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Pitching for “self-reliance” inevery field, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Sundayaffirmed that toys be manu-factured locally with the cre-ative signature of Indian cul-ture and tradition.

With an eye obviously onChina, which is a big source oftoys for Indian children, thePM said a toy can change thelife of a child and therefore alot of attention has been givenon the “impact of toys on dif-ferent aspects of children’slives in the country’s new edu-cation policy.

Modi said the global toyindustry is of more than 7 lakhcrore rupees but regretted thatIndia’s share in such a bigindustry is very little.

In the quest for the nextGoogle, Facebook and Twittercoming from India, Modi onSunday talked about severalhomegrown apps which wererecently awarded top prizes inthe AatmaNirbhar Bharat AppInnovation Challenge. ThePrime Minister said the youthparticipated enthusiasticallyin the challenge. He noted thatnearly two thirds of the entrieswere made by the youth oftier-2 and tier-3 cities. Awards

have been given to around twodozen apps in different cate-gories, he said, asking listen-ers to familiarise themselveswith these apps and to connectwith them.

Addressing the nation inhis monthly radio talk ‘Man KiBaat’, the Prime Minister re-emphasised his slogan ‘bevocal for local’ saying people

should adopt Indian breeddogs who have performedexcellently in the Indian forces,attracting very little expensesfor their upkeep.

“Our security agencies arealso inducting these Indianbreed dogs as part of theirsecurity squad. In the recentpast, Mudhol Hound dogshave been trained and induct-

ed in the dog squad of theArmy, CISF and NSG; Kombaidogs have been included bythe CRPF.

Research on the Indianbreed dogs is also being doneby the Indian Council ofAgriculture Research with theaim to make them better andmore beneficial,” Modi said inhis talk in which he domi-

nantly spelled-out need for an“Atmanirbhar Bharat”. Beforelaunching himself on the ‘self-reliance’ theme, the PrimeMinister congratulated peopleon the range of festival acrossthe country saying how theyare being played in the time ofcoronavirus pandemic.

“The kind of restraintbeing practised across thecountry during this time isunprecedented, Ganeshotsavtoo is also being celebratedonline,” he said.

This time around in hisaddress, the Prime Ministerput great stress on manufac-turing local toys bearing thestamp of Indian culture andtradition which could be usedin the creative education ofchildren.

“Toys should be such thatthey bring out the childhoodof a child and also his or hercreativity.

“In the National EducationPolicy, a lot of attention hasbeen given on the impact oftoys on different aspects ofchildren’s lives. Learning whileplaying, learning to make toys,visiting toy factories, all thesehave been made part of thecurriculum,” said Modi quot-ing poet Rabindranath Tagore.

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Three of every four Covid-19cases in Asia come from

India despite the country’spopulation of 135 crore beingless than one-third of the con-tinent’s population of 460 crore.

India’s record on testing isalso dismal compared to otherAsian nations. On the yardstickof testing per million popula-tions, India is way below mostAsian countries, in some caseseven 20 times less than its geo-graphical neighbours.

This is just the startingpoint of analysing the patternof the spread of coronavirus inAsia, and particularly in theIndian sub-continent com-prising India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives,Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Interestingly, as many as 23Asian countries have less than20,000 total cases. Seven of theAsian countries did not reporteven a single case on Saturday.

Asia reported 1,03,000new cases on Saturday where-as India alone contributed78,000 of them. Overall, Asia’scaseload stood at 68,88,876 isnearly double than of India’stotal.

The countries which didnot report a single case onSaturday are Magnolia,Cambodia, Brunei, Macao,Timor Leste, Oman, and Laos.

The Covid situation isunder complete control inPakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal,Bhutan, Maldives, and severalother countries whereasBangladesh is trying to put outthe fear of a second wave.

Pakistan reported 319 newcases on Saturday, Sri Lanka 6,

Bhutan 11, Maldives 109, andNepal 844. Among India’simmediate neighbours onlyBangladesh reported more than2,000 cases.

Iraq, the Philippines, andIndonesia are among some ofthe countries where the Covidsituation is still giving hic-cups. They reported 3,834;3,614 and 3,300 cases respec-tively on Saturday whereasIran recorded 1,901 cases.

Incidentally, much hasbeen said about how people ofthese Asian countries havehigher immunity because of cli-matic condition and heavy use

of anti-malaria drugs and vac-cines over a period of time.

The case of Pakistan isinteresting. The country lastreported 1,000 plus cases —1,114 to be precise — on July 30.Since then in one month, theirnumbers of cases have steadilydeclined while India’s numberhas been on a one-way rise.

Pakistan has now 2.95 lakhcases and is placed behindBangladesh 3.8 lakh cases,Saudi Arabia 3.13 lakh cases,and Iran 3.71 lakh cases. Ofcourse India remains on topwith nearly 3.6 million cases.

Continued on Page 6

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Having already subjected toactress Rhea Chakraborty

to a marathon questioning for27-long hours during the pastthree days — including for ninehours on Sunday, the CBI sleuthsappeared to be contemplating onsummoning Sushant’s sistersMeethu and Priyanka Singh forquestioning in the coming dayson the late actor’s mental con-dition and other issues in therun-up to his alleged suicide.

During her questioning onSaturday and Sunday, Rhea —who has been accused bySushant’s family members ofabetting the actor’s suicide — isunderstood to have been repeat-edly questioned on Sushant’smental condition in the run-up

months to the actor’s death,whether she — as a stay-infriend — was giving medicinesto Sushant, whether she hadeither given directly or admin-istered drugs to Sushant,whether she had received moneyfrom the actor and whether shewas taking financial and careerdecisions for the deceased actor.

Rhea was questioned for

nine more hours for the thirdconsecutive day.

The CBI officials also ques-tioned Rhea’s brother ShowikChakraborty for the fourthconsecutive day. Like they havebeen doing more for morethan 10 days now, the CBI offi-cials also grilled Sushant’s cookNeeraj Singh and others.

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The first phase of the Censusand the exercise to update

the National PopulationRegister (NPR), scheduled forthis year but deferred due to thecoronavirus outbreak, may bedelayed by a year as there is nosign of slowdown of the pan-demic.

The Indian census is one ofthe largest administrative andstatistical exercises in the world,with the involvement of morethan 30 lakh officials whowould visit each householdacross the length and breadthof the country.

“Census is not an essentialexercise for now. Even if it isdelayed by a year, there wouldbe no harm,” a senior officialtold PTI.

The official said no finaldecision has been taken onwhen the first phase of theCensus 2021 and NPR updatewould take place, but it isalmost certain that it would notbe held in 2020 due to the ris-ing cases of the coronavirus.“The virus threat is still loom-ing large,” another official said.

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Despite having differenceswith the dispensation in

New Delhi over its handling ofKashmir affairs, formerJammu & Kashmir ChiefMinister and sittingParliamentarian from SrinagarDr Farooq Abdullah on Sundaystrongly reacted to the recentstatement of Pakistan’s ForeignMinister hailing ‘Gupkar dec-laration’.

Without mincing anywords Abdullah said, ‘we arenot anyone’s puppets’.

“Pakistan has alwaysabused mainstream politicalparties of Jammu & Kashmirbut now suddenly they like us,”former Chief MinisterAbdullah said when askedabout Pakistan ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi’s statement that thedeclaration issued by the NC,PDP, Congress and three otherparties was “not an ordinaryoccurrence but an importantdevelopment”.

Let me make it clear thatwe are not anyone’s puppets,

neither New Delhi’s nor ofanyone across the border. Weare answerable to the people ofJammu & Kashmir and willwork for them,” Dr Abdullahtold a news agency.

Referring to the issue ofcross-border terrorism,Abdullah said, “I would urgePakistan to stop sending armedmen into Kashmir. We want anend to the bloodshed in J&K.All political parties in Jammu& Kashmir are committed tofight for our rights peacefully,including for what was uncon-stitutionally snatched awayfrom us on August 5 last year.”

Pitching for resumptionof stalled dialogue processbetween India and Pakistan,the National ConferencePresident also urged bothIndia and Pakistan to resumetheir dialogue “for everyone’sgreater good”.

“Our people are beingkilled on both sides of the Lineof Control every time there areceasefire violations. For God’ssake bring a halt to that”, hesaid.

Continued on Page 6

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Nearly 1,200 people haveperished in 14 States due

to incessant rainfalls andfloods.

As per the Ministry ofHome Affairs report on flooddated August 27, West Bengalhas reported 258 deaths, thehighest number of deaths dueto flood and rain-related inci-dents this year.

Bengal is followed byGujarat with 175 and Assam139 (113 died due to floodwhile 26 of landslides) deaths.Madhya Pradesh has reported140 deaths; Kerala 111;Karnataka 101; Maharashtra62; Jammu and Kashmir 44;Chhattisgarh 37; Bihar andOdisha 27 deaths each, UttarPradesh 26; Punjab 11 andAndhra Pradesh two deaths.

Flood and incessant rain-fall have affected over 1.72crore population of 11 States. Itis estimated that 7.80 lakhhectare crops in seven States aredamaged. The survey for dam-aged crops is going on in Bihar,Gujarat, Kerala, MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, WestBengal and Jammu & Kashmir.

According to the Central

Water Commission, parts ofcentral India recorded excep-tional rain in the past few daysleading to overflowing reservoirsthat are at “extreme flood situ-ation”. According to theMinistry, nearly 56.91 lakh pop-ulation are affected in 20 districtsof Assam. The State has received1236.20 mm rainfall so far thisyear. The kharif crops plantationhas been severely affected.

West Bengal has recorded1138.3 mm rainfall so far. As

many as 23 districts and 2-3lakh population are affecteddue to flood in the State.

In Bihar, 86.60 lakh popu-lation are affected in 16 districts.The State has received 945.3mm rainfall and 27 peoplehave been died so far. Currently,48 districts of Madhya Pradeshare affected from floods. Thesurvey of crops loss is going onin the State. A new bridge builton the Wainganga in Seoni dis-trict, some 350 km from

Bhopal, collapsed on Sunday(August 30) that was its officialdate of completion. The waterfrom Shivna river enteredPashupatinath Temple atMandsaur on Sunday.

The Army has been calledto rescue people after heavy rainsin flooded areas of Hoshangabaddistrict of the State. Accordingto the Central WaterCommission, eight dams havebreached 100 per cent capacity.

Continued on Page 6

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Uttar Pradesh and the statecapital reported record

spikes in coronavirus cases onSunday. While 6,233 more peo-ple tested positive across thestate, taking the number ofconfirmed cases to 2,25,632,Lucknow reported 999 freshcases, pushing the tally to26,856. An official at LucknowCMO office said that PrincipalSecretary (Medical Health)Alok Kumar was among thosewho tested positive for coron-avirus infection on Sunday.

The state capital also wit-nessed 15 COVID-19 deaths,pushing the toll to 346 onSunday evening.

As many as 19,342COVID-19 patients haverecovered in Lucknow, includ-ing 587 in the last 24 hours.UPSRTC Managing Director

Raj Shekhar, who had testedpositive, was also dischargedfrom SGPGIMS after 12 dayson Sunday. At present 7,168active cases are undergoingtreatment in the state capital.The health officials collected3,953 samples for testing inLucknow.

The COVID-19 death tollacross the state also mountedto 3,423 with 67 casualties inthe last 24 hours.

The positivity rate in thestate in August has been 4.7 percent, the recovery rate 74.25 percent and the fatality rate 1.52per cent. Among the positivecases, 70 per cent are males and30 per cent females.

Additional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasadsaid here on Sunday that therewere 54,666 active cases in thestate while the number ofrecovered patients was

1,67,543, included 4,802 dis-charged from hospitals onSunday.

He said that on Saturday,1,39,454 sample were testedand now the total Covid testsin the state had reached54,90,354 so far.

Prasad said 27,364 asymp-tomatic COVID-19 patientswere in home isolation, whichwas over 50 per cent of the totalactive cases. Besides, he said,there were 2,463 COVID-19patients in private hospitals,256 in semi-paid hotels and therest in government-run Covidhospitals.

At present, there are 16,462containment zones in the statein which 40,658 positive casesare residing. In these contain-ment zones, there are over14.75 lakh houses in whichover 85.22 lakh people are liv-ing.

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Following guidelines of theUnion Government, the

Uttar Pradesh governmentannouncing major relaxationswhich include starting of metroservices from September 7,gathering of 100 people inpublic places and religiousgatherings from September 21.

The government has alsodecided not to impose lock-downs outside the contain-ment zone but the week-endrestrictions starting fromFriday night to early Mondaymorning will continue.

As per the Centre’s guide-lines, the UP Government alsoallowed senior students (class-es 9 to 12) to go to schools buton a voluntary basis with writ-ten permission from their par-ents.

The guidelines were issuedby Chief Secretary RK Tiwariaccording to which metrotrains will run for the first timesince March starting September7, “in a graded manner” whilesocial, academic, sports, enter-tainment, cultural, religiousand political functions can beheld with a maximum 100

people from September 21. “Such limited gatherings

can be held with mandatorywearing of face masks, socialdistancing, provision for ther-mal scanning and hand-washor sanitiser,” the guidelines say.

“Till September 20, theprevious guidelines of 30 per-sons in marriage and 20 in cre-mations will be followed,” theChief Secretary said.

He also clarified thatDistrict Administration willnot clamp any lockdown out-side the containment zone.“The lockdown will now belimited only to the containmentzone,” the Chief secretary said.

This decision was takenafter the Union Governmentasked the State Governmentsnot to impose any local lock-down, outside the contain-ment zones, without prior con-sultation with the Central gov-ernment. “But the weekendrestrictions will continue,”Tiwari said.

While schools and collegeswill remain shut till Septemberend, they can call in 50 per centof their teachers for facilitatingonline teaching. Students of

Continued on Page 6

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Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)supremo Mayawati on

Sunday gave her party’s fullsupport to the Centre’s freshguidelines on Unlock 4.0.

In a tweet on Sunday,Mayawati said the governmenthad done what the BSP hadbeen demanding since long.

“Making a common policyfor the entire country onunlock and lockdown is a wel-come decision of the Centre,which has been demanded bythe BSP since long. This willend the politics being done onthe backdrop of coronaviruswhile the people will be bene-fited with it by getting morerelaxation and facilities,” shesaid in the tweet in Hindi.

In the fresh guidelinesissued by the Union HomeMinistry, it has clearly said thatthe state cannot announcelockdown in their state arbi-trarily and for it they wouldhave to consult the Centre andtake its permission.

The new guidelines alsoallow religious, political andsocial gathering of maximum100 people after September 21while there will be total relax-ation on inter-state and intra-state movement of vehiclesand people.

Meanwhile, Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi Vadraattacked UP Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath over the mur-der of railway official’s wife andson and claimed that “nobodyis safe” in the state.

The wife and son of thesenior railway official werefound dead at their Lucknowresidence on Saturday in asuspected case of murder. Theywere shot dead. Later the policeclaimed that the officer’s minordaughter was involved in thekilling.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Sunday asserted that the fight against

encephalitis is in its last phase in Gorakhpur andits surrounding areas and that the disease will beeradicated in the region in two years.

He also said that the state has taken severalsteps to prevent the spread of the novel coron-avirus. “The region is in the last phase of its fightagainst encephalitis and in two years, the disease,which was the cause of death of a huge numberof people for the last 40 years, will be eradicatedfrom the Gorakhpur-Basti comissionary (divi-sions), if efforts undertaken in the last three yearscontinue,” Adityanath told reporters here.

We will fight against COVID-19 on the samelines," the chief minister said.

Adityanath claimed that among the bigstates in the country, Uttar Pradesh has the low-est number of COVID-19 cases and has the high-est number of coronavirus tests conducted.

The chief minister was apparently referringto Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka, which have a total infection tally morethan Uttar Pradesh.

“Due to timely decisions taken on COVID-19 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are ina better position. Prevention is the only way tillwe have a COVID vaccine,” he said.

Adityanath also said that the Swachch Bharatcampaign played a leading role tackling theCOVID-19 infection and other vector borne dis-ease as toilets were constructed in large numbers.

The chief minister said because of the coor-dinated work of the administration, sanitationdepartment and health department, and severalawareness campaigns, we are able to face the chal-

lenges of COVID-19 and vector borne diseases. Presenting statistics of encephalitis and other

vector-borne diseases in eastern Uttar Pradesh,Adityanath said, “In 2019, out of 816 AES(Acute Encephalitis Syndrome) cases, 34 died andin 2020, out of 396 cases, 12 died. There was nocase of malaria. In 2019, out of 135 Dengue cases,two died, whereas in 2020, all the 32 cases recov-ered.”

He also presented district-wise data of AESand Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases ofGorakhpur, Kushinagar, Maharajganj and Deoraand showed how the number of cases and deathrate had decreased hugely.

Adityanath during a meeting with officialsregarding protection against COVID-19, con-struction of roads, cleanliness and sanitation,instructed them to increase the number ofCOVID-19 tests and create awareness against theinfection. He directed district magistrates and theChief Minister’s Office to hold meetings everymorning and evening regarding COVID-19.

The chief minister said in the meeting thatthe COVID hospital at the Bal Sansthan of theBRD Medical College should be readied.

He also said after activating the oxygen plantin the BRD Medical College’s old super special-ty building, 50-bed facility should be started assoon as possible.

People of five categories that is pregnantwomen, elderly people, children and people suf-fering from other ailments should not be givenpermission for home isolation, but hospitalisedin case they test COVID-19 positive, Adityanathsaid. He also instructed that at least 4,000 coro-navirus tests should be conducted per day afteridentifying COVID-19 suspects using door-to-door surveys.

Lucknow (PNS): The UttarPradesh government haswarned the private sugar millsfor the delay in payment of canearrears to the farmers for therecently concluded 2019-20crushing season.

The government has direct-ed Sugarcane department totake action against mills show-ing laxity in settling the farmers’dues. Of the 119 mills in UP, amajority of 94 units are operat-ed by the private sector and theremaining are in the cooperativeand public sector.

Sources said that canearrears of about Rs 11,000 croreare still pending on the UP millsfor the last 2019-20 crushingseason, when cane worth morethan Rs 32,000 crore was pro-cured from the farmers by thesugar mills.

Recently, UP’s Additional

Chief Secretary (Sugar Industryand Sugarcane) SanjayBhoosreddy said the mills hadpaid cent per cent of the canearrears totalling Rs 33,048 crorefor the previous 2018-19 crush-ing season. A week ago, the stategovernment had alsoannounced a financial packageof Rs 500 crore for cooperativesector sugar mills to settle theiroutstanding for the 2019-20season. The money would beprovided to the 24 cooperativesector mills as loan, whichwould then be transferreddirectly into the bank accountsof the beneficiary farmers.

“The state is sensitivetowards the sugarcane and assuch Rs 500 crore has beenreleased for cooperative mills formaking prompt payment,” saidan official of the cane depart-ment. The official said despite

the sugar sale remaining negli-gible during the lockdown, canepayments worth Rs 5,954 crorewere made to farmers. In thispayment, the decision to tag thesale price of ethanol and sanitis-er for cane price payment wasimportant.

According to the state gov-ernment, total cane payments bythe UP’s private and public sec-tor mills during the three-and-half years of Yogi Adityanath’srule amount to nearly Rs 1.03lakh crore. This includes caneoutstanding on mills for the pre-vious crushing seasons.

Yogi Adityanath became thechief minister of UP on March19, 2017.

In the last three years, thestate logged more than 326 mil-lion tonnes (MT) of cane crush-ing and 36.5 MT of sugar pro-duction by all the mills.

Lucknow (PNS): Bickering within the Congressafter Letter-23 expose continued unabated inUttar Pradesh with former state president ofUPCC and ex-MP Nirmal Khatri jumping intothe controversy by attacking Ghulam NabiAzad, accusing him of weakening the party dur-ing his (Khatri’s) stewardship of the party in UP.

In a post in the social media on Saturdaynight, Khatri, who was UPCC president beforeRaj Babbar, said that whenever Azad becamethe in-charge of UP, the party was doomed inthe elections.

“During Azad’s captaincy in 1996, theCongress allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) and again in 2017, due to his insistence,the party went for alliance with Samajwadi Partyand won just seven seats, the lowest ever,” healleged. Congress always goes on the back gearwhenever Azad is in-charge of the state, he fur-ther charged.

“Every Congressman was against thealliance with SP in 2017 polls and even RahulGandhi did not support it. But still it happenedand the fate of the Congress was doomed in theelections,” Khatri said.

The attack on Ghulam Nabi Azad, the maincrusader of the Letter-23 seeking more pow-

erful party high command, came after theLakhimpur unit of the party passed a resolu-tion against former Union minister JitinPrasada, who was among the signatories of theletter.

Earlier, former Congress MLC NaseebPathan put out a video message demanding vet-eran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s ouster fromthe party.

“As he has broken the party discipline, heshould be made ‘azad’ and expelled from theparty,” Pathan stated.

Pathan, incidentally, was one of Azad’sstaunchest loyalists in the UP Congress at onetime. Surprisingly, instead of dousing theflames of revolt, the UPCC leadership main-tained a studied silence on the issue. An unver-ified audio clip of conversation between twolocal Congress leaders revealed that the demon-stration against Prasada was staged at the behestof a senior party leader and some labourers hadbeen hired to shout slogans.

UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu, inter-estingly, defended the outburst, saying thatsome party workers wanted to convey their feel-ings to the party high command.

��0�'��'�� 7+-,�6

As there is a drop in MGN-REGA work due to the

onset of monsoon and themigrant workers who hadreturned to their villages inBundelkhand during lockdownhave decided to return to bigcities in search of work to earntheir livelihood.

Every evening around 50-70 people from Naraini blockof Banda district board trucksto go to different regions ofDelhi, Noida or Gurugram.Majority of them are construc-tion workers who work aslabourers at different construc-tion sites. The trucks whichbring raw material for theBundelkhand Expressway ferrythese workers back to big citiesfrom where they had come.

Brinda, around 30, has

decided to go to Noida with hisfamily of five, including his wifeand three children. He is how-ever leaving behind his moth-er in the village.

“I used to work in a con-struction site in Noida. Duringlockdown, when all the workcame to a standstill I returnedhome. We walked for around12 hours and then got a lift on

a truck coming to Banda. ButI was quarantined and wasforced to stay in a school for 14days,” he told this reporter onthe telephone.

“Initially, I got work inMGNREGA project and waspaid half of the amount. I gotfree ration too. Thus, I was ableto survive for the last fivemonths. But now the work in

the MGNREGA projects hasdried up because of the rains.Every day I go to panchayatoffice but am told to come thenext day as there is no workbecause of rains,” Brinda said.

He said in this scenario Idecided to go back to Noida. “Iheard construction work hasstarted there. I contacted thecontractor with whom I used towork and he too asked me toreturn. So, I am going backnow,” he said.

Desraj, another migrantfrom the Korrhi village inBanda, has also decided to goback to Delhi with his family.

“What will we do here?There is no work, hence nomoney. I got ration only oncewhich is not enough for thefamily of seven. So I have paidmoney to the truck driver whois kind enough to take us toDelhi,” he said.

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Alarmed with the risingcases of alleged love-jihad

in the state and also consider-ing that such incidents manytimes trigger law and orderproblems, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath asked the policeofficials to take strict measuresand curb such crimes.

The harassment of womenand love-jihad incidents wererecently reported from manydistricts, including Kanpur,Lakhimpur Kheri andBalrampur. The Vishwa HinduParishad, which has been advo-cating action against love-jihadfor a long time, demandedthat a law be enacted to curbthe menace. Seeing the rise insuch incidents, Yogi Adityanathhas directed officials to chalkout an action plan to preventsuch incidents.

In recent days, cases oflove-jihad have been reportedfrom Meerut, Kheri andKanpur Nagar.

According to AdditionalChief Secretary (Home)Awanish Kumar Awasthi, thechief minister has asked forinstant and strict action againstwomen’s harassment and love-jihad incidents. Meerut,Kanpur Nagar and LakhimpurKheri have recently reportedcases of girls being trapped onthe pretext of falling in love.

Madhuram Mishra,Vishwa Hindu Parishad’sKanpur unit organisationalhead, says, “The cases of love-jihad are quite old. A gang isactive in carrying out suchoperations. In Kanpur Nagar,Farrukhabad, Jhansi, Etawah,Hamirpur, Lalitpur, Fatehpurand other districts, there havebeen cases of love-jihad. Peopleare in touch with us. We are

raising awareness about it.”Recently, a young girl inKanpur Nagar had released avideo on social media whichwent viral, saying she wouldundergo religious conversionon the pretext of consummat-ing the marriage.

After hearing this, activistsof Vishwa Hindu Parishad cre-ated a ruckus outside KidwaiNagar police station, accusinga youth of forceful religiousconversion.

They demanded that theaccused be arrested and the girlhanded over to them.Bholendra, the area head of theVishwa Hindu Parishad, saidthe love-jihad syndicate wasactive in every district of UttarPradesh.

Each syndicate comprisesseveral agents. The incidents inLakhimpur and Kanpur Nagarhave come to the fore. The poorsections of society, especiallyvillagers, are primarily target-ed. ADG (Law and Order)Prashant Kumar said, “Thepolice are working with sensi-tivity in cases of violenceagainst women. Special atten-tion is being given to inter-faithharmony. Reports of such inci-dents are being looked intopromptly. Each case is treatedon its merit.”

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During his visit toGorakhpur, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath played therole of a referee, forcing law-makers of the region to burytheir differences and come outof the meeting room singingthe song of unity and promis-ing to work for the welfare ofthe people.

A senior office-bearer ofthe state Bharatiya Janata Party

told this reporter on Sundaythat the visit of Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath to Gorakhpurhad ended the week-long dis-pute between party parliamen-tarian and legislators followingtransfer of an assistant engineerof the Public WorksDepartment (PWD).

“The first thing that theCM did after reachingGorakhpur was to call all thelegislators and MPs for a meet-ing and asked them to shedtheir differences and workunitedly for the development ofthe area,” the BJP leader said.

Yogi Adityanath also spokeseparately to all the people’srepresentatives to know theproblem of their constituenciesand assured them that thesewould be resolved.

“We successfully eradicat-ed Japanese encephalitis andnow we have to look for a solu-tion to the ravaging floodsand water-logging in theregion,” he told the legislatorsand parliamentarians.

After the meeting, theMLAs and MPs came out sat-isfied and presented a unitedface. Gorakhpur MP RaviKishan told media personsthat the CM had asked all thepeople’s representatives to beunited as such disputes onlymaligned the image of theparty and the government.

“The CM asked us to go toour constituencies and work forthe people,” he said.

BJP’s Gorakhpur SadarMLA, Dr Radha Mohan DasAgarwal, who was servedshow-cause notice by the partyafter his public post on corrup-tion and other irregularities,also looked satisfied and saidthat there was no dispute overthe transfer of PWD assistantengineer KK Singh.

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Railway officer RD Bajpai,whose wife and son were

shot dead at his official bun-galow, lodged a report of mur-der against unidentified per-son(s) at Gautampalli policestation on Sunday.

On Saturday, the policehad detained Bajpai’s minordaughter. She is a national levelshooting champion.

Giving details, policespokesman AK Dwivedi said,“Bajpai lodged an FIR regard-ing the murder of his wife,Malini, and his son, Sarvdutt,at his official bungalow. But hedid not name anyone and sotechnically the case was regis-tered against unidentified per-son(s). Now the police willsubmit a detailed report of thefindings of the investigation.”

ACP (Hazratganj) RKMishra said Bajpai was satis-fied with the police probe andits findings in the case. “But he

did not name anyone in theFIR and a murder case wasregistered against unidenti-fied person(s),” he added.

On Saturday, the policehad detained Bajpai’s minordaughter, claiming she hadshot her mother and herbrother using a .22 bore pistol.

Commissioner of PoliceSujeet Pandey had said Bajpai’sdaughter was a juvenile andshe was under depression.“She used a .22 bore pistol tokill her mother and her broth-er,” he had said, adding that thegirl had injured her hands her-self using a razor which wasrecovered from the scene.

“We found old injuries onher hand and she confessedthat she inflicted the injurieson her in the past,” the CP hadsaid.

He added that interroga-tion was done in the presenceof the girl’s maternal grandfa-ther and other members of herfamily and she was not inter-

rogated in a harsh way.The incident had come to

light around 3:30 pm afterBajpai’s minor daughter calledthe police.

Senior police officers,including the DGP andCommissioner of Police hadreached the scene to overseethe investigation.

Around 4 pm on Sunday,Bajpai performed the last ritesof his wife and son. Senior rail-way officials kept on visitingthe house throughout the day.

Before the bodies weretaken for cremation, they werebrought home from the mor-tuary where Bajpai asked copsto allow her daughter to see thefaces of her mother and broth-er but she reportedly did notshow interest and remainedunmoved.

No media person wasallowed to enter the housewhile Railway Protection Force(RPF) kept guard at the gate ofthe residence.

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An-80-year-old man died after hewas hit by a moving train in

Kakori on Sunday morning. Thedeceased was identified as MatadeenChaurasia of Bamrauli village inKakori.

As per reports, the station masterof Kakori railway station informed thepolice about the body of a man lyingon the tracks between Kakori andAlambagh stations.

The deceased was identified asRinku of Bamrauli village in Kakori.

The police said Matadeen had lefthis house to relieve himself alongsidethe railway tracks and was hit by sometrain. The body was sent for autopsy.

In another incident, a 39-year-oldman identified as Moolchand Kashyapof Begariya died after he was hit by amoving train in Para on Sunday morn-ing. Reports said Moolchand hadgone to relieve himself and was hit bysome moving train in Bhuhanr village.The body was sent for autopsy.

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The prime accused in themurder of Kabir Mutt’s

administrator Dheerendra Daswas arrested after an encounterwith the police in a village inMadiaon on Sunday morning.

He sustained firearmwound by a bullet fired by thepolice team which surroundedhim and asked him to surrender.

The accused was identifiedas Jitendra Singh aka Jeetesh ofHardoi. He along with his aidesPrem Singh Chauhan, GangaRam, Sudhir Pandey and AlokVerma had shot at DheerendraDas on August 24. Das later suc-cumbed to the injuries.

A police team was trailingJitendra, who had opened fire onDas on the fateful day.

“We were tipped off thatJitendra was going towardsGhaila village of Madiaon andthe team chased him and askedhim to surrender. However,Jitendra opened fire at the policeand in the retaliatory fire, he washit by a bullet and overpowered,ADCP (North) Rajesh KumarSrivastava said.

He added that the policehad announced a reward of Rs25,000 on Jitendra’s arrest.

The police recovered acountry-made pistol from theaccused.

Meanwhile, the policearrested another man, identifiedas Manohar of Atrauli locality,for giving shelter to the crimi-nals involved in the murder ofDheerendra Das.

The police said the accusedhad disclosed that they hadtaken shelter at Manohar’s homeafter killing Das.

Manohar has been chargedwith criminal conspiracy and forgiving shelter to the accused.

��Two groups clashed over

asserting their supremacy inthe area during which one of theparties opened fire, injuringtheir rival in Mohanlalganj onSaturday night.

The police arrested a man inthis connection. The injured wasadmitted to the KGMU TraumaCentre and his condition wassaid to be critical.

As per reports, some men

riding bikes reached AhmadKheda village on Saturday nightand started abusing their rival.One Ranjeet, his brother Dilipand their father Jamvantopposed them, leading to aclash.

On getting information, apolice team rushed to the spotand intervened. Meanwhile, therival party opened fire and a bul-let hit Dilip on his shoulder. Thepolice later nabbed one of theaccused, identified as UmaShanker of Ahmad Kheda vil-lage. The police recovered acountry-made pistol from himand two bullet shells from thecrime scene.

A little later, supporters ofUma Shanker reached thereand tried to free him from thepolice custody, demanding thata cross-FIR be registered in thecase.

Seeing the mob’s strength,additional police force wasrushed there and the situationwas brought under control.

Dilip’s father lodged a reportagainst Uma Shanker, Munnaand Mulayam in this connec-tion.

-�� *!Lucknow (PNS): Three technical sessions were held onSunday on the second day of the five-day online faculty devel-opment program organised by the AKTU under the jointaegis of All India Council for Technical Education. Dr. PragyaDwivedi from MNNIT, Allahabad discussed artificial neur-al network (ANN) and how it resembled with human brainnetwork. “An ANN model can be built which can learn andact like a human being,” she said. She talked about archi-tecture of ANN, building blocks of ANN, different types ofnetwork architecture and also different types of training andlearning methods such as supervised, unsupervised, rein-forcement. She discussed about how to overcome from theover-fitting in ANN training model. Dr Neelesh Purohit fromIIIT Allahabad discussed quick review of different learningmodels like artificial neural network (ANN). He also dis-cussed how artificial intelligence could be applied in upperlayers of 5G cellular networks in order to achieve better per-formance. Prof. S Balasundaram from JNU, New Delhi start-ed with very interesting example of dataset of applying fora house loan, what were different factors which were respon-sible to sanction a loan from bank side. He said that needto build a decision making model for that dataset which mustbe converted into such format so that it could easily be usedfor model training and creation. He discussed about the bina-ry pattern based classification problems and how a classifi-er, especially a linear classifier could be built to perform clas-sification.

Lucknow (PNS): With Unlock 4.0guidelines extending the closure ofschools till September 30, stakeholdersassociated with education admit that thestudents will be affected because apartfrom content there was a lot of collab-orative learning which happened inclassrooms.

A senior Education departmentofficial said that it would make a dif-ference even though online classeswere going on and digital options weremany. He admitted that looking into theprevailing conditions, the best of efforts

were being made to see that the studentsdid not suffer and it was also necessaryto keep the school closed in the pan-demic situation “The class interac-tions are very different and the teacherknows instantly which student is miss-ing out on what, and this is not possi-ble in online classes. Also, there is a lotof questioning which students do in alive class. Although students have thephone numbers of teachers it is differ-ent when a teacher is physically present,”he said. The official said that the worstaffected would be those students who

had moved from lower levels to high-er levels.

“Students of class 5 who have beenpromoted to class 6 and those of class8 who have been promoted to class 9will face difficulties because in regularclasses also these students take sometime to understand and grasp thechange,” he said.

The official admitted that the brightstudents were doing well and learningwas taking place.

The principal of a private schoolsaid that continued lockdown would not

impact much on the content of learn-ing but the students would miss out alot of things which happen in a class-room.

“Students from different gradeswill face different problems. For exam-ple, class 12 will miss out on the prac-ticals which are an important part oflearning, Content of learning is some-thing which the student can catch at anystage and fill in the gap but the inter-actions which happen in the class arevery vital and contribute immensely tothe learning process,” he said.

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The Health department’scontainment activity to

effectively check the spread ofcoronavirus infection in thestate capital will now be morelocalised — in areas having themaximum number of positivecases.

Disclosing this, AdditionalChief Medical Officer Dr MKSingh, who is officiating asCMO, said that henceforth thecontainment areas would bedivided into three categoriesand associated activities wouldbe carried out accordingly.

He said that in areas hav-ing minimum coronavirusinfection cases, there would beno barricading, police or offi-cials from the administrationand the focus would remain oncontainment areas where thenumber of coronavirus positivecases is high. “The cause ofconcern are areas where thesecases are high. Movement inthese areas will be completelystopped. This is because despitethe awareness spread aboutthe virus, people are not fol-lowing the protocols properly.Hence we have decided that themovement of people in theseareas has to be completelystopped within 200 metres ofthe areas having the maxi-mum cases,” the ACMO added.

He said that there would bethree categories — maximum,moderate and minimum rang-ing from a few to many cases.

District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash presidedover a meeting with private

pathologies on Sunday. Hegave strict directions that labswhich were not authorised tocarry out Covid tests shouldstop these tests immediatelyotherwise action would betaken against them under theEpidemic Diseases Act.

The district magistrate alsosaid that all COVID-19 patientswho had been tested onceshould be tested on the sameID and before carrying out thetest, complete details should betaken of the patient, includinghis or her mobile phone num-ber and address. He also saidthat the list of positive casesshould be uploaded on theDistrict Surveillance Portal.

Meanwhile, King George’sMedical University ViceChancellor, Lt Gen (Retd) DrBipin Puri, said that he hadgiven instructions to all depart-ments of the medical universi-ty to follow the basics of coro-navirus prevention at the uni-versity and its hospitals.

“The directions are toensure implementation of theguidelines and SOPs (standardoperating procedures) for theprevention of the coronavirusand the results will show insome time,” he said.

Regarding Covid tests ofstaff and faculty, he said thatthey were in the process of tab-ulating how many tested pos-

itive.Regarding the BCG trial

which the KGMU is carryingout, the VC said that the vac-cine had been administered tothe health workers and wasbeing evaluated over a periodof time. Talking about the plas-ma therapy which the medicaluniversity was carrying, hesaid that KGMU staff were veryactive in donating the plasmabecause they understood whatit meant to the COVID-19patients. He said it was impor-tant that the COVID-19patients among the generalpublic who had recoveredshould come forward anddonate plasma and serve the

mankind at large.Meanwhile, the Sanjay

Gandhi Post-graduate Instituteof Medical Sciences spokesper-son said that apart from takingcare of 80-bed Intensive CareUnit of Rajdhani Covid hospi-tal, the medical institute wasalso shouldering the responsi-bility of imparting training tothe faculty of 52 medical col-leges across the state for treat-ment of patients on ventilatorsupport.

“On the initiative taken byChief Minister YogiAdityanath, the SGPGIMS hasstarted virtual ICU trainingthrough ECHO platform,wherein 52 medical colleges ofUP are connected via videoconferencing to train the doc-tors in ICU management.Every day in the evening, thefaculty and students of 2-3medical colleges discuss theirdifficult cases with theSGPGIMS faculty and getexpert opinion and properguidelines from ICU experts,”the spokesperson said. She saidthat this enabled the experts inkeeping a close watch on theentire management of the ICUcare in these medical colleges.

Head of SGPGIMSendocrinology department, DrSK Mishra, while giving detailsof how they were handling thepatient in COVID-19 times inthe non-Covid departments,said that they were taking onlysemi emergency and emer-gency cases. He said that 90-95per cent cases were follow-uppatients and the remainingwere new patients.

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Facing opposition from their families over theiraffair, teenaged lovers ended their lives by

jumping before a train in Ballia while in Budaun,a youth ended his life after his lover refused toelope and marry him.

According to reports from Ballia, the cops ofthe Bairiya police station found the body of ayouth and a girl lying on the railway track onBallia-Chapra route in Ibrahimpur village onSunday morning. Both the victims were in theirearly twenties. The local villagers claimed that theduo jumped before a speeding train to commitsuicide. The cops later managed to identify theyouth as Rajan Kumar Singh, a resident of thesame area. Rajan reportedly sent a WhatsAppmessage on his elder brother’s mobile saying ̀ bye-bye’ and committed suicide. A case was registeredin this regard and efforts were on to identify thegirl.

In Budaun, 19-year-old Arun Singh, a resi-dent of Kathauli hamlet of Civil Lines, was in lovewith a girl residing in the same locality. OnSaturday night, he reached the girl’s house andasked her to elope with him so that they couldmarry. The girl’s family members were away toattend some function and only her sister was pre-sent. However, the girl refused so the Youthallegedly shot himself dead.

Soon after the news of his death reachedArun’s family members, they along with somelocal residents staged a demonstration claiming

that the girl had phoned and called Arun to herhome and when he reached there, her familymembers shot him dead. They claimed it to be acase of honour killing.

The local police claimed to have detained thefamily members of the girl and were making fur-ther investigations into the charges. The body ofthe victim was sent for post-mortem.

In Maharajganj district, one person wasarrested for raping and killing a minor girl. Aminor girl aged 12 was allegedly raped and mur-dered in the district on Friday night. The policeclaimed to have arrested the accused, identifiedas Manoj Paswan, and registered a case againsthim under various sections of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) and the Protection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The body of the 12-year-old girl, missing sinceFriday evening, was recovered from a forest inSohagi Barwa Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturdayevening.

The accused raped the girl and later strangledher before dumping her body. The parents sus-pected Manoj’s involvement after which the copsarrested him and he also confessed to the crime.

�� The Sarojininagar police arrested four auto

lifters and recovered three stolen bikes and a coun-try-made pistol from them. They were identifiedas Kushagra Tripathi of Indiranagar, Ankit ofUttarakhand, Madhukar Bhadauria aka ShaniKanpur and Aman aka Rahul Auraiya district.

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Lucknow ((PNS): UttarPradesh Metro RailCorporation (UPMRC)Managing Director KumarKeshav said that they wouldrun all the 16 Metro trains andopen all the Metro stationswhen Lucknow Metro beginsoperations on September 7.

He said that all the trainswould run at intervals of five-and-half minutes and the tim-ings would be the same — 6am to 10 am. Keshav said theLucknow Metro continue withall the facilities and remainopen even though the numberof passengers could be less asschools were not open.

“We want to make surethat the people know that theMetro is available for them,” he

added. Regarding the con-nectivity for tertiary routesfrom Metro stations and theavailability of autos and tem-pos at the stations, he said thatcurrently they were just focus-ing on starting the Metro railservice. “First we have to startthe services and graduallypeople will gain confidenceand start coming in,” he added.

Keshav said that they haddrafted rules for Covid pre-cautions for the shops at theMetro premises which werelikely to open gradually.“Those manning the shopshave to wear masks, gloves andhave sanitisers,” he added.

The UPMRC has alsodrafted a business continuityplan under which necessary

measures to contain the oper-ation and management costshall be planned and imple-mented.

These include postpone-ment of activities which haveno direct bearing on trainrunning and safety like paint-ing of railings, reduction inon-roll and contractual manhours, wherever feasible.

The Lucknow Metro aimsto stress on the importance ofsafe journey in a clean andhygienic environment, whichwill be necessary to win backthe confidence of the passen-gers, and contactless travelrequiring no physical contactexcept with the metro trainseat. Use of smart card will beencouraged.

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Arush of candidates wasseen in this phase of ongo-

ing BHU entrance examina-tions when thousands of can-didates appeared at differentcentres for seeking admissionsin BEd/ BEd Special courseshere on Sunday. It was thepenultimate day of this phaseof entrance exams commencedfrom August 24. The nextphase would be held fromSeptember 9 to 18 in which itis expected that a heavy rush ofcandidates would be seen whenthe entrance exams for admis-sions in various undergraduate(UG) courses would be con-ducted. In this phase, the can-didates appeared for admis-sions in various postgraduate(PG) courses except a few UGcourses like BEd and LLB.(Hons). The exams were heldin two sessions and rush wasseen in both started from 8.30am and 4 pm.

In view of the COVID-19pandemic, the university had

taken a number of measures toensure safety of candidates.Physical distancing during theexams was followed by a way ofmaking a seating arrangementso that there was at least a dis-tance of two metres betweentwo candidates. The centres,tables and chairs were sprayedwith disinfectant prior to thestart of exams. No candidates

were allowed to enter the cen-tres without wearing masks.

Meanwhile, the universityhas also intensified its prepara-tions for an online Open BookExamination (OBE) for thestudents of terminal semester2019-20, proposed to be con-ducted after the entranceexams.

To help the students make

them familiar with this newexam system and OBE module,the university has conductedmock online OBE in whichfrom 9 am to 1 pm. UG stu-dents and from 2 pm. to 6 pmPG students took the advantageof the facility. Till September 3such mock online OBE will beheld.

The students are advised togo through the ‘step-by-step’procedure for the online OBEsystem (Manual) beforeappearing for the mock exam.They are also suggested topractice downloading ques-tion papers from the portal anduploading handwritten answer-sheets on the portal using dif-ferent tools (mobile phones/scanners) as per the procedurefor download and uploadinggiven in the manual.

They are also advised tomake full use of the four-hourmock exam practice sessionbefore existing because as soonas they click the ‘leave and fin-ish’ button, it will close theirsession for the day.

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Chief Minister (CM) YogiAdityanath directed the

officers for completion of KashiVishwanath Dham project intime. He visited the templepremises around 10 pm onSaturday when shringar bhogaarti was going on. After join-ing the aarti, Yogi reachedGarbgrih (sanctum sancto-rum) where he offered prayer.Later, he saw the progress ofongoing construction work inthis ‘dream project’ of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andenquired about the work atnorthern gate of Rani BhavaniMandir, Gangeshwar Mahadevand many other buildingsincluding facilitation centre,Mumukshu Bhavan andrefreshment house.

Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Gaurang Rathi, who isalso Municipal Commissionerhere, informed the CM that theconcerned agency had beeninstructed to increase the num-ber of workers in view to expe-dite the work. He also informedthat as many as 24 projects willbe done in the corridor andconstruction work of 16 is inthe progress while the samewould be started in rest of theprojects soon.

Yogi also held a reviewmeeting at Circuit House andasked the officers to acceleratethe pace of all developmentprojects as lockdown is over. Hesaid that the development workshould be done by maintainingCOVID-19 guidelines. He saidthat along the ring road, sys-tematic development should bedone by acquiring land and dif-ferent clusters including trans-port and medical hubs shouldbe made in a planned manner.He asked the Electricity depart-ment to include Banaras HinduUniversity (BHU) campusunder Integrated PowerDevelopment Scheme (IPDS)

and send a proposal to the gov-ernment in this direction.

Besides, he instructed theofficers to develop basic facil-ities and commercial activitiesat under-construction multi-level underground parking sitesat Godowlia, Circuit House,Townhall and Benia Bagh. Hehas instructed the project man-ager of Rajkiya Nirman Nigamto complete a 50-bed women’swing in the premises of PanditDeendayal Upadhyay Hospitalby October. He also gave sev-eral other instructions to theofficers to complete all devel-opment projects in time.

Earlier, while reviewingthe progress made in the fightagainst COVID-19 pandemicat a meeting in BHU withsenior district and universityofficers, Yogi emphasised thatBHU should use its full poten-tial and give results accordingto its pride and reputation and

said that the results of samplesshould be given within 24hours, so that the treatment ofthe positive patient can bestarted immediately. The CMheld the meeting immediatelyafter landing at BHU helipad inthe evening. It was his secondmeeting during a pandemicperiod at BHU. After stayinghere during the night, the CMleft for Gorakhpur on Sundaymorning.

Stressing the need forincreasing the OPD capacity inBHU, he said “wherever thereis a system of dialysis, keep sep-arate machines for Covid andnon-Covid patients,” he said,adding that after home isola-tion, the need for L-1 hospitalsystem has reduced and nowour focus should be on increas-ing the arrangements for L-2and L-3 level hospitals andthere should not be any short-age of beds for Covid patients

in the city. Yogi strictly said thatthe private hospitals should notdemand more money than theprescribed rates and asked theofficers to make inspectionsthere from time to time.Referring to the suicide of twopatients in the BHU recently,the CM termed it as a matterof concern and said that thisleads to a wrong message.

During the visit, he wasaccompanied by UP ministersNeelkanth Tiwari and RavindraJaiswal, ADG (Zone) BrijBhushan, DivisionalCommissioner DeepakAgrawal, IG (Range) VijaySingh Meena, DistrictMagistrate Kaushal RajSharma, SSP Amit Pathak andmany others while at BHUmeeting, Vice-Chancellor ProfRakesh Bhatnagar, rector ProfVK Shukla and many otheruniversity officials were alsopresent.

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Prayagraj division of NorthCentral Railway has invited

expression of interest (EOI)from interested individuals/customers/ start-ups/ compa-nies/ agencies for developmentof goods sheds of Prayagrajdivision in public private part-nership under BOT (Built ,operate and transfer) scheme .In this never before and gold-en opportunity, innovativebusiness proposals have beeninvited on revenue sharingmodel without any alteration tofreight fare structure. Goodssheds targeted for develop-ment under this PPP schemeare Aligarh, Mainpuri, CPCKanpur, Chunar, Naini,

Mirzapur, Etawah, Etah,Shikohabad, Panki Dham andFatehpur.

Developmental works ingoods sheds will includeimprovement in loading/unloading surface, circulatingarea, lighting, labourers restingfacilities, merchant meetingroom, approach road otherbasic amenities.

Under the invited EOIselected agency shall beentrusted to out these devel-opment works in assignedgoods shed as per scope ofdevelopment works identifiedby agency. In this uniqueopportunity applicant is free tosubmit any innovative businessproposal and revenue sharingmodel with only condition that

no change in fare structure offreight transportation in rail-ways can be proposed.Interested individuals/ cus-tomers/ start-ups/ companies/agencies goods can submittheir business proposals incommercial branch of DRMoffice Prayagraj on or before 15hours of September 11, 2020. SrDCM of Prayagraj DivisionShri Anshoo Pandey hasinformed that after September11 discussion with all appli-cants shall also be organisedwhich will be notified to allapplicant in due course.Received EOIs shall be exam-ined and evaluated further forselection of agency for develop-ment of goods sheds underBOT scheme.

North Central Railway hastaken series of steps to increasefreight loading, speed of freighttrains, improvement in loadinginfrastructure, timely imple-mentation of concessions andfreight incentive schemes etc.Despite ongoing COVID-19crisis, NCR has loaded morefreight in July-20 as comparedto July-19 and continuing thispositive trend and registeredloading of 1.13 million tonnesin August -20 till 28th as com-pared to 1.09 million tonnes inthe same period of August-19.In August 20, goods trainsclocked average speed of47.54Kmph on North CentralRailway registering increase ofmore than 100 per cent overAugust -2019.

ALLAHABAD (PNS): TheAkhil Bharatiya AkharaParishad, the apex body of allthe 13 recognised Hindumonastic orders (akharas) inthe country, has demandedimplementation of CommonCivil Code in the country.

Expressing concern overthe increasing population ofone community, ABAP presi-dent Mahant Narendra Girialso demanded the enactmentof a two-child law to check it.

In a communiqué issuedrecently, Giri said a certaincommunity enjoys minoritystatus but is persecuting themajority community.

He cited the recent arrest ofa girl of another community inPrayagraj for using profanityand abusive remarks for Hindudeities in a video which wentviral on social media.

The mahant said, even

before the construction of Ramtemple in Ayodhya, some ele-ments were talking aboutdemolishing it, and challengingSanatan culture.

The growing populationof this community in the coun-try could become a huge threatin the coming days, he said.

Common civil code andpopulation control law canonly be brought by the BJP gov-ernment. If this governmentdoes so, then BJP will rule forthe next 50 years, he said.

If these measures are nottaken, then the followers ofSanatan Dharma in the coun-try will also have to considerincreasing their numbers.

Giri urged intellectuals andleaders of the minority com-munity to convince their peo-ple to adopt population controlmeasures and dissuade themfrom issuing statements that

hurt the religious sentiments ofthe followers of SanatanDharma.

FRUIT VENDOR SHOTDEAD: A fruit vendor was shotdead by his friend in OldBairahana under the Kydganjpolice station late on Saturdaynight.. Swinging into action thepolice reached the incidentsite and arrested his partner onsuspicion and later he con-fessed to have shot his friendover an trivial issue under theinfluence of liquor.

However, police could notget any information in connec-tion with the deceased’s fami-ly members till late in thenight. Police took the body ofthe victim into its custody andsent it to the mortuary for thepostmortem examination.

A resident of Ismailganjunder the Tharavai police sta-tion, Suresh used to stay with

his companions Arjun andRahul with a rented room inOld Bairahana. He was a fruitseller. Tinku also lives in thesame locality. Suresh used tolive in the house of Tinku’s rel-ative. Because of this they hada friendship and often dinedtogether.

Tinku and Suresh con-sumed alcohol on Saturdaynight as well. After this, theywere having their supper.During this, an altercationensued between them oversome trivial issues. As the mat-ter progressed, the twoindulged in a fight. Just then,Tinku shot Suresh dead in aninebriated state and managedto flee. Hearing the sound ofthe bullet, the people living inthe vicinity woke up and theyreached the crime scene andinformed the Kydganj policestation about the incident.

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The coronavirus outbreak isspreading rapidly. The

number of corona patients inthe district is increasing alarm-ingly. That is the reason whythe number of corona patientsreached more than 9,000 in thecity. On Saturday night, 303new positive cases of coronawere found and five patientsdied.

According to the Healthdepartment, the total numberof corona patients has reached9,062 while 148 patients havedied due to corona so far. Thegood thing among the growingcorona patients is that coronapatients are recovering fast.244 patients became corona-free on Saturday, in which 85patients were hospitalised and159 patients were in home iso-lation, and their isolation peri-od ended. Samples of 3,202patients have been reportednegative, while samples of 2,838suspect patients have beentaken.

At the same time, the ChiefMedical Officer, Dr GS Bajpaihas appealed to the residentsthat if anyone has cough, feveror difficulty in breathing orthey have come in contactwith an infected, then theymust immediately get theircorona test done.. For this,more than a dozen test centreshave been set up in the citywhere patients can go for theirown testing. The patient willnot have to wander here andthere for the report, hencethey can go to the link ofCovid19reportprayagraj.in andenter his/her mobile numberand download its Covid report.

Several doctors, policemenare also included in the reportof corona patients received lateon Saturday. Manager of Bank

of Baroda Andawa, Doctor ofRailway Hospital, ChiefManager of PNB, ANM ofMauaima CHC, SI of Dial 112,clerk of Jal Sansthan and StaffNurse of SRN Hospital.

It may be pointed out herethat the number of coronapatients increased slightly com-pared to the day before. OnSaturday, 303 new cases weredetected during 24 hours,which is 28 more than Friday.244 people were discharged. Inthis, 85 people were dischargedfrom the hospital after beingreported negative, while homeisolation of 159 people wascompleted. According to DrRishi Sahai, the Nodal Officerfor Corona, five people alsodied from corona on the sameday.

CMO Dr GS Bajpai saidthat after finding 303 infectedon Saturday, the total corona

patients in the district hassurged to 9,062. A total of 3,359people have been discharged sofar in the city. Home isolationof 3205 people has been com-pleted. The total number ofactive cases on Saturday was2,350.

Eight people were dis-charged from Kotwan-Bani,12 from Kalindipuram, 17 fromRailway Hospital, two fromUnani Medical College, 14from Beli, one from PrivateHospital, 21 from SRNHospital.

On the other hand, 19patients are admitted inKotwan-Bani, 59 in RailwayHospital, 78 in Kalindipuram,33 in Unani, 70 in both privatehospitals while 125 are admit-ted in SRN Hospital. 2,097infected are in home isolation.Swab samples of 2838 suspectswere taken on Saturday, while

3,202 reported negative. Apart from this, patients

having symptoms like cold,fever, cough can get coronaexamined at various examina-tion centres of the city. Thesetesting centres are PHCDaryaganj, Nand Kishore InterCollege Dhumanganj, ArmyMemorial Inter College StanleyRoad, Allahabad DegreeCollege, Kydganj and Beniganjon both branches, KP InterCollege, SJS Public SchoolJhunsi, Government Girls InterCollege Phaphamau, St.Bethany Convent School Naini,Ishwar Sharan Inter, OmGayatrinagar and High CourtDispensary.

Apart from this, 10 mobileunits are also testing coronafrom place to place. People canget their corona test done bykeeping a photocopy of theAadhaar card with them.

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The Allahabad High Courtreserved its judgement on

a writ petition challengingdetention of Dr Kafeel Khanunder National Security Act(NSA). Hearing a habeas cor-pus writ petition filed by DrKafeel’s mother NuzhatPerween seeking his son’srelease, a division bench com-prising Chief Justice GovindMathur and Justice SaumitraDayal Singh reserved judge-ment after hearing both sidesat length. Earlier, at one stageon August 25, 2020, the courthad directed the state counselto furnish the record of the pro-ceedings under the NationalSecurity Act (NSA) that result-

ed in the detention of Dr KafeelKhan and further extension ofthe same. Dr Kafeel wasbooked under NSA by theAligarh District Magistrate onFebruary 13, 2020, for alleged-ly making an inflammatoryspeech on the Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU) campusduring the protests there overthe Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA).

Subsequently, Dr Kafeel’sdetention under NSA wasextended on May 13 by DMAligarh for a further period ofthree months, i.e., till August12. The detention under NSAwas extended as according tothe district administration,there was apprehension hisrelease may lead to law andorder problems. On August 4,

NSA was again extended forfurther three months, i.e., up toNovember 13. NSA allows pre-ventive detention for up to ayear. Earlier, at one stage, thecourt had directed the Centreas well as the state governmentto file a reply in the present caseseeking release of Dr Kafeel.

According to the habeascorpus petition, earlier at onestage Dr Kafeel was granted bailby a competent court and wassupposed to be released on bail.However, he was not releasedfor four days and later the NSAwas imposed on him. Hence,his detention was illegal as itwas passed to nullify the effectof the bail granted by a compe-tent court. The plea also chal-lenged the detention of DrKafeel for four days before

imposing NSA, even after hehad secured bail in all thecases registered against him.

According to the case file,Dr Kafeel has been behindbars since January 29, 2020after a speech which he hadallegedly delivered at AMUon December 10, 2019 duringthe anti-CAA protests. Thespeech was deemed ‘provoca-tive’ by the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment, which booked himunder NSA. Dr Kafeel came tolimelight after the 2017 oxygentragedy at BRD MedicalCollege in which several kidshad died for lack of oxygencylinders. While initially he washailed as a saviour of childrenfor arranging emergency oxy-gen cylinders, he later facedaction.

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After several days, the dis-trict, once again, saw a big

spike in corona cases when asmany as 215 new Covid-19patients have been detectedhere on Sunday. With this, thetotal number of cases hasreached 7,807. Besides, thedistrict also saw three moredeaths, increasing the toll to136. During the day, the follow-up negative reports included136 patients, out of them, 112patients recovered from homeisolation and the total numberof patients cured at home hasincreased to 3,880 while 24recovered from the hospitals.With this, the total number ofpatients discharged from thehospitals has reached 2,293while the total number of curedpatients is 6,173, leaving 1,498active patients. With this, therecovery rate has slightlydeclined to 79.07 per centwhile mortality rate hasimproved to 1.74 per cent.

According to the ChiefMedical Officer (CMO), Dr VBSingh, by the first report by 11am during the day, 124 corona

positive patients were detectedout of 1,490 reports received.Till then, the total test reportsreceived were 1,03,303 and theresults of 6,616 are awaited. Outof these 95,587 were negativewhile 7,716 positive. The totalnumber of samples collectedwas 1,16,753. With the additionof 16 new red zones, the totalnumber of hotspots hasincreased to 1,474 including361 red zones. Six green zones

have been converted into redzones again. Besides, there are1,113 green zones including 15new ones.

Earlier, as many as 523corona positive patients werefound in this belt of Purvanchal(eastern UP) comprising 10districts of three divisions a dayago. The maximum number of149 were reported fromVaranasi (7,592), followed by98 in Azamgarh (3,087), 67 in

Mau (1,365), 54 in Jaunpur(3,896), 41 in Ghazipur (2,490),34 in Ballia (3,772), 32 inChandauli (1,792), 25 inMirzapur (1,642), 23 inBhadohi (1,114) and zero inSonbhadra (1,473). Out of totalpatients of 28,525, the recoveryrate was 80.30 per cent (22,908)while mortality rate 1.34 percent (384 deaths). Azamgarhhas become the fourth districtafter Varanasi, Ballia andJaunpur which has crossed3000-mark. According toSenior Superintendent of Police(SSP) Amit Pathak, the policeof various police stations arrest-ed as many as 44 personsunder Section 51 of CrPCwhile challaned under Section188 and took action underSection 51 of DisasterManagement Act against 148persons on Saturday. Besides,during checking at 14 borderand 49 police checking points,as many as 880 vehicles werechallaned and one seized. Apartfrom this, �� 1,01,300 wererealised from 147 vehicles while��73,350 from 1,048 persons formoving on the roads withoutwearing masks.

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The positive results of effortsof the Business

Development Units (BDU) setup at the headquarters anddivisional level on the NER arereflected in the increase inloading of goods. Owing tothese efforts from Haldi Roadstation of Izzatnagar division 175tractors of Mahindra auto com-pany were loaded for FatuhaJunction station of East CentralRailway. These tractors wereloaded in NMG wagon rake.

Automobile industry’s trend ofloading into NMG wagon rakehas increased. As a result of thistractor loading, the railwayearned �9,44,910 as revenue.Earlier, from Haldi Road stationunder Izzatnagar division ofNorth Eastern Railway the

loading of Tata Ace mini-trucksfor Bangladesh was done intoNMG wagon rake. The NER isworking towards fulfilling thedemand from the automobilesector. In the same sequence inGorakhpur and Izzatnagarmechanical workshops the workof conversion of unusable ICFcoaches into NMG wagons isgoing on, said CPRO PankajKumar Singh. So far 18 NMG wag-ons had been in Gorakhpur and 60in Izzatnagar. Transportation byrailway is cheap, safe, fast andenvironment friendly.

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In view of Moharram heavypolice force took out a foot

march under the joint leader-ship of DM and SP in Mirzapurtown on Sunday. The marchstarted from City Kotwali areaand culminated in KatraKotwali area. During the marchthe officers interacted withpublic as well as the copsdeployed in the area. The offi-cers urged the public to remainmore alert due to Covid-19 andobserve Moharram at home.The officers appealed to thepeople to inform the policewithout hesitation if any groupwas found violating the Covidprotocol. The officers were ofthe view that without the coop-eration of public it was not pos-sible to defeat the pandemic.The officers directed the copsget the Covid protocol imple-mented effectively while ensur-ing that the commonman wasnot harassed. After the marchthe officers visited the Covidhospital and directed the staff towork with the spirit of service.

FIR LODGED: In an FIRlodged against two persons atMadihan police station awoman alleged that they triedto kill her daughter who wasunder medical treatment. Incomplaint she said that herdaughter was in love with ayouth of the village and aftershe became pregnant they

decided to get married. OnSaturday the youth took herdaughter to the jungle where heexerted pressure on her tohave an abortion but she didnot agree to it. Infuriated withher response the youth tried tokill her by strangling her withthe help of another person. Onhearing her cries the accusedcould not kill her but when shebecame unconscious, they hither with stones and fled fromthe spot. Some locals rushed toher rescue. After registering acase the police brought the vic-tim to the district hospital. Noany arrest had been made yet.

DROWNED: A 12-year-old boy drowned in a dam inNunauti village under theChunar police station onSaturday. As per the reports,Dheeraj (12), son of MohanDharikar, had gone to bathe inChhoti Nunauti Bandhi whenhe slipped into the area wherewater was deep and drowned.With the help of locals the bodycould be recovered after hardlabour of few hours. On gettingthe information the personnelof Sakteshgarh police outpost

reached the spot and complet-ed the legal formalitiesMeanwhile Ajay Singh aliasJhabbar (45), resident ofChauhanpatti village had goneto Chhatahaan Ghat forbathing in the Ganga. However,he slipped suddenly and wentinto the area where water wasdeep and was feared drowned.On getting information Padaripolice reached the spot,engaged the divers for tracinghim, but to no avail, lastreports received here said.

WARNED: ARTORavikant Shukla said that inseveral cases it was found thattax evasion was being done byowners of vehicles which werepassing through the toll plazaseither through tampered reg-istration numbers or unclearnumber plates. He warnedsuch vehicle owners to desistfrom such fraud or else remainprepared to face the music iffound guilty during checkingdrive. He directed the vehicleowners to get high-securitynumber plates and complywith government orders. Incase any vehicle owner failedto do so, fitness certificatewould not be issued, headded. He said that somefreight carriers were foundrunning on registration num-bers of cars and motorbikesand in such cases tax would berealised with fine and legalaction too would be taken.

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One person was killed when atempo rammed into a dumper

which had been parked near Mamnavillage under Kotwali police station.Eight passengers, including the tempodriver, who were injured in the inci-dent were admitted to district hospi-tal with the help of police for treatment.

According to a report receivedhere, Ramesh Dhuria (45), a residentof an area under Mahoba police sta-tion, a sweatmeat maker by profession,was returning home on a tempo fromSijwaha village under the Shrinagarpolice station along with his col-leagues after preparing food at a pro-gramme at night. Suddenly tempo dri-ver Satyanarayan lost control over thevehicle and it collided with the dumper.As a result Ramesh died on the spot.On getting the information from thepassers-by the police sent all theinjured to district hospital, last reportsreceived here said.

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Awebinar was organised onRemission of Duties or

Taxes on Export Product(RoDTEP) recently under theauspices of Federation ofIndian Export Organisations(FIEO) which was participatedby FIEO managing committeemembers and other dignitaries.In the beginning RoDTEPcommittee members intro-duced the subject. FIEOpresident Sharad Kumar Sarafdelivered the opening addresswhile director general (DG)-cum-Chief executive officer(CEO) Dr Ajay Sahai presidedover the meeting. The webinarwas also attended by chairmanof Carpet Export Promotion

Council (CEPC) Siddh NathSingh. He said that the cottageindustry was highly labour-intensive. FIEO vice-presi-dent Mahesh Chandra Keyalconcluded the meeting with thevote of thanks. Meanwhile, theCentral government is plan-ning a mega virtual show‘Textile India-2020’ inNovember and a meeting in thisdirection was chaired by secre-tary (Textiles), Government ofIndia, Ravi Capoor. It was alsoattended by senior officials ofvarious textile EPCs. Capoorsaid that virtual shows were theneed of the hour in view of coro-na pandemic. He said five coun-cils, including Apparel ExportPromotion Council (AEPC),Export Promotion Council for

Handicrafts (EPCH), Synthetics& Rayon Textile ExportPromotion Council (SRTEPC)and Cotton Textile ExportPromotion Council (TEX-PROCIL) apart from CEPC willbe the core councils and shouldtake the lead in identifying thevirtual platform and start theirpreparations for such globalshows. CEPC chairman SiddhNath Singh and executive direc-tor Sanjay Kumar participated inthe meeting and shared theirexperiences of successfully organ-ising the recently concluded 40thedition of India Carpet Expo-Virtual Edition. The core com-mittee of the five councils willbe meeting soon and begintheir preparations for the megashow Textile India-2020.

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On the directive of SPYashveer Singh and ASP

Dr Awadhesh Singh policeapprehended two accused withganja from separate parts of thedistrict recently. The Jalaun

police arrested one accused,Manvendra Niranjan (38) fromRanwa village under Jalaunpolice station recently andrecovered 850 gms of ganja fromhis possession. Inspector RameshChandra Mishra said that policelodged an FIR against the accusedunder Section 18/20 of the NDPS

(NDPS) Act. He said thataccused was a criminal who hadbeen been earlier arrested underthe same case. The team whichmade the arrest comprised S-IS Ramchand, and BalramSharma along with constablesVijay Kumar, Neeraj Kumar,Ramlakhan and Preeti Thakur.In another incident Ata policearrested one accused alongwith 275 gm ganja. Policearrested the accused identifiedas Mahendra Singh Ahirwar, aresident of Ata village under atapolice station. Police lodged anFIR against the accused in thisconnection.

INJURED: A youth wasseriously injured when themotorcycle the on which hewas going went out of controland hit a tractor trolley frombehind. On getting informationthe police rushed to the spot

and got the injured admitted tothe CHC from where he wasreferred to the district hospital,last reports said. Raghvendra(28), son of Malkhan Singh, aresident of Chhaulapur villagein the Kotwali area was goingto Orai from his village in themorning in connection withsome work when it startedraining on the way. As a resulthe could not see the tractorgoing ahead of him and his bikecollided went out of uncontrolnear Bhitara village and hit itstrolley. Raghavendra was seri-ously injured in the accident.Some passers-by reported theincident the Kotwali police.Thereafter S-I Balram Sharmareached the spot and took theinjured to the CHC. After thefirst aid the doctors on seeinghis critical condition, referredhim to the district hospital.

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The Ramgarh Tal police caught an inter-district vehiclethief. The police was looking for him in connection with

for three theft cases. Police arrested him and recovered fourmotorbikes from his possession. CO Cantt Sumit Shuklasaid that SHO of Ramgarh Tal police station Sathya SanyalSharma, had engaged the team of S-Is Manish Kumar Yadavand Kamlesh Kumar Yadav for checking incidents of motor-bike theft. In this sequence on being tipped off by aninformer the Ramgarh Tal police caught the vehicle thiefRaka, son of Rajkumar, a resident of Bari under the Khajnipolice station in Gorakhpur, whose present address was wasRamgarh Tal under the same police station, near the zooon Friday night. After questioning him the police recov-ered four stolen motorbikes from his possession. A caseof motorbike theft was registered against him at RamgarhTal police station. Meanwhile two persons were arrestedin connection with the incident in which a grain trader,Gopal Kasaudhan, son of Radheshyam Kasaudhan, a res-ident of Rampur Baghaura village under the Gola policestation, was deprived of �90,000 late on August 26evening. The police arrested the two of them fromDadwapaar Narre Road and presented them in the courton Saturday from where they were sent to jail.

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Kanpur Nagar DistrictMagistrate Alok Tiwari has

directed the district health offi-cials to ramp up Covid testing.

Holding a meeting withdistrict officials on Sunday,the district magistrate said that5,000 Covid tests should be car-ried out each day without fail.

The district magistrate saidCOVID-19 patients with mildsymptoms should be allowedhome isolation only after dueverification by the rapidresponse team and those notcomplying with Covid protocolshould be shifted to hospitals.

He said it was mandatoryfor COVID-19 patients inhome isolation to maintainregular contact with the controlroom to give feedback of theircondition.

Tiwari said patients optingfor home isolation must havehome isolation kit having pulseoximeter, digital thermometerand medicines besides a sepa-rate toilet. Those not fulfillingthis condition should not beallowed home isolation, headded.

The district magistratedirected the officials to speedup contact tracing on top pri-ority and ensure that peoplehaving symptoms of COVID-19 were tested immediately. Heasked the surveillance teams totake samples of the contacts ofcoronavirus positive personsfor testing on priority so thatthey do not become a threat toothers, if infected.

He said it was mandatory

for each and every person towear face mask and maintainsocial distancing.

Tiwari said that currentlyaround 1,100 teams were visit-ing houses as part of the sur-veillance drive and identifyingcoronavirus positive people.

He asked the testing andsurveillance staff to not onlynote down the mobile phonenumber and address of peoplecovered but to also cross-checkit as well.

The district magistrate saidthe UP government was com-

mitted to bringing down theCOVID-19 death rate and thespread of novel coronavirus,specially in Kanpur Nagar andthis could be done with track-ing, tracing, immediate hospi-talisation and proper and time-ly medical care of the infectedperson. Tiwari also directedthe officials concerned toensure regular and timely feed-ing of COVID-19 data on theportal without any error. Hesaid the details should be cross-checked before uploading themon the portal. The districtmagistrate said that there wereseveral complaints about Covidhospitals and they should beattended to on top priority.

CDO Mahendra Kumar,CMO Dr Anil Mishra, ADM(Civil Supplies) Basant Agarwaland many health and districtadministration officials tookpart in the meeting.

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The Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner, Dr Sudhir

M Bobde, while flagging off the‘Health Check-up’ mobile vanfrom Motijheel which will bemanaged jointly by WWWFoundation and PunarwaFoundation. He said the vanwas well equipped for collect-ing samples especially forCOVID-19 and will mainlyfocus on semi-urban and ruralareas where the facility wasabsent.

He said with little focus onbeing given on rural area and

the influx of ruralites to theurban areas constantly it wasconsidered also to be one bigreason for continuous activecases in Kanpur. He said thismove will certainly help intracking the potent carrierswho enter into city limits andthis testing van will help iden-tify COVID-19 patients whothen could be immediatelyreferred to the hospital fortreatment. He said the factwas that COVID-19 could alsobe asymptomatic and in thatcase the symptoms did not sur-face and when they did it wasquite late. He thanked the two

foundation members whowould be monitoring thecheck-up mainly in the ruralareas. The Mayor, PramilaPandey was also present on theoccasion and said the KNN wasin touch with several other vol-untary organisations to add onto the number of such vanswhich can help identify andtrack affected persons. Severalother officials and local polit-ical party members were alsopresent on the occasion.

RAILWAY INTRO-DUCES TRAVEL KITS: Theofficials spokesperson for theNorth Central Railway,

Keshav Tripathi, informedon Sunday with more trains tobe run soon the focus will besafety of passengers and strictmonitoring of social distancing.He said the NCR has prepared‘COVID-19 Prevention TravelKit’ which will be reasonablypriced at � 20 a kit. He saidkiosks will be set up at theprominent stations. He said thekit will comprise of one hoodcap, shoe cover, gloves, onemask, and three sachet of handsanitisers. He said the kiosk wasalready functional at Allahabadand was about to be set up atKanpur Central Station.

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Ahistorysheeter got his trac-tor-trolley, laden with the

mud of illegal mining, freedfrom police custody afterexchanging punches and boutswith the cops under the Sadhpolice station in Ghatampuron Sunday afternoon.

Police immediatelylaunched the combing opera-tion and recovered the tractor-trolley near Gharampur village.The historysheeter had to leave

the tractor-trolley there after itgot entangled in a deep drain.Circle Officer Ravi KumarSingh said to lodge FIR and ini-tiate action against the culprits.According to reports, on a tip-off about the illegal mining ofmud, Sadh police had raidedthe spot in Gauri Kakra villageand seized four tractor-trolleyson Saturday morning.

On Sunday morning, whenSadh outpost incharge KrishnaMohan along with constablePankaj Kumar reached Chirli

village, they also recovered atractor-trolley laden with themud of illegal mining.

Seeing the police, all thelabourers escaped from there.when police were carrying thetractor-trolley to the policestation, historysheeterRaghuvir Singh along withbrother Balvir, son Nitin andothers appeared on the way andpressed the cops to release thevehicle.

On being refused, he alongwith family members beat up

the sub-inspector and consta-ble and took away the tractor-trolley from there.

Station Officer, Sadh,Prayag Narain Bajpai andsenior officers were apprisedabout the incident.

Thereafter, CO Ghatampurreached the spot and deputedteams to raid the hideouts ofthe historysheeter.

After some time, the trac-tor-trolley, entangled in a deepdrain, was recovered nearGharampur village.

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Two women were robbed oftheir chains in the city in

separate localities on Sundaymorning.

The wife of a Congressleader was robbed of her chainby bike-borne miscreants inShyam Nagar locality under theChakeri police station onSunday afternoon. On beingknocked by the miscreants,she also sustained injury afterfalling off her scooty. When herhusband attempted to chase themiscreants, they escaped wav-ing pistol in their hands.

Police have started investi-gations in the matter.

According to reports,Nitesh Chandra Bajpai aliasNimmi of Chanakyapuri,Shyam Nagar, is Congress pres-ident of Ward No.47. He saidon Sunday afternoon, he hadgone to Shyam Nagar hospitalwith wife Swati.

From there, he proceededfor his in-laws place inRampuram. On the way, nearShyam Nagar C Block, twobike-borne youths began todrive parallel to his scooty. Bythe time, he could have noticedtheir intention, one of theyouths snatched the chain fromhis wife.

During the loot, he lostcontrol over his scooty whichmade his wife fall off it and sus-tain injury. When he attempt-ed to chase the miscreants, theytook out their pistol whichrestricted him to follow them.Meanwhile, both the miscre-ants escaped waving pistol intheir hands.

He informed the policewhich reached the spot andcarried out investigations. Hesaid miscreants were ridingon white Apache bike and agedbetween 30 and 35 years. SHORavi Srivastava said after col-lecting CCTV footages, mis-creants would be arrested.

Meanwhile, a lady physio-therapist was also robbed of herchain during morning walkunder the Barra police stationon Sunday. Police have startedidentifying the miscreants fromthe CCTV footages.

According to reports,Physiotherapist Dr TanyaTripathi of Nai Basti, Barra-2,runs her clinic in BirhanaRoad. On Sunday morning, shehad gone on morning walk inDing-Dong Park with motherKiran. On return, two bike-borne youths looted her chainin a lane opposite GirishChandra’s house and escapedtowards the highway. StationOfficer Harmit Singh said theincident had been recorded inCCTV cameras. After identi-fying the miscreants, policewill arrest them, he added.

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Dr Chitra Srivastava,Scientific Officer, UP

Pollution Control Board,Kanpur while addressing thewebinar on ‘Disposal ofBiomedical Waste’ organised bythe Department of Chemistry,Christ Church College, stressedupon the care in handling bio-medical waste so as to preventcontamination of flora andfauna as other naturalresources. Discussing the typesof biomedical waste and theirdisposal mechanism, sheopined that the safe and sus-tainable management of bio-medical waste was a social andlegal responsibility of all peo-ple supporting and financinghealthcare activities.

She further stated thateffective management wasmandatory for healthy humansand a cleaner environment.She said the new rules weremeant to improve the segrega-tion, transportation and dis-posal to minimise environ-mental pollution so as tochange the dynamic of bio-medical waste disposal andtreatment in India.

She further informed thatfor effective disposal, thereshould be coordination withcommitted government sup-port in terms of finance andinfrastructure development,dedicated health-caresworkers and facilities, contin-uous monitoring of biomedicalwaste practices, tough legisla-tion and strong regulatory bod-ies.

Dr Srivastava said the basicprinciple was segregation atsource and waste reduction.She said in addition a lot ofresearch and developmentneeded to be done in the fieldof developing environmental-friendly medical devices andbiomedical waste disposal sys-tems for a greener and cleanerenvironment.

The guest was welcomedby the Principal and the con-vener also addressed the webi-nar. The chief guest was intro-duced by HoD Dr SudhirGupta.

The question round wasconducted by Dr AninditaBhattacharya and the vote ofthanks was delivered by DrSunita Verma and the sessionwas anchored by Dr Meet

Kamal.

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National Small IndustryDay is observed every year tocreate awareness so that moresupport can be given to elevatesmall industries. Small indus-tries contributed to localemployment opportunities andalso raised industrial produc-tivity and exports, which had aremarkable impact on theIndian economy. It accountedfor almost 40 per cent of thetotal goods and services pro-duced in the Indian economy.The small industries were thebest examples that focused onthe mission to manufactureproducts in India and sell itworldwide.

This was stated by SMIDevelopment Centre, GeneralManager, Prakhas Mishra whilecommemorating the daythrough a virtual seminar onSunday. He said small-scaleindustries had emerged as avibrant and dynamic sectorthat contributed around 40per cent of the total industrialproduction and over 34 per

cent of the national exports tothe Indian economy. Atpresent, the small-scale indus-tries sector is providingemployment to over 40 millionpeople.

He said the small industryis the segment of economy con-cerned with production ofgoods and applies to all smallentrepreneurs who wereengaged in manufacture andproduction on a micro scale.He added that the SSI sectorcontinued to remain an integralpart of Indian economy withsignificant contribution toGDP, industrial productionand employment generationin India. He said production inthis sector during the last tenyears had recorded an annualaverage growth rate of 8.6+ percent. Mishra said India was oneof the world’s fastest growingeconomies in the world. Headded that consequently, itsproduction output was massive.He added that small industriesproduced goods and servicesworth over � 40 lakh for everyinvestment of � 10 lakh andthe value addition in this out-put increased by over 10 percent.

KANPUR (PNS): The Vice-Chancellor of ChhatrapatiShahu Ji Maharaj University,Kanpur, Dr Neelima Guptawhile addressing a webinar onImaging Technology organ-ised by Vision College ofManagement on Sunday saidwith the emergence of digitaltechnology it had createdenthusiasm for their applica-tion to student learning. Shesaid it was the need of the hourand thus every effort had to bemade to promote this so as tokeep educational standards ofIndia at par with the world. Shesaid evolving issue in medicalimaging was how these tech-nologies might be implement-ed within programmes. Sheadded that there were a rangeof applications for education-al technology within medicalimaging education and learn-ers must be supported by thedevelopment of skills to utiliseeducation technologies.

She added that the digitalpicture archival and commu-nication environment presentsan ideal opportunity toenhance student learningthrough interaction andengagement with images. Shesaid implementation of educa-tion technologies to supportstudent placement activitieswas an area for future devel-opment provided equity ofaccess was addressed. VishalPandey informed that theVCM was to start three newBTech courses in its institutewhich had already beenapproved by the CSJMU andsaid it was AI, MachineLearning, Internet of thingsand data science.

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Kanpur Nagar reported 200 fresh cases of coronavirus infec-tion till Sunday evening.Chief Medical Officer Dr AK Mishra said 200 more peo-

ple had tested positive for coronavirus infection betweenSaturday evening and Sunday evening, taking the count of con-firmed cases to 14,607. He said 4,482 COVID-19 patients hadbeen cured in the city so far, and at present 3,102 active coron-avirus cases were undergoing treatment.

The CMO said 7 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the citytill Sunday evening. He said a total of 2616 samples were sentfor testing in the district.

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Two bravehearts including asenior officer of the Special

Operations Group of Jammu &Kashmir police and a JuniorCommissioned Officer (JCO)of the Indian Army deployedalong the line of control inNowshera sector of Rajouriattained martyrdom whilethree Lashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT)terrorists were neutralised dur-ing an overnight operation inthe Pantha Chowk area ofSrinagar on Sunday.

In the last three days, 10terrorists have been neutralisedin three anti-terrorist opera-tions in Shopian, Pulwama andSrinagar.

Four terrorists of Albadrwere neutralised in Kilooraarea of South Kashmir'sShopian district on Fridaywhile three Hizbul Mujahideenterrorists were gunned down in

Zadoora area of Pulwama onSaturday while three terroristsof LeT were neutralised inSrinagar.

Paying rich tributes in thememory of the martyred policeofficer Director General ofJammu and Kashmir policeDilbagh Singh told reporters inSrinagar, "an Assistant SubInspector of Jammu andKashmir police identified asBabu Ram, hailing fromMendhar area of Poonch, sus-tained bullet injuries while ajoint team of Jammu andKashmir police and para mil-itary forces chased a group ofthree terrorists after a failedweapon snatching bid in thePantha Chowk area of Srinagarlate last night around 10.00p.m".

DGP said, "one of the ter-rorists was neutralised by thejoint teams in the initial roundof firing while two others were

neutralised after attempts madeby their parents to convincethem to surrender failed. Thethree slain terrorists were localshailing from Pampore",headded.

Sharing details of the nightlong operation, DGP DilbaghSingh said, " three motor bike

borne youth had opened fire onthe security checkpoint in thePantha Chowk area and alsoattempted weapon snatching.Alert jawans of the Jammu andKashmir police and paramili-tary forces chased them afterthey ran towards bylanes leav-ing behind their motorbike.

Singh said, the police officerbelonging to the SpecialOperations Group was leadingfrom the front when hereceived bullet injuries duringthe initial exchange of fire andlater attained martyrdom in theline of duty".

Singh said, ASI Babu Ramwas a brave police officer andwas part of the lead team of theSpecial Operations groupengaged in anti-terrorist oper-ations in Kashmir valley.Several senior police officersand colleagues of ASI BabuRam also paid rich tributes tohim and remembered him as abrave heart.

Meanwhile, the slain ter-rorists have been identified asSaqib Bashir Khanday, UmarTariq Bhat and Zubair AhmadShiekh all the residents ofDrangbal Pampore. They wereaffiliated with proscribed ter-ror outfit LeT.

As per police records, thekilled terrorists were part ofgroups involved in planningand executing several terrorattacks in the area. Besidesweapon snatching bid at J&KBank Pampore, Saqib Bashirwas also involved in motivatingand radicalizing the youth ofthe area to join terror folds.

According to a Jammubased Defence spokesman Lt-Col Devendra Anand,"Pakistan Army resorted tounprovoked ceasefire violationon the line of control (LoC) inNowshera Sector of Rajouridistrict. Own troops respond-ed strongly to the enemy fire.In the incident, Naib SubedarRajwinder Singh was criticallyinjured and later succumbed tohis injuries".

Naib Subedar RajwinderSingh, hailed from Amritsar inPunjab and is survived by hiswife and two children.

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The Union Territory ofJammu & Kashmir on

Sunday witnessed the highestever spike recording a totalnumber of 786 new coron-avirus positive cases in one sin-gle day while nine more Covid-19 patients died taking thetally of deaths to 694.

For the first time, Jammudistrict alone recorded 258cases, 97 more than Srinagardistrict on Sunday taking thetotal active positive cases to7959.

According to the mediabulletin, "the total number ofactive positive cases in Jammu& Kashmir stood at 7959. Outof these 2060 cases are active

positive in Jammu region and5899 in Kashmir division".Significantly, the recovery ratein Jammu & Kashmir hasreached 76 percent and thedeath rate stood at 1.86 percent.

Out of 37163 cases, 28510have recovered fully and dis-charged from different hospi-tals so far.

Official sources said,Jammu district started report-ing a large number of casesafter rapid antigen testing waslaunched across urban andrural centres across the districtlast week.

"Out of 9943 samples, 365tested positive across Urbanand rural centres of the districttill Saturday",official sourcessaid.

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After inaugurating threeimportant bridges and two

road improvement projects andlaying foundation stones forfour other major bridge projectsacross four rivers Gadchiroli,Union Minister for RoadTransport & Highways NitinGadkari said on Sunday that theentire face of the this naxalite-infested district would be trans-formed in around two yearsowing to the road-connectivityprojects.

After inaugurating and lay-ing the foundation for roadprojects worth �777 crorethrough video links inGadchiroli district in easternMaharashtra, Gadkari said: “Theall-weather road network in farflung areas of Naxal affected dis-tricts like Gadchiroli willimprove the socio-economicdevelopment in the region andin upcoming two years or so theGadchiroli district will see an all-round transformation”.

The projects inauguratedwere �168 crore 855 metremajor bridge across Pranahitariver (on Nizamabad – JagdalpurRoad (NH 63), �248 crore 630metre high level bridge acrossthe Indravati River nearPatagudam (on Nizamabad –Jagdalpur Road (NH 63), 30metre high level bridge nearLankachen (on Bejurpalli –Aheri Road), Improvement ofBejurpalli-Aheri Road (SH 275)

(between Watra andMoyabinpeta) and Improvementof Garanji – Pustola Road.

Gadchiroli also laid foun-dation stones for four othermajor bridge projects acrossthe rivers Wainganga, Bandiya,Perikota and Perimili. Theseprojects are considered crucialfor improving mobility for socio-economic development of theGadchiroli district.

Speaking on the occasion,Gadkari said that with the con-struction of these key bridges,the National Highway connec-tivity in Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh –Telangana iscomplete now.

“This is a dream which hascome true after nearly 25 years,when it was conceived when Iwas a Minister in Maharashtra”.

Gadkari said the total lengthof National Highway inGadchiroli district has increasedfrom 54 kms to 647 kms duringhis tenure. Ministry of RoadTransport & Highways hasapproved 44 road projects of 541kms length with an outlay of�1,740 crore for Gadchiroli dis-trict.The Minister compliment-ed the engineers and contractorswho completed the constructionof bridges in Gadchiroli, despitethe fear of Naxals.

He informed that the bridgeacross River Indravati was com-pleted under very trying and warlike conditions. A police stationhad to be set up in order to helpconstruct the bridge.

Speaking about his visionfor development of backwardareas in the capacity of a MSMEMinister, Shri Gadkari said withbamboo available in plenty,Gadchiroli could become thehub of Agarbatti manufacturing,whose import has now beenstopped.

He said there is a scope toset up 100 units, which wouldgive employment to local peo-ple.

The Minister also said thathe is initiating project for con-version of rice to ethanol inGadchiroli as part of bio-fueldevelopment programme.

“This will provide greatervalue for rice growers and alsocreate jobs” he said, whilerequesting the State PublicWorks Minister Shri EknathShinde to explore variousavenues for job creation inGadchiroli with a target of pro-viding employment to 10,000youth.

While complimenting thecompletion of developmentalRoad projects in the area,Minister of State for RoadTransport and Highways Gen VK Singh said that the new roadprojects would go a long way inmainstreaming of people livingin LWE areas. He said, an areaprogressed only when infra-structure was developed there.He said that with more andmore infra projects coming upin these areas, the extremism iscoming down gradually.

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M a n g a l u r u :Karnataka's ruling BJPpresident and theparty's DakshinaKannada Lok Sabhamember Nalin KumarKateel has beenadmitted to a privatehospital here after test-ing positive for thecoronavirus, an offi-cial said on Sunday.

"Kateel is in a pri-vate hospital in thecity on a doctor'sadvice for treatment after test-ing positive for Covid-19. He isasymptomatic," the party offi-cial told IANS.

Mangaluru is a port city onthe west coast about 360kmfrom Bengaluru in the south-ern state.

"Though I have no symp-toms, my Covid test has comepositive. I have got admitted toa hospital on doctor's advice. Iwill recover fast with all yourblessings and good wishes,"tweeted Kateel in Kannada.

The three-time lawmakeralso advised all who came incontact with him recently toundergo a Covid test and iso-late at their home.

State Medical EducationMinister K. Sudhakar, said hewas saddened to know thatKateel tested positive for Covid.

"I pray to god that herecovers fast and get back towork," Sudhakar tweeted.

Earlier in the day, state'smining baron and former BJPMinister Gali Janardhan Reddytested Covid positive and wasadmitted to a private hospitalfor treatment in Bengaluru.

"Reddy is in a private hos-pital for treatment after hetested positive for corona viruson Saturday as he was not feel-ing well. As he is asymptomatic,he is responding to the treat-ment," a party official toldIANS.

Confirming that Reddytested positive for the infection,state Health Minister B.Sriramulu said he would prayto god for his best friend'sspeedy recovery.

Incidentally, Reddy, 53,was to visit Bellary on Sundayto attend the last rites ofSriramulu's mother after theSupreme Court on August 27allowed him to travel to hishome town from Bengaluru for

2 days.Bellary is about

330km northwest ofBengaluru in thesouthern state.

In a relateddevelopment, formerCongress legislatorMunirathna has alsobeen admitted in aprivate hospital inBengaluru after hetested positive onSaturday.

Munirathna, 57,joined the ruling BJP inNovember 2019 after he defect-ed from the Congress follow-ing his disqualification forrevolting against the party. Heresigned from the RR Nagarassembly segment in the city'snorthwest suburb.

Former Janata Dal-Secular(JD-S) minister H.D. Revannaand Congress state unit presi-dent D. K. Shivakumar are inseparate private hospitals in thecity for treatment after theyboth tested positive for thevirus on August 27 and August25. Scores of politicians, includ-ing state Chief Minister B.SYediyurappa, oppositionCongress leader Siddaramaiah,state cabinet ministers S.T.Somashekar, Anand Singh andC.T. Ravi, Lok Sabha members,MLAs and MLCs tested posi-tive and recovered from theinfection during the last 2months. IANS

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The migration of labourers isturning out to be a poll

issue for Opposition parties inBihar as Leader of OppositionTejashwi Yadav has slammedChief Minister Nitish Kumarfor being unable to create jobsin the State.

As a result, labourers whowalked thousands of kilometresare heading back to Statesoffering more job opportuni-ties, Tejashwi alleged.

His statement comes a dayafter Pappu Yadav, president ofJan Adhikar Party, blamed Nitish Kumar for thesame.

“The development of Biharis currently reflecting at Patnaairport where hundreds oflabourers are assembling tocatch flights. The developmentis also visible in villages wherebuses are sent by employersfrom other states to take ourskilled labourers,” Tejashwisaid.

“These labourers have trav-elled thousands of kilometresduring the Covid-19 lockdownto reach their homes. Do theynot deserve some respect andjobs back home? The employ-ers of other states are sendingair tickets and buses for thelabourers of Bihar. It explainsthe approach of the Bihar gov-ernment,” he added.

Tejashwi claims that near-ly 40 lakh migrant labourersreturned home during the lock-down.

The Nitish Kumar govern-ment had announced a depositof � 1,000 for every labourer. 50per cent of them were deprivedof government aid. Bihar has a“double-engine” governmentbut neither state nor Centre hasextended their helping hand tothem, he said.

“Nitish Kumar is arespectable person. I respecthim personally. At the sametime, he is also a liar. He hid theactual data of corona-infectedpersons. There were 84 lakhpeople in Bihar’s 16 districtswhich were flood-affected. Ihave pointed out several timesand the Chief Minister went foraerial survey just twice,”Tejashwi alleged.

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He cited Tagore saying a toy should beincomplete so that a child could increasehis creativity while completing it.

Toys should be such that in their pres-ence childhood blooms and smiles. Let usmake toys which are favorable to the envi-ronment too, Modi said.

“There has been a rich tradition oflocal toys in our country. There are manytalented and skilled artisans who possessexpertise in making good toys. Some partsof India are developing also as toy clusters,that is, as centers of toys. Like,Channapatna in Ramnagaram inKarnataka, Kondaplli in Krishna inAndhra Pradesh, Thanjavur in TamilNadu, Dhubari in Assam, Varanasi in UttarPradesh - there are many such places, wecan count many names”, said the PrimeMinister. “Now, just spare a thought for anation which has so much of heritage, tra-dition, variety, young population, will it feelgood to have such little share in the toymarket? Not at all, you too won’t feel goodafter hearing this. Friends, the toy indus-try is very vast. Be it cottage industries,small industries, MSMEs and along withthese big industries and private entrepre-neurs too come in the ambit of this. Thecountry will have to persevere together topromote this”, he said.

The Prime Minister concluded hisspeech not without again reminding peo-ple about the seriousness of the coron-avirus pandemic and saying, “Do Gaj KiDoori, Mask Zaroori”.

The Prime Minister mentioned thenames of two bravehearts dogs employedin security forces — Sophie and Vida, whohave been awarded the Chief of Army Staff‘Commendation Cards’.

“Sophie and Vida received this hon-our because they performed their dutiesdiligently while protecting their country.Our armed forces and security forces havemany such brave dogs who not only livefor the country but also sacrifice them-selves for the country,” Modi said relatingmany other stories and sacrifices of ‘Man’sbest friend’.

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It’s not that India is recording bigger

spikes because it carries a higher numberof tests. As per data, India has conducted29,000 tests per million population, farbelow UAE 6.98 lakh tests /1 M pop;Bahrain 6.40 lakh tests/1 m pop; Israel 2.41lakh tests/1 M pop; Qatar 2.20 lakh tests/1M pop; Saudi Arabia 1.44 lakh tests/ 1Mpop; Kuwait 1.42 lakh tests/1 M pop;Turkey 82.110 tests/m pop; Iraq 38,000tests/ 1m pop and the Philippines 22,905tests/per million population.

India is ahead of Pakistan, Bangladesh,Taiwan, Myanmar, Cambodia and someother smaller countries in terms of testing.

India on Saturday crossed over 3.53million coronavirus cases, with an averageof 72,000-75,000 cases per day during thelast four weeks. With this rate of a spike,India is expected to pip Brazil to the sec-ond spot by September 10.

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classes 9 to 12 can visit schools on a“voluntary basis” to clear their doubts. TheStandard Operating Procedure (SOP) willbe announced by the department ofHealth and Family welfare, said the ChiefSecretary.

Apart from this, skill or entrepre-neurship training will be permitted inNational Skill Training Institutes, IndustrialTraining Institutes, and short-term train-ing centres registered with the NationalSkill Development Corporation or StateSkill Development Missions or other min-istries of the Centre and states.

In higher education, the guidelinesstated that institutions can be opened onlyfor research scholars (Ph.D.) and post-graduate students of technical and pro-fessional programmes requiring laboratoryor experimental works.

The only activities expressly prohib-ited under the new guidelines are open-ing of cinema halls, swimming pools,entertainment parks, theatres (excludingopen air theatres) and similar places witha high risk of spread of virus.

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Siddharth Pithani, domestic helpKeshav and house manager SammuelMiranda were also grilled about the eventsleading up the discovery of Sushant’sbody in his closed room of his rented sixth

floor duplex flat in “Mont Blanc” buildingat Bandra’s Carter Road area in north-westMumbai on June 14.

The CBI has summoned Rhea andothers once again on Monday for ques-tioning at the Defence Research &Development Organisation (DRDO)’sguest house at Santa Cruz’s Kalina area innorth-west Mumbai, where its investiga-tors are camping ever since their arrivalfrom Mumbai on August 20.

During her questioning on Saturdayand Sunday, Rhea - who has been accusedby Sushant’s family members of abettingthe actor’s suicide — is understood to havebeen repeatedly questioned on Sushant’smental condition in the run-up months tothe actor’s death, whether she - as a stay-in friend — was giving medicines toSushant, whether she had either givendirectly or administered drugs to Sushant,whether she had received money from theactor and whether she was taking finan-cial and career decisions for the deceasedactor.

On her part, Rhea answered questionsraised by the investigators along the linesof what she has said in the interviews givento the electronic media during the past fewdays.

Informed sources in the investigatingagency, meanwhile, said that they wouldquestion Sushant’s sisters Meethu andPriyanka Singh for questioning.

The details that have surfaced so farreveal that Meethu was present at Sushant’sflat between June 8 and 12, two days beforeSushant’s body was found in closed room,that Sushant was admitted to the HindujaHospital in November last year fordepression and Schizophrenia and thatSushant’s family was very much in theknow of the actor’s mental condition wayback in November last year.

Some WhatsApp messages exchangedbetween Sushant’s sister Meethu and hisex-manager Shruti Modi on November 26,2019, accessed by the media, reveal thatShruti had sent doctor’s prescription for theactor. The medicines prescribed weremeant were anti-depressant drugs. Themessages clear indicate that Sushant’sfamily was in the know of the medical con-dition of the late actor.

Also in the public domain are screen-shots of screenshots of several WhatsAppchats from last year where actress RheaChakraborty and her brother Showik areordering someone to get cannabis cigarette“doobie” for Sushant purportedly releasedby the late actor’s third sister Shweta Singh

Kirti.In a chaT message, Samuel Miranda

sends photographs of ‘blueberry kush’. Instill another chat, Siddharth Pithani con-firms whether Sushant has got the doobs.In a screenshot from July 30, 2019,Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea writes, ‘Doobierequired’. To this, the WhatsApp groupreplies, ‘Getting’. Reacting to Rhea’s text,Aayush SSR writes, ‘Rolling’.

Sources said that thje CBI wouldamong other things question Meethu as towhy she did leave Sushant’s flat on June 12( two days before Sushant’s mysteriousdeath) and not stay on with him for morenumber of days. Given that they knew themental condition of their brother as farback as November last year when he hadbeen admitted to hospital for treatment ofdepression and and Schizophrenia, whydid they not take care of their brother whenhe needed them most.

On her part, Rhea has gone on recordsaying that she had informed Sushant’sfamily about the mental condition wayback in November 2019.

Meanwhile, Goa-based hotelierGaurav Arya, whose name has figured indrug-related issues involving Sushant,Rhea and others, will be questione by theEnforcement Directorate (ED) for ques-tioning in an alleged money launderingcase Monday.

Arya, accompanied by Delhi-basedlawyer Manu Sharma, arrived in Mumbaifrom Goa. On his port, Arya’s lawyer ManuSharma had said on Saturday: “He will bepresent at the Mumbai ED office onMonday to give his statement... We willcooperate fully”.

On Friday, the ED officials had visit-ed Hotel Tamarind at Goa’s coastal villageAnjuna. Seeing the hotel shut, they stuckthe summons paper on the door of thehotel. Hotel Tamarind has been shutsince March this year, because of the lock-down restrictions.

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In a declaration issued on August 22,six prominent mainstream political partiescame together for restoration of Article 370and statehood to Jammu and Kashmir afterdescribing as “unconstitutional” stepsapproved by Parliament last year to end theerstwhile state’s special status and slice itinto two union territories.

The joint statement is known as“Gupkar Declaration-2”, being seconddeclaration on Article 370 issued aftermeetings held at the Gupkar Road resi-dence of Abdullah which clearly asks theCentre that “there can be nothing aboutus without us”, an indication that theCentre has to take into confidence the peo-ple before implementing any constitutionalchange.

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The house-listing phase of the Censusand the exercise to update NPR werescheduled to be carried out across thecountry from April 1 to September 30,2020, but were postponed due to theCOVID-19 outbreak.

“As the entire exercise needs theinvolvement of lakhs of officials and visitto each family, we can’t undermine thehealth risk involved in it,” the official said.

According to the earlier schedule, thecensus would have its reference date asMarch 1, 2021, and in the snow-boundareas of Jammu and Kashmir, HimachalPradesh and Uttarakhand, it would beOctober 1, 2020.

In March, when the coronavirus-induced lockdown was announced, theRegistrar General and CensusCommissioner of India was all set for thefirst phase of the census and updation ofthe NPR that was scheduled to begin fromApril 1.

Even though some State governmentsopposed the NPR update, all offered fullsupport to the census exercise.

The census is the largest single sourceof a variety of statistical information onpeople of India which helps the State tochalk out various policies.

With a history of more than 130 years,this reliable, time tested exercise has beenbringing out a veritable wealth of statisticsevery 10 years, including on the rich diver-sity of the people, and has become one ofthe tools to understand and study India.

The objective of the NPR is to createa comprehensive identity database ofevery usual resident in the country. Thedatabase would contain demographic aswell as biometric particulars.

The NPR is a register of the usual res-idents of the country. It is prepared at thelocal (village and sub-town), subdistrict,district, state and national levels under pro-visions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the

Citizenship (Registration of Citizens andIssue of National Identity Cards) Rules,2003.

The data for NPR was last collected in2010 along with the house listing phase ofthe Census 2011. Updating of this data wasdone during 2015 by conducting a door-to-door survey.

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Extreme flood situation is declared,when the highest flood level is breached.

Narmada, Tapi, Chambal, Sone, Betwa,Pench and Wainganga in Madhya Pradeshand Wardha in Maharashtra and Mahi andChambal and their tributaries in EastRajasthan are expected to rise rapidly dueto forecasted continuous rainfall.

Besides, Gandhisagar, Bansagar, Bargi,Barna , Tawa, Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar,Rajghat and Upper Wainganga Dams inMadhya Pradesh, Totladoh, Gosikhurd andUpper Wardha Dam in Maharashtra, andSom Kamala Amba, Kalisindh , Mahi BajajSagar , Panchana and Rana Pratap SagarDams in Rajasthan are expected to getheavy inflows.

In Odisha, 17 people have died and10,382 houses in 3,256 villages in 20 dis-tricts have been destoyed due to flood. TheState has recorded 962.8 mm rainfall and18.70 lakh population are affected this year.The water level of the Mahanadi stood at26.86 metre at Naraj near Cuttack asagainst the danger mark of 26.41 metre.

Uttar Pradesh’s 20 districts are facingflood like situation that include Ayodhya,Gonda, Bahraich, Barabanki, Balrampur,Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sitapur, Mau,Maharajganj, Azamgarh, Siddharthnagar,SantKabir Nagar, Bahraich, LakhimpurKhiri, Ambedkar Nagar, Ballia, Deoria ,Pilibhit, Badaun, Farrukhabad, Shajhanpurand Kashganj.

The State has received 556.6 mm rain-fall and 8.71 lakh population are affected.The Sharda river was flowing above thedanger mark at Palia Kalan in LakhimpurKheri, while the Saryu river was flowingabove the danger mark at Ayodhya, ElginBridge in Barabanki and Turtipar inBallia. In Andhra Pradesh, 1.76 lakh pop-ulation are affected in two districts-westGodavari and east Godavari. The State hasreceived 469.3 mm this monsoon.Chhattisgarh has received 965.9 mm rainsand 16 districts are affected.

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Amid a record surge in casesfor the past few days which

is set to push the Covid-19 tallyin India to over 36 lakh and thefatalities beyond 63,000 byMonday, the Government isnow a worried lot as it reviewsthe availability of ventilatorsand ICU bed facilities acrossthe States.

The Government fears thatif the Covid-19 positive casesand non-Covid patientsincrease, there will be a hugeburden on the existing criticalmedical care system needingoxygen cylinders and ICUbeds.

Though the Governmenthas been maintaining thatIndia has one of the lowestglobal Covid fatality rates andis working on the coronavirus

vaccine development, officialsin the Union Health Ministryadmit that the rise in positivecases does not bode well for theexisting medical infrastruc-ture.

Though a lot of infectedpeople are recuperating inhome isolation as well as inhospital, the demand for con-sumption of oxygen by Covidand non-covid patients is all setto increase in the comingmonths. Usually, 3 to 4 per centof the total Covid-19 cases areserious and critical and mod-erate.

For instance, with no let-up in the cases, the Assam gov-ernment is apprehending acrisis of oxygen cylinders andis trying to get it from neigh-bouring West Bengal andJharkhand.

On the other hand, in

Tripura, with a positivity rateof 21 per cent, the Covid-19situation is turning out alarm-ing as in many other tier 2cities .

Assam Health MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma saidthat consumption of oxygen byCovid and non-covid patients

is gradually increasing inAssam since last month andcurrently per day oxygenrequirement is 33 MT againstthe state’s production capacityof 37.86 MT per day.

“As on Saturday, 433patients are on oxygen support.If the number of Covid and

non-covid patients increased,it would be a serious challengefor the health department tomanage the oxygen.

If we at all manage oxygenfrom West Bengal andJharkhand, it would also be atough task to carry the oxygenin time,” he told the media on

Sunday.Presently, as per the

Central Government, 0.29 per-cent of cases are on ventilators,

1.93 per cent on ICU and 2.88per cent of cases are on oxygen.

Presently, more than 338lakh N-95 masks, nearly 135

lakh PPEs and about 27,000ventilators have been provid-ed by the Centre to theStates/UTs.

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The country’s top pharmacyeducation regulator’s warn-

ing to pharma educationalinstitutions against cuttingsalary and terminating facul-ty during the Covid-19 pan-demic seems to have fallen ondeaf ears.

The Pharmacy Council ofIndia (PCI) has now shot offthe third missive in a row tothe institutions/colleges statingthat stern action would betaken against them for notsticking to its orders.

In the third circular issuedon August 24, the PCI wantedthe college management tostick to its instructions failingwhich it warned of actionagainst such institutions.

Also, to ensure that the

advisory is implemented atthe ground level, the PCI hassought details on statementsabout salary payments to thecouncil every month. “Copy ofpay-rolls and salary slips fromJanuary 2020 should be sent tothe Council and such datashould be shared with theCouncil in future also. Theinstitutions should also postthe details on their websites,”said the circular.

The PCI had issued circu-lars on April 20 and then onJuly 9 this year, insisting onregular payments of salaries tothe teaching faculties of itsaffiliated institutions acrossthe country.

The move followed sever-al complaints from teachersposted in the pharmacy col-leges from all across the coun-try.

“The Council has nowfound that despite its directionsto institutions many of the col-lege managements are notcomplying with its orders.

“Besides there are ordersfrom central and StateGovernments to all educa-tional institutions that thesalary of teachers must be dis-bursed every month and itshould not be cut or withheldtill normalcy is restored in theeducation sector,” the Councilhas reminded the colleges.

The PCI has furthernoticed that certain institutionshave terminated some of theirteachers and the council hastaken the issue very seriously.

“Action will be taken if theinstitutions do not pay heed toeven the advisory,” said thesources.

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To boost research and activ-ities for vaccine develop-

ment to combat Covid-19, theGovernment has expanded theambit of the Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) umbrel-la, allowing the pharma andmedical device manufactur-ers to invest the ‘philanthrop-ic doles’ in researches related tothe pandemic for the nextthree years.

The Government hasamended the Companies(Corporate SocialResponsibility Policy) Rules,2014 in this regard.

A senior official from theUnion Ministry of CorporateAffairs said that a provision inCompanies (Corporate SocialResponsibility Policy) Rules,2014 has been “insertedthrough amendment thatwould allow pharmaceutical,vaccine and medical devicefirms engaged in R&D activi-

ties of new vaccine, drugs andmedical devices in their normalcourse of business to claimCSR benefits for undertakingR&D activity of new vaccine,drugs and medical devicesrelated to the virus.”

The provision will be avail-able for fiscal years 2020-21,2021-22 and 2022-23.

The companies need todisclose details of such activi-ty separately in the annualreport on CSR included in theBoard’s report.

However, in view of theCovid-19 pandemic, theMinistry has also amendedthe Act bringing incubators orresearch and development pro-jects in the field of science,technology, engineering andmedicine that are funded bythe central or state govern-ment, a public sector under-taking or any governmentagency under the CSR provi-sion.

The decision was taken in

line with the Prime Minister’sdirective to encourage newdrug discoveries for Covid-19,said K VijayRaghavan,Principal Scientific Adviser tothe Government.

CSR rules were modifiedlast year to support research inpublicly funded institutionsand incubators. CSR can sup-port organisations working inareas outside companies’ ‘nor-mal course of business’. So, apharma company could notfund pharma R&D, he said.

The activities under CSRinclude eradicating extremehunger, poverty, promotion ofeducation, promoting genderequality and women’s empow-erment as well as reducingchild mortality, improvingmaternal health and combatingdiseases.

Ensuring environmentalsustainability and promptingemployment enhancing voca-tional skills are other activitiesapproved under CSR.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday pitched his

‘vocal for local’ campaign in anentirely new domain – that ofthe canines. Calling for theadoption of “fabulous” Indiandog breeds, Modi said they arecheaper to raise and adapt bet-ter to the Indian environmenteven as he revealed that theIndian security forces too wereincreasingly inducting theselocal breeds.

The country came toknow about the Army dogsafter Modi praised their rolein sniffing out explosives,mines and terrorists besidesdisaster relief operations. Inhis monthly radio programme‘Mann ki Baat’, Modi namedtwo dogs ‘Sophie’ and ‘Vida’— who were awarded Chief ofArmy Staff commendationcards on August 15 this year— saying these trainedcanines received this honourbecause they performed theirduties diligently while pro-tecting their country.

‘Vida,’ the dog from anArmy Dog Unit located inNorthern Command, wasconferred the medal fordetecting five mines and onegrenade buried underground.‘Sophie’ of Special FrontierForce (Bomb Disposal Squad)sniffed out the presence ofinitiator/accelerant whichcould have been hastily used

to fabricate an IED, therebysaving precious lives.

“Our armed forces andsecurity forces have manysuch brave dogs who not onlylive for the country but alsosacrifice themselves for thecountry,” he said.

Five Labradors wereawarded commendation cardson Army Day 2020 for help-ing soldiers track down ter-rorists in Jammu and Kashmirand sniffing out deadly explo-sives in the North-east lastyear. The army has more than1,000 dogs trained for a vari-ety of roles such as detectingmines and explosives, track-

ing, assault, infantry patrol,and search and rescue.

Mansi, a Labrador, wasposthumously “mentioned indispatches” (the highest hon-our that a dog can get in mil-itary service in India) fouryears ago for her role in acounter-infiltration operationin north Kashmir. Her han-dler, Bashir Ahmed War, wasposthumously awarded SenaMedal for gallantry.

In his address, Modi alsohighlighted the actions ofanother dog Balaram, whodetected explosives on theAmarnath Yatra route andBhavana, who sniffed out an

improvised explosive device(IED) many years ago but waskilled as terrorists managed totrigger the explosive.

“Two or three years ago inBijapur, Chhattisgarh, a snif-fer dog Cracker of the CRPFalso attained martyrdom in anIED blast. You might haveseen a very moving scene onTV a few days ago in whichthe Beed Police were givingtheir canine colleague Rockya final farewell with all duerespect. Rocky had helpedthe police in solving over 300cases,” the Prime Ministersaid.

Favouring Indian breed

dogs, he said indigenous dogssuch Mudhol Hound,Himachali Hound,Rajapalayam, Kanni,Chippiparai and Kombai were“fabulous,” cheaper to raiseand adapted better to theIndian environment. “Thenext time you think of raisinga pet dog, consider bringinghome one of these Indianbreeds. At a time whenAtmanirbhar Bharat isbecoming a mantra of thepeople, how can any domainbe left untouched by its influ-ence,” he said.

In the last one year, thedogs have contributed to 53successful missions for theIndian Army, including track-ing of terrorists and recover-ing individuals from snow-bound areas. In over 30instances, these canines havesniffed out IEDs/Explosives.

The National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) alsouses specially trained dozens

of dogs for rescue operations.In the event of an earth-quake, building collapse, thesedogs are experts in searchingout people trapped underdebris.

The superiority of thesecanine soldiers employed hasled to increasing demand forthese dogs from neighbouringcountries like Bangladesh,Myanmar and Cambodia.Japan also showed interest inthe training standards ofIndian Army canines whentheir Chief of Staff visited theDog Training Facility atMeerut in 2017.

Moreover, these dogs havealso saved l ives duringavalanches, earthquakes andother natural disasters. TheArmy has eight differenttrades of dogs: tracker, guard,mine detection, explosivedetection, infantry patrol,avalanche rescue operations,search and rescue, assaultand narcotic detection.

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The Union Home Ministryhas directed the paramili-

tary chiefs to issue a circularhighlighting service conductrules that bar direct represen-tation by the personnel to theGovernment on service mat-ters.

According to the serviceconduct rules, the personnelare supposed to communicateabout service matters throughproper channel, and actioncan be taken for violation of thestipulation.

“It has been observed thatthe officers/officials of CAPFs(Central Armed Police Forces)instead of submitting repre-sentation through proper chan-nel, are forwarding represen-tation directly to higher author-ities in this Ministry and manyof them through DO letters onofficial letter head. Such com-munications not being in con-sonance with the instructionsissued by DoP&T vide OMdated 31.08.2016 and also CCS(Conduct) Rules, may attractdisciplinary proceedings,” readsthe recent Ministry directive tothe Directors General of theCAPFs or the Central para-military forces.

The letter further said,“DsG (Directors General) ofCAPFs (i.e. BSF, CISF, CRPF,ITBP & SSB) are requested toissue a circular to their officerswith regard to submission ofrepresentations on service mat-ter through proper channel,

bringing the relevant provisionsof Conduct Rules attractingdisciplinary action, in case ofnon-adherence to the pre-scribed procedures.”

In the letter, the Ministryhas specifically mentionedthe Office Memorandumdated June 6, 2013 and August31, 2015 on the issue of rep-resentation from Governmentservants on service mattersand the related instructionsregarding insistence on adher-ence to proper channel forsuch communication.

The move comes in thewake of the Home Ministrybeing saddled with a numberof direct representations fromthe paramilitary personneland many of such complaintscould have been filtered at thelevel of the Forces, officialssaid.

The copy of the HomeMinistry letter has been for-warded to the Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF), BorderSecurity Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police, CentralIndustrial Security Force

(CISF) and Sashastra SeemaBal (SSB).

While the provisions forfollowing the proper channelby Government servants werethere in place, the reiterationof the fact and stress on thedisciplinary proceedings incase of v iolat ion of the procedure is likely tolimit the scope of grievanceredressal of the paramilitarypersonnel who are barredfrom forming associations orunions, paramilitary insiderssaid.

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The DelimitationCommission, set up to

redraw the constituencies ofAssam, Manipur, Nagaland,Arunachal Pradesh and Jammuand Kashmir, will visit thenorth-eastern States and theUnion Territory after preparinga “broad framework” of thedelimitation exercise. The com-mission will also seek views andinputs of its “associate mem-bers” — a group of Lok Sabhamembers and MLAs— afterdrawing up the broad frame-work. The DelimitationCommission for the four north-eastern States and Jammu andKashmir was set up in March.

“First the broad frameworkhas to be developed on carvingout constituencies based onthe 2011 Census. Only thenwould the DelimitationCommission visit the states tomeet locals. Once the frame-work is drawn, it would alsointeract with associate membersto seek their views and inputs,”said an official aware of thedevelopments.

The delimitation panel willredraw the Lok Sabha andassembly constituencies of thefour north-eastern states and,work on increasing the assem-bly seats of the Union Territoryof Jammu and Kashmir as perthe provisions of the Jammuand Kashmir Reorganisation

Act.It is headed by former

Supreme Court judge JusticeRanjana Desai (retd). ElectionCommissioner Sushil Chandrais the representative of theElection Commission in thedelimitation panel while stateelection commissioners ofJammu and Kashmir and thefour states are its ex-officiomembers.

In May, the Lok SabhaSpeaker had nominated 15 MPsfrom Jammu and Kashmir,Assam, Manipur, Nagaland andArunachal Pradesh as “associ-ate members” of theDelimitation Commission toassist the panel in redrawingparliamentary and assemblyconstituencies of the north-eastern states and the UnionTerritory. The 15 MPs includetwo Union ministers — KirenRijiju and Jitendra Singh.

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The Congress on Sundaysought to establish the

alleged links between the BJPand Bollywood producerSandeep Ssingh, who is underthe scanner in the high profileSushant Singh Rajput sui-cide/murder case, now beinghandled by CBI.

The Congress also allegedthat all the drugs related casesbeing discussed in the mediaand leaked by the probingagency were during the BJPgovernment led by DevendraFadnavis and when SandeepSsingh was making the biopicon Prime Minister NarendraModi.

With spokesperson forCongress’ Maharashtra unitSachin Sawant claiming thatone Sandeep Ssingh, who wasclose to Rajput has links to theBJP, senior advocate and aCongress member in RajyaSabha, Abhishek Manu Singhviat a Press conference asked: “Ishe the same Sandeep Ssinghwho called the BJP office inMaharashtra 53 times.” Heasked the BJP to furnish detailsof which leaders, if any, were intouch with Singh.

Though individual state-ments of various leaders flowedin media on the Sushant Rajputcase but this was the first timethat the Congress conducted aPress conference.

Singhvi reiterated the pointmade by Sawant that Singh was

one of the producers of thebiopic of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi starring actorVivek Oberoi in the lead role.“This shows that he (Sandeep)has close links with the BJP sincethe biopic poster was launchedin the presence thenMaharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis,” Singhvisaid raising doubts that due tohis close links Ssing may flee thecountry.

“In 2019, his firm LegendGlobal Studio was the only filmcompany to have signed a Rs 178crore MoU at the VibrantGujarat Summit despite report-ing losses for consecutive years,”Singhvi said.

The Congress further saidthat Ssingh was part of a trip toMauritius organised by theIndian Embassy where he wascharged with sexually assaultinga minor Swiss national on March29, 2018. “It is being claimed thatthe matter has been settled, butwe want to put before people thereal face of BJP,” the Rajya Sabhamember said.

Referring to recent devel-opments in the case of thedeceased actor, Singhvi said,“Most drug-related cases linkedto SSR case are from 2018,2019. What was Fadnavis gov-ernment doing then?”

“The swiftness with whichcase was handed to CBI, was itbecause of Sandeep Ssingh? Anumber of people in the casehave close links with BJP,”Singhvi claimed.

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Aday after Bengal GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar advised

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee not to push the stu-dents in political quagmireover the conducting ofJEE/NEET exams the ruling,Trinamool Congress attackedhim for running a BJP partyoffice from the Raj Bhavan.

“It seems that the Governorhas no inkling of Bengal’s cul-ture, and its geo-political his-tory which is why he is makingsuch bizarre statements…Bengal has always raised itsvoice when the country hasfaced any problem.

“Our Chief Minister hasraised this issue not only in theinterest of the students ofBengal but for the 25 lakh stu-dents of the entire countrywho are being thrown into themouth of a pandemic for nofault of theirs… She wants tosave their lives and not harmtheir career,” Bengal MinisterFirhad Hakim said.

The Central Governmenthad made it a point of ego tohold the exams now inSeptember putting the lives of

lakhs of students in danger, hesaid adding “they have no sen-sitivity towards their plights,they only serve the interests ofthe rich industrialists and notthe common people includingthe students … it is foolish thatthey did not hold the examswhen the rate of infection wascomparatively far lower in themonth of May … and nowwhen the infection is going upthey are pushing the youngchildren in the mouth of pan-demic.” Replying to theGovernor’s terse remarks hesaid “here is a person who callshimself a constitutional headbut acts as if he is the memberof the BJP converting his offi-cial residence into a BJP partyoffice.” Reacting to the ChiefMinister’s initiative to postponethe all-India exams in the faceof corona pandemic Dhankharhad on Saturday wondered asto why the Chief Minister waspushing the students into inpolitical mire.

“Why thoughtlessly makeit political hot potato! Studentwelfare is the top priority. Whynot read Supreme Court judg-ment, its rationale and followdirectives!” he tweeted.

The coming months arethe time to tell Beijingthat the occasion tosettle our mutual issuesand disputes is now. For

its own sake. And it pays to worktransactionally with India to stayrelevant in a world that is rapid-ly turning against it. It must endlingering disputes or else sooneror later the American alliancewould expand and tilt the scalesfor a unipolar world. On its part,India has been non-aligned and itsleaders would prefer a multi-lat-eral world to continue. It shouldbe a sad day if one Asian countrydrives another Asian nation intothe arms of the West. It is forBeijing to balance the cultural,economic and strategic damage ofan Asian split. Or it could work fora larger Asian unity. This is thetime to act.

The external affairs situationis gearing itself into a remarkableopportunity for New Delhi toregain what we lost in 1962 andbefore. It is as if many a planet ispositioning itself to assist India. Itbegan with Chinese ruler XiJinping becoming highly ambi-tious, apparently wanting to makehis Middle Kingdom the power-ful pivot of the earth. LikeNapoleon Bonaparte in 1804, Xihas crowned himself Emperorfor life, although the world haschanged a great deal over the lasttwo centuries. Today any numberof his colleagues would resentsuch a royal elevation and implic-itly compel Xi to prove himself agreat man every week. That pres-sure is hard to live up to.

The US has an unusuallybold President; he has an electionto win in less than three monthsfrom now. President DonaldTrump has been waging a coldwar with Beijing for quite a while.It has become colder of late andis likely to freeze further. Hedemonstrated in Texas earlierthis year how much he likesPrime Minister Narendra Modi.Lately, he, along with his Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo, has open-ly supported India in the contextof Chinese border intrusions,although their main concern isTaiwan, a democratic island coun-try off the southeast coast ofChina. It is an independent coun-try but Beijing claims that China,Taiwan and Hong Kong-Macaoare one country, three systems.The US has a defence treaty with

Taiwan and cannot possiblyallow the island country to begrabbed by China.Nevertheless, it is a matter of a“do or die” prestige issue forBeijing, especially in Asia. Itwill, therefore, be interesting tosee how the issue will unfold.

According to its President,the US is likely to jettison theNorth Atlantic TreatyOrganisation (NATO). Thiswas an alliance to combat aninvasion by the Soviet Union ofwestern Europe. By 1991, theSoviet Union had broken up. Sowhat is the rationale forNATO? Who should it defendand against whom? In anycase, this should mainly be theresponsibility of westernEurope, not the US. If this wereto happen, the US militarybudget would have a lot ofmoney and troops to spare forAsia. Half the American troopsstationed in Germany arealready being transferred toAsia. After World War II endedin 1945, Germany and Japanwere asked by the US andallies to scale down their mil-itary status. They were forbid-den from letting their forcesleave the shores of their coun-tries for any military opera-tions. In fact, for the first fiveyears after WWII, these coun-tries were not to have any mil-itary at all. They were to be pro-tected by the US, with or with-out NATO. Germany remainedconservative, saved money and

produced its economic miracle.Japan was militarily a littlemore restless and began devel-oping its navy, airforce andstrengthening its army, eventhough slowly. In these 70years, it has quietly modernisedits navy and airforce, has builta helicopter-carrier and makesmodern submarines. The pre-sent Prime Minister, ShinzoAbe, has worked hard to amendthe Constitution and Japan cannow send troops overseas. Themore China developed, thegreater was the Japanese intentto be militarily stronger; so alsois the case with India over thelast six years. Every action hasa reaction.

Similarly, the people ofTaiwan have been alerted, espe-cially after trouble began inHong Kong. Until the XiJinping regime passed a lawthat anyone arrested for wrong-doing in Hong Kong could beextradited to mainland Chinafor being tried, these smallerplaces were relaxed. This newChinese law, Hong Kongersrightly feel, is a violation ofBeijing’s commitment of 1997,when the British left, of “onecountry two systems” wherebythe mainland would not inter-fere in island, which is also a bigrevenue earner. Popular protestspilled over to the streets whereeven American flags wereflown, provoking great anger inBeijing. These continual agita-tions have further alerted the

Taiwanese and new PresidentTsai Ing Wen is committed tocomplete independence and adeeper cooperation in theneighbourhood, which infuri-ates Beijing no end. The US isdefending Taiwan’s freedom todemonstrate its seriousness;very recently a Secretary of theTrump government has visitedTaipei as a show of support.India under Prime MinisterModi has appointed an envoyto Taiwan, following theLadakh clashes.

More distant countries,whether in Europe or SouthAmerica, have got resentful ofChina for suppressing factsabout the Wuhan contagion.The international wind is blow-ing against the Dragon.

The Islamic countries maynot speak up but are upset athow Beijing is treating Muslimsin its country, especially thoseliving in Xinjiang, which wasonce an independent EastTurkestan. After the Red rev-olution and Mao Zedong com-ing to power in 1950, some 28leading politicians of this coun-try were invited to Beijing(then Peking). The stated pur-pose was to meet fraternalleaders and discuss issues ofmutual interest. Since theUygurs had no means of trav-el, a special plane was sent tothe capital Ürümqi. After theconference and get-together,the same aircraft that was tak-ing the Turkish leaders back,

crashed. All Uygur leaderswere killed except two commu-nists who had opted out at thelast moment feigning sickness.They took over the governmentof East Turkestan and soonmerged it with the rest ofChina.

The Sino-Japanese rela-tions have an uneven history.For example, Manchuria was acolonial province of Japanbetween 1932 and 1945. As aresult of World War II, it wasceded to China. Over the manydecades, especially after itsnaval victory over Russia in1905, Japan had consideredthe Pacific Ocean more as itsown than anyone else’s. Lately,China has been spreading itswings over the South ChinaSea, which is objected to byseveral powers, including Japanas well as the US. Beijing hasbuilt an island in its midst, pro-voking Australia, India, Japanand the US, which havedeployed their navies to con-duct exercises in the high seas.The current bone of contentionhappens to be the SenkakuIslands, a group of uninhabit-ed islands. Except for the USadministering them between1945 and 1972, as part of theRyukyu Islands, the archipelagohas been controlled by Japansince 1895. The People’s ofRepublic of China (PRC) start-ed talking of the sovereigntyover the islands in the latter halfof 1970 when evidence relatingto the existence of oil reservessurfaced.

Additionally, after claiminglarge portions of the SouthChina Sea as well as Mt Everest,two Chinese websites havebeen claiming that centralAsian countries like Kyrgystanand Kazakhstan have beenparts of China and with the lat-ter even eager to “return” toChina. According to the latestChinese territorial claims onothers’ territories, under theKhan dynasty, a total of 510,000square kilometres of Kyrgystan,or the entire country, was partof China but was later overrunby the Russian empire.

It is well known that Chinais over populated and land-hungry. In the bargain, thePeople’s Liberation Army hadtried to cross the Ussuri riverand into Russian territory in1969. The vast area of RussianAsia has comparatively fewpeople and is, therefore, a per-petual temptation for theChinese to occupy. Beijing hasfew friends for fear of what itis and what it could desire.North Korea and Pakistan arethe only obviously perceptibleallies.

(The author is a seniorjournalist. Views expressed arepersonal)

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Sir — The whole country seemsto be obsessed with the death ofactor Sushant Singh Rajput.While it is sad that a young andtalented person like him died anunnatural and untimely death,and no one can make up theloss of his life for his parents, thefact remains that there havebeen many more suicides byactors during this pandemic.How come no one talks aboutthose deaths? Is it because theywere not so well-known people?Everyone knows that small-time film and television stars aredesperate as they are either notbeing paid or are being givenhalf of what is due to them.This has led to deep financialdistress for a bevy of actors andsome of them have committedsuicide in the last few monthssince the pandemic swept theworld. One wishes that some-one would give a thought tosuch people too and speak upfor the ones who died by sui-cide. Those entertainment com-panies that held back the pay-ments and resulted in the des-perate actors committing sui-cide should also be brought tobook. They deserve justice too.

Or is justice in this country onlyreserved for the politically-con-nected and well-known people?

R DikshitNavi Mumbai

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Sir — If one were to go by themedia reports and news chan-nels in the country, then there

is nothing else happening in ournation apart from the probe inthe Sushant Singh Rajput suicidecase. The real issues on theground are being ignored. What

is being said about the resur-gence of lynchings by cow vig-ilantes in the cow belt? Why isnothing being said about thecontinuing horrific injuries thatelephants are suffering aftereating fruits stuffed with pres-sure bombs in the South? Whatof the rapes in Uttar Pradesh(UP) that are taking place everyother day? What of the risingcases of Coronavirus in UPand Karnataka and the fact thatIndia is now the third-mostaffected country in the world?Are these, and many otherissues plaguing the country, notworth discussing on nationalmedia? Obviously, real journal-ism has taken a backseat andscribes and news anchors arenow just trying to print/showwhat sells. Circulation figuresand TRP ratings have replacedall other considerations.Journalists seem to have losttheir voice and are at the beckand call of media house ownerswho seem to measure everythingin terms of bottomlines. Sadly,the fourth pillar of democracyhas developed major cracks.

Ashmit AaronNoida, UP

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Badi ashrafiat hei zabaan mein. Nawabi kamaza deti hai Urdu faqiri mein (The Urdulanguage is so aristocratic that it makes even

a pauper feel like a king).”Urdu, an Indo-Aryan language, is renowned

for its candour and timelessness. It goes withoutsaying that since time immemorial, Urdu hadbeen the lingua franca of Sindh, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, undivided Bengal, Punjab, Doaba andso on, besides being the language of the heart andsoul, as emphasised by the Hindi littérateur-cum-Education Minister of India, Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’, at the inauguration of a two-day webi-nar titled, The role and responsibility of Urdu writ-ers in the age of electronic and social media.

Speaking during the webinar organised bythe National Council for Promotion of UrduLanguage (NCPUL), Pokhriyal emphasised thatUrdu is a language of not only a composite cul-ture, syncretism and interfaith bonds but also ofhumaneness.

Thankfully, Urdu has kept up with the timesand become a techno-savvy language with softcopies of hundreds of books being available onapps. However, as social and electronic media isthe biggest platform for the dissemination ofinformation these days, it is the responsibility ofall connoisseurs and littérateurs to ensure thatUrdu makes its presence felt there.

According to eminent Urdu professor ZamanAzurdah, writers, poets and authors are the eyesof the entire social, religious and political sys-tem and they have a huge responsibility towardslovers of language and literature. Hence, they haveto be positive and shed all negativity. And as themost powerful source of information is the socialand electronic media, like the authors, poets andjournalists of other languages, Urdu writers, too,must toe the line of the internet. Fortunately,many of them are already connecting globally viasmartphones and computers and taking the lan-guage to the masses.

Even before the advent of Muslims in India,the country was connected historically, cultur-ally, politically and commercially via Arabic,Persian and Turkish influences to the Middle Eastand other countries, including Iran, Sudan andTurkey. After Muslims settled in India, the con-glomeration of people of various cultures speak-ing a variety of languages like Rekhta, Hindaviand ultimately, Urdu, came into being.

This intermingling was also known aslashkar (group). The purpose of all the Indian andinternational languages is to achieve the frater-nal spirit. Urdu is a beautiful language born outof the conglomeration of Hindu, Muslim andeven English cultural backgrounds.

Dr Humra Parveen, Department of MassCommunication, AMU, says that Urdu happensto be the language of the conglomerate traditionand culture of India that, after being acquired bythe Khanqahs, educational institutions and theofficial world, also became the language of com-merce. During the times of Mohammed Shah andQuli Qutub Shah, it became the Government’slanguage. At that time, it was, in fact, the most

popular language and owing to its poet-ic exuberance and ease of learning(which it is even today), Urdu replacedPersian.

The cultural and artistic tone andtenor of Urdu has been depicted gen-erously in multifarious forms, includ-ing the Mushaira (poetic gathering),Marsiahkhwani (elegy) Ghazal (poet-ry recitation), Qawwali (chorus),Dastangoi (storytelling), Chahar Bait(poetry competition) and so on, besidesother art forms like drama.

The reason that Urdu proliferatedand got promoted was owing to its sec-ular character and a universal base inIndia and abroad. Today it happens tobe one of the most popular of all inter-national languages. Not only that,Urdu is the voice of the sub-continentand has become an important link lan-guage for South Asian Association forRegional Cooperation (SAARC)

In India alone, as per Governmentrecords, Urdu is the mother tongue ofmore than 70 million people. However,an equal number of Urdu-knowingpeople are spread all over the nation.In the erstwhile State of Jammu andKashmir, Urdu is the first languagewhile in other States like Uttar Pradesh,Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal, it has been recognised asthe second language.

Nevertheless, there are some otherareas where people have recordedUrdu to be their mother tongue, likeBihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka,Jharkhand and Rajasthan. So far as thelinguistic link of Urdu is concerned, its

family includes Sanskrit, Persian, Arabicand Dravidian languages like Teluguand Kannada.

Owing to its historicity, linguisticappeal, cultural multiplicity and liter-ary taste, it doesn’t have any religion orregion. Connoisseurs of Urdu arefound around the world. Besides,another salient feature of Urdu has beenits linkage to the dialects. Writers, espe-cially from Punjab, Kashmir,Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka,have also glorified the language glob-ally.

All languages are beautiful and havetheir own charm and distinct persona,but Urdu, in particular, is sweet andpoetic and at the same time, very adapt-able. If a language can be developedthrough a combination of seven lan-guages, what can be more flexible andwelcoming? Many foreigners ask tohear Urdu, and when they do, their firstreaction is: It is so soft and easy on theears.

Phonologically, Urdu sounds arethe same as those of Hindi except forslight variations in short vowel allo-phones. Urdu also retains a completeset of aspirated stops (sounds pro-nounced with a sudden release with anaudible breath), a characteristic ofIndo-Aryan, as well as retroflex stops.

It does not retain the completerange of Perso-Arabic consonants,despite its heavy borrowing from thattradition. From the grammatical pointof view, there is not much differencebetween Hindi and Urdu. One distinc-tion is that Urdu uses more Perso-

Arabic prefixes and suffixes than Hindi.Another interesting aspect of Urdu

is that it has incorporated in itself theidioms and clichés of other Indian lan-guages like Punjabi, Hindi, Marathi,Sindhi, Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati,Pushto, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Kashmiri,Telugu and Kannada. In fact, the innerspirit of Urdu is Sanskrit and it has beenconnected to it. Same is the case withmany foreign languages, like Arabic,Persian, Turkish, English, Uzbek andNepali that have gelled quite well withUrdu. It is assured that if a language hasviable connects with the other tongues,the result is a very pleasant one, basi-cally indicating an intermingling of andrespect for cultures. In this regard, itis pertinent to mention that Urdu is awindow to the cultural heritage of India.It makes us introspect as it is a languageof a composite culture and joins bro-ken hearts.

The NCPUL has been promotingUrdu on a pan-India basis by conduct-ing seminars, workshops on calligraphy,graphic designing, e-books, Urdu mediaand other topics, besides teaching ofUrdu, Persian and Arabic to peoplefrom all cross-sections of society andbringing out of Urdu magazines. Tillsuch organisations are there and thelanguage uses technology to propagateitself on social and electronic media,Urdu will live on in the hearts andminds of people.

(The writer is the Chancellor ofMaulana Azad National UrduUniversity and grandnephew of BharatRatna Maulana Azad)

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In 1924, a year after declaringTurkey a republic and becomingits President, the former com-

mander in the army of the shrink-ing Ottoman Empire, and a hero ofWorld War-I, Mustafa Kemal Pasha,abolished the centuries-old office ofthe caliphate and drove the lastOttoman Caliph into exile.

With this act, not only didKemal launch his ambitious repub-lican and secularisation project inTurkey, but he also triggered a racebetween Muslim leaders and mon-archs to become recognised as thenew leaders of the Muslim world.

Various Muslim groups aroundthe world had agitated againstEuropean powers, who were at warwith the Ottomans during WorldWar-I. But after the defeat of theOttomans, many Muslim politicalleaders and intellectuals hailedKemal’s coming into power and sawhim as a modern redeemer of Islam.

The British historian, E

Kedourie, in a 1963 essay for theJournal of the Royal Asiatic Societyof Great Britain, writes that Kemalwas conscious of the fact that theidea of the caliphate was deeplyembedded in the minds of Muslims.According to Kedourie, at onepoint, Kemal actually wanted toname himself as the new Caliph. Butsince this would have contradictedand complicated his secularisationand republican project, he didn’t.

However, Kedourie adds thatKemal then offered a much-weak-ened version of the caliphate toShaikh Ahmad al-Sanusi, an Arabhead of a Sufi order, as long as hewould remain outside Turkey.

This suggests that, despitelaunching an aggressive project tosecularise Turkey, Kemal was stillinterested in retaining the country’srole as the “spiritual and politicalleader of the Muslim world.” Butafter the abolition of the Ottomancaliphate, two contenders rushed into claim the title. King Fuad of Egypt(that was still being ruled by theBritish) and the Wahabi Arab trib-al leader, Ibn Saud, who, with thehelp of the British, had conqueredformer Ottoman territories in whatwould become Saudi Arabia in1932. In 1926, Fuad organised aninternational Muslim conferencein Cairo. It was not attended by

Saud. Weeks later, Saud held a sim-ilar conference in Mecca. Turkey didnot attend any of the two events andneither did the Shia-majority Iran.

In 1947, a much smaller playeremerged in this race. It called itselfPakistan. It was founded in August1947 by Muhammad Ali Jinnah’sMuslim League. The party’s roots layin an evolving idea which emergedin the 19th century. It took a mod-ernist approach to understandingIslam. This then progressed as aMuslim nationalism, which wasremoulded as Pakistani nationalism.According to the French politicalscientist, Christophe Jaffrelot, thisapproach relegated Islamic rituals tothe private sphere and brought intopublic space Islam as a political-cul-tural identity marker.

Inspired by the writings ofMuslim reformers such as Sir SyedAhmad Khan and the poet andphilosopher Muhammad Iqbal,Jinnah and his party imagined a sov-ereign Muslim-majority countryuntainted by, what Iqbal had lament-ed, tribalism inherent in Arabianpolities. Iqbal pleaded for a faithunderstood and articulated accord-ing to the needs of modern times.

Jinnah and his colleagues need-ed to greatly trim the pan-Islamicaspects of Muslim nationalism toroot it more in the realities of

South-Asian Muslims. But this did not deter Pakistan’s

first Prime Minister, Liaquat AliKhan, from declaring that Pakistanwas a lot more than just anotherMuslim country. According to MRazvi, in the 1981 issue of theJournal of Pakistan Institute of

International Affairs, Pakistan helda World Muslim Conference in1951 in Karachi. During the event,Liaquat highlighted the importanceof retaining pan-Islamic ideas.

This did not please SaudiArabia, which suspected thatPakistan was trying to underminethe kingdom’s (self-appointed) roleas the leader of the post-ColonialMuslim world. But this role was dra-matically snatched away by GamalAbdel Nasser, the EgyptianPresident who came to powerthrough a coup in 1952. Charismaticand articulate, Nasser was hailed asa hero by Muslims around theworld when, in 1956, he managedto keep at bay an attack by Britishand Israeli forces on Egypt.

With his displays of Arab social-ism and a modernity suited to theneeds of the evolving Muslim poli-ties, Nasser mocked Saudi Arabia ofbeing retrogressive and rigid. For adecade after 1956, Nasser’s Egyptwas the undisputed leader of theMuslim world, inspiring large num-bers of Muslims in Arab and non-Arab regions alike.

Stung by Nasser’s status in thiscontext, and also by his criticism ofSaudi Arabia, the Saudi monarchKing Faisal (who came to the thronein 1964) unfolded a hectic moderni-sation process in Saudi Arabia.

However, Nasser’s mystique andinfluence began to rapidly recedewhen Egyptian and Syrian forceswere decimated by their Israelicounterparts in 1967.

In 1970, Nasser passed away,and Saudi Arabia once again rushedin to pick up the status of the leaderof the Muslim world. A windfall ofprofits made during (and becauseof) the 1973 oil crisis enhanced theinfluence of what became known asthe “petro-dollar.” And Saudi Arabiahad the most.

Faisal cleverly used these to sub-due (and win over) Nasser’s succes-sor Anwar Sadat. Faisal was alsoaware of the ambitions of PakistaniPrime Minister ZA Bhutto, who fan-cied himself as a champion of themodern Muslim world. But sincePakistan had lost a war in 1971 andits economy was weak, Faisalbrought Pakistan fully into theever-expanding Saudi orbit.

By the 1980s, flush with petro-dollars and with a surge in the pop-ularity of “political Islam” in Muslimcountries, Saudi political and reli-gious influence witnessed a mani-fold increase. It was only chal-lenged by the radical Shia theocra-cy in Iran. Both countries fought abrutal war of influence through sec-tarian proxies in countries such asPakistan and Lebanon.

However, in the new century,events such as the Arab Spring, thefall of dictatorships in Libya, Iraqand Tunisia, civil wars inAfghanistan, Somalia, Syria andYemen, the emergence of multipleviolent anti-State Islamist outfits inmost Muslim countries, along withthe retreat of the US and the rise ofChina, began to make variousMuslim countries reconsider theirstrategic priorities and even reinventtheir ideological character to strikenew alliances. Turkey, which haddropped out of the game of Muslimleadership decades ago, entered thefray again and is trying to lure non-Arab Muslim regions to break awayfrom the Saudi orbit. It is an orbitthat had already begun to decay.

This is one reason why the newSaudi monarchs are trying to reviveKing Faisal’s initial reformist ideas.Whereas the conservative aspect ofSaudi ideology was castigated byNasser’s Egypt in the past, thistime it is being challenged byErdogan’s “neo-Ottomanism”, whichis critical of Saudi Arabia for squan-dering the influence it had enjoyedfor decades as the leader of theMuslim world.

Turkey sees itself as a more nat-ural candidate for this role. This titleonce again is up for grabs.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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The Income Tax departmenton Sunday asked banks to

refund the charges collected onor after January 1, 2020, ontransactions carried outthrough electronic modes likeRuPay cards or BHIM-UPI.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT), in a cir-cular on ‘imposition of chargeon the prescribed electronicmodes under section 269SU ofI-T Act’, also advised banks notto impose any charges on anyfuture transactions carried outthrough these modes.

To encourage digital trans-actions and move towards aless-cash economy, theGovernment inserted a newprovision, Section 269SU, inthe Finance Act, 2019.

The Act requires a personcarrying on business and hav-ing sales/turnover/gross

receipts from business of morethan � 50 crore in the imme-diately preceding previous yearto mandatorily provide facili-ties for accepting paymentsthrough prescribed electronicmodes.

Subsequently, in December2019, debit card powered byRuPay; Unified PaymentsInterface (UPI) (BHIM-UPI);and Unified Payments InterfaceQuick Response Code (UPIQR Code) were notified as pre-scribed electronic modes.

“Banks are advised toimmediately refund the chargescollected, if any, on or after

January 1, 2020, on transac-tions carried out using theelectronic modes prescribedunder section 269SU of theIncome-tax Act,1961 and notto impose charges on anyfuture transactions carriedthrough the said prescribedmodes,” the CBDT circularsaid.

The apex body on directtaxes said that it had inDecember 2019 clarified thatany charge, including theMerchant Discount Rate(MDR) shall not be applicableon or after January 1, 2020, onpayment made through pre-scribed electronic modes.

However, it has receivedrepresentations that somebanks are imposing and col-lecting charges on transactionscarried out through UPI.

A certain number of trans-actions are allowed free ofcharge beyond which every

transaction bears a charge.“Such practice on part of

banks is a breach of section10A of the PSS (Payment andSettlement Systems) Act aswell as Section 269SU of theIncome Tax Act. Such breachattracts penal provisions...,” theCBDT said.

Nangia Andersen LLPPartner Sandeep Jhunjhunwalasaid, “Processing of refund ofcharges collected from January2020 till date and non-imposi-tion on future transactionscarried out using electronicmodes prescribed underSection 269SU of the I-T Actcould mean an added burdenon the banking system han-dling transactions via RuPay orUPI right from initiation to set-tlement of such payments.Guidance in this regard fromthe RBI and the Ministry ofFinance would be highly appre-ciated”.

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Attributing the rise inreporting of bank frauds to

greater scrutiny, experts saidstrong due diligence at branchlevel and periodic fund utili-sation audits can check finan-cial delinquencies.

The Reserve Bank in itslatest annual report revealedthat bank frauds, both in termsof numbers and volume, havegone up substantially during2019-20.

As per the annual report,“the total cases of frauds(involving �1 lakh and above)reported by banks/FIsincreased by 28 per cent by vol-ume and 159 per cent by valueduring 2019-20.”

The date of occurrence ofthese frauds are, however,spread over several previousyears.

Both the borrowers andlenders should be held account-able for misuse of depositors’funds, said Gagan Puri -Partner, Leader Forensic ser-vices, PwC, adding “a culpableact of diversion of fundsaccompanied by ineffective orinsufficient monitoring can bea recipe for disaster.”

Strong culture of account-ability, zero tolerance and effec-tive enforcement is the key forensuring that the instances offraud decrease, he said.

“Enhancing the due dili-gence process taking into thelearnings of the frauds thathave been identified, and fundutilisation audits at the time ofdisbursements, instead of doingthese once the account hasbeen identified as a NPA, aremeasures that are the need ofthe hour,” Puri added.

Atul Pandey, Partner,Khaitan & Co, said the spurt in

banking frauds mainly per-tain to loan related frauds.

“It is important to notethat the RBI has substantiallystrengthened the fraud recog-nition process and such spurtin cases may not necessarilyindicate increase in bankingfrauds, but may instead reflectcases which had earlierremained undetected,” he said.

Pandey further said thatthe RBI’s directives on increas-ing monitoring of loans as wellas imposing requirement ofincreased forensic audits seemto be a step in the right direc-tion.KV Karthik, Partner,Forensic - Financial Advisory,Deloitte Touche TohmatsuIndia LLP, opined that over theyears RBI has been active whenit comes to providing timelyguidelines to banks on emerg-ing frauds, fraud preventionmethods, compliance frame-works and pushing for strin-gent reporting norms and otherenablers.

It is up to the banks toimplement these guidelinesand implement a fraud riskmanagement and EarlyWarning Signals (EWS) systemin a comprehensive manner.

“This will require a shifttowards a proactive approachfor fraud risk managementrather than reactive approachthat is prevalent.

This means banks willneed to move from equippingoneself to respond to a fraudincident, to preventing it, peri-odically reviewing their riskand controls and implementingtechnology tools for preventionand early detection of frauds,”Karthik said.

Commenting on the issue,Vivek Jalan, Partner at TaxConnect Advisory services LLP,said the root cause lies in the

lag between occurrence anddetection of frauds.

“In large frauds (�100 croreand above), the average lag was

almost 5 years which byany standard is not acceptable.What is needed is Real TimeWarning Signals (RTWS)instead of Early WarningSignals (EWS). Also thestrengthening of concurrentaudits in banks is a possibleway forward,” he said.

As per the central bank’slatest annual report, banks andfinancial institutions (FIs) tookan average of 2 years in detect-ing a fraud during 2019-20,while for high-value frauds ofover �100 crore, the time lag inoccurrence and knowledge offund misappropriation wasmuch higher at over 5 years.

Presenting data of fraudsinvolving �1 lakh and above,RBI said a total of 8,707 fraudswere detected during 2019-20involving an amount of�1,85,644 crore. This com-pares with 6,799 cases involv-ing �71,543 crore in the previ-ous year.

RBI’s report said fraudshave been predominantlyoccurring in the loan portfolio(advances category), both interms of number and value.

There was a concentrationof large value frauds, with thetop fifty credit-related fraudsconstituting 76 per cent of thetotal amount reported as fraudsduring 2019-20.

Weak implementation ofEWS by banks, non-detectionof EWS during internal audits,non-cooperation of borrowersduring forensic audits, incon-clusive audit reports and lack ofdecision making in jointlenders’ meetings account fordelay in detection of frauds, itadded.

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Private companies havebegan investing in farm

sector spurred by the recentreforms that will help increasefarmers’ income, according toAgriculture Secretary SanjayAgarwal.

The Government recent-ly brought three major reformsvia Ordinances.

It amended the EssentialCommodities Act to deregulatefood items, and introduced anew law - The Farmers’Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Ordinance, 2020 -- to allowfarmers to sell their produceoutside the AgriculturalProduce Market Committees .

The Farmers(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Ordinance, 2020 wasbrought in to legalise contractfarming.

“These reforms are applic-able pan-India. They are mov-ing in the right direction andwill help increase the income offarmers,” Agarwal told PTI.

The government hasalready held one round of dis-cussion with the industry onimplementation of agri-reforms.

“Large number of indus-

tries are planning investments,while some have already invest-ed,” he said.

“Lot of things are hap-pening. I was told that a ricecompany has already enteredinto contract farming withbasmati rice growers in 1,000acres, while another companyhas opened a private mandi,” hesaid without disclosing invest-ment amount.

On the ongoing kharif(summer) sowing, Agarwalsaid India has already set a newrecord in sowing of kharifcrops. “Good rains haveimproved the prospects ofkharif crops. Total area sown tokharif crops has reached 1,082lakh hectares till August 28,surpassing the 2016 record,” hesaid. In 2016, farmers hadsown kharif crops in a total areaof 1,075.71 lakh hectare.

Total sown area underkharif crops stood at 1,009.98lakh hectares during the cor-responding period last year.Even in the current COVID-19crisis, farmers have workedvery hard, he said.

“Overall, there has beengood sowing till date. Allrequired steps for risk mitiga-tion have also been taken,”Agarwal said, adding thatreports on status of crops instates that faced floods andheavy rains are awaited.

�� ,56��5 1#

Homebuyers sitting on thefence are likely to enter the

property market and moveforward with their purchasedecisions following the thetemporary reduction in stampduty by MaharashtraGovernment, according to topreal estate developers.Theready-to-move-in residentialproperties will be in moredemand than the under-con-struction flats, they said.

On Wednesday, theMaharashtra Govt decided toslash stamp duty on sale deeddocuments by 3 per cent fromSeptember 1 to Dec 31, 2020,and by 2 per cent from January1, 2021 to March 31, 2021.

Currently, the stamp dutyrate is 5 per cent for urban areasand 4 per cent for rural areas.

Stamp duty is a transac-tional tax collected by the gov-ernment on property purchas-es.”The temporary stamp dutyreduction is an excellent moveby the Maharashtra Govt. It hasbeen intelligently designed toexpire in a time-bound mannerwhich creates an incentive forfence-sitting homebuyers tomove forward with their pur-chase decisions,” GodrejProperties Executive ChairmanPirojsha Godrej told PTI.Embassy Group Chairman andManaging Director JituVirwani termed it as anencouraging move by theMaharashtra Govt.

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Ahead of the roll out ofone-time debt recast for

resolution of Covid-19 relatedstress in bank loans, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanwill hold a review meetingwith bankers and heads ofnon-banking financial com-panies (NBFCs) on September3 for smooth and speedy imple-mentation of the scheme.

“The review (meeting)will focus on enabling busi-nesses and households to availof the revival framework on thebasis of viability, necessarysteps like finalising bank poli-cies and identifying borrowers,and discussing issues thatrequire addressing for smoothand speedy implementation,”the Finance Ministry said in astatement.

The finance minister willreview the implementation ofthe resolution framework forCovid-19 related stress in bankloans on Thursday with the topmanagement of scheduledcommercial banks and NBFCs,it said.

The RBI earlier this monthpermitted one-time restruc-turing of both corporate andretail loans.Banks are in theprocess of getting a board-approved restructuring frame-work in line with RBI’s frame-work and eligibility defined bythe central bank in its notifi-cation on August 6.

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Telecom industry’s revenuesare expected to rise 14-15

per cent in the current finan-cial year led by some uptick inaverage revenue per user,though the subscriber basemay remain flat with ruralgrowth offsetting SIM consol-idation in urban locations,apex association COAI esti-mates.

The newly appointed DirectorGeneral of Cellular Operators’

Association of India (COAI) SP Kochhar told PTI that anyduopoly situation in the currentthree-player private telcos mar-ket can “never be a good thing”and asserted that sufficientcompetition among the oper-ators is required for ensuringthat subscribers get good ser-vices at better prices.

The COAI will continue tobe a neutral body that believesin consensus building and una-nimity of views, Kochhar saidwhen asked about past differ-

ences amongst the telecomcompanies, who are membersof the association, on variousissues.

“COAI tries to get thepoint of view of all membersunanimously and we makesure whenever we project toany authority whether in gov-ernment or regulatory, we do itas unanimous voice, we are notpartisan...,” he said.

Kochhar said that indus-try’s financial distress is “evi-dent” and that the COAI willcontinue to push for reliefincluding reduction in spec-trum usage charges (SUC) andlicence fee; and exemption ofGST on licence fee and SUC, aswell as on payment of spectrum

acquired in auctions.On whether, the telecom

industry is headed towards aduopoly, Kochhar spoke infavour of competition saying,“at the end of the day, generalpublic should get benefits oftelecom and that will not hap-pen in case of a duopoly”.

It is in the interest of thecountry that duopoly does notcome in and “we have morecompetition, so better servicesat better prices can be offeredto subscribers”, he said.

The industry’s revenue,Kochhar said, will grow at 14-15 per cent in FY21, led bysome improvement in averagerevenue per user (ARPU).

“We also expect the sub-

scriber base to remain flat inthis fiscal, and the rural sub-scribers will grow to offset theSIM consolidation in urbangeographies.

“Data consumption peruser per month will movehigher from 12 GB to 15 GB bynext year, and there will beincrease in ARPU this fiscal butwhether that will be significantincrease or not is something wewill have to see,” he said.

However, Kochhar addedthat the association has notreceived any indication as yetfrom its members companieson tariff hike.

“Only recently ARPUsstarted moving up. But withvarious other liabilities on tel-cos, profits have not yet start-ed seeing the light of day andcompanies are unlikely to beprofitable with the currentscale of improvement inARPUs.

ARPUs should go up by atleast twice the figure than it isat, now,” he said.

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Domestic liner ShippingCorporation of India (SCI)

has emerged as a pioneeramong top Indian fleet ownerswhen it comes to hiring womenin key roles on ships with over20 per cent women workforceand a robust gender-neutralhiring policy in place.

Incidentally, SCI- whichowns and operates around one-third of the Indian tonnage andhas operating interests in prac-tically all areas of the shippingbusiness, servicing both nation-al and international trades --has at its helm a woman as thechairperson and managingdirector, H K Joshi.

Of the total 646 employees,135 are women.

“SCI has been the pioneerin India with regards to recruit-ing women for jobs on boardits fleet

Presently, two masters,five chief officers, two secondengineers, 31 second/third offi-cers, six third/fourth engineersand two nurses are womenserving on various types ofships,” as per the annual reportof the Navratna public sectorenterprise.

In addition, there are 13women trainee nautical offi-cers, four woman traineemarine engineers and sevenwoman trainee electrical engi-neers.

The company is committedto the principle of equalemployment opportunity andstrives to provide employees

with a workplace free of dis-crimination, the report said.

All HR activities of recruit-ment, placement, promotion,transfer, separation, compen-sation benefits and trainingensure equal opportunities forskill enhancement and careerprogression, it said.

“Company’s efforts arereflected in the representationof women across various hier-archical grades.

At present, women consti-tute around 20.54 per cent oftotal workforce at shore estab-lishments of your company,”SCI said.

SCI encourages activeinvolvement in the activities ofthe Forum of Women in PublicSector (WIPS) since its incep-tion, it said.

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The market valuation of sixof the top 10 most valued

firms zoomed by �1,06,523.84crore last week, with ICICIBank and Kotak MahindraBank leading the pack.

During the last week, theBSE benchmark Sensex hadgained 1,032.59 points or 2.68per cent.

Of these 10 most valuedcompanies in terms of marketcapitalisation (m-cap), RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL), HDFCBank, HDFC, Kotak MahindraBank, Bharti Airtel and ICICIBank emerged as gainers.

On the other hand, fourfirms Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS), HindustanUnilever Ltd (HUL), Infosysand ITC ended the week withlosses.

The market valuation ofICICI Bank jumped by �26,620.32 crore to �2,82,550.05crore, becoming the biggestgainer.

Kotak Mahindra Bank’sm-cap rose by �25,360.91 croreto �2,90,458.09 crore, RIL’s val-uation was up by �21,458.89crore at �13,41,164.42 crore

and HDFC Bank’s worthincreased by �16,547.52 croreto � 6,13,598.67 crore.

Among other two gainers,HDFC saw its market valuationrise by �14,599.47 crore to�3,37,472.45 crore and BhartiAirtel added �1,936.73 crore to�2,85,625.71 crore.

In contrast, the market capof HUL plunged by � 11,982.71crore to �5,05,658.41 crore.

Infosys witnessed an ero-sion of �5,963.14 crore to�3,98,188.66 crore from itsvaluation and TCS took a hit of�4,165.15 crore to see its mar-ket cap at �8,39,445.98 crore.

The valuation of ITC alsodeclined by �1,661.13 crore to�2,40,619 crore.

In the ranking of ten mostvalued firms at the close of thetrading week on Friday, RILheld the numero uno positionfollowed by TCS, HDFC Bank,HUL, Infosys, HDFC, KotakMahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel,ICICI Bank and ITC.

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As several states continue tooppose the borrowing

options proposed in lieu of theGST compensation, the Centrehas told states that central rev-enues have been under greaterstrain compared to GST rev-enue.

In a letter to the states, andUnion Territories proposingthe two options and explainingthem in detail, the FinanceMinistry also laid down theissues faced by the Centre indisbursing the compensationcess.

“The prevailing economicsituation is such that Centralrevenues are under greaterstrain than GST revenue. Whileindirect taxes are linked totransactions, and recover inproportion to activity, directtaxes on profits are dispropor-

tionately reduced in the presentsituation,” it said in the 12-pageletter.

Along with direct taxes onwages and salaries getting seri-ously affected, Customs rev-enues are also hit by the slow-down in imports, it said.

Central expenditures arestretched not only by the pan-demic response but also by theneeds of national security, theFinance Ministry stressed.

“This is a national prob-lem, not a Central Governmentproblem alone,” it said.

On the question of bor-rowing by the UnionGovernment, to pay the com-pensation cess, the ministrysaid that the Centre alreadyfaces a very large borrowingrequirement this year.

Further, additional bor-rowing by the Centre influ-ences the yields on Central gov-

ernment securities (G-secs)and has other macro-econom-ic repercussions, it said.

“The yield on G-secs actsas a benchmark for state bor-rowing as well as private sectorborrowing. Hence any rise inCentral borrowing costs ipsofacto drives up borrowing costsfor all borrowers, includingnot only the states but also theentire private sector,” the lettersaid.

As per the design of theoptions given to the states bythe Centre to meet GST com-pensation gap, if the statesdecide to meet the entire short-fall of Rs 2,35,000 crores(including the Covid-impactportion) through issue of mar-ket debt, then additionalunconditional borrowing limitof 0.5 per cent and the final(bonus) tranche of 0.5 per centprovided under the

Atmanirbhar Bharat package asa Covid relief measure will notbe available separately.

Under option one, theCentre has offered a specialborrowing window to states, inconsultation with the RBI, foran amount of Rs 97,000 crore(the shortfall arising out of GSTimplementation) at a “reason-able” interest rate.

The Centre will endeavourto keep the borrowing cost ator close to the G-sec yield, andin the event of the cost beinghigher, will bear the marginbetween G-secs and the aver-age of State Development Loanyields up to 0.5 per cent (50basis points) through a subsidy.

The second option givenby the Centre allows states toborrow the entire projectedGST compensation shortfallof Rs 2,35,000 crore (totalshortfall of Rs 3 lakh crore

minus Rs 65,000 crore collect-ed as GST compensation cess)for FY21. But this borrowingwill be allowed by subsumingthe additional unconditionalborrowing limit of 0.5 per centand the final (bonus) trancheof 0.5 per cent given to statesas a special limit to fight theCovid pandemic.

Though reform linked bor-rowing will be permitted underthis option, it would not be car-ried forward to next year.

The interest on borrowingtaken by states under thisoption will have to be paid bythem from their resources.The principal on the amountborrowed under the option,after the transition period, willbe paid from the proceeds ofthe cess.

The states will not berequired to repay the principalfrom any other source.

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The board of Coal India Ltdhas approved creating an

additional board level post inthe PSU and its subsidiaries.

According to a Coal Indiareport, the post of Director(Business Development) will becreated to identify and devel-op new business opportunities.

“The board of direc-tors...Had approved creation ofboard level post of Director(Business Development) in CIL(Coal India) and its subsidiariesas per Companies Act, 2013,Listing Regulations and DPEguideline,” the world’s largestcoal miner said in its latestreport.

The business scenario inwhich CIL operates is rapidlychanging globally in the cur-rent times. To cater to futuris-tic business models, there is aneed for an additional boardlevel post that can drive thecompany’s future business,increase its revenue, identifyand develop new businessopportunities, build andexpand the presence of thecompany both locally as well asin the global markets, it said.

All the said tasks arestrategic in nature and it can bemanaged only by a separateboard level post to lead the

organisation, as all other boardlevel posts basically meet theexisting functional needs of theorganisation.

In case, the said works arecombined with the existingfunctional set up in the organ-isation, requisite focus andthrust are feared to get some-what compromised.

CIL is already in theprocess of investing a substan-tial amount in diversificationprojects namely solar power,revival of fertilizer plants,acquiring coking coal assets inAustralia and Canada, coalgasification, CBM, rail wagonprocurement among others inthe coming years.

CIL is presently headed byChairman and ManagingDirector who is assisted by fourother functional directorsnamely Director (Technical),Director (Personnel and

Industrial Relations), Director(Finance) and Director(Marketing). As such, at pre-sent, there are five Board levelposts in CIL including CMD.

All the board functionar-ies are handling their respon-sibilities as per their jobdescription and the tasksassigned to them.

In addition, CIL boardconsists of two governmentnominee directors and sevenindependent director posts,out of which, five posts in theprocess of getting filled by theGovernment of India.

CIL was incorporated in1975 with the government tak-ing over private coal mines.

Coal India is a maharatnafirm operating through its eightsubsidiaries in eight states. Ithas a foreign subsidiary inMozambique namely CoalIndia Africana Limitada.

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Paris: A senior French armyofficer based abroad has beenarrested and handed prelimi-nary treason charges for shar-ing highly sensitive intelligencewith a foreign power, authori-ties said Sunday.

Europe-1 radio reportedthat the lieutenant colonel isaccused of passing “ultra-sen-sitive” information to Russiansecret services. It reported thatthe officer served on a NATObase in Italy, and was arrestedwhile on vacation in France.

French authorities wouldnot confirm which foreignpower the senior officer is sus-pected of spying for.

Defence Minister FlorenceParly said the officer is underinvestigation for “serious secu-rity breaches.” Speaking onEurope-1 on Sunday, Parly saidthe French military has taken

“necessary protective measures”as a result.

A treason investigation wasopened in late July after theDefense Ministry alerted theParis prosecutor’s office to sus-pect activity, according to ajudicial official. The officer wasarrested and given preliminarycharges Aug. 21 of compro-mising national defense secrets,sharing intelligence with a for-eign power that threatens thenation’s fundamental interestsand other counts, the officialtold The Associated Press.

The official was not autho-rized to be publicly identifieddiscussing an ongoing investi-gation. NATO said the organi-zation does not comment onintelligence issues, noted thatthere is a judicial process under-way and referred questions toFrench authorities. AP

Washington: The number ofconfirmed coronavirus casesglobally has topped 25 million.

That’s according to a tallykept by Johns HopkinsUniversity.

The US leads the countwith 5.9 million cases, fol-lowed by Brazil with 3.8 millionand India with 3.5 million.

The real number of peopleinfected by the virus around theworld is believed to be much

higher - perhaps 10 times high-er in the US, according to theCentre for Disease Controland Prevention - given testinglimitations and the many mildcases that have gone unreport-ed or unrecognised.

Global deaths fromCOVID-19 stand at over842,000, with the US having thehighest number with 182,779,followed by Brazil with 120,262and Mexico with 63,819. AP

Portland (US): One personwas shot and killed lateSaturday in Portland, Oregon,as a large caravan of PresidentDonald Trump supporters andBlack Lives Matter protestersclashed in the streets, policesaid.

It wasn’t clear if the shoot-ing was linked to fights thatbroke out as a caravan of about600 vehicles was confronted byprotesters in the city’s down-town. An Associated Press free-lance photographer heard threegunshots and then observedpolice medics working on thebody of the victim, whoappeared to be a white man.

“Portland Police officersheard sounds of gunfire fromthe area of Southeast 3rdAvenue and Southwest AlderStreet. They responded andlocated a victim with a gunshotwound to the chest. Medicalresponded and determined thatthe victim was deceased,” thePortland Police Bureau said ina statement.

Police did not release anyadditional details and were atthe scene investigating lateSaturday.

Portland has been the siteof nightly protests for morethan three months since thepolice killing of George Floydin Minneapolis.

Many of them end in van-dalism and violence, and hun-dreds of demonstrators havebeen arrested by local and fed-

eral law enforcement since lateMay. The caravan arriveddowntown just as a protestplanned for Saturday was get-ting underway. Police madeseveral arrests before the shoot-ing and advised residents toavoid the city core.

The chaotic scene cametwo days after Trump invokedPortland as a liberal city over-run with violence in a speech atthe Republican NationalConvention as part of his “lawand order” re-election cam-paign theme. The caravanmarked the third Saturday in arow that Trump supportershave rallied in the city.

Trump and other speakersat this week’s conventionevoked a violent, dystopianfuture if Democratic presiden-tial hopeful Joe Biden wins inNovember and pointed toPortland as a cautionary tale forwhat would be in store forAmericans.

The pro-Trump rally’sorganiser, who coordinated asimilar caravan in Boise, Idaho,earlier in the week, said in avideo posted on TwitterSaturday afternoon that atten-dees should only carry con-cealed weapons and the routewas being kept secret for safe-ty reasons.

The caravan had gatheredearlier in the day at a suburbanmall and drove as a group to theheart of Portland. As theyarrived in the city, protestersattempted to stop them bystanding in the street and block-ing bridges.

Videos from the sceneshowed sporadic fighting, aswell as Trump supporters fir-ing paintball pellets at oppo-nents and using bear spray ascounter-protesters threw thingsat the Trump caravan. Theshooting happened shortlybefore 9 pm Pacific, severalhours after the caravan beganarriving in Portland. AP

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Kathmandu: Nepal on Sundayreported its highest single-dayincrease in the coronaviruscases with 1,221 new infections,taking the country’s total countto 38,561.

During a regular pressbriefing, Dr Jageshwar Gautam,the spokesperson for theMinistry of Health, said the

country’s death toll jumped to221 after 14 more people dieddue to COVID-19.

The country’s death toll hasdoubled in just two weeks dueto a surge in cases.

According to the spokesper-son, there are currently 17,518corona active COVID-19patients in the country. PTI

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Bangkok: About 1,000 peoplegathered in a Bangkok sportsarena on Sunday, swearing todefend Thailand’s monarchyfrom a student-led mass move-ment that they believe is athreat to the institution’s exis-tence.

Calling themselves “ThaiPakdee,” or “Loyal Thai,” mostwere dressed in yellow shirts —a colour closely associated withthe monarchy and the rulingestablishment. Some clutchedportraits of current King MahaVajiralongkorn and of his laterevered father, King BhumibholAdulyadej, while others wavedgiant national flags.

The gathering took place asanti-government protests gath-er momentum across Thailand,posing the strongest challengeyet to the rule of PrimeMinister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The former army chief firsttook power in a coup in 2014,then retained it in an electionlast year widely seen as riggedto all but guarantee his victory.

Speakers at Sunday’s rallypledged to protect the monar-chy and the nation. Videoswere shown, one of whichextolled King Maha’s role infighting communism in the

1970s, when a jungle insur-gency threatened the coun-try’s stability.

“I promise to fight shoul-der to shoulder with brothersand sisters who share the samebeliefs, to protect the belovedinstitution,” said one speaker,Patiyut Tongpajong.

Speaking to the mediabefore the program began,Thai Pakdee leader WarongDechgitvigrom, a formerMember of parliament, saidtheir aim was “to educate thepeople.” The protesters thatthe royalist movement isresponding to have three core

demands: holding new elec-tions, amending the constitu-tion and ending the intimida-tion of critics of the govern-ment.

But some of the anti-gov-ernment movement’s leadersstirred controversy with anunprecedented call for reformof the monarchy, which theysee as out of touch and unac-countable.

The institution has tradi-tionally been treated as beyondreproach. It is also protected bystrict defamation laws that canbring punishment of 15 yearsin prison. AP

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Taipei: The president of theCzech Senate arrived in Taiwanon Sunday on a visit that hasdrawn sharp criticism fromChina.

Milos Vystrcil was accom-panied by Prague MayorZdenek Hrib and more than 80representatives from govern-ment, business and academia,lending Taiwan a boost in itsefforts to resist the diplomaticisolation imposed by Beijing.

Taiwanese ForeignMinister Joseph Wu greeted thedelegation at Taiwan’s mainTaoyuan International Airportafter their arrival on a flightchartered from Taiwanese flagcarrier China Airlines. Chinalast week denounced Vystrcil’s

visit as “undermining the polit-ical foundation of China-Czechrelations” and said participantswere acting out of “their owninterests.” “China condemnsthis despicable act and urgesthe Czech side to abide by theone-China principle and han-dle Taiwan-related issues in aprudent and appropriate man-ner,” foreign ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian toldreporters on Thursday.

China claims Taiwan as itsown territory and its increasingdiplomatic pressure has reducedthe number of the self-govern-ing island’s formal allies to just15, most of them small countriesin the Pacific, Central Americaand the Caribbean. AP

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Ankara: Turkey marked the98th anniversary of the decisiveWar of Independence battleagainst Greek forces Sunday asthe threat of a new conflict withAthens looms in the easternMediterranean.

“Turkey’s struggle for inde-pendence and future continuestoday as well,” Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan said in amessage to commemorateVictory Day.

“It is absolutely not a coin-cidence that those who seek toexclude us from the easternMediterranean are the sameinvaders as the ones whoattempted to invade our home-land a century ago.”

In recent weeks, Turkishand Greek forces have engagedin a series of cat-and-mousemilitary exercises in the seasbetween Cyprus and the Greekisland of Crete. The confronta-tion was sparked when Turkeysent a research vessel accom-panied by warships to search forgas and oil reserves. EU mem-ber Greece claims the waters arepart of its continental shelf andhas enlisted the support of the27-nation bloc, which has con-demned Turkey’s “illegal activ-ities” and warned of potentialsanctions against Ankara. AP

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Kabul: Afghanistan’s presidenthas appointed a council fornational reconciliation, whichwill have final say on whetherthe government will sign apeace deal with the Talibanafter what are expected to beprotracted and uncertain nego-tiations with the insurgents.

The negotiations wereenvisaged under a US-Talibanpeace agreement signed inFebruary as intra-Afghan talksto decide the war-torn coun-try’s future. However, theirstart has been hampered by aseries of delays that have frus-trated Washington. Some hadexpected the negotiations tobegin earlier this month.

Afghan President AshrafGhani issued a decree lateSaturday establishing the 46-member council, led by his for-mer rival in last year’s presi-dential election, AbdullahAbdullah, who is now in the

government.The council is separate

from a 21-member negotiatingteam, which Ghani appointedin March and which is expect-ed to travel to the Gulf Arabstate of Qatar, where theTaliban maintain a politicaloffice, for intra-Afghan talks.

The council will have thefinal say and will ultimatelydecide on the points that thenegotiating team takes up withthe Taliban.

Abdullah’s appointment tohead the reconciliation effortsfollowed a power-sharing dealhe signed in May with Ghani toend the political deadlock afterlast year’s election — a vote inwhich Abdullah had alsodeclared himself a winner.

The High Council forNational Reconciliation ismade up of an array of Afghanpolitical figures, including cur-rent and former and nine

women representatives, one ofwhom was named Abdullah’sdeputy. Ghani also appointedformer President Hamid Karzaito the council but his prede-cessor rejected the appoint-ment in a statement Sunday,saying he declines to be part ofany government structure.

Also on the council aremujahedeen and jihadi leaderswho fought against the SovietUnion in the 1980s but whowere also involved in aAfghanistan’s brutal civil warthat followed their takeover in1992 that left 50,000, mostlycivilians, dead in Kabul.Among them is GulbuddinHekmatyar, who signed a peacedeal with Ghani in 2016 butpreviously was declared a ter-rorist by the US. The councilalso includes Abdur RasoolSayyaf, who was the inspirationfor the Philippine terroristgroup Abu Sayyaf. AP

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1�� &��""� ��A��%��Manila (Philippines):

Gunmen stopped a group ofmotorcycle riders then openedfire with assault rifles in a busydowntown area in the southernPhilippines, killing nine peo-ple, police said Sunday, in thelatest violence to roil thevolatile region.

Police officials said theattack on the victims, whowere mostly farmers, at noonSaturday in Kabacan town inCotabato province may havebeen sparked by a local feudand was likely not an act of ter-rorism.

Cotabato lies in a poverty-wracked region where adecades-long Muslim sepa-ratist insurgency has easedlargely due to a 2014 peace dealbetween the Philippines’ largestMuslim rebel group and thegovernment, although smallarmed groups aligned withthe Islamic State group stillpose a threat. AP

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Beirut: The head of Lebanon’sHezbollah said on Sunday hisgroup supports the formation ofa government that would be ableto improve economic conditionsin the crisis-stricken country andundertake major reforms.

Hassan Nasrallah said hisgroup is also open to calls fromFrance for a new political con-tract in Lebanon, on conditionthat all Lebanese sects are onboard.

The speech came on theeve of a meeting by Lebaneseparliamentary blocs deciding toname a new prime ministerand also ahead of FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macron’sarrival in Lebanon late Monday.It’s Macron’s second visit to theformer French protectorate inless than a month.

Macron has offered Frenchsupport after the devastatingAug. 4 port explosion in Beirutand has also pressed Lebaneseofficials to formulate a newpolitical pact to lift the coun-try out of its political stale-mates, entrenched corruptionand years of mismanagement.

The Iran-backed militantgroup Hezbollah, which has adominant role in Lebanon’spolitics, has come underintense criticism and publicscrutiny as the country facesmultiple devastating crises. Theport explosion killed 190 peo-ple and injured over 6,000.Parts of the capital were dev-astated and the port, a maintrade channel for the smallcountry dependent on imports,was badly damaged. AP

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Harare: Zimbabwe’s parksauthorities in Zimbabwe areinvestigating the death of 11elephants in a forest in the westof the country, a parksspokesman said Sunday.

The carcasses of the ele-phants were discovered onFriday in Pandamasue Forest,located between HwangeNational Park and VictoriaFalls. Blood samples have beentaken to a laboratory for analy-sis to determine the cause oftheir deaths, Tinashe Farawo,spokesman of the ZimbabweNational Parks and WildlifeManagement Authority, said.The dead elephants were foundwith the tusks still on their bod-ies, ruling out poaching. AP

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@��(�� ?��B��Berlin (AP): Far-right extrem-ists tried to storm the Germanparliament building Saturdayfollowing a protest against thecountry's pandemic restric-tions, but were intercepted bypolice and forcibly removed.

The incident occurred aftera daylong demonstration bytens of thousands of peopleopposed to the wearing ofmasks and other governmentmeasures intended to stop thespread of the new coronavirus.Police ordered the protesters todisband halfway through theirmarch around Berlin after par-ticipants refused to observesocial distancing rules, but arally near the capital's iconicBrandenburg Gate took placeas planned.

Footage of the incidentshowed hundreds of people,some waving the flag of theGerman Reich of 1871-1918and other far-right banners,running toward the Reichstagbuilding and up the stairs.

Pol ice conf irmed onTwitter that several peoplehad broken through a cordonin front of Parliament and“entered the staircase of theReichstag building, but notthe building itself.”

“Stones and bottles werethrown at our colleagues,”police said. “Force had to beused to push them back.”

Germany's top securityofficial condemned the inci-dent. “The Reichstag buildingis the workplace of ourParliament and therefore thesymbolic center of our liber-al democracy,” Inter iorMinister Horst Seehofer saidin a statement.

“It’s unbearable that van-dals and extremists shouldmisuse it," he said, calling onauthorities to show “zero tol-erance."

Earlier, thousands of far-right extremists had thrownbottles and stones at policeoutside the Russian Embassy.Police detained about 300people throughout the day.

Berlin’s regional govern-ment had tried to ban theprotests , warning thatextremists could use them asa platform and citing anti-mask rallies earlier thismonth where rules intendedto stop the virus from beingspread fur ther weren’trespected.

Protest organizers suc-cessfully appealed the deci-sion Friday, though a courtordered them to ensure socialdistancing. Failure to enforcethat measure promptedBerlin police to dissolve themarch while it was still inprogress.

During the march, whichauthorities said drew about38,000 people, participantsexpressed their oppositionto a wide range of issues,including vaccinations, facemasks and the German gov-ernment in general. Somewore T-shirts promoting the“QAnon” conspiracy theorywhile others displayed whitenationalist slogans and neo-Nazi insignia, though mostparticipants denied havingfar-right views.

Uwe Bachmann, 57, saidhe had come from south-western Germany to protestfor free speech and his rightnot to wear a mask.

“I respect those who areafraid of the virus,” saidBachmann, who was wearinga costume and a wig that triedto evoke stereotypical NativeAmerican attire. He suggest-ed, without elaborating, that“something else” was behindthe pandemic.

1��2��Kyiv (AP): Tens of thousands ofdemonstrators gatheredSunday in the capital ofBelarus, beginning the fourthweek of daily protests demand-ing the resignation of the coun-try’s authoritarian presidentafter an election they call riggedgave him a sixth term in office.

The protest at the hero citymonument honoring Minsk’ssuffering and resilience in WorldWar II attracted at least 100,000people, according to the Nextamessaging app channel that is amain medium for the opposi-tion.

Wide protests began afterthe August 9 presidential electionthat officials say gave PresidentAlexander Lukashenko a land-slide 80% win over his main chal-lenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,

a former teacher and the wife ofa popular jailed blogger.

Lukashenko, in office since1994, has been defiant but belea-guered, unable to put downlargest, most sustained wave ofprotests yet in this EasternEuropean nation of 9.5 millionpeople. He has refused to rerunthe election, which both theEuropean Union and the UnitedStates have said was not free orfair, and refused offers to helpmediate the situation from Balticnations.

Lukashenko says he hasreached an agreement withRussian President VladimirPutin that Russia will send insecurity help if asked. But Russiahas appeared hesitant to getinvolved deeply in the Belarusunrest.

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After celebrating the Indian Armywith Uri: The Surgical Strike last

year and recently announcing anoth-er war film in Pippa, RSVP’S air forcefilm Tejas is set to go on floors thisDecember.

It is the story of a daring andfierce fighter pilot, played by actorKangana Ranaut. The Indian AirForce was the first of the country’sdefence forces to induct women intocombat roles in 2016. The film takesinspiration from this landmark event.

RSVP took to their social mediaand marked the announcement,“Tejas starring Kangana to take-offthis December! This film is our odeto the brave Air Force Pilots ofIndia...”

Written and to be directed bySarvesh Mewara, the film aims toevoke a sense of pride and mostimportantly inspire the youth of ournation. It takes us through some ofthe challenging combat missionsour forces undertake in their effortto keep our country safe from terror-ism.

“Tejas is an exhilarating storywhere I play an air force pilot. It feelsgood to celebrate brave men andwomen in uniform who makeimmense sacrifices in the line of dutyeveryday... Excited to take this jour-ney with Sarvesh and Ronnie(Screwvala),” says Kangana.

“While we were preparing for thefilm, the world was hit by this unfor-

tunate pandemic. I’m pleased that weare resuming work and will com-mence shoot later this year. The ideaof developing a story around awoman fighter pilot was born in-house by Salona Bains Joshi, the asso-ciate producer on the project, and Ibacked it instantly. I hope our filminspires many more women to jointhe Indian Air Force,” says Ronnie.

Says Sarvesh, “The film is areflection of the current sentiment inour country. We celebrate our armedforces and I hope to further evoke aspirit of patriotism and nationalismthrough the storytelling. Kangana isa strong woman with a voice that res-onates with the youth and I cannotwait to begin shooting.”

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Sinister charactersconverge around a youngman devoted to protectingthose he loves in a postwarbackwoods town teemingwith corruption andbrutality. Starring TomHolland, Bill Skarsgårdand Riley Keough, the filmreleases on Netflix onSeptember 16.

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Sparks fly when acrusading but cash-strapped attorneytakes on a charmingclient looking to sue adating site thatguarantees its userswill find love. StarringRachael Leigh Cook,Damon Wayans Jr andHeather Graham, thefilm releases onNetflix on September 3.

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missing mother, intrepid teenEnola Holmes uses hersleuthing skills to outsmartbig brother Sherlock and helpa runaway lord. StarringMillie Bobby Brown as theteen detective, Henry Cavilland Sam Claflin, the filmreleases on Netflix onSeptember 23.

Long before do-it-yourself (DIY)projects became a lockdown must-do, artist Harun Robert aka

Rob brought them to our own TVscreens via the show, M.A.D, making artseem easy for even those who weren’t wellrehearsed with their creative side. Today,Rob brings its more revised and updat-ed version — Imagine That. The showaims to encourage children to imagine,experiment and repurpose everydayitems through the imaginative world ofDIY and give a purpose to their creativ-ity by introducing upcycling as its under-lying theme.

While the fans of that 2000s showmight surely find this exciting, we arecurious to know how such a show willreclaim its space, given that social mediafeeds are full of short videos of DIYs.

�After almost a decade of M.A.D,what led you to start another such show— Imagine That?

As an artist, I love trying out newthings and reinventing them. My switchfrom television to digital was to explorethis new space and platform. I ended upbuilding a great art community there withalmost 1.3 million subscribers. Thisjourney in itself was very exciting. But allmy fans and followers started putting arequest forward — ‘please come back tothe world of television’. I guess people def-initely enjoy that format as well. And afterall, the audience is king. I got this greatchance to collaborate with DisneyChannel; I’ve always been its fan since Iwas a kid. The television platform allowsme to reach a bigger audience and itsreach is unparalleled. It’s exciting to beback on television.

�Before social media, M.A.D was theonly medium for people to know howDIY worked. However, now they arewell-versed with the DIY culture due toeasy access to the internet. How differ-ent will be your workshops this time?

The show will definitely grab theaudience attention. I agree that there is anabundance of content around and aboutDIY. But that doesn’t affect the nature ofthis show. It’s also a little unfair to com-pare the show with the content presenton the internet just because it falls underthe same genre. This show is definitelyvery unique. It showcases reinvention ofthings, something I really believe in.Imagine That as a show encloses a lot ofinteresting ideas and projects. The DIYsthat we’re doing on the show are new andunseen. The USP is that it is centeredaround upcycling. We often talk about

recycling, and upcycling is basical-ly a creative form of recycling. It is a

very interesting medium in itself. It’sabout picking up ordinary and boring

objects and converting them into extra-ordinary things that have a completely

new life, purpose and meaning. The tran-sition from one thing changing into theother will definitely encourage them towatch the show. I also take pride in say-ing that my process of explaining thingsis very different than that of others. I canreally simplify the concept. I can break itdown and dissect it to the simplest form.So someone who is approaching that pro-ject or DIY will not feel intimidated byit. In fact, they will enjoy the process, theywill feel it’s fun and they will want toattempt it.

�Upcycling as a concept has beenaround for a while...

Yes, people have been aware of upcy-cling and recycling. With Imagine That,we want to introduce the purpose ofupcycling in a unique and fun way to thekids. To make them aware of the abun-dance of creativity and boundless imag-ination around them. As they say,“everything you can imagine is real.”

�Why do you think DIY is impor-tant? Can we merge the conceptwith sustainability?

Absolutely! I always encouragepeople to do DIY art and upcy-cling. We need to reduce, reuseand recycle. When you’re workingwith different materials and you’retrying to use your imaginationand creativity to convert thetrash into a more valuable item,you are stimulating your creativ-ity. Mindfulness is just one ofthe many benefits that comesyour way when you embrace ado-it-yourself project. Whenyou’re working with yourhands, it helps you a lot inyour own personal growth.You learn a new technique, anew skill and a new tool.With this show, we are talk-ing about saving the planet,we are talking about sustain-ability and we are talkingabout a better future. So allthese ideas will help kidsunderstand the process ofrepurposing things a lotbetter. Imagination andcreativity can change theworld.

�It can be tricky to hostshows for childrenbecause you have to pitchthe concept exactly right...

How challenging is it tocapture the attention of theyounger ones?

The fact is that I feelvery lucky to be doing whatI am doing. I love art. As anartist, I am very passionateabout it. The fact that I getto do this every day is a

reward in itself. When you’re

doing it for kids, it’s even better becausekids are the most honest audience youcan have. They won’t fool around, if theydon’t like something, they’ll tell it to youon your face. And if they love it, theirreactions are the best. I receive somuch love that it makes me love this jobeven more. It really pushes me and moti-vates me to do more. Through my work,I encourage kids to be more creative.Kids are curious by nature and they arecreative. Their imagination is really vividand wild. So my job is just to be a guideand help them in the right direction toexplore that creativity. In a way, I alsowant to be their best friend. A lot of peo-ple don’t see me as a teacher. I never sayI teach, I say it’s playful learning. Theydon’t treat me like a teacher or an adult,they treat me like a friend. So it is veryeasy for me to convey an idea or a mes-sage to them. I really enjoy it and I hopeI continue to do this forever.

�Given that things are easily accessi-ble to the young generation today withtheir parents’ increased incomearound the country, how do you thinkthe importance of DIY projects can beexplained to them?

Imagine That will help them under-stand the importance of DIY and mak-ing innovative artsy products out of sim-ple and easily available day-to-daythings. It will help them understand theimportance of little things that can makehuge differences. Yes, now they do haveeasy access to material, technology andmore. That is why it is important theyhave shows like these that can help theminculcate the right or good habits earlyon. Simple aspects like their safetywhile cutting or using scissors whilemaking the DIY art have been integrat-ed within the show. Through this, weaim at inspiring kids and young minds.We want to give them interesting ideasand knowledge that they can apply in thereal world.

�Why do you think it is important tobring out the creativity in a child? Orhow important it is for the kids toimagine, experiment and repurposeeveryday items?

Kids are very curious in nature andthey are creative as well. People say kidsare destructive but they’re just curiousabout what things are made of. Theywant to know what’s inside it and howit works or can I make it myself? So weare just channeling all the curiosity andenergy through the show and are apply-ing it in the right direction. I always saythat creativity is not just for artists, it isfor everyone. Creativity helps people getbetter at problem-solving, and it leadsthem to think out of the box. They’realso better communicators with a bet-ter understanding of visual language aswell. If they have an idea, they can pre-sent it better. With so much stressaround, it helps in channeling all thatenergy into something fun yet produc-tive. The show gives them that greatbreak while bringing them joy as well.

(The show airs from September 6 at9.30 am on Disney Channel.)

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In our quest for peace, we are all united, whichmakes it grow stronger with each passing day.

However, in a world torn by strife, one might ques-tion if this search is still reasonable. Many ask thattoday, when even the relations of parents and chil-dren, husband and wife are fraught with dissent,how can one dream to imagine a world without dis-cord? Is it not a utopian dream?

In Hindu scriptures, the world is described asa tree and is often referred to as the Kalpa Vriksha,wherein kalpa connotes the time period of one com-plete cycle of creation from golden age to the endof iron age. The seed or the creator of this creationis of course, lord. There is a trunk and many bigbranches that stem from the tree. The big branch-es of this world tree represent the main religionsof the world that are created by powerful souls whocome on earth as reli-gious preceptors. Theygive birth to a new orderor faith that is followedby millions around theworld over a period oftime. With the passage oftime, as this tree growsbigger and older, manynew branches come outand the older ones alsocontinue to expand anddivide. However, theoriginal purity andstrength of religions begin to decline with time andmany divisions occur within them and then final-ly at the end of iron age, the tree dries up complete-ly and the seed emerges.

Well, god and truth is one. When the astronautsfly in their spaceships and see the fragmented earthfrom above, they see it as one planet. In the sameway, spirituality takes us beyond all divisions to astage where through oneness, the world canbecome a beautiful family. Since everyone in theworld is unique, and therein lies its beauty, indi-viduals are bound to be different. But those differ-ences shouldn’t come in the way of our unity. Whichis also why, the foundation of unity does not lie inalways doing the same thing but in identifying ourcommon roots. A family is born out of commonparents and so, for the world to be united, every-one must belong to the same father.

It is in this realisation that we descend from thesame home and the same parent that we bond witheveryone as brothers and sisters. When we strip our-selves of all differences and labels that we inheritfrom the costume of body, we arrive at who we orig-inally are — souls sparkling with energies of knowl-edge, purity, peace, love, happiness, bliss and power.From the interplay of these energies are born virtueslike humility, forgiveness, tolerance, acceptance andcooperation that help us coexist in a world of vari-ety. Remember, unity of hearts is possible with aconscious awareness that we are all souls who areinnately virtuous and belong to the same family.This wisdom is loaded with the power to transcendall tangible and intangible barriers that disconnectany two persons, families, communities or nations.Our strong and deep-rooted desire for togethernessdespite the current scenario brings us to the under-standing that things must have been in completeharmony once upon a time.

The world was first called the paradise, as manyscriptures say, and it functioned like one family andone kingdom; it had one language and one religion.Over the passage of time, this unit began to branchout and divisions emerged. And today, with so manymounting differences and global problems reach-ing a dead-end, it is time to renew the world on allcounts. It’s time to begin afresh and re-instill in our-selves the culture of connecting with each other withlove and respect the laws of nature and be honestto our original values that bring us together. Let’splant a sapling of self-change so that we can achievea world that is united. The day is not far when weshall walk hand-in-hand as one family.

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The efficacy of any government isoften measured by the successfulexecution of the social welfare and

infrastructural schemes launched duringits tenure. Money is invested andresources are utilised to conceptualise,design and implement these schemes onground, however, after completion, noone talks about their sustenance andupkeep. Of all the schemes andannouncements, the infrastructural pro-jects bring hope particularly for peopleresiding in remote locations as they bringwith them employment opportunitieswith promises of a better quality of life.However, once the project is concluded,keeping a check on it gets compromised.

� �� In the mountainous region of

Uttarakhand, villages are tucked away insome of the most isolated corners. Inthese villages, people do not venture outof their houses after sunset. The fear ofattack by wild animals in the dark forcesvillagers to stay indoors. “To tackle thesituation, the state government hadannounced installation of solar lights byUttarakhand Renewable EnergyDevelopment Agency (UREDA) to makelife a little easier for us,” shared KheemSingh Bisht, a resident of village Sirsodain Almora district.

After installation of lights, villagersin these far-flung areas started venturingout even during the night without anyfear. However, with no proper mainte-nance, the lights have now started giv-ing trouble. “We’d lodge complaints onthe number provided by the implement-ing agency but it wasn’t always success-ful. Sometimes, they would guide us on

telephone or through videos to repair thelights but due to lack of technical knowl-edge and training, we hardly ever suc-ceeded,” rued Kheem. He believes that forsuch an arrangement, villagers should beinvolved while conceptualising thescheme and should be given proper train-ing to be able to repair lights on theirown.

The solar lights were installed in 670villages in the entire state under the AtalAdarsh Gram Yojana, which waslaunched in the year 2010-11. But likeSirsoda village, several solar lights, whichwere previously installed have been ren-dered useless. This has led to sheer dark-ness on the streets connecting these vil-lages taking away the little light that thevillagers had found.

“In the year 2015-16, UREDA hadinstalled 20 solar lights in our village.Streets, which would look deserted afterevening, were lit up by these lights. Itbrought a sense of safety among villagers.Today, however, nine out of 20 lights are

not working,” shared Govind SinghFatrayal, a resident of village Kaltani inAlmora Development Block. After filingseveral complaints, the concerned depart-ment fixed the issue but due to lack ofmaintenance, the lights stopped workingagain.

Narendra Mohan, who works withUREDA in state capital, Dehradun,agrees that a proper maintenance isrequired to ensure successful implemen-tation of any scheme. “If we talk aboutthe maintenance of solar lights, I believethat the previous arrangement of offer-ing subsidy on these lights should be re-considered. Equal investment by individ-uals would put equal responsibility on vil-lagers to maintain these lights.Government should provide them prop-er training and technical knowledge tomake them capable of repairing theselights on their own,” said Mohan. He alsosuggested that self-help groups can begiven the responsibility of looking aftersuch projects in the village as these

groups are quite active in the mountain-ous areas.

�� Another project that has lost its

enthusiasm in the State today is the man-agement of forests by community mem-bers through Van Panchayat. Oncerecognised as effective bodies for man-aging and protecting forest areas inUttarakhand, Van Panchayats are facingserious challenges today. Every year, sev-eral saplings are planted by the VanPanchayats and the official papers indi-cate a 100 per cent success rate. Theground reality, however, differs. Of thetotal, only 55 per cent plants manage tosurvive because of a lack of maintenance.But no one is bothered about the successof the scheme as long as formality on offi-cial papers is fulfilled.

The activities under the scheme arebeing conducted without any course cor-rection. Multiple projects of similarnature are simultaneously being imple-

mented in most of the villages. Due tothis, around two to three oak trees havebeen planted within a parameter of twometres. However, the arrangement com-pletely overlooks the fact that due to lackof enough space, these saplings will notgrow properly. Clearly, these initiativeslack technical expertise and a concreteplan on follow-up activities.

0��&��The mounds and trenches construct-

ed for water conservation are too facinga similar fate. The resources are beinginvested in new structures while the olderones can be seen in dilapidated conditionin the Van Panchayats. As per PitamberMelkani, a resident of Jalna Neel Pahariin Dhari Block in Nainital, “Between 2018-20, Central Himalayan EnvironmentAssociation (CHEA), as part of a projectunder the Department of Science andTechnology (DST), constructed moundsand trenches in Van Panchayat of ourregion. It provided employment opportu-nities to locals and today, 55 families areable to fulfill their water requirementsbecause of these structures. But who willbe responsible for the maintenance ofthese structures over the years?”

Well, it is not just Uttarakhand butseveral other hilly states face similar fateas tough geography and weather condi-tions make it difficult to maintain suchprojects. It therefore becomes quite cru-cial to build the capacities of the locals andmake them equally involved in such ini-tiatives. Ownership by the community willmake them responsible for successfulmaintenance and protection without rely-ing on the government all the time.

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Teachers shape the future ofstudents. They teach, engage,

collaborate and inspire in morethan one way. In the words ofNobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai,“One book, one pen, one childand one teacher can change theworld.” Rightly so, the role that ateacher plays in a larger transfor-mation of children is enormous.

However, a teacher’s profes-sional development often goesoverlooked. Apart from teachingstudents, the only learning theyreceive is the discussion withtheir peers in the staff room.

Though they receive workshopsoccasionally but they are rarelypersonalised to meet theirdemands.

Well, this is precisely whereCPD (Continuing Professional

Development), comes into thepicture. It is a process of trackingand recording the skills, knowl-edge and experience that ateacher has gained formally andinformally. This learning is

beyond their initial training with-in an institution. It keeps thetrack of what a teacher experi-ences, learns and also how s/heapplies them. Conventionally, itrefers to the physical file or fold-er that contains the informationabout the development of aneducator. Some organisations usethis term while referring to atraining or development plan,which some argue is not accurate.

Usually, the professionaldevelopment of a teacher remainsin the paper trail. They show theirCPD improvement to receivepromotions. However, if there hasbeen no progress in terms ofskills, there is no enhancement intheir student training as well. Thisin turn means that there is noeffective improvement in class-room learning, which needs tochange.

A lot of schools have startedfollowing it, and now I think it isthe time to digitise these pro-grammes. Doing so will not onlyunleash a teacher’s true potential,it will also benefit the students.Well, thanks to our advances indigital technology, this can bedone without much hassle. Today,using video analytics has empow-

ered us to automate regularprocesses with immaculate pre-cision. Video-analytics-based sys-tems can be deployed withinclassrooms to reflect on the per-formance of a teacher. It cananalyse everything right fromtheir body language to the over-all classroom engagement. Itpaves the way for live and on-demand, of the class when need-ed. It also enables the designat-ed mentor to easily add flags,comments and events to a videoand assist teachers in searchingand navigating the content.Further, it can help teachersidentify their shortfalls and workon them.

Such advanced solutions arethe need of the hour. It goes with-out saying that teachers play acritical role in the holistic devel-opment of a student. So, theirown career progress and skilldevelopment have a direct impacton their pupils' learning.Thankfully, we have these tech-driven solutions as the next log-ical step towards teacher trainingand continuous development.

(The writer is regional direc-tor, ONVU Learning, ONVUTechnologies.)

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Lewis Hamilton led fromstart to finish at the BelgianGrand Prix to clinch his

89th career win and move twobehind Michael Schumacher’sFormula One record on Sunday.

The world champion wasuntroubled from pole position,beating his Mercedes teammateValtteri Bottas by eight secondsand finishing 15 seconds aheadof Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo wasfourth and grabbed an extrapoint for the fastest lap.

Hamilton’s fifth win fromseven races also extended hischampionship lead overVerstappen to 47 points withBottas drifting back in third.Hamilton is odds-on to win aseventh title to tie Schumacher’srecord.

Schumacher won five of

those F1 titles consecutivelyduring a glorious era for Ferrari,but the proud Italian team isstruggling badly now. SebastianVettel finished 13th and CharlesLeclerc 14th.

They are not able to get any-where close to Hamilton interms of speed, let along chal-lenge him.

Having secured a record-extending 93rd career pole,which he dedicated to Americanactor Chadwick Boseman,Hamilton made a clean start andBottas was unable to exert pres-sure on the long straight up toTurn 2.

Early into the 44-lap race,Williams driver George Russelland Alfa Romeo’s AntonioGiovinazzi crashed heavily butwere both unharmed.

McLaren driver CarlosSainz Jr. Failed to start becauseof an exhaust failure.

�� ,56�*�A-

For all that’s been on Novak Djokovic’splate of late - including a painful neck

and his efforts to start a new players’ asso-ciation in men’s tennis - he just keeps win-ning.

He’s perfect in 2020, an ideal way tohead into the U.S. Open.

Djokovic tied Rafael Nadal’s record byearning his 35th title at a Masters 1000tournament, overcoming a sluggish startto beat Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in theWestern & Southern Open final Saturdayand improve to 23-0 this season.

“Has been challenging mentally andemotionally for me to stay sane and be ableto compete on the highest level and winthis title,” Djokovic said.

“Going on an unbeaten run so far thisyear obviously brings even more confi-dence each match.”

Djokovic, 11-0 head-to-head against2016 Wimbledon runner-up Raonic, goesinto the U.S. Open as the No. 1 seed anda big favorite. The Grand Slam tournamentbegins Monday.

“What is that, 23-0?” Raonic said play-fully during the trophy ceremony.

“Honestly, if I start the year off 3-0, I’mpretty happy.”

Earlier Saturday, Victoria Azarenkawon her first tour title since 2016 whenNaomi Osaka pulled out of the women'sfinal because of a left hamstring injury.

“I just hope I'm giving myself, youknow, the opportunity and the chance tohave enough time” to recover ahead of theU.S. Open, Osaka said.

The Western & Southern Open nor-mally is held in Ohio but was moved toFlushing Meadows this year because of thecoronavirus pandemic as part of a two-tournament "controlled environment.”

Djokovic will be seeking his 18thGrand Slam title, which would move himone behind Nadal and two behind RogerFederer's men's record of 20. Neither ofthose rivals is entered in the U.S. Open -

although both spoke out via Twitter onSaturday against Djokovic’s bid to start anew group to represent men’s tennis play-ers.

“We want to have our own organiza-tion and association that is 100% ours,”Djokovic said.

On court, Djokovic was listless in thefirst set, looking exactly the way one mighthave expected given that he laboredthrough a three-hour semifinal a day ear-lier, when he repeatedly grabbed hisstomach and twice had his neck massagedby a trainer.

It took all of 30 minutes for Raonic, aCanadian ranked No. 30, to take that set.But Djokovic asserted himself in the sec-ond set, breaking to lead 3-2 with a back-hand passing shot and raising his right fist.

In the third, Djokovic broke twicemore, and eventually the 33-year-oldfrom Serbia was raising his arms to mark

his 80th career title and 61st on hardcourts. Jimmy Connors holds the men’srecord of 109 titles; the only others aheadof Djokovic are Federer, Ivan Lendl andNadal.

Djokovic also won the Western &Southern Open in 2018 and is now the firstman to win each Masters 1000 event - onelevel below the Grand Slams - at least twice.

Osaka initially felt a problem with herleg in her first match of the Western &Southern Open and said she pulled thehamstring in the second-set tiebreaker ofher semifinal Friday.

She called this an “emotional week.”The 22-year-old Osaka brought the

push for racial justice to the tennis tour bysaying she was not going to play in hersemifinal, joining athletes in other sportssitting out in reaction to the shooting bya Wisconsin police officer of a Black man,Jacob Blake.

�� 7�0#

Indian captain Virat Kohliadmitted he was “pretty

scared” to hit the nets for the firsttime in five months but said hisfirst training session ahead of theIPL went “better than expected”.

The Royal ChallengersBangalore captain resumedtraining after a five-month coro-navirus-forced hiatus. The netsession was also attended bySouth African pace legend DaleSteyn and RCB team directorMike Hesson. “(It went) muchbetter than expected, to be hon-

est. I was pretty scared. I hadn’tpicked up a bat for five months,but yeah it came out better thanI thought, to be honest,” Kohliwas quoted as saying by the fran-chise’s website.

The 31-year-old, who wasRCB’s highest run-getter lastyear, said staying fit during thelockdown helped him to reactbetter during the net session eventhough he was training after along break.

“I’ve trained quite a bit dur-ing the lockdown, so I’m feelingquite fit and that helps. Becausethe body is light and you reactbetter, I feel like I have more time

on the ball. That's a big plus,” hesaid.

“Otherwise you come heav-ier into the season, the body isn’tmoving as much, and it startsplaying on mind, but yeah, as Isaid it went much better than Iexpected.” RCB arrived in Dubailast week ahead of the 13th IPLwhich is scheduled to begin onSeptember 19. The cash-richT20 event was moved out ofIndia due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the country.

The team hit the nets onSaturday after successfully end-ing its quarantine period. BesidesKohli, spin trio of Chahal,

Washington and ShahbazNadeem and a few pacers alsotrained and Kohli was pleasedwith the way they went abouttheir business in the first session.

“The spinners looked pret-ty good for day one, they pitchedthe ball in consistent areas forlong enough,” said Kohli, whoselast assignment was the two-match Test series against NewZealand in early March.

“Shahbaz was good, Washywas very good, I saw Chahalbowl well too. The seamers wentthrough their motions a little bit.All in all, a decent start to ourcamp.”

�� ,��,

Record-setting England pacerJames Anderson relishes

the challenge of getting the bestbatsmen out and is looking for-ward to a tough contest againstVirat Kohli when his side trav-els India next year.

Anderson, who recentlybecame the highest Test wick-et taker among pacers with 600scalps during the home seriesagainst Pakistan, and Kohlihave had some intriguing bat-tles over the years.

“It’s always tough bowlingat batsmen of that quality. It will

be a tough battle but that’ssomething I do enjoy. You wantto get the best players out,”Anderson told the Test MatchSpecial podcast.

When India touredEngland in 2014, Andersonwas Kohli’s nemesis with theright-arm pacer dismissing theIndia skipper on four occasions.Kohli could score just 134 runsin his 10 innings.

But Kohli came back toEngland an altogether differentbatsman in 2018 as he finishedthe Test series as the top run-scorer with an impressive 593-run tally with two centuries and

three fifties to his name.“I had some success against

him in 2014 and then he cameback a completely differentplayer in 2018 and was incred-ible,” the 38-year-old Anderson,who is currently in the fourthplace among all-time highestTest wicket-takers, said.

Asked what changes he sawin Kohli’s batting in 2018,Anderson said, “He left the ballreally well in 2018. The firsttime he came over (in 2014),when I was bowling out-swingers he might chase itearly on and that brought theedge and the slips into play.

“He left it a lot better andhe was a lot more patient (in2018). He waited for you tobowl at him and then he’s verystrong off his legs so he couldscore freely,” said the starEngland bowler who has played156 Tests since 2003.

Asked about the techniqueshe would use on continentalpitches, he said, “We have hadour success. We tried to roll fin-gers down the side of the ball,just try to make it grip on thedry surface.

“Having skills like that real-ly helps. We enjoyed bowling(in India).”

�� ,56��5 1#

At a time when most of theyoung cricketers are lured by

“easy money” in thriving T20leagues, West Indian RahkeemCornwall, the heaviest ever toplay the five-day format at morethan 140kg, has got his prioritiesstraight.

The 27-year-old spinner wantsto “nail down” his Test career,which is only three games old, andif leagues like the IPL happenalong the way, it would be a

“bonus”.Speaking to PTI from

Trinidad, where he is making animpact with both bat and ball forSt Lucia Zouks in the CPL,Cornwall expressed his devotionto Test cricket.

“If I can play the T20 formatand travel the world and playleagues it would be good but myaim is to be one of the most suc-cessful Test players out there.

“Playing Test cricket is the artof cricket, everyone wants to playTest cricket and do well. I have

already played the format, I justwant to make sure I get what I amreally looking for in Test cricketand when my times comes toretire, I don’t have any regrets,” saidCornwall.

West Indies cricket hasenjoyed most success in the short-est format over the past 10 yearswith a chunk of its players goingon make a name and some hand-some amount of money in T20leagues around the world.

Cornwall too is open tobecoming a T20 globetrotter but

not before he achieves his goals inTest cricket.

“If I get to play differentleagues around the world, it wouldbe a bonus for me but the mainfocus is to keep pushing my Testcareer,” said the offie who made hisTest debut against India in Jamaicalast year when he took three wick-ets including Cheteshwar Pujara's.

He had also dismissed Indiaskipper Virat Kohli in a tour gamein 2016.

“Pujara is a quality player, agood player of spin. To get him

was a joy, more so as it was my firstTest wicket,” recalled Cornwall,who is yet to make his limitedovers debut for West Indies but isconfident of doing so with a suc-cessful outing the ongoing CPL.

At the moment, he likes to beknown as the off-spinner who can“drastically” improve with the bat.

The constant chatter aroundhis size doesn't bother him buthe would want to be fitter andleaner to the point where he isable to perform at his best in allformats.

�� 7�0#

Terming the upcoming IPL one of his“most important assignments” as captain,

Delhi Capitals’ Shreyas Iyer has demandedconsistency from all his teammates.

In the last edition, Delhi Capitals reachedthe IPL play-offs for the first time in sevenyears, and they are hoping to better that resultthis time.

“It’s certainly very different from last sea-son, but challenges excite me,” Iyer toldIPLT20.Com.

“As a captain, this is going to be certain-ly one of my most important assignments justbecause of how different the setting is. It isgoing to be very different, the key is to takeit one day at a time.

“We’re being briefed about the do’s anddon’ts at every step, it’s crucial that everyonewho is part of our team bubble follows that.”

Moved out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 13th edition of the world'sbiggest T20 league will be played across threevenues in the UAE from September 19 toNovember 10.

“All pieces of the puzzle need to fall in theright place to be a champion team,” he said.

“But the IPL is a long tournament andresults keep going up and down invariably.

“The one thing that worked for us lastseason for how in each and every match, dif-ferent players stepped up to the occasion andthat was crucial to our success and will be keythis year too. Having not just one consistentperformer but many of them.”

Iyer welcomed the new additions in theform of experienced India playersRavichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane.

“Ashwin and Rahane add tremendousdepth to our side and give Ricky and meoptions to be flexible with our playing XIdepending on where we're playing, who ouropposition is and where we are placed in thetournament at a particular time,” Iyer said.

“Also these are two individuals who arehighly knowledgeable about the game andhave captained IPL teams, so for me as cap-tain, this is an opportunity to use all experi-ence and reach out to them whenever I wantto share or discuss anything at all.”

He said he is blessed to be working along-side Australian legend Ricky Ponting, who isthe chief coach of the Delhi franchise.

“He’s such a legend and makes everyone,from the senior-most to the newest guy feelat home and as a part of this unit. As a cap-tain, he gives me freedom and that has helpedme grow as a cricketer.”

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India and Russia were on Sunday declared jointwinners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad

after the final was marred by internet discon-nection and server malfunction.

Russia were initially declared winners aftertwo Indian players — Nihal Sarin and DivyaDeshmukh — lost out on time in the final aftersuffering a disconnection with the server.

India lodged a protest against the contro-versial decision which was reviewed.

This was the first time FIDE, the interna-tional chess federation, was holding theOlympiad in an online format, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

“FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich madea decision to give gold medals of FIDE Online#ChessOlympiad to both teams - India andRussia,” the world chess body tweeted.

“We are the champions !! Congrats Russia!,”the legendary Viswananthan Anand wrote onhis twitter handle after the final.

The first round of the final ended in a 3-3draw with all the six games finishing in stale-mate. Russia won the second round 4.5-1.5 withwins for Andrey Esipenko over Sarin and PolinaShuvalova over Deshmukh, leading to a contro-versy as the Indians claimed the losses were dueto connection issues.

In the second round, Anand, coming in forP Harikrishna, had drawn with IanNepomniachtchi while captain Vidit Gujrathidrew with Daniil Dubov.

Koneru Humpy, the world rapid champi-on, was beaten by Alexandra Goryachkina andD Harika drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk.

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Mohammad Hafeez and BabarAzam both half centuries asPakistan piled up an impos-

ing 195-4 against England in the sec-ond Twenty20 international at OldTrafford on Sunday.

Hafeez top-scored with 69 afterPakistan captain and opener Babar,the world's number one-ranked T20batsman, launched the innings with56.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid brieflychecked Pakistan's progress with 2-32from his maximum four overs.

But the rest of 50-over worldchampions England's attack lackedpenetration, with seamer Tom Curranconceding 46 runs - including 23 offone over.

In a fixture where both sides wereunchanged after Friday's opener in athree-match series ended as a noresult washout, the tourists were sentinto bat by Eoin Morgan, the Englandcaptain.

But Babar, who pulled the firstball of the match from fast bowlerSaqib Mahmood for four, was uncon-cerned as he struck boundaries offspinners and seamers alike.

Fellow opener Fakhar Zamansaw his brisk 36 end when he skyedRashid to long-on to leave his side 72.

Babar completed a fine fifty witha superb extra-cover drive off Rashid- his seventh four in 37 balls faced.

But Rashid had his revenge whenBabar miscued a pull to deep mid-wicket.

Hafeez, whose pulled six offMahmood kept the runs comingwhen he pulled a careless Curran no-

ball, an above waist-high full toss, forsix.

Hafeez’s scooped four off

Mahmood to long leg which saw himto a 26-ball fifty including four foursand three sixes before he was dis-

missed off the penultimate ball of theinnings when he drove Curran toMorgan at extra-cover.

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