· 2 hours ago  · resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice ... Health Secretary Nitin Madan...

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R ebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Monday was sub- jected to a fierce personal attack by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot while a Congress MLA leveled the sen- sational charge that Pilot tried to lure him to join the BJP for 35 crore. The mud-slinging gave clear indication that the Congress had finally decided to shut its door on Pilot. For the first time since he went “traceless’ more than a week ago after plotting a coup against his own Government in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot also had something to say on record on Monday. The rebel leader issued a statement denying charges of attempt to pay off a Congress MLA 35 crore to join the BJP and also fended off a “nikamma” barb hurled at him by his bête noire Ashok Gehlot. “I’m saddened but not sur- prised to be at the receiving end of such baseless and vexatious allegations being levelled against me,” Pilot said. Continuing to target Pilot on daily basis, Gehlot alleged that he (Pilot) played a dirty game and conspired to topple his own Government. Amid allegations that Pilot tried to lure MLAs to join the BJP, the CM said there will be few instances where the State unit president of any political party tried to topple his own party Government. “He played a very dirty game and conspired to please the BJP,” Gehlot said. This sharp attack came even though top leadership of the Congress, including chief Sonia Gandhi, had advised Gehlot not to foul-mouth Pilot in public. This may be the end of the road for Pilot in the Congress despite the fact that he has kept a channel of com- munication open with Priyanka Gandhi. Sources in the AICC said now after so much mudsling- ing and accusation leveled by a Congress MLA that Pilot offered him huge money to join the BJP, the writing on the wall is clear that Pilot will be even- tually sacked from the party. Meanwhile, the BJP Central leadership has swung into action and is exploring the possibility of the formation of Government in the State. BJP national vice presi- dent Om Mathur met party president JP Nadda at the party headquarters in Delhi on Monday. Sources said among other issues, they also dis- cussed the political situation in Rajasthan. Sources said the party is deliberating on how to bring on board former Rajasthan CM and the tallest leader of the State, Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Addressing the media in Jaipur, Gehlot said he knew that his former deputy Sachin Pilot was “good for nothing”. “I knew that he was useless, good for nothing, and was only there to instigate people to fight. I am not here to sell vegetables, I am the CM,” Gehlot said. Gehlot described his for- mer Cabinet colleague and State PCC chief as a ‘nikamma’ (worthless) person, ‘nakara’ (doing nothing), but said he raised no question over it in the party’s interest. T he hearing on a plea filed by Congress rebel Sachin Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs against Speaker’s dis- qualification notice before the Rajasthan High Court will resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta said the hear- ing will conclude on July 21 and thereafter the court will pronounce the judgment. The marathon hearing remained inconclusive on Monday as both sides argued for a decision in favour of their respective clients. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior lawyer and the counsel for the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker, said that the petition filed by Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs was premature given the fact that a decision on their dis- qualification was still pending. Singhvi said the High Court can’t have interference over the showcause notices issued by the Speaker to the members of the House. The counsel for Sachin Pilot and the team, however, argued that party whip applies only when the Assembly is in session. Pilot’s counsel Harish Salve told the court the party mem- ber is free to defy whip direc- tion outside the House. Singhvi said the court has no jurisdiction in the case just yet. “The Speaker may or may not pass a correct decision. But there cannot be any interfer- ence at the pre-order stage pre- empting that the Speaker will take a wrong decision,” Singhvi said. He termed the rebels’ case “much worse” as there were no new grounds of challenge. “The petitioners, in an ‘over- clever’ way, have raised the same grounds of challenge that were considered and rejected by the Supreme Court,” he argued. To the rebels saying they cannot be construed to have abandoned the party for mak- ing statements and not attend- ing meetings, Singhvi said the “voluntary giving up of party membership” needed to be read widely. “There is no need for for- mal resignation; giving up of membership can be inferred from conduct. There is no straight-jacket approach for the Speaker to decide (under the Constitution),” he said. T he Rajasthan Government on Monday withdrew its “general consent” to the CBI to conduct raids and investiga- tions soon after the CBI ques- tioned Congress MLA Krishna Poonia in Jaipur in connection with the alleged suicide by Station House Officer (SHO) of Rajgarh, Vishnudutt Vishnoi, in Churu district of the State. After the Rajasthan Government’s decision the agency will now need prior permission from the State, a development which comes amid a political crisis in Rajasthan. The State Government issued a notification requiring the CBI to take prior consent of the State Government for investigation of an offence under Section 3 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946. According to the officials, the “general consent” of the State Government will no longer be valid in the offences under this law. Consent will have to be taken on a case-by-case basis. Additional Chief Secretary Home Rohit Kumar Singh said, “Its administrative pro- visions were already there, it was notified yesterday.” Officials said that in June 1990 too the Rajasthan Government had refused to give such ‘’gen- eral consent’’ to the Centre. Earlier, a CBI team led by a Superintendent of Police of the Special Crimes Unit from the agency headquarters here reached the residence of the Olympian and the Congress legislator in Jaipur. SHO Vishnudutt Vishnoi’s body was found hanging from the ceiling of his residence on May 23. T he All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi initiated phase I/II of human clinical trials of the indigenously developed Covid- 19 vaccine Covaxin on Monday, AIIMS-Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria said, adding that it would take at least three months for researchers to arrive at the first set of data about its efficacy. AIIMS Delhi is among the 12 sites where human trials for Covaxin will be conducted. New Delhi: Delhi recorded only 954 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday for the first time, taking the tally in the city to over 1.23 lakh, but with only about 15,000 active cases. For the last nine days, fresh cases were being reported in the range of 1,000-2,000 con- secutively. Thirty-five fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi health bulletin. London: A coronavirus vaccine created by the University of Oxford appears safe and induces a strong immune response within the body, sci- entists announced on Monday after the successful first phase of human trials. Doses of the vaccine were given to 1,077 healthy adults aged between 18 and 55 in five UK hospitals in April and May as part of the phase one clini- cal trial and results, published in the “Lancet” medical journal. W ith cases of Covid-19 infection skyrocketing in Jharkhand and Government hospitals running out of dedi- cated beds, the State may soon start using train coaches at Hatia Railway Station for treat- ing patients with mild to mod- erate symptoms, health officials said on Monday. Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that spe- cial Railway coaches at Hatia were available for use and the Government can start treating Covid patients in those coach- es whenever there is a need for it. “The coaches have been made available to us, and we can start using them,” said Kulkarni. “However, only patients with mild to moderate symptoms would be treated in these railway coaches,” he added. Special railway coaches, which were converted to isola- tion units in Ranchi, can accommodate at least 480 patients, officials from Ranchi Railway Division said. “We have been having talks with the Government about the use of these coaches. These special coaches are likely to be used for treating Covid patients soon,” said Neeraj Kumar, Chief Public Relations Officer of Ranchi Division. The Centre in March had decided to convert railway coaches into isolation units where Covid-19 patients could be treated. More than 5000 such coaches, including at least 500 in New Delhi, were pre- pared to fight the global pan- demic across India, officials said. As per figures with the Railways, each coach can accommodate 16 patients. Most of these coaches are non- AC coaches as it was believed that an air-conditioned envi- ronment may aid the spread of the virus. The count of active Covid- 19 cases surpassed the number of dedicated beds in Ranchi last week. However, prompt actions by the government ensured at least 300 more beds in build- ings that were converted to Covid-19 care centres here. Ranchi, however, stares at a possible crisis of beds as it con- tinues to top among Jharkhand districts in terms of fresh cases reported every day, health offi- cials said. As per government data, there were nearly 500 active Covid-19 cases in Ranchi at the time of filing of this report on Monday. At least 727 cases of Covid-19 infection have been reported in the State capital so far and 243 of these patients have recovered. There are only 100 dedi- cated Covid beds at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), the premier State-run hospital here. Besides, there are around 21 Covid beds in Medica Superspecialty Hospital. The four Covid care centres in Ranchi can accommodate over 300 patients, officials said. The railway isolation coaches may come as relief for patients from humble back- grounds as the bare minimum cost of Covid treatment in a private hospital here is Rs.15,000 per day, doctors said. Sources from the health department said that patients with severe symptoms, and the ones on ventilator, will only be treated at dedicated Covid Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in hospitals. Ranchi: The Covid toll in Jharkhand crossed 50 on Monday as four more patients, all from East Singhbhum, breathed their last during treat- ment, health officials said. Of the 53 Covid deaths reported in Jharkhand so far, 11 were from East Singhbhum and nine from capital Ranchi, government data highlights. Meanwhile, the count of Covid-19 cases in State jumped to 5777 as 178 fresh cases of infection, from 14 districts, sur- faced on Monday, data compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated. The number of cases in Jharkhand has doubled since June, officials said. By June 30, as many as 2490 cases of Covid-19 infection were reported in Jharkhand. According to officials from the police headquarters in Ranchi, Covid infection fur- ther spread in the police depart- ment on as 22 more cops tested positive for the virus, taking the total count of infected cops in Ranchi to 37. More than 200 policemen have been infected by the virus in Jharkhand so far, forcing the police department to seal several police stations for sanitisation works. Sources said that around 11 employees from the same branch of State Bank of India (SBI) also tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. However, there was no official confirma- tion on this from the Government. Ranchi, once again, report- ed the highest number of fresh Covid cases in Jharkhand on Monday, NHM data said. Seventy one fresh cases took the total count of active Covid patients in the capital to over 550. More than 70 per cent of State's Covid deaths have occured in the moth of July. As per government data, the Covid toll was 15 on June 30, and it jumped to 53 by Monday night. The government has so far collection samples of 2.35 lakh suspects and tested 2.22 lakh of them for Covid-19. Around 2.6 lakh people have been put in home quarantine in Jharkhand, while nearly 7000 have been sent to institutional quarantine. The Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand was 49.07 per cent on Monday while the mortality rate was 0.85 per cent. PNS C hief Minister Hemant Soren today said that the intensity and perimeter of Covid-19 testing in Jharkhand has been increased in the State resulting in more cases of com- ing out. He said that the gov- ernment is keeping a watchful eye on the situation and will act as the situation demands. “I have already said that testing has been increased in the State and that why more cases are coming out. Traffic was opened and more cases have surfaced. Now, some restrictions have been imposed. We are keeping an eye on the situation. The day after we have a Cabinet meeting and we will let you know if any deci- sion is taken,” said the CM talk- ing to reporters. Meanwhile, in a meeting of the State Sentence Review Board Chaired by the CM here on Monday it was decided to free 79 prisoners from differ- ent jails. At the meeting, it was proposed to free a total of 127 prisoners serving life impris- onment in the State's central prisons, out of these 79 pris- oners will be released -- 50 from Ranchi, 11 from Hazaribagh, 03 from Palamu, 05 from Jamshedpur and 10 from Dumka Central Jail. The proposal to release 40 prison- ers has been canceled and eight proposals have been kept in consideration. The CM gave a clear direc- tion to the officers in the meet- ing that special care should be taken of the elderly prisoners, especially women. He asked officials to hand over the pris- oners after contacting their family members and counsel- ing them. “Also, find out their con- dition from time to time. Also make sure that they do not face difficulties after being freed. Benefit them from the gov- ernment schemes such as ration cards, old age pension, housing scheme and other ben- efits,” he said. The nature of the detainees' crime, conduct, age, years spent in prison, their criminal men- tality to release the detainees, socio-economic status of the detainee's family etc were con- sidered in the decision. Chief Secretary Additional Chief Secretary Home, Prisons and Disaster Management Department L. Kiangte, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajiv Arun Ekka, Director General of Police MV Rao, Principal Secretary cum Legal Counsel Law Department Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, Chairman Commercial Tax Tribunal Sanjay Prasad, Assistant Inspector General of Inspector General Tushar Ranjan Gupta, Special Officer on Duty, Deepak Vidyarthi and others were present on the occasion.

Transcript of  · 2 hours ago  · resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice ... Health Secretary Nitin Madan...

Page 1:  · 2 hours ago  · resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice ... Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that spe-cial Railway coaches at Hatia ... Department Pradeep Kumar

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Rebel Congress leader SachinPilot on Monday was sub-

jected to a fierce personalattack by Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot while aCongress MLA leveled the sen-sational charge that Pilot triedto lure him to join the BJP for�35 crore. The mud-slinginggave clear indication that theCongress had finally decided toshut its door on Pilot.

For the first time since hewent “traceless’ more than aweek ago after plotting a coupagainst his own Government inRajasthan, Sachin Pilot also hadsomething to say on record onMonday. The rebel leaderissued a statement denyingcharges of attempt to pay off aCongress MLA �35 crore tojoin the BJP and also fended offa “nikamma” barb hurled athim by his bête noire AshokGehlot.

“I’m saddened but not sur-prised to be at the receiving endof such baseless and vexatiousallegations being levelledagainst me,” Pilot said.

Continuing to target Piloton daily basis, Gehlot allegedthat he (Pilot) played a dirtygame and conspired to topplehis own Government. Amidallegations that Pilot tried tolure MLAs to join the BJP, theCM said there will be fewinstances where the State unitpresident of any political partytried to topple his own partyGovernment.

“He played a very dirtygame and conspired to pleasethe BJP,” Gehlot said.

This sharp attack cameeven though top leadership ofthe Congress, including chiefSonia Gandhi, had advisedGehlot not to foul-mouth Pilotin public. This may be the endof the road for Pilot in theCongress despite the fact thathe has kept a channel of com-munication open withPriyanka Gandhi.

Sources in the AICC saidnow after so much mudsling-ing and accusation leveled bya Congress MLA that Pilotoffered him huge money to join

the BJP, the writing on the wallis clear that Pilot will be even-tually sacked from the party.

Meanwhile, the BJPCentral leadership has swunginto action and is exploring thepossibility of the formation ofGovernment in the State.

BJP national vice presi-dent Om Mathur met partypresident JP Nadda at the partyheadquarters in Delhi onMonday. Sources said amongother issues, they also dis-cussed the political situation inRajasthan.

Sources said the party isdeliberating on how to bring onboard former Rajasthan CM

and the tallest leader of theState, Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

Addressing the media inJaipur, Gehlot said he knew thathis former deputy Sachin Pilotwas “good for nothing”. “Iknew that he was useless, goodfor nothing, and was only thereto instigate people to fight. I amnot here to sell vegetables, I amthe CM,” Gehlot said.

Gehlot described his for-mer Cabinet colleague andState PCC chief as a ‘nikamma’(worthless) person, ‘nakara’(doing nothing), but said heraised no question over it in theparty’s interest.

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The hearing on a plea filedby Congress rebel Sachin

Pilot and 18 of his loyalistMLAs against Speaker’s dis-qualification notice before theRajasthan High Court willresume on Tuesday.

A Bench of Chief JusticeIndrajit Mahanty and JusticePrakash Gupta said the hear-ing will conclude on July 21and thereafter the court willpronounce the judgment.

The marathon hearingremained inconclusive onMonday as both sides arguedfor a decision in favour of theirrespective clients. AbhishekManu Singhvi, senior lawyerand the counsel for theRajasthan Assembly Speaker,said that the petition filed byPilot and 18 of his loyalistMLAs was premature given thefact that a decision on their dis-qualification was still pending.

Singhvi said the HighCourt can’t have interferenceover the showcause noticesissued by the Speaker to themembers of the House. Thecounsel for Sachin Pilot andthe team, however, argued thatparty whip applies only when

the Assembly is in session.Pilot’s counsel Harish Salve

told the court the party mem-ber is free to defy whip direc-tion outside the House.

Singhvi said the court hasno jurisdiction in the case justyet. “The Speaker may or maynot pass a correct decision. Butthere cannot be any interfer-ence at the pre-order stage pre-empting that the Speaker willtake a wrong decision,” Singhvisaid.

He termed the rebels’ case“much worse” as there were nonew grounds of challenge.“The petitioners, in an ‘over-clever’ way, have raised thesame grounds of challengethat were considered andrejected by the SupremeCourt,” he argued.

To the rebels saying theycannot be construed to haveabandoned the party for mak-ing statements and not attend-ing meetings, Singhvi said the“voluntary giving up of partymembership” needed to beread widely.

“There is no need for for-mal resignation; giving up ofmembership can be inferredfrom conduct. There is nostraight-jacket approach forthe Speaker to decide (underthe Constitution),” he said.

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The Rajasthan Governmenton Monday withdrew its

“general consent” to the CBI toconduct raids and investiga-tions soon after the CBI ques-tioned Congress MLA KrishnaPoonia in Jaipur in connectionwith the alleged suicide byStation House Officer (SHO)of Rajgarh, VishnuduttVishnoi, in Churu district ofthe State.

After the RajasthanGovernment’s decision theagency will now need priorpermission from the State, adevelopment which comesamid a political crisis inRajasthan.

The State Governmentissued a notification requiringthe CBI to take prior consentof the State Government forinvestigation of an offenceunder Section 3 of the DelhiSpecial Police Establishment(DSPE) Act, 1946. Accordingto the officials, the “generalconsent” of the StateGovernment will no longer bevalid in the offences under thislaw. Consent will have to be

taken on a case-by-case basis.

Additional Chief SecretaryHome Rohit Kumar Singhsaid, “Its administrative pro-visions were already there, itwas notified yesterday.”Officials said that in June 1990too the Rajasthan Governmenthad refused to give such ‘’gen-eral consent’’ to the Centre.

Earlier, a CBI team led bya Superintendent of Police ofthe Special Crimes Unit fromthe agency headquarters herereached the residence of theOlympian and the Congresslegislator in Jaipur.

SHO Vishnudutt Vishnoi’sbody was found hanging fromthe ceiling of his residence onMay 23.

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The All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) in

Delhi initiated phase I/II ofhuman clinical trials of theindigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin on Monday,AIIMS-Delhi Director DrRandeep Guleria said, addingthat it would take at least threemonths for researchers to arriveat the first set of data about itsefficacy. AIIMS Delhi is amongthe 12 sites where human trialsfor Covaxin will be conducted.

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New Delhi: Delhi recordedonly 954 fresh coronaviruscases on Monday for the firsttime, taking the tally in the cityto over 1.23 lakh, but with onlyabout 15,000 active cases.

For the last nine days, fresh

cases were being reported inthe range of 1,000-2,000 con-secutively.

Thirty-five fatalities havebeen recorded in the last 24hours, according to the Delhihealth bulletin.

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created by the University ofOxford appears safe andinduces a strong immuneresponse within the body, sci-entists announced on Mondayafter the successful first phaseof human trials.

Doses of the vaccine weregiven to 1,077 healthy adultsaged between 18 and 55 in fiveUK hospitals in April and Mayas part of the phase one clini-cal trial and results, publishedin the “Lancet” medicaljournal.

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With cases of Covid-19infection skyrocketing in

Jharkhand and Governmenthospitals running out of dedi-cated beds, the State may soonstart using train coaches atHatia Railway Station for treat-ing patients with mild to mod-erate symptoms, health officialssaid on Monday.

Health Secretary NitinMadan Kulkarni said that spe-cial Railway coaches at Hatiawere available for use and theGovernment can start treatingCovid patients in those coach-es whenever there is a need forit.

“The coaches have beenmade available to us, and wecan start using them,” saidKulkarni. “However, onlypatients with mild to moderate

symptoms would be treated inthese railway coaches,” headded.

Special railway coaches,which were converted to isola-tion units in Ranchi, canaccommodate at least 480patients, officials from RanchiRailway Division said. “Wehave been having talks with theGovernment about the use ofthese coaches. These specialcoaches are likely to be used fortreating Covid patients soon,”said Neeraj Kumar, ChiefPublic Relations Officer ofRanchi Division.

The Centre in March haddecided to convert railwaycoaches into isolation unitswhere Covid-19 patients couldbe treated. More than 5000such coaches, including at least500 in New Delhi, were pre-pared to fight the global pan-demic across India, officialssaid.

As per figures with theRailways, each coach canaccommodate 16 patients.

Most of these coaches are non-AC coaches as it was believedthat an air-conditioned envi-ronment may aid the spread ofthe virus.

The count of active Covid-19 cases surpassed the numberof dedicated beds in Ranchi lastweek. However, prompt actionsby the government ensured atleast 300 more beds in build-ings that were converted to

Covid-19 care centres here.Ranchi, however, stares at apossible crisis of beds as it con-tinues to top among Jharkhanddistricts in terms of fresh casesreported every day, health offi-cials said.

As per government data,there were nearly 500 activeCovid-19 cases in Ranchi at thetime of filing of this report onMonday. At least 727 cases of

Covid-19 infection have beenreported in the State capital sofar and 243 of these patientshave recovered.

There are only 100 dedi-cated Covid beds at RajendraInstitute of Medical Sciences(RIMS), the premier State-runhospital here.

Besides, there are around21 Covid beds in MedicaSuperspecialty Hospital. Thefour Covid care centres inRanchi can accommodate over300 patients, officials said.

The railway isolationcoaches may come as relief forpatients from humble back-grounds as the bare minimumcost of Covid treatment in aprivate hospital here isRs.15,000 per day, doctors said.

Sources from the healthdepartment said that patientswith severe symptoms, andthe ones on ventilator, willonly be treated at dedicatedCovid Intensive Care Units(ICUs) in hospitals.

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/�������0 ���"�$� �����!�� �Ranchi: The Covid toll inJharkhand crossed 50 onMonday as four more patients,all from East Singhbhum,breathed their last during treat-ment, health officials said. Of the53 Covid deaths reported inJharkhand so far, 11 were fromEast Singhbhum and nine fromcapital Ranchi, government datahighlights.

Meanwhile, the count ofCovid-19 cases in State jumpedto 5777 as 178 fresh cases ofinfection, from 14 districts, sur-faced on Monday, data compiledby the National Health Mission(NHM) stated. The number ofcases in Jharkhand has doubledsince June, officials said. ByJune 30, as many as 2490 casesof Covid-19 infection werereported in Jharkhand.

According to officials fromthe police headquarters inRanchi, Covid infection fur-ther spread in the police depart-ment on as 22 more cops testedpositive for the virus, taking thetotal count of infected cops inRanchi to 37. More than 200policemen have been infected bythe virus in Jharkhand so far,forcing the police department to

seal several police stations forsanitisation works.

Sources said that around 11employees from the samebranch of State Bank of India(SBI) also tested positive forCovid-19 on Monday. However,there was no official confirma-tion on this from theGovernment.

Ranchi, once again, report-ed the highest number of freshCovid cases in Jharkhand onMonday, NHM data said.Seventy one fresh cases took thetotal count of active Covidpatients in the capital to over550.

More than 70 per cent ofState's Covid deaths haveoccured in the moth of July. Asper government data, the Covidtoll was 15 on June 30, and itjumped to 53 by Monday night.

The government has so farcollection samples of 2.35 lakhsuspects and tested 2.22 lakh ofthem for Covid-19. Around 2.6lakh people have been put inhome quarantine in Jharkhand,while nearly 7000 have been sentto institutional quarantine. TheCovid recovery rate inJharkhand was 49.07 per cent onMonday while the mortalityrate was 0.85 per cent. PNS

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Chief Minister HemantSoren today said that the

intensity and perimeter ofCovid-19 testing in Jharkhandhas been increased in the Stateresulting in more cases of com-ing out. He said that the gov-ernment is keeping a watchfuleye on the situation and will actas the situation demands.

“I have already said thattesting has been increased inthe State and that why morecases are coming out. Trafficwas opened and more caseshave surfaced. Now, somerestrictions have been imposed.We are keeping an eye on thesituation. The day after wehave a Cabinet meeting and wewill let you know if any deci-sion is taken,” said the CM talk-ing to reporters.

Meanwhile, in a meeting ofthe State Sentence ReviewBoard Chaired by the CM hereon Monday it was decided tofree 79 prisoners from differ-ent jails. At the meeting, it wasproposed to free a total of 127prisoners serving life impris-onment in the State's centralprisons, out of these 79 pris-oners will be released -- 50from Ranchi, 11 fromHazaribagh, 03 from Palamu,05 from Jamshedpur and 10from Dumka Central Jail. Theproposal to release 40 prison-ers has been canceled and eightproposals have been kept inconsideration.

The CM gave a clear direc-tion to the officers in the meet-ing that special care should betaken of the elderly prisoners,especially women. He askedofficials to hand over the pris-oners after contacting theirfamily members and counsel-ing them.

“Also, find out their con-dition from time to time. Alsomake sure that they do not facedifficulties after being freed.Benefit them from the gov-ernment schemes such asration cards, old age pension,housing scheme and other ben-efits,” he said.

The nature of the detainees'crime, conduct, age, years spentin prison, their criminal men-tality to release the detainees,socio-economic status of thedetainee's family etc were con-sidered in the decision.

Chief Secretary AdditionalChief Secretary Home, Prisonsand Disaster ManagementDepartment L. Kiangte,Principal Secretary to ChiefMinister Rajiv Arun Ekka,Director General of Police MVRao, Principal Secretary cumLegal Counsel LawDepartment Pradeep KumarSrivastava, ChairmanCommercial Tax TribunalSanjay Prasad, AssistantInspector General of InspectorGeneral Tushar Ranjan Gupta,Special Officer on Duty,Deepak Vidyarthi and otherswere present on the occasion.

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The deadly virus corona isspreading its wings in the

city. Four more deaths tookplace at Tata Main Hospital (TMH) on Monday. Till now,the city has witnessed 11 deathswhile TMH alone has wit-nessed 14 deaths.

Those who died of Covidon Monday include threewomen and all different local-ities of the city. An 83-year-oldwoman from Kadma who hadbeen admitted at the Tata MainHospital's Covid ward onSunday, died this morning. An80-year-old man from Baridihlocality who was admitted atthe hospital on Saturday died

this morning. Two more women who

were of 60 years and 51 yearsfrom Mango and Sonari,admitted on Saturday andWednesday respectively suc-cumbed to the Covid at theTata Main Hospital this morn-ing.

With the four fresh deathstaking place on Monday, thetotal number of Covid deathsin East Singhbhum districtrose to 11 and at the Tata MainHospital to 14 as three Covid

patients who were from outsidethe district were undergoingtreatment at the hospital.

Meanwhile, concernedover the situation, the admin-istration has sealed the officesof the two civic bodies onMonday after sending most ofthe staff of these offices tohome quarantine. Positivecases were found inJamshedpur Notified AreaCommittee (JNAC) office aswell as Mango Notified AreaCommittee (MNAC) onSunday night.

With the civic bodies' staffquarantined, the work of bodydisposal which is carried out bythe JNAC has become a toughtask. With Monsoon rain in fullbloom, the threat of water-borne diseases is also loominglarge.

DALTONGANJ: PDS dealersin Palamu will be on the healthradar as here come all agegroups of people for ration.

Stating this, new deputy

commissioner Palamu, ShashiRanjan, who joined here onJuly 16 said, “Our fleet of PDSdealers will be scanned forhealth protocol. There has been

an episode where one PDSdealer had tested positive whomade a spectacular come backbut nevertheless this group ofpeople needs to be more takencare of.”

Ranjan said during this

pandemic there is not much ofchoice as it is Covid 19 and theother is the flow of economy.

The DC said, “I understanda balance between the two isthe need of the hour. As regardstesting of shop keepers as urged

by the Palamu chamber ofcommerce and industries Ibelieve it is to be done in aphased manner and not in thewhole hog fashion.” On fruitvendors, eatable vendors, teavendors Ranjan said, PNS

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�����'���#H�/ & ���������0�?7������� #�H������������������������������& �� 'I����' ���'�'(���#��������' ���'�'(�����������������������/�& ,�:� �� � &�#�������&��(���� ����������(� ��������!H������ #������ & ����� � ����� ��������������������������������&��(����������� ��#�����!�<=9 �� ��!�� ���� ���>����'��� ���' ��!���&��������/�& ,�: �� � &�� ������ ��� ��!������������������������������ ����� ���� ������ ���� �����!���� � ������ #

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Amidst the consistent rise inCoronavirus positive cases

day-by-day in the district, theevening OPD services atBokaro General Hospital(BGH) has been closed fromMonday.

BGH is run and managedby Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) isdesignated for COVID-19patients in the district, now hasaround 70 active cases.

The BSL management hasdecided to close the eveningOPD services at the BGH tillfurther notice, though theemergency services will be con-tinued as earlier, said the offi-cial. “There is also a manpow-er crisis, following after fewdoctors and medical staff ofBGH were tested positive forCOVID-19,” official sourcessaid.

Meanwhile, to meet anyemergency like the situation theBGH management is also incontact with the doctors andmedical staff of the other unitsof SAIL including IISCO-Burnpur, Rourkela, Kirubiruand Durgapur steel plant’s hos-pitals, he informed.

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With the spike in Covid 19cases in the last few days,

the district administration hasstarted preparations to tacklethe epidemic. The RanchiDistrict administration hasasked private hospital authori-ties to increase bed facilities forCovid 19 patients in their hos-pital.

The Ranchi district admin-istration in this connection onMonday held a meeting withprivate hospital authorities. Themeeting was headed by Ranchideputy commissioner ChhaviRanjan, Deputy DevelopmentCommissioner Ananya Mittaland other officials.Representatives from OrchidMedical Centre, Raj Hospitalsand Guru Nanak Hospital &Research Centre attended themeet.

The representatives fromRaj Hospital informed the dis-trict administration thatpresently they have reserved 20-25 beds for corona patients,Orchid Medical Centre hasreserved 15 beds, while 14 bedsare reserved at Guru NanakHospital & Research Centre forCovid patients.

The DC directed the hos-pital authorities to increase bedfacilities for Covid patients, towhich the hospital authoritiesagreed. In the meeting, DDCAnanya Mittal said that privatehospitals should discharge theirresponsibility during the coro-na period and should not benegligent in the treatment ofany patients.

During the meeting,Ranjan said that the districtadministration is in the processof arranging the treatment ofasymptomatic patients in hotelsin the coming days, in whichprivate hospitals will providehealth facilities. He directed theoperators / representatives ofprivate hospitals to decide the

framework related toit. He said that forthis, the hotel opera-tors should worktogether to fix a rea-sonable rate. He saidthat private hospitalswill prepare routinecharts of doctors andhealth workers fora s y m p t o m a t i cpatients in thesehotels.

Meanwhile, theDC inspected the

Ranchi Collectorate Building.Along with other officials hevisited various cells of the DCoffice and gave necessary direc-tives to the officers and staff.The DC asked the officers / per-sonnel to fully follow the guide-lines for prevention of coronainfection during work. Normssuch as social distancing shouldbe followed in the office too,also use masks and sanitizersshould be mandatory.

In view of the corona infec-tion, the Deputy Commissionerdirected to seriously conductthermal screening of people vis-iting the collectorate at theentry gate. He also directed totake special care of cleanlinessin the collectorate premises.

�� � 7.0/45

The Hemant Soren govern-ment as per its poll promis-

es is once again going to launchthe Saree/dhoti/lungi scheme.The dhoti-sari-lungi scheme isto provide the clothes twice ayear to below poverty line fam-ilies at the cost of just Rs 10.Chief Minister Hemant Soren inhis first term in 2014 hadlaunched the dhoti sareescheme, but later when the BJPgovernment headed byRaghubar Das came to powerthey stopped the scheme. The2014 saree/dhoti/lungi schemewas named after Hemant Soren’sgrandparents Sona-Sobran.

The scheme will be imple-mented by the Food, PublicDistribution and ConsumerAffairs Department. The clotheswould be made available on thePDS shops. Additional ChiefSecretary Food, PublicDistribution and ConsumerAffairs Department Arun Singhsaid, “The department has start-ed preparations for re-launch-ing the scheme. The departmentwill place the proposal for get-ting approval from the cabinet.After getting a cabinet nod itwill be launched.”

In this year's budget too, theState Government announcedto re-launch the cloth scheme.

The government announcedthe scheme for 57 lakh families.The beneficiary will get thecloth at Rs 10 twice the year.

Sources said that by launch-ing the scheme the govern-ment believes that they willreach the poor directly. Sourcessaid that in 2014 whenRaghubar Das governmentdecided to roll back the schemelaunched by his predecessorHemant Soren, then food andpublic distribution ministerSaryu Roy was against govern-ment decision to roll back thescheme. However, thesaree/dhoti/lungi scheme cameunder scanner as there werecharges of distribution of poorquality of saree/dhoti/lungiunder the scheme. There wasan allegation that the materialsupplied to the PDS for distri-bution to the BPl families is notsimilar to the sample providedby the supplier.

Sources said that thesaree/dhoti/lungi scheme hasremained the pet issue of polit-ical parties during election.

The scheme originally start-ed in the year 1983 by the thenTamil Nadu CM M. G.Ramachandran. He started thisscheme to encourage andincrease employment oppor-tunities in the handloom weav-ing sector in the state.

�� � 7.0/45

State BJP SpokespersonPratul Shahdeo today said

that the ruling coalition part-ners in the State have come onthe backfoot due to the issuesraised by BJP Legislature Partyleader Babulal Marandi. “Theleaders of these parties are sonervous that they seeing con-spiracy in courtesy meetings. Infact, Congress leaders havebeen meeting Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi only forconspiracy.

Therefore, they see con-spiracy everywhere. Leadersof the ruling parties ofJharkhand are able to see thefate of their party in MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan andare demanding quarantine ofBabulal Marandi and StatePresident Deepak Prakash.Whatever the government doesbut BJP's war against injusticewill continue,” he said.

Pratul said that the Hemantgovernment should tell whataction it has taken in the caseof Minister Alamgir Alam vio-lating the lockdown and send-ing workers to Pakur, and theissue of hiding the matter ofminister Haji Hussain Ansarison Tabligi Jamaat. “The stategovernment should alsoexplain why it is silent on theissue of Lalu Prasad holdingJanta Darbar against the jailmanual. The Chief Ministerwas publicly opposed by theministers after the transferposting. BJP State President

Deepak Prakash ji met BJPNational President JP Nadda jiand Babulal Marandi metHome Minister Minister AmitShah to discuss about the State’scondition then the ruling lead-ers started to smell the con-spiracy. The State governmenthas completely flopped onevery front and is makingunrestrained rhetoric from itsleaders to distract the attentionof the people,” he said.

Ranchi: Unknown criminalsstole away an ambulance van ofRanchi district Sadar hospitalfrom the hospital premise onMonday wee hours under LowerBazaar police station of the citycapital despite knowing the riskthat they can be exposed todeadly Covid-19 virus as mostof the ambulances are beingused for transportation ofCovid-19 patients.

But luckily Ranchi policetraced the missing ambulance(JH01K 2842) that was foundparked abandoned on the road-side under Bundu police stationarea about 40 km from Sadarhospital. Sources in the healthdepartment and Ranchi policeconfided that the ambulance hasbeen recovered and it is beingexamined whether any equip-ment or accessories of ambu-lance is missing or not.

“Theft took place around 1AM on Monday night. An FIRwas lodged in this regard. We areinvestigating whether this was aprank or vehicle lifting gang wasinvolved in this,” said a seniorofficial of Ranchi police. But ithas raised concern over safetyand security on the premise ofRanchi Sadar hospital situated inthe heart of the city capital. PNS

��#������ 7.0/45

From listening to his Momtell him bed- time stories, to

story time in school, Ranchiboy 9- year old Kavan Kislayahas started writing his ownnovels. His first book titled‘Simba Capeman’ published inSeptember 2019 has been oneof the best sellers amongstchildren and has been flying offthe book store shelves along-side Tintin.

Born in Ranchi, the bud-ding writer moved to Nairobiwith his parents in 2014. A stu-dent of Braeburn InternationalSchool, Kislaya is presently inyear 4 and wants to become anauthor.

“From listening to telling,I have slowly graduated towriting stories. Initially I wouldfold an A4 size paper, give it ashape of a book and write dif-ferent stories. I have been read-ing superhero stories for a

while. I started writing adven-tures about one calledCapeman as all of them wear acape. Lions are my favouriteanimal and are called ‘Simba’ inthe local language here. Hence,my book is called ‘SimbaCapeman’. I started writing afew short stories on myfavourite character and neverstopped,” said Kislaya.

Talking about his novel, theauthor said, “Simba Capemanis the greatest superhero onearth with a lion’s heart andblood. He can see and heareverything and can also lift theheaviest of weights. It is saidthat he has a third eye.”

The book is availableonline on the portals ofCrossword and Amazon andalso offline across all retailsCrossword outlets globally. Theyoung author has also starteda series of digital stories onSimba Capeman which can beread on his website www.sim-

bacapeman.com.Inspired by the famous

author Ronald Dahl, Kislayahas also been nominated inKenya for the young achieveraward- The TAWAA Award.

Apart from reading andwriting stories, Kislaya is alsofond of drawing, swimming,cricket and playing the guitar.“To be honest, I read a lot. Atairports I enter a bookstore,pick a book and read it throughthe journey. When I score well,I ask my father to buy me a

book of my choice. I have readmore than 200 books so far,”added the budding author.

Residents of Professors’Colony Karamtoli, Kislaya vis-its his hometown to see hismaternal and paternal familywith his parents twice a year.His father Krishna ManoharKislaya was born and broughtup in Ranchi and is presentlyan HR professional and worksfor Safaricom while his moth-er Rakhi Kislaya is a PhDscholar and a teacher by pro-fession.

“My parents have been mybiggest source of inspirationwho always encourage me towrite more stories. I didn’tknow what a best seller is andonce asked my father if I canhave one in my name as well.They are proud of me that Ihave written a book at such ayoung age and also inspiredmany other kids to do so,” saida beaming Kislaya.

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In one of his sharpest directattacks on the Prime

Minister, former Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi onMonday said Narendra Modihad come to power with thehelp of a ‘fabricated strongmanimage’ but now that image of aleader with a 56-inch chest wasunder attack from China.

Rahul, in his second videoput on social media in a week,claimed that China may bethinking on a larger scale of“doing something withPakistan in Kashmir” andwanted to improve its tacticalposition in areas such asDemchok, Galwan andPangong lake.

In the first video, the

Gandhi scion had said thePrime Minister’s blunders, frag-ile economy, troubled neigh-bourhood and a weak foreignpolicy had prompted China toact.

“PM fabricated a fakestrongman image to come topower. It was his biggeststrength. It is now India’sbiggest weakness,” Rahul tweet-ed his new video this being thesecond in a week.

Commenting on the recentIndia-China border face-off inthe Ladakh region, theCongress leader claimed it wasnot just a border issue butdesigned to put pressure onModi.

“And what they are doing,is that they are attacking hisimage. They understand that itin order for Narendra Modi tobe an effective politician; inorder for Narendra Modi tosurvive as a politician, he hasto protect the idea of ‘chhappaninch’ (56-inch chest). And thisis the real idea the Chinese areattacking,” the Congress leadersaid.

“They are basically tellingMr. Narendra Modi that if youdo not do what we say, we willdestroy the idea of Mr.Narendra Modi as a strongleader. Now the question is,how will Mr. Narendra Modireact. Will he take them on?Will he take on the challengeand say absolutely not, I’m thePrime Minister of India. I donot care about my image I’mgoing to take you on. Or will hesuccumb to them? The worryI have so far is that the PrimeMinister has succumbed,” headded.

“Chinese don’t do any-thing without thinking about itstrategically. In their mind,they have mapped out theworld and they are trying toshape the world. That’s the scaleof what they are doing. That’swhat Gwadar is, that is whatBelt and Road is. It is a restruc-turing of the planet. So whenyou’re thinking about theChinese you have to under-stand that that is the level atwhich they are thinking,”Rahulsaid.

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Nearly 10 years after theGangetic Dolphin was

declared a national aquaticanimal, the Modi Governmenthas, on the lines of the TigerProject and Elephant Project,cleared a dedicated conserva-tion programme to save therare freshwater species fromdisappearing from the coun-try’s aqua map.

A senior official from theUnion Environment Ministry,

which will oversee the project,said that the approval in thisregard was given in the firstmeeting of the National GangaCouncil held during December2019 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradeshunder the chairmanship ofPrime Minister NarendraModi.

“It was agreed for initiationof a Project River Dolphin onthe lines of Project Tiger andProject Elephant in consulta-tion with the Wildlife Instituteof India and experts in the sec-

tor. After discussion, theStanding Committee of theNational Board of Wildlife(NBWL) recommended thededicated project for conser-vation of Gangetic dolphins,”said the official.

With the Government’sapproval for the project, planswill soon be drawn for the ini-tiation of a dedicated projectfor conservation of the aquat-ic animal.

The Ganges River Dolphinis an endemic species of the

Ganges, Brahmaputra, andMeghna river systems, extend-ing from the foot of theHimalayas to the tidal zone inIndia, Bangladesh, Nepal andBhutan.

“Like we have tiger as anational animal and peacockas a national bird, dolphins asa national aquatic animal rep-resents the health of the rivers,particularly Ganga in thecountry,” said the official.

He felt that by declaringdolphins as a national aquat-

ic animal, the government isnot only ensuring the survivalof the species which areendemic to river Ganga butalso seeking cleansing of theriver.

In 2009, the Gangetic dol-phins were declared India’sNational Aquatic animal dur-ing the first meeting of theerstwhile National GangaRiver Basin Authority(NGRBA) and it is placedunder the “endangered” cate-gory by the International

Union for Conservation ofNature (IUCN) .It faces gravethreats due to excessive pol-lution in Ganga and poaching.There are less than 2,000 dol-phins left in the country

Since the river dolphin isat the apex of the aquaticfood chain, its presence in ade-quate numbers symbolisesgreater biodiversity in theriver system.

It has been included in theSchedule-I of the IndianWildlife Protection Act, 1972.

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Targeting Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, BJP presi-

dent JP Nadda said on Mondaythat his allegations against theUnion Government on theIndia-China stand-off in east-ern Ladakh were “weak onfacts and strong on mudsling-ing” and accused him of pre-ferring to believe the Chinesearmy than his ownGovernment.

Describing the latest videoof Rahul attacking PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onthe border escalation on theLine of Actual Control inLadakh as yet another “failedattempt” to relaunch himself,Nadda said that “one dynasty’sdesperation” to wash away their“sins of 1962” have beenexposed.

“We saw yet another

(failed) edition of ‘Project RGRelaunch’ today. Rahul GandhiJi was, as usual, weak on factsand strong on mudslinging.Attempts to politicise defenceand foreign policy mattersshows one dynasty’s despera-tion to wash their past sins of1962 and weaken India,” tweet-ed BJP president.

Nadda said for years, onedynasty has been trying todestroy the image of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. “Foryears, one dynasty has been try-ing to destroy PM NarendraModi. Sadly for them, PMModi’s connection with 130crore Indians is deep-rooted.He lives and works for them.

Those who want to destroy himwill end up only furtherdestroying their own party,” theBJP president tweeted.

He said that Rahul tries topoliticise foreign policy issuesby making statements that areweak on facts and strong onmudslinging. Rahul has beenreleasing a series of videos toreach out to the people with histhoughts on matters of impor-tance. Rahul also positionedthese videos as a counter to thealleged “hate filled narrative”being spread through televisionchannels.

BJP chief said that in recentyears, be it Doklam or the pre-sent, Rahul Gandhi prefersbriefings from the Chineseinstead of believing India’sarmed forces. “Why does onedynasty want a weak India anda strong China? Many leadersin the Congress also disapprove

of one dynasty’s shenanigans!”he tweeted.

He said the Congress leaderprefers to believe Chinese armymore than his own governr-rment.

Nadda said since the 1950s,China has made “strategicinvestments in one dynastythat has given them rich divi-dends”. As a result of that, hesaid, China captured land dur-ing the Congress-led UPAtenure.

Nadda’s stinging attackfollowed after Rahul released avideo wherein he attackedModi saying the LAC standoffin Ladakh is not simply a bor-der dispute but a design byChina to attack his image as a“56-inch strongman”. Rahulalleged that Chinese leadershipunderstood the image con-scious Indian Prime Ministerand sought to weaken his “false

image” of a strong at the helm.As against the Prime

Minister’s assertion that nonehas encroached in the Indianterritory, the former CongressPresident has been assertingthat China has been sitting inthe Indian territory and thatModi was “telling lies”.

BJP National spokespersonand Rajya Sabha memberSudhanshu Trivedi also madetirade against Rahul saying heshould be aware that the India-China border problem a “lega-cy issue” that was inherited byt h eModi-Government from thepast regimes headed by his fam-ily elders including JawaharlalNehru, the first Prime Ministerof the county. eom

He alleged that Rahul wasshort on facts and has poorunderstanding of the sensitiveborder issues.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi’s old trusted aide from

Surat and Member ofParliament from Navsari LokSabha constituency,Chandrakant Raghunath Patil,has been appointed the GujaratBJP’s new president replacingJitu Vaghani, whose term cameto an end.

Another BJP MP who hadhogged limelight with his ener-

getic speech in the Lok Sabhain support of Ladakh as a sep-arate Union Territory, JamyangTsering Namgyal, was appoint-ed as the party president ofLadakh.

This is the first time thatsomeone with non-Gujaratiorigin and a migrant has beenappointed as the Gujarat BJPpresident. The surprise appoint-

ment announcement was madehere by BJP president J P Naddawho had on Sunday alsoappointed O P Dhankar, a jatand state Minister, as HaryanaState president.

Patil, a former constable-turned politician, has a recordof winning with the highestmargins and is one of the rich-est MPs too. For the last twoterms, Patil won from his seatby more than five lakh votes.

Patil has also been Modi’schoice to coordinate develop-ment works in his Lok Sabhaconstituency Varanasi in UttarPradesh.

Namgyal, 35, is a first-term MP from Ladakh. Thepost of BJP president in theUnion Territory was vacantafter Namgyal’s predecessorresigned.

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Consumers can file caseswhere they reside and

courts can now hear cases withvalue higher than �10 croreunder the new ConsumerProtection Act 2019 whichcame into force from Mondayreplacing the more than three-decade-old ConsumerProtection Act 1986. Under thenew Act, the District Forumhas been renamed the DistrictCommission and can now hearcases with a value of up to�1crore while the StateCommission can now hearcases up to �10 crore. Underthe new Act, the NationalConsumer Disputes RedressalCommission (NCDRC) canhear cases with value higherthan �10 crore, keeping withthe inflation in the country.

The new Act aims toenforce and protect the rights

of consumers, and provide aneffective mechanism to addressconsumer grievances. The Actprovides for a simplified dis-pute resolution mechanism,with a provision for mediationand e-filing of cases.

Another important featureof the new Act is that a con-sumer can file a case wherev-er he resides, instead of filinga case at the location of theopposite party. Section 49(2)and 59(2) of the new Act givespower to the State Commissionand the NCDRC, respectively,to declare the allegedly unfairterms of contract to be null andvoid.

Additionally, a profession-al mediator can now beappointed and consent termsentered between the partiesbefore him will be treated as anorder of the court. The oppo-site party will now need todeposit 50 per cent of the

amount ordered by DistrictCommission before filing anappeal before the StateCommission. The earlier ceil-ing of �25,000 has beenremoved.

Under the aegis of the newAct, a product manufacturerand seller will be liable to pro-vide compensation for injury ordamage caused by a defectiveproduct or service. The errantbusinesses will be penalizedwith up to 6 months in jail or afine of up to �1 lakh if the con-sumers do not suffer anyinjuries. In cases where theconsumer is injured, the fine tothe manufacturer, seller or dis-tributor could go up to � 5 lakhand up to seven years in jail. Incase of death of the consumer,the culprit will have to pay aminimum fine of �10 lakh andspend seven years in jail, whichcan be extended to life impris-onment.

The new consumer Actallows mediation, hearing ofcases of a much higher valueand a provision to challengeunfair conditions of serviceproviders. However, an entirechapter of the Act dealing witha separate Consumer ProtectionAuthority for advertisements, e-commerce rules for websites,making celebrity endorsersliable is yet to be notified. The

Act, was introduced in theUpper House of Parliament bythe Minister of ConsumerAffairs, Food and PublicDistribution, Ram Vilas Paswan,on July 8, 2019. It was passed bythe Lok Sabha on July 30, 2019and Rajya Sabha on August 6,2019.

The Bill was then signedinto law by President Ram NathKovind on August 9 last year.

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The Indian CommercialPilots’ Association (ICPA),

comprising several senior AirIndia pilots, have written to AirIndia Chairman and ManagingDirector Rajiv Bansal com-plaining that the leave withoutpay scheme, which Air Indiacalls a ‘win-win’ for both’, wasfinalised without consultingthe pilots. While ICPA said itsupports temporary austeritymeasures in the wake of eco-nomic distress triggered bythe pandemic, it has slammedthe Air India management forits proposal with regards torestructuring of wages.

In a letter to Air IndiaCMD, the ICPA said “Any uni-lateral change by Air India fromagreed-upon wage settlementwould be illegal and will not bein the interest of our NationalCarrier at this crucial juncture.Such a situation has the poten-tial to flair to unprecedentedmagnitude.”

“In the press conference byHardeep Singh Puri dated July16, you had stated “we are innegotiation with the pilots”which is far from reality. It wasnot a negotiation, but the diktatof MoCA which was conveyedto us. We would also like to placeon record that the so callednegotiation was ‘not harmo-nious’ in any aspect,” the letteralleged.

“In the interest of the com-pany and due to the COVID sce-nario, ICPA supports temporaryausterity measures at all fronts.Only if such a restructuring is

done in the true spirit of Article14 of the Indian Constitution.Flying allowance and flyingrelated allowances constitute 70per cent of our wages. Theseallowances remain unpaid sinceApril 2020,” the statement said.“Furthermore, all the wages arebeing paid with constant delays.”The ICPA said the proposal is“not acceptable” as it is against‘Right to Equality’ guaranteedunder the Indian Constitution.

Air India issued an internalorder on July 14 asking itsdepartmental heads and region-al directors to identify employ-ees, based on various factors likeefficiency, health and redun-dancy, who will be sent oncompulsory leave without pay(LWP) for up to five years.Moreover, it said employees canvoluntarily opt for the LWPscheme too.

Air India has proposed a 60per cent salary cut for pilotsamid the coronavirus pandem-ic, which has infected 55 of itscockpit crew members, the ICPAand the Indian Pilots’ Guild(IPG) had said in their joint let-

ter to Bansal last week. Defending the arrangement,

Air India had said it will give theemployees freedom to engagethemselves with anotheremployer for the said period, theairline too will be able to save itscash flow on the other hand.

In an earlier statement, theairline said that in a challengingfinancial situation, it is takingrecourse to several initiativeswith a view to ensure that itsflight operations continue.

The cost-cutting drive dove-tails with a government plan tosell its entire stake in Air Indiaamid increasing debt andmounting losses.

The Centre, in January,started the process by releasingan information document forinvestors and offering access tofinancial and other data of AirIndia and its subsidiaries.

The Government’s entirestake in Air India, its 100% stakein low-cost subsidiary Air IndiaExpress Ltd. and 50% stake inground handling unit Air IndiaSATS Airport Services PrivateLimited. are on offer

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ASupreme Court-mandat-ed committee on content

regulation in Governmentadvertising has issued a noticeto the Arvind KejriwalGovernment in Delhi over anadvertisement issued by it lastweek, taking cognisance ofconcerns raised on socialmedia that its purpose was only“political messaging”.

“Historic! DelhiGovernment schools class 12results - 98 per cent,” said theDelhi Government advertise-ment, which was published inseveral newspapers on July 16.

It came in for criticism onsocial media with many claiming that it was just polit-ical messaging and there wasno point in spending hugesums of money to publish thead in other States.

The Supreme Court-man-dated Committee on ContentRegulation in GovernmentAdvertising (CCRGA) issuedthe notice to the DelhiGovernment and demanded areply to various issues, like costto the exchequer, within 60days upon receiving the notice.

“The committee had takensuo-motu cognizance of thepoints raised in the socialmedia on the Delhi govern-ment advertisement— ques-tions had been raised on thenecessity of the Delhi govern-ment to issue advertisements in

Mumbai newspapers and hadpointed that the purpose of thead was only for political mes-saging,” a statement issued bythe Union Ministry ofInformation and Broadcastingsaid.

“The one-page advertise-ment was published by theDepartment of Education andDirectorate of Informationand Publicity, government ofNCT of Delhi,” the statementsaid.

The Delhi Governmenthas been given 60 days timefrom the receipt of the noticeto submit its comments to thecommittee on issues of cost tothe exchequer on the adver-tisement and the purpose ofthe advertisement publishedand specifically publishing it inother editions than Delhi, itsaid.

The committee has soughta reply as to how this adver-tisement does not violate theSupreme Court’’s guidelines ofavoiding glorification of polit-ical personalities.

It has also sought themedia plan of the advertise-ment with names of publica-tions and their editions.

Under the Supreme Courtguidelines dated May 13,2015,”content of Governmentadvertisements should be rel-evant to the Governments’constitutional and legal oblig-ations as well as the citizens’rights and entitlements”.

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It’s not just thecontact tracing,

but speedy test-ing of the cases isalso important tocurb the spreadof the infectiousdisease.

Researchersexplained thateven the bestcontact tracingstrategy — whereall contacts of aninfected person are identifiedand alerted — won’t reducethe spread of the virus ifthere is a delay of three ormore days between when aperson shows symptoms andwhen they are tested for thevirus (and get test results).

Contact tracing is con-sidered especially importantas Covid-19 restrictions areeased and people resumemore activities.

The findings, which arebased on a mathematicalmodel and published in thejournal The Lancet PublicHealth, underscore theimportance of speedy testing.

“In our model, minimis-ing testing delays had thelargest impact on reducingtransmission of the virus; andtesting infrastructure is there-fore the most critical factorfor the success of a contact-tracing system,” Dr MarcBonten, senior author of thestudy and professor of epi-demiology at the University ofUtrecht in the Netherlands,said in a statement. “Thismeans that as many infectious

people as possible need to betested, and policymakersmight consider lowering theeligibility threshold for accessto testing.”

Contact tracing has beenused for decades by publichealth officials to control thespread of infectious diseases.It involves interviewing peo-ple with confirmed infections— in this case, people whotest positive for Covid-19 —and tracking down their con-tacts who may have beenexposed to the disease.

These contacts are thenquarantined to prevent fur-ther spread of the disease.

But for contact tracing tobe successful, it needs tolower the “basic reproductionnumber,” also known as R0, orthe average number of peoplewho catch the virus from asingle infected person, below1. At that rate, each personwill infect less than one otherperson and the virus willeventually die out.

The researchers a lsolooked at how mobile apptechnologies could improvecontact tracing, given thatsuch apps allow people to benotified instantly if they havebeen in contact with a personwho tests positive for theinfection. The researchersassumed that traditional con-tact tracing takes at leastthree days, while contact trac-ing with mobile app tech-nologies was instantaneous.

The study found thatphysical distancing alonecould reduce R0 from 2.5 to1.2, but that contact tracingcould further reduce R0 tobelow 1, provided that testingand tracing of contacts was aspeedy process.

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Conceding that there wasindeed community trans-

mission taking place in parts ofBengal the State Governmenton Monday decided to returnto the lockdown mode.

“Consequent to the situa-tion of community transmis-sion in certain areas and in abid to break the chain theState Government has decidedto go for a complete lockdownfor two days in a week, HomeSecretary AlapanBandopadhyay said adding the“two-day lockdown will be inaddition to the broad-basedlockdown in containmentzones.”

For the current week thelockdown will be enforced onThursday and Saturday, hesaid. The Government willperiodically assess the situationand decide on the future courseof action he said.

“As of now next meetingwill be held on July 29 when thesituation will be reassessed.After that such periodicalassessment will continue totake place throughout themonth of August,” he main-tained hinting at a policy of“intermittent lockdown”being taken by the StateGovernment.

TheGovernment issued anintegrated helpline numbers--1800313444222, 033 23412600;

for telemedicine--03323576001; and 033 40902929for ambulance.

“For this the lockdownwill be on Thursday andSaturday but for the comingweeks the days of lockdownmay change … though lock-down in Wednesdays could bea permanent affair,” he said.

The decision comes a dayafter State Chief SecretaryRajiva Sinha assured that theGovernment was in full controlof the situation “moving at ahigher speed than the coronavirus,” and about a months afterChief Minister MamataBanerjee asked the people tolearn to live with coronainstead of fearing it. “We have

to learn to live with corona likethe side pillow,” she said.

Reacting rather sharply tothe Government’s “lax handlingof the situation that brought usto this situation,” Congressleader in Lok Sabha AdhirChwodhury said “it had alwaysseemed that this Governmentis going nowhere with its pol-icy decisions on corona. Herethe Chief Minister wants thepeople to take corona as a sidepillow there the Chief Secretarysays everything theGovernment is running at ahigher speed than corona…

“But the next day theHome Secretary talks of com-munity transmission and lim-ited lockdown… One won-

ders what is happening. Whatis this adhocism about? …Today we are in this situationbecause of the unplanned andwayward attitude of this gov-ernment.”

CPI(M) central committeemember and MLA SujanChakrabarty said “this theresult of government hiding thereal situation from the people.

Where is the ChiefMinister? Why a HomeSecretary has to announce suchmajor decisions? Why theGovernment is so soft on peo-ple breaking corona protocols?Why no action is being takenon people not maintainingsocial distancing and not wear-ing masks?”

Kolkata: With the phenome-nal “social distancing” betweenthe Trinamool CongressGovernment and Raj Bhavanreaching embarrassing levelsBengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar has told the Centrethat all is not well in Bengal.

Meeting Home MinisterAmit Shah in Delhi theGovernor has said that the sit-uation in the State is “worri-some.” Earlier before meetingShah, Governor tweeted that he“would be discussing withUnion Home Minister at noontoday West Bengal worrisomesituation.”

He further wrote “state ofaffairs and affairs of State …Welfare of people of WestBengal is ever uppermost in mymind. All my actions are

inspired to mitigate woes ofWB people.” He also said thathe would discuss his constitu-tional duties as the Governorprovided under Article 159 ofthe Constitution.

The Governor who saidthat he would “devote myself tothe service and well-being ofthe people,” had earlier beencalled by the Centre for dis-cussions on the affairs of theState.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and the Governorhad been at loggerheads eversince he took charge last year.Things repeatedly came toflash point often the two con-stitutional heads bumping intoeach other in public functionsand refusing to take note of theopposite side. PNS

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As more coastal areas insouthern Kerala get-

ting afflicted with coron-avirus, a Minister inPinarayi Vijayan’s council of Ministers came outin the open and declared that the situation inthe State is terrifying.

With the release issued by the State HealthDepartment saying Kerala tested 794 new pos-itive cases, Minister for cooperation A K Balansaid the situation has become terrifying in theState.

The Minister was upset over the everincreasing number of persons getting infectedwith the disease through contact; on Monday,519 persons got infected through contacts. Thiruvananthapuram continued to bethe ‘hotspot’ as 182 new persons were addedto the list of Covid-19 patients on Monday.

The Thiruvananthapuram CorporationCouncil cancelled the licenses of two majorshopping malls in the city-Ramachandra HyperMarket and Pothy’s- both owned by personsfrom Tamil Nadu.

Jammu: A Terror funding mod-ule being set up by the pro-Pakistan Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)terror outfit was busted inJammu by the joint team ofsecurity forces on Monday.

The terror module wasbeing activated in Jammu tolaunch fresh terror strikes acrossJammu region.

Inspector General of Police,Jammu range Mukesh SinghMonday said,

“The Special OperationsGroup (SOG) of the J&K Policeand Army has busted a terrorfunding module of the LeT”.

Singh said, “a banned ter-rorist organization Lashkar-e-

Taiba (LeT) had acti-vated a module forcarrying out terroractivities in Jammu &Kashmir particularlyin the Jammu regionand in furtherance tothis, a delivery offunds was to takeplace in Jammu”.

He said onreceipt of this information, ateam of SOG Jammu and PeerMitha Police apprehended oneMubashir Bhat, son of FarooqAhmed Bhat, a native of SazanDoda, who is a part of the samemodule and had been tasked bythe handlers from across (the

border) to visit Jammuand collect a consign-ment of Hawala moneyfor further use by the ter-rorists and their sup-porters.

During the searchoperation, one bag con-taining �1.5 lakh rupeeswhich was concealed ina tiffin box was recov-

ered, he said.Initial questioning revealed

that the money was sent byHaroon, a self styled comman-der of LeT from Pakistan to bedelivered to the terroriststhrough their overground work-ers in Doda. PNS

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Tamil Nadu witnessed 70persons succumbing to

Covid-19 and 4,985 personsgetting diagnosed with coron-avirus pandemic during the last24 hours according to a pressrelease issued by the Directorateof Health Services andPreventive Medicine onMonday.

The day ended with a totalof 51, 348 persons diagnosedwith active Covid-19 cases allover the State while the totalnumber of persons tested posi-tive till date crossing 1.75 lakhmark.

This means that the situa-tion in Tamil Nadu remains crit-ical despite the efforts of the Stateadministration to bring the pan-demic under control by openingmore laboratories and arrangingadditional hospital beds acrossthe State.

As on Monday, 1.9 millionpersons across the State havebeen subjected to tests in the 112laboratories across the State,the highest number of personstested anywhere in India,according to Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswami.

On Monday, 3,861 personswere discharged from hospitalsacross Tamil Nadu, fully curedof the pandemic. Since there isno identified drug/vaccine in themodern medicine, hospitalsacross the State continue withparacetamol and other genericdrugs to counter coronavirus.

Out of the nearly 5,000 per-sons tested positive on Monday,Chennai had 1,298 whileChengalpet (354), Thiruvallur(454) and Kancheepuram (329)followed closely.

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Politics took the driver’s seateven as the Intelligence Wing

of the Kerala Police alerted theGovernment of anti-nationalactivities including gold smug-gling which was taking placewith impunity. This was statedby former chief of Kerala PoliceTP Senkumar who was uncer-emoniously removed by thePinarayi Vijayan Governmentfrom the post.

In his weekly programme ina news channel ‘SenkumarSpeaking’, the former State PoliceChief said gold smuggling,hawala operations and love jihadwere happening across the Statewith Government patronage.“Though the intelligence winghad alerted the Government, it

fell on deaf ears and the officialswho prepared the reports wereshunted out to innocuous posts,”said Senkumar.

The statement by the for-mer top cop of the State comesamidst reports that FassalFareeth, the Dubai based busi-nessman who was arrested bythe Dubai Police had financedmany Malayalam movies and hehad close relations withErnakulam based producers,directors and artists.

Rajasenan, a movie makerwith 37 hit movies to his cred-it, said the infusion of moneygenerated through gold smug-gling resulted in persons likehim getting elbowed out of theindustry.

“We could make out themovies produced with the

money generated through goldsmuggling and hawala. Suchmovies had a distinct themewhich were in synchronizationwith the thinking and ideologyof certain religious and politi-cal groups,” said Rajasenan.

He said the �80 crore worthproject to churn out a movieportraying VarikkunnathuAhmed was a mission financedby such forces. “All of us knowthat Ahmed was a terrorist andproselytized with swords. Whatis the motive behind making amovie portraying him as asaint?” asked Rajasenan.Meanwhile the NIA andCustoms officials interrogatedJayaghosh, the gunman of theUAE Consul General who triedto commit suicide slitting hiswrist.

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Hindus in Kerala observedMonday as the day for ancestors.

The Amavasya day in the month ofKarkidaka (the last month of the yearas per Kerala’s almanac) is dedicat-ed to the departed souls of the fam-ily.

Those who are alive perform‘Bali Tharpanam’ (offering to thesouls) under the guidance of priests.The Bali or Shraddham is usuallyperformed on the banks of themajor rivers in the State or on someselected spots along the sea shore.But this year the lock down and relat-ed prohibitory orders resulted inShraddham being performed in thefront yard of the houses itself.

Those offering the Shraddhamshould observe abstinence fromnon-vegetarian foods, drinks, smok-ing at least 24 hours before the rit-

ual. The Tharppanam was done by7 am under the watchful eyes of thepriest. Rice is boiled ant it is madeinto balls with coconut, ghee, curd,milk and offered on plantain leavesto the souls with prayers for the pros-perity of the progenies. The ritual isalso known as tilahomam or pitrubali.

The significance of the age oldtradition which finds mention in

Ramayana and Maha Bharat is thebelief that a day of the departed soulis equivalent to 365 earthly days.“The Tharppanam is like offeringfood to the dear departed souls andthis brings us blessings and pros-perity,” said noted physicist Dr M GGireeshan, an Indologist.

The highlight of this year’s BaliTharppanam was movie maker andwriter Ali Akbar releasing the pho-tographs of rituals performed by himfor his ancestors. Akbar was guidedby a priest and the Tharpanam wasdone at his house in Malabar. “It isa way of saying thanks to our ances-tors. And please remember thatthey had no religion or caste. Todaywas a day to reminiscence about mygreat grandfathers and great grand-mothers about whom we do not haveany idea. I believe in the tradition ofVande Guru Parampara,” Akbar toldThe Pioneer.

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Ahead of the crucialmeeting of the Shri

Amarnath Shrine Boardon Tuesday, a major por-tion of the 'ice stalagmite'formed inside theAmarnath cave shrine hasmelted away, two weeksahead of Shravan Purnima, falling onRaksha Bandhan on August 3.

According to official sources sta-tioned at the Amarnath Cave Shrine,“major portion of the Shiv lingam (icestalagmite) has already melted away, onlyone feet remains visible” .

Interestingly, Shri Amarnath Shrineboard authorities are yet to give its finalnod to holding this year's annual pil-grimage via only Baltal route in the wakeof Covid-19 pandemic.

Chairman of the Shrine Board, Lt-Governor GC Murmu is scheduled toattend the meeting of the board on

Tuesday to takestock of the pre-vailing situationbefore taking thefinal decision onthe yatra.

On severaloccasions, Shivlingam had meltedaway in the past

also ahead of the culmination of yatra.Earlier, a large rush of pilgrims inside thecave shrine was attributed as one of themajor reasons behind rise in temperaturenear the cave shrine. But this year, evenin the absence of a rush of devotees theice stalagmite had melted away.

A senior officer present in the caveshrine told The Pioneer, “the surround-ing hill features remained covered withsnow for a longer duration but this timethe snow had melted away little earlier.Due to clear sunny days, the day tem-perature triggered fast melting away ofshiv lingam”, he added.

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In a tragedy that befell a jointfamily at Pimpri near Pune,

three brothers out of the 18members in the family, all ofwhom had tested positive forCovid-19 early this month,succumbed to the pandemic ina span of nine days.

The three deceased broth-ers – identified as PopatraoKalapure (66), DyneshwarKalapure (63) and DilipraoKalapure (61) –were under-going treatment at a privatehospital for the past 15 days.

The Kalapure familymembers live together atPimpri which is a constituentof the twin Pimpri-Chinchwadsatellite city near Pune.

Of the family members,one tested positive on July 5,after which all membersunderwent Covid-19 tests inwhich the remaining 17 ofthem were diagnosed positivefor Coronavirus. All of them

were subsequently admitted toa local private hospital.+Fifteen of them – who hadmild symptoms of the pan-demic -- were discharged fromthe hospital subsequently.

However the condition ofthree brothers – Popatrao,Dyneshwar and Popatrao–meanwhile deteriorated.After their condition deterio-rated, they were shifted to theIntensive Care Unit (ICU) ofthe hospital – where Dilipraodied first on July 10, Popatraobreathed last on July 15 andDyneshwar died during treat-ment on July 17.

Popatrao was a retiredemployee of the Pimpri-Chinwad MunicipalCorporation (PCMC) and alsoan employees’ union leader,while Dnyaneshwar servedwith the HindustanAntibiotics Ltd. Diliprao hadretired from a pipe manufac-turing company and both wereprofessional wrestlers.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday dismissed as“frivolous” two PILs seekingpreservation of artefacts recov-ered from the RamJanmabhoomi site at Ayodhya.

The top court alsoimposed a cost of �1 lakh eachon the two petitioners andasked them to pay it within onemonth.

A bench of Justices ArunMishra, B R Gavai and KrishanMurari said that a five-judgebench has already given its ver-dict and this is an attemptthrough PIL to overreach thejudgement.

The counsel appearing forthe petitioners said the RamJanmabhoomi Trust has alsoaccepted that there are manyartefacts in the area that needprotection.

The bench sought to knowas to why the petitioners havecome before the SupremeCourt under Article 32 of theConstitution.

“You should stop filingsuch frivolous petition. Whatdo you mean by this petition?Are you saying that there is norule of law and the five-judgebench judgement of this courtwill not be followed by anyone,”the bench said, adding that itintends to dismiss both thepetition.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theCentre, said the court shouldalso consider imposing costs.

The bench then said that acost of �1 lakh each is imposedon both the petitioners whichshould be paid within onemonth from Monday. PTI

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In the third instance of itskind that happened in the

security ring of Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray’s house-hold, two security personnelattached to Uddhav’s youngestson Tejas have been quaran-tined, after they tested positivefor Covid-19.

Tejas, who is the secondand youngest son of Uddhav,enjoys Y-plus security. Amongthe security personnel pro-tecting him, two had showedsymptoms of Covid-19.

“After they showed coron-avirus symptoms, the swabsamples of the two security per-sonnel were sent for tests andthey tested positive for thepandemic. They were quaran-tined immediately afterwards,”a senior police officer said.

Tejas is the younger broth-er of Aditya Thackeray, who isTourism and Environment inhis father Uddhav Thackeray’sCabinet in the State. He has sofar not taken a plunge into pol-itics.

Earlier on May 2, threepolice personnel posted outsideThackerays’ private residence“Matoshri” at Bandra (East) innorth-west Mumbai had test-ed positive for Coronavirus.They were attached to the localarms unit of the Mumbaipolice.

On April 6, a tea vendoroperating near chief ministerUddhav Thackeray’s privateresidence “Matoshri” had test-ed positive for Covid-19.

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Jammu: The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmiron Monday recorded the highest ever tally of 751positive cases of coronavirus while 10 more patientsdied due to Covid-19 taking the tally of total casesto 14,650.

For the first time, Jammu division also recordedmore than 200 cases in one single day. According tothe media bulletin, a total number of 751 cases of coro-navirus were detected, 240 from Jammu and 511 fromKashmir division while 10 more deaths due to Covid-19 were reported taking the total tally to 254.

On the recovery front, a total number of 463patients were discharged from the different hospitalstaking the tally to 8,274.

In Jammu division, the highest number of 90cases tested positive in Ramban while Udhampurrecorded 33 cases, Doda 32 cases and Rajouri 23.In Kashmir valley, Srinagar district recorded 171cases followed by Pulwama which recorded 111cases and Shopian reported 62 new cases.

On the other hand, responding to the allega-tions that a large number of labourers were not beingscreened before allowing them entry in Kashmir val-ley, the government issued a clarification saying sofar 14,002 samples of labourers arriving at Qazigundtoll post from 14th to 20th of July 2020 for Covid-19 testing. PNS

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Page 6:  · 2 hours ago  · resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice ... Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that spe-cial Railway coaches at Hatia ... Department Pradeep Kumar

India’s boycott of China’s Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI) on grounds thatthe China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) goes through Gilgit-Baltistan that was part of the kingdom

of Jammu & Kashmir and, hence, belongsto India, has been viewed by Beijing as threat-ening the security of the CPEC. Pakistan isthe only country that links Beijing’s mega-connectivity project by both land and sea andis critical to Chinese ambitions in West Asia.It links Xinjiang province with Gwadar port,close to the Strait of Hormuz, through whicha bulk of the world’s crude oil moves.

Gwadar’s importance has increased inrecent weeks due to its proximity to Iranwhere Beijing is cementing a long-term rela-tionship based on mutual hostility toWashington. India is a collateral loser dueto bureaucratic inertia that has failed to exe-cute agreements crafted by the political lead-ership. It will take great skill (and manage-ment of US President Donald Trump) torejuvenate ties with Tehran.

China is unhappy at public protests inGilgit-Baltistan against Islamabad’s mis-treatment and more recently against theCPEC. According to an intelligence reportaccessed by Paul D Shinkman, national secu-rity analyst, US News and World Report mag-azine, New Delhi views the current imbroglioin Ladakh as evidence of “Beijing’s sweep-ing imperialist designs.” China covets (largeportions of) Ladakh for easy access toPakistan and enhanced stability for theCPEC; resentful local populations would bedealt with sternly.

New Delhi believes that Beijing wantsto expel Indian troops from areas it wantsto occupy and eventually link ThangChhenmo (wild, big desert) that China callsAksai Chin (white stone desert pass) afterintruding into the region in mid-1950s. Theaim is to link Thang Chhenmo (India muststart calling the area by its original Ladakhiname) with the Shaksgam Valley region, gift-ed illegally by Pakistan in 1963, and even-tually join Pakistan. Every move has beenmethodically planned.

In April 2013, a Chinese platoon enteredthe Daulat Beg Oldi area with the sameobjective in mind, though it withdrew amonth later. Occupation of Daulat Beg Oldiwould enable China to link Thang Chhenmowith Siachen glacier (currently held by India)and Karakorum Pass, where it has built anall-weather road. A cursory look at the mapshows that Pangong-Tso and Galwan Valley,where the current stand-off is taking place,could enable China to seal the border of theUnion Territory of Ladakh from ThangChhenmo side and fully absorb this large ter-ritory that belongs to India.

This would make it difficult to defendLadakh in the event of more serious hostili-ties. India cannot allow China to entrenchitself along the Thang Chhenmo border. Asthis deadly terrain can be visited only in sum-mer months, China had to build infrastruc-

ture and grab the region beforethe arrival of winter in November.It was a serious lapse on the partof our foreign policy and nation-al security mandarins not toanticipate these moves.

The June 15 killing of 20Indian Army personnel in hand-to-hand combat at PatrollingPoint 14 of Galwan, WesternSector of Ladakh border, was abold move by China to entrenchits military in this strategic loca-tion. But the valiant responsefrom Col B Santosh Babu andhis men, who took down 35 to53 Chinese soldiers (casualtiesnot acknowledged to this day)before making the supreme sac-rifice, has strengthened thenational resolve to defend theborders at any cost, a messagereinforced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh duringrecent visits to Ladakh. However,as the stakes are much higherthis time, Beijing’s retreat isgrudging and slow.

The modus operandi atDoklam in 2017 bears examina-tion. The People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) was engaged in ajoint military exercise on theTibetan plateau to test its com-bat efficiency when it suddenlycrossed into Indian territory. TheDoklam intrusion was resolveddiplomatically but showed thatBeijing has built all-weatherroads along its borders for swiftmilitary mobilisation.

In hindsight, it appears thatChina’s quest for a direct land

route to Pakistan was conceivedand partially executed byChairman Mao; President XiJinping is trying to complete thisagenda. The salami-slicing tech-nique is not ad hoc needling ofIndia but a grand design ofstrategists of the CommunistParty of China. The increasedterrorist infiltration on the west-ern front clearly enjoys Beijing’ssupport. Henceforth, India’s mil-itary planning should view thenorthern frontier as a single enti-ty. The loss of Tehran must beacknowledged as a diplomaticblunder.

In January 2020, China con-ducted military exercises inTibet, showcasing the PLA’sability to fight a mountain war,with the Type 15 light battletank, the new 155-MM vehicle-mounted howitzer, helicopters,heavy artillery and anti-aircraftmissiles. The increasing numberof military exercises in Tibetover the past three years hasacclimatised the PLA to high-altitude conditions and Indiacannot afford to be complacent.

Interestingly, the exerciseswere held from Lhasa up to theborder — a message to Tibetansin Tibet and India. One wonderswhy does India host a TibetanGovernment-in-exile if it seesTibet as part of China? We mustfix our foreign policy goals andengage Sikyong, LobsangSangay, who desire an indepen-dent Tibet.

India’s move to augment itsborder infrastructure is com-

mendable. However, even afterMaj Gen KS Thimayya modifiedand led tanks up the Zoji-la in1947, India never invested inlight tanks for mountain warfare.Worse, former Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar’s suggestionfor a Mountain Strike Corps wassimply struck down.

New Delhi and Washingtonbelieve that Beijing exploited theCoronavirus pandemic to assertterritorial claims along its bor-ders, in the South China Sea,and Hong Kong. The Trumpadministration issued retaliato-ry sanctions against Beijing afterit imposed sanctions on USlawmakers for passing a legisla-tion against China for repressionin Hong Kong. US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo promisedincreased support to allies in theSouth China Sea.

Observers, however,expressed surprise at the deter-mination with which Beijingmoved on so many fronts simul-taneously, from denting HongKong’s autonomy and trying toimpose its authority on thearchipelago; to upping the anteagainst India in Ladakh andwooing Tehran against India; tochallenging Washington andreiterating its claims in theSouth China Sea vis-à-vis itsSouth East Asian neighboursand Taiwan. This could prove aclassic overreach butWashington should help byturning neutral on Iran.

(The author is a senior jour-nalist. Views are personal)

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Sir — By putting greater faith onthe virtues of martinet gover-nance, we expected the pandem-ic travails to end by mid-May andopened up advance bookings ontrains. Within months, however,we have touched over a millioncases even as a cavalier US sur-passes 36 million. Both nationsnow wonder what went wrong.Neither the nonchalance of USPresident Donald Trump nor ourown hesitant approach has con-tributed to this serious predica-ment as much as our ceding theonus of national medical care toprivate set-ups and the near-absent centralised health system.In a pandemic, this seminal skewin the public health architectureis proving to be an exponentialdisaster. The US, for all its $3 tril-lion (17 per cent of GDP) spendon healthcare, has several thou-sand deaths. With just 1.3 per centof the GDP on healthcare, thepoor state of Government hospi-tals and misplaced accountabili-ty between States and the Centre,we can but hope that COVID-19does not cause excessive damage.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Flood fury in Assam” (July20). It is astonishing and beyondcomprehension that India stillrelies on the use of embankmentsto control floods which have

now become outdated.Embanking rivers has been a con-troversial technology and hasnot been successful as such.While they suffice during normalconditions, they do not provideprotection during the largestevents. In Assam itself, floods area recurrent feature. And their

severity has only increased withthe increase in the number ofdams and embankments. TheState Government has not learntits lessons due to which bothhumans and animals are put atthe mercy of god every year.India’s flood control policy mustgo beyond embankments.

Improving water laws will goa long way in addressing thisissue. The need of the hour is forthe State Government to show thewillingness to handle the floodswith an open mind.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — Government-run hospitalshave been providing free treatmentto COVID-19 patients.Infrastructure and other facilitiesremain poor in our country.Further, the cost of the medicineand devices as mentioned, variesfrom 10 to 90 per cent. StateGovernments have put a cap onthe cost of treatment. It is clear thatprivate hospitals and laboratorieshave been charging unreasonablebills. Governments should takestrict measures to save citizensfrom unethical business-mindedmedical experts. We must focus onproviding the most effective treat-ment to the largest number of peo-ple at an affordable cost.

Richa GargVia email

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Before COVID-19 struck the world, “emperor”Xi Jinping decided that 2020 was the year toestablish the Chinese century. American

think-tanks had predicted in 2019 that the ChineseGDP was more than the US’ and by 2030 it couldbe up to 70 per cent larger. China’s share of globaloutput would grow to 32 per cent from 20 per centcurrently, as opposed to the US’ share declining from16 per cent to 10 per cent. In terms of global mar-ket capitalisation, the Chinese would grow to 25 percent from five per cent in 2019, while the US wouldfall from 40 per cent to 18 per cent. China’s shareof global exports would rise to 18 per cent from 12per cent while the US would be static at eight percent. The above forecasts were supported by mas-sive Chinese investments in education in the fieldsof mathematics, science, technology and medicine.

Starting with the 1980s, the Chinese had suc-cessfully got the world’s manufacturing supply chainto relocate to their nation and became the “facto-ry of the world.” From a pure labour arbitrage offer-ing, they created world-class infrastructure (cities,roads, ports and airports) to support it. The top 2,500global corporates had a business presence inChina. This aggressive export-led growth modelallowed the Chinese to radically improve per capi-ta income and in the process create a massive domes-tic consumption engine. A 40 per cent domestic sav-ings rate supported the huge developments that hap-pened on their eastern seaboard. Till 2012, theChinese Government was sitting on foreignexchange reserves of close to $5 trillion. China nowimported/consumed 45-50 per cent of every com-modity in the world.

Chinese leaders till 2012 kept a low profile, hid-ing their strengths while they relentlessly gainedmarket share from the world. The Chinese acquiredthe world’s Intellectual Property Rights by anymeans. The Communist Party of China’s (CPC’s)command and control structure had also silentlyexpanded its Foreign Ministry with requisiteresources to create a public relations repository inevery major country and to manage the national dis-course on any prickly subject in its favour. Thisthree-decade old policy profile started changing withXi’s ascension in 2012.

Chinese strategists now started believing thatthe Middle Kingdom deserved to rule the world andpost-2008, global financial institutions were weak-ened, substantially dysfunctional and lacking lead-ership. They unleashed a project of achieving com-plete Chinese dominance in the manpower of everymultilateral agency and United Nations (UN)body in the world. Chinese students were encour-aged to study overseas and many persuaded to jointhese organisations, and as so many Federal Bureauof Investigation investigations are now showing,made instruments of Government policy.

The collapse of the USSR in the 1990s and theprofligacy of the US financial sector in 2008 had lefta leadership vacuum in many areas. Xi moved rapid-ly to occupy the vacancies. China needed to secureits supply chain as it neither produced adequate foodfor its population, nor was it endowed with man-ufacturing or energy raw materials. The Chineseleaders wanted to avoid supply side shocks and cre-ated strategies to acquire assets surreptitiously. Theymoved rapidly to fund every country and projectthat the World Bank or the rest of the world wouldnot find viable. The Chinese wanted to eventuallyacquire the underlying asset and default was hencea preferred option for them. This juggernaut cov-ered 150 countries and nearly $5 trillion inloans/investments. Xi had successfully over-invest-ed the Chinese US Dollar reserves and left his coun-trymen very vulnerable. They desperately needed

their Dollar engine (Foreign Direct Investment,Foreign Portfolio Investment and ForeignCurrency Loans) to keep firing quickly torecoup their position, or fast-track their long-term vision to get global trade out of the Dollarand into the RMB.

Unluckily for the Chinese, two thingschanged the landscape in 2017. Donald Trumpwon the US presidential election and was a wildcard that they read wrongly. Second, the worldeconomy started topping out and growthbegan stalling. The Chinese engine was notdesigned to handle economic contraction.Faultlines in the domestic economy were led byhuge non-performing loans in State-ownedenterprises. Ghost cities started appearing asdemand stalled while real estate started goingbelly-up. The country was overbuilt and nomore infrastructure spending was needed.

Trump started the trade war and insistedthat the Chinese reduce trade surpluses. Xi erredmassively in not giving Trump a cheap victo-ry and riling up the Americans. US strategistshad clearly war-gamed that the days of the USDhegemony were numbered and if their politi-cal dominance was to be extended, a war withChina was not an option, the only question wastiming. By a strange coincidence, the two tech-nology hardware giants, the US and China, weretangibly dependent on Taiwan for their semi-conductor underbelly. The US had formed ajoint venture (JV) with the Taiwanese that wouldgo operational in Arizona in 2023. Till then anymilitary threat to Taiwan would be an attack onthe US’ technology dominance, an intolerablethought for them. Democrat Presidents hadsoft-pedalled the “One China” policy and theChinese had got their way. The Americans hadcelebrated access to a large consumption mar-ket but landed up creating a rival.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in manpower terms is the largest stand-ing armed force on the globe. The PLA andCPC moved fast to upgrade weapon systems,stealing blueprints and buying where they couldnot. However, the Navy is their Achilles’ heeland they lack in class aircraft carriers and sub-

marines. This limits China’s ability to protectits interests spanning 150 countries. A whop-ping 75 per cent of Chinese oil still moves intankers through the Malacca Strait. To reach theArabian Sea by land, China invested in a bank-rupt Pakistan by constructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) whichlinks Xinjiang to Gwadar Port. It also engagedeast European and European countries to con-struct the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for cre-ating dedicated freight corridors to 50 cities.In the process, it has protected trade supplyroutes but the oil buy routes lie exposed. Thenightmare for China achieving dominance isthat Indian land illegally occupied by Pakistanis being used by the CPEC and India re-acquir-ing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) couldrender its $66 billion investment useless,blocking oil supply. The Chinese realised thateconomic sanctions against Iran had crippledthe proud country with 15 per cent of the world’soil. It needed investments and so China decid-ed to bust sanctions on Iran imposed by the UN(which Beijing was a party to imposing, too).China and Iran signed a 25-year trade and mil-itary alliance in June 2020. China has bet on theUS exiting Afghanistan in 2020 and by usingthe Pakistanis to install a puppet regime inAfghanistan, it could take a pipeline from Iranto Xinjiang. In return, the Chinese have to pumpin the equivalent of $400 billion into Iran’s devel-opment, which they can crank their RMB economy to deliver. What will happen toPakistan?

In the interim, Xi got the CPC to appointhim as leader for life and emerged as an emper-or. The CPC decided that by its 100th anniver-sary in 2021, it would stamp itself as numerouno in the world. A few pinpricks remained:Taiwan and Hong Kong as independent democ-racies were an eyesore. They had to be acquiredby coercion at the earliest. The South China Sea(SCS) had a $5 trillion supply chain transitingthe route. China laid claims to territories/islandsof all its neighbours and started constructingartificial islands as missile bases. Beijing start-ed bullying and humiliating Australia since 70

per cent of its mining exports were bought byit. Singularly, none of the Asian countries couldtake on China but many could exact a heavytoll if it came to conflict. The Chinese flirtedwith conflict among all their neighbours using“wearing down” tactics. The success of this gam-bit hinged on the continuity of their trade withthe US, heavily skewed in their favour. Trumpnot getting an early trade war win upped theante, imposing a $250 billion annual hit onChina. It perhaps felt that US corporationswould not listen to their Government and con-tinue business as usual. It floated a trial balloonby abrogating the agreement with Hong Kongwhich would have lapsed in 2047 and suppress-ing protests with force. Then it ostensiblymanipulated the World Health Organisation(WHO) and the COVID-19 pandemic wasunleashed upon the world. This hit worldeconomies and created a very strong anti-Chinasentiment.

It resulted in fast-tracking the opera-tionalistion of the Quad (US, Japan, Australiaand India alliance) to take on the Chinese. UK,France and Israel are openly in support of theQuad while Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines,Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea have puttheir armed forces on alert. In the Chinese campare North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Turkeywhile anti-India squeaks may emerge fromNepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

With China designated as “world enemyNumber 1”, even Joe Biden has ratcheted up theanti-China rhetoric, lest Trump steal the thun-der and a potentially-lost presidential electionthrough a war with China. The Indian andChinese armies are facing off across the 3,400km border and uneasy peace prevails for now.The Middle East has stayed quiet but will haveto choose sides as a Shia Iran and a SunniPakistan and Turkey side with the Chinese. Itis an uneasy time for the Saudis and the UAE.

The Koreans, however, have been quick toact and Samsung moved a $18 billion annualcapacity out of China to Vietnam. Japan hasincentivised its corporations to exit China. TheUS and UK have banned Huawei telecom and

India, too, has banned Chinese telecom equip-ment and apps. The US is shutting off accessto its capital markets to the Chinese. The can-cellation of the Hong Kong treaty will kill theUSD supply route to China. The Chinese bal-ance of payments is negative for the last fewmonths and they still need to buy food, oil andcommodities. Scams like fake gold collateralhave shaken China’s $5 trillion shadow bank-ing industry and put a question mark on howmuch of its national reserve is gold-plated cop-per. This has damaged China’s plans of havinga partial gold-backed alternate currency toreplace the dollar.

The world now sits on a powder keg in themidst of the pandemic. President Trump andEmperor Xi now have gone too far for eitherof them to back down without losing theircrowns. For Trump it’s just an election, but theworld knows what happens to deposed Chinesedictators. The South Asian countries all wantTibet to regain its independence after beingannexed by the Chinese in 1950 so that theycan get their freshwater security back.

Meanwhile, the domestic market collapsewill force Xi to take a few more hasty decisions.China’s banking regulator has advised itsbanks to be prepared for sharp rises in bad loansonce the Corona moratorium period is over.Three Chinese banks have collapsed in the lastthree years and 15 per cent of the financial sec-tor is supposedly past a high risk stage. Tax rev-enues have grown under five per cent and bud-get deficits exceed 11 per cent. The season ofdiscontent for 1.4 billion Chinese has arrived.China created the BRI to use the surplus capac-ity in its construction materials and equipmentsector and keep Chinese labour occupied.Experts estimate that this project needs anoth-er $5 trillion over the next five years. The moneygiven to 150 countries cannot be recalled.China’s $10 trillion foreign debt is realisticallysupported by $2 trillion of reserves. With thebalance of trade going negative, Chinese sup-porters are nervous. If China’s trading partnersdo not agree to settlements denominated in theRMB, a run on the currency is highly possible.

Meanwhile, Xi is attacking China’s neigh-bours to distract the world’s attention from thepandemic. Now India must return the favour.The Coronavirus offers a tremendous long-termstrategic advantage for policy makers to dealwith the Chinese threat of dominance perma-nently.

New Delhi must immediately recogniseTibet and Taiwan as sovereign countries andallow them to run official embassies in Indiaand vice versa. Many countries will follow suitand shake up Chinese hegemony globally.Second, India must supply subsidised arms andmilitary technology to Vietnam and thePhilippines to create multiple fronts for Chinaand the PLA, just like Beijing is armingPakistan. Third, India should take a lead in theIndo-Pacific command with the US, Japan andAustralia to choke the Chinese trade route. Itwill hurt China and its ambition to be a glob-al economic leader. Lastly, we must restrictimport of non-essential Chinese goods byimposing tariffs and focus our attention onbuilding a formidable self-reliant economy witha target of $10 trillion by 2030 to face a hostileBeijing.

China should be treated as a permanentadversary even when the times are good. Indiaand the world must escalate the informationwarfare to expose the draconian CPC and itsoppressive regime working against the interestof native Chinese. Xi’s dilemma is what to tellthe domestic audience. In the age of the inter-net, you can censor but not hide news. Do theChinese need to beat the war drums in orderto transfer the blame for their miscalculations?The world scenario is evolving every week and2020 threatens to be a very long year indeed.

(Tewari is Editor-in-Chief, Opinion Expressand Singh is Managing Partner, S&S Associates)

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The banking sector, a bulwarkagainst the breakdown of otherindustries, is left to nibble away

the remnants in the wake of the virus-induced global economic slowdown.Banks wrote off over �80,000 crore ofloans in the first half of the financial year2020. But major Indian banks havedemonstrated resilience through unin-terrupted services, offering EMI mora-toriums or fee waivers to borrowers.Unfortunately, historic trends allude toa grim scenario where financial insti-tutions (FIs) were resigned to overlookdefaults, thereby leading to grave prof-itability concerns and credit risks asso-ciated with them in the wake of the pan-

demic. As the sector is left scramblingfor money, more financial institutionsare embracing technology to achievetheir objective of survival, growth,expansion or otherwise.

Personalised banking: Tech giantslike Amazon, Facebook and Googlehave spurred a desire for more cus-tomised interactions and fostered a will-ingness to trade data for a better expe-rience. As a result, the concept of “per-sonalised banking” becomes moreimportant now. Targeting customermicro-segments and tailoring offers forthem will enable banks to differentiatethemselves, build customer engagementand gain competitive advantage.

The first step would be to identifywhat personalisation is. Thereafter,banks and FIs can leverage on the largerepository of customer data, customertouch-points and digital platforms todeliver meaningful and powerful per-sonalised experiences. To be sure, per-sonalised banking is not primarilyabout selling. It’s about providing ser-vice, information and advice, often on

a daily basis or even several times a day.Such interactions, as opposed to infre-quent sales communications, form thecrux of the customer’s banking experi-ence. Yet many banks still tend to focustheir personalisation efforts on thesales arena.

Today, machine learning and dataanalytics can be harnessed to deliver anomni-channel digital experience tocustomers. For banks and FIs with awealth of data available, hyper-person-alisation represents a window of oppor-tunity to stay ahead of the curve witha value proposition that makes cus-tomers feel understood. It also promis-es significant gains, with BostonConsulting Group estimating that suc-cessful personalisation at scale couldrepresent an increase of 10 per cent ina bank’s annual revenue.

The biggest takeaway for a bank isstaying ahead of the curve as you get toknow your customer better and lever-age those insights and trends to createtailored digital experiences that boostrevenues. On the other hand, as cus-

tomers expect a basic level of customi-sation, hyper-personalised experiencesin personal finance can lead to ampli-fied satisfaction and engagement, fraud-prevention, better decision-makingcoupled with a sense of humanisedunderstanding from their bank. Thishumanised understanding by banks canbe demonstrated in many ways.

Behavioural personalisation: Thisattempts to determine the visitors’interest based on their actions, whichinclude visit count, search phrase, con-tent viewed, functions performed andreferrers’ websites.

IP-based personalisation: Thiscan gain information about the anony-mous visitor from the IP address andDNS record. This type of personalisa-tion makes use of geo-location trackingand company attributes to customise theexperience.

Online banking, CRM and loan ordeposit applications: These use datafrom other banking platforms to drivepersonalisation. While it may seemcomplex, implementation is often eas-

ier than perceived. However, customi-sation leads us to a larger question ofwhether technological advancementand privacy can be allies?

At present, the InformationTechnology Act, 2000 and InformationTechnology Rules, 2011 govern India’sdata protection regime. However, theyfail to protect individual interest. Geo-location tracking, biometric data andfacial recognition apps could invariablyviolate the right to privacy, but there isno legal framework that regulates orenables the use of such technologieswithout violating the FundamentalRight to Privacy. Even the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, likely to beapproved soon, fails to take into accountall stakeholders involved in data breach-es. For instance, the Bill imposes heavyfines for violations but exempts the “con-sent” requirement in certain circum-stances, where data is required by theState, for legal proceedings, or torespond to a medical emergency. Theseregulatory changes are necessary con-sidering India’s growing digital footprint

in the world. Personalisation is withouta doubt a promising area that might beable to answer some of the questionsthat internet banking must deal withtoday and in future. The possibilities ofpersonalisation are not yet fully utilised,nor is there sufficient hands-on expe-rience or research-based knowledgeabout the most advanced ideas of howto personalise internet banking services.The importance of hitting the right tar-get in both selecting the things to be per-sonalised and the way of presentingthem visually are delicate matters. If notdone right, they might compromise themost important customer values: Speed,efficiency and trust. Thus as the impactof the contagion relies upon the grav-ity, degree and dissemination of the cat-aclysm, which remains uncertain eventoday, the banks must leverage person-alised online banking to boost revenuesin a cash-strapped economy and pos-sibly help the banking sector rise fromthe ashes.

(The writer is Managing Partner, KSLegal and Associates)

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Kathmandu: Nepal's rulingcommunist party executivechairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal'Prachanda' on Monday saidefforts were going on to resolvethe intra-party differences andruled out an early general con-vention of the party as proposedby embattled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The former prime ministermade the remarks during hismeeting with the StandingCommittee members repre-senting the former Maoist party.As many as 15 members fromthe 45-member powerfulStanding Committee of theNepal Communist Party (NCP)attended the meeting, theKathmandu Post reported.

The meeting came on theeve of the conclave of theStanding Committee, whichhas been deferred seven timessince June 24.

On Saturday, 68-year-oldOli proposed to convene anearly general convention of theparty in order to resolve theintra-party rift.

"Going for the general con-vention is not a bad idea butwithout proper preparations, itis not possible as various issuesincluding the party ideologyalso need to be sorted out,"Matrika Yadav, a StandingCommittee member, quotedPrachanda as saying at themeeting. Prachanda's remarkscame amid reports that he hadreached an understanding withPrime Minister Oli on holdingthe general convention byNovember/December and thatOli would back him as theparty chair.

The Prachanda-led faction,backed by senior leadersMadhav Kumar Nepal andJhalanath Khanal, until a few

weeks ago had piled pressure onOli to step down both as partychair and prime minister.

The Madhav Nepal groupon Sunday sought clarificationfrom Prachanda if he hadreached a deal with Oli on anearly general convention and ifhe indeed had, why he did sowithout consulting his allies, thepaper said.

During Monday's meeting,Prachanda briefed his colleaguesabout the talks he had held withhis co-chair, Prime MinisterOli and the secretariat of thechairmen-duo, the leaders of theformer Maoist party said.

Citing sources, the RisingNepal daily said that HomeMinister Ram Bahadur Thapa‘Badal' and Minister forIndustry, Commerce andSupplies Lekh Raj Bhatta werenot present during the meetingheld by Prachanda. PTI

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Pro-democracy activistJoshua Wong filed candi-

dacy papers on Monday forupcoming legislative electionsin Hong Kong, where the newnational security law couldprevent opposition candidatesfrom taking seats.

Wong was one of the topcandidates emerging fromunofficial primaries held by thepro-democracy camp as it aimsto win a majority of seats in the70-seat legislature in theSeptember elections.

“We hope to let the worldto know how we choose not tosurrender, how we choose notto kowtow to China,” Wongtold reporters.

Critics of the national secu-rity law Beijing imposed on the

semi-autonomous territory onJune 30 fear it may be used tothwart pro-democracy candi-dates.

The sweeping law banssecessionist, subversive andterrorist acts, as well as banningcolluding with foreign forces tointervene in the city's affairs. The law also states that anyoneconvicted of endangeringnational security will be dis-qualified from running in cityelections or holding publicoffice.

The 23-year-old Wong hasbeen imprisoned twice for par-ticipating in 2014 pro-democ-racy protests. He also regular-ly speaks out against Beijing'stightening control over the cityand often meets with lawmak-ers and politicians from theU.S. And other countries.

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump faces an uphilltask in his reelection bid inNovember with his approvalrating hitting a record low andDemocratic nominee Joe Bidentaking a double-digit lead inkey indicators, according to asurvey conducted by theWashington Post and ABCNews.

The opinion poll, con-ducted July 12 to 15, showshow the coronavirus outbreakhas adversely affected Trump'sprospects.

Now, the president's hopesof winning are pinned on hisenthusiastic core base of sup-porters and showing the elec-torate that the pandemic isbeing dealt with effectively,The Washington Post said in itsreport on the ABC News-Postpoll.

Among registered voters,Biden, 77, leads Trump, 74, 55 per cent to 40 per cent.In the same category, Biden led Trump by just two points in March and by 10 points in May.

The survey found that tra-ditional Republican andDemocratic voters are treatingthe November polls as a refer-endum on Trump and not onwhether Biden is a more suit-able candidate, the report said.

Seventy-two per cent ofTrump voters say reelecting thepresident is important, while 62per cent of Biden voters saydefeating Trump is the goal.

The Washington Post-ABCNews poll was conducted byphone among a randomAmerican citizens sample of1,006 adults. Results may haveerror margin of plus/minus3.5 percentage points.

The survey said 54 percent of Americans believeBiden would handle COVID-19 outbreak better than Trump.Only 34 per cent felt Trumpwas doing well tackling thepandemic.

In handling of the econo-my, Biden has made giantstrides and is nearly on par withTrump in the opinion poll, theABC News reported.

Biden edges out Trump by

9 points in crime and safety,which has been a major topicin the US after hundreds ofanti-racism protests in the lasttwo months.

On race relations, Bidenhas a lead of 25 points over hisRepublican rival (58-33 percent). Trump's job approval rat-ing has plummeted in the lasttwo months, standing at 39 percent positive and 57 per centnegative.

Notably, 48 per cent of thesurveyed 'strongly disapprove'Trump's way of doing his job,according to the WashingtonPost's article.

However, the president hasmanaged to hold a positiveview on his handling of theeconomy with 50 per cent ofthe surveyed saying they arehappy with the US economy'sperformance and 47 per centdisapproving.

Biden is perceived to havea better personality and tem-perament to serve as president,holding 26 points advantageover Trump, the WashingtonPost reported. PTI

Dubai: Emiratis brimmed withjoy and pride as the UAE madehistory on Monday by success-fully launching its spacecraft "AlAmal" towards Mars from aJapanese launch centre, mark-ing the Arab world's first inter-planetary mission.

Al Amal, or Hope Probe,weighing 1.3 tonnes waslaunched from the H-2A rock-et from Japan's remoteTanegashima spaceport at 1.58am local time.

The ground control roomin Dubai erupted with joy afterthe successful lift off.

Hundreds of scientists,space enthusiasts and the UAE'sleadership cheered as the upperstage containing the probe sep-arated from the launch rocket,the protective shields and itssolar panels were deployed withclockwork precision.

The solar panels will chargethe batteries of the spacecraftfor its 495,000,000 kms journey

to Mars.Within a couple of hours, it

was confirmed that the groundsegment at Mohammed binRashid Space Centre in Dubaihas received and communicat-ed the first signals with theHope Probe.

UAE president SheikhKhalifa has praised the talent-ed team who had mastermind-ed the landmark Mars mission.

"With pleasure and greatpride, we have followed up onthe announcement of the suc-cessful launch of the HopeProbe, the idea of which wasconceived and developed insideour national research and polit-ical institutions," he said.

Sheikh Mohamed binZayed, Crown Prince of AbuDhabi and Deputy SupremeCommander of the UAEArmed Forces, said the nationwatched the successful launchof the Hope probe with "prideand joy." PTI

London: Britain's governmentsuspended its extraditionarrangements with Hong Kongon Monday, after Chinaimposed a tough new nation-al security law.

As tensions grow withBeijing, Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab said he hadconcerns about the new lawand about alleged human rightsabuses in China in particular-ly in regard to the treatment ofthe Uighur minority. An armsembargo on China will beextended to Hong Kong, hesaid.

“We will protect our vitalinterests,'' Raab said. “We willstand up for our values and wewill hold to China to its inter-

national obligations.'' Raab followed the example

of the United States, Australiaand Canada by suspendingextradition arrangements withthe territory.

The review of the extradi-tion measures comes only daysafter Britain backtracked onplans to give Chinese telecom-munications company Huaweia role in the UK's new high-

speed mobile phone networkamid security concerns fueledby rising tensions betweenBeijing and Western powers.

Johnson's government hasalready criticised China's deci-sion to impose a sweepingnew national security law onHong Kong.

The UK has accused theBeijing government of a seriousbreach of the Sino-British JointDeclaration under which theUK returned control of HongKong to China in 1997, andannounced it would open aspecial route to citizenship forup to 3 million eligible resi-dents of the community.

Beijing has objected to themove. China's ambassador to

Britain, Liu Xiaoming, recent-ly described the offer as “grossinterference” in Chinese affairs.

Liu told the BBC's AndrewMarr on Sunday that Britainwas “dancing to the tune” of theU.S. And rejected the allega-tions of human rights abusesagainst the mainly-MuslimUighur people.

He accused Western coun-tries of trying to foment trou-ble with China.

“People say China (is)becoming very aggressive.That's totally wrong," he toldthe BBC “China has notchanged. It's Western countries,headed by United States — theystarted this so-called new ColdWar on China." AP

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Tokyo: Japan has protested toBeijing over a Chinese surveyship that operated for 10 daysinside the exclusive economiczone claimed by Japan aroundOkinotorishima, a tiny islandin the Pacific Ocean, officialssaid Monday.

Japan says Okinotorishima— two uninhabited rocky out-croppings about 1,700 kilome-ters (1,060 miles) southwest ofTokyo — are islands. China

says they are only rocks and donot qualify as a demarcationpoint for Japan's exclusive eco-nomic zone, as Japan claimsunder international law.

Chief Cabinet SecretaryYoshihide Suga told reportersthat coast guard officials spot-ted a Chinese ship using surveyequipment in the waters begin-ning July 9 and ordered it tostop. The Chinese ship stayedin the area until Saturday and

Japan protested to Beijing viadiplomatic channels, Suga said.

“We have not given per-mission to the Chinese side toconduct a maritime scientificsurvey in the waters,” Suga said.

Japan says Okinotorishimaanchors the country's EEZunder the United NationsConvention of the Law of theSea, which requires foreignships to gain prior consent tooperate surveys or fishing. AP

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London: A coronavirus vaccinedeveloped by the University ofOxford appears safe and inducesa strong immune response with-in the body, scientistsannounced on Monday after thefirst phase of "promising" humantrials against the deadly diseasethat has infected over 1.45 crorepeople and claimed more thansix lakh lives across the world.

Doses of the vaccine weregiven to 1,077 healthy adultsaged between 18 and 55 in fiveUK hospitals in April and Mayas part of the phase one clini-cal trial and results, publishedin the ‘Lancet' medical journal.

The results show theyinduced strong antibody andT-cell immune responses for upto 56 days after they weregiven. T-cells are crucial formaintaining protection againstthe virus for years.

The findings are seen aspromising, but experts feel it istoo soon to know if this isenough to offer protection aslarger trials get underway.

"There is still much work tobe done before we can confirmif our vaccine will help managethe Covid-19 pandemic, butthese early results holdpromise,” said Professor SarahGilbert, co-author of the study.

"As well as continuing to

test our vaccine in phase 3 tri-als, we need to learn moreabout the virus – for example,we still do not know how strongan immune response we need toprovoke to effectively protectagainst SARS-CoV-2 infection.If our vaccine is effective, it is apromising option as these typesof vaccine can be manufacturedat large scale," she said.

Scientists behind the trialsfound the response could beeven greater after a second dose.

“The Phase I/II data for ourcoronavirus vaccine shows thatthe vaccine did not lead to anyunexpected reactions and hada similar safety profile to pre-vious vaccines of this type.

"The immune responsesobserved following vaccina-tion are in line with what pre-vious animal studies haveshown are associated with pro-tection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, although we must con-tinue with our rigorous clinicaltrial programme to confirmthis in humans,” said ProfessorAndrew Pollard, Chief investi-gator of the Oxford VaccineTrial at Oxford University andco-author of the study.

“We saw the strongestimmune response in the 10participants who received twodoses of the vaccine, indicating

that this might be a good strat-egy for vaccination,” he said.

Since emerging in the cen-tral Chinese city of Wuhan lastyear, the virus has has killedover 606,000 people and infect-ed more than 14,538,000 peo-ple worldwide. In India, thevirus has caused 27,497 deathsand infected over 11 lakh peo-ple, according to latest officialfigures. UK Business SecretaryAlok Sharma said: “Today'sresults are extremely encour-aging, taking us one step clos-er to finding a successful vac-cine to protect millions in theUK and across the world.

“Backed by GBP 84 milliongovernment investment for thevaccine's development andmanufacture, the agility andspeed with which the Universityof Oxford have been working isoutstanding. I am very proud ofwhat they have achieved so far,”the Indian-origin minister said.

The University of Oxford isworking with the UK-basedglobal biopharmaceutical com-pany AstraZeneca for the fur-ther development, large-scalemanufacture and potential dis-tribution of the Covid-19 vac-cine, with plans for clinicaldevelopment and production ofthe Oxford vaccine progressingglobally. PTI

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Hong Kong: China launchedits military build-up in themid-1990s with a top priority:keep the United States at bay inany conflict by making thewaters off the Chinese coast adeath trap. Now, China'sPeople's Liberation Army(PLA) is preparing to challengeAmerican power further afield.

China's shipyards havelaunched the PLA Navy's firsttwo Type 075 amphibiousassault ships, which will form thespearhead of an expeditionaryforce to play a role similar to thatof the US Marine Corps. And

like the Marines, the new forcewill be self-contained - able todeploy solo with all its support-ing weapons to fight in distantconflicts or demonstrateChinese military power.

The 40,000-tonne Type 075ships are a kind of small aircraftcarrier with accommodationfor up to 900 troops and spacefor heavy equipment and land-ing craft, according to Westernmilitary experts who have stud-ied satellite images and pho-tographs of the new vessels.

They will carry up to 30helicopters at first; later they

could carry fighter jets, if Chinacan build short take off andvertical landing aircraft like theUS F-35B.

The first Type 075 waslaunched last September andthe second in April, accordingto reports in China's officialmilitary media. A third isunder construction, accord-ing to the May edition of aCongressional Research Servicereport. Eventually, the PLANavy could have seven or moreof these ships, according toreports in China's official mil-itary press. AFP

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Kabul: A suicide truck bomberstruck an army convoy in east-ern Afghanistan on Monday,killing at least eight Afghan sol-diers, the Defense Ministrysaid.

Another nine troops werewounded in the attack inMaidan Wardak province. Noone immediately claimed

responsibility for the attack, butthe Taliban and a local IslamicState affiliate routinely targetAfghan security forces.

The Taliban have steppedup attacks across Afghanistandespite signing a peace dealwith the US in February. Thatagreement was intended topave the way for talks between

the insurgents and the Afghangovernment leading to an endto decades of war. Those talkswere supposed to begin thismonth, but the process hasstalled over the implementationof a prisoner release.

The peace deal called forthe Afghan government to free5,000 Taliban prisoners inexchange for the Talibanreleasing 1,000 captive gov-ernment personnel. So far, thegovernment has freed morethan 4,200 and the Talibanhave freed around 800. AP

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New Delhi:Ravi P Singh,Former CMD and Director(Personnel), Power GridCorporation of India Limited(POWERGRID), has beenappointed as CEO, PowerSector Skill Council. He is a Mechanical Engineerfrom NIT, Allahabad in FirstClass with Honors and PostGraduate Diploma in HR fromAIMA, New Delhi. Shri Singhhas over 35 years of workexperience in the power sectorhandling various multi-disci-plinary functions like HR,Telecom, Contracts, Materials,Planning, Monitoring andTransmission SystemConstruction/O&M. Before joining POWERGRIDin 1991, Shri Singh had workedin NTPC for 10 years in vari-ous Technical departments.

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The new rules for electron-ic retailers, including

mandatory display of ‘countryof origin’ on their products, willcome into force by the end ofthis week, Union Minister RamVilas Paswan said on Mondayand emphasised that the enti-ties will face penal action forany non-compliance.

The ‘Consumer Protection(E-Commerce) Rules, 2020’will be applicable to all elec-tronic retailers (e-tailers) reg-istered in India or abroad butoffering goods and services toIndian consumers, he said.

“Most rules framed underthe Consumer Protection Act2019 have come into forcefrom today (Monday).However, e-commerce ruleswill get notified by the end ofthis week, while rules on directselling will take some moretime,” the Consumer AffairsMinister told reporters in a vir-tual press conference.

The e-commerce rules are“mandatory in nature” andviolation of these will attractpenalties as decided by the con-sumer protection authority and

consumer courts as providedunder the Act, he said.

Consumer AffairsSecretary Leena Nandan saidthe rules have been finalisedafter taking inputs from theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT), under the aegis of theCommerce Ministry, so thatthey do not contravene with theoverall e-commerce policy.

As per the rules, the e-commerce players will have todisplay the total ‘price’ of goodsand services offered for salealong with break-up of othercharges.

They are also required tomention the ‘expiry date’ ofgoods offered for sale and the‘country of origin’ of goods andservices that are necessary forenabling the consumer to makean informed decision at thepre-purchase stage.

E-tailers have to displaydetails about return, refund,exchange, warranty and guar-antee, delivery and shipment,modes of payment, and griev-ance redressal mechanism, andany other similar informationthat may be required by con-sumers to make informed deci-

sions. Sellers offering goodsand services through a mar-ketplace e-commerce entitywill have to provide the abovedetails to the e-commerce enti-ty to be displayed on its plat-form or website.

Under the rules, e-tailersshould not impose “cancella-tion charges” on consumerscancelling after confirmingpurchase, unless similarcharges are also borne by the e-commerce entity if it cancelsthe purchase order unilateral-ly for any reason.

They are also not allowedto “manipulate the price” of thegoods and services offered ontheir platforms to gain unrea-sonable profit and discriminate

between consumers of thesame class or make any arbi-trary classification of con-sumers affecting their rightsunder the Act.

Further, e-tailers will haveto provide information onavailable payment methods,the security of those paymentmethods, any fees or chargespayable by users, the procedureto cancel regular paymentsunder those methods, charge-back options, if any, and thecontact information of the rel-evant payment service provider.

That apart, e-tailers arerequired to display promi-nently to its users details aboutthe ‘sellers’ offering goods andservices, including the name oftheir business, whether regis-tered or not, their geographicaddress, customer care number,any rating or other aggregatedfeedback about such seller, andany other information neces-sary for enabling consumers tomake informed decisions at thepre-purchase stage.

They are alsorequired to provide a ticketnumber for each complaintlodged, through which theconsumer can track the status

of the complaint.However, the rules will not

permit any inventory e-com-merce entity, including single-brand retailers and multi-chan-nel single-brand retailers, to“falsely represent itself as a con-sumer and post reviews aboutgoods and services or misrep-resent the quality or the fea-tures of any goods and ser-vices”.

The inventory e-com-merce entities will also have toensure that the advertisementsfor marketing of goods and ser-vices are consistent with theactual characteristics, accessand usage conditions of suchgoods or services.

Under the rules, no inven-tory e-commerce entity will beallowed to refuse to take backgoods, or withdraw or discon-tinue services purchased oragreed to be purchased, orrefuse to refund considera-tion, if paid, if such goods orservices are defective, deficientspurious, or if the goods or ser-vices are not of the features asadvertised or as agreed to, or ifsuch goods or services aredelivered late from the stateddelivery sxsschedule.

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Markets regulator Sebi onMonday released frame-

work to enable verification ofupfront collection of marginsfrom clients in cash and deriv-atives segments.

The new framework willcome into effect fromDecember 1, 2020, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) said in a circu-lar.

The regulator has reiterat-ed that the applicable upfrontmargins will be collected fromthe clients in advance of thetrade.

Sebi said clearing corpo-rations will send minimumfour snapshots of client wisemargin requirement to tradingmember (TM) or clearingmember (CM) for them toknow the intra-day marginrequirement per client in eachsegment.

It further said number oftimes snapshots need to be sentin a day may be decided by therespective clearing corpora-tion depending on market tim-

ings subject to a minimum offour snapshots in a day.

The snapshots would berandomly taken in pre-definedtime windows.

For commodity derivativessegment, Sebi said last snapshotfor commodity derivatives willbe generated at 5 PM.

The client wise margin fileprovided by the clearing cor-porations to trading or clearingmember will contain the end ofthe day margin requirementsof the client as well as the peakmargin requirement of theclient, across each of the intra-day snapshots.

The member will have toreport the margin collectedfrom each client, as at EODand peak margin collected dur-ing the day, in a manner pre-scribed by the regulator.

EOD margin obligation ofthe client will be comparedwith the respective client mar-gin available with the TM/CMat EOD and peak margin oblig-ation of the client, across thesnapshots, will be comparedwith respective client peakmargin available with the

TM/CM during the day.With regard to penalty,

Sebi said higher of the shortfallin collection of the marginobligations at the two pre-scribed manner will be con-sidered for levying of fine.

The verification of avail-ability of margins with TM/CM will be done by exchangesor clearing corporations on aweekly basis by verification ofthe balances in the books or ofthe TM/ CM in respect of theclient.

Sebi said peak marginobligation of client across snap-shots will be adopted in aphased manner.

For three months from thedate of implementation, Sebisaid 25 per cent of peak mar-gin obligation of the clientacross the snapshots will becompared with respectiveclient peak margin availablewith the TM/CM during theday.

This will be 50 per cent forsubsequent three months andthereafter75 per cent for sub-sequent three months andfinally 100 per cent.

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The Indian equity indicessurged on Monday with the

Nifty50 on the National StockExchange reclaiming the11,000-mark.

The BSE Sensex settlednearly 400 points higher.Healthy buying was witnessedin finance, banking and con-sumer durables stocks.

The indices were support-ed by an inflow of foreignportfolio investments. Net FPIinflow on Monday stood at Rs1,709.97 crore. Domestic insti-tutional investors however tookto selling during the sessionand stocks worth net value ofRs 1,521.99 crore were sold.

Rahul Sharma, MarketStrategist and Research Head,

Equity99 Advisors said: “Webelieve strong liquidity andrising participation of retailinvestors is driving the market.Of late, retail investors havepreferred to invest directly instocks rather than the mutualfund route.”

He said that ahead of July2020 derivative series expiry,

the market may remain volatileas short-sellers will look tocover up open positions.

Deepak Jasani, Head ofRetail Research at HDFCSecurities, said that furtherupsides are likely in Nifty oncethe immediate resistance of11,038 is reached and 10,953would be a crucial support.

On Monday, the Nifty50closed at 11,022.20, higher by120.50 points or 1.11 per centfrom the previous close of10,901.70 points.

The Sensex closed at37,418.99, higher by 398.85points or 1.08 per cent from theprevious close of 37,020.14.

It had opened at 37,409.03and touched an intra-day highof 37,478.87 and a low of37,185.78 points.

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Retail inflation for farm andrural workers in June eased

to 7.16 per cent and 7 per cent,respectively, as compared toMay this year, a labour ministrystatement said on Monday.

“Point to point rate ofinflation based on the CPI-AL(Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers andCPI-RL (Consumer PriceIndex for rural labourers)decreased to 7.16 per cent and7.00 per cent in June 2020 from8.40 per cent and 8.12 per cent,respectively in May 2020,” theministry said. According tothe statement, inflation basedon food index of CPI-AL andCPI-RL stood at (+) 8.57 percent and (+) 8.41 per cent,respectively, in June 2020.

The All-India CPI-AL and

CPI-RL (Base: 1986-87=100)for June 2020 decreased by 1point each to stand at 1,018 and1,024 points, respectively, com-pared to 1,019 and 1,025 inMay this year.The major con-tribution towards the fall in thegeneral index of agriculturallabourers and rural labourerscame from food, with (-) 1.82points and (-) 1.58 points,respectively, mainly due to fallin prices of rice, arhar dal,masur dal, ground nut oil,meat goat, poultry, vegetablesand fruits, among others.

Labour Minister SantoshGangwar said, “The softeningof inflation is mainly due to freesupply of food grains under PMGarib Kalyan Ann Yojana(PMGKAY). This has benefit-ted a large number of house-holds under Targeted PublicDistribution System (TPDS)

including agricultural and rurallabourers thereby putting lessburden on their daily bud-getary requirement”.

The CPI-AL and CPI-RLare brought out by LabourBureau - a wing of labourMinistry. Director-GeneralLabour Bureau D S Negi saidthe easing of inflation reflectsthe efforts done by the centraland state governments alongwith civil societies to ensuresupplies of essentials duringthese testing times amid Covid-19 outbreak.According to thedata, the rise/fall in index var-ied from state to state. In caseof agricultural labourers, itrecorded an increase of 1 to 7points in 9 states and a decreaseof 1 to 19 points in 9 otherstates, while it remained sta-tionary in 2 states - Manipurand Rajasthan.

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The Covid-19-induced eco-nomic turbulence has led

airline major IndiGo to decideto lay off 10 per cent of itsworkforce.

According to RonojoyDutta, CEO, IndiGo, the com-pany, after carefully assessingand reviewing all possible sce-narios, will require to bid “apainful adieu” to 10 per cent ofits around 27,000-strong work-force.”It is for the first time inthe history of IndiGo that wehave undertaken such a painfulmeasure. This is indeed a veryunfortunate turn of eventsfrom the optimistic growth

trajectory we had carved outfor ourselves just six monthsago; but this pandemic hasforced us to re-evaluate our bestlaid plans.

“To help the impactedemployees’ tide over the uncer-tainties emanating from thisdecision, IndiGo has created a‘6E Care package’.”

Dutta said the current pan-demic has impacted manyindustries around the world,amongst which aviation hasbeen one of the sectors that hasbeen impacted the hardest.

“Even now, IndiGo is flyingonly a small percentage of itsfull fleet of 250 airplanes,” hesaid.

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The economic turbulencedue to Covid-19 is expect-

ed to push India’s debt-to-GDP ratio higher, according toa SBI Ecowrap report onMonday. Together with thedeclining GDP growth, debt-to-GDP ratio has been adverse-ly affected in all countries.

“India’s debt-to-GDP ratiohas increased gradually fromRs 58.8 lakh crore (67.4 percent of GDP) in FY12 to Rs146.9 lakh crore (72.2 per centof GDP) in FY20,” it said.Higher borrowing this fiscalwas likely to increase the grossdebt to around Rs 170 lakhcrore (87.6 per cent of GDP),it added.

According to the report,external debt is estimated toincrease to Rs 6.8 lakh crore(3.5 per cent of GDP) in theexpected gross debt for FY21.

“Of the remaining domes-tic debt, component of state’sdebt is expected at 27 per centof GDP. Interestingly, the GDPcollapse is pushing up thedebt-to-GDP ratio by at least 4per cent, implying that growthrather than continued fiscalconservatism is the only

mantra to get us back on track,”it said.

“We reiterate the currentthinking of rating downgradein policy circles is a false neg-ative as India’s rating is likely toface a litmus test of downgradein FY21, depending on what wehave done to bring growthback to track,” the SBI Ecowrapreport said.

This higher debt amountwill also lead to shifting of theFRBM target of combined debtto 60 per cent of GDP byFY23 by 7 years with the tar-get now seem achievable inFY30 only.

“The moot point is the sus-tainability of the debt. Thecurrent foreign exchangereserves are sufficient to meetany external debt obligations.On the internal debt, sincemost debt is domesticallyowned, its servicing is not anissue,” it said.

“In the current situation,our nominal GDP growth islikely to contract significantlyand based on this our interest-growth differential will turnpositive in FY21, thus raisingserious questions on debt sus-tainability,” the SBI Ecowrapreport said.

Noida: The Residential PlotsScheme 2020 (11) has beenpublished on 20.07.2020 invarious national newspapers bythe Noida Authority for allo-cation of residential plots.Under this scheme, 50% of theplots will be allocated for gen-eral category and 50% forreserved category. Allotment ofplots will be done through e-auction. A total of 84 plots havebeen included in the saidscheme, the selection of plotsfor reserved category from theavailable plots under thisscheme by manual draw by acommittee constituted underthe chairmanship of AdditionalChief Executive Officer-P,Noida on 24.07.2020 at 11.00AM From this, Indira GandhiArt Centre will be held inSector 6 Noida in front ofpublic. The general is informed thatthe interested person canappear in the said draw at thespecified date, time and place.

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Worldwide cybersecurityspending is estimated

between 2.5-5.6 per cent in2020 as threats and vulnera-bilities persist for organisa-tions, and the shift to remoteworking during lockdownmake it important for enter-prises to invest in extendingperimeter defences, researchfirm Canalys said on Monday.

Cybersecurity spendingcould grow by 2.5 per cent toUSD 41.9 billion in the worst-case scenario if IT budgetscome under serious pressureassuming the maximum level ofnegative economic impact andduration of the COVID-19pandemic. Canalys forecast thatcybersecurity spending couldgrow 5.6 per cent in its best-casescenario with overall shipmentvalue - covering endpoint secu-rity, network security, web andemail security, data security,and vulnerability and securityanalytics - expected to reachUSD 43.1 billion.

Cybersecurity will remaina top priority for most organ-isations in 2020 as threats andvulnerabilities persist and com-pliance, regulations and ecosys-

tem requirements strengthen,Canalys said in a statement.

It underpinned the massshift to remote working duringlockdown by securing newlyprovisioned endpoints, pro-viding secure access to corpo-rate resources and extendingperimeter defences beyondphysical corporate networks,the statement added.

“The shift to subscriptionswill shield cybersecurity fromimmediate IT spending cuts,but additional expenditure willbe affected for the rest of theyear as organisations begin thenext stage in their response tothe pandemic,” Matthew Ball,chief analyst at Canalys, said.

He added that the switchfrom free trials to paid sub-scriptions will be a factor inmaintaining cybersecuritygrowth.

“But the mix of cost con-tainment measures, workforcereduction and cash flow issueswill result in greater scrutiny ofexisting projects and smallerdeals. Delays and cancellationsof new initiatives will increase,except those that enable costreductions and secure high-pri-ority digital transformationinitiatives,” he said.

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The income tax departmentwill start sharing data on

depreciation, sales and grossturnover of micro, small andmedium enterprises as report-ed in their ITRs with theMSME Ministry.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) onMonday signed a memoran-dum of understanding (MoU)with the Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME).

“The MoU will facilitateseamless sharing of certainIncome-tax Return (ITR) relat-ed information by the IncomeTax Department to Ministry ofMSME.

This data will enableMinistry of MSME to checkand classify enterprises inMicro, Small and Medium cat-egories...,” the CBDT said in astatement.

The CBDT in an order dateJuly 14 had directed PrincipalDirector General of IncomeTax (Systems) to share infor-mation with the MSMEMinistry.

Section 138 of Income TaxAct empowers income taxauthorities to share informa-tion/ details of its taxpayers

with other Government agen-cies, as may be notified.

The information to beshared include depreciation onplant and machinery as report-ed in ITR3, 5 and 6, sales/grossreceipts of business as report-ed in ITR-3, 5 and 6; and grossturnover/gross receipts asreported in ITR-4.

“To facilitate the processof furnishing information,Principal Director General ofIncome-tax (Systems) wouldenter into a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (‘MoU’) withNotified Authority of Ministryof MSME, Government ofIndia which inter-alia wouldinclude the mode of transferof data. Maintenance of con-fidentiality, mechanism forsafe preservation of data,weeding out after usage etc,”the CBDT order dated July 14had said.

The timeline for furnishinginformation will also be decid-ed by Principal DirectorGeneral of Income-tax(Systems) in consultation withthe concerned Ministry andincluded in the said MoU, theorder added.

The CBDT statement saidthat the MoU will come intoforce from the date it issigned.

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Page 10:  · 2 hours ago  · resume on Tuesday. A Bench of Chief Justice ... Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that spe-cial Railway coaches at Hatia ... Department Pradeep Kumar

The Urinary tract infection(UTI)is the third most commoninfection in children after res-

piratory and gastrointestinal infec-tions in India. Urinary tract is definedas infection in any part of the urinarysystem from kidneys, ureters, blad-der and urethra. During the first yearof life, the boys are affected threetimes more than girls, but beyond thatgirls are affected almost 10 timesmore. The prevalence of infection isfive-seven per cent in children fromtwo-24 months (AAP).When itaffects the lower urinary tract it is abladder infection (cystitis) and whenit affects the upper urinary tract it isinfection of the kidney (pyelonephri-tis)

Symptoms of a lower tract (ure-thra and bladder) infection includeurgency, increased frequency, painand burning with urination. Childmay complaint of pain below oraround belly button. Urine maysmell foul or has blood in it. If uppertract is involved child generally lookssicker with significant fever and painin the loin area. Urine may have bloodsometimes. In the young infants,symptoms may be non-specific likefeeling low, persistent diarrhea, vom-iting and failure to thrive. Commonterms used in UTI; Bacteriuria indi-cates presence of bacteria in urinewhich may be harmless. Infection isdefined by the presence of harmfulbacteria in urinary tract causingsymptoms. Cystitis denotes infectionof urinary bladder (Commonest).Pyelonephritis occurs when infectiontravels up to kidneys (Concerning)

Human urinary tract has some

unique natural mechanism to prevententry of microorganisms in the tract.UTIs are much more common ingirls because their urethra is shorterand closer to the anus and Bacteriafind easy access in the urethra.Cleaning diapers with direction fromanus to front area adds to increasedchances of infections. Other predis-posing factors can be, chronic con-stipation, poor local hygiene and toi-let training, children with wet diapersfor long duration and holding urinefor too long.

Poor intake of liquids makingurine concentrated adds to the stasisof urine in bladder. Uncircumcisedboys younger than 1 year have beennoticed with higher incidence of UTI.Besides this one must try to find outany malformations and obstructionsof the urinary tract, Indwelling uri-nary catheters (for some otherillness-es) High-grade vesicoureteral reflux(a type of defect where a part of urinetravels in upward direction to involvekidneys)any many more for paedia-tricians to look forNeonates andyoung infants must be worked up forsepsis to avoid complications.

Escherichia coli infections arecommonest (85-90 per cent) followedby klebsiella and proteus spp , staphy-lococcus and some others

Common investigations includea good urine analysis and for that col-lection of urine sample is of utmostimportance. The clean catch methodaims to prevent bacterial contamina-tion from the skin around urinaryorifice.

Preparation before collectingthe sample: Cleansing the area

around the urinary opening requiresa simple wash, no antisepticsrequired. Clean your hands with soapand water. Open the sterile contain-er and hold the cover in hand, do notkeep it on any surface (another per-son can help do this job), hold the girlchild little high with thighs bendtoward abdomen. When child startspeeing let it go and collect second partin the sterile container and put the capimmediately on the container. Aboy can pass urine in standing posi-tion, rest of the precautions aresame.

Never collect urine in a contain-er and then poured in sterile contain-er provided for urine collection.Transport the sample to laboratory-

immediately. Other methods of col-lecting clean sample is by catheteri-zation or suprapubic aspiration whichcan be done by trained personnelonly. Early morning sample pre-ferred but may not always be possi-ble in a toddler.Other investigationslike ultrasound, MCUG and nuclearscans will be decided by the treatingpaediatrician.

The paediatrics academies rec-ommend that a well-appearing infanttwo-24 months of age with a UTI,good follow-up can be managed as anoutpatient with oral antibiotics forseven to 14 days. A cephalosporin,such as first-generation cephalexin,is a reasonable first-line medicine. Asicker child with high fever and otherconstitutional symptoms requiresadmission and more elaborate workup.

How to prevent UTIs?Change baby’s diapers frequent-

ly, keep the toddlers dry especially indamp seasons,start early toilet train-ing, teach her good bathroomhabits,and wipe girls from front toback. Advise children not to holdurine. Avoid bubble baths for girls,use cotton inner wears for good aircirculation.

Advise to drink lots of water, takeappropriate measure to treat consti-pation

Antibiotic prophylaxis shouldnever be self-administered and givenonly when prescribed by treating doc-tor.

UTIs are easy to diagnose andtreat, but it is important to catch themearly if taken lightly and under diag-nosed or left untreated there can beserious kidney damage)"��%������� ���� ����� ����/� ��$� ��#�(�����������"������ !�%��"��� ?�

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� ��)�������������������Brain surgery, brain tumour, stroke (paralysis) and sudden amne-

sia have always been an integral part of Indian cinema and TVserial’s dramatic masala content. It is unfortunate that often major-ity of public doesn’t even try to increase its knowledge in this regard;rather this very subject of brain health is ignored mostly, consid-ering its complexity. According to a study the burden of strokedisease has increased nearly 100 per cent in our country. And inthe time of Covid-19 pandemic, patients who are already suffer-ing from neurological diseases are facing a tough time. Their treat-ment process has been deeply affected due to lack of access to theirDoctors and availability of medications. The stress and depres-sion generated from the lockdowns and the fear psychosis aroundCOVID-19 has also increased the number of such patients.

This is alarming. A major awareness for brain health is theneed of the hour. Our food habits and lifestyle has a major impacton our brain health. At the same time, it is also important to knowabout the initial symptoms of neurological problems so that earlytreatment can be initiated.

Brain health with brain food: There is a famous proverb “youare what you eat”. And it is more so in the case of the brain. Somepeople assume that increasing dry fruits intake is the only thingrequired, but it is not enough. There are other brain foods as wellwhich play key role in brain’s development. Take antioxidants richfood like grapes, blue berries, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, fish.The fact is 60 per cent of brain is made of fat hence add healthy

fats in your daily meals, andomega 3 fatty acid also plays akey role in developing braincells, hence take omega 3 richfoods as well like flaxseed, fish,walnuts etc.

Be regular with exercises:Brain health is not differentfrom physical health in anysense. Regular exercise helps inmaintaining blood pressure andgood circulation which is nec-essary for proper functioning ofthe brain also. Yoga and medi-tation also boost functioning ofbrain.

Physical health and brain:Although every disease or phys-ical ailment affects our brainhealth, but suffering from one ofthe following majorly affectsbrain health: hypertension andDiabetes.

Basically in above diseases blood pressure play a key role, ourblood travels through our blood vessels to the brain, and loweror high BP can result into stroke and brain haemorrhage. Takeproper medication and keep checking your BP.

There are some neurological diseases people need to knowmore about:

Parkinson’s Disease: It is type of a degenerative disorder. Itssymptoms appear gradually and progress over the years:-

�Tremors or/and stiffness�Slurring or speech changes�Stooped posture, small steps and imbalance Parkinson’s patient need continuous treatment and medica-

tion without fail or else it may result to rapid worsening. Neverignore such initial symptoms, immediately see a doctor and starttreatment in order to slower the progression.

Alzheimer’s Disease: Repeatedly forgetting recent events indaily life is an initial symptom. It is one of a type of dementia whichstarts insidiously and progress slowly. Early detection can retardthe pace of the disease.

Brain Tumour: It is basically an abnormal growth of braincells which starts creating pressure on brain with the growth ofits number and size, and presents like: headache with repeatedepisodes of vomiting, neurological deficits, seizures

Like any other Cancer, early identification of brain tumoursis one of the key factors that determine the prognosis.

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��*���� Lychee is sweetsmelling small fruit. It issweet in taste too. Lychee hasanti-cancer properties. Thisfruit has flavonoids in thepulp which helps to fightfatal and lethal diseases likecancer. It contains flavones,quercitin and kaemferolwhich are powerfulcompounds in reducing theproliferation of cancer cells.

Lychees help tonourish the skin oilswhich reduce thegrowth of acne. Italso refines theskin and leadsto less spots onthe skin. It is alsogood for people whowant to lose weightbecause of the absence of

fats and cholesterol.It also keeps the digestion

strong, maintains a clean stom-ach, improves appetite andcures heartburn and burningsensation in the stomach.

Lychees are a very goodrefreshing fruit for the sum-mers as it keeps you hydratedbecause of the high water con-

tent in them.

Believe it or not butthough the pitter-patterbrings the much-needed

relief from the blazing heat, itdoes make people with oilyskin break out in many prob-lems like more acne,dullness andinflammation.However, fol-lowing a reg-ular regimencan restorethe glow tothe face. Hereare a fewthings that onecan do.

There was a reasonwhy my mother would insistand we made a face maskusing chandan powder. It helpsin healing acne and other skinbreakouts. It also works as anatural moisturiser. Take abowl, add a teaspoon ofturmeric, rosewater and san-

dalwood powder and mix well.Apply this paste and leave it todry on the face. Wash it offwith water.

Another mask that onecan make is using 200ml rose

water, a teaspoon ofcamphor powder

and one tea-spoon of driedmint powder.Mix all theingredientsinto a paste.Pour it in an

air tight bottleand refrigerate.

Use this to cleanyour face two-three times

in a day.Peaches are in the market

and one can make a great facepack using them. Mash onetomato and peach to make apaste. Apply the mixture onthe face. Leave it for 15-20minutes. Rinse with water.

The rains are here and with it adull looking skin and an array of

other problems especially if one hasoily skin. Therefore, it is importantto follow a proper regimen during

this season to restore the glow, saysROSHNI DEVI

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While the answer to themost frequently asked

question by parents on what isthe maximum screen time fortheir children is “Minimum isthe new Maximum”, in thesense, lesser the time a childspends on digital devices the bet-ter it is for their eyes. As per theideal recommendation of screentime, children below two yearsshould avoid any use of digitaldevices, as the eye is in the for-mative stage.

Children in the age group oftwo-five years, screen time

of one hour or less per dayshould be allowed and childrenabove five years should beallowed a recreational or enjoy-ment related screen time of twohours or less per day.

However, all this recom-mendation today is thrown outof the window as the education-al system world over is opting foronline education due to socialand physical distancing the chil-dren have to maintain in orderto avoid contracting the harm-ful COVID-19 disease. Alsoanother risk the longer screen

time entails is that of an increasein Myopia or Short Sightednessamong children.

The symptoms are difficul-ty in reading the blackboard inthe classroom from the back-bench, squinting of eyes to seeclearly, holding books close toface while reading or writing.The correction of Myopia isdone through spectacles, contactlenses, and refractive surgery.

So how can one handle thisonslaught of online educationthat is going to be the new nor-mal? Well, as a starter one needsto ensure the following tips arepracticed to avoid any type of

eye strain.Use the right power: If

your child has been going tooclose to the screen or squintingthe eyes for reading those smallprints at a distance, then gethis/her eyes tested and get theright power of eyeglasses or con-tact lenses.

Place it right: The viewingdistance from the monitor to theeyes should be in the range of 40- 75 cm and the top of the screenshould be at the eye level so thata comfortable visual zone of 30°(15° above the line of sight and15° below the line of sight) isachieved downward from the

top of the monitor which is lessfatiguing for the eyes as opposedto looking upwards by 30° whenthe monitor is positioned abovethe eye level.

Take frequent breaks:Resting eyes helps keep themmoist. Use the 20-20-20 rule, byasking your child to take a 20-second screen break every 20minutes to look at objects 20 feetaway from you.

Aim bigger: Increase fontsize when reading on-screen, sothat devices don’t need to be tooclose to your eyes.

Blink more frequently:Staring at a screen makes usblink less often, which dries outthe eyes. Blinking moistens theeyes, reducing dryness and irri-tation.

Build strong eye muscles:Teach strengthening exerciseslike keeping your thumb at anarms distance in the line of yournose and focus with both eyeson it. Slowly move the thumbtowards the nose with yourgaze fixated on the thumb.

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Just like your body health, skin health isalso important; your skin is the largest

sense organ and outer protection to yourinner body parts. So, it also has a tenden-cy to get unwell. Also, skin is the mostexposed organ of our body; it suffers fromsun rays, dust and wounds. Many timeswe don’t even give appropriate attentionto it.

Unless we have a major issue, we oftentake our skin and hair for granted.However, healthy skin and hair are asessential as overall health. Visiting the der-matologist helps us in keeping our skin,hair and nail as healthy as it can possiblybe. We all know the consequences of anyskin issue; it causes irritation, itchiness andmany other problems.

You might think of some issue thatlooks like a simple rash but your derma-tologist can tell something different thatyou might even not know.

Therefore, one must visit their derma-tologist once in six months for a preven-tive skincare routine for thorough skinexamination, because our skin changesover time due to change in weather,inner health and other factors. Also,your skin’s needs keep on changing timeto time, and respectively your skincareproducts you apply need to change. Apartfrom that, if you're facing some skin issuesthen it’s necessary to visit a dermatologistthey can give you a correct consultationand solution to problems.

Many people are allergic to some ele-ments or weather conditions, or even candevelop allergies later in their lives; theseconditions can also be avoided if you keepon visiting your dermatologist on regularbases.

Your dermatologist may even callyou more often for visits, depending onyour medical history or skin condition.They may notice any mole, patches and zitthat may grow into severe skin issues oreven cancer.

If you notice severe hair fall, acne,unknown wounds or patches, any changein your skin condition, infection or visi-bility of puss, the safest option is to con-sult your dermatologist.

On the other hand, many peopleassume that because they haven't noticedany significant problems with their skin,they don’t need to make the time to see adermatologist. But the truth is visiting adermatologist can be beneficial for any-one whether or not you currently haveconcerns about your skin. It can preventany kind of future problems, and even helpyour skin keep looking healthy andyoung.

Concluding, skin health is as impor-tant as body health is so we should keepa check on our skin, and must visit anexpert from time to time.

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Actor Vaani Kapoor is absolutely ecstatic that she hashad the opportunity to work with actors Hrithik

Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor and AkshayKumar. With Hrithik, Vaani was paired

in the blockbuster War, she will beseen with Ranbir in Shamshera andshe has been cast opposite AkshayKumar in Bell-Bottom. She is look-ing forward to her forthcomingreleases.

Vaani says, “I feel absolutelyecstatic and I couldn’t feel moreblessed that I get to work withsuch stalwarts in the industry.I have always idolised Hrithik,Ranbir and Akshay Kumar. Ihave loved all their films. So it’slike a dream come true for me.”

Talking about the differentacting styles of these threeactors, Vaani says, “Each of

them is incredible and brings a dif-ferent style to the table. Hrithik isincredibly talented and passionateabout anything he’s involved in andthat passion inspires people aroundhim. Ranbir is effortless in hisdemeanour and his cool, and com-

posed charisma is so evident onscreen. Akshay, of course, is a leg-

endary idol who’s one of the best inthe industry today. His contributions

and star presence cannot be ignored.”Vaani feels that she has interesting

and different chemistry with each ofthese screen icons. “I have a differ-

ent equation with all of them andour chemistry is

also so differentbecause of the

kind ofroles, butthey allmake mewant todo better

and be bet-ter to try and

match up withthem,” adds she.

Ajourney of love, differences anddiscovery. The forthcoming

Amazon Original Series, BandishBandits is the story of two youngmusicians, hailing from contrastingbackgrounds.

Set in Jodhpur, the romanticmusical drama follows the story ofRadhe and Tamanna. Radhe is asinging prodigy determined to followin the classical footsteps of hisgrandfather. Tamanna is a rising popsensation desperate to become India’sfirst international popstar. Radhe’sworld is turned upside down when

he falls in love with Tamanna. Tornbetween helping her achieve super-stardom and staying true to his ownmusic and his family’s legacy, will hesucceed in juggling both at the riskof losing everything he has?

The lead actor, Ritwik Bhowmiksays, “The series has been a dreamin the making. Working with stal-warts such as Naseeruddin Shah,Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chaddhaand Atul Kulkarni for my debut wasone of the most fulfilling experiencesof my life. Bandish Bandits is a blendof Indian traditions seeped in music

that beautifully describes younglove, ambition, passion and familyvalues in a simple, yet powerful man-ner.”

Shreya Chaudhry, lead actresssays, “Working with Anand Tiwarihas always been something I hadwanted to do, so a being part of thisseries is nothing short of serendipi-tous. I could not have asked for a bet-ter setting to work and learn moreabout acting, that too from some ofthe most talented and respectedactors. I believe the show is a heart-warming journey of music and love

and think it is something the audi-ence would very much enjoy watch-ing.”

Produced and created byAmritpal Singh Bindra and directedby Anand Tiwari, the show also fea-tures an exciting original soundtrack,composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy,who are also making their digitaldebut with this show.

Talking about the show Tiwarihad earlier said, “Bandish Bandits isa story about the meeting of two indi-viduals and cultures that are inmany ways different, and yet in otherways incredibly similar. While eachcharacter has a unique and com-pelling story in their own right, it’show these stories come togetherwhich makes this series so powerful,romantic and real. I am beyond excit-ed to bring this incredible tale ofromance, beautifully told through themusical genius of composersShankar-Ehsaan-Loy.”

Now the OTT platform hascome up with a unique idea to raisethe curiosity around the show. It hasbrought together the cast of some ofits noted shows such as Mirzapur,The Family Man, Inside Edge andMade In Heaven, among others.

The video starts with Kunaal RoyKapur (Arghya), who is playingShreya Chaudhary’s (Tamanna)manager in the show, attempting tofind the best marketing idea for thetrailer launch.

In an attempt to scout for thebest marketing idea, Kunaal bringstogether some of the quirkiest peo-ple on the internet together on avideo call along with Shreya andRitwik. Some of the people who jointhem on the video call are familiarfaces like Ali Fazal (Guddu inMirzapur), Divyendu (Munna inMirzapur), Sapna Pabbi (Mantra inInside Edge), Ahsaas Chhana, NikhilVijay & Shubham Gaur (from HostelDaze), Yashaswini Dayama (Made InHeaven), Sharib Hashmi (JK in TheFamily Man) and digital influencerAyush Mehra.

(The series releases on August 4on Amazon Prime Video.)

An incident occurs. It grabs atten-tion. It becomes a mystery. Soon,due to its severity and intensity,

it becomes the talk of the town. Itattracts debates on social media andmakes room for a number of interpre-tations and conspiracy theories about it.However, the conversations around itonly find space for a few days. It grad-ually loses traction. And just silently getslisted in history. Bollywood conversa-tions, too, have been more or less thesame.

However, if we talk about actorSushant Singh Rajput’s sudden demise,it has now been more than a month thatit continues to be in the news and per-haps has stoked the strongest debate yeton the need to rid the industry of nepotism. Actor Kangana Ranaut ismaking sure that this time the dialoguedoesn’t die without being properlyaddressed. Her recent allegations againstmany actors and the so-called “mafia”or “nepotism gangs” of the industry havebeen revealing about the dirty under-belly of an unsaid class-consciousnessin Bollywood. So far, so good. But nowshe is seizing every opportunity toemerge activist. Apart from calling outproducer-director Karan Johar andactor Alia Bhatt, she has also this timetargetted two other female actors (whoare outsiders) by calling them chaaplus(sycophant) and B-grade actresses andtheir existence as a “proof of nepotism”— Taapsee Pannu and Swara Bhasker.She has also called out actor RanveerSingh (outsider) by saying that it’s onlydue to his chamchagiri or flatterytowards directors and producers likeAditya Chopra and Sanjay LeelaBhansali that he gets roles.

Such accusations, firstly, raise an all-important question — if outsidersthemselves won’t challenge the existingnepotism in the industry as a unitedforce and turn against each otherinstead of calling out this system, howare things ever going to change forgood? Second, even though Kangana’sdebate is justified over an issue thatneeds attention, being an artiste, is heruse of words like chaaplus, chamcha,chillar, bakwaas for other artistes andsome critically-acclaimed actors a dig-nified way of calling out injustice?Third, even though she is an outsider,how can she assume that all outsidershave had a raw deal and that not evenan iota of merit has been allowed intoBollywood? Even though Sushant’sdeath did expose the vile and chokingdepths of nepotism but to expect everyoutsider to launch a campaign of her/hisown does not mean s/he has not beenaffected by it or knew him or is notagainst the system.

Well, Taapsee, who has been vocalabout nepotism in the past, but in a verbally decent way, had a reply to this

as well. She told a national daily that shehas never done a film which is producedby any of the gangs that Kangana hasnamed or “keeps targetting.” She addedthat she has never said that she likesKaran Johar or anyone that she allegesbut at the same time, she has never saidthat she hates them either. She laterquestioned, “So the fact that you don’thate someone she hates is equivalent toyou like that person? I don’t even knowhim beyond formal. So how is this evenlogical? Then how is my existencebecause of nepotism? Or underminingsomeone’s genuine achievements bycrediting wrong sources and then mock-ing it is how you prove that you are atrue, successful outsider?”

The Badla actor also said in aninterview that Kangana should ratherwatch films of outsiders than abusingcelebrities on social media. Replying toKangana’s “Why don’t they get work?”,Taapsee said that she has been releas-ing four films per year for the last threeyears and now, already has five filmsannounced. “I decided to keep mycareer graph slow and steady and that’sexactly how it’s been going,” she added.

Taapsee refused to be “bitter” and“take advantage of someone’s death forpersonal vendetta or make a mockeryof the industry that gave me bread andidentity. She has the right to have anopinion and so do I but just because myopinion doesn’t match hers doesn’tmake me inferior.”

After Taapsee’s response, netizenshave been hailing her for her “dignified”reaction towards the row. ActorSonakshi Sinha also took to her socialmedia and posted, “Proud of youTaapsee! The dignity, maturity andintegrity with which you have respond-ed has my respect and I am sure of mostothers too. More power to you.”

On the other hand, Swara’s responseto Kangana’s remark, “These needyoutsiders, B-grade actresses look betterthan Alia Bhatt and Ananya Pandey butthey too exist due to nepotism,” was asarcastic comment. She posted on herTwitter, “Net net I think this was a com-pliment. Thanks Kangana! I think youare gorgeous, generous and a great actor.Shine on!”

Taapsee has revealed in the past howshe has lost roles for not being “so-and-so’s daughter.” However, her and Swara’svoice against nepotism was never aimedat demeaning anyone personally. Theyhave stood up against hate without beinghateful. She tweeted, “Yes, there are dif-ferences between people born with pedigree and the ‘outsiders’ but we aren’tbattling each other, we are battling fora better system to co-exist, but not bymud-slinging or name calling!”

As per Kangana’s words, KaranJohar is the flagbearer of nepotism inBollywood. She first mentioned about

it on his show, Koffee With Karan, andever since, she has left no stoneunturned in taking this up. Whichleads us to one last question — Shouldn’tthe nepotism debate include all such

directors, actors and producers ratherthan just one person being namedincessantly? Is taking names of a fewbiggies and blaming them for years ofnepotism in the industry the way out?

Why a selective outrage? Is this ever-important contest really headed theright way? Perhaps, this is the reasonwhy the wrongs of nepotism could neverbe properly addressed!

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Real Madrid endedits Spanish league

title-winning cam-paign with a 2-2 drawthat relegated Leganésafter four straight sea-sons in the first divi-sion.

The result alsoended Madrid's 10-game winning streakfollowing the pan-demic break. ZinedineZidane’s team hadsealed its record 34thleague title - and firstin three years - onThursday.

Madrid ended fivepoints ahead of sec-ond-place Barcelona -87 to 82. Barcelonaclosed out its cam-paign with a 5-0 routof Alavés. Lionel Messiscored twice to finishwith 25 goals andbecome the firstplayer to clinchthe league’sscoring title inseven differentseasons.

Leganés, led byMexican coach JavierAguirre, had enteredthe match one pointbehind Celta Vigo, thefirst team outside therelegation zone.

Celta, winless inthe final seven rounds,survived despite beingheld 0-0 by last-placeEspanyol. It will playin the top flight for aninth straight yearnext season.

Espanyol and sec-

ond - to - l a s t - p l a c eMallorca had alreadybeen relegated.

Sergio Ramosopened the scoringfor Madrid with aheader in the ninthminute for his sixthgoal since the leagueresumed. Leganésequalized with BryanGil’s goal in first-halfstoppage time beforeMarco Asensio gave

Madrid the leadagain from closerange in the52nd.

R o g e rAssalé equalised

again with a shot frominside the area in the78th but the hostswere not able to getthe winner despitesome good chancesnear the end.

They wanted apenalty for a hand ballinside the area in thefinal minutes butvideo review let thegame continue.

Leganés wasunbeaten in the lastfive rounds, with three

wins and two draws.The team from south-ern Madrid last playedin the second divi-sion in 2015-16.

Madrid playedwithout some regularstarters and otherswere substituted earlyin the second half.

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Villarreal, RealSociedad andGranada grabbed theEuropa League spotsin the final round.

Villarreal routedEibar 4-0 to finish infifth place, RealSociedad drew 1-1 atAtlético Madrid toend sixth andGranada defeatedAthletic Bilbao 4-0 toearn seventh.

The ChampionsLeague spots hadalready been clinchedby Madrid, Barcelona,Atlético Madrid andSevilla. Cádiz andHuesca have alreadysecured promotion tothe first division.

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New Zealand left-arm spinnerMitchell Santner feels that IPL

has helped him evolve as a bowlerhaving plied his trade on differentIndian tracks while picking CSKteammates Harbhajan Singh andRavindra Jadeja’s brains.

Santner was picked up by theCSK for Rs 50 lakh during the IPLauctions ahead of the 2018 editionof the league but was ruled out ofthe tournament that year due to abone defect in his knees. However,the Hamilton-born cricketer wasback in 2019, playing four match-es.

“The IPL was a cool experi-ence as well. It was the first timefor me playing at a ground whereit spins more, in Chennai, whichis nice because you don’t have todo too much.

“You try and fire it into thewicket and let the wicket do therest. I guess, for me, it’s about try-ing to adapt to the conditions asearly as possible and find what willbe the most attacking ball on eachSantner told ESPN Cricinfo.

Getting to discuss cricket withsome of the biggest names in thegame also helped. “There are

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Proud to be part of a gen-eration that witnessed

Indian hockey’s resurgence,former captain Sardar Singhsays his sole regret in anotherwise illustrious careeris not winning an Olympicmedal for his country.

However, he feels thecurrent team underManpreet Singh has thepotential to break the four-decade-old jinx in Tokyonext year.

“My journey in hockeyhas been rather satisfyingbecause I was part of thatera which saw a resurgence.We came a long way fromfinishing last at the LondonOlympics in 2012 to beingranked No.6 in the worldwhen I hung up my boots in2018.

“Now, the current teamis poised at no.4 whichshould definitely bring a lotof confidence to this teamin the lead up to theirTokyo Olympic campaign,”said Sardar.

The Indian team has arich Olympic history, win-ning an unprecedentedeight gold besides a Silverand two Bronze medals.

India's last success atthe quadrennial sportingextravaganza, though, came40 years ago in the 1980Moscow Olympics, wherethey won the last of theireight gold medals.

“Having played 314international matches, I willalways regret not being ableto add an Olympic medalon the wall back home.

But watching this teamgrow from strength tostrength in the past yearand the way they played theFIH Hockey Pro League

earlier this year, I havegreat hope that they canbag that elusive Olympicmedal. "They definitelyhave a realistic chance inTokyo,” said Sardar in aHockey India release.

With the 2020 TokyoSummer Games beingpostponed by a yearbecause of the COVID-19pandemic, Sardar feels theIndian team will get sometime to work on its greyareas and unearth new tal-ent.

“They have the time tobuild on the new talent thatis available. Some of theyoungsters like Rajkumar,Dilpreet, Vivek Sagar,Gursahib have shown greatpromise and trying them inbig-match scenarios likethe Pro League was a gooddecision by chief coachGraham Reid.

“With the Olympicsbeing postponed, we havethe time to work on ourshort-comings. Convertingchances continues to beone of the grey areas but Ifeel we have been finishingmuch better than we weretwo or three years ago.”

Sardar advised theIndian players not to losetheir focus amid the cur-rent global health crisis,which has halted sportingactivities across the world.

“For now, I understandthese are trying times for allsports persons in Indiawith the COVID-19 pan-demic posing several chal-lenges to the Olympicpreparations but my adviceto the Indian hockey coreprobables, men andwomen, is to remainfocused on their goal,” saidthe 34-year-old from Sirsain Haryana.

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Ben Stokes removedJermaine Blackwood off

the final ball before tea toleave the West Indies on137-5 and ignite England'schances of winning the sec-ond test on the final day atOld Trafford on Monday.

Blackwood (55) glovedan attempted shot aroundthe corner and wicketkeep-er Jos Buttler scrambled totake a diving catch, endinga 100-run partnership withShamarh Brooks that wasgiving the West Indies hopeof salvaging a draw.

England has a mini-mum of 41.2 overs to takethe final five wickets for avictory that would tie theseries at 1-1 ahead of thethird and final test startingon Friday, also inManchester.

If the West Indies holdon for a draw, it will retainthe Wisden Trophy havingbeaten England in a homeseries last year.

Brooks is unbeaten on52.

The tourists were rock-ing at 37-4 after Stuart Broadtrapped Roston Chase lbwfor his third wicket of theinnings, for the loss of 25runs. The paceman has sixwickets for the match on hisrecall to the team after beingdropped for the first test.

Yet it is Ben Stokes whohas been England's star,once again. Before takingthat crucial wicket ofBlackwood, the allrounder

had gone into limited-oversmode to plunder 78 not outoff 57 balls to help Englandto 129-3 before captain JoeRoot declared with his teamhaving a lead of 311 runs.

England made 92 runsoff 11 overs after resumingon 37-2, effectively takingthe game away from the

West Indies.England had a total of

85 overs to dismiss the WestIndies and has bowled 42.4of them. The second newball will be available after 80overs for England, which lostthe first test by four wicketson the final day inSouthampton.

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The ICC on Monday post-poned the T20 World Cupin Australia owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic, a long-anticipated decision which pavesthe way for the BCCI to organ-ise the IPL during the October-November window.

The ICC hasn't yet decidedwhether India and Australia willswap the 2021 and 2022 editionsbetween them, both of which willbe held in the October-November window.

"The International CricketCouncil (ICC) today confirmedthe ICC men's T20 World Cup inAustralia 2020 has been post-poned due to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic," ICC saidin a statement.

The ICC T20 World Cup wasscheduled Down Under fromOctober 18-November 15 butCricket Australia, in the monthof May itself, had intimated ICCthat it would be near impossibleto stage a closed-door event ofthis magnitude which wouldalso require quarantine arrange-ment for 16 international teams.

The ICC deliberated onunspecified contingency plans forover two months before comingup with Monday's decision.

Chief Executive ManuSawhney said: "The decision topostpone the ICC Men's T20World Cup was taken after care-ful consideration of all of theoptions available to us and gives

us the best possible opportunityof delivering two safe and suc-cessful T20 World Cups for fansaround the world."

As far as hosting of this edi-tion is concerned, ICC's commer-cial wing will be monitoringvarious modalities before comingto a decision on whether Indiawill host the 2021 edition or swapwith Cricket Australia and hosttheirs in 2022.

"The ICC BusinessCorporation(IBC) Board agreedto continue to monitor the rapid-ly changing situation and assessall the information available inorder to make a considered deci-

sion on future hosts to ensure thesport is able to stage safe and suc-cessful global events in 2021 and2022," it stated.

The decision to announcethe schedules of the next threeWorld Cups will help the boardsplan more bilateral engagementsand earn revenue lost during thepandemic.

"Our Members now have theclarity they need around eventwindows to enable them toreschedule lost bilateral anddomestic cricket," Sawhney stat-ed.

There has been no formalannouncement but there is a pos-

sibility that BCCI might shift theIndian Premier League to theUnited Arab Emirates takingIndia's COVID-19 case load intoaccount. India has recorded over11 lakh cases so far with thedeath toll breaching the 27,000mark.

The other option is having atwin-city closed door bio-secureevent, which was the first prefer-ence of at least one of the stake-holders.

The IPL will likely start in thelast week of September and endin the second week of November.

"We were waiting for the for-mal announcement. Now we can

at least submit our plans to thegovernment and wait for theirnecessary clearances. There isscheduling, logistics, operationalaspects that needs to be takencare of," a BCCI official told PTIon conditions of anonymity.

BCCI President SouravGanguly had earlier expressedconfidence that the year would-n't pass without the glitzy eventgoing ahead.

The IBC Board will alsocontinue to evaluate the situationwith regards the 2021 women'sWorld Cup in New Zealand inFebruary. In the meantime, plan-ning for this event continues asscheduled.

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continue to evaluate the situationwith regards the 2021 women'sWorld Cup in New Zealand inFebruary. In the meantime, plan-ning for this event continues asscheduled.

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some world-class spinners in Chennai totalk to and play with - guys likeHarbhajan, who I’ve watched a lot of,Jadeja and Imran Tahir as well,” Santnertold ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

Santner missed out on 2018 due toa bone defect in his knee but played fourgames in the 2019 edition.

“When I got injured the first year, Iwas pretty disappointed, but I was given

the opportunity last time around to goand experience it.

“It’s an unbelievable tournamentand definitely the best cricket goingaround in terms of T20 leagues. It wasnice to bowl on different pitches to NewZealand,” he added.

The 28-year-old said he learnt a lotplaying under the leadership of CSK andfomer Indian skipper Mahendra Singh

Dhoni.“I’ve played against MS a lot, so to

share a dressing room with him and talkto him about how he goes about thingswas awesome. Even guys like SureshRaina - you watched him from otherteams you go with,” Santner said.

Over the years Santner has provedhis utility as a limited-overs spin bowl-ing all-rounder for the Black Caps.