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The Government on Sundayannounced an import

embargo on 101 items to givea major boost to the Indiandefence industry.

This move towards self-reliance will see the domesticplayers manufacturingweapons ranging from artilleryguns to missiles and assaultrifles to name a few.

They will also be expectedto bag orders worth over �4lakh crores over the next sevento eight years as the Army, IAFand Navy will be procuringworld class weapon systemsdeveloped and manufacturedwithin the country.

The negative list or theembargo will commence fromDecember this year in a grad-ed manner and continue till2024 as the Services are nowamidst negotiating deals withforeign vendors. As defencedeals take relatively longer timecompared to other contracts,the Government has gone infor timeline for stoppingimports.

Making the important

announcement about theimport embargo, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh saidhere it is a big step towardsAtmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance) in defence.

In a series of tweets, he saidthe Defence Ministry has pre-pared a list of 101 items forwhich there would be anembargo on the import beyondthe timeline indicated againstthem. The Minister also saidthe Defence Ministry has alsobifurcated the capital procure-ment budget for 2020-21between domestic and foreigncapital procurement routes.

A separate budget head

has been created with an out-lay of nearly �52,000 crore fordomestic capital procurementin the current financial year, hesaid. He said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has given a callfor a self-reliant India based onthe five pillars, i.e., economy,infrastructure, system, demog-raphy & demand andannounced a special econom-ic package for Self-Reliant Indianamed ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’

Taking cue from that evo-cation, the Ministry of Defenceprepared the list, said Rajnath,adding it will offer a greatopportunity to the Indiandefence industry to manufac-

ture the items by using theirown design and developmentcapabilities or adopting thetechnologies designed anddeveloped by the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO).

Elaborating upon the pol-icy, the Minister also saidalmost 260 schemes of suchitems were contracted by theTri-Services at an approximatecost of �3.5 lakh crore betweenApril 2015 and August 2020. “Itis estimated that contractsworth almost �4 lakh crore willbe placed upon the domesticindustry within the next 6 to 7years,” he said.

Of these, items worthalmost �1,30,000 crore each areanticipated for the Army andthe Air Force while items worthalmost �1,40,000 crore areanticipated by the Navy overthe same period.

Singh said more equip-ment for import embargowould be identified progres-sively by the Department ofMilitary Affairs in consultationwith all stakeholders.

The list also includes,wheeled Armoured FightingVehicles (AFVs) with indicativeimport embargo date ofDecember 2021, of which theArmy is expected to contractalmost 200 at an approximatecost of over �5,000 crore, hesaid.

The Defence Ministry offi-cials said the embargo onimports is planned to be pro-gressively implementedbetween 2020 and 2024.

The aim is to apprise theIndian defence industry aboutthe anticipated requirements ofthe Armed Forces so that theyare better prepared to realisethe goal of indigenisation.

Continued on Page 10

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DMK MP Kanimozhi onSunday said a Central

Industrial Security Force offi-cer asked her if she was anIndian, when she asked thewoman official to speak inTamil or English.

“Today at the airport aCISF officer asked me if ‘I aman Indian,’ when I asked her tospeak to me in Tamil orEnglish as I did not knowHindi. I would like to knowfrom when being Indian isequal to knowing Hindi.#hindiimposition,” Kanimozhiwho is also the DMK’s women’swing secretary said on hertwitter handle.

A number of social mediausers replied supporting her,with one of them saying, “I aman Indian and Hindi has noth-ing to do with it! #hindiimpo-sition Pass it on!.

According to party sources,the incident occurred inChennai when the MP was atthe airport to board a Delhiflight in the afternoon.

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In a move to direct financialsupport and to empower the

farmers of the country, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSunday electronically trans-ferred �17,100 crore to thebank accounts of over 8.5 crorefarmers as part of the PM-KISAN scheme.

The Prime Minister alsolaunched the agriculture infra-structure fund with a capital of�1 lakh crore for agri-entre-preneurs, startups, agri-techplayers and farmer groups forpost-harvest management andnurturing farm assets througha video conference on the

occasion of “Balram Jayanthi”,a day when farmers worshipplough.

The first sanction of over�1,000 crore was made to over2,280 farmers under theAgriculture InfrastructureFund.

Speaking on the occasion,Modi said no middlemen orcommission was needed as theamount went straight to farm-ers.

He also expressed satisfac-tion because the objective ofthe scheme was fulfilled.

“�17,000 crore of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi havebeen deposited into bankaccounts of 8.5 crore farmerswith a single click. No middle-men or commission, it wentstraight to farmers. I am satis-fied because the objective of thescheme is being fulfilled,” PMModi said during the launch ofa financing facility for farmers.

Continued on Page 10

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Eleven members of a familyof Pakistan Hindu migrants

were found dead at a farm inRajasthan’s Jodhpur district onSunday morning, police said.

A member of the family,however, was found alive out-side the hut they lived at Lodtavillage of the Dechu area, over100 km away from Jodhpurcity, an officer said.

“But he claimed to have noidea about the incident, whichbelieved to have happened inthe night,” said Superintendentof Police (Rural) Rahul Barhat.

“We are yet to ascertain the

cause and means of death.They appeared to have com-mitted suicide by consumingsome chemical in the night,”Barhat said.

He said there was a smellof some chemical in the hut,suggesting they consumedsomething. The family belong-ing to the Bhil community hadcome to India from Pakistan’sSindh province in 2015 on along-term visa.

They had been living at the

Lodta village farm, which theyhad hired for farming, for thepast six months.

“There was neither anyinjury mark on any of thebodies nor any evidences of anyfoul play,” the SP said.

“But we have roped in aforensic team and a dog squadbefore arriving at any conclu-sion,” he said.

Preliminary investigationindicated that there was somedispute in the family over someissue. “Once we interrogatethe survivor, we would be in aposition to find out what hadled to this incident,” he said.

Continued on Page 10

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Grassroot workers of theBharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) are turning out to be “sit-ting ducks” in Kashmir valley inthe absence of adequate secu-rity cover for even those whofigure on the “hit list” of ter-rorists and fearing for their lives, about one dozen BJP workershave so far resigned from themembership of the partyrecently.

Four party workers fromBudgam resigned followingfresh attack on a BJP worker inthe area on Sunday.

It is learnt the BJP workershave forwarded their letters ofresignation to SSP Budgamand District President BudgamBJP. Budgam BJP presidentAga Mohsin told reporters theletters of resignations of fourBJP workers are in circulationon WhatsApp.

“I will talk to them regard-ing their resignations,” he

added. According to a policespokesman, a BJP worker hail-ing from Budgam was shot atand critically injured by ter-rorists. He was out for a morn-ing walk when terrorists tar-geted him.

This is the third incident inthe valley in the last one week.

On August 6, BJP sarpanchSajad Ahmad Khanday waskilled in Vessu village ofQazikund block in SouthKashmir’s Kulgam district. OnAugust 4, BJP Panch ArifAhmad was also criticallywounded after terrorists firedat him in Akhran Qazigund.

According to a policespokesman, at about 6.30 amterrorists fired upon a BJPworker identified as AbdulHameed Najar, son ofMohammad Jamal. “The BJPworker was shifted to SMHShospital Srinagar for treatmentwhere his condition is stable,”police spokesman added.

Continued on Page 10

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has sum-

moned actress RheaChakraborty, accused of abet-ting film star Sushant SinghRajput’s suicide, to appearbefore it again on Monday inan ongoing money launderingprobe.

Rhea was grilled for eighthours on Friday, while herbrother Shouwik was ques-tioned for 18 hours onSaturday. The questioning con-tinued till Sunday morning.Shouwik is also an accused inthe abetment to suicide casenow taken over by the CBIfrom the Bihar Police.

Shouwik’s statement wasrecorded under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) and his questioningcentred on his personal busi-nesses, income, investmentsand financial dealings with hissister and the late film star.

Besides Rhea, the ED has

also summoned her father andco-accused IndrajitChakraborty to appear beforeit on Monday.

On Friday, the ED hadbriefly questioned Shouwikand Indrajit besides the actress’

Chartered Accountant (CA)Ritesh Shah and business man-ager Shruti Modi, who alsoworked for Rajput. As part ofthe money laundering probe,the ED is looking into thefinancial deals involving theaccused actress, her father andbrother who are directors intwo companies that are underthe agency’s gaze.

The ED is seeking to estab-lish Rhea’s income, invest-ments, business and profes-sional deals as the probe so farhas shown mismatch betweenher income, expenditure andinvestments, they said.

Continued on Page 10

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As India breached 2 millionCovid-19 cases on Friday

and just in three days fromthen it has added two lakhmore cases, taking the overallcount well past 22 lakh caseson Sunday death in a dayincreased to 1,000.

The country has startedrecording more than 60, 000cases every day, and death tollare above 900 on daily basis.

The way India is addingnew cases and death, by theend of this month, the countrycould have around 3.5 millioncases and nearly 75,000 deaths.

Aparts from Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh and TamilNadu states such as Bihar,Uttar Pradesh, Assam,Karnataka and West Bengalhave started reporting hugenumber of cases on daily basis.With several States still not car-rying out adequate number oftests, the caseload could go up

Continued on Page 10

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Amajor fire broke out in theearly hours of Sunday

morning at Hotel SwarnaPalace in Vijayawada, whichhad been converted into a

Covid Care Centre (CCC). Atleast ten people are feared deadin the mishap besides severalothers who were injured,according to authorities. Thebuilding was housing Covid-19patients who were mildlysymptomatic and those whodid not require hospitalisa-tion.

Ramesh Hospitals hastaken Swarna Palace Hotellocated in Vijayawada wastransformed into temporaryCorona hospital to treat Covid-19 patients. The flames sud-denly started in the hotel atabout 4.45 am in the earlyhours on Sunday and the firetenders started rescue opera-tions at 5 am.

Continued on Page 10

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Scaling up testing capacity in the country, over seven lakh sam-ples have been examined for Covid-19 in a day taking the

cumulative tests conducted so far to 2,41,06,535, the UnionHealth Ministry said on Sunday with recovery rate rises to 68.78per cent.

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Taking a dig, Congressleader and former Home

Minister P Chidambaram saidthe Defence Minister promiseda ‘bang’ on a Sunday morningand ended with a ‘whimper.’

The only importer ofdefence equipment is theDefence Ministry. Any importembargo is really an embargoon oneself. What the DefenceMinister said in his historicSunday announcementdeserved only an Office Orderfrom the Minister to hisSecretaries!

Import embargo is highsounding jargon. What itmeans is we will try to makethe same equipment (that weimport today) in 2 to 4 yearsand stop imports thereafter!,the Congress leader said in aseries of tweets.

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The sleuths of Special TaskForce (STF) gunned down

a dreaded shooter, who wassaid to be involved in BJPMLA Krishnanand Rai murdercase, during an encounter withhim in Sarojininagar earlymorning on Sunday.

The deceased was identi-fied as Rakesh Pandey akaHanuman Pandey of Mau. Hewas said to be a close aide ofmaf i a - tur ned-p ol i t i c ianMukhtar Ansari and slainmafia Munna Bajrangi, and was

carrying a cash reward of�50,000 in Prayagraj.

The police were tipped offabout the presence of RakeshPandey and his gang inGudamba on the interveningnight of Saturday and Sundayduring a routine monitoring ofhardened criminals and a teamwas dispatched for his arrest.

When the police teamreached Gudamba, it surfacedthat Rakesh and his aides hadleft for some place on Kanpurroad and the team moved tothat place. The team spotted an

Continued on Page 10

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Lucknow reported 684 morecoronavirus positive cases,

taking the tally to 12,760 onSunday, even as six COVID-19patients died in the city, pushingthe death toll to 147.

With 238 COVID-19patients being discharged fromhospitals in the last 24 hours,6,531 infected persons haverecovered and at present 6,082active cases are undergoing treat-ment in the city. Indiranagar,Gomtinagar, Ashiyana, Chowk,Thakurganj Mahanagar,Hussainganj, and Hazratganjremained high containment areasin the state capital.

Meanwhile, 4,687 personstested positive for coronavirusacross the state, raising its case-load to 1,22,609. The state wit-nessed 45 COVID-19 deaths inthe last 24 hours as the tollreached 2,069. With 2,817 per-sons being released from hospi-tals, 72,650 COVID-19 patientshave recovered and 47,890 areundergoing treatment.

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3������������������������� ������������������!�Lucknow (PNS): While the cops were still groping in the dark fora clue to the recorded anti-Narendra Modi audio messagereceived by journalists and others on Saturday, the mischief-mak-ers were again involved in similar act on Sunday, this time the hateaudio being made in female voice. The Lucknow police on Saturdayhad registered a case and claimed to be making an in-depth probeinto the hate audio to bring to book the culprits to send them jail.

Sources said that on Sunday, almost at the same time at noon,the phone bells of several persons, including journalists, started ring-ing. While many ignored the calls as it was coming from abroad,those who received the call said recorded message received by themon Saturday was almost the same, the only difference being thatthis time it was in a female voice. The audio message asked Muslimsin India to stop Narendra Modi from unfurling the national flagon Independence Day. The development was informed to theLucknow police.

Meanwhile, police on Sunday said that they would crack thecase soon. Giving this information to media persons here on Sundayafternoon, ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar claimed thatthe phone calls (containing the audio message) were received notonly in Lucknow but also in different cities of Uttar Pradesh andother states as well. “It seems the calls were redirected through agateway. Uttar Pradesh police are working with other agencies. Soonwe will crack the case. Intense investigations are going on,” he said.

Kumar added that the phone calls primarily targeted journal-ists and it was an attempt at mischief. The police lodged an FIRon Saturday over the recorded audio message. The message wasdirected over the recent ground-breaking ceremony for the con-struction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Phone calls containing theaudio message appeared to have originated from abroad. They werereceived by some journalists here, Police Commissioner SujeetPandey had said on Saturday.

��.���� ��������/.Lucknow (PNS): Aam AadmiParty (AAP) UP incharge andMP Sanjay Singh asked the BJPwhy it did not invite PresidentRam Nath Kovind to bhoomipoojan for construction of Ramtemple at Ayodhya.

Singh said if the chief min-ister, prime minister and gover-nor could take part in the bhoo-mi pujan, the President couldalso take part in it.

“The BJP is now sendingprasad at Dalit’s house inAyodhya to score politicalmileage and social media atten-tion,” Singh said.

Reacting to an FIR againsthim in New Delhi, Singh saidwhy CM Yogi Adityanath chosethe backdoor to get an FIR reg-istered against him in NewDelhi. He dared the CM to geta case registered against him inLucknow and send him to jail.

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PepsiCo India has decided toincrease its investment from

Rs 500 crore to Rs 800 crore inUttar Pradesh. This will pro-vide direct and indirectemployment to over 1,500 peo-ple in the state.

UP’s MSME and ExportPromotion Minister SidharthNath Singh, while giving thisinformation, said that earlierPepsiCo was to invest Rs 500crore in potato chips plant atMathura, has now increasedthe investment. He said thatmany other US companieswere in the process of makinginvestment in the state.

While discussing on theinvestment opportunities inUP with the representatives ofAmerican Chamber ofCommerce in India, the MSMEminister assured them of allhelp on behalf of state govern-ment. He said that PepsiCohad also decided to procure118,000 tones of potato fromfarmers of Mathura and Kosiregion. “This would help inincreasing the income of the

farmers,” he added.The minister said that

Microsoft was already setting upa centre in Greater Noida thatwould employ over 4,000 peo-ple. He said the trade betweenUP and US was around $2.74billion, which was mainly of tex-tile, woodcraft, leather, carpet,iron and steel items.

Recently, the US compa-nies have shown interest ininvesting in the electronicsand electrical sector at Noidaand Greater Noida. The UPgovernment is inviting invest-ment in the food processing,leather, horticulture, and phar-maceutical and agri sectorsalso. Additional Chief Secretary(MSME) Navneet Sehgal saidthat a separate USA desk hadbeen created to help investorsand it would help in expeditinginvestments proposals.

He said that the proposedinternational airport at Jewar inwest UP would help in attract-ing more and more investorswhile the defence manufactur-ing corridor of UP could alsobe the favourite investmentdestination for the MNCs.

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Lucknow (PNS): Thecash strapped UP PowerCorporation Limited, in anattempt to augment itsbilling efficiency and rev upits revenue, has signed anagreement with NationalRural Livelihood Mission toenable self-help groups(SHGs) for doorstep collec-tion of electricity bills fromconsumers. The SHGs willget Rs 20 for a bill of up toRs 2,000 and 1 per cent upto Rs 49,999. UPPCLChairman Arvind Kumarsaid this would enableSHGs to create a prepaidwallet with UPPCL bydepositing money. Oncethe SHGs become agentsthey will be able to receivebill payments on behalf ofUPPCL and give receipts.

“This is UPPCL’s wayto empower women andhelp them generate extraincome. An official ofUPPCL said that the movewould help consumers topay bills at doorstep with-out having to visit the officeof the UPPCL.

It may be mentionedthat the cash starvedUPPCL has drawn up aroadmap to improve thefinancial and operationalperformance of its discomsby 2024.

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Stressing on making contacttracing more effective, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath askedofficials to make advancedstrategy to control the COVID-19 pandemic with an empha-sis on the districts where thenumber of coronavirus infec-tion cases had gone up.

“Exercise caution in thedistricts of Lucknow, KanpurNagar, Jhansi, Varanasi,Prayagraj and Bareilly to con-tain COVID-19. Do more andmore Covid tests and increasethe number of Covid beds inLevel-2 and Level-3 hospitals,”Yogi said while presiding overa high-level unlock reviewmeeting at his official residencehere on Sunday.

He said the senior doctorsshould take regular rounds inhospitals to monitor the condi-tion of COVID-19 patients.

“Contact tracing shouldbe done effectively so that allcontacts of an infected personare traced,” he said.

The chief minister alsodirected officials to set upLevel-3 Covid hospitals inSaharanpur at the earliest andmake dedicated Covid hospi-tals functional in Shamli andBareilly by August 16.

He said ambulance facilityshould be promptly provided totake COVID-19 patients tohospital.

“It is very important tomake Integrated Commandand Control Centre (ICCC)

effective for this as it will helpCOVID-19 patients get treat-ment at the earliest,” he said.

The chief minister saidthat hospitals should providebetter health services. He

directed the Medical Educationdepartment to double thecapacity of beds in all themedical college hospitals ofthe state. He also directed theHealth department to start the

process to augment the capac-ity of ICU beds in district hos-pitals.

The chief minister wasapprised that as many as31,18,567 Covid testing had

already been done so far. Hewas also told that cleanlinessand sanitisation work wasbeing carried out on Saturdaysand Sundays as planned.

The chief minister direct-

ed officials to provide timelyrelief to all those who werestuck in floods. “Such placesshould also have properarrangement of boats and secu-rity mechanism,” he said.

The chief minister specif-ically pointed out that cowshelters in Pilibhit andAzamgarh districts should haveall facilities, including greenfodder.

Those present in the meet-ing included MedicalEducation Minister SureshKhanna, Minister of State forHealth Atul Garg, ChiefSecretary RK Tiwari,Agriculture ProductionCommissioner Alok Sinha,Additional Chief Secretary(Finance) Sanjiv Mittal,Additional Chief Secretary(Revenue) Renuka Kumar,Additional Chief Secretary toChief Minister SP Goyal,Director General of PoliceHitesh Chandra Awasthi,Additional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasad,Additional Chief Secretary(Medical Education) Dr.Rajneesh Dube, AdditionalChief Secretary (RuralDevelopment and PanchayatiRaj) Manoj Kumar Singh,Additional Chief Secretary(MSME) Navneet Sehgal,Principal Secretary to ChiefMinister Sanjay Prasad,Principal Secretary (AnimalHusbandry) Bhuvnesh Kumar,Secretary to Chief MinisterAlok Kumar and other seniorofficers.

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The sound of thak, thak emanatesfrom small houses in a crowded

lane of Aligarh where small childrencan be seen grappling with metals,hammers and other tools. A closurelook reveals the truth. These are work-shops where locks are manufactured bychildren as young as 5-12 years old.Their team leader is Anwar, a 14-year-old skinny boy.

This is a common sight in Aligarh,famous for its lock industry where chil-dren are still employed despite theSupreme Court order banning childlabour in hazardous industry.

A survey carried out by the UPgovernment in collaboration with theAligarh Municipal Corporation and anon-governmental organisation (NGO)that works for TB eradication, revealedthat over one lakh people are employedin the lock making industry in Aligarhand out of this workforce, around 30per cent are children.

The children are engaged for work-ing on hand presses, polishing or buff-ing machines, electroplating and spraypainting units, for filling components,making springs and assembling andpacking of locks. All these children areunder 14 years of age; some of them asyoung as 5 or 6 years old. These chil-dren work according to their age and

skill.“The manufacturers prefer child

against adult because they pay less tochild labourers than an adult labourerfor equal and same type of work. Allthese children are toiling hard just tocontribute the family income.Households often depend on childlabour to supplement income,” saidShabnam Praveen from AligarhMuslim University.

In her paper ‘Child labour inAligarh lock industry, Praveen statesthat the wage structure in the lockindustry varies from unit to unit. Theyget wages according to their age andskill. Average wages of child labourerin Aligarh city is between Rs 500 and

Rs 1400 per month.“Tremendous growth in population

accompanied by poverty, illiteracy andignorance, insufficient income andunemployment of parents, large fami-ly etc. are the causes responsible for thechild labour but poverty is the maincause which forces innocent childrento work in worse conditions of theinformal sector for their own andfamily’s survival, she says.

According to the government sur-vey, it has been found that the childrenare made to do all sorts of work in theseunits, whether it is plate cutting, bodydrilling, manufacturing, casting, lockfitting, designing or electroplating.

The survey found that around 18per cent children work on powerpresses, which is very hazardous anddangerous for these small children, 14.1per cent children work on hand press-es, it is also dangerous for the childrenbecause any carelessness during thework on hand press can lead to acci-dents with fingers being severed.Around 13.2 per cent children work forpolishing locks and lock parts whileanother 12.6 per cent work on electro-plating, which is very dangerous andhazardous for their health becausevarious types of dangerous chemicalsare used in electroplating.

“Children dip parts of locks andhardware in the acids with bare hands

and bare feet, they also inhale thesedangerous chemicals,” Praveen said.

Dr Surya Kant, head of departmentof respiratory medicine and pulmonaryand critical care medicine at KingGeorge’s Medical University inLucknow said that children whoworked with hazardous chemicals inclosed rooms with no ventilation wereprone to many diseases which couldeven prove fatal.

“From a small age, these childrensuffer from asthma, TB and skin dis-eases,” he said.

Ironically, child labour is banned inall hazardous industries as per SupremeCourt guidelines. The Uttar Pradeshgovernment has already enacted a lawunder which a defaulter can be finedRs 20,000 besides initiating criminalproceedings against him if foundengaging a child as a labourer.

Dilip Sevarthi, director of VikasSansthan, an NGO that works for therights of children and women, said lawswere there but there were people whocircumvented them in the knowledgeof local administration.

“When the administration tight-ened the noose around workshops, peo-ple converted their homes to workshopsand employed children. In some cases,they sub-let their work to individualfamilies who get that work done in theirhomes,” he said.

Lucknow (PNS): UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has directedround-the-clock monitoringof the situation in the floodaffected districts throughpatrolling and drones.

He has also asked the dis-trict magistrates to accord toppriority to flood relief work.

The chief minister hasalso asked officials to constant-ly update information aboutthe release of water from damsand reservoirs, and also makeadequate arrangements forrepair of flood protectionembankments where there isthreat of breach or leakage.

Yogi said adequatearrangements must be madefor fodder and vaccination ofthe cattle.

Backward Class WelfareMinister Anil Rajbhar, aftervisiting the flood affected dis-trict, said here at a press con-ference on Sunday that asmany as 802 villages in 20 dis-tricts were affected by floods.

He said all the flood pro-tection embankments weresafe and there was no cause ofworry.

He said Sharda river inLakhimpur, Saryu at Turtiparin Ballia, Rapti at Birdaghat inGorakhpur and at Elgin Bridgein Barabanki, were flowingabove the danger mark.

He said for dealing withthe flood calamity, controlrooms had been set up at thedistrict and the state levels.

Rajbhar said 15 teams ofNDRF had been deployed inflood-affected districts for res-

cue and relief works. He saidbesides NDRA, 15 teams ofSDRF and seven teams of PAChad also been deployed forrelief operations in flood-affected districts.

The minister said so far283 flood relief camps and 715flood outposts have been setup in flood affected districts.

Rajbhar said the state gov-ernment had issued detailedguidelines for flood relief work

and for protection from floods. He said foodgrain kits

containing 17 items had beendistributed among the flood-affected people and 178 cattlecamps had been set up. He saidso far over 6 lakh cattle hadbeen vaccinated.

The minister said reliefkits contains 10 kg wheat flour,10 kg rice, 10 kg potato, 2 kgarhar dal, edible oil and otheritems of daily use.

He said so far over 40,000food relief kits had been dis-tributed among the floodaffected people.

The minister said over1.82 lakh metres of tarpaulinhad been distributed and 253medical teams had beenpressed into service in floodaffected districts.

The flood-affected dis-tricts include Ambedkarnagar,Ayodhya, Azamgarh,Bahraich, Ballia, Balrampur,Barabanki, Basti, Gonda,Gorakhpur, Kushinagar,Lakhimpur Kheri, Mau,Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj,Deoria, Sant Kabir Nagar,Pilibhit, Pratapgarh andSitapur.

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Seventy-six per cent atten-dance was recorded in

Lucknow as BEd-JEE washeld on Sunday. Out of30,394 candidates who hadregistered for the exam,23142 were present in themorning shift and 23,127 inthe second.

In the state, the atten-dance was 82.67 per cent.State coordinator, BEd-JEEAmita Bajpai said given thecircumstances due to Covid-19, the joint entrance examwas successfully conductedacross the state.

She said that in Lucknow,there was only one case inwhich a girl used a differentphotograph in her admitcard at Awadh Girls’ DegreeCollege. “The matter will belooked into by the commit-tee. Other than that, therewas no case of unfair means,”she said.

Regarding reports of can-didates crowding at theentrance of exam centres inviolation of Covid-19 guide-lines, she said: “ What hap-pens outside the gate is notunder our purview, butguidelines were followed at allthe centres and we havenumerous videos and pho-tographs. All the studentswore masks and sanitisationwas also carried out betweenthe shifts,” she said.

A total of 4,31,904 can-didates had submitted appli-cations for the exam in 1,089centres across the state and3,57,064 appeared for theexamination.

“Several of these candi-dates were visually-chal-lenged and they were pro-vided dictators and also givenextra time. At various centres,certain candidates withabove-normal body temper-ature were made to sit in iso-lated rooms. All the protocolsand instructions for safetywere strictly adhered to,”Amita Bajpai said.

“There were CCTV cam-eras at each exam centre andproper arrangements weremade for cameras, routersetc. The exam was closelymonitored with the help ofthe command control roomset up at the University ofLucknow. No untoward inci-dent was reported from anyexam centre,” she said.

She said that an unsuc-cessful attempt was made bya female candidate at aMeerut centre to appear forthe exam using a fake admitcard. The local authoritiessent the information to LU.The entry was found to befake when the data availablewith the university waschecked,” she said. DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashalso visited one of the centresin the morning.

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Father of the slain sharp-shooter Rakesh Pandey

claimed that his son was takeninto custody by a team of copsin civvies and later on he waskilled in an encounter. BaldattPandey said Rakesh hadreached Lucknow to look afterhis mother who was undergo-ing treatment at SGPGI.

“We were not informedabout the announcement ofreward on Rakesh ever before.He was taken out from home inGudamba by a team of STFaround 3 am,” Pandey said.

According to old-timers inLucknow police, Rakesh movedto Lucknow to pursue a diplo-ma course in polytechnic whenhe was 16-year-old and endedup killing his hostel roommateover a petty issue. It is said thathe lifted his roommate andthrew him down, causing himto die on the spot. He was jailedin a crime case in 1993 and thenhe came in contact with dread-ed criminals. The criminalsthen had the craze to join thelikes of Mukhtar Ansari andMunna Bajrangi, and Rakeshwas no exception. Seven yearsafter the case in Lucknow,Rakesh Pandey’s nameappeared in a contract killing in

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District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash has

directed private labs to followCovid-19 guidelines for effec-tive prevention of coronavirusspread. In a meeting with allthe representatives of privatelabs on Sunday, the DM saidthat reports of the patientsshould be uploaded immedi-ately and it should be ensuredwithin the following hour thatthe patients are either in hos-pitals or in home isolation. Hetold the representatives of sixprivate labs in the city carry-ing out Covid-19 tests to feedthe portal with the correct databy Monday evening.

The DM said each lab hasto have an ambulance andthere should be emergencyservices available at the col-lection centres. “All the labshave to follow ICMR guide-lines and if they are not doingso, strict action will be takenagainst them. All the data ofthe antibody tests which havebeen conducted by the labshave to be given to the CMO,”he said.

Chief Medical Officer DrRajendra Prasad Singh saidthey were adopting the strat-egy of increasing RTPCR testsin comparison to antigen tests.He said they were stressingmore on RTPCR than on anti-gen tests because antigen testshad to be followed by the con-

firmatory tests (RTPCR).“We will reserve antigen

testing for all places wheremass testing has to be carriedout. We will carry out antigentesting for the distant contactsof Covid-19 patients andRTPCR for close contacts,”the CMO said. He pointed outthat a total of 5,000 tests werebeing carried out on a dailybasis in Lucknow, 2,500 ofwhich were RTPCR tests whilethe rest included TrueNat,antigen and other tests. TheCMO said that to control thegrowing number of cases, theyhad also started givingIvermectin tablets to the healthworkers and close contacts ofthe positive persons. “We areexpecting good results becauseit has worked in decreasing theinfection in Agra. This is aharmless medicine with noside-effects and should not begiven to kids below 2 years ofage and pregnant women,” hesaid. Dr Singh said they hadreceived complaints about aprivate hospitals taking hugesum of money from patientsand stern warning had beenissued to hospitals to followguidelines. Looking into theutility of the IntegratedControl and CommandCentre, it was decided that anew building would be set upin the campus of the SmartCity office which would betermed as Safe City Commandand Control Centre.

Rajkiya Nirman Nigamhas been told that constructionactivity should be started inone month’s time and thebuilding be completed by April2021.

Meanwhile, IITR direc-tor Alok Dhawan said that thisweek, the Lucknow clusterwhich is carrying out Covidtesting has come first in thecountry by conducting themaximum number of tests(12,000). “I have received amail from the department ofBiotechnology under whichthe Lucknow cluster consist-ing of IITR, BSIP, NBRI andCDRI has conducted the max-imum number of tests. For a

long time, we were at the sec-ond position, but now wehave become first by pushingour limits. Bhubaneswar,which was leading with 11,000tests, is now at the secondplace,” he said. Dhawan saidthat over the time, they haddeveloped the technique ofmanaging a large number ofsamples in an optimum time-frame.

“Earlier, we would makepools of ten samples and thentest them. If we found a poolpositive, we would conduct thetests again. But now, we sit foran hour prior to the testingand sort out the close contactsand the second contacts of the

Covid-19 patient by goinginto the history of patients andthen pool together the secondcontacts which would likely benegative,” he said.

Meanwhile, a senior offi-cial from the CMO office saidthat the cases coming from oldparts of the city were less incomparison to those fromTrans-Gomti areas and otherparts. Director of BalrampurHospital Dr Rajeev Lochansaid the number of coron-avirus cases being detected atthe hospital had increased.“We are getting 4-5 patientstesting positive in the holdingarea. These are the patientswho have come for emer-gency treatment. We informthe CMO about these patientswho are then shifted to aCovid hospital,” he added.

Meanwhile, four patientssuccumbed at KGMU onSunday. Spokesperson DrSudhir Singh said thedeceased included a 48-year-old woman from Auraiyyawho was admitted on July 17and suffering from meningi-tis. A 79-year-old man fromIndiranagar, who was admit-ted on August 6 and sufferingfrom kidney problems, alsosuccumbed. A 54-year-oldman from Vibhuti Khand,who was admitted on July 23and was suffering from kidneyproblems, also died, as did anda 41-year-old woman fromGosainganj.

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Rae Bareli. He gained accoladesin the underworld following hisdaredevilry in executing crimesand soon became a close aideof Mukhtar Ansari. Sources

said Rakesh came in goodbooks of Mukhtar Ansari andgained latter’s confidence afterthe Krishna Nand Rai murdercase.

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Lucknow: The staff of ThePioneer mourned the suddendeath of Banda district cor-respondent Anjani Nigamdue to coronavirus infectionon Sunday. He was 54.Nigam, who had been asso-ciated with The Pioneer forover 20 years, tested positivefor coronavirus last week.His condition deterioratedon Saturday while undergo-ing treatment in a Banda

hospital and was rushed toLucknow for specialisedtreatment. However, he suc-cumbed to the infectionearly Sunday morning. Hislast rites were later per-formed in Banda. He is sur-vived by wife and two sons.The UP Journalists’Association also held a con-dolence meet in Banda PressClub to condole the death ofNigam.

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Ayouth allegedly acted freshwith a 9-year-old girl

when she was playing outsideher house in Hasanganj onSunday afternoon. Girl’s fatherlodged a case against theaccused, who was detained bypolice later. The accused wasidentified as Jatin Pandit of thesame locality.

As per reports, the girl wasplaying outside her housewhile her father and othermembers were resting insidethe shanty. Around 2 pm, herfather came out of the shantyall of a sudden and saw thatJatin had gagged the girl withher hands folded behind while he was touching herinappropriately.

“I screamed and lunged athim, but Jatin fled the scene.My daughter told me thatJatin used to give her moneyand misbehave with her,” thecomplained alleged. He said hefelt his daughter was in aproblem and hurriedly cameout of the shanty to save her.The police said a case underSection 354 of IPC was regis-tered against Jatin and he wasalso booked under POCSOAct. “Jatin is under detentionand the case has been assignedto a sub-inspector,” the policesaid.

In another incident, a girl

student consumed acid at herhouse in Madiaon on Saturdayevening after being scolded fornot concentrating on studies.She later died during treat-ment at Balrampur Hospital.

As per reports, ShobhitaRathor (18) of Gayatri Nagarpassed Class XII but with lowpercentage. On Saturdayevening, her father RajeshRathor scolded after findingher busy in works other thanstudies. Shobhita felt humili-ated and consumed acid. Herparents rushed her to hospitalwhere she died during treatment.

��� ���The Gudamba police

arrested a drug peddler after abrief chase on Saturday night.The accused was identified asSantosh Singh of LakhimpurKheri. Reports said the policeteam, led by Sanwal Prasad,was conducting a checking atTedhipulia crossing in the areawhen an informer tipped offthe team about the drug ped-dler who was travelling in atempo. The team laid a trap inthe area but the accused got awhiff of police checking. He gotdown from the tempo soonafter it was stopped and fled thescene. The team gave him achase and nabbed him. Theteam recovered 18 grams ofsmack from his possession.

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Mango repository at theCentral Institute for

Subtropical Horticulture is oneof the richest varietal collec-tions of the world numbering780 unique types. The varietieshave been augmented not onlyfrom India but also fromAustralia, Thailand,Philippines, Malaysia,Myanmar Brazil and Florida.

CISH director ShailendraRajan said the institute hasdivided this huge field in banksinto two different blocks on thebasis of their origin. North,East, West and South blockshave varieties from respectiveregions. There is also a block ofexotic varieties and farmers’superior seedling.

“The augmentation ofmango varieties started in 1975when the institute took birth asCentral Mango ResearchStation. Mango varieties werecollected from various fieldgene banks of the country.About 50 years back, nursery-men were one of the mostimportant custodians of mangovarieties. Several explorationswere conducted by the institutescientists for collecting rare andunique varieties from differentparts of the country. These col-lections were made fromOdisha, Maharashtra, MadhyaPradesh, Karnataka,Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand anddifferent parts of Uttar Pradesh.These explorations helped in

conserving gene pool fromimportant mango-growingareas of the country,” he said.

The CISH director saidthat a good number of mangovarieties were collected fromAndaman, northeast states,particularly from Manipur andareas near Myanmar border.“Varieties from these areas areimportant because of havingprimitive characteristics ofmango as the origin of mangois considered from this regiononly. Farmers are regarded asthe most important custodiansof mango varieties maintainingthis heritage for centuries.Several farmers deposited theirown varieties in the field genebank of CISH with their names.CISH has also conserved vari-eties identified by mango loversfrom different parts of thecountry,” he said.

He said that a large collec-tion of mango varieties in thefield gene bank motivates peo-ple for conserving trees ofunique varieties.

“This act helps in the pro-motion of mango variety con-servation. This unique collec-tion has more than 200 vari-eties from eastern India.Interestingly, the varietieswhich were collected fromwest Bengal and Odisha arenow not existing at their placeof origin. West Bengal govern-ment is interested to restore theMurshidabad mango varietalwealth with the help of CISH,”he pointed out.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi launched

‘Agriculture InfrastructureFund’ for development ofinfrastructure in cooperativesector at New Delhi, whichwas live-streamed at theNABARD Regional Office andviewed by senior officers ofUP Government, bankers andcooperators in the presence ofMinister for CooperativesMukut Bihari Varma. The PMinteracted with a few repre-sentatives of farmers andexpressed satisfaction thatrecent initiatives of the Centrehad addressed some of thepressing needs of farmers.

A sum of nearly Rs 17,000crore was released to morethan 8.5 crore farmers underPM-Kisan Samman Nidhi.

Coinciding with theevent, the Minister forCooperatives handed over thein-principle sanction letterfor ‘PACS as MSC’ scheme ofNABARD to Uttar PradeshCooperative Bank (UPCB) atNABARD Regional Office.The in-principle sanction, forextending Special RefinanceAssistance to be provided byNABARD to UPCB for prov-ing loan to 244 PACS withtotal project outlay of Rs 46crore and bank loan ofapproximately Rs 42 crorewas conveyed to UPCB.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the minister appreciat-

ed NABARD’s introduction ofthis refinance facility forPACS which is the last milecredit provider to the farmers.He said UP had been pio-neering many initiatives tostrengthen the ‘farm-gate’delivery system to ensureremunerative prices to thefarmers and would ensurethat PACS become a robustplatform to address the needsof the farmers. Towards thisobjective, the state govern-ment will actively coordinatewith NABARD to transformthe PACS as Multi-ServiceCentres, he added.

Among the dignitarieswho attended the programmeincluded MVS Rami Reddy,IAS, ACS-Cooperatives,GoUP, Jitendra BahadurSingh, Vice Chairman ofUttar Pradesh CooperativeBank, Brijesh Kr Singh, GM& SLBC-Convenor and othersenior of f icers of state government.

Shankar A Pande, ChiefGeneral Manager ofNABARD, said that underthis scheme, refinance toUPCB would be provided ata very concessional rate of 3%by NABARD and the ultimaterate of interest charged toPACS would not exceed 4%.He expressed hope that PACSwould make good use ofNABARD’s scheme to createnecessary infrastructure andprovide services to farmers atground level.

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The Culture department has start-ed working on the making of a

global encyclopaedia of Ramayana,which will document the tangibleand intangible heritage of the epic.Joint director, Culture department,YP Singh said it would have 200 vol-umes.

He said each volume wouldhave a minimum of 1,100 pages with700 being attributed to referencesand originals. “In the first phase ofcoming with the document, we areholding a number of webinars whichwill be followed by extensive docu-mentation,” Singh said.

“The aim is to document theglobal expansion of Indian culturethrough Rama and to provide largedocuments to the future generationand to authenticate the cooperationof the Ramayana as a soft powerdiplomacy in India’s foreign policyand an endeavour to establishRamayana group of countries. Theproposal is to capture the variousaspects of the tangible and intangi-ble heritage of Ramayana — archi-tecture, sculpture, paintings, music,handicrafts, literature etc existing inalmost all countries of the world.After compiling all these tangible andintangible heritage, Ramayana art,culture, literature and way of life willbe presented in a systematic mannerin India and in other countries. Anyinformation related to Ramayana isproposed to be documented. All therecords, documents and researchwork will be published in sections

and chapters as encyclopaedia,” headded. About the action plan, he saidRamayana was so widespread that topublish the encyclopedia ofRamayana as a bibliography, it wasproposed to work on the followingpoints.

Tangible and intangible legacieswill be listed in each state. Based onthese heritage, all available materialalong with architecture, sculpture,paintings, music, literature, Ramlila,picture styles etc will be listed asauthentic. In each state, the servicesof new researchers will also beobtained for on-site survey, selectingthe best experts on the basis of content.

There will be a high level con-sultation committee at the statelevel, through which counsellingwill be provided from time to time.

“An editorial board will beformed in each state. All members of

the board of editors will have theright to nominate them as partnerswho they think are useful in relationto work and content. Ramayanaand its culture is related to animportant and wide area of Indianculture, so special attention will begiven to authenticity in the presen-tation. In the presentation of thearchitecture, at least 10 pictures of anarchitecture should be drawn inwhich one or two pictures can beselected by the committee for pub-lication. Complete details of thearchitecture should be mentioned inwhich the style of the architecture,the year of construction, the mate-rials used, the historical signifi-cance, the present day architectureand the utility of tourism.

The joint director said that whilecompiling the details of the statue, acollection of the sculpture, materi-als used, height and length mea-surement, history and its importancein the present will be collected.

“There are several categories ofpainting such as traditional paintingstyle, miniature painting style, wallpaintings, folk painting style, mod-ern painting style, etc. In all thesepainting styles, the area of traditionof painting should also be demar-cated in which the style of that par-ticular style. There is influence in theregions so that they can becomeclear. A list of currently availablesenior and budding painters shouldalso be made, marking history andtraditions with geographical delim-itation. This work will also be use-ful for cultural mapping,” he added.

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Tanushree, a student ofCity Montessori School,Mahanagar,has beenselected foradmissionby threenoted uni-versities ofE n g l a n d .She hasb e e no f f e r e dadmission by LancasterUniversity, Cardiff Universityand Royal Holloway, Universityof London. Tanushree has gotthis opportunity for highereducation due to her academ-ic excellence and diligence.She has given credit for her suc-cess to the robust academicatmosphere of CMS.

%���� �������Under the 15-day ‘Self-

Reliant India AwarenessCampaign through SocialMedia’, 56 NCC girl cadets ofBabasaheb BhimraoAmbedkar University partici-pated in ‘Be Vocal About Local’online oath programme withLt Rajshree (Associate NCCofficer) and committed them-selves to the use and promo-tion of products manufacturedin the country and also got e-certificates. The campaign wasorganised by the 20 UP GirlsBattalion of Lucknow underthe auspices of the UnionMinistry of Defence andElectronics and InformationTechnology. As many as 56candidates participated in theprogramme.

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Ayouth was found hangingat his uncle’s house in

Madiaon on the interveningnight of Saturday and Sunday.As per reports, Amit Vishwas(27) aka Anup was staying athis uncle Gopal Vishwas’shouse in Paltan Chhawni.His mother had died on July14 following some illness.

Around 1 am, his auntSaraswati Vishwas went to theroom in which Amit wasresting and found him hang-ing from the ceiling. Sheinformed Gopal about thesame. Gopal later called thepolice and a team reached thescene. Investigating officer,sub-inspector Zafar Mehdisaid Anup was hanging fromthe ceiling with a cable tiedaround his neck. Amit wasunmarried.

Gopal told the police thathis nephew Amit was staying

at his house for the past fewmonths. “Amit was upset fol-lowing the death of his moth-er who passed on July 14 dueto some illness. He took toalcohol to get over the men-tal trauma. For the last few days, he was con-suming alcohol. On Saturdaynight, he was drunk andended his life,” Gopal said.

Meanwhile, a joint team ofAshiyana and Krishna Nagarpolice arrested an accusednamed in several crime casesand bearing a cash reward ofRs 25,000, late on Sundayevening.

The accused, identified asPultsya Tiwari of Ashiyana,suffered bullet injuries in hisleg in the firing by the policeafter he refused to surrenderand opened fire on policeteam. The police said they gota tip-off about Tiwari's move-ment in the area and laid a trapto arrest him.

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Amidst coronavirus pan-demic, caste and religion pol-itics has started to heat up inUttar Pradesh with BahujanSamaj Party chief Mayawati onSunday returning to her socialengineering formula in anattempt to appease Brahmins aswell as her traditional Dalit votebase.

While raising question overnot inviting President RamNath Kovind to the bhoomipujan for construction of Ramtemple in Ayodhya, the BSPchief on Sunday made a pollpromise to build hospitalsnamed after religious leaders,including Brahmins, so that thestate could be better equippedto fight epidemics.

“In view of the shortcom-ings of the state and the Centrein fighting the coronaviruspandemic, the BSP govern-ment, if elected to power in UP,will build hospitals named afterParashuram, a symbol of faithof Brahmin society, and pro-vide medical facilities in thename of great saints born in allcastes and religions,” Mayawatisaid.

Referring to SamajwadiParty leader Akhilesh Yadav’sannouncement of installing a108-foot tall statue ofParashuram in Lucknow,Mayawati said the SP wasindulging in appeasement pol-itics in order to earn the votesof Brahmins in the state.

“The fact that the statue isbeing installed just before theelections shows how worsetheir (SP) condition is. Thesociety has faith that BSP doesnot just make promises but alsofulfils them. If people withvices wish to build an idol, we

will respect their demands,” shesaid.

Mayawati further said thatfour times the BSP governmenthad launched several publicinterest schemes in the name ofgreat saints of all classes andalso named districts after them,but the names were changed bythe Samajwadi Party govern-ment due to their casteist men-tality. The names of these dis-tricts would be reinstated afterBSP comes to power.

Parashuram is consideredto be the sixth incarnation ofLord Vishnu by devotees and issaid to have killed many war-riors from the Kshatriya clanwith his battle-axe (parashu)for abusing their power.

Interestingly to wooBrahmin voters, even theCongress has set up a BrahminChetna Samiti led by formerUnion minister Jitin Prasadawho is taking up the issues ofatrocities on Brahmin duringthe present BJP regime.

Mayawati also raised theissue of recent bhoomi pujan inAyodhya though she said thatthere should no politics onRam temple as the matter was

related to religion.“Prime Minister Modi

should have gone to Ayodhyaalong with the President, whocomes from the Dalit commu-nity. Some Dalit saints also keptshouting that they were notcalled for bhoomi pujan onAugust 5. They did not inviteDalit saints but they couldhave invited President RamNath Kovind. A good messagewould have gone to society ifthey had invited the Presidentfor the auspicious ceremony,”the BSP chief said on Sunday.

“Only talking of Ram rajyawill not be helpful to people.They need to implement LordRam’s teaching. There is a jun-gle raj in UP in the YogiAdityanath government. Crimeis increasing with each passingday. There is no Ram rajya inUP,” Mayawati said.

Earlier she had given thecredit for paving the way forconstruction of Ram temple inAyodhya to the apex court.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday took partin the bhoomi pujan for con-struction of Ram temple inAyodhya.

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Torture and harassment of a22-year-old girl by male

cops of Jalaun police afteralleging that she was involvedin a theft forced her to commitsuicide. The incident took placein Naya Ramnagar area of Oraiin Jalaun district where 22-year-old Neeshu, was foundhanging from the ceiling of aroom in her house on Saturdaymorning. She was taken tohospital where the doctors pro-nounced her dead upon arrival.

The news of her deathspread like a wildfire and thefamily members along withlocal residents gheraoed thelocal police station, allegingthat assault and mental traumawhich the victim faced in thehands of cops forced her tocommit suicide.

Her father KalluChowdhary claimed that onFriday, Neeshu and two of herfriends went to Baldau Chowkmarket where some tradersdetained them, alleging that thegirls had stolen a passport. Allthe three girls were later hand-ed over to beat sub-inspectorYogesh Pathak.

The cops took the girls to

police station where all thethree were assaulted and men-tally tortured in the name ofextracting truth. Surprisingly,no female cop was present inthe police station when the girlswere tortured by the malecops. The girls denied havingcommitted any theft and evenasked what they would do withthe passport of someone else.Later in the night, when thefamily members and local res-idents staged demonstration, allthe three girls were releasedand handed over in the custodyof their parents.

Chowdhary said that hisdaughter could not bear thetrauma and later committedsuicide. He demanded actionagainst all the policemen andthe traders who made fakecharge of theft on the girls.

ASP in Jalaun, AwadheshSingh, however, took no action,claiming that they would probethe matter and take actionaccordingly. The cops alsochased away the protesters.

Meanwhile, on the inter-vention of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, five policemen,including the station houseofficer (SHO) of Nagara policestation in Ballia were placed

under suspension and adepartmental inquiry wasordered against them.

The action was taken as theaccused cops brutally assault-ed an innocent family of retiredarmy man. The district magis-trate and the minister inchargeof the district, Anand SwaroopShukla, had sent a report to thechief minister on direction ofYogi Adityanath.

Reports said that RajanPandey aka Jhanku escapedfrom the custody of cops ofNagara police station on July 26after which the cops launcheda crackdown. However, failingto get any breakthrough, thecops picked up retired armyman Ajay Pandey and nine ofhis family members and bru-tally assaulted them. A case wasalso registered against them forgiving shelter to the accused.

When the media high-lighted the issue, the chiefminister on August 1 last askedthe district administration tosubmit a report and finally onhis direction, the then SHORamesh Kumar, beat sub-inspector Krishna Yadav andthree constables were placedunder suspension on Saturdaynight.

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Despite continuous spike inCOVID-19 cases in the

city, rush of women was seenat some ponds includingRamkund at Srinagar Colonyhere on Sunday on the auspi-cious occasion of Lalai Chhath.The women worshiped prayingthe Almighty for long life oftheir sons. They also observedfast without having even a sin-gle drop of water. At Ramkund,the women offered several rit-uals as per their tradition. Thisfestival is famous among thelocal women.

The women also assembledat many other ponds in the cityand performed puja. As per tra-dition, Lalai Chath falls a cou-ple of days prior to Sri KrishnaJanmasthami and the day isknown to celebrate the birthdayof deity Balbhardra, the elderbrother of Lord Krishna. It isobserved on Krishna PakshaShashti in Bhadrapad month.

GANGA RISING:For the second day in succes-sion, the water level of river

continued rising in the city hereon Sunday and during the lastone day, the level was increasedslowly as the river recorded ris-ing by 1.29 centimetres perhour. The level has increasedfrom 61.66 metres to 61.97metres. However, there is noany serious threat of flood yetas the river is still flowing farbelow the warning level of70.26 metres. According toreport received from MiddleGanga Division-III of CentralWater Commission (CWC),

the river Ganga continued ris-ing in Varanasi but its uptrendwas checked at upstreamMirzapur. It was also rising atdownstream Ghazipur butremained steady at Ballia, a dis-trict which separates UP andBihar and surrounded by threebig rivers where Ghagara hadalready created flood havoc insome parts of the district.

TRAINING: BanarasHindu University (BHU) willimpart training to the doctors,staff nurses and paramedical

staff of the state governmentfrom Monday to make availablea better treatment to COVID-19 patients.

The Additional ChiefSecretary and Nodal Officer ofthe district Devesh Chaturvediheld a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor of BHU ProfRakesh Bhatnagar to review thetesting of corona patients, theiradmission and treatment in SirSunderlal Hospital (SSH) andit was decided that the hospi-tal management will imparttraining to the doctors, staffnurses and paramedical staff ofthe government to make avail-able a better treatment to thecorona patients. The meetingdiscussed the availability ofbeds, ventilators, oxygen highflow respiratory humidifiersystem, intensive care unit, etcin the hospital and decided toincrease these facilities as perrequirement.

Recently, as many as 70more beds were made availableto the hospital and with this,the number of beds increasedto 280.

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Amidst tight securityarrangements, the UP BEd.

Joint Entrance Examinations(JEE) was conducted here onSunday in which thousands ofcandidates appeared. Due tothe rush of candidates at sev-eral centres, violation of all thenorms of social distancing wasclearly seen. Over 80 per centcandidates appeared in theexaminations conducted at 109centres in which 39,600 candi-dates were scheduled to appear.

As a large number of can-didates were female, a heavyrush of parents and guardianswas also seen at many centresand despite all the instructionsto maintain social distancing,the same could not be followedat many places. The examina-tions were conducted in twoshifts and the candidates wereallowed to enter the centresonly after thermal scanning. Noone was allowed to enter thecentres without wearing masks.As there were several centres inBanaras Hindu University(BHU), a traffic jam-like scenewas seen at Lanka near BHUMain Gate. There was also aheavy rush between the BHUMain Gate and MahilaMahavidyalaya (MMV). Manyoutside candidates startedarriving here by differentmodes of transport right fromSaturday evening.

BHU UET/PET SCHED-

ULE: The revised schedule forentrance examination foradmission to various under-graduate and postgraduatecourses (UET/ PET) of BanarasHindu University (BHU) hasbeen announced. Entrance testsfor all postgraduate pro-grammes, LLB. (3 years),BEd./BEd. Special Education,BPEd, BFA and BPA are sched-uled in the first phase betweenAugust 24 and 31. The entrance

tests for remaining undergrad-uate programmes includingBA (Hons.) Arts, BA.(Hons.)Social Sciences, BCom (Hons.)/BCom –FMM, BSc. (Hons.)Ag., BALLB -5 years (Hons.),BSc. (Hons.) Maths, B.Sc.(Hons.) Bio, Shastri (Hons.)and different programmes ofB.Voc will be held in the sec-ond phase on September 9, 10,11 and 14. The schedule of thesecond phase of entrance tests

will be available on portal byAugust 17. All eligible candi-dates are advised to downloadthe latest entrance test sched-ule from BHU entrance testportal (www.bhuonline.in). Asper provisions of the UniversityEntrance Test Bulletin, admitcards for entrance tests may bedownloaded from the entrancetest portal around one weekprior to the date of entrancetest.

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Activist Dr Nutan Thakurhas sought registration of

First Information Report (FIR)against the officers of LucknowUniversity responsible for hold-ing today’s BEd examination allover the state.

In her letter to UP CM YogiAdityanath, Nutan said thatwhile the State Government isrepeatedly emphasising mea-sures for containing spread ofcorona but today’s BEd exam-ination made a complete mock-ery of the Government’s inten-tion.

Thousands of peopleassembled at each examinationcentre where the candidatesand other involved personshad to stand in extremely closeproximity to each other andsocial distancing was com-pletely overthrown.

Nutan said all these factswere well known to the exam-ining authorities and had beenrepeatedly brought to theirnotice by the candidates butthey took no cognisance of

these requests. The result is thattoday the public health con-cerns were badly affected andthe battle against corona tooka back seat.

Hence she has sought reg-istration of FIR against theseauthorities at Mahanagar policestation, Lucknow.

Nutan has also sought

postponement of the BEO(Block Education Officer)exam to be held on August 16,202 by UP Public ServiceCommission.

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The Sangam city again wit-nessed a number of corona

patients over 150 for the fifthconsecutive day. As of Saturdaynight, 176 new patients werefound infected. At the sametime, three corona patientsadmitted to Swaroop RaniNehru COVID Hospital alsolost their lives.

Now the number of coro-na patients has reached 3,801and the number of dead hasrisen to 72 in the Prayagraj dis-trict so far. While the numberof corona patients is increasingrapidly, the patients sufferingfrom this disease are also recov-ering fast.

On Saturday, a maximumof 107 patients recovered andwent home. This is the reasonthat the number of curedpatients is 1,768, while as manyas 1,664 patients are currentlyundergoing treatment at differ-ent Covid hospitals in the city.However, since last week ofJuly, the number of coronapatients has increased alarm-ingly.

So far, more than 100patients were being detectedcontinuously for a fortnight.But over the last five days thisnumber has increased to over150 from 100. In this, morethan 200 patients were foundfor two days. On August 7, thenumber of patients hadincreased to 226. CMO Dr GSBajpai said that the report of1,603 samples has been nega-tive, while samples have beentaken for testing of 1,448 sus-pected people. The CMO hasappealed to the citizens toensure that patients with coro-na symptoms go to their near-est testing centre and get coro-na examined.

The death of corona in thedistrict has increased sinceJuly. If one looks at the figures,the situation is normal. Deathrate in Prayagraj is just two percent. Responsible officers havebeen directed by the ChiefMinister to reduce the deathdue to corona. The ChiefSecretary and the PrincipalSecretary, who were gettinginformation about Corona, hadalso informed that if the deathrate is more than four percent, it means more deaths areoccurring but less deathsmeans that the situation is notyet frightening.

To recall, the first coronapatient died in Swaroop RaniNehru COVID Hospital onMay 6 in the district. Thedeceased was an engineer fromLukerganj. Then the numberrose to three in May and sixmore corona patients died in

June. That is, there were onlynine deaths in two months. Thenumber of corona patients wasalso less in those days. The sit-uation turned ugly in themonth of July as the number ofdeaths accelerated in the samemonth and thus 71 patientsdied by the first week ofAugust.

So far, only one patient hadlost his life in Railway CovidHospital of L1, the remaining70 patients died in SRN CovidHospital of L3. Only patientswith a critical condition cometo the SRN Hospital. Doctorssay that 80 per cent of suchcorona patients have died, whowere already suffering fromdiabetes, lung, cancer, bloodpressure, pneumonia and res-piratory disease.

Dr Sujit Verma, the NodalOfficer of SRN Covid Hospital,said that if any one is having

symptoms similar to corona,then he/she should be tested, asthe condition can become seri-ous if it is delayed.

Then it becomes very dif-ficult to save the patient. Thiscoronavirus affects lungs themost, so patients with respira-tory problems should be alert-ed first.

Key facts— 80 per cent ofthe deceased who were alreadysuffering from some disease, 15percent of the dead occurreddue to reaching late in hospi-tal, 05 per cent of the deceasedwere those who had no diseaseearlier.

They underwent treatmentbut could not be saved.Besides, 30 per cent of womenhave lost their lives from coro-na. People over 60 years of agedied the most in the city.Patients under 40 years havethe highest recovery rate.

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In view of rapid increase inthe number of corona cases

the Allahabad High Court haddirected not to allow two pas-sengers on two-wheelers inthe state. It is clear violation ofsocial distancing norms, thecourt observed.

The court, however, hasallowed two passengers on abike or scooter if they are hus-band and wife because theylive together in a house.

The court has directedthe police and administrativeofficers of all the districts toensure strict implementationof the above order.

This order was passed byJustice Siddhartha Varma andJustice Ajit Kumar on a PILseeking better facilities forthe corona patients.

NON-SIT TING OFCOURTS: The Chief Justice,considering the rapid surge innumber of coronavirus casesat Prayagraj and Lucknow on

Sunday taken a decisionand accordingly orderhas been issued to continuenon- sitting of courts onAugust 12, 13, 14, 2020 in theHigh Court of Judicature atAllahabad.

It has been said in theorder that on the aforesaiddates only the urgent matters,mentioned before the ChiefJustice and senior Judge atLucknow, respectively shallbe taken up and no othercourts shall be sitting. There

shall be no physical / e- filingon August 12, 13, 14, 15,and16, 2020.

It is directed that all judi-cial as well as administrativesections of High CourtAllahabad shall not functionon August 12, 13, 14 ,2020.However, keeping in view ofthe backlog matters withstamp reporting ( civil/ crim-inal) and fresh filing sections,they shall function withrequired number of staff onlytill the backlog is cleared.

A L L A H A B A D ( P N S ) :Department of Fashion Designand Embroidery of HamidiaGirls Degree College organiseda webinar on ‘Self-reliant India-Be Vocal About Local’ and theeminent speakers of the webi-nar were Prof Alka Goyal,Dean, College of HomeScience, GB Pant University ofAgriculture and TechnologyPantnagar Uttarakhand, DrNeetu Mishra, HOD HomeScience Department,University of Allahabad and DrMariyam Fatima, AssistantProfessor, Department ofHome Science, Aligarh MuslimUniversity. The speakers pre-sented their valuable viewsand knowledgeable insights on

the topic ‘Self-reliant India : Bevocal about local’. Prof AlkaGoel started her view fromearly decades and said thatlocal is not a new concept andhave been used since thousandof years ago in India, from theMughal era to the SwadeshiMovement and even after inde-pendence the artisan are exper-imenting to bring out theirgood work to compete in themarket with internationalbrands. She explored manyIndian local art works from thefield of textile and range overthe local art work of Indiaincluding Dabu printing fromRajasthan, use of IndigoKalamkari, Banarasi silk hand-loom, Ikkat from Pochampalli

Bhagalpur. Dr Neetu Mishrastated on the promotions ofindigenous products. Shebegan from plastic glasses tothe replacement of ‘kullad’ toenvironmental degradation.She said how the old tech-niques were useful and ecofriendly for survival, but nowa-days adding more technologiesmaking the environmentharmful to sustain. She sharedher experience and motivatedthe attendees. Dr MaryamFatima stated a very basic viewof how day to day activities arelinked with the vocalisation oftalent and how the flexibilityof education important and dueto the change in the NewEducation Policy. New voca-

tional courses are being intro-duced in colleges and how itwill help to the people to gen-erate income .On concludingshe told about Mahila-e-Haatan organisation to help womenentrepreneurs. The webinarended with the questionanswer session. Dr RehanaTariq praised all the threespeakers and urged to exchangethe students and teachersamong the state of India tolearn their basic skills and to bevocalised. This will upgrade theknowledge on how to be selfreliant and to make ourselvesgo ‘vocal for local’. Blessingsand well wishes was given bythe manager of the collegeTazeen Ahsanulla.

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The district has seen yetanother big spike as 294

COVID-19 patients have beendetected here on Sunday. It wasthe second highest number ofcases found in a day after 312detected on August 7. Withthis, the total number of caseshas crossed 4500-mark as it hasreached 4,555. Besides, thedistrict also saw two moredeaths increasing the toll to 81.During the day, the follow-upnegative reports included 139patients recovered from homeisolation and the total numberof patients cured at home hasincreased to 1,312 while 47recovered from the hospitals.With this, the total number ofpatients discharged from thehospitals has reached 1,443while the total number of curedpatients is 2,755 leaving 1,719active patients.

According to the ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) DrVB Singh, in the first reportreceived by 11 am during theday, as many as 195 new coro-na patients were found out of1,648 reports received fromMicrobiology department ofBanaras Hindu University(BHU). Till then, the total testreports received were 57,541and the results of 6,583 exclud-ing 1,103 RTPCR samples col-lected a day ago are awaited.Out of these, 53,085 were neg-ative reports while 4,456 pos-itive. The total number of sam-ples collected was 65,227.Earlier, a woman aged 35 fromRanipur (Mehmoorganj,Bhelupur) and a male aged 51from Nehru Nagar (Sigra) diedduring their treatment at SirSundarlal Hospital (SSH) inBHU and Apex Hospital

respectively. With the additionof 18 red zones, the total num-ber of hotspots has increased to1,067 including 387 red zones.Besides, there are 680 greenzones including 22 new ones.

Meanwhile, after finding ofmany journalists and residentsof Patrakarpuram Colony asCOVID-19 positive, a rapidantigen testing camp wasorganised at Paradkar Bhawanin which as many as 68 tests ofmedia personnel and theirfamily members were doneand out of them, 10 were foundpositive. During the camp,District Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma and CMOalso visited there and advisedthe positive suspected patientsto take home isolation. Theywere also informed that in

case of any problem theyshould inform the Healthdepartment so that they can beadmitted to Covid hospitals.

Earlier, this region contin-ued finding of a large numberof corona patients when 613cases were detected onSaturday. The maximum num-ber of 196 cases was found inVaranasi (4,261), followed by94 in Ballia (2,281), 81 inAzamgarh (1,622), 52 inJaunpur (2,682), 42 inGhazipur (1,634), 38 inChandauli (1,115), 37 inMirzapur (1,061), 37 in Mau(690), 22 in Sonbhadra (818)and 14 in Bhadohi (760). Outof total 16,924 corona positivecases, 9,398 have been curedeither at home isolation ordischarged from hospitals and

the recovery rate was 55.53 percent. With the increase indeath toll to 224, the mortali-ty rate has slightly declined to1.32 per cent.

According to SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Amit Pathak, the police of var-ious police stations arrested asmany as 67 persons underSection 51 of CrPC and tookaction under Section 51 ofDisaster Management Actagainst 629 persons. Besides,during checking at 14 borderand 49 police checking points,as many as 1,068 vehicles werechallaned and six seized. Apartfrom this, �59,300 were realisedfrom 77 vehicles while�2,33,300 from 3,046 personsfor moving on the roads with-out wearing masks.

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District Magistrate SushilKumar Patel himself took

the command of the adminis-trative arrangements for ensur-ing the fair conduct of BEd

entrance examination onSunday. The DM inspected allthe examination centres andissued the necessary directivesto the officials deployed onduty.

DISPOSAL OF CASES:District police secured the topposition in July in the stateregarding the disposal of casesregistered through IGRS. Forproper disposal the districtsecured 100 marks and stood atthe top among 75 districts ofthe state, as per the rankingdeclared by CM portal. For the

achievement Superintendentof Police (SP) Dr DharmveerSingh praised the incharge,IGRS cell, inspector SajidSiddiqui and his team for work-ing sincerely and disposing ofcases through a regular follow

up. To provide justice to com-mon people the governmenthas introduced the online sys-tem to register grievancesthrough it and such applica-tions are regularly monitored ateach level of the system. Theteam after registering the casesent it to the police station con-cerned, sought the report,contacted the aggrieved andafter their satisfaction consid-ered it as disposed and thenreported to the authorities con-cerned.

TWO HELD: Katra

Kotwali police have arrestedtwo in connection with an FIRlodged at the police station forhindering the governmentwork and manhandling a gov-ernment employee. As per thereports received here, PrashantKumar the teacher Junior HighSchool Ratangarh had lodged anFIR on Saturday in which he hadstated that Nanhaku, Ishtakarand Ashraf, residents ofRatanganj, had abused and mis-handled him and created a nui-sance when he was getting theboundary wall of the schoolrepaired. Thereafter the policeswung into action and arrestedtwo accused in this connection.SHO Katra Kotwali RameshChandra Yadav said that raidswere being conducted for nab-bing the third accused.

DRIVER SERIOUS: Atruck fell into the ditch nearKhappar Baba turn underAhraura police station. Ongetting information the policereached there, rescued the dri-ver and sent him to a hospitalat Varanasi in a serious condi-tion, last reports received heresaid. The driver was identifiedas Ramchandra Yadav, a resi-dent of Mahdepur village underAurai police station, Bhadohi.The owner of the said truck(UP-63/T-8772) had reachedthe spot on the information ofthe police.

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The Saiyadraja police arrest-ed two liquor smugglers

from Jethmalpur Tiraha duringchecking. They recovered 24cartons of liquor from them.The smugglers were trying totake the liquor to Bihar on awhite Safari. According toinformation received here,Gullu Ram, son of SanjeevKumar, and Mohammad RaviShah, son of IslammuddinShah, residents of Buxar districtof Bihar, had been arrested. Awhite Safari was recoveredfrom which 1,152 bottles of

illicit liquor had been seized.Syedaraja inspector LakshmanParvat said that these peoplesmuggled liquor illegally andcarried it to Bihar and sold it atexorbitant prices. Based onthe information from aninformer the arrest was madeand action was being taken.

GANJA SEIZED: A jointteam of Mughalsarai Kotwalipolice and STF recovered 225kg ganja from two vehiclesfrom Chakia trifurcationaround 8.30 am on Saturday.Meanwhile, the team appre-hended five people on thecharges of smuggling ganja.After this the police broughteveryone to MughalsaraiKotwali. Police registered acase against the arrestedaccused and was taking furtheraction. The police said that costof the ganja was �50 lakh. Toavoid police the accused hadput a tin sheet tin on the vehi-cle and coated it with cow dungin order to avoid suspicion. OnSaturday the STF andMughalsarai Kotwali policereceived information that ganja

was being carried in two four-wheelers At this the team start-ed checking the vehicles atChakia trifurcation. Policestopped two vehicles on thebasis of suspicion. CO SadarKunwar Prabhat Singh saidthat a tin sheet was placed onthe vehicles with a cow dungcoated on them and ganja waskept in sacks under it. A totalof 225 kg ganja was recoveredfrom both vehicles. On chargesof smuggling ganja Shafaqat, aresident of an area underGauroj police station area inVaishali district, Abdul Latif aresident Durg district inChhattisgarh, VedprakashUpadhyay and Ranjit Dubeyresidents of an area underKadipur police station andRanjit Kumar of an area underthe Lambhua police station inSultanpur district have beencaught. The team which madethe arrest comprisedMughalsarai Kotwali inchargeShivanand Mishra, S-ISatyendra Vikram Singh, S-ISTF Satyendra Vikram Singh,head constable Prem Singh,Prahlad Singh, ArvindBhardwaj and head constableSTF Brijesh Singh, PradeepSingh, Anil Singh Chandel,besides Pramod Singh andconstable Pritam Kumar.

LOST BAG FOUND: Aman had dropped his bag con-taining money nearDamodardas pond underMughalsarai Kotwali. On beinginformed by people theChandhasi outpost inchargeSatendra Vikram Singh helpedin ensuring its safe delivery toits rightful owner. It is learnttold that while going fromVaranasi to Kaimur Bhabhua aman had dropped his bag con-taining important documentsand �20,000 there. On beinginformed the outpost inchargeSatyendra Vikram Singh wentthere and kept the bag safelywith him. After some timeone person reached there look-ing for it and after necessaryinvestigation the outpostincharge returned the bagalong with money to him. Ongetting his lost money alongwith the bag back his joy knewno bounds.

BODY RECOVERED:The body of a youth was recov-ered from a drain in Roja

Colony under the MughalsaraiKotwali on Saturday morning.On getting information, thepolice reached the spot and gotthe body out from there. Aftertaking necessary action theysent the body to the districthospital for the post-mortemexamination. It is feared thatthe victim may have been killedtwo days ago and his body wasdumped there. From theAadhaar card found in theyouth’s pocket it came to lightthat he was a resident of WestDelhi. On this basis, theKotwali police was trying toreach his house. Like everydaysome persons were walking inRoja Colony under theMughalsarai Kotwakili onSaturday morning when some-one spotted the body in thedrain. They informed thepolice and Kotwali inchargeinspector Shivanand Mishra,reached the spot. Later, thepolice somehow got the bodyout of the drain. There werebruises on several parts of thebody of the deceased. Onsearching the pockets of hispant, an Aadhar card, a PANcard and a voter ID were found.The name of Manoj Pandit waswritten on the Aadhaar card,while the address was of Delhi.After this the police took thebody into custody and afternecessary action sent it to thedistrict hospital for the post-mortem examination. In thisregard CO Sadar KunwarPrabhat Singh said that anattempt was being made tocontact the family on the basisof the documents found in thepockets of the trouser ofdeceased. On the other hand,after getting the post-mortemexamination report would thecause of his death be ascer-tained, he added.

WOMAN ENDS LIFE:Fed up with family feud amarried woman, Chanda (22)wife of Dharamjit, ended herlife by hanging herself when noone was present in the house inBhatraul village under theShahabganj police station hererecently. On getting informa-tion about the matter, thepolice reached the spot,brought down the body andafter necessary action sent it tothe district hospital for thepost-mortem examination.

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The body of a student of classIX, Deepraj (14), was found

in Harpur village under theGola police station on Saturday.On getting information aboutthe recovery of the boy’s bodynear a pond his family mem-bers and men in khaki reachedthere. The body of the victimhad many bruises. After itsidentification his body wassent for the post-mortemexamination. The motivebehind the murder is not clearyet, last reports received heresaid. According to information,the victim, Deepraj, was a stu-dent of an inter college inKakarhi. Late on Friday nighthis father, Chunnilal, got a callon his mobile phone and thestudent spoke to the callerconcerned. He then left thehouse a little later. His familythought that he had gone to

sleep in another house but inthe morning the some vil-lagers were shocked when theysaw his body lying along thepond in the garden of NayakanTola with bruises on his neckand other parts of his body.During police investigationmurder by strangling is comingto the fore.

The father of the victim,younger of two brothers,earned his livelihood by drivingan auto-rickshaw. The exactreason behind the murdercould not be ascertained yet.The forensic team too also inves-tigated the matter. Circle Officer(CO) Gola Shyamdev said thatthe case was being investigatedafter registering a case againstsome unknown persons on thebasis of the application receivedin this connection. He claimedthat the case would be workedout soon.

FOUR INJURED IN

ATTACK: Four persons wereinjured when knives were usedto attack one another during aclash in Siarampur Tola inJainpur under the Gulrihapolice station. The four seri-ously injured persons hadbeen admitted to a hospital.The police have taken fiveaccused into custody. It islearnt that two youths werestanding in front of the houseof Shailendra Pratap, a residentof Siarampur Tola. When heasked them the reason behindtheir standing there unneces-sarily at night they got angry.After some time they arrivedthere in a group and startedfighting. In the quarrel Pintu,Shivpujan, Ankit andShailendra sustained injuries.Meanwhile Station HouseOfficer (SHO) Ravi KumarRai said that five persons hadbeen taken into custody fromboth sides.

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Union Minister for RoadTransport and Highways

Nitin Gadkari hinted at thelaunch of electric trucks onIndian roads soon.

The government is alreadyworking in this regard, hedisclosed.

Gadkari said work onfacelift of the roads of manystates, including Uttar Pradeshand Bihar, was already goingon.

The road transport minis-ter said it would now take only45 minutes for transportationof goods from Meerut toDelhi. Besides, he said, asagainst 55 hours taken fortransporting goods from Delhito Mumbai, the time would bereduced to just 26 hours.

Speaking at the virtual

Vyapaari Sammelan organ-ised by Bharatiya UdyogVyapaar Mandal on its 39thFoundation Day on Sunday,Gadkari said the condition ofIndian roads was rapidly beingupgraded and the governmentwas thinking about launchingelectric trucks on Indianroads.

He said work for upgrad-ing the roads in Uttar Pradeshand Bihar was being carriedout on a large-scale and dur-ing the next two years, thecondition of these states woulddrastically change.

He said many countrieswere now inclined to associatethemselves with India andtheir investments in Indiawould generate employmentfor the people of the countryand increase their purchasingpower. With the increase in

production, Indian economywould also be strengthened, headded.

Gadkari said the continu-ous suspension of trade activ-ities during lockdown was notjustified. He said traders couldcarry out their business activ-ities by changing the schedulefor customers.

The minister said peopleshould learn to live with coro-navirus. On getting a vaccineto contain the virus, theywould soon regain their pace,he added.

He said traders shouldregister themselves in GST,make transactions throughbanks, promote good packag-ing of their products withproper attention on logistics.These all would help them inrapid promotion of their tradeactivities, he added.

Gadkari said that insteadof migrating to cities, peoplein villages should enhancetheir trade there itself. “UttarPradesh and Bihar can play apivotal role in this,” he added.

The minister said every-one was in distress in the pre-sent scenario and all trade andindustry people were in quag-mire. “This is the time forthem to march ahead with thehelp of others with the use oflatest techniques,” he added.

The Vyapaari Sammelanwas chaired by BharatiyaUdyog Vyapar Mandal nation-al president Shyam BehariMishra from Kanpur whilesenior vice-president of theorganisation, Mukund Mishra,conducted the proceedings.

Traders from all over Indiaparticipated in this onlineconvention.

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Around 30 per cent candi-dates were found absent in

the BEd Joint EntranceExamination 2020 held in thecity on Sunday. This was thefirst entrance examinationconducted in the city amidstcoronavirus pandmic. In com-parison to their admit cards,centre managements paid moreattention on whether the can-didated had mask and sanitis-er. After thermal scanning andpulse oximeter test, the candi-dates had to pass through sani-tising tunnel to enter the col-lege. At some of the centres, theinvigilators were seen dis-charging duties in personalprotective equipment.

There were 68 centres inthe city to accommodate 31,000candidates in the BEd entrace

examination on Sunday. In thefirst session, around 30 per centcandidates were found absentdue to fear of contracting coro-navirus or for other reasons.

Entry was allowed at theexamination centres one hourbefore the scheduled time.During the entry, physical dis-tancing norms were followedand the invigilators checkedwhether the candidated hadmask and sanitiser. Each cen-tre was paid � 20 per candidatefor sanitising the classroomduring morning and eveningsessions. At the HarsahaiDegree College on P Road,invigilators checked the tem-perature and blood oxygenlevel of candidates with thermalscanner and pulse oximeter.

Out of the 500 candidatesscheduled to take the test in themorning session, 250 wereabsent at Harsahai Degree

College.At Dayanand Girls’ Degree

College in Civil Lines, also, outof 300 candidates scheduled totake the test in the morningshift, only 229 appeared in theentrance exam.

At DAV College, 60 percent presence was registeredwhile at DBS Degree College,out of 1,000 candidates, 730appeared in the exams.

At PPN Degree Collegeand VSSD College, 252 candi-dates each were found absent.

As most of the regularteachers refused to dischargeduties during COVID-19 pan-demic on pretext of their high-er age or illness, the collegemanagement had to outsourceinvigilators.

City coordinator DrSandeep Singh, associate pro-fessor at CSJM University, saiddirectives had been issued to

arrange separate seating ofcandidates suffering from feveror cold. He said biometricpresence and photo copy ofadmit card were made manda-tory for the candidates.

He also inspected the cen-tres with the team of LucknowUniversity during the first ses-sion.

President of Self-FinancedCollege Association VinayTrivedi said in the past, around90 per cent candidates used toappear in the BEd entranceexams and this was the firsttime that such a large numberof candidates had missed theentrance exam. He said thiswould impact the admission toBEd course. Trivedi said thestate government should alsoallow admission to the absentcandidates in the last coun-selling to enable all colleges tofill up their allotted seats.

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UPSIDA Chief ExecutiveOfficer Mayur

Maheshwari, who is Covidnodal officer for Kanpur Nagar,has stressed on following 3Ts —test, trace and treatment — forcontaining the spread of coro-navirus in the district.

He said the moment aperson tested positive for coro-navirus infection, a messageshould be sent to him or herstating what precautions he orshe had to take.

Maheshwari said the con-tol room should play a majorrole in this regard and shouldapprise a minimum of 1,000people of the facts relating toCOVID-19.

He said people above 60years of age should be con-tacted daily on phone by thecontrol room and a specialteam should be deployed for

this. He said each team needto contact at least 400 suchpeople and find out if theyfaced any health problem. Hesaid a detailed list of such peo-ple be prepared and theirblood pressure, blood sugarlevel and other serious ail-ments be monitored.

He said those in home iso-lation should be monitoredregularly.

Maheshwari said in casesuch people had some healthproblem, they should imme-diately contact 18001805159so that proper treatment couldbe given to them. The nodalofficer said such people shouldbe given the facility oftelemedicine.

He said the RRT, whichwas looking after the homeisolation cases, should contact

all such cases and visit theirhomes and carry out check-upwith the help of pulse oxime-ter, thermal scanning. He saidall the people who were inhome isolation should becalled and their present con-dition should be cross-checked.

Later Maheshwari visitedthe control room and checkedfacts. He then visited the CivilLines containment zone.

He asked the municipalcommissioner to ensure thatall the areas in containmentzone were sanitised on prior-ity.

Prominent officials pre-sent in the meeting includedDistrict Magistrate BR Tiwari,Municipal CommissionerAkshay Tripathi, ADM (CivilSupplies) BL Agarwal, PramodKumar, Himanshu Gupta andChief Medical Officer Dr AKMishra.

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Kanpur Nagar MayorPramila Pandey has lashed

out at the LLR Hospital author-ities for their mismanagementand warned that stern actionwould be taken against them ifthey did not mend their ways.

She carried out an inspec-tion of the LLR Hospital andsummoned the health officialsand gave them a dressingdown.

The mayor said that when-ever a team came fromLucknow for inspection it wasmisguided. She said the factwas that the entire functioningat LLR hospital was in a chaos.

Pandey said that manypatients had complained thatwhen they reached the LLRHospital they were refusedadmission and guided to pri-vate hospitals and once theircondition worsened they werereferred back to the LLRHospital due to which manypatients had died. She said themodus operandi of the healthofficials had come under sharpcriticism.

She said the cause of thehigh number of deaths in LLRHospital was initial denial ofadmission to serious patientswho were first referred to pri-vate hospitals.

The mayor then held ameeting with the health offi-cials, including Chief MedicalOfficer Dr AK Mishra, GSVMMedical College Principal DrRB Kamal, Chief MedicalSuperintendent Dr Richa Giri,Dr Manish Singh, Dr PremSingh and several others.

The mayor asked them toimproved the working of thehospital. She said the stategovernment was sanctioninghuge budget but it was notbeing managed efficiently.

Pandey said there washardly any hoarding in the cityto inform people about pre-cautions to be taken to sage-guard oneself from coronavirusinfection. She directed them toput up awareness hoardings.She warned them of sternaction if things did notimprove.

KANPUR (PNS): Noted childspecial education expert ShikhaAgarwal, while addressing awebinar organised by Prerna,school for special children, onSunday said differently-abledchildren often witness a changein their attitude especially inthe lockdown period.

She said it was the duty ofthe parents to keep in touchwith especial trainers so thatthey can keep a track on suchchildren and keep them phys-ically and mentally healthy.

Agarwal said special schoolconcept was an accepted modelof education for persons withdisabilities throughout theworld.

She said in India alonethere were over 3,000 specialschools and institutions forthe specially abled children.

She said threr were around900 institutions for hearingimpaired children, 400 for chil-dren with visual impairment,1,000 for mentally retardedand 700 for children with otherphysical disabilities.

She said in most of the spe-cial schools in India, the cur-riculum followed was similar tothe one prescribed for non-dis-abled children of the same agegroup.

Agarwal said the popula-tion of children with disabili-ties in the school-going agegroup varied in their disabili-ties, therefore, alternativeapproaches were emerging.

She said integrated educa-tion was one such alternativestrategy which emerged out ofcompulsion rather than option.

She said in special schoolsconcept, special educationcomponent was apart from thegeneral education systemwhereas in integrated school,special education was a part ofgeneral education.

Agarwal said the modernconcept was inclusive schoolsand this approach was that spe-cial education was an integralpart of general education sys-tem. She said thus inclusionwas an ideology and not a pro-gramme.

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#9$��� ����������"KANPUR (PNS): Kanpur Nagar reported 341 new cases of coro-navirus infection on Sunday.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Anil K Mishra said that 341 morepeople tested positive for coronavirus infection between Saturdayevening and Sunday evening, taking the tally to 8,436.

He said with 40 COVID-19 patients being discharged fromhospitals, 2,580 infected persons had been cured and there were4,768 active cases in the city. The CMO said with 15 moreCOVID-19 deaths in the city, the death toll stood at 276 onSundayday. He said 1,540 samples were taken for testing.

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Aday before the launch ofthe 2,300-km optical fibre

cable connectivity project inAndaman & Nicobar, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidon Sunday that the UnionTerritory would be developedas a hub of 'blue economy' and'high-impact' projects would bedeveloped in 12 islands.

The Prime Minister wasinteracting with BJP workers ofAndaman and Nicobar Islandsthrough a video conference inthe presence of party presidentJ P Nadda.

The meeting comes a daybefore inauguration of thesubmarine optical Fibre cableconnecting Chennai and PortBlair which would provide fastinternet to the archipelago.

The submarine cable,which will also connect PortBlair to Swaraj Dweep(Havelock), Little Andaman,Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great

Nicobar, Long Island, andRangat of the Island group, isexpected to transform life inthe remote Island includingdefence, business and tourismsectors.

An estimated 2,300 km ofsubmarine optical fibre cablehas been laid at an expenditureof about �1,224 crore and theproject has been completedwell within deadline.

“The internet connectivi-ty in Andman and Nicobar willgo through a sea change afterthe inauguration of the facili-ty on Monday. This will facil-itate online education, tourismand business in the island,” saidthe Prime Minister who alsopointed to the strategic loca-tion of its ports which he saidare established in “competitivedistance” with many placesand countries.

He said “high-impact pro-jects would be developed in 12islands” and Andaman andNicobar would emerge as a“blue-economy” front in thecountry.

Addressing the workers,Modi again stressed on “do gajki doori” and the importanceof wearing facemask to keepaway coronavirus. “We need toinsist on these two things andalso spread awareness...”, thePrime Minister said.

Modi said in the time ofpandemic it is important that“dialogue should continue”with all and “ we should beuseful for all”.

During the interaction,party workers described tothe Prime Minister how theyprovided food and medicalaid to people stuck in theisland during the lockdown.Modi praised their efforts inserving the distressed people inthe island during the coron-avirus pandemic saying “youhave passed with f lyingcolours”.

He asked party workers tocontinue their work with thespirit of ‘Seva hi sanghthan’motto.

The total number of coro-navirus patients in Andamanand Nicobar Islands reached1,222 on Saturday. The UnionTerritory has 778 active cases,while 425 have been cured ofthe disease so far. In all, 19patients have died in theislands.

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Ahead of the RajasthanAssembly session,

Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot has appealed toall MLAs to listen to the voiceof people to save democracyand stand with the truth in theinterest of people of the State.

In a letter to all MLAs,Gehlot sought their coopera-tion in fulfilling the promisesof development and prosperi-ty of the State. “It is my appealthat you should listen to thevoice of people in order toavoid wrong tradition, to main-tain people's trust in us and tosave democracy,” Gehlot said inthe letter.

The Assembly session inthe State, which has been wit-nessing politicial turmoil afterthe rebellion by former DeputyCM Sachin Pilot and legislatorsloyal to him, will start onAugust 14. Gehlot is likely toseek a trust vote during the ses-sion

Pilot was sacked as deputyChief Minister and the presi-dent of the State unit of theCongress after he and someMLAs loyal to him rebelledagainst Gehlot. Many believethat Gehlot still has an edge inthe numbers game and is con-fident of a majority.

“You may be a legislatorfrom any political party, you

should ensure and take a deci-sion after understanding voter'sfeeling that how a people'selected government continuesto work strongly for state'swelfare,”, he said, emphasisingthat efforts to destabiliseGovernment are not succesful.

The Chief Ministerexpressed faith that legislatorswill act in the larger interest ofpeople of the state and willcooperate in fulfilling thepromises of development andprosperity.

In the three-page letter theChief Minister also wrote aboutthe novel coronavirus pandem-ic besides mentioning “attemptsto topple his Government”. Thesenior Congress leader also saidthat former Prime Ministers -Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi,Atal Bihari Vajpayee - faceddefeats during elections, “butthey didn't let the institution ofdemocracy weaken”.

“I appeal to all of you thatto save the democracy, to ensurethat voters continue to trust usand a wrong precedent is not setby us, you all should listen to thevoice of people. While respect-ing the sentiment of your fam-ily members, your voters, pleasechannelise your efforts in ensur-ing the government - elected bythe people - continues to deliv-er with all its strength,” the 69-year-old leader wrote.

“I am confident that you all

with stand with the truth andwill contribute in deliveringpromises made to the public,” hesaid.

“Amid the pandemic, weshould all be concerned aboutfighting coronavirus... savinglives, economy, jobs. The stateGovernment is working dayand night for this. At such atime, some of our colleaguesand opposition leaders are try-ing to conspire against us... thisis unfortunate,” Gehlot's letterread.

Between 1993 and 1996,“similar attempts were made tomake such deals in order to top-ple the Bhairon SinghShekhawat government,” hementioned.

“At that as the UnionMinister and state's party chief,I had raised objection with(former Rajasthan governor)Baliram Bhagat and ex-PrimeMinister PV Narsimha Rao,stressing that it's against thedemocratic values to topple anelected government. Voters herewill never want that such aprecedent is set,” the ChiefMinister added.

Victory and defeat are a partof election cycles but the “peo-ple's mandate is the mostimportant,” he stressed.

“Our fight is to save democ-racy, it will continue. We willwin. Truth shall win... peopleshall win. All the MLAs -

whether those from the rulingparty or opposition - will winwho don't want the governmentto be destabilised,” Gehlot tweet-ed on Sunday.

Gehlot has claimdd that hehas the support of 102 MLAs,one above the majority mark.The BJP has 72 MLAs. Both theparties have been guarding theirflock amid the crisis.

BJP MLA Nirmal Kumawathad alleged that the Congressgovernment in Rajasthan was“harassing” opposition MLAs,and said they were on a pil-grimage to Somnath to seekmental peace.

Congress MLAs are cur-rently holed up in a Jaisalmerhotel as the party has accusedthe BJP of horse-trading fol-lowing the revolt by Pilot and 18MLAs loyal to him.

Pilot and his 19 MLAs in hiscamp are at resorts in BJP-ruledHaryana.

Earlier this week, the BSPappeal seeking a temporaryfreeze on the merger of its sixformer legislators withRajasthan's Congress govern-ment, was dismissed by theHigh Court. The six MLAshave sought transfer of the caseto the Supreme court.

If there is a freeze on themerger, Gehlot's numbers willdrop and he will have a tougherfight on his hands in case of atrust vote.

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Despite the loss of 4.5 lakhhectare crops due to floods

in 11 States and 20-60 per centdeficiency in rainfall in eightStates, kharif cultivation is all setfor a new record with sown areaunder many crops includingmajor oilseeds and cottonexceeding the normal area.

According to kharif sowingdata released by the AgricultureMinistry, a total of 966 lakhhectares were planted till date,nearly 10 per cent more than878 lakh hectare sown in thecorresponding week last year.Though there is nearly twomonths left in the season,paddy plantation such as rice,soyabean, cotton, maize andgroundnut already surpassedthe normal sown area.

The data shows that thereis a spectacular 17.36 per centincrease in rice planting too. Ascompared to 274.19 lakhhectare planted in same weeklast year, the area under rice sofar is nearly 322 lakh hectare, anincrease of 47.60 lakh hectare.

Telangana, Bihar,Jharkhand, West Bengal,Odisha, Chhattisgarh,Mahrarashtra have reportedmore paddy plantation so farwhile Assam, Punjab andHimachal Pradesh reported

less area under rice sowing.Similarly, there is a 4.22 per centincrease in area under pulseswith moong exceeding its nor-mal area and urad and arharinching closer to the respectivenormal areas.

Total under pulses so far isclose to 119.59 lakh hectare asagainst 114.77 lakh hectareplanted in the same period lastyear, an increase of 4.82 lakhhectare.

India has received 531.6mm rainfall as against the nor-mal of 533 mm so far while over1.33 crore population havebeen affected due to floodsacross India. According to theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment, the rain deficien-cy in Nagaland recorded 25 per-cent, Manipur 46 percent,Mizoram 26 percent, Tripura 10percent, Delhi 33 percent,Himachal Pradesh 34 percent ,Jammu and Kashmir 52 percentand Rajasthan 22 percent, so farwhile Assam, Bihar, Gujarat,West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala,

Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradeshare among those States reelingunder the flood.

As per the central watercommission report, most of theriver in the country are over-flowing or above the dangermark.

As against the designatedarea of 110 lakh hectare, soy-abean is sown over 118 lakhhectare so far.

Similarly, cotton has cov-ered 123.64 lakh hectare asagainst the normal area of 121lakh hectare. The area sown inthe same week last year was118.73 lakh hectare. At 47.29lakh hectare, groundnut plant-ing is nearly 44 per cent morethan 32.86 lakh hectare in thecorresponding week in the pre-vious kharif season.

The normal area undergroundnut is 41.41 lakhhectare. Against the assignedarea of 74.73 lakh hectare,maize is planted over 75.88lakh hectare already.

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The National GreenTribunal has directed the

Delhi DevelopmentAuthorithy (DDA) to fileresponse oo a plea allegingthat a lake in east Delhi isbeing polluted by operation ofboat services.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson, Justice AdarshKumar Goel, also noted thesubmission that concretisa-tion around trees is takingplace in violation of its orders.

“Let DDA file its responsewithin one month failingwhich coercive measuresunder Section 25 of theNational Green Tribunal Act,2010 read with section 51 ofCPC may be the only optionleft with the Tribunal. Theresponse be filed by e-mail,”the bench said.

According to the appli-cant, he made a representationto the authorities but the samehas not been acted upon.

The Delhi Tourism andTransportation DevelopmentCorporation told the benchthat no pollution is beingcaused in operating boats onthe lake.

With regard to the issue ofconcretisation of the trees,action is to be taken by DDA,the tribunal noted.

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Former Congress chief RahulGandhi on Sunday hit out at

the Centre over loomingunemployment in the country.He accused the Narendra ModiGovernment of failing to meetits promise of jobs for two crorepeople every year, and thenenacting policies that“destroyed India's economicstructure” and left crores with-out jobs.

His attack on theGovernment came as theCongress' youth wing launcheda “Rozgar do” campaign withthe objective to raise the voiceof the youth against allegedunemployment prevailing inthe country.

“When Narendra Modibecame the Prime Minister, hepromised the youth of thecountry that he will give jobsto two crore youth every year.He sold a dream, but the real-ity is that 14 crore people havebecome unemployed due tothe policies of Narendra Modi,”Rahul alleged.

Rahul alleged that theModi Government's decisionof demonetisation and its“faulty” implementation ofGST and the lockdown have“destroyed” the economicstructure of the country.

“Why did this happen?Because of wrong policies.Demonetisation, faulty imple-mentation of GST and thenlockdown - these three stepshave destroyed the economicstructure of the country andthe truth now is that India can-not give employment to itsyouth,” the former Congresschief said in a video messagehe tweeted.

Therefore, the IndianYouth Congress has hit thestreets, he said, expressinghappiness that the IYC willraise these issues in all townsand streets.

“Please join the 'RozgarDo' programme and alongwith Youth Congress, get jobsfor the youth of this nation,”the Gandhi scion said.

He also congratulated theYouth Congress on the occa-sion of its foundation day andurged them to keep fighting forthe youth of the country.

Expressing solidarity withthe campaign, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra said “youth power” isIndia's strength.

“As opposed to the BJPGovernment's job-destroyingpolicies, there is a need to cre-ate more and more employ-ment opportunities for theyouth of India,” she said onTwitter.

“Rozgar Do is the demandof young India. Employment isthe need of young India,” shesaid.

Under the “Rozgar Do”campaign, the voices of theunemployed youth will beamplified all over the country,the IYC said.

“Anti-youth policies of thecentral government will behighlighted among the youthof the country through socialmedia and other mediums,” itsaid in a statement.

Several Congress leadersposted videos on social mediavoicing concerns over allegedrising unemployment in thecountry.

Congress' chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala saidthe demand of every youth ofthis country is “Rozgar Do”(give employment).

“We all demand, it is ourright that the youth of thecountry should get employ-ment on the basis of qualifica-tions and get ahead in theprogress of the country,” hesaid.

Several Congress leaderslike Digvijaya Singh, DependerHooda, Gaurav Gogoi, RajeevSatav, Gaurav Vallabh andRagini Nayak called foremployment opportunities forthe youth on social media aspet of the campaign.

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The far-flung tribal village ofChullyu in Arunachal

Pradesh will soon be bustlingwith spinning and weavingactivities with Khadi andVillage Industries Commission(KVIC) set to open the first ofits kind Training cumProduction Center of Silk inthe State.

Conceived just six monthsago, the Centre will belaunched in the first week ofSeptember. The KVIC hasrefurbished and converted adilapidated school buildinginto the training cum produc-tion center. The school build-ing has been provided to KVICby the education department ofArunachal PradeshGovernment zero rent.

Machinery like handlooms,Charkha, Silk reeling machinesand warping drums havealready arrived and installationof machines are in full swing.The first batch of 25 local arti-sans of Chullyu village hasbeen selected to begin thetraining with.

The project was conceivedin February this year during thevisit of KVIC Chairman ShriVinai Kumar Saxena to thistribal village Chullyu.

Identifying a great potential ofsilk production and other activ-ities of village industries in thevillage, Saxena sanctioned set-ting up of training cum pro-duction center for the Eri Silk,which is traditionally worn bylocal tribals.

The work, however, pro-gressed at a slow pace due toCovid-19 lockdown.

Recently KVIC also dis-tributed 250 honey bee boxesin Chullyu village which hasrich flora for production ofhigh-altitude honey.

Located on the main high-way just 30 km before themost popular tourist spot Ziro,Chullyu is a scenic villageknown for its eco-friendly waysof living. It is easily approach-able by tourists which is anadvantage for the local artisans.

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Incessant honking, loud con-struction activity, loud-

speakers at odd hours amongother noise pollution actionswill attract fines ranging from�1,000 to �1 lakh, country’s toppollution watchdog CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) has proposed.

The new fines have beenproposed in response to a setof cases going on in theNational Green Tribunal(NGT) regarding noise pollu-tion wherein the applicantscomplained that despite sever-

al court orders, the problem ofnoise pollution continues in thenational capital.

In November 2019, abench headed by the NGTchairperson A.K. Goel had

asked the CPCB to look atrevising fines for burstingcrackers and for repeated vio-lations. The tribunal had alsoasked laying down stringent

compensation for tamperingwith the sound limiters.

In a report filed with theNGT in June this year, theCPCB came out with a string

of penalties for violation ofnoise pollution norms.

For instance, violation ofnorms regarding the use ofloudspeakers/public addresssystem can result in seizure ofthe equipment and a fine of�10,000.

Similarly, violation ofnoise pollution norms regard-ing the use of diesel genera-tor sets can result in sealing ofDG sets and a fine of �10,000to �100,000 depending uponits size.

The violation in cases ofsound-emitting constructionequipment can result in a

fine of �50,000 and its seizureor sealing.

The violation of noisenorms while bursting fire-crackers beyond the timelimit (prescribed by theSupreme Court) could attracta fine of � 1,000 (in the resi-dential, commercial or mixedzone) and �3,000 (in a silencezone).

But in case of violation ofnorms during public rallies,marriage procession or anyreligious event, a heavier fineof �10,000 could be levied onthe organiser in residen-tial/commercial or mixed

zone and � 20,000 in a silencezone.

In case of the first viola-tion of noise rule within afixed premise in a functionorganised by the resident wel-fare organisation, a marriagefunction, public or institutionevent, banquet hall, openground functions, a fine of�20,000 may be levied whilea second violation couldresult in a fine of �40,000.

However, more than twoviolations could result in afine of �100,000 and sealingof the premises, as per theCPCB proposal.

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Tele-consultation medicalfacilities –eSanjeevini and

eSanjeevaniOPD- launched bythe Centre is finding goodresponse from the patientsstuck at home due to the ongo-ing Covid-19 pandemic.

About 1.5 lakh tele-con-sultations have been complet-ed on the tele-medicine serviceplatforms of the Union HealthMinistry.

“It is planned to implementtele-consultation in all the 1.5lakh Health and WellnessCentres (as spokes) in a ‘Huband Spoke’ model, byDecember 2022,” said a seniorofficial from the Union HealthMinistry.

So far, eSanjeevani andeSanjeevaniOPD have been

implemented by 23 States whileothers are in the process ofrolling it out.

Union Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan in a reviewmeeting said, “We have start-ed implementing the vision ofDigital India through broad-band and mobile phones at theAyushman Bharat - Healthand Wellness Centres.

“This has substantially aug-mented our health infrastructure during theCOVID pandemic”.

Echoing similar senti-ments, Minister of State forHealth Ashwini K. Choubeysaid that it would be a“gamechanger for people in therural areas who do not haveeasy access to medical specialists located in cities”.

Presently, telemedicine is

being provided through morethan 3,000 HWCs in 10 States.

Owing to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, theHealth Ministry launched thesecond tele-consultation ser-vice enabling patient-to-doctortelemedicine through‘eSanjeevaniOPD’ free of cost inaround 20 States.

Presently, on an average,around 5,000 consultations perday are provided through both themodes (eSanjeevani andeSanjeevaniOPD). Thetelemedicine platform is host-ing over 40 online OPDs, morethan half of these are speciali-ty OPDs which include gynae-cology, psychiatry, dermatol-ogy, ENT, ophthalmology, anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for theAIDS/HIV patients, non-com-

municable diseases (NCDs)etc.

The top ten States whichhave registered highest con-sultations through eSanjeevaniand eSanjeevaniOPD platformsare Tamil Nadu (32,035 con-sultations), Andhra Pradesh(28,960), Himachal Pradesh(24,527), Uttar Pradesh(20,030), Kerala (15,988), fol-lowed by Gujarat (7127),Punjab (4450), Rajasthan(3548), Maharashtra (3284)and Uttarakhand (2596).

The majority share in thedoctor-to-doctor eSanjeevaniconsultations at AB-HWCs hasbeen of Andhra Pradesh(25,478) and Himachal Pradesh(23,857) while Tamil Naduleads in the patient-to-doctoreSanjeevaniOPD services with32,035 consultations.

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Niti Ayog member Dr VKPaul on Sunday said India

has 1,466 cases per millionwhereas the world average,into the seventh month of thepandemic, is around 2,500 permillion even as he warnedpeople not to be complacent ifcases begin to decline.

“The trailer is over I think,but we are still before theinterval,” he said at a webinarorganised by the IndiaInternational Centre on thetopic towards a holistic long-term medicare system.

He pointed out that cur-rently, India is experiencing theworst phase in its fight againstCovid-19 with a total of 64,399new coronavirus cases getting

reported in the last 24 hours,taking the overall caseload to21,53,011, while the death tollmounting to 43,379 with 861fresh fatalities.

But there may be a silverlining said Dr Paul.

Citing the day-wise dailynew cases data, he said, “If welook at the five-day movingaverage, we could see somekind of stabilisation; I do notknow whether it is true or ran-dom, that only time will tell.Maybe, there is something outthere, which is indicating thatwe may have moved away from

the exponential rise and wemay be stabilising. But that onlytime will tell.”

Dr Paul said that the firstphase of the Covid-19 pan-demic was in the most popu-lous cities, in the western halfof the nation, where the pan-demic originated.

It seems now that the pan-demic in this part of the coun-try is now reaching some kingof peak. “As we have seen in thecontext of Delhi,” he added

Dr Paul said, “We still havelarge swathes of our geographyand large swathes of our pop-ulation, which are naive tothis virus. The virus loves peo-ple, the virus loves dense places,the virus loves irresponsible cit-izens who do not look aftertheir respiratory secretions anddo not maintain physical dis-

tance.”He insisted that mortality

rates in India continue to below and in terms of response,home-based isolation protocolshave succeeded. “Deaths will beimprinted in pages of history,how many deaths happened inthis pandemic in a givennation? Need to keep a sharpeye number of deaths? In caseof fatality rate, India is currentlyat 2.06 per cent. Some stateshave below 1 per cent casefatality rate. The highest wehave seen for a state is 6 percent or little above 6 per cent”said Dr Paul.

He insisted that in Indiathe mortality burden so far hasbeen on the lower side. “Wewould like to keep our casefatality rate below 1 per centand it is possible,” he added.

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An interesting anecdote doing therounds among military veterans’groups on social media pertainsto an incident just after the 1971war. A young officer performing

duties of the Regimental Adjutant, the prin-cipal staff officer to the Commanding Officer,was approached by an extremely engagingand popular ex-serviceman — who wasemployed by a well-known corporate — foran authority letter to continue drawing can-teen stores from his unit. This was a commonoccurrence in those times when smart cardswere yet to make an appearance. However,on a hunch, the officer decided to obtain ver-ification of his antecedent prior to signing thecertificate from the office that maintaineddepartmental records.

Surprisingly, it turned out that the indi-vidual was a deserter from the Army and hadabsconded from his unit during the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 while his unit wasdeployed in the combat zone. On receipt ofthis information, as was expected, the ex-sol-dier was apprehended and questioned. Heaccepted his guilt and explained that after hisunit was overrun by the Chinese, he success-fully evaded them and escaped to Bhutanwhere he got himself a job. One thing led toanother and he settled into civilian life andnever rejoined the Army. As is customary, hewas brought before a court-martial; was foundguilty and sent off to serve time in jail.However, the commanding officer being akindly soul and displaying immense empa-thy for the convict, convinced his companyto retain him on the rolls, while also arrang-ing to look after his family till he had servedhis sentence. Thus, on his return, the formersoldier not only got his job back but was alsoable to finally shed his sense of guilt andapprehension that had haunted him allthose years.

This is a simple straightforward tale ofbeing held to account for one’s misdeeds,which fortuitously ended well for the soldierand his family, despite all the trials and tribu-lations that he must have faced. A contrari-an view would suggest that in all likelihood,he had probably been traumatised by hisworld collapsing around him when his unitdisintegrated in battle, leaving him to fend forhimself. Given his experience and mental state— where there was no sufficient ground formitigation — should he not have beenabsolved of all wrongdoing? Of course,while this question may draw differing con-clusions, depending on one’s point of view andinterpretation of the law, what cannot be dis-puted is that he was guilty of fraudulentlyattempting to obtain benefits authorised onlyto military veterans. He deserved to be heldto account. Ironically, the account does notmake clear whether the latter aspect wasglossed over or even considered.

But here is the thing that the young sol-dier was undoubtedly an insignificant cog inthat vast military machine and yet, he was heldto account for the error he had committed.

One wishes that those responsi-ble for derailing the military andforcing it and this country to livethrough years of ignominy ofdefeat had also been meted outjustice in a similar manner. Thesad truth is that they got awaywithout being held accountableas neither resignations — like thatof Krishna Menon or GeneralThapar, the Army Chief — nordeprivation of further promotion,as some others faced, can becalled punishment enough. Atthe minimum, those responsibleshould have certainly faced dis-ciplinary proceedings, maybeeven have had their pensionsstopped, as was the case withGeneral AAK Niazi after he sur-rendered in Dhaka. After all, sur-rendering 37,000 square km ofthe territory that we claimed asours to the Chinese was nosmall matter. Yet, how did werespond to this humongous dis-aster? Shamefully, to say theleast, the Government did trans-fer the individual entrusted withthe defence of India, the thenDefence Secretary O Pulla Reddy,but subsequently nominated himas the founding Vice Chancellorof Andhra Pradesh AgriculturalUniversity. Talking of secondchances.

Our unwillingness andinability to fix the blame for actsof commission and omission atthe highest levels have ensuredthat no lessons are ever learnt. Wehave also gone on to perfect theart of deflection as the Kargil dis-

aster clearly showed. There wasno reason why Atal BihariVajpayee’s attempts at engagingPakistan should have led tocomplacency on the part ofeither the intelligence or thesecurity establishment. It was allvery well to have blamed it on“systemic intelligence failure”but why nobody thought it nec-essary to ask the question: Whilethe intelligence agencies mayhave failed to discern Pakistan’sintentions, how was it that the lat-ter occupied our territory with-out detection by the Army?Instead of taking it to task, wemade much of our top militarybrass, treating them as heroes forreclaiming — at great cost onemight add — what we should nothave lost in the first place. Ofcourse, the Government of theday could not have acted in anyother manner as that wouldhave been seen as a blemish onits performance as well.

Naturally, we are again wit-ness to this sordid cycle as theChinese once again make foolsout of us. The same clichedexcuses are being trotted out thatunfortunately, the “Wuhan-Mamallapuram spirit” made oursecurity establishment compla-cent and we were, thus, caughtwrong-footed as intelligenceagencies were unable to detectChinese movers or gauge theirintentions. The security establish-ment hopes to save itself theblushes by pushing the blame onits favourite whipping boy, “sys-

temic failure.” In this case, thecurrent border managementpractice that ensures a ratheropaque division of responsibili-ties between the Army and theIndo-Tibetan Border Police.

One can be certain that theywill manage to avoid being heldto account this time as well. Notleast because of the way PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasattempted to change the narra-tive by denying any ingress or lossof territory and instead promot-ing through his minions “differ-ing perceptions of the LACbetween both sides” to fudge theissue. He hopes — and not with-out good reason given the blindsupport he enjoys — this willallow him and his Governmentto carry on as if it is business asusual. Unfortunately for him, theunexpected appearance in thepublic domain of the Ministry ofDefence report on the ingress bythe PLA — though now with-drawn — does suggest that thereare those within the Governmentwho have serious reservationsabout his actions and have nocompunction in showing him upfor dissembling.

Normally, in a bureaucraticand hierarchical system such asours, it is often the case that thoseleft holding the baby, so to say, arenot necessarily the ones respon-sible for its procreation in the firstplace. We would certainly nothave found ourselves in the pre-sent situation if the previousGovernment, and this one, had

shown even a modicum of inter-est in national defence and kepttheir eye on the ball. Modi findshimself in an extremely difficultsituation, not because theManmohan Singh Governmentwas negligent, which it certain-ly was, but because of his owndeliberate neglect of the militarysince 2014. He made all the rightnoises but had no time for themilitary, except for where ithelped his own political fortunes.

Similarly, General Rawatwould not have found himselfcaught in this controversy todayif he had not been appointed theChief of Defence Staff after pan-dering to Modi’s wishes. He can-not escape responsibility for hav-ing sabotaged the MountainStrike Corps (MSC) midwaythrough its raising while he wasChief of Army Staff. One mayrecall that it was after the ingressby the Chinese in the DepsangSector in 2013 that the dysfunc-tional Manmohan SinghGovernment understood theseriousness of the issue andsanctioned the raising of theMSC. Its raising was given fullattention by the Army Chief andwas of immense concern to theChinese because they clearlyunderstood the shift in the intentof the Indian armed forces froma purely defensive posture to amore pro-active one. It changedthe concept of Sino-Indian con-ventional deterrence.

Thus, one can imagine theirutter joy when the Modi-Doval-Rawat combine put the spannerin the works and put the MSCinto forced hibernation. Thiswas allegedly done because ofbudgetary constraints, some-thing that apparently had noimpact on the unbridled expan-sion of the Central Armed PoliceForces. It is obvious that purelydefensive actions on our part willnever restore the status quo ante,which we are insisting upon, inthe foreseeable future. If we donothing, the loss of territorywill be a body blow to our rep-utation in the region and inter-nationally.

In the long run, as happenedwith Nehru, it will be the ruina-tion of Modi. His reputation willsuffer, his ability to stay in powerwill be constrained and he will bereduced to a caricature. Ironically,while Nehru continues to shoul-der much of the blame for prob-lems that afflict us today, Modiand his minions will not havethat advantage. They will have tobear the consequences for theiractions. There is something to besaid for poetic justice and that oldadage, “As you sow, so shall youreap.”

(The author, a military veter-an, is a consultant with theObserver Research Foundationand a Senior Visiting Fellow withThe Peninsula Foundation)"������ ������������������*����

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Sir — Despite several rounds oftalks between India and China,no solution appears to be insight with regard to the bordercrisis along the Line of ActualControl. Clashes at Galwan wereproof enough that China cannotbe relied upon. It attacked Indiansoldiers without any provocation.To top it all, China’s expansion-ist tendencies and greed for grab-bing weaker landlocked territorythrough unfair means are a never-ending phenomenon. India’s rela-tionship with Russia, though onan even keel, cannot be ignorantof the former’s support to China.It is doubtful if Russia will extendus any help in case of a conflict.It is, thus, imperative that Indiaforges a military pact with the USto keep a check on China’sassertiveness, aggressiveness andother nefarious activities.

RashmiVia email

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Sir — In view of the COVID-19pandemic having battered theeconomy, it was expected that the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)would come up with another ratecut but it left it unchanged at fourper cent. Instead, the Centralbank has allowed financial insti-tutions a special one-time dispen-sation to restructure loans which

are stressed due to the pandem-ic. Indeed, a rate cut at this junc-ture would have meant little.Unless demand is generated,units will continue to gasp for sur-vival despite the repaymentbreather.

The Monetary PolicyCommittee has also called for theappointment of an expert com-mittee to frame a window underthe prudential norms for speedyresolution of stressed loans.Besides, the gold loan-to-value

ratio has been increased to 90 percent. This will pave the way for arobust rise in the quality andquantity of loans. While extend-ing forbearance, it is imperativefor the banks to be diligent andcautious to prevent good moneyfrom turning into NPAs.

ShivanshVia email

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Sir — The Kashmir problemneeds to be tackled with sensitiv-ity. The people of Jammu andKashmir have suffered enough.All possible aid should be provid-ed to them. Kashmir should betransformed into a world-classtourist destination. Establishinggood colleges and other techni-cal institutes will help theKashmiri youth compete equal-ly with the rest of the nation asthey are talented and given toinnovation. By setting up goodmedical colleges and hospitals,public health needs can be takencare of, too.

Ashok MalikVia web

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After the release of the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s (RBI’s) half-yearly FinancialStability Report (FSR) on July 24, shares

of banks and finance companies were batteredat the stock market. Though the private banks(PVBs) like ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank, BandhanBank got seared, the public sector banks (PSBs),too, bore the brunt of the bloodbath on the bours-es. The mayhem exposed the structural weak-nesses of the Indian banking system and theseverity of the Non-Performing Asset (NPA) cri-sis looming over them.

As the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Dasemphasised (and his sentiment was echoed bythe Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission)the soaring NPAs and the consequent capital ero-sion of the banks would need immediate recap-italisation of both PVBs and PSBs.

To alleviate the pandemic-created stress onborrowers, the RBI has already placed a mora-torium on the payment of loan instalments anddeferment of interest payments till August 31.However, the banks are fearing — as articulat-ed by the HDFC Chairman — that even solventborrowers may take advantage of this relaxationand not repay their loans. This would furtherworsen the financials of the banks.

The FSR has also acknowledged that thereis a major risk that the moratoriums may haveserious implications on the financial health of thebanks. Overall, about 50 per cent of all loans —65 per cent of Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSME) borrowings and 56 per centof retail loans — were under moratorium as onApril 30, against only 39 per cent of corporateloans. The PSBs have a larger share — 58 per cent,82 per cent and 80 per cent respectively for cor-porate, MSME and individual loans, as against20 per cent, 43 per cent and 34 per cent respec-tively for the PVBs.

As far as Non-Banking Financial Companies(NBFCs) are concerned, 56 per cent, 61 per centand 46 per cent of the loans are under morato-rium respectively for these categories. The sce-nario is really disquieting. The RBI has assumeda contraction of the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) by 4.4 per cent, gross fiscal deficit of 10.9per cent and Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) of4.1 per cent as the baseline scenario assumingsteady recovery from the second-half of the cur-rent fiscal. The GDP contraction and fiscal deficitnumbers may be a tad too optimistic, given thesevere economic disruptions with no end in sight.

The FSR has stated that the Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of ScheduledCommercial Banks (SCBs) stood at 14.8 per centwhile their Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA)ratio stood at 8.5 per cent in March. But it pro-jected that the GNPA ratio may worsen furtherto 12.5 per cent by March 2021 under the opti-mistic baseline scenario and may escalate to 14.7per cent under a severely-stressed scenario.

The implications of these numbers areindeed very serious. As of March, the total NPAsof SCBs stood at �8.62 lakh crore; at the base-line scenario which seems a bit hopeful, thiswould rise to around �13 lakh crore and at theworst case scenario to �15 lakh crore, at whichlevel, all undercapitalised and overleveragedbanks would cease to be going concerns.

In fact, the pandemic has wiped out all thework done so far by the SCBs by using a largepart of their capital to correct their balance sheets

— which was so assiduously pursuedby the RBI during the last few years.This has seen a steady decline in theirGNPA ratio from 11.5 per cent inMarch 2018 to 8.5 per cent in Marchthis year. Though this reduced theirCRAR, however, it still remained abovethe Basel III-compliant RBI norms.Now, the loans are likely to rise to a 20-year high as a result of the crisis trig-gered by the pandemic.

As the RBI Governor said in theforeword to the FSR, “The financial sys-tem in India remains sound.Nonetheless, in the current environ-ment, the need for financial interme-diaries to proactively augment capitaland improve their resilience hasacquired top priority. In the evolvingmilieu, while risk management has tobe prudent, extreme risk-aversionwould have adverse outcomes for all.”

Under the current crisis, risk aver-sion, both by banks and borrowers, isonly to be expected as evidenced by thebanks parking their excess liquiditywith the RBI instead of lending. Creditdemand has not picked up despite theeasing of the lockdown and financialvulnerabilities are likely to be amplified,leading to a further deterioration in theasset quality of the banks due to the pil-ing up of mountains of bad loans.

As a 90-day window is given forpaying the loan instalments to keep theloans from being classified as NPAs, theexact position would be known only inDecember after the expiry of the mora-torium on August 31. But there is anurgent need to recapitalise the banks —both PSBs and PVBs — for buildingstronger buffers for them to be able toabsorb the losses.

The recapitalisation bond route bywhich the Government issues bonds tothe banks, which promptly invest them

in Government securities, is nothingmore than an accounting trick. Apartfrom increasing the Government’sinterest liabilities, it rarely addresses thedeeper structural problems of thebanks.

While the GNPA ratio of PSBs mayincrease to 15.2 per cent under the base-line scenario (16.3 per cent under theworst-case scenario), the ratios of thePVBs and even the foreign banks arelikely to increase to 7.3 per cent and 3.9per cent, respectively. Erosion of thecapital will shrink the system-levelCRAR of the banking sector as awhole from 14.6 per cent in March to13.3 per cent by next March under thebaseline scenario and to 11.8 per centunder severe stress conditions.

Five banks will fail to meet the min-imum prescribed CRAR level of nineper cent by March 2021 — five morewill be close (under 10 per cent) with-out merger or recapitalisation whichmight increase their systemic resilience.However, mergers of PSBs, now prac-tically stalled because of the lock-down, have their own problems. TheNPAs of the State Bank of India (SBI)worsened after its merger with associ-ates two years ago, with write-offs andpersistent slippages eating into profitand capital both, besides impeding thegrowth of credit.

Other mergers — Bank of Baroda(BoB) with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bankand Punjab National Bank’s (PNBs)1993 merger with the New Bank ofIndia also faced many problems. It isunlikely that the current mergers ofhealthy banks with weak banks willimprove the health of the banking sys-tem as a whole; in any case, they willnot cause any significant reduction ofthe NPA ratios of the amalgamatedbanks. Then there is the added danger

of spillover effects from the NPAs ofNBFCs, which are still unable to recov-er from the IL&FS shock of 2018. Banklending to NBFCs had increased dra-matically from �3 lakh crore inDecember 2016 post-demonetisation to�8 lakh crore in May this year. Anyincrease in their NPAs will automati-cally trigger a contagion, leading to fur-ther deterioration of the banking sys-tem. The gravity of the situation can-not be overemphasised.

The structural problems with therecovery of bad loans have remainedunresolved even after operationalisationof the Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC). Of the total claims of �3.52lakh crore from 190 companies (tillDecember 2019), �1.52 lakh crore (43per cent) has been recovered, which ofcourse was a significant improvementover the earlier recovery rate of 10 percent. But only two cases — BhushanSteel and Essar Steel — accounted for49.5 per cent of the overall recoveries.

Given the huge number of case-loads — 1,961 as of December 2019 —and the time taken for disposal by theNational Company Law Tribunal(NCLT), the system is already gettingclogged like never before. With lowcredit offtake and higher NPAs, bankswill be forced to further lower thedeposit interest rates — already at therock-bottom — and drive depositorstowards the equity market or gold. Thisis hardly a recipe for revival. TheGovernment and the RBI must urgent-ly reassess the across-the-board mora-torium policy and limit it only to thehardest-hit, address the delays in IBCresolution and not further alienateand drive away the depositors.

(The writer is a former DirectorGeneral at the office of the CAG of Indiaand an academic.)

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The roots of the concept of theState lie in the political ideas for-mulated in ancient Greece and

the Roman Republic. Greek philoso-phers Plato and Aristotle write of the“polis” (the city State) as an ideal formof association, in which the religious,cultural, political and economic needsof the citizens can be satisfied. Theancient Roman idea of res publica ismore similar to the modern conceptof the State. The res publica was a legalsystem, the jurisdiction of whichextended to all Roman citizens, secur-ing their rights and determining theirresponsibilities.

However, it wasn’t until the 16thcentury that the modern concept of the

State fully emerged in Europe. Betweenthe 17th and 19th centuries, the ideawas expanded and developed in theworks of philosophers like John Locke,Thomas Hobbes, Jean-JacquesRousseau, Jeremy Bentham and KarlMarx. By the 19th century, the conceptof the State as we know it today, hadbeen practically established in variousregions of Europe.

According to the noted politicalanthropologist Professor Irfan Ahmad,till the 17th century, “the State gov-erned by not governing.” Seldom didit interfere in most affairs of its sub-jects. Its main interest was to extractlevies and taxes. Its administrativescope was limited. The French philoso-pher, Michel Foucault, claimed that thescope of the State began to expandfrom the 16th century. The idea of theState in non-Western regions was nodifferent. According to Irfan Ahmad,the nature of the State in Muslim-majority regions and in regions beingruled by Muslims was also static. It wasonly interested in gathering taxes andaiding the monarch and his vassals to

retain their wealth and power. The State as we know it today, is

thus a comparatively recent constructand a product of political and econom-ic modernity. So what do conceptssuch as “Islamic State” or “Riyasat-i-Madina (State of Madina)” reallymean? Such terms are often used byideologues and politicians in Muslim-majority regions. The thinking behindthem is that Islam is inherently polit-ical and its sacred texts lay out a blue-print for a State run by laws prescribedby Allah. Those who hold this viewinsist that such a State came into beingwith the arrival of Islam that activelyregulated every political, economic andsocial aspect of the community.

Irfan Ahmad writes that till the16th/17th century, the working of theState, even in powerful Muslimempires, was as limited as it was innon-Muslim realms. He adds that theidea of an Islamic State is actually notmore than a 100 years old. Accordingto the works of Egyptian scholars AliAbdel Raziq and Sa’id al-Ashmawi,theologically, Islam treats faith and the

concept of State separately and, in fact,puts more emphasis on faith and howit can operate as a moral guide.Ahmad writes, “to impose the mod-ern concept of the State on 7th centu-ry Arab society is misleading.” Becauseof infrastructural weaknesses, theState could not have expanded itsscope beyond a handful of duties, evenif it wanted to.

The Syrian academic and histori-an Aziz Al-Azmeh, in a widely-debat-ed 1990 essay Utopia and IslamicPolitical Thought, demonstrates thatthere is no political theory (about aState) in classical Islamic politicalthought. Fact is, those who insist thatthere is, are simply projecting the mod-ern concept of the State on ancient andmedieval Islamic polities, reimaginingthese polities as Islamic states whichinfluenced almost every aspect of thelives of their citizens. According toAhmad, such projections are the resultof ideas that first emerged in the early20th century.

One of the pioneers in this respectwas the prolific South Asian ideologue

and Islamic scholar Abul Ala Maududi.Ahmad writes that, as a young man,Maududi was associated with TheMuslim, a daily that took an anti-British, pro-Congress Party positionand promoted Muslim-Hindu unityand a secular set-up in India. However,after 1937, Maududi changed hisstance, especially when Jinnah’sMuslim League began to press for aseparate Muslim-majority State.Ahmad writes that all major politicalplayers in British India had becomesmitten by the concepts of the State andnationalism introduced in the regionby the British colonialists. The MuslimLeague began to speak about a MuslimState, the Congress about a post-colo-nial secular Indian State and theLeftists about a socialist State.

Rejecting all these concepts asungodly, Maududi came up with thetheory of Government of Allah orIslamic State. He then set out to for-mulate a new political theology, byinterpreting Islamic scriptures in thecontext of the State. In a 1941 essay, hewrites, “In reality, the classical Arabic

word deen approximately has thesame meaning which the word Statehas in the contemporary age.” Notingthat the modern State regulates almostevery facet of people’s lives, he contem-plated the creation of an Islamic Statethat would regulate every aspect of itscitizens’ lives according to laws laiddown by the Islamic scriptures.

Maududi understood the MuslimLeague as a secular Muslim national-ist organisation. So, to neutraliseMaududi’s criticism, Pakistan began toborrow his ideas. Yet, Maududi’s ownparty could not gain much tractionamong voters. This was probably dueto the aforementioned ploy by the Stateand, more so, because from the mid-1970s, even non-religious partiesbegan to adopt ideas from Maududiand fused them with their secular out-look. His ideas in this context reachedcompletion as an elaborate theory inhis 1979 magnum opus, FourFundamental Concepts of the Quran.

The theory suggested that anIslamic State existed during the earlydays of the faith because the sacred

scriptures were treated as an all-encompassing political constitutionand that such a State fell away becauseof corruption and needs to be re-enact-ed. Interestingly, this is the narrativepopularised by the Imran KhanGovernment. Though Maududi’s the-sis was inspired by largely Europeanideas of the State, this does not both-er those who take the revisionist his-torical claims of his theories as fact.

Ever since the 1980s, wheneverthere are claims and promises made bya variety of ideologues and leaders inthe Muslim world, about workingtowards an Islamic State, it is assumedthat it is rooted in the workings of a7th century Islamic realm. Accordingto Ahmad, objective history does notsupport this. As Egyptian scholarNasr Abu Zayd says, “Religious scrip-tures are at the mercy of the ideologyof its interpreter. For a communist,they would reveal communism, for afundamentalist they would be funda-mentalist text, for a feminist it wouldbe a feminist text, and so on ...”

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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The death toll in Friday’slandslide at Munnar in

Kerala reached 42 as search andrescue team retrieved 17 deadbodies by Sunday evening. Therescue team had retrieved 25dead bodies on Saturday. Afamily of 18 members wereperished in the disaster leavinga lone survivor.

Efforts are on by the NDRFteam to locate the workerswho were washed away in theearly morning water rush. Butthose engaged in the operationsaid that chances of locatingany more survivors wereremote because of the prevail-ing weather condition.

The Kerala Governmenthas come under severe criti-cism from opposition parties asthey alleged that the solatiumof �2 lakh granted to thedeceased by the administrationwas low compared to what

was offered to those who killedin Friday evening’s air crashinvolving Air India ExpressDubai-Kozhikode flight. TheKerala Government haddeclared �10 lakh each to thefamilies of those who lost theirlives in the air crash.

Union Minister of State forExternal Affairs who visitedMunnar and Rajamali said thatthe Kerala Government shouldbe more humane in its approachtowards the victims of the land-slide in the High Ranges. “Acompensation matching thesolatium allocated to thedeceased in the air crash shouldbe provided to victims inMunnar landslide,” said theunion minister.

Inclement weather contin-ued to torment most of the 14districts in the State on Sunday.The State Disaster Committeehad issued red alert in seven dis-tricts while orange alert has beenissued in six districts on Sunday.

Death and destructionwere reported from variouslow lying lands in the districtsof Alappuzha, Kottayam,Pathanamthitta and Idukki insouthern Kerala. Situation wasno different in Wayanadu,Kozhikode, Thrissur andMalappuram as rivers in allthese districts have been over-flowing since Saturday.

The Main Central Roadconnecting Angamali withThiruvananthapuram wasflooded in various places andthis threw traffic out of gear inmost places. According toIndian MeteorologicalDepartment many districts inKerala are likely to receiveheavy rainfalls on Mondayalso. There are strong possibil-ities of sea waves of 4 meterheight hitting the coastlinefrom the southern end to thenorthern tip of the Kerala coastin the next 24 hours,announced the IMD.

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The uninitiated may see thisas the standing proof of the

Social Justice for which theDravidian political parties stageagitations across Tamil Nadu.But this has resulted in creat-ing a serious wedge betweenthe Hindus and Christians inthe State and the responsibili-ty lies with the Hindu Religiousand Charitable EndowmentDepartment of Tamil Nadu.

More than four grounds ofprime land belonging to thefamous Sri GangadareswarTemple in Chennai’sPurasawalkam area has beengiven free on rent to theSalvation Army, an organiza-tion engaged in proselytization.“The Divisional Head Quarters

of the Salvation Army operatesfrom the premises along witha Church, absolutely free of costas the HRCE has given it onRent Free basis to the Church,”said TR Ramesh, president,Temple Worshippers Society,Tamil Nadu.

Ramesh said the land andbuilding given to the SalvationArmy are worth �2.5 lakh peryear but the HRCE has not col-lected anything till date fromthem. This land and buildingbelong to the Temple Trust andas per the by-laws governing

the Temple properties, the landor building can never be rent-ed out or leased or sold to anon-Hindu organization.

It may be remembered thatthe Madras High Court hadasked the HRCE Departmentin 2018 to inform the courtabout the “whereabouts” ofthe 50,000 acres of Templelands in the State to which theDepartment is yet to give anyreport.

The HRCE officialsremained incommunicado .according to Ramesh, theyrefused to partwith any infor-mation despite his efforts to getthe terms and conditions onwhich the premises has beengiven to the Salvation Army.

H Raja, national secretary,BJP, who launched the HinduTemples Reclaim Movement

has some shocking informationwith him. “We took a samplesurvey of the temples. In thesurvey, we uniformly foundthat 5 per cent of the templesexists no more. Among the38,646 temples, we estimatethat at least 1,800 templescould have been demolished togive way to buildings and shop-ping complexes. Then, at least20 per cent of the temples havebeen abandoned or are under-used,” said Raja.

Ramesh had some star-tling information to make onSunday. “Peaceful soldiers ofAbrahamic religions along withpseudo Hindus haveencroached the SreeKailasanathar Swamy Templeat Raasipuram and built pub-lic toilets right next to the tem-ple,” said Ramesh.

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Afake lieutenant colonel res-ident of Nurpur, Ludhiana,

who cheated people in thename of being admitted to theArmy, was questioned by theArmy Intelligence and intelli-gence agency in the districtprison. Along with this, the siteof arrest of this fake lieutenantcolonel was also checked.

It is said that the ArmyIntelligence also closelyinspected the vehicle recoveredfrom the fake colonel. Theyalso recovered three SIM cards.It has been told that there are15 cases of cheating on this fakecolonel in Punjab as well as inHaryana and Rajasthan. Policeof three states were looking for

him.Pradeep alias Piru, a resi-

dent of Nurpur Ludhiana, usedto cheat people in the name ofbeing recruited into the armyby being a fake lieutenantcolonel in the name of hisbrother Shravan Singh son ofGurmel Singh. He had takenseven and a half lakh rupees inthe name of enlisting in thearmy from Ramkumar, son ofKalicharan, resident ofKudwara village of Mont policestation in Mathura district.

While registering a reporton Ramkumar's statement, thepolice detained a fake lieu-tenant colonel in uniform in acar near Battodevi School invillage Bhilpur. Fake PAN card,fake ID, fake canteen card,

fake identity card, fake educa-tional records were recoveredfrom him.

After the fake lieutenantwas caught, the ArmyIntelligence is also trying tofind out to whom its wires areconnected. A four-memberteam of Army Intelligence ledby Major Gaurav Niranjaninspected the arrest site on andrecovered three SIM cards.

Pradeep alias Piru wasadmitted to the Army in 2002on the basis of his ShravanSingh's credentials and wassacked in 2016. After that, hewas roaming around and cheat-ing on people. It has been toldthat a women also used to workalong with him. Police issearching for her.

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The negligience of the districtadministration and the health

department has proved to be a threatto health of many people now. Covidpositive patients are roaming aroundin the public and no wonder how manypeople they have come in contact with.

A 60-year-old corona positivewoman, in Jawahar Nagar, was foundselling vegetables. Don't know howmany people would have come in con-tact with her. A 13-year-old girl of thesame family went to the mill to getflour. The danger of spreading theinfection to the girl child also cannotbe ruled out.

6 people of the same family werefound infected in Jawaharnagar. Theinfected patients were not admittedeven after 20 hours had passed.Meanwhile, the family members con-tinued to do their work like other days.Such carelessness is coming to the fore.That too in a situation when theinfection of corona in the district isspreading rapidly.

The work of sealing and sanitizingthe areas around the house of infect-ed patients is also not being done prop-

erly. Infections are also spreading byseeking contact with infected patientsand delaying their reports. Systems likeContainment Zone and Red Zone areno longer visible anywhere. There is aprovision for penalty on entering themarket without wearing a mask. Butthere is no shortage of people who aretaking risks themselves and puttingother people's lives at risk as well.Policemen are remaining mute andsimply spectating people roamingaround the streets without masks.Social and physical distance is also notbeing followed in the market. For this,no concerned efforts are being done bythe district administration.

Vishnu Kumar Bunty, social work-er told that the infected woman ofJawahar Nagar was selling vegetables.She was not admitted even after 18-20hours. The girl at her house went to thestore to get the goods. The business-men of Vishnupuri were also notadmitted for about 18-20 hours. Whenthe infected patients are not beingadmitted, then when and how will theycheck the people who come in contactwith them. Then how will Coronabreak the chains. There is a need to fol-low the rules strictly and act honest-

ly.Dr. BP Singh, CMO stated that

after the list of infected patients is out,attempt to admit the Covid +ve patientat the earliest are made. If it is delayedthen it is not good. Awareness andpublic support is necessary to break thecorona infection chain. Health depart-ment and administration is also mak-ing efforts for this. The court is alsovery serious about social distance andmasks.

A PAC Jawan who was covid pos-itive was found roaming in the HathrasMarket.

A Jawan from the ProvincialArmed Constabulary(PAC), who hadtested positive for Covid -19 along with11 others two days ago, was foundroaming in the market in Hathras, nearthe district hospital where he wasadmitted on Friday.

According to sources the Jawantried to hide his identity by saying thathe came to buy medicine for a patientadmitted in the hospital. However lateron he admitted that he is covid posi-tive and stepped out to buy medicidefor his upset stomach as no one in theisolation ward was giving medicines forhis upset stomach.

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Kerala, battered and bruised by nature’sfury for the last three days saw Covid-

19 continuing its dance of destruction acrossthe State as 1,211 new patients were diag-nosed with the pandemic on Sunday.

According to the media release issuedby the Government of Kerala (chief min-ister Pinarayi Vijayan does not meet scribeson Sunday), 1,026 patients contractedCovid-19 through social transmission.Thiruvananthapuram continued to top thelist of districts with 292 Covid-19 caseswhile Malappuram (170) and Kottayam(139) came second and third respectively.

The only news that offered consolationwas in the number of patients who werecured of covid-19 and discharged from hos-pitals. The day saw 970 patients leaving hos-pitals for homes.

The new patients include 76 expatriatesand 78 persons from other parts of thecountry.

There were 103 persons who could notpinpoint the source from where they con-tracted the pandemic.

The release said 12, 347 patients werebeing treated across the State for the pan-demic out of which 11, 742 are in hospitals.On Sunday, 1,278 persons were admitted tothe hospitals on account of Covid-19.

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All necessary steps would be takento ensure that timelines for productionof equipment as per the Negative ImportList are met, which will include a co-ordinated mechanism for hand holdingof the industry by the Defence Services,they said.

The officials clarified that the listwas prepared after several rounds ofconsultations with all stakeholders,including Army, Air Force, Navy,DRDO, Defence Public SectorUndertakings (DPSUs), OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB) and private indus-try to assess current and future capa-bilities of the Indian industry for man-ufacturing various ammunition,weapons and related equipment with-in India.

The list comprises of not just sim-ple parts but also some high technolo-gy weapon systems like artillery guns,assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems,transport aircrafts, light combat heli-copters (LCHs), radars and many otheritems.

Similarly, the Navy is likely to placedemands for submarines with indicativeimport embargo date of December2021, of which it expects to contractabout six at an approximate cost ofalmost Rs 42,000 crore.

For the Air Force, it is decided toenlist the light combat aircraft LCA MK1A with an indicative embargo date ofDecember 2020. Of these, 123 areanticipated at an approximate cost ofover Rs 85,000 crore. Hence, there arehighly complex platforms that areincluded in the list of 101 items.

9(��/4.���%�+��.)��1���8��%5�substantially when the testing is rampedup.

On Sunday, the country saw itshighest single day death count of around1,000 with Maharashtra alone reporting390 deaths during the last 24 hours.Maharashtra reported 12,248 newcases, 390 deaths, while 13,348 patientsdischarged today. The total positive casesin the State rose to 5,15,332 including3,51,710 recovered patients and 17,757deaths. Active cases stood at 1,45,558.

Mumbai reported 1,066 new positivecases and 48 deaths, while situation inDharavi remained under control. TamilNadu accounted for 119 deaths as therewas no let up in the number of positivecases fatalities being reported from var-ious places in the state, which recorded5,994 new cases.

This is for the eleventh day in a rowTamil Nadu is testing less than 6,000persons per day. On August 1, the Statehad 5,879 patients while the numberscame down to 5,875 on August 2 and5,609 on August 3. Though the numberfurther came down to 5,063 on August4, since the last five days it has been

showing hike in the number of positivecases.

As part of aggressive testing carriedout across the State, 68,179 persons weretested on Sunday. The number of per-sons discharged from hospitals till datecrossed the 2.38 lakh on Sunday. Thisis against the 2.96 lakh persons diag-nosed with covid-19 till date in the State.There were 53,336 active patients acrossTamil Nadu on Sunday.

Andhra Pradesh and karhnatakareported 10820 and 5985 new cases and97 and 107 deaths respectively onSWunday while delhi reported 1300 newcases and 13 deaths.

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Agriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar and a large number offarmers, cooperatives and others alsoparticipated in the video conference.

“On this auspicious occasion, aspecial fund of Rs 1 lakh crore has beenlaunched to create agriculture-relatedinfrastructure facilities in the country.This will help in creating better storagefacilities and modern cold storagechains in villages. Many employmentopportunities will get created in villages,”Modi said after the launch.

The Prime Minister reiterated thatIndia has a huge opportunity to investin post-harvest management solutionslike warehousing, cold chain, and foodprocessing, and build a global presencein areas such as organic and fortifiedfoods. He also mentioned that thisscheme provides a good opportunity forstart-ups in agriculture to avail the ben-efits and scale their operations, there-by creating an ecosystem that reachesfarmers in every corner of the country.

Citing reasons for poor investmentin agri-infrastructure, the Prime inistersaid there was a “negligible” investmentdue to legal hurdles in the wake of a pro-vision of the stock limit under theEssential Commodities (EC) Act.

“Now, we have surplus production.The stock limit not only affects the farm-ers but also the country’s economy andconsumers. But surprisingly the law (ECAct) was still continuing when we havebecome a surplus producing nation.This law is not required now,” he said.

This law was creating hurdles in set-ting up of good godowns and farmindustry in villages. “Unfortunately,babus misused this law to threatentraders and investors. Now, traders andinvestors are freed from this threat,” hesaid.

“Why don’t farmers get similarfacilities? Why is this injustice happen-ing with farmers? It is not that a soapfactory set up in a city will sell the prod-uct in that city’s vicinity. Soap can besold anywhere. In agriculture, it was nothappening. Farmers sell their producein local mandis alone,” he said.

Modi questioned if there are no

middlemen in other industries, whyshould they be present in the farm sec-tor. If the infrastructure is developed toboost industrial growth, then whyshouldn’t modern

Under the Agri-Infra Fund, aboutRs 1 lakh crore will be sanctioned underthe financing facility in partnership withmultiple lending institutions as loans toPrimary Agri Credit Societies (PACS),farmer groups, Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs), agri-entrepre-neurs, start-ups, and agri-tech players.

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Condemning the attack on a BJPworker, Jammu and Kashmir BJP pres-ident Ravinder Raina said the increas-ing attacks on party workers in theKashmir valley show Pakistan’s frustra-tion and that his party would not becowed down by such attacks. He saidthat Pakistan cannot stop the growingpopularity of the BJP in the Valley bysuch “cowardly acts”.

He said, “We will intensify our activ-ities and will hoist the tricolour andparty flag in every house”.

Meanwhile, repeated appeals madeby the elected representatives to pro-vide them adequate security cover andsafe accommodation have fallen on deafears.

Even announcement of an insurancecover to the tune of Rs 25 They claimedin the absence of adequate security coverit is becoming difficult to step out oftheir houses and monitor ongoingdevelopmental works in the area.

Last month, former BJP districtpresident Waseem Bari, his father andbrother were killed inside their shopafter terrorists fired on them fromclose range in Bandipora. Bari had a 10-member police security and all of themwere suspended and arrested becausethey were not with him when he wasattacked. On June 8, Congress sarpanchAjay Kumar Pandita was killed outsidehis house at Lokbhawan in Anantnagdistrict.

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According to a police officer, the vic-tims lived under threat from the fami-ly of their daughter-in-law, the wife ofKewal Ram (35), the surviving memberof the victim family.“She has been living with her family inJodhpur for the past some time due tosome dispute,” said the police officer, cit-ing this as a possible trigger for their sui-cide. According Kewal Ram (35),they had dinner between 9 pm and 10pm on Saturday night and went to sleep.

“I went to guard our cropfrom animals and slept there,” he said.In the morning, when he came back, hefound all his family members dead. “I then called my nephew who rushed

to the spot with some other persons andinformed police,” said Kewal Ram,expressing his ignorance about theincident. Those, who died have beenidentified as Budharam (75); his wifeAntara Devi; son Ravi (31); daughtersJiya (25) and Suman (22); grandsonsMukdash (17) and Nain (12); Laxmi(40) and three minor sons of KewalRam. The bodies have been sent forautopsy in Jodhpur and a medicalboard has been constituted to find outthe cause of their death.

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SUV and gave it a chase after apolice informer confirmed that thevehicle belonged to Rakesh. Seeingpolice force, the person in the drivingseat stepped on the gas but the vehiclerammed into a tree before coming to ahalt.

Rakesh and his men opened a burstof fire on the police team. The STF teamreturned fire. As the firing ended fromthe opposite side, the cops reached thescene and found Rakesh lying in a poolof blood. He was rushed to SarojininagarCHC where he died during treatment.

The police said they recovered twopistols, seven live cartridges, 10 bulletshells and two mobile phones from theslain mafia. “His aides managed toescape the scene,” the police said.

Rakesh was involved in the grislymurder of BJP MLA fromMohammadabad (Ghazipur) KrishnaNand Rai in 2005. In the murder, abouthalf-a-dozen miscreants laced with AK-47 assault rifles had fired 400 shots onRai’s cavalcade, killing seven, includingRai. Rakesh was involved in the murderand he shot to infamy after the sensa-tional incident.

After the death of Munna Bajrangiin Baghpat jail, Rakesh took his place inthe gang. He was also a co-accused inthe murder of a contractor, Ajay PrakashSingh. In Singh’s murder case, MukhtarAnsari is also an accused.

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A property located in the city’s Khararea and another in Navi Mumbai, bothlinked to Rhea, are also being probed forthe source of funds and ownership pat-terns.

While Chakraborty’s Income TaxReturns show an income of about Rs 14lakh, the value of her investments areestimated to be much higher. Herfather, Indrajit is a retired defence per-sonnel getting a monthly pension ofabout Rs 1 lakh, the officials said.

However, Rhea has provided docu-ments to justify the investment and sofar ED has not been able to trace anywrongdoings in her financial dealings.

During the questioning so far, the

actress told the agency that she hadacquired the properties from herincome, savings, and bank loans, theysaid.

The ED officials had also con-fronted Rhea, Shouwik and Modi withcertain bank statements that purportedlyshow the transfer of small amounts intoShouwik’s accounts from those of Rajputand Rhea.

Rajput’s father Krishna Kumar Singhhad in a complaint before the PatnaPolice on July 25 alleged that the actresswas involved in abetting his son’s suicide.

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According to the reports, nearly 31persons were undergoing treatment inthe hotel for Coronavirus and ten ofthem died due to suffocation andsmoke as the fire broke out. The smokeswiftly spread in the three floors of thehotel which created a respiratory prob-lem to the patients. The fire departmententered the floors by breaking the glasswindows and rescued 21 persons bybringing them out through ladders.They were shifted to Ramesh Hospitalsfor treatment.

Meanwhile two persons jumpedfrom the second floor during the firemishap to save their life and their con-dition was said to be stable as they sus-tained minor injuries. According toreports, electrical short circuit seems tobe the cause of the fire mishap. As thehotel was situated in the centre of thecity, the news about the fire mishapspread swiftly and relatives of thepatients rushed to the hospitals toknow about the condition of theirbeloved.Krishna District Fire OfficerSreenivasa Reddy said, “Around eight to10 people are feared dead. There were31 patients in total (at the centre). Therest have been rescued and sent toRamesh Hospital. They were all Covid-19 patients admitted to the CCC run byRamesh Hospital. There may be about10 staff members.

Vijayawada Commissioner of policeBattina Srinivasulu, Minister VelampalliSrinivas, district collector A MD Imtiazrushed to the spot and supervised therescue operation. Minister Srinivasinformed about thorough inquiry aboutthe mishap and action against the hos-pital and hotel management for theirnegligence. Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy expressed grief over thefire accident and expressed condo-lences to the family members of thedeceased. The CM announced Rs 50lakh ex gratia to each person who diedin the fire accident.

Governor BiswabhushanHarichandan ordered the Governmentto take immediate rescue measures tosave the lives of injured people in firemishap. AP DGP Goutam D Sawangvisited the Swarna Palace Hotel andstarted supervising the rescue mea-sures.

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The Bengal Government which has temporarilybanned flights from corona hit regions have how-

ever decided to let international charter flights ferryingIndian nationals land in the State.

The State Government has conveyed its intentionsto the External Affairs Ministry saying that all the coro-na negative patients taking chartered flights toBengal would be allowed to land at State airports pro-vided they board the flights after having tested forcorona and the stated flights follow certain standardoperating procedures.

“Only those with negative RT PCR reports will beallowed,” Government sources said adding a letter tothis effect had been sent to the Union Governmenton Saturday.

The standard operating procedure in such case willbe effected from August 10, sources said adding theMEA has been requested to pass on the SOP to theAviation Ministry and Indian Missions abroad.

The flights coming to Kolkata will be required tocarry clearance certificates from the Indian Missionsor the MEA.

Besides it has also been said that the respectiveairlines ferrying in stranded passengers from abroadwill have to apply for a no-objection certificate fromthe State Government providing the sponsor, the num-ber of passengers along with their details apart froman undertaking that the passengers so flying in arecorona negative.

Gandhinagar: Gujarat's Covid-19 tally breached the70,000 mark on Sunday as 1,078 fresh cases werereported, while 25 more deaths took the toll to 2,654,health officials said.

The state''s total number of cases was at 71,064following the detection of fresh infections.

As many as 1,311 patients were discharged onSunday, taking the total number of recoveries to54,138.

Surat, the new Covd hotspot registering 20.59 percent of Sunday's positive cases, saw 222 cases, whileAhmedabad saw 153 cases coming up.

Vadodara once again after Saturday, saw its dailyspike climbing to 110.

Vadodara was followed by Rajkot 95, Jamnagar 63,Panchmahals 47, Bhavnagar and Amreli with 35 each,Bharuch 28, Junagadh and Gandhinagar with 27 each,Kutch 25, Valsad 21, Dahod and Surendranagar with18 each, Kheda, Mahesana and Patan with 11 each,Botad, Sabarkantha and Narmada with 10 each,Mahisagar, Banaskantha and Morbi with 9 each,Porbandar and Tapi with 7 each, Anand andDevbhumi Dwarka with 5 each, Navsari 3, Aravalliand Dang with 2 each and Chhota Udepur with onepositive case.

The total number of Covid deaths in Ahmedabadhas reached 1,638. Besides, 505 people have died inSurat, 100 in Vadodara, 46 in Gandhinagar, 45 deathsin Rajkot, 30 deaths in Patan, 26 deaths in Bhavnagar,24 in Aravalli, 23 in Mahesana, 17 in Panchmahals,16 in Banaskantha, 15 in Kheda, 14 in Anand and 11in Bharuch.

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State-run BSNL will startoffering up to 10 times faster

broadband speed at 100 mbpsand up to 20 times more datadownload limit for its cus-tomers in Andaman andNicobar Islands from Monday,the company said on Sunday.

The announcement fromBSNL comes a day before thelaunch of 2,312 kilometre longChennai-Andaman andNicobar Islands (CANI) sub-marine optical fibre cable pro-ject by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“Despite many challengesthe project is completed in ascheduled timeline and withoutany cost overrun. Being a firstof its kind project in India,BSNL ensured that the layingof submarine optical fibre cableis completed as per globalspecification to ensure quality,”BSNL chairman and managingdirector P K Purwar said.

BSNL will enhance dataspeeds across all the plansbetween 2-10 times after thelaunch of the project withoutcharging any extra amount

from the customers, accordingto details shared by the com-pany.

“For BSNL wire line seg-ment, copper broadband cus-tomers are now provided withhigher speeds which is up to10Mbps and up to 15 timesmore data download rangingfrom 30 GB to 750 GB in amonth on its existing plans,” thestatement said.

The data speed restric-tion after the download limit,will also be enhanced from 512kbps to up to 2 Mbps in vari-ous plans, it added.

“BSNL FTTH (OpticalFibre) customers are also pro-vided with higher speed up to100 Mbps and up to 15 timesdata volume download rangingfrom 60 GB to 1500 GB in amonth on its existing plans.The data speed restriction afterthe download limit, is alsoenhanced from 512 kbps to upto 4 Mbps in various plans,” thestatement said. BSNL cus-tomers who have subscribed tothe high end plan of �7,999 willbe upgraded from 10 mbpsspeed to 100 mbps downloadspeed.

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Despite several businessesremaining closed during

the lockdown, 81 per cent ofmicro enterprises polled areconfident of a recovery postCovid-19 whereas 57 per centreported not having any cashreserves to survive, accordingto a survey.

Initial results of a six-month survey that is underwayby GAME (Global Alliance forMass Entrepreneurship) inassociation with LEAD at KreaUniversity covering 1,500micro enterprises also revealthat 40 per cent tried to borrowmoney to cover expenses.

However, only 14 percent of the overall borrowingwas from formal borrowingsources.

As per the revised crite-ria, any firm with investmentup to Rs 1 crore and turnoverunder Rs 5 crore is classified asa “micro” enterprise.

Madan Padaki, co-founder of GAME, saidCOVID-19 has left a devastat-

ing impact on the Indian econ-omy, especially micro-enter-prises that comprise around 99per cent of all firms in India.

“Through this longi-tudinal survey, we intend totruly understand the on-ground situation and chal-lenges faced by microenter-prises in managing cash flows,dealing with broken supplychains and delayed payments.By keeping our ears to theground, we want to providespecific recommendations to allecosystem actors to acceleratethe recovery of these enter-prises,” Padaki said.

The survey also revealedthat across all respondents,female business owners facedmore household challengesthan men.

In fact, 70 per cent femalebusiness owners suggested interhouse conflicts as the biggestchallenge while 53 per centmen responded to the same.Women also faced more unaf-fordable expenses than men,with 46 per cent suggesting thesame, the survey said. PTI

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TRAI expects to finalise itsdecision on priority plans

of Vodafone Idea and Airtelwithin two weeks of gettingdetailed responses on itsqueries from the two telcos,according to a regulatorysource.

The source said thatwhile TRAI had “serious con-cerns” on multiple issues per-taining to the priority plans, ithad granted additional time upto August 10 to the two telcosto respond to its fresh round ofquestioning, as the playersthemselves had sought moretime to reply.

Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (TRAI) isprobing whether assuring min-imum, faster or average dataspeeds is technological feasibleor not.

And indeed, if it is, whyshould telecom operators offer-ing priority/platinum plans notbe able to quantify the same,and clear the air around treat-ment that will be meted outnon-premium customers aswell, the source privy to theongoing enquiry said.

Telcos must clearly quan-tify the benefits being offered

to consumers (of the priorityplans) in return for what theyare being charged. Subscriptionto a mobile plan is akin to a‘sale’ where consumer is thepurchaser of the service andhence the telcos “must quanti-fy” exactly what services suchusers are going to get.

Merely using the term‘better service’ is not suffice, thesource said.

Asked about the timelinesfor TRAI to come to a conclu-sion on the ongoing issue, thesource said that the two telcosthemselves had asked for somemore time earlier this month toanswer TRAI’s second round ofqueries, many of which weretechnical in nature and need-ed concrete data.

TRAI will finalise itsdecision on priority plan issuewithin two weeks of getting

response from the telcos, theextended time for which isMonday (August 10), thesource said.

Service quality must bespecified for two sets of usersnow -- priority and generalusers, and that informationtoo has not been given by thecompanies, so far, the sourceadded.

Moreover, when the planswere filed, the operators shouldhave drawn the regulator’sattention to the fact that theserepresented differentiatedofferings.

TRAI had recently grant-ed additional time to BhartiAirtel and Vodafone Idea tosubmit detailed responses onfresh set of questions on pre-mium plans, where queriesrange from what happens whena non-priority customer is sur-rounded by priority users dur-ing congestion, to limit ofthroughput configured for thetwo sets of network subscribers.

TRAI shot-off nearlytwo dozen additional ques-tions to Airtel and VodafoneIdea over the contentious pre-mium plans on July 31, and hadasked them to explain theirstand backed by data and pre-sentation.

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Indian authorities will notdeviate from the resolution

order passed by statutoryappellate body ITAT in cross-border tax disputes which areundergoing simultaneous res-olution through mutual agree-ment procedure (MAP), theincome tax department hassaid.

MAP is an alternative dis-pute resolution process underthe tax treaties, under which

competent authorities of twocountries enter into discus-sions to resolve tax related dis-putes. As many as 600 tax dis-putes have been resolved underMAP between April 1, 2014 toDecember 31, 2018.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes has come out witha guidance note on MAP whichalso specifies cases or situationsin which India will provideaccess to MAP. Tax disputesrelating to transfer pricingadjustments, determination ofexistence of a permanent estab-lishment, attribution of profits topermanent establishments, char-acterisation or re-characterisa-tion of an expense or receipt asa taxable expense or taxableincome would be covered

under MAP if they result intaxation not in accordance

with the relevant DTAAs. The guidance note also said

that India shall provide access toMAP even in a situation wherethe Indian tax authorities applydomestic anti-abuse provisions.The CBDT also said that in caseof orders of Income TaxAppellate Tribunal, theCompetent Authorities of Indiashall not deviate from the ordersof the ITAT for the relevant yearwhere the dispute is decided onmerits.It said that since MAPand domestic remedy pro-ceedings can be availed by thetaxpayers simultaneously, therecould be instances where theITAT in India passes an orderin respect of the same disputes

that are also being examinedunder MAP. “Since the ITATis an independent statutoryappellate body, which is outsidethe administrative jurisdictionof the Indian tax authorities;and is the highest fact-findingbody on tax matters, the CAsin India shall not deviate fromthe orders of the ITAT for therelevant year where the disputeis decided on merits,” theCBDT guidance note said.

Such MAP cases shall beclosed as having been resolvedby a domestic remedy.

“However, if the orderof the ITAT does not resolvethe disputes but only sets themaside to be adjudicated afresh,then access to MAP would beprovided again after the fresh

adjudication by tax authorities,if requested for by the relevanttaxpayers,” it added.

In May, the Govt amend-ed Income Tax rules to state thatIndian authorities would“endeavour” to resolve disputesunder MAP within a time-frame of 24 months, a moveaimed at speedy settlement ofcases of MNCs which haveopted the alternative dispute res-olution process. Nangia & CoLLP Partner Shailesh Kumarsaid Indian tax authorities haveapparently shown their inten-tion to provide a speedy reso-lution to taxpayers opting forMAP by appointment of twodedicated offices for taking upMAP applications and negoti-ations.

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Asia Pacific, which accountsfor a third of the global

migrant workforce, is likely toface remittance losses of USD31.4-54.3 billion due to thecoronavirus pandemic, theAsian Development Bank(ADB) said in a report.

The Governmentsneed to come up with policymeasures to reduce the eco-nomic and social fallout arisingout of it, the ADB said.

Job losses stemming fromCovid-19 are hurting house-holds around the world, but forAsia and the Pacific’s 91 millionmigrant workers — a third ofthe global migrant workforce— the impacts will be partic-ularly severe, the ADB said inAugust 2020 brief on ‘COVID-19 Impact on International

Migration, Remittances, andRecipient Households inDeveloping Asia. “ADB econ-omists estimate that the regionfaces remittance losses rangingfrom USD 31.4 billion to USD54.3 billion. To reduce the eco-nomic and social impacts, pol-icy responses are proposed inareas such as social protection,immigration, labour, andhealth,” it said. In 2019, six ofthe 10 largest remittance recip-ients globally were from thisregion-India, China, thePhilippines, Pakistan,Bangladesh, and Vietnam, theManila-headquartered multi-lateral funding agency said.The countries likely to facemore severe effects from thepandemic-induced decline inremittance inflows are the oneswhere remittance shares togross domestic product (GDP)

and per capita remittances arehigh.

These include Tonga,Samoa, and other Pacific coun-tries, with remittances relativeto the size of their economiesand populations very high.

Central Asian countriessuch as Georgia, the KyrgyzRepublic, and Tajikistan, send-ing a large number of season-al and long-term migrantsmainly to the RussianFederation and Europe, willalso be hard-hit, along withsome of the major migrant ori-gin countries such as Nepal andthe Philippines, it added.

Remittances to Asia andthe Pacific, amounting to USD315 billion in 2019, are animportant and stable source ofincome for families back homeand help strengthen externalfinancing—alongside foreign

direct investment and tourismrecipients— in many develop-ing economies, said the reportpenned by four ADB econo-mists.They boost general con-sumption as well as investmentand help sustain Governmentdebts by contributing to theforeign currency revenue base,said the economists.

Jobs and worker welfareare severely affected by the pan-demic globally but some sec-tors are hurt more than otherssuch as retail and wholesaletrade, hospitality and recre-ation, manufacturing, andaccommodation and food ser-vice sectors.

These are the sectors large-ly in non-essential serviceswith frequent face-to-faceinteractions and the migrantand informal workers areamong those facing the most

severe impacts, as they often donot have regular contracts norstrong bargaining power, saidthe report. “Migrant workersare more vulnerable from lay-offs once prolonged lockdownsand production breaks drivecompanies out of business.

Also, uncertainty loomsabout the timing of full recov-ery, even as lockdowns arelifted, with concerns aboutpersistent weak demand insome economic sectors.

“The wide-scale economiccost of the COVID-19 pan-demic is expected to reachbetween USD 5.8 trillion andUSD 8.8 trillion globally, equiv-alent to 6.4 per cent to 9.7 percent of global GDP, reflectingthe spread of the pandemic toEurope, the United States, andother major economies,” saidthe report. The ADB said that

employment in host economiesof Asian migrants is contract-ing significantly.

“The remittance flows todeveloping Asia is to plungeamid the pandemic as duringthe first months 2020, remit-tances began to contract inmajor migrant source coun-tries...While some migrantworkers may feel altruistic andsend more money to theirfamilies in extremely difficultsituations, prevailing weak eco-nomic forecasts are pointingtoward declining remittances.”However, relative increase inremittance inflows is observedin June in selected countrieswhich can be attributed to lift-ing of lockdowns in destina-tions that allowed migrants toremit over the counter andintroduction of policy mea-sures that incentivise transfer

by reducing restrictions andtransaction fees, the ADB said.

Citing a study of 10migrant sending countries inAsia, the ADB said remittancedependent households are atrisk of falling into poverty, asit is estimated that a 1 per-centage increase in the share toGDP to remittances inflowfrom overseas is associatedwith a reduction in poverty gapby 22.6 per cent and povertyseverity by 16 per cent.

A study based on micro-data from selected economiesin South Asia and SoutheastAsia suggests that a 10 per centincrease in remittance inflowsleads to a 3–4 per cent rise inreal GDP per capita, it said.

Recommending policyactions to the host and sourcecountries, ADB economistssaid governments of host coun-

tries of migrants need to ensurethat migrant workers haveaccess to social protection,including employment-relat-ed support and social assis-tance, as well as health services.They should support employ-ers to help retain and hirelaid-off workers, includingmigrant workers.

Such effort contributes tothe smooth recovery of theeconomy by ensuring work-force availability and the reduc-tion of contagion risks, said thereport. Among others, the hostand source countries shouldcontinue to recognise remit-tance service providers as oneof the essential businesses toallow migrants and families totransact without disruption asremittance money is a lifelinefor many poor and vulnerablefamilies left behind.

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The dates for submission ofbids For online auction of

coal blocks for commercialmining could be furtherextended due to disruptionscaused by the Covid-19 pan-demic, sources said on Sunday.

The Centre had ear-lier extended the dates for sub-mission of technical bids.According to the revised sched-ule, the last date for submittinga technical bid is 2 pm ofSeptember 29, and e- auctionwould be carried out for qual-ified bidders between October19 and November 9.

However, the sources saidfurther extension is likely to besought by investors, keeping inmind the COVID-19 restic-tions on travel and movement.

“We are not sure whetherthis extension will be enoughfor bidders to complete evalu-ation and feasibility studies,which have to be conductedwith rigorous on-ground dataand inputs

. If needed, fresh extensionwould be sought,” a seniorofficial of a large corporate bid-der told PTI.

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The number of British com-panies planning to cut staff

numbers in June was five timeshigher than in the same montha year earlier, in an ominoussign of Covid-19’s economicimpact.

Figures obtained by theBBC show that 1,778 compa-nies informed the Governmentof plans to cut a total of 139,000jobs.

A year earlier the figurewas 345 companies announc-ing a total of 24,000 job loss-es.Businesses are required toinform the Insolvency Serviceif they plan to cut 20 or morejobs.

During the pandemic thegovernment has been payingthe salaries of almost 10 millionfurloughed workers.Economists are predicting asurge in unemployment whenthat program ends in October.

The U.K. Economy shrankby more than 20 per cent in thefirst half of 2020, and despitesome signs of recovery theBank of England says the econ-omy will end 2020 9.5 per centsmaller than it started theyear.

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Energy giant Saudi Aramcohas reported a 73 per cent

fall in its profit, or the netincome, for the April-Junequarter to $6.6 billion amid thepandemic.

During the same period of2019, the company had report-ed a net income of $24.7 billion.For the first half of 2020, it hasreported a net income of $23.2billion, compared to $46.9 bil-lion reported during the cor-responding period a year ago,the company said in a state-ment.

“Aramco navigated chal-lenging market conditions torecord net income of $6.6 bil-lion for the second quarter and$23.2 billion for the first half of2020, respectively, compared to$24.7 billion and $46.9 billionin the corresponding periods of2019.

This demonstratesAramco’s agility, strength andresilience across market cycles,”it said.

Noting that strong head-winds from reduced demand

and lower oil prices reflected inthe company’s second quarterresults, Aramco President &CEO Amin H.

Nasser said that the com-pany foresees a partial recoveryin the energy market aseconomies open up.

“We are seeing a partialrecovery in the energy marketas countries around the worldtake steps to ease restrictionsand reboot their economies.Meanwhile, we continue toplace people’s safety first andhave adapted to the new nor-mal, implementing wide-rang-ing precautions to limit thespread of Covid-19 whereverwe operate,” the CEO said.

He noted that despite thechallenges, the company deliv-ered “solid earnings” because oflow production costs, uniquescale, agile workforce, andunrivalled financial and oper-ational strength.

This helped the companyto deliver on its plan to main-tain a second quarter divi-dend of $18.75 billion to bepaid in the third quarter, Nasseradded.

New Delhi: On the anniversaryof Quit India Movement, theConfederation of all IndiaTraders (CAIT) on Sundaylaunched a campaign ‘ChinaQuit India’ to boycott Chinesegoods, while its members heldprotests across 600 placesacross the country.

The trader’s body saidthere is an urgent need tocheck “China’s growing foot-steps in India and import ofChinese goods”.Adding a newdimension to its nationwidecampaign “Bhartiya Saamaan-Hamara Abhimaan”, CAIT saidit has launched ‘China QuitIndia’ movement to boycott

Chinese goods and “held aprotest dharna at about 600places in different states of thecountry.”Expressing concernsover Chinese investment invarious Indian companies,start-ups and digital apps,CAIT said there is a need totake necessary action in thisregard. It said that Chineseinvestments in Governmentprojects and various sensitiveconstruction works should beput under government scanner.

On the 78th anniversary ofQuit India Movement, it saidpeople across the country hadcome together under the lead-ership of Mahatma Gandhi to

protest against the British Raj.While releasing the agen-

da of the ‘China Quit Indiacampaign’, CAIT SecretaryGeneral Praveen Khandelwal“urged the central governmentto carry out an all-round siegeof China and its activities inIndia”.“Several Chinese com-panies have made large invest-ments in Indian startups in siz-able numbers, all such startupsshould be asked to excludeChinese investors and the gov-ernment should announce alucrative policy to encourageIndian people to invest in thesestartups,” he said.

PTI

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Indian Railways is committedto integrate with the

Government e-marketplace(GeM) portal to move all itsprocurement to the platform,Union Minister Piyush Goyalsaid on Sunday.

The railways’ direct pro-curement of goods for its oper-ations or its public sectorundertakings or productionunits stood at about �70,000crore-�75,000 crore, theCommerce and Industry andRailways Minister said.

“I am happy to share thatGeM and Indian Railways areburning the midnight oil,working day and night toensure this entire �70,000 croreprocurement on the GeM plat-form,” Goyal said at the GeM-CII National PublicProcurement Conclave 2020.

“Our own belief is that itwill save railways not less than10-15 per cent and that couldbe a saving of as high as�10,000 crore,” he added.Railways buys more than 98per cent of its goods and ser-vices in India and moving thispurchase to the GeM platformin the next “probably 8-12

months” will help in makingprocurement process moretransparent, seamless, efficientand faster, Goyal said.

“The railways has com-mitted itself fully to integratewith GeM and move all pro-curement there(GeM)...Imagine we will save1000s and 1000s of man hoursof procurement time.

“The amount of elaboratetendering, advertisements, bids,bids opening, reverse auction,all of that become so seamlessthat our digital system of therailways will flag the require-ment on the GeM portal, andit will be available for thewhole world to see and moreand more people will be enticedto register on GeM as suppli-ers,” Goyal said.

He added that if any sup-plier or vendor provides badquality goods, it will be blacklisted not only on GeM, butthroughout the governmentsystem.

“We will ensure that theentire government system doesnot entertain that companyanymore,” he said, adding thatat a later stage, GeM will movefrom goods and services tocontracts.

The minister said the gov-ernment’s public procurementwould be in the range of USD100-150 billion (about �7.5lakh crore-�11.25 lakh crore),and probably more if one com-bines all the PSUs, state gov-ernment and local bodies.

He said GeM should playa role in publicising all thoseproducts which are not madein India, but are required inIndia in a big way so that “wecan encourage” entrepreneursto plan to make those productsin India, as is being done byrailways. He said railways hasidentified the products whichare imported and is workingthrough RDSO (ResearchDesign and StandardsOrganisation) to develop newvendors for those products.

“We have taken certaingame changing reform mea-sures in railway vendor regis-tration also. Number of prod-ucts have been moved out ofvendor registration.

“So mostly safety items arebeing kept for vendor registra-tion...If you are registered inany one organisation, you aredeemed to be Sregisteredthroughout the railways,” hesaid.

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Skopje (North Macedonia): Police in NorthMacedonia say they have found 94 migrantspacked into a truck in a the country's southeast.

A police patrol stopped the truck withMacedonian national license plates late Saturdaynear the town of Radovish, 110 kilometers (68miles) southeast of the capital, Skopje. The truckdriver fled from the scene, police said Sunday.

Police found 94 migrants from Syria,Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan packed into thetruck cargo area.

The migrants were detained and will be trans-ferred to a migrant shelter in the southern bor-der town of Gevgelija, pending deportation toGreece, where they came from.

The Greek border with North Macedonia wasclosed earlier this year due to the coronaviruspandemic.

But trafficking networks remain active, fer-rying migrants who make their way from Turkeyinto Greece and then attempt to head northtoward more prosperous countries in theEuropean Union. AP

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Belarusians are voting onwhether to grant their

authoritarian president a sixthterm in office, following a cam-paign marked by unusuallystrong demonstrations by oppo-sition supporters frustrated withthe country's stumbling econo-my, political repression andweak response to the coron-avirus pandemic.

Incumbent AlexanderLukashenko, in office for 26years, has made it clear hewon't hesitate to quash anyattempt by his opponents toprotest the results of Sunday'selection.

“If you provoke, you will getthe same answer,” he said after

casting his ballot.“Do you want to try to over-

throw the government, breaksomething, wound, offend, andexpect me or someone to kneelin front of you and kiss themand the sand onto which youwandered? This will not hap-pen.” But some voters weredefiant.

“There is no more fear.Belarusians will not be silentand will protest loudly," 24-year-old Tatiana Protasevich said ata Minsk polling place Sunday.

The head of staff for mainopposition candidate SviatlanaTsikhanouskaya was detainedlate Saturday for allegedly par-ticipating in authorized protestsand is likely to be in jail until atleast Monday.

Taipei: US Health and HumanServices Secretary Alex Azararrived in Taiwan on Sunday inthe highest-level visit by anAmerican Cabinet official sincethe break in formal diplomat-ic relations betweenWashington and Taipei in 1979.

Beijing has already protest-ed Azar's visit as a betrayal ofUS commitments not to haveofficial contact with the island.China claims Taiwan as its ownterritory, to be brought underits control by military force ifnecessary.

Azar is due to meet withthe island's independence-lean-ing President Tsai Ing-wenalong with health officials dur-ing a three-day visit aimed athighlighting cooperation in thefight against the coronavirus.

Taiwan's government-runhealth care system has beencredited with keeping thenumber of coronavirus cases tounder 500 with just sevendeaths, despite its close prox-imity to China where the virusoriginated.

China sees Taiwan as a keyirritant in its troubled rela-tionship with Washington,with whom it is also at oddsover trade, technology, theSouth China Sea and China's

response to the virus pan-demic.

The US maintains onlyunofficial ties with Taiwan indeference to Beijing, but is theisland's most important allyand provider of defence equip-ment.

Azar is the first healthsecretary to visit Taiwan andthe first Cabinet member tovisit in six years. In 2014,t h e n - E n v i r o n m e n t a lProtection Agency adminis-trator Gina McCarthy visitedTaiwan, sparking protests fromBeijing.

Azar's office said he will hold discussions on COVID-19, global healthand Taiwan's role as a supplier of medical equipmentand technology Azar's visitwas facilitated by the 2018passage of the Taiwan TravelAct, which encouragedWashington to send higher-level officials to Taiwan afterdecades during which suchcontacts were rare and freight-ed with safeguards to avoidroiling ties with Beijing.

China has cut contactswith Tsai over her refusal torecognise China's claim to theisland and has brought increas-ing diplomatic, economic and

military pressure against her,including by poaching awayseveral of its remaining diplo-matic allies and excluding itfrom international gatheringsincluding the World HealthAssembly.

That, in turn, has increasedalready considerable bipartisansympathy for Taipei inWashington and promptednew measures to strengthengovernmental and militaryties.

Also Sunday, TaiwaneseForeign Minister Joseph Wumet with the first representa-tive of Somaliland to the islandahead of the territory's open-ing of a representative office inTaipei.

Wu earlier tweeted thatMohamed Omar HagiMohamoud had “bravedChinese pressure” — a refer-ence to reports that Chinahad sought to block relationsbetween Taiwan and the regionon the Horn of Africa thatbroke from the rest of Somaliabut is not recognized by theUnited Nations as an inde-pendent country.

“The fact 'sovereignty &friendship aren't for sale'deserves international recog-nition,” Wu tweeted. AP

Washington: President DonaldTrump on Saturday signedexecutive orders extending eco-nomic help to Americans hit bythe coronavirus crisis after hisRepublican party and opposi-tion Democrats failed to agreeon a new stimulus package.

"We've had it and we'regoing to save American jobsand provide relief to theAmerican workers," he said ata press conference in his golfclub in Bedminster, New Jersey.

With double digit unem-ployment, massive disruptionto businesses from social dis-tancing rules, and stubbornlyhigh rates of coronavirus infec-tion, many Americans havebeen relying on relief measuresapproved earlier by Congress,but which mostly expired inJuly.

Trump said his decision tocircumvent Congress withexecutive orders would meanrelief money getting "rapidlydistributed."

One order aims to get $400a week added to unemploy-ment benefits, while two oth-ers offer some protection fromevictions and relief for studentloans.

A fourth measure —opposed by many Republicansas well as Democrats — ordersa freeze in payroll taxes.

Trump, speaking in theballroom of his Bedminster,New Jersey golf club with anaudience of club memberscheering him and laughing athis colorful insults againstopponents, said he was alsoworking on new tax cut ideas.

However, his executiveorders are likely to face courtchallenges, since they short-cir-cuit Congress, which has con-stitutional power over mostspending decisions.

Democrats, Republicansand White House negotiatorshad worked all last week with-

out coming close to a deal ona congressional relief bill.

Democrats pushed for amassive new $3 trillion stimu-lus package aimed at proppingup the economy, repairing thetattered postal system in timefor the presidential election,and giving the unemployed anextra $600 a week.

Democrats laterannounced they could drop theprice tag but refused theRepublicans' offer of a $1 tril-lion package.

Trump, who is down in thepolls against Democrat JoeBiden, faces broad criticismover his handling of the healthand economic responses to thecoronavirus pandemic. AFP

Kabul: A traditional Afghancouncil concluded Sunday withhundreds of delegates agreeingto free 400 Taliban members,paving the way for an early startto negotiations betweenAfghanistan's warring sides.

The declaration read out inboth of Afghanistan's officiallanguages of Pashto and Farsicalls for an immediate start tonegotiations and cease fire.The move looks to bring theUnited States a little closer toreturning its troops and endingits longest military engage-ment.

No date has been set butnegotiations between Kabul'spolitical leadership and theTaliban are expected to beginas early as next week and willmost likely be held in the mid-dle eastern state of Qatar, wherethe Taliban maintains a polit-ical office.

The Afghan negotiationswere laid out in a peace dealsigned by the United States andthe Taliban in February. At thetime of its signing it was tout-ed as Afghanistan's best chance

at ending decades of war.Afghan President Ashraf

Ghani praised delegates fortheir decision, urged theTaliban to stop fighting.

Taliban politicalspokesman Suhail Shaheen saidthe decision “was a good step,a positive step.” He said nego-tiations could start within oneweek of their prisoners beingfreed.

As for a cease fire, Shaheensaid the Taliban was commit-ted to the deal it struck with theUnited States and according tothat deal “the cease fire will beone of the items to be discussedduring the intra-Afghan nego-tiations."

The council's decision tofree the prisoners does notcome as a surprise as delegateswere urged by the US at thestart of the council, or jirga, onFriday to take “this difficultaction” so negotiations couldbegin to bring an end to thewar.

“To remove obstacle, tostart peace talks and to stop thebloodshed, the Jirga confirms

the release of 400 Taliban pris-oners,” said Atefa Tayeb, acouncil secretary who read outthe final declaration at theconclusion.

The deal negotiatedbetween the United States andTaliban calls for the govern-ment to free 5,000 prisonersand for the Taliban to free 1,000government and military per-sonnel in its custody as a good-will gesture ahead of the startof negotiations.

Kabul balked at the releasebut eventually freed all but thelast 400. President Ghani saidhe was not authorized to freethese because of the seriousnessof their crimes, and asked forthe council to decide instead.He did not detail of what the400 were accused.

Delegates were thereforegiven the stark choice of eitherfreeing the prisoners or seeinga war that has killed tens ofthousands continue. The dele-gates said they wanted inter-national guarantees that theTaliban would not return to thebattlefield.

Washington's Peace envoyZalmay Khalilzad spent morethan a year and a half negoti-ating the deal with the Talibanto provide for the withdrawalof American soldiers after morethan 19 years in Afghanistan.

The withdrawal began ear-lier this year but roughly 8,600US soldiers remain inAfghanistan and their return

will depend on the Talibanhonoring its commitment tofight against other terroristgroups and ensure Afghanistanis not again used to attack theUnited States or its allies.

The withdrawal of US andNATO troops is not dependenton the success of negotiationsbetween Kabul's political lead-ership and the Taliban. AP

Tokyo: The Japanese city ofNagasaki on Sunday marked its75th anniversary of the USatomic bombing, with the mayorand dwindling survivors urgingworld leaders including theirown to do more for a nuclearweapons ban.

At 11:02 am, the momentthe B-29 bomber Bockscardropped a 4.5-ton (10,000-pound) plutonium bombdubbed “Fat Man,” Nagasakisurvivors and other participantsstood in a minute of silence tohonor more than 70,000 dead.

The August 9, 1945, bomb-ing came three days after theUnited States dropped its firstatomic bomb on Hiroshima, theworld's first ever nuclear attackthat killed 140,000. On August15, Japan surrendered, endingWorld War II.

At the event at NagasakiPeace Park, scaled down because

of the coronavirus pandemic,Mayor Tomihisa Taue read apeace declaration in which heraised concern that nuclearstates had in recent years retreat-ed from disarmament efforts.

Instead, they are upgradingand miniaturizing nuclearweapons for easier use, he said.Taue singled out the US andRussia for increasing risks by

scrapping the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

“As a result, the threat ofnuclear weapons being used isincreasingly becoming real,”Taue said. Noting that theNuclear Proliferation Treatyentered into force 50 years ago,Taue urged the US and Russia toshow a (asterisk)workableway(asterisk) towards their

nuclear disarmament at theNPT review process next year.

He said that “the true hor-ror of nuclear weapons has notyet been adequately conveyed tothe world at large” despite strug-gle and efforts by hibakusha, oratomic bombing survivors, tomake Nagasaki the last place ofthe tragedy.

He also urged Japan's gov-ernment and lawmakers toquickly sign the 2017 Treaty onthe Prohibition of NuclearWeapons.

After taking part in the cer-emony, Prime Minister ShinzoAbe criticized the treaty for notbeing realistic. None of thenuclear states has joined, and itis not widely supported even bynon-nuclear states, he said.

“The Treaty on theProhibition of Nuclear Weaponswas adopted without takinginto consideration the reality of

the harsh national security envi-ronment,” Abe said at a newsconference.

“I must say the treaty is dif-ferent from Japan's position andapproach" even though theyshare the same goal of abolish-ing nuclear weapons, he said.

Abe has repeatedly refusedto sign the treaty. He reiteratedthat Japan's approach is not totake sides but to serve as a bridgebetween nuclear and non-nuclear states to encourage dia-logue to achieve a total nuclearban. Survivors and pacifistgroups say Japan is virtually sid-ing with the US and othernuclear states.

Abe cited “severe nationalsecurity environment and awide gap between the two sideson nuclear disarmament.” Healso noted Japan faces threats ofdevelopment and moderniza-tion of nuclear weapons from

“neighboring countries in theregion.” Taue, who spoke beforeAbe, disagreed, saying: “Amongthe nuclear-weapon states andcountries under the nuclearumbrella, there have been voic-es stating that it is too early forsuch a treaty. That is not so.Nuclear arms reductions arefar too late in coming.”

While Tokyo renounces itsown possession, production orhosting of nuclear weapons, asa US ally Japan hosts 50,000American troops and is pro-tected by the US nuclear umbrel-la. The post-WWII securityarrangement complicates thepush to get Japan to sign thetreaty as it beefs up its own mil-itary to deal with threats fromNorth Korea and China, amongothers. An aging group of sur-vivors have expressed a growingsense of urgency to tell their sto-ries, in hopes of reaching

younger generations to contin-ue their effort toward establish-ing a nuclear-free world.

“There is not much time leftfor us survivors,” said ShigemiFukabori, 89. He was a 14-year-old student mobilized towork at a shipyard whenNagasaki was bombed.

“I'm determined to keeptelling my story so that Nagasakiwill be the last place on Earth tohave suffered an atomic attack.”

Fukabori, who almostinstantly lost four siblings, saidhe never forgets the pile ofcharred bodies, bombed-outstreet cars and the badly injureddesperately asking for help andwater as he rushed back to hishouse in the back of theUrakami Cathedral, which wasalso nearly destroyed.

“We don't want anyone elseto have to go through this," hesaid. AP

Wellington: New Zealand onSunday marked 100 days sinceit stamped out the spread of thecoronavirus, a rare bright spotin a world that continues to beravaged by the disease.

Life has returned to nor-mal for many people in theSouth Pacific nation of 5 mil-lion, as they attend rugbygames at packed stadiums andsit down in bars and restau-rants without the fear of gettinginfected. But some worry thecountry may be getting com-placent and not preparing wellenough for any future out-breaks.

New Zealand got rid of thevirus by imposing a strict lock-down in late March when onlyabout 100 people had testedpositive for the disease. Thatstopped its spread. AP

Beirut: Lebanon's informationminister resigned on Sunday asthe country grapples with theaftermath of the devastatingblast that ripped through thecapital and raised public angerto new levels.

The resignation comescomes after a night of demon-strations against the ruling elite,blamed for the chronic mis-management and corruptionthat is believed to be behind theexplosion in a Beirut Portwarehouse.

Hundreds of tons of high-ly explosive material werestored in the waterfront hangar,and the blast sent a shock wavethat killed at least 160 people,wounded nearly 6,000 anddefaced the coastline of Beirut— destroying hundreds ofbuildings.

Manal Abdel-Samad said inher resignation letter thatchange remained “elusive” and

she regrets failing to fulfill theaspirations of the Lebanesepeople.

Her resignation comes asabout half a dozen lawmakersoffered their resignation inprotest over government per-formance. Local media alsoreported that another minister,and a close advisor to PrimeMinister Hassan Diab, was alsoexpected to resign.

Diab met with his Cabinetreportedly to discuss the resig-nations Sunday, but there wereno comments after the meeting.

“Given the magnitude ofthe catastrophe caused by theBeirut earthquake that shookthe nation and hurt our heartsand minds, and in respect forthe martyrs, and the pains ofthe wounded, missing and dis-placed, and in response to thepublic will for change, I resignfrom the government," Abdel-Samad wrote. AP

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Colombo: Mahinda Rajapaksawas sworn in on Sunday as SriLanka's new prime minister ata centuries-old Buddhist templeafter his party won a landslidevictory in parliamentary elec-tions that allowed the influen-tial family to consolidate powerfor the next five years.

The 74-year-old formerpresident and Sri Lanka People'sParty (SLPP) leader was admin-istered the oath of office by hisyounger brother and PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa at a gath-ering of Buddhist monks, rep-resentatives of the diplomaticcommunity and other seniorofficials.

"I am humbled by theopportunity given to me toserve my people again," hetweeted soon after starting hisfourth innings as prime minis-ter.

Mahinda Rajapaksa saidthe trust bestowed on him bythe people will inspire him tocontinue to serve the country.The prime minister vowed thathe would ensure that Sri Lankawould embark on a progressivejourney during his tenure.

Supporters of the SLPP litfirecrackers to celebrate his

swearing-in as the 13th PrimeMinister at the RajamahaViharaya in Kelaniya, a northColombo suburb, at the auspi-cious hour of 9:28 am local time.

The Rajamaha Viharaya,also known as the Kelaniyatemple, dates back to 2,500years. According to the websiteof the temple, it has often beenassociated with the rise and fallof Sri Lanka.

The SLPP, led by Mahindaand Gotabaya Rajapaksa, regis-tered a landslide victory in theAugust 5 general election, secur-ing two-thirds majority inParliament needed to amendthe Constitution to further con-solidate the powerful Rajapaksafamily's grip on power.

India's High Commissionerto Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay onSaturday became the first envoyto congratulate the new primeminister when he called onMahinda Rajapaksa.

Baglay recalled that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadcomplimented the people andGovernment of Sri Lanka on thesuccessful conduct of electionsand had acknowledged theimpressive electoral perfor-mance of the SLPP. PTI

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Islamabad: Pakistan on Sundaywelcomed A traditional Afghancouncil's recommendation torelease the remaining 400Taliban members, expressinghope that the move will help inan early start to negotiationsbetween Afghanistan's warringsides.

The traditional Afghancouncil concluded Sunday withhundreds of delegates agreeingto free 400 Taliban members.

"We hope that with theimplementation of this step

relating to the prisoners' release,as envisaged in the US-TalibanPeace Agreement, the intra-Afghan negotiations will com-mence at the earliest,” theForeign Office (FO) said in astatement. The deal negotiatedbetween the US and Talibancalls for the government tofree 5,000 prisoners and for theTaliban to free 1,000 govern-ment and military personnel inits custody as a goodwill gestureahead of the start of negotia-tions. PTI

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Portland (US): A fire inside apolice union building ledauthorities in Portland,Oregon, to declare a riot andforce protesters away from theoffices as violent demonstra-tions continue in the city thathad hoped for calm after fed-eral agents withdrew morethan a week ago.

A group of demonstratorsbroke into the Portland PoliceAssociation building, set thefire and were adding to itwhen officers made the riotdeclaration late Saturday, policetweeted. Video shot by a jour-nalist shows smoke and flamesarising from inside the build-ing.

Several hundred people hadgathered outside the offices,which are located about 5 miles(8 kilometers) north of the fed-eral courthouse that had beenthe target of nightly violenceearlier this summer. AP

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Rome: With confirmed coronavirus cases in theUS hitting 5 million Sunday, by far the highestof any country, the failure of the most power-ful nation in the world to contain the scourgehas been met with astonishment and alarm inEurope.

Perhaps nowhere outside the US isAmerica's bungled virus response viewed withmore consternation than in Italy, which wasground zero of Europe's epidemic. Italians wereunprepared when the outbreak exploded inFebruary, and the country still has one of theworld's highest official death tolls at 35,000.

But after a strict nationwide, 10-weeklockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters andgeneral acceptance of mask mandates and socialdistancing, Italy has become a model of viruscontainment.

“Don't they care about their health?” amask-clad Patrizia Antonini asked about peo-ple in the United States as she walked withfriends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, northof Rome. AP

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Jerusalem: Thousands of Israelisrallied outside Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu's resi-dence in Jerusalem on Saturdayas anger mounted over corrup-

tion allegations and his handlingof the coronavirus crisis. "Yourtime is up", read the giant lettersprojected on to a building at theprotest site, as demonstrators

waved Israeli flags and called onNetanyahu to resign over whatthey say is his failure to protectjobs and businesses affected bythe pandemic. AFP

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With the COVID-19 pandemic,everyone is compelled toacknowledge the fact that

things cannot function the way theyused to anymore. As a part of the busi-ness community, society and the larg-er ecosystem, the need to learn to adaptto the new normal has become a neces-sity. Studies reveal how workplace con-ducts can be modified and regulated asper the changing requirements as thelockdown is gradually being lifted up.

A survey by Pulse studied the keycompetencies to survive the currentpandemic. Its second survey focussedon the priorities and policies HR func-tions should adopt to help organisationsand employees navigate through thecurrent crisis. The third survey nowfocusses on the relevance of POSH Actand Policy (The Sexual Harassment ofWomen at Workplace (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013)in the new normal considering theemerging current realities that have sur-faced.

It lists these top priorities for organ-isations to look at while evaluating therelevance of POSH Act and Policy whileredesigning and reshaping their workculture and employee behaviour.

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As the workforce continues to adaptto the changing needs of their workenvironment and undergo dramaticshift in workplace dynamics, organisa-tions should constantly re-look andrefresh their frameworks, practices,processes and policies for workplacesafety.

Thus, an important aspect to work-place safety is that the POSH policyshould be modified to meet the needsof remote or virtual working. Duringwork from home (WFH), the need forPOSH training has become a pressingrequirement as per the data in the sur-vey.

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Emerging dimensions of workplaceconduct and safety are equally impor-tant. This period of lockdown has ledto a staggering increase in domestic vio-lence cases in India and globally. Withsocial distancing in place, several peo-ple are unable to contact or seek helpfrom their regular support system.Taking this into account, Twitter Indiahas also launched search prompts tohelp domestic violence victims. Thus,with the merging of workplace and per-sonal space, there is a need to keep safe-ty of employees under check.

The policy says that the workplacecovers both organised and unorganisedsectors and includes any offsite, get-togethers, or any place that comesunder the ambit of work-related rela-tionship. Therefore, the need to safe-guard the physical and mental safety ofan employee within the new normalwith a shift in the work space, work safe-ty must continue to be a top priority forcompanies.

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While some companies have madethe POSH policy gender-neutral, aneed for the POSH Act to be made intoa gender-neutral act by law has alsoemerged. This indicates the need forLGBTQ-related harassment to be taken

into consideration while reviewing thepolicy in offices to ensure safety is nota privilege limited to a few within theworkforce.

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The need for HR leaders to reviewcomplex scenarios under the POSH Acthas become a pressing need. We areconnected virtually for long hourswhen it comes to work life as linesbetween professional and personalspace have blurred.

Emerging challenges have also sur-faced with virtual connectivity becom-ing a part of our everyday work thatneeds to be addressed. As per Gartner,by 2030, demand for remote workingwill increase by 30 per cent with “GenZ” entering the workplace. Cyber bul-lying or harassment on virtual platformsis a pressing concern that should beaddressed in the POSH policy.

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As a major portion of our workforcecontinues to work from home, theyoperate in this workplace while inter-acting with colleagues and work teams.Therefore, a certain level of sensitisationof managers and other employees on“not camera-ready” behaviour, code ofconduct and dress code for video con-ferences, virtual or video conferenceguidelines are required to be clearly stat-ed and put in place. It will help main-tain a certain level of professional con-duct among employees.

POSH training during WFHIt is important for companies to

conduct training and awareness sessionsfor employees across the verticals with-in the organisation. It should include theleadership, managers, employees, newly-recruited staff and interns who are nowgetting on-board virtually. The need tobe sensitised to expected standards of

professional behaviour, redressal mech-anism and clear implications of false andmalicious complaints need to be takeninto consideration with assurance ofswift action.

Popular method for facilitatingtraining sessions or activities acrossindustries on the POSH Policy and Actwere Face-to-Face. However, even

though social distancing is the norm, theneed to sensitise employees acrossmultiple locations should not be under-mined. Utilisation of virtual platformshas become an excellent mode of com-munication and learning with onlinetraining and webinars to support andaddress training needs of employees inan organisation.

After his first book, UrbanNaxals: The Making of

Buddha in a Traffic Jam,director and screenwriterVivek Agnihotri is now set tocome up with his secondnon-fiction book, Who KilledShastri?: The Tashkent Files.

Known for writingscreenplays of films like TheTashkent Files, Buddha In ATraffic Jam, and Dhan DhanaDhan Goal, Agnihotri hasbound together the elementsof the mystery around thelegendary Lal BahadurShastri’s death in the book.

According to the author, thisis “the first-ever book toinvestigate the mysteriousdeath of independent India’ssecond prime minister, LalBahadur Shastri, from allpossible angles.”

Commenting on hisbook, Agnihotri said, “Fouryears ago, I figured out thatthe first fundamental right ofa citizen in a democracy hasto be the right to truth buthow is it possible if we don’teven know the truth of oursecond prime minister ShriLal Bahadur Shastri mysteri-

ous death in Tashkent. That’show this journey begins afterfilling many RTIs and strug-gling with all the possiblesources. We decided to chasethe history and discover thetruth behind Shastri ji’sdeath and in his journey. Irediscovered the synergeticpolitics of India after thehumiliating defeat by Chinain 1962 till the emergency.How India was sold and Iconcluded that whoeverkilled Shastri are the samepeople who sold India, too.This book is my spiritualjourney into politics andvery strongly conveys that it’sbecause of the absence ofspirituality and moral valuesin politics; how India hassuffered generations aftergenerations. This book isalso a warning to the newgeneration as it aims toexplain to them why theymust fight in moral politicsand always stand up andfight for right the truth.”

Vivek’s directorial film,The Tashkent Files (2019),also came with a hashtagquestion — Who killedShastri? More than half acentury after that fatefulmorning in Tashkent and thequestion still remains unan-swered — Did Shastri real-ly die a natural death or wasit an assassination birthedfrom political disagree-ments? For the director, itwas a tweet that inspired himto work on the mystery relat-ed to his death.

The filmmaker andauthor has also made thebook available online forpre-orders. He has releasedthe cover of the book onsocial media, for pre-ordersand to get feedback. Thebook will hit the stands onAugust 28.

On the work front, Vivekwill start working on his newproject, titled, The KashmirFiles.

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academy job, a coptrains five foolhardystudents as assassinsin his risky revengeplot against policecorruption and theunderworld. StarringBobby Deol,Bhupendra Jadawatand Hitesh Bhojraj,the film releases onNetflix on August21.

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What do you doif your parents arekidnapped by a crewof internationalthieves? You begin awild overnightadventure —complete with spygear. The filmreleases on Netflix onAugust 21.

"������������A medical student enters a top German university on a secret mission to

uncover a conspiracy linking a family tragedy to a visionary biology professor.Starring Luna Wedler, Jessica Schwarz and Thomas Prenn, season 1 releases onNetflix on August 20.

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London Olympics Bronze-medallist SainaNehwal has resumed training at a separate

facility in Hyderabad after the coronavirus-induced break and is likely to join the nation-al camp at the SAI Pullela Gopichand Academyin a couple of weeks.

Saina is one of the eight Olympic hopefulswho have been allowed by the Sports Authorityof India (SAI) to resume training at the SAIPullela Gopichand Academy from August 7 fol-lowing the Telangana Government’s approval.

However, the former world No 1 has, forthe time being, decided to train with shuttlerhusband Parupalli Kashyap and 2014Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist RMVGurusaidutt at a different centre near theGopichand academy.

“We have been training at a centre near theGopichand academy for a week now. It is a smallfacility. We started with the basics as it was aftera long time that we were hitting the court,”Kashyap, a former Commonwealth Gameschampion, said.

“Saina has just joined. She will probably starttraining at the Gopichand academy in a cou-ple of weeks. She wants to get fitter and reacha decent level. She has sought the permissionof Gopi sir and discussed it with new Indonesiancoach Agus Dwi Santoso,” he added.

Kashyap, who is currently ranked 24th inthe world, believes the Gopichand academy isequipped with enough courts to accommodatea few more players, who can start training byfollowing social distancing and other regulationslaid down by SAI.

��%� ����� The BCCI is mullingNovember 19 as tentative date for startof domestic season with SyedMushtaq Ali T20 tournament butIndian players in various IPL teamswon’t be able to play first few roundsdue to quarantine protocols in place.

The delay in the beginning of thedomestic season due to pandemicmeans that only Mushtaq Ali trophyand Ranji Trophy (Dec 13 - March 10)comprising of 245 games (acrossformats with 38 teams) will be played.

There will be no Vijay HazareTrophy, Duleep Trophy or ChallengerSeries this year and as of now thereis no provision for Irani Cup also.

“This is a tentative list that hasbeen prepared and it has gone forapproval of president Sourav Gangulyand secretary Jay Shah,” a senior BCCIofficial told PTI.

While this is a draft schedule, itis being asked how the Indian play-ers, who will return from IPL, will playsince they will have to be in a 14-dayquarantine as per Government rules.

“That’s an issue primarily for theuncapped players, who would be withthe squad and would like to play somecricket. Now even a player’s team is

knocked out before play-offs, hewon’t be back before November 3 andtill Nov 17 will be in quarantine.

“For those whose teams are inplay-offs and may reach finals, theywill have to miss the first few roundsin that case. But again this is a draftproposal and there could be sometweaks in it,” the official said.

However with BCCI expecting toconduct the next IPL in India, start-ing end of March or early April, it isimperative that they keep a three-week window between Ranji final andbeginning of IPL which will help thedomestic stars recover after hectictournament. PTI

��+������� Serena Williams onSaturday said that she is press-ing ahead with plans to play inthe US Open despite a wave ofplayer withdrawals from theupcoming Grand Slam eventover coronavirus fears.

The 23-time Slam winnerreturns to tennis next week at theinaugural Top Seed Open WTAevent in Lexington, Kentucky,relaunching her season after asix-month hiatus caused by theCovid-19 pandemic.

Williams, who was one ofthe first players to commit to theUS Open despite the pandem-ic, said her plans remainunchanged, adding that she wastentatively planning to go to

Europe for the rescheduledFrench Open.

“I see myself doing it all if ithappens,” Williams said whenasked about her schedule duringa virtual press conference.

“But I am not planning forthe future, as tournaments got

cancelled I was just like, ‘Let mejust work on today and see whathappens.’”

Williams revealed that shehad been practicing on her owncourt, built with the same hard-cout surface used at the USOpen. She has also stayed fitwith construction of a homegym.

Serena, who is also sched-uled to play the Western andSouthern Open tune-up event inNew York before the US Open,admitted that only tournamentplay would allow her to proper-ly gauge her fitness.

“Everyone has an opportu-nity to be more fit now, becausewe spent so much time at home

to work on ourselves,” Williamssaid. “Fitness wise, there is goingto be a tonne of fitness, butmatch fitness is different to fit-fitness.”

Williams, who turns 39 inSeptember, meanwhile said shewas unable to say whether shewould be at the rescheduledTokyo Olympics in 2021.

“That is just looking too farahead, I don’t know if Tokyoplans to be in Tokyo, we willhave to wait and see,” she said.

“I don’t know what toexpect. One thing I have learnedis don’t plan, I am living for theday and for the moment, in agood way but I am not makingplans too far out.” AFP

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Max Verstappen delivered Red Bull’s first victo-ry at Silverstone since 2012 on Sunday when

he made the most of a superior strategy in sizzlingconditions to beat both Mercedes and claim victo-ry in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

It was the Dutchman’s first victory of the seasonand the ninth of his career and the first time a racehad been won by a driver who did not start on poleposition in seven races since last year’s Mexican GrandPrix.

Verstappen owed hisvictory to a team decisionto start the race on hardcompound tyres whilehis main rivals alllaunched from the gridon mediums, the twoMercedes men strugglingto manage tyre-wearthroughout the race.

During the race, RedBull asked him to easeoff, but he replied saying“I don’t want to drive likea grand-ma” before theteam relented.

Verstappen won by11.326 seconds ahead ofchampionship leader andsix-time champion LewisHamilton who passedMercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the closingstages.

Bottas, who started from pole, said: “Very frus-trating for me, to start from pole and finish third.

“It’s not ideal and I think that as a team we weresleeping at some points in the race. My strategy wasfar from ideal.”

Hamilton’s podium finish meant he equalledMichael Schumacher’s career record of 155 podiumfinishes. It was also his record-extending 38thpoints scoring finish in a row.

Charles Leclerc came home fourth after a ster-ling drive for Ferrari ahead of Alex Albon in the sec-ond Red Bull, Lance Stroll and his Racing Point team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. Esteban Ocon finished eighthfor Renault ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren andDaniil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri.

����� 3%)�-+��+2

Fast bowling great Wasim Akram hascome down heavily on Pakistan cap-

tain Azhar Ali for his decisions duringthe first Test against England, saying he“missed a trick quite a few times” in thevisitors’ three-wicket defeat here.

Akram was particularly critical ofAli’s decision to under-bowl pacerNaseem Shah, who was used for just 13overs out of 82 in the second inningswhile defending a target of 277.

“It will hurt. It will hurt thePakistan team and the cricket lovers inPakistan,” Akram was quoted as sayingby Sky Sports.

“Winning and losing is part ofcricket, but I think our captain misseda trick quite a few times in this game,as far as his leadership is concerned,”the former Pakistan captain said.

Akram felt with England reducedto 117 for five, the need of the hour wasto put pressure on Buttler, who wasfighting for his Test spot, and Woakes,who averaged just 5.22 with the bat inhis previous six Tests.

“When Woakes came in, therewere no bouncers, no short deliveries,they let him settle down and runs werecoming easy,” Akram said dissecting theerrors of Pakistan skipper Ali.

“Once the partnership got going,nothing happened — the turn didn’thappen, swing didn’t happen — andButtler and Woakes just took the gameaway.”

���������������Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-

Haq is not happy with his side’s below-par batting effort in the first Test butmore disappointing to him was how thevisitors let England off the hook dur-ing their run chase.

“...We are disappointed that we letEngland off the hook after they werefive wickets down at one stage. The wayButtler and Woakes counter-attackedour bowlers it was very skilful,” Misbahsaid.

“Over all, we could have done bet-ter with the bat in the second innings.It would have been a different scenarioif it was a 300 above target. It is veryimportant to put up decent score in thesecond innings against England’s qual-ity bowling attack in their own condi-tions.”

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England looked all but beat-en when they stumbled to

117-5 in their pursuit of a 277-run target set by Pakistan atOld Trafford but captain JoeRoot felt confident about histeam’s battling qualities.

“We knew it would takesomething special but after lastsummer it is very hard tostop believing. It’s a real strongtrait of ours,” he said.

Almost a year on from BenStokes’ heroic batting displayto stun Australia in the 2019Ashes at Headingley, JosButtler and Chris Woakescombined to deliver a counter-attacking display in a 139-runsixth-wicket stand.

Buttler (75) was trappedleg-before with 21 runs stillrequired and the second newball due, but Woakes (84)stuck it out, edging the win-ning boundary down to thirdman to seal a famous victory.

“It was a brilliant chase. Icouldn’t be more proud of thelads,” Root said.

“Jos, it shows the mental

strength, to play that situationand manage different passagesof it, calculating risks, manip-ulating the spinner, brilliantinnings, and Chris was mag-nificent too.

“The more importantthing is we back it up again,and keep learning, but theclarity with which they playedshows the maturity of thegroup too.”

With England losing fourquick wickets after lunch,Woakes and Buttler had no

choice but to reel in the targetin one-day mode.

“It was good idea to takethem on and put them underpressure,” Woakes said. “He isone of the best white-ballplayers in the world — one ofbest run-chasers — and heshowed why today.”

��#��Pakistan batsmanShaan Masood’s centuryin the first Test has pro-pelled him to a career-best 19th place in theICC rankings for Testbatsmen while ChrisWoakes’s match-winning84-run knock inEngland’s chase helpedhim jump 18 places.

L e f t - h a n d e rMasood’s first-inningsknock of 156 pushedhim up by 14 places and

he is now second-highestranked Test batsman forPakistan behind BabarAzam (6th). Masood’sprevious best was 32ndposition in February thisyear.

Woakes is nowranked 78th in the bats-men’s list. Woakes, whoscored 19 and 84 in thematch, has also jumpedto seventh position in thelist of all-rounders.

Buttler’s innings of

38 and 75 have lifted himfrom 44th to 30th whileOllie Pope has attained acareer-best 36th afterscoring 62 and seven.

In the bowlers’ list,Pakistan leg-spinnersYasir Shah moved uptwo places to 22nd placeafter finishing with eightwickets in the match.Shadab Khan has re-entered the rankings at acareer-best 69th posi-tion. PTI

���� �12.)

Former Italy and Juventus star Andrea Pirlo wasappointed the Italian champions’ new coach, just

hours after Maurizio Sarri’s sacking with the clubpromising a “new chapter in world football”.

Sarri, 61, leaves Juventus after just one season,a day after the Italian giants crashed out of theChampions League in the last 16 to French clubLyon.

The 41-year-old Pirlo, with no previous top-level coaching experience, recently took over theJuventus U-23 side and arrives on a two-year con-tract.

“The choice is based on the belief that Pirlo haswhat it takes to lead from his debut on the bench,an expert and talented squad to pursue new success-es,” Juventus said.

“Today, begins a new chapter of his career in theworld of football: from Maestro to Mister.”

Pirlo’s swift appointment, a day after theirChampions League exit, is again a bold choice forclub president Andrea Agnelli.

Other former players have turned to coachingsuch as Zinedine Zidane, Frank Lampard andGennaro Gattuso, but Pirlo does so without expe-rience.

The former midfielder does, however, knowJuventus and its players well after an impressive four-year spell from 2011 to 2015.

“Pirlo has had a legendary career as a player. Inhis four years at the

centre of theJuventus mid-field, he won as

many leaguetitles, a Coppa

Italia and two ItalianSuper Cups,” Juventussaid.

He also won twoChampions Leagues and

two league titles withAC Milan.

At Juventus,Pirlo will now find

himself coachingsome of his for-

mer team-mates suchas Juventusgoalkeeper

G i a n g l u i g iBuffon, a yearolder at 42.

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Lionel Messi scored a bril-liant solo goal as Barcelonasaw off Napoli on Saturday

but they are likely to need some-thing even more special fromtheir captain to beat BayernMunich in the ChampionsLeague quarter-finals.

Messi’s weaving run andfinish came between an earlyClement Lenglet header and aLuis Suarez penalty, also won byMessi, as Barca stormed into a3-0 lead in the first half atCamp Nou.

But Lorenzo Insigne gaveNapoli hope just before theinterval and an unconvincingsecond period from Barcelona

left them hanging on for a 3-1win on the night, 4-2 on aggre-gate.

“A second goal would havegiven them a feeling of eupho-ria that can hurt you,” saidBarca coach Quique Setien.

“It’s normal to get a littlenervous.”

In winning the penalty,Messi took a heavy kick fromNapoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly andneeded treatment.

“It was a heavy knock,” saidSetien. “It will have to be treat-ed but I don’t think there is aproblem.”

After finishing five points

behind Real Madrid in La Liga,Barca resumed in theChampions League with doubtshanging over the form of theteam and the future of theircoach.

And victory against Napolieases the pressure but the per-formance will not inspire confi-dence, even with Messi seeming-ly rejuvenated after three weeksrest.

Napoli, whose own leagueseason only finished last week-end, should have had the advan-tage of rhythm but a disastrousopening half an hour left themwith too much to do.

Koulibaly, l inkedwith a move to severalelite European clubs thissummer, endured a par-ticularly disappointingnight.

Yet Barcelona willhave to improve significantly tomatch Bayern, who advancedafter putting seven past Chelseaover two legs and are arguablyfavourites to win the tourna-ment.

“It’s going to be very compli-cated,” admitted Setien ahead ofthe quarter-final on Friday.

Messi now has four goals inhis last three games and in aone-off match in Lisbon, theArgentinian is capable of any-thing.

But Bayern have their owntrump card in RobertLewandowski and a more com-plete team that makes themheavy favourites to reach thesemis.

� �������������At Allianz Arena, treble-

chasing Bayern Munich seal a 4-1 home win over Chelsea in thelast 16, return-leg tie afterRobert Lewandowski nettedtwice to .

“The anticipation is enor-mous. Barcelona has a goodteam with very good players, butif you look at the last few weeks,we can fly to Portugal with a lotof confidence,” said Bayerndefender David Alaba.

Lewandowski, the

Champions League’s top-scorer, bagged his 12thand 13th goals in Europethis season and played apart in all four Bayerngoals in Munich onSaturday.

Leading 3-0 from the firstleg at Stamford Bridge inFebruary, before the coronaviruspandemic halted the competi-tion, Bayern progressed 7-1 onaggregate.

“We can be pleased, it wasour first game for a month andit’s not easy to keep the rhythm,”added Alaba.

“We have prepared for thisfor the last two weeks and youcould see the result.”

Lewandowski netted apenalty with just 10 minutesgone at the Allianz Arena.

Winger Ivan Perisic thendoubled Bayern’s lead beforeEngland striker TammyAbraham tapped home a looseball to give Chelsea brief hope.

However, replacement mid-fielder Corentin Tolisso put theresult beyond doubt when hefired home a Lewandowski passwith 14 minutes to go.

“I am really happy with howwe played over the 90 minutes,the first 30 minutes we shutChelsea out,” said Bayern headcoach Hansi Flick.

This was a world-class dis-play from Lewandowski whoadded a late header to his pair ofassists.

He is now four goals short of

Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 17Champions League goals in2013/14.

“It’s not a goal of mine,” saidLewandowski when asked aboutRonaldo’s record. “We have a fewmore games in the knock-outround and I am just as happycreating goals as scoringthem.”

The Poland star was alsocoy when asked about a rival-ry with Barcelona star LionelMessi. “We have to perform welland show our quality as a teamagainst a good Barcelona side,it’s a big game for everybody.”

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England’s star all-rounder Ben

Stokes will miss theremainder of thethree-match Testseries againstPakistan due to fam-ily reasons, thecountry’s cricket boardannounced on Sunday.

The England and WalesCricket Board (ECB), how-ever, did not specify theexact reasons for his pull-out.

“Stokes will leave theUK later this week and trav-el to New Zealand. He will

miss England’s two Testmatches against Pakistan at

the Ageas Bowl start-ing on Thursday 13August and Friday 21August,” the ECB saidin a statement.

He will be flyingto Christchurch —where his parents Ged

and Deb live.Stokes’ father — a for-

mer rugby league interna-tional — was hospitaliseddays ahead of England'sBoxing Day Test againstSouth Africa in Decemberlast year, and has since beenrecuperating at home inNew Zealand.

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