo border, said Charles

Kaboggoza. The World Visionofficial said he witnessed dis-crimination against the familyof a man who tested positiveafter returning fromAfghanistan in March.

“The people had stoppedthem from going to fetch waterfrom the (well)," he said. “It wasreally stigmatizing." Someaccused the patient of bringinga “curse" to the community, hesaid.

Stigma is also having a neg-ative effect on health care morebroadly. In CARE-supportedhealth centers in Somalia, thenumber of people seeking con-sultations for communicablediseases has fallen by 26 percent since the first case ofCOVID-19 was recorded in thecountry, “with fear of stigma forhaving the virus being a majorfactor,” according to the group.

Some leaders are aware ofthe dangers of stigma and arecountering it. AP

Tel Aviv: An Israeli Cabinetminister says he has tested pos-itive for the coronavirus.

Minister for Jerusalem andHeritage Rafi Peretz tweeted lateSaturday that he received apositive result after being test-ed the previous day. He said hefelt well.

Peretz is the second Israeliminister to have been infectedwith the virus. Israel's formerhealth minister, YaakovLitzman, also contracted it andlater recovered.

Israeli media reported thatcontact tracing was being con-ducted to determine whetherIsraeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu or other legislatorswould need to self-isolate fol-lowing Peretz' diagnosis. Israelis experiencing a surge in coro-navirus cases after having large-ly contained an earlier out-break in the spring. AP

London: UK Chancellor of theExchequer Rishi Sunak onSunday backed a campaign forinfluential ethnic minority fig-ures to be featured on a set ofUK coins to celebrate Britain'sdiversity.

Mahatma Gandhi is in therunning as an influentialCommonwealth figure, as theUK's Royal Mint considers theplans as part of commemorat-ing the 150th birth anniversaryyear of the Indian independencemovement leader.

Others in the race alsoinclude Noor Inayat Khan, whowas the first Indian-originWorld War II spy for Britain,and Khudadad Khan, the firstsoldier of the British IndianArmy to become the recipientof the prestigious Victoria Cross,the highest military award forgallantry in the face of theenemy given to British and

Commonwealth forces.“Yesterday [Saturday] I

wrote to the Royal Mint urgingthem to consider how to cele-brate the achievements ofBAME [black, Asian andminority ethnic] individuals onUK coinage,” said Sunak in astatement issued on socialmedia on Sunday.

The move follows a letter tothe Indian-origin finance min-ister from the “We Too BuiltBritain” campaign calling for aset of coins entitled “Service tothe Nation”.

In response to the cam-paign, led by Indian-originConservative Party candidateZehra Zaidi, Sunak issued a let-ter to the chair of the Royal MintAdvisory Committee (RMAC),Lord William Waldegrave, totask the Sub-Committee onThemes to consider recognisingBAME contributions on the

nation's coinage.“Black, Asian and other

ethnic minority communitieshave made a profound contri-bution to the shared history ofthe United Kingdom,” readsSunak's letter to LordWaldegrave. “For generations,ethnic minority groups havefought and died for this coun-try we have built together;taught our children, nursed thesick, cared for the elderly; andthrough their enterprising spir-it have started some of our mostexciting and dynamic busi-nesses, creating jobs and drivinggrowth,” it reads.

“I know you are alreadyseeking to fully consider diver-sity in future coin design and Ivery much welcome theseefforts. I hope this campaignreminds us of the importanceand urgency of doing so,” itadds. PTI

Portland: The Portland PoliceBureau declared an unlawfulassembly Saturday night whenpeople gathered outside apolice precinct in Oregon'slargest city and threw bottlestowards officers, police said.

Until that point, federal,state and local law enforcementhad been seemingly absentfrom the protests Thursday,Friday and Saturday. Thedemonstrations — that forweeks ended with tear gas, fire-works shot towards buildings,federal agents on the street andinjuries to protesters and offi-cers — have recently endedwith chanting and conversa-tions.

Activists and Oregon offi-cials urged people at Saturdaynight's protest in Portland tore-center the focus on BlackLives Matter, three days afterthe Trump administrationagreed to reduce the presenceof federal agents in Oregon.

Groups gathered Saturdayevening in various areas

around downtown Portlandto listen to speakers and pre-pare to march to the JusticeCenter and Mark O. HatfieldCourthouse.

One of the more popularevents, “Re-centering why weare here - BLM,” was hosted bythe NAACP. Speakers includ-ed activists as well as Oregon

Sen. Jeff Merkley and PortlandCity Commissioner Jo AnnHardesty.

Merkley and Hardestyspoke about policies they areputting forward, including tocut police funding and restrictchokeholds. “The next thingwe need you to do is vote likeyour life depends on it, because

guess what, it does,” Hardestysaid.

For the first time since thepresence of federal agents inPortland diminished lawenforcement and protestersnoticeably clashed Saturdaynight.

As one group of protestersgathered outside the court-house another marched to aprecinct for the MultnomahCounty Sheriff 's Office andPortland Police Bureau.

Police stated that protest-ers proceeded to throw glassbottles and direct lasers atofficers. Just before 10 p.M.,Portland police declared anunlawful assembly and direct-ed people to disperse or theymay be subject to use of forceor be arrested. Police could beseen charging, multiple times,at protesters in the area.

At the courthouse thescene was different. Around11:30 pm hundreds of peopleremained, standing and lis-tening to speakers. AP

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Washington: Federal authoritiessay one of the gravest threats tothe November election is awell-timed ransomware attackthat could paralyse voting oper-ations. The threat isn't just fromforeign governments, but anyfortune-seeking criminal.

Ransomware attacks tar-geting state and local govern-ments have been on the rise,with cyber criminals seekingquick money by seizing dataand holding it hostage untilthey get paid. The fear is thatsuch attacks could affect votingsystems directly or even indi-rectly, by infecting broadergovernment networks thatinclude electoral databases.

Even if a ransomwareattack fails to disrupt elec-tions, it could nonetheless rat-tle confidence in the vote.

On the spectrum of threatsfrom the fantastical to the moreprobable, experts and officialssay ransomware is a particularlyrealistic possibility because theattacks are already so pervasiveand lucrative. The FBI andDepartment of HomelandSecurity have issued advisoriesto local governments, includingrecommendations for prevent-ing attacks.

“From the standpoint ofconfidence in the system, Ithink it is much easier to dis-

rupt a network and prevent itfrom operating than it is tochange votes,” Adam Hickey, aJustice Department deputyassistant attorney general, saidin an interview.

The scenario is relativelysimple: Plant malware on mul-tiple networks that affect voterregistration databases and acti-vate it just before an election.Or target vote-reporting andtabulation systems.

“With the 2020 election,election infrastructure has atarget on its back,” ColoradoSecretary of State JenaGriswold said. “We know thatelection infrastructure wasattempted to be undermined in2016, and we know the tech-niques are shifting.”

The number of attacks hasescalated in recent years, withtargets including Texas' trans-portation agency and city com-puters in New

Orleans. A Decemberreport by cybersecurity firmEmsisoft tracked attacks againstat least 966 entities that inter-rupted 911 services, renderedmedical records inaccessibleand hindered police back-ground checks.

“We're seeing state andlocal entities targeted with ran-somware on a near daily basis,”said Geoff Hale, a top election

security official with HomelandSecurity's Cybersecurity andElection Infrastructure Agency.

Steps taken to improvesecurity of voter registrationsystems after the 2016 electioncould help governments fendoff election-related ransomwareattacks. They've also acted toensure they can recover quick-ly in the event of an attack.

Colorado, for example,stores redundant versions of its

voter registration data at twoseparate secure locations soofficials can easily shift opera-tions. Backups are regular sothe system can be quicklyrebuilt if needed.

Even so, ransomware is anadded concern for local elec-tion officials already con-fronting staffing and budgetconstraints while preparing fora shift from in-person voting toabsentee balloting because of

the pandemic.In West Virginia, state

officials are more concernedabout the cyberthreat con-fronting its 55 county electionoffices than a direct attack onthe statewide voter registrationsystem. One click from acounty employee falling victimto a spearphishing attack couldgrant a hacker access to thecounty network and eventual-ly to election systems. AP

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Washington: Only 34 per centof Americans approve of USPresident Donald Trump's han-dling of the novel coronaviruspandemic, according to a newpoll.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll,whose results were released onFriday, also found that the USpublic broadly disapproves ofthe President's handling ofother recent crises such as thenationwide protests followingthe death of African AmericanGeorge Floyd, reports Xinhuanews agency.

According to the poll's

result, "just over a third ofAmericans (36 per cent)approve of President Trump'shandling of the response to theprotests across the country".

"Specifically, a majority ofAmericans (52 per cent) believethe deployment of federal lawenforcement to cities withprotests have made the situationworse," it added.

Republicans back Trump'shandling of the coronavirus(74 per cent), the protests (78per cent) and Russia (80 percent) by overwhelming mar-gins.

Democrats are almost uni-formly in opposition to Trump'smanaging of the three issues,with approval of the presidentin single-digits on the pandemic(7 per cent), the unrest (8 percent) and Russia (8 per cent).

Roughly 1 in 5 Republicansdisapprove of the president oncoronavirus (26 per cent), theprotests (22 per cent) and Russia(20 per cent), and just over 9 in10 Democrats disapprove on allthree matters.

The ABC News/Ipsos studysurveyed 730 adults from July29-30. IANS

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Kathmandu: Nepal's embattledPrime Minister K P Sharma Oliand the ruling party's executivechairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda' have agreed to holdanother round of talks onMonday as nearly three-hourlong meeting on Sunday failedto resolve their differences, amedia report said.

"Talks are positive betweenthe two leaders. There was dis-cussion whether to summon theparty's Secretariat, StandingCommittee or the CentralCommittee meeting. The meet-ing also dwelled on holding theparty's unity general conven-tion,” the Prime Minister's PressAdviser Surya Thapa was quot-ed as saying by My Republica.

"The two leaders are yet toreach any consensus," Thapasaid. The meeting between thetwo top leaders of the NepalCommunist Party (NCP) camesix days after Prime Minister Oli

postponed the party's StandingCommittee meeting on July 28.

The Standing Committeemeeting has fallen uncertain asdifferences between the two topleaders continue to exist, thepaper said.

During Sunday's meeting,the prime minister was accom-panied by his close confidanteSubash Nembang, who has beenworking as a mediator to resolvethe differences between Oli andPrachanda. Prachanda wasaccompanied by senior leaderJhala Nath Khanal.

The two leaders are sched-uled to hold talks again onMonday to find a way out to thecurrent stand-off, the papersaid, citing sources.

Quoting party insiders, itsaid the two leaders have helddiscussions as per the proposalput forth earlier by the party'sVice Chairman Bam DevGautam. PTI

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo on Sunday urgedHong Kong to reverse a deci-sion to suspend its legislativeelections amid a resurgence ofthe coronavirus, saying thedelay would be another blow toits autonomy from Beijing, themedia reported.

In a statement publishedon Sunday morning, Pompeocondemned the decision byHong Kong Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam to invoke her emer-gency powers to postpone theLegislative Council elections,scheduled for September 6,until September 5, 2021,reports the South ChinaMorning Post (SCMP).

"We urge Hong Kongauthorities to reconsider theirdecision," he said.

The elections should beheld as close to the September

6 date as possible and in a man-ner that reflects the will andaspirations of the Hong Kongpeople.

"If they aren't, then regret-tably Hong Kong will contin-ue its march toward becomingjust another Communist-runcity in China.

"There is no valid reasonfor such a lengthy delay... It islikely, therefore, that HongKong will never again be ableto vote – for anything or any-one," the SCMP newspaperquoted Pompeo as saying in thestatement.

As relations betweenWashington and Beijingremain tense, the US hasmoved to end preferential treat-ment for Hong Kong over whatit sees as an erosion of itsautonomy and freedoms.

Besides Pompeo, HongKong's opposition lawmakershave also decried the electiondelay as a political move.

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Seoul: North Korean mediaoutlets on Sunday lashed out atSouth Korea over a recent USdecision to lift restrictions onSeoul's use of solid fuel for itsspace rockets, slamming themove as being contrary to theSouth's calls for peace.

Seoul and Washingtonrevised the missile guidelinesbetween the two countries onJuly 28 to lift a decades-old banon the South from using solidfuel for space rockets, a moveexpected to lead to the countrydeveloping space rockets andlaunching spy satellites to mon-itor North Korea, reportsYonhap News Agency.

Meari, one of the North'swebsites, denounced the revisedguidelines, saying Seoul "hasrevealed its evil intentions forcontention, saying the solidfuel-propelled space rocketsallow the launch of low-orbitreconnaissance satellites, or

that it will talk with the US onlifting restrictions on the rangeof ballistic missiles".

South Korea is still prohib-ited from firing solid-fuel bal-listic missiles with the range ofover 800 km under the allianceaccord first signed in 1979.

On July 29, the presidentialoffice Cheong Wa Dae said thecountry will make continuedefforts to "secure complete mis-sile sovereignty".

Another North Korean out-let, Uriminzokkiri TV, criticizedSouth Korea's move as a "con-tradictory attitude".

The articles mark the firsttime North Korean media out-lets have reacted to the South'srevised missile guidelines, butmedia reports still remain lim-ited to propaganda outlets andofficial state media, such as theKorean Central News Agencyor the Rodong Sinmun remain-ing silent on the issue. IANS

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Union Minister NitinGadkari has approved an

employment generation pro-gramme proposed by Khadiand Village IndustriesCommission to make Indiaself reliant in agarbatti pro-duction through the use oflocally-made machines bymanufacturers and trainedworkers.

The ‘Khadi AgarbattiAatmanirbhar Mission’ aims atcreating employment for theunemployed and migrantworkers in different parts of thecountry, handholding artisansand supporting the local agar-

batti industry. The current consump-

tion of agarbatti in the countryis approximately 1,490 MT perday. However, per day produc-tion of agarbatti in India is just760 MT. The deficit is metthrough imports primarilyfrom China and Vietnam.

Elaborating on thescheme, which will initially belaunched on a pilot basis, KVICChairman Vinai Kumar Saxenatold PTI that “100 per cent ofthe machines used in produc-tion of agarbattis were beingimported from Vietnam”.

Under the scheme, KVIChas decided to procure onlylocally-made machines by

Indian manufacturers whichalso aims at encouraging localproduction. KVIC will pro-vide automatic agarbatti makingmachines and powder mixingmachines to artisans throughsuccessful private agarbattimanufacturers who will sign

agreements as business partners. The Commission will pro-

vide 25 per cent subsidy on thecost of the machines and recov-er the remaining 75 per cent ofthe cost from the artisans ineasy instalments every month.

The business partner willprovide raw material to artisansfor making agarbatti and paythem wages on job work basis.

Saxena said the pilot pro-ject for the programme willbegin this month. “Supply ofraw material to the artisans,logistics, quality control andmarketing of the final productwill be the sole responsibility ofthe business partner. Afterrecovery of the 75 per cent

cost, the ownership of themachines will automaticallybe transferred to the artisans,”the Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises Ministry stated.

A two-party agreementto this effect will be signedbetween KVIC and the privateagarbatti manufacturer for suc-cessful running of the projecton PPP Mode.

The cost of artisans’ train-ing will be shared betweenKVIC and the private businesspartner wherein theCommission will bear 75 percent of the cost while 25 percent will be paid by the busi-ness partner. “Each automaticagarbatti making machine

makes approximately 80 kgagarbatti per day which willprovide direct employment tofour persons. One powder mix-ing machine, to be given on aset on five agarbatti makingmachines, will provide employ-ment to two persons,” theMSME Ministry saidThe wagesto artisans will be provided bybusiness partners on weeklybasis directly in their accountsthrough direct benefit transferonly.The current job work ratefor agarbatti making is Rs 15per kg. At this rate, four arti-sans working on one automat-ic agarbatti machine will earnminimum Rs 1,200 per day bymaking 80 kg of agarbatti.

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States which imposed morethan 50 per cent COVID-

cess on liquor after the resump-tion of retail trade post lock-down witnessed an average 59per cent decline in sales in Mayand June due to higher tariffs,a report by trade associationCIABC claimed.

States as Delhi, AndhraPradesh, Odisha, J&K andPudducherry, which hadimposed a Covid-cess of 50 per

cent and above reported adecline of 66 per cent in Mayand 51 per cent in June com-pared to the year-ago period,the report by Confederation ofIndian Alcoholic BeverageCompanies (CIABC) said.

While, states as ArunachalPradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan,West Bengal, Kerala andJharkhand, which had imposeda Covid-cess between 15-50 percent reported an averagedecline of 34 per cent 0in sales,the report stated.

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Power producers’ total out-standing dues owed by dis-

tribution firms rose over 47 percent year-on-year to �1.33 lakhcrore in June 2020, reflectingstress in the sector.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total of �90,655 crore to power genera-tion firms in June 2019, accord-ing to portal PRAAPTI(Payment Ratification AndAnalysis in Power procure-

ment for bringingTransparency in Invoicing ofgenerators).

The portal was launched inMay 2018 to bring in trans-parency in power purchasetransactions between the gen-erators and discoms. In June2020, the total overdue amount,which was not cleared evenafter 60 days of grace periodoffered by generators, stood at�1,20,041 crore, as against�72,362 crore in the year-agoperiod. According to the latest

data on the portal, total out-standing dues in June hasincreased over the previousmonth. In May 2020, the totaldues of discoms stood at�1,26,963 crore.The overdueamount in June 2020 alsoincreased from �1,13,869 crorein May 2020. Power producersgive 60 days to discoms for pay-ing bills for the supply of elec-tricity. After that, outstandingdues become overdue and gen-erators charge penal interest onthat in most cases.

New Delhi: Foreign portfolioinvestors remained net buyersfor the 2nd consecutive monthin July by pumping in �3,301crore in Indian markets amidhopes of a coronavirus vac-cine.According to the deposi-tories data, a net sum of � 7,563crore was invested in equitieswhile� 4,262 crore were with-drawn by FPIs between July 1-31.Net investment duringmonth stood at �3,301 crore. Inthe previous month, FPIs put ina net �24,053 crore in Indianmarkets. Some factors that ledto investment in July includesurge in markets which pro-vided FPIs good profit bookingopportunity, improvement insentiment on the back of risinghopes of a coronavirus vaccine,said Himanshu Srivastava,associate director - managerresearch, Morningstar India.

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The Reserve Bank’s rate-set-ting Monetary Policy

Committee (MPC) will meetnext week to decide on the pol-icy stance amid the urgency torevive the coronavirus-hiteconomy and increaseddemand for one-time loanrestructuring by industrychambers.

Experts are, however,divided over the possibility ofanother rate cut by the RBI inits forthcoming policy arguingthat one-time loan restructur-ing was more essential at thisjuncture to tide over theCOVID-19 situation.

The MPC, headed by RBIGovernor, is scheduled to meetfor three days beginningAugust 4 and announce itsdecision on August 6.

The central bank hasbeen taking steps proactively tolimit the damage to the econ-omy caused by the COVID-19pandemic and subsequentlockdowns.

It is to be noted here thata fast-changing macroeco-nomic environment and thedeteriorating outlook forgrowth necessitated “off-cyclemeetings” of the MPC – first inMarch and then again in May2020.

SBI’s research report‘Ecowrap’ said with the 115basis points (bps) reduction inrepo beginning February,

banks have already transmitted72 bps to the customers onfresh loans in the interreg-num which is perhaps a mile-stone in terms of the fastest pol-icy rate transmission in India.Large banks have transmittedas much as 85 basis points.

“...We believe an Augustrate cut is unlikely,” it said.

It believes the MPC couldnow well debate what furtherunconventional policy mea-sures could be resorted to in thecurrent circumstances toensure financial stability iscontinued to be addressed.

However, several experts,including from banks, haveopined the RBI may go for yetanother reduction in reporate of at least 25 bps onAugust 6.

Higher prices of fooditems especially meat, fish,cereals and pulses pushed theretail inflation based onConsumper Price Index (CPI)to 6.09 per cent in June. Thegovernment has tasked theRBI to keep inflation at 4 percent (+, - 2 per cent). The cen-tral bank mainly factors inCPI while arriving at its mon-etary policy.

Kuntal Sur, Partner &Leader, Finance Risk &Regulation, PwC India, saidthe MPC has followed anaccommodative policy onrates, with a cumulative reporate cut of 135 bps over the lastone year.

“Given the growth prior-ity, we expect the soft stance tocontinue. However, since thereis ample liquidity in the systemand transmission of rates ishappening, there may be apause on the reduction ofrates,” Sur said.

CII Director GeneralChandrajit Banerjee said inthe current subdued econom-ic environment, the RBI mustconsider regulatory relaxationsto avoid a bulge in deficits.

“Banks and financial insti-tutions may be allowed to pro-vide a one-time window forrestructuring of all term loansso that companies can comeback on stream.

The credit guarantee onloans to MSMEs has taken offwell,” he said.

The RBI may considerincreasing the turnover limitfor eligible companies in linewith the new definition ofMSMEs, Banerjee suggested.

Gaurav Dayal, Partner-Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan,agreed with the position takenby SBI Ecowrap that the MPCmay look to leave the ratesunchanged and not go for fur-ther rate cuts in the upcomingmeeting.

“However, the committeemay yet surprise us by goingwith a nominal rate cut to lendsupport to the government’spush for reviving growth quick-ly post the lifting of lock-down,” he added.

Mandar Pitale,Head, Treasury, SBM BankIndia, said as hinted by one ofthe MPC members in minutesof the previous meeting, thepanel may preserve some spacein future when situation startsreturning to normalcy and thefiscal and monetary boost mea-sures start generating impactsto ease further to encourage thegrowth.

“There is still a smallprobability for a cut in reverserepo rate, acting as signalingrate at present,” Pitale added.

Jyoti Prakash Gadia, man-aging director at ResurgentIndia, was of the opinion thatas per the strategy ahead forthe RBI, the policy stanceshould be accommodativemonetary policy for now,implying the governmentincreases the money supply inthe economy keeping in con-sideration to steps to increaseslowing Indian real GDPgrowth rate.

Shanti Ekambaram, GroupPresident, Consumer Banking,Kotak Mahindra Bank, said theinterest rate cuts have had lit-tle impact on demand stimu-lation or growth.

The COVID-19 pandem-ic is hurting both businessesand consumers alike and theuncertainty around whenthings will normalise has led tolacklustre and muted demandand supply disruptions, shesaid.

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Ashift to being a market-based economy from a

nationalised system has led tosimmering tensions betweenthe Reserve Bank and theGovernment and questionsover the central bank’s inde-pendence, former RBI deputygovernor Viral Acharya hassaid.

The economist, who wentback to teaching in the US afterhis surprise resignation fromthe RBI ahead of his term’s endlast year, said India continuesto be in his heart and he wouldlike to “give back” to the coun-try in the future as well.

Acharya, who resignedafter run-ins with theGovernment last year, said thedip in financial savings is alsoanother reason which canexplain the disagreementsbetween Mint Road and NorthBlock.

It can be noted that a slewof central bank governors inrecent times have flagged theissue of autonomy, and point-ed to instances where therewere disagreements both in ratesetting – where the governmentwants an accommodatorystance – and also regulatoryaspects.

“Over discussions with for-

mer governors and deputy gov-ernors, I seem to have foundone explanation for why Ithink these pressures are nowsort of simmering more. Ithink it is because we havemoved from being a nation-alised economy to a marketeconomy,” Acharya said duringa discussion organised byBhavan’s SPJIMR.

Citing former Governor YV Reddy, Acharya said in theolden days, there was thecentral government, the RBIand the public sector banksmade for a “Hindu undivid-ed family arrangement”,wherein all the requirementsof the stakeholders were eas-ily handled.

“This Hindu undividedfamily arrangement isn’t whatthe economy is about any-more. There are markets, pri-

vate sector firms are borrowingboth domestically and inter-nationally,” Acharya said.

Apart from the shift in thecharacter of the economy, thereis also a dip in the financial sav-ings of the countrymen in thelast decade which makesresources scarcer, he said.

“Growth is slowing, thefiscal (math) is becoming over-stretched rather than consoli-dating, and the household sav-ings rates are coming down,” heexplained.

“This is creating pressuresin the same arrangement thatwe had before because thegovernment needs to borrow,reduce its bills in one way orthe other and everyone wantsto turn to the central bank toaccommodate whatever poli-cies it can so that in one way orthe other,” Acharya said.

Acharya said in his newlylaunched book on financialstability, he has given nearlyhalf a dozen specific examplesof “fiscal dominance” to illus-trate that pressures are “verypervasive and across board”.

It can be noted that at thepeak of difference between theGovernment and the RBI,which started with the formerinvoking a never-used law togive directions to the latter,Acharya had made the “wrathof the markets” speech, warn-ing that the markets will pun-ish if the Government inter-feres in the central bank.

A little over a month afterthe speech, Governor UrjitPatel resigned, which was fol-lowed with a similar move byAcharya. Both Patel and

Acharya launched theirbooks last month, and the lat-ter said RBI lost its governor at“the altar of financial stability”.

Meanwhile, when asked ifhe will return to India, Acharyasaid he is back to spending timewith his family in the US rightnow but would like to give backto the country in the future aswell. “...If the right opportuni-ty comes, India will always beand is always inside my heartand (I) would like to give back.I still think I have something togive back,” he said.

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Telecom industry bodyCOAI expects supportive

policy framework and ecosys-tem to being in new technolo-gies in India as it looks towardsjourney for the next 25 years inthe country, a top official of thebody said.

COAI’s newly-appoint-ed Director General S PKochhar told PTI starting fromscratch 25 years ago the Indiantelecom sector is the second

largest growing market global-ly after China with a huge sub-scriber base of over 120 croreserving them with the cheap-est tariffs in the world.

Ever since the first mobilecall, made on July 31, 1995,telecom service providers havealways come through in diffi-cult situations.

Keeping the citizens con-nected, the nation’s economybuzzing, governments func-tioning and the networks run-ning.

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IRB Infrastructure DevelopersLtd on Sunday said it has

received award letter fromNHAI for executing a stretch ofVadodara-Mumbai Expresswayat a cost of �1,755 crore.

With this award, the com-pany’s order book now standsat �13,755 crore. “IRBInfrastructure Developers Ltd,India’s largest highways infra-structure developers, hasreceived a Letter of Award(LoA) from the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) for 27.5-km longGandeva–Ena section of theupcoming greenfield project of

eight lane Vadodara-MumbaiExpressway,” the company saidin a regulatory filing. “We arehappy to receive the LoA fromNHAI; the second one for thestretch on prestigiousVadodara-Mumbai Expresswayproject under BharatmalaPariyojana,” IRB InfraChairman and ManagingDirector Virendra D Mhaiskarsaid.This will enable the com-pany to initiate further neces-sary actions to sign the con-cession agreement as well asachieving financial closure forthe project so as to receiveappointed date and commenceconstruction activity, he added.

“It is a testimony to IRB’s

capabilities, domain expertise,strict financial disciplinedemonstrated over the last twodecades in developing world-class highways infrastructureacross the nation.

We would continue to excelin our operations and wouldendeavour to complete theproject in stipulated time span,”Mhaiskar said. Last week, thecompany had emerged as thepreferred bidder for the saidproject, under hybrid annuitymode (HAM) with a bid cost of� 1,755 crore, having conces-sion period of 15 years, includ-ing 730 days of constructionperiod.

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National AgriculturalCooperative Marketing

Federation of India (Nafed) onSunday said it has procured95,000 tonnes of onion direct-ly from farmers at prevailingrates for creating a buffer stockon behalf of the Government.

Last year, Nafed hadpurchased a total of 57,000tonnes of onion from the 2018-19 Rabi (winter) crop under thePrice Stabilisation Fund (PSF).The target this time is to buy 1lakh tonnes of key kitchen sta-ple from the major producingstates.

“We have procured 95,000tonnes of onion so far for thebuffer stock. We will completethe target of 1 lakh tonne in the

next 2-3 days,” NafedAdditional Managing DirectorSK Singh told PTI. Onionsgrown in the Rabi (winter) cropcan be stored and have a longshelf life when compared to theone grown in the Kharif season.

The Rabi onions havebeen procured largely fromMaharashtra, Madhya Pradeshand Gujarat through farmers

producers organisation (FPO)and cooperative societies aswell direct purchase centres, hesaid.

Singh also said, “Onionshave been procured at an aver-age loose price of �10-11 perkg.” The cooperative has addedits own operational storagecapacity for onions inMaharashtra and Madhya

Pradesh by 30,000 tonne, withthe support of StateGovernments.

Last month, Nafed hadapproached State Governmentsto send their requirements oflean months in advance toensure timely evacuation of thestored onion in a plannedmanner to have a salutaryeffect on retail prices, whichtend to go up in the period lateAugust to November.

This will help in cut-ting the storage losses, as longduration of storage entailshigher storage loss to the extentof 35 per cent, which getscompounded due to adverseweather conditions, as report-ed last year. Besides onion,Nafed is procuring pulses forbuffer stock.

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It’s good to see how individuals havefinally started believing in ‘what youload on your body really impacts

your well-being’. With the increasingconsciousness about body positivityand self-care, the idea behind the beau-ty and personal care industry is under-going a paradigm shift. It now acknowl-edges that mindfulness and considera-tion towards consumer wellness mustgain precedence over the look factor.This has fuelled a subsidiary start-upempire dedicated to holistic health andgrooming.

Breaking out of societal stan-dards: A positive change in consumerbehaviour

So far, both men and women havebeen conforming to certain set stan-dards. Dipali Mathur Dayal, co-founderof Super Smelly, says, “For decades,these standards have been dictating theideal way men and women should lookand carry themselves. Truth be told,there is no ‘ideal’ body type.”Fortunately, people are realising thatbeauty lies in loving your skin, beingperfect in your imperfections and tak-ing care of your health more than any-thing else. “Young customers no longerbelieve in the marvel of artificiallyglamorised photographs that makethem look unnaturally beautiful anduncertain about their bodies,” she adds.

“People are becoming aware nowmore than ever and embracing natur-al, organic, and chemical-free productsthat have health benefits. Ayurveda isbeing accepted all around the globe asa healing science. Ayurvedic productsare considered to be the ones that workon the root of the problem rather thancovering it up,” says Parag Kaushik, Co-Founder, Upakarma Ayurveda.

With start-ups becoming torch-bearers of this change, even big brandslike Hindustan Unilever and Johnson &Johnson, which recently abandonedtheir “fairness” label to shed colour prej-udice, followed suit.

How are they leading the change?The new age, aware consumer,

believes in buying toxin-free, cruelty-free, natural and safe products ratherthan picking up anything that doesn’tbenefit the body but harms the planetinstead. Many start-ups have come upwith products that are environment-friendly, clean, vegan, cruelty-free, sus-tainable, toxin-free, and made with all-natural ingredients that have a positiveimpact on your health.

“The start-ups have brought abouta boom in natural and chemical-freeproducts and expanded the interest fornatural and eco-friendly items. In con-trast to synthetic items, natural offeringsaddress further issues and help in cellreinforcement, pigmentation hindranceand antimicrobial action,” says Dipali.

“When you choose Ayurvedic prod-ucts over the market-based ones that arefilled with harmful chemicals, it can sur-prise you by the multiple benefits itexerts. When your body maintains anatural balance, life becomes healthier.It may prevent various health ailments,inflammation, support beautiful skin,may improve concentration and can alsohelp to de-stress the mind in naturalways,” says Parag.

Beauty is no longer just skin deepbut is about a healthy body, innerpeace and sustainability. For personalcare business visionaries, this niche mar-ket is set to develop exponentially.Simply because the urban millennnialsand Gen Z will be powering and drivingit. Many of these brands are alsoemploying green manufacturingprocesses, such as solar power. “The eco-conscious packaging utilises everythingfrom recyclable paper to compostable

corn-based cellophane to help reduceour impact on the planet. And decreasethe carbon footprint,” says Dipali.

Moving away from toxic labelsWhen buying a personal care prod-

uct, it is critical to read the labels. Toxinscan be hidden in the most commonly-used ingredients such as sulfates andparabens, which are cheap preservativesand hence used to prolong shelf life ofthe beauty product that you use. Thesechemicals have various harmful conse-quences on your body, skin and hair andcan lead to permanent damage.Thesynthetic substances make the skin andhair lose their natural oils and leavethem rough and destroyed condition.The continuous use of such toxin-laden products is extremely dangerousto one’s well being.

So it is important to look for labelsthat mention ‘sulfate-free’, ‘paraben-free’ and ‘environment-friendly’.Furthermore, new-age brands are alsoencouraging customers to look forlabels like ‘Australia Certified Toxic Free’,‘Not Tested On Animals’, ‘Made Safe’,IFRA- compliant. These internationalcertifications and tests indicate thatproducts are the safest for use and thebest for your body.

While these certifications are impor-tant for personal care products for allages, when it comes to Gen Z, they needto be even more careful about what theyapply to their body. “Since this is the agewhen the skin undergoes a lot ofchanges due to puberty, hormonalchanges, exposure to dust, dirt, swim-ming pools, playgrounds, toxin-ladenproducts can wreak havoc on their skin,”says Dipali.

We are always just one step awayfrom moving towards a big change andthe start-ups have taken that foot for-ward to facilitate a world that is harmo-nious, sustainable, cruelty-free, natur-al and accommodative.

In keeping with the rapidlychanging times, the Fashion

Design Council of India (FDCI)has embraced new technologies.Thus, the Designer Stockroom,the anticipated sale, is nowonline, in its fourth edition.

Over 100 designers areretailing their collections atupto 70 per cent discount. TheDesign Council has created aone-stop portal for participatingdesigners on its website, wherecustomers will be directed to the“Designer Stockroom” sectionon the designer’s website.

“With the fashion week nothappening this time and theretail stores closed, this was theneed of the hour. Though vari-ous designers prepared them-selves with some available stock,the major issue was the lack ofplatforms to showcase the col-lections. So we thought of doing

something for our members,”said Chairman, FDCI, SunilSethi.

Interestingly, there was noapplication fee or revenue shar-ing for this initiative as the ideawas to get the sales wheelsrolling. “We wanted to have asale where we wouldn’t becharging anything from thedesigners as well as customers.Here what you see is what youget as the designer is able to selldirectly without giving any per-centage to the middlemen,”Sethi added.

The basic idea is to get thedesigners going. He furthershared that in the first threehours, almost 30,000 peoplehad overviewed the products.And, by the very next day, thenumbers increased to 50,000.

After tracking the buyers’pattern, it was seen that most ofthe sales were from the afford-able and mid price level brack-et. Sethi said, “The customer isvery frugal and wants some-thing worth the price. It seemsthat the market is hungry forIndian fashion designers’ appar-el but only at an affordableprice. So we encourage the con-sumers to come and buy and thedesigners to do better pricing inorder to increase their sales.”

The FDCI is trying to helpthe country’s designers to restartbusiness and give them a plat-form to showcase their collec-

tions. It is planning to host theIndia Couture Week in the dig-ital space later this year. “Therewe want to cater to a higher leveland not only the affordableones. That would be more of aspecific interest. If someone isgetting married or there’s a spe-cial occasion, you have to becareful but you’re not necessar-ily affordable. You are wantingto have the best and look thebest. So the budgets are going tobe enhanced in that case,” addedhe.

The FDCI is also workingon the Designer Showroom,which will be a B2B platform. Itwill connect designers withdomestic and international buy-ers for future collections. Thisbusiness platform will be live forthe forthcoming season, takingthe design council towards adigital transformation.

� ���������������������������Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena makes history in her journey from

aspiring aviator to India’s first female combat pilot in the Kargil War.Starring Janhvi Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi and Angad Bedi, the film releas-es on August 12 on Netflix.

��������������������Suspected of heinous crimes, they’ve avoided capture

despite massive rewards and global investigations. A docu-series profiling the world’s most wanted. It releases onAugust 5 on Netflix.

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Southern high school with an unlikely new career as butt-kicking bounty hunters. Starring Anjelica Bette Fellini, MaddiePhillips and Kadeem Hardison, season one releases on August14 on Netflix.

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Rakshabandhan is a special occasion to celebrate theselfless love between a brother and a sister. It’s not

just a festival, but a symbol of our tradition and culturethat keeps us connected with our family sacraments. Theoriginal spirit of this festival lies in two words i.e rak-sha which means to protect and bandhan which meansbonding.

There have been many examples in history. The storyof Rani Karnavati and Emperor Humayun is quite a pop-ular one. When Rani Karnawati, the widowed queen ofthe king of Chittor, realised that she could in no waydefend her kingdom from the invasion of the Sultan ofGujarat, she sent a rakhi to Emperor Humayun. In return,he honored this affectionate thread (rakhi) and at oncesent his troops for her help. Another mythological ref-erence is connected with Lord Krishna and Draupadi.According to the legends, Krishna loved Draupadi somuch that he called her sakhi. Draupadi, too, had a lotof faith on Krishna. During thegreat battle of Mahabharata,Lord Krishna threw a celestialweapon at Shishupala in order topunish him for numerous sins.However, during the act of hurl-ing the Sudharshan Charka fromhis index finger, he hurt himself.On seeing blood drops, Draupadiimmediately rushed to protecthim and she tore off a piece fromher saree and wrapped it aroundhis finger to stop the bleeding.Krishna was touched by her gesture of devotion. He askedher what would she like in return of this favor.Draupadi, like a true sister, just asked for the lord’s holypresence in her life forever. From that moment onwards,Krishna has been with Draupadi like a shadow protect-ing her from every small or big trouble. When theKauravas tried to dishonor Draupadi through cheerharan, she prayed to Krishna continuously. LordKrishna took care of her honour and punished the sin-ners during the battle of Mahabharata.

With the passage of time, this festival has acquireddifferent expressions and connotations. In presenttimes, where glamour is ruling people’s heart and mind,there has been a major change observed in man’s atti-tude and approach towards this festival. As a result ofwhich mutual feelings of love, affection and most impor-tantly piousness has completely disappeared, because ofwhich the current generations are asking questions like— ‘how can one protect somebody just by tying a thread,which is easily breakable?’ ‘Do such rituals or practicesseem practical in today’s modern world?’ Those who areposing these questions must first of all understand thatrakhi is merely not a cotton thread but a sacred oblig-ation to protect modesty.

While tying rakhi on her brother’s hand, a sister doesnot just seek protection for herself only. No. She keepsmuch higher spirit of seeking protection for entire femalecommunity. Along with this, she also prays to god thather beloved brother becomes liberated from vices of lust,anger, greed, attachment and ego, and attains true peaceand happiness in life. Thus, it is important for those so-called modern and practical people to realise that tyingrakhi is just a symbolic gesture. What’s important in thisritual is the feelings of good wishes and prayers thatcomes out from a sister’s heart, which further acts likea shield of protection for her brother. However, one won-ders — are only females in need of protection? We oftenforget our true identity of being an infinitesimal pointof the divine energy i.e a soul. We get entangled in theweb or bondages of five vices — lust, anger, greed, attach-ment and ego — which overpowers and influence us toperform negative actions. In turn which causes sorrowand misery.

So when almighty applies the tilak of soul-conscious-ness on our forehead, we become elevated and divine.We start seeing each other as souls and not body. Thisunlimited vision of brotherhood breaks all barriers ofcaste, creed, gender, religion and superstitions, thereby,purifying our consciousness and making our actions pos-itive to receive his blessings. And stay under the canopyof his protection for eternity. So let’s bind ourselves inthis ‘spiritual bond’ that would liberate us from allbondages and help us to regain our lost sovereignty.

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Global pandemics likeChikungunya, Ebola Virus,SARS, Zika Virus, and now

COVID-19 have shrouded variousparts of the world, leaving them in astate of turmoil. Governments acrossnations have ordered complete lock-down, leaving adults and childrentrapped in their homes. The globaleconomy is experiencing a slumplike never before. The situation, whichis getting beyond control, has pro-foundly affected global businessesand the education sector.

Children and old age people, dueto their low immunity, are mostaffected by the contagious disease. Toprevent the disease from spreadingfurther, the WHO (World HealthOrganisation) advised limiting humanintervention. As a result, schools,universities and coaching classesacross the world have been shut, cre-ating panic and anxiety among par-ents, teachers, students and educators.

The disruption in educationaffected students’ learning, resulting ina loss of their life’s precious time. Theonly option viable for the students andlearners in the wrecked situation wasto switch to online modes. With a mas-sive surge in the number of users, itis the EdTech sector that has managedto face the unsettled economy by pro-viding free access to their learning plat-forms. The situation of havoc is a per-fect time for these EdTech startups toenhance the efficacy of their products

and services. One such solution thathas opened new opportunities forthem is the integration of ArtificialIntelligence or Machine Learningwith their platforms in channelisingremote education.

AI IN EDUCATION: A BOON INDISGUISE

India, the second-largest countryin terms of population, immensely lagsin the number of education specialistsavailable. The best solution to this ismoving proactively towards remotelearning. One of the government ini-tiatives taken in this direction is theSWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds),which makes learning material acces-sible for teachers as well as studentsusing cloud computing.

The integration of AI by e-learn-ing platforms to their core productsand services enables customisation ofthe entire learning experience as wellas saves a lot of time. A perfect collab-oration between AI and e-learningproducts expands the users’ rate ofengagement by making the online ses-sions much more interactive.

AI plays a significant role in pro-viding teachers and tutors more timeto monitor how individual students areusing the concepts. The involvementof modern devices makes learningmuch more personalised by cus-tomising the content for each student,depending on their skills and capabil-

ities, even in times of remote learning.Though remote learning seems to

be attractive in times like these, itappears that organising the learningprocesses is difficult in a remotelearning scenario. This is where AI orML comes into play too. Managingand coordinating the curriculum withthe help of artificial intelligence is amuch more comfortable and advancedsolution. Effective management ofthe learning process makes theseremote learning sessions engagingand enjoyable for both the teachers aswell as the students.

Incorporation of machine learn-ing to education helps in better analy-sis of a student’s capabilities and per-formance. There are smart pro-grammes that analyse a student’sstrengths and weaknesses, predictingtheir future performance. This, in turn,enables teachers to make a studyplan focusing on the weaker areas ofa student, which is not possible in thetraditional classroom structure ofeducation.

The problem of biased gradingsystem is also solved with the success-ful integration of AI to education whenimparted remotely. This increases thetrust in the education system as theprejudice of teachers towards a specif-ic student no longer affects the scoreof those deserving.

The entire process of impartingeducation, assessment and evaluationof student’s performance, setting of

tests and exam papers and tracking theperformance of each student becomessimple and less time-consuming. Inturn, teachers and educators are leftwith more time to focus on improv-ing the teaching quality and aptitudedevelopment. AI and remote learning,though, have emerged as a solution tothe current situation, have a long wayto go in the future.

WITH OPPORTUNITIES COMECHALLENGES

Remote learning and integrationof AI in the Indian education systemhave emerged as a profitable solutionin a tough time like these. But withevery opportunity, what comes alongis a set of challenges that need to bemet for its proper implementation.Remote learning seems to be a lucra-tive solution, which again leaves usquestioning whether it is possible ona large scale or not. A significant chunkof the students comes from an areawhere internet connectivity is anissue. Though the mobile penetrationin the country has increased, whatremains to be a challenge is the digi-tal divide prevailing in Indian society.Limited data usage, unavailability oflaptops and tablets, lack of access todigital resources, and e-libraries aresome primary hurdles that need to beresolved before remote learningbecomes the norm.

(The author is the co-founder andCEO of Next Education India Pvt Ltd.)

Barack Obama once said,“You know, we’re in a sports

centre. Imagine if you have ateam and you don’t let half of theteam play. That makes no sense.Isn’t it?” Similarly, the commu-nities that don’t give theirdaughters the same opportuni-ties as their sons, they are mostlikely to lag behind. No countrycan ever truly flourish if it sti-fles the potential of its womenand deprives itself of the contri-butions of half of its citizens.Well, the mere reason could bethe saying — if you educate aman, you educate an individual.But if you educate a woman, youeducate a nation.

Even though India is emerg-ing as a superpower, educatinggirls still continues to be a prob-lem in various parts of thecountry. Right from being bornas a girl, poor sanitation, lack offunding, early marriages to liv-ing in war zones and border ten-sions, there are innumerablereasons for a girl child beingdeprived of their basic right toeducation. However, despite allthese barriers, there are a fewexamples of student activists,who chose to put all the difficul-ties behind them in order tomove towards the path of suc-cess.

One such great example canbe of a young Pakistani educa-tion advocate, Malala Yousafzai,who began speaking out forgirls’ education at the age of 11in her native Pakistan. After sur-viving an assassination attemptby the Taliban in 2012, she co-founded the Malala Fund alongwith her father Ziauddin tochampion every girl’s right to 12years of free, safe and qualityeducation.

Asiya Firdous of Chitral vil-lage in Mendhar Tehsil ofPoonch district, Jammu andKashmir, is among other fewexamples of our country, whochose to fight against all odds to

brighten her future. Where,even today, families are skepti-cal about giving birth to a girl,she dared to dream of achievinga higher position. “I didn’t knowthat the path of my education-

al life would be full of thorns,”she said.

After completing her school,there was no easy way for Asiyato complete her higher educa-tion but she remained dedicat-

ed. “I passed the Class XIIexamination from the school inmy village. After that, when Idecided to further continue myacademics, it was very unlikelyto get permission from my fam-ily. But somehow, I still managedto convince them. Afterenrolling myself in college, lifewas still nowhere close to beingtrouble-free. I had to wait forlong hours in order to get aproper mode of conveyance.Then, the majority on the bususually consisted of men. Theyused to look at me with con-tempt. In spite of facing everykind of harassment on a dailybasis, I continued my educa-tion,” she shared.

We might attribute the lackof girls’ education in India to themale-dominated society.Although the country is makingprogress, the belief that womenbelong in their homes is stillwidely clenched. Undoubtedly,Asiya’s educational journey wasquite a challenge but she was afirm girl, who was committed toachieve something big in her life.She knew the value of educationand was ready to fight despitethe setbacks prevailing in thesociety.

“While I was on the verge ofcompleting my graduation,another wall stood in front ofme in the form of marriage. Istill wanted to pursue my post-graduation degree but my fam-ily got me married. In not-so-developed areas, parents usual-ly see their girls as more valuableto the family as workers andcaretakers. Since the responsibil-ities often increase after mar-riage, I, now, began to imaginethat I would not be able to com-plete my education like other

girls. The Government DegreeCollege in Poonch only offersundergraduate courses. So forcompleting my further studies,I had to either commute toRajouri or Jammu,” said Asiya.

She almost thought that shewould have to sacrifice hercareer because of added dutiesbut all thanks to her in-laws, whovery well understood the impor-tance of education. “Today, I ampursuing my MA in Urdu atBaba Ghulam Shah BadshahUniversity, Rajouri. I am alsoblessed with two children. I justhope that my hard work paysoff,” she said and added thatmany of the evils that thrive inour society affect girls’ education,which is why they have to giveup on their basic right. Butremember, success comes tothose who are willing to investin their future without anyexcuses.”

It is unfortunate that Poonchdistrict has long been neglectedby the leaders. Millions of girlsare being deprived of educationbecause they are exploited, dis-criminated against or simplyignored. Like Asiya, there aremany girls from different areasof Poonch, who have their sto-ries of struggle and success toshare but their stories, like theirvillages, are tucked away in themighty mountains.

Now the question is — canthe new education policy be agame changer for such locationsand the girls living there, who aredenied even the basic right toeducation? Let’s hope for thebest.

(This article is written underthe Sanjay Ghosh MediaFellowship.)

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Opener Jonny Bairstowsmashed 82 off 41 balls as

England beat Ireland by fourwickets in the second one-dayinternational to take an unassail-able 2-0 series lead.

England overcame a middle-order wobble to finish on 216-6 in32.3 overs in reply to Ireland's 212-9 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

After Adil Rashid had taken3-34 to reach 150 ODI wickets,Bairstow equaled the record forthe fastest 50 in this format by anEnglishman off 21 balls.

Bairstow, Eoin Morgan andMoeen Ali were dismissed asEngland lurched from 131-3 to137-6, before an unbroken 79-runstand between Sam Billings andDavid Willey helped the hosts totheir target with more than 17overs to spare.

The pair had been the stand-out performers in Thursday'sopener and came to the rescuehere, Billings finishing on 46 notout while Willey followed up his2-48 with an unbeaten 47 in theevening sunshine.

Earlier, Ireland overcameanother poor start after winningthe toss and being reduced to 91-6 before Curtis Campher led therecovery. Campher, in only his

second ODI, scored an 87-ball 68 with eight foursbefore being dismissed byseamer Saqib Mahmood (2-45).

Campher shared twokey partnerships late in theinnings - a seventh-wicket60-run stand with SimiSingh (25) and 56 runs forthe eighth wicket with AndyMcBrine (24).

Players again took aknee to support Black LivesMatter before the game.

The three-match series,which is being played withno fans present, marks thestart of the ICC CricketWorld Cup Super League.

The third ODI is onTuesday.

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The Indian Premier League'sGoverning Council on Sunday

decided to retain all its sponsors,including Chinese mobile companyVIVO, and approved COVID-19substitutions in the event to be heldin UAE this year.

The tournament will be playedfrom September 19 to November 10at three venues in the UAE -- Dubai,Sharjah and Abu Dhabi -- subject togovernment approval, which isexpected in the next couple of days.

"The 53-day tournament willwitness 10-afternoon matches start-ing at 15:30 IST while the eveningmatches will start at 19:30 IST," stat-ed a release from the BCCI.

"Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) is still being prepared butthere would be any number ofCOVID replacements this year," aBCCI official told PTI.

A lingering issue put to rest onSunday was Chinese sponsorship ofthe IPL.

It became a bone of contentionafter violent clashes between theIndian and Chinese troops in east-ern Ladakh in June. India lost 20 sol-diers in the showdown, causing out-rage across the country after whichthe BCCI promised to review thedeals.

"All I can say is that all our spon-sors are with us. Hopefully you canread between the lines," an IPL GCmember told PTI on conditions ofanonymity after Sunday's meeting.

As IPL title sponsor, VIVO paysaround Rs 440 crore per year, a five-year deal that ends in 2022. It wouldhave been difficult for the Board toget new sponsors at a short noticegiven the current financially difficultclimate.

In another major decision, theIPL GC also approved the women'sIPL, a development first reported byPTI after speaking to BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly on Sunday.

"Women's T20 Challenge willalso take place in the UAE and willcomprise three teams with fourmatches to be played during the IPLPlayoff week," stated the Board'spress release.

Forced out of India due to therising coronavirus case count here,the IPL will allow unlimited COVID-19 replacements considering thedelicate health safety situation acrossthe globe. India's case load has sur-passed 18 lakh with over 38,000deaths.

"The final will be played onNovember 10 as it enters the Diwaliweek making it lucrative for thebroadcasters," the IPL GC membersaid.

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Ajinkya Rahane would want hiswife and daughter to be around

during the IPL in the UAE but mind-ful of the risk it poses amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, he wouldn'thave an issue if the BCCI bars play-ers' families from the event.

The IPL is all set to be played fromSeptember 19 to November 8 in theUAE, a move forced by the risingCOVID-19 cases in India.

Rahane, who has changed base toDelhi Capitals from Rajasthan Royals,said health should be top priority.

“As an individual, you takeCOVID-19 situation aside, you wouldwant your family to travel with you,but because of this situation, safety isimportant, safety of your wife, fami-ly and daughter, obviously safety ofyour teammates is really important,”Rahane told India Today's show‘Inspiration’.

“Right now, I feel first health andthen cricket is really important. Wehad a good 4-5 months with our fam-ily (during the lockdown).”

“As I said, safety of our family,safety of our players and safety of eachand every individual is important. Thedecision is completely up to the fran-chises and the BCCI.

“But as I said, there is still coro-na around, you got to think about eachand every individual, think about your

family especially about my wife anddaughter. Safety is really important,”he said.

Rahane moved to Delhi Capitalsin the lead up to the upcoming IPLedition and the 32-year-old right-han-der said he is looking forward to work-ing with the “exciting bunch of play-ers” and head coach Ricky Ponting.

“I am really excited to play forDelhi Capitals. I got an opportunity.Last year when I was playing forHamphsire, Delhi Capitals asked meif I was interested in playing for them.

“I took my time and I thought it'san opportunity for me to learn some-thing new. To take my game forward,to take my T20 game forward,” hesaid.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni atthis year’s IPL can be a

talking point but the tournamentcannot be a selection trial for theenigmatic former India cap-tain, reckons former pacerAshish Nehra.

Dhoni has retired from Testcricket and has not played forIndia in the limited overs formatsince last year's World Cup,where India ended semifinalists.

His comeback and retire-ment has been a matter ofintense speculation. His much-awaited comeback is expected tobe with Chennau Super Kings atthe upcoming IPL, set to be heldin the UAE from September 19.

“For me, MS Dhoni’s gamenever came down,” Nehra saidon Star Sports’ show ‘CricketConnected’. “He knows how torun the team, he knows how topush youngsters forward and allthese things I don’t need torepeat again and again but I don’tthink this IPL makes any differ-ence in MS Dhoni’s stature or hisaura as a player,” added the 41-year-old Nehra, who played 17Tests and 120 ODIs.

“I don’t think a tournamentlike the IPL should be MS

Dhoni’s selection criteria, it'sprobably just a talking point,"

“As far as MS Dhoni’s inter-national career I don’t think thisIPL has anything to do with it.If you’re a selector, you’re a cap-tain, you’re a coach and MSDhoni...If he is ready to play, hewill be my number one name onthe list,” he said.

The former left-arm pacersaid players will have to behaveresponsibly during the IPL toavoid protocol breaches likethat by England’s Jofra Archerduring the recently concludedEngland-West Indies series.

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BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday saidthe Women’s IPL or the Challenger series, as it

is better known, is “very much on”, ending specu-lation about the parent body not having a plan forHarmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men’s IPL will be held between September19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be lockedin) in the UAE due to the surge in COVID-19 casesin India. The women’s IPL will also be fit in to theschedule, according to the BCCI chief.

“I can confirm to you that the women’s IPL isvery much on and we do have a plan in place forthe national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead ofthe IPL Governing Council meeting later onSunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a SupremeCourt verdict on waiver of the cooling off periodto continue in the position, did not divulge detailsbut another senior official privy to the developmentsaid that women’s Challenger will be held during thelast phase of IPL like last year.

“The women’s Challenger series is likely to beheld between November 1-10 and there could be acamp before that,” the source said.

The former India captain also said that the cen-trally contracted women players will have a campwhich has been delayed due to the prevailing situ-ation in the country.

“We couldn’t have exposed any of our cricketers— be it male or female to health risk. It would havebeen dangerous,” Ganguly said.

“The NCA also remained shut because ofCOVID-19. But we have a plan in place and we willhave a camp for women, I can tell you that,” headded.

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Helped by a rule change thatled to more penalty kicks,

Ciro Immobile matched therecord for goals in a Serie A sea-son with 36.

In his last match of the sea-son, Immobile finished off anexchange with Adam Marušicwith one touch midway throughthe first half of a 3-1 loss atNapoli on Saturday.

Current Juventus strikerGonzalo Higuaín also scored 36in 2015-16 while with Napoli,improving by one goal on theprevious mark set by GunnarNordhal 66 years earlier.

However, while Higuaínscored only three of his goals in2015-16 with penalties,Immobile had 14 penalties thisseason - around 40 percent of histotal goals. Cristiano Ronaldo,who finished second on this sea-son’s scoring list with 31 tomatch Juventus’ club record,had 12 penalties.

The plethora of penaltieswas a product of a rule callingfor involuntary handballs to bewhistled as fouls. The rule isexpected to be revised for nextseason.

Immobile also sealed thisseason's European Golden Shoeaward. Fabián Ruiz, LorenzoInsigne and Matteo Politanoscored for Napoli.

The loss saw Lazio finish infourth place - having trailedleader Juventus by just one pointentering the break for the coro-navirus pandemic.

��� ��� ����Inter Milan sealed second

place with a 2-0 win over high-scoring Atalanta, which hadn'tbeen held to a clean sheet sinceNovember.

Danilo D'Ambrosio scoredwith a header and Ashley Youngfound the target from outside

the area in the opening 20 min-utes.

Inter finished the season onepoint behind Juventus, whichsealed its record-extending ninthstraight title last weekend.Atalanta finished third for thesecond straight season, fourpoints behind Inter.

��������� ���Cristiano Ronaldo and

Juventus strike partner PauloDybala were rested in a 3-1home loss to Roma.

After Higuaín’s opener,Roma struck back with a goalfrom Nikola Kalinic and twofrom Diego Perotti.

Still, it was a celebratorynight for Juventus, whichreceived the Serie A trophyafter the game inside the emptyAllianz Stadium.

D������ �� % �Despite playing only half the

season, Zlatan Ibrahimovicbecame the oldest player toscore 10 or more goals in a sin-gle Serie A season.

At age 38, Ibrahimovicplayed a role in all three of ACMilan’s goals in a 3-0 win overCagliari, including a powerfulshot of his own that made it 2-0.

Ibrahimovic also used hisstrength to hold off a defenderand enable Rafael Leão to shootfrom a sharp angle. The ballbounced off the post andrebounded off Ragnar Klavanfor an own-goal. For Milan’s finalgoal, Ibrahimovic set up SamuCastillejo.

Also, Sampdoria drew 1-1 atalready-relegated Brescia.

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The only time Pierre-Emerick Aubameyanglooked uncertain was

when it came to collecting theFA Cup.

Two goals from the forwardhad turned around the final forArsenal, sealing a 2-1 victoryover Chelsea on Saturday in thefirst cup final to be staged with-out fans.

The coronavirus restric-tions also meant there was noPrince William at WembleyStadium to hand over the silver-ware in the royal box.

So Aubameyang had to pickup the cup himself on the fieldas captain. Taking the base aswell, no wonder Aubameyangdropped it.

“I saw him walking with thebottom bit attached," Arsenaldefender Rob Holding said,“and I was like, 'You need to takethat off!'”

The cup was soon raisedaloft, with gold streamer show-ering the Arsenal squad in amostly-empty 90,000-capacitystadium after the 139th final ofthe world's oldest football com-petition.

“He needs more experiencewith trophies, we can get himmore used to that,” Arsenalmanager Mikel Arteta said.

“He knows what I thinkabout him. I want to build thesquad around him. I think hewants to stay and it is just aboutgetting the deal done.”

That is no certainty, withAubameyang yet to commit tostaying beyond the end of his

contract next year.“I am really not thinking

about this,” he said.Winning the record-extend-

ing 14th FA Cup does at leastgive Arsenal a spot in the EuropaLeague, after missing out onqualifying through the PremierLeague after an eighth-placefinish.

“The journey has beenlong,” Aubameyang said. “Buttoday we enjoy it.”

A competition that beganon August 9, 2019, featuringteams from ninth and 10thtiers, ended later than it had everdone before - two months afterthe final was scheduled.

Never before had the FACup final been staged in August.And never before without fans.

When the team busesarrived, just one man in anArsenal supporter was singingby the entrance.

Inside the stadium, not eventhe traditional cup final anthem- “Abide With Me” - was sunglive. Instead a pre-recorded ver-sion was played out, dedicatedto the victims of COVID-19 andracial injustice and performed byEmeli Sande on the stadiumroof.

“Love Justice Unity”appeared on the big screen onthe stadium exterior that looksdown Wembley Way where theonly crowds were heading intothe shopping mall.

Supporters were still heardinside Wembley before kickoffwhen an amalgamation of men-

tal health conversations filled thesilence at this final named afterthe Heads Up initiative spear-headed by Prince William, theFA president.

Not even the second-in-line to the British throne couldsecure a ticket to Wembley withthe capacity limited to a fewhundred, including players, clubexecutives, media and medics.Instead the prince held a view-ing party on the lawn ofSandringham House.

“I’m thinking 2-1 Arsenal,”he said before the match. Howright he was. Chelsea's celebra-tions were short-lived.

It had been the dream startfor Christian Pulisic, who hasbeen a revelation since thethree-month shutdown of foot-

ball ended in June.Set up by Olivier Giroud's

back-heeled flick, Pulisic slottedin from close range after fiveminutes for his 11th goal in allcompetitions. The Americanemulated compatriot CarliLloyd, who netted in theWomen’s FA Cup final in 2017for Manchester City.

While Lloyd got to pick upthe trophy after a 4-1 victoryover Birmingham, this show-piece ended in agony for Pulisic.

Pulisic pulled up a minuteinto the second half with ahamstring injury, shouting inpain. He managed a shot beforegoing down clutching his rightknee. He had to be helped off thepitch, with support either sidewhile he grimaced.

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Asian Games Gold medalistBajrang Punia is confident of

Indian wrestlers performing welland winning medals at the TokyoOlympics next year.

The star grappler believesIndia’s performances at the WorldChampionship shows they are ingood form.

“I think we will win three tofour medals from wrestling in theTokyo Olympics. The WorldChampionship is a tougher tour-nament than the Olympics but weperformed well there. So I thinkIndian wrestlers are in top formwhich makes them strong con-tenders for a medal haul in Tokyo,”Punia said during the 17thepisode of budding internationalpaddler Mudit Dani’s online livechat show 'In The Sportlight’ onSaturday night.

The Olympic Games, whichwere initially scheduled to takeplace in 2020, have been post-poned by a year due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Along withPunia (Bronze, 65kg), DeepakPunia (Silver, 86kg), VineshPhogat (Bronze, 53kg) and RaviKumar Dahiya (Bronze, 57kg)also won medals at the 2019World Wrestling Championshipin Kazakhstan and secured anOlympic berth in the process.

During a freewheeling chat

with Dani, 26-year-old Punia saidhe would have lived a normal vil-lage life if he had not pursuedwrestling. He also rated his firstWorld Championship medal asthe most memorable accolade ofhis career so far. The Haryana boyhad an impressive outing at the2013 World Championship wherehe won bronze at the age of 19.

The online live Instagramchat series ‘In The Sportlight’, that21-year-old Dani has begun withthe sole purpose of deliveringinspiration to other young athletesand fans, has seen champion ath-letes like Abhinav Bindra, LeanderPaes, PV Sindhu, SathiyanGnanasekaran and Union SportsMinister Kiren Rijiju participate,among others.

Talking about the competitionin his current weight category65kg, Punia said: “I feel 65kg is thetoughest category in the world.There is no wrestler who has suc-cessively won world champi-onship titles or Olympic goldmedals. There is always a newchampion in every edition. Thereare strong wrestlers in this cate-gory who can beat anyone on theirday.”

The grappler further praisedgovernment and sports federa-tions for organising events such asKhelo India. It has provided amuch-needed platform for youngathletes to showcase their talent.

“The way we have beenorganising events at the grassrootlevel such as Khelo India, a lot ofyoungsters are getting much-needed support from it which wasnot there earlier. And if theykeep getting this kind of support,not only in wrestling, India willwin medals in every sport at theOlympics,” he concluded.

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England captain Eoin Morganhailed the depth in his squad

after they beat Ireland by fourwickets at the Ageas Bowl inSouthampton to claim a 2-0 leadin the three-match series. Englandare playing with a side that hasnone of the players from the Testteam that played the West Indies

in a three-Test series in July.“We have a lot of guys who

can change the match with the batat the top of the order, they havethe potential. These guys take thegame away from the opposition,”said Morgan in the post-matchpresentation ceremony.

“I was going to bat at 4 andthen we changed it. I am morethan happy to give guys opportu-

nities. It’s difficult with two bub-bles, obviously Test match is pri-ority. We are trying to fit the bestXI in the white ball format.”

“Today was a challenge butwe always wanted to play withintent. We lost wickets but cer-tainly looking at the way the guysplayed, particularly Jonny at thestart and then Sam and David fin-ished well,” said Morgan.

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Bajrang tips wrestlers to win 3-4 medals at Olympics

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