2021-3-13 · singapore in 2018. inclusiveness, openness and asean centrality and unity lie ......

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S ignaling the growing impor- tance of India and its alliance with the US, Japan and Australia under the aegis of the Quad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the coalition has come of age and it will now remain an important pillar of stability in the region. Underlining the impor- tance of a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, he also talked about the shared values of the four countries. Making these observations in the first ever summit-level talks of the Quadrilateral coun- tries, Modi also said, “We are united by our democratic val- ues, and our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo- Pacific. Our agenda today cov- ering areas like vaccines, cli- mate change and emerging technologies makes the Quad a force for global good.” These statements in the virtual meet came against the backdrop of China flexing its military and economic muscle in the Indo-Pacific region and vociferously objecting to the Quad alliance. US President Jo Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scot Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga were other par- ticipants in the talks. Incidentally, the summit level talks of the Quad came months after the Quad nations carried out the Malabar series of naval exercises at a time when the tension at the Line of Actual Control were at a peak. China has all along opposed the Quad and claims that it will lead to militarisation of the region. With India emerging as one of the leading players in fighting the challenge of coro- na pandemic by having world class pharmaceutical industry, Biden said the Quad nations are launching a new ambi- tious joint partnership to boost vaccine manufacturing for the global benefit, strengthen vac- cinations to benefit the entire Indo-Pacific. Reiterating India’s role in fostering friendly ties with all, Modi said, “I see this positive vision as an extension of India’s ancient philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which regards the world as one family. We will work together, closer than ever before for advancing our shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.” It was in an apparent ref- erence to China’s belligerence with India and other nations always maintaining free move- ment of maritime assets in the Indo-Pacific. In his remarks, US President Joe Biden said there is a need to focus on generat- ing domestic demand and dri- ving sustainable global growth. He talked about an ambitious new joint partnership that is going to boost vaccine manu- facturing and strengthen vac- cinations to benefit the entire Indo-Pacific region. “We are establishing a new mechanism to enhance our cooperation and raise our mutual ambition as we address accelerating climate change,” said the US President, men- tioning the commitment to ensure the region is governed by international law and it is free from coercion. “I am optimistic about our prospects.” He also said the United States is committed to working with all its allies in the Indo- Pacific region to achieve sta- bility. “This group is particu- larly important because it is dedicated to the practical solu- tions and concrete results,” he said. Highlighting the impor- tance of the Quad alliance, Australian Prime Minister Morrison said it is the Indo- Pacific that will now shape the destiny of the world in the 21st Century. “As four leaders of great democracies in Indo- Pacific, let our partnership be an enabler of peace, stability and prosperity and to do so inclusively with many nations in the region,” he said. With growing importance of the Indo-Pacific region, the origins of the Quad alliance are in 2004 when the four coun- tries formed a “core group” for a joint response to the Indian Ocean tsunami to undertake rescue and relief operations. In many senses, that pio- neering effort still determines the core identity of Quad, and the instinct for collective wel- fare and security for the peo- ple of the Indo-Pacific. The salience of the Quad has run in parallel with the emergence of the Indo-Pacific as a key strategic region. With a growing similarity of assess- ments about geopolitical dynamics in the region, in 2017, the Quad dialogue resumed at the official level. In November 2017, the four countries gave shape to the long-pending proposal of set- ting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the criti- cal sea routes in the Indo- Pacific free of any influence. The four Quad member countries have been resolving to uphold a rules-based inter- national order in the Indo- Pacific amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the region. India’s approach to the Indo-Pacific was enunciated by Modi in his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in 2018. Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie at the heart of India’s Indo- Pacific vision. The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a key stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific region. The strategic significance of the Indo-Pacific was also acknowledged by the US in 2018 when it renamed the US Pacific Command (PACOM) as INDO-PACOM. Several European countries too have published their Indo-Pacific strategies, in recognition of the political and economic weight of the region. The first foreign minister- ial meeting of Quad countries was held in New York on September 26, 2019 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar participated in the second Quad foreign ministe- rial meeting in Tokyo on October 6. The third Quad for- eign ministerial meeting took place virtually on February 18. The meeting took place with- in a month of the Biden admin- istration assuming office. Earlier this year, for the first time the four countries appointed Sherpas to coordi- nate Quad-related issues. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla is India’s Sherpa. T wo days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered an injury in Nandigram during a poll cam- paign, a delegation of six Trinamool Congress MPs in a formal complaint to the Election Commission on Friday alleged a “deep-rooted BJP conspiracy” behind the attack and asked for an “imme- diate and unbiased” investiga- tion into the incident. After the TMC, a delega- tion of BJP leaders comprising Piyush Goyal and Bhupender Yadav, Sambit Patra, Swapan Dasgupta, and Om Pathak met EC demanding an independent probe in the incident. BJP leaders also urged the EC that they should make public video of Mamata’s March 10 rally in Nandigram. The six-member delega- tion of the TMC met the full EC team, including Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, for over an hour and submitted a memoran- dum highlighting how BJP leaders in West Bengal had threatened the Chief Minister through tweets and other remarks and claimed it was not an “unfortunate incident”, but a conspiracy. In the memorandum, the TMC has made allegations against Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP candidate from Nandigram in the upcoming State Assembly polls. “When an attempt was made on the life of Mamata, in which she was grievously hurt, to cover up the attack, eyewitnesses were plant- ed, illustratively, eyewitnesses Chittaranjan Das and Debabrata Das, who testified that Mamata’s car was hit against an iron pillar, are asso- ciates of Suvendu Adhikari, BJP candidate from Nandigram,” the memorandum said. F ormer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are among 30 star campaigners who will address the party’s public meetings in poll-bound West Bengal for the first phase poll on March 27. The list also comprises for- mer Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general sec- retary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Rajasthan deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and for- mer Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. Other Congress leaders who have been roped in to improve the party’s chances in Bengal include Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bhaghel, and for- mer Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath. Others who are in the list released by the AICC are Abhishek Banerjee, the son of former president late Pranab Mukherjee, senior party lead- ers Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Mallikarjun Kharge, Salman Khurshid, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jitin Prasada, Deependra Hooda and for- mer cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin . However, leaders of the “G-23” faction, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari and Bhupendra Singh Hooda have been left out of the list of the party’s star cam- paigners for Bengal. Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who is a part of G-23, has, however, been included in the list. T he CBI has summoned Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on March 15 in connection with a probe into a ponzi case relating to ICore group of companies, and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s broth- er-in-law in connection with a separate case of alleged illegal coal mining from the Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in Asansol, officials said. Besides being Trinamool Congress secretary general, Partha is also a senior Minister in the State Government and considered close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He has been asked to appear before a CBI team on March 15, they said. The CBI had registered the case against ICore group for allegedly raising over 3,000 crore from the common man by offering high returns and diverted a portion of these funds, defaulting on promised returns, they said. The agency had taken over the probe into the matter in 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related to crimi- nal conspiracy and cheating. The case was registered at the behest of the Supreme Court that had in 2014 direct- ed the CBI to take over all cases related to chit fund companies. Company directors Anukul Maity and his wife Kanika were arrested by the CBI in 2017. Maiti, a prime accused in the ICore E-Services scam, died at a Bhubaneswar hospi- tal while under judicial custody. The CBI has stepped up heat against politicians in poll- bound West Bengal as the agency has already questioned the family members of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee in con- nection with the illegal coal mining case and summoned two more relatives on March 15 in the case, they said. Husband of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s sister-in- law Ankush Arora and his father Pawan Arora have been asked to appear before the investigating officer of the case on March 15 in Kolkata, they said. T he ruling CPI(M) is at the receiving end of allegations of massive corruption charges and favoritism in appointing youths in Government ser- vice. But the party stands at the forefront in finalising the list of candidates and in the campaign for the April 6 Assembly polls. While the Congress and the BJP are yet to finalise their candidates, the CPI(M) has completed the first two rounds of the campaign in the State where the party has consider- able presence. “The party had deputed group of leaders in each con- stituency and they have already completed two rounds of cam- paigning. The Marxist style of campaigning is an ideal study material for all corporates struggling to sell their products in highly competitive mar- kets,” said Suresh Gopinath, an auditor in Ernakulam who keeps track of the CPI(M)’s functioning in the State. “Leaders of the party had convened community meet- ings where they had a free exchange of ideas. The leaders solicited from the cadre what more has to be done to widen the party base and network in the concerned region. The community meetings attended by all households in the area are unique because they conclude with the choicest of dishes ranging from biryani to pud- ding,” said MS Giri, Thiruvananthapuram based entrepreneur. T here is no reason to stop using Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said after several nations stopped its rollout over blood clot fears. The WHO said its vaccines advisory committee was exam- ining the safety data and stressed that no causal link had been established between the vaccine and blood clotting. The UN health agency said that after the injection of more than 260 million coronavirus vaccine doses so far around the world, no deaths had yet been attributed to a Covid-19 jab. “Yes, we should continue using the AstraZeneca vac- cine,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said in a state- ment, adding that “There is no indication to not use it”. Several European coun- tries, including Denmark, Norway and Iceland tem- porarily suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid reports that blood clots had formed in some who had received the shots. The European Medicines Agency backed the use of the vaccine, saying its benefits out- weighed its risks. Austria earlier stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca shots while investigating a death from coagulation disor- ders and an illness from a pul- monary embolism. New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday held that a person associated or employed with the Centre or the State Government cannot work as a State Election Commissioner, who need to be an indepen- dent person. The judgment came on an appeal by the Goa government against the high court’s ruling on panchayat polls. S tate capital witnessed heavy shower late in the evening after cloud cover remained throughout the day. Active sys- tems have induced abrupt changes in the state for the past two days; hailstorm, rainfall and thundery actitvities have been witnessed in the State. Met officials told that apart from existing WD two fresh disturbances starting from March 13 and 16 would impact the weather conditions. A cyclonic circulation lies over north Madhya Maharashtra and a cyclonic circulation over southeast Madhya Pradesh & neigh- bouring regions has faded intensity. The systems are inducing rainfall and very light to light rainfall occurred at isolated places over Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Thunderstorm with rain occurred at isolated places over Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Shivpuri and Guna recorded 1 cm of rainfall in the past 24 hours. Bhopal would witness thundery activities, light and heavy rainfall and partial cloudy weather conditions on Saturday. Day and night tem- perature would be witnessed around 32 and 18 degree Celsius. Khandwa recorded the highest dau temperature of 40.1 degree Celsius. Mandla recorded the lowest night tem- perature of 13.0 degree celsius. No significant change in min- imum temperature over Madhya Pradesh during next 48 hours.Hoshangabad and Shahdol divisions recorded sig- nificant increase in the night temperatures. Met department has issued warning of gusty winds upto 40 km/hr, hailstorm for brief peri- ods and thundery activities would be witnessed in Rewa, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Sagar, Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Gwalior and Chambal divisions and Ujjain, Dewas, Agar, Shajapur, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Khandwa and Khargone dis- tricts. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1: 2021-3-13 · Singapore in 2018. Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie ... 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related

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���� 34&�'45%6

Signaling the growing impor-tance of India and its

alliance with the US, Japan andAustralia under the aegis of theQuad, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday saidthe coalition has come of ageand it will now remain animportant pillar of stability inthe region.

Underlining the impor-tance of a secure, stable andprosperous Indo-Pacific region,he also talked about the sharedvalues of the four countries.

Making these observationsin the first ever summit-leveltalks of the Quadrilateral coun-tries, Modi also said, “We areunited by our democratic val-ues, and our commitment to afree, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Our agenda today cov-ering areas like vaccines, cli-mate change and emergingtechnologies makes the Quada force for global good.”

These statements in thevirtual meet came against thebackdrop of China flexing itsmilitary and economic musclein the Indo-Pacific region andvociferously objecting to theQuad alliance. US President JoBiden, Australian PrimeMinister Scot Morrison andJapanese Prime MinisterYoshihide Suga were other par-ticipants in the talks.

Incidentally, the summitlevel talks of the Quad camemonths after the Quad nationscarried out the Malabar series

of naval exercises at a timewhen the tension at the Line ofActual Control were at a peak.

China has all alongopposed the Quad and claimsthat it will lead to militarisationof the region.

With India emerging asone of the leading players infighting the challenge of coro-na pandemic by having worldclass pharmaceutical industry,Biden said the Quad nationsare launching a new ambi-tious joint partnership to boostvaccine manufacturing for theglobal benefit, strengthen vac-cinations to benefit the entireIndo-Pacific.

Reiterating India’s role infostering friendly ties with all,Modi said, “I see this positivevision as an extension of India’sancient philosophy ofVasudhaiva Kutumbakam,which regards the world as onefamily. We will work together,closer than ever before foradvancing our shared valuesand promoting a secure, stableand prosperous Indo-Pacific.”

It was in an apparent ref-erence to China’s belligerencewith India and other nationsalways maintaining free move-ment of maritime assets in theIndo-Pacific.

In his remarks, US

President Joe Biden said thereis a need to focus on generat-ing domestic demand and dri-ving sustainable global growth.He talked about an ambitiousnew joint partnership that isgoing to boost vaccine manu-facturing and strengthen vac-cinations to benefit the entireIndo-Pacific region.

“We are establishing a newmechanism to enhance ourcooperation and raise ourmutual ambition as we addressaccelerating climate change,”said the US President, men-tioning the commitment toensure the region is governedby international law and it is

free from coercion.“I am optimistic about our

prospects.”He also said the United

States is committed to workingwith all its allies in the Indo-Pacific region to achieve sta-bility. “This group is particu-larly important because it isdedicated to the practical solu-tions and concrete results,” hesaid.

Highlighting the impor-tance of the Quad alliance,Australian Prime MinisterMorrison said it is the Indo-Pacific that will now shape thedestiny of the world in the 21stCentury. “As four leaders of

great democracies in Indo-Pacific, let our partnership bean enabler of peace, stabilityand prosperity and to do soinclusively with many nationsin the region,” he said.

With growing importanceof the Indo-Pacific region, theorigins of the Quad alliance arein 2004 when the four coun-tries formed a “core group” fora joint response to the IndianOcean tsunami to undertakerescue and relief operations.

In many senses, that pio-neering effort still determinesthe core identity of Quad, andthe instinct for collective wel-fare and security for the peo-ple of the Indo-Pacific.

The salience of the Quadhas run in parallel with theemergence of the Indo-Pacificas a key strategic region. Witha growing similarity of assess-ments about geopoliticaldynamics in the region, in2017, the Quad dialogueresumed at the official level.

In November 2017, thefour countries gave shape to thelong-pending proposal of set-ting up the Quad to develop anew strategy to keep the criti-cal sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

The four Quad membercountries have been resolvingto uphold a rules-based inter-national order in the Indo-Pacific amid growing Chineseassertiveness in the region.

India’s approach to theIndo-Pacific was enunciated

by Modi in his address at theShangri-La Dialogue inSingapore in 2018.Inclusiveness, openness andASEAN centrality and unity lieat the heart of India’s Indo-Pacific vision. The 10-nationAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) is a keystakeholder in the Indo-Pacificregion.

The strategic significanceof the Indo-Pacific was alsoacknowledged by the US in2018 when it renamed the USPacific Command (PACOM)as INDO-PACOM. SeveralEuropean countries too havepublished their Indo-Pacificstrategies, in recognition ofthe political and economicweight of the region.

The first foreign minister-ial meeting of Quad countrieswas held in New York onSeptember 26, 2019 on thesidelines of the UN GeneralAssembly.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar participated in thesecond Quad foreign ministe-rial meeting in Tokyo onOctober 6. The third Quad for-eign ministerial meeting tookplace virtually on February 18.The meeting took place with-in a month of the Biden admin-istration assuming office.

Earlier this year, for thefirst time the four countriesappointed Sherpas to coordi-nate Quad-related issues.Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla is India’sSherpa.

���� 34&�'45%6

Two days after West BengalChief Minister Mamata

Banerjee suffered an injury inNandigram during a poll cam-paign, a delegation of sixTrinamool Congress MPs in aformal complaint to theElection Commission onFriday alleged a “deep-rootedBJP conspiracy” behind theattack and asked for an “imme-diate and unbiased” investiga-tion into the incident.

After the TMC, a delega-tion of BJP leaders comprisingPiyush Goyal and BhupenderYadav, Sambit Patra, SwapanDasgupta, and Om Pathak metEC demanding an independentprobe in the incident.

BJP leaders also urged theEC that they should make

public video of Mamata’sMarch 10 rally in Nandigram.

The six-member delega-tion of the TMC met the fullEC team, including ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC)Sunil Arora, for over an hourand submitted a memoran-dum highlighting how BJPleaders in West Bengal hadthreatened the Chief Ministerthrough tweets and otherremarks and claimed it was notan “unfortunate incident”, buta conspiracy.

In the memorandum, the

TMC has made allegationsagainst Suvendu Adhikari, theBJP candidate from Nandigramin the upcoming StateAssembly polls. “When anattempt was made on the life ofMamata, in which she wasgrievously hurt, to cover up theattack, eyewitnesses were plant-ed, illustratively, eyewitnessesChittaranjan Das andDebabrata Das, who testifiedthat Mamata’s car was hitagainst an iron pillar, are asso-ciates of Suvendu Adhikari, BJPcandidate from Nandigram,”the memorandum said.

����34&�'45%6

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and

Congress president SoniaGandhi are among 30 starcampaigners who will addressthe party’s public meetings inpoll-bound West Bengal for thefirst phase poll on March 27.

The list also comprises for-mer Congress chief RahulGandhi, Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,former Rajasthan deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot and for-mer Punjab Minister NavjotSingh Sidhu.

Other Congress leaderswho have been roped in toimprove the party’s chances inBengal include Rajasthan CMAshok Gehlot, Punjab CMAmarinder Singh, ChhattisgarhCM Bhupesh Bhaghel, and for-mer Madhya Pradesh CMKamal Nath.

Others who are in the listreleased by the AICC are

Abhishek Banerjee, the son offormer president late PranabMukherjee, senior party lead-ers Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury,Mallikarjun Kharge, SalmanKhurshid, Randeep SinghSurjewala, Jitin Prasada,Deependra Hooda and for-mer cricketer MohammadAzharuddin .

However, leaders of the“G-23” faction, includingGhulam Nabi Azad, AnandSharma, Kapil Sibal, ManishTewari and Bhupendra SinghHooda have been left out of thelist of the party’s star cam-paigners for Bengal. AkhileshPrasad Singh, who is a part ofG-23, has, however, beenincluded in the list.

���� 34&�'45%6

The CBI has summonedBengal Education Minister

Partha Chatterjee on March 15in connection with a probe intoa ponzi case relating to ICoregroup of companies, and TMCMP Abhishek Banerjee’s broth-er-in-law in connection with aseparate case of alleged illegalcoal mining from the EasternCoalfields Limited mines inAsansol, officials said.

Besides being TrinamoolCongress secretary general,Partha is also a senior Ministerin the State Government andconsidered close to WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee. He has been asked toappear before a CBI team onMarch 15, they said.

The CBI had registeredthe case against ICore group forallegedly raising over �3,000crore from the common manby offering high returns anddiverted a portion of thesefunds, defaulting on promisedreturns, they said.

The agency had taken overthe probe into the matter in2014 and registered an FIR

against ICore E-services underIPC sections related to crimi-nal conspiracy and cheating.

The case was registered atthe behest of the SupremeCourt that had in 2014 direct-ed the CBI to take over all casesrelated to chit fund companies.

Company directors AnukulMaity and his wife Kanikawere arrested by the CBI in2017. Maiti, a prime accused inthe ICore E-Services scam,died at a Bhubaneswar hospi-tal while under judicial custody.

The CBI has stepped upheat against politicians in poll-bound West Bengal as theagency has already questionedthe family members of TMCMP Abhishek Banerjee in con-nection with the illegal coalmining case and summonedtwo more relatives on March 15in the case, they said.

Husband of TMC MPAbhishek Banerjee’s sister-in-law Ankush Arora and hisfather Pawan Arora have beenasked to appear before theinvestigating officer of the caseon March 15 in Kolkata, they said.

���� 7!2%6

The ruling CPI(M) is at thereceiving end of allegations

of massive corruption chargesand favoritism in appointingyouths in Government ser-vice. But the party stands at theforefront in finalising the list ofcandidates and in the campaignfor the April 6 Assembly polls.

While the Congress andthe BJP are yet to finalise theircandidates, the CPI(M) hascompleted the first two roundsof the campaign in the Statewhere the party has consider-able presence.

“The party had deputedgroup of leaders in each con-stituency and they have alreadycompleted two rounds of cam-paigning. The Marxist style of

campaigning is an ideal studymaterial for all corporatesstruggling to sell their productsin highly competitive mar-kets,” said Suresh Gopinath, anauditor in Ernakulam whokeeps track of the CPI(M)’sfunctioning in the State.

“Leaders of the party hadconvened community meet-ings where they had a freeexchange of ideas. The leaderssolicited from the cadre whatmore has to be done to widenthe party base and network inthe concerned region. Thecommunity meetings attendedby all households in the area areunique because they concludewith the choicest of dishesranging from biryani to pud-ding,” said MS Giri,Thiruvananthapuram basedentrepreneur.

���� 34&�'45%6

There is no reason to stopusing Oxford-AstraZeneca

Covid vaccine, the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)on Friday said after severalnations stopped its rollout overblood clot fears.

The WHO said its vaccinesadvisory committee was exam-ining the safety data andstressed that no causal link hadbeen established between thevaccine and blood clotting.

The UN health agency saidthat after the injection of morethan 260 million coronavirusvaccine doses so far around theworld, no deaths had yet beenattributed to a Covid-19 jab.

“Yes, we should continue

using the AstraZeneca vac-cine,” WHO spokeswomanMargaret Harris said in a state-ment, adding that “There is noindication to not use it”.

Several European coun-tries, including Denmark,Norway and Iceland tem-porarily suspended the rolloutof the AstraZeneca vaccineamid reports that blood clotshad formed in some who hadreceived the shots.

The European MedicinesAgency backed the use of thevaccine, saying its benefits out-weighed its risks.

Austria earlier stoppedusing a batch of AstraZenecashots while investigating adeath from coagulation disor-ders and an illness from a pul-monary embolism.

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)�* $� ��������� ��������+���� )����������������� ���� �New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday held that aperson associated or employedwith the Centre or the StateGovernment cannot work as aState Election Commissioner,who need to be an indepen-dent person.

The judgment came on anappeal by the Goa governmentagainst the high court’s rulingon panchayat polls.

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State capital witnessed heavyshower late in the evening

after cloud cover remainedthroughout the day. Active sys-tems have induced abruptchanges in the state for the pasttwo days; hailstorm, rainfalland thundery actitvities havebeen witnessed in the State.

Met officials told that apartfrom existing WD two freshdisturbances starting fromMarch 13 and 16 would impactthe weather conditions.

A cyclonic circulation liesover north MadhyaMaharashtra and a cycloniccirculation over southeastMadhya Pradesh & neigh-bouring regions has fadedintensity.

The systems are inducingrainfall and very light to lightrainfall occurred at isolatedplaces over Madhya Pradesh

and Chhattisgarh.Thunderstorm with rainoccurred at isolated places overMadhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. Shivpuri and

Guna recorded 1 cm of rainfallin the past 24 hours.

Bhopal would witnessthundery activities, light andheavy rainfall and partial

cloudy weather conditions onSaturday. Day and night tem-perature would be witnessedaround 32 and 18 degreeCelsius. Khandwa recorded thehighest dau temperature of40.1 degree Celsius. Mandlarecorded the lowest night tem-perature of 13.0 degree celsius.No significant change in min-imum temperature overMadhya Pradesh during next48 hours.Hoshangabad andShahdol divisions recorded sig-nificant increase in the nighttemperatures.

Met department has issuedwarning of gusty winds upto 40km/hr, hailstorm for brief peri-ods and thundery activitieswould be witnessed in Rewa,Shahdol, Jabalpur, Sagar,Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Gwaliorand Chambal divisions andUjjain, Dewas, Agar, Shajapur,Neemuch, Mandsaur,Khandwa and Khargone dis-tricts.

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CG Foods is out to exten-sively market its noodle

brands in Madhya Pradesh. Aspecial campaign in this direc-tion has been planned.

While talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday,Varun Chaudhary, ManagingDirector, CG Corp Global toldthat with many strategies andplans underway, the noodlemaker is currently offeringmultiple varieties of noodles tomeet rising demand in thestate. Madhya Pradesh beingone of the relatively strongermarkets for the brand; thecompany is also workingaggressively to make the new

‘WAI WAI Sauces’ available inevery part of the state.

He informed that MadhyaPradesh has played a pivotalrole in the story of WAI WAIIndia’s journey as it forms anintegral part of the company’spresent and future plans. Thestate receives mammoth pro-duction support from its plantsin Rajasthan and Rudrapur inUttarakhand. The companyenjoys around 8% market sharein the state.WAI WAI noodles

have a large and integrated net-work of distributors that are thebackbone of WAI WAI’s suc-cess story in Madhya Pradesh.

Chaudhary further saidthat at national level, the com-pany is poised to achieve its tar-get of Rs 1000 crore by the endof current financial year, in thetotal noodle market of aroundRs 5,000 crore.

Madhya Pradesh stood outas one of the markets whichgave a positive response evenduring the COVID-19 pan-demic as the company doubledits business this year in com-parison to last year. One of thekey factors that helped WAIWAI clock record sales inMadhya Pradesh duringCOVID was due to an increasein consumption of conveniencefood, directly impacting WAIWAI sales, he added.

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Faiz Ahmed Kidwai,Principal Secretary, Food,

Civil Supplies and ConsumerProtection Department ofMadhya Pradesh, said thatSingrauli is the first district inMP to start the supply of for-tified rice in PDS with the sup-port of the Government ofIndia.

We are implementing ricefortification in Bhind andAnantpur districts throughCSR programmes, wherein for-tified rice will be distributed viathe PDS. If we receivefavourable results from thisendeavour, the governmentwill scale up the supply of for-tified rice through PDS, ICDSand MDM. FSSAI is also delib-

erating over making fortifica-tion mandatory which is like-ly to include milk, cooking oil,etc., making the fortified foodproducts widely available.

He was addressing mediaworkshop organized by theKarnataka Health PromotionTrust (KHPT), supported bythe Global Alliance forImproved Nutrition (GAIN),and in collaboration with theGovernment of MadhyaPradesh, here on Friday. Theexperts addressed the media onthe benefits of food fortificationand the urgent need for itswidespread adoption.

Following this, the techni-cal session was taken byGururaj Patil, Team Lead,Fortification, KHPT.

In food fortification,

micronutrients (vitamins andminerals like Folic acid,Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, etc)are added to staple foods likerice, wheat flour, milk andedible oils. Micronutrient defi-ciency results in poor cognitiveand learning abilities in chil-dren and overall, lower pro-ductivity, increased morbidity,and mortality and lowerimmune responses.

Data from the first phase ofthe NFHS-5 (National FamilyHealth Survey-5) covering 17states and five UnionTerritories, showed a worsen-ing in indicators related tonutrition such as anaemia andVitamin D levels in manystates. Child stunting increasedin Goa, Kerala, Telangana,Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

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On Friday, Malwi folk songand tribal dance were per-

formed on Friday at MadhyaPradesh State TribalMuseum.Malawi 'Lok Bhajan' byMahant Mayadevi Anjana andgroup, Ujjain and Oraon tribaldance 'Oraon' was performed bySumanti Devi Bhagat and group,Bhopal.

The musical performancesstarted with Malvi folk hymns byMahant Mayadevi Anjana andgrouo. She performed doneHaro Re Koi Haro Re, SansarKaram Se Haro Re ',' KaisoAayo Hai Banjara, Kashi LiyaoMal Apar ',' Aaphi Khel-KhilMara Satguru ',' Ya Gaadi Mehara

Desh Ki, Thame Satguru BaithaJi ',' Barsan Lagyo Rang SabdJhad Lago Ji ',' Satguru MilyaBharam Mahara Bhagya 'and'Holi Khele Hai Sant Sujan AtamRam Se 'presented folk hymns.

Mahant Maya Devi Anjanahas been giving her bhajansinging performances across thecountry for the last forty years,you are an artist of All IndiaRadio and Doordarshan.She wasaccompanied on Harmonium byMahant Maya Devi Anjana,Asharani in the chorus, SantoshPatel, Shobha Patel, Sundar Patel,Payal Patel, Srishti Patel andBabulal Suryavanshi on Dholak.

The second performancewas the Oraon tribal dance'Oraon' by Sumanti Devi Bhagatand group.Oraon is the tradi-tional dance of Chhattisgarh, itis mainly performed in Jashpurdistrict on the occasion of mar-riage in the Phagun month,depending on the season.

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Atotal of 31 players fromMadhya Pradesh will per-

form at the Junior and SeniorNational FencingChampionships to be held inRudrapur, Uttarakhand fromMarch 15 to 21.

Among these, the StateFencing Academy consists of 18players. Before leaving for thechampionship, the players metthe Director Sports and YouthWelfare Pawan Jain at the TTNagar Stadium on Friday.

Director of the game Jaingot acquainted with the playersand got the necessary infor-mation by discussing in detailabout the preparations madefor the championship.

He congratulated all theplayers by encouraging them toshowcase the best talent in thechampionship. The SportsDirector also discussed withthe Fencing Academy instruc-tor Vijay Kumar and got infor-mation about the performanceof the players. On this occasion,Joint Director B.S. Yadav wasalso present.

Fencing coach VijayKumar informed that the 28thJunior National FencingChampionship is being held inRudrapur from March 15 to 17

and the 31st Senior NationalFencing Championship fromMarch 19 to 21, 2021.

A total of 31 players fromMadhya Pradesh are participat-ing in the championship, out ofwhich 10 boarding and 8 day-boarding players of MadhyaPradesh State Fencing Academywill showcase their talent in theNational Fencing Championship.

Academy players includeSaurabh Mishra, HarshalBhakte, Ankur Jain, BhavyaSingh, Satyam Bhatele, LakshyaShriwas, Sushil, Amit Gusai,Anjali Bhatre, Pragya Singh,Pooja Dangi, Anju Raja,Poorna Singh, Raksha Raja,Srishti Sen Gupta, ArunimaSrivastava, Nisha Taide andSanket Sharma.

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Page 3: 2021-3-13 · Singapore in 2018. Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie ... 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related

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The contribution and sacri-fice of a female soldier was

depicted in the Hindi play‘Jhalkari Bai’ here on Friday atShaurya Smarak Auditorium. Written byRanjana Chitle, the play wasdirected by Sindhu Dholpure.The play focuses on the con-tribution of a female warrior inthe freedom struggle. JhalkariBai was a soldier in thewomen’s army of Queen LaxmiBai of Jhansi.

The play depicted her lifespan from her childhood tillshe fought for the freedom ofthe country. Jhalkari Bai was anIndian woman soldier whoplayed an important role in the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 dur-ing the battle of Jhansi.

During the rebellion, at thefort of Jhansi, she disguisedherself as the queen and foughton the front to let the queenescape safely out of the fort.During the Revolt of 1857,General Hugh Rose attackedJhansi with a large army.Jhalkari Bai made a suggestionthat she would go on the frontin disguise.

The queen escaped fromthe fort and left for Kalpi. At thesame time, Jhalkari Bai set outfor General Rose's camp in dis-guise and declared herself asthe queen Laxmi Bai. This ledto confusion. She was releasedonly after it was revealed thatshe was not the queen but a

common soldier.Her life andespecially the incident of herfighting with the East IndiaCompany army on the front indisguise, continues to be sungin various Bundeli folklores.

While talking about itdirector of the play Dholpuresaid, “Very few people knowabout Jhalkari Bai and hercontribution in the freedomstruggle. There are very fewevidences of Jhalkari Bai in thestories of freedom struggle.So, we decided to portray herlife and sacrifice through thisplay.”The artists maintainedthe interest of the audiencesthrough their performance.The heavy costumes and light-ing on stage added more zeal inthe performance.

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Hanumanganj police havenabbed two miscreants

and recovered goods stolenfrom godown worth Rs 50000on Thursday; accused targetedthe shop on March 9.Police saidthat Ram Agrawal ofLambhakheda and AjaySuryavanshi were arrested whoescaped with medicines worthRs 50000 from a godown atPutha Mill. Nabbed accusedhave past criminal record andwere involved in burglary andthefts in different areas of thecity.

The accused targetedgodown of Naveen Agarwalwho found that the locks of thegodown were broken and car-tons carrying medicines wereburgled. Based on the com-plaint police registered a caseunder sections 457 and 380 of

the IPC and started investiga-tion.Police claimed that morevaluables would be recoveredfrom the accused and it ispossible that more miscreantswould be nabbed who wereinvolved in the crimes anddisposing the stolen goods.

Meanwhile a team ofmunicipal corporation, policeand administration razedbuilding of notorious criminalZahur alias Masud Ali onThursday.

Zahur has been booked formore than 41cases includingextortion, rape, gambling.Theaccused made money throughall types of crimes and wrong-doings and had made illegalconstruction near nullah atBaghmufti. As the space wasencroached illegally the munic-ipal corporation's anti-encroachment team razedhouse.

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Bhopal: A 40-year-old man died after he was struck by light-ning at Barkhedi village under Nazeerabad police station areaon Friday while working at his farms.

PremSingh Gurjar was rushed to hospital after he was struckby thunder lightening while he was harvesting crop. The fami-ly members rushed Prem to hospital where he was declared deadby doctors.Weather conditions were abrupt from the evening onThursday and during the day on Friday rainfall started and thun-der lightening was witnessed which proved fatal for Prem Singh.After preliminary investigation body was sent for the post mortemand police have registered a case under section 174 of the CrPC.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old woman died while her familyescaped with injuries after auto loading met accident with ambu-lance near Dehri village under Sukhisewania police station areaon Thursday.The deceased identified as Geeta Bai was in load-ing auto rickshaw when it was hit by an ambulance, injured wererushed to hospital where Geeta died during treatment. SR

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House of an employee ofNagar Parisad was target-

ed by miscreants and escapedwith valuables worth Rs 1.5lakh from his house at SagarVilla under Misrod police sta-tion on Friday.Police said thatthe victim Santosh Singh alongwith his family had gone toattend function on March 8and when he returned valu-ables were found burgled.

A complaint was lodged bythe victim with the Misrodpolice and in his complaint, hestated that with he had gone toattend wedding and duringthey stay house was targeted bymiscreants who escaped with

valuables.After they received the

information, they returnedhouse and found that silver andgold, jewelry were burgled.The total loss in the burglarywas claimed to be around Rs1.5 lakh.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under sections 457and 380 of the IPC and have

started further investigation.The society is a covered

campus and monitored roundthe clock. The security guardswould be questioned.Boundary walls of the societyare vulnerable which provideseasy entry for miscreants.

Police suspects that theburglars were aware regardingthe whereabouts of the familyand committed the burglarywhen the family was away.The society deploys securityguards and CCTV camerasare installed to monitor theentry of people visiting orentry without permission butin the footages nothing wasfound which could help in theinvestigation.

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Shahjehanabad police havebooked three persons

including two girls for attack-ing a 20-year-old youth,accused opened fire at victimand torched his scooter nearVapayee Nagar late in the nighton Thursday.

The accused were chargedwith attempt to murder afterthey entered a violent clash,open fire and thrashed victimidentified as Rupesh Bisele.

Police were informed andon the receipt of the informa-tion a police team rushed to thespot and took victim to hospi-tal where his condition is sta-ble.

During the investigationpolice found that attack wasfuelled over old enmity Rupeshkilled brother of the accused

last year and was serving jailand when he came out onparole two days ago theaccused got chance to settlescore.

The victim was aware thathe could be attacked and dueto which he was staying at hersister’s house in Govindpura.Last night he went to collect hisbelongings from his VajpayeeNagar house but failed to dodgeaccused.

Kapil, Preeti, Rekha,Abhishek, Sawan and Lankaattacked and later when Rupeshtried to escape he was shot inhis leg.

All the accused wentabsconding and are still atlarge. Based on the complaintby Salman police have regis-tered a case under sections 307and 34 of the IPC againstaccused.

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India and China on Fridayreaffirmed their commit-

ment to resolve the continuingstand-offs at the Line of ActualControl (LAC) in Ladakhthrough continuous dialogue.While they were satisfied withthe first phase of pullback oftroops from the PangongTso(lake) last month, the twosides decided to speed up thepace of resolving dispute at theremaining friction points onthe border.

These points emerged fromthe diplomatic-level talksbetween India and Chinaunder aegis of the WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Co-ordination on BorderAffairs(WMCC). The Indiandelegation was led by addi-tional secretary(East Asia)inthe ministry of external affairs,the Chinese side was headed bythe Director General of theBoundary and OceanicDepartment.

Incidentally, these talkswere held more than a fortnightafter the Corps Commandersof the two armies held the tenthround of talks at the LAC onFebruary 20. These parleystook place 48 hours after thesuccessful completion of with-drawal of troops of both thearmies from the southern andnorthern banks of the PangongTs0. The pull-back started onFebruary 12 nearly ten monthsafter the face-offs commencedfrom there in early May lastyear.

Giving details of thediplomatic level talks, the exter-nal affairs ministry said the twosides reviewed the situationalong the LAC in the WesternSector and had in-depth dis-cussions on the remainingissues along the LAC in theWestern Sector.

They agreed that the com-pletion of the disengagement inNorth and South Bank of thePangong Lake provided a goodbasis for the two sides to worktowards early resolution ofthese remaining issues. They

agreed that the agreementreached between the twoForeign Ministers in Moscowin September last year as alsotheir recent phone conversationlast month, should continue toguide the work of two sides.

The two sides should con-tinue their dialogue to reach amutually acceptable solution forcomplete disengagement fromall friction points at the earliest.This would enable two sides tolook at broader de-escalation oftroops in the area and worktowards restoration of peaceand tranquility in the borderareas.

They also agreed that in theinterim two sides should con-tinue to maintain stability atground level and prevent anyuntoward incident.

The two sides agreed tomaintain close communicationand dialogue through both thediplomatic and military chan-nels. In this regard, they agreedto convene the 11th round ofthe Corps Commanders meet-ing at an early date so that twosides could work towards com-plete disengagement from theremaining friction areas.

Having completed the firstphase of disengagement fromthe Pangong Tso, the focus ofthe two sides was now on fric-tion points including Gogra,Hot Springs, Depsang Plainsand Demchok.

For the disengagement atPangong lake, both sides hadworked out a step by stepagreement which was signed byboth sides.

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New Delhi: In a significant ver-dict, the Supreme Court Fridayheld that a person employedwith the Government cannotwork as State EectionCommissioners (SECs) andcame down on the GoaGovernment for giving its LawSecretary the additional chargeof the SEC.

The apex court said thestate poll panels shall be head-ed by independent personswho do not hold any officeunder the state governmentand if they hold any suchoffices, then they have to resignbefore taking charge of SEC.

The top court said electioncommissioners have to be inde-pendent persons and no statecan appoint a person whoholds any office with theGovernment.

A bench headed by JusticeR F Nariman also directed theGoa state election body to issuethe notification for the localbody polls within 10 days fromtoday and complete the electionprocess by April 30.

“Under the Constitutionalmandate, it is the duty of theState to not interfere with thefunctioning of the state electioncommission,” the bench held inits judgement delivered on theappeal of the State Government.

The judgement came on anappeal by the Goa governmentagainst the high court’s rulingon panchayat polls.

The case pertained to localbody elections in Goa in whichreservation of wards for womanand Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes were alleged-ly not carried out in terms ofstate law

The Bombay High Courthad struck down the notice ofstate poll panel for reservationof wards.

The Goa government, in itsappeal, had said that HighCourt could not have interferedwith the poll process PTI

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The Supreme Court on Fridaysought response from the

Centre and the Medical Councilof India on an appeal filed by agirl suffering from benchmarkdisability seeking admission inMBBS course.

A Bench comprisingJustices L Nageswara Rao andS Ravindra Bhat issuednotices to the government,Medical Council of India andothers while seeking theirreplies on the petition.

The top court was hearinga plea filed by Rajasthan res-

ident Shashi Kumari chal-lenging High Court orderdismissing her petition seek-ing admission in MBBScourse despite clearing theNational Eligibility cumEntrance Test.

The plea contended thatthe Certificate issued by theSafdarjung Hospital discrim-inates against the petitioner onthe basis of their nature of dis-ability, whereas she was fullycapable to perform all thefunctions as a medical pro-fessional and thus would beeligible and entitled to admis-sion in the Medical College.

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Rape victim, who becomespregnant, must be told

about her legal rights, theSupreme Court Friday saidand issued notice to the Centreon a plea for setting up ofmedical boards in States andUnion Territories to decidecases of unwanted pregnanciesof over 20 weeks for termina-tion.

Section 3 of the MedicalTermination of Pregnancy Act1971 prohibits termination ofpregnancy after 20 weeks.

“If a woman is raped andis pregnant, she must be toldabout her legal rights,” said thebench headed by Chief JusticeS A Bobde.

The bench, also compris-ing justice A S Bopanna, tookup the larger issue of setting upof medical boards in everystates and UTs after lawyer VK Biju, appearing for a 14-year-old rape victim, decidednot to seek permission to ter-minate the 26-week pregnan-cy of the survivor apparentlyon account of some medicalopinion.

The court has soughtresponse of the Centre in fourweeks.

Earlier, besides seekingnod to abort the fetus of the

victim, the plea has soughtframing of guideline onappointment of medicalboards “to decide cases ofunwanted pregnancies thathas crossed 20 weeks” in everystates and UTs for terminationof pregnancy.

During brief hearing, Bijusaid he was not seeking thepermission to abort now, butsought setting up of medicalboards in states saying “WhenI was drafting this petition, Ihad seen the pain of the par-ents (of the girl)”.

“We will issue notice onthis (prayer two). We willrecord your statement thatyou are not pressing prayer 1(termination of pregnancy ofthe girl),” the bench said.

If there is a local board tocheck such cases, it will behelpful, the bench toldAdditional Solicitor GeneralAishwarya Bhati who wasappearing in the matter.

“It is a different case whenrape is not reported to you asa State. If it is reported, therecan be some mechanism whereyou can follow up with the vic-tim whether she is pregnantand what are her legal rights,”the bench told the law officer.

The law officer said shewill file an affidavit giving allthe details on the issue.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Friday

said it has recovered � 91 lakhdrug proceeds in Handwaranarco-terrorism case.

The case was initially regis-tered as FIR No. 183/2020 datedJune 11, 2020 at Police StationHandwara under Kupwara dis-trict of Jammu and Kashmirwherein during checking ofvehicles at Kairo Bridge,Handwara, accused AbdulMomin Peer’s Hyundai Cretavehicle was intercepted by police.

During the searches, Rs 20 lakhalong with two kg Heroin wasrecovered.

The NIA had re-registeredthe case on June 23 last year andtaken up the investigation.

“Recently, NIA had arrest-ed five accused persons fromSrinagar and Jammu on March1 and had taken them onremand for 15 days. Based uponexamination and disclosure ofarrested accused persons, NIAconducted searches and recov-ered proceeds of narcotics smug-gling to the tune of 91 lakh,” theNIA said in a statement.

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Appreciating and recognis-ing the role of Corona

warriors in combating Covid-19, a Parliamentary panel hasjoined the bandwagon of coun-try’s doctors calling for the cre-ation of an Indian MedicalServices (IMS) on the lines ofAll India Civil Services such asIAS and IPS for the imple-mentation of flagship pro-grammes related to health.

The “moment is the gold-en opportunity to explore thepossibility of organizing IndianMedical Services … TheCommittee feels that IndianMedical Services would pro-vide efficient healthcare man-agers to enhance the successrate of healthcare projects andmake policy programmes andspecific course of action forfighting against lethal disease,”said Parliamentary Committeeheaded by Rajya Sabha mem-ber Ram Gopal Verma.

The Parliamentary panel’sviews in its report submitted inParliament recently are in con-sonance to the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) and TheFederation of Resident Doctors

Association (FORDA) demandfor setting up such exclusiveService “to bring about a dras-tic change in the healthcare sec-tor.”

The IMS will be responsi-ble for holding the adminis-trative responsibilities pertain-ing to the district medical offi-cer, project officers of variousdisease control programmes,and the various ranks of sec-retaries in the Union healthministry and the state healthdepartments and the heads allother areas in the health sector,Dr Rajan Sharma, the thenIMA national president hadsaid in a letter last year in July.

The basic qualification to

sit for the IMS examinationshould be MBBS, he had said.Similarly, the FORDA too hadwritten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, demanding aseparate cadre for healthcareprofessionals in view of “situa-tion arising out of the coron-avirus pandemic that hadstressed the need for improvingthe healthcare infrastructurein the nation beginning fromthe grassroots.”

The creation of the IMScadre has become more relevantin the times of coronavirus,whereby doctors from variousspecialities can devise effectivestrategies for controlling theepidemic and improving theoverall healthcare system inthe future, the federation said.

“Healthcare systemsdemand thorough knowledgeof the domain. Knowledge ofsubject specialists (doctors) indevising policies is essential forgalvanising the healthcare sys-tem of the nation,” it said.

The Health Survey andPlanning Committee (alsoknown as MudaliarCommittee) had recommend-ed the formation of a centralhealth cadre in its report in1961, it said.

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The Government haslaunched the “Mera Ration

App” for One Nation OneRation Card beneficiaries aim-ing for a nationwide portabilityof ration cards under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA). Migrant beneficiaries inparticular can use it for identi-fying the nearest fair price shop,check details of their entitlementand recent transactions.

According to SudhanshuPandey, Secretary, Departmentof Food and Public Distributionunder Ministry of ConsumerAffairs, a total of about 15.4Crore portability transactionshave been recorded under theone nation one ration cardbetween April 2020 and Feb2021. “Presently, 32 States/UTsare covered under ONORC andintegration of remaining fourstates, West Bengal, Delhi,Chhattisgarh and Assam, isexpected to be completed in nextfew months,” he said.

Pandey said that theandroid-based mobile applica-tion, developed by the NationalInformatics Centre (NIC), iscurrently in Hindi and English.

Gradually, it would be madeavailable in 14 languages. Pandeysaid the new mobile app aims tofacilitate the ONORC-relatedservices among beneficiaries ofthe NFSA, particularly migrantbeneficiaries, fair price shop(FPS) or ration shop dealers andother stakeholders.

He further added that ben-eficiaries can identify and locatethe nearest ration shop and alsocan easily check details aboutfoodgrain entitlement, recenttransaction and status ofAadhaar seeding.

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The BJP on Friday appoint-ed MLA Madan Kaushik as

its Uttarakhand State presi-dent, replacing BanshidharBhagat, who may be inductedas a Minister in theGovernment headed by thenewly appointed ChiefMinister Tirath Singh Rawat.

Kaushik is a fourth-termMLA from Haridwar con-stituency, and is one of thesenior most legislators of theparty in the hilly State.

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After dipping to below10,000 in third week of

February, the daily Covid casescrossed 23,285 mark, the high-est in around 78 days, takingthe total tally of infections to1,13,08,846.

The death toll hasincreased to 1,58,306 with 117daily new fatalities, the dataupdated at 8 am showed. Thetotal active caseload increasedto 1,97,237, which now com-prises 1.74 per cent of the totalinfections, while the recoveryrate has dropped to 96.86 percent, said the Union HealthMinistry. Maharashtra, Kerala,Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat andTamil Nadu continue to reporta surge in the COVID daily

cases. They cumulativelyaccount for 85.6 per cent of thenew cases reported in the past24 hours.

On December 24, 24,712new infections were reported ina span of 24 hours. The num-ber of people who have recu-perated from the disease surgedto1,09,53,303, while the casefatality rate stands at 1.40 percent, the data stated. The 117new fatalities include 57 fromMaharashtra, 18 from Punjaband 13 from Kerala.

India’s Covid-19 tally hadcrossed the 20-lakh mark onAugust 7, 30 lakh on August 23,40 lakh on September 5 and 50lakh on September 16. It wentpast 60 lakh on September 28,70 lakh on October 11, crossed80 lakh on October 29.

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Main rivals the TMC, BJP,Congress and CPI(M)

apart, the regional parties ofBihar have also thrown theirhat in the ring in the high-stakeWest Bengal poll which is tun-ing more melodramatic as thevoting for the month-end first-phase is coming closer andcampaigning reaching to afeverish pitch.

The regional parties mayprove to be “vote-katua” (votecutter) vis-a-vis the BJP and theTMC by attracting part of thevotes of Hindi-speaking votersin the State. Besides Bengal,these parties may also impactHindi-speaking voters inAssam.

West Bengal has over thecentury drawn a significantnumber of migrants, mostlyfrom Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand and Rajasthan.Many of them have been settledin Bengal since three or fourgenerations. Their concentra-tion is known mostly aroundthe industrial belt comprisingHowrah, Hooghly, 24 Parganas,etc, and the coal belt ofAsansol-Raniganj.

Though Maharashtra’sShiv Sena, a former BJP ally,has rolled-back its plan tocontest the Bengal poll in atacit support for the rulingTMC and RJD from Bihar tooshelved its plan to put up can-

didates and is now backingChief Minister MamataBanerjee, four other regionalparties from Bihar have joinedthe electoral fray in Bengal.

Janata Da-United (JDU),Lok Janshakti Party (LJP),Hindustani Awam Morcha(HAM) and the All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) are seeking to testtheir ‘vote-bank’ in the sub-stantial population of Muslimsin West Bengal, especially inthe areas borderingBangladesh.

The JD (U) has decided tofight the BJP on nearly 25 seatsin West Bengal and over 30Assembly Seats in Assam.

Still smarting by the defec-tion of JD(U) MLAs to the BJPin Arunachal Pradesh, theNitish Kumar-led party wantsto strike its ‘independence”and seeks to send a message toits NDA ally and now thesenior partner in BiharGovernment.

In Assam, the JD (U) haszeroed-in on constituencieslike Moregaon, Navgain,Samaguri, Ruphar andLaharighat with substantialpresence of Hindi-speakingpeople from Bihar besides theMuslims.

In the 2015 Bihar elections,Mamata Banerjee had extend-ed moral support to the RJD-Congress-JD (U) coalition.The RJD had also won a seat

in West Bengal inthe 2006 assemblyelections as part ofthe Left Frontalliance.

The jailed RJDchief Lalu Prasadhas backed Mamatato “protect democ-ratic values” and“uphold politicsbased on principles”in the country.

The RJD has,however, decided to

contest the Assam polls with‘like-minded’ parties. It is intalks with the Congress andAIUDF, led by Lok Sabha MPBadruddin Ajmal, to firm upthe pre-poll alliance.

The LJP will field candi-dates in all the 294 assemblyseats in Bengal. In the 2016Assembly polls, the LJP hadcontested 63 Assembly seats inthe state.

The AIMIM, which wonfive seats in the recent Biharassembly elections, wants tocapitalize on the sizeableMuslim population in Bengal.

Targeted for allegedly play-ing as a ‘B-team’ of the BJP,AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi had earlier formed analliance with Furfura Sharifcleric Abbas Siddiqui to fieldcandidates in the state.However, Abbas floated theIndian Secular Front andmoved with the Congress-Leftalliance to influence theMuslim votes against MamataBanerjee.

Former Bihar ChiefMinister Jitan Ram Manjhi,who heads HAM, would becontesting on 26 seats inBengal.

Despite being in alliancewith the Congress in Jharkhand,Chief Minister Hemant Sorenon Friday announced that hisparty JMM will not contest theBengal polls and instead backMamata.

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MK Stalin, president, DMK,who is also the chief min-

isterial candidate of the party,would contest the April 6assembly election in Tamil Nadufrom Kolathur, a constituency hehas been representing since2011.

Udhayanidhi Stalin, the filmactor son of the DMK chiefwould face his first electoral bat-tle from Chepauk, a DMKstronghold in Chennai. It wouldbe an emotional battle forUdhayanidhi as the constituen-cy was represented by his grand-father late M Karunanidhi, for-mer chief minister who left thisworld in 2017 at the ripe age of97.

The list of the 173 DMKcandidates was released by Stalinon Friday at the party head-quarters in Chennai. DuraiMurugan (83), the Vellorestrongman, KN Nehru, KPonmudi and MRKPanneerselvam, all party stal-warts figure in the list. The DMKis leaving no stones unturned toensure victory in this election asthe party was out of power forthe last 10 years.

This is the first generalassembly election in Tamil Naduwhich is being fought after thedemises of AIADMK supremoand former chief minister JJayalalithaa and DMK leader MKarunanidhi.

The DMK is facing dissen-sion within the party for pro-moting dynasty politics and this

has made Stalin take a tightropewalk while picking the candi-dates. Interestingly, ThangaTamilchelvan, who joined theSasikala camp in 2017 andwitched over his loyalty to theDMK has been fielded atBodinaykanur where he wouldtake on deputy chief minister OPanneerselvan.

Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan,the glamorous close friend ofKarunanidhi who was also a for-mer union minister has beenbrought back as candidate at theage of 74. The list is a mixtureof experience, youth and knowl-edge, according to Stalin. Sonsand grandsons of may party vet-erans have made it to the DMK’slist. “The candidates were select-ed mainly based on theirwinnability,” said Stalin.

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BJP leader Suvendu Adhikarion Friday filed his nomina-

tion for the NandigramAssembly seat, announcing withhis filing of the nomination “theprocess of Asol Poriborton (RealChange) begins in Bengal.”

The real change wouldkickstart with a peaceful, devel-opment-oriented, democraticregime whose “first prioritywould be to return the chit fundmoney to the people of Bengal.

Though the formerTrinamool Congress leader andBengal Minister would “nottake personal questions” regard-ing the alleged “attack” on ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee dur-ing her elections campaign atBarulia Bazar in Nandigram helaunded a scathing attack on hisopponent for “riding to successon the shoulders of the peopleof Nandigram but forgetting it

for five years.”Adhikari who led a huge

500-metre procession to theHaldia SDM office where hefiled his nomination said “Icome here as a Bhoomiputraand not a person who comes tothis place after five years … I am

first the son of Mother Indiathen Bengal and then EastMidnapore and Nandigram …I am a real Bhoomiputra”expressing his hope to receivethe blessings of the local peoplefor bringing about the realchange in the State.”

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Lieutenant Governor ManojSinha on Friday led the

“Azaadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav”celebrations in J&K by visitingBagoona, Samba, the birth-place of first recipient of MahaVir Chakra Brigadier RajinderSingh, where he inauguratedthe curtain raiser event of themega celebrations.

The Lt Governor paid flo-ral tributes to BrigadierRajinder Singh and flagged offa bike & cycle rally and tableauto mark the occasion.

The inaugural ceremonywitnessed a series of eventsfilled with patriotic ethos giv-ing glimpses of the 75 weekslong commemorative celebra-tions of the 75th Independence

Day.Speaking on the occasion,

the Lt Governor called uponthe people to actively andenthusiastically participate in‘Azaadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’and renew their resolve tobuild a new India together.

“A New India - as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi had

called for in his address to thenation from the ramparts ofRed Fort on August 15, 2017should emerge on the 75thanniversary of Independence in2022 from the joint strength ofall”, said the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor observedthat the mega celebrationsshould hold the spirit of free-

dom movement, express grat-itude to the martyrs, and reflectthe glory of Sanatan Bharat andModern India, while displayingthe spirituality of mystics andcontribution of our scientists.

In order to commemorate75 years of India’sIndependence, we mustdemonstrate our shared com-mitment to fundamental valuesof harmony, Sarv DharmaSambhav, freedoms and dutiesand work towards sustainableand inclusive development sothat prosperity reaches to all,said the Lt Governor.

Terming March 12 as amajor milestone in India’s free-dom struggle, the Lt Governorobserved that the day is of greatsignificance as it capturesMahatma Gandhi’s another

non-violent feat to achievefreedom through Dandi Marchfrom Sabarmati Ashram in1930.

Expressing his privilege ofcoming to the holy land ofRajinder Singh Pura, the LtGovernor observed that theculture of our country teachesus that one must visit a pil-grimage site before startingthe festivities.

“Today my desire is ful-filled. I visited the holy birth-place of Brigadier RajinderSingh, who is an epitome ofunmatched valour and sacri-fice. From his birth place, Iextend my greetings to thepeople of Jammu and Kashmiron the launch of Azaadi KaAmrut Mohatsav”, said the LtGovernor.

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Aday after the MVAGovernment intervened in

the protests over the suddenpostponement of theMaharashtra Public ServiceCommission (MPSC) prelimi-nary examination and said itwould re-schedule it withineight days, the MPSC on Fridayannounced that it would con-duct the deferred preliminaryexamination on March 21.

In a statement issued here,the MPSC said: “The MPSC-2020 preliminary examination,which was earlier scheduled forMarch 14 but postponed yes-terday, will now be held onMarch 21. The examinees canuse the hall tickets issued tothem for the March 14 exam forthe March 21 examination”.

Hours after the protests

erupted in several parts of thestate over the sudden post-ponement of MPSC preliminaryexamination-2020, chief minis-ter Uddhav Thackeray hadannounced on Thursdayevening that his Governmentwould re-schedule the MPSCwithin next eight days.

The MPSC 2020 prelimsexams, scheduled to be con-ducted on March 14, have beenpostponed for the fifth time inthe past one year owing to theCovid-19 crisis.

In another relief to the stu-dents appearing for the exami-

nation, the chief minister hadalso said that owing to the post-ponement of the examination,age limit of a section of students– who apprehended that theywould not able to appear for theexam as they had crossed the agecriteria – would not come in theway of their appearing for thepostponed examination as all thestudents would be allowed toappear for the deferred exam.

The MPSC had earlier inthe day attributed its decision todefer the MPSC preliminaryexaminations-2020 to theincreasing spread of Covid-19 invarious parts of the state. “We arepostponing the MPSC prelimi-nary examination as a precau-tionary measure taken in viewof the spurt in the number ofCovid-19 cases in the state,” astatement issued by the MPSChad said.

Malappuram: For the firsttime in 25 years, the IndianUnion Muslim League (IUML),a key ally of the Congress-ledUnited Democratic Front, isfielding a woman candidate inthe April 6 assembly electionsin Kerala.

Noorbina Rasheed isamong the 25 candidatesannounced by the party onFriday, as it dropped two taint-ed MLAs, including formerminister V K Ibrahim Kunju.

Eight sitting MLAs havebeen fielded by the party,besides former MalappuramMP and senior party leader PK Kunhalikutty, who resignedhis Lok Sabha seat recently tothrow his hat in the state pollarena.

The IUML also announcedAbdul Samad Samadhani willbe its candidate for the byelec-tion to the Malappuram LokSabha constituency, also to beheld on April 6.

Noorbina Rasheed will

fight the election fromKozhikode South constituencyand became the first womancandidate from the IUML since1996 when KamarunnisaAnwar had unsuccessfully triedher luck from the same seg-ment.

“There were allegationsthat women were not givenimportance in our party. Thisis a reply to them. I will take upthe responsibility and fulfill myduties towards the voters,”Rasheed told reporters.

Party supremo PanakkadSyed Hyderali Shihab Thangalannounced the list of 25 can-didates at a press meet atPanakkad here.

IUML has been allotted 27seats out of the total 140 andtwo more candidates would beannounced later.

The party also said P VAbdul Wahab, whose RajyaSabha term, is ending nextmonth would be the party’snominee for the seat again.

“Three senior leaders, P KKunhalikutty, M K Muneerand K P A Majeed have beengiven exemption from thethree-term criteria for candi-date selection. All other MLAswho have completed threeterms have been denied ticketsthis time,” an office-bearer ofthe party said.

Ibrahim Kunju and M CKamaruddin, jailed inPalarivattom flyover case andjewellery scam respectivelywere not given tickets thistime.

However, Kunju’s son K EGafoor has been nomintedfrom Kalamassery.

Kunhalikutty, a formerindustries and IT minister, willcontest from Vengara segmentwhile another former ministerM K Muneer will try his luckfrom Koduvally.

IUML state general secre-tary KPA Majeed(Thirurangadi) will make hiselectoral debut. PTI

Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Friday directed theMaharashtra CID and the CBIto state clearly when their probeinto the killings of activistsGovind Pansare and NarendraDabholkar would be complete.

The state CriminalInvestigation Department (CID)is probing the killing of com-munist leader Pansare whilethe central agency is probing thekilling of Dabholkar, a well-known anti-superstition activist.

A bench of Justices S SShinde and Manish Pitale alsoasked why the trial in the ratio-nalist M M Kalburgi killingcase has already begun inKarnataka while the probe inthese two older cases is incom-plete.

In “sensitive cases,” citizensof the country deserved to knowwhen probe agencies wouldcomplete a probe and when thetrial is likely to begin, the courtsaid.

“We are very disturbed toknow that while the trial in asimilar incident in Karnatakahas already commenced, inMaharashtra, it is not clearwhen the investigation will becompleted even though thecases are of similar nature,” thebench said.

Dabholkar was shot dead onAugust 20, 2013, in Pune, whilePansare was shot on February16, 2015, in Kolhapur in west-ern Maharashtra and died fourdays later.

Kalburgi, a Kannada schol-ar, was shot dead on August 30,2015.

Probe agencies have saidthese three cases as well as thekilling of journalist GauriLankesh in 2017 were linked andright-wing extremists werebehind them.

The HC is hearing petitionsfiled by the kin of Dabholkar andPansare seeking a court moni-toring of the two probes. PTI

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Veteran actor MithunChakraborty has shown

his reluctance in contesting inthe upcoming Bengal Assemblyelections, BJP sources said.

Apparently looking for aChief Ministerial face, the saf-fron leadership had earlierexpressed its willingness tofield veteran Chakraborty inthe elections.

Senior leader and partyobserver for Bengal KailashVijayvargiya earlier said that, “ifMithunda wants to fight theelections we are ready to fieldhim. He will be an asset in thatcontext.”

The veteran mega star who

joined the BJP in presence ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiduring his March 7 mega rallyat the Brigade Parade Groundwas scheduled to start cam-paigning for the party fromMarch 12.

“I am very much a BJPmember and I have joined theparty after closely followingPrime Minister NarendraModi’s pattern of working. Hehas made India proud and hehas been working for the poorpeople. As I have always want-ed to stand by the poor frommy youth I decided to join theBJP and contribute my bit to thePrime Minister’s mega effort,”Chakrabarty had earlier told themedia in Kolkata.

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The Indian Navy rushed helpto a stranded cargo ship

which was drifting in the highseas while sailing from Oman toIraq after the failure of itspropulsion, power generationmachinery and navigationalequipment.

The Indian Navy onThursday dispatched its VBSS(Visit Board, Search andSeizure) team along with atechnical team by boat to offerassistance to the stranded mer-chant cargo ship MV Nayan thathad seven Indians as her crew.

The Navy rushed its tech-nical assistance MV Nayanafter INS Talwar deployed inthe Gulf of Oman, received abroadcast call from the strand-ed merchant cargo ship MVNayan. The cargo ship, on tran-sit from Oman to Iraq, was

drifting at sea since 09 Mar 21“owing to failure of its propul-sion, power generation machin-ery and navigational equip-ment”.

“Based on preliminary aer-ial assessment about the distressof MV Nayan, the Indian NavalShip dispatched its VBSS (VisitBoard, Search and Seizure)team along with a technicalteam by boat to offer assistanceto the vessel that had sevenIndians as her crew,” a statementissued by defence spokespersonsaid here on Friday.

“The naval teams workedcontinuously for seven hoursonboard MV Nayan to opera-tionalise her equipment viz.both Generators, SteeringPump, Sea Water Pump,Compressor and Main Enginethereby making the vessel sea-worthy again,” the spokespersonadded.

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In a major cause for concernfor the State health machin-

ery, the Covid-19 infections onFriday shot up to an alarming15,817 cases, which is thehighest daily caseload in theState since October 7 last year,even as the authoritiesimposed pandemic restric-tions in many cities and dis-tricts in the State.

A day after the daily casesrose to 14,317, Maharashtrawitnessed a further increase of1500 cases taking the totaldaily caseload in the state to15,817. The pandemic claimed56 lives in various parts of thestate on Friday.

Incidentally, the caseload of15817 witnessed on Friday isthe highest daily infection tallyrecorded since October 7, 2021when the state registered14,578.

With Friday’s 15,817 freshcases, the total infections in thestate climbed from 2,26,6374 to2,28,2191. Similarly, with 56fresh deaths the Covid-19 tollin the state went up from52,667 to 52,723.

Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC) announced shuttingdown of all educational institutions till March 31. All hotels and restaurants will close by 10 pm, whilehome deliveries are allowed till

11 pm.Apart from this, only 50

persons will be permitted forweddings, funerals, political,religious or other social eventswhile public gardens and parksand clubs shall be closed tobreak the virus chain.

The local authorities are implementing similarshort-term, long-term, partialor near-total measures are being implemented in sev-eral districts like Dhule,Buldhana, Jalgaon, Parbhaniand Jalna.

“The state government hasdecided that a weekend lock-down will be imposed Friday(tonight) from 12 am tillMonday morning 6 am inParbhani district,” MinorityAffairs Minister Nawab Maliksaid in the evening.

On his part, Maharashtrachief Minister UddhavThackeray had on Thursdayindicated that there would belockdown measures in ‘someplaces’ across the state. He hadasked the District Collectors,Municipal Commissioners,Police Commissioners andSuperintendents of Police – totake calls depending on the sit-uation.

Later, the Centre had onThursday announced that 8 outof 10 worst-hit Covid-19 dis-tricts in the country are inMaharashtra, adding to thestate’s concerns.

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Guwahati: Over 70,000 youthsof Assam have registered theirnames for the Congress’s ‘jobguarantee programme’ forunemployed youths, a seniorparty leader said on Friday.

The staggering number ofapplications show that peoplehave accepted the party’s visionfor progress, Congress state unitchief Ripun Bora said.

The Congress has promisedto generate one lakh governmentjobs every year if voted to power

in the state.“Assam is on its way to ful-

filling its dream of a progressivefuture with its youngsters show-ing immense support forCongress’s job guarantee pro-gramme,” he said.

“This shows Assam’s faith inCongress’s people-centric vision,with youths waiting for theparty to return to power for therealisation of their aspirations,”Congress Legislature Partyleader Debabrata Saikia said.

Lok Sabha MP andCongress Campaign Committeechairman Pradyut Bordoloiasserted that the party is com-mitted to empowering the state’syouths.

Manifesto Committee chair-man Gaurav Gogoi said thatonce the party is voted to powerin the state, the ongoing duressfaced by the unemployed youthwill be addressed and theirfutures will be anchored in theirhomeland. PTI

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���� ����&����+���������������������� ���&��������$��>�1�������� ��� Srinagar: National Conference

leader and former MinisterBasharat Bukhari quit the partyon Friday.

In a letter to NC presidentFarooq Abdullah, Bukhariinformed him about his deci-sion to dissociate from theparty.

“Very respectfully, I here-by disassociate from the party(J&K National Conference)from this day 12th of March2021, Friday onwards. Please bekind enough to acknowledgethe above mentioned expres-sion and oblige,” the formerMLA from Sangrama inBaramulla district wrote.

Bukhari, a minister in thePDP-BJP government, hadjoined the National Conferencein December 2018 after quit-ting the PDP.

Bukhari, in a separate letterto National Conference vicepresident Omar Abdullah,thanked the former chief min-ister for love and affection to himduring his stay in the party. PTI

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Fatehpur (UP): Two labourersdied and 19 others fell ill afterconsuming suspected spuriousliquor at a village in Ghazipurarea of Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur,officials said on Friday.

Sub-Divisional Magistrateof Fatehpur Sadar Pramod Jhasaid a team was sent to Bhulivillage and it found that 21labourers had fallen ill afterconsuming the suspected spu-rious liquor on Wednesdaynight.

According to the sub-divi-sional magistrate, the 21 labour-

ers were laying the roof of ahouse in Bhuli village.

“Two labourers died and 19others were rushed to a hospi-tal in Kanpur for treatment. Allof the ill are out of danger,” Jhasaid.

He said the exact cause ofthe death could be ascertainedonly after postmortem.

Earlier in the day, Ghazipurpolice station SHO Kamlesh Palhad said that eight labourers fellill after consuming liquoroffered by Dangal Maurya aliasGanga Maurya, landlord of the

house where the labourers wereworking, on Wednesday night.

Shivbhola Paswan (40) diedwhile he was being taken to ahospital on Thursday eveningand Motilal (50) died duringtreatment at a government hos-pital on Friday morning, hesaid.

The SHO said DangalMaurya and another personwere taken into custody andwere being interrogated.

A liquor bottle was seizedand was sent to a forensic lab,he added. PTI

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Bengaluru: Two more caseswith South African strain havebeen detected in Karnataka, asthe state reported 833 newCovid-19 cases and five fatali-ties,taking the caseload to 9.58lakh and the toll to 12,386, theHealth department said onFriday.

The day also saw 545patients getting discharged afterrecovery.

Bengaluru Urban contin-ued to top the list of positivecases, accounting for 526 infec-tions

Cumulatively 9,58,417COVID-19 positive cases havebeen confirmed in the state,which includes 12,386 deathsand 9,37,898 discharges, theHealth department said in abulletin.

Out of 8,114 active cases,7,989 patients are stable and inisolation at designated hospitals,while 125 are in Intensive CareUnits.

Bengaluru Urban alsoaccounted for two deaths, whilethe other three were from Bidar,Dharwad and Kalaburagi.

Meanwhile, two cases with

South African strain weredetected in Ballari, taking thetotal number of such cases inthe state to three.

The two had come toBallari from Dubai last week.

They were subjected totests after they developed symp-toms and tested positive, offi-cial sources said, adding theywere undergoing necessarytreatment and due contact trac-ing processes have been fol-lowed.

The first COVID-19 posi-tive case with South Africastrain in the state was found inShivamogga on March 10.

Among fresh cases,Kalaburagi followed BengaluruUrban with 38, Tumakuru 36,Dakshina Kannada 35 andKolar 30, followed by others.

Bengaluru Urban districttopped the list of positive cases,with a total of 4,10,181, fol-lowed by Mysuru 54,367 andBallari 39,386.

Among discharges too,Bengaluru Urban headed thelist with 3,99,656, followed byMysuru 53,144 and Ballari38,686. PTI

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Shillong: About 99 per cent ofCovid-19 patients in Meghalayahave recovered from the infec-tion and 60,000 people have gotvaccine against the disease,Health Minister AL Hekinformed the assembly onFriday.

Replying to a call attentionmotion moved by Congressmember Ampareen Lyngdoh, hesaid that 13,915 people havebeen cured of coronavirus andcurrently the state has only 20active cases.

The health minister saidthat 67 beneficiaries were inoc-ulated on March 1 when vacci-nation was rolled out for seniorcitizens and those above 45years of age with comorbidities.

He said that the registrationfor vaccination can be done bothonline and on the spot.

Hek urged people who arein that group to get the COVID-19 vaccine at government healthcentres for free or at private hos-pitals on payment of Rs 250 only.

The minister said that over311 COVID vaccination centreshave been opened and 191 coldchain points are functioningacross the state. He also said thatvaccination does not ensurecomplete protection from thedisease but it will help in reduc-ing the severity of the infectionif and when it happens. PTI

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Page 6: 2021-3-13 · Singapore in 2018. Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie ... 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related

“autocracies” such as China,North Korea and Turkey.Pakistan, too, has failed toextricate itself from the ColdWar sensibilities of nursingforeign insurgents on its soiland, therefore, the elements ofits establishment (military,politicos and clergy) harbourstakes in the terror industry thatmilitates against the interests ofone-time allies, like the US.Similarly, Turkey under religio-conservative Recep Erdogansenses an opportunity to seizeleadership within the Ummahby challenging the control ofSaudi-led sheikhdoms, whohave relatively nuanced theiroutlook by “opening up” andhaving warm relations withcountries like India and Israel,to the discomfort of Pakistan.

The reciprocal and asym-metrical support plays outwith Islamabad aligning itselfto Ankara’s position in theNagorno-Karabakh war, justas Ankara emerges as the onlyother (besides China) sup-porter of Islamabad onKashmir. Washington DCfaces a difficult challenge tocontrol and balance conflict-ing interest with Pakistan,which it needs irreplaceablyfor securing American inter-ests in Afghanistan and, withTurkey, where it has thestrategic Incirlik Air Base

that houses nuclear warheads.This leads to a constant tus-sle of pull and push whichbrings the Pakistani-Turkishrelationship even closer.

Recently, the US put aspoke in the burgeoning mili-tary trade between Turkey andPakistan when it blockedTurkey from supplying 30Turkish ATAK T-129 attackhelicopters (based on the USAgusta A129 Mangusta plat-form, with US-made engines)to Pakistan. Interestingly, theUS had recently supplied Indiawith 22 Apache attack heli-copters. Importantly, thisblockade was triggered by theTrump Administration andhas now been reiterated by theBiden Administration — leav-ing Pakistan with no choice butto look at China for its Z-10attack helicopters. This movewill accelerate the looping ofthe triad entailing Turkey,Pakistan and China, whereinthe Turkish jointsmanship withPakistan in developing theSiper long-range missiles andthe TF-X fighter jets could getaccess to Chinese technology.

Turkey has already signeda manufacture-and-technol-ogy-transfer contract withPakistan for four Turkish-built MILGEM corvettes,whereas the air forces collab-orate with the project of mod-

ernising Pakistan’s F-16 fleet asalso Pakistan sparing its pilotsto fly Turkish F-16s (followinga Turkish purge of its fighterpilots suspected to be behinda botched coup attempt) to fly“mercenary missions”. ForTurkey to lend disproportion-ate support to Pakistanis is partrealpolitik, part desperation —as the two nations have themost powerful militaries in theIslamic world and the alliancefacilitates the “China opportu-nity” for Turkey. In return,Turkey saves Pakistan fromnear-pariah status and parrotsthe tired “Kashmir” line thathas lost its resonance in mostcountries within the Ummah.

The dangers of acceding tothe basic instincts of bothTurkey and Pakistan havestarted outweighing the ben-efits of tactically “overlooking”their repeated misdemeanours.Irrespective of the partisanadministration in Washington,the US actions and reactionsare following a set pattern, andDelhi is stitching its ownalliances to counter the unholynexus among the triad ofTurkey, China and Pakistan.

(The writer, a militaryveteran, is a former LtGovernor of Andaman &Nicobar Islands andPuducherry. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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The Turkish imprint on thesubcontinental psychehas been complex anddivisive since the arrival

of Taimurlane, Mahmud ofGhazni and, later, Muhammad ofGhori. Popular perception oneither side of the Line of Control(LoC) dividing the modern-dayIndo-Pak realm varies, shaped bypolitics and the insistence of“two-nation” necessities from thePakistani standpoint, which con-veniently overlooks the historicalpillage by the invaders. Thatwounded legacy and memories ofbigotry and plunder at places likethe Somnath Temple auto-instinc-tively became the default triggerfor deification of these Turkishinvaders in modern Pakistan.

Provocatively, the Pakistanimilitary has named its missilesafter these ruthless invaders i.e.Ghauri (medium-range ballisticmissile), Ghaznavi (short-rangeballistic missile) and so on.One of the 16 companies of thePakistan Military Academy iscalled Ghaznavi, and the infa-mous and rogue Pakistaninuclear scientist, AQ Khan,personally built a mausoleumfor Mohammad Ghori! Later,Pakistani dictators like AyubKhan and Pervez Musharafwere particularly inspired by theKemalist model and posturedthemselves on Turkish nation-alist Kemal Ataturk. That histor-ically the Turkish invaders rav-aged the conjoined swathes ofsubcontinental land, thatMahatma Gandhi supportedthe Khilafat movement or thatKemal Ataturk was principallyagainst religion in governance(hence antithetical to the two-nation idea) has been studious-ly ignored. In both the 1965 and1971 Indo-Pak wars, Turkey wasan odd supporter of Pakistan,even though there was noapparent dissonance with India.

Today, both Pakistan andTurkey are in the throes of polit-ical and societal revisionism,where they make even morecommon cause with each other.Both the Cold War US allies findthemselves at odds in a recalibrat-ed order that broadly splits theworld into “democracies” andvarious shades of expansionist

SOUNDBITE����������������� � �������������Sir — This refers to the editorial ‘Masterstroke?’ (March 12). It is an irony that anobvious accident is being politicised in ourcountry. It seems that both the TMC andBJP are doing politics on it for browniepoints in the West Bengal Assembly elec-tions.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee isplanning to resume her Assembly poll cam-paign,which shows her zeal and courage. Italso shows her fighting spirit and anindomitable soul to face all adverse situa-tions. Her resolve must be a cause of con-cern for the leaders of the BJP as they knowthat the people of West Bengal love Didi andwhen they see her campaigning on wheel-chair, they will vote for her out of sympa-thy.

However, there is also no denying thatshe is playing the victim card and will tapthe situation to the maximum. The leadersin our country often resort to all kinds ofmanoeuvres and tricks to win the elections.Playing the victim card is one of these. Manya time, leaders divide people in the nameof religion, caste and other factors and cre-ate a rift in society. They do it for polaris-ing the votes. Therefore, the recent incidentmust be thoroughly probed and thoseresponsible for it must be brought to book.Further, if it is a security lapse then it a mat-ter of great concern and it raises some per-tinent questions. If the VVIPs and VIPs whohave Z+ and Z category of security are notsafe, there is no guarantee of the safety of acommon man.

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

��������� ������������Sir — Advocating the sale of inefficientPublic Sector Undertakings (PSUs) is astereotypical view. There are exceptions aswell where public sector companies run asstar performers and private sector firms haveabysmal levels of efficiency. There are his-torical reasons that need to be examined. InIndia, the origin of the public sector dur-ing the 1950s stemmed from the lack of largeand mature entrepreneurs who couldorganise large-scale investments with long

gestation lags in various arenas. The Statestepped in to create the “temples of mod-ern India” to cater to the necessities.

Today, private investors are strongenough to take on the activities that existunder the umbrella of the public sector.Hence, the Government has prioritisedthe sale of PSUs and embarked on theprocess of privatisation. However, whathappens to the economy is determined toa very significant extent by the quality ofthe Government’s economic policies, thestability of its regulations, depth of itsinstitutions and, above all, by what it doesfor social and human development forthose at the bottom of the pyramid. Alarge role remains for the Governmenthovering in the periphery of privatebusiness —influencing it, controlling it,giving it direction.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

�����������������������������Sir —It was a good decision on the part

of the Maharashtra Government to issueguidelines for the Mahashivratri festivalstating that not more than 50 people willbe allowed at a time inside temples. It wasa much-needed step in the backdrop ofrising cases of Coronavirus in the State.

Further, the Government should mullon closing down all religious places fornow. People must understand that strictmeasures are necessary for bringing thenumber of infections under control.

Also, there should be restrictionslike those imposed during the lockdown.Public transport services should stop andthe people should be encouraged to workfrom home (WFH). It is for theGovernment and private companies toallow their employees to WFH. At thisstage, we cannot let COVID-19 defeat us.We have fought very bravely till now.

Jayanthi S Maniam | Mumbai

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The wayside amenities sector is evolving as apotential economic trigger in India. The cat-alyst is a huge network of quality highways

coming up across the country. The way things areshaping up, wayside amenities consisting of retail fueloutlets, eating joints, food courts, public conve-niences and other commuter-friendly services willcreate a plethora of gainful jobs and economic activ-ities away from urban spaces and will give a big boostto the local economy in the countryside. Accordingto Union Minister of Road Transport and HighwaysNitin Gadkari, over 11,000 km of National Highways(NHs) were constructed during the current finan-cial year at an average of 35 km per day. Gadkari hasvowed to increase the pace of road construction toachieve a rate of 40 km per day and the Union Budgetallocated �1.81 lakh crore to highways. TheGovernment has already awarded contracts for13,000 km of roads at a cost of �3.3 lakh crore underthe �5.35 lakh crore ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana.’

Better road infrastructure is loaded with var-ied opportunities as wayside amenities along high-ways and byways can be utilised as a marketplacefor local artisans by promoting their craft. This willin turn add value to that particular place. The con-cept of wayside amenities is also in sync with theCentral Government’s initiative to set up FarmerProducer Organisations (FPOs), which are aimedat enhancing not only our growers’ income but alsoto ensure that their produce is sold at a remunera-tive price. FPOs are member-based farmers’ insti-tutions to feed the growing population of the worldwith shrinking resources and a rapidly changing cli-mate. Besides India, countries like China, Vietnamand Indonesia, too, have adopted the FPO approachvery successfully. The Government, with an aim tomake this initiative a success, is providing necessarypolicy support. Consequently, FPOs have thepotential to be the game changers for small and mar-ginal farmers, who do not have the economicstrength to apply production technology, services andmarketing, including value addition.

For instance, food courts can have a dedicatedcorner where they can run retail outlets for the farmproduce supplied by FPOs for whom the CentralGovernment has provisioned �496 crore for five years(2019-20 to 2023-24) with a further committed lia-bility of �2,369 crore from 2024-25 to 2027-28towards their hand holding. FPOs are being formedand promoted through the Cluster-Based BusinessOrganisations (CBBOs) engaged at the State or clus-ter level by implementing agencies. The CBBOs willhave five categories of specialists from the domainof crop husbandry, agri-marketing, value additionand processing, social mobilisation, law andaccounts, and Information Technology/ManagementInformation Systems. These CBBOs will be a plat-form for end-to-end knowledge for all issues in FPOpromotion.

The concept of ‘Agri Visit’ is very popular inforeign countries. In India, too, at many places onhighways, farms are being developed for this pur-pose. On similar lines, such places can be developedon highways, which, in addition to commercial ser-vices, can also promote local goods and services. Itwill also lead to empowerment and inclusivegrowth of local communities. Wayside amenities canalso promote organic farming in a big way, whichis beneficial for all: Farmers, consumers and the envi-ronment. There is a need for making organic agri-

culture a mass movement, not just fora wealthy nation but also a healthynation. As per an estimate, the organ-ic food segment in India is expectedto grow at 10 per cent during 2015-25 and is estimated to reach �75,000crore by 2025.

The Central Government aimsto increase the length of NHs to2,00,000 km against the currentlength of around 1,31,326 km. A hugestretch of State roads — around53,000 km — is being developed asNHs. Around 3,500 km of the NHwhich includes the Madurai-Kollamcorridor and the Chittoor-Thatchurcorridor will be developed at aninvestment of �1.03 lakh crore. InKerala, 1,100 km of NHs will bedeveloped at an investment of�65,000 crore, including the Mumbai-Kanyakumari corridor’s 600-km sec-tion. These highways will change theeconomic profile of the region.

The 675-km-long NH in WestBengal to be developed at a cost of�25,000 crore, including the upgra-dation of the existing Kolkata-Siliguriroute, will not only ensure seamlessmovement of traffic but will also pro-vide umpteen highway tourismopportunities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many fuel stationsalso made groceries and other essen-tials available for the people for pur-chase. Since the movement wasrestricted and hygiene was a point ofconcern, fuel stations became a pop-ular choice for people to buy items ofdaily need. It was also an occasion forpeople to appreciate the value of goodfacilities on highways.

The National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI) hasalready started the process of devel-oping wayside amenities at 183 loca-tions along the NHs. Facilities withan area of more than five acres willbe developed under the brand name‘Highway Village’ and facilities onplots smaller than five acres will bedeveloped under the brand name‘Highway Nest.’ The Ministry ofRoad Transport and Highways(MoRTH) plans to develop a networkof amenities every 50 km on the NHs.So, over 1,000 such amenities will bedeveloped across the country. Privateplayers will also be involved in thisendeavour.

However, the country cannotcash in on the economic opportuni-ties provided by wayside amenities ifthe movement of traffic on highwaysis not safe. Hence, the rating of roadsis very important and recentlyGadkari released the ratings for18,668 km of completed four-six laneNH stretches covering 343 toll plazas.This initiative undertaken by theNHAI aims at improving its account-ability towards road users, who paya fee for the use of developed NHs.The fundamental objective of high-way rating is “minimum time withmaximum safety in a stress-freeenvironment” from the highwayusers’ perspective.

High-quality highways, coupledwith improved standards of living andhigher disposable income, wouldenable overall growth in tourism,never seen before in our country. Andhence development of superior way-

side amenities would be a vital infra-structure to boost tourism and addto the employment opportunitiesfor the local populace.

Each toll plaza is being judged onthree major criteria: Efficiency, safe-ty and user services. These are fur-ther divided into a total of 39 para-meters which include average speed;road condition; facility for public; ser-vice road; delay at toll plaza; accidents;incident response time; waysideamenities; general cleanliness and soon. These criteria were framed afterdetailed studies held by the NHAIand MoRTH. No such criteria havebeen developed across the globe inthe past which evaluates the perfor-mance of highways from the user’sperspective. Better traffic flow facil-itates in saving the time spent in com-muting, improving customer experi-ence, saving fuel and reducing thenation’s carbon footprint. Thanks tovisionary leaders, India is going tohave many iconic corridors, which areworld class, for example, theMumbai-Delhi Expressway, the TajExpressway, the Ambala-ChandigarhExpressway and the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun EconomicCorridor, work on which is underway.

India is poised for a waysideamenities boom. What is needed isan enabling ambience and interven-tions from the Centre and States, interms of hassle-free land acquisitionsand faster approvals. It will be a win-win situation for all stakeholders inan evergreen sector, which beckonspublic-private partnership for a self-reliant India.

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The militancy of tradeunions (TUs) has doneenough damage to the

economy of the country.Though it may sound strange,but some of the States havebeen lagging behind in therace for industrialisation andemployment generationmainly because of the militantand irresponsible TUs. Forinstance, West Bengal whichwas once considered the hubof industries in India wasdeprived of investmentopportunities, and henceemployment and prosperity,due to the activities of theLeft-leaning TUs.

Sadly, even the pharma-ceutical industry is in the gripof irresponsible trade union-ism as a section of medicalrepresentatives, which earnswell but works less, oftenholds the drug companies toransom. As far as Kerala isconcerned, the words of

‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan arepertinent. He says that Keralahas not had a single industri-al investment in the last 20years due to the malaise oftrade unionism. He wondersthat if Keralites can go to theMiddle East and set up anindustry there, why can’t theydo it in India? However, heobserves that if any industrycomes up in Kerala, it isclosed within two years.Without industries, how willyou create capital, wealth andadd jobs?

Kerala is a cent per centliterate State but it has hard-ly any jobs for youngsters.Sreedharan cites how indus-trialist KochousephChittilappilly, who set up anelectrical appliance maker V-Guard had to shift 80 per centof his firm’s operations out-side Kerala because of a hos-tile labour climate.

“My State shows a red flag

whereas we should be wavinggreen flags to investors”, hesays. His words need to betaken seriously.

It is a relief that the KeralaHigh Court in its recent judg-ment has taken note of thegrowing militancy amongmedical representatives. Adrug company filed a writpetition stating that onaccount of administrativereasons, as well as businessexigencies, it had to redeployits territory branch managersto other parts of the country.The service conditions clear-ly stated that the employeeswere transferable. Thoughmost of the staff accepted thetransfer and joined theirrespective postings, somerefused to oblige.

With the help of theAssociation of Medical andSales Representatives, theycaused obstruction to themanagerial staff, regional

business managers and salesrepresentatives of the saidcompany in carrying out theirduties.

Further, they alsoapproached the LabourCommissioner, Mumbai,with their grievance.According to the writ peti-tion, those who refuse to

comply as well as the TUshave threatened that theywill not permit the companyto carry on its business activ-ities in the State unless theirdemands are met.

Similar incidents werereported at Thrissur, Calicutand Parappanangadi wherethe unions threatened that theentire business would bebrought to a standstill if theirdemands were not met. Thedeputy general managerlodged a complaint before thesenior police officers; howev-er, no action was taken.

While allowing the peti-tion, the High Court in itsorder said that even if thedemand is legitimate, theonly option for the unions isto resolve the dispute in amanner known to law. Underno circumstances can theworkers resort to violence tofurther their cause. Thatwould infringe upon the right

of the management to carryon the business.

The pharmaceuticalindustry is rapidly growing,particularly in the wake of theCoronavirus pandemic andalso due to India’s projectedposition as the pharmacy ofthe world.

Given the nation’s ambi-tions to become a global hubfor medical tourism and qual-ity, affordable drugs, the needof the hour is to tap into theopportunity so as to grab theworld market. But this mustbe realised by the workersand their leaders, too.However, the general griev-ance of the companies is thatthe TUs have their self-styledrules and they often resort toviolence.

The normal process of theworking of the medical rep-resentatives is that they workonly up to three pm andremain idle for the rest of the

day. Moreover, it is almostunsupervised work as a com-pany official or manager mustgive 10-day advance intima-tion to an employee for a fieldvisit which cannot be formore than three days at astretch. Even the number oftimes a manager can visit anemployee is fixed.

Hence, there are manysuch rules that discourageeffective supervision and byand large the sales employeeis on his/her own. TheGovernment, the judiciary,the companies, the TUs andabove all civil society willhave to make concertedefforts to stop this menace soas to take the country on thepath of progress and prosper-ity. This is the need of thehour in a post-pandemicworld if India is to realise itsdream of a $5 trillion econo-my and a global economicpowerhouse by 2024-25.

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Prasad and Sharp are co-founders, Aritraa

Corporation.The viewsexpressed

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Acourt in Myanmar onFriday extended the pre-

trial detention period for anAssociated Press journalistarrested while coveringdemonstrations against themilitary's seizure of power lastmonth. He is facing a chargethat could send him to prisonfor three years.

Thein Zaw, 32, was one ofnine media workers taken intocustody during a street proteston February 27 in Yangon, thecountry's largest city, and hasbeen held without bail. His nexthearing at the KamayutTownship court will be onMarch 24.

Friday's hearing , whichThein Zaw attended via a videoteleconference, came at the endof his initial remand period.

Thein Zaw and at least sixother members of the mediahave been charged with violat-ing a public order law, accord-ing to his lawyer, Tin Zar Oo,and the independent AssistanceAssociation for Political

Prisoners. Separate hearingswere held Friday for the otherdetained journalists.

Tin Zar Oo and one ofThein Zaw's brothers wereallowed into the courtroom totake part in the 10-minutevideoconference. Tin Zar Oosaid she was able to submitdocuments giving her power ofattorney for the case, but onlyat the next hearing might beallowed to submit a bail appli-cation.

A representative of the USEmbassy was also present incourt for the teleconference,said Aryani Manring, a spokes-woman for the mission. Histranslator and a policeman, aswell as the judge, were alsothere.

Thein Zaw had not beenseen by his lawyer or any of hisfamily members since hisarrest. Tin Zar Oo said visits atInsein Prison, where he isbeing held, are not allowedbecause of coronavirus con-cerns, so his family has beendropping off food and suppliesfor him at the gate.

Berlin: Germany's top healthofficial expressed regret Fridaythat some neighbouring coun-tries have paused their use ofAstraZeneca's coronavirus vac-cine following reports of bloodclots in some people, despitethe lack of any evidence theshot was responsible.

Health Minister JensSpahn said that whileGermany takes reports of pos-sible side effects from vaccines“very, very seriously,” boththe European MedicinesAgency and Germany's ownvaccine oversight body havesaid they have no evidence ofan increase in dangerousblood clots in connection withthe shots.

“I regret that on the basisof the knowledge of Fridaymorning some countries in theEuropean Union have sus-

pended vaccinations withAstraZeneca,” Spahn toldreporters in Berlin.

Denmark was the first totemporarily suspended use ofthe AstraZeneca vaccineThursday after reports ofblood clots in some people.The Nordic nation's healthauthority said the decisionwas “based on a precautionaryprinciple” and that one personwho developed a blood clotafter vaccination had died.

Norway decided to followsuit and halted use of theAnglo-Swedish company'svaccine, which was developedwith the University of Oxford.Italy's pharmaceutical agencyon Thursday ordered a pre-cautionary ban on a particu-lar batch of the vaccine afterwhat it said were “seriousadverse events.” AP

Beijing: Ahead of the Quadsummit on Friday, China saidexchanges and cooperationbetween countries should con-tribute to mutual understand-ing rather than “targeting” athird party and refrain from“pursuing exclusive blocs”.

US President Joe Biden,Prime Minister NarendraModi, Australian PrimeMinister Morrison andJapanese Prime MinisterYoshihide Suga will attend thevirtual summit, which is thefirst conclave of the top lead-ers of the Quadrilateral alliance,on Friday.

Known as the“Quadrilateral SecurityDialogue,” representatives forthe four-member nations havemet periodically since its estab-lishment in 2007.

Asked for China's reac-tion to the Quad conclave,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian told amedia briefing here that“exchanges and cooperation

between nations should con-tribute to the mutual under-standing and trust amongnations, rather than targeting athird party or damaging theinterest of a third party.”

“We hope that relevantcountries uphold the principlesof openness, inclusiveness andwin-win results and refrainfrom pursuing exclusive blocsand do things that are con-ducive to regional peace, sta-bility and prosperity,” he said.

The meeting to be held vir-tually is expected to last about

90 minutes, during which allthe four leaders would also layout their vision of a free andopen Indo-Pacific, amidstChina flexing its muscles in thestrategically-vital region.

China is engaged in hotlycontested territorial disputes inthe South and East China Seas.Beijing has also made sub-stantial progress in militarisingits man-made islands in thepast few years.

Beijing claims sovereigntyover all of the South China Sea.But Vietnam, Malaysia, thePhilippines, Brunei and Taiwanhave counterclaims. In the EastChina Sea, China has territor-ial disputes with Japan.

The evolving situation inthe Indo-Pacific region in thewake of China's increasingmilitary muscle-flexing hasbecome a major talking pointamong leading global powers.The US has been favouringmaking Quad a security archi-tecture to check China's grow-ing assertiveness. PTI

Moscow: Russia said on Fridaythat the Taliban should beincluded in any Afghan inter-im administration, ahead of aconference in Moscow aimed atsupporting peace talks betweenthe Islamist group andAfghanistan's government.

Moscow is set to host aconference on Afghanistan onMarch 18 and has invited sev-eral regional players, includingTaliban representatives. Itcomes at a crucial time for thepeace process ahead of a May1 deadline for foreign troops towithdraw from Afghanistan.

The United States has draft-ed a peace plan calling for thecurrent Afghan government tobe replaced with an interimadministration until a new con-stitution is agreed and electionsheld, but Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani has refused tostep aside for a transitional gov-ernment.

"The formation of an inter-im coalition governmentshould be decided by theAfghans themselves duringnational reconciliation negoti-ations," Russian ForeignMinistry spokeswoman MariaZakharova told reporters ather weekly briefing.

"At the same time we havenoted that the formation of aninterim, inclusive administra-tion would be a logical solutionto the problem of integrating

the Taliban into Afghanistan'speaceful political life."

The US-drafted peace planssuggests that under the interimAfghan administration, thenational parliament could eitherbe expanded to include mem-bers of the Taliban or sus-pended until after the election.

Moscow has said its con-ference next week is meant tosupport peace talks held inDoha, which have struggled toyield any breakthroughs. AFP

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� �����@��������� ������ ���� �1���������������)��0�� ����� Lagos (Nigeria): Gunmen have

attacked a school in north-western Nigeria and kidnappedat least 30 students just weeksafter a similar attack in theregion, authorities said Friday.

The latest abduction tookplace late Thursday night at theFederal College of ForestryMechanization, Afaka, in theIgabi local government area ofKaduna state, police said.

“About 30 students, a mixof males and females, are yet tobe accounted for,” the state'scommissioner for InternationalSecurity and Home Affairs,Samuel Aruwan, said in a state-ment. Several staff of the schoolwere also kidnapped, he added.

Aruwan said the attack

was carried out by a largegroup of “armed bandits,”adding that the militaryengaged the attackers and wereable to take 180 staff and stu-dents to safety.

An unspecified number ofthe students were injured andare receiving medical attentionat a military facility. Securityforces "are conducting an oper-ation to track the missing stu-dents,” Aruwan said.

Nigerian authorities alsosaid that “bandits” were behindthe earlier abduction of 279schoolgirls late last month inthe northwest, referring to thegroups of armed men whokidnap for money or to pressfor the release of jailed mem-

bers of their groups. Those girls were later freed

following negotiations with thegovernment, and it is notknown whether a ransom waspaid.

The Islamic extremistgroup Boko Haram is alsoknown to kidnap youngwomen and force them intomarriage, most notably the2014 attack on the Chiboksecondary school in Bornostate.

That mass abductionsparked international outcryand prompted the#BringBackOurGirls cam-paign. Of the 276 girls taken,more than 100 are still missingnearly seven years later. AP

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Brussels: A total of 65 journal-ists and media workers werekilled worldwide in 2020 whiledoing their jobs, according tothe International Federation ofJournalists.

That is 17 more than in2019, and the death toll isaround the same level as in the1990s, the federation said Fridayas it published details of itsannual report on killings.

The IFJ said the killingstook place in 16 different coun-tries during targeted attacks,bomb attacks and crossfire inci-dents.

A total of 2,680 journalistshave been killed since the IFJstarted keeping count in 1990.

“The ruthless reign of crimebarons in Mexico, the violenceof extremists in Pakistan,Afghanistan and Somalia, aswell as the intolerance of hard-liners in India and thePhilippines have contributedto the continued bloodshed inmedia,'' said IFJ GeneralSecretary Anthony Bellanger.

For the fourth time in fiveyears, Mexico topped the list ofcountries where the most jour-nalists were killed, with 14killings. It was followed by 10deaths in Afghanistan; nine inPakistan, eight in India, foureach in the Philippines andSyria, and three each in Nigeriaand Yemen. AP

!�� ������;�� ���/>,�������(� �� �����������.?.?Islamabad: Gurdeep Singh

from the ruling PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf party took theoath on Friday as a Senator,becoming the first turban-clad Sikh representative in theupper house of Pakistan'sParliament.

Singh, from the party ofPrime Minister Imran Khanbecame the first turban-cladSikh representative fromKhyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince in Pakistan's Senateon March 3. He defeated rivalcandidates on a minority seatby a huge margin in the elec-tion to the upper chamber ofParliament.

Singh secured 103 votes inthe House of 145 whereasJamiat Ulema-e Islam (Fazlur)candidate Ranjeet Singhsecured just 25 votes and AsifBhatti of the Awami NationalParty received 12.

Forty-seven other Senatorsalso took oath on Friday.

Senator Sayed MuzafarHussain Shah, who has beennominated as the presidingofficer, administered the oathto the members-elect. Theyhave been sworn in as Senatorsfor a term of six years (2021-27). PTI

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King Goodwill Zwelithini,the traditional leader of

South Africa's Zulu nation,has died aged 72 after beinghospitalised for more than amonth, his family announcedon Friday.

Zwelithini had health prob-lems related to diabetes,according to local news reports.

Zwelithini, the eighth Zuluking, reigned for more than 50years, making him the longest-serving Zulu monarch.

As the traditional leader ofthe Zulu nation, Zwelithini

did not hold political office buthad considerable influence overthe country's estimated 12 mil-lion Zulus, the largest ethnicgroup of South Africa's 60million people.

King Zwelithini was anoutspoken critic of the gov-ernment's planned land redis-tribution policy, which couldaffect large tracts of landbelonging to the Zulu nation.

The Ingonyama Trust con-trolled by the king owns 29 percent of the land of theKwaZulu-Natal province, about28,000 square kilometers, or10,811 square miles.

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Page 9: 2021-3-13 · Singapore in 2018. Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie ... 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related

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Snapping its three-sessionrising streak, equity bench-

mark Sensex tumbled 487points on Friday as investorsoffloaded RIL, banks and auto

stocks amid a lacklustre trendoverseas.

Investor wealth tumbled�1.37 lakh crore on Friday asmarkets declined, snappingtheir three-session rising streak.

After gyrating 1,283 points

during the day, the 30-shareBSE index ended 487.43 pointsor 0.95 per cent lower at50,792.08.

The broader NSE Niftytanked 143.85 points or 0.95per cent to end at 15,030.95.

Bajaj Auto was the toploser in the Sensex pack, falling3.10 per cent, followed byMaruti, ICICI Bank, SunPharma, Reliance Industriesand UltraTech Cement.

Index heavyweightReliance accounted for most ofthe index’s losses.

Only four Sensex con-stituents closed in the green —PowerGrid, Titan, ONGC andInfosys, rising up to 2.28 percent. During the holiday-short-ened week, the Sensexadvanced 386.76 points or 0.78per cent, while the Nifty rose 92.85 points or 0.62 per cent.

According to Binod Modi,Head — Strategy at Reliance

Securities, after seeing a briskopening on favourable globalcues, domestic equities fellsharply mainly led by sellingpressure in financials and autostocks.

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Extending its gaining streakfor the third day in a row,

the Indian rupee advanced byanother 12 paise to close at72.79 against the US dollar onFriday amid some easing ofcrude oil prices.

At the interbank foreignexchange, the Indian unitopened at 72.66 but surren-dered some gains as the tradeprogressed and closed the ses-sion at 72.79 — showing a riseof 12 paise to the dollar.

In the last three sessions,the Indian currency has gained46 paise against the Americancurrency. On a weekly basis,the rupee has gained 23 paiseor 0.31 per cent.

Forex market was closedon Thursday on account of‘Mahashivratri’.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, rose 0.57 percent to 91.94.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude futures fell 0.13 percent to $69.53 per barrel.

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Gold in the national Capitaldeclined �291 to �44,059

per 10 gram on Friday reflectingfall in international prices of theprecious metal and rupee appre-ciation, according to HDFCSecurities. In the previous trade,it had closed at �44,350 per 10gram. Silver also tanked �1,096to �65,958 per kg, from � 67,054per kg in the previous trade.

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The Biden administrationon Friday issued a formal

notification to delay the imple-mentation of the previousTrump regime’s controversialrule to raise mandatory mini-mum pay for foreign workerson the H-1B visa, the mostsought after among Indian ITprofessionals.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreignworkers in specialty occupa-tions that require theoretical ortechnical expertise. The tech-nology companies depend onit to hire tens of thousands ofemployees each year fromcountries like India and China.

The Department of Labourin its federal notification pub-lished on Friday said that it isconsidering whether to proposea further delay of the final rule’seffective date and accompany-ing implementation periodsthat are currently scheduled totake effect on May 14, 2021, andJuly 1, 2021, respectively.

Before further delaying theeffective date and implemen-tation periods, the Departmentwill provide the public anopportunity to comment, itsaid. On February 1, the

Department of Labour pro-posed to delay the effective dateof the final rule entitled“Strengthening WageProtections for the Temporaryand Permanent Employment ofCertain Aliens in the UnitedStates,” published in theFederal Register on January 14,2021, for a period of 60 days.

The Department proposedto delay the effective date of thefinal rule until May 14, 2021, inaccordance with the Presidentialdirective as expressed in thememorandum of January 20,2021, from the Assistant to thePresident and Chief of Staff,entitled “Regulatory FreezePending Review.”

As stated in the proposal,the 60-day delay would allowagency officials the opportunityto review any questions of fact,law, or policy. The Departmentinvited written comments fromthe public for 15 days on theproposed delay of effectivedate. All comments had to bereceived by February 16, 2021.

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The finance ministry is like-ly to infuse �14,500 crore

mainly in the banks that areunder the RBI’s prompt cor-rective action framework in thenext few days to improve theirfinancial health.

Indian Overseas Bank,Central Bank of India andUCO Bank are currently underthis framework that puts sev-eral restrictions on them,including on lending, man-agement compensation anddirectors’ fees. The Ministryhas almost finalised its namesof probable candidates for cap-ital infusion, sources said.

The infusion will be madein the next few days, thesources said, adding the biggestbeneficiary of this round ofcapital infusion would be thebanks that are under theprompt corrective action(PCA).

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The Civil Aviation Ministryis working on the airline

industry’s demand to bringAviation Turbine Fuel (ATF)under the ambit of GST andhas taken up the matter withthe Finance Ministry, a seniorofficial said on Friday.

Addressing a virtual eventon global aviation and air cargosector, Civil Aviation secretaryPradeep Singh Kharola alsosaid the Ministry has taken spe-cific steps for optimum utili-sation of the country’s vast air-space, which would help inter-national airlines overflyingIndia as well as domestic car-riers in saving costs.

ATF or jet fuel cost, whichaccount for 45-55 per cent of anairline’s operating expenses, inIndia is among the highest inthe world and the industry haslong been demanding that itshould be brought under theGST regime.

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India has imposed anti-dumping duty on the

Chinese antibacterial drugCiprofloxacin Hydrochloride toguard the domestic industryagainst cheap imports from theneighbouring country.

The duty was imposed fol-lowing a recommendation bythe commerce ministry’s inves-tigation arm DirectorateGeneral of Trade Remedies(DGTR). DGTR in its probehad concluded the producthas been exported to Indiafrom China below its normalvalue, which has resulted indumping and in turn impact-ing the domestic industry.

“The anti-dumping dutyimposed under this notificationshall be levied for a period offive years (unless revoked,superseded or amended earli-er) from the date of impositionof the provisional anti-dump-ing duty, that is, September 2,

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2020, and shall be payable inIndian currency,” a depart-ment of revenue notificationhas said. The duty imposed wasin the range of $0.91 per kg to$3.27 per kg.

Imports of the product fromChina increased to 377 tonnesduring the period of investiga-tion (April 2018 — June 2019)from 117 tonnes in 2015-16.

Page 10: 2021-3-13 · Singapore in 2018. Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie ... 2014 and registered an FIR against ICore E-services under IPC sections related

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Katrina Kaif ’s sister Isabelle is allset for the release of her Hindi

debut film Time To Dance. She saysshe got a few very important tipsfrom her sister to understand the bigworld of Bollywood.

“She (Katrina) watched the trail-er and the songs that have come outso far, and after watching them shesent me a long message. I am in Agranow, shooting. So we are awayfrom each other. She said to me, ‘infilms, it is actually going to be morehard work than what you are think-ing probably, so focus on the workfirst and do not get distracted byanything else’,” Isabelle recalls.

“My sister also said that you can-not get the liking of 100 per centpeople but that should not demoti-vate you. It is okay, no one gets that,but do not take criticism personal-

ly or in your heart so much that ithurts you. She watched the songwhen it came out and told me thatI am looking nice while dancing! Iam happy!” she adds.

In Time To Dance, Isabelle Kaifportrays a dancer who participatesin a competition to save her danceacademy. However, during therehearsals, she has a leg injury andthat changes everything in her lifeand sets new challenges.

Her Bollywood debut will hap-pen in theatres, so what’s her frameof mind? “I thought I would be ner-vous because it is my debut film, butsurprisingly I am excited to knowwhat the audience feels. So, I amenjoying the moment, since the trail-er released and the reactions start-ed pouring in. This is my first film,so I am rather eager to know whatthe audience thinks. Also, since I amshooting for my next film here inAgra, my mind is invested in that,too. So, there is no anxiety for therelease, rather excitement,” shereplies.

Directed by Stanley D’Costa, thefilm also features Sooraj Pancholi,Waluscha De Sousa, Saqib Saleem,and Rajpal Yadav.

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Actor-producer AnushkaSharma’s journey as a produc-

er began when she delivered theclutter-breaking NH10. On thesixth anniversary of the film,Anushka says she is proud that sheis considered a force to be reck-oned with now who is always striv-ing to change the narrative for con-tent in India.

“I was told by many that Ishould concentrate on my filmcareer and not get distracted byproduction. Today, I can’t imaginemyself without NH10, Pari,Phillauri, Bulbbul, Paatal Lok andthe exciting projects that lie ahead.The journey started with NH10and while it started with a bang, Ican tell you that I was a cluelessproducer,” says Anushka.

She adds, “I was young, I hadto really take time out to under-stand the ropes of production andI’m thankful that I had my broth-er Karnesh (Ssharma) who sharedmy vision and passion of givingclutter-breaking content to theaudience. I had a head full ofdreams and my brother reallyfanned my thoughts and brought

his strong content sensibilities tothe fore. We were and are a greatteam.”

Anushka was just 25 when shedecided to shape the content land-

scape in India. She says, “I’m gladI took the punt at 25 and if I havebeen able to change the discourseof being a female producer in townwho is always looking to be disrup-tive, I consider myself fortunate. Ihave always felt a responsibility tostand for good content and deliv-er fresh entertainment to the audi-ence. NH10 was our attempt tobreak-away from stereotyped cin-ema, stereotyped films withwomen protagonists.”

Anushka reckons NH10 to bea film that has had several deepimpacts in Bollywood. She says, “Itwas a necessary film to shakethings up for women actors. Itshowed how a woman can fight tosurvive, can stand up for herself.I’m glad I became a producer withan important film in our cinemat-ic history.”

Anushka adds, “I’m glad thatI chose to be an actor-producerand I’m lucky that I was success-ful doing both. It definitely helpedin showing our industry thatactresses are not unidimensional.It was an important step to changethe narrative in our industry.”

Music is something that has always played animportant role in people’s lives all across the

globe. And certainly, it tells a lot about someone’spersonality. So let’s dig in singer Akriti Kakkar’splaylist and find out her taste in music. Here are herfavourite six songs, which sets her mood right:

�Tere Bin Nahi Lagda Dil Mera by Nusrat FatehAli Khan

The song has some sort of power that it doessomething to me every time I hear it in his voice.It’s magical. Even though I am happily in love, itmakes me feel very torn inside.

�Lag Jaa Gale By Lata MangeshkarIt’s an eternal fav of all music lovers.

�Nature Boy by Nat King Cole It’s a first Jazz song that I ever heard. One of a

very prominent Jazz musicians introduced me to NatKing Cole. He gave it to me on a CD and my mindwas blown. As a 14-year-old when I heard it for thefirst time, I was like yeh kya hai, yeh toh kabhi sunnahi nahi. I have heard Lataji, Ashaji, voh itna diffi-cult hai, yeh naya kya hai. It had a very crazy impacton my head.

�Akhiyan Udeek Diyan by Nusrat Fateh Ali KhanI don’t know why but everytime I sing it on stage,

it creates that magical aura. Even the qawwali ver-sion of this is just out of the world.

�Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho by Mohammed RafiI don’t think anybody can sing this song how Rafi

sahab sung it. Nobody can even try getting close tothe high that he created with his voice.

�Aao Naa by Shankar Ehsaan LoyIt supersedes even Pehla Nasha for me, which is

a very close song to my heart. I just love the com-position. You must listen to it.

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What do the menacing andoverpowering Kaleenbhaiyya (Mirzapur Season 1

& 2), the common man Lal Bihari inKaagaz and Anup Saxena, the windbeneath Gunjan Saxena: The KargilGirl’s wings and the power-hungryGuruji in Sacred Games have in com-mon? Of course the actor, PankajTripathi, playing these diverse roleswith his trademark finesse.

When one wonders at the effort-less switch between characters,Tripathi explains that he relies upon,“A combination of a method, a process,life experiences and imagination. “Ihear the director’s vision and after that,I don’t venture around the monitor. Itis the director’s job to watch it.” Hedoes not interact with the director andhardly talks to him before the shoot-ing, “Because, of late, there’s hardly anytime,” he adds.

That is not surprising consideringhe is for all practical purposes beennamed the ‘man of 2020’ in entertain-ment as we have seen a deluge of filmsand series, in the past 12 months, onthe OTT platforms. Starting withAngrezi Medium going on to GunjanSaxena: The Kargil Girl, Mirzapur 2,Ludo, Criminal Justice: Behind ClosedDoors, Shakeela and Kaagaz. Releasingnext week is Sandeep Aur PinkyFaraar, a black comedy directed andproduced by Dibakar Banerjee.

Tripathi himself concurs. “WhenI took a break recently, I realised thatI had worked a lot just before the lock-down. I should have taken it easy. Idon’t know how I was managing it,” hesays in chaste Hindi laced with thematter-of-fact tone that he is knownfor. He’s befuddled at the sheer volumeas, he now points out that, a series isequivalent to three films so Mirzapurand Criminal Justice would add up tosix and, then, there were three filmstoo. “It means nine films. I amunaware as to how I was doing it. Butthe good thing is that — despite somuch — I would still say, I am notoverexposed and neither have myshortcomings, as an actor, becomecommon knowledge. My honourremained intact,” he says, a sense ofsatisfaction palpable in his voice.

We move on to his last release,Kaagaz, which talks about the need forpapers to prove the existence of a per-son and he says, “Our film is a peri-od drama set between 1970- 93. Thedirector, Satish Kaushik wanted toshow a fight between the system anda person. In the film, the charactersays, ‘Whenever the system’s mouthopens, it demands the sacrifice of acommon man’.”

Though Kaagaz was hailed in the

media as the film where he plays thelead for the first time but the assertionseems to be surprising. Talk aboutLudo or Mirzapur and his is the firstname that comes to mind before anyother actor in the ensemble cast inboth. Tripathi too concurs. “I also don’tget this discussion because I’ve con-sidered characters that might have hada screen time of 10 minutes as leads.It’s like 10 minutes of the character’slife were seen in the film and not theremaining. Kaagaz is two hours of LalBihari’s life. Everything is the main rolein real life and in cinema, everythingis a role. Everyone is playing a lead rolein their life or wants to play it and that’swhy there are so many problems. Alead role means that the story shouldbe mine or everyone should under-stand me,” he says sagely.

However, he says that he puts inequal amount of sincerity irrespectiveof the role’s screen time. Since the char-acter in Kaagaz is based on a real per-son, who was declared dead, didTripathi meet him for inspiration. “Imet and spoke to him for 10 minutesand looked at him for about half an

hour. I didn’t take any reference pointsfrom his body language, mannerismsor behaviour because the audiencedoesn’t know Lal Bihari. I wanted todo justice to his inner struggle, con-flict and mental strength. That thoughtwas already there in the script, whichI followed,” says the actor.

Tripathi draws on his wide varietyof experiences to play any role and listsjoining hotel management and, later,Geeta Press — both of which he did-n’t enjoy — as adding depth to thecharacters that he plays. “These helpme 100 per cent. Jitne ghaat ka paanipiyenge, wo experience hoga… My lifeexperiences are responsible for mebeing natural in front of the camera.Everyone talks about my natural act-ing or uses words like gifted, flawlessto describe it. But this is practiced nat-ural and the comfort in my actingcomes from there,” says Tripathi.

Having worked in two diverseindustries, Tripathi finally settled onacting as a profession when, afterworking in plays in his village, herealised that, “I liked doing it and over-time didn’t feel like a burden.

Sometimes I worked for 15 hours at astretch but it didn’t matter.” So heenrolled at National School of Dramafrom where he graduated in 2004 andlanded an uncredited role in the filmRun. As an outsider, the going wastough. “I did have problems initiallyin getting work and wandered fromone studio to the other one. But it wasan organic process. Why should theygive me work was always a question,”he says.

Would he say it was nepotism thathampered his progress? “The debateis more to do with who will play thelead in a film. Nepotism is about whowas launched by whom. Our audienceis aware that if someone doesn’t havethe talent, irrespective of whose childit is, they reject him/her. Moreover,there’s no debate about nepotism in therole of a character actor. And 80 percent of the people who come toMumbai from different parts of thecountry are not aiming to be theromantic leads. They come here afterhoning their craft in theatre and ifthey’re talented, they get good roles.I find the film industry to be a verydemocratic and unique place,” hesays. And there are no doubts that hecan be classified as one given thatwhen a director wanted to cast himrecently, Tripathi could accommodatehim only after March 2022!

A lot of credit for Tripathi mak-ing a mark initially goes to Gangs ofWasseypur (2012), the cult film, wherehe played Sultan Qureshi. That helanded the role after eight hours ofaudition is something which has nowpassed into film folklore. “MukeshChhabra (casting director) made medo every scene in a variety of ways.And now when he goes for actingworkshops, whether it is at Film andTelevision Institute of India (FTII) orat other places, where he interacts withaspiring actors, he shows this clip todemonstrate and analyse how anaudition is done and what is theprocess,” he says without a trace ofpride that would have been normal inany actor who is not as rooted asTripathi is.

His slice-of-life films and series,especially during the lockdown lastyear, made phenomenal inroads intoour lives. The primacy of talent overstar power was inbuilt into this devel-opment. “This should have happenedearlier. Cinema never paid attention topeople like us. The OTT platformpicked me and placed me on a poster,”he says and explains, “Talent is appre-ciated because there’s no pressure of aFriday opening. I am not an expert but,as per my understanding, if the per-formance is good and the story is grip-

ping, people get connected to it. Ifthat’s not so, they stop watching afterthe first or second episode.”

Another definite shift, which hasbeen witnessed, is the change in con-tent. Tripathi feels this is due to boththe audience and the filmmakers.“The audience exposure has increasedas, with the advent of the internet, peo-ple can see world cinema and compareit. Earlier, we had been eating the samecuisine. When we experimented withfood, we came to know that there aremany kinds in the world. At the sametime, amazing storytellers like ImtiazAli, Himanshu Dhulia, Anurag Basu,Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Ghaywanand more — who were outsiders —burst upon the scene. Sharan Sharma,the director of Gunjan Saxena, is 25-26 years old. I was very impressed withthe way he works,” he says.

With directors who call smalltowns and cities home, the narrativetoo has shifted from metros, says theactor. While these changes are exter-nal, the choice of one particular kindof role is something that Tripathi him-self determined — the type of fatherthat he plays to young women in films— given that he has a young daugh-ter. “The father I portray in reel life,when it comes to daughters, is thekind I want to be in real life... But inthe case of sons, I am an absolutelydifferent father. The one in Mirzapuris cunning. When it comes to daugh-ters, I am simple, kind and a brillianthuman being,” he says and one canimmediately think of Bareilly ki Barfi’sNarottam Mishra who does not mindsharing a cigarette with his daughter,Bitti.

Tripathi does not shy away fromendorsing women’s rights. PostCriminal Justice he starred in a videowhere he spoke about the importanceof consent. “I made it because consentis very important whether it is pre- orpost-marriage. When I read the script,it moved me,” he says but doesn’t wantto comment whether a law that does-n’t make marital rape punishable isarchaic or not. “I don’t have anyunderstanding about the law. Whenyou’ve half-baked knowledge andhave read about it only on socialmedia, you can’t form an opinion,”asserts Tripathi, who prefers to read,cook or eat out rather than watchingTV or operating the mobile. While hemight not be keen on the visual medi-um but, in the coming months,Tripathi would be appearing in 83,where he plays PR Man Singh, themanager of the 1983 World Cup-win-ning Indian cricket team.Undoubtedly, he is transferring thereal to reel effortlessly.

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Debutante SharvariWagh says her

debut Bollywood filmBunty Aur Babli 2 is afull-on masala popcornentertainer and thatshe cannot wait for thefilm to release in the-atres.

“Bunty Aur Babli 2is a full masala, popcornentertainer and I can’twait for the film torelease in theatres! It’s alaugh riot and I’m fortu-nate that I have got thisfilm as my launch inBollywood. The script isso brilliantly written thatit has given me so manymoments to shine and I

think and hope I havedone justice to thosescenes and the film,”she said.

Sharvari has beenpaired oppositeSiddhant Chaturvedi inthe film as they playBunty and Babli in thisfilm.

“As an actor, I havewaited patiently for mydebut film to release intheatres and that time iscoming soon. I haveworked really hard toget this film. I know thatI have worked tirelesslyto deliver a good perfor-mance and catch peo-ple’s attention,” she said.

Sharvari is confidentthat Bunty Aur Babli 2will be loved by every-one who loves watchingcommercial Hindi films.

“I’m only manifest-ing positivity aroundthe release and I hopethat it entertains thewhole of India. It is afilm meant for Hindifilm lovers across gener-ations and everyonewould want to watch itwith their families onthe big screen,” saidSharvari.

The film is slated torelease on April 23. Thefilm also stars Saif AliKhan and Rani Mukerji.

Producer and director of SandeepAur Pinky Faraar (SAPF),

Dibakar Banerjee, salutes ParineetiChopra for enduring this violentfilm. The acclaimed director prais-es her for channeling her anger onscreen to take on Arjun Kapoorwith whom she is pitted against inthe film.

Dibakar says, “Parineeti and Iargued endlessly on Sandeep (Pari’scharacter in the film) and I learnta lot. She is a very strong willed andcombative individual, who needsher own answers. I immenselyenjoy confrontations so that wasthe high point of our combinedwork on SAPF. The patriarchy,objectification and the muddledwoke-but-male gaze of Bollywoodhas pushed most of our spiritedactresses into a gilded box.”

He adds, “Sandy is trying tounbox herself in the film. So isParineeti in the film as Sandy. Itwas physically and mentally bru-tal, bruising, challenging, exhaust-

ing and stretched her to her lim-its. Her animosity with Arjun’scharacter channeled all the realanger. I think many actresses con-stantly hide against the relentlesspatriarchy and mansplaining theyencounter. She knows Sandy is the

film.”Dibakar reveals that SAPF is

centred around Parineeti and it isher character that drives the nar-rative forward. He says, “Sandymakes the story happen and yeteveryone’s trying to explain to

Sandy what they think she shoulddo! Both Parineeti and Sandy aresmarter than a lot of people theymeet, yet they have to hide it andput on their ‘gameface’. Parineetitaught me a lesson about ‘gameface’.I’ll never forget it and I have usedit in the film.”

Dibakar says Sandeep, as acharacter, is a mirror reflection towhat actresses go through in theindustry every single day.

“How Sandy navigates throughthe story while trying to protect herlife and others’ is a mirror of howtalented actresses in Bollywoodhave to manoeuvre for survival.Every bit of that shines through herperformance here. She did not holdback and jumped into theunknown. That’s the win on SAPFI’d love the audience to enjoy,” saysthe director.

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar is araw and edgy suspense thriller thatpits Arjun versus Parineeti Chopra.It is set to be released on March 19.

Actor Kriti Sanon is an ‘outsider’ inBollywood who changed the

game for herself without a bloodlineor godfather. She is glad that peoplebelieved in her.

Right from her first film, she hasonly worked in projects that are eitherbacked by big production houses, havea good script or are studded with bignames. She feels that while she tookbaby steps as she navigated her way inthe industry, her patience has paid off.

The actor talks about how her lifechanged when she had moved fromsuburban Delhi to Mumbai’s glamourworld.

“I took baby steps. I was not run-ning very fast,” says Kriti, and she con-tinues: “When you come into theindustry, there is not so much that youknow. You have a set of managers andagencies that tell you what is good andwhat is not. I have always been veryopinionated to an extend that some-times my managers have gotten irri-tated because I have a strong mindand I end up not listening to them.”

The actor, who started hercareer with Heropanti in 2014, revealsthat while there was a lot of nervous-ness in her before the big debut hap-pened, she now knows that thedilemma will always resurfacebefore every release.

She adds, “Even when I did myfirst film, there was a lot ofrestlessness before the release.I was in a new city, haddone B-tech and was com-ing to a city where I didn’tknow anybody. It does getrestless and insecure onwhether it will happen ornot. At that time, it’simportant that you find one or twopeople, like I did with my agency, whobelieve in you. They told me to waitand not be in a hurry because the first

film is very important. I feel mypatience paid off.”

She believes that “with every film,there is a dilemma because you don’tknow how it will do.”

For her second film, Kriti baggedRohit Shetty’s Dilwale, which was ledby Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, andbrought Kriti and Varun Dhawantogether. While she says that saying yesto the film was a “no-brainer” due tothe names associated with it, post its

success Kriti’s eagerness to prove her-self increased.

“Post Dilwale, I was cravingto act but I was not getting that

space. I am very ambitious as aperson, I am very hungry as anactor. I am always driven and I wantto do more. I am greedy that way,”she says.

Raabta gave her the creative sat-isfaction she was yearning. “WhenI got Raabta, I felt that I really gota platform to explore a character. Iwent through workshops for the firsttime and I realised that I enjoyed ita lot. So, from loving, being in frontof the camera to actually falling inlove with the craft, it was a processfor me. I eventually realised mymethod of acting, what works ordoesn’t work for me. Little thingsmade me grow as an actor. Forinstance, initially when you startacting you have a tendency of say-ing dialogue to dialogue and thensomeone tells you to just break thatpattern and talk and not say just the

dialogue (on paper),” she says.Kriti added more films to her

slate post Raabta and is nowawaiting the release of Mimi andBachchan Pandey. She has also

kickstarted the shoot of her forth-coming film Bhediya, which pairs

her with Varun again.C(.#�

Buckingham Palace’s responseto Prince Harry and Meghan’sallegations of racism and mis-

treatment has failed to quiet the con-troversy, with some observers crit-icising the royal family for notforcefully condemning racism andsuggesting the couple’s version ofevents may not be accurate.

“Too little, too late” was the ver-dict of royal commentator PeterHunt, who also criticised the palace’s61-word statement for saying theissue would be dealt with privatelyas a family matter.

“This delayed, tame statementwent for predictability when unpre-dictability — stepping out of theWindsor comfort zone — was whatwas needed,” Hunt wrote on thewebsite of the influential Britishmagazine The Spectator.

The statement, issued on behalfthe queen, was released 36 hoursafter the interview of the Duke andDuchess of Sussex by OprahWinfrey was broadcast in the United

States.“The whole family is saddened

to learn the full extent of how chal-lenging the last few years have beenfor Harry and Meghan,” the palacesaid. “The issues raised, particular-ly that of race, are concerning.While some recollections may vary,they are taken very seriously and willbe addressed by the family private-ly.”

The comments were the palace’sfirst word since the interview rockedthe royal family — and touched offconversations around the worldabout racism, mental health andeven the relationship betweenBritain and its former colonies.

Those tensions only built as thepublic waited to see how the royalfamily would respond. The state-ment should lower the temperatureof the debate, but media interest inthe story isn’t going away and therewill be pressure for the palace topublicly address Harry and Meghan’sconcerns, said Ed Owens, a histori-

an of British monarchy and authorof The Family Firm: Monarchy, MassMedia and the British Public, 1932-53.

“There are big questions herethat need to be answered, and I thinkthe press, both in the UK, Europeand in the USA, are going to con-tinue to ask questions about the fam-ily relationship that exists betweenHarry and Meghan and theWindsors in the UK,” Owens said.

Meghan, who is biracial, said inthe interview she was so isolated andmiserable as a working member ofthe royal family that she had suici-dal thoughts, yet when she asked formental health assistance from thepalace’s human resources staff, shewas told they couldn’t help becauseshe wasn’t a paid employee. She alsosaid Harry told her there were “con-cerns and conversations” about thecolour of her baby’s skin when shewas pregnant with their son, Archie.

The interview, seen by almost 50million viewers worldwide, has

divided opinions.Many people have backed

Meghan, saying the allegationsdemonstrate the need for change inan institution that hasn’t kept pacewith the #MeToo and Black LivesMatter movements. Others standbehind the royal family, criticisingthe couple for making their damn-ing allegations at a time whenHarry’s 99-year-old grandfather,Prince Philip, remains hospitalisedin London after a heart procedure.

Anna Whitelock, director ofthe Centre for the Study of ModernMonarchy at Royal Holloway,University of London, said thepalace’s brief message had “hardenedthe lines” between people whobelieve the monarchy is an outdat-ed bastion of inherited white privi-lege and those who see it as cher-ished national institution.

Fallout from the interview islikely to fuel the debate over thefuture of the monarchy and its roleboth in Britain and the other coun-

tries for which the queen serves ashead of state, Whitelock said. Besidesthe UK, the queen remains the headof state for 15 countries, most ofwhich were once part of the BritishEmpire, including Australia, Canada,New Zealand and island nations inthe Caribbean.

“That’s a debate that’s been heldin check, in large part, given thelength of the queen’s reign and inrespect to her and the role that she’splayed,” Whitelock said. “But it’sgoing to happen, and it’s just a ques-tion of when, not if.”

The ongoing controversy hasalready cost a prominent British TVpersonality his job. Piers Morgan leftITV’s morning news chat showamid a row over his on-air criticismof Meghan. More than 41,000 peo-ple complained to Britain’s commu-nications regulator about Monday’sedition of the show, during whichMorgan said he didn’t believe any-thing Meghan had said. The duchesscomplained to the British TV chan-

nel about the comments, focussingon their impact on people dealingwith mental health issues, ITVNews reported.

The revelations by Harry andMeghan were a stark contrast to theimage forged after their May 2018wedding at Windsor Castle. At thattime, the royal family seemed to wel-come Meghan, a glamorous formerTV star, and the couple were seen asproviding a fresh young face for themonarchy of an increasingly multi-cultural nation.

It didn’t take long for the fairytale to unravel. The couple steppedaway from royal duties last year andeventually settled in California, say-ing they wanted to escape racist cov-erage and unwanted intrusions ontheir privacy by the British media.

Many Black people have saidMeghan’s comments highlightedthe reality of racism in Britain,where the issue is too often charac-terised as an American problem.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Black

member of Parliament from theopposition Labour Party, said shewas disappointed the royal familyplanned to deal with Meghan’s alle-gations privately.

She also criticised theBuckingham Palace statementbecause it didn’t directly condemnracism. The failure to do so contrastswith the palace’s reaction just last weekwhen newspapers printed allegationsthat Meghan had bullied staff duringher time as a working royal, Ribeiro-Addy said. In response to thosecharges, the palace quickly issued astatement saying it “does not and willnot tolerate bullying or harassment.”

“The monarchy is a public insti-tution that receives public money andany criticism of the institution shouldreally be met with a forceful responsefrom the institution about what theyare going to do,” Ribeiro-Addy toldthe BBC. “We expect (that) of anyinstitution. Why not the monarchy,why not the palace?”

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South African opener LizelleLee single-handedly

destroyed India’s chances with acareer-best unbeaten 132 as thehome team lost by six runs viathe Duckworth-Lewis (DLS)method in the rain-marred thirdwomen’s ODI of the five-matchseries here on Friday.

Chasing a competitive 249,Lee starred for the visitors withher breathtaking knock thatcame off 131 balls and had 16fours and two hits over the fence.South Africa now lead the series2-1.

Lee kept South Africaabreast with the required rate,which eventually proved crucialafter rain played spoilsport withthe visitors at 223 for four in 46.3overs, six ahead of India via theDLS method.

Earlier, Punam Raut strucka second successive half-centu-ry — 77 off 108 balls — to powerIndia to a fighting score.

Raut, who made 62 in awinning cause in the last match,continued her good form afterthe hosts were put in to bat. She

struck 11 boundaries during herknock.

Also, India skipper MithaliRaj (36) became the first Indianwoman to score 10,000International runs during a 77-run third wicket stand with

Raut.Harmanpreet Kaur (36 off

46) played a quick knock beforeDeepti Sharma (36 not out) andSushma Verma (14 not out)remained unbeaten and shared27 runs for the sixth wicket.

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Disgraced opener SharjeelKhan has returned to

Pakistan’s T20 squad for theaway series against South Africaand Zimbabwe, four years afterbeing banned for spot-fixingduring matches.

The 31-year-old wasbanned for five years — withhalf the period suspended — forhis part in a gambling fix dur-ing the Pakistan Super Leaguein 2017.

Regarded a top T20 bats-man, Sharjeel hit a hundred inthe PSL’s sixth edition, whichwas suspended earlier this

month after a Covid outbreakamong players.

“Sharjeel has showntremendous form in recentmatches and he is someone whocan give us robust starts in T20cricket,” chief selectorMohammad Wasim said whileannouncing the T20, One-Dayand Test squads in Lahore.

Sharjeel played the last ofhis 25 One-Day Internationalsin January 2017. He has alsoplayed one Test and 15 T20Internationals.

Babar Azam will leadPakistan in all three formats ontour.

Pakistan will play threeODIs in South Africa, startingin Centurion on April 2. Theother two matches are inJohannesburg (April 4) andCenturion (April 7).

The teams will also playfour T20I after the ODI series.

Following that, Pakistantravel north for two Tests andthree T20Is in Zimbabwe.

The selectors have includ-ed three exciting uncapped pacebowlers in 19-year-oldMohammad Wasim Junior, 20-year-old Arshad Iqbal, and 22-year-old Shahnawaz Dhani in

multiple squads.Ace leg-spinner Yasir Shah

will miss the tour as he isrecovering from a knee injury.

Middle-order batsmanMohammad Hafeez and all-rounder Shadab Khan alsoreturned to the squads aftermissing the home series againstSouth Africa.

In a major exclusion, the

selectors have not picked sea-soned all-rounder, Imad Wasimfor the T20 and ODI matcheswhile continuing to ignore expe-rienced batsman, Shoaib Malik.

The experienced left-armpacer, Wahab Riaz has alsobeen dumped for the twin toursbut opener, Fakhar Zaman hasalso won a comeback in theODI squad.

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As many as 114 games, 295 goals, 87,811passes and 7307 tackles later, the

Indian Super League 7 will culminate witha heavyweight summit showdown betweenMumbai City FC and ATK Mohun Baganhere on Saturday.

The match that lends meaning to everysingle touch taken so far, in what has beenan exciting Hero ISL season, will beplayed at the Fatorda Stadium.

When Mumbai City FC take on ATKMohun Bagan in the summit clash, therewill be no more complex equations in play.The winner takes home the trophy. It’s assimple as that.

Few would argue that there is a bet-ter candidate for the final than these two— both Bagan and Mumbai have beenhead and shoulders above the rest through-out the season.

Both the teams come into the finalwith identical records, 12 wins and just 4defeats in the league stage.

Despite a nervy penalty-shootout winover FC Goa in the semifinal, it will beMumbai who head into the final full ofconfidence.

They did the double over Bagan in theleague stage, the latter of those victorieshanding them the League Winners Shield.

For Mumbai, this will be a first-everfinal, but coach Sergio Lobera, and a hand-ful of his players have been here beforewhen FC Goa lost to Bengaluru FC in2018-19. The team though has looked con-fident under Lobera.

“They (ATK Mohun Bagan) are a verygood team with good players and have themomentum. But the most importantthing now is to put the focus on ourselvesand try to do our best.

“We have no specific plan, only smalldetails about the opponent. We need towork 100 per cent on our style of play,” saidLobera.

There will be few selection dilemmasfor Lobera, with the exception of figuringout Mandar Rao Dessai’s replacement. TheGoan will miss the final due to suspension.

In the other corner, there is Bagan,buoyed by Antonio Habas’ almost super-human record in knockout games. He hasalready tasted glory twice and has achance to create history by winning his sec-ond straight title and third overall.

On the eve of the final, the Spaniardsounded as focused as ever.

“We have to compete and our idea isto win against our opponents. My team isprepared for winning,” he said.

Habas dismissed that previous resultshad no bearing on the match but that hisside was braced for a tough test.

“We have to analyse the match andcontrol (our chances of) victory than (tryto) control the way they play. The oppo-nent will play and maybe, we have will dif-ficulties.”

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The Indian Premier Leaguehas been extremely bene-

ficial for us, says ECB manag-ing director Ashley Giles, whofeels English cricketers’ pres-ence in the lucrative T20 tour-nament has helped the nation-al team in achieving the num-ber one rank in white-ballformats.

“In my briefings with theplayers, I have encouragedplayers to think very carefullyabout what their programmesare. I have not directed them,”

Giles told Sky Sports’ ‘TheHussain and Key Cricket Show’.

“We aren’t forcing eitherway. The IPL isn’t going any-where. It has extreme benefitsto us. From this group here, Ithink, we have 12 of the 16players going to the IPL.

“Years ago we found itvery difficult for players to getinto the IPL to experiencethat tournament. Now all ofour players are in high demandand it’s probably the big reasonwhy we are number one inworld in both white-ball for-mats,” Giles said.

There are 12 Englandcricketers, some with milliondollar contracts, playing inthe IPL. The players include JosButtler, Ben Stokes and JofraArcher for Rajasthan Royals,Moeen Ali and Sam Curran forChennai Super Kings, TomCurran for Delhi Capitals andDawid Malan for PunjabKings.

The IPL is slated to beginfrom April 9 with the finalscheduled to be played onMay 30, while England’s open-ing Test against New Zealandbegins on June 2.

New Delhi: India will playtheir remaining three FIFAWorld Cup qualifiers in Qataras the AFC decided to host thematches in centralised venuesowing to the coronavirus-relat-ed travel and quarantine restric-tions.

As per the original sched-ule, the Indian team wouldhave played against Qatar athome, Bangladesh away andAfghanistan at home, but theglobal pandemic has forcedradical changes in the fixtures.

“FIFA World Cup 2022 hostQatar, will welcome Group Eopponents Oman, Afghanistan,India and Bangladesh,” the AFCsaid in a release on Friday.

India are currently fourth inGroup E with three points fromfive games.

The second round of qual-ification matches have not beenheld since November 2019.

Though out of contentionfor a World Cup berth, India arestill in contention for a spot inthe Asian Cup, to be held inChina. A third-place finish inthe group will help India get adirect berth in the third roundof the qualifiers for the AsianCup. PTI

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Karachi: Pakistan CricketBoard chairman Ehsan Manihas conveyed to the PSL fran-chise owners that the game’sgoverning body in the countryis not in favour of having theAsia Cup T20 event this year.

A PCB source said thiswas was conveyed by Mani tothe PSL franchise owners dur-ing a virtual meeting onThursday, after it wasannounced that the remainingmatches of PSL 6 would becompleted in June.

Mani spoke about the Asia

Cup after the franchise ownerssought to know if the dates ofPSL were clashing with thecontinental tournament.

“Mani made it clear thattheir was little possibility of thetournament being held thisyear and it would be moved to2023 due to the commitmentsof the participating teams,” thesource said.

The PCB chairman told thefranchise owners the new datesfor the Asia Cup would bedecided at the next meeting ofthe Asian Cricket Council.

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Indian batsmen struggled toscore freely before ShreyasIyer showed the way with a

dogged 67-run knock that tookthe hosts to 124 for seven againstEngland in the openingTwenty20 International, hereon Friday.

The home batsmen nevergot the momentum going in theseries-opener as England's pace-heavy attack, led by Mark Wood,used the extra bounce effective-ly to trouble them.

Most of the Indian batsmenwent for flashy shots whenplacement would have servedthem well. The track had variedpace and required patience frombatsmen.

Iyer though gauged thenature of the pitch quickly andadjusted his game accordingly,playing a sensible innings that

helped them cross the 100-runmark.

Laced with eight boundariesand a six, and coming off 48balls, it is Iyer’s best T20 knock.He fell in the last over.

England surprised India byopening the attack with leg-spin-ner Adil Rashid, who was notonly economical but also dis-missed Virat Kohli (0) after KLRahul (1) dragged one back ontohis stumps from Jofra Archer(3/23).

Feeling the heat, ShikharDhawan — who got the oppor-tunity since Rohit Sharma hasbeen rested — attempted tobreak the shackles with a flashyshot off Wood but completelymissed the line to see his timberdisturbed.

In-form batsman RishabhPant (21) was prompted tonumber four. He struck the ballclean, which included a reverse-

flick off Archer for a six, but theEngland bowlers kept it tight forthe home team, which was tot-tering at 34 for three in eightovers.

Pant and Iyer added 28runs for the fourth wicket beforethe former hit one straight toJonny Bairstow off Ben Stokes.

That brought HardikPandya to the crease, who trueto his style, looked for some bighits but could not do much.

The visiting players woreblack armbands in memory offormer cricketer Joey Benjamin,who died Wednesday.

50% CROWDSThe Gujarat Cricket

Association (GCA) has decidedto allow 50 per cent spectatorsduring the India-England T20Iseries at the Narendra ModiStadium here owing to theCovid-19 pandemic.

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Veteran batter Mithali Raj onFriday became the first

Indian woman cricketer andsecond Internationally tocomplete 10,000 runsacross all formats, draw-ing praise from someiconic names of thegame and theBCCI.

The 38-year-old Mithali, wholeads the Indian ODIteam, joined England’sCharlotte Edwards inthe elite club.

Mithali achievedthe feat with a boundaryoff Anne Bosch in the 28thover of India’s innings dur-

ing the third ODI against SouthAfrica.

Mithali has amassed 663runs in 10 Test matches with abest score of 214, while she has6974 and 2364 runs from 212ODIs and 89 T20 Internationals

respectively. The figures addup to 10001.

Mithali made herInternational debutagainst Ireland in anODI back in June 1999

and has scored seven centuriesand 54 half-centuries in the

format.The Rajasthan player

announced her retirement fromthe T20 format of the game in

September 2019. She has 17half-centuries in T20Is with

a top score of 97 not out.

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