˘ ˇ · 18 hours ago · september 14. harivansh had filed nom-wednesday. he was the rs deputy...

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India and China have formu-lated a five-point plan for

speedy de-escalation and dis-engagement from the frictionpoints at the tense Line ofActual Control (LAC) inLadakh.

The broad outline to dif-fuse the tension at the LAC wasarrived at the meeting betweenExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar and his Chinesecounterpart Wang Yi inMoscow on the sidelines of theShanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) meet.

But in the statementsissued by both the countries,there was no mention of therestoration of the status quo onthe LAC as it existed in Aprilor set any timeframe for com-pleting the disengagement andde-escalation.

Jaishankar expressed con-cern over amassing of theChinese troops at the borderwhile his counterpart Wang Yiclaimed the Indian troopsopened fire thereby worseningthe situation at the border.

The meeting betweenJaishankar and Wang Yi lastedmore than two hours. This wasthe first direct meetingbetween them since the stand-offs began in early May on theLAC. They had talked to eachother on the phone two daysafter the bloody brawl in theGalwan valley on June 15 leav-ing 20 India Army personnel,including the commanding

officer dead.Incidentally, this was the

second political-level parleys atthe ministerial level to breakthe four month long logjam.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh held detailed discus-sions on the issue last weekwith his Chinese counterpartWei Fenghe in Moscow.However, things did notimprove on the ground with

the Chinese on Septemberseven opening fire at the LACfor the first time in the last 45years.

Though no breakthroughwas expected in the latestround of talks between the twoForeign Ministers, the twosides exchanged views on thecurrent hostilities at the LAC.The joint statement issued latersaid the two Ministers agreed

that both sides should takeguidance from the series ofconsensus of the leaders ondeveloping India-China rela-tions, including not allowingdifferences to become disputes.

Secondly, the two ForeignMinisters agreed that the cur-rent situation in the borderareas is not in the interest ofeither side. They agreed there-fore that the border troops of

both sides should continuetheir dialogue, quickly disen-gage, maintain proper distanceand ease tensions.

The third part of the plansaw the two Ministers agreeingthat both sides shall abide by all

the existing agreements andprotocol on China-Indiaboundary affairs, maintainpeace, tranquility in the borderareas and avoid any actionthat could escalate matters.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Friday carried

out a major revamp in the partyorganisation by reshaping theall-power Congress workingcommittee (CWC) and briningnew faces as general secretariesin place old guards.

Sonia apparently paid heedto the churning call given by 23party leaders through a letter toher last month. The letter cre-ated a lot of flutters whenSonia offered to quit in theCWC meeting. However, manyof the signatories of that con-troversial letter have been givenimportant places in the party ina clear spirit of reconciliation.

The news teams also showthat roadmap of being pre-pared for eventual takeover ofRahul Gandhi as the presidentof the party.

The new list of CWCmembers, general secretaries,general secretaries incharge ofStates reflects a mix of youthand experienced but preferenceis clearly tilted towards the for-mer.

While several old guardshave been sidelined, leaderslike Ghulam Nabi Azad, whowas among the prominent sig-natories of the letter to SoniaGandhi. have found a place inthe CWC. However, Azad is nomore a general secretary.

In addition to being a gen-eral secretary, Priyanka GandhiVadra is now also part of the

CWC, which decides all theimportant decisions of theparty. Another interestinginclusion in the CWC is that ofTariq Anwar, who had walkedout of the Congress along withSharad Pawar on the issue ofSonia Gandhi’s foreign originissue.

The composition of theteam of general secretariesshows that Sonia has gone byRahul Gandhi’s vision of avibrant organisational squad totake on the BJP. Aging veteranslike Azad, Moti Lal Vora,Mallikarjuna Kharge, AmbikaSonia, and Luizinho Falerio,have been removed as generalsecretaries.

The fact that Sachin Pilotdoes not find a central role inthe party shows that he mayagain be brought back as thepresident of the Rajashtan con-gress. Sonia also constituted a6-member special committeeto assist her in organisationaland operational matters. Themembers of this special com-mittee are AK Antony, AhmadPatel, Ambika Soni, KCVenugopal, Mukul Wasnik andRandeep Singh Surjewala.

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It will be the RJD vs the JanataDal (U) for the post of Rajya

Sabha Deputy Chairman. RJDleader Manoj Jha on Fridayfiled nomination for the post ofRajya Sabha Deputy Chairmanas the Opposition’s candidate.

Manoj Jha will be taking onNDA nominee and JD(U) MPHarivansh Narayan Singh. Theelection to the post is likely tobe held on the first day of theMonsoon Session onSeptember 14.

Harivansh had filed nom-ination for the post onWednesday. He was the RSDeputy Chairman till his pre-vious term ended in April. Hehas since been re-elected to theUpper House from Bihar.

Jha was teaching at theDelhi University when heentered politics and became a

Rajya Sabha member. He is alsothe national spokesperson ofthe Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

While the JD (U) candidatehas the full force of the NDAbehind it, the RJD candidatecomes with the support of theCongress, the Samajwadi Party,the TMC, Left parties, theDMK, the AAP and theLoktantrik Janata Dal, besidesthe RJD.

The NDA nominee andJD(U) leader Harivansh has ahigher probability of winningthe seat. Harivansh had defeat-ed Congress leader BKHariprasad last time and wonby 125-105 votes in electionsheld in August 2018. Sincethen, the NDA has strength-ened its position in the Rajya

Sabha further.BJP floor managers are

confident of securing the sup-port of about 140 MPs, includ-ing the fence-sitters YSRCongress, TRS and BJD. Thestrength of the BJP-led NDAhas also gradually increased tomore than 114 in the Housewith an effective strength of 244members as there is one vacan-cy. However, floor managers ofNDA are trying to build a con-sensus among all parties so thatHarivansh could be electedunanimously.

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar has already spoken tohis Odisha counterpart NaveenPatnaik to seek BJD’s supportfor JD(U) candidate in RajyaSabha poll.

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The CBI has sought sanctionto prosecute former

Defence Secretary Shashi KantSharma, who also later servedas Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG), in connec-tion with the alleged corruptionin the �3,600-croreAgustaWestland VVIP heli-copter deal that was scrappedsubsequently after scam cameto light.

The agency is likely to filea supplementary chargesheetoutlining the role of the allegedmiddleman in the dealChristian Michel, who wasdeported from the UAE and iscurrently undergoing judicialcustody, officials said.

In its supplementarycharge sheet, the CBI is alsolikely to mention the allegedroles of some former public ser-vants, who were holding keydecision-making positionswhen the deal for the heli-copters was in progress, theysaid.

Continued on Page 4

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Based on the findings ofserosurvey, the Indian

Council of Medical Research(ICMR) has said that 64 lakhIndians had been ready infect-ed by Covid-19 by May. Thesewere undiagnosed and theinfected people had developedantibodies against the novelcoronavirus.

The sero-survey further

revealed that for every con-firmed Covid-19 case in May,there were 82-130 infectionsthat went undetected.Incidentally, by midway Indiahad just around 90,000 cases.

The national serosurveywas conducted from May 11 toJune 4 on 28,000 individuals.Their blood samples were test-ed for IgG antibodies usingCovid Kavach ELISA kit.

According to the survey,

seropositivity was found to bethe highest in the 18-45 agegroup (43.3%), followed bythe 46-60 age group (39.5%). Itwas found the lowest amongthose aged over 60 (17.2%).

“The findings of our surveyindicated that the overall sero-prevalence in India was low,with less than one per cent ofthe adult population exposed toSARS-CoV-2 by mid-May2020,” the survey said.

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India may have become thesecond worst Covid-19 glob-

al hotspot in the world, butBJP’s West Bengal presidentDilip Ghosh has declared thatthat corona pandemic is “gone’.He has also accused MamataBanerjee of gagging theOpposition voice by imposinglockdown in the name of tack-ling coronavirus pandemic.

Ghosh, who is known forcourting controversies insearch of quick political rele-vance, said, “There is no coro-na in the market… the pan-demic is a thing of past but theChief Minister is imposinglockdowns in the name of pan-demic so as to thwart the BJP’spolitical programmes from tak-ing place.”

Reacting strongly to hiscomments senior TMC leader

and MP Kalyan Banerjee saidthat Ghosh was out of hisminds and was behaving likean irresponsible politician.

“He is showing all kinds ofinsanity and has become a fitcase to be sent to an asylum,”Banerjee said adding “at a timewhen the corona infectionsare rising by the hour with thecountry recording about a lakhcases every day which is high-est in the world this man is say-ing that there is no corona… In

doing so he is contradicting hisown BJP Government’s state-ments on the pandemic.”

CPI(M) leader SujanChakrabarty questioned thepolitical sincerity and socialresponsibility of Ghosh sayinghe is aspiring to come to powerin Bengal and is in such a hurrythat he wants to put the peopleand even his own supporters atrisk by not only calling them tocrowded programmes but alsoby making them corona insen-sitive with such kind of asser-tions that the pandemic hasgone.

Meanwhile, three seniorIPS officers, including KolkataPolice Commissioner AnujSharma, were reported coronapositive, sources said addingSharma has been sent to isola-tion with minor symptomsand was carrying on his dutiesfrom his home

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Amid speculation that theMaharashtra Government

has written to the MumbaiPolice to look into news reportsthat she had consumed narcoticdrugs, actress Kangana Ranauton Friday needled Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi forher “silence” and “indiffer-ence” over the “harassment”meted out to women by theMVA Government.

Kangana, who has beentargeting the ruling Shiv Senaviciously ever since the alleged“illegal” portions of her bun-galow at Bandra’s Pali Hill areawas demolished on Wednesday,enlarged her target to single outSonia, albeit in the guise of

seeking the latter’s interventionin the issues related to her.

In one of the tweets put outby her during the day, Kanganasaid, “You have grown up in thewest and lived here in India.You may be aware of the strug-gles of women. History willjudge your silence and indif-ference when your ownGovernment is harassingwomen and ensuring a totalmockery of law and order. Ihope you will intervene.”

“Dear respected hon-ourable Congress presidentSonia Gandhi ji, being awoman aren’t you anguished bythe treatment I am given byyour Government inMaharashtra? Can you notrequest your Government touphold the principles of theConstitution given to us by DrAmbedkar?,” Kangana asked.

Continued on Page 4

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Social activist SwamiAgnivesh, who was suffering

from liver cirrhosis for a longtime, died of multi-organ failureat a Delhi hospital on Friday,doctors said. He was 80.

His last rites will be per-formed on Saturday at AgnilokAshram in Behelpa, Gurgaon at4 pm. Before that, his body willbe kept at his office in 7, JantarMantar Road so that people canpay last respects.

Those coming to pay lastrespects have been urged to fol-low Covid-19 protocols.

Agnivesh was critically illand admitted to an ICU of theInstitute of Liver and BiliarySciences, and was on ventilato-ry support since Tuesday. “Hewas suffering from liver cir-rhosis and died today due tomulti-organ failure as his con-dition deteriorated and he wentinto cardiac arrest at 6 pm,” saida spokesperson of the hospital.

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With no let-up in tension atthe Line of Actual

Control (LAC) in Ladakh,Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday reviewed theground situation with the mil-itary top brass and NationalSecurity Adviser (NSA) AjitDoval.

The high-level meetingalso took stock of the outcomeof talks between ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarand his Chinese counterpartWang Yi and prepared theroadmap for forthcomingCorps Commander-level talkslikely to take place next week.

The nearly two-hour longmeeting was also attended byChief of Defence Staff (CDS)General Bipin Rawat and threeServices chiefs. In a briefing tothe Parliamentary Standing

Committee on defence onFriday, Rawat assured that theArmed forces are ready for anyeventuality. The meeting wasattended by Congress MPRahul Gandhi.

The CDS informed thecommittee that the Armedforces had taken adequate stepsand measures to thwart anyattempt by China to furtherchange or alter the status quoalong the LAC, sources said.Defence forces are alert and willgive a befitting reply to theChinese in case of any misad-venture that takes place alongthe border, Rawat said.

Rajnath’s fact checking ses-sion comes a day after theForeign Ministers of India andChina agreed on a five-pointplan for speedy disengagementand de-escalation besides con-tinuing the dialogue process.

Continued on Page 4

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Aspecial court on Fridayrejected the bail applica-

tions of actress RheaChakraborty, her brotherShowik and four others inconnection with a much-dis-cussed drug case relating toSushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Following the rejection ofher bail plea, Rhea — who wasarrested in connection in con-nection with a drug case onTuesday — will remain inByculla women’s jail for anoth-er eleven more days, unless anduntil she gets some relief fromanother court.

Friday’s was the secondoccasion when Rhea’s bailapplication was rejected by acourt. Earlier, hours after herarrest on September 8, a citycourt had rejected her bailapplication remanded in judi-

cial custody for 14 days i.e. tillSeptember 22.

Rhea is likely to move theBombay High Court in thecoming days for bail. “Once weget the copy of the order, wewill decide next week on thecourse of action i.e., aboutapproaching the high court,”Rhea’s lawyer SatishManeshinde said.

Apart from Rhea andShowik, the four other accusedwho were denied bail by thecourt were: Sushant’s housemanager Samuel Miranda,house help Dipesh Sawant andtwo alleged drug peddlersAbdel Bashit Parihar and ZaidVilatra. While Rhea andShowik were represented byadvocate Satish Maneshinde,the NCB was represented bySpecial Public Prosecutor AtulSarpande.

Continued on Page 4

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New Delhi: China’s People’sLiberation Army (PLA) is like-ly to hand over five youthsmissing from ArunachalPradesh to the Indian author-ities on Saturday, Union min-ister Kiren Rijiju said.

The PLA on Tuesday hadconveyed that the five youths,who went missing onSeptember 4 from the Sino-Indian border in UpperSubansiri district, were foundby them across the border.

“The Chinese PLA hasconfirmed to the Indian Armyto hand over the youths fromArunachal Pradesh to our side.The handing over is likely totake place anytime tomorrowi.e. 12th September 2020 at adesignated location,” Rijijutweeted on Friday.

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Breaking all records, 1,181people tested positive for

coronavirus infection in thestate capital, taking the countof confirmed cases in the cityto 37,220 on Friday evening.

The city also reported 16COVID-19 deaths, pushingthe toll to 496. With 827COVID-19 patients recoveringduring the last 24 hours, 27,464coronavirus infected peoplehave been cured in the city sofar and at present 9,260 activecases are undergoing treat-ment in the district.

A senior official at theCMO office said that 59 morepeople tested positive in GomtiNagar in the last 24 hours, 52in Alambagh, 48 in Aliganj, 47in Ashiyana, 45 in Indiranagar,42 at Rae Bareli road, 41 inJankipuram, 39 in Chowk, 35in Madiaon, 33 in Mahanagar,29 in Hazratganj, 27 each inThakurganj and Talkatora, 25in Chinhat, 23 in Cantonment,22 in Sarojininagar, 19 inGudamba, 15 each inHasanganj and Krishnanagar,14 in Bazar Khala and 13 inMohanlalganj.

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NOTICE

I here to known as GauranshBhatia S/o Govind Bhatia,residing at banglow No.1,,7/105-E, Villa-3, SwaroopNagar, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh-208002, have changed myname and shall hereafter beknown as Gauuransh Bhatia.

NOTICE

This is to inform to general pub-lic that my name is AJAYKUMAR SAH. R/o 52 AnjasHome Manas Nagar, JiamauLucknow-226001. My wife'sname is NISHI and our daugh-ter's name is PRISHAANJAS,she is student of class 9th inLA-MARTINIERE GIRLS COL-LEGE LUCKNOW.

NOTICE

Be it known to all that inHighschool marksheet & certifi-cate of my daughter by mistakeher name written as AnamtaFatima instead of AnamtaFatma - Syed Afzal HaiderRizvi (Father) R/o V-80, NehruEnclave, Vishwas Khand GomtiNagar Lucknow

NOTICE

My name is Ram Kishore. Myhusband Vishambhar Singhwho is Hawaldar in Indian ter-ritorial army my name hasturned into Ram Kishore Deviin his Service record part-2. MyReal name is Ram Kishore.Ram kishore w/o VishambharSingh R/o vill Baijupurwa postRoshanmau, Tehshil Akbarpur,Kanpur Dehat.

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Two minor girls were raped by a neigh-bour while they went out to pluck

guava in an orchard in Gonda onThursday evening.

As per reports, the victims, aged six andseven years and residents of Umri BegumGanj area, went to a guava orchard and wereplucking fruits when a neighbour appearedon the scene and threatened them with direconsequences. Later, he took them to hishome where he took turns with them. Afterbeing set free, the victims rushed home andnarrated their ordeal to their parents afterwhich a report was lodged with the localpolice.

The victims were sent for medicalexamination to the district hospital andefforts were underway to nab the accused.

In Jaunpur, eight policemen, includinga DSP, were injured after being attacked bytwo warring groups late Thursday night. Asper reports, some alcoholics misbehavedwith a local over a property in HusainpurItaya hamlet of Madhiyahoon and assault-ed him on Wednesday night. To avenge thehumiliation, the local garnered his aides andreached the shop of Rajendra Rajbhar andhurled abuses late Thursday night.However, the locals came to rescue Rajbharwhich later resulted in a free for all. Upon

learning about the incident, COMadhiyahon, Rajendra Kumar and SHO,Pawan Kumar Upadhyaya, reached the spotwith police force but the mob started pelt-ing stones at them. Even as the cops tookevasive action, half-a-dozen policemen,including the CO, were injured. The policelater arrested some miscreants and usedforce to chase away the troublemakers. Aheavy police force was patrolling in the areato avert fresh clashes.

Meanwhile in Jalaun, woman policeconstable Rinki Rajput, whose husband waskilled by her father and brother on August28 as they were opposed to her marriage,failed to overcome her trauma and endedher life on Friday. Depressed with her hus-band’s murder, Rinki hanged herself fromthe ceiling of her room and ended her life.

Rinki Rajput of Bindki area of Fatehpurworked as police constable and was post-ed in Jalaun. She married Manish Rajputdespite opposition from her family. Thecouple had a six-month-old son Shiva andused to live in a rented house in Orai. OnAugust 28 night, Rinki’s father PremSingh, her brother Ankit and her unclereached her house and after having dinner,they stabbed Manish to death. Rinki raisedan alarm after which her neighboursnabbed her fleeing kin. All the accused arein jail.

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In a major policy shift for manufac-turing sector, the Uttar Pradesh

government has decided to promoteflatted factory complexes and Agra isall set to get the state’s first such com-plex.

Spread over five acres, the Rs 125-crore project will comprise 68 indus-trial units spread across four storeysof the proposed complex.

The concept of flatted factoryenvisages industrial buildings withmore than one storey, subdivided intounits for manufacturing, assemblyand associated storage.

Additional Chief Secretary(Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises) Navneet Sehgal saidthat the roadmap of flatted factorycomplex at Foundry Nagar in Agrahad been prepared to allow the set-ting up of a large number of indus-tries within limited space.

“Since the complex will be situ-ated in the city, goods would be eas-ily supplied to markets, while provid-ing jobs to a large number of people.The project was prepared after tak-ing feedback from the local industri-alists and entrepreneurs,” he said.

Equipped with modern industri-al amenities, the complex would

house non-polluting manufacturingunits like footwear, bicycles, hosiery,handloom, carpet, leather goods,electric lamps, embroidery, woollenclothes, tea packaging, informationtechnology, light engineering etc.

The complex will be located at 10km from Agra-Lucknow Expressway,thus providing easy connectivity tomarkets beyond Agra and UP as well.Moreover, it would provide parkingspace and conference facilities forentrepreneurs, exhibition arcade,food court, data centre etc.

Against the coronavirus pan-demic disruptions, the state govern-ment announced its new investment

policy to give a fillip to industries lastmonth. The new policy is expected tonot only boost the existing and newindustrial projects, but also positionUP strategically for prospective glob-al investors planning to shift manu-facturing bases out of China follow-ing the coronavirus pandemic and theongoing US-China trade war.

The policy promises to reimburseState Goods and Services Tax (SGST)by 200-300 per cent of capital invest-ment, subject to differential ceiling,depending upon the geography, madeby industries in Purvanchal (easternUP), Bundelkhand and Madhyanchal(Central UP) regions.

In Bundelkhand, 70 per cent ofthe net SGST reimbursement wouldbe applicable for 15 years, subject to300 per cent of capital investment.Similarly, 70 per cent of SGST wouldbe reimbursed to investors, subject toa ceiling of 200 per cent of capitalinvestment made in Madhyanchalduring the period.

Due to lockdown, nearly 38 lakhmigrant workers returned from otherstates to UP, especially to eastern andcentral districts. The new policyaims at accelerating industrialisationin these regions, so that bulk of themigrant workforce can be absorbedin gainful employment locally.

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Lucknow will soon have India’slargest international incubation

centre spread over 2.5 lakh squarefeet space. Uttar Pradesh ElectronicsCorporation, the startup nodalagency, has already identified landopposite CCS Airport in Amausiand is in talks with SoftwareTechnology Parks of India (STPI), aCentral government organisation, tobuild and operate this centre.

To expedite the project, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath had writ-ten a letter to the Union Ministry ofIT and Electronics for roping inSTPI to assist the state governmentin implementing the much awaitedproject.

The STPI recently made a pre-sentation to the state Industriesdepartment.

The UP government has alsoreceived a proposal from IIT, Kanpurto establish a Centre of Excellenceon Artificial Intelligence in Noida.Moreover, the UP government isworking with the STPI to develop ITParks in various Tier II/III cities likeMeerut, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Agra,Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar,Bundelkhand, Bareilly, etc.

The Prayagraj IT Park hasbecome operational while theMeerut IT Park is in advance stagesof completion and is expected to beoperational by November. The Agraand Gorakhpur IT Parks’ construc-

tion is also in full swing and isexpected to be complete byDecember, 2020.

The STPI is also assisting thestate government in establishingUP’s first Centre of Excellence inMediTech at the Sanjay GandhiPost-Graduate institute of MedicalSciences in Lucknow.

The UP government has under-taken realignment of the state start-up policy in accordance with thestartup ranking framework whichresulted in launch of new UP Start-up Policy, 2020. The new Start-upPolicy, 2020 aims to be in top 3 statesin the state startup ranking in com-ing years.

The policy also has a goal toestablish 100 incubators in the stateby the year 2025, minimum one ineach district, to create a robustinfrastructure in UP for the startupculture to flourish.

The new Start-up Policy of UPaddresses regional imbalances andgives thrust to uplift of weakersections of society to bring theminto a mainstream of business worldby offering them additional incen-tives.

Additional incentives to thetune of 50 per cent have beenoffered to startups based out ofPurvanchal and Bundelkhandregions as well as to those wherestartup founders/co-founders arewoman, divyangjan or from trans-gender community.

01�&2 �� Lucknow (PNS): After closely reviewing the perfor-mance of district police chiefs, the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment transferred 13 Indian Police Services (IPS)officers, posting news incumbents in LakhimpurKheri, Kushinagar, Unnao and Hardoi late Thursdaynight. As per an official communiqué, SP, EOW,Lucknow, Suresh Rao Kulkarni, was posted as SP ofUnnao, SP of Hardoi, Amit Kumar-1 was posted asSP of UP 112, Lucknow, SP of Kanpur Dehat, AnuragVats, was posted as SP of Hardoi and SP, Traffic,Muzaffarnagar, Ram Abhilash Tripathi was postedthe new SP of Siddharthnagar.

Meanwhile, SP of Rae Bareli, Swapnil Magnumwas posted as DCP at Lucknow, SP of Hamirpur,Shlok Kumar, was posted as SP of Rae Bareli, SPPrayagraj (Ganga Paar), Narendra Kumar Singh wasposted as the new SP of Hamirpur while SSP, STF atLucknow, Vinod Kumar Singh was posted as SP ofKushinagar. Besides, SP of Unnao, Rohan P Kanay,was transferred to PAC in Prayagraj as Commandantwhile Commandant of PAC in Lucknow, KeshavKumar Chaudhary, was shifted as the new SP ofKanpur Dehat.

SP of Siddharthnagar, Vijay Dhool, was made thenew SP of Lakhimpur Kheri, replacing SatyendraKumar, who was sent as Commandant of a PAC bat-talion in Moradabad while SP of Kushinagar, VinodKumar Mishra, was posted as SP of CB-CID inLucknow.

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Lucknow (PNS): In view ofthe spread of coronavirus acrossthe state, the Cane departmentissued fresh guidelines for imple-mentation of Covid protocol forthe 2020-21 crushing seasonstarting from October-end.

Commissioner, Cane andSugar Industry, Sanjay R.Bhoosreddy, said on Friday thatCovid protocol was effectivelyimplemented in over 100 sugarmills during the last cane crush-ing season that ended in May.

He said that as the risk ofinfection was still looming, thenext crushing season was likely tobe challenging and it was imper-ative to implement safety proto-cols more effectively.

Bhoosreddy said that theimplementation of social dis-tancing guidelines would saveemployees of sugar industry and48 lakh cane farmers and wouldalso ensure seamless operation ofmills. He said that to preventspread of coronavirus, it wasnecessary to comply with theguidelines issued for sanitisationof mills, office premises, canteenetc. and use of masks at work sites.The cane commissioner furthersaid that instructions had beengiven to conduct 100 per centhealth tests of seasonal staff at thecommencement of the crushingby the sugar mills. “In addition,sugar mills and cane societies havebeen directed to conduct thermalscreening of all personnel atoffices, mill gates and purchasingcentres and make provisions foradequate soap, water and sanitis-er,” he said. Bhoosreddy alsodirected all officers to strictly fol-low these guidelines to prevent thespread of the coronavirus infec-tion in sugar mills, cane societiesand other associated places dur-ing the crushing season.

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On a day when over 50,000 RT-PCR tests were carried out in

Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath directed officials to takeup contact tracing in an organisedwas as it was an important compo-nent for controlling the COVID-19pandemic.

Chairing an Unlock meeting atthe Lok Bhawan here on Friday, Yogidirected the additional chief secre-taries of Health, and RuralDevelopment and Panchayati Raj tomeet the district magistrate, chiefmedical officer, chief developmentofficer and nagar ayukt of Lucknowand prepare an effective actionplan to control the spread of coro-navirus infection in the state capi-tal.

The chief minister sought toassure the people that the govern-ment was constantly engaged in thetreatment of the COVID-19 patientsand prevention of the pandemic.

Taking cognisance of more than1.50 lakh Covid tests on Thursday,he asked the officials to ensureadherence to all the safety norms inthe testing process and to maintainat least 1.50 lakh tests per day.

He said that 50,000 RT-PCRtests per day at government labsindicated the government’s firmresolve to fight the coronavirus.

The chief minister directeddoctors to take rounds in hospitals

regularly and asked officials to runambulance services efficiently. Healso asked them to augment thenumber of beds in Covid hospitalsin Kanpur Nagar.

Besides, the officials were alsoasked to utilise IntegratedCommand and Control Centre(ICCC) of Prayagraj for surveillanceon COVID-19.

Yogi also directed officials of

Noida, Greater Noida, YamunaExpressway and other such agenciesdealing with investors, industrialistsand entrepreneurs to listen to andredress their problems on a dailybasis. The additional chief secretary(agriculture) was asked to preparean action plan to reduce Mandicharges.

Additional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said

on Friday that there were 67,321active cases in the state while thenumber of recovered patients was2.27 lakh, including 5,936 peopledischarged from hospitals in the last24 hours.

The additional chief secretarysaid that 1,50,652 sample were test-ed on Thursday, taking the totalCovid tests across the state to 72.17lakh so far.

Meanwhile, the state govern-ment issued fresh orders restrictingprivate hospitals from chargingexorbitant charges from COVID-19patients against extra facility andconsultation fee for doctors.

The government also allowedCovid tests on demand in privatelabs and in all hospitals without pre-scriptions with certain riders.

The new order said that privatehospitals would not be able to levyadditional charge even for doctorsvisiting COVID-19 patients, exceptfor charging fee for RT-PCR or IL-6 tests, for which the governmenthas fixed the rate.

“All costs, including doctor’sconsultation and medical treat-ment are included in the total dailycharges to be paid by patients andnothing more can be charged,”Prasad said.

The additional chief secretarysaid that the government was com-pelled to bring a fresh order aftercomplaints of private hospitalscharging exorbitant money fromCOVID-19 patients.

Prasad said that if a coronaviruspositive pregnant woman under-went delivery in a private hospital,then too the charge would be thesame as prescribed underAyushman Bharat.

He said that the governmenthad fixed the rates of private hos-pitals as per the recommendationsof the Vinod Paul Committee.

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Lucknow (PNS): In a shockingincident in Gorakhpur, a youth wasthrashed and forced to spit and thenlick it in full public view by some mis-creants in Barhalganj area onWednesday. While the traumatisedvictim could not muster courage toreport the incident to the police, a videoof the incident went viral on socialmedia the same evening, forcing policeto intervene. On being contacted by thecops, the victim submitted a complaintagainst two named and four unidenti-fied miscreants and a case was regis-tered. As per reports, a group of mus-clemen stopped the victim, who wasriding a motorcycle, at Khutbar villageon Wednesday. Soon after the miscre-ants abused and thrashed him badly.Not satisfied, they asked him to spit andthen lick it in public view.

Before leaving the place, the mis-creants warned the victim againstreporting the matter to the police.

But the same day, the miscreantsposted a video of the assault on thesocial media. After the case was regis-tered, Narad of Bahsua hamlet andNagendra of Dadri village were arrest-ed. The police were now trying toextract the names of the other accusedfrom them.

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Lucknow(PNS): Directing offi-cials to make roads pothole-freebefore Navratri, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath on Friday said thatthe fight against coronavirus anddevelopment should go simultane-ously.

“Ensure pothole-free roadsbefore Navratri. Work on thisshould start immediately after therainy season. This work should bedone at the government and districtlevels alike,” he said during a seriesof review meetings of Moradabaddivision comprising Moradabad,Rampur, Amroha, Sambhal andBijnor districts.

The district magistrates of fivedistricts gave their presentationsmainly on projects costing Rs 10crore to Rs 50 crore. During themeeting, the chief minister alsoreceived feedback from all the peo-ple’s representatives of the divisions.

He said the officers shouldrelease money for the pendingprojects so that development worksdid not suffer.

“All the ongoing projects shouldbe completed within a stipulatedtime-frame while adhering to thequality norms. The officers areexpected to be alive to the publicsentiments and should ensure thatthe benefits of welfare schemesreach the people of the state in arightful manner,” he said.

The chief minister directedofficials to finish all the works ofMoradabad Smart City Project atthe earliest. On the AMRUTscheme, the chief minister said thatit was very important for all the dis-tricts and the government wouldensure smooth funding for thisscheme.

The chief minister asked offi-cials to conduct mining activities in

Moradabad and other districts in aproper manner.

While taking cognisance ofthe fact that Rs 5,618 crore of thecane dues had been paid by 22sugar mills of Moradabad division,Yogi said the cane dues paymentwas a priority of his governmentand no laxity would be tolerated inthis regard

The district magistrate ofMoradabad said that there were 17ongoing projects of over Rs 50crore, the Middle Ganga Canalbeing the biggest project. Heapprised the chief minister that 65per cent work of this project hadbeen completed so far.

In Amroha, there are six pro-jects worth Rs 10 crore to 50 croreeach. The chief minister asked theofficials to provide manpower toconstruction agencies to finish theworks within the time limit.

Lucknow(PNS): The UP CongressCommittee mounted a scathingattack on the UP government overthe surfacing of scams in procure-ment of personal protective equip-ment (PPE) kits in several districts.Alleging that corrupt people andscamsters were being patronised bythe state government, the UPCongress demanded arrest of all theaccused within a week.

UPCC chief Ajay Kumar Lallusaid that the Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment was not working at all andhence there was a flood of scamsacross the state. He said during theglobal pandemic in which the peo-ple were the worst hit, their prob-lems had been accentuated by theadministrative inefficiency of thestate government.

In a press release issued onFriday, Lallu said that scamsterswere having a great time and theentire administrative machinerywas looking for opportunities in thedisaster.

“Instead of trying to rein inthese scamsters, those people who

were exposing these scams werebeing slapped with cases. The gov-ernment talks about zero tolerancetowards corruption but the corruptare being protected by the presentgovernment,” he said.

Lallu referred to several districtslike Sitapur, Bahraich, Sultanpur,Unnao, Bijnor and Ghazipur, fromwhere reports of scams in the pro-curement of PPE kits surfaced.

The Congress leader said thatwith the help of the corrupt, recov-ery centres were being openedahead of panchayat polls to help theBharatiya Janata Party at the time ofelections.

Naming a few scams during thepresent regime, Lallu pointedtowards livestock scam, recruit-ment scams, PF scam, school dresspurchase scam, shoe purchase scam,paddy procurement scam etc.

The Congress leader claimedthat even after a scam wasunearthed, the Yogi governmenthad engaged in enacting the dramaof being strict and then pushed itunder the carpet.

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Irate over the death of a vil-lager, a huge number of peo-

ple fought a pitched battle withpolice when the latter tried toprevent them from blockingthe road. The police resorted tocane-charge and firing in theair to bring the situation undercontrol after they failed tocounsel the mob.

There were reports that alocal resident suffered pelletinjuries in the firing and he wasadmitted to KGMU TraumaCentre of KGMU. Some of thecops were also injured even asthey denied firing shots.

Through a video message,BJP MP Kaushal Kishor askedthe administration to providefree medical treatment to theinjured youth. He held theMalihabad SHO responsiblefor the challenging situation.He also demanded that theinnocents put behind the bars

be released and a murder casebe lodge in this connection.The MP alleged that the policetargeted the villagers donningsaffron clothes.

Earlier, the mob blockedthe Lucknow-Hardoi road inMalihabad and asked the policeto register a case of murderagainst people of other faith.

The cops failed to counselthe mob and resorted to cane-charge and firing in the airwhich aggravated the situation.BJP MP Kaushal Kishor saidthe police opened severalrounds of fire in which a vil-lager suffered injuries.

IG, Lucknow, Laxmi Singhreached the scene to take stockof the situation and mollifiedthe irate villagers.

As per reports, the victim,identified as Ram Vilas Rawatof Dilawar Nagar, had a verbalspat with Gulam Ali,Mustqeem, Shanu, Guddu andMukir when he was watering a

field in his village on Thursday.Ram Vilas had laid a hose pipeto fetch water from a tubewelland his rivals ran their bikesover it. During the brawl, theaccused thrashed Ram Vilasand he suffered grievousinjuries. He was rushed to ahospital where he was declaredbrought dead.

The situation took a turnfor the worse when the news

reached the village and RamVilas’s supporters ransackedtheir houses and burnt a bike.

The situation worsenedwhen a police official told thevillagers that it was an accidentand no FIR was needed.

On Friday afternoon, someof the villagers blocked the roadin Bhatoiya village demandingthat a murder case be registeredagainst the accused.

In the meantime, a policeteam stopped the kin of thedeceased on the way carryingthe body of Ram Vilas. Thenews reached the protestersand they went berserk. Theyconfronted the police andforced them to retreat twokilometres from the point ofdeadlock. Additional forcedespatched to the scene buteven that failed to cut the icewith the protesters. The copsthen cane-charged the moband opened fire in the air toquell the protesters.

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City achievers were ecstaticon cracking the PCS-2018

examinations conducted byUPPSC, results of which weredeclared on Friday.

Ashutosh Tewari, son ofHS Tewari, who is the person-al assistant to director,Information, said he was oncloud nine. About his successmantra, he said it could not beexplained in one line but therewere some basic things whichhe did to be able to succeed.

Ashutosh, who cleared the

exam in his first attempt, com-pleted mechanical engineeringin 2014 and then pursued law.“It was my first attempt. I alsoappeared for the Civil ServicesMains this year but could notget through,” said Ashutosh,who has been selected for thepost of Deputy SP.

Ashutosh did his schoolingfrom Mahanagar Boys’ InterCollege. On what he wanted todo for the country, he said therewere small problems whichneeded to be addressed.

Rashi, another city achiev-er who secured the the post of

deputy collector, said she wasextremely happy. Rashi, whohas done PG in Zoology, com-pleted her schooling fromJaipuria School, said that it washard work which helped hercrack the examination.

“The exam pattern wastotally based on Civil Servicesthis year. I put in regular hoursof study, working on generalstudies and main subjects,” shesaid. She added that she want-ed to work for state’s develop-ment and her message to otheraspirants was to persevere andhave faith in themselves.

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A54-year-old fraud victimended his life in Ashiyana

on Thursday night after hefailed to get back his money inthe absence of police help. Hiswife lodged a case against twobrokers for abetment to suicide.

As per reports, RajeshwarUpadhyay of Ashiyana wasfound hanging at his house onThursday night. As per hiswife Nandini, Rajeshwar hadreturned from the house of abroker, Bajran BahadurPandey of Sector-M inAshiyana, and was lookingfrazzled and nervous.

“He had gone to take backthe money that he had givento Pandey and his aide RakeshDubey for purchase of aRohtas Group plot. Pandeyand his family members issueddeath threats to him,” Nandinisaid. She added that her hus-band later hanged himselffrom the ceiling. “Pandey andDubey were responsible forthe death of my husband,” shealleged.

She told the police that herhusband had given Rs 14.18lakh, Rs 8.28 lakh and Rs 5.9lakh through cheques in Junelast year and the realtorspromised to allot him a plot.However, as several monthspassed and he did not get theplot, Rajeshwar asked Dubeyand Pandey to return hismoney but they opted fordilly-dallying tactics. Theaccused thrashed him when hedemanded a receipt of thepayment. The police said acase was registered againstboth the accused and further investigation wasunderway.

Sources said the accusedenjoyed a good rapport withlow-rung cops. “Rajeshwarhad sought help from thepolice in the past, but to noavail. The accused used theirrapport to shield themselvesfrom the long arm of the law,”they claimed. They said anumber of innocent personshad lost their lives or moneyat the hands of brokers in thecity. There was no such wingto address such cases directlyand police show little intereston the pretext of jurisdic-tion,” the sources said.

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An advocate accused apetrol pump owner and

his staff of threatening andthrashing him and his juniorcolleague without any provo-cation in Mahanagar onFriday. As per reports, AnoopKumar of Vikas Nagar, alongwith his junior Amit Singh,reached the petrol pumpopposite Lucknow Universityon Friday afternoon. Anoopobjected to the way anemployee talked to him and it

led to a verbal spat.“A group of around a

dozen staffers attacked us.They attempted to kill me bychoking my throat. They alsothrashed my junior andabused us,” Anoop alleged.He also alleged that petrolpump manager RavindraKumar Tiwari and ownerGirija Shanker Agarwal incit-ed their staffers to thrash himand his junior instead of try-ing to bring the situationunder control. The police reg-istered a case in this connec-

tion and started the probe. Thepolice said they were scanningCCTV footage to identify theattackers.

Meanwhile, the body of anunidentified man, aged around55 years, was recovered fromunder the bridge at KGMUcrossing in Chowk police sta-tion area on Friday. InspectorVishwajeet Singh said thepolice were informed aroundnoon and a team reached thescene. He said locals could notidentify the deceased and thebody was sent for autopsy.

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The world has changed due tothe coronavirus pandemic

and so has the education system.In these testing times, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasasked the youth to turn the hos-tile situation into an opportunity.Taking a cue, Bilal Abidi, aLucknow lad, created a platformfor the convenience of peoplefacing hardship.

Abidi was once told by hisIIT-Bombay friend MubeenMasudi, who has been workingin the education sector inJammu & Kashmir, about thegrim education situation due toCovid-19. With slow internetconnection, Mubeen would notbe able to teach his students atall as broken connectivity madethe online learning experience

for his students chaotic andincomplete. Abidi understoodthe challenges that the studentsand teachers were facingthroughout the country anddecided to create a platformwhich could run on 2G speedwithout any hassles. A LaMartiniere alumnus, Abidi cre-ated WISE app in two weeks’time with the help of his devel-opers and designers. Since itslaunch on July 28, it has over10,000 downloads. WISE hasbeen used all across the countryand is of great use to teachers andstudents in many rural areaswhere internet bandwidth islow. Currently, Abidi and Masudiare in talks with the Delhi gov-ernment which is facing diffi-culties in carrying out onlineclasses in government schools.

Talking to this reporter,

Bilal said he wanted the UP gov-ernment to issue directives to theEducation department to useWise app in governmentschools. “Our easy-to-use app isfree and it gives classroom-likeexperience. They can actually doit right away as our applicationis robust enough to support allthe teachers and students of UP.We would be more than happyif they need any hands-on sup-port or teachers’ training fromour side to help them get start-ed,” said Abidi, whose fatherworks in Nirman Nigam.

“In rural areas, tech adop-tion is low, internet is irregularand teachers/students usuallyhave low-end smartphones.WISE is designed in such a man-

ner that it works under theseconditions. We don’t want stu-

dents andteachers tosuffer justbecause theyare not tech-savvy or don’thave expensivesmartphones,”Bilal said.

The latestupdate gives

the teachers an option to keep atrack of students. The app showsattendance and also the timespent by students in the class,thus helping in maintaining thedecorum. Abidi and Masudiwere elated when the MHRDand Education minister himself

found the WISE app useful. “Wewere really excited when we fea-tured in the Mann Ki Baat.Being one of the 74#AatmaNirbharBharat storiesof the government was the icingon the cake. It is the validationof the work that we have doneso far. While we are happy withwhatever accolades we havereceived in the past one month,we do realise that there aremountains ahead of us,” Abidipointed out. Asked about usingZoom interface in the app, Abidisaid it was currently the bestplatform for live classes.“Building an online video-con-ferencing platform from thescratch is very expensive and wewant to provide the app to usersfor free. If we build a better videoplatform in future, we will inte-grate it with WISE,” he added.

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Central Drug ResearchInstitute (CDRI) is carrying

out a research that involves test-ing of people for antibodiesagainst coronavirus. The sero-logical testing was conductedon the students and staff ofCDRI from September 9 to 11.

Director TK Kundu saidthe research was being con-ducted under the instructionsof CSIR director-general andwould also align with theframework of National HealthMission. It will facilitate thedevelopment of national refer-ence standards to aid clinicaldecision making as well asnational healthcare policy deci-sions. It will also help addressseveral unanswered questions

regarding the infection causedby coronavirus.

The test was voluntary andfree of cost, and was open to allCSIR staffers and students.Blood samples were collectedfrom those who were willing toparticipate in the CDRI dis-pensary under the supervisionof resident doctors ShaliniGupta and Vivek Bhosale.

The presence or absence ofantibodies in the CSIR staff andstudents will be assessed usingELISA-based assay at CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi. Other bio-chemical parameters will alsobe measured to ascertain co-relation between cardio-meta-bolic risk factors and possibil-ity of recurrent infection.

Susanta Kar and AmitLahiri, the nodal scientists from

CDRI, said the diagnostic testsperformed in India have beenlargely limited to people show-ing symptoms and those whohave come in close contactwith these individuals.

“Most importantly, com-munity testing has not been ini-tiated yet. From the reportsavailable from various coun-tries, it can be perceived thatthere are many more asympto-matic people who have notbeen tested. Thus, the burdenof the disease could well be larg-er,” Susanta Kar said.

He also stated that a personinfected with the disease wouldgenerate antibodies and it wasexpected to protect them forfurther infection. “However,since this is a novel virus, theduration of protection from

antibodies is not known. It is,therefore, important to performa long-term pan-India surveil-lance using serology-basedassays to not only estimate theburden of the infection but alsoassess the titres of antibodies bycollecting samples at fixed inter-vals. It will also help us identi-fy people who can also donatetheir plasma to terminally-illCovid patients,” the directorsaid. Kundu also pointed outthat the process was on forestablishing UP’s firstTherapeutic Institute of Virus atCDRI. “We have received an in-principle nod from the CSIRDG and held first round of talkswith the KGMU vice-chancel-lor. We have also got the nodfrom the chief minister,” headded.

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District Magistrate AbhishekPrakash has issued direc-

tions for increasing the numberof surveillance teams in areashaving maximum number ofcoronavirus cases. In a meetingheld on Friday, the DM askedthe officials concerned to domore tests. “If there is any per-son who has tested positive forcoronavirus, all family membersshould be screened and tested.Those living with such a fami-ly should be considered prima-ry contacts and all those whohave come in contact with themshould also be tested,” he said.The DM also issued directionsfor monitoring of private labsconducting Covid tests. He saidthe data should be uploadedimmediately, failing whichaction would be taken againstthose showing laxity in thisregard.

On Friday, DivisionalCommissioner MukeshMeshram and DM AbhishekPrakash inspected KGMU andheld a review meeting withVice-Chancellor Lt Gen DrBipin Puri. Discussions tookplace on the increase in thenumber of critical care beds andon the availability of drugs aswell maintenance of hygiene.

According to Meshram, theKGMU VC said that they would

increase the number of beds inphases and start the Covid hos-pital with 500 beds in the nextten days. It will include 200 crit-ical care beds.

Meanwhile, KGMUspokesperson Dr Sudhir Singhsaid the process for shifting ofpatients from the ICU to theirCovid hospital was on.Regarding the increasing num-ber of deaths, he said patientshaving severe co-morbid con-ditions came to the hospitalwhich was why the death tollwas rising.

Dr Ram Manohar LohiaInstitute of Medical Sciences isalso increasing the number ofbeds, as directed by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath.Spokespersons Dr ShrikeshSingh said they would hold ameeting in this regard shortly.

SGPGI director Dr RKDhiman said they were settingup 26 more beds on the fifthfloor of Rajdhani Covid hospi-tal. “These beds will be in theisolation ward — two each in 13rooms with attached wash-rooms. We have 210 beds,including 200 well-equippedICU, HDU beds, 26 isolationbeds, 10 dialysis beds, 10 privaterooms and 10 dedicated bedsand 10 beds in the triage area,”the director said.

SGPGI has created a single-point entry plan through two-

point screening area for identi-fication and management ofthose suspected to be sufferingfrom Covid-19. “A separateholding area with 134 beds hasbeen created for admission ofothers who are mandatorilytested for Covid before beingshifted to respective wards forfurther management. It min-imises the risk of asympto-matic patients’ entry into themain wards,” Dr Dhiman point-ed out.

He further said that a 50-bed facility has also been creat-ed for admission of asympto-matic or minimally sympto-matic health workers who donot have home isolation facili-ties. He added that the numberof patients was increasing andso was the number of healthworkers at the Covid hospital.

“All the guest houses andaccommodation areas wereused and despite that, there wasa shortage of quarantine spacefor our health workers. Wehave thus set up a 246-bed in-house quarantine facility forhealth workers. All aspects likehousing, food, transportation,sanitation and security havebeen taken care of so that healthworkers do not face any limita-tions and report to their dutiesin time and with full energy,” DrDhiman said.

He added that SGPGI was

also providing disease-specificspecially-designed diet topatients to meet their nutritionaldemands. “High-protein andco-morbidity-specific diet isalso prepared with special con-sultation with nutritionists andendocrinologists,” he added.

Meanwhile, SGPGI script-ed a success story as it reviveda Covid patient who sufferedcardiac arrest. Haseeb, a 60-year-old patient, was admittedto a private hospital in Lucknowas he complained of prolongedchest pain and was diagnosedwith myocardial infarction.After coronary angioplasty, hedeveloped severe dyspnoea andhe also tested positive for coro-navirus.

“He was referred to us onmechanical ventilator and high-dose ionic support for furthermanagement. He had a poorcardiac contractility. After aday in ICU, he suffered suddencardiac arrest. He was revivedimmediately by our residents.All causes were investigatedand treated accordingly.Gradually, the patient recoveredfrom severe cardiogenic andseptic shock. With strict mon-itoring, he was weaned fromventilator and extubated. Thepatient then tested negative forcoronavirus and he was dis-charged recently,” thespokesperson said.

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Union Minister for RoadTransport and Highways

Nitin Gadkari expressed confi-dence that India would achievethe target of 50 per cent reduc-tion in road crashes and fatali-ties by the year 2025, five yearsahead of the 2030 goal. He wasspeaking at a webinar on roadsafety, organised by ConsumerGuild, Lucknow. The webinarserved as a platform for variousimportant national and inter-national stakeholders to cometogether and reinforce theircommitment to save lives onroads through tangible actionand effective implementation ofthe Motor Vehicles AmendmentAct, 2019.

Gadkari stressed on theneed for collaborative action andinnovation. The minister said:“While the government is com-mitted to reducing fatalities andinjuries by 50% by 2030, we feel

this can be achieved by 2025.Road safety is not a political sub-ject but a national challenge andwe all should work togethertowards saving lives. We have afederal system and we needcooperation from state govern-ments to implement the Act andsave lives.” About the need tobring all the stakeholders togeth-er to discuss this issue, chairmanof Consumer Guild, Lucknow,Abhishek Srivastava said: “It’sbeen a year since the passage ofthe Motor Vehicles AmendmentAct and Consumer Guild andConsumer VOICE, being part ofthe road safety network, felt itwas important to bring togeth-er all the stakeholders and cre-ate a common platform to dis-cuss the strategies for effectiveimplementation of the Act. Wehope to see swift action by allgovernment stakeholders inensuring effective implementa-tion and enforcement of the Actto save lives.”

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president Geeta GandhiKingdon was honoured byDeputy CM Dinesh Sharma forproviding uninterrupted onlineteaching to students and forhelping victims of coronavirus.The function was organised atthe camp office of theDirectorate of SecondaryEducation where Kingdon wasawarded the education warriorcertificate.

/��+��2�/��Keeping customer centric-

ity at the core of all its opera-tions, Bank of Baroda has

e v o l v e dthrough thed e c a d e s ,embracingt h eadvances intechnologyto provideq u a l i t yb a n k i n gservices tocustomers and financial supportto businesses across the coun-try through an increasing net-work of branches and other ser-vice outlets. Amidst Covid19challenges, the bank continuesto provide uninterrupted ser-vices to customers. Executive

director Vikramaditya SinghKhichi said Bank of Baroda isthe convener of SLBC in UPand shares the vision of the stategovernment as a partner inbuilding a prosperous UttarPradesh with inclusive eco-nomic development.

“The government has pro-actively taken a number of ini-tiatives to support the eco-nomic activity and we are com-mitted to implementing thevarious measures to ensurethat the objectives of these ini-tiatives are realised. It is ourendeavour to bring bankingservices to the doorstep ofmaximum number of people.”

�1�.��..��Online semester examina-

tion of BEd (semester IV),MA-Education (semester IV)and MA-Economics (semesterIV) at Babasaheb BhimraoAmbedkar University com-menced on Friday. BBAUspokesperson Rachna Gangwarsaid that MA (semester II)examination would start onSeptember 15. PhD, MPhilexams will be held onSeptember 14. BEd exams willstart on September 22. Twohours will be given to studentsto write their exams and 45minutes to scan and emailtheir answersheets.

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Aman, accused of bike-jacking 37 years back,

was arrested by the Mathurapolice on Thursday evening.The accused carried a cashreward of Rs 20,000 for hisarrest. As per reports, a bankmanager was robbed of hismotorcycle in Managadhi areaby three miscreants and acase was registered with theMathura police in 1983.

After two of the perpe-trators were nabbed, they dis-closed the identity of the thirdaide as Raghunath Singh ofAligarh. After failing to dropthe net on him, the police puthim on the ‘wanted’ list and hecontinued to evade arrest foralmost four decades.

While pursuing the want-ed criminals’ list in recentweeks, senior police officersannounced a cash reward of Rs 20,000 onRaghunath and a fresh huntwas launched.

On Thursday, a sourceclose to the other two accusedtipped off the police about

Raghunath’s presence inMathura. After this, a policeteam raided the place andarrested him.

The accused was pro-duced before a local court andsent to jail on Friday.

Meanwhile in Kasganj, acouple and their child werekilled while five others wereinjured when two cars — aBMW and a Swift Dzire —collided head-on in Nagariaarea of Soro police station areaon Agra-Bareilly highway onFriday. Both cars were badlydamaged.

While three occupants ofthe Swift Dzire died on thespot, two others in the Dzireand three occupants of theBMW were injured. Thedeceased were identified asDinesh, his wife Nisha andtheir son Babu.

The Swift Dzire was head-ed to Rampur fromShikohabad while the BMWwas going to Gujarat fromBudaun.

A case was registered andthe bodies were sent forautopsy.

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From Page 1Fourthly, the two sides also

agreed to continue to have dia-logue and communicationthrough the SpecialRepresentative mechanism onthe India-China boundary ques-tion. They also agreed in thiscontext that the WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination on India-China border affairs (WMCC),should also continue its meet-ings.

Lastly, the Ministers agreedthat as the situation eases, thetwo sides should expedite workto conclude new ConfidenceBuilding Measures to maintainand enhance peace and tran-quility in the border areas.

The consensus came daysafter a fresh confrontationbetween the Armies of the twocountries on Monday in easternLadakh. It triggered a massivemilitary build-up by both sidesin almost all friction points

along the LAC.Sources said the five-

point agreement will guidethe approach of the two coun-tries in tackling the currentborder situation. The five-point agreement has notmentioned any timeline fordisengagement and restora-tion of peace and tranquility.

The Indian delegationhighlighted its strong concernover amassing of troops andmilitary equipment by Chinaalong the LAC besides refer-ring to “provocative behav-iour” by Chinese Army per-sonnel at numerous incidentsof friction, Governmentsources said.

They said the Chineseside could not provide a cred-ible explanation for the troopsbuildup.

The Indian side insistedthat the immediate task is toensure a comprehensive dis-engagement of troops in allthe friction areas and that itis necessary to prevent anyuntoward incident in thefuture, the sources said.

A Press release issued bythe Chinese Foreign Ministryin Beijing quoted Wang ashaving told Jaishankar that itis normal for both the coun-tries to have differences but itis important to put them inproper context and take theguidance of the leaders.

“Wang noted that it isnormal for China and Indiato have differences as twoneighbouring major coun-tries. What is important is toput these differences in aproper context vis-a-vis bilat-eral relations,” the releasesaid. Wang stressed that astwo large developing coun-tries are emerging rapidly,what China and India needright now is cooperation, notconfrontation; and mutualtrust, not suspicion, therelease added.

“Whenever the situationgets difficult, it is all themore important to ensure thestability of the overall rela-tionship and preserve mutu-al trust”, Wang said.

“China-India relationshave once again come to acrossroads. But as long as thetwo sides keep moving therelationship in the right direc-tion, there will be no difficultyor challenge that can’t beovercome,” Wang added.

Government sourceshere said the Indian sideclearly conveyed during thetalks that it expected fulladherence to all agreementson management of borderareas and would not counte-nance any attempt to changethe status quo unilaterally. Itwas also emphasised that theIndian troops had scrupu-lously followed all agree-ments and protocols pertain-ing to the management of theborder areas.

Jaishankar also conveyedto his Chinese counterpartthat the recent incidents ineastern Ladakh inevitablyimpacted the development ofthe bilateral relationship.Therefore, the Indian leadertold Wang that an urgent res-olution of the current situa-tion was in the interest of boththe nations, sources said.

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Given the big trust deficit as China hasso far refused to withdraw its troops andinstead tried fresh transgressions late lastmonth, the Defence Minister was apprisedof the strategy to deal with the situationin the coming days, sources said.

The next ten to 12 days are crucial afterJaishankar-Wang talks as it remains to beseen if the disengagement plan is imple-mented on the ground by local Chinesecommanders, they said.

The Corps Commanders of the twoArmies are likely to meet again next weekto discuss the modalities of the pull backof the troops from all the friction pointsincluding the contentious Pangong Tso(lake) in Eastern Ladakh. The two com-manders have held five rounds of parleysin the last three months but little progresswas made.

Meanwhile, India and China heldBrigadier level talks at Chushul on Friday.

The talks began at 10am and went ontill 3pm, sources said adding the latestinteraction is a continuation of a series ofinteractions at the lower level to keep chan-nels of communication open as also keepthe tensions under control.

On the situation on the north bank ofPangong Tso, they said there is no changein the ground situation and the Chinesetroops continue to sit on ridgelines of“Finger 4”. Recently, the Indian Army hasoccupied some heights in the north andwest of “Finger 4” a few hundred metresaway. The Chinese are positioned onthree-four hill tops and the Indian Armyhave occupied same number or morewhich are at the same height and somemore dominant to the north and west ofthem, sources said.

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The reconstituted CWC has newmembers like P Chidambaram, JitendraSingh, Tariq Anwar and RandeepSurjewala.

The CWC will now have 22 leaders,while there will be 26 permanent inviteesand 10 special invitees.

The CWC members are Sonia,Manmohan Singh, Rahul.Gandhi, A KAntony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Sonia,Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma,Harish Rawat, K C Venugopal, MallikarjunKharge, Mukul Wasnik, Oomen Chandy,Ajay Maken, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, PChidambaram, Jitendra Singh, TariqAnwar, Randeep Singh Surjewala,Gaikhangam, Raghubir Singh Meena andTarun Gogoi. Rajeev Shukla and PramodTiwari too have found place in the CWCas Invitees.

The Central Election Authority con-tinues to restore the faith in old horseMadhusudan Mistry who is consideredclose to Rahul Gandhi.

The members of the CEA includeRajesh Mishra, Krishna Gowda, SJothimani, and former Delhi State chiefArvinder Singh Lovely. Lovely too hadjoined BJP and came into the party foldahead of General elections 2019.

"The party whole-heartedly appreciatesthe contributions of outgoing GeneralSecretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad, MotialVora, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Khargeand Luizinho Faleiro," said a letter signedoff by Sonia Gandhi after the reorganisedCommittee.

Former Union Minister Jitin Prasadaand also a signatory of the controversialletter gets a permanent invitee CWCmembership. At the same time, he has alsobeen made in-charge of West Bengal andAndaman Nicobar Islands. PriyankaGandhi Vadra continues to be the gener-al secretary in charge of UP and also a newCWC member.

Another leader who was among the 23signatories, Mukul Wasnik, has beenmade the general secretary in-charge ofMadhya Pradesh. Wasnik has also beennamed among the six leaders who are to"assist the Congress president in organi-zational and operational matters asexpressed by her in the CWC meeting onAugust 24".

Surjewala is among the biggest gain-ers of the shuffle. He has been named gen-eral secretary in charge of Karnataka andis also a member of the special commit-tee. He also continues as chief spokesper-son of the party. Senior party leader AjayMaken, who was Central observer duringRajashthan crisis along with Surjewala, hasbeen appointed the State general secretaryincharge in place of Avinash Pandey.

The general secretaries are: MukulWasnik for Madhya Pradesh, HraishRawat for Punjab, Chandy for AndhraPradesh, Tariq Anwar for Kerala andLakhsdweep, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra forUttar Pradesh, Randeep Surjewala for

Karnataka, Jitendra Singh for Assam,Ajay Maken for Rajasthan while KCVenugopal will continue to be the AICCGS Organization. Former Railway MinisterPawan Kumar Bansal will be GS Inchargeof Administration, Shaktisii Gohil along-with Bihar assigned in-charge of Delhi aswell, Rajani Patil got Jammu Kashmir, RajivShukla of Himachal Pradesh amongst thetotal of 17 GS incharge.

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Welcoming the rejection of bail appli-cations of Rhea and Showik, Sarpande said:“While rejecting the bail pleas, the courthas accepted the contentions of the pros-ecution that the investigations are at a cru-cial stage”.

During the 19-long hours of grillingcarried out during a span of three days,Rhea reportedly admitted that she had pro-cured drugs for Sushant through her cur-rently arrested brother ShowikChakraborty, that she had acknowledgedthat she knew about Samuel purchasingdrugs for the actor from drug peddler ZaidVilatra and that she had accepted that shehad accepted drug-related WhatsAppchats between her and others

On her part, Rhea has retracted theconfessional statement recorded by theNCB ahead of her arrest.

However, the NCB counsel told thecity sessions court that as per Rhea’s state-ment that Rhea was making payment forthe drugs, which were taken delivery of bySamuel Miranda and Dipesh Sawant forallegedly handing over to Sushant SinghRajput. He went onto contend that thedrugs were “financed” by Rhea and “sup-plied” to Sushant, an alleged offense thatprompted the NCB to book her underSection 27A of the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

In one of the several grounds that hehad cited for grant of bail to his client Rhea,Maneshinde had stated in the bail appli-cation filed before the court: “The appli-cation has been arraigned for an offencepunishable under section 8 (c) read with20 (b) (ii) 22, 27 A, 28, 29 and 30 of theNDPS Act, 1985. Given that no drug andpsychotropic substances have been seizedfrom the applicant and the allegations. Ifany, would pertain strictly to small quan-tities, and given that though section 27 Ahas been applied, the ingredients havethereof not been made out, the bar undersection 37 (1) of the NDPS would not applyin the present circumstances. Thus theoffence, if any, is bailable in nature theApplicant ought to be enlarged on bail”.

The other ground that Maneshindecited for the release of Rhea and Showikon bail is the “ground of parity” since threeother accused arrested in connection withthe same have been released on bail. Healso told the court that the section 27 (A)of NDPS Act, 1985 pertaining to financ-ing illicit traffic of drugs had been appliedonly in the case of Rhea and Showikalthough “no seizures have been madefrom the two”.

However, the Mumbai Sessions courtdid not accept the grounds cited byManeshinde for granting bail to Rhea.

Rhea and Showik are among the tenaccused arrested in connection with thedrug case related to Sushant Singh Rajput’sdeath. The other arrested accused are:Abbas Lakhani, Karan Arora, Zaid Vilatra,Abdel Basit Parihar, Anuj Keswani, KaizanIbrahim, Samuel Miranda and DipeshSawant.

The NCB’s case is based on 59 gramsof curated marijuana seized from allegeddrug peddlers Abbas Lakhani and KaranArora who were arrested earlier, and havenow been granted bail.

More seizures were made from AnujKeshvani based on the disclosure fromKaizan Ibrahim, who according to theNCB is another drug peddler who suppliedmarijuana to Showik Chakraborty andSamuel Miranda through Abdel BasitParihar.

Rhea -- whose brother Showik wasarrested along with late actor’s house man-ager Samuel Miranda by the NCB onSeptember 5 in connection with theSushant death-related drug case – was ear-lier questioned by the NCB her about thewhatsApp exchanges between Rhea andothers that the Enforcement Directorate(ED) had shared with the CBI and NCBalleging “procuring and usage” of drugs.

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In order to prosecute the officerswhose alleged role surfaced during inves-tigation, the CBI has approached theDefence Ministry seeking nod to prosecuteSharma and the then Air Vice MarshalJasbir Singh Panesar, besides others as perthe stipulations, they said.

Sharma was Defence Secretarybetween 2011 and 2013, before beingappointed CAG.

The agency has also sought sanctionto charge sheet three former Indian AirForce (IAF) officers -- Deputy Chief TestPilot S A Kunte, Wing CommanderThomas Mathew and Group Captain NSantosh, they said. Kunte and Santoshretired as Air Commodores.

The sanction for the go ahead to pros-ecute the public servants is pending withthe Defence Ministry since March this year.

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Resuscitation was attempted but hepassed away at 6:30 pm, he said.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri,West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee, Congress leader Rahul Gandhiand Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot were among those who condoled hisdemise.

“Deeply saddened to hear about thedemise of social activist & champion ofwomen’’s rights Swami Agnivesh Ji. My con-dolences to his admirers & followers.RIP,” Puri tweeted.

“Grieved at the passing of SwamiAgnivesh, who gave up a career as a pro-fessor in Kolkata to fight for many causes.My condolences to his friends and fol-lowers,” Banerjee posted on Twitter.

Gandhi called his demise an “irrepara-ble loss” to the country.

“Swami Agnivesh, the founder ofBandhua Mukti Morcha and revolutionaryleader of Arya Samaj passed away today. Hisdemise is an irreparable loss to the entirecountry and Arya Samaj. My humble trib-ute to him,” he posted on Twitter in Hindi.

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Targeting the Shiv Sena and Congress,Kangana tweeted: "Great BalasahebThackeray one of my most favouriteicons, his biggest fear was someday ShivSena will do "gutbandhan" and becomeCongress. I want to know what will be hisfeeling today looking at the condition ofhis party?" Alluding to Kangana's commenton Sonia, Maharashtra Congress generalsecretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawantsaid: "Origin matters! No surprise how BJPleaders can put their words in theirmouths and use them for their viciousagenda!"

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who had ear-lier expressed his displeasure over thedemolition of "illegal" structures of theactress' bungalow, distanced the MVAGovernment from the much-discussed"demolition", by saying: "The governmenthas nothing to do with this. The BMC hastaken action against her office. As per myinformation, BMC takes such action ifrules and regulations are violated. TheBMC explained that it is the corporation'sdecision. The BMC is fully responsible forthis."

On Kangana's charge that the build-ing where she lives at Khar belongs toPawar and she bought the flat from hispartner, the NCP chief dismissed thecharge and said: "I have no connection withthe building".

In a related development, formerChief Minister and leader of theOpposition Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP,who had earlier come to the defence ofKangana on the issue of the demolition ofparts of her bungalow, charged that the rul-ing Shiv Sena was concentrating more onKangana than corona.

"Why was the whole issue given suchimportance? Kangana was not a nation-al issue. You made it big. You (Shiv Sena)went and razed her office. Kangana'sissue was blown out of proportion by you.She is not a political leader. You don't goto demolish Dawood's home but youdemolished her place. They are concen-trating more on Kangana than Corona,"Fadnavis said.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reportssaid that the Sate Home department hadsent a letter to the Mumbai police toinquire into the news reports that Kanganaused to consume narcotic drugs.

Kangana has come under fire fromvarious quarters for controversial state-ments comparing Mumbai to "Pak-Occupied Kashmir" and saying "it seemsMumbai is addicted to blood" and dubbingBollywood as an 'Islam-dominated' filmindustry. There have also been protestserupted in Mumbai and other citiesagainst the actress. Shiv Sena activists burnther effigy and pictures in Mumbai, Pune,Aurangabad, Thane, Palghar, Nashik andother cities. On its part, the BJP too hasdistanced from Kangana's "anti-Mumbai"comments.

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Fulfilling its social duties, aleading social organisation

Aagman, which is fightingagainst female foeticide sincedecades, performed ‘shraadh-karma’ during the ongoingPitrapaksh for the peace of thesouls of those unborn daugh-ters, who were killed by thepeople in their mother’s womb.According to the Aagmanactivists, those unfortunatedaughters killed in the wombcould not get the rights to livebut they should have the rightsto get salvation. For the salva-tion of such unfortunatedaughters being killed in thewomb continuously, the tradi-tional rituals were performedhere on Friday.

The shraddha-karma andjal-tarpan were performedaccording to the traditiondescribed in the Vedic textsnear the holy river Ganga atDashashwamedh Ghat. Afterconstructing 5,000 pinds, theactivists offered rituals amidstthe chanting of mantras andprayed for their salvation. Therituals were performed by fiveVedic Brahmins under theleadership of Dinesh ShankarDubey in which founding sec-retary of organisation Dr

Santosh Ojha offered pind-daan to 5,000 unknown andunborn daughters. Later,Brahmin meals were offeredafter Jal Tarpan. Dr Ojha saidthat for the last six years,Aagman offered such worshipson the occasion of Navmi dur-ing Pitrapaksh for unborn

daughters as per the traditionand so far, pind-daans wereoffered to 33,500 unborndaughters.

The other Brahmins whowere present were SitaramPathak, Rohit Pandey, BajrangiPandey and Kishan Maharaj.On the occasion, women’s wing

chief Rachana Srivastava, magi-cian Jitendra, Kiran, RahulGupta, Harikrishna Premi,Deepika, Sadhana Kumar,Tinku Manish Shankar Dubey,Rajeev Ratna Mishra, SurajMaurya, Dharmendra Prajapatiand many others were also pre-sent.

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North Central Railway(NCR) is contributing to

Revision in SignallingEngineering Manual of IndianRailways.

Signalling is an integralpart of operations over IndianRailways. With the increasingquantum of traffic over IR andneed to enhance speed oftrains, the requirement toupgrade signalling infrastruc-ture and adopt latest mainte-nance practices is inevitableand thus there was the need toupdate rules and regulationsgoverning them which are cov-ered under Signal EngineeringManual (SEM) that was earli-er updated in year 2001. Itrequired series of deliberationsamong experienced senior offi-cers from Railway Board, zonalrailways, research wing andtraining centres. Lockdownwas the period when, thismajor task of revision of SignalEngineering Manual (SEM)was assigned by Railway Board,by constituting two committeeshaving selected officers withvaried and rich experienceover Indian Railway.

First committee wasassigned the task of revision ofexisting SEM considering lat-est technology introduced inSignalling over IR. For thiscommittee Arun Kumar-Principal Chief Signal &Telecom Engineer NCR waschosen due to his wide experi-ence in signalling over IR andIRCON in which he got manysignalling projects executed inforeign countries. Second com-mittee was formed for revisionof maintenance practices of sig-nalling system for variousequipments, systems includingnew technology system such asMSDAC, CTC, ElectronicInterlocking etc. In this com-mittee Niraj Yadav- ChiefSignal Engineer NCR wastaken as committee memberfor having worked in one of thebusiest zonal railway overIndian Railway shaving adopt-ed innovative methods toimprove upon reliability of sig-nalling system.

Committee met over videoconference during COVIDlockdown period and aftermany round of video confer-ence the draft SEM wasfinalised and circulated all over

zonal railways for comments.All such comments receivedfrom zonal railways were com-piled by IRISET & RDSO.Railway Board has approvedholding of a special SignalStandards Committee (SSC)meeting from September 9 to11, 2020 to deliberate andfinalise draft SEM. Special vir-tual SSC session on video con-ference which is being attend-ed by all PCSTEs of zonal rail-way and senior officers ofRDSO and IRISET.

Inaugural session wasaddressed by Member, infra,Railway Board Pradeep Kumarwho lauded the huge efforts putin by SEM revision committeeand hope that new SEM shallbe finalised within 10 days timeso that same can be gotapproved by RB and issued thismonth itself.

NCR has contributed inrevision of SEM by sharingfield experience about the lat-est technology systems installedover its routes. Inclusion of newtechnology systems in SEM willgive uniformity for systemunderstanding, installation andmaintenance practices. Sincethe last revision of this manu-

al, a lot of new signalling tech-nologies has been inductedover NCR and there was anurgent need to get these itemsincorporated in the manual.Centralised Traffic control wasone such experience of NCRwhich was unique and it hasbeen included in the manual sothat whenever new installationstakes place at any other place,it could be maintained as permanual from date of installa-tion. In order to raise the speedover NCR routes, Thick webswitch point machines arebeing installed and NCR offi-cials have first-hand experienceabout it.

They have enriched thediscussion about manual upda-tion through their first handexperience for effective main-tenance of these switches . Inthe field of On line monitoring,NCR is pioneer railway and haseliminated many earth faultswhich hinders reliable and safeworking of signalling by usingof ELD (earth leakage detec-tor).

Harnessing such onlineequipment for reliable sig-nalling is also covered in themanual.

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The Uttar Pradesh Tax BarAssociation (UPTBA) has

requested the CentralGovernment to look into thematter of constituting GST tri-bunals in Uttar Pradesh.

According to NK Arora,Executive Member, UPTBA, ina representation sent throughits President Arvind KumarGupta and general secretarySaurabh Singh Gehlot to thePrime Minister, the State bodyUPTBA has brought to thenotice of the Prime Ministerthe difficulties faced by the tax-payers in the absence of GSTtribunals. The taxpayers have todirectly approach the HighCourt after the rejection ofappeals at First AppellateAuthorities in case of seizure ofgoods and other disputes.

More than three years havepassed since the implementa-tion of GST Act in India but tillnow GST tribunal has notbeen constituted. The UP TaxBar Association has alsorequested the Chairman

Tribunal, Commercial Tax,Lucknow for new appoint-ments in Commercial TaxTribunal, Prayagraj since boththe members MohammadIbrahim and AmbeshSrivastava have retired on July31, 2020. Appeals coveringjurisdiction of Prayagraj Bench,like Prayagraj, Fatehpur,Mirzapur, Pratapgarh andKaushambi are not being hearddue to no appointments.

RESULTS OF PCS 2018DECLARED : Uttar PradeshPublic Service Commissionannounced final result of PCS2018 on Friday. Anuja Nehra,Sangeeta Raghav, and JyotiSharma, all girls, bagged the topthree positions.

The top position holderAnuja is from Panipat,Sangeeta is from Gurugram,while Jyoti is from Mathura.

Against 988 posts only 976candidates have been selected,while 12 posts of InformationOfficers will remain vacant inthe absence of suitable candi-dates.

As many as 2669 candi-

dates who had cleared themains, were called for interviewbetween July 15 and August 25this year.

Detailed results are avail-able on http//:uppsc.up.nic.in

LIFT INAUGURATED:MP Lok Sabha, Mathura HemaMalini inaugurated lift andescalator at Mathura Jn. stationthrough video conferencingon Friday. Despite COVID-19situation North CentralRailway has completed manypassenger amenities works inFY 2020-21

In a virtual inaugurationfunction Member ofParliament Hema Malini inau-gurated newly installed lift atsecond entry and one escalatorinstalled at PF-01 of MathuraJn. station. Catering to sacredcity of Mathura and Vrindavan,facilities inaugurated by the MPthrough video conferencingwill enhance passenger ameni-ties at Mathura Jn. stationwhich serves to large numberof tourist and other travellers.

HUNAR HAAT TO BEHELD FROM OCT 9:

Welcoming total unlock inUttar Pradesh, Union Ministerfor Minority Affairs, MukhtarAbbas Naqvi announced thatthe annual Hunar Haat fair willbe organised here at Prayagrajfrom October 9 to 18 this yearwith the focal theme ‘FromLocal to Global’. The ministryorganises Hunar Haat all overIndia to provide opportunitiesand big opening to the artisan.But owing to corona this couldnot be organised for the past sixmonths. The last Hunar Haatwas held in Ranchi in themonth of March. Toys made bylocal artisan will be the mainattraction of the up comingHunar Haat, the minister saidand added that in differentstates of the country artisangive shape to wooden toys, ormade of bamboo, brass, glass,cloth, paper or clay. They arecapable of giving tough compe-tition to the imported toys.Hunar Haat will reserve 30 percent of the stalls this time fortoys. Different agencies arebeing invited to ensure attrac-tive packaging of the toys.

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Annoyed with the privatisa-tion in industries, corpora-

tions and other institutions, theactivists of Bharatiya MazdoorSangh (BMS) on Friday stageda demonstration at districtheadquarter here and submit-ted a memorandum at theoffice of the District Magistrateregarding this. They also madesome demands to the govern-ment including the withdraw-al of proposed amendments inlabour law.

Scores of the activists of theBMS reached the district head-quarter here and demonstrat-ed to raise their protest againstthe indiscriminate privatisationbeing made by the governmentat Centre in the industries, cor-porations and other institutionssuch as Railways, DieselLocomotive Works (DLW),Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran

Nigam Limited (PVVNL),BHEL, banks, post offices,defense, engineering, distillery,public enterprises, SUDA,DUDA, etc. The CentralGovernment is handing overeven the profit making corpo-rations, industries and publicsector enterprises, they blamed

The entire country is suf-fering with the coronavirusand it has created very adversesituation before us but thegovernment wants to takeadvantage of this crisis bymaking privatisation of evenprofit making governmentinstitutions, the agitated BMS

activists blamed saying, theoppressive policy of the gov-ernment has posed a seriousthreat to livelihood before thelabourers.

They demanded the gov-ernment to withdraw its pro-posed anti-labour amendmentfrom labour law and ensure thesocial protection, bonus, prov-ident fund, facility of theKaramchari Rajya BimaNigam, etc. They submitted amemorandum at the office ofthe DM regarding theirdemands to forward the sameto the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Prominent among thosepresent on the occasion wereRamkrishan Gupta, DrDoodhnath, Jamuna PrasadPal, Rakesh Pandey, RajeshKumar, Rajendra Singh,Rajeshwari Chaurasia andAyodhya Prasad Shukla.

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On the occasion of birthdayof the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, the govern-ment departments will holdService Week from September14 to 20. The PM’s birthdayfalls on September 17.

The Service Week willbegin with blood donationcamps to be organised in eachassembly constituency of thedistrict on September 14 and atleast 70 persons will donateblood at each camp, the DistrictMagistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma

informed adding, the ChiefMedical Officer has beendirected to identify places forthe purpose. The eye campswill be organised on September15 under which the spectacleswill be distributed under thedepartmental schemes, the DMinformed directing the con-cerned officer to constituteone team each for urban andrural areas. The cleanlinessdrive will be launched at grandlevel on September 16 and theDistrict Probation departmentwill organise camps at eachblock on September 17 to dis-

tribute prosthesis, the DMinformed. He directed the con-cerned officer to prepare a listof at least 70 beneficiaries foreach block including at leastone beneficiary from each vil-lage, regarding this.

A cleanliness drive will belaunched in rural areas onSeptember 18, the DMinformed and added, the pro-gramme of tree plantation willbe held on September 19 underwhich the sapling will be plant-ed at 70 places in each ward ofcity with the help of VaranasiDevelopment Authority and

Varanasi MunicipalCorporation. The block devel-opment officers to ensure treeplantation in rural areas, heinformed and directed foridentifying places near ponds,government buildings andalong the road for the purpose.

The DM directed theDistrict Probation Officer toidentify at least 2-3 beneficia-ries from each village to bene-fit with the pension scheme. Healso directed to identify 1-2beneficiaries of the public dis-tribution scheme from each vil-lage.

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Dashaswamedh police regis-tered a major success dur-

ing their ongoing drive againstthe criminals when they seized1,464 illegal branded liquorkept in 62 cartoons in a vehi-cle loaded with organic fertilis-er (cow manure). The liquorwas seized during vehiclechecking at Godowlia duringwee hours on Friday while itwas being carried to ‘dry state’Bihar. The smugglers hadadopted this untraditional

route in view to get them asmooth passage. For the pur-pose they were passing throughthe mid city areas instead ofnational highways where gen-erally the police remained alertbecause since liquor consump-tion in Bihar was prohibited,huge quantities of illegal liquoris being smuggled from thispart of Purvanchal (easternUP) as many districts arelinked with Bihar.

According to the police,instead of going through NH-2, the vehicles turned towardsNariya and adopted the

Godowlia route to reachMaidagin and then enteredBihar via Pt Deen Dayal Nagar(Mughalsarai) or other roads.Actually, seeing the checkingdrive at NH-2, the Pickup(PB07BQ/5047) turnedtowards Nariya but the copsposted there had alerted otherpolice stations of the city areas.After receiving the informa-tion, Dashaswamedh policestarted checking vehicles bystopping them at a barriernear Godowlia. During thewee hours the police saw avehicle coming from Pandey

Haveli and when it was stoppedand checked the police person-nel were surprised at the hugequantity of cartoons concealedin cow manure.

The seized liquor was ofbranded companies as most ofthe cartoons contained bottlesof different quantities ofImperial Blue and Royal Stagand the rappers of most ofthem were tagged with ‘for salein Haryana only’. In this con-nection, the police arrestedone person who is identified asSatendra Sharma, 33, fromNagloi, New Delhi.

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Within the last 24 hours,the number of infected

declined compared to the daybefore, but the death toll washigher than before. Six peopledied on Thursday. However,with the number of new infect-ed persons being 387, the totalnumber of patients in the dis-trict crossed to 13,283 from13,000. CMO Dr GS Bajpaiconfirmed this.

He said that the number ofdeaths in a day on Thursdaywas the highest ever. Accordingto Health department records,there have been five deaths inits first day. However, withsuch a number of newly infect-ed people, 243 people have alsobeen discharged. In this, 52people have been dischargedfrom the hospital while homeisolation of 191 people hasbeen completed.

On Thursday, 12 peoplefrom Kalindipuram, five fromRailways, one from Unani,eight from Beli, 16 from bothprivate hospitals and 10 fromSRN Hospital were dischargedafter reports came negative.CMO said that a total of 9,454people have been cured so far.A sample of 2,786 suspects wastaken on Thursday. Whereas,2,397 people reported negative.

Till late night, 46 areadmitted in Railway Hospital,65 in Kalindipuram, 12 inUnani, 76 in both private hos-pitals and 38 in Beli and 139 inSRN Hospital.

Coronavirus infection isincreasing with each passingday in the district. The numberof positive cases is increasingdaily. 387 new corona-positivecases have been found in thedistrict, while six more infect-ed patients died. This is thehighest ever death toll within24 hours. Among the new

patients found, 90 per cent ofthe patients are residents of thecity. The remaining 10 percent of the patients are fromrural areas. That is, the concernis more for the citizens.

Corona infected newpatients are TTE of ChheokiRailway Station, Head Cashierof Bank of Baroda SoraonBranch, Cashier of TagoreTown, Branch Manager ofUnion Bank Phaphamau,Senior Accountant of AGOffice, clerk of CMP DegreeCollege. Other people, includ-ing OT technician fromSaraswati Heart Care, lecturerof Seva Samiti Inter College,Deputy Manager of HDFCCivil Lines Branch, and BranchManager of SBI Muthiganjhave also been found infected.

The wife and mother of acontract worker working in theFinance department of theState University Prof RajendraSingh (Rajju Bhaiya) has beenfound infected. On getting theinformation, the universityadministration closed thenewly constructed CPI campusat Hi-tech City in Naini fromThursday and got sanitisationdone. All employees and offi-

cers have been directed towork from home till Friday.PRO Dr Avinash Srivastavasaid that there is no official hol-iday. The essential work of theuniversity is being conductedfrom home.

Seven people were foundpositive in the corona test of145 people held at theGovernment GirlsIntermediate College inPhaphamau. Women fromRasulabad Teliyarganj, jawansof CRPF Group Centre Pandila,one person each from Sector Bof New Mehndori ColonyTeliarganj, Kharagapur Soraon,Pahalwanpur Azamgarh,Jagdishpur Tharavai andShantipuram Colony.

Corona test will now beconducted for �1,600 in privatelabs. Earlier this amount was �2500. CMO Dr. GS Bajpai hasissued instructions in thisregard on Thursday.

Action will be taken againstprivate hospitals if they takemore money than prescribedfor testing.

The CMO said that theprice of the kit used in the test-ing has come down. The test-ing fee was fixed at � 2500

when the price was high. Nowthe testing fee has been reduceddue to the reduced kit price.Private labs will charge � 1600for RTPCR test.

Along with this, thetruenot test will also be con-ducted for � 1600. This orderhas been implemented imme-diately on the direction of thegovernment. If no private labfollows it then action will betaken against them, said DrBajpai.

NO SITTING OFCOURTS: Only urgent mattersmentioned before the ChiefJustice shall be taken up andthere shall be no sitting ofcourts on September 14 and 15to ensure proper sanitisation ofthe court premises in the viewof COVID-19, according to anotice by Registrar General ofAllahabad High Court.

The order was passedkeeping in view the rapid surgein the active coronavirus casesin High Court staff atPrayagraj. There shall be nophysical filing/ e-filling onSeptember 14 and 15. Judicialand administrative sectionswill also not function on these2 days.

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The district has inched closeto 10K-mark as 201 new

COVID-19 cases have beendetected here on Friday. Withthis, the total number of caseshas reached 9,903. Besides,the district also saw four moredeaths, increasing the toll to170. During the day, the fol-low-up negative reports includ-ed 236 patients. Out of them,206 patients recovered fromhome isolation and the totalnumber of patients cured athome has increased to 5,622.Besides, 30 recovered fromthe hospital and the number ofpatients who have been dis-

charged from the hospitals hasreached 2,452. The total num-ber of cured patients is now8,074, leaving 1,659 activepatients. The recovery rate hasimproved to 81.53 per cent butmortality rate to 1.71 per cent.

Chief MedicalOfficer (CMO) Dr VB Singhhas informed that by the firstof the day at 11 am, 164 posi-tive patients were detected outof 2,409 reports received. Tillthen, the total test reportsreceived were 1,40,299 andthe results of 3,276 are await-ed. Out of them, 1,30,433 were

negative while 9,866 positive.The total number of samplescollected was 1,53,530. Earlier,two males aged 35 and 80 fromNarayanpur and Shivala(Bhelupur) respectively suc-cumbed to COVID-19 at SSHBHU, while one female aged 62died at SSPG Hospital. Besides,with the addition of 38 new redzones, the total number ofhotspots has increased to 1,732including 383 red zones. Ninegreen zones have been convert-ed into red zones again. Thereare 1,349 green zones includ-ing 21 new ones.

In this belt of Purvanchalcomprising 10 districts of threedivisions, 563 new cases were

found on Thursday, increasingthe total number to 34,952 withmaximum with the maximumnumber of 172 cases inVaranasi (9,702), 62 in Ballia(4,446), 61 in Chandauli(2,371), 58 in Bhadohi (1,351),47 in Azamgarh (3,628), 40 inJaunpur (4,254), 36 inSonbhadra (2,062), 36 inMirzapur (1,980), 30 in Mau(1,898) and 21 in Ghazipur(3,258).

The day also saw eightdeaths including three inVaranasi, two each in Balliaand Azamgarh and one inJaunpur. With this the totalnumber of death toll hasincreased to 476.

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The railway administrationfor the convenience of pas-

sengers has fixed the platformsof trains passing through/run-ning from Gorakhpur and thosearriving here from September 12.With the fixing of platforms fortrains passengers will not have toface any inconvenience and theyshould arrive at the station wellin advance before the departuretime of trains. The cabwayentrance has been opened onlyfor passengers for reaching plat-form No 1 where their thermalscanning will be done, saidCPRO PK Singh. Following theCovid-19 protocol thereafter theticket will be checked and they willenter the platform. Trains runningfrom and arriving at platformno.1:- 04009 BapudhamMotihari-Anand Vihar TerminusSpecial, 09038 Gorakhpur-Bandra Terminus Special,Muzaffarpur-Bandra TerminusSpecial, 05272 Raxaul-AnandVihar Terminus Special, 02553Saharsa Jn-New Delhi Special,02557 Muzaffarpur-Anand ViharTerminus Special, 05007 VaranasiCity-Lucknow Jn Special and01015 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus- Gorakhpur Special. Trains tobe operated from and arrivingat platform No.2:- 02408Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri spe-

cial, 05008 Lucknow Jn-Varanasi City Special, 02555Gorakhpur-Hisar special,01016 Gorakhpur-LokmanyaTilak Terminus Special, 05004Gorakhpur-Kanpur AnwarganjSpecial, 05003 KanpurAnwarganj-Gorakhpur Specialand 02556 Hisar-Gorakhpur spe-cial. Trains running from andarrive at platform No 3:- 02566New Delhi-Darbhanga Special,02591 Gorakhpur-YesvantpurSpecial, 02554 New Delhi-Saharsa Special, 02574 AnandVihar Terminus-Raxaul Special,04674 Amritsar-Jaynagar Special,04010 Anand Vihar Terminus-Bapudham Motihari Special, 02571Gorakhpur-Anand ViharTerminus Special, 02541Gorakhpur-Lokmanya TilakTerminus Special, 05909 Dibrugarh-Lalgarh special and 02592Yesvantpur-Gorakhpur special.Trains running and arriving at plat-form No 4:- 02558 Delhi-Muzaffarpur special, 09090Gorakhpur-Ahmedabad Special,09037 Bandra Terminus-GorakhpurSpecial, 09039 Bandra Terminus-Muzaffarpur special, 02565Darbhanga-New Delhi Special,04673 Jaynagar-Amritsar Special,02407 New Jalpaiguri-AmritsarSpecial, 05910 Lalgarh-Dibrugarh Special and 09089Ahmedabad-Gorakhpur specialtrain. Trains running from and

arriving at platform No 5:- 02572Delhi-Gorakhpur special and02542 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Gorakhpur Special. Meanwhile inorder to ensure safe travel, pas-sengers will have to take specialprecautions at the beginning oftheir journey and during it and atthe end of it. Entry will be allowedat the station only when passen-gers have confirmed/RAC ticketand downloading the AarogyaSetu app in their mobile phoneswill be necessary. It will be manda-tory for railway passengers towear face masks for the journeyand during it. Keeping the safetyfrom Covid infection in mind,the railway passengers will haveto reach the station sufficient timeprior to the departure of trains fortheir journey so that their ther-mal screening can be done. IfCovid-19 symptoms were foundin a passenger he or she will notbe allowed to travel. Such pas-sengers can get back the fullamount of the ticket by taking theticket examiner’s certificate ofnon-travel. They should followsocial distancing. No curtains willbe installed in air-conditionedcoaches nor bedrolls will be givenduring the journey. Passengersshould carry sheets etc as per theirrequirement. Passengers shouldcarry food and water as far as pos-sible. Food stalls will remain openat railway stations.

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NCL CMD PK Sinha hasbeen conferred with the

C o v i d - 1 9W a r r i o rAward fornu me roussocial initia-tives taken byNCL underhis leadershipduring the

pandemic. The award wasbestowed on Sinha by the presti-gious Indian Achiever Forum

and CSR Times. NCL isSingrauli-based subsidiarycompany of CIL which pro-duces more than 100MT coalevery year from its 10 opencastcoal mines. Along with meet-ing its production and dis-patch targets CSR is an inte-gral part of its work andspends crores every year forsocio-economic developmentof society. In view of the pan-demic NCL under the leader-ship of CMD PK Sinha isextending support to the societyby distributing ration, masks,

sanitisers etc and providinghealthcare facilities in its hospi-tals and others. The IndianAchiever Forum a Delhi-basedorganisation has conferredCovid-19 Warrior Award onPK Sinha for his company’s con-tribution to fight Covid-19. He hasa diverse experience of 36 yearsin mining and assumed thecharge of CMD NCL inDecember 2017. Under his lead-ership, the company entered the cov-eted 100 million tonne coal groupin FY 2018-19 and is constantlyachieving its production targets.

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Chairman, CEPC, SiddhNath Singh, has been rais-

ing the problems of memberexporters with senior officialsin the Centre and state govern-ment at various meetings/plat-forms. CEPC convened a meet-ing through video conferencingwith Additional Chief Secretary(ACS), MSME & ExportPromotion, UP Government,Navneet Sehgal, recently forresolving the issues of membersin UP. Chairman, CEPC raisedthe following issues of the indus-try before the ACS, MSME &Export Promotion:- for consid-ering the long-pending demandfor construction of proper roads– pothole-free Bhadohi, enhanc-ing marketing assistance to 90 percent from the existing 65 per centcap for carpet exporters, provid-ing full freight subsidies up toMumbai port after the normal-cy for carpet exporters, to waive

the electricity charges of exportersfor at least three-four months,extensive branding and market-ing support for carpet exporters,considering the construction ofa good budget hotel near theBhadohi Carpet Expo Mart on anurgent basis etc. ACS NavneetSehgal said that he had alreadytaken up the issue of roads withPWD and was delayed due toCorona pandemic. The workwould start after the rainy season,he said. He agreed to increase theMAI assistance from state gov-ernment from 65 per cent to 90 percent and assured that it would beincorporated inthe new policy. Heinformed about the virtual exhibi-tion organised by UPEPB inOctober and requested the CEPCto ensure participation of theirmembers. CEPC chairman sug-gested the formation of a corecommittee with all stake holdersand ACS Sehgal agreed to it.Regarding the request ofChairman CEPC for some mon-

etary benefit to the memberexporters he agreed to consider itand requested to submit a detailedproposal. On request of ACSNavneet Shegal to organise activ-ity in Bhadohi Carpet Expo Mart,CEPC chairman agreed to con-sider post-Covid era probably inFebruary/March next year inconsultation with COA. Themeeting was attended by ACS,MSME & Export Promotion,Navneet Sehgal, along with JointCommissioner, Exports, PawanAgarwal and consultant, UPExport Promotion Bureau(UPEPB), BC Tiwari. CEPCChairman Siddh Nath Singh,members, COA, CEPC, UmeshKumar Gupta, Rajendra PrasadMishra, Sanjay Gupta and ShreeRam Maurya, ED CEPC, SanjayKumar, president, EUPEA, JunaidAnsari, honorary treasurer,AICMA, Ved Prakash Gupta,besides Vijay Kapoor, Varanasi, DrRajnikant, Padamshree recipientand GI expert were also present.

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On the government directiveto ensure the timely pres-

ence of employees as well asofficers, DM Sushil KumarPatel inspected the office ofBSA on Thursday. During theinspection the DM expressedhis discontent over absence ofthe BSA without submittingany leave application or givingany prior information. Hedirected the CDO and chieftreasury officer to withhold oneday’s pay of the said officer. Hefound that Covid help desk hadbeen set up but no employeewas present there. During theinspection of attendance regis-ter more than half a dozenemployees were found absent.The staff there apprised theDM about identification ofhandicapped, their enrolmentin schools, girls’ educationalong with prevailing situa-tion of Kasturba schools, SarvaShiksha Abhiyan, distribution

of free textbooks and uniformsetc. The DM directed the offi-cials concerned to achieve thetarget and spend the availablefund without delay. He was alsoapprised that out of 2,99,274 stu-

dents 1,63,622 had already got theiruniforms and for woollen clothesdirections had been issued by thedepartment for which the formal-ities were in process.

NABBED: The Ahraurapolice arrested two accusedwith two stolen motorcycles.SO Ahraura Rajesh Chaubeywas patrolling when hereceived an input that two sus-pects were standing near SabziMandi over bridge. He swung

into action and raided thespot. The SO and police teamstarted interrogating the sus-pects, Kaju Kumar, a residentof Ramnagar under the samepolice station, Chandauli, andRanjeet, a resident of Manikpurvillage under Ahraura policestation, were looking for a cus-tomer for their stolen motor-cycles. On frisking them thepolice recovered a country-made gun, three mobilephones, cartridges and knife.Confiscating both the motor-cycles, mobiles, countrymadegun, cartridges and knife thepolice sent them to jail.

PRAYERS: Prayers wereoffered on Jeevitputrika popu-larly known as Jiutiya festivalon Thursday. Women observeda fast and did not take even adrop of water for the long livesof their sons. It was due to theimpact of the appeal of theadministration that even in vil-lages devotees abided with thenorms regarding gathering.

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Following the instructionsof MOSR Suresh C Angadi,

divisional rail manager (DRM)Vijay Kumar Panjiar inspectedseveral stations and their goodssheds falling between DeoriaSadar-Gorakhpur Cantt. sec-tion of Varanasi division ofNER on Thursday, assured thetraders to look into their sug-gestions and taking care of theirrequirements. He said top pri-ority will be given on improv-ing freight transport facilitiesand strengthening of goodssheds. During his inspection,

Panjiar first reached DeoriaSadar and inspected the goodsshed there. Continuing hisinspection, he reached ChauriChaura, Sardar Nagar andKusamhi railway stations wherethe NER can increase its shareof sugar, timber and otherfreight transport. At all theplaces, he directed the officersconcerned to improve the rampsurfaces for smooth loading/unloading of goods, and constructrooms for traders and workers.During his inspection, DRM alsotalked to local traders and assuredthem of providing concessions asmuch as possible. According to

him, construction work onapproach roads to warehouses,repairing of buildings, improve-ment of basic facilities and roomsfor traders and workers is inprogress. Besides, DRM reviewedfacilities for passengers at differ-ent stations apart from inquiringabout basic infrastructure relatedto the development of stationbuildings, extended platforms,foot overbridges, water booths,waiting rooms, station masterrooms, freight transport etc. Hewas accompanied by SDE-IJainendra Kumar Singh, SDOMRohit Gupta, SDEE SatyendraYadav and many others.

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Amachine operator waskilled under mysterious

circumstances in Panki policestation area late Thursdaynight. His kin staged a massivedemonstration with the body atthe factory gate on Fridaymorning. However, they werepacified by the local police. Thefactory owner agreed to paycompensation and provide jobto one of the family membersof the deceased. Naval Kishore(45) of Nauraiyakheda, Panki,was employed as machineoperator in Anchal PolypackFactory at Panki IndustrialArea, Site No.1. The factory isowned by Vijay Agarwal ofTilak Nagar. Naval Kishore’sfamily comprises of wifeUrmila, two sons and threedaughters. His son Awadheshsaid his father had left for thefactory on Thursday evening.Around 10 pm, two factoryemployees left him at home inserious condition. He was thentaken to LLR Hospital where hedied late in the night. OnFriday morning, the kinreached the factory gate withthe body and staged a massivedemonstration. They demand-ed compensation of Rs.10 lakh.The local police reached thespot and pacified the demon-strators after holding talks withthe factory management.

Meanwhile, the factoryowner paid Rs 50,000 for thefuneral and gave a cheque ofRs.4 lakh to the kin of thedeceased.

He also assured to providea job to one of the family mem-bers of the deceased.

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In the Sunil Singh Yadav mur-der case of Barra, the foren-

sic team visited the spot lateThursday night and recoveredthe blood-stained brick used tokill him. Sunil was allegedlykilled by his tenants.

During interrogation, theaccused tenants confessed thatafter hitting the contractor onthe head with the brick, theyhad strangled him to death.

In order to hide the iden-tity of the deceased, they hadcrushed his face with the brickand taken off his clothes.

The forensic team alsofound blood stains on the floor.

Earlier, the forensic teamreached Barra police stationaround 1:30 am on Thursdayand from there it proceeded forthe murder spot along withJanata Nagar outpost inchargePramod Kumar. The teamminutely examined the scene ofcrime for around two hoursand recovered the blood-stained brick used in commit-ting the crime from there. Theteam then returned to thepolice station and collectedfinger prints of the accused.Meanwhile, Barra and Vidhnupolice launched a search oper-ation in the drain of Barra-4 torecover the clothes of thedeceased. The police deployeddivers and a team of sanitationworkers for the operation. Thesearch operation was carried

out as the accused had dis-closed that they had dumpedthe clothes of the deceased inthe nullah after stuffing themin a cement bag .

It may be recalled thatcontractor Sunil Singh Yadav(45), who was missing from hisBarra house, was killed by two

brothers who were his tenantson September 4 as he waspressing them to vacate hishouse soon. Police had arrest-ed both the tenant brothersSonu and Monu on Thursdayand they confessed their crimeand informed the police thatthe body had been dumped in

a pond near Orchhi village ofVidhnu.

Barra Station Officer saidnames of the father RamKumar Verma, mother ChunniDevi of the accused and Sonu’swife Kesri Devi of would alsobe added in the FIR and theywould also be arrested soon.

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District Magistrate AlokTiwari on Friday reiterat-

ed that all private hospitalstreating COVID-19 would haveto strictly follow the Covid pro-tocol and in case of any viola-tion, strict action would betaken against them.

He said only those hospi-tals which had anaesthetistavailable for 24 hours a daywould be allowed to run Level-2 Covid care facility and theywould have to ensure that theprescribed number of doctorswould be present round-theclock, especially the ICUincharge.

As per the governmentguidelines, static magistrateshave been stationed at all theCovid hospitals and they willprepare the roster for the doc-tors and the specialists on duty.

Over-billing and inflatedbilling is a serious offence andcan lead to strict legal action asper the pandemic law(Epidemic Diseases Act).

The onus of reportingCOVID-19 cases in detail tothe chief medical officer’s officewill rest on the static magis-trates.

Addressing the private hos-pital managements on Friday,the district magistrate saidwithout the ICU expert, onecould not run the Level-2Covid care facility and thehospitals running Covid carefacility would have to strictlyadhere to the protocol.

He said a list of doctors andspecialists from Indian MedicalAssociation, Kanpur Chapterhad been made available to allthe hospitals and now the onusof picking up the requireddoctors and specialists restedon them, failing which strictaction would be taken.

He said the private hospi-tals treating the COVID-19patients would maintain arecord giving time of admissionof a patient, when placed onventilator, when discharged orwhen the patient died and ithad to be uploaded on the por-tal every day.

Tiwari said if the privatehospitals failed to follow thenorms they would face strictestaction. He cautioned the pri-vate hospitals that every daysurprise visits were being car-ried out and thus they need tobe vigilant and ensure thateverything was being followedstrictly as per the guidelines.

Tiwari, while carrying outa surprise visit at Astha HealthCentre in Kalyanpur, saidanaesthetists need to be presentin the hospital 24 hours and iffound absent the contract givento the private hospital to runCovid care facility would bescrapped immediately.

He also stressed that doc-tors and paramedical teamsmust attend the patients. Healso said that the other servicesprovided to the patient andtheir kin should also be of theprescribed norms. The districtmagistrate appreciated City

Magistrate Varun Pandey,Additional CMO HimanshuGupta, AK Singh and SK Singhwho are heading four rapidresponse teams (RRTs), eachcomprising 10 members, forcarrying out 2,749 antigen testson Thursday. He said cross-monitoring of the RRT was alsobeing done and thus all had toremain vigilant.

Meanwhile, the districtmagistrate visited prominentmarkets around Parade andwarned that the owners andworkers of shop must wearmasks. He said people whocame to the shops for purchasewithout mask should berefused the goods. He saideveryone had to strictly followsocial distancing.

Tiwari also appealed toKanpurites to ensure that whenthey came out of their housesthey wore face masks.

The district magistrate saidthat lab technicians carryingout Covid tests were always atthe risk of contracting thevirus and thus the govern-ment had decided to providethem incentive of Rs 5 for eachtested case.

The upper limit of Covidtests has been fixed at 75 eachday per worker.

He said this had been doneat the recommendation of thechief medical officer who sug-gested that as the lab techni-cians had to be close to theCOVID-19 patients while tak-ing sample, it was decided togive incentive to those lab

technicians who were involvedin contract tracing.

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Chief Medical Officer DrAnil K Mishra on Friday saidthat as per the governmentguidelines, RT-PCR test wascommonly used for detectionof novel coronavirus infectionand now one could get it donein private NABL accreditedlabs for just Rs 1600.

He said that hitherto pri-vate labs were chargingbetween Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,000for this test. He said this was infact being done because of theprice drop of reagents andVTM kits.

Dr Mishra warned privatelaboratories that as the gov-ernment had fixed the price, nolaboratory could charge morethan it. He said if any labora-tory charged in excess and theadministration received com-plaint, action would be takenagainst the laboratory underthe Epidemic Diseases Act,1897 amendment and UttarPradesh Pandemic COVID-19 Regulations, 2020.

He added that the policewould extend support in con-tact tracking and tracing toRRT teams and each teamwould be accompanied by twopolice personnel and two homeguards. He said in case any per-son resisted test, the policeteam would intervene andensure that the sample wastaken.

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National Sugar InstituteDirector Prof Narendra

Mohan stressed upon the needfor adopting measures forhygienic processing, consumerand environment-friendlypackaging and automation ofwarehouse operations in thesugar industry. Addressing theconcluding session of the two-day online training programmeon ‘Supply Chain Managementin Sugar & Allied Industries’ onThursday, Prof Mohan calledupon the sugar industry toundertake sugar packagingfrom one kg consumer packs toone ton jumbo bags for exportof raw sugar. He said it wasessential to adopt good manu-facturing practices and hazardanalysis and critical controlpoints (HACCP), keeping inview sugar being an essentialcommodity and growing con-sumer awareness about quali-ty of food products due toCOVID-19 pandemic.

Joint Director and RegionalHead of the Indian Institute ofPackaging, New Delhi, MadhabChakraborty, elaborated vari-ous techniques of packaging asper quantity and quality of thesugar to be packed. He addedthat sugar was hygroscopicand deteriorated with passageof time. He said with the grow-ing market of special sugars likebrown sugars, icing sugar andother fortified sugars wheresugar was blended with otheradditives, the packing was to beaccordingly modified for bet-ter shelf life and ease of trans-portation.

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KANPUR (PNS): KanpurNagar reported 413 more coro-navirus positive cases on Fridayevening. According to a report413 more people testing posi-tive between Thursday eveningand Friday evening, the tally ofthe confirmed coronaviruscases in the city had surged to19,158.

With 388 COVID-19patients being discharged in thelast 24 hours, 14,202 infectedpeople had been cured in thecity.

Seven COVID-19 deathswere reported till Fridayevening, taking the death toll to511. At present 4,445 activecases were undergoing treat-ment in the city.

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For every confirmed case ofCovid-19 in May, there were

82-130 infections that wentundetected and India poten-tially had 64 lakh people infect-ed with the virus, as per theresults of the first sero-surveyconducted by scientists fromthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR).

The number could be onthe higher side given that as thesurvey noted there could beunder-detection of Covid-19cases in the zero stratum dis-tricts on account of low testingas well as poor access to testinglaboratories.

“The low prevalenceobserved in most districts indi-cates that India is in the earlyphase of the epidemic and themajority of the Indian popula-tion is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said the studyconducted on 28,000 peoplefrom 700 clusters in 70 districtsacross the four strata fromMay 11 to June 4.

The study is published inthe latest issue of Indian Journalof Medical Research (IJMR)

The study wherein bloodsamples were tested for IgGantibodies using Covid-19Kavach ELISA kit, indicatedthat 0.73 per cent adults in Indiawere exposed to SARS-CoV-2,amounting to a total of 6.4 mil-lion infections by early May.

Also, seropositivity was thehighest in the age group of 18-45 years (43.3 per cent), fol-lowed by those between 46-60years (39.5 per cent) and it wasthe lowest among those agedabove 60 (17.2 per cent).

It highlighted the need tocontinue to implement the con-text-specific containment mea-sures including the testing of allsymptomatics, isolating positivecases and tracing high-riskcontacts to slow transmissionand to prevent the overbur-

dening of the health system.Males, living in urban

slums and occupation withhigh risk of exposure to poten-tially infected persons wereassociated with seropositivity.

According to the surveyreport, seroprevalence ranged

between 0.62 and 1.03 per centacross the four strata of districts.

The stratification of dis-tricts as zero cases (15 dis-tricts), low (22 districts),medium (16) and high (17)was done on the basis of thereported number of Covid-19

cases as on April 25.About one-fourth (25.9

per cent) of the surveyed clus-ters were from urban areas.Nearly half (48.5 per cent) of

the participants were agedbetween 18 and 45 and 51.5per cent (14,390) were females.In all, 18.7 per cent of the par-ticipants had an occupation

with a high risk of exposure topotentially infected persons.

In four of the 15 districtsin this stratum, Covid-19 test-ing laboratories were not

available in district head-quarters and the samples weretransported to the state head-quarter hospitals for diagno-sis.

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Following reports that Covid-19 recovered patients are

grappling with various healthissues such as poorer func-tioning of their lungs, heart andliver, the Union HealthMinistry is creating a databaseof such survivors to help it for-mulate a long-term clinicalmanagement plan.

The ministry has drafteda format for gathering theinformation while the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) is concurrently work-ing on developing a registry ofpost-COVID-19 sequelae tocapture data on the same.

S o far, a tota l of35,42,663 people from coro-navirus infection have recov-ered in the country, accord-ing to government data.

Instances of patients fac-ing post-COVID complica-tions like respiratory, car-diovascular, neurologicalproblems, immunologicalreactions among childrenand fibrosis in lungs have

come to the fore within thecountry as well as abroad.

A committee of expertsis currently working on aguidance note on possiblecomplicat ions that mayafflict recovered patients.The note would be issued tothe States so that they canshare it with the health facil-it ies in their areas forpatients getting discharged.

As per various studies,coronavirus has the poten-tial to attack many parts ofthe body beyond the respi-ratory system, causing dam-

age from the eyeballs to theto es , t he gut to t he kidneys. Patients’ immunesystems can go into over-drive to fight off the infec-t ion, compounding thedamage done.

Experts from the Delhi-based AIIMS recently havehighlighted the need to havepost-COVID clinics at alltertiary care hospitals whererecovered patients facinghealth issues can be checkedto understand the impact ofcoronavirus on var iousorgans of the body.

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As the Covid-19 pandemicspreads to small towns

and villages across the coun-try, an alarmed Union HealthMinistry on Friday urgedStates and Union Territories toensure free movement of med-ical oxygen cylinders betweenstates to save the severelyinfected patients.

Oxygen support is one ofthe key clinical managementsin the treatment of Covid-19patients and according to theMinistry, so far, less than 3.7per cent of active patients areon oxygen support in thecountry.

The move followedreports that some states hadeither limited or refused thesupply of oxygen cylinders tothe needy States even as thedemand for the medical-gradeoxygen is shooting up amidthe Covid-19 pandemic fromacross the country.

For instance, accordingto a report four coronaviruspatients died at a hospital inMadhya Pradesh’s Dewas dis-trict, and several others wereleft with inadequate levels ofoxygen for nearly seven hourson Wednesday, afterMaharashtra - from where apercentage of the state’s store

of oxygen is purchased - lim-ited that supply.

In a letter to theStates/UTs, Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushanemphasised on the availabil-ity of adequate and uninter-rupted supply of medical oxy-gen as an important pre-req-uisite for managing moderateand severe cases of Covid-19.

“The Health Ministry hasreiterated the critical impor-tance of oxygen in hospitalsfor the management of criti-cal COVID patients. Medicaloxygen constitutes an essen-tial public health commodi-ty. Any impediment in thesupplies of medical oxygen inthe country may criticallyimpact the management ofpatients suf fer ing fromCOVID-19 disease in otherparts of the country,” said theofficial.

“For moderate and severecases, adequate oxygen sup-

port, appropriate and timelyadministration of anti-coag-ulants and widely availableand inexpensive corticos-teroids, in accordance withthe protocol, can be consid-ered to be the mainstay ofCOVID-19 therapy,” theHealth Ministry said.

As the Covid caseloadsurges, there are reports ofoxygen shortages from vari-ous hospitals, particularlysmall and mid size hospitalsin States like Punjab, Gujaratand Andhra Pradesh.

For example, as per thePunjab health department,the projected requirement ofoxygen for both governmentand private hospitals in thestate will be around 165 MTsdaily by September 30.Punjab is struggling to meetthe increased demand fromgovernment and private hos-pitals.

In Karnataka, toodemand for oxygen supplyhas gone up four to fivetimes. “I have directed theofficials to make necessaryarrangements to ensure anadequate supply of liquidoxygen to all hospitals in theState. Steps will also be takento establish new liquid oxygenplants to meet the highdemand,” said Medical

Education Minister K.Sudhakar.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said that

National Education Policy(NEP) is going to give a newdirection to 21st century Indiaand we are becoming part of amoment that is laying the foun-dation for building the futureof our country. He said thathardly any aspect of our liferemained the same in the lastthree decades yet our educationsystem is still running underthe old system. The newNational Education Policy is ameans to fulfil new aspirations,new opportunities of a NewIndia, he said.

Modi said this whileaddressing the Conclave on

‘School Education in 21stCentury’ under NationalEducation Policy’ throughvideo conference. The two-day Conclave on “SchoolEducation in 21st Century”was organised by the Ministryof Education which saw thepresence of Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal, Ministerof State for Education SanjayDhotre, Secretary, Departmentof Higher Education AmitKhare, Secretary amongst oth-ers.

The Prime Ministerstressed on the need to increasesuch easy and innovative meth-ods. These experiments shouldbe the core of our new agelearning - Engage, Explore,

Experience, Express and Excel.Modi said that the NEP

2020 is a result of hard work ofpeople from every region, everysector and every language inthe last 3 to 4 years. He said theactual work begins now, withthe implementation of the pol-icy. He urged the teachers towork together for an effectiveimplementation of the NationalEducation Policy.

The Prime Minister said itis legitimate that many ques-tions arise after the announce-ment of the Policy and that itis necessary to discuss suchissues in this conclave to moveforward.

PM stressed the impor-tance of replacing the old 10Plus 2 with the system of 5 Plus3 Plus 3 Plus 4. He said nowplayful education of the pre-school which is limited to pri-vate schools in cities will alsoreach villages once this policyis implemented.

Modi said the studentsengage in activi-ties, events, pro-jects according totheir interest.Then childrenlearn to express ina constructiveway. He said thatchildren shouldbe taken on studytours to historicalplaces, places ofinterests, tofarms, industriesetc, as it wouldgive them practi-cal knowledge.The PrimeMinister said thisis now not hap-pening in all theschools. He saidbecause of this,many students arenot getting prac-tical knowledge.He said that byexposing the stu-dents to practicalknowledge theircuriosity wouldincrease and alsotheir knowledge.If students see theskilled profes-sionals then therewill be a kind ofemotional con-nection, they willunderstand theskills and respectthem. It is possi-ble that many ofthese childrengrow up to joinsuch industries oreven if theychoose anotherprofession it willremain in theirmind of what canbe innovated toimprove suchprofession.

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Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan on

Friday held a video confer-ence (VC) to review theCovid management strate-gies and actions taken in theeight North Eastern States—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Manipur, Mizoram,Meghalaya, Nagaland,Tripura and Sikkim—andasked the respective officialsto help contain the trans-mission. These eightNortheastern States together account for lessthan 5 per cent of the totalactive cases in the country.With active cases numbering 29,690, Assamtops the list constituting 68per cent share in the total active caseload followed byTripura which has 7,383active cases.

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With viral videos of frenziedmediapersons violating

safety and social distancing pro-tocols onboard a Chandigarh-Mumbai flight that had actorKangana Ranaut as a passengeron September 9, the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) has sought a reportfrom IndiGo.

“We have seen some videoswherein mediapersons are stand-ing too close to each other in the6E264 flight on Wednesday. Itseems to be a violation of safetyand social distancing protocols.We have asked IndiGo to submita report on this incident,” aDGCA official said.

The IndiGo flight, 6E 264,which took off from Chandigarhon its scheduled time at around12 noon, landed in Mumbai ataround 2.15 pm on September 9.The flight had Ranaut on board,

along with her sister, Rangoli,who has been in the news overthe past few days after she hadan argument with one of themembers of Parliament (MPs)on social media.

The airline said it hasresponded. IndiGo said its owncrew followed all protocol on thatflight. “We are committed to pro-viding a safe, hassle-free experi-ence to our passengers,” it added.

The media chaos intensifiedas Mumbai’s civic agency start-ed demolishing what it called ille-gal alterations to her office evenwhen she was on her way.Anticipating drama, the mediafollowed her journey to Mumbai.

In January, Civil AviationMinister Hardeep Singh Puri hadtweeted that “offensive behaviordesigned to provoke and createdisturbance inside an aircraft isabsolutely unacceptable andendangers safety of air trav-ellers”.

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Following severe criticismby the BJP for never

attending the parliamentarydefence panel’s meeting andonly “demoralising” the forceswith his comments on theIndia-China face-off at theLAC, former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi on Fridayrecorded his maiden atten-dance even as Chief ofDefence Staff General BipinRawat apprised the MPs thatIndia was prepared for anyeventuality at the border.

The official agenda forthe meeting was listed as‘’provision and monitoring ofthe quality of ration and liv-ery items to the Defenceforces, especially in border

areas’’ and Rahul asked whythere is a difference in food forjawans and officers.

The CDA explained thatdifferences exist in the foodhabits of officers and jawanswho are mostly from ruralbackground. But jawans areserved the same quality andquantity regardless of theirstation, Rawat said addingsoldiers prefer rotis and offi-cers opt for bread, jawansprefer desi ghee while officersmay opt for cheese.

General Rawat alsoinformed the StandingCommittee on Defence thatregional differences in foodhabits also prevail. Soldiersfrom north prefer wheat whilethose from south and east pre-fer rice, he pointed out.

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The National InvestigationAgency has f i led a

chargesheet against TaniaParveen and others in con-nection with the West BengalLashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT)online recruitment modulecase.

The agency filed thechargesheet before the NIASpecial Court, Kolkata onThursday against namedaccused Tania Parvin aliasIsranoor alias Refite of villageMalayapur in North 24Parganas district of WestBengal under various Sectionsof the anti-terror lawUnlawful Activit ies(Prevention) Act.

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The Government has con-stituted an Empowered

Group of Ministers (EGoM)under the chairmanship ofDefence Minister RajnathSingh to oversee the process ofcorporatisation of theOrdnance Factory Board(OFB), the defence ministrysaid on Friday.

As part of the“Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) initiative, thegovernment had announcedon May 16 that it wouldimprove the autonomy,accountability and efficiencyin ordnance supplies by con-verting the OFB, which is asubordinate office of thedefence ministry, into one ormore government-owned cor-porate entities.

On Friday, the ministrystated that the EGoM will“oversee and guide the entireprocess (of corporatisation),including transition supportand redeployment plan of

employees while safeguardingtheir wages and retirementbenefits”.

Others in the EGoM areHome Minister Amit Shah,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad andLabour Minister SantoshKumar Gangwar, the state-ment said.

Minister of State forPersonnel, Public Grievanceand Pension Jitendra

Singh is also part of theEGoM, the ministry noted.

“The Terms of Reference(ToR) of the EGoM include:decision on conversion ofOFB into a single defencepublic sector undertaking(DPSU) or as multipleDPSUs; matters related tovarious categories of employ-ees, including protection ofthe salary and pension of theexisting employees; financialsupport that may be provid-ed to the entity/entities tomake them economicallyviable and self-reliant,” it stat-

ed.Other issues included in

the ToR are: “Grandfatheringof orders

already being executedby OFB or for which facilitiescreated in OFB; treatment forland assets of OFB.”

The composition of theEGoM, along with the ToR,has been communicated tothe OFB and various employ-ee unions or associations atthe “Board/Factory/Unitlevel” and they have beenrequested to place their sug-gestions, issues and concernsrelating to the corporatisationof the OFB before the EGoM,the ministry said.

It added that it has select-ed KPMG Advisory ServicesPrivate Limited and Khaitanand Company as consultantsto the Department of Defencefor the corporatisation of theOFB.

The OFB has 41 factoriesunder it to produce ordnancefor the country’s armedforces.

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Gujarat registered its highestSingle-day spike of 1,344

coronavirus cases in the last 24hours, said a release by the statehealth department on Fridayevening.

It took the case tally in theState to 1,10,971, the releasesaid.

16 COVID-19 patientsdied in the state during thisperiod, taking the death toll to3,183, it added.

1,240 patients were dis-charged from hospitals in thelast 24 hours, taking the totalrecoveries to 91,470.

Surat district registered275 new coronavirus caseswhile Ahmedabad was in the

second spot with 174 newcases.

Other districts where sig-nificant number of new casesemerged included Rajkot (150),Vadodara (132), Jamnagar(116) and Bhavnagar (45).

Of the 16 persons who suc-cumbed to the infection duringthe last 24 hours, five died inSurat.

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Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on

Friday said hisGovernment is com-mitted to makingRajasthan a leadingState in the countryin the field of higherand technical edu-cation.

He made theremarks at the e-inauguration of ninehigher education col-leges and 10 engi-neering and poly-technic collegesorganised by theHigher andTechnical EducationDepartment.

The higher andtechnical educationcolleges have beenbuilt at a cost ofabout �62 crore andRs 23.22 crore,respectively. Theypolytechnic collegeswill have girls hos-tels, labs, an innova-tive syllabus, e-con-tent and semestersystem, according toan official statement.

It is our priorityto spread higher andtechnical educationto remote areas ofthe state so that chil-dren living in vil-lages can alsobecome excellent

human resourceslike doctors, engi-neers, scientists andresearch scholars,Gehlot said in thestatement.

He said theunprecedented workdone to open 87 newgovernment collegesin the last one-and-a-half-year showsthe state govern-ment’s determina-tion to promotehigher education.

During the coro-navirus crisis, quali-ty education is beingimparted to studentsby adopting innova-tions like onlineteaching and e-con-tent, he added.

Minister of Statefor TechnicalEducation SubhashGarg said Rajasthan

has emerged as amodel of good gov-ernance even inchallenging times ofthe coronavirus pan-demic.

Minister of Statefor HigherEducation BhanwarSingh Bhati said theGovernment’s aimhas been that chil-dren living in remoteareas should haveopportunities to pur-sue higher educationnear their home.

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The Supreme Court onFriday sought responses

from the Centre and others ona plea which has sought todeclare as “illegal” and “uncon-stitutional” the actions ofStates, including Delhi andWest Bengal, in not imple-menting ‘Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana’.

Besides the Centre, abench headed by Chief JusticeS A Bobde also issued noticesto the National HealthAuthority (NHA), Telangana,West Bengal, Odisha and Delhiseeking their replies on the pleawhich has also sought a direc-tion for implementing thescheme for poor and middleclass people in these States.

NHA is the apex body

responsible for implementing“Ayushman Bharat

Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana”, the flagshippublic health insurance/ assur-ance scheme of the Centralgovernment. “Issue noticereturnable in two weeks,” saidthe bench, also comprisingJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian.

The apex court was hear-ing a plea filed by Hyderabad-based Perala Shekhar Rao whohas sought direction to theauthority concerned to preparea scheme for providing theoption to people of these states

to either avail ‘AyushmanBharat Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana’ or the insur-ance scheme implemented bythe respective states.

The petition, drafted byadvocate Sravan Kumar, said

that the Centre has been imple-menting the health insurancescheme for 50 crore people ofthe country with an annualbudget of Rs 6,400 crore andunder this scheme, poor peo-ple are entitled to avail treat-ment for various health prob-lems including testing andtreatment for COVID-19.

It alleged that exceptTelangana, Delhi, West Bengaland Odisha, all the states in thecountry are implementing oravailing the Ayushman Bharatscheme.

“This has resulted thedenial of health insurance ben-efit provided by Union of Indiato the people of four stateswhich is contrary to Article 14(equality before law) and 21(protection of life and person-al liberty) of the Constitution,”it claimed.

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Should we hang RheaChakraborty for alleged “pos-session of 59 grams of marijua-

na (ganja)” in Shiva’s India? Thenoose may be a stairway to heavensans the egregious indignation, tor-ture and obloquy. Legally speaking,India’s Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances (NDPS)Act treats 1 kg or less of marijuanaor ganja as a small quantity, pardon-able after being fined. Rhea report-edly had 5.89 per cent of that limitand yet she is locked in prison dur-ing the COVID-19 lockdown,endangering her life.

Criminalisation of marijuana isa sin committed against our ethos,wisdom of our ancestors and her-alds the complete colonisation ofIndia’s mythology, culture and gods.Marijuana is one of the five sacredplants of our civilisation sinceAtharvaveda. It’s a healing plant, rit-ually associated with Lord Shiva butthanks to Lord Macaulay’s disciples,India has been weaponised againstits own indigenous knowledgeand traditions. Meanwhile devel-oped countries, from Switzerland toCanada, have completely or partial-ly decriminalised cannabis.Nevertheless Rhea becomes anoth-er sacrificial lamb in the “waragainst drugs.”

Would the drug enforcementagency then arrest millions of sad-hus who possess and use cannabisas part of their worship of Shiva?Since eternity, Benaras has beenShiva’s city and bhang and marijua-na have been a sacred part of its cul-ture. The NDPS Act allows forseizure of properties where the“drugs” are used, so would theGovernment also seize the entireKumbh Mela ground in Allahabadas year after year millions of Nagasadhus have openly consumed andstored marijuana (possibly morethan 59 grams)? Meanwhile, NCBmay also arrest thousands of dyingcancer patients who are usingcannabis-based medicines illegallyin India.Chasing the cannabis dollar

But our neighbours are neitherirreverent nor sluggish. Pakistan, ina progressive move to boost its econ-omy by $2 billion, has legalisedindustrial hemp and cannabis. NepalMPs have appealed for its legalisa-tion. Bhutan is already in a joint ven-ture mapping out its marijuanagenetic diversity and China is wayahead with a dedicated R&D depart-ment and thousands of acres undercultivation. The US cannabis indus-

try has reported a 40 per centjump in sales as by December2020, the cannabis dollar wavemay hit $15 billion in the USalone.

We must also revisit 1985,when the US government, led bythe then President RonaldReagan, held a gun to India’s headand said, “Ban it or we shoot.”Buckling under US pressure,India, Nepal and other countrieshad to forcefully ban cannabisand allow for appropriation ofour seeds, biological heritageand culture. As compensation,India pleaded for the exclusion ofbhang due to its religious signif-icance. In 15 years, using the banas cover, the US industrial empirebrought itself up to speed, stud-ied every aspect of the plant andbegan rampant commercialisa-tion. Each part of the plant wasgenetically modified and as earlyas 1996, California, despite theinternational treaty, legalisedmedical marijuana. While Indiawas still trying to deracinatecannabis from its culture, the“American East India Company”had successfully colonised ourcannabis resources and began tosell their goods to India and theworld at huge profit margins.

In 2020, market reports indi-cate that the global marijuanaindustry may touch $100 billionas more countries are opting forlegalisation and exports. Israeland Germany are already import-ing millions worth of medicalcannabis flower. But this is onlythe tip of our iceberg. Marijuanais a super industrial raw materi-al with uses from sustainableclothing to bio-fuel.

And what is India doingabout this opportunity? Almostnothing. Progressive states likeOdisha and Uttarakhand have

taken baby steps but the Centralgovernment is reticent withouttaking into account that India hasa vast plant genetic resource(PGR) of the Cannabis Indicavarieties. We are threatened bybio-piracy and contamination ofour seeds and biological heritage.Illegal under drug control treaty,Marijuana PGR was not coveredin the Convention of BiologicalDiversity. It gave bio-pirates andmafia agents a chance to travel

across India and smuggle out ournative wealth to privategermplasm repositories acrossthe world.

Billions of dollars are beingmade on R&D based on thesweat of our ancestors and noteven a single repository ofcannabis germplasm or seedexists in India. Bhang is legallysold in India, yet the private sec-tor has not been allowed toresearch and conserve cannabis.With a frugal research budget,ICAR or CSIR can’t do this effi-ciently. So what can the cash-strapped Government do?Perhaps look again towards theUS where private industry hassoared. US States have filled uptheir treasuries with the cannabisdollar from Colorado toCalifornia. Developing coun-tries like Pakistan, Uruguay, Peruand Thailand are not behindeither.

India needs to deregulatehemp (fibrous non-intoxicatingvariety) for farmers and privateindustry. The Uttarakhand modelshould be expanded. Agriculturaluniversities, biodiversity andNGOs should be encouraged totake up conservation, whileIndian seed companies should beallowed to set up research stationsand given permission to conserveand co-evolve new varieties ofboth hemp and marijuana. Thenext step? Create a custom exportpolicy linking the farmers,processors and ports to meetinternational demand, which isgrowing every day. This willensure the cannabis dollar startscoming to India.

India can not only meet theworld’s cannabis and hempdemands but also allow our uni-versities and research institutionsto tie up with foreign companies

for “research and make-in-India”and get the awaited funding.

The full potential of cannabisis hard to gauge but expertsbelieve that very soon marijua-na will enter most parts of oureconomy. It has already beenembraced by the pharmaceuticaland cosmetic industry and onceits full potential is realised, thecannabis dollar may be a trilliondollar high. Shiva’s India

Marijuana is deeply embed-ded in our culture. The West hasonly recently discovered what oursages and healers have been say-ing for 5,000 years. We need tobestow sacredness on this plantagain. We need to decriminalisepersonal possession like in manyenlightened countries such asPortugal, Peru, Netherlands andso on. This will reduce addictionand illegal smuggling. TheGovernment will also gain ahuge revenue boost from it andour children will be saved fromthe mafia and drug trade. Weneed to go back to the pre-1985policy for marijuana. Throughlegalisation, India can regulate themarijuana trade and provideemployment in remote and eco-sensitive zones such as HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, NortheastStates and so on, boosting theincomes of their farmers, too.

It’s about time our cancerpatients and other terminally illpeople can receive the benefits ofthis miracle plant. The cannabispharma industry can be devel-oped along the lines of the opiumpharma sector. The introductionof hemp will also bolster the tex-tile sector and offer an alternativeto the ecologically destructiveKing Cotton.

We need to cast out Anglo-Saxon prudence as America andBritain themselves haveembraced marijuana for itssacredness and the cannabis dol-lar. Rhea and thousands of otherpeople languish in our prisons forpersonal possessions. It’s abouttime justice is done and cannabisis decriminalised.

India needs to be safeguard-ing its traditions and not allowfurther corporatisation of itsresources. Corporations arealready patenting products cre-ated from PGR from India, whenwill we wake up and prevent thisbio-piracy? Have we not learntour lessons when neem, turmer-ic and basmati rice were beingpatented? Marijuana is a blessingof Shiva for the Indian sub-con-tinent. The lists of benefits of thisplant are endless and India’s bio-logical diversity gives us thepotential to become leaders, butwe go on dishonouring cannabisand along with it our culture andreligion.

(The author is Director,Policy and Outreach, NationalSeed Association of India)

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Sir — The new rules notified bythe Centre for compulsory retire-ment of errant/corrupt staff areapparently intended to improveefficiency and reduce corruptionand other kinds of misconduct.They will enable the Governmentto retire those who complete 30years of service or cross 50-55years of age if they fail their per-formance reviews. From the wayit is designed, the plan seems tobe not just an initiative to weedout errant workers, it may beintended to cut down the numberof employees as such. There wasa similar plan in 2014, too, and ithas been used for forced retire-ment of a number of people. Theyhave gone slow on recruitmentsand many jobs and tasks are nowdone by contract workers.

The problem actually is abouthow well the performance assess-ment of the employees is carriedout, though detailed guidelines onthis have been formulated on thebasis of the Supreme Court’sorders and observations. There areapprehensions that the initiativewill be selective and vindictive,and efficiency, good conduct andintegrity may not always be theyardsticks for performance assess-

ment. Considerations relating toreligion, caste and community,parochial sentiments, gender-related discrimination, politicsspecific to offices, personal ani-mosities and jealousies and manyother issues can vitiate perfor-

mance assessment if there is nostrict monitoring and supervisionof the process. The methods,efficacy and quality of the processwill have to be under scrutiny.There are also fears that the ini-tiative may be used against those

who hold political views differentfrom those of the ruling party. Itshould not lead to a political orany other kind of purge of the offi-cial set-up.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

�� Sir — This refers to the edit ‘Opticsor business?’ published onSeptember 11 in The Pioneer. Itwould be naive to believe thatChina means business at thisjuncture because its misdeeds atthe Line of Actual Control (LAC)tell a different story than whatBeijing wants to portray duringthese bilateral meetings with theForeign Minister. China’s doublestandards have been exposedthoroughly in the last two months.With regard to Russia-India-China, indeed Moscow has founditself caught in the crossfire but itwill have to take a clear stand asNew Delhi is well within its rightsto have independent bilateralrelations with Russia and engagein bilateral military cooperation.It is a tightrope walk for ourForeign Minister to not upset theUS, but at the same time we mustkeep China on its toes by strength-ening India’s ties with Russia. Andsigning reciprocal military logis-tics pacts with Japan, after the US,France, Australia and S Korea willsurely put pressure on China.

Bal GovindNoida

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On the occasion of World SuicidePrevention Day on September 11, anewspaper report informed us that a sui-

cide is committed every four minutes within ourborders. That is truly horrendous, overwhelm-ing and tragic, even more so given how littleattention is paid to this issue. However, the fren-zy surrounding the alleged suicide by young andupcoming actor, Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR), isa spectacle we could have certainly done with-out. It reflects very poorly on us as a society andof the times we live in, especially in view of howblatantly this tragedy is being used to further per-sonal agenda and selfish interests. Nobody, butnobody, connected in any manner to this unfor-tunate episode, comes out clean, least of all hisfamily, his so-called friends and well-wishers, thepoliticians and their handmaidens, including ofcourse, the police and investigative agencies.

For all practical purposes, the very founda-tions that go towards making of a just and car-ing society, like the rule of law and ethical con-duct, have been thrown out of the window. Inall of this, the worst offenders, and that too bya huge margin, of course, have been some mediachannels. Their unseemly behaviour and the utterlack of professionalism expected of them just can-not be excused. They have acted as if they arecovering a one-day match, reporting every lit-tle twist and turn as they occur, with expert com-ments and all. Worst of all, the way they have pan-dered to those propagating the most outlandishof conspiracy theories, clearly motivated byrewards they see within their grasp, has beenbizarre, to say the least.

Some would suggest that in their rush to gar-ner TRP, some of the players in the mainstreammedia no longer know any better and haveplumbed depths that were inconceivable just adecade ago. But to draw such a conclusion maybe patently incorrect given the fact that some ofthe smartest minds on the planet are associatedwith these channels. Obviously, what is in shortsupply is the spine required to stand up for whatis correct. It is not that those working in this fieldare the only ones short of moral courage; in factthis malaise has greatly impacted all our publicinstitutions. But what distinguishes the fourthestate from the rest is that it is supposed to bethe conscience keeper of the people and it is thisquality that gives them the moral authority tohold the powers that be to account.

Even those of us embodied with just mod-est intelligence fully understand that the media’sfocus on the most inconsequential of issues atthis critical juncture, when lives and livelihoodsare at stake and unwanted conflict looms largeon the horizon, is a diversionary tactic to keeppublic attention from these very issues. Suspicionsthat this is being done at the behest of theGovernment cannot be overlooked.

One understands that given the complexchallenges it faces, the Government has no inter-est in being further buffeted by the onslaught ofpublic sentiment. However, that is neither herenor there because such an abrogation of one’sduties allows governments, both at the Centreand States, to avoid accountability for their lack-lustre performance and moribund attempts atcontrolling the pandemic and kickstarting theeconomy. It is now fairly obvious that the Union

Government has concluded that ouronly hope of controlling the pandem-ic rests on how quickly an effective vac-cine is developed and distributed. Itbelieves that competing priorities of lifeversus livelihood no longer allow it theluxury of resorting to draconian lock-downs of the kind we had earlier.

They are now leaving it to individ-uals to take protective measures suchas social distancing, wearing of masksand hand-washing to prevent thespread of the virus and avoid gettinginfected. In that sense, the Governmenthas raised the white flag and hasresigned itself to whatever fate awaitsus. Such a hands-off attitude obvious-ly cannot bring our economy back onthe rails or help us confront the chal-lenges we face on our northern borders.

Fortunately, on the issue of theChinese border tangle, we have final-ly taken some positive action, albeitrather late and still only incremental innature. Yet, this was wholly unexpect-ed by the Chinese and has clearlypushed them on to the backfoot andforcibly swung the spotlight directly onPresident Xi. Whichever way this con-frontation goes from here, he cannotavoid being held directly responsible.In this context, while his survival maynot be at stake at present, he willundoubtedly find the going very toughif this initiative, obviously engineeredby him, is seen as unsuccessful.

Clearly, available force levels sug-gest that the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) underestimated Indian resolveand just does not have the requisitetroops to go in for a full- fledged offen-sive to throw out our troops from thedominating heights that they occupy or

even throw us out of Ladakh, as someanalysts envisage, at least not before thenext campaigning season. The ForeignMinister’s meeting with his Chinesecounterpart on the sidelines of theShanghai Cooperation Organisationmeet, and their mutually-agreed state-ment, suggests that the Chinese are buy-ing time and the statement is probablynot worth the paper it is written on.

This is not to suggest that the PLAmight not still attempt limited offensiveaction either against our positions in thePangong Tso heights or elsewhere in anattempt to wrest the initiative forwhich we are undoubtedly fully pre-pared. The additional commitmentsthat have been thrust on us should notbe seen as detrimental to either our eco-nomic health or our military capabili-ties. Our military has been neglected forfar too long and it has taken Chineseperfidy to open Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s eyes and force him toprovide it the requisite funds to upgradecapabilities. It has also made clear thateconomic development and militarycapabilities are directly linked, and wecannot build up one at the cost of theother. Being the politician that he is,Modi will no doubt figure out ways inwhich the military can be funded tomeet future threats without greatlyimpacting our economic development.

In this context, the manner inwhich the formal induction ceremonyfor the first Rafale Squadron had beenorganised, with the Defence Ministersof both countries being present, isinstructive. In the normal course ofevents, the formal induction ceremo-ny would be kept to the level of theChief of Air Staff with representations

from the concerned embassy in atten-dance, with the ceremony being keptlow-key. This was the process fol-lowed when the Jaguars were induct-ed in 1979, the Mirages in 1985 and theSukhois in 1995. However, we knowthat Narendra Modi has never shiedaway from taking political advantagefrom military endeavours to enhancehis nationalistic credentials.

It is indeed ironical that while in hisprevious tenure he used the military toenhance his political credibility, as theBalakot operation and surgical strikesshow, without improving their lot,Modi now finds himself cornered withhis future dependent on how the mil-itary performs in the days ahead.

Finally, a live LAC not only forcesus to keep troops deployed along it butalso compels the PLA to do the samedespite the constraints of distance andinternal disturbances that its troopsalready confront. In effect, China hasconverted Tibet into an unstableKashmir for itself, with an intransigentneighbour to boot. More so, if we refuseto accept Chinese sovereignty over itand use the Tibetan diaspora to ouradvantage.

It also gives us an opportunity tomirror Chinese actions that have result-ed in a gradual loss of territory over theyears and improve our defensive pos-ture, thereby ensuring that as andwhen the LAC is finally delineated, weare not at a disadvantage. One is hope-ful that Modi has the stamina to go thedistance.

(The writer, a military veteran is aConsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation)

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The New Education Policy (NEP)focusses on re-orientation ofschool and higher education in

India and inculcation of research-basedstudies and innovation in our education.However, the Indian Council forAgricultural Research (ICAR) hasalready been doing this on the groundfor years and hence is in tune with theobjectives of the NEP. As part of its focuson innovation and research-basedlearning, the ICAR-AgriculturalUniversity (AU) system, through its net-work of 74 universities, offers degreecourses at the undergraduate level in 11disciplines with emphasis on learningthrough hands-on-practice sessionsand field experience training.

As desired by the NEP, the post-graduate programmes in 96 disciplines

and Ph.D. programmes in 73 disciplinesmake it multi-disciplinary. The AU sys-tem has generated the much-needed sci-entists, technologists, teachers,researchers, technologies and technol-ogy transfer systems to transform Indiafrom a “ship-to-mouth” nation to a“right-to-food” one.

Much in line with the aspirationsof the NEP, the curricula has beenresponsible for developing much-need-ed agricultural skills and encouragingan entrepreneurial mindset among thestudents. They are being inspired to takeup self-employment, to sustainablyenhance rural livelihood security, andto propel agricultural transformationthrough science-based policy-optionsand actions.

The Student READY (RuralEntrepreneurship AwarenessDevelopment Yojana) programmeensures hands-on experience and prac-tical training, as does theEntrepreneurship Development andBusiness Management course. Rigorousimplementation of the revised curric-ula has over the years been benefittinglocal communities, and promotingtechnology incubation and dissemina-tion, which is one of the objectives of

the NEP. Many new courses have beenalready introduced by the AUs inemerging fields like Precision Farming,Hi-tech Cultivation, ArtificialIntelligence, Mechatronics,Nanotechnology, Food StorageEngineering, Emerging Food ProcessingTechnologies and so on which align per-fectly with the recommendations of theNEP.

The AUs have developed more than400 virtual classrooms and e-courses fortheir undergraduate programmes andare being supported through a cen-tralised Academic Management Systemand shall be further supported for onlineclasses through the recently-launched“Krishi Megh.” The post-graduatecourses, too, are being converted intoe-courses in all the streams of agricul-ture education.

Multidisciplinary universities:The AUs in India are modelled on theUS land grant university pattern withintegration of education, research andextension and have contributed a greatdeal to propelling agricultural growthin the country. Agriculture is a multi-disciplinary science and AUs are basedon the philosophy that the farmers needholistic solutions for their problems.

However, in recent years, severaldomain-specific universities in horticul-ture, veterinary science and fisheries sci-ences have been established in variousStates, which may need to be re-orient-ed to make them multidisciplinary asper the NEP.

The NEP suggests a four-yearBachelor’s programme with multi-dis-ciplinary education as a preferredoption. In the AUs, the curriculum ofundergraduates has been designed as afour-year residential programme withmore than 15 disciplines. This includesboth theory and practical classes. Thecontents of several courses are designedin such a way that practical classes can be simultaneously conductedmatching with the topics of the theoryclasses.

Attracting talent to agricultureeducation: About 4,500 scholarships areannually granted by the ICAR to mer-itorious students selected through its AllIndia Entrance Examination forAdmission conducted through theNational Testing Agency. The NationalScholarship Portal proposed under theNEP shall afford students more suchopportunities for stipends, boardingand lodging, and not just waiver of

tuition fees. In particular, talented stu-dents from rural India, who have beenexposed to agriculture during their earlyyears and who have deep interest infarm education, will be further encour-aged to build their career in the field ofagriculture and allied sectors.

Internationalisation: The ICARfacilitates annual admission of over 250foreign students from more than 20countries to various degree pro-grammes. To support their higherstudies in India, severalprogrammes/fellowships have been ini-tiated like the Netaji Subhas-ICARInternational Fellowship, India-AfricaFellowship and India-AfghanistanFellowship. The campuses of the exist-ing system of AUs shall immensely ben-efit from various provisions in the NEPto promote HEIs as global study desti-nation hubs and restore India’s role asa Viswa Guru.

Continuous professional develop-ment: Teachers will be given constantopportunities for self-improvementand to learn the latest innovations andadvances in their profession as per theNEP. This fits in well with the ICAR’sschemes through which about 3,500 fac-ulty from AUs are trained every year for

their professional development.The future: AUs have sufficient

land available for experimentation,demonstration of various trials to farm-ers and training. AUs must developschemes for adequate resource gener-ation and convert themselves into self-governing institutions, which is reflect-ed in the NEP.

The AUs need to attain the high-est global standards in quality agricul-ture education through linkages withglobal universities and provide plat-forms for research and innovation infrontier areas of research, greater indus-try-academic linkages and interdiscipli-nary research, including humanities andsocial sciences.

The universities also need to makeprovisions of multiple entry and exit sys-tems in their undergraduate pro-grammes. These reforms shall help inmeeting the challenges of Global GreenEconomy, Knowledge Economy, GlobalZero Hunger Challenge, SustainableDevelopment Goals, 2030, andInternational Agriculture andDevelopment Challenge, 2050.

(Mohapatra is Director-Generaland Agrawal Deputy Director-General,Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

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Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 2314.65 2337.00 2286.05 2318.85BAJFINANCE 3494.00 3556.00 3456.15 3543.35IDEA 11.41 11.42 10.91 11.13AMBER 1890.00 1890.00 1725.25 1767.85GRASIM 713.00 728.00 705.10 721.50WIPRO 282.65 298.30 282.65 293.05INDUSINDBK 610.00 637.30 603.40 610.05TATAMOTORS 143.00 146.70 141.70 144.30SBIN 198.30 203.80 197.00 202.70ICICIBANK 372.50 373.90 365.10 370.15TCS 2348.00 2382.65 2331.00 2373.70AXISBANK 445.20 449.90 439.40 447.05HDFCBANK 1094.00 1104.95 1071.10 1078.50BHARTIARTL 498.00 502.55 488.75 491.65HDFCAMC 2396.95 2408.85 2363.50 2369.40JSWSTEEL 284.80 288.85 282.90 285.40MARUTI 7289.00 7349.85 7168.35 7190.15SAIL 38.50 39.25 38.00 38.90JSWENERGY 60.85 60.85 58.35 58.90JUBLFOOD 2265.00 2376.90 2265.00 2320.45TITAN 1155.35 1193.70 1155.35 1165.55RBLBANK 180.10 184.15 178.65 182.65STAR 608.00 693.50 608.00 685.90INDIGO 1265.00 1300.00 1238.40 1293.65JMFINANCIL 85.00 85.45 82.20 82.80ITC 185.00 186.45 182.85 183.90PEL 1314.00 1354.70 1311.50 1333.65ASIANPAINT 2064.00 2068.15 2022.50 2035.20PVR 1290.00 1293.00 1240.75 1255.05ADANIENT 298.30 303.60 292.30 295.85GAIL 91.10 91.70 90.05 90.75HEROMOTOCO 2950.00 3007.25 2949.80 2991.40VBL 728.00 737.45 715.00 724.40IBULHSGFIN 195.45 200.30 194.55 198.65ASHOKLEY 66.00 69.20 66.00 68.15HINDUNILVR 2125.00 2168.00 2125.00 2159.25COFORGE 1885.20 2102.00 1885.20 2092.45INFY 936.00 953.85 931.20 945.40DLF 150.15 156.85 149.70 154.45BPCL 430.20 436.30 422.65 428.40ZEEL 222.00 224.70 216.20 218.00TATASTEEL 409.95 412.30 402.60 407.40DABUR 491.05 511.30 491.05 507.85BRITANNIA 3740.00 3825.00 3725.85 3770.85IOC 83.45 83.95 82.05 83.10JINDALSTEL 196.75 202.70 195.15 201.75BAJAJFINSV 6132.00 6175.00 6077.30 6116.00BANKBARODA 45.60 46.10 45.30 45.90SBICARD 820.00 855.55 819.00 849.45INFRATEL 202.00 208.55 200.75 201.85DEEPAKNI 756.00 770.00 726.90 733.30TATAELXSI 1279.00 1300.00 1263.00 1288.90ESCORTS 1192.00 1214.25 1182.10 1197.55EICHERMOT 2162.00 2180.00 2141.05 2159.30TATACONSUM 550.00 552.80 541.25 548.10FEDERALBNK 51.35 52.10 50.90 51.80MANAPPURAM 145.60 157.90 145.60 157.25HCLTECH 721.70 733.90 710.50 721.05SRTRANSFIN 632.00 647.20 609.55 643.10TECHM 745.00 770.20 745.00 763.30LAURUSLABS 1240.00 1268.00 1237.75 1257.90BIOCON 430.60 439.50 427.65 432.75VEDL 130.50 132.35 127.35 131.80GRANULES 378.00 378.00 341.55 344.90CONCOR 373.95 385.00 371.20 383.80HDFC 1772.00 1785.60 1760.15 1768.20L&TFH 63.00 63.35 62.20 63.10ATUL 6368.00 6368.00 6186.45 6268.30DISHTV 13.02 14.38 13.02 14.38LT 923.80 923.80 912.20 917.65HDFCLIFE 610.00 612.50 602.00 604.50HINDALCO 178.05 180.00 174.90 178.55MGL 888.80 909.70 888.80 909.05HAL 864.75 875.00 834.00 852.40DIVISLAB 3168.00 3170.00 3117.15 3149.95M&M 616.00 621.70 612.10 613.75HINDPETRO 201.95 204.05 197.30 199.05KOTAKBANK 1320.00 1336.70 1312.00 1332.00SBILIFE 844.05 866.70 844.05 864.50DRREDDY 4390.00 4446.35 4377.00 4409.95ADANIGREEN 589.95 608.55 579.85 608.45COALINDIA 127.25 127.25 124.70 125.10MINDTREE 1177.00 1216.20 1174.05 1181.80PIDILITIND 1465.00 1498.00 1465.00 1484.25MEGH 71.60 78.90 71.60 75.90CIPLA 728.95 731.00 720.35 725.50TATAPOWER 56.00 57.05 54.80 56.70INDIAMART 4750.00 4875.00 4654.70 4755.00AFFLE 2879.80 2970.00 2778.15 2907.45MUTHOOTFIN 1082.00 1134.25 1082.00 1128.85SUNPHARMA* 508.00 512.75 502.75 505.40NAUKRI 3400.25 3433.15 3346.65 3366.10HINDZINC 222.00 238.95 218.05 237.55APOLLOTYRE 116.00 117.45 115.20 115.75BANDHANBNK 304.95 314.20 302.90 312.05TVSMOTOR 444.00 446.50 435.15 445.25AUROPHARMA 805.00 809.00 791.00 801.65FCONSUMER 10.38 10.70 10.20 10.34LUPIN 962.35 973.05 954.35 961.00GLENMARK 471.00 487.45 468.40 485.10BAJAJ-AUTO 2925.00 2938.55 2905.05 2915.00TRENT 672.20 704.85 666.70 693.40ADANIGAS 208.80 210.40 202.40 207.25DMART 2250.40 2272.00 2227.05 2240.70INDIACEM 119.40 119.75 115.00 115.90SUNTV 480.90 492.10 476.15 486.45CADILAHC 364.10 372.40 358.10 369.95BALKRISIND 1259.00 1308.85 1251.00 1302.85

RAMCOCEM 699.00 712.95 690.80 702.70CUMMINSIND 474.70 474.70 452.70 455.90ONGC 73.65 73.70 72.60 73.40COLPAL 1404.00 1422.75 1389.95 1420.80MOTILALOFS* 657.00 664.65 650.00 650.00BHEL 37.50 37.90 37.00 37.05TORNTPHARM 2814.00 2841.50 2812.85 2837.00IDFCFIRSTB 30.90 31.20 30.45 31.05PETRONET 238.50 238.50 233.35 238.00RECLTD 107.00 108.60 106.00 107.85CEATLTD 900.25 922.05 888.00 894.45UPL 494.55 501.00 488.15 498.90TATACHEM 288.10 294.80 287.95 293.00NTPC 92.70 92.70 89.50 90.15ACC 1336.00 1353.65 1317.00 1317.00ITI 138.00 141.00 135.10 136.85SHREECEM 19634.00 19675.10 19378.00 19495.05APOLLOHOSP 1624.00 1647.80 1596.00 1620.00ULTRACEMCO 3900.00 3941.00 3872.80 3896.90HAVELLS 643.00 658.00 643.00 653.90BDL 319.00 321.75 311.00 315.20TCNSBRANDS 372.75 373.95 368.05 371.00BATAINDIA 1266.00 1290.90 1261.10 1267.90POWERGRID 178.85 178.85 174.20 175.00SRF 4123.00 4217.50 4113.25 4206.00ADANIPORTS 349.30 349.30 333.85 342.60HEXAWARE 422.50 423.00 406.20 417.10GODREJCP 673.80 689.10 666.00 685.50BEL 101.75 102.65 101.30 102.25BLUEDART 2837.90 2981.70 2703.95 2900.00CENTURYTEX 337.20 342.60 334.55 337.85M&MFIN 131.70 132.05 129.35 130.90MOTHERSUMI 112.95 113.30 110.95 112.30LICHSGFIN 297.75 298.30 292.75 296.60CANBK 102.30 102.60 98.35 100.85COROMANDEL 732.65 758.95 713.50 749.40IRCTC 1373.00 1376.05 1351.00 1370.50NESTLEIND 16370.00 16370.15 16195.00 16324.00

ASTRAZEN 3984.95 4187.65 3915.25 4015.00IGL 394.00 405.50 389.90 405.00VOLTAS 644.00 662.05 644.00 656.70JUSTDIAL 358.10 375.60 358.10 373.20MFSL 584.05 601.15 580.90 597.60THYROCARE 770.00 809.80 770.00 782.05GODREJPROP 876.00 906.30 873.95 877.20ALKEM 2921.65 2965.65 2859.00 2897.70CANFINHOME 380.25 392.55 380.25 390.75BLISSGVS 151.50 152.20 149.25 151.95TATAMTRDVR 60.95 60.95 58.80 59.40CHOLAFIN 220.50 226.40 220.50 224.50SPICEJET 50.95 52.40 50.60 51.30BERGEPAINT 578.00 578.00 565.00 574.40BHARATFORG 461.60 466.10 456.55 461.60VENKYS 1471.05 1479.85 1416.05 1422.60ICICIPRULI 449.80 452.55 435.30 439.95BOSCHLTD 12905.00 13020.00 12774.70 12876.00PTC 59.50 59.50 57.90 58.60PNBHOUSING 315.00 319.05 310.00 316.30DIXON 9419.55 9504.00 9200.05 9234.90MCX 1548.95 1564.90 1536.85 1553.00SYNGENE 478.60 492.10 467.65 475.30ENGINERSIN 63.95 65.15 63.70 64.05IPCALAB 2050.00 2056.85 2008.00 2012.20SIEMENS 1213.30 1232.90 1211.00 1223.20RELAXO 643.10 647.50 633.00 641.45RVNL 20.85 21.95 20.60 21.35APLLTD 918.00 922.90 908.90 908.90GMM 5677.90 5677.90 5568.00 5596.00AARTIIND 1042.00 1049.00 1015.60 1025.35AMARAJABAT 748.00 751.85 738.55 746.50EXIDEIND 156.75 157.70 154.40 155.70DALBHARAT* 706.00 716.60 693.30 709.95SWANENERGY 118.00 120.85 116.95 118.95MRF 59100.00 59395.85 58481.35 59280.00WOCKPHARMA 288.00 294.70 286.55 291.25GLAXO 1669.00 1699.00 1647.00 1666.90KAJARIACER 430.00 476.05 430.00 473.60NATIONALUM 34.75 34.90 34.25 34.75JBCHEPHARM 792.50 802.15 787.45 799.00CGCL 217.00 223.90 215.40 215.40PAGEIND 18483.95 18764.50 18391.15 18442.70PFC 91.70 92.65 91.10 92.40DEEPAKFERT 164.00 167.00 160.25 161.30FRETAIL 104.40 106.35 104.40 106.35PCJEWELLER 15.50 16.75 15.20 15.85RADICO 383.00 397.55 383.00 393.50BAYERCROP 5670.00 5949.00 5664.00 5895.00RAYMOND 269.90 274.90 266.65 271.00HEG 751.00 770.50 751.00 760.30LTI 2489.00 2509.00 2476.90 2493.25HINDCOPPER 38.05 38.30 37.05 37.40

NMDC 89.80 90.60 88.80 89.85KEI 359.00 369.00 356.90 357.00PNB 33.50 33.85 33.30 33.70ICICIGI 1255.00 1309.00 1255.00 1303.95BSOFT 165.00 167.90 162.95 165.40SOUTHBANK 7.08 7.21 7.08 7.17JUBILANT 725.00 742.90 725.00 738.30CHAMBLFERT 143.00 144.60 140.00 143.25MARICO 363.10 367.60 362.55 367.60BEML 616.05 628.00 616.05 619.35PFIZER 4939.00 5005.90 4863.95 4870.00INOXLEISUR 291.70 293.85 286.40 290.00ISEC 479.30 479.30 471.10 473.35PRESTIGE 235.40 244.50 234.10 242.50TRIDENT 6.55 6.86 6.55 6.72GNFC 210.05 213.20 204.40 209.55GARFIBRES 2015.00 2022.00 1913.50 1926.30AMBUJACEM 214.40 214.40 211.25 212.10TATACOFFEE 109.90 110.55 107.05 109.20NESCO 522.00 568.40 521.30 562.25EMAMILTD 374.95 392.90 374.95 383.30PIIND 1914.00 1914.00 1847.45 1867.00BANKINDIA 49.40 49.40 47.05 47.65JAICORPLTD 91.70 92.80 90.20 91.10INDHOTEL 99.35 99.90 98.00 99.15GODFRYPHLP 915.00 918.60 902.45 905.55IEX 195.00 195.00 187.00 189.35WHIRLPOOL 2143.00 2160.75 2117.60 2157.00SUNTECK 273.80 277.10 265.00 272.15DCAL 160.25 167.30 158.00 161.20NAM-INDIA 273.65 275.55 271.10 273.75CUB 133.60 135.65 132.50 133.75OFSS 2915.80 2968.00 2883.20 2909.70GUJGAS 297.35 299.80 293.90 296.20FSL 64.50 65.40 63.60 64.25NOCIL 126.00 128.25 124.75 125.95CYIENT 390.00 390.00 373.00 379.00SUZLON 3.32 3.35 3.25 3.30NCC 31.20 31.60 30.90 31.45UJJIVAN 224.00 225.50 218.50 224.05IIFL 88.00 92.50 85.50 91.40EQUITAS 52.00 53.20 51.50 52.70NAVINFLUOR 1957.10 1979.55 1943.00 1955.90ERIS 477.40 502.50 477.00 488.05AJANTPHARM 1510.00 1525.10 1496.00 1507.85WESTLIFE 367.30 384.35 367.30 381.00ABCAPITAL 71.60 71.60 69.30 69.40ADANITRANS 273.50 274.80 268.00 271.65CREDITACC 720.00 728.00 704.05 704.60LALPATHLAB 1760.00 1842.00 1760.00 1842.00CESC 647.00 647.00 614.20 626.00UBL 1062.00 1072.00 1047.00 1059.00UFLEX 335.00 339.00 330.90 332.90PHILIPCARB 117.55 121.15 117.00 117.60SPARC 180.00 181.75 176.05 176.65KPITTECH 84.00 91.50 83.20 88.75JAMNAAUTO 46.55 47.00 45.25 46.40BBTC 1349.90 1390.00 1342.50 1364.50BALRAMCHIN 145.00 148.80 144.85 147.20ABBOTINDIA 16576.05 16894.65 16465.30 16831.153MINDIA 18763.00 19004.95 18370.00 18645.00LTTS 1499.80 1539.85 1473.00 1519.00NBCC 26.25 26.60 25.75 26.10FINEORG 2824.90 2874.50 2747.50 2843.95EIHOTEL 84.80 86.60 83.75 85.10VINATIORGA 994.40 1007.55 993.65 1001.00FDC 327.00 331.35 323.60 326.20POLYCAB 835.00 854.30 835.00 845.00GRAPHITE 179.65 187.40 177.80 182.75AVANTI 475.00 476.05 466.70 471.15HEIDELBERG 182.70 186.00 179.80 180.15ABB 899.00 904.25 894.00 900.00ABFRL 132.00 134.05 130.50 131.60CAPPL 539.00 545.85 531.95 537.85WABAG 196.85 197.70 190.00 193.65MIDHANI 205.00 205.05 198.00 201.05IBREALEST 58.60 61.60 58.45 60.60UNIONBANK 29.00 29.10 28.40 28.65ESSELPRO 281.95 285.00 276.00 281.60BOMDYEING 65.00 65.75 64.20 65.05RALLIS 297.00 298.65 293.00 295.95COCHINSHIP 325.00 331.10 325.00 328.00HONAUT 32174.10 32760.00 31678.30 32673.10POWERINDIA 919.00 930.00 907.25 920.30CASTROLIND 119.00 120.65 118.55 119.80GMRINFRA 23.05 23.60 22.90 23.40ECLERX 712.00 737.55 706.70 732.20GICRE 137.00 137.55 133.25 134.90KRBL 263.90 264.20 254.50 255.20SWSOLAR 273.95 278.50 267.00 269.15AUBANK 658.25 681.00 651.30 679.15IRCON 83.60 84.45 82.00 83.25TCIEXP 813.90 829.30 793.10 808.75J&KBANK 17.80 18.25 17.60 17.75HSCL 51.90 51.90 49.90 51.10SANOFI 8239.00 8292.70 8181.60 8270.00OMAXE 69.25 69.70 68.85 69.10STRTECH 150.00 151.40 147.70 148.80VIPIND 282.00 287.00 280.00 282.90RAIN 111.00 111.00 107.90 108.90KALPATPOWR* 249.50 250.45 246.80 250.05JKPAPER* 92.50 93.65 92.00 92.20SCHNEIDER 77.70 83.35 77.70 80.75NATCOPHARM 778.00 790.00 766.05 790.00IRB 121.00 122.70 118.80 120.00MAHABANK 12.85 12.85 12.11 12.60BAJAJCON 163.90 168.25 163.70 167.95TORNTPOWER 326.00 326.00 323.00 324.55EDELWEISS 73.35 74.45 70.80 73.00

BAJAJELEC 458.00 467.30 453.05 460.50ASHOKA 71.20 71.20 68.65 68.80MPHASIS 1142.55 1163.95 1142.55 1155.00ALKYLAMINE 3188.00 3200.00 3139.00 3183.70OBEROIRLTY 377.00 387.60 373.00 374.00JKTYRE 57.00 57.55 56.60 57.10BAJAJHLDNG 2430.00 2490.00 2430.00 2466.00NHPC 20.60 20.80 20.45 20.55CCL 244.00 248.70 240.70 247.00IDBI 38.40 38.40 37.70 38.00MRPL 30.20 30.80 29.70 29.95TIMKEN 1101.00 1124.55 1075.00 1092.00INTELLECT 189.90 196.40 185.95 194.40PERSISTENT 1004.50 1023.00 992.00 1013.55HUDCO 34.70 35.40 34.55 34.75TV18BRDCST 31.00 31.20 30.30 30.55IFBIND 550.00 559.00 537.80 549.40FORTIS 134.00 138.60 134.00 135.50DCBBANK 86.90 87.75 84.90 85.60GALAXYSURF 1832.80 1832.80 1770.00 1784.50RCF 47.25 47.80 47.05 47.05WELSPUNIND 57.00 57.70 55.60 56.75DHANUKA 722.00 755.00 722.00 733.00JKLAKSHMI 252.00 259.35 248.15 254.00ADANIPOWER 37.65 37.95 37.25 37.40GRSE 180.20 183.20 178.40 180.00INDIANB 61.50 62.05 61.10 61.75ALLCARGO 118.20 122.80 118.00 121.00LAXMIMACH 3763.00 3850.00 3710.00 3737.80SUPREMEIND 1371.00 1388.50 1315.00 1325.80DBL 371.00 374.60 367.00 367.00VARROC 306.85 310.70 303.00 303.85ZENSARTECH 167.05 176.20 167.05 173.15OIL 94.00 95.65 93.85 94.35DELTACORP* 107.00 108.65 105.55 106.40GESHIP 253.00 263.00 252.10 263.00HFCL 16.25 16.25 15.75 15.95IDFC 28.25 28.55 27.90 28.10SOBHA 238.00 243.70 236.00 237.70MOIL 144.00 146.05 142.85 143.50TATACOMM 870.00 886.85 861.00 863.75HERITGFOOD 342.45 352.55 335.60 338.25REPCOHOME 184.00 184.00 177.85 180.05GODREJIND 410.00 416.65 406.05 409.00SONATSOFTW 316.00 316.00 308.35 311.55KEC 331.80 331.80 322.40 324.15TNPL 111.20 115.00 108.90 112.70PGHH 10117.00 10150.00 9994.95 10045.95TAKE 48.70 48.95 48.35 48.40MINDAIND 338.45 344.40 326.50 343.80PARAGMILK 107.00 107.50 103.65 104.95GSPL 196.90 198.95 193.05 197.60RITES 240.85 243.60 240.05 241.55CROMPTON 253.00 256.70 250.65 253.85JKCEMENT 1450.00 1460.85 1427.30 1437.95EIDPARRY 296.00 298.60 290.30 292.00IFCI 6.85 6.90 6.76 6.81MHRIL 180.00 186.40 179.15 184.45ORIENTCEM 61.05 62.55 60.10 61.05HAWKINCOOK 4863.00 4926.00 4821.25 4830.00BIRLACORPN 598.00 599.90 590.05 597.55GILLETTE 5501.25 5590.65 5500.10 5560.00FINCABLES 281.00 283.35 273.00 279.00METROPOLIS 1777.00 1777.00 1702.45 1761.95GREAVESCOT 77.30 78.70 77.30 78.00INFIBEAM 79.85 80.80 79.60 79.95HIMATSEIDE 76.00 76.60 74.55 75.85LINDEINDIA 709.00 715.00 704.00 705.50KANSAINER 486.00 490.65 477.10 483.90ORIENTREF 196.25 196.90 192.30 193.25AEGISLOG 203.65 205.45 199.25 204.35FORCEMOT 1099.80 1123.00 1089.25 1094.00ARVINDFASN 132.00 136.00 132.00 134.60HATHWAY 34.90 34.90 33.00 34.10ENDURANCE 1079.00 1089.00 1059.05 1077.20SUMICHEM 271.00 276.00 271.00 273.50WELCORP 99.00 99.75 97.70 98.00TIINDIA 629.80 629.80 600.00 603.25BALMLAWRIE 117.00 118.00 117.00 117.45CENTURYPLY 159.35 162.05 159.35 161.80GUJALKALI 337.05 341.55 335.05 337.90MINDACORP 71.50 71.95 68.60 70.90KNRCON 255.75 256.20 247.25 250.90QUESS 379.05 380.85 371.10 374.00BRIGADE 160.00 168.25 159.55 161.85GODREJAGRO 485.75 491.55 485.00 490.20PHOENIXLTD 619.95 623.35 609.10 611.05PNCINFRA 155.50 163.00 155.50 157.00NH 322.90 325.00 311.85 320.00SCHAEFFLER 4100.55 4100.55 3957.30 4026.20JYOTHYLAB 142.95 144.60 141.10 143.00KTKBANK 44.65 44.65 43.60 44.20JINDALSAW 63.95 64.25 62.75 63.20STARCEMENT 85.80 88.00 85.80 88.00ASTRAL 1201.00 1201.00 1176.90 1191.00BASF 1444.00 1457.40 1424.10 1453.00NLCINDIA 52.90 53.30 52.00 53.30RATNAMANI 1158.25 1162.60 1124.60 1131.70FINOLEXIND 510.00 517.50 501.50 505.20ADVENZYMES 229.70 232.05 229.70 230.50CARERATING 389.15 397.25 389.15 393.80VRLLOG 160.10 162.65 158.65 159.70SUDARSCHEM 432.00 438.15 431.10 434.00LAOPALA 200.00 204.50 199.00 200.75GMDCLTD 46.70 46.70 44.90 45.15INDOCO 220.00 224.00 218.60 220.30GPPL 80.20 81.40 79.90 80.90SCI 56.75 57.65 56.75 56.95VGUARD 174.00 174.00 167.90 168.30

ASTERDM 121.65 123.00 120.80 123.00WABCOINDIA 7007.00 7045.60 6797.80 6860.00CARBORUNIV 259.95 259.95 250.55 254.65JCHAC 2182.95 2190.80 2149.25 2156.95IOB 10.25 10.36 10.13 10.18UCOBANK 13.05 13.34 12.98 13.00AIAENG 1748.00 1774.95 1740.10 1758.10VAIBHAVGBL 1750.00 1805.00 1750.00 1758.70APLAPOLLO 2451.00 2461.20 2412.00 2416.45GSFC 63.25 64.00 63.20 63.45TVTODAY 232.85 232.85 228.60 229.00KSB 515.05 520.25 500.40 505.70PRSMJOHNSN 52.65 53.45 51.80 53.00MAHLIFE 230.20 244.00 230.20 238.60JSLHISAR 87.85 89.65 87.30 87.80PGHL 4706.00 4987.95 4706.00 4800.00ORIENTELEC 195.45 198.55 193.40 195.05FLUOROCHEM 540.05 541.00 522.00 522.50TATAMETALI 535.70 542.65 521.10 524.50VMART 1905.00 1941.70 1866.00 1880.95LEMONTREE 28.80 28.80 27.55 28.25CHOLAHLDNG 415.00 422.25 407.30 408.20MAHLOG 322.20 329.75 321.65 325.80NBVENTURES 61.00 62.00 60.60 61.15MAHSEAMLES 222.00 228.00 222.00 227.30NIACL 110.25 110.85 108.50 108.85JSL 45.55 45.75 45.10 45.15LUXIND 1387.85 1398.00 1361.05 1380.35SKFINDIA 1556.00 1562.35 1540.85 1545.60AAVAS 1333.90 1350.35 1316.00 1316.00NILKAMAL 1234.00 1241.25 1223.00 1231.60SIS 358.70 364.20 351.50 361.05SHK 81.85 81.85 79.25 79.60MAHSCOOTER 2900.00 2950.05 2887.30 2930.00RAJESHEXPO 455.00 468.00 448.65 450.50REDINGTON 113.00 114.55 110.70 111.00DCMSHRIRAM 343.00 347.40 341.85 343.00KPRMILL 566.50 580.20 566.45 580.20SJVN 22.80 23.45 22.80 23.20CENTRALBK 16.70 16.75 16.40 16.60AKZOINDIA 2038.00 2051.15 2001.00 2001.05SYMPHONY 835.00 843.20 832.00 836.10MAHINDCIE 122.00 124.50 120.00 122.85ZYDUSWELL 1648.45 1657.50 1630.50 1640.00CERA 2471.25 2481.10 2433.40 2444.60GDL 90.35 92.25 89.00 90.00BLUESTARCO 602.00 608.00 601.10 603.35THERMAX 748.30 764.15 738.95 746.75VSTIND 3366.00 3443.40 3356.20 3443.40MASFIN 801.00 821.35 797.50 808.10TASTYBIT 11359.00 11579.90 11332.05 11377.95VTL 744.35 750.80 744.00 749.90UJJIVANSFB 34.05 34.50 33.95 34.35TATAINVEST 799.85 806.00 794.90 798.00CHENNPETRO 76.85 77.45 76.50 76.60CSBBANK 225.80 226.80 224.75 225.95SOLARINDS 1001.00 1018.75 1000.00 1015.00ITDC 224.00 231.90 223.10 227.00GULFOILLUB 629.70 641.00 622.70 631.00MMTC 18.10 18.50 18.00 18.10DBCORP 75.00 75.60 74.75 75.15INDOSTAR 260.70 262.90 258.00 260.05TTKPRESTIG 5861.30 5933.80 5811.10 5832.95SUNDRMFAST 424.00 424.00 417.00 420.00GHCL 162.00 164.00 158.10 160.25CRISIL 1777.00 1812.95 1777.00 1785.90NAVNETEDUL 77.85 80.65 77.85 79.80GEPIL 458.45 465.00 454.00 463.50IIFLWAM 962.00 987.00 962.00 983.70TIMETECHNO 39.35 39.50 38.60 39.05SUPRAJIT 179.90 179.90 167.30 168.60TEAMLEASE 2290.00 2290.00 2177.00 2183.40SHRIRAMCIT 955.80 955.80 931.00 937.80JTEKTINDIA 72.00 72.65 71.20 71.40SHOPERSTOP 171.65 175.80 171.65 173.45GET&D 98.00 100.95 98.00 98.80SPANDANA 580.00 596.00 570.80 580.00TVSSRICHAK 1491.00 1527.65 1491.00 1516.00SOMANYCERA 156.55 156.55 153.20 155.05SHANKARA 361.25 364.90 356.70 360.05JAGRAN 41.20 41.20 38.65 38.85GRINDWELL 527.00 527.95 518.30 518.50ESABINDIA 1363.65 1385.35 1357.30 1385.35SFL 1403.90 1410.00 1401.65 1401.65

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11447.80 11493.50 11419.90 11464.45 15.20WIPRO 282.50 298.45 282.50 292.55 8.00SBIN 198.55 203.85 197.00 203.70 5.55TECHM 749.40 770.60 747.50 763.70 13.70TCS 2330.95 2383.00 2330.15 2370.30 39.15HEROMOTOCO 2949.15 3007.70 2948.75 2990.90 42.15BRITANNIA 3724.00 3828.00 3720.00 3767.60 48.35UPL 492.60 501.00 488.10 497.40 6.40HINDUNILVR 2125.00 2169.00 2124.50 2159.00 25.10BAJFINANCE 3490.00 3557.70 3456.70 3536.35 37.65INFRATEL 202.00 208.70 200.80 202.00 2.05KOTAKBANK 1317.00 1336.20 1311.00 1332.45 12.95HINDALCO 178.70 180.00 174.80 178.05 1.40TITAN 1156.00 1194.00 1155.00 1164.00 8.75GRASIM 715.00 727.00 704.65 718.40 5.10DRREDDY 4400.00 4447.00 4375.00 4404.00 23.85INFY 934.90 954.15 931.00 944.50 4.45HDFCLIFE 608.00 612.70 601.60 603.90 2.30AXISBANK 446.00 449.85 439.25 448.50 1.65TATAMOTORS 143.10 146.80 141.65 143.65 0.35BAJAJ-AUTO 2914.00 2941.95 2903.90 2916.00 1.30RELIANCE 2312.00 2337.85 2287.10 2315.00 1.00JSWSTEEL 283.95 289.00 282.70 285.30 -0.05GAIL 90.80 91.65 90.10 90.75 -0.05ICICIBANK 373.00 373.65 365.10 370.35 -0.35ONGC 73.45 73.70 72.60 73.55 -0.10BAJAJFINSV 6128.55 6174.60 6080.00 6118.00 -11.25NTPC 90.20 90.90 89.45 90.35 -0.20CIPLA 725.80 731.50 720.25 724.90 -1.90ADANIPORTS 341.00 343.90 333.45 340.55 -1.05HCLTECH 712.00 734.00 710.15 720.05 -2.35M&M 614.90 621.90 612.10 613.00 -2.45TATASTEEL 408.75 412.65 402.50 406.25 -1.75LT 920.00 921.55 912.00 916.90 -4.05ITC 184.90 186.50 182.75 184.00 -0.90NESTLEIND 16400.00 16400.00 16204.00 16321.15 -99.55HDFC 1771.00 1786.00 1760.00 1765.05 -12.40MARUTI 7279.95 7349.90 7175.00 7181.20 -50.45IOC 83.30 84.00 82.05 82.95 -0.60SHREECEM 19735.50 19735.50 19365.10 19500.00 -143.35SUNPHARMA 507.00 512.35 502.60 504.05 -3.90ULTRACEMCO 3915.50 3944.20 3878.00 3884.90 -30.60EICHERMOT 2165.00 2178.70 2140.10 2157.00 -18.60ASIANPAINT 2063.00 2069.95 2022.00 2039.05 -17.50HDFCBANK 1096.45 1104.85 1071.00 1080.50 -10.05COALINDIA 126.90 127.00 124.65 125.15 -1.50BHARTIARTL 499.30 502.45 488.55 491.50 -5.85BPCL 431.00 436.00 422.35 423.70 -6.60POWERGRID 178.10 178.30 174.10 174.80 -2.80INDUSINDBK 618.00 622.40 603.25 610.00 -10.45ZEEL 220.95 224.75 216.20 218.20 -4.95

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27066.90 27332.75 27049.50 27288.50 240.15HINDZINC 221.20 239.00 218.00 236.40 15.15CONCOR 372.40 385.00 370.35 383.60 16.05IGL 390.00 405.00 389.00 404.75 16.45ICICIGI 1256.10 1309.00 1254.00 1302.30 49.00SBICARD 819.00 855.80 819.00 849.70 29.75MUTHOOTFIN 1088.00 1134.00 1088.00 1131.00 31.50DLF 149.90 156.90 149.15 154.25 4.05INDIGO 1265.00 1301.00 1238.00 1290.00 32.05SBILIFE 846.00 866.90 843.75 865.00 19.80DABUR 491.70 511.70 491.70 507.00 11.50CADILAHC 365.00 372.65 358.00 370.90 7.15GODREJCP 673.05 688.00 670.80 686.15 13.10ABBOTINDIA 16734.95 16898.00 16450.10 16829.75 303.65SRTRANSFIN 633.00 647.50 626.95 641.00 11.45BANDHANBNK 304.00 314.50 303.00 312.60 5.55HAVELLS 644.00 658.30 643.45 653.95 10.50COLPAL 1395.00 1423.30 1388.10 1419.85 22.55PEL 1319.95 1353.75 1308.30 1331.10 16.60PFC 91.20 92.70 90.65 92.45 1.15MARICO 362.35 367.95 362.30 367.55 4.25TORNTPHARM 2815.00 2841.95 2811.00 2834.10 19.55BANKBARODA 45.50 46.10 45.30 45.90 0.30PIDILITIND 1475.00 1498.70 1474.05 1484.00 8.65PETRONET 236.95 237.90 233.35 237.70 1.40MOTHERSUMI 112.25 113.25 110.85 112.30 0.65PNB 33.30 33.85 33.30 33.70 0.15SIEMENS 1213.00 1233.85 1210.35 1222.50 4.95NMDC 89.55 90.60 88.75 89.85 0.35BIOCON 430.45 439.65 427.35 431.90 1.25LUPIN 959.95 973.00 952.40 964.45 1.95BERGEPAINT 577.00 578.50 564.60 574.00 -0.55AUROPHARMA 802.00 809.20 790.35 801.55 -1.20DMART 2241.90 2273.00 2226.05 2232.90 -4.85NHPC 20.70 20.75 20.40 20.50 -0.05NAUKRI 3420.00 3434.80 3343.05 3375.00 -11.70DIVISLAB 3157.60 3172.35 3118.00 3143.95 -12.60BAJAJHLDNG 2480.00 2493.60 2453.30 2462.00 -10.05PAGEIND 18478.00 18777.00 18384.25 18410.00 -85.10AMBUJACEM 212.95 214.50 211.10 211.90 -1.05OFSS 2941.00 2970.00 2881.05 2914.65 -15.10ADANITRANS 272.70 274.90 267.35 270.55 -1.55BOSCHLTD 12916.80 13040.00 12767.00 12870.00 -81.20MCDOWELL-N 550.25 556.00 542.95 545.75 -3.55UBL 1066.00 1073.55 1046.50 1058.20 -8.10PGHH 10082.00 10173.75 10005.00 10005.00 -103.95GICRE 136.80 137.50 134.00 134.65 -1.65HDFCAMC 2389.00 2407.95 2363.00 2369.50 -29.85HINDPETRO 202.50 204.25 197.20 198.55 -2.65ICICIPRULI 449.40 452.70 435.20 439.20 -7.95ACC 1346.15 1354.00 1315.65 1317.00 -26.25

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Moody’s Investors Serviceon Friday slashed India’s

growth projection for the cur-rent fiscal to (-) 11.5 per cent,from (-) 4 per cent estimatedearlier, saying the economiccontraction would be morepronounced due to the lock-down and continued rise incoronavirus cases.

The US-based ratingagency also projected India’sdebt burden to peak at around90 per cent of GDP in the cur-rent fiscal and the Centre’s fis-cal deficit to be close to 7.5 percent of gross domestic product.

In the previous fiscal,India’s debt burden was 72 percent of GDP, while the fiscaldeficit stood at 4.6 per cent.

India’s GDP contracted by23.9 per cent year-on-year inthe April-June quarter, follow-ing the economic impact of thenationwide lockdown mea-sures, which were in placefrom late March until a phased

lifting of restrictions began inJune.

“The collapse in GDP wasone of the sharpest among allmajor G-20 economies. Wenow expect real GDP to con-tract by 11.5 per cent in the fis-cal year starting April 2020,much weaker than our previ-ous forecast of a 4 per cent con-traction,” Moody’s said.It expects growth to rebound to10.6 per cent in fiscal 2021,reflecting a strong statisticalbase effect from the low GDPlevels of 2020 as economicactivity gradually normalises.

The sharp decline ingrowth will result in material-ly weaker Government rev-enue. Combined with increasedfiscal expenditure in responseto the coronavirus outbreak,this will contribute to a widergeneral government fiscaldeficit, which we now expect toreach 12 per cent of GDP in fis-cal 2020, it said.

Moody’s expects the cen-tral government and states to

run fiscal deficits close to 7.5per cent and 4.5 per cent ofGDP, respectively.

This will drive a substan-tially higher debt burden, theagency added.

It said the economic con-traction in 2020 to be morepronounced because of thelockdown and continued rise incoronavirus cases.

“As the number of dailyreported coronavirus casesincreases, also spreading fur-ther outside major urban cen-tres, the possibility of renewedlockdown measures continues

to present downside risk to ourforecasts. Even in the absenceof renewed official restrictionsoutside of designated contain-ment zones, economic uncer-tainties could weigh on con-sumer demand and invest-ment.“Beyond the pandemic,we see a risk that growthrebounds more gradually thanin other major emergingeconomies, and remains belowour previous expectations, heldback by an increasinglyimpaired financial system, andlimited fiscal capacity to pro-vide support,” Moody’s said.

It joined the chorus ofother global and domesticagencies which have projecteddouble-digit contraction in theIndian economy.

Earlier this week, GoldmanSachs and Fitch projectedIndia’s economy to contract14.8 per cent and 10.5 per cent,respectively, in the current fis-cal. India Ratings and Researchexpected contraction at 11.8per cent. Domestic agencyCrisil estimated contraction at9 per cent.

Moody’s had in Junedowngraded India’s sovereignrating to ‘Baa3’ -- the lowestinvestment grade -- just anotch above junk status, witha negative outlook.

In its credit opinion reporton the Indian government,Moody’s said the country’scredit profile is increasinglyconstrained by low growth,high debt burden and the weakfinancial system, and theserisks have been exacerbated bythe coronavirus pandemic.

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Industrial productiondeclined by 10.4 per cent in

July, mainly due to lower out-put of manufacturing, miningand power generation, as perthe Government data releasedon Friday.

According to the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP)data, manufacturing sectorproduction registered a declineof 11.1 per cent, while the out-put of mining and power fell 13per cent and 2.5 per cent,respectively.

“In view of the preventivemeasures and announcementof nationwide lockdown bythe Government to containthe spread of COVID-19 pan-demic, a large number of theindustrial sector establishmentswere not operating from theend of March 2020 onwards.

“This has had an impact onthe items being produced by

the establishments during theperiod of lockdown. With thelifting of restrictions in the sub-sequent periods, industrialactivity is resuming,” theMinistry of Statistics andProgramme Implementationsaid in a press release.

The Index for July 2020stands at 118.1 as compared to54.0, 89.5 and 108.9 in April,May and June 2020, respec-tively, it added.

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The Centre has released�6,195 crore to 14 states as

monthly instalment of postdevolution revenue deficitgrant. “The Govt on Sep 10,2020 released �6,195.08 croreto 14 states as the sixth equat-ed monthly instalment of thePost Devolution RevenueDeficit Grant as recommend-ed by the 15th FinanceCommission. This would pro-vide them additional resourcesduring the Corona crisis,” theOffice of Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said in atweet. Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim,Tamil Nadu, Tripura,Uttarakhand and West Bengalare the 14 states to whom thegrant has been released.

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The Government hasextended the deadline for

merchant bankers to bid formanaging IRCTC stake sale by4 days till September 14.

The Department ofInvestment and Public Asset

Management (DIPAM) has ini-tiated the process to sell 15-20per cent stake in IndianRailway Catering and TourismCorp (IRCTC) via offer for sale(OFS) and had last monthinvited bids from merchantbankers by September 10.

The last date of submission

of bids has been extended tillSeptember 14, the DIPAM,which manages the govern-ment share sale, said.

The Government current-ly holds 87.40 per cent stake inv:\moIRCTC. To meet Sebi’spublic holding norm, theGovernment has to lower its

stake in the company to 75 percent.

Shares of IRCTC closed at� 1,374.35 apiece, up 0.27 percent over the previous close onBSE. IRCTC - the only entityauthorised by Indian Railwaysto provide catering services torailways, online railway tick-

ets and packaged drinkingwater at railway stations andtrains in India - had listeditself on the stock exchangesin October 2019. The compa-ny had raised �645 crorethrough the IPO. IRCTC OFSwould help the governmentinch forward in meeting the

�2.10 lakh crore disinvest-ment target. Of this, � 1.20lakh crore will come from dis-investment of public sectorundertakings and another�90,000 crore from stake salein financial institutions.

The Government hasalready concluded the OFS of

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd(HAL) and Bharat DynamicsLtd (BDL), which together hasfetched around �5,000 crore tothe exchequer.

The Government is alsolooking at launching initialpublic offering (IPO) of IndianRailway Finance Corp Ltd

(IRFC) and had in January fileddraft red herring prospectus(DRHP) with Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)for IPO of over 140 crore equi-ty shares.

The Union Cabinet had inApril 2017 approved listing offive railway companies.

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Beijing: Beijing will impose“reciprocal restrictions” on allAmerican diplomats onChinese soil in response tocurbs on its embassy personnelin the United States, China’sforeign ministry said Friday.

Relations between theworld’s top two economieshave deteriorated in recentmonths, with both sides lockedin fierce recriminations overtrade disputes, human rightsand the origins of the coron-avirus pandemic.

China’s latest move comesdays after Washingtonannounced new restrictionson staff working for Beijing’sforeign missions, such as arequirement to seek approvalfor university visits or meetingswith local officials.

“The Chinese side hasrecently sent a diplomatic noteannouncing reciprocal restric-tions on the US embassy andconsulates,” the ministry said ina statement.

It added that the unspeci-fied countermeasures will applyto all US embassy and con-sulate staff, including the con-sulate-general in Hong Kong

and its personnel.“It must be stressed that

these measures are China’slegitimate and necessaryresponse to the erroneous USmoves,” the ministry said, urg-ing the US to “immediatelycorrect its mistakes” and lift theearlier curbs.

A tit-for-tat dispute overforeign missions flared up inJuly when Washington orderedthe closure of the Chinese con-sulate in Houston, promptingBeijing to shutter the Americanpresence in Chengdu.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo said last week that newmeasures targeting Chineseenvoys were a response tolong-established controls onAmerican diplomats in China.

Washington’s restrictionswill force Chinese diplomats toseek US permission to hold

cultural events involving morethan 50 people outside missiongrounds.

They also require embassysocial media accounts to bepublicly identified as being affil-iated with the Chinese govern-ment. The battle over foreignembassies is only one front in anescalating confrontationbetween the US and China.

Washington has imposedsanctions on officials accusedof helping orchestrate China’smass internment of Uighursand other mostly Muslimminorities in Xinjiangprovince, a programme that hasprompted a global humanrights outcry.

Last month it blacklistedofficials it accused of suppress-ing “freedom and democraticprocesses” in Hong Kong, afterthe imposition of a nationalsecurity law aimed at quellingcivil unrest in the financial hub.

The move prompted Chinato issue its own sanctionsagainst several prominentAmericans, including promi-nent senators and senior figuresin US-based human rightsorganisations. AFP

Beijing: Beijing on Fridaydenied trying to meddle in USpresidential election afterAmerican tech giant Microsoftsaid it had parried cyber attacksfrom overseas groups —including from China —against both the Republicanand Democratic campaigns.

Microsoft warned it haddetected attempts at electioninterference from overseas,including Russia, Iran and theChina-based “Zirconium”,which targeted people linked toDemocratic candidate JoeBiden’s campaign.

But China batted away theallegation, accusing Microsoftof “fabrication” and “creatingtrouble”.

“The US presidential elec-tion is the US’ internal affair,”said Zhao Lijian, spokesman ofthe Chinese foreign ministry.

“We have no interest tointerfere in it, and we neverinterfered in it.”

China and the UnitedStates are trapped in a sprawl-ing power struggle reachinginto trade, the origins of thecoronavirus, defence ambitions

and tech security.Washington has called out

Chinese tech firms — fromHuawei to Tik Tok — as stateactors working for theCommunist Party of China,claims Beijing and the compa-nies vehemently deny.

Zhao returned fire onFriday, warning that the worldshould instead be on “highalert” for American tech com-panies “installing back doors”and harvesting personal datafor security services.

With the US presidentialelection two months away,Twitter, Google and Facebookhave all said they are reinforcingprotections to curb the spread ofmisinformation. AFP

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The headless body of KimJong Un’s executed uncle

was displayed to senior NorthKorean officials, US PresidentDonald Trump told the authorof an upcoming book on the USpresident.

Jang Song Thaek, the North Korean leader’s uncle bymarriage and a hugely powerful figure within theregime, was purged for treasonand corruption in 2013, in whatwas widely seen as Kim merci-lessly asserting his authority.

Kim “tells me everything.Told me everything,” Trumptold the Washington Post inves-tigative journalist BobWoodward, according to hisforthcoming book “Rage”.

“He killed his uncle and heput the body right in the steps,”Trump said, in an apparentreference to a building used bysenior officials.

“And the head was cut, sitting on the chest,” he added in excerpts from the book seenby AFP. The North has neverofficially stated how Jang wasexecuted, although multiplereports say an anti-aircraft gunwas used. Trump’s account is thefirst from any senior official tomention decapitation.

Nuclear negotiationsbetween Pyongyang andWashington have been at astandstill since the collapse ofthe Hanoi summit last yearover sanctions relief and whatthe North would be willing togive up in return.

Manila: The Philippine defensechief told his Chinese counter-part on Friday that Manila willadhere “without any possibilityof compromise” to a 2016 inter-national arbitration ruling thatinvalidated most of Beijing’srival claims in the South ChinaSea, according to a Philippinestatement about the meeting.But the statement was laterwithdrawn and the contentiouscomment removed.

Chinese Gen. Wei Fenghe isin Manila for talks with DefenseSecretary Delfin Lorenzana andPresident Rodrigo Duterte. Hisvisit follows a series of protestsby the Philippines over China’sincreasingly aggressive actionsin the busy waterway.

The territorial disputes

between the countries remainunresolved, although their tieshave improved greatly underDuterte, who has sought invest-ment, infrastructure fundingand military assistance fromChina.

After the defense chiefsmet, the Philippine defensedepartment issued an initialstatement saying Lorenzana hadreaffirmed Philippine adher-ence “without any possibility ofcompromise” to the arbitrationruling that invalidated China’sterritorial claims in the sea onhistorical grounds.

China refused to participatein the arbitration by a U.N.-backed tribunal, and then dis-missed its ruling as a “sham” andcontinues to defy it. AP

Dhaka: A Dhaka Universityprofessor along with two oth-ers is facing sedition chargesfor allegedly defaming SheikhMujibur Rahman, the found-ing father of Bangladesh, anddistorting the history of the1971 Liberation War.

Aminul Islam Bulbul, thepresident of the central com-mittee of the MuktijuddhaMancha, filed a written com-plaint against ProfessorMorshed Hasan Khan, DailyJai Jai Din Editor KaziRokonuddin Ahmed and DailyNaya Diganta Editor AlamgirMohiuddin at the court ofDhaka MetropolitanMagistrate Ziaur Rahman onThursday.

The court has ordered thePolice Bureau of Investigationor PBI to submit a report byOctober 20, after taking theplaintiff ’s statement intoaccount, bdnews24 reported.

“Sedition cases require theapproval of the home ministry.The PBI will submit a report ifthey find any substance in theclaims after investigating theallegations and quizzing theplaintiff,” the court’s clerkRakib Chowdhury told thepaper. PTI

Minneapolis: Attorneys forfour former Minneapolis offi-cers charged in the death ofGeorge Floyd say that eachclient should get his own trial,as the officers try to diminishtheir roles in the Black man’sdeath by pointing fingers at oneanother.

Prosecutors say all fourofficers should be tried togeth-er because the nature of thecharges and evidence is similarand “it is impossible to evalu-ate any individual Defendant’sconduct in a vacuum.”

The former officers arescheduled to appear in courtFriday for a hearing on sever-al issues, including the prose-cution’s request to hold a jointtrial. Other issues that will beargued include defense requeststo move the trial away from

Minneapolis and to sequesterthe jury and keep jurors anony-mous.

Floyd, who was in hand-cuffs, died May 25 after DerekChauvin pressed his kneeagainst his neck as Floyd saidhe couldn’t breathe and becamemotionless. Chauvin is chargedwith second-degree murder,third-degree murder andmanslaughter.

Thomas Lane, J. Kuengand Tou Thao are chargedwith aiding and abetting bothsecond-degree murder andmanslaughter. Defenserequests to dismiss chargeswon’t be addressed at Friday’shearing. A trial is scheduled forMarch.

Friday’s hearing will alsomark the first time Chauvin isexpected to appear in a court-

room. He is in state custodyand has attended previoushearings via videoconference.

Prosecutors say the caseshould proceed with one trialbecause the evidence – includ-ing witness statements, body-camera video and policedepartment policy on use offorce – is similar for each offi-cer. Prosecutors say the officersalso acted in close concert.

“Here, all four Defendantsworked together to murderFloyd: Chauvin, Kueng, andLane pinned Floyd face-down,while Thao stopped the crowdfrom intervening, enabling theother Defendants to maintaintheir positions. Defendantsalso discussed and coordinat-ed their actions throughout theincident,” prosecutors wrotein a court filing. AP

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AGerman federal court hasrejected a former nurse’s

appeal of his murder convic-tion and life sentence forkilling 85 patients by deliber-ately bringing about cardiacarrests.

Niels Hoegel was convict-ed by a court in the north-western city of Oldenburg inJune 2019. On Friday, theFederal Court of Justice said ithad thrown out his appeal in aSeptember 1 decision, findingno procedural or other errorswith the verdict.

Hoegel injected patientswith overdoses of heart med-ication and other drugs becausehe enjoyed the feeling of beingable to resuscitate them.

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��#!� ��) �� Kabul: Afghan government

negotiators left for Doha onFriday to begin what promiseto be lengthy and difficultpeace talks with the Talibanafter nearly two decades ofgrinding war that have lefttens of thousands dead.

Negotiations set to beginSaturday were originally slatedto start in March but wererepeatedly pushed back amiddisputes over a prisonerexchange that included therelease of hundreds of battle-hardened Taliban fighters.

“After continuous efforts ofthe government of the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan tostart direct talks with theTaliban, the peace negotiatingteam of the IRA left Kabul forDoha,” Nader Naderi, a mem-ber of the negotiating team,said on Twitter minutes beforetheir plane took off.

US President DonaldTrump has made endingAmerica’s involvement inAfghanistan a foreign policypriority as he faces uncertainprospects in the November 3election.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo will be attending theopening session of what he said

was a “historic” opportunity toend America’s longest war.

“I’m mindful of how diffi-cult these conversations will beamong the Afghans but it’stheirs for the taking,” he toldreporters onboard his flight toDoha.

Abdul Hafiz Mansour, amember of Kabul’s delegation,said his message to the Talibanwould be that they “cannot suc-ceed by force”.

“The time is ready for rec-

onciliation now, we can resolveour problems by talking toeach other,” Mansour said.

Negotiations have raisedhope across Afghanistan that the conflict might come to a halt. “We are desperate for peace. The killing ofAfghans should be stopped,”said Kabul shopkeeperAbdullah, who lost a relative ina bomb attack that targetedVice President Amrullah Salehthis week. AFP

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Islamabad: Much anticipatednegotiations betweenAfghanistan’s warring partiesare likely to be “contentious”, USSecretary of State Mike Pompeowarned on Friday, but are theonly way forward if Afghans areto find peace after decades ofrelentless conflict.

“It’s taken us longer than Iwish that it had to get fromFebruary 29 to here but weexpect Saturday morning, forthe first time in almost twodecades, to have the Afghans

sitting at the table togetherprepared to have what will becontentious discussions abouthow to move their country for-ward to reduce violence anddeliver what the Afghan peopleare demanding — a reconciledAfghanistan with a govern-ment that reflects a country thatisn’t at war,” Pompeo said on theplane taking him to Doha.

“It’s their country to figureout how to move forward andmake a better life for all Afghanpeople,” he said. AP

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'�� !��"��8��2 �� %��Kathmandu (PTI): Nepal’sruling Communist Party onFriday resolved the protracteddifferences between PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli andhis opponent Pushpa KamalDahal ‘Prachanda’ by agreeingto a power-sharing deal, end-ing the months-long dispute inthe party, according to a seniorparty official.

The 13-member powerfulStanding Committee meetingheld at the Prime Minister'sofficial residence in Baluwataralso decided to resolve theborder issue between Nepaland India through politicaland diplomatic means,Communist Party of Nepal(CPN) spokesperson NarayanKaji Shrestha said.

During the meeting, thework division between Oli andPrachanda was settled.Prachanda will serve as execu-tive chairman of the party withfull power and handle theparty’s affairs, while Oli willfocus on the governmentaffairs, the official said.

“The party will be run onthe basis of its establishedguidelines. However, the gov-ernment is required to hold

consultation with the partywhile deciding on issues ofnational importance,” saidShrestha, adding that the partyleadership will not interfere inthe day-to-day affairs of thegovernment. It was decided tohold the Unity GeneralConvention of the party inKathmandu from April 7 toApril 12 next year. A meetingof the party's Central WorkingCommittee has been called forOctober 31. The meeting unan-imously endorsed a 15-pageproposal prepared by Oli andPrachanda aiming at resolvingthe intra-party feud in theCPN. The proposal for con-sensus was prepared by the duoon the basis of a report sub-mitted to them by a partypanel that was formed toresolve the internal disputewhich had surfaced after thedissident group leaders, includ-ing Prachanda, demanded Oli’sresignation.

Prachanda and seniorleader of the party MadhavKumar Nepal had asked forOli’s resignation from both asthe party’s chairman and asNepal’s prime minister after heaccused the dissident leaders of

conspiring against him to top-ple his government.

In June, Oli claimed thatefforts are being made to ousthim after his governmentredrew the country’s politicalmap by incorporating threestrategically key Indian terri-tories. India termed as “unten-able” the “artificial enlarge-ment” of the territorial claimsby Nepal after its Parliamentunanimously approved the newpolitical map of the countryfeaturing Lipulekh, Kalapani,and Limpiyadhura areas whichIndia maintains belong to it.

The meeting has alsodecided to resolve the borderissue between Nepal and Indiathrough political and diplo-matic means, Shrestha said.

The CPN also decided toamend, and then endorse, thecontroversial MillenniumChallenge Corporation dealsigned between the govern-ments of Nepal and the UnitedStates in 2017. The leaders ofthe CPN were divided onwhether to approve or not theproposed USD 500 milliongrant that would be utilised tosupport the construction of 400KV transmission lines in Nepal.

�� "��London (PTI): England’s sec-ond-largest city of Birminghamwill be put under another lock-down as the number of coro-navirus cases continued to riseacross the country on Friday.

The R number, or the rateat which the infection spreadswithin the community, wentabove one for the first time inweeks indicating that the epi-demic is growing once again.

According to latest officialstatistics, it is estimated 13people per 10,000 were infect-ed in England between August22 and September 7, com-pared with four people per10,000 between July 24 andAugust 11.

“We’ve seen all across theworld how a rise in cases, ini-tially among younger people,leads to hospitalisations andfatalities. The pandemic is notover, and everyone has a role toplay to keep the virus at bayand avoid another furtherrestrictions,” said UK HealthSecretary Matt Hancock.

“It’s so important thateveryone abides by the law andsocialise in groups up to six,make space between you andthose outside your household,

get a test and self-isolate if youdevelop symptoms and washyour hands regularly. It is vitalyou engage with NHS Testand Trace service if contactedto provide details of your closecontacts and self-isolate if youare asked to do so,” he said.

Birmingham now has thesecond highest rate of COVID-19 infection in England, afterBolton. The stricter lockdownmeasures for the region alsocover neighbouring Sandwell

and Solihull, affecting morethan 1.6 million people intotal.

The tougher lockdownrestrictions for the entire regionwill officially begin fromTuesday, with residents wereadvised to avoid householdmixing even before the rulescome into effect.

“The areas will now beescalated to an area of nation-al intervention, with a ban onpeople socialising with peopleoutside their own household,”said West Midlands MayorAndy Street.

The restrictions focus onthe mixing of householdsrather than schools, workplacesand transport, he noted.

Chief Constable of WestMidlands Police DaveThompson said he understoodit had been a “tough time”, buturged people to act responsibly.

Earlier this week, UKPrime Minister Boris Johnsonhad announced new laws onhow many people can socialiseindoors and outdoors fromMonday, with fines in place forthose who break the “rule ofsix” for the number allowed togather.

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24��/0�(��%��(��6��%��5?:�7��6��A��G��4��!��%London (PTI): Retired SupremeCourt judge Markandey Katjuwas challenged as a self-publiciston behalf of the Indian govern-ment on Friday as he gave evi-dence in the extradition case offugitive diamond merchantNirav Modi via a live videolinkfrom India at WestminsterMagistrates’ Court here.

On the final day of a five-dayhearing, Justice Samuel Goozeeheard Katju’s detailed evidencebefore adjourning the case untilNovember 3, when he will heararguments on the admissibilityof the evidence provided by theIndian authorities on the chargesof fraud and money launderingagainst the diamond merchant inthe USD 2-billion Punjab

National Bank (PNB) scam case.The UK’s Crown

Prosecution Service (CPS), argu-ing on behalf of the Indian gov-ernment, sought to counterKatju’s written and oral claimsthat Modi would not receive afair trial in India because amajority of the judiciary was cor-rupt and the investigating agen-cies subservient to the govern-ment.

Is it at least possible, you aresomething of a self-publicistwho will make any outrageousstatements for the purpose ofcourting the press, questionedbarrister Helen Malcolm, towhich Katju replied you areentitled to your opinion .

Malcolm also queried his

decision to give media interviewsin India earlier this week relat-ed to the evidence he was to givebefore the UK court in a subjudice matter, to which the for-mer Supreme Court judge saidthat he merely responded toreporters’ questions and that itwas his duty to speak out on mat-ters of national importance .

During what became a quitea fiery exchange in court at times,some of his past controversialstatements were also read out incourt, in reference to gay rela-tionships being unnatural andwomen who remain single beingprone to psychological problems.

Katju countered by statingthat he was entitled to his opin-

ion and that he had quoted fromIrish playwright George BernardShaw’s Man and Superman,which Malcolm as a Britishershould have read.

The former judge had beendeposed by Modi’s defence teamin order to substantiate theirclaims that the jeweller faces anunfair and biased trial if extra-dited to India.

Katju also repeatedly madecomparisons between India andGermany under the Nazi regime,saying Modi has been made aconvenient scapegoat akin to theJews in Nazi Germany in orderto be blamed for the economiccrisis in the country.

Asked by the if the diaman-taire’s own alleged dishonest

actions could be to blame, hesaid: I am not making any state-ments on the merits of this case.I am simply saying that he can-not get a fair trial all ministersand media have pronouncedhim guilty.

His assertion that post-retirement appointments wereamong the inducements whichled to corruption among judgesbrought his own appointment asthe Chairman of the PressCouncil of India following hisretirement into focus, which hestressed was not a governmentappointment.

So, the three-memberappointment committee com-posed of the Speaker of theLower House, Chairman of the

Upper House (Vice-President ofIndia) and a Press Council mem-ber are completely apolitical andnothing to do with the govern-ment, queried Malcolm.

The hearing on Thursdayconcluded the bulk of the oralevidence in the extradition case,which was observed by Modi viavideolink from a room inWandsworth Prison in Londonwhere he has been lodged sincehis arrest in March last year.

The first set of hearings inthe case took place in May, withthe hearings this week slotted tocomplete arguments to establishthe 49-year-old jeweller has acase to answer before the Indiancourts.

The defence team, led by

barrister Clare Montgomery, hassought to not only establish thatModi’s actions related to PNB-issued Letters of Undertaking(LoUs) did not amount to fraudbut also deposed witnesses tohighlight his fragile mentalhealth condition and a high riskof suicide.

They have also claimed thatthe conditions at Barrack 12 inArthur Road Jail in Mumbai,where he is to be lodged on beingextradited, do not meet thecourt's human rights criteria.

The has set out the CentralBureau of Investigation’s (CBI)case of fraud and theEnforcement Directorate’s (ED)case of the laundering of thosefraudulently acquired funds.

It has also played videos inthe court in support of additionalcharges of disrupting the CBI’sinvestigation by causing the dis-appearance of evidence andcriminal intimidation of wit-nesses.

Assurances of adequateprison conditions have beenprovided by the Indian govern-ment, which were further addedto this week with an assurance ofappropriate mental health carefor Modi on being extradited.

A hearing for final submis-sions in the case is currently slat-ed for December 1 but that dateis likely to be delayed, with a rul-ing in the case not expectedbefore the end of this year orearly next year.

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� What do you have to say aboutyour time during the lockdown?

Frankly, they have been the bestfour and a half months of my life. Icould enjoy living with peace in mylovely house, without any restrictions,sit out and walk around. With my staffand driver around, I felt like I found anew family. This was also for the firsttime, I and my husband stayed togeth-er for four months. Otherwise, he livesin Delhi and I live in Mumbai.Although, even at home, we bothstayed busy at times. But this has beenthe most amazing time of my life.

� Any everyday issues at home...Majorly, majorly (laughs)! I’ve

learned sign language because my hus-band is mostly busy on his conferencecalls. The adjustment took some timebut I let him be. He too tried to let mebe also because he had no alternative.In any case, he didn’t have time to inter-fere in my life so it was fine. But still,it was interesting. Quite calming, I’d say.

� Your Instagram game is on aroll...

Well, sometimes, I don’t post forlong. I do whenever something hits meor I see something happening aroundme or with me. For instance, the signlanguage. I posted about it because Iused to laugh at how I was doing itevery day.

I also posted about the sweaterswoven by the local girls. So it is all gen-uine and I don’t post for the sake ofposting anything. I do it because I wantto say something through the posts,something that has happened to meand is genuine. Well, I think it’s whypeople like it.

� Did it come from Masaba (Gupta,daughter and fashion designer)?

No. The matter I do, I don’t con-sult. Sometimes, I make a mistakewhile posting. And then, I get a mes-sage from Masaba immediately, “Mom,you’ve done it wrong,” then I tell herto set it right. And then, she sets it right!

� Over the years, how do you thinkthings have changed in terms ofstereotypes and work for women?

It has all changed very recently.Like in past two years only. Everyone,women and actors of my age group, arealso getting some very interestingwork. Otherwise, it hasn’t been verygood. There was nothing at all. Now,I feel that everybody is able to findsomething that suits them, not just theyounger lot.

� What do you have to say about thePR scenario, then and now?

Well, I must say, for me, it’s quite

irritating and a hassle to follow the cor-porate setup. Ek kaam ke liye 10aadmi hote hain (there are 10 peoplefor one chore). With 10 people around,there are a hundred new things to han-dle and listen to. Everyone has theirown perspective and talent. They haveto be paid accordingly. And amidthose, there are some who don’t knowmuch yet because they are not comingfrom the same place. So, I don’t under-stand this business environment at all.

� Have you ever felt out of place ona film set?

So, it was the first day of shoot forShubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. I wasrehearsing a dialogue in a way that itlooks realistic, in front of the camera,and the director came up to me andsaid, “Nahi, iska surr thoda ooncha honachahiye (the pitch should be a bit high-er), let’s begin like that.” I asked why. Iunderstood the reason when heexplained me that I am speaking overthe phone at a noisy place. Toh shorrwali jagah agar aap ooncha hi bolengena. I understood the logic and did thesame.

But as soon as I got back at thehotel, I felt that I have to work on thatlevel now. It’s for comedy that I’ll haveto change the way I act or react in a par-ticular scene. That’s what the scriptdemands. It’s not like Badhaai Ho! Thisreminded me of the series SrimaanSrimati, in which I played a role for ashort duration. I began from a high notein the show. It was a little problematicfor me in the beginning but I realisedthis is how comedy works.

So these are the some of theinstances where I felt a little out of theplace but I won’t say I was caught intodoing it (laughs). Haan, phasi hu ek-dobaar shuru mein, when I had to do roles,which had no beginning, end, logic toit or sense. I have done many of thosebut then you need money, so it’s okay!

� What would you say to youryounger self?

If you want to get better roles, moreroles, you want to become a star, aheroine, whatever is in your head,modesty is not a good policy. You can-not be shy. You have to get going andcall up people. Focus on work, not onmen — two important things.

� What would say to Neena Gupta2020?

Well, this year has been a waste.Ek saal toh barbaad ho gaya humara.Now, I’m getting back to work, soevery day is important for me. I tellmyself that it’s very important to lookafter your health because you want todo more work. Don’t let even onemoment of your day go waste. Kuchkaro, padho, suno, baithna nahi, kuchna kuch karte raho. Set your wardrobeup or do anything, but don’t just sit idleand waste time — two importantthings.

� What has Masaba taken fromyou? What have you passed on to her?

I think, children watch their par-ents and learn. There are certainthings which are genetic. I know whatshe has got from me or what she hasgot from her father or even my father.I think it’s all a combination. One day,she shouted at me and I told her, ‘Don’tshout’. She replied, ‘I’ve learnt from youonly’. Well, because she saw me shout-ing at my father once or twice when hewas living with me, her reaction wasthe same for me. That’s the parent-childrelationship, isn’t it? Children learn 40per cent from the parents and theirbehaviour and the rest, 60 per cent isgenetic, DNA!

� List one quality each that Masabashould and shouldn’t take from you.

I feel happy that Masaba hasinherited this very important qualityfrom me — she can laugh at herself.One bad thing she has got is takingimmediate and impulsive decisions.But the good part is that she alreadyknows that.

� What would you say about find-ing love at 50?

We met on a flight from Londonto Mumbai. He’s based in Delhi but hewas coming for some work. I was inbusiness class upstairs and he wassomewhere behind. But one ladywanted him to change his seat andthat’s how he came and sat beside me.This is how it started and that’s why Ibelieve in destiny so much. My lifewould have been so different. Now, hekeeps telling me all the time that youare the one. To tease me, he often saysthat you trapped me intentionally.Earlier, I used to fight that it’s the otherway round but now I say ‘yes I havetrapped you. If you are happy then stay,if not then leave.’

� Is it true that your mother wasagainst you acting and wanted you tobe an IAS officer?

Yes. They were very much againstit. My mother used to look down uponHindi cinema. She only watchedEnglish films during festivals and var-ious occasions. But I forced my way outof it and said that ‘I have to go anyhow.’

� What has been your advice toMasaba for getting into B-town?

During the initial days itself, I toldher that it’s not sure whether you willbe able to act or not. I also apprised herof the fact that you don’t have a tradi-tional Indian face, so you might not getall the lead roles. I wanted her to knowthis reality and then start acting or goabroad, struggle there and find somework. I was very scared that she mightsay refuse to do so but she understoodand went into a different direction.

Now, in our new series, MasabaMasaba, she has done acting. I am herbest and worst critic. So she was tooapprehensive about my reaction. Andwhen I saw the edits, I was soimpressed by her acting. So, now wejoke about it that I told her not to goafter acting but whatever is destined tohappen, happens.

� How was it sharing screen withyour daughter for the Netflix series,Masaba Masaba?

I was a little hesitant, I said, ‘I don’tknow, we both will be conscious doinga scene together but she was so goodand professional.’ Our scenes went offvery well. The show is a little scriptedbut it looks so real. When you see theshow you’ll feel it’s something that seri-ously happened between the daughterand her mother.

� Did you give any acting tips toMasaba for the show?

Very little, maybe twice. Initially,

when we were doing the readings, Itold her to slow down her pace. Otherthan this, I only advised her once ortwice while she was acting. And shetook that advice very professionally andworked on it. I thought she would say‘Mom I already know.’ But that didn’thappen.

� How did Badhaai Ho become agame-changer for you?

The film changed everything. Itchanged my life because people hadnever imagined me that way. Beforethat film, I had a very differ-ent image, and your actingassignments depends alot on how people seeand imagine you. So,Badhaai Ho had madea great impact. Now Imake calls to direc-tors and other peoplewith great confi-dence. Recently, Isent a message to adirector asking if hehas any role for mein his new film. Ididn’t had this con-fidence earlier. I tellthis film’s directorAmit (Sharma) that Ican do anything foryou because you havechanged my life. I haveso much gratitude andlove for him. Not onlybecause of my role butalso because I love thefilm. I think it’s one of thebest films I have ever doneand seen.

� Did you anticipate the filmJaane Bhi Do Yaaro to becomesuch a hit?

Not at all. It was very lowbudget film. I did not have anyconveyance, I used to take anauto rickshaw and my ownfood to the shoot. But eventhen we enjoyed the film alot. I was very new at thattime and getting to work withsuch good actors in the firstfilm felt so good. I neverexpected it to become such ahit.

� Is there a remake inprocess for it?

They were planning tomake Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro 2. Iread the script also, it was huge.The makers said that they willcome back to me for the datesbut that somehow got can-celled and never happened.This was long ago.

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana hasbeen roped in by UNICEF India

as its celebrity advocate for promot-ing rights #ForEveryChild. Theactor will support UNICEF towardsits work around ending violenceagainst children. He will worktowards this initiative in Indiaand has joined the likes of actorDavid Beckham, who works onthis campaign globally.

Welcoming the actor forchildren’s rights, Dr YasminAli Haque, UNICEFRepresentative in Indiasaid, “I am delighted towelome him as thecelebrity advocate. He’san actor who challengesthe boundary of everyrole he plays. He willbring sensitivity, passionand a powerful voice forevery child, with a spe-cific focus towards end-ing violence against chil-

dren. Ayushmann’s support willhelp increase awareness about thisissue, especially now that COVIDhas heightened the risk of violenceand abuse against children due to theextended lockdown and its socio-

economic impacts.”The actor believes that

everyone deserves the best startin life. He said, “As I watch mychildren play in the safety and

happiness of our home, Ithink about all the chil-dren who never get toexperience a safe child-hood and grow up withviolence in and around.I look forward to sup-porting the rights ofthe most vulnerablechildren, so that theygrow up as happier,healthier, educated citi-zens in nurturing envi-

ronments free from vio-lence.”

Have you ever wonderedwhy only a few in a mil-

lion rise above the ordinaryto become a mega icon?Were they driven by aunique perspective towardslife or was it their choicesthat triggered a journey thatwas destined to draw famefrom all over the world?While making decisions canbe both mentally and phys-ically daunting for us, thereare some, who uncover thehidden power of looking atthings with a unique per-spective, making the rightchoices and go onto becomethe giants, we revere.

Uncovering such truthsabout these personalitiesand building on the the firstseason, which featured thestories of Virat Kohli, APJAbdul Kalam among others,National Geographic is backwith the second season ofMega Icons. The series willexplore the journey ofIndia’s ‘Man of Steel’ —Ratan Tata, world renownedactor and fashion icon —Deepika Padukone,Bollywood singer, compos-

er and music producer — AR Rahman and the firstIndian woman who wentbeyond the skies — KalpanaChawla (told by her par-ents), to decipher variousmilestone moments thatdefined their success.

Featuring these global-ly acclaimed icons from var-ious walks of life, season 2promises to be bigger andbetter. The series will bringviewers closer to these iconsthrough exclusive and inti-mate interviews of themand their close ones. Usingcinematic recreations, theformat will decode whetherit was their conditioning,experiences and hard workor perspective to look atthings dif ferently that

defined their path to suc-cess. The icons featuredhave been carefully selectedkeeping in mind some of thebiggest obsessions of thecountry — Films, music,science and entrepreneur-ship.

Commenting on thelaunch of this season,Anuradha Aggarwal, Head— Infotainment and Kids,Star & Disney India, said,“With an inspiring set ofnew icons, season two buildson the success of the firstseason. The show aims tosatisfy the curiosity of dis-cerning viewers who want tocomprehend the role of lifechoices in defining one’ssuccess. It seeks to inspireand motivate the youth by

diving deep into the lives ofsuccessful personalities tofind the answer to an elusivequestion — What madethem who they are today?”

Talking about the series,Ratan, Chairman TataTrusts and ChairmanEmeritus, Tata Sons said, “Ihave always admired thisplatform’s authentic factualrepresentation of everything— nature, science, cultureand history.”

Hoping that the audi-ence finds inspiration fromtheir stories, A R said, “It’sa pleasure to be a part of thisseries along with Ratan ji,Deepika and the lateKalpana.”

Deepika feels that theplatform embodies credi-bility and iconicity. “I feelhumbled to be a part of theseries which allows me toshare a glimpse of my jour-ney with people across theworld,” said she.

(The series premieres onNational Geographic fromSeptember 20, every Sundayat 7 pm. It will be availableon Disney+Hotstar.)

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Serena Williams already wasstruggling to keep up in afast-paced US Open semi-

final when she stopped behindthe baseline after a third-setpoint and leaned over.

She held that pose for a bit,then clutched at her lower left legand asked for a trainer.

While Williams took a med-ical timeout for a tape job forwhat she later said was anAchilles issue — her latest bid fora 24th Grand Slam singles title

seemingly slipping away — heropponent, Victoria Azarenka, satin a sideline seat, eyes closed,calm and composed as can be.

After a delay of about fiveminutes at Arthur AsheStadium, action resumed, andwhile Williams raised the forceof her shots and volume of hershouts, it was Azarenka who fin-ished off a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victoryThursday to return to a majorchampionship final for the firsttime since 2013.

“It’s been seven years? That’smy favorite number. I guess

that’s meant to be. I’m very grat-geul for this oportunity,” saidAzarenka who won theAustralian Open in 2012 and2013 and lost to Williams in theUS Open finals each of thosetwo years.

“On the road to the final,you have to beat the best play-ers and today was that day.”

The loss left Serena justshort of the record-tying No 24yet again.

She was beaten in the finalsof four of the preceding sevenSlams, including at Flushing

Meadows in 2018 and 2019. With her 39th birthday a lit-

tle more than two weeks away,the question will become: Howmany more chanceswill Williams get? Shedid confirm afterwardshe’ll head to Paris;the French Open startsSept 27.

In Saturday’s final,Azarenka will faceNaomi Osaka in a meetingbetween two-time major cham-pions who have both beenranked No 1 in the past and have

been by far the two best playerssince tennis resumed last monthafter a pandemic-forced hiatus.

Azarenka won theAustralian Open in 2012 and2013 and lost to Williams in theUS Open finals those two years.

She’s finally back in a titlematch at a major.

“How is it different? I mean,mentally, I’m in such a differentplace. I think seven years ago,after I won the Australian Openand stuff, and playing kind ofconsistently with good results, itwas kind of I wouldn’t sayexpected but kind of expectedfor me to be in the final. I don’tthink that was the case this year,”

said Azarenka, a 31-year-old from Belaruswho is ranked 27th.

“But it feels morefun this year, more ful-filling, more pleasantfor me,” she said. “Itfeels nice. Nicer.”

This was Williams’ fourthconsecutive three-setter in NewYork and although she was farbetter at the outset on Thursday,

racing to a 4-0 lead inside of 15minutes, Azarenka eventuallydid get going.

Evidence of Azarenka’s bril-liance: She compiled 12 winnersand merely one unforced errorin the second set, then contin-ued her baseline mastery in thethird, especially with her back-hand.

That carried her to her firstwin against Williams in 11career Grand Slam matchupsbetween the pair.

After going a full calendaryear without a single tour-levelvictory, Azarenka has won 11matches in a row. Osaka’s streakis at 10.

Two weeks ago, Azarenkaand Osaka were supposed toplay in the final of the Western& Southern Open — a hard-court event moved from Ohio toNew York this year as part of atwo-tournament “controlledenvironment” with the US Openamid the pandemic — butOsaka withdrew because of aninjured left hamstring.

“Going to be super fun,” saidAzarenka, who sat in herassigned suite in Ashe to watchsome of Osaka vs Brady. “Sheplays incredible.”

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New York: Mate Pavic ofCroatia and Brazilian veteranBruno Soares won the USOpen men’s doubles final instraight sets on Thursday.

The unseeded pair defeat-ed eighth seeds CroatianNikola Mektic and theNetherlands’ Wesley Koolhof7-5, 6-3, in 1 hr 31 min insideArthur Ashe Stadium.

It marked a third GrandSlam men’s doubles title for the38-year-old Soares and a sec-ond at Flushing Meadowsafter his victory with Britain’sJamie Murray in 2016.

For the 27-year-old Pavic,it is a second Grand Slammen’s doubles title after victo-ry at the Australian Open in2018. AFP

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It wasn’t until Naomi Osakagot a little help from a fortu-

nate net-cord and an incorrectline call that she finally was ableto get the better of JenniferBrady in a US Open semifinalfilled with fast serves and strongforehands.

And now Osaka, still just22, is one victory away from athird Grand Slam title.

Osaka finally surged aheadmidway through the last setwith the only service break shewould get on Thursday night —and only she would need — tobeat Brady 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3,returning to the final at FlushingMeadows two years after win-ning the championship.

“It meansa lot for me. Ikind of con-sider NewYork my sec-ond home,” saidOsaka, who wasborn in Japan andmoved to the UnitedStates as a child. “I kindof love the atmos-phere, even thoughthere’s no peoplehere. I feel likethis court kind ofsuits me well.”

Suited bothplayers just finefor most of theh i g h - q u a l i t ysemifinal. Osakaserved at up to 120

mph; Brady reached 117 mph.And they pounded the ballonce it was in play, too, partic-

ularly off the forehandside.

“I just felt like I wassticking it out. It feltlike we were tradingserves,” Osaka said. “I

tried to adjust a little bit onher serve in the third

set som a y b et h a t

helped.”T h e y

combined for70 winners —35 apiece — to

just 42 unforcederrors, each as good

as the other, and it

took a bit of luck to swing thingsafter 1 hour, 45 minutes.

That’s when, at 2-1 in thethird set, Osaka earned herfirst break point with a back-hand that clipped the net tapeand trickled over. She was ableto convert the chance when shehit a deep return of a 110 mphserve, and Brady’s backhand inresponse was called long —although a television replayshowed it actually caught apiece of the back of the baseline.

Brady did not challengethe ruling.

Ashe is one of only twocourts at the US Open using linejudges this year; to reduce thenumber of people on site, thetournament used electronicline-calling in the other arenas.

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New Delhi: Former Kiwi all-rounderScott Styris feels Ambati Rayudu is theideal candidate to bat at number three forChennai Super Kings after Suresh Raina’spullout from the upcoming IPL.

“Personally, I’d put Rayudu in thereto take that spot,” Styris said on Star Sportsshow Cricket Connected.

Styris acknowledged that Raina’sabsence has left a huge void in the CSKmiddle-order and that it is not going tobe easy to find a substitute for the sea-soned left-handed batsman who lastmonth retired from international crick-et. “...A player of that class, a player whohas been so good for so long. To sudden-ly finds those runs, even in the field andthe odd over as well with the ball, is goingto be a big task.

“I know that the CSK squad is deep,they’ve got a lot of options at the top, butI also believe that as much as the pressureis now on to find that No 3, it’s just prob-ably the most challenging time that I canlook for anyway for CSK. PTI

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South African Sports Confederationand Olympic Committee (SASCOC)

has asked Cricket South Africa’s board tostep aside as it investigates “many instancesof maladministration and malpractice” inthe crisis-ridden organisation.

SASCOC’s action, which means thatthere is no one to run daily affairs of CSA,is another setback to the board which is inthe middle of administrative chaos and fac-ing allegations of corruption and racial dis-crimination.

ESPNcricinfo reported that SASCOCtook the decision unanimously at a boardmeeting on Tuesday alleging “manyinstances of maladministration and mal-practice at CSA which “has brought crick-et into disrepute”.

CSA also faces action from theInternational Cricket Council as SASCOC’saction could also be seen as Governmentinterference.

In a statement, CSA objected toSASCOC’s decision to suspend the board.

“CSA, including its Members’ Council,does not agree with the resolution takenby SASCOC and has not had the oppor-tunity to engage with SASCOC on variousissues raised in the communication.

“In addition, CSA is taking legaladvice regarding the basis on which SAS-COC has sought to intervene in the busi-ness affairs of CSA. CSA does, however,commit to engaging further with SASCOCto understand its position and to find com-mon ground with it in the best interests ofcricket,” said CSA.

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Kuldeep Yadav’s under-whelming show let Kolkata

Knight Riders down in lastyear’s IPL, but the team’s chiefmentor David Hussey believesthat the Indian left-arm wristspinner is at the “top of hisgame” this season and will be aconsistent performer.

The Chinaman bowler gotjust four wickets from ninematches in 2019 and wasdropped from KKR after log-ging an average of 71.50 and aneconomy rate of 8.66.

In an interview to PTI,Hussey said Kuldeep would nothave any confidence issuesgoing into the 13th edition ofthe league.

“I personally believe afterthe last eight-nine days of train-ing camp, he’s at the top of hisgame. He’s fielding well, he is

running well, he’s covering theground very well. And his bowl-ing has a nice rhythm, and

with lots of revolutions on theball,” the 43-year-old Australiansaid.

Skipper Dinesh Karthik hadsaid Kuldeep was dropped forhis poor form as the team want-ed to give him a “break and gethim back fresh”.

“Kuldeep is a very confidentplayer. He knows what he canand can’t do with the ball, hespins the ball both ways. Hereads the game exceptionallywell,” Hussey continued. “I don’tthink he will have any confi-dence issues throughout thetournament and I do say thatwithout putting too much pres-sure on him. I think he wouldbe a very good consistent per-former for the Kolkata KnightRiders.”

Kolkata Knight Riders boastof a fiery pace attack led byworld number one PatCummins. The spin depart-

ment is, however, consideredtheir weak link in the slowconditions of UAE. But Hussey,

who joined this season, backedthe spinners to be led by noneother than Sunil Narine.

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Kloppbranded the decision to not

extend the use of five substitutes inthe Premier League as a lack ofcommon sense as he voiced hisconcerns for player welfare in acongested season.

The Reds begin the defence oftheir Premier League title at hometo Leeds on Saturday in acampaign that is starting amonth later than normal dueto the three-month halt to lastseason caused by the coron-avirus pandemic.

Both domestic cup com-petitions in England have beenretained, while Liverpool areamong the clubs who will face sixChampions League group gamesin seven weeks between lateOctober and early December.

Despite the fixture pileup, the Premier Leaguehas not followed theexample of other majorEuropean leagues inextending a temporaryrule after the resump-tion of last season thatallowed matchdaysquads to increase from18 to 20 and managers tomake five substitutionsinstead of three.

“We press a normalseason into a shorter peri-od which will be a properchallenge, especially with

the wonderful rule we set up with18 (players) and three (substi-tutes),” Klopp said on Friday.

“It’s only about player welfare,nothing else, but I don’t know whywe have to discuss it at all and not

everybody says yes of course,like the whole world is doing,at least the whole of Europe!”

Two votes on the rulefound a majority of PremierLeague clubs were against therule being extended with

those nearer the bottom of thetable fearing it gave the biggerclubs with better squads aneven greater advantage.

“I thought from a com-mon sense point of view

that for this year, only thisyear not forever, that wewould have 20 and five,”added Klopp. “What Ireally don’t like is thatwe deal with thisthing based on thewrong facts.

“It is not abouthaving advantages, itis about player welfare

and about having thehighest quality in thegames for all teams. Iwas really surprisedwhen I heard the league

decided against it.”

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Glenn Maxwell and MitchellMarch put on a 126-run

partnership to lead Australia outof trouble against England to294-9 in the first ODI at OldTrafford on Friday.

England is back to near fullstrength with nine of the sidethat won the World Cup finallast year, and won’t be fazed atchasing a score under 300. But295 would be a record total tochase down on this ground.

Australia was wobbling at123-5 in the 24th over whenMaxwell, whose last ODI wasthe World Cup semifinals lossto England 14 months ago,joined Marsh in the middle.

They gradually turned thepressure back on the bowlers.Marsh played an importantanchor role while Maxwellopened up, hitting spinner AdilRashid twice over the fence. Thenext ball after his second sixearned Maxwell his 20th fifty.

Maxwell hit Archer forconsecutive sixes in the 44th butchopped the next ball on andwas out for 77 off 59 balls.

Following his first fifty in 21/2 years, Marsh departed in the47th, lbw to Wood on 73 off 100balls, including six boundaries.

Chris Woakes baggedZampa in the last over but con-ceded a last-ball six to MitchellStarc, who finished 19 not out.

England won the toss andhad the upper hand for the first

half of the innings.Archer knocked over David

Warner’s off stump in the fourthover, and Wood’s first ball wasedged behind by captain Finch.

Marcus Stoinis batted at No3 in place of Steve Smith, whowas rested after being hit in thehead in the nets on Thursday,and smacked Wood aroundfor three boundaries in one over.

But Wood got Stoinis, whoattempted a drive but edgedbehind after making 43 off 34balls. Rashid removed MarnusLabuschagne (21) and AlexCarey (10) and Australia, sentinto bat, was 123-5.

But Maxwell and Marsh

eased the visitors’ worries.Archer and Wood, playing

their first ODIs since the WorldCup, took three wickets each.

��Fast-bowling great Michael

Holding has criticised theEngland and Australian team-for not taking a knee in supportof the Black Lives Movementduring their ongoing limited-overs series.

“Now that the West Indiesteam has gone home, that does-n’t mean that you still should-n’t be respecting the messageand what it stands for,” Holdingtold Sky Sports.

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+��5�E��#6��/)#2 �!&&"#� )�)" )1 �*�� *"�� &)�'(� ��- ��Abu Dhabi: Star recruits EoinMorgan and Pat Cummins willbe available for Kolkata KnightRiders’ IPL opener onSeptember 23 after authorities inAbu Dhabi have agreed to short-en the quarantine period from14 to six days, according to fran-chise CEO Venky Mysore.

Mysore said negotiationswere still on with the AbuDhabi authorities to furthershorten the quarantine period.

“While they are still nego-tiating with the authorities, weare reconciled to the fact that wemay have to quarantine our

three players,” Mysore was quot-ed as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“They arrive on September17, but our first game is onSeptember 23, by which timethey would’ve finished their(six-day) quarantine. So it’sworked out well, and it’s goodfor the tournament.”

There are three players –Morgan, his England team-mate Tom Banton andAustralian pacer Cummins —who will be joining KKR’ssquad in the UAE capital a dayafter the third and final ODI onSeptember 16. PTI

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˘ ˇ · 18 hours ago · september 14. harivansh had filed nom-wednesday. he was the rs deputy...

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