AGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 2: In yet anothersurgical strike on malicious Chineseapps, the Indian government Wednesdaybanned 118 apps on national securityconcerns, including the immenselypopular PlayerUnknown'sBattlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile, Baiduand couple of virtual private networks(VPNs) that allowed access to TikTokthat was earlier banned.

The action came after the freshChinese incursion attempts in Indianterritory at Pangong Tso in easternLadakh. "This move will safeguard theinterests of crores of Indian mobile andinternet users. This decision is a tar-geted move to ensure safety, security andsovereignty of Indian cyberspace," theMinistry of Electronics and InformationTechnology (MeitY) said in a state-ment.

The PUBG game, which has morethan 600 million downloads and 50 mil-lion active players globally, has mil-lions of users, especially young, inIndia.

PUBG Mobile saw a global revenuegain of $1.3 billion (roughly `9,731

crore) in the first half of this year,bringing its lifetime collection to $3billion (nearly `22,457 crore) with thehighest number of downloads in Indiawhich ranks at the top with 175 millioninstalls as people stayed home owingto the Covid-19 pandemic and lock-downs. PUBG was not banned in Indiaearlier as it is not entirely Chinese.The game has been created and man-aged by Bluehole which is a SouthKorean organisation.

After PUBG became popular, Tencent-- a Chinese conglomerate -- joinedhands with Bluehole to market the

product in China and started handlinga large portion of its distribution. Thegame is distributed in India by TencentHoldings. The ban on PUBG came asit announced the arrival of a new gam-ing era with its 1.0 version, along withglobal mobile esports tournamentPUBG Mobile Global Championship(PMGC) with a grand prize pool of $2million (about `15 crore).

Other popular banned apps in thefresh list of banned apps are Baiduand Baidu Express Edition, ShareSaveby Xiaomi, WeChat Work, TencentWeiyun, Tencent Watchlist, Alipay, GO

SMS Pro, ZAKZAK Pro and Live, SmartAppLock and Ludo World-LudoSuperstar, among others.

The ministry said that it has de-cided to block 118 mobile apps in viewof information available that "they areengaged in activities which are preju-dicial to sovereignty and integrity ofIndia, defence of India, security ofstate and public order".

The ministry received many com-plaints from various sources includingseveral reports about misuse of somemobile apps available on Android andiOS platforms for stealing and sur-reptitiously transmitting users' data inan unauthorised manner to serverswhich have locations outside India.

In July, the government barred 47Chinese apps from operating in thecountry, which were largely clones ofthe previously 59 apps banned in June.

On June 29, the government banned59 Chinese apps including TikTok,WeChat and UC Browser and Xiaomi'sMi Community over national securityconcerns amid the border tussle inLadakh which led to the death of 20Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valleyclash with Chinese PLA troops.

Actor Radhika Apte says she likes boththeatre and cinema as they have theirown charms

ART AFICIONADO

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China is seeking to double the numberof its nuclear warheads in thenext decade

CHINA’S NUKE PLANS

INTERNATIONAL | P10

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 153 | www.orissapost.com

LEISURE | P2

In a letter to Zuckerberg, TMC says the firm’srecent blocking of pages, accounts pointedto links it had with BJP TWO STATES | P7

TMC ACCUSES FB OF BIAS

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All countries can flyover Saudi skiesDubai: Saudi Arabia announcedWednesday that it will now allowflights “from all countries” tocross its skies to reach theUnited Arab Emirates, a historicfirst that comes just days afterthe kingdom let the first directIsraeli commercial passengerflight use its airspace to reachthe UAE. The statement makesno mention of the kingdom'srival, Iran, nor Qatar, which SaudiArabia is currently boycotting. Itis apparently a reference to thestart of commercial flights fromIsrael to the UAE, as any directflight between the two nationswould need to use Saudi airspaceto be commercially viable. P10

BHUBANESWAR | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020

Containment zone staff,students barred; mask,health note mandatory

New Delhi: India has beenreporting one of the lowestCOVID-19 fatality rates in theworld with the figure furtherdeclining to 1.76 per cent as ondate against a global average of3.3 per cent, the Union HealthMinistry said Wednesday. It alsosaid that COVID-19 deaths permillion population in India is oneof the lowest in the world. "Whilethe global average is 110 deathsper million population, India isreporting 48 deaths per millionpopulation. The comparativefigure for Brazil and the UK is 12and 13 times higher,respectively," the ministryhighlighted.

India’s Covid fatalityrate slides to 1.76 pc

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: In a bid torationalise the administrative func-tioning of all state-run universities,the state cabinet Wednesday de-cided to bring all universities underthe Odisha Universities Act, 1989.

Briefing media, Chief SecretaryAsit Tripathy said the state cabinethas been pleased to approve theproposal for amendment of theOdisha Universities Act, 1989.

“The Odisha Universities Act,1989 very well addresses the specificrequirement of unitary universi-ties. Having many Acts will lead todisharmony between identical pro-visions of various Acts. Therefore,it is decided to repeal the RavenshawUniversity Act, 2005. The RavenshawUniversity will continue to functionwithout any hindrance under theAct, 1989,” he said.

“As the concepts of registeredteachers and registered graduateshave become obsolete, the conceptof senates in universities will bedone away with,” he said. It was de-cided to reconstitute a committeefor selection of vice-chancellor ofa university by including a nomi-nee of the state government (anacademician) in place of the mem-ber selected by the syndicate. Now,the state government will be astakeholder in selection of VCs.

The cabinet has also approved aprovision to enhance the tenureof VC to four years from three

years now with the upper age limitof 67 years with no provision ofre-appointment. “This provisionwill provide ample opportunitiesto VCs to bring in long term changesand improvement in university’sfunctioning,” the CS said.

It was also decided to assign theresponsibility of selection of teach-ers for the university to OdishaPublic Service Commission (OPSC)and recruitment of non-teachingemployees to State Selection Board(SSB) in order to prevent collec-tive wastage of resources of theinstitutions.

As per the approved provisions,universities will no longer need tolay down annual audit reports be-fore the Assembly. They will up-load the audit reports on its web-site and will continue to displaythe same for at least three years,he stated.

The Cabinet also approved thelaw department’s proposal foramendment of the OdishaAdvocates' Welfare Fund Act, 1987by promulgation of an ordinance.

PUBG, 117 more apps banned

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 2: The PM CARESFund, set up in March to deal withemergency situations like theCOVID-19 pandemic, received`3,076.62 crore in just five days of itsformation, as per an account state-ment made public by the fundWednesday.

The 'receipt and payment ac-count' showed nearly ̀ 3,075.85 croreas 'voluntary contributions', while`39.67 lakh came as foreign con-tributions. It put the fund's clos-ing balance as March 31, 2020 at`3,076.62 crore, after including in-terest income and deducting serv-

ice tax on forex conversion. The fund started with an initial

corpus of `2.25 lakh, as per the ac-count statement posted on the fund'sofficial website. It also referred to"accompanying notes to the finan-cial statements", but those werenot made public on the website.

According to details posted onthe website of the 'Prime Minister'sCitizen Assistance and Relief inEmergency Situations Fund (PMCARES Fund)', the fund consists"entirely of voluntary contribu-tions from individuals/organisa-tions and does not get any budget-ary support". "During 2019-20 (fromMarch 27-31, 2020), an amount of

`3076.62 crore has been collectedunder PM CARES Fund," it said. Itfurther said this fund has been setup as a public charitable trust "keep-ing in mind the need for having adedicated national fund with theprimary objective of dealing withany kind of emergency or distress

situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide reliefto the affected".

The fund generated a lot of in-terest immediately after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi announcedits formation after the COVID-19outbreak and appealed for dona-tions, prompting several privatefirms, government bodies and in-dividuals, including celebrities, todonate money. The Fund's objec-tives include undertaking and back-ing relief or assistance of any kindrelating to a public health emer-gency or any other kind of emer-gency, calamity or distress, eitherman-made or natural.

The government has used a partof the money to buy medical equip-ment, including ventilators, to boostthe battle against the COVID-19 andhas also provided relief to migrants.Opposition parties have, however,criticised the Fund, claiming thatits contributions and expenses arenot transparent, a charge deniedby the government. Reacting to theaccount statement of the fund,Congress leader P Chidambaramsaid the auditors of the fund haveconfirmed that the fund received`3,076 crore in just five days, butthe "names of these generous donorswill not be revealed". "Every otherNGO or Trust is obliged to reveal the

names of donors contributing morethan a threshold amount. Why is thePM CARES Fund exempt from thisobligation," he tweeted.

"The donee is known. The trusteesof the donee are known. Why are thetrustees afraid to reveal the namesof the donors?," Chidambaram said.Last month, the Supreme Courthad refused to direct the transfer ofcontributions made to the PMCARES Fund to the NationalDisaster Response Fund. WhilePrime Minister is the ex-officioChairman of the PM CARES Fund,the Minister of Defence, Ministerof Home Affairs and Minister ofFinance are its ex-officio trustees.

Govt nod to ̀ 3,205crbusiness proposals

PM CARES Fund got `3,076 cr in just five days

State government to push for classical tag to Odissi music POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: The stategovernment Wednesday grantedseven investment proposals fromdifferent sectors worth Rs3205.67crore. The proposals were ap-proved during the state level sin-gle window clearance authority(SLSWCA) meeting held underthe chair manship of ChiefSecretary Asit Tripathy.

Investments will be made insectors such as metal & metaldownstream, infrastructure,tourism and cement. The pro-posals will create jobs for 2,494people in the state. MGM MineralsLimited will expand its project bysetting up a 0.125 MTPA sponge ironplant, 0.6 MTPA pellet plant, 0.25MTPA MS billets, 0.25 MTPA TMT& wire rods and 40 MW captivepower plant at Nimdha inDhenkanal district. The companywill invest `801.89 crore.

GM Iron & Steel Company willinvest ̀ 607.52 crore for expansionof its project. The company will setup 0.8 MTPA pellet plant, 0.2379MTPA DRI plant, 0.195 MTPA bil-let, 0.24 MTPA wire rod mill, 0.416MTPA slag cement and 46 MWcaptive power plant in Dhenkanal.

Hindalco Industries will set upa flue gas desulphurization plantfor its existing CPP (6x150 MW) atLapanga in Sambalpur. The com-pany is likely to invest ̀ 696 crore.SLSWCA also approved a proposalby JSW Cement Ltd (JSW) for ex-pansion of its cement grindingcapacity from 1.2 MTPA to 2.4MTPA at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpurwith an investment of `489.88crore. Jajpur Cements will alsoinvest `400 crore for a project atKalinga Nagara, Jajpur.

AGENCIES

New Delhi , Se pt 2 :Disallowing staff and stu-dents from containmentzones, making mask and ahealth self-declarationmandatory, and entry onlyfor asymptomatic peopleare among the key meas-ures in the Centre’s latestguidelines on conductingexams safely during theCOVID-19 pandemic.

According to the StandardOperating Procedures is-sued Wednesday, the invig-ilator for pen and paper-based tests will sanitisehis/her hands before dis-tributing question papersand answer sheets and theexaminees will do the samebefore receiving or hand-ing back these materials.

"Use of spit/saliva forcounting and distributingsheets shall not be allowed,"the SOPs stated. The col-lection and packing of theanswer sheets will involvesanitisation of the handsat every stage. The answersheets will preferably beopened up after 72 hourshave elapsed post collection,the document recommend.

Staff at high risk suchas older employees, preg-nant women and those withunderlying diseases shallnot be deployed for invigi-lation or conduct of exam-ination, it said. They should

preferably be deployed intasks not requiring directcontact with the students.

For online or computer-based exams, the systemsshall be disinfected usingalcohol wipes before andafter the test and record ofall exam functionaries andexaminees should be main-tained for future referenceand traceability, it said.

The students from coro-navirus containment zonesshall be given an opportunityto take the physical examthrough other means or ed-ucational institutions shallarrange their papers at alater date, it said. Also, onlyasymptomatic staff and stu-dents will be allowed insidethe hall, the SOPs stated,adding wearing facecover/mask is mandatory.

Authorities concernedshould plan out the exami-nation schedule in a stag-gered manner so as to avoidovercrowding at any ex-amination center on anyday, it stated. Only those ex-amination centers whichare outside the containmentzone shall be allowed to func-tion, it said.

Proper arrangements forface covers/masks, sani-tiser, soap, sodium hypochlo-rite solution will be made byuniversities, educationalinstitutions, examinationauthorities or centers to thestaff as well as students.

CENTRE SOPS ON EXAMS

In this file photo ofSeptember 2, 1945, ser-vicemen, reporters, andphotographers perch onthe USS Missouri for theonboard ceremony inwhich Japan surren-dered, ending WorldWar II. Wednesday,September 2, 2020, isthe 75th anniversary ofthe formal September2, 1945, surrender ofJapan to the US whenthe two sides signeddocuments officiallyending years of bloodyfighting in a ceremonyaboard the USS Missouriin the Tokyo Bay, withan armada of Americanwarships and planeshovering nearby.

PTI PHOTO

A flashbackof WW II

GAME OVER ACTION CAME AFTER THE FRESHCHINESE INCURSION BIDS IN

INDIAN TERRITORY IN EASTERNLADAKHPUBG’S REVENUE SOARED TO $3

BILLION WITH THE HIGHESTNUMBER OF DOWNLOADS IN INDIAWHICH RANKS AT THE TOP WITH

175 MILLION INSTALLS

PUBG GAME HAS MORETHAN 600 MILLION

DOWNLOADS AND 50MILLION ACTIVE

PLAYERS GLOBALLY

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: The state cab-inet Wednesday decided to take upproactively with the Centre for grant-ing classical tag to Odissi music.

The government cited the unique-ness of Odissi music and its culturalheritage as reasons for demandingthe same. “In 1964, Odissi was recog-nised as a classical dance by theCentre. In 2014, Odia was recognisedby the Union government as a clas-sical language. Odisha governmentrecognised Odissi as a classical formof music in 2008,” culture ministerAshok Panigrahi said.

“This form of music is very an-cient and has a classical base. It is

also different from other forms ofclassical music. A resolution waspassed to request the Centre toanoint Odissi music with a classi-cal status,” the minister said.

Seven major decisions were takenby the state cabinet, which sat underthe chairmanship of Chief MinisterNaveen Patnail, relating to culture. Theminister told media that the govern-ment has decided to develop Suando,the birthplace of Pandit GopabandhuDas with a budget of `11 crore.

The cabinet has approved filingup several vacancies in institutionsmanaged by the department. In agood move towards artistes, thegovernment approved raising theaward amounts of Atibadi

Jagannath Das Samman, KabiSamrat Upendra Bhanja Samman,Dhar mapada Samman andByasakabi Fakir Mohan Sammanfrom `1 lakh to `5 lakh. Similarly,amounts for awards of variousacademies would be increased from`50, 000 to `2 lakh and the amountof felicitations of various acade-mies will be raised to `1 lakh.

According to a written statementof the department, it has receivedapproval for carving out separatedirectorates for state archaeologyand state museum. The govern-ment will also develop the statemuseum into a virtual entity. Asimilar model will be followed forAnanda Bhavan Museum.

All state varsities tocome under one Act

AUTONOMY HITn OPSC to carry out recruitment of

varsity teaching staff

n SSB will look after recruitment ofnon-teaching staff

n Tenure of VCs extended to 4 yearsfrom 3 years now

PUSH EXAM DEADLINE TO OCT 10, UGC TOLD The state government Wednesday urged the University Grants Commission(UGC) to extend the deadline for completion of final semester of UG and PGexaminations to October 10 from September 30. “The state government todayrequested UGC to extend the September 30 deadline for completion of all UG &PG final semester/year exams till October 10. This will ensure conduct of examswith adequate precautions as per Covid-19 protocol,” Higher Education MinisterArun Kumar Sahoo tweeted. The final exams will be held between September 20and October 10 while results will be published by October 31, he said. P3

Mumbai: Actor Sonu Soodsays he is not interested in en-tering politics at the moment,as he still has miles to go as anactor.

“I have been getting offersto join politics from the past 10years. Many people have toldme, ‘you’ll be a great leader’.But I feel as an actor, I havemiles to go. One can enter poli-tics anytime and I am not thekind who will try to sail in twoboats,” Sonu said.

“If I get into politics, I’ll givemy 100 per cent. I’ll make sure thatno one has any problem. So, Ithink I am not ready for it at themoment. And I think that at the mo-ment, I am not answerable to any-one and that is why I can do thingsin a more open way. I don’t have toask anyone or any party ‘whatshould I do’. I decide and do it onmy own will,” added Sonu.

Sonu, who became popular play-ing the villain in Hindi films, turnedhero in real life for many strandedmig rant workers when he organised transport and resourcesfor them to reach home amid the pandemic-induced lockdown.IANS

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar: Eminent filmdirector and cinematographer RajGopal Mishra, popularly known asRaju Mishra, will be presentedwith prestigious Guru KelucharanMohapatra Award for the year2020 for his lifetime contributionsto the Odia cinema.

Srjan, a premier training in-stitution in Odissi dance will or-ganise the award festival fromSeptember 5 to 9 on digital plat-form following the Covid guide-lines laid down by the govern-ment. The event, to beinaugurated by eminent actressHema Malini, will be premiered

on Facebook Live andYouTube.

Several otherluminaries

from theart

world and other fields will alsojoin the virtual programme.

The award, which carries acash prize of Rs 1,00,000 and a ci-tation, aims to recognise the out-standing contributions of indi-viduals in the fields of dance,music, cinema, and theatre.Srjan will also present GuruKelucharan Mohapatra YuvaPratibha Samman, which car-ries a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/and a citation, to an exceptionallytalented performing artiste underthe age of 40 years.

For 2020, the award will bepresented to two performers -Pravat Kumar Swain for Odissidance and Himansu SekharSwain for Odissi music- ac-knowledging their contributionto the art forms.

The festival, this year, has beendedicated to late Sangeet MartandPandit Jasraj, who passed awayrecently and had close associationwith Guruji for many decades.

Eminent dance exponents ofthe likes of MadhusmitaMohanty(Odissi), Praveen

Kumar(Bharatnatyam), GauriDiwakar(Kathak)Purvadhanashree (VilasiniNatyam) have given theirconsent to perform in theevent, said the organisers.

Among others,Hindustani musicianVishwa Mohan Bhatt,Mardala GuruDhaneswar Swain andacclaimed Carnatic vo-calist AbhishekRaghuram will also per-form during the five-dayevent.

Odia daily Dharitri andthe only home-g rown

English daily Orissa POSTare the media partners for

the event.

Mumbai: Actress Vaani Kapoor is off toScotland to shoot for her upcoming film BellBottom, starring Akshay Kumar. She is thrilledand says she has been waiting to be back onthe sets.

“It feels surreal that I’m starting to shootfor a film! Being back on the set is a moment

I have been dearly waiting for, and I can’t waitto finally start shooting. I will be steppingout of Mumbai too after five months, andboarding a flight to work. It seems I did allthis in another lifetime,” Vaani said.

The actress is happy that the in-dustry is looking to restart after tak-

ing a hard hit due to the pandemic.“It’s been a testing year for allof us, but I’m glad that things

are slowly starting because wehave to adapt to this new

normal,” she said.Bell Bottom is athriller set in the

1980s. The film alsofeatures Huma

Qureshi andLara Dutta.

IANS

VIRGOLove will bite youtoday. It will bleed,and break it in two.The ship of career willsight port soon, says Ganesha. Dinnerin a candlelit ambience will only helpraise your spirits.

Mumbai:Actress

Radhika Aptehas revealed her

process of choos-ing projects. For her,

the platform does notmatter.Radhika has acted in

films such as Badlapur,Phobia, Pad Man and

Andhadhun, but her name isoften associated with an

OTT platform, thanks toher roles in Lust Stories, SacredGames and Ghoul.

“I have always chosen aproject basis of how deeplyI feel connected to the char-acter and storyline. I havenever chosen a project be-

cause of a platform,” shesaid.

Talking about herpreferences,

Radhikashared: “I don't

have any pref-erence, I like both

theatre and cinemathey have their owncharm and own thingsto appreciate.”

The actress made her di-rectorial debut with The

Sleepwalkers.On the acting front,

she will be nextbe seen in

herinter-

na-

tionalproject A Call To

Spy, as a real-life char-acter of the spy Noor

Inayat Khan. IANS

P2 NATURE A PART OF OUR LIFE, EXISTENCE: HELLEN MIRREN

leisure Actress Helen Mirren feels nature plays an important role in the existence of humankind,and the ongoing pandemic is a lesson in thatdirection. Mirren, found the technicalexperience, necessitated by post-Covid-19norms, to be a fascinating one.

Sunny Leone and her children Nisha, Noah andAsher gave in to an artistic indulgence Wednesday.They ended up making around half a dozenpaintings. Sunny shared a photo and video collageof their artistic labour on Instagram. In a picture,Sunny is seen helping Nisha paint.

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSFortune is mighty pleasedwith you, so go aheadand play roulette if youwish! Partnerships willwork today, as will business deals. Butsomewhere, a dark sentiment maycloud your thinking. Ganesha says thatyou should enjoy yourself and take lifea bit lightly.

PISCESA conflict-ridden dayawaits you. Avoid openlyconfronting people today,for petty issues could blowup into major disasters. Legal disputesmay also hassle you. Meditative tech-niques will bring you peace of mind.

SAGITTARIUSThe bossy nature of yoursoul mate is likely to putyou off. At work, you mayfind yourself helplessand left scratching your head. Ganeshaadvises and foresees you sitting togetherwith your beloved and resolving all yourdifferences.

LIBRAToday, you seem to havethe Midas touch, soevery task you take inyour hands is bound tobe a success. You may also want to taketime out to spend with your loved onesand lavish them with attention. Also,don't forget to hand out credit to othersfor their valuable inputs.

SCORPIOYour balancing skills maybe called to fore today, assome of the importantdecisions of your life maycome calling for judgement today. Later inthe day, sudden and unexpected profits areon the cards. In the workplace, reputationand rewards may come for previous efforts.

LEOA good deed is neverwasted. Remember thisas today, you shall findyourself in the incredi-ble position of being of invaluable assis-tance to someone in need, saysGanesha. So lend out that helping handand be assured that your generosity willnot be forgotten.

GEMINIThere is every possibilitythat you will keep yourpartner in the loop whilemaking important decisions today, pre-dicts Ganesha. And this will prevent agrave misunderstanding. Later in the day,you will benefit from the insights of yoursoul mate.

CANCERThe first half of the daymay leave you a littleflummoxed. You mayget discouraged whenthing are not going your way, predictsGanesha. But your subconscious mindknows how to handle such situations.

ARIESIf you are about to beginsome important work,today is not the day, saysGanesha. But keep yourself motivated,despite minor problems. Do somethingyou've never done before. Think out-of-the-box: grow your own mint, makesome chocolates.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSThere is a fair chance thatyou will make heads turnat work today, forecastsGanesha. It may not be an auspicious dayfor auction bids or tenders. Some of youmay succeed in interviews and entrancetests this afternoon, says Ganesha.

CAPRICORNLovelorn for long, todaymay be the start of anew chapter, foreseesGanesha. And for thoseof you already in love, your sweetheart may appear sweeter. No,it's not because they will be overpowered by love.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORDSUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to E.

SUNNY LEONE, CHILDREN INDULGE IN PAINTING

Raju Mishra to receiveGuru Kelucharan

Mohapatra Award - 2020The award

carrying a cash prize of`1,00,000 and a citation

is given every year to individuals in recognition

of their contributions tothe fields of dance,music, cinema, and

theatre.

Vaani feels ‘surreal’flying off to

Scotland

‘Not ready toenter politicsat present’

Sonu Sood

Director-cinematographer Raju Mishra

P3

downtown

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THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARNORMS IGNORED

Vehicles parked at ano parking zone inBapuji Nagar area of Bhubaneswar,Wednesday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 2,60,17,221 1,82,78,880 8,63,397

India 37,69,523 29,01,908 66,333

Odisha 1,09,780 84,073 514

COVID-19 TRACKER

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: The stategovernment Wednesday urged theUniversity Grants Commission(UGC) to extend the deadline forcompletion of final semester of UGand PG examinations to October 10from September 30.

“The state government today re-quested UGC to extend theSeptember 30 deadline for com-pletion of all UG & PG final se-mester/year exams till October 10.This will ensure conduct of examswith adequate precautions as perCovid-19 protocol ,” HigherEducation Minister Arun KumarSahoo tweeted.

The final exams will be held be-tween September 20 and October 10while results will be published byOctober 31, he said. Consideringthe Covid-19 pandemic situation,the state government had taken adecision June 18 last to cancel allfinal semester/ UG and PG exam-inations of universities and col-leges. However, in its revised guide-

lines dated July 6 this year, the UGChad stipulated that final semes-ter/year UG and PG examinationsmust be compulsorily held bySeptember 30.

The Supreme Court also upheldthe revised guideline of UGC grant-ing liberty to states to make an ap-plication to UGC for extending thedateline in case they feel so.

In this backdrop, HigherEducation Secretary Saswat Mishrahas written a letter to UGC secre-tary in this regard.

University vice chancellors and

principals of autonomous collegeshad not planned to conduct final se-mester/year UG and PG exami-nations. Therefore, about 20 dayswould be required to make neces-sary preparation for conductingthe examination. Therefore, con-duct of the examination can com-mence from September 20, Mishrasaid in his letter. To complete theexams by September end, the in-stitutions will have to conduct mul-tiple examinations (subject-wiseand paper-wise) each day, whichwould lead to congregation of a

large number of students at ex-amination centres, he said.

“Conducting examinationseveryday without gaps will leadto universities and colleges not get-ting enough time to sanitize anddisinfect the examination cen-ters before next day of examina-tion,” he further said. Hence, the stategovernment, in exercise of itspower under the State DisasterManagement Act, has decided torequest UGC for extension of thedateline by 10 days.

UGC urged to push exam deadline to Oct 10UG-PG FINAL SEMESTERS

The final exams will be held between September 20 andOctober 10 while results will be published by Oct 31

University vice chancellors and principals ofautonomous colleges had not planned to conduct

final semester/year UG and PG examinations

However, in its revised guidelines dated July 6 thisyear, the UGC had stipulated that final semester/yearUG and PG examinations must be compulsorily held

by Sept 30

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: Followingthe Supreme Court order, the stateHigher Education department hasissued detailed guidelines for con-duct of final semester examina-tion of UG and PG courses in state-run universities and autonomouscolleges.

Higher Education secretarySaswat Mishra has written to vice-chancellors of all state universi-ties and the principals of au-tonomous colleges in this regard,Wednesday. Mishra asked the in-stitutions to conduct the exami-nations on holidays, if required,to complete the examinations on time.

“Results of final semester/yearUG and PG examinations, includ-ing back paper examinations, mustbe published by October 31,” hewrote in the letter.

Special examinations will also beheld for those who cannot take thefinal examinations for whateverreasons. But, Mishra said, thesespecial examinations will be con-

ducted by the universities and au-tonomous colleges once the Covid-19 situation improves, hopefullyby December 2020.

He further instructed thehigher education institutions tostrictly follow the StandardOperating Procedure (SOP) com-municated by Union Ministry ofEducation for conducting ex-aminations in offline mode.

“The universities and au-tonomous colleges shall follow theUGC original guideline dated29.04.2020 regarding intermediatesemester/year examinations andpublish results by December 31,2020,” read the guidelines.

All the universities and au-tonomous colleges have been di-rected to chalk out their own plansand strategies for conducting ex-

aminations within the prescribeddeadline in adherence to UGC guide-lines. The institutions were fur-ther asked to provide necessarysupport to Odisha State OpenUniversity for conduct of its ex-aminations through OSOU StudyCentres.

As it is a time-bound task, the uni-versity and college authorities havebeen empowered to call any em-ployee (both teaching and non-teaching) to join duty on holidaysand vacations for smooth and timelyconduct of examination, evalua-tion, result publication and ancil-lary purposes.

These decisions are also appli-cable to final year students of dis-tance education students of UtkalUniversity and Fakir MohanUniversity, all types of teacher ed-ucation institutions and all self-fi-nancing courses/PPP based self-financing courses.

However, it will not be applicableto courses including medical, para-medical, pharmacy courses rununder the aegis of other depart-ments of the state government.

Guidelines issued for UG-PG examsSpecial exams will alsobe held for those whocannot take the final

examinations for whatever reasons

POST NEWS NETWORK

Khurda, Sept 2: Floodwaters fromDaya and Rajua rivers have inun-dated several villages of Khurda,Jatni, Balianta, Balipatna andBegunia blocks in the district.

However, around 10,000 people ofOrabarasingh, Narangarh andBrajamohanpur panchayats inKhurda block have been severelyaffected by the floods. More than7,000 hectares of agricultural landin the locality have been inundatedby the floodwaters, sources said.

According to villagers, severalhouses in at least 15 villages in theabove said three panchayats havebeen submerged with the flood-waters. Household goods and foodgrains of many villagers have beendamaged by the flood.

“Several villages of Khurdablock have been marooned by thefloods. Most of the people havetaken shelter on the roofs. Severalpoisonous snakes have been spot-

ted in the floodwater,” said a villager. The villagers claimed that preg-

nant women, children and elderlypeople at villages like Orami,Hirimula, Dihakhala, Dhabalpur,Balapur, Narangarh, Manapur, andSaradhapur have been facing loadsof difficulties due to the flood.

“Our village has been submergedwith 5-ft deep floodwater. We havetaken shelter on the roofs. We areunable to cook food for last sev-eral days. The fear of snakebite isalso looming large,” said manywomen of Saradhapur.

The villagers have been facingdifficulties in getting potable wateras most of the tubewells and wellsin the locality have been submergedwith the floodwater. The flood-af-fected villagers are yet to get ade-quate drinking water throughtankers, sources said.

“Boats have become the onlymedium of communication for us.We have been facing shortage ofgrocery items, vegetables and other

essentials. We do not have ade-quate money to buy essential com-

modities from distance places. Thepoor people have been severely af-

fected by the flood. Most of themhave not eaten cooked food for last

few days,” said a villager ofNarangarh.

The villagers claimed that theactivists of several political par-ties have visited the flood-af-fected villages the required reliefto the marooned people has re-mained a far cry. “The admin-istration is yet to distributecooked food among the flood af-fected. It has provided us a kilo-gram of flattened rice, 100 gramsof sugar and two biscuit packetsof Rs 5 each,” rued the villagersof Saradhapur.

However, Khurda Collector SanatKumar Mohanty said, “Steps havebeen taken to provide dry andcooked foods to the residents offlood-affected villages. A team hasbeen formed to provide healthcarefacility to the marooned villagers.A few boats have been arranged forcommunication and fire brigadepersonnel have been deployed tocarry out the relief and rehabili-tation work,” he said.

COOKED FOOD, WATER ELUDE MAROONED VILLAGERS

Villagers wading through waist-deep floodwater at Saradhapur in Khurda OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: In its 6thmeeting held Wednesday, the CabinetCommittee on Agriculture took stockof preparedness for Kharif season,distribution of loans and fertilizer andother agricultural activities in thestate.

Farm credit amounting to Rs9964.47 crore has been disbursed bythe financial institutions benefitting21 lakh farmers, Agriculture SecretarySaurabh Garg said. Similarly, 14.08lakh farmers have been enrolled forcrop insurance, he said.

Garg said 61.61 lakh hectares wereset for Kharif crop and at present55.52 lakh hectares have been cov-ered. The crop and pest situation isbeing monitored through e-pest sur-veillance upto gram panchayat (GP)level. This was briefed to the Cabinet,he said. Crop-pest advisories arebeing issued in weekly intervals bya technical team headed by OUATthrough Ama Krushi with helplinenumber – 155333, he said. The Cabinethas decided to ensure smooth supplyof urea and other fertilizers to farm-ers. For this, Garg said, steps are

being taken with support from theCentre and through rigorous moni-toring and enforcement.

The secretary said a number ofinnovative changes have been takenup for better support to farmers,which was also presented before thepanel.

The details of progress on imple-mentation of package for Covid-19 an-nounced by the Chief Minister werediscussed in details. The livelihoodinterventions for Agriculture andFa r m ers ’ E m power m en t a n dFisheries & Animal ResourcesDevelopment department are beingworked out through which 24.99 lakhfarmers would be benefitted with anoutlay of Rs 373.95 crore, he said.

“Till now, 8.15 lakh farmers havebeen benefitted,” he added.

The panel also reviewed the statusof Kalia and Balaram schemes. Thegovernment has in-principle decidedthat “Every willing farmer to have afarm pond” to supplement the waterscarcity during critical juncturesand particularly to provide life-sav-ing irrigation during Kharif season.Target was set to dig 5 lakh farmpo n ds i n f ive year s (2019-20 to 2023-24).

Under 5T initiative, the Agriculturedepartment has developed Dakshyataapp to recognise and incentivise theefforts of employees towards im-provement of agricultural practicesand upliftment of farmers, he added.

AGRI CABINET DECISIONS

` 9,964Cr farm credit disbursedTHE CABINET HAS DECIDEDTO ENSURE SMOOTH SUPPLYOF UREA AND OTHERFERTILIZERS TO FARMERS

CROP-PEST ADVISORIES AREBEING ISSUED IN WEEKLYINTERVALS BY A TECHNICALTEAM HEADED BY OUATTHROUGH AMA KRUSHI WITHHELPLINE NUMBER – 155333

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: Thestate leadership of CongressWednesday attacked the BJD-ruled state government on theGST compensation issue andasked them to come forwardwith clarification onthe issue.

CongressleaderPanchananKanungoWednesdayheld a pressconference atCongressBhawan here anddemanded answersfrom the government onGST losses. He also accused theUnion government of shirkingits responsibility towards thestates when it comes to pay-ment of GST compensation.

He said, “As per GST notifi-cations, GST Council takes de-cisions and it is later ratifiedby Parliament. Thus, paymentof GST compensation is quiteunder the control of the Centre.They cannot shirk their re-sponsibilities for the paymentsto the states.”

According to the party’s es-timates, Kanungo said, aboutRs 1,030 crore GST compensationis yet to be paid to Odisha for2019-20 financial year. “We aregoing to lose around Rs 16,700crore. As per provisional esti-

mates, till now we havealready seen loss

of Rs 5,300 croreon GST. In

August, theGST collec-tions havecomedown,” he

said.He said

that the Centreseems to

be reluctantto pay the compensation butsaid that the GST Act binds theCentre to do it. “The Centreseems to be suggesting statesto buy bonds to borrow moneywhich could be nothing but anadditional financial burden onthem. States like West Bengaland Kerala have rejected suchproposals, but not Odisha.”

He asked the state govern-ment whether it was working asa subsidiary of BJP or for thestate welfare.

Cong seeks clarity on GST aidAICC PANEL FORFLOOD-AFFECTEDBhubaneswar: The All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)Wednesday constituted acommittee to help the flood-affected people in Odisha. Acommunication from JitendraSingh, Odisha Congress In-charge, said that the panelwould work for relief andcoordination works. “As youare aware lakhs of people areaffected due to the flood in thepast few days. More than 20districts are currently affected.Please ask Congress workersto extend all support for reliefwork in the affected districts,”a letter from Singh to OdishaCongress Chief NiranjanPatnaik reads. The nine-member committee would beled by Narasingha Mishra as itschairman while Bhakta CharanDas, Pradeep Majhi, PrasadHarichandan, Jayadev Jena,Sarat Patnaik, Tara PrasadBahinipati, Suresh Routray andMohammad Moquim would be its members.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: A packof stray dogs foiled an alleged da-coity attempt in Bhubaneswar inthe wee hours of Wednesday.The unusual incident took placeat Baramunda Housing Boardcolony here.

The CCTV footage of the inci-dent shows two bike-borne mis-creants arriving in the locality ataround 2am. One of them is seenapproaching the boundary wall ofa house.

In the meantime, 10-15 straydogs attacked and severely in-jured the duo. Before fleeing thespot, the two miscreants left atoy gun on the road. It is being sus-pected that they had brought thetoy gun with them for threaten-ing people during the loot bid onbeing intervened by locals. The en-tire incident was captured onCCTV cameras installed nearby.

Residents of the locality spot-ted bloodstains on the road and thetoy gun near it Wednesday morn-ing. On being infor med,Khandagiri police reached thespot and launched an investiga-tion into the incident. The CCTVfootage is being inspected to iden-tify the miscreants.

Stray dogs foilloot bid in City

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: In a bidto bolster coastal security, theOdisha Police, Wednesday, is-sued a set of guidelines regard-ing posting of personnel at 18marine police stations (MPSes)across seven coastal districts ofthe state.

According to the guidelinesundersigned by the DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP), con-stables and havildars posted toMPSes should continue for a pe-riod of seven years.

“Such constables and havil-dars shall not be transferred be-fore the stated period to non-ma-rine police stations except onadministrative ground with ap-proval of the coastal securityADGP. The personnel may, how-ever, can be transferred from onemarine police stations to an-other,” said the order (388/2020),adding that the directive will beapplicable from October 2020.

It further said that sub-in-spector and assistant sub-in-spector of police posted to any ma-rine police station shouldnormally continue for a periodof three years. “Approval ofcoastal security ADGP will berequired for any premature trans-fer,” it added.

Fresh norms for marinepolice stations

Khandagiri policereached the spot and launched an investigation into

the incident

MATTER OF BELIEF

People offer water to their deceased ancestors’ souls as part of Tilatarpan at Markanda pond in Puri, Wednesday

Weare going to lose

around Rs 16,700 crore.As per provisional

estimates, till now we havealready seen loss of Rs 5,300crore on GST. In August, the

GST collections have come down

PANCHANAN KANUNGO | CONGRESS LEADER

downtownTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP4

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AFFIDAVIT

CLASSIFIEDSALE

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: The PUBGmobile gaming app was banned bythe central government along with118 other Chinese apps amid freshtension over China’s provocation inLadakh.

With the embargo, PUBG loses itslargest market. There are close to33 million active PUBG players inIndia, according to reports.

The dangerous implications ofthe game have come to the foremany times. Recently, a youth com-mitted suicide by hanging at Dhamrain Bhadrak district after his unclepulled him up for playing onlinemobile game PUBG. The deceasedwas identified as Ganesh Sahu, 20,a native of Panijharia village under

Mahulia panchayat of Chandbaliblock. Due to COVID-19 pandemic,Ganesh returned home two monthsback.

Orissa POST interacted withcity-based gamers, doctors and fit-ness experts to solicit their viewson the move.

Sarthak Mohapatra, a gamer,said, “There is no doubt about sup-porting the decision on banningPUBG. The ban is in the interest ofnation, so of course it is a logical step.

PUBG definitely had a huge roleto play in kick starting the gamingscene in India. There were e-sportathletes even before PUBG waslaunched, but the game success-fully caught a lot of eyeballs. Itbrought in global gaming power-houses into the country as well,who saw talent in Indian players.”

“I feel the people who are con-demning the ban need to realizethat India has a huge numbers ad-vantage and Indian teams have alsobeen doing well at other games likeCall of Duty and Counter-strike.It’s time we as audience supportthe gamers and streamers and helpbuild a gaming culture. Gaming isa craft, a skill which shouldn't onlybe judged on PUBG metrics,” he added.

Fitness expert Ranjan Rout saidthat playing such games continu-ously can lead to obesity. “You aresitting ducks!” he exclaimed.“Exercises such as running, jump-ing and playing outdoors are mustfor a healthy life so that duringyour declining years you aren’t re-stricted to your rocking chair,” headded.

Dr Anil Dayal lamented that theyouth is wasting its precious timeplaying PUBG. “It (PUBG) affectstheir daily routine. They lose pre-cious study time, their grades atschools and colleges get hampered,”he said. He informed that the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) hasrecognised gaming as a disorderin the International Classificationof Diseases.

There is life beyond PUBG, say gamers after ban There is no doubt aboutsupporting the decisionon banning PUBG. The banis in the interest of nation

SARTHAK MOHAPATRA | GAMER

It (PUBG) affects theirdaily routine. They loseprecious study time, theirgrades at schools andcolleges get hampered

ANIL DAYAL| DOCTOR

PNN & AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: StateWednesday reported 3,219 newCOVID-19 cases, taking Odisha’snovel coronavirus tally to 1,09,780,an official of Health and FamilyWelfare (H&FW) department said.

The death toll, on the other hand,rose to 514 with 11 fresh fatalities,said the official.

Most of the fresh cases were de-tected in Khurda where 731 peopletested positive, followed by Cuttack(400), Puri (217) and Balasore (194).Total nine districts reported morethan 100 cases.

Ganjam reported three of thefresh deaths, two people lost theirlives in Khurda and one patienteach died in Balasore, Bhadrak,Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Rayagada andSambalpur districts.

Most of the deaths have been re-ported from Ganjam where 194 peo-ple have so far succumbed to the in-fection, the official pointed out,adding that Deogarh has the low-est number of 33 active cases. Thedistrict has reported no COVIDdeath till date along with Boudhand Sonepur districts.

As far as active cases area is con-cerned, Khurda district remainedin the top with 6,629 cases followedby Cuttack (3,505) and Ganjam(1,451). There are 28,443 active casesin the state at present, while 80,770patients have recovered.

The state has so far tested over18.19 lakh samples for COVID-19, in-cluding 51,245 Tuesday, the official said.

As per the direction of the ChiefMinister, persons who have suc-cessfully completed institutionalquarantine are being given incen-tive of Rs 2,000 each. Till date, asum of Rs 129,94,26,000 has beenpaid incentives from the ChiefMinister’s Relief Fund, said an official.Bhubaneswar sees biggest jump

The COVID-19 tally inBhubaneswar breached 11,000-markwith as many as 541 persons, thehighest in a day, testing positivefor the viral infection in the last 24

hours, a Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) official said.

Out of the fresh cases, 220 weredetected from several quarantinecentres across the Capital city while321 people tested positive for COVID-19 during contact tracing, accord-ing to BMC.

The fresh cases include 16 po-lice personnel and 11 bank em-ployees.

With the fresh cases, the totalnumber of COVID-19 cases inBhubaneswar increased to 11,273.

The civic body, meanwhile, saidthat 300 COVID-19 patients haverecovered from the disease, takingthe total recoveries in the TempleCity to 6,935.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Se pt 2 :Notwithstanding the tall claims ofthe Mayurbhanj district adminis-tration of screening and surveil-lance of COVID cases, the rise innumber of local contact cases in thedistrict is certainly a cause for con-cern.

With a meagre amount of casesemanating from home and insti-tutional quarantine centres from thestate, the situation hints at low suc-cess of such centres in containing

the rise of new cases in the north-ern part of Odisha.

In the last one week, Mayurbhanjalong with Rayagada district hasseen a spurt in new COVID-19 cases.

This rise has posed new challengesin front of the district adminis-tration.

It also raised speculation of moreactive cases among the unprotectedpopulation which is coming to thefore on a regular basis. For exam-ple, the government records as sub-mitted by the district administra-tion, August 29 the district saw 123new cases and all of them werefrom local contacts and not a singlecase was from the quarantine sys-tem.

Similarly, the district reported

a total of 215 new cases September1. Out of the new cases, only sevenwere from quarantine and a mas-sive of 201 cases are from local con-tacts. Meanwhile, the district wit-nessed a total of 137 cases September2 and all of them were local contactcases.

The overall COVID related dataclaimed that the district till nowhas seen a total of 3,657 COVID-19cases. Five of the patients suc-cumbed to the virus. The district hasa total of 1495 active cases and 2190recoveries.

COVID TALLY JUMPS BY 3,219AS MANY AS 3,219 NEW COVID-19 CASES TAKE ODISHA’S TALLY TO 1,09,780

Most of the fresh cases were detected in Khurdawhere 731 people tested positive, followed by

Cuttack (400), Puri (217) and Balasore (194)

The death toll roseto 514 with 11fresh fatalities

Local contact cases rise in Mayurbhanj QUARANTINE

CASESLOCAL CASESDATE

Sept 2

Sept 1Aug 31Aug 30Aug 29Aug 28

137

201

57268123

2591301757

0

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: WithSeptember being observed as crit-ical phase for the state capital, theCOVID virus is now graduallyspreading its tentacles to govern-ment and private offices with largenumber of employees beingrecorded positive on a daily basis.

As per the information providedby Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC), the city untilnow has seen more than 250 casesbeing reported from various gov-ernment offices. While 27 werefound positive in Orissa Universityof Agriculture and Technology(OUAT), 25 were of SBI MainBranch, 15 in Odisha Hydro PowerCorporation, nine in State Assembly,six in Odisha State Housing Board,five in Odisha Tourism.

Similarly, the CommissioneratePolice and Special Intelligence Winghave recorded about 105 cases.Moreover, Lok Seva Bhawan andKharavela Bhawan have total 35were reported cases recently whilethe Tahasil and Sub-Registrar office

have a total of 15 cases. Even BMCitself along with BDA has reported23 cases with one death until so far.

“As the nature of work for gov-ernment employees calls for field vis-its and public interaction, contacttracing becomes difficult. Evenwith contact tracing only natureof infection in a positive person ofworking at these offices can befound. Preventive measures are al-ways needed keeping at the profileof the Corona virus,” said a seniorBMC official.

Moreover, many private under-taking offices and industrial unitshave also reported clusters of cases

recently. For instance, Aditya BirlaFashion at Mancheswar had re-ported 15 positive cases. Similarly,30 were reported from SwostiPremium, 10 from Hotel Crown and30 from IT major Tech Mahindra.

The sudden surge in cases hasalso put strain on the COVID fa-cilities at the BMC’s disposals.Recent media reports indicatedthat the civic authority is now evenstruggling to provide beds to evengovernment employees or the front-line warriors.

One of our officials who was de-ployed with the BMC tested positiverecently. He stays in a rented house

in Bhubaneswar and home quar-antine for him was not feasible.Thus, we requested the BMC totransfer him to COVID hospital orcare centre. However, the authori-ties instead suggested home isola-tion and necessary medicines,”said a source from Steel and MinesDepartment.

However, refuting such claims, asenior BMC official said that de-spite being informed that certain pa-tients have mild symptoms or evenasymptomatic, they are getting anx-ious and requesting to shift to hos-pitals which are meant for seriousand symptomatic patients.

Meanwhile, requesting peopleto be more open about their symp-toms, BMC Deputy Commissionerof Sanitation said, “As the pre-ventive measures are very sacro-sanct to keep the COVID-19 at bay,citizens should also become pro-ac-tive in abiding by such measures.If we consider contact tracing asa vital feedback and exercise peo-ple should be voluntarily give in-formation to the contact tracing ex-perts in BMC.”

Virus spreads in govt, pvt offices

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: RourkelaSteel Plant (RSP), a unit of thestate-run SAIL, has registered arecord monthly production of 3,33,840 tonne of hot metal in August.

The steel plant authority gave astatement regarding the sameTuesday. The monthly road dis-patch of prime material at 54,183tonnes was also an all-time high.

The steel plant made 3,33,840

tonnes of hot metal from twoblast furnaces, posting its best-ever monthly production. Ofthis, blast furnace-1 made 89,459tonnes, thereby creating a newrecord in production for anymonth since inception,” RSPsaid in a statement.

Besides, the new plate mill seta fresh record by dispatching 91,138tonnes of plates during the month,it said. The mill rolled 7,958 slabsand produced 22,591 plates, which

are new records, the RSP said,adding that the captive powerplant-three clocked 41.6-megawattdaily average electricity generationwhich is its all-time-best for anymonth.

“Blast furnace-1 notched up itsbest-ever single-day production of3,552 tonnes on August 17, whileon August 19 the steel melting shop-2 created a new record by making73 blows from two converters on asingle day,” the RSP said.

28 goods sheds to boostECoR freight traffic POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: In an at-tempt to have a larger share intransportation of industrial ma-terials, the East Coast Railway(ECoR) has decided to come closerto traders and industries throughits recently launched BusinessDevelopment Units (BDUs).

These BDUs will entice tradeand industry bodies to supplytheir products through rail ratherthan road. In the recent interac-tion with trade and industries,ECoR has planned to provide 28goods sheds on outsourcing basisand has invited Expression ofInterest (EoI) for the purpose.

Sources said BDU members arenow having frequent interactionswith trade and industries to knowabout the existing transportationpatterns and also to attract moretraffic to Railways. ECoR’s BDUsare expediting the clearance ofproposals received from the tradeand industry bodies apparently

for the benefit of both customersand Railways.

The ECoR is exploring ways toincrease miscellaneous non-bulkgoods traf fic to strengthenRailway’s share in traditionalcommodities being carried cur-rently. All proposals received fromcustomers, traders and industriesare being reviewed promptly in ap-propriate level so that immediateassistance will be provided, saidthe sources.

The 28 goods sheds that ECoRhas planned to offer on outsourcingbasis are: Bhadrak, Cuttack,Dhanmandal , Dhenkanal ,Jagannathpur, Jajpur-KeonjharRoad, Kapilas Road, Khurda Road,Nergundi, Barbil, Jagadalpur,Jeypore, Rayagada, SrikakulamRoad, Visakhapatnam New GoodsComplex, Vizianagaram, Bolangir,Bar g ar h Road, Bel sonda,Dungripalli, Hirakud, JunagarhRoad, Kantabanji, Kesinga,Khar iar Road, Komakhan,Lapanga and Sambalpur City.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Cuttack, Sept 2: The twin cityCommissionerate PoliceWednesday claimed to have busteda notorious vehicle lifters’ gangwith the arrest of three of its mem-bers including the kingpin, a 65-year-old man.

According to Madhupatna po-lice, the kingpin—Ashok KumarDas alias Babuli, a resident ofPithakhia vil lage underGurudijhatia police limits here, hasmore than 50 criminal cases tohis credit across Odisha.

About the crackdown, a seniorMadhupatna police official saidthat Manoranjan Behera ofKhuntuni Chhenakhia villagehere had approached them August21 alleging that his tractor hadbeen stolen.

“Behera had sent his tractor(OD-05-AC-4698) to Tinigharia areahere for some work August 18.The vehicle, however, disappearedfrom the site mysteriously,” saidthe official adding that they begana probe on the basis of Behera’scomplaint. During investigation,police stumbled upon Babuli andhis men. “Surprising! A 65-year-old man turned out to be the gang’smastermind. Nobody would usu-ally doubt him if age is somethingto be considered. Babuli takes ad-vantage of this. We recovered thetractor from him,” Madhupatna IICTushar Kant Sethy pointed out,identifying the two others as PareshMishra and Akash NilakanthaNayak, both from Mayurbhanj.

A case (141) has been registeredagainst the trio under several sectionsof the IPC. Efforts are on to check ifthey are involved in other cases aswell, Cuttack deputy commissionerof police Prateek Singh said.

65-yr-old among threeheld for vehicle lifting

RSP creates new record in production

REHAB PLEA

Members of Ekamra Haat Artisans’ Association demonstrate on the market premises at Unit III in Bhubaneswar Wednesday demanding rehabilitation beforedemolition of the urban market OP PHOTO

The city has so far recorded 250cases from different governmentoffices. Even BMC and BDA havewitnessed 23 cases with one death

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: Media ad-visor to government and BJD gen-eral secretary has tested Covid-19 positive.

Mangaraj informed the devel-opment in his Twitter handleWednesday.

Mangaraj said he was admit-ted to a COVID hospital followingillness and requested all who havecame in contact with him to gofor testing.

The leader also thanked all whowished and prayed for him.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikspoke to Mangaraj over phone toenquire about his health. Naveenwished him speedy recovery.

Manas Mangarajtests COVID +ve

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Dhenkanal, Sept 2: Fish farmersof Gondia area in Dhenkanal dis-trict were hopeful that they wouldearn a decent earning this season.But what transpired was a bitterdemonstration of the saying— ‘Manproposes, God disposes’.

The rush of floodwaters fromBrahmani river has washed awaythe fingerlings from their ponds,thereby washing away their hope fora good harvest as well.

These poor fish farmers are nowunder severe mental stress. They hadinvested all they had with themwith some having borrowed loansfrom friends and relatives. As ofnow they have no new avenues leftto start afresh.

As per the information shared byGondia block fishery department,fish farming has largely been af-fected after floodwaters enteredMandar panchayat, Kendupada ofKaluria panchayat and Bhaliapat vil-lage of Kasipur panchayat.

In Bhaliapat village, two SHGshad released fingerlings in ponds.All the fingerlings have been washed

away in the floodwaters. Similarly, Dushmant Mallick, a

fish farmer of Chittalpur villageof Mandar panchayat alleged that

the flood has left him nowhere as his55 quintals of fingerlings have beenwashed away in floodwater. “Therewas a sudden rush of floodwater

from Brahamani river Thursdaynight.”

In the floodwater, all the fish andfingerlings of my ponds were swept

away. Due to this, I have suffered aloss of Rs10 lakh. “But for govern-ment assistance, we cannot sur-vive,” he said.

Another farmer, Khirod ChandraSamal of Kendupada has a simi-lar plight to share. He had dug fiveponds in his two acres of land andwas rearing fish in them. In thefloodwaters, over 10 quintals of fishand fingerlings from his pond havebeen washed away. “I have incurreda loss between Rs 20 to 25 lakh in therecent flood. The government shouldprovide insurance facility for fishfarming,” he observed.

Meanwhile, district assistantfishery director DiptiranjanMohapatra and block assistant fish-ery officer Sarat Kumar Jena paida visit to the affected areas to takestock of the situation and assess theloss suffered by the farmers.

When contacted, block assistantfishery officer Jena said the reporton the loss suffered by fish farmersdue to floods has been placed beforethe district assistant fishery di-rector. “The affected farmers will becompensated once the governmentsanctions the funds,” he added.

The sorrows of Dhenkanal fish farmers THE FLOOD IN BRAHMANI RIVER IS SUMMED BY THE OLD YIDDISH PROVERB— ‘WE PLAN, GOD LAUGHS’

FISHY AFFAIR

An angler returning home after catching fish from Mahanadi in Sambalpur OP PHOTO

The flood has left me nowhere as55 quintals of my fingerlings have

been washed away. There was asudden rush of floodwater fromBrahmani river. I have suffered a lossof Rs10 lakh DUSHMANT MALLICK | FISH FARMER, CHITTALPUR, MANDARPANCHAYAT

I have incurred a lossbetween Rs 20 and 25 lakhin the recent flood. Thegovernment shouldprovide insurance facilityfor fish farmingKHIROD CHANDRA SAMAL | FISHFARMER, KENDUPADA

The affectedfarmers will becompensated oncethe governmentsanctions the fundsSARAT KUMAR JENA |ASSISTANT FISHERYOFFICER, GONDIA BLOCK

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kamakhyanagar, Sept 2: Yearsago, tribal farmers of Karagola pan-chayat in Dhenkanal used to sufferhuge loss when water gushing fromnearby hills swept away their cropsin the monsoon. In the dry seasons,they could not have enough water toraise other crops and vegetables.

But everything turned aroundafter Dandadhar dam was built in thearea. The dam has become a lifelinefor the tribal far mers ofKankadahada area by boosting theagriculture as well as strengthen-ing economic backbone of the resi-dents. By damming up the riverwater, thousands of hectares of farm-lands are being irrigated in the tribaldominated hilly area.

Besides, the dam has provided po-tential for tourism sector in the area.

The Dandadhar dam was builtacross Ramial river near Budhibil vil-lage under Kankadahada block. Thedam and its greenery provide scenicpleasure for tourists.

In the seventies, Chief MinisterNandini Satpathy decided to bol-ster the agriculture sector in thebackward areas.

With her efforts, two dams wereplanned— one at Kankadahada blockand other at Parjang block.

In 1975, the construction of the twodams was initiated.

Ramial river flows amid hills.Near it, is the sprawling Ranjagad re-serve forest while Kerjola revenue for-est is spread for kilometers to the westof the river.

A 424-metre-high dam, Dandadhar,was laid across the river. People ofsome villages like Rekuti Nuagan,Biripal, Kaliahata and Kaibasa ofKeonjhar district were displaced forthe dam.

Scores of displaced families were

rehabilitated in four colonies atKantapal while 813 families wererehabilitated in five colonies atDadaraghati. In 1983, the dam wasmade full-fledged.

The dam, sprawling over 328square km, has water retaining ca-pacity of 600 cusec/metre. Thereare four gates to release water fromthe dam while water is suppliedthrough two main canals. Farmlandsin far-flung areas get irrigationalcoverage through sub-canals.

In Kharif season, 6,128 hectares of

farmlands are irrigated while 3,200hectares are irrigated in Rabi season.

The left canal irrigates farmlandsat Kargola, Kankadahada, Balikuma,Maruabila, Raibola, Birashala,Makuachateni, Batagan underKankadahad block and Kanpura(Kamkshyanagar block) while theright canal irrigates farmlands atKantapal, Kandara and some othervillages.

However, over years, the dam hasbeen losing its water retaining ca-pacity, as a result of which water is

not reaching to the targeted areas.Farmers demanded that the dam

should be de-silted and restored so asto expand its irrigational coverage.

Rajesh Dehury, a local, said,“Dandadhar dam acts as a lifeline inthe tribal-dominated block ofKankadahada. Farmers raise cropsthroughout the year by using thedam water. Besides, the dam drawsa huge number of tourists during thepicnic season. The government candevelop the peripheral area of thedam with tourism infrastructure soas to boost ecotourism in the tribalpocket.”

Balabhadra Sahu, a former ZPmember said: “Dandadhar dam is theoutcome of years of efforts by ourforefathers. Though 45 years havepassed since the dam was built, themiseries of the displaced peoplehave not been removed. The canal laidfor displaced people is of no use.The government needs to pay heedto the problem.”

Assistant engineer of the dam,Sarat Chandra Sahu, said:“Dandadhar is gradually gettingsilted, resulting in fall of its waterretaining capacity. It needs to bedredged to increase its water re-taining power. This place has enoughpotential to boost tourism. It shouldbe developed for that purpose.”

How Dandadhar turned a jackpot for these tribalsThe dam has become a lifeline for the tribal farmers of Kankadahada area by boosting agriculture and tourism prospects

Over years, thedam has been

losing its waterretaining capacity,as a result ofwhich water is notreaching to thetargeted areas

Farmersdemand that

the dam should bede-silted andrestored so as toexpand itsirrigationalcoverage

ISSUEPLAGUING

POST NEWS NETWORK

Berhampur, Sept 2: Indubitably,Ganjam has turned the Covidhotspot in the state, still there are17 such villages in one panchayatin the district which have not re-ported even a single case of coro-navirus case as of yet.

Yes, it is true! These green zone (as per the

coronavirus colour zones) villagesare of Kankia panchayat underKukudakhandi block. Towards thefag end of Kukudakhandi blockand near the border of Chikitiblock, nestles Kankia panchayatin the lap of nature. The panchayatis surrounded by hills and jungles.

Out of 22 villages of the pan-chayat, most are in close proxim-ity to hills and Baniamari reserveforest. The total population of thepanchayat is 4,476—2,449 malesand 2,027 females.

These villages where the deadlyvirus has not dared to enter into till

date are 20km away from theKukudakhandi block headquar-ters. Apart from following propersanitation measures like washinghands for couple of minutes andmaintaining social distance, theyhave made it a mental note not tovisit any village outside their zoneunless it is an emergency. Besides,they do not even allow any out-siders into their villages.

Kukudakhandi block chairman,Kamakhya Prasad Patra has praisedthe villagers. “The fact that 17 vil-lages of a panchayat are still re-maining coronavirus-free will def-initely raise many eyebrows. Thevillagers have set an example for oth-ers,” he said. According to BDOGadadhar Patra, the block’s tallywas 652 by August 29. Of them, 612patients have so far recovered fromthe disease. The block has so farreported nine deaths. Some of theremaining 32 patients are under-going treatment at COVID care cen-tre, Patra informs.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Harbhanga, Sept 2: A 7-year-oldboy trapped in a rock crevice in aflooded stream during bath got a newlease of life after an ODRAF teamrescued him at a village here inBoudh district Wednesday.

The incident took place atBurubuda vil lage underPurunakatak police limits in Boudhdistrict. The boy was identified asNilamani Nayak.

Reports said that Nilamani alongwith his friends had been toLakshmi nullah in the morning totake bath. While taking bath withthem, one of his legs got trapped ina rock crevice and he was not ableto come out from the flooded stream.

His friends called the locals seek-ing help to rescue him. Locals ini-tially tried to rescue the child butfailed to do so. Later, they informedthe fire service personnel followingwhich an ODRAF team reachedthe spot and successfully rescued

the victim from the danger withthe help of locals.

The operation lasted for overfour hours during which the localsand ODRAF put up stone blocksto stop the flow of swirling waters.Later, Nilamani was rushed to the

Purunakatak health centre wherehe underwent a health check-upbefore being handed over to hisfamily members, additional tehsil-dar Hariom Bhoi said. Purunakatakpolice and senior administrativeofficials supervised the operation.

7-YEAR-OLD BOY TRAPPEDIN ROCK CREVICE RESCUED

THE INCIDENT TOOK PLACE AT BURUBUDA VILLAGE UNDERPURUNAKATAK POLICE LIMITS IN BOUDH DISTRICT

The operation lasted for over four hours during which the locals and ODRAFput up stone blocks to stop the flow of swirling waters

Yes, these 17 Ganjamvillages are still‘untouched’ by Covid

POST NEWS NETWORK

Jajpur/Bari, Sept 2: This year’sflood has been the most devastat-ing in this district as it has snatchedaway a year’s food reserve of theresidents with over 75,737 hectaresof farmland getting submergedand sandcast in the floodwater, areport said.

The Bari block with 29 panchayatshas been severely hit by flood. Over4,000 hectare of farmlands are lyingsubmerged alone in Gamu, Serpur,Mandari, Ratnagiri and Chandanpurpanchayats of the block.

As a result, the paddy saplingshave got rotten or buried underheap of soil and muck on the farm-land. Residents said that the lossis so glaring that the poor farmerswill not be able to make up for theloss no matter how much effort theyput up to recover from the loss.

The farmlands are still lying sub-merged in floodwater despite waterlevel declining in Brahmani andits distributaries. Many have beenrendered homeless as the flood haswashed away their thatched andmud houses. There are even severalpanchayats which are still lyinginundated in floodwater. Lack ofdrinking water and power supply

is what that has been hitting theflood-hit residents the most.

The flood occurred in the dis-trict due to incessant rainfall lash-ing the district from August 15 toAugust 20. Over 75,737 hectares offarmland have been either sub-merged or sandcast in the district.

Farmers do not have any foodstock at home or crops on their

farmland as they had invested alltheir earnings from last year’spaddy sale on their cultivation.Many of the farmers have bor-rowed from banks and local mon-eylenders to raise their crops. Thecrop loss has pushed them into dis-tress as they ponder over how torepay their loan.

The migrants who were work-ing outside have comeback afterthe government imposed lockdownfollowing Covid-19 outbreak in thecountry. All their dreams have beenshattered as managing their familyis the main concern for them.Moreover, leaving home to workoutside is not possible for them asCovid has put a spanner in theirmovement.

When contacted, Bari BDOSibananda Swain said that relief dis-tribution work has been expeditedin the flood-hit areas of the block.

KENDRAPARA: Over 50 irate locals set a private bus ablaze after ithit a scooter and killed a youth on the spot on national highway atHaladiagada in Kendrapara district Wednesday forenoon. Accordingto reports, a bus (bearing registration number WB-41 E-6012) was onits way from Kolkata to Paradip, when it hit a scooter coming fromthe opposite direction. The deceased has been identified as BikashNayak (25) of Haladiagada village. Following the accident, outragedlocals asked all passengers to get down and set the bus ablaze. Bythe time fire brigade arrived and doused the flames; the busincluding luggage of some passengers kept therein were completelygutted. Tension ran high on NH-5 in Marshaghai area in the district.

nCoV +ve JEE aspirant disallowed into exam hallPOST NEWS NETWORK

Berhampur, Sept 2: A JEE aspi-rant, who was suffering from Covid-19 related ailments, was not al-lowed to enter the examination hallto give JEE (Main) examination inBerhampur Wednesday.

Following instructions fromNational Testing Agency (NTA),the JEE (Main) aspirant, who wasa Covid-19 positive, reached the ex-amination hall wearing a PPE kit.However, the authorities did notallow him to enter the centre asper the instructions of the district

administration.According to controller of ex-

amination Sunil Sahoo, “We hadmade all necessary arrangementsfor candidates with COVID-19 dis-ease like isolation lab where thecandidate is supposed to write hisexam paper and sanitation facil-ity. An invigilator was also sup-posed to be deployed in the isolatedroom to keep a tab on the candidate.The candidate also reached theexam center wearing a PPE kit.”

“But at the last moment, we re-ceived a note from the district ad-ministration not to allow candi-

dates with Covid-19 disease in viewof the safety of other students,”Sahoo added.

He said had the candidate beenallowed there will be fear of infec-tion among other candidates.However, a special examinationwill be conducted for the candi-dates with Covid-19 virus all overIndia. There is no need to worry, clar-ified Sahoo.

Additional District MagistrateKabindra Kumar Sahoo said stu-dents with Covid-19 virus will be fa-cilitated to give JEE (Main) in thenext phase.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Balasore, Sept 2: In a major crack-down, Rupsa Police in Balasoredistrict busted a fake and illegalliquor manufacturing unit inKusipada, late Tuesday night.

The police also arrested twopersons in this connection. Theidentification of the accused duois yet to be ascertained.

According to sources, one amongthe two detained is the owner of theillegal manufacturing facility. Hewas being interrogated.

Police said that the cops seizedhuge quantities of spirits, labelsof various foreign liquor brands,other articles used in manufac-turing the illicit liquor and pack-ing materials from the spot. Policealso seized Rs 17 lakh in cash,three motorcycles and mobilesphones from their possession.

SPURIOUS LIQUORTRADE BUSTED IN BALASORE DIST

Locals set bus ablaze in Kendrapara

Will flood-hit Jajpur limp back to normalcy?

Over 75,737 hectares of farmland is submerged or sandcast because of the flood

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

Compassion is not a hobby, or something you do in a good mood, or whenyou are well fed, or with your friends. It is a mental state, or an ori-entation towards suffering that includes four things -- recognising that

there is suffering, being emotionally moved by that suffering, wanting re-lief from that suffering, and being ready to take action to relieve that suffering.

The heart is a muscle. It needs to be exercised for it to expand or it candeteriorate and atrophy. All children are born with the capacity to love allbeings – humans and nonhumans. By the time they are three, their parentshave conditioned them to fear compassion and they stop loving. But you canrecondition yourself.

In fact, there is a course for it! Based on scientific trials, there is a two-month academic compassion cultivation training course that was developedby Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., and colleagues at Stanford University’s Center forCompassion and Altruism Research and Education. If I were minister foreducation, I would make it compulsory.

There is also a course called Great Good in Action, GGIA, which gives yourexercises. As with most exercises, the more you do them, the quicker the heartand mind expand. Even tiny steps help -if yourphysical exercise goal is to take 10,000 steps a dayand you only take 3,000, that’s still better foryour health than taking none.

Start noticing your own actions: when do youfeed spontaneously compassionate? When yousee an accident on the news and don’t have to doanything about it except watch? When do you re-sist acknowledging suffering throughout theday (e.g., when passing someone on the street whois asking for money, or your attitude towards anannoying family member)? Once you noticeyour own thoughts, change comes easily.

So next time you are going for work, noticehow clean the steps are and who cleaned then,when you stand in line at a mall take a momentto actually see the stress of the cashier or thepeople stocking the shelves. A word of appre-ciation? One of the times I remember withpride, because it came naturally, was when mycar stopped at a light. I opened a bottle of waterto drink when I noticed a parched plant on theroad divided with drooping leaves. I jumpedout, put the water on the plant and waited to see it revive. At that point I did-n’t think of anything, but it certainly gave me happiness. You are on the righttrack when giving and doing for other forms of life give you more happinessthan getting something for yourself.

Set the intention to ‘practice’ compassion. What do you want for the world?What do you want for your life? What do you have to offer the world? Hereare some tips which sound like clichés but work: Encourage others with praise,respect privacy, open the door for someone (metaphorically!) , allocate timeto do good things consciously, learn how to say thank you, practice empathy– the art of seeing yourself in the other’s place, step mindfully (literally).

Are you changing? Have you stopped making excuses to turn away? Is yoursight improving to see the world as a place of suffering which you can makebetter? Are you better towards humans and nonhumans? Have you addedvalue to your life? Whose life did you affect for the better? Have your heroeschanged? How many times have you thanked a being or even the universe?How many times did you resist the opportunity to hurt? Did you noticehow many times beings were compassionate to you?

Compassion is about alleviating suffering and ultimately it is the only thingthat is meaningful in life. It is easy to fight with your neighbours and thou-sands of people did that during the lockdown. It is easy to kick a dog on thestairs who is taking shelter from rain. It is easy to declare a wounded mothertigress as a man-eater and hunt her down. It is easy to put bombs in food sothat a cow has her jaw blown apart, it is easy to chop down trees. But did thattake the world forward or backwards? Violence is the ultimate setback forgood economics and it is the direct opposite of compassion.

Princess Diana's handshake with an AIDS patient, something done spon-taneously, changed attitudes towards AIDS all over the world. Mother Teresacradling the sick, the lepers and the homeless, brought so many people intothe field of compassion. The people who have made companies to bring ar-tificial meat to meat-eaters have done so out of compassion, the people whorun shelter homes, with absolutely no money, for accident hit and diseasedanimals, the people who give blood, the people who start foundations for bonemarrow transplant victims, the people who donate small amounts of moneyto the needy rather than offering it to a temple as forward payments for wishesto be granted, the NGOs who go into villages to help medicate or train peo-ple... the world is better for them. The Pay it Forward movement is what weneed to adopt. Do three good deeds without expecting anything in return andonly ask that the recipient do three good deeds too.

Many years ago, my mother and I watched a TV show by Larry King. Hisguest of the evening was Jeanne Dixon, a world famous ‘seer’ who was fa-mous for her predictions. We, in India, have hundreds of people like that,so it wasn’t that part that interested me. It was something else that she saidthat has stayed with me as a living principle. She said that Earth was thedesignated ‘hell’ of the universe. Every being that had committed violenceor ‘crime’ of some kind on any other planet was sent here and that is whyeveryone on the planet, rich or poor, was in a constant state of suffering. Andwe would come back again and again until we changed ourselves. And theonly way out of it was compassion, rising above oneself to be kind. Do youwant to get yourself out of here? I do.

To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in,www.peopleforanimalsindia.org

More than five months

have elapsed since westarted the lockdownand are now in the

phase of relaxing restrictions de-spite a huge surge in Covid-19 cases.India reported 79,000 fresh cases on29 August –the highest numberglobally for a single day -- wheneven USA recorded about 500 lessin number.

The challenge with asympto-matic infection is intensifying withremoval of travel restrictions andopening of public transport sys-tem. State governments are awarethat the vigil against the infectionhas to be intensified. Truly, a novelexperience of knowingly takinghealth-risk under economic compulsions!

Both the authorities and the peo-ple are visibly concerned aboutthe inevitable consequences to befaced if people do not behave.Therefore, arrangements are beingmade particularly in workplacesand norms and guidelines are givenwith instructions to strictly enforcethese. Unlock is accompanied withclose monitoring of people’s be-haviour.

The post-lockdown period is goingto be tension-ridden with isolation,distancing, uncertainty, and in-

convenience being thrust as nor-mal in social life. Hereafter, fol-lowing reports regarding the courseof the pandemic must become ahabit. The number of close face-to-face contacts has to be kept as lowas possible and high risk activitiesas short as possible. Remote learn-ing and work, introduced duringlockdown, will tend to stay evenafter the demise of the pandemic.

Our hope lies in finding an effec-tive vaccine against Covid-19.Lockdown has only a limited effect.

Lifting the lockdown or relaxingthe restrictions does not mean thatthe virus is weakening. What itmeans is that hereafter we have tolead a double life, struggling to con-tinue with normal activities andadhering to pandemic restrictions.Unlock 4.0 guidelines from 1September cannot be read as liftingof the road block to the old and fa-miliar pattern of life, like lifting ofa curfew after a war and surren-der of the enemy. Rather, they arecrucial tests to assess what we havelearnt about the pandemic, and howequipped we are to re-design ourlife to cope with medical emergen-cies. Unlock does not mean that wecan run in the open as people dowhen heavy rains stop. Such un-ruly behaviour will invite re-im-

position of restrictions in no time.Active coronavirus cases have

crossed 3.5 million in India. It is notlikely to abate soon.Epidemiologically, India presentsa picture of a continent of manycountries. This is evident from theway it has spread in different states.Multiple strategies are required.

It is almost impossible to restorecomplete normalcy in human lifeand activities in any one countryin isolation in this age of globali-sation; and more so in any onestate or district. Wholesale actionand remedies are required.Protecting pockets of areas or peo-ple does not lead to eradication ofepidemics. Ideally, immunity ef-forts have to be global and defi-nitely national. Vaccines shouldbe made available to all countries.

Disruption of routine healthservices may cause widespreaddamage as bad as the pandemic.Even the essential immunisationservices for children are halted inmany places. Institutional deliv-eries that have slowly been adoptedin rural India are affected by di-version of medical attendants toCovid care. Routine check-ups fornon-communicable diseases arepostponed, thus increasing the riskof patients. It is time to restore

these health services without loos-ening our grip over treatment andprevention of Covid-19.

The pandemic has stimulated aspirit of national self-reliance andhas also pointed to the need foropening of supply chains and dataflows for mutual benefit of nations.

The gravity of the infection in-tensifying global search for reme-dies, the importance of interna-tional cooperation in medicalresearch is acknowledged.Indigenous systems of medicinemust also be encouraged and as-sisted to manufacture resistance-building and preventive therapies.Covid-19 has provided opportuni-ties to learn about our immunesystem and seek advice on healthylifestyle.

It is the virus which will be win-ning as long as we do not have a thor-ough knowledge of the disease, po-tent medicine for cure and a vaccinefor prevention. We are still in thestage of restraining the destructivecapacity of the pandemic.Lockdown or Unlock – everyonehas to remain conscious of thepresence of the pandemic. Eternalvigilance is the price we pay forkeeping ourselves healthy.

The writer is a former director ICSSR, New Delhi.

Leading a double life after lockdown

NOW, THE COVID CITYN

o city has escaped thedeadly spread of Covid-19. But the virus has hada profoundly uneven im-

pact on different groups of peopleeven within the same city. WhenNew York City was the global epi-centre of the pandemic, down-town Manhattan had an infectionrate of roughly 925 per 100,000,compared to 4,125 per 100,000 inQueens. The reason for this gap isstraightforward: New York’swealthiest residents could accessa wide range of health services andwork remotely in spacious multi-story buildings.

As in every big city, one’s postcode profoundly shapes one’s des-tiny. Manhattan and Queens areless than 25 minutes apart by sub-way, but the difference betweenthem in annual median incomeis a staggering $78,000; and thevariation in life expectancy be-tween the city’s boroughs can beas high as ten years. Similar in-equalities in income, health, ed-ucation, and virtually every othermetric of wellbeing persist in mostmetropolises around the world.Covid-19 will widen these dispar-ities further.

Around the world, it is not somuch densely populated cities asovercrowded, marginalised neigh-borhoods that are struggling tocontain the spread of Covid-19.Socioeconomic factors, not phys-ical geography, are a key deter-minant of contagion risk, partic-ularly in the built-up areas ofdeveloping countries. For example,it is estimated that over half ofMumbai’s seven million slum-dwellers already have Covid-19.And in South Africa, where five mil-lion households do not have a re-frigerator, barely 46 per cent haveaccess to a flush toilet in theirhomes and a one-third share toi-lets with other families – it is notsurprising that new infectionssoared despite drastic lockdownmeasures.

The pandemic is especiallyharmful for urbanites in the in-formal economy, where most jobsare low-paid and cannot be per-formed remotely. Whereas 47 percent of college graduates could

work remotely in the United Statesin July, only 4 per cent of thosewithout a high school diplomawere able to do so. While this dy-namic certainly hurts the urbanpoor in cities like New York, it iseven more debilitating for those in,say, Dhaka, where over 80 per centof workers depend on the informalsector – the development organi-sation BRAC reports that 62 percent of all daily wage income es-sentially disappeared in June.

As we show in our new bookTerra Incognita, Covid-19 is ex-acerbating multiple forms of in-equality within and between coun-tries and cities, and raisingfundamental questions about thefuture of urban living. Major citiesare bearing the brunt of the pan-demic’s human and economic costs– and the worst is yet to come – fu-eling concerns about whether theywill survive as the central nodesof the global economy.

But while the pandemic has se-verely affected many superstarcities, some of the industries driv-ing their economies are remark-ably resilient, which may help toexplain why global stock marketshave bounced back. It is clear thatthe biggest winner in the currentcrisis will be Big Tech. On thesame day that US economic growthwas reported to have fallen by 32.9

per cent (July 31), Amazon re-ported quarterly profits of $5.2billion, with sales up 40 per centfrom the previous year. Similarly,Google, Apple, and Facebook haveall performed far better than theeconomy as a whole during thepandemic.

Even if a vaccine is developedand distributed as early as 2021,Covid-19 will be tremendously dis-ruptive to cities. Nicholas Bloomof Stanford University predictsthat if cities lose the office spacepreviously used by knowledgeworkers, urban expenditures over-all could drop by one-third. The dra-matic decline in property taxesand other revenue streams willseriously compromise municipalgovernments’ ability to providebasic services. The exodus of high-value workers will have dangerousripple effects on city residents –from waiters and actors to gro-cers and retailers. These people andservices give cities much of theircharacter, and their loss wouldaccelerate the downward spiral.

Still, while many major cities aredown, they are far from out. Thedeath of the superstar city hasbeen predicted before, yet urbanareas have always demonstratedan extraordinary capacity tobounce back, including from pan-demics and plagues. Even in the

most adverse conditions, large,medium, and smaller cities re-main the most desirable places tolive, work, and play, and urbandwellers are healthier and wealth-ier than their rural counterparts,on average. This is unlikely tochange, despite the acceleration ofremote working.

Cities will continue to be sitesfor innovation, experimentation,and invention. With many coun-tries now facing the second waveof Covid-19 (or still caught in thefirst), mayors are rethinking theirstrategies to improve affordability,promote cleanliness, ensure stablesupply chains, produce energy,and reduce congestion. Preciselybecause cities face tremendous fi-nancial shortfalls and growing li-abilities, they will need to draw ontheir exceptional creativity to domore with less. Rather than beingan existential threat to cities,Covid-19 may lead to a more ad-vanced and inclusive urbanismin some parts of the world.

One way or another, our futurelies in cities. This is why the WorldEconomic Forum has focused itsGreat Reset initiative on urbanhubs, and why the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has putresilient and inclusive cities atthe center of achieving theSustainable Development Goals.For city leaders, the task is to startinvesting in micro-mobility andpedestrianisation, while testingnew models of urban design, in-cluding retrofitting buildings andpublic spaces with healthier re-newable alternatives. The pan-demic has shown us that ensuringa healthy population requires re-shaping society. Cities are wherethat process will start.

Ian Goldin is Professor ofGlobalisation and

Development at the Universityof Oxford. Robert Muggah is

a member of the WorldEconomic Forum’s Global

Future Council on Cities andUrbanisation and an

adviser to the Global RisksReport.

@PROJECT SYNDICATE

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

While the pandemic has severely affected many superstar cities, some of the industriesdriving their economies are remarkablyresilient, which may help to explain why global stock markets have bounced back

CULTIVATING COMPASSION

THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

One of the chief obstacles to theestablishment of a progressiveharmony is our eagerness toprove to an opponent that he iswrong and we are right.

THE MOTHER

PANDEMIC

MAJOR CITIESARE BEARING

THE BRUNT OFTHE PANDEMIC’S

HUMAN ANDECONOMIC

COSTS – ANDTHE WORST IS

YET TO COME – FUELING

CONCERNSABOUT

WHETHER THEYWILL SURVIVE

AS THE CENTRALNODES OF THE

GLOBAL ECONOMY

Ian Goldin andRobert Muggah

WISDOM CORNERWe enjoy the process far more than the proceeds. WARREN BUFFETT

Stay hungry, stay foolish. STEVE JOBS

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them. ALBERT EINSTEIN

WORLD

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: edit@orissapost.com

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS THE

PRICE WE PAY FORKEEPING

OURSELVESHEALTHY

Dr S. Saraswathi

Sex ratio in India

Sir, India, the second most-populous country, is faced with a lesser fe-male population ratio and the scenario might get further worse in thenext decade. A severe imbalance of 6.8 million in lesser female gen-der births, compared to male babies, could be registered as per pres-ent projections. Significantly, a nation-wide study carried out jointlyby KAUST of Saudi Arabia and Universite de Paris, France, has no-ticed two prime reasons -- cultural preference for male babies and fa-cility of prenatal sex selection -- leading to the imbalance in sex ratiohere. Preference for male over female is prevalent here for ages, par-ticularly from 1970, the imbalance in sex ratio at birth has worseneddue to technological interventions like pre-natal sex determination tests.Among the states, Uttar Pradesh is likely to record the lowest femalebirths. The researchers found that a majority of respondents in 21 statesand all Union Territories preferred male child. The urge for male ba-bies in nine north-western states is high. Each year, counting from 2017,the missing female births may be figured at 4,69,000. Though India hasa strict law against sex determination tests since 1994, there has beenno positive result.

Santosh Kumar Satapathy, PARALAKHEMUNDI

Pranab as statesman

Sir, With the passing away of Bharat Ratna PranabMukherjee August 31, a void has been created in the na-tion’s polity. The five decades of glorious political careerof the former president have come to an end. Hailingfrom a family of politicians, Pranabda rose to political lime-light after he won the hearts of the late Prime Minister IndiraGandhi. He never failed in any of his missions, be it hisrepresentations at various world forums for India’s cause,or in the group of ministers (GoMs) during the UPA rules.Hailed as ‘remover of obstacles’ in the most critical daysof the Congress, he left no stone unturned to see that thenation moved forward. During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure asPM, he was forced to quit the organisation and form a newpolitical party, but returned to the Congress after a while.The staunch Congressman was denied what was his due,the prime minister post, and everybody knows why. Still,the generations to come will appreciate the contributionsof such a veteran politician and statesman.

Sanjib Das, CUTTACK

cmyk

cmyk

Thwart

Thwart is strictly speaking Middle English. However, an equivalentword did exist in Old English, thweorh, transverse, perverse, angry or

cross. It seems to have died out and the adverb thwart was reintroducedfrom the related Old Norse thvert. It’s from an ancient Indo-European rootthat’s shared by Latin torquere, to twist. In English an early sense was ofsomething transverse or crosswise. The early evidence is pretty sparse —it doesn’t seem to have been especially common — so the way itdeveloped isn’t altogether clear. Early on, though, the idea developed ofsomething that lay or was put across the way, so hindering or obstructingone’s progress. Another early sense, recorded around 1250, was oneborrowed from Germanic languages of a person who was figurativelyobstructive or cross-grained — awkward, obstinate or stubborn. The verb,which appeared about the same time, first meant to oppose or hinder.Our modern sense, to successfully oppose another person’s intentions,appeared near the end of the sixteenth century.

You are on the righttrack when giving

and doing for otherforms of life give youmore happiness than

getting something for yourself

Maneka Gandhi

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WESTBENGALTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

P7JAMMU &KASHMIR

REUTERS

New Delhi, Sept 2: The TrinamoolCongress has accused FacebookInc of bias toward Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), adding to the clam-our of opposition voices whichhave called out the social mediagiant for its content regulationpractices.

In a letter to Facebook boss MarkZuckerberg, the West Bengal rulingparty said the company’s recentblocking of pages and accounts inthe state pointed to the links it hadwith the BJP.

The letter became public justhours before Facebook’s India bossAjit Mohan was due to appear be-fore a parliamentary panel, to ex-

plain his company’s content reg-ulation policies. “There is enoughmaterial now in the public do-main, including internal memosof senior Facebook management,to substantiate the bias,” TrinamoolCongress spokesman Derek O' Brienwrote in an August 31 letter toZuckerberg.

“Please do all it takes to urgentlywork toward maintaining the in-tegrity of your platform in theIndian electoral process.”

Facebook did not immediatelyrespond to an email seeking com-ment. West Bengal will hold stateassembly elections early next year.

The Trinamool letter piles morepressure on Facebook, which is inthe midst of a PR crisis and a po-

liticalstor m, fol -lowing a recent Wall Street Journalstory that said Ankhi Das, the U.S.tech giant’s Public Policy Directorfor South and Central Asia, hadopposed the taking down of postsby a BJP politician who labelledMuslims traitors.

The story prompted strong crit-icism of Facebook and Das, with the

Congress calling for an investiga-tion. It also pushed parliament’sIT panel, headed by a Congresslawmaker, to summon Facebook.At the time Facebook respondedto WSJ by saying it banned hatespeech and violence-inciting con-

tent globally without any bias. Italso said it conducted regular au-dits of its processes for fairness

and accuracy.Tuesday, India’s technol-

ogy minister slammed Facebookfor censuring content posted byright-wing users. Menlo Park,California-headquartered Facebookhas previously said it is a non-par-tisan platform and it will removecontent that violates its commu-nity standards. Even Facebook em-ployees have questioned the com-pany’s content policies in India,Reuters has previously reported.

Now, TMC accuses FB of bias towards BJP

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kolkata, Sept 2: Appearing forthe JEE (Mains) during the pan-demic cost the parents of Ayan RoyMahapatra`25,000 to cover a distanceof 365 km from Malda to Kolkata.

Ayan Roy Mahapatra had ap-peared for the Joint Entrance Exam(JEE)-Mains from a test centre inSalt Lake area here Tuesday.

When contacted, his father AnupRoy Mahapatra said, “We startedSunday morning for reaching thecity so that we could reach Kolkatabefore complete lockdown in WestBengal Monday. An AC SUV wasneeded as we were covering such adistance. I tried to settle for a lesseramount, but in vain.”

Though his son’s examinationwas in the second half Tuesday, hisfather did not want to take a chanceof travelling for eight hours to reachthe examination venue.

“What if there was heavy traffic?”asked Roy Mahapatra. The cost ofaccommodation and food of the

driver was also borne by RoyMahapatra. The car owner will notcharge an extra amount for the re-turn journey. The father and son,who stayed at a hotel here, are re-turning to Malda Wednesday.

Another candidate Biltu whotravelled in a private luxury busfrom Malda to Kolkata spent`800 onone-way fare as he did not want toboard crowded public transport.

“From Malda I boarded a Kolkata-bound non-ac luxury bus Saturdayevening and they asked me to pay

the amount as there would be noovercrowding and sanitisers wouldbe provided at frequent intervals.I stayed at a friend's place inDumdum and came to the examcentre Tuesday morning. Almost60 per cent of the money, given tome by my father, has been spent,”Biltu, whose father is a primaryschool teacher, told PTI outside theexam centre Tuesday.

Vivekananda Kundu, father ofRohan Kundu, did not divulge thefare he had to pay for the journey

from Midnapore town to Esplanadehere. The journey on a crowded busmade him jittery about the possibilityof getting infected by coronavirus.

“We had to pay thrice the regu-lar fare but the conductor still kepton picking up passengers withoutthinking for our safety. We can’t af-ford to pay `25,000 for a car so wechose the public transport,” he said.

The Kundus, who stayed at a rel-ative’s place, are returning toMidnapore Wednesday. They willcome back to the city again September13 for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

“I am apprehensive about trav-elling in public transport. Let’shope for the best,” he said.

Suspension of local train servicesdue to the COVID-19 pandemic hadadded to the woes of the candidates.

The West Bengal governmenthad earlier opposed the Centre'sdecision to conduct JEE(Main) andNEET exams, contending that stu-dents would be exposed to health haz-ards amid the pandemic.

Students shell out a lot to reach JEE test centresSUSPENSION OF LOCAL TRAIN SERVICES DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAD ADDED TO THE WOES OF THE CANDIDATES

‘75 pc candidatescould not write exam’ KOLKATA: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee saidthat 75 per cent of the state'scandidates could not take JEETuesday while only half of themmanaged to turn up in examcentres in other states due to theongoing COVID-19 pandemicsituation. She said that hergovernment had made all thearrangements for the students,but only 1,167 wrote the testthough 4,652 candidates werescheduled to appear for itTuesday, the first day of theexamination. “The students are ingreat trouble. They were not ableto attempt the JEE examinations.In other states, more than 50 percent of the students were notable to appear for it because ofthe pandemic situation,”Banerjee told reporters.

In a letter to Facebookboss Mark Zuckerberg,

the West Bengal ruling party said the

company’s recentblocking of pages

and accounts in the state pointed

to the links it had with the BJP

Thereis enough

material now in thepublic domain, includinginternal memos of senior

Facebook management, tosubstantiate the bias. Please do

all it takes to urgently worktoward maintaining the integrity

of your platform in the Indianelectoral process

DEREK O' BRIEN I TMCSPOKESMAN

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kolkata, Sept 2: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Baner jeeWednesday wrote to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that depriving statesof GST compensation is an "at-tempt to undermine federalism"and urged him not to belie the trustbetween the states and the Centreon the issue.

Attorney General KK Venugopal'sopinion that it is not the responsi-bility of the Centre to compensatethe states for Goods and Services Tax(GST) shortfall during a pandemic"appears to be an act of subterfuge",Banerjee said in the letter.

In the 41st meeting of GSTCouncil August 27, Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman saidthat the COVID-19 pandemic is an"act of God" which has hit GST col-lection and ruled out paying com-pensation to states from its coffers.

"On behalf of Bengal and otherstates, I sincerely urge you not tobelie the trust between the Statesand the Centre on matters of GSTwhich has been hailed globally asthe finest example of cooperativefederalism," Banerjee said. Banerjeeasked Modi not to allow "an insuf-ferable blow to the federalist polityof the nation" by depriving the

states of the GST compensation."I am deeply anguished by the

Goods and Services Tax (GST) im-broglio which tantamounts to a be-trayal of the trust and moral re-sponsibility of the Government ofIndia towards the states, violatingthe very premise of federalism.This is a travesty and an abrogationof the fundamental basis on whichthe states gave up 70 per cent oftheir taxing powers, including theentire VAT regime, to usher in theGST regime," Banerjee said in thefour-page letter.

She reminded Modi that as thechief minister of Gujarat, he hadopposed implementation of GSTand the late BJP leader ArunJaitley had stated that the saffronparty did not trust the Centre inhonouring compensation of GST

losses to the states."His words are ringing in our

ears as we are losing trust on theBJP Government in the Centre, inhonouring its solemn, promise offully compensating GST losses to thestates," Banerjee said.

The chief minister said that de-spite assurances, states are beingthrust with "two unilateral options,both of which require the States toborrow lakhs and crores of rupees.

"The Centre must borrow to meetthe shortfall at this critical hour ofthe Covid-19 pandemic and I amsure that the States will recipro-cate in supporting a resolution thatCess collection continues beyond thefive years till the entire debt of theCentre is totally liquidated, alongwith the entire interest paymentcost," she said.

Don’t belie trust betweenCentre, states: Didi to PM

On behalf of Bengaland other states, Isincerely urge younot to belie the trust

between the States and theCentre on matters of GSTwhich has been hailedglobally as the finestexample of cooperativefederalism

MAMATA BANERJEE I CM

Facebook is in the midstof a PR crisis following arecent WSJ story that thetech giant’s Public PolicyDirector for South andCentral Asia had opposed taking down of posts by a BJP politician who labelledMuslims traitors

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 2: The KashmirChamber of Commerce andIndustry (KCCI) flagged concernsof the business community dur-ing an online conference with UnionFinance Minister Nir malaSitharaman.

Speaking during the conference,KCCI President Sheikh Ashiq toldthe Finance Minister that althoughthe slowdown across the countryand the globe is on the back of thecoronavirus pandemic, for theKashmir valley it has had a severeimpact over the past 13 months.He sought support from the FinanceMinistry for the businesses in theregion and said that sectors like hor-ticulture can be a game changer inthe valley, which need to be tapped.

Ashiq also said that previous

meetings with the minister raiseda lot of hopes, but developmentswere yet to take place on the ground.

He also informed Sitharamanthat the industry body has raisedthe concerns with the newly-ap-pointed Jammu & KashmirLieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Earlier speaking at the virtualconference, the Finance Ministersaid that she recently met Sinha andassured him of support from theministry towards the financial is-sues of the Union Territory.

Sheikh Ashiq had earlier claimedthat the internet restrictions im-posed in the region since August 5last year, and then the Covid-in-duced lockdown, have caused an eco-nomic loss of `40,000 crore in theValley alone, and that more than fivelakh people across sectors are nowjobless.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Srinagar, Sept 2: Would the re-as-sertion on restoration of pre-August5, 2019 status by mainstream po-litical parties of Kashmir impedeDelhi’s efforts to restore democ-racy in J&K?

Almost all mainstream politi-cal parties of Kashmir includingthe National Conference (NC),Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Peoples Conference (PC), AwamiNational Conference (ANC), J&KPeoples Movement (JKPM) andthe CPI M met last week at formerchief minister and Parliamentmember, Farooq Abdullah's Gupkarresidence in Srinagar to re-asserttheir commitment to ‘GupkarDeclaration'.

The declaration seeks uncondi-tional restoration of Pre-August5, 2019 status for J&K.

In layman terms, the declara-tion wants Article 370, 35A andstatehood restored back beforethese parties join elections in J&K.

The only mainstream politicalparty that has not joined the GupkarDeclaration bandwagon is the ApniParty led by former minister, SyedAltaf Bukhari.

There is apparently no way NewDelhi can go back on restoration ofArticle 370 and 35A in J&K.

"It is cut, dried and buried," saida top central intelligence officerwho is known for his understand-ing of Kashmir affairs.

Without agreeing to be named,the officer told IANS, "Do you thinkthat the kingdom can be lost for anail? The abrogation of Article 370and 35A had implications far, faraway from the geographical limitsof J&K."

"Yes, statehood will be given toJ&K as was stated by the unionhome minister when he led theprocess of abrogation of 370 and 35Ain the Parliament," the officer said.

If New Delhi cannot, because ofobvious reasons, step back onrestoration of J&K's special sta-tus, what would be the next logicalstep for the Kashmir centric po-litical parties in the absence oftheir demand finding favour withthe centre?

"You cannot set pre-conditions forjoining elections. Fight elections andthen prove how strong or weak

you are on the ground."Politics and political process is

a continuum. It cannot be held tothe dictation of people who wantto come to power through democ-racy and intend to hold the democ-racy at ransom," said anotherKashmir analyst.

How firm would the supportersof Gupkar Declaration remainonce it is trashed by the centre?

Well, how firm did FarooqAbdullah remain when his auton-omy resolution was thrown intothe dustbin?

The other problem is how firmlywould NC's traditional opponentsin the PDP, PC, CPI M, ANC and oth-ers stand by it to allow FarooqAbdullah re-emergence on the po-litical horizon of Kashmir?

"Highly unlikely that every sig-natory to Gupkar Declaration wouldhold firm to support FarooqAbdullah call all the shots," said asenior politician. In all likelihood,Gupkar Declaration would meetthe same fate as did the Indira-Abdullah accord of 1975.

Sheikh Abdullah wanted rever-sal of laws extended to J&K after1953. He wanted restoration ofnomenclature of ‘Sadr-e-Riyasat'for state governor and ‘Wazir-e-Azam' for the chief minister

All he got was political powerwith the support of the Congressparty that broke convention andchose a non-Congress leader as theparty's leader in the state assembly.

History has an uncanny habit ofrepeating itself. Is it going to dothe same in J&K this time?

‘Gupkar Declaration’may meet same fate asIndira-Abdullah accord

Almost all mainstream politicalparties of Kashmir including the

NC, PDP, PC, ANC, JKPM and the CPIM met last week at former CMFarooq Abdullah’s Gupkar residencein Srinagar to re-assert their com-mitment to ‘Gupkar Declaration'

In layman terms, the declarationwants Article 370, 35A and state-

hood restored back before these par-ties join elections in J&K

The only mainstream politicalparty that has not joined the

Gupkar Declaration bandwagon isthe Apni Party led by former minis-ter, Syed Altaf Bukhari

POLITICS OF VALLEY

Kashmir industry body flagsbusiness concerns with FM

The internet restrictions imposed in the region sinceAugust 5 last year, and then the Covid-induced

lockdown, have caused an economic loss of `40,000crore in the Valley alone

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 2: The UnionCabinet Wednesday approved a billunder which Kashmiri, Dogri andHindi, apart from the existing Urduand English, will be the officiallanguages in the union territoryof Jammu and Kashmir.

Announcing the decision at anews briefing, Union Minister

Prakash Javadekar said the Jammuand Kashmir Official LanguagesBill, 2020 will be introduced inParliament in the upcomingMonsoon Session.

The Bill received the Cabinetnod Wednesday at a meetingpresided by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

The minister did not divulge fur-ther details saying the bill be debatedin Parliament soon.

Union Minister Jitendra Singhsaid the government has acceptedthe long pending demand of theregion for the inclusion of Dogri,Hindi and Kashmiri as officialslanguages in J-K.

“It is not only a fulfilment of along-pending public demand of theregion but also in keeping with thespirit of equality which was ush-ered in after August 5 last year,” hetold reporters.

Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi added to list of official languages in J&K

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Srinagar, Sept 2: Senior Congressleader and former Union MinisterSaifuddin Soz Wednesday said the peo-ple of Jammu and Kashmir wantedto know who have been the non statesubject beneficiaries of domicile cer-tificates in the union territory. He de-manded a 'white paper' on the issue.

"The J&K UT has explained itsposition that of the 12.5 lakhDomicile Certificates issued by it,99 per cent of the beneficiaries hap-pened to be the permanent resi-dents of the state. However, the

people would like to know as towho constituted the crucial re-maining one per cent of the bene-ficiaries?" Soz asked.

He said the people of J&K are en-titled to know the particulars ofthe persons who were not perma-nent residents, yet they got theDomicile certificates. He said theadministration has said that thesecertificates have been issued forjobs only, it means that the UTAdministration has no objectionto giving the Domicile Certificatesto non-state subjects also. "Sincethe UT Administration has issued

the Domicile Certificates to such abig number in hot haste, the processmust have involved recklessnessof sorts," he said.

He said the perception of thepeople is that the UT Administrationis a stopgap arrangement and thatthe Centre should not have amendedthe Domicile Law in the absence ofthe public support. "I urge the J&Kadministration to issue a 'whitepaper' indicating particulars ofthose who are not state subjects, yetthey got the certificates. That pro-cedure alone can allay the fears ofthe people of the state," he said.

J&K Congress seeks ‘white paper’ on domicile certificate beneficiaries

Union Minister JitendraSingh says the govt hasaccepted the demand ofthe region for inclusion ofDogri, Hindi and Kashmirias official languagesapart from the existingUrdu and English

India is reeling under Modi-made disasters: 1.

Historic GDP reduction -23.9% 2.Highest Unemployment in 45 yrs 3. 12Crs job loss 4. Centre not paying statestheir GST dues 5. Globally highestCOVID-19 daily cases and deaths 6. External aggression at our borders RAHUL GANDHI | CONGRESS LEADER

P8

nationalTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

'MissionKarmayogi', amajor

bureaucratic reformexercise approvedby the UnionCabinet, willradically improve the government'shuman resource managementpractices

NARENDRA MODI | PRIME MINISTER

of theday uote

We will raisethe issue(Bangalore

violence) in theAssembly. Whoeveris responsibleshould be punishedif found guilty

SIDDARAMAIAH | LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

IN THE KARNATAKA ASSEMBLY

Our coronawarrior ShriRajesh

Bhardwaj Ji, whowas posted as apharmacist in Delhigovernment, hadrecently passed away due tocoronavirus. I met his family andoffered them an assistance of Rs 1crore. I hope that the family will getsome help with this amount

ARVIND KEJRIWAL | DELHI CHIEF MINISTER

Hyderabad is all set to addanother iconic structure asthe city's first cable-stayedbridge is ready to be unveiled

HYD TO UNVEILDAZZLING BRIDGE

Ayodhya templemap clearedAyodhya: The AyodhyaDevelopment Authority (ADA)has unanimously passed themap for the proposed Ramtemple in Ayodhya. A meetingof the ADA was held onWednesday which passed themap. This clears the way forthe construction of thetemple in the holy city.According to official sources,the covered area of thetemple land is around 13,000square metres. Anil Mishra,member of the Shri RamJanambhoomi Teerth KshetraTrust, had submitted the mapfor approval on August 29along with other necessarydocuments.

Elephant diesMangaluru: A 30-year-oldmale elephant waselectrocuted in Karnataka'sMangaluru forest circle earlyon Tuesday as it was trying tofeed itself, a forest officialsaid. The incident occurred atBilinele in Subramanya Rangeat around 4 a.m. when thejumbo was trying to uproot atree, but this fell on theelectric line, whose wiresbroke and fell on the animal,Deputy Conservator ofForests, Karikalan, said. Theanimal also suffered a burn injury on its left leg, he said, terming the death as unnatural due to electric shock.

Woman molested Gurugram: A 25-year-oldwoman working at a city-based five-star hotel hasallegedly been molested andmanhandled by a guest. AnFIR has been registered inconnection with the incident,which occured at around 8.30p.m. on Monday, undervarious sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) at theSector-50 police station.

Five killed Hyderabad: Five fans ofpopular Telugu actor PawanKalyan, died in a road accidentwhile returning home aftercelebrating his birthday inTelangana's Warangal districtin the early hours ofWednesday. The car, in whichthey were travelling, collidedhead on with a sand ladentruck at PasaragondaCrossroad in Damera mandal,police said. This was thesecond tragedy to hit PawanKalyan's fans celebrating hisbirthday, in less than six hours.Three youth were electrocutedto death and three others wereinjured when they came incontact with a live wire whileerecting a banner in AndhraPradesh's Chittoor district onTuesday night. The victimswere identified as Rajender(31), Somasekhar (29) andArunachalam (20).

SHORT TAKES

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 2: The music hasgone out of their lives, quite liter-ally, and the band of men who madetheir living drumming up tunes forparties, wedding processions andsometimes funerals too are on theverge of penury, scrambling forevery rupee they can manage.

Almost six months into the pan-demic, those in the business of wed-dings bands have gone bust. Withcelebrations restricted to just a fewpeople in the era of social distanc-ing and no bookings, some likeKhurshid Siddiqui are selling oldclothes and others like MohammadAli are selling off the accoutrements

of the trade – the buggy, lights andeven the mare.

Drummer Khurshid Siddiquiwho ran the ‘band business' from hisancestral shop in east Delhi's LaxmiNagar Market said there hasn'tbeen a single booking in months, notfrom weddings, celebrations suchas births and not even the odd fu-neral of an old person they some-times played for.

The 40-year-old said he has puthis shop on rent for Rs 10,000 andis reduced to selling old clotheson the roadside. “All our old book-ings were cancelled due to whicheven the little money that was leftwith us had to be returned,”Siddiqui said.

“I have completely stopped thework that had carried on for gen-

erations in my family. I have sentsome of the items to my village,

sold some and am selling clothes,”he added. Mohammed Ali, whoowned the ‘Great Band' close by,spent a hefty Rs 4.5 lakh in Januaryto buy a buggy, lights and a mare,all necessary for a big fat Indianwedding that is incomplete without‘band, bajaa and baraat'.

The mare, he said, cost Rs 2.5lakh and he is now ready to sell itfor just Rs 50,000 or rent it out forRs 500 a day. “The buggy is gettingdamaged in the rain. There is trou-ble from all sides. The coronavirushas devastated us. And the gov-ernment is also ignoring us,” the 40-year-old said.

The signs of the desperate timesare visible in the ribs jutting out of

the mare standing in a corner. Partof the buggy lies on a garbage ladenroad with children playing insideit. Some kilometres away near theLoni border, trumpet player NaviJaan echoes the despair.

The 58-year-old said he had beenworking with a band but since 1985but the owner shut shop and hehas been jobless since.“I have beensitting without any work for thelast five months. I called the owneron Eid for money but he refused, cit-ing the lockdown. There are four peo-ple in my family who are depend-ent on me,” Jaan said. Of his 35band mates, some are selling veg-etables and some are driving rick-shaws, he said.

NOTES OF DESPAIR

Wedding band owners, musicians on verge of penury

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 2: Amid ever-increasing cases of coronavirusin the country and the economygoing through an unprecedentedrecession, the Centre has comeup with an interesting directiveas it has told all ministries anddepartments to halt the print-ing of calendars, diaries, sched-ulers and other printed materi-als and asked them to publishthem online in digital format.

An official statement said onWednesday that all public sectorunits and state-run banks alsohave been directed to go digitalin terms of these regularlyprinted materials.

The Finance Ministry citedglobal best practices and theadoption of digital technologiesto increase productivity to backthe move.

"Given the prevailing cir-cumstances in which the worldis increasingly moving towardsadopting digital force-multipli-e r s f o r p r o d u c t iv i t y, t h eGovernment of India has de-cided to follow this best prac-tice," it said in a statement.

Go digital: Govtdepartments told

MATTER OF LIVELIHOOD

A vendor looks for customers during Unlock 4.0 in New Delhi, Wednesday PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 2: There will beno Question Hour, a curtailed ZeroHour and no private members' billsduring the upcoming monsoon ses-sion of Parliament, the Lok Sabhaand Rajya Sabha secretariats havedecided, prompting opposition lead-ers to accuse the government oftrying to "murder the democracy"in the name of the COVID-19 pan-demic and of reducing "Parliamentto a notice board".

In separate notifications, the two secretariats also said there will be no breaks as well duringthe session to be held fromSeptember 14 to October 1, and bothHouses will function on Saturdaysand Sundays as well. In view of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the sessionwill be held in two shifts -- 9 AM to1 PM and 3 PM to 7 PM.

Except for the first day, the Rajya

Sabha will sit in the morning shiftand the Lok Sabha will sit in theevening, according to the notifica-tions."There will be no QuestionHour during the Session. In view ofthe request of the governmentowing to the prevailing extraordi-nary situation due to COVID-19,the Speaker has directed that noday be fixed for the transaction ofPrivate Members' Business duringthe Session," the Lok SabhaSecretariat said in a notification. Asimilar notification was issued by

the Rajya Sabha Secretariat as well.Parliamentary Affairs Minister

Pralhad Joshi said that the gov-ernment is not running away fromany debate and that all oppositionparties were told beforehand aboutthe move with most of them agree-ing to it. The government is readyfor unstarred questions and it hasrequested presiding officers ofboth the Houses to facilitate thesame, he said.

Congress leader in Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the

party's deputy leader in Rajya SabhaAnand Sharma, however, said thatthe proposal to exclude Questionhour during this session is arbi-trary and undemocratic as it is themembers' right to ask questions tothe government on key issues.

Trinamool Congress MP andFloor Leader in Rajya Sabha DerekO' Brien said opposition MPs willlose the right to question the gov-ernment and alleged that the pan-demic was being used as an "ex-cuse to murder democracy."

The Congress party also tweetedseparately that questioning thegovernment is the "life-blood ofparliamentary democracy". CPIMP Binoy Viswam has also writ-ten to Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu, saying that sus-pension of Question Hour andPrivate Members' business is "un-just" and they must be reinstatedimmediately.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 2: Days afterChina's "provocative actions" inPangong lake area in easternLadakh, the situation in the re-gion remained sensitive Wednesdaywhile army commanders from bothsides held another round of talksto defuse tensions, governmentsources said.

The army of the two countriesheld Brigade Commander-leveltalks in Chushul with a focus onbringing down tensions in thePangong lake area, they said, addingsimilar dialogue on Monday and Tuesday, each lasting over sixhours, did not produce any "tangibleoutcome".

Sources said India has achievedtactical gains in eastern Ladakh inthe last few days by occupying anumber of strategically importanthill tops and locations.

Monday, the Indian Army said theChinese military carried out"provocative military movements"to "unilaterally" change the statusquo on the southern bank ofPangong lake on the interveningnight of August 29 and 30 but the attempt was thwarted by theIndian troops.

External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Anurag Srivastavaon Tuesday said the Chinese PLAwas engaged in "provocative ac-tion" again on Monday when theground commanders of the twosides were holding talks to easethe situation following China'sattempt to change the status quoin the Pangong lake area two daysback."The situation in the area re-mained sensitive," said a source.

The two sides were earlier en-gaged in a confrontation on thenorthern bank of Pangong lakebut it was for the first time suchan incident occurred on its south-ern bank, they said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singhon Tuesday carried out a com-prehensive review of the situationin eastern Ladakh at a high-levelmeeting attended by ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar,National Security Advisor AjitDoval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen

Bipin Rawat, Army Chief GenMM Naravane and Air ChiefMarshal RKS Bhadauria.

It was decided at the nearlytwo-hour meeting that the IndianArmy will continue to maintainits aggressive posturing in allsensitive areas along the Line ofActual Control (LAC) to effec-tively deal with any Chinese "mis-adventure", the sources said.

They said the Indian Army hasfurther bolstered its presencearound the Southern Bank areaof Pangong lake by deploying additional troops and bringingin more weaponry including tanks and anti-tank guided mis-siles. A battalion of the SpecialFrontier Force was also deployedin the area.

The sources said the IndianAir Force (IAF) has also been toldto enhance its surveillance on in-creasing Chinese air activitiesalong the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

There have been reports thatChina has deployed J-20 long-range fighter jets and severalother key assets in strategicallylocated Hotan airbase which isaround 310 kms from easternLadakh.

In the last three months, theIAF deployed almost all its front-line fighter jets like Sukhoi 30MKI, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 air-craft in the key frontier air basesin eastern Ladakh and elsewherealong the LAC.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 2: The UnionCabinet Wednesday approved‘Mission Karmayogi', dubbed as thebiggest bureaucratic reform ini-tiative, aimed at capacity buildingof government employees to makethem more "creative, proactive, pro-fessional and technology-enabled".

The core guiding principles of thecompetency-driven programmewill be to support a transition from“rules based to roles based” HRmanagement to prepare the Indiancivil servant for the future, ac-cording to a government statement.

"This is the biggest human re-source development programmein the government,” Informationand Broadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar said during a press brief-ing after the cabinet meeting. Tocover around 46 lakh central em-ployees, a sum of Rs 510.86 crore willbe spent over five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 under MissionKar mayo gi or the NationalProgramme for Civil ServicesCapacity Building (NPCSCB), ac-cording to the statement

A council, comprising select unionministers, chief ministers, eminentpublic HR practitioners among oth-ers and headed by the prime minister,will serve as the apex body for pro-viding strategic direction, while aCapacity Building Commission isalso proposed to be set up.

The programme will help in over-coming existing impediments like“lack of lifelong & continuous learn-ing environment”, “evolution ofsilos at department level prevent-ing shared understanding of India'sdevelopment aspirations” and “di-verse and fragmented training land-scape” among others.

"Today the Union Cabinet underPrime Minister Narendra Modi de-cided to bring this very big, post-re-cruitment reform, where an op-portunity will be given to officersand employees to improve theirperformance," Javadekar said.

Minister of State for PersonnelJitendra Singh, who was also pres-ent at the briefing, said the schemewill help end subjective evalua-tion, and ensure scientifically-de-vised, objective and real-time as-sessment of employees.

Mission Karmayogi is an en-deavour "to reincarnate a governmentservant into an ideal karmayogi toserve the nation by enabling him tobe creative, to be constructive, to bepro-active and technically empow-ered", Singh told reporters.

“The endeavour is also to end theculture of working in silos and to over-come the multiplicity of trainingcurriculum, which we have becauseof the institutions spread all over thecountry, with the introduction of acommon platform for the uniformrealisation of nation's vision andour shared aspiration and our sharedfuture goals," he said.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Lucknow/Mathura/Aligarh,Sept 2: The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment was indulging in 'BaalHatth' or childlike-stubbornnessinstead of observing 'Raj Dharma'and could frame him in anothercase, Dr Kafeel Khan said afterbeing released from Mathura jaillate on Tuesday night.

He was in jail since January afterhe delivered an allegedly provoca-tive speech at the Aligarh MuslimUniversity during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)protests in December last year.

Earlier on Tuesday, theAllahabad High Court quashedhis detention under the stringentNational Security Act and orderedthe Uttar Pradesh government torelease him "forthwith", sayinghis speech at the AMU didn't pro-mote hatred or violence and calledfor national integrity.

Kafeel Khanfreed from jail

BORDER TENSION

India, China hold talks

The army of the two countries held BrigadeCommander-level talks inChushul with a focus onbringing down tensions inthe Pangong lake area

Oppn cries foul over no question hour moveEXCEPT FOR THE FIRST DAY, THE RAJYA SABHA WILL SIT IN THE MORNING SHIFT AND THE LOK

SABHA WILL SIT IN THE EVENING, ACCORDING TO THE NOTIFICATIONS

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Kanpur, Sept 2: Policemen at apolice station in Uttar Pradesh'sKanpur district organised a"havan" to put a check on the spi-ralling crime graph and "wardoff evil spirits", following theBikru ambush that claimed thelives of eight personnel and in-jured seven others on July 3.

The havan was held Tuesday.The entire staff posted at theChaubeypur police station hadbeen removed following the incident. Police personnel at the station said that a local priesthad advised them to regularlyperform puja to free it of evilspirits.

"Many personnel had com-plained of feeling uneasy duringduty hours, so we thought thata havan may improve the at-mosphere. We have arrested allthe accused in the Bikr u massacre and we want to putthe past behind us," a police of-ficial said.

Almost all the duty staff, be-sides some local villagers, par-ticipated in the havan. A priestperformed the "puja" and chantedmantras to convince the staffthat the police station has nowbeen cleared of evil influences.

While the havan was beingheld, none of the policemen at-tended to the complainants whowaited for the puja to be over.Officiating in-charge of theChaubeypur s tat ion, D.Chaudhary, told reporters: "Thehavan was performed for the pu-rity of the police station."

Eight policemen, includingcircle officer Devendra Mishra,were ambushed in the Bikru vil-lage in the Chaubeypur policearea in Kanpur when they hadgone to arrest gangster VikasDubey who opened fire on them.

Vikas Dubey was killed in anencounter on July 10 while five ofhis accomplices were also killedin police encounters. The re-maining have either been arrestedor have surrendered.

Puja at UP police station toget rid of Bikru’s evil spirits

Nod to ‘Mission Karmayogi’BUREAUCRATIC REFORM INITIATIVEThe core guiding

principles of the competency-driven

programme will be tosupport a transition from

“rules based to rolesbased” HR management

to prepare the Indian civil servant

for the future

P9

nationalTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Will the BJPgovernment bother toexplain why the incidentsof persecution of Dalitsare not stopping in UttarPradesh?PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA | CONGRESS LEADER

Over 23,000 idols were immersedin Maharashtra’s Thane cityduring the Ganesh Chaturthifestival, which was celebrated in asubdued manner in light of theCOVID-19 pandemic, a civic officialsaid Wednesday

OVER 23,000 IDOLS IMMERSED

yy

cmyk

cmyk

Presently, theproblem withthis

government is thatthe entiregovernment isoccupied withtransfers only. Conducting transfershas become the only business ofthis government now

DEVENDRA FADNAVIS | FORMER

MAHARASHTRA CM

of theday uote

4 LeT militantassociates heldSrinagar: Four associates of theLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorgroup were arrested by thesecurity forces Wednesday inJammu and Kashmir's Badgamdistrict, police said."During acordon and search operationtroops of the 53 RashtriyaRifles and police arrested 4 LeTmilitant associates in Pethkootvillage of Beerwah tehsil.Incriminating material hasbeen recovered from them."The four men were identifiedas Shakil Ahmad Wani andShowkat Ahmad, bothresidents of Pethkoot village,and Aqib Maqbool Khan andAjaz Ahmad Dar of CherwaniChrar-e-Sharief. The group wasinvolved in providing shelterand logistical support to activeLeT militants in the area.

Missing girlfound dead Mathura: A nine-year-old girl,who was reported missing,was found dead in a field inUttar Pradesh's Mathuradistrict, officials said, addingthe post-mortem examinationconfirmed that she was rapedbefore being murdered. Thevictim had gone missing onMonday evening. Her bodywas found outside Dehruavillage in Mathura on Tuesday.There have been no arrests sofar. Mathura SSP GuaravGrover said the post-mortemreport found blood clots onthe victim's private parts,which were injured.

Property dealershot dead Lucknow: A property dealer wasshot dead in broad daylightWednesday near the SanjayGandhi Postgraduate Instituteof Medical Sciences in the statecapital. The property dealer,Durgesh Yadav, was taken tothe Trauma Centre where thedoctors declared him broughtdead. Preliminary investigationsrevealed that a monetarydispute was the reason behindthe murder. DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP)east, Charu Nigam, toldreporters that one of theaccused, Manish Yadav, hadbeen arrested and a search hadbeen launched for the otheraccused Palak Thakur.

Army officer killed Jammu: A junior commissionedarmy officer (JCO) was killedWednesday in a ceasefireviolation by Pakistan on theLine of Control (LoC) in Jammuand Kashmir's Rajouri district.The JCO deployed on a forwardpost in Tarkundi sector wasinjured in Pakistan firing andlater succumbed, policesources said.

SHORT TAKES

All justice-lovers havewelcomed the

High Court's orderfor release of DrKafeel Khan fromdetention. We hopeAzam Khan, framed in false cases,will also get justice. Injustice andatrocities of those in power do notlast long

AKHILESH YADAV | SAMAJWADI PARTY CHIEF

Swami SreeNarayanaGuru's

relentless effort andcontributiontowards theempowerment andeducation of the downtrodden cannever be forgotten

AMIT SHAH | UNION HOME MINISTER

A fisherman casts his net in New Delhi, Wednesday PTI PHOTO

LAYING A TRAP

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 2: Pakistan'sInter-Services Intelligence agencyor the ISI could be planning attackson Indian establishments inAfghanistan while India is engagedwith China at other frontiers, in-telligence agencies have flagged.

The security establishments ofAfghanistan and India have beenalerted that Pakistan-sponsoredterror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)may carry out vehicle-borne at-tacks on the Indian Consulate inJalalabad and use improvised ex-plosive devices.

"Four suicide attackers from theLeT have been sent to Kunarprovince. They are planning a ve-hicle-borne improvised explosive de-vice attack on the Indian consulatein Jalalabad," said the Indian in-telligence agency.

A senior government officerstated there have been a number ofthreats against Indian establish-ments in Afghanistan. One of itsmain reasons being Pakistan re-maining insecure about Indian in-

fluence in Afghanistan. "So theymay use proxies/sponsor terror-ists groups to target Indian per-sonnel and infrastructure," the of-ficer said.

Pakistan has also engaged theIslamic State Khorasan Province(ISKP) to execute high visibilityand high impact attacks targetingethnic minorities in Kabul. Theyhave started targeting Hindu andSikh communities in Afghanistan.Once the strength of these com-munities were in tens of thousandswith well-established businessesand high-ranking positions in thegovernment. Now, most of themhave fled to India, Europe, or NorthAmerica after decades of war andpersecution.

Further, Pakistan is alluringIndian Muslims to seek jihad. Ithas also turned Afghanistan into abreeding ground for such Indians.Recently, the UN Security Councilstated that the Indian ISIS affili-ate -- Hind Wilayah -- that was an-nounced on May 10, 2019, alreadyhas around 180 to 200 memberspresent in Kerala and Karnataka.

The current security situation inAfghanistan remains volatile withboth the Taliban and the ISKP step-ping up attacks across the coun-try. In its bid to enhance territo-rial power, the Taliban seized controlof Yumgan district in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan onMarch 28 and 29 while continuingwith its attacks targeting the AfghanSecurity Forces. The Talibs havelong controlled the Yumgan andJurm districts of BadakhshanProvince until the governmentforces retook them late in 2019.

The Afghan Security Forces thisyear inflicted heavy casualties onthe militant group and retook con-trol of Khamab district of Jawzjanprovince on April 18.

Indian Consulate in Af faces threat The security establishments of Afghanistan and India have been alerted that Lashkar-

e-Taiba may carry out vehicle-borne attacks on the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Panaji, Sept 2: Goa Chief MinisterPramod Sawant said Wednesdaythat he has tested positive for thenovel coronavirus and was inhome isolation.

"I wish to inform all that I havebeen detected Covid-19 positive. Iam asymptomatic and hence haveopted for home isolation," Sawantsaid in a Facebook post. "I shall con-tinue to discharge my duties work-ing from home. Those who havecome in my close contact are ad-vised to take the necessary pre-cautions," he added.

In a statement, the ChiefMinister's Office said that all of-ficials who had come in close con-tact with Sawant had opted forhome isolation and would workfrom home.

"People of Goa are hereby in-formed that all regular operationsof the CMO shall continue un-hindered. It may be noted that allappointments and meetings sched-uled stand suspended until fur-ther notice," a statement issuedby the CMO said.

Four other MLAs, namely for-mer Chief Ministers Ravi Naikand Churchill Alemao, DeputyChief Minister Sudin Dhavalikarand BJP MLA Nilkanth Halarnkarhave also tested positive for Covid-19. While Naik, Alemao andDhavalikar are currently admit-ted to private hospitals, Halarnkaris in home quarantine. AnotherBJP MLA Clafasio Dias, who hadtested positive for Covid-19 lastmonth has recovered.

Union Minister of State forDefence and AYUSH Shripad Naik,a Lok Sabha MP from North Goaparliamentary constituency, isalso undergoing treatment at aprivate hospital for Covid-19.

On Tuesday, Goa witnessed arecord 588 positive Covid-19 casesin one day. Goa has so far reporteda total of 18,006 coronavirus cases,with 194 deaths.

GOA CM TESTSCOVID POSITIVE

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 2: A total of1,39,123 suicides were reported inthe country in 2019, showing an in-crease of 3.4 per cent in compari-son to 2018, and the rate of suicidehas increased by 0.2 per cent dur-ing 2019 over 2018, NCRB data re-vealed.

According to NCRB, majority ofthe suicides were reported inMaharashtra (18,916), followed byTamil Nadu (13,493), West Bengal(12,665), Madhya Pradesh (12,457) andKarnataka (11,288) accounting for13.6 per cent, 9.7 per cent, 9.1 per cent,9.0 per cent and 8.1 per cent of totalsuicides, respectively.

These five states together ac-counted for 49.5 per cent of the totalsuicides reported in the country.The remaining 50.5 per cent sui-cides were reported from the re-maining 24 states and seven UTs.

Uttar Pradesh, the most popu-lous state with 16.9 per cent of thecountry's population, has reportedcomparatively lower percentageshare of suicidal deaths, account-ing for 3.9 per cent of the total sui-cides reported in the country.

Delhi, which is the most-populousUT, has reported the highest num-ber of suicides (2,526) among UTs,followed by Puducherry (493). The

remaining UTs together accountedfor 2.2 per cent of the total suicidesin the country. A total of 22,390 sui-cides were reported from the 53mega cities of the country in 2019.

The states and UTs which havereported significant percentageincrease in suicides in 2019 over2018 were Bihar (44.7 per cent),Punjab (37.5 per cent), Daman &Diu (31.4 per cent), Jharkhand

(25.0 per cent), Uttarakhand (22.6per cent) and Andhra Pradesh(21.5 per cent), while the high-est percentage decrease was re-ported in Lakshadweep (100 percent), Himachal Pradesh (21.1per cent) Chandigarh (18.1 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (15.2per cent) and Jammu & Kashmir(13.9 per cent).

A deeper study into the causesof suicides revealed that familyproblems and illness were the majorcauses of suicide, which accountedfor 32.4 per cent and 17.1 per centof total suicides, respectively, in2019. Drug addiction (5.6 per cent),marriage related issues (5.5 percent), love affairs (4.5 per cent),bankruptcy or indebtedness (4.2per cent), failure in examination andunemployment (2 per cent each), pro-fessional/career problem (1.2 percent) and property dispute (1.1 percent) were other causes of suicide.

NCRB DATA

Maha tops suicide chart, TN next INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi/Chennai, Sept 2: TheNational Investigation Agency(NIA) has named Islamic preacherZakir Naik and two hardline preach-ers of Pakistan origin as accusedin an FIR pertaining to a high-profile "love jihad" case.

The high-profile case involves thedaughter of a Chennai-based busi-nessman and the son of a topBangladesh politician, belongingto former Prime Minister KhaledaZia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The NIA is probing the Indianbusinessman's daughter andBangladesh politician son's mar-riage in London.

Zakir Naik, who is wanted byIndian enforcement agencies, andthe hardline preachers ofPakistani-origin based in the UShave been named as accused inthe case.

The girl's father had initiallylodged a complaint with the

Chennai Central Crime Branchin May, alleging his daughter whowas studying in London was rad-icalised and was forced to convertto Islam.

He had also alleged that hisdaughter was abducted fromLondon and taken to Bangladeshby some Bangladeshis.

"The matter involved investi-gation in foreign countries. Andhence the case was transferred toNational Investigation Agency(NIA) ," Chennai PoliceCommissioner Mahesh KumarAggarwal said. He said it is not pos-sible to share further details on thecase.

The persons named in the NIA'sFIR are Zakir Naik, as well asYasir Qadhi and Nauman Ali Khan,both US-based Islamic preachers.

Qadhi had put a video of Naikwhere he was seen making sensa-tional claims on safe passage fromIndia when he was being pursuedby Indian enforcement agencies.

‘LOVE JIHAD’ CASE

NIA books Zakir Naik

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Patna, Sept 2: Former Bihar chiefminister Jitan Ram Manjhi-ledHAM(S) will join the NDA ahead ofthe Bihar elections, a partyspokesperson said Wednesday.

The official announcement inthis regard will be made by ManjhiThursday, said spokesperson DanishRizwan. The Hindustani AwamMorcha (Secular) will not mergewith any party, rather it will be apart of the NDA in the Bihar elec-tions that is due in October-November, he asserted.

HAM(S) national president JitanRam Manjhi will formally announcethe party becoming a part of theNDA in Bihar on September 3,Rizwan said. The number of seatsthe party will get to contest in theupcoming elections was never anissue for it as the HAM(S) will jointhe NDA for the states develop-ment, he said.

The party is firmly standing withPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Chief Minister Nitish Kumarfor their development works, headded. Manjhi had August 20 sev-ered ties with the Grand Allianceafter spending two-and-a-half yearsin the opposition coalition, com-prising of RJD, Congress, RLSPand Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahni's VikasshilInsaan Party (VIP).

The HAM(S) chief had also post-poned a meeting sched-uled on Wednesday withsome non-NDA and non-Grand Alliance parties,including the Jan AdhikarParty of for mer MPPappu Yadav, to discussthe strategy for the elec-tions. Manjhi met the chiefminister last Thursday and believedto have held talks on seat sharing.

The HAM(S) wants to contest15-20 seats, mostly in the Magadh

region to which Manjhi belongs.But the JD(U) is willing to leavefor it 10-12 seats, according to reports.Manjhi is the lone member of hisparty in the assembly. But, his in-duction would help the NDA's out-

reach to Dalits, particu-larly other than Paswanswhich is the support baseof the LJP.

Dalits in Bihar are over16 per cent of the elec-torate and about 40 seatsin the 243-member houseare reserved for them.

Manjhi had quit the JD(U) in 2015after being forced to step down asthe chief minister to make way forthe return of Kumar.

Manjhi back in NDA

The officialannouncementin this regard

will be made byManjhi

Thursday, saidspokespersonDanish Rizwan

LANDMARK ACHIEVEMENT

AGENCIES

Pune/New Delhi, Sept 2: In a land-mark achievement in Space mis-sions, a team of scientists fromPune's Inter-University Centre forAstronomy & Astrophysics(IUCAA) have discovered one of thefarthest galaxies in the universe,officials said here.

The galaxy, called AUDFs01was discovered by a team of as-tronomers led by IUCAA's KanakSaha, announced Union Ministerof State Department of SpaceJitendra Singh. The galaxy was dis-covered by India's first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory'AstroSat', which detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located atan astronomical distance of 9.30billion light-years from Earth.

This is the second achievementfor Maharashtra in the past fort-night and comes after two stu-

dents of IIT-Bombay discovereda SUV-sized asteroid that zoomedpast just 2,950 km above Earth'ssurface on August 16. The stu-dents are Kunal Deshmukh fromPune and Kritti Sharma fromPanchkula, Haryana.

The importance and unique-ness of this original discoverycan be made out from the factthat it has been reported in theleading international journal"Nature Astronomy" publishedfrom Britain.

Pune scientists find remote galaxy

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Sept 2: The NarcoticsControl Bureau has arrested analleged contraband dealer and de-tained another in connection withthe drugs trafficking case linked tothe case of actor Sushant SinghRajput's death, officials saidWednesday.

The arrested man has been iden-tified by the federal anti-narcoticsagency as Zaid Vilatra. Indian cur-rency worth ̀ 9, 55,750 and foreigncurrency (USD 2,081, 180 BritishPounds, 15 dirhams), which theNCB claimed are "proceeds of drugpeddling", have been recoveredfrom him.

"Zaid disclosed that he runs aneatery in Bandra which was not giv-ing any pecuniary gains since lock-down. He also disclosed that he isinto drug peddling especially bud,through which he used to earn asubstantial amount of money," theNCB said.

According to the NCB, the bestquality of bud is sold for about

`5,000 per gram. Zaid came underthe scanner after the agency ar-rested two people -- Abbas Lakhaniand Karan Arora -- in another nar-cotics case on August 27-28 inMumbai and recovered a bud con-signment from them.

Lakhani had "linkages" withZaid, the NCB claimed. The agencyhas also detained a Bandra resi-dent identified as Basit Pariharafter interrogating Zaid. Parihar is"learnt to have linkages" with thenarcotics case registered againstRajput's live-in partner RheaChakraborty, 28, and others.

Rhea is the main accused in thedeath case of the 34-year-old actorthat is being probed by the NCB, theEnforcement Directorate (ED) onmoney laundering charges and theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI).

The role of Rhea's brotherShowik and his purported linkswith the people nabbed by the NCBare under the scanner of the agencyand he is expected to be summonedfor questioning soon, the officialssaid. Some more drug peddlersbased in Maharashtra, Delhi andGoa are also under the agency'sscanner, they said.

A special NCB team from Delhi,headed by deputy director (opera-tions) K P S Malhotra, is campingin the western metropolis to takeforward the probe. The team alsoincludes agency officers fromMumbai and has been constitutedby NCB Director General RakeshAsthana.

The agency filed a case under theNarcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances (NDPS) Act after theED shared with it a report fol-lowing the cloning of two mobilephones of Rhea.

SUSHANT DEATH CASE

NCB ARRESTS‘DRUG’ DEALER

The arrested man has been identified by the federal anti-narcotics agency as Zaid Vilatra

P10THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalSingapore has donewell in handling thecoronaviruspandemicLEE HSIEN LOONG |SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER

Pakistani education activist andNobel laureate Malala Yousafzaiis set to begin a book club,which will comprise underratedtitles by marginalised voices, amedia report said Wednesday

MALALA TO STARTBOOK CLUB IN OCT

cmyk

cmyk

Rioting is notprotesting.Looting is not

protesting. Settingfires is notprotesting. None ofthis is protesting.It's lawlessness, plain and simple

JOE BIDEN | DEMOCRATIC

PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

of theday uote

In such a badtime PranabMukherjee

always enquiredabout my family andstood beside us inany of our necessity

SHEIKH HASINA | PRIME MINISTER OF

BANGLADESH

The currentpandemic has

highlighted ourinterdependence.We are all linked toeach other, forbetter or for worse

POPE FRANCIS

Koreas readyfor typhoonTokyo: An offshore typhoonbrought torrents of rain tosouthern Japan Wednesdayas it headed to the KoreanPeninsula, while anotherstorm in the Pacific grewstronger. Typhoon Maysakwas west of Japan,maintaining sustained windsof 162 kilometers per hourwith higher gusts, the JapanMeteorological Agency said.Japan’s main southern islandof Kyushu was warned ofheavy rainfall, fierce windsand possible mudslides.

Afghan airstrikes kill 37 militantsKabul: At least 37 militantswere killed in airstrikes thattargeted Taliban gatheringsin Afghanistan’s Faryabprovince Wednesday, anarmy spokesman said.“Acting on a tip-off, thefighter planes struck thegatherings in the restiveQaysar and Khawja Sabzposhdistricts early Wednesdaymorning, killing 37 includingnotorious commandersMullah Sadiq, Mullah Basirand Faizullah on the spot,”the spokesman told Xinhua.

PIA sacks 74 more employeesIslamabad: PakistanInternational Airlines hassacked 74 more employeesdue to fake degrees, poorperformance, drugsmuggling and theft ofgovernment record, it wasreported Wednesday.

Careless Pelosi Washington: House SpeakerNancy Pelosi has beenpictured without a face maskat a hair salon in SanFrancisco, breaking the city’s Covid-19 preventionrules, the media reportedWednesday. Footageobtained by Fox Newsshowed the veteranDemocrat, who has oftenslammed President DonaldTrump for not wearing amask, inside the salon’spremises Monday, the BBCreported. Pelosi was seenwalking with a face maskaround her neck, rather thanover her mouth.

Macron in Baghdad Paris: French PresidentEmmanuel MacronWednesday arrived inBaghdad on his first officialvisit to the Iraqi capital fortalks with the country's topleaders over bilateralrelations. Macron isexpected to meet his Iraqicounterpart Barham Salihand Prime Minister Mustafaal-Kadhimi as well as othertop officials during his one-day visit, reportsXinhua news agency.

SHORT TAKES

AGENCIES

Washington, Sept 2:China is seek-ing to "at least double" the numberof its nuclear warheads in the nextdecade from the "low- 200s" now,according to a Pentagon report.

This is the first time the USmilitary has disclosed China's nu-clear warhead count, Fox Newsreported. The report detailingChina 's g rowing mil i tary capabilities comes amid mount-ing tensions between theWashington and Beijing over arange of issues, including Chinesemilitary activities in the SouthChina Sea, China's new nationalsecurity law for Hong Kong, the ori-gin of the coronavirus.

The ruling Communist Party ofChina has not defined what it meansby its ambition to have a “world-class” military by the end of 2049,according to the Pentagon report re-leased Tuesday. "Within the con-text of China's national strategy,however, it is likely that

China will seek to develop a mil-itary by mid-century that is equalto—or in some cases superior to—the US military, or that of anyother great power that China views

as a threat to its sovereignty, se-curity, and development interests,"the report said. It suggests thatthe People's Liberation Army (PLA)has made major strides in areas

such as ship building, the devel-opment of ballistic and cruisemissiles as well as integrated airdefence systems.

"Over the next decade, China'snuclear warhead stockpile—cur-rently estimated to be in the low-200s—is projected to at least dou-ble in size as China expands andmodernises its nuclear forces,"according to the report. Thenumber of warheads on Chineseland-based IntercontinentalBallistic Missiles that are "ca-pable of threatening the UnitedStates is expected to grow toroughly 200 in the next five years.""China's nuclear forces will sig-nificantly evolve over the nextdecade as it modernises, diver-sifies, and increases the num-ber of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms,"the report said. The Pentagonreport aid that "China is pursu-ing a 'nuclear triad' with the de-velopment of a nuclear capableair-launched ballistic missile

and improving its ground andsea-based nuclear capabilities."The report also says that "Chinahas already achieved paritywith—or even exceeded—theUnited States in several militarymodernisation areas," includingshipbuilding, land-based con-ventional ballistic and cruisemissiles and integrated air de-fence systems.

It also notes that China has the"largest navy in the world," withsome 350 ships and submarines, "in-cluding over 130 major surfacecombatants. In comparison, theUS Navy's battle force is approxi-mately 293 ships as of early 2020."China "has more than 1,250 ground-launched ballistic missiles(GLBMs) and ground-launchedcruise missiles (GLCMs) withranges between 500 and 5,500 kilo-meters," the report said.

In 2019, China "launched moreballistic missiles for testing andtraining than the rest of the worldcombined."

‘CHINA WORKING TO DOUBLE NUCLEAR WARHEADS’

China is seeking to set up morerobust logistics facilities in about

a dozen countries, including threein India’s neighbourhood, to allow

the PLA to project and sustainmilitary power at greaterdistances, according to a

Pentagon report

The entire world is beginningto unite against China's unfairpractices and countries like India, Australia, Japan and SouthKorea are going to partner with theUS to push back Beijing on everyfront, US Secretary of State MikePompeo has said

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Kathmandu/New Delhi, Sept2: Nepal government has di-rected its forces to “closely mon-itor” Indian Army’s activitiesat Lipulekh area amid escalat-ing Indo-China border tension.

The 44 battalion of NAPFwas deployed in Lipulekh. Ithas requested for long rangepatrols in the forward areasfearing possibilities of escala-tion between India and China.

China too, has increased itstroop build-up at Lipulekh.There 150 Light Combined ArmsBrigade is deployed at the tri-junction. The brigade was

moved in last month. They havealso reinforced troops in Pala,around 10 km from the border.

In July, around 1,000 troopswere deployed near Pala anda permanent post was builtthere by China. “A fortnightback, 2,000 more additionaltroops were deployed at thepost,” sources said.

It was India’s road con-struction to Lipulekh area at17,000 feet that had sparked adiplomatic row between Indiaand Nepal with Kathmanduclaiming the area as its own. Theroad was aimed at shorteningthe travel time for KailashMansarovar pilgrims.

Things so escalated that Nepalbrought out a new political mapshowing the contested area asits own. India and China, onthe otherhand, have been lockedin a standoff since May at mul-tiple points along the border.China had changed the statusquo on the Line of ActualControl at various places, mov-ing inside Indian territories.India has objected to it and is tak-ing up the matter with China atall levels.

Last week itself Indiathwarted China's provocativemilitary movements to changethe status quo at Pangong Tsoin Eastern Ladakh. This hap-

pened even when China andIndia were already engagedin diplomatic and militarytalks to resolve the disputedborder issues with severalskirmishes reported betweenthe Asian giants.

In a statement the IndianArmy said that on the night ofAugust 29 and August 30, 2020,People's Liberation Army (PLA)troops violated the previousconsensus arrived at duringmilitary and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in EasternLadakh and car ried out provocative military movementsto change the status quo.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dubai, Sept 2: Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that flightsto and from the United ArabEmirates “from all countries” willnow be able to use its airspace —a statement apparently allowingflyovers by Israel following a dealto normalise UAE-Israel relations.

The vaguely worded statementavoided naming Israel directly.However, the announcement camejust days after the kingdom allowedthe first direct Israeli commercialpassenger flight to use its airspaceto reach the UAE. Any direct flightbetween the two nations wouldneed to use Saudi airspace to becommercially viable.

The statement makes no men-tion of the kingdom's rival, Iran, norQatar, which Saudi Arabia is cur-rently boycotting. Flights to andfrom those countries to the Emirateswould, in theory, not need to use thekingdom's airspace. The SaudiPress Agency said the move comesin response to a “request by theUAE” for flights to and from the

country. Saudi Foreign MinisterFaisal bin Farhan wrote on Twitterthat the kingdom's “firm and es-tablished position toward thePalestinian cause will not change.”

However, even he did not directlyname Israel in his tweet. IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu praised the announce-ment in an online video, signalingit directly involved his country.“For years, I have been working toopen the skies between Israel andthe East,” he said. “Now there is an-other tremendous breakthrough— Israeli planes and those fromall countries will be able to fly di-

rectly from Israel to Abu Dhabiand Dubai, and back. Flights willbe cheaper and shorter, and it willlead to robust tourism and developour economy.” Earlier this week,Jared Kushner, the US president'sson-in-law and senior adviser, flewwith a high-level Israeli delegationto the UAE on the first direct com-mercial passenger flight between thetwo countries, a Star of David em-blazoned on the jet's tail. The flighttraversed Saudi airspace, signal-ing at least acquiescence for a break-through US-brokered deal by theUnited Arab Emirates to normaliserelations with Israel.

All countries can fly over Saudi skies

Nepal ‘closely’ monitoring Indian Army activities at Lipulekh

Charlie Hebdoterror attack suspects go on trial ASSOCIATED PRESS

Paris, Sept 2: Thirteen men anda woman went on trial Wednesdayover the 2015 attacks against theCharlie Hebdo satirical newspaperand a kosher supermarket in Paristhat marked the beginning of awave of violence by the IslamicState group in Europe.

Seventeen people and all threegunmen died during the threedays of attacks in January 2015.Later that year, a separate net-work of French and Belgian fight-ers for Islamic State struck Parisagain, this time killing 130 peo-ple in attacks at the Bataclan con-cert hall, the national stadium,and in bars and restaurants.

Those on trial in France's ter-rorism court are accused of buy-ing weapons, cars, and helpingwith logistics.

Most say they thought theywere helping plan an ordinarycrime. Three, including the onlywoman accused, are being triedin absentia after leaving to joinIslamic State.

“The trial will establish andconfirm that the two attacks werecoordinated; one was an attack onfreedom of expression and theother was against Jews becausethey were Jews,” FrancoisHollande, who was then France'spresident, told RTL radio. Theattacks from January 7-9, 2015,started during an editorial meet-ing at Charlie Hebdo, whose of-fices had been unmarked andguarded by police since the pub-lication of caricatures of theProphet Muhammad years be-fore. Brothers Cherif and SaidKouachi, gunned down 12 peo-ple before carjacking a vehicleand fleeing. They claimed the at-tacks in the name of al-Qaida.

AGENCIES

Tokyo, Sept 2: Yoshihide Suga,Japan's chief cabinet secretary, hasannounced he will join the raceto succeed Prime Minister ShinzoAbe as head of the ruling LiberalDemocratic Party (LDP) - and, bydefault, the country's next headof government.

A longtime aide to outgoing PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe, Suga said hedecided to stand for party leader toavoid a political vacuum duringthe coronavirus pandemic. Abe an-nounced his decision to resign last

week, citing poor health. The LDP’smajority in the lower house of par-liament ensures the party’s nextleader will succeed him as PrimeMinister. Although he had remainedsilent about his plans up untilWednesday’s announcement, Sugaappeared to have clinched the raceearlier this week. When media re-ported that some of party’s mostpowerful factions would back him,

and after the LDP opted to have aslimmed-down leadership race. Bychoosing not to poll all of its mem-bers for the race, the LDP has con-centrated the vote in the hands ofparty heavyweights, who favourSuga over rival Shigeru Ishiba, a for-mer defence minister more popu-lar with the public and grassrootsparty members.

“In this time of national crisis,we cannot permit a political vac-uum,” Suga told a briefing. “I de-cided to run after giving very deepthought to what I can do, as apolitician and as a member ofAbe’s administration, to bringback as soon as possible the daywhen people can live without fear.”He said that as leader he would con-tinue Abe’s aggressive fiscal andmonetary stimulus policies andsingled out hard-hit rural areas.Suga’s rise from a city council-lor in Yokohama is notable in acountry where top political officeis often the preserve of powerfulfamilies. Abe, for instance, is thegrandson of a premier and theson of a foreign minister.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, Sept 2: Blackholes are getting stranger —even to astronomers. They'venow detected the signal from along ago violent collision of twoblack holes that created a newone of a size that had neverbeen seen before.

“It's the biggest bang since theBig Bang observed by human-ity,” said Caltech physicist AlanWeinstein, who was part of the dis-covery team. Black holes are com-pact regions of space so denselypacked that not even light canescape. Until now, astronomersonly had observed them in twogeneral sizes. There are “small”ones called stellar black holesthat are formed when a star col-lapses and are about the size ofsmall cities. And there are su-permassive black holes that are

millions, maybe billions, of timesmore massive than our sun andaround which entire galaxies re-volve. According to astronomers'calculations, anything in betweendidn't quite make sense, becausestars that grew too big before col-lapse would essentially consumethemselves, leaving no black holes.

Star collapses couldn't createstellar black holes much biggerthan 70 times the mass of oursun, scientists thought, accordingto physicist Nelson Christensen,research director of the FrenchNational Centre for ScientificResearch. Then in May 2019 twodetectors picked up a signal thatturned out to be the energy fromtwo stellar black holes — eachlarge for a stellar black hole —crashing into each other. One was66 times the mass of our Sun andthe other a husky 85 times themass of the Sun.

Black holes merge intonever before seen size

A LONGTIME AIDE TOOUTGOING PM

SHINZO ABE, SUGA ISHEAVILY FAVOUREDTO WIN THE RULING

PARTY’S LEADERSHIPRACE

JAPAN PM RACE

Suga launches bid to become next PM

Lipulekh is the tri-junction

between India,Nepal and China

situated atop theKalapani Valley in

Uttarakhand

Last week, the KPSharma Oli

government’sMinistry of HomeAffairs issued thedirections to theNepalese Armed

Police Force(NAPF) to start the

monitoring at thetri-juntion

Sri Lankan youth play volleyball in the evening as rain clouds gather above them, in Colombo, Sri Lanka REUTERS

CHILLING OUT

Yoshihide Suga

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businessTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Karnataka is thefavoured choice for

investors and is home to 400of the Fortune 500 companiesin the world. The state iscurrently ranked second interms of FDI investments forthe period ending March 2020BS YEDIYURAPPA | CM, KARNATAKA

The Centre has approved for signing a pactbetween India and Japan aimed at increasingIndia’s exports of textile and apparel to theJapanese market, and to boost co-operation inthe textiles sector. The MoU, when signed, willhelp identify areas for optimising the benefit ofthe CEPA signed between the 2 nations earlier

GOVT APPROVES BILATERAL PACT

cmyk

cmyk

While COVID-19management

through hygiene andcare is pivotal tocontrolling thespread of thepandemic, it is equally importantthat people with ailments continuetheir testing and therapy, if possibleusing tele and digital interventions

SHRAVAN SUBRAMANYAM | MD, ROCHE

DIAGNOSTICS (INDIA)

of theday uote

While manygyms ranneck-deep

into rents andpending salaries, wehad no option but toevolve as permarket dynamics. We already had amassive network of fitness trainersand a platform. All we did wasconnect these trainers to peoplelooking for them

SYED IMRAN | FOUNDER, FITSAPP

The pandemicis changingthe way

consumers shop foressential productswith an increasedaffinity for onlineshopping. For the past 3 months, wehave deepened our understandingof the needs and challenges facedby consumers and offeredinnovative solutions to address them

ANGELO GEORGE | CEO,BISLERI INTERNATIONAL

Cabinetapproves pact New Delhi: The governmenthas approved a MoU betweenIndia and Finland forcooperation in the field ofgeology and mineralresources. The decision inthis regard was taken at ameeting of the UnionCabinet, headed by PMNarendra Modi. "The UnionCabinet has approved MoUfor cooperation in the field ofgeology and mineralresources betweenGeological Survey of India,Ministry of Mines andGeological Survey of Finland,Ministry of Employment andthe Economy, theGovernment of Finland," themines ministry said.

I-T dept launchesfunctionality New Delhi: The Income Tax (I-T) department Wednesdaysaid it has launched afunctionality for scheduledcommercial banks to checkstatus of income tax returnsfiled by entities based ontheir Permanent AccountNumber (PAN). It said thedata on cash withdrawal hadindicated that huge amountof cash is being withdrawnby persons who have neverfiled income tax returns.

Voda Idea boardto meet FridayNew Delhi: Telecom operatorVodafone Idea has said itsboard will meet Friday toconsider fund raising throughvarious means. Thedevelopment comesfollowing the Supreme Courtverdict directing all telecomoperators to pay 10% of totalAdjusted Gross Revenue(AGR)-related dues this year,and rest of the payments in10 installments starting fromnext fiscal year.

Embassy to invest `300 crNew Delhi: EmbassyIndustrial Park hasannounced an investment ofRs 300 crore to develop a 40acre warehousing project atBilaspur in Gurugram, asdemand for storage spacehas risen from e-commerceplayers after the outbreak ofCOVID-19. "Spread across 40acres of land, this project willbe built with an investmentof INR 300 crore.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Sept 2: India has joinedthe group of top 50 countries in theglobal innovation index for the firsttime, moving up four places to the48th rank and keeping the top po-sition among the nations in cen-tral and southern Asia.

According to the GlobalInnovation Index (GII) list, 2020 re-leased jointly by the WorldIntellectual Property Organization(WIPO), Cornell University and IN-SEAD Business School Wednesday,the rankings show stability at thetop but a gradual "eastward shift inthe locus of innovation" as Asian

economies like China, India, thePhilippines and Vietnam have ad-vanced considerably in the inno-vation ranking over the years.

Switzerland, Sweden, the US, theUK and the Netherlands lead the in-novation ranking, and the top 10positions are dominated by high-in-come countries, WIPO said in astatement.

About India, the statement saidit has become the third most inno-vative lower middle-income econ-omy in the world, thanks to newlyavailable indicators and improve-ments in various areas of the GII.

India ranks in the top 15 in in-dicators such as ICT (Information

and Communication Technology)services exports, government online

services, graduates in science andengineering, and R&D-intensive

global companies."Thanks to universities such as

the Indian Institute of Technologyin Bombay and Delhi and the IndianInstitute of Science in Bengaluru,and its top scientific publications,India is the lower middle-incomeeconomy with the highest innova-tion quality," it said.

A total of 131 countries wereanalysed under the GII before ar-riving at the rankings.

The metrics include institutions,human capital and research, in-frastructure, market sophistica-tion and business sophistication,knowledge and technology outputsand creative outputs.

GLOBAL INNOVATIONINDEX 2020 India jumps 4 places, enters top 50

According to theGII list, 2020,

the rankings showstability at the top

but a gradual “east-ward shift in the

locus of innovation”

Switzerland,Sweden,

the US, the UK andthe Netherlands

lead the innovationranking

India has become thethird most innovativelower middle-incomeeconomy in the world

India ranks in the top 15 in indicators suchas ICT servicesexports, governmentonline services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive globalcompanies

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 2: Nearly 70% ofIndian enterprises that deployedArtificial Intelligence (AI) haveachieved measurable results while60% believe that AI will disrupttheir business within the next 2-3years, a new Nasscom-EY surveysaid Wednesday.

While 74% enterprises estab-lished either a formal strategy or ob-tained C-suite sponsorship to initiateor scale-up their AI programmes,78% believed re-skilling of the ex-isting talent will aid in maximisingvalue from AI.

"Implementing AI will not only

catalyse the innovation to stay com-petitive but also generate long-termvalue for enterprises. The survey isready reckoner that AI adoption isa critical competitive lever. It enablesbusiness leaders to infuse technol-ogy at speed," said Debjani Ghosh,President, Nasscom.

As business leaders continue torecognise the role AI can play in pro-viding competitive advantage andgenerating long-term value, the topthree areas cited by the survey re-spondents where AI is believed toadd maximum value were; opera-tional efficiency, customer experi-ence and revenue growth.

"AI adopters have alreadyachieved remarkable success intransforming their business mod-

els, operational processes and stake-holder experiences. As business

leaders continue to push the fron-tiers of technology and the futuresuccess of AI will bedriven only by our in-spiration and imag-ination," ex-plained NitinBhatt, Partner& TechnologySector Leader,EY India.

Sectors suchas BFSI and re-tail that are in-tensive in terms ofrecorded or digitizeddata were found to beleading in AI adoption with 36

per cent and 25 per cent, respec-tively. While end-customer centric

functions were most favoured byorganizations in retail and

BFSI sectors, healthcareand agriculture cited

operations to be thefunction with thehighest potential forAI deployment, thesurvey added.

The joint surveyassessed the responses

of over 500 CXOs onthe maturity of AIadoption and the

challenges faced byenterprises in their AI journey.

Indian firms embracing AI in big way: SurveyTHE TOP 3 AREAS WHERE AI IS BELIEVED TO ADD MAXIMUM VALUE WERE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND REVENUE GROWTH

ImplementingAI will not only

catalyse the innovationto stay competitive butalso generate long-term

value for enterprises. Thesurvey is ready reckoner

that AI adoption is acritical competitive

leverDEBJANI GHOSH I PRESIDENT,

NASSCOM

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Sept 2: With economicdisruptions set for a long haul dueto Covid-19 pandemic, India couldsee its fiscal deficit this year mayrise over 8% of GDP, brokeragesanalysing the deficit numbers postrelease of August GST collectiondata have said.

The Controller General ofAccounts Monday said that coun-try’s fiscal deficit has expanded to103.1% of Budget Estimate in theApril-July period primarily due tolower tax collection and higher ex-penditure for Covid-19 relief.

According to a report on Indianeconomy by Kotak InstitutionalEquities, low economic activityand lower tax collections coupledwith expanded Covid-19 related ex-penditure have created a scenariowhere the deficit would widen.

It could go up over the estimatedlevels of 8% to 9% or more if theCentre did not cut its expenditureby `1.7 lakh crore while increas-ing spent on infrastructure sec-tors, the brokerage report said.

Government’s expenditure inthe four-month period (April-July)of FY21 was around 35 per cent ofbudget estimates with revenue ex-

penditure growth of around 12%and capital expenditure growthof 4%.

But the concern is on revenue col-lections, with GST collections beingat just around `3.1 lakh crore inthe five month period (April-August)against the budget estimate of ̀ 13.4lakh crore for FY21. This meansthat in the rest of the year collec-tions should go up to ̀ 1.5 lakh eachmonth. This looks impossible inthe current situation.

"Even though there will be someimprovement in collections overthe next few months, we could stillwitness a CGST shortfall of `1.5-2lakh crore against FY2021BE," theKotak report said.

"With gradual reopening of theeconomy, tax collections will im-prove over the next few months.We have already seen some im-provement in the activity levels.However, we have factored in ourrevised GDP growth of (-) 11.5%(nominal at (-) 10%) in our fiscale s t i m at e s a n d rev i s e o u rGFD/GDP forecast to 8%," thebrokerage said.

The report has factored in short-fall of ̀ 5.3 lakh crore in total receipts,Covid- related expenditure of around`3 lakh crore (announcement of`2.7-3.2 lakh crore with fiscal impactof `1.8 lakh crore till now), andoverall expenditure cuts of `1.7lakh crore while increasing spend-ing in railways and roads.

COVID FALLOUT

Fiscal deficit to balloonover 8% of GDP in FY21

According to a report on Indian economy by KotakInstitutional Equities, low economic activity and

lower tax collections have created a scenario where the deficit would widen

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: Odisha ismoving towards recovery by wit-nessing growth in both GST andnon-GST revenues steadily as is ob-served from the collection figuresin last three months.

The collection from State GSTduring June ’20, July ’20 and August’20 registered a growth rate of -5.63%, +13.04% and -1.76% in com-parison to the corresponding pe-riods of last year.

The SGST collection could be`759.17 crore, `794.02 crore and`686.15 crore in said three monthsof 2020 against the collection of`804.49 crore, `702.44 crore and`698.47 crore during June ’19, July’19 and August ’19 respectively.Commissioner Commercial Taxand GST SK Lohani is monitoringthe collection from State GST reg-ularly.

VAT Collection from petroleumproducts has shown a positivetrend from July 2020 as it could be

`521.47 cr and `568.78 cr respec-tively during July ’20 and August’20 against the collection of ̀ 509.03cr and ̀ 491.02 cr during July ’19 andAugust ’19 respectively registeringa growth of 2.4% and 15.8% re-spectively.

There is also a positive trendin collection of CGST and Cessduring August ’20 as the collectionunder these heads have been`538.91 crore and `493.08 croreagainst ̀ 534.68 crore and ̀ 448.91crore respectively during August2019, witnessing growth rates of0.7% and 10% respectively.

However, due to negative growthof -22.70% in collection of IGST (i.e.collection of ̀ 630.14 crore in August2020 against `815.17 crore duringAugust 2019) the Gross GST (SGST+ CGST + IGST + Cess) collectionhas registered a negative growthof 5.96%, though a substantial im-provement was made consideringthe first quarter growth of nega-tive 35% compared to correspon-ding period last year.

State sees revival inGST revenue growth

FLIPKART BEGINSWHOLESALE E-COMMSERVICE IN INDIAAGENCIES

Bangalore, Sept 2: E-commerceplatform Flipkart Wednesdaylaunched operations of its digi-tal business-to-business market-place, Flipkart Wholesale, withan aim to connect local manufac-turers with retailers and bringthe entire wholesale marketplaceat their fingertips.

The platform is currently avail-able for fashion retailers, espe-cially footwear and apparel, inGurugram, Delhi and Bangalore,with plans to expand to Mumbaias well, the company said in astatement.

Flipkart Wholesale also plansto expand to 20 more cities andin categories such as home andkitchen and grocery by the endof this year.

"With the strong capabilitywithin the group in B2B, we willfocus on meeting the needs of ki-ranas and MSMEs by providingthese small businesses a wide se-lection at significant value, pow-ered by technology to make theirlives easier," said Adarsh Menon,Senior VP and Head, FlipkartWholesale.

"Whether in grocery, generalmerchandise or fashion, thesebusinesses will have one-stop ac-cess to an extensive selection ofproducts with attractive schemesand incentives."

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: The IndianOil board cleared the Stage-1 ap-proval to install a Grassroot NeedleCoker Unit at Paradip refinery usingIndian Oil R&D’s in-house technol-ogy. The proposed unit will have aCalcined Needle Coke (CNC) pro-duction capacity of 56 KTPA. The es-timated project cost is likely `1,268 crore.

With the production of CNC,IndianOil shall enter this nicheproduct segment for the first time.CNC is used to produce GraphiteElectrodes for deployment in thehigh temperature (2,800 degreesCentigrade) electric arc furnaces ofSteel Industry.

Indian Oil Chairman SM Vaidyasaid “This Needle Coker Unit is yetanother significant step towards

de-risking the uncertainty in thePOL business. The proposed unit willenhance the Refinery Gross Marginand will also demonstrate IndianOil’scapability of supplying indige-nously licensed technology in theniche product segments”.

Presently the entire Needle Cokerequirement of the country (80 -100 KTPA) is met through imports.Production of needle coke at Paradiprefinery will reduce import de-pendency and would contribute to

the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. Needle coke is a substitute for nat-

ural graphite and offers higherquality consistency. With thesetechnological advancements, nee-dle coke is now used to make the car-bon anode of Lithium-ion Batteries.As Electric Vehicle (EV) trans-portation is emerging as a viable op-tion, the production of needle coke(Anode for Li-ion battery) wouldadd to the quest for a self-reliantIndia.

IndianOil to invest `1,268 cr in Paradip refinery

AGENCIES

Bangalore, Sept 2: Edtech firmUnacademy Wednesday said it hasraised an investment of $150 mil-lion (approximately ̀ 1,098 crore) ina round led by Japaneseconglomerate SoftBank,increasing the Bangalore-based firm's valuation to$1.45 billion.

Existing investorsGeneral Atlantic, SequoiaCapital, Nexus Venture Partners,Facebook, and Blume Venturesalso participated in the round.

"Learning from the best expertsto achieve a life goal has mostlybeen a privilege, available only tothose living in the top few cities of

the country," Gaurav Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO, Unacademy,said in a statement.

"At Unacademy, we are breakingthat barrier and helping peopleachieve their life's most important

goals, by giving them ac-cess to the best coach-ing from experts in thefield," Munjal said,adding that Unacademyplans to utilise the fundsto launch new products.

Unacademy boasts of a vast net-work of over 18,000 educators andover 350,000 subscribers. The com-pany caters to the learning needs formore than 35 competitive exams,besides important life goals suchas Chess.

Unacademy raises $150 mnfunding led by SoftBank

Govt allows domesticflights to operatewith 60% capacityAGENCIES

New Delhi, Sept 2: In furthereasing of restrictions, the gov-ernment Wednesday permittedIndian airlines to increase thenumber of domestic passengerflights to 60% of their pre-COVIDservices, according to an officialorder.

On June 26, the Ministry ofCivil Aviation had allowed the air-lines to operate a maximum of45% of their pre-COVID domesticflights.

The ministry had restarted do-mestic passenger services fromMay 25, after a gap of two monthsdue to the coronavirus-triggeredlockdown. However, the airlineswere allowed to operate not morethan 33% of their pre-COVID do-mestic flights.

Modifying its previous orderof June 26 where it had put the 45%limit on the number of domesticflights, the ministry issued anorder Wednesday stating that,"45% capacity may be read as 60%capacity."

The average occupancy rate indomestic flights since their re-sumption in India on May 25 hasbeen around 50-60% only. Scheduledinternational passenger flightscontinue to remain suspended inthe country since March 23 due tothe pandemic.

However, special internationalflights have been operating underVande Bharat Mission since Mayand under bilateral air bubblepacts signed with various countriessince July.

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/37159

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sportsTHURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 3 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, Sept 2: Making quickwork of an opponent for a change,

Serena Williams wrapped up her102nd career US Open match win to

break a tie with Chris Evert for the mostin the professional era.

Then Williams headed back out to theArthur Ashe Stadium stands Tuesday

night, her dog in tow. Williams had amatch to watch — her older sister’s, which

did not work out as well.Serena, who turns 39 this month, de-

feated Kristie Ahn 7-5, 6-3. But her sisterVenus, who is 40, lost in the US Open’s first

round for the first time in 22 appearances,beaten 3-6, 5-7 by No.20 Karolina Muchova.It is the fourth time in the past five Grand Slam

tournaments that Venus exited in her openingmatch. Venus, who won two of her seven major sin-

gles championships here, was trying to become onlythe third woman in her 40s to win a US Open singlesmatch.

Serena has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the mostin the professional era, which began in 1968; only MargaretCourt collected more, with 24.

Six of Serena’s trophies came at the US Open, and shealso was the runner-up four times, including each of thepast two years.

Entering Tuesday, Serena had been 3-2 since tennismatches resumed after a hiatus because of the coron-avirus pandemic — and all five went three sets. So Tuesday’smatch was a welcome change.

Her career mark at the hard-court event is 102-13, awinning percentage of 0.887. “In a weird way, I feel like everytime I come here, I’m being told I broke another record,”Serena said.

“It’s cool. I don’t think I appreciate it enough, which isunfortunate,” she said. “But I’m in the middle of a GrandSlam, so it’s not the time to be focused for me on recordswhen I’m thinking about winning a tournament.”

NEW PLAYERS ASSOCIATIONThe man who joined Novak Djokovic in trying to start

a new association to represent male tennis players, VasekPospisil, said there’s been ‘a lot of misleading informationin terms of what we’re trying to accomplish’ in setting upthe Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).

Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal are among those who havesaid they’re not in favor of the proposal to set up some-thing outside of the ATP Tour. As things stand, tennis play-ers do not have a union, the way athletes in the major NorthAmerican team sports do.

“The structure within the ATP leaves the players com-pletely, like, powerless,” Pospisil said. “Our voices arejust not heard. That’s all we’re trying to do here.”

Pospisil reached the US Open’s second round Tuesdayby beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(7-4), 7-5, 7-6(7-3) andwill face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic in anall-Canadian matchup next.PELLA SPEAKS

One of the two players dropped from the Western &Southern Open draw last month after their fitness trainertested positive for the coronavirus spoke out Tuesdayabout what he called unfair treatment.

Guido Pella, an Argentine seeded 29th at FlushingMeadows, lost his first-round match at the US Open toAmerican wild-card entry JJ Wolf 2-6, 6-0, 3-6, 3-6.

Pella said he tested negative nine times for COVID-19but still was quarantined and withdrawn from the Western& Southern Open — along with Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien, whoalso lost Tuesday — after they had contact with the trainer.Seven players were allowed to remain in the US Openafter they had contact with another player, Benoit Paire,who tested positive.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New York, Sept 2: Sumit Nagal became thefirst Indian tennis player to win a round ata Grand Slam in seven years when he downedAmerican Bradley Klahn in his US Openfirst round, setting up a contest against worldnumber three Dominic Thiem, here.

Returning to the Flushing Meadows wherehe took a set off Roger Federer last year, theIndian got past the local rival, ranked just arung above the Indian at 126th in the world,6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in two hours and 12 minutesTuesday night.

Somdev Devvarman was the last Indian towin a main draw match at a major and inci-dentally, it was at the US Open in 2013 whenhe beat Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko after comingthrough qualifiers.

“I qualified for a junior Slam in 2013 hereand then the men’s and now to win my firstround here means a lot. I enjoy playing hereand it has worked out in my favour few times,”Nagal told this agency.

“It was not easy to walk inside thecourt knowing this match is morein your favour. I was definitely nerv-ous and especially playing for my firstslam win but I did the things I wassupposed to and kept my compo-sure.”

Somdev, who retired in January 2017,had reached the second rounds ofAustralian Open, French Open andUS Open in 2013 apart fromplaying a second roundat the Wimbledon in2011 but never wentbeyond that.

After Somdev,Indian tennis sawthe rise of YukiBhambri,RamkumarRamanathan andPrajneshGunneswaranbut none ofthem could wina main drawround.

Ramkumardid not evenqualify for amain draw in

many attempts. Saketh Myneni qualified forUS Open singles in 2016 but lost to CzechRepublic’s Jiri Vesely.

Bhambri had to cope with injuries andthat halted his progress. Between 2015 and 2018he competed all four majors but never crosseda round.

Nagal said Indian tennis should have donebetter and partly blamed it on the not-so-helpful ‘system’ as well. “In one way, yes(happy for major win) but in another way, wecould do so much better. We have so many peo-ple playing this sport, we have great talent butno system, which makes me feel sad,” the23-year-old said without elaborating much.

Up next for him will be Austria’s top playerThiem, who advanced when his Spanish rivalJaume Munar retired before the start of thethird set. Thiem was leading 7-6(8-6), 6-3 whenMunar found it difficult to continue as heinjured his knee during the second set.

A fierce fighter, Nagal hardly cares forreputations and is expected to make it tough

for the World No.3 Thursday. “I amready and excited to play him.It’s going to be fun and (I will)see where I stand in terms of my

tennis level,” he said.Nagal came here after play-

ing on clay courts like the lastyear. It appears making the sur-face switch comes easily to him.Nagal made the quarterfinals of

the Prague Open,played on red dirt,

in the lead up tothe US

Open.Andy saves match pointNEW YORK: This was the sort of match AndyMurray came back for, the sort of competitionand comeback he always lived for, the reason hewent through two hip operations and all the hardwork that followed. And it was the type of vin-tage Murray performance — undaunted by adeficit, adjusting on the fly, muttering all theway — that was too compelling not to watch, sowhile there are no fans allowed into this USOpen because of the pandemic, fellow prosmade their way into the stands to see the popu-lar 2012 champion save a match point Tuesdayand, eventually, win. Playing his first Grand Slammatch in nearly 20 months, toiling on his metalhip for four hours, 39 minutes in Arthur AsheStadium, Murray put together his 10th careercomeback from two sets down and beatYoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(7-5), 7-6(7-4), 6-4.

CLIJSTERS LOSES ON HER GS RETURN NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters has lost playing her first Grand Slam

match in eight years. The four-time major champion was beat-en by Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 5-7, 1-6 Tuesday night in thefirst round at the US Open. Clijsters won the tournament in2005, 2009 and 2010, and retired after the 2012 Open. Now 37 and the mother

of three, she embarked on a comeback this year but has lost all three of hermatches and struggled with injuries.

MEDVEDEV ADVANCESNEW YORK: Daniil Medvedev, who reached his first Grand Slam finalat last year’s US Open, has won his first-round match at the tourna-ment, beating Federico Delbonis 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. Medvedev went from vil-lain to hero during last year’s tournament. He was fined four timesand booed by fans, but won their support in the five-set final with

comeback that fell short against Rafa Nadal. He took the court Tuesday night to neithercheers nor jeers because fans aren’t allowed at this year’s Open.

Stephens sails throughNEW YORK: Former champion SloaneStephens has won her opening match atthe US Open, beating Mihaela Buzarnescuof Romania 6-3, 6-3. Stephens won thetitle in 2017 when she was ranked No.83.She’s seeded 26th. Stephens played onCourt 17, and said a match with few spec-tators required an adjustment. “It’s backto girls’ 12, where it’s you and your par-ents, and the girl you’re playing and theirparents,” she said.

Neymar reportedly tests nCoV positive

OFC sign Marcelinhoon a one-year contract

SON’S FUTURE AT THE CLUB LEADS THE DISCUSSION CHART

Serena surpasses Evertwith 102nd victory in

professional era, while hersister Venus suffers defeatin the first round for the

first time in 22 appearances

US OPEN WITNESSESNEW CHAPTERS

NAGAL BECOMES FIRST INDIAN TO WIN A GSMAIN ROUND MATCH IN SEVEN YEARS AS THE126TH RANKED PLAYER DOWNS KLAHN TO SET

UP A CLASH WITH WORLD NO.3 THIEM

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Sept 2: Odisha FCannounced Wednesday about theirbiggest transfer for the upcomingseason as the Bhubaneswar-basedside roped in experienced Brazilianfootballer Marcelo Leite Pereira, alsoknown as Marcelinho. The 33-year-old forward signed a one-year con-tract.

With an ability to play as a strikeror in the wings or as an attackingmidfielder, Marcelinho has a hugeexperience of playing in variousleagues around the world includingthe ISL.

He was the Golden Boot winnerin 2016 with Delhi Dynamos byscoring 10 goals in 15 appearancesand also guided the team into theplayoffs. Marcelinho then played forFC Pune City (now known asHyderabad FC) for three consecu-tive seasons and has a cumulativefigure of 31 goals and 18 assists in63 ISL matches so far.

After starting his professional ca-reer with Atletico Madrid B, the Riode Janeiro-born playmaker hasplayed club football for variousother teams in the UAE, Greece,Spain, Italy and his home countryBrazil.

“With good experience of Indian

football and a record that is ad-mired by many, Marcelinho rep-resents a good signing on all fronts,”said head coach Stuart Baxter.

Marcelinho expressed his de-light saying, “I am very motivatedfor the challenge. I really want todo well with my new team and newcoach. I hope that we have an amaz-ing season ahead and I can’t waitfor this.”

Club president Rohan Sharmasaid, “After a long time, it’s greatto have Marcelinho back with me.Last time we were together, he setthe league ablaze with his skillsand goals. Now he has become thethird highest goalscorer in the ISLand I am sure he will bang somemore in this season.”

AGENCIES

Paris, Sept 2: PSG star Neymar hasreportedly tested positive for coro-navirus, with the Ligue 1 club con-firming that three players havecontracted the virus.

The Ligue 1 champions andChampions League finalists didnot name the players involved, butAngel Di Maria and LeandroParedes are believed to be the othertwo players to have tested positive,with Neymar’s positive test re-ported by French outlet ‘L’Equipe’.

“Three PSG-English players areconfirmed positive after a SarsCoV2 test and have undergone theappropriate health protocols,” theclub said on social media. “All play-ers and staff will continue to betested over the next few days.”

PSG are making a delayed startto the new Ligue 1 season aftertheir European exertions, withtheir first fixture scheduled forSeptember 10 when they are due totravel to Lens.

PSG said the reason for the post-ponement was to give their playerstime to rest after playing threegames in 10 days in the ChampionsLeague, however, players, includ-ing Neymar, Di Maria and Paredestook the opportunity to extendtheir holidays in Ibiza, where they

appear to have become infectedwith COVID-19.

Positive tests have already dis-rupted the start of the new season,with the opening match of the cam-paign between Marseille and StEtienne postponed when Marseillereported four positive tests.

Messi’s father lands in BarcelonaASSOCIATED PRESS

Barcelona, Sept 2: Lionel Messi’sfather arrived in Spain earlyWednesday and is expected to meetwith Barcelona club officials to dis-cuss his son’s future.

Jorge Messi, who is also LionelMessi’s agent, landed here fromArgentina. He is expected to meetwith club president Josep Bartomeuand other team officials, but it’sunclear when this meeting willtake place.

The six-time world player of theyear insists he has a clause in hiscontract that allows him to leave ona free transfer – a claim disputed byBarcelona and La Liga, who saythe Argentine can only leave if arival club is willing to pay a 700million euro buyout clause.

“I don’t know, I know nothing,”Messi’s father told Spanish TVchannel Cuatro when asked if the33-year-old would leave the onlyclub he has played for profession-ally.

But when pressed if it would behard for him to remain, he said“yes”. And asked how he seesMessi’s future at Barcelona, hereplied “difficult, difficult.”

He dodged questions on whetherManchester City would be a goodoption for his son. A move to

Manchester City would allow Messito link up with his former Barcelonacoach Pep Guardiola.

“I don’t know, there’s nothingyet,” he said, adding he had nothad any discussions with Guardiola,who enjoyed trophy-laden years asBarcelona manager with Messi inhis pomp.

Messi did not show up Mondayfor the first training session of theseason under new coach RonaldKoeman. Messi last week toldBarcelona he wanted to leave theclub and invoked a contract clausethat allowed him to depart for freeat the end of the season.

But Barcelona claimed the clauseexpired in June and said he must

see out his current contract untilJune 2021, or leave by paying the buy-out clause of 700 million euros.

Barcelona has been saying it willnot facilitate Messi’s departure andwill only negotiate a contract ex-tension. The club has offered theArgentine a two-year extensionthat would keep him with Barcelonathrough the 2022-23 season.

In addition to meeting withMessi’s father, Barcelona said italso wanted to meet personallywith the player to try to change hismind about leaving.

The club said it has been doingeverything to try to convince Messito finish his career at the club wherehe started nearly 20 years ago.

Venus Williams