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As Democrat Joe Bideninched closer to the 270

Electoral College votes neededto win the White House,President Donald Trump’scampaign put into action thelegal strategy the Presidenthad signaled for weeks: attack-ing the integrity of the votingprocess in States where theresult could mean his defeat.

Democrats scoffed at thelegal challenges the President’scampaign filed on Wednesdayin Pennsylvania, Michigan andGeorgia. And the flurry ofcourt action did not seemobviously destined to affectthe election’s outcome.

However weary Americanswill have to wait for somemore time to know the clearwinner of the closely-foughtelection between Trump andBiden, as the final outcomehinged on a few states onThursday where a flood ofmail-in ballots triggered bythe coronavirus pandemic werestill being counted.

Two days after the presi-dential election, Biden is near-ing the magical figure of 270electoral votes to win the raceto the White House, with the

former US Vice-President bag-ging 253 votes compared to 213won by Trump, according tolatest US media projections.

The new filings, joiningexisting Republican legal chal-lenges in Pennsylvania andNevada, demand better access

for campaign observers to loca-tions where ballots are beingprocessed and counted, andraised absentee ballot con-cerns, the campaign said.

The Associated Press calledMichigan for Biden onWednesday. The AP has not

called Nevada, Pennsylvania orGeorgia.

The Trump campaign alsois seeking to intervene in aPennsylvania case at theSupreme Court that deals withwhether ballots received up tothree days after the election can

be counted, deputy campaignmanager Justin Clark said.

Trump’s campaign alsoannounced that it would ask fora recount in Wisconsin, also aState the AP called for Biden onWednesday. Campaign man-ager Bill Stepien cited “irregu-larities in several Wisconsincounties,” without providingspecifics.

Biden said on Wednesdaythe count should continue in allStates, adding, “No one’s goingto take our democracy awayfrom us — not now, not ever.”

Campaign spokesmanAndrew Bates said legal chal-lenges were not the behavior ofa winning campaign.

“What makes these cha-rades especially pathetic is thatwhile Trump is demandingrecounts in places he hasalready lost, he’s simultane-ously engaged in fruitlessattempts to halt the counting ofvotes in other States in whichhe’s on the road to defeat,” Batessaid in a statement.

Vote counting, meanwhile,stretched into Thursday. Inevery election, results reportedon election night are unofficialand ballot counting extendspast Election Day. But thisyear, States were contending

with an avalanche of mail bal-lots driven by fears of voting inperson during a pandemic.

Mail ballots normally takemore time to verify and count.This year, because of the largenumbers of mail ballots and aclose race, results were expect-ed to take longer.

The lawsuits the Trumpcampaign filed in Michiganand Pennsylvania onWednesday called for a tem-porary halt in the countinguntil it is given “meaningful”access in numerous locationsand allowed to review ballotsthat already have been openedand processed.

The AP’s Michigan call forBiden came after the suit wasfiled. Trump is ahead inPennsylvania, but his margin isshrinking as more mailed bal-lots are counted. The State had3.1 million mail ballots, and acourt order allows them to becounted till Friday if they werepostmarked by November 3.

On Thursday, a State appel-late court ordered aPhiladelphia judge to ensurethat party and candidateobservers can get up close toelection workers processingmail-in ballots in the city.

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The Centre on Thursdaynotified a set of guidelines

for the reopening of universi-ties and colleges closed sinceMarch in view of the Covid-19pandemic.

For Central universitiesand other Centrally fundedhigher education institutions,the decision for reopening ofcampuses has been left to theVice Chancellors and heads ofthe institutions.

However, for State univer-sities and colleges, the respec-tive State Governments willhave to take a call as per thefresh set of guidelines notifiedby the Education Ministryissued through the universityregulator University GrantsCommission (UGC).

As per the new guidelines,universities and colleges out-

side the containment zone canbe opened in a sequential man-ner after consultation with therespective State/UTGovernments. UGC has sug-gested six-day weeks, smallerclass-sizes to enable social dis-tancing, however, teachinghours in a day may be extend-ed, as per the institution’srequirements.

“Six-day schedule may befollowed so that classes can beconducted in phases and theseating arrangement be madekeeping in view the require-ments of physical distancing.Universities and colleges mayconsider reducing the classsize and break them in multi-ple sections to maintain phys-

ical distancing during the class-es,” and Education Ministryofficial said.

Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishankannounced that the collegesand universities will reopen asper the UGC guidelines issuedin consultation with the Home,Health and EducationMinistries. “It is a request to alleducational institutions, stu-dents, parents and all thoseassociated with the educationworld to ensure compliance ofthese guidelines for the survivaland bright future of them-selves and others,” Pokhriyaltweeted on the new SOP.

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After cinema halls, monu-ments and gyms, now the

museums, art galleries andexhibitions are all set to bereopened from November 10.They have been closed sinceMarch 17.

The Culture Ministry onThursday issued guidelines for

preventive measures to containthe spread of Covid-19 in thesepublic places.

“Other similar institutionscan be reopened as per conve-nience and in tune with rele-vant State, city or local laws,rules and regulations/unlockguidelines in force,” said theMinistry in a statement.

These guidelines containstandard operating procedure(SOPs) to be followed by themanagement of museums, artgalleries and exhibitions (bothtemporary and permanent), aswell as the visitors to thesespaces, the Ministry said.

“Comprehensive guidelineshave been issued for adequatecleaning, purchase of ticketsand for ensuring safety of vis-itors and staff at museums,exhibitions and art galleries,”the Ministry said.

The Ministry has also clar-ified that no museums and/orart galleries shall re-open insidecontainment zones, andState/UT Governments mayconsider proposing additionalmeasures as per their fieldassessment.

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China has decided to tem-porarily suspend the entry

of foreign nationals holdingvalid Chinese visas or residencepermits to the country fromIndia due to the Covid-19 pan-demic. The Chinese embassyhere said foreigners holdingChinese diplomatic, service,courtesy and C visas will not beaffected by the decision.

The decision comes afteralmost 20 passengers of an AirIndiaVande Bharat Mission(VBM) Delhi-Wuhan flight ofOctober 30 tested positive onarrival last Friday. A proposedVBM flight for November 6was rescheduled as China heldback clearances on flights fromIndia. Air India had plannedfour flights to China betweenNovember 13 and December 4which could now be impacted.

“The entry into China withvisas issued after November 3is not affected,” ChineseEmbassy in India said addingthe suspension is a temporarymeasurement.

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Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Thursday sprang

a surprise by announcing at apoll rally in Purnia that he iscontesting his last elections.This was Kumar’s last election rally for the third andfinal phase of the Assemblypolls on November 7.

“Jan lijiye aaj chunav kaaakhri din hai aur parson chu-nav hai aur ye mera antim chu-nav hai. Ant bhala, to sab bhal-la (You should know that todayis the last day of campaign andthe day after is the election.And this is my last election.All’s well that ends well),”Kumar said.

At 69, Kumar could stillhave many years in politicsgoing by the way his contem-poraries have remained activein their late 70s and early 80s.Kumar is seeking a fourthstraight term in office.

Kumar detractors havemocked at his decision, sayingthis was an “emotional” dramato win back the voters. “Kumarnever sticks to his words. If hecould go back to BJP after vow-ing never to join hands with thesaffron outfit, who will trust histoday’s announcement,” said

RJD leader Shivanand Tewari.RJD chief and former Chief

Minister Lalu Prasad, who islodged in a Ranchi jail as fod-der scam convict, tweeted avideo clip of Kumar speakingat Bihar Assembly elections inwhich he had declared hewould never join hands withthe BJP even if “mai mitti memil jau.”

“How can anyone be sounprincipled, thoughtless andimmoral in public life,” Lalusaid.

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The air quality in Delhi dete-riorated further and

reached the “severe” categoryon Thursday morning. Theworsening of air quality hasbeen attributed to stubbleburning whose share has con-siderably increased to 42 percent in Delhi’s pollution. Thisis maximum so far this season.

Meanwhile, PM10 levelsstood at 561 microgram percubic metre (g/m3) at 10 am,the highest since November 15last year, when it was measuredat 637 g/m3.

While the overall AirQuality Index (AQI ) settled at486, highest of the season, thefarm fire incidents recorded bythe NASA observatory onWednesday night were 4,135.

According to scientists inMinistry of Earth Sciences,raging farm fires and a fall inthe wind speed and tempera-ture pushed air quality in

Delhi-NCR to the worst in thepast one year.

SAFAR said the farm firecount in Punjab, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,and neighbouring areasincreased significantly. “Theboundary layer wind direc-tion is northwesterly favourablefor the transport of pollutantsfrom farm fires,” it said.

“The share of stubble burn-ing in Delhi’s PM2.5 pollutionwas estimated at 42 per cent forThursday,” it said.

In weekly trend, stubbleburning accounted for five per

cent of Delhi’s pollution onWednesday, 10 per cent onTuesday, 16 per cent onMonday and 40 per cent onSunday.

However, the stubble con-tribution to Delhi’s pollutionhad peaked to 44 per cent onNovember 1, according toSAFAR data. NASA’s satelliteimagery showed a large, densecluster of fire dots in Punjaband parts of Haryana and UP.SAFAR predicted conduciveconditions for dispersion ofpollutants in the next two days.

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It seems all is not well withinthe NDA as it fights a bitter

battle with the RJD-led grandalliance in the Bihar Assemblyelections. Amid palpable dis-trust between cadre and work-ers of the JD(U) and the BJPover Chirag Paswan’s mecha-nism, the differences betweenthe two sides have come inopen.

In the run-up to the thirdand last phase of polls onNovember 7 in Bihar, NitishKumar has hit back at his

Uttar Pradesh counterpart YogiAdityanath for saying inKatihar that illegal migrantswill be thrown out if the NDAreturned to power in the State.

“Who does all this mali-cious campaigning? Who saysall this faltu baat (nonsense)?Who will throw out people? Noone dares to do that. Everyonebelongs to this country, every-one is Indian,” he said at a pub-lic meeting at Kishanganj.

“Who talks like this? Oureffort is to work for harmony,unity and brotherhood so therecan be progress. And these

people only want to createdivides; they have no otherwork,” he added.

Asking the gathering not toplay any heed to leaders whoplay such divisive politics,Nitish said, “Kuch logon kakaam hee hai mahaul bigadna(some leaders remainengrossed in vitiating atmos-phere...”

To drive home his point,Nitish later also tweeted that, “Itis our duty and in our cultureto take everyone along. Biharwill progress only then.”

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centreto issue directions within a month on banning or regulatingthe use of disinfection tunnels spraying chemical or organicdisinfectants on humans. Similar directions may be issued onexposure of humans to artificial ultraviolet rays, the apex courtsaid, observing that the Covid-19 pandemic has “threatenedthe health of entire citizenry” and all facets relating to its pre-vention and cure be dealt with by the authorities empoweredunder different statutes.

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Taking strong exception to adecision to transfer

Gurudwara Kartarpur to anon-Sikh body, India onThursday protested to Pakistanterming the move as “unilater-al and condemnable.”

In a statement, theMinistry of External Affairssaid here, “We have seenreports about Pakistan trans-ferring the management andmaintenance of the HolyGurudwara Kartarpur Sahibaway from the Pakistan SikhGurudwara PrabhandhakCommittee (PSGPC), a bodyrun by the minority SikhCommunity, to the adminis-trative control of the EvacueeTrust Property Board, a non-Sikh body. This unilateral deci-sion by Pakistan is highly con-demnable and runs against thespirit of the Kartarpur SahibCorridor as also the religioussentiments of the Sikh com-munity at large. We have

received representations fromthe Sikh community expressinggrave concern at this decisionby Pakistan targeting the rightsof the minority Sikh commu-nity in Pakistan. Such actionsonly expose the reality of thePakistani Government and itsleadership’s tall claims of pre-serving and protecting therights and welfare of the reli-gious minority communities.Pakistan is called upon toreverse its arbitrary decision todeprive the Sikh minority com-munity its right to manageaffairs of the Holy GurudwaraK a r t a r p u rSahib.”

Reports indicated as per anotification issued onNovember 3, Pakistan’sReligious Affairs Ministryhanded over the managementof Durbar Sahib Gurdwara toa “project management unit”under the Evacuee TrustProperty Board, a departmentthat oversees the shrines of thecountry’s minorities.

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Ahead of Diwali, the DelhiGovernment on Thursday

decided to ban firecrackers inthe national Capital and rampup medical infrastructure inhospitals, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said after areview of the Covid-19 situa-tion.

Covid-19 cases haveincreased in Delhi due to theongoing festival season andpollution, the Chief Ministersaid after the review meetingwith the Chief Secretary, healthdepartment officials and dis-trict magistrates (DMs).

Delhi has recorded a spikein Covid-19 cases in the pastfew days with the number ofdaily infections crossing the6,000-mark for the second con-secutive day on Wednesday.

“Reviewed corona situationin Delhi and preparedness withChief Secy, Health officialsand all DMs. Corona cases haveincreased due to festival seasonand pollution. It was decidedto: 1. Ban crackers in Delhi, 2.

Ramp up medical infra,Oxygen and ICU beds arebeing increased in Delhi govthospitals,” Kejriwal said in atweet. Earlier in the day, theChief Minister appealed toDelhiites not to burst fire-crackers this Diwali.

Kolkata: The Calcutta HighCourt on Thursday bannedthe use and sale of firecrack-ers on Kali Puja to curb pol-lution amid the Covid-19pandemic.

A division bench of jus-tices Sanjib Banerjee andArijit Banerjee gave the direc-tion while hearing two PILs.Kali Puja is on November 15.

The court directed thatthe ban will also be in forceduring Jagaddhatri Puja,Chhath and Kartik Puja.

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Vice Chairman of Delhi JalBoard (DJB) Raghav

Chadha on Wednesday con-vened a meeting of enforce-ment officers and emphasisedthe need to prevent the wasteand misuse of water. Talkingabout the importance of beingvigilant, the Vice Chairmansaid only when DJB officersthemselves exercise caution,will it trickle down to an ordi-nary consumer.

The Vice Chairmanemphasised how DJB will nowfocus on the strict implemen-tation and enforcement of thefollowing provisions under theDelhi Water Board Act 1998against the misuse of water.

Chadha specified in themeeting that the focus should-n't be on the aforementionedviolations alone, as there areseveral other offences listed inthe Delhi Water Board Act thatcan invite fines. However, thesefour specific violations areextremely rampant, and thusrequire strict vigilance.

“All authorised officers ofDJB can check water wastagethrough overflowing watertanks/ misuse of water for gar-dening, etc and file challans inthe designated courts of theSpecial MetropolitanMagistrates of their respectiveareas,” he said.

Chadha was stern aboutthe issuing of challans byrespective officers. "I would liketo remind everyone that ourgovernment's vision of the pro-vision of 24*7 access to waterdoes not mean the 24*7 misuseof water. It does not mean themisuse of water even for one

minute. We have to be vigilant.This is where the enforcementofficers need to take action.The issuing of challans must beimmediate but scrupulous," hesaid.

The Vice Chairman alsoreprimanded the officials forissuing very few challans lastyear, emphasising that it isnecessary to send a firm mes-sage to people "Delhi Jal Boardwill no longer tolerate thewastage of water or illegal con-nections. The entire society hasto suffer because of the mis-takes of one-two people. Itmust be understood that DJBwill not let its consumers suf-fer because of such people. Iknow how sewers get choked orclosed because of garbage,which results in misery for a lotof people. Strict and swiftaction will be taken againstanyone found guilty of lettinggarbage choke sewers," he said.

Chadha told the enforce-ment officials present that DJBwill conduct a one-month longvigilance campaign, and askedfor a plan to be prepared andsubmitted in this regard.

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The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)has nabbed a man for allegedly smuggling

foreign currency worth Rs 27 lakhs at IndiraGandhi International (IGI) airport.

The accused has been identified as Aashkin,an Indian National.

According to CISF officials, on November4, on the basis of behaviour detection, the CISFsurveillance and intelligence team of IGI Airportnoticed suspicious activities of a passenger in thecheck-in area of Terminal- 3.

“The passenger was diverted to a randomchecking point near departure gate No.05 forthorough checking. During x-ray screening ofhis bag, the CISF personnel noticed suspiciousimages of currency notes concealed in the falsebottom of his bag. The passenger was allowed

for check-in and kept under close watch phys-ically as well as electronically. The concerned air-line was also intimated to hold his registeredbag,” said the official.

“After clearing Immigration, during Pre-Embarkation Security Check (PESC) at SecurityHold Area (SHA) of Terminal-3, the passengerwas intercepted by CISF and Customs Officialswere informed. Thereafter, his registered bag-gage was brought into the SHA with the help ofairline staff and the bag was thoroughly checkedin presence of Customs Officials,” said the CISFofficial.

“On checking of the bag, 1,52,000 SaudiRiyals worth approximately Rs 27.5 Lakh werefound concealed in the bottom of the bag. Thepassenger was bound for Dubai. On enquiry, hecould not produce any valid document to carrysuch an amount of foreign currency,” he said.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday said

his Government has provideda sustainable alternative tostubble burning with thenewly-developed bio-decom-poser technique to curb pollu-tion, appealing to the people ofDelhi to avoid bursting fire-crackers this Diwali in view ofincreasing air pollution..

Kejriwal said he will beperforming Lakshmi Pujaalong with other Delhi CabinetMinisters on the day of Diwali,which will be live-streamed byTV channels.

Addressing a digital pressconference, Kejriwal said,"There are adverse effects ofboth Corona and pollution in

Delhi this year. “The Delhi gov-ernment along with the peopleof Delhi is making all efforts todeal with the issue.”

“Every year, the smoke fromstubble burning causes pollutionin Delhi. This has been contin-uing for many years now, but nostate government has providedany effective solution to theproblem of stubble burning.Farmers do not want to burnstubble because it kills the goodbacteria on the farmlands,makes the soil infertile andcauses major pollution,” he said.

To provide an alternative tostubble burning, the Delhi gov-ernment has taken a crucialstep in association with thePUSA Institute, he said, addingthat the farmers do not need toburn stubble.

“They can use a chemicaldeveloped by the PUSAInstitute on the fields and the

stubble turns into manure injust 20 days. I hope that this isthe last year when we have to

suffer due to pollution. Nogovernment should be able tomake any excuse to not providean alternative to stubble burn-ing, as Delhi has given an alter-native to all the states,” he said.

"We had celebrated Diwalitogether at Connaught Placethrough a light show. We willcelebrate Diwali together thisyear as well without burningcrackers. If we burn crackers,we will be playing with thehealth of our children and ourfamily. We are arranging forsomething different for Diwalithis year," he added.

The chief minister alsoappealed to the citizens ofDelhi to join in the Diwali cel-ebrations this year by per-forming Lakshmi Puja at theirhomes.

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The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) of Delhi

Police has arrested directorsand other officials of AmarpaliGroup in 14 old cases forallegedly cheating home buyers.Police said that the Group hadpromised to complete the con-struction of the residentialapartments and hand over thepossession within a period of36 months but they failed togive possession even afterelapsing the period of morethan 10 years.

The accused have beenidentified as Anil KumarSharma (56), a resident ofMaharani Bagh and Shiv Priya(46), a resident of Noida, bothdirectors of the company.

According to Dr O PMishra, the JointCommissioner of Police,EOW, a complaint wasreceived wherein the com-plainant alleged that AmrapaliCenturian Park private limit-ed a company of AmrapaliGroup had launched its pro-ject “Amrapali CenturianPark, Terrace Homes” at PlotNo GH-05, Sector Techzone-IV, Greater Noida, UttarPradesh.

“The complainant allegedthat the Directors of AmrapaliGroup had launched the abovesaid project and had given awide publicity and advertise-ment in leading newspapers. Itwas claimed that the project isapproved by the competentAuthority. He had booked two

flats in year 2017 and made fullpayment of the flats and theBuilder-buyer agreement wasexecuted. During enquiry, 168more complaints with the sim-ilar allegations were receivedagainst the alleged persons,”said the Joint CP.

“In another complaintreceived by the EOW, the com-plainant had alleged that M/sAmrapali Smart CityDevelopers Pvt. Ltd. launchedits project “Amrapali GolfHomes” at Greater Noida. Itwas further represented thatthe possession of the projectwould be handed over to itsbuyers in 2014. Accordingly thecomplainant executed theBuilder-buyer agreement andpaid Rs. 17, 47,169/- to thealleged company but no pos-session given till date,” said theJoint CP.

“The First InformationReports were registered and theaccused are presently running

in Judicial Custody in anothercases and after obtaining per-mission from the Court, theEOW team interrogated andformally arrested the accusedAnil Kumar Sharma and ShivPriya,” said the Joint CP.

“The Group took advancesfrom buyers, ranging from 40percent to 100 per cent of thevalue of the flats. An allotment-cum-flat buyer agreement wasexecuted. The Group hadpromised to complete the con-struction and hand over thepossession of the apartments,within a period of 36 monthsbut they failed to give posses-sion even after elapsing theperiod of more than 10 years.The EOW has arrested theDirectors and other officials ofthe Amrapali Group in 14more cases. Charge-sheetshave already been filed in 15cases. Further investigation isin progress,” the Joint CPadded.

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Senior Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader and MCD in-

charge Durgesh Pathak onThursday said that the BJPruled North Corporation hasbrought an unconstitutionalcircular by which the Mayor willdecide which questions a coun-cillor can raise.

However, north mayor JaiPrakash refuted the charges, say-ing that steps were taken to savetime as every week AAP coun-cilors ask the same question todisrupt the functioning of thehouse. “No one is stopped to askquestion. The AAP councilorsare in habit of disrupting thehouse functioning that is why acircular was introduced inhouse. As per it, councilorswill have to give question inadvance to the mayor,” he said.

Pathak said that the corpo-ration has come down to thisfascist technique to silence theopposition as they are scared ofbeing exposed. “The BJP mayoris trying to make MCD his ownprivate property and no one haswitnessed such an undemocra-tic circular in the history ofdemocracy,” he said.

He said that the AAPdemands immediate rollback ofthis unconstitutional circularbrought by the BJP.

The AAP leader furthersaid, "In the last 14 years, theBJP has transformed the MCDto a den of corruption but withtime it has started to realise thatthis den of corruption is gettingdisrupted by the questionsraised against them.

“To stop the questionsagainst the BJP which canexpose the corruption and themiss governance of the MCDthey have taken the path of dic-tatorship. In MCD every coun-cillor has the right to ask ques-tions to the authorities and thisis their democratic right. Whenthe BJP ruled MCD saw thattheir corruption is gettingexposed then now they are try-ing to stop the voice of the elect-ed representatives of the MCD,”he added.

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Delhi Health MinisterSatyender Jain on

Thursday said that Delhi isdoing much better than all themetro cities in India and is onthe 17th position in Coviddeath per million population.

T oanalyse anydata regard-

ing COVID-19, Delhi shouldbe compared with the metro

cities of India. “By comparingwith the other metro cities ofIndia it should be noted thatDelhi is at the 17th position interms of Covid death with 338cases whereas Mumbai topsthe list of death per milliondue to COVID-19 as it hasaround 831 cases followed byChennai which has 518 cases,Kolkata which has 503 cases,Bangalore urban which has408 cases,” he said.

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As many as 73,267 peoplehave been challaned in

Gurugram for reportedly vio-lating lockdown norms by step-ping outside their homes with-out wearing masks and alsowithout proper reasons, thepolice said on Thursday.

The police also informedthat fines amounting to morethan Rs 3.66 crore were col-lected from the offenders sinceMarch when the lockdownwas imposed.

According to the healthdepartment, more than 1,400cases of Corona infections havebeen reported in Gurugram inthe last week which is a seriousconcern for the district healthdepartment as well as theGurugram police.

So far the police have actedagainst auto rickshaws, cabs,bike riders and pickup vans forcarrying people, police said.

Now to curb the number ofCorona cases in the district theGurugram police chief K K Raohas issued strict directions to itsforce to implement coronanorms effectively.

“People will be inspired touse masks in markets andcrowded places via loudspeak-ers, the police patrolling vehi-cles across the district will alsokeep an eye on offenders, thepolice will also distribute facemasks among the people andurge them to maintain socialdistance,” Rao said.

“Apart from this, all theDCPs, ACPs and SHOs inGurugram will identify thecrowded areas in their juris-diction and visit there to moti-vate people to comply with theorders / guidelines issued bythe government and ask themto use masks. The police willalso take prompt action againstthose who disobey the rules,”he said.

“We appealed to the resi-dents to stay indoors and notcome outside unnecessarily.Strict actions will be initiatedagainst those who break Covid-19 norms,” he said.

Meanwhile, the healthdepartment suspects that aheadof Diwali, a number of peoplewill visit markets for shoppingand this will float covid norms.

"From the last one week,1,400 cases of crona infectionhave been reported inGurugram. The reason behindthat is that the people are notfollowing Covid-19 norms andthey are roaming around with-out face masks. As the festiveseason ahead we suspect thenumber of cases will increasein coming days,” said VirenderYadav, chief medical officerGurugram.

Meanwhile, On Thursday,the district health departmentdetected 555 fresh Covid-19cases, taking the total to 32,551.Of this, 28,074 people haverecovered.

The Covid-19 toll hasreached 222 in the districtincluding three who died onThursday.

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The Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh, RaviKant has said that everyone should work with transparency and honesty to

eradicate corruption. He was addressing a programme organised in the insti-tute at the end of Vigilance Week on Thursday. He said that a monitoring com-mittee has been formed to eradicate corruption in the institute. He warned thatstringent action would be taken against anyone involved in corruption in theinstitute. The AIIMS director also felicitated the participants and winners of dif-ferent events organised during the week. The Law officer of the institute PradeepChandra Pandey informed about the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 andRight to Information (RTI). The week is celebrated in all the government insti-tutes to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel. Theobjective of the programme is to create public awareness to eradicate corrup-tion.

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The UnionE d u c a t i o n

minister RameshP o k h r i y a l‘ N i s h a n k ’released a publi-cation broughtout by theDehradun chap-ter of PublicRelations Societyof India (PRSI)on the newNational Education Policy 2020 onThursday.

Speaking on the occasion, theminister said that this book willprove helpful in lending a new dimen-sion to the NEP 2020. He said that thecontent of the book presents the newidea of education in this modern ageof innovation. The book is quitedetailed and is being dedicated to thepublic after considerable research,a d d e dNishank.

The PRSI central head Ajit Pathak,general secretary Nivedita Banerjee,Dehradun chapter head AmitPokhriyal and secretary Anil Satiwere also among those present on theoccasion.

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The tally of novelCoronavirus (Covid-19)

patients in Uttarakhandincreased to 64,065 onThursday with the state healthdepartment reporting 480 freshcases of the disease. Thedepartment also reported thedeath of nine patients of thedisease which increased thedeath toll to 1,047 in the state.The authorities discharged 602patients of the disease aftertheir recovery on the day. Atotal of 58,823 patients have sofar recovered from the diseasein the state. The recovery per-cent of Covid-19 in the state isnow at 91.82 and the samplepositivity rate is at 5.94 percent.

Three patients of Covid-19were reported dead at Sushila

Tiwari government hospitalHaldwani on Thursday. Twopatients each succumbed to thedisease at Mahant Indireshhospital Dehradun and Districthospital Rudrapur. One patienteach was reported dead at AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) Rishikeshand Kailash HospitalDehradun.

Out of 602 patients dis-charged on the day, 150 werefrom Udham Singh Nagar and81 belonged to Dehradun. Theauthorities reported 118patients from Pauri, 84 fromDehradun, 73 fromRudraprayag, 47 from Nainital,41 from Almora, 25 fromHaridwar, 19 each from

Bageshwar, Chamoli and Tehri,14 from Pithoragarh, 10 fromUdham Singh Nagar, nine fromUttarkashi and two fromChampawat on Thursday.

Uttarakhand now has 3680active patients of the disease.Dehradun district with 637active cases is at top of tablewhile with 545 active casesPauri district is on secondposition. Haridwar has 417,Nainital 348, Rudraprayag 320,Tehri 261, Chamoli 234,Pithoragarh 212, Udham SinghNagar 178, Uttarkashi 159,Almora 142 and Bageshwar 117active cases of the disease.With 110 active cases of Covid-19, Champawat is now at thebottom of the table.

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The target ofp r o v i d i n g

drinking waterconnections in allschools andAnganwadi centresin the state shouldbe met by the endof this December.Chief ministerTrivendra SinghRawat said thiswhile addressingofficials in a meet-ing held to review the JalJeevan mission on Thursday.The set standards should befully met in the connectionsbeing provided in the rural areaunder the mission, he stressed,adding that the district magis-trates should regularly monitorthis.

Chairing the meeting, theCM said that targets must beachieved within the fixed timeperiod under the Jal Jeevanmission. The Jal Sansthan andPeyjal Nigam should fix a dailytarget for this purpose. The dis-trict magistrates should alsohold meetings from time totime to review the progress.Rawat further stressed on theneed for the departments con-cerned to work in coordinationin order to achieve the target ofproviding a tap and clean water

in each home soon. More focusneeds to be laid for this pur-pose in Haridwar and UdhamSingh Nagar districts, addedthe CM.

Chief secretary OmPrakash said that the distribu-tion network will increase withthe new connections beingprovided. Special efforts shouldbe made towards revival andprotection of water sources sothat there is no dearth in theper capita availability of water.He further said that the num-ber of contractors should beincreased to speed up workunder the Jal Jeevan mission.Registration camps should alsobe held as per the requirement.Pointing at the challenge underthe mission in Udham SinghNagar and Haridwar districts,he said that additional staff

should also be facilitated so thatthe target is achieved on time.

Secretary Nitesh Jhainformed that 14.26 lakh con-nections are to be provided inthe rural area under this mis-sion. A total of 3.53 lakh con-nections have been providedout of which, 1.36 lakh con-nections have been provided inthe past six months. Theauthorities have set a target ofensuring water connection inevery home this year inChamoli, Dehradun andBageshwar districts, he said.

Cabinet minister ArvindPandey, additional secretaryAshish Joshi, departmentalofficials and all district magis-trates through video confer-encing were also present in themeeting.

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While several locals statethat they have decided to

avoid bursting crackers thisDiwali considering the damageit might do to Covid-19 posi-tive patients and the environ-ment in the city, many opinedthat there are only a handful ofpeople who would actuallyrefrain from fireworks on thefestival this year.

According toSahastradhara Road residentSamar Prasad, he enjoys burst-ing crackers with his kidsevery year but he will refrainfrom bursting the fireworksthis Diwali. "I buy lots ofcrackers every year for mykids but I will not buy themany crackers this Diwali. Myfather was tested positive forCovid two months back and Isaw how hard it was for him to

breathe in that period. The sit-uation is quite critical every-where due to this contagiousdisease so rather than makingthe condition of patients andold people worse, we shouldcelebrate this festival with sim-ple celebration with our fam-ilies," said Prasad. Moreover,many people also cited theenvironmental issues to be thereason due to which theydecided against fireworks thisyear in their homes. "I havedirected my children not tobuy any crackers this Diwali.We do not want air pollutionin Dehradun like Delhi wherepeople cannot breathe in freshair anymore. I see people mak-ing comments here that Delhihas several factories and vehi-cles which are the main causeof air pollution so we shouldnot bother about it here. Thatis wrong. Delhi's air pollution

did not reach this levelovernight. It is a long termprocess and if we will notrestrict our activities now, wewill be facing the same issue inthe next few years," said a 69years old Jakhan resident,Ranjit Shah.

He added that rather thanindulging in momentary plea-sures like bursting crackersand enjoying fireworks, par-ents should teach their chil-dren about the importance ofa safe and clean environmentand make them aware aboutthe consequences of activitiesthat raise air pollution level.There are some families toowho have decided not to buycrackers due to the financialcrisis. However, many alsoopined that there are very fewpeople who would genuinelyavoid bursting crackers thisDiwali. According to a

Dehradun based activistLokesh Ohri, it is doubtful thata large number of people whomostly enjoy fireworks duringDiwali will avoid burstingcrackers this year. However, heopined that the State govern-ment can play a very crucialrole in convincing people torestrict fireworks. He said thatrather than encouraging peo-ple to avoid Chinese crackersthis Diwali, the authoritiesshould ask people to avoidbursting crackers at all citingauthentic reasons like its effecton Covid patients and theenvironment while spreadingawareness among locals. Itwould be wrong to say thatpeople are completely unawareof the situation here but theefforts by the government havethe chance of greater impactamong the residents, statedOhri.

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After putting the LED lightstrings made by women

Self Help Groups (SHGs) ondisplay, the Dehradun districtadministration has already soldthe light strings worth morethan Rs 1.50 lakh within fourdays. On this Monday, the dis-trict administration put theLED light strings made bylocal women on display insome marketplaces, VikasBhawan, Pacific Mall andUttara Haat. Informing aboutthis in detail, the Block MissionManager (BMM) RohitNautiyal said that the responsehas been good from the pub-lic so far.

"People are buying the lightstrings and we are regularlyrestocking them too. SinceNovember 2, we have soldlight strings worth over Rs1.50 lakh. We are also planningto bring new designs of LED

light strings forcustomers to havedifferent choices,"stated Nautiyal.According to theofficials, the prod-ucts are being soldat reasonableprices and thecurrent pricerange of an 11metre long LEDlight string isbetween Rs 150and Rs 250.However, theyalso informed thatthe customers arebeing given dis-counts too as pertheir purchases and since theadministration will come withmore different modes anddesigns of the light strings, theprice range may vary too.Meanwhile, Nautiyal furtherinformed that the administra-tion will continue the display at

the current stalls except thePacific Mall after Diwali too.

"Due to approachingDiwali festival we are focusingon LED light strings but afterthat we will keep updating ourdisplays with other productslike chargeable bulbs among

various other items," addedNautiyal. According to him, theinitial response of the locals hasbeen astonishing and theadministration will continue toprovide more locally madequality products in the futuretoo.

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On the call given by theCongress President Sonia

Gandhi, the UttarakhandCongress organised a vehe-ment protest against what ittermed increasing atrocitieson women and Dalits in thecountry at Gandhi park here onThursday. Addressing the partyleaders and workers, thePradesh Congress Committee(PCC) President Pritam Singhsaid that all the BJP ruledstates are witnessing a surge incrimes against women andDalits. He said that the roleplayed by the Yogi Adityanathgovernment in the Hathrasrape and murder case, provesthat on the insistence of CM,

the administrationtried to cover upthe case but whenit became public aheinous attempt togive it a casteistshade was made.Singh claimed thatHathras incident isnot alone and hun-dreds of such inci-dents have takenplace during threeand half years ofYogi rule in UttarPradesh. He addedthat the govern-ments of Haryana,Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka and Uttarakhandare providing protection to thepeople who are committingatrocities on women and Dalits.The PCC president said thatthe Congress party has alwaysstood with the downtroddensection of society and wouldcontinue to do so in future also.

The Vice President of

Uttarakhand Congress SuryaKant Dhasmana said that theCongress leaders Rahul andPriyanka Gandhi raised theirvoice against the Hathras inci-dent which forced the mediawhich was busy in doing sto-ries on Sushant Singh, Kanganaand Deepika to give promi-nence to the Hathras case. Inhis address former MLA

Ambrish Kumar termed theModi government at centreand the BJP governments instates as anti Dalit and antiwomen. Former cabinet min-isters Surveer Singh Sajwan andHira Singh Bisht, state gener-al secretary Vijay Saraswat,Aryendra Sharma and otherCongress leaders also spoke onthe occasion.

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The Bharatiya Janata Partyhas termed the protest by

Congress as laughable andopined that the party shouldcheck its own record. It appearsnothing short of a joke whenthe Congress which has alwayshad a mentality of ignoring andharassing Dalits and women ismaking a show of caring fortheir interests, the BJP opined.

Reacting to the proteststaged by the Congress, the BJPstate vice president and mediain-charge Devendra Bhasinsaid that the BJP has alwaysbeen committed to honouringwomen, their upliftment andthe interests of the Dalits. Thisis the reason why today themaximum number of womenand Dalit MPs and MLAs arethe highest in the nation in theBJP. Their place is also ascer-tained in the party organisa-tion. On the other hand, theCongress and other oppositionparties have always been apa-

thetic towards women andeven made them the victims ofoppression. The Dalits werekept in the dark and used as avote bank but nothing wasdone in their interests, saidBhasin.

He said, “Before makingany statement, the Congressshould first check its ownrecord. A big leader ofUttarakhand Congress is underthe purview of a probe in a caseof harassing his own wife. Aformer national vice presidentof the Congress has beenaccused by a party worker ofmisbehavior. There are manysuch cases which highlight thecharacter of the Congress.Where the BJP is concerned,even in exceptional cases, it hasnot hesitated from eitheradopting a stern stance or tak-ing action.” The Congress iswithout issues and henceattempts to turn non-issuesinto an issue. However, in theend, the Congress falls in itsown trap, added Bhasin.

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Taking cognisanceof a complaint

against a doctor whoallegedly adminis-tered an expired vac-cine to a baby, thechairperson of StateCommission forProtection of ChildRights (SCPCR),Usha Negi hasdirected the chiefmedical officer(CMO) to investi-gate the matter. According tothe complainant's letter to thecommission, he took hisnephew for vaccination who isonly about two years old onSeptember 17 to the Khurburacentre of a private hospitalwhere he was administeredwith an expired Rotavirus vac-cine. According to the letter, thecomplainant came to knowabout the expiry date when hesaw the vaccine slip in the vac-cination card of the baby.When the complainant con-tacted the doctor, he said hewill contact him after consult-ing a child specialist. However,the complainant took the childback to the doctor when the

condition of the child got worsethe next night but the doctorstated that the child got healthissues due to the other two vac-cines and not from the expiredvaccine, as per the com-plainant. He also informedthat he has complained aboutit in the Child Line too.

Moreover, Negi stated thatvaccinating a child with anexpired vaccine is a seriousissue and the complainant hasall the proofs against the doc-tor as per his claim. To get thor-ough information about theissue, Negi has instructed theCMO to investigate the matterand submit the report to thecommission within 15 days.

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Eminent scientists PrakashKeshaviah and C S Nautiyal

currently associated withSwami Ram HimalayanUniversity (SRHU) here havefound their names in the elitelist of top two percent of world’sscientists. After analysing thedata of all the scientists of the

world, the Stanford Universityof California USA has recent-ly released the list.

Congratulating the duo,the Vice Chancellor (VC) ofSRHU, Vijay Dhasmanatermed it a big achievement forthe university. “SRHU Studentswill seek the benefit of theirteachings and further willstrengthen their knowledge inResearch, Science andTechnology from these twotop scientists,’’ he said.

Prakash Keshaviah is arenowned name in the field ofUrology and Nephrology whileNautiyal is a microbiologist.Keshaviah, alumni of IITMadras did his Masters in

Mechanical Engineering fromUniversity of Minnesota, USAand PhD in the field of bio-medical research. He has pub-lished 130 papers and has gotnine patents in his name. A fol-lower of HIHT founder SwamiRama, Keshaviah has con-tributed significantly in settingup a dialysis unit at HimalayanHospital Jollygrant. He is cur-rently serving as a member ofSRHU Board of Administratorsand Finance Advisor. CSNautiyal is a PhD in the fieldof Microbiology and has 123research papers and 40 patentsregistered in his name. He hasalso served as VC of DoonUniversity.

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Chief secretary Om Prakashchaired a meeting between

the Rail Vikas Nigam Limitedand State government regard-ing the Rishikesh-Karnprayagrail line project here onThursday. The chief secretarydirected that the disbursal ofcompensation for the rail lineproject should be completedsoon. He also directed the dis-trict magistrates concerned totake necessary action soon fordeclaring the project area asrestricted area.

He also directed PTCUL tosoon establish a new dedicat-ed 132 KV electricity line at

Rishikesh, Ranihat(Srinagar) and Sivai(Karnprayag). The CSfurther directed theUPCL to soon transferthe high tension andlow tension powerlines. At the sametime, the work of pro-viding 33 KV newconnections at various placesbetween Rishikesh andGauchar should be completedsoon, he said. The officials ofJal Sansthan and minor irriga-tion department were alsodirected to soon transfer waterpipelines and water lift pumps.

Earlier, the CS also soughtinformation from the DMs

concerned regarding theprogress of the Char DhamYatra road project. He direct-ed the officials to expedite theprocess of disbursal of com-pensation to the project affect-ed people. The DMs concernedwere also directed to ensuretimely completion of all stagesof this project.

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India is determined to protectits sovereignty and territori-

al integrity against unilateral-ism and aggression, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh saidhere on Thursday. Sending outthis tough message to Chinawithout naming it, he also saiddialogue is the most favouredway to resolve differences.

His statement came in thebackdrop of the ongoing ten-sion at the Line of ActualControl(LAC)in EasternLadakh for the last six months.His reaffirmation that India isa peace loving country but isready to make any sacrifice todefend itself was a day ahead ofthe eighth round of CorpsCommander level talksbetween the two countries atthe LAC on Friday.

Speaking at the diamondjubilee celebration webinar ofthe National Defence College(NDC), Rajnath also said Indiahas fostered close relationshipsand partnerships with like-minded countries to further thecommon interests of countriesin the region and beyond likeAustralia, Japan and the US.

“Recently, India has beenfacing other challenges on itsborders. India is a peace-lovingcountry. We believe that dif-ferences should not becomedisputes. We attach impor-tance to the peaceful resolution

of differences through dia-logue. However, India is deter-mined to protect its sover-eignty and territorial integrityin the face of unilateralism andaggression, no matter what thesacrifice,” the minister said.

He also said peace canonly be ensured through “theability to deter war,” adding thecountry has attempted to buildthis deterrence through a judi-cious combination of capabil-ity development and an empha-sis on long term policy of indi-genisation.

Elaborating upon deter-rence, Rajnath said “perhapsthe most fundamental lessonthat the roller coaster of the riseand fall of nations taught uswas that peace cannot neces-sarily be achieved by a desirefor peace but by the ability todeter war. Unfortunately, themere desire to seek peace, if notreciprocated by others, does notnecessarily succeed in buildinga harmonious environment ina world beset by conflictingideas of security, sovereigntyand national interests.”

He outlined four broadprinciples that are likely toguide India’s quest for nation-al security in the future. Thefirst is the ability to secureIndia’s territorial integrity andsovereignty from externalthreats and internal challenges.

Second, the ability to cre-ate secure and stable condi-tions that can facilitate India’seconomic growth, thereby, cre-ating the resources for nationbuilding and to meet individ-ual aspirations.

Third, “we remain stead-fast in the desire to protect ourinterests beyond the borders in

areas where our people resideand our security interests con-verge. And finally, we alsobelieve that in a globalised andinterconnected world, a coun-try’s security interests are inter-linked by shared and securecommons,” he said.

On forging ties with vari-ous countries, Rajnath saidthe strategic partnership withthe U.S. was stronger thanever before. Moreover, thenation shares traditional andtraditional and deep-rootedrelations with Russia. India hasalso forged a very special part-nership with reliable friendslike France and Israel, he stat-ed.

Stating that India andAustralia share “common con-cerns” and “shared values”, theminister said India-Australiavirtual summit in June 2020gave a fillip to the alreadystrong comprehensive strategicpartnership.

Last month, the foreignministers of Quad groupingconsisting of India, Australia,Japan and the US met in Tokyoand later India invitedAustralia for Exercise Malabar2020. The four nation exerciseis currently underway in theBay of Bengal.

As regards Pakistan,Rajnath said it continues toremain adamant in the use ofterrorism as state policy.“However, we have achievedsubstantial success in workingwith progressive and like-minded countries to not onlyexpose Pakistan’s regressivepolicies but also make itincreasingly difficult to con-tinue with its previous businessas usual approach,” he said.

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Ahead of the last phase ofAssembly elections in

Bihar, former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi promised onThursday that a grand-allianceGovernment will create “NayaBihar” by bringing in industry,ensuring employment, waivingfarm loans, reducing electrici-ty tariff by half, and providingfree education and justice togirls.

In an appeal to voters ofBihar, the Gandhi scion tweet-ed in Hindi, “Get ready, nowthe grand-alliance Governmentwill provide employment toyou, waive loans of farmers,reduce power bill by half, pro-vide free education and justiceto girls, will clear obstacles inthe progress of all classes, willset up trade and industry andwill create Naya (new) Bihar”.

In another tweet, heattacked the BJP Governmentat the Centre for not provid-ing employment opportunitiesto people, alleging that the job crisis in the country is furtherdeepening and the Modi gov-ernment is doing nothing toresolve it.

“Lack of employment is anational crisis which is furtherdeepening. The ModiGovernment knows only tomake hollow promises, not to

resolve them,” he said citing anews reports that employ-ment opportunities have fur-ther reduced in October.

The former Congresspresident also termed the boattragedy in Bhagalpur as “verytragic” and urged Congressworkers to provide all possi-ble help. “The boat accident inBhagalpur is very tragic. Mycondolences to the families ofthe deceased. The localadministration is expected toquickly find and treat themissing passengers. I appeal tothe Congress workers to doeverything possible to provideall help possible,” he said in yetanother tweet in Hindi.

A boat carrying nearly 50people capsized in Bihar’sBhagalpur district onThursday, killing a 40-year-oldwoman, while seven otherswere feared drowned, offi-cials said.

Polling in 71 and 94 con-stituencies, out of the 243Assembly seats, was held inthe f irst two phases onOctober 28 and November 3respectively. The remaining 78seats will go to polls onNovember 7 and the countingof votes will take place onNovember 10.

The Congress is contest-ing the elections in alliancewith the RJD and Left parties.

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The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) has asked

all its formations to recoverRisk and Hardship Allowancefrom personnel who availedover 30 days of cumulativeleave in a year.

The circular styled as“Regarding clarification onRecover y of Risk andHardship Allowance (RHA)against availed cumulativeleave beyond 30 days in ayear” was sent across the formations on October 28.

Earlier, the CRPF head-quarters had on September 24issued a clarification articu-lating that the leave stretchingfor more than 30 days will

make a person ineligible fordrawing RHA.

Only when a person availsleave for more than 30 days ata time, he/she will not be eli-gible for RHA for the wholeperiod, the circular said.

“Leave period of any kindof less than 30 days may notbe counted for deduction of RHA,”, it said,adding, “Take action accord-ingly.”

Officials said the rule willbe applicable to all the Centralparamilitary forces like theBorder Security Force (BSF),Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF), Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) andSashastra Seema Bal (SSB)among others.

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With 5,786 incidents onNovember 4, the share of

stubble burning in Delhi-NCRpollution rose to 42 per cent onThursday, the maximum so farthis season.

The satellite imagesshowed 4,965 stubble burningincidents in Punjab, 132 inHaryana, 144 in UP and 585 inMadhya Pradesh on November4 that was highest in this sea-son. NASA’s satellite imageryshowed a large, dense cluster offire dots covering Punjab andparts of Haryana and UttarPradesh. Of the 119 cities, 18mostly from north India haverecorded the worst level of airquality.

The average 24-hour AQI at4 pm on Thursday was 464 inGhaziabad, 464 in Baghpat, 453in Meerut, 452 in Bahadurgarh,457 in Greater Noida, 450 inNoida, 443 in Gurgaon, 439 inMuzzaffarnagar, 434 inDharuhera, 442 in Hapur, 427 inJind, 422 in Kaithal, and 416 inFaridabad.

It was 389 in Ghaziabad, 368in Greater Noida, 345 in Noida,331 in Faridabad and 290 inGurgaon, on Wednesday.

Unfavourable weather con-ditions involving a suddenchange in wind pattern con-tributed to a deterioration inDelhi’s air quality on Thursday.According to Head of IndiaMeteorological Department’sRegional Forecasting Centre,Kuldeep Srivastava, “There is alayer of pollutant in the atmos-phere from the smoke emanat-ing from the stubble burning andlocal sources. There will be norespite for the next two-threedays (till Sunday).” Experts saidraging farm fires and a fall in thewind speed and temperaturespushed air quality in Delhi-NCR to the worst levels inaround a year on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of

Agriculture, a total 50220 burn-ing events were detected betweenOct 1 and Nov 4. Of them, 45070were in Punjab, 3600 in Haryanaand 1550 in UP. On Wednesday,stubble burning had contributedonly five per cent to Delhi’s pol-lution, 10 per cent on Tuesdayand 16 percent on Monday and40 per cent a day before. Lastyear, the farm fire contributionto Delhi’s pollution had peakedto 44 per cent on November 1.

PM10 levels in Delhi-NCRstood at 561 microgram percubic metre (μg/m3) at 10 am —the highest since November 15last year, when it was 637 μg/m3,according to CPCB data. PM10levels below 100 μg/m3 are con-sidered safe in India. PM10 isparticulate matter with a diam-eter of 10 micrometers and isinhalable. These particles includedust, pollen and mold spores.The levels of PM2.5 – finer par-ticles which can even enter thebloodstream – were 347 μg/m3at 12 noon. PM2.5 levels up to60 μg/m3 are considered safe.

All the 36 monitoring sta-tions recorded the air quality inthe ‘’severe’’ category. Theneighbouring cities ofFaridabad, Ghaziabad, GreaterNoida, Gurugram and Noidaalso recorded ‘’severe’’ levels ofair pollution.

An AQI between zero and50 is considered “good”, 51 and100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200“moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”,301 and 400 “very poor”, and401 and 500 “severe”.

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Even as strategies are beingworked out towards the

preparation of Covid-19 vac-cine, with the shots expectedto be available early next year,the Central Government hasasked all the States to submitthe list of health workers —doctors, MBBS students, nurs-es, paramedic staff and ASHAworkers – in the Governmentand private sector who havebeen identified as the priori-ty group to get the first doses.

In a letter to all the StateGovernments, Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushan saidthat the Centre is in theprocess of preparing a data-base of healthcare workerswho may be prioritized forreceiving the Covid-19 vac-cine once it is available.

Asking the State

Governments to undertakethe task of listing the health-care on priority, Bhushan saidthat “you are requested todirect all facility lncharge i.e.both Government and privateto submit the data with imme-diate effect. lf required, addi-tional staff may also beengaged using the funds avail-able under the EmergencyResponse COVID- l 9 pack-age. Please ensure complete-ness, quality and authentica-tion of the healthcare workersdata.”

The data will be com-piled at the District level only.“After receiving the complet-ed datasets from the facilities,the Districts will upload thetemplates on Covid:19Vaccination Beneficiar yManagement System(CVBMS), for which guide-lines will be shared later,” saidthe health secretary.

After the data is shared,the central government willsupply free doses of the vac-cine to the state governmentsas per their need.

According to theGovernment, the health work-ers would get shots in the first

phase followed by aged peoplewith co-morbidities.

“Doctors, nurses, para-medical staff, technicians,pharmacists, ward assistants,scientists and research staff,students of medical, dental,Ayush and nursing courses,supporting staff includingdieticians, bio medical wastestaff, sanitation workers,ambulance drivers and cleri-cal and administrative staff areamong those will get the vac-cine once it is ready,” said anofficial from the Ministry.

The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) had lastmonth said that over 500 doc-tors in the country have dieddue to Covid-19, even as itcriticised the Centre for“washing its hands” of respon-sibility by admitting that itdoes not maintain a databaseof health workers who havesuccumbed to the viral infec-tion.

The IMA had slammedthe Centre after it said in par-liament that the Union HealthMinistry does not maintaindata about the number ofhealthcare staff who died fromCovid-19.

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Responding to the call of theGovernment, India Inc on

Thursday pledged to work tocombat climate change and buildsustainable economies, therebyhelping the country achieve itstargets under the ParisAgreement.

CEOs of companies likeReliance Industries Ltd, TechMahindra, Dalmia Cement,Ambuja Cement, Dr Reddy’s,Sun Pharma and AdaniTransmission, among others,held a virtual discussion withUnion Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar at the IndiaCEO Forum on Climate Changewho had exhorted them to workfor helping India achieve climatechange targets.

Following the discussion,they issued a ‘Declaration ofPrivate Sector on ClimateChange’, pledging to take neces-sary action to help India achieveits targets under the ParisAgreement.

The declaration stressed that“a coordinated response by the

government and private sectoron climate change that protectsthe country’s interests andensures that India is on tracktowards meeting its climatechange obligations under theParis Agreement is the need ofthe hour”.

The companies recognisedthat India is committed to com-bating climate change and hasdemonstrated exemplary lead-ership in addressing the chal-lenge.

India is party to the UnitedNations Framework Conventionon Climate Change (UNFC-CC). The objective of the con-vention is to achieve stabilisationof GHG concentrations in theatmosphere that would preventdangerous anthropogenic inter-ference with the climate system,it noted.

The goals are reduction inemissions’ intensity of GDP by33-35 per cent by 2030 from the2005 level, achieving about 40per cent cumulative electricpower installed capacity fromnon-fossil fuel-based energyresources by 2030, and creating

an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon diox-ide equivalent through addi-tional forest and tree cover by2030.

Addressing the India CEOForum on Climate Change,Javadekar had requested thecompanies to provide their inter-nal roadmaps and targets on ayearly basis to the EnvironmentMinistry and participate inachieving targets set under theParis Agreement on ClimateChange.

“I appeal and I’m sure fac-tories are reducing emissions andbringing more greenery in cam-puses. Using new technologies tosave water and (increase) ener-gy efficiency is also a concernwhich you are taking care of. You(CEOs) are the captains. This isa CEOs’ forum. You will giveshape to India’s actions,” he said.About the importance of com-bating climate change, Javadekarsaid India was doing welltowards achieving its nationallydetermined contributions(NDCs) under the ParisAgreement.

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Earthen lamps (Diya) madeby potters in the remote

parts of Jaisalmer andHanumangarh districts inRajasthan are reaching everycorner of the country, thanks toKhadi India’s e-portal .

Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission(KVIC), this year, for the firsttime, decided to sell diyas toonline and through stores tobecome foot soldiers of thePrime minister’s vision ofVocal for Local.

The KVIC launched anonline sale of Diyas on October8, and in less than a month,nearly 10,000 diyas havealready been sold online. Hugedemand for Khadi’s clay diyaswas seen from the very firstday of its launch and In lessthan 10 days, a majority ofdesigner diyas were complete-ly sold out.

Following this, KVIClaunched new sets of designerdiyas that are also in hugedemand. The sale of diyas isfurther rising with Diwaliinching closer.

KVIC has launched 8 typesof designer diyas that arepriced nominally between Rs84 and Rs 108 for a set of 12pieces. KVIC is also offering adiscount of 10% on these diyas.KVIC potters have expressedhappiness that they are earn-ing Rs 2 to Rs 3 on sale of every

diya. Khadi’s designer diyas areavailable at www.khadiin-dia.gov.in.

The KVIC is also sellingdiyas and other clay itemssuch as Laxmi-Ganesh idolsand other decoratives throughits outlets in Delhi and othercities. These idols are beingmade by potters in Varanasi,Rajasthan, Haryana and otherstates and are fetching goodincome for the potters. Diyas,on the other hand, is beingprocured from KVIC units inPokharan in Jaisalmer andRawatsar in Hanumangarhdistrict in Rajasthan. Over10,000 diyas have also beensold through various Khadioutlets.

KVIC Chairman VinaiKumar Saxena said the onlinesale of clay items isa uniqueway to truly empower potters.“ Potters in a particular regionwould only sell their itemslocally but with the pan-Indiareach of Khadi’s e-portal, theseproducts are being sold inevery part of the country.Through KVIC e-portal, diyasmade in Rajasthan are beingpurchased in remote stateslike Arunachal Pradesh, J&K,Kerala,Assam, Maharashtra,Andaman & Nicobar Islands.This has prompted an increasein production and higherincome of the potters,” Saxenasaid. “

Notably, KVIC has trainedthese potters and providedthem with electric potterwheels and other equipmentunder Kumhar SashaktikaranYojana that has increased theirproduction and income by upto 5 times.

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The Ministry of CivilAviation on Thursday said

that the cap on the number ofdomestic flights that Indian air-lines are permitted to operatewould be increased to 70-75per cent of their pre-COVIDlevels as the passenger trafficsurges. The ministry had ear-lier stated that the Indian air-lines can operate maximum 60per cent of their pre-COVID

domestic passenger flights tillFebruary 24 next year due tothe prevailing coronavirus sit-uation.

In a press release onThursday, the ministry said,“MOCA is monitoring trafficeveryday, and it is expected thatthe traffic would further pick-up because of the festival sea-son and as passenger trafficincreases, the upper cap wouldbe revised to 70-75 per cent ofnormal capacity in the comingdays.”

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During the corona period,the Government made a

lot of promises to 63,000migrant laborers who returnedhome after losing their jobs, butnothing happened at theground level. Neither they gethelp from the government noremployment.

After waiting for severalmonths, the migrants decided

to return. So far, more than 90percent of the workers havereturned to the old locations.Those who are left are unem-ployed.

The Prime Minister hasannounced a lockdown on 25March to prevent the spread ofCoronavirus infection whichstopped businesses. Peopleworking in other cities andstates returned to their homes.

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Aligarh: Aligarh MuslimUniversity alumnus SharjilUsmani, who was active in theanti-CAA-NRC movement andZayed Sherwani, the studentleader of AMU, has beenexpelled from the district. This order has been issuedfrom the court of ADM City.Apart from these, 17 otherswere expelled out from the dis-trict.

The order has been issued

to expelled out 19 people fromthe district including AMUalumnus Sharjil Usmani, resi-dent of 460 HousingDevelopment Colony,Azamgarh, Hall Address - RMHall, AMU, accused in thecase of an attack on MLAgrandson Ajay Singh andFormer cabinet member ofAMU Zayed Sherwani, residentof Gali-4 Alambagh, CivilLines. PNS

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Raid by Enforcement Directorate officialsin the residence of Bineesh Kodiyeri,

son of CPI(M) State secretary KodiyeriBalakrishnan, led to a stand off between theED officials and officers of the Kerala Policeon Thursday.

The sleuths of the ED had launched asimultaneous raid in the residence andbusiness premises of Bineesh sinceWednesday morning. The raid in the houseof the CPI(M)’s younger son continued till11 am on Thursday in the presence of hiswife and mother-in -law.

According to Renitta, wife of Bineesh,the ED team wanted her to sign on a state-ment in which it was mentioned that thelatter seized the credit card belonging toAnoop Mohammed from the residence.Mohammed has been arrested earlier bythe Narcotics Control Board on charges ofdrug trafficking and money laundering. Hehad told the ED about his business deal-ings with Bineesh Kodiyeri and this led theinvestigating agency to arrest the son of theMarxist leader.

There was a stand off between themembers of the Kodiyeri family and theED team once the latter finished the raidoperations. “We were harassed and assault-ed by the ED officials. Both our children

were threatened by them,” alleged Renittawhile speaking to reporters who hadassembled in large numbers. A team ofKerala Police too had a face off with thecentral agency as the former blocked thevehicles of the ED while they were com-ing out of the palatial house. The cops want-ed to inspect the vehicles of the ED and thisled to tense moments.

A team of senior officials from theoffice of the Child Welfare Commission tooreached the spot on hearing the news thatthe grandchildren of the party secretarywere threatened by the ED officials.

The Kerala Police had demanded anexplanation from the ED for the chargesmade by the father-in-law of BineeshKodiyeri that his wife, daughter andgrandchildren were harassed by the cen-tral agency even while the raid was underprogress. The Police tem had asked the EDofficials to explain why they raided the res-idence and asked them to furnish the detailsof the members in the team. Thursday’sdevelopments assume significance in thebackdrop of chief minister PinarayiVijayan’s warning to the central probe agen-cies not to meddle with the developmentworks in Kerala and Wednesday’s decisionby the CPI(M) led government to withdrawits permission to CBI to investigate anyfuture cases in the State.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu BJP’sefforts to cash in on the reli-gious fervour of the Hindus bystaging a Vel Yatra (journeywith spear) across the Statefrom Friday came to a noughtas the AIADMK Governmentdenied permission for the samesiting the possibility of a secondwave of Covid-19 attack.

Vijay Narayan, advocategeneral, told the Madras HighCourt on Thursday that therequest for Vel Yatra submittedby the BJP leaders were thor-oughly examined by the gov-ernment and it was decided notto grant permission in view ofthe covid-19 pandemic in the

State.The AG also told that the

government’s decision was alsoafter considering the threat tolaw and order situation arisingfrom the Yatra.

He said that the BJP lead-ership would soon be commu-nicated about the decision. Hewas replying to the plea madebefore the first bench com-prising of Chief Justice APSahi and SenthilkumarRamamoorthy by twoDravidian activists.

Narayanan Thiruppathi,BJP spokesman said that thedecision of the Tamil NaduGovernment was shocking and

it has pained the Lord’s devo-tees. But he ruled out the pos-sibilities of the BJP-AIADMKalliance coming under anystrain because of the decision.“That’s another issue and wewill cross the bridge when thetime comes,” he said.

The Vel Yatra has beenplanned by the BJP as a preludeto its 2021 assembly electioncampaign. Vel (spear) is theholy weapon carried by LordMurugan, the popular god ofTamil Nadu. Interestingly, evenDMK leaders spot the image ofVel on the rear side windshieldof their cars as it is believed tobe a good omen.

Vel and Lord Muruga werein the news recently when agroup of Dravidian politicianscampaigned against SkandaShasti Kavacham, a popularhymn in praise of LordMuruga.

The Dravidian activistsmade a parody on the lines ofShasti Kavacham, termed itAabhasa Puranam (obsceneepic) and aired it throughsocial media.

This resulted in the devo-tees of the Lord across TamilNadu coming out of their res-idences and rendering thehymn a la Gandhian style inthe month of July. PNS

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In a virtual ban on the burst-ing of firecrackers during

the forthcoming Diwali, theMaharashtra Government onThursday appealed to the peo-ple across the State to celebratefirecracker-free festival of lightsto prevent Covid-19 patientsfrom being exposed to air pol-lution caused by firecrackers.

Hours after MaharashtraHealth Minister Rajesh Topeexhorted the people to refrainfrom bursting firecrackers, theState Government came outwith a set of guidelines for theDiwali celebrations this year.

Among other things, thestate government appealed tothe people to celebrate thisyear’s Diwali in a simple man-ner and not to burst firecrack-ers as the smoke from it wouldcontribute to air pollutionwhich would add to the respi-ratory problems of the Covid-19 patients in the state. It alsourged the people to wear masksand maintain social distancing

and avoid crowds during thefestival. It also asked the chil-dren and senior citizens torefrain from stepping out oftheir homes during Diwali.

The State government alsoappealed to the people not toorganise social events or earlymorning sessions during thefestival. If they want to organ-ise events during the Diwali fes-tival, the people could do soonline on social media plat-forms like Facebook and Cablenetworks.

“In place of social events,the people can organise blooddonation and health campsduring the festival. They canalso organise programmes tocreate awareness among epi-demics like Dengue andMalaria.

Earlier in the afternoon,talking to media persons, theState Health Minister said thathe would personally requestchief minister UddhavThackeray to ban bursting offirecrackers.

Tope, who reviewed the

pandemic situation at a meet-ing of Covid-19 State TaskForce and Death AuditCommittee, appealed to thepeople to maintain social dis-tancing and wear masks duringthe festival.

“Though the Covid-19 sit-uation is very much undercontrol, we will increase thenumber of tests and increasefever surveillance among thepeople during the comingdays,” Tope said.

Meanwhile, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation announced that itwould ban the busting or light-ing of all fire-crackers at pub-lic places during the upcomingDiwali festival.

Additional MunicipalCommissioner Suresh Kakanisaid that any violators would bepenalized and the SOPs in thisregard would be issued short-ly. “We have proposed the banon bursting of firecrackers inview of the ongoing Covid-19pandemic and the early onsetof the winter,” Kakani said.

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People’s Democratic Party (PDP)Chief and former Chief Minister

Mehbooba Mufti was greeted withblack flags during her maiden visit toJammu after the Abrogation ofArticle 370 and 35-A on Thursday.

The security personnel deployedoutside the exit gate of the airportpremises stopped traffic for some timeto allow her cavalcade to movesmoothly without facing any roadblock.

Displaying black flags and plac-ards, activists of Bajrang Dal and ShivSena shouted slogans 'Go backMehbooba'. She had earlier provokedstrong reactions in Jammu byannouncing that she will not upholdthe Tricolor till the time the state flagis restored.

Mehbooba later chaired a meet-ing with the PDP leaders from dif-ferent parts of Jammu division at thestate Guest house. She gatheredfeedback from them about the pre-vailing political scenario and hard-ships faced by the people acrossJammu region. Three senior PDPleaders from Jammu who recently quit

the party stayed away from the meet-ing.

Emerging out of the meeting for-mer PDP MLC Surinder Choudharytold reporters, “PDP Chief tookstock of the political situation and alsointeracted with PDP leaders from dif-ferent areas of Jammu division duringher maiden visit to Jammu”.

He said the political affairs com-mittee of the party will hold a sepa-rate meeting to take a final call overthe issue of participating in theDistrict Development council pollsbeginning November 28.

During her brief stay in Jammu,Mehbooba Mufti is scheduled toattend a meeting of the PeoplesAlliance for Gupka Declaration inJammu on November 7. MemberParliament from Srinagar andNational Conference Chief Dr FarooqAbdullah and Omar Abdullah are alsoreaching Jammu on Friday to addressa workers meeting.

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Maharashtra crossed a grimmilestone of 17 lakh

Covid-19 infections onThursday, as 5,246 people test-ed positive for the pandemic,while the state – with an addi-tional 139 fatalities arising outof a reconciliation process --witnessed 256 consolidateddeaths during the day.

That the infections havebeen under control could beevidenced from the fact that theinfected cases remained below6000 mark for the sixth con-secutive day. With 5246 freshinfections, the total number ofinfected cases jumped from16,98,198 to 17,03,444.

Similarly, with 117 freshdeaths reported on Thursdayand 139 additional deaths aris-ing out of reconciliation, theCovid-19 toll rose from 44,548to 44,804. “Owing to the deathreconciliation process, there isan increase of 139 fatalities inthe cumulative deaths of cer-tain districts and corporations.As a result, the total number ofdeaths recorded today has goneup to 256,” a state health offi-cial said.

As 11,277 more peoplewere discharged from varioushospitals the number of peopledischarged from the hospitalsafter full recovery since the sec-ond week of March this yearwent up to 15,51,282. Therecovery rate in the state rosefrom 90.68 per cent to 91.07per cent.

Of the 256 deaths (includ-ing the 139 oldfatalities)recorded onThursday, Sangli district inwestern Maharashtra topped

the list with 51 deaths, 43deaths in Solapur, 41 inKolhapur, 26 in Nanded, 25 inMumbai, 18 in Thane and 12deaths in Pune.

In the lower range, therewere nine deaths in Beed, 5 inNashik, 4 each in Ahmednagarand Satara, 3 each in Palgharand Aurangabad, 2 each inBuldhana, Nagpur andChandrapur and one deatheach in Dhule, Jalgaon, Jalna,Parbhani, Latur andOsmanabad.

With 25 deaths, the Covid-19 toll rose from 10,352 to10,377, while the infected casewent up by 841 to trigger ajump in the total infections inthe metropolis from 260,840 to261,681.

Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” in the statedropped from 1,12,912 to1,06,519 . The fatality rate inthe state stood at 2.63 percent. Currently, 12,52,758 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 12,003 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 3,36,430 to3,36,982 while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune increasedfrom 6978 to 6990.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,25,470 to 2,26,109, while thepandemic toll climbed from5219 to 5237. Meanwhile, outof 92,50,254 samples sent tolaboratories, 17,03,444 havetested positive (18.42 per cent)for COVID-19 until Thursday.

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Kohima: Nagaland for the ninthconsecutive Day reported moreCovid recoveries than freshcases as 144 patients recuperat-ed while 57 new infectionspushed the tally to 9,264, ahealth department official saidon Thursday.

The recovery rate has goneup to 87.17 per cent as 8,078patients have recovered from theinfection, the official said.

“57 positive cases of Coviddetected today Kohima 28,

Dimapur 26, and one each inMon, Peren and Mokokchungdistricts. Also, 144 positives haverecovered Dimapur 72, Kohima58, Mon 6, Peren 5 andZunheboto 3,” said Minister forHealth and Family Welfare, SPangnyu Phom in a tweet.

Nagaland now has 1,055active cases, which is 11.39 percent of the caseload, saidDirector of Health Department,Dr Denis Hangsing in the dailyCovid bulletin.

Lucknow: The COVID-19death toll in Uttar Pradeshreached 7,131 after 28 morepeople succumbed to the dis-ease, while 1,879 fresh casespushed the tally to 4,91,354,Principal Secretary, Medicaland Health, Alok Kumar saidon Thursday.

There are 23,150 activecases in the state, of which10,303 are in home isolation, hesaid. A total of 4,61,073 peoplehave recuperated from theinfection so far and the state'srecovery rate stands at 92 percent. PTI

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Srinagar: Jammu & Kashmir onThursday recorded 524 freshCovid-19 cases and six fatalitieslinked to the disease in the last24 hours, bringing the infectioncount to 97,224 and the deathtoll to 1,517, officials said.

Of the fresh cases, 185 werefrom the Jammu division and339 from Kashmir valley, theysaid. The officials said Srinagardistrict recorded a maximum of155 new cases, followed by 99 inJammu.

The Union Territory has5,802 active cases of the novelcoronavirus while 89,905patients have recovered so far,they said. PTI

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Tauseef Ahmed and hisaccomplice Rehan werearrested by the Haryanapolice from the Mewatregion (Nuh district) for

the murder of teenager NikitaTomar in broad daylight inBallabhgarh (Faridabad district).Tauseef was, allegedly, compellingNikita to marry him and convert toIslam. In a separate development, agroup of lawyers and a social work-er have filed a plea in the SupremeCourt seeking formation of a spe-cial investigating team (SIT) toprobe alleged forceful conversionsof Hindus in Nuh. The petition, filedthrough Advocate Vishnu ShankarJain, argues that the district admin-istration and the Haryana policehave failed to exercise their due pow-ers.

Nuh is different from the rest ofHaryana because of its religiousdemography. While Muslims con-stitute 7.06 per cent of the State’spopulation (as per Census, 2011),they constitute 75 per cent of the dis-trict. As per the 1971 census, theMuslims constituted 62 per cent ofthe population in the five tehsils thatnow form Nuh. This reversal of themajority-minority relationship hashad its consequences, particularly inthe polarised context prevailing inthe rest of the country. That’s whyChief Minister Manohar Lal Khattardeclared that his Government wouldbring a law against forced conver-sions and set up a board to protectHindu properties.

The Mewat district was renamedas Nuh in 2016. Earlier in 2001,Mewat (1,507 sq km) was carved outfrom Gurgaon district. Nuh hasbeen in the news for the wrong rea-sons. Mewati gangs are notorious forcattle smuggling, automobile theftsand highway robberies. Jails inGurugram and Faridabad districtshave a disproportionate number ofMewati inmates. Terror suspectshave been arrested from Nuh. Therehave been reports of communal dis-turbances.

Yet things need not have playedout like this. The Meo Muslims werea different lot; they were more or lessHindu in custom and culture untilthe beginning of the 20th century.Their syncretism could have been anexample for the rest of the Muslimsof the subcontinent. Major PercyWilliam Powlett wrote about theMeos of Alwar (then a princelyState) in Alwar Gazetteer (1878). Hesaid: “The Meos are half-Hindu bytheir habits. Mosques are rarely to

be seen in their villages. There areonly eight mosques in the 50 vil-lages of the tehsil of Tijarah.Leaving aside the temples, theplaces of worship of the Meos arevery much similar to those ofHindu neighbours. They areknown, for instance, as PaanchPeera, Baisa and Chahand.”

Mewat, as a historical region,extends into Alwar andBharatpur districts of Rajasthanand Mathura district of UttarPradesh beyond its heartland,that is Nuh. One has to cross theregion while going to eitherAgra or Jaipur from Delhi. It liesat the heart of the “golden trian-gle” tourist circuit comprisingDelhi, Agra and Jaipur.

It is barely known to the out-siders how this region, merely 70-80 km away from Delhi, acted asthe laboratory of Islamic alien-ation over the last century.Maulana Mohammad Ilyas(1885-1944), who started theitinerant Tabligh movement(Tablighi Jama’at), chose Mewatas its nursery in the 1920s. Themovement has been run from itsheadquarters in the BanglewaliMasjid in the Nizamuddin areaof Delhi. Since Maulana Ilyas wasa product of Dar-ul-Uloom atDeoband (in fact, a pet studentof its co-founder Ahmed RashidGangohi), the imprint of itsorthodoxy is evident in theTabligh movement.

Tabligh is an outreach move-ment by Muslim missionaries totake authentic Islam to thedoorsteps of the believers. Itencourages nominal Muslims(Momin) to become trueMuslims (Ihsaan/Muhsin). Theprocess involves disavowal of all

“Kafiresque” (that is not sanc-tioned by Islam) practices, whichmight be the legacy of the pre-Islamic past. The recital of sixKalimas (six verses of Quran) andperforming namaaz form thefoundation of Tablighi practices.The six Kalimas are avowals thatthere is “no God but Allah and

Muhammad is the messenger ofAllah.” The sixth Kalima is espe-cially a rejection of disbelief andpolytheism. The Kalimas consti-tute disavowal of associatingAllah with any other divineauthority. Naturally, syncretism isnot merely out of place, but sin-ful, to be practised alongsideIslam.

Way back in 1970, HashimAmir Ali, Director, RuralInstitute, Jamia Millia Islamia,had, by examining the featuresof the movement, stated that the“institution of Tabligh has begunto blow a wind of change for theworse in the hitherto tranquiland uniquely syncretic culture ofthe Meos” (The Meos of Mewat:Old Neighbours of New Delhi,P.41). Ali feared that orthodoxy,championed by Tabligh, wouldbe ruinous for the economic lifeof the Meos. The religiousinjunction against interest mightdiscourage them from acceptingloans from banks, opening bankaccounts or even joining coop-erative societies. It might beremembered that Dar-ul-Uloomat Deoband has pronouncedseveral fatwas against any kindof borrowing/lending whichinvolves payment of interest. Itis high time that fresh sociolog-ical studies are undertaken toascertain how far the Islamic pro-hibitions on certain issues (likeinterest on lending/borrowingand family planning methods)have kept the Muslim commu-nity backward and impover-ished.

The result of the Tablighmovement manifested duringthe tumultuous times of 1946-47when a popular demand for a

separate “Meostan” was raised.Interestingly, it was pitched bythe Communist leader KunwarMohammed Ashraf. Its bound-aries were envisaged as extend-ing from Mehrauli in Delhi toBandikui in Dausa district ofRajasthan. The Meos of Alwarand Bharatpur had formed theRajputana Muslim League. Oneof its sections was determined toachieve Meostan, envisaged asadjacent to Pakistan, by thepower of guns. This naturallyculminated in a riotous situationwhere Meos suffered heavy loss-es due to the Hindu backlash.Narayan Bhaskar Khare, theCongressman who was then theDewan of the Alwar State, haddescribed the situation in detailin his memoirs (My PoliticalMemoirs or Autobiography,1959).

However, Lord Mountbatten’sPartition declaration, dated June3, 1947, which stipulated thedivision of both Punjab andBengal, knocked out the plan fora Meostan. Beleaguered, a largenumber of Meos fled to Pakistanbut only to be invited back toIndia by the Jawaharlal NehruGovernment. Stopping themfrom migrating to Pakistan alsobecame an article of faith forMahatma Gandhi. Khare, there-fore, was not certain that perma-nent peace had returned toMewat. He was apprehensivethat communalism could stillrear its ugly head. Time has vin-dicated Khare as the discontentcontinues to simmer.

(The writer is an author andindependent researcher based inNew Delhi. The views expressedhere are personal))�� (

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�� Sir — A month ago, the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) wascruising merrily to win a fourthterm in the Bihar Assemblywhile the Mahagathbandhan(Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congressand the Left parties) was strug-gling to stitch together an agen-da, which could bring people ofall castes and ages together. Aconfident BJP allowed theincumbent Chief Minister NitishKumar, chief of the Janata Dal(United), to lead the coalition.Even so, Lok Janshakti Party, anold member of the NDA, sulkedabout it and turned into a vocalcritic of the Chief Minister.

However, things changedwhen massive crowds throngedthe rallies of Tejashwi Yadav,throwing up more than onepossibility. Even theMahagathbandhan emerged as acohesive unit with an agenda thatcaught the imagination of thepoor, oppressed and the econom-ically backward. The NDA car-ried on with its usual rhetoricwoven around Article 370, RamMandir, Muslims via Pakistanand nationalism blissfully. Itunderplayed crucial issues likethe woes of migrant workers, thepoor state of the health sector,

decayed educational institutionsand unemployment. However,the underdog, Tejashwi, relent-lessly highlighted these issuesduring his campaigns. Though itis hard to predict who will even-tually win, the election has beensuccessful in catching the BJP offguard and portraying Tejashwi asa valid option.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

��Sir — The BJP Government hascited the GST inflows, whichcrossed the �1 lakh crore markfor the first time in this financialyear, as a clear sign of recoveryin the economy after its 23.9 percent contraction in the firstquarter. However, economistsand businesses are scepticalabout the sustainability of this

trend. Only if this level of revenueis maintained through the rest of2020-21, will we see a reductionin the shortfall in the GST com-pensation for the States. Also, theeconomy can be firmly back onits feet only if exports and privateinvestment return to pre-COVIDlevels. At present, need-basedand time-bound stimulus can goa long way in achieving such aturnaround. However, we need

to await data for November andDecember before we can confi-dently say the economy hasrecovered.

Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar

��Sir — With no clear winneremerging from the counting sofar, the result of the US presiden-tial elections hangs in the bal-ance. Donald Trump’s descrip-tion of the election as “a majorfraud on America” without basis,his accusation against Joe Bidenof trying “to steal the election”and his decision to ask theSupreme Court “to stop all votecounting” have just added to theconfusion. In the US elections,nothing is predictable as it’s theswing States that hold the key tothe White House. The race is soclose that it can go either way.With both sides ready to deploylegal teams, a cloudy outcomecould possibly lead to a court bat-tle. In such a scenario, it mighttake days or even weeks for theresults to come out.

Krishnan Ramani Ghaziabad

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The Coronavirus outbreak hasbirthed another pandemic, thatof mental illness. With the world

having spent nearly a year battling theoutbreak and Indians having spent oversix months under various lockdownsnecessitated by the contagion, mentalwell-being has been hit like neverbefore. The major issues that have beenreported to have been associated withthe COVID-19 pandemic are stress,anxiety, depressive symptoms, insom-

nia, denial, anger and fear. These feel-ings are fuelled by the fact that peopleare continually living in fear of contract-ing the disease. People with pre-exist-ing health conditions and the elderlyare under stress of succumbing to theCoronavirus. Worryingly, the urge tocommit suicide is looming among thefrontline workers and the medical fra-ternity because of their exhausting andhectic schedules and the ominous sit-uation surrounding them.

Cases of Coronavirus-related sui-cides have been reported fromMaharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Assamand Kerala. In fact, suicide was the lead-ing cause of over 300 non-Coronavirusdeaths reported in India during thenationwide lockdown. And then, thereis the added pressure of salary cuts, fur-loughs and job losses. Those who arefortunate enough to have a job still arehaving to cope with extended workinghours and household chores. All these

factors have left people irritable andbrooding. It is evident that even afterthe pandemic ends, the mental healthconditions brought on by the contagionand their socio-economic impact onpeople will linger for quite some time.

According to a survey, about 41 percent of the population in India has beenaffected by loneliness. Between 33 to74 per cent of the people have report-ed psychological distress and over 40per cent are suffering from depressionand anxiety. As India faces a mentalhealth pandemic, it is high time that theState invests in establishing a holisticmental healthcare infrastructure thatis not hidden under the carpet of phys-ical healthcare.

However, the one good thing thathas come out of all this is that the con-tagion has put the spotlight back onmental health issues. Before the pan-demic struck, mental well-being waslargely ignored and people did not talk

about it, forget about seeking help. Now,India is more comfortable talkingabout it. Once the problem is detect-ed, it becomes easy to devise a cure.Vocalising the problem has also givena better insight into things that both-er people.

As of now, India accounts for 2.2lakh suicides each year, as per a World

Health Organisation (WHO) report,and work needs to be done from thegrassroot level. Beginning with educa-tion, the desired outcome of success-ful treatment can be realised. Given thepaltry number of psychiatrists in thecountry, the Government needs toincrease the number of seats for stu-dents of the discipline in the already

existing channels. Following the initiation at the edu-

cational level, reform and sensitivityneed to be brought in at the profession-al level, too. Given the dismal state ofaffairs right now, where psychiatristsprescribe medicines at the start of treat-ment without thoroughly assessing thepatient’s condition, counselling requiresan intensive revival. Likewise, a struc-tured guideline describing the conductof the treatment must be in place. It isimportant to increase the access oftroubled people to counselling andmental health centres and doctors. Thismay seem difficult given India’s poormental health infrastructure and mas-sive population, but the surge in thenumber of people suffering right nowdemands massive efforts nevertheless.

During the pandemic and in thepost-Corona world, there is a cryingneed for mental health insurance, too,so that it is instrumental in relieving the

burden of treatment expenditure. TheInsurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority of India(IRDAI) in 2018 asked mental illness-es to be included in regular healthinsurance coverage. In line with itsdirections, some insurers have alreadystarted customising mental healthproducts but they are few and farbetween.

Technology can be harnessed tokeep mental health issues at bay.Virtual contact can be a means to con-nect with isolated people. The arrivalof virtual consultancy and chatbots hasencouraged the masses to seek help.This has helped those who fear beingdiscovered and judged by others. Thechances of mental health issues turn-ing into a sweeping problem in a post-Corona world are vast only if they areleft unattended.

(The writer is founder and CEO ofa mental wellness platform)

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On October 15, External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar stated that the India-Chinatalks on disengagement were “confiden-

tial and a work in progress.” Subsequently, for-mer military veteran and journalist Ajai Shuklawrote on October 23 that the Government wasin talks with the Chinese for a “Doklam-typeagreement” which would result in “mutualtroop withdrawals in the Pangong Tso sub-sec-tor of Eastern Ladakh.” If he is correct, and thereis no reason to disbelieve Shukla, given the accu-racy of his earlier reports on the imbroglio, thenour political establishment (as it has on numer-ous occasions earlier) is once again showing utterignorance of how the military operates and is inthe process of succumbing to Chinese pressure,grasping at straws in the hope of achieving whatcan, at best, be termed as illusory peace.

The truth is that even a cursory peep into ourhistory suggests that our politicians lack theresolve to see things through, especially when thegoing gets tough. Oddly enough, they have alsorepeatedly shown themselves to be remarkablyincompetent when it comes to negotiations withadversaries. Pandit Nehru, for example, turnedout to be extremely short-sighted in his handlingof the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) issue, seek-ing to negotiate a settlement just as preparationsto recapture lost territory were moving forward.We are still paying with blood in J&K for his fol-lies then.

To add to that, Nehru’s disastrous handlingof the Indo-China relationship continues to hauntus to this day as well. What was pathetic at thetime was his abject surrender and acceptance ofdefeat without even a semblance of resistance,reflected in his farewell address on radio to ourAssamese brethren after our forces had retreat-ed from Arunachal Pradesh. This was not just areflection of his incompetence or inability tounderstand the manner in which the militaryoperates, but more importantly, showed him tobe irresolute and lacking in moral fibre as well,a flaw that taints most of our political establish-ment even today.

While one cannot blame Prime MinisterShastri for either lack of spine or absence of prin-ciples, he, too, showed complete ignorance of howthe military operates and, therefore, a remark-able lack of judgement in his talks with FieldMarshal Ayub Khan of Pakistan at Tashkent afterthe Indo-Pak War of 1965. The decision to vacateHaji Pir Pass, a key feature in the Pir Panjalmountain range, was to put it mildly, not justshort-sighted but utterly naïve. The fact of thematter is that its capture, after a brilliantly-planned and executed operation, not onlyallowed us the option to reach Poonch directlyfrom Uri but also dominate the importanttownships of Rawalkot, Bagh and Kotla inPakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). They couldhave been ours to occupy at any time of ourchoosing. These locations are now used byPakistan as launchpads to push militants intoKashmir.

While the Bangladesh Liberation War wasundoubtedly an unequivocal victory, its post-warimpact weighed heavily on our military. Not onlydid Prime Minister Indira Gandhi reduce pen-sions and the status of the military, she agreedto the return of 90,000 prisoners of war (PoWs)without either forcing Pakistan to enter into anagreement on the status of J&K or getting backour own servicemen captured by them. The factthat 54 of our servicemen continue to languishin Pakistani captivity is shameful. But what isworse is the Government’s utter disinterest in get-ting our PoWs back. As some may be aware,there is an ongoing case in the Supreme Court,lodged by their next of kin, requesting it to direct

the Government to take all necessarymeasures to arrange for their return,sadly with little success till now. Thisis not just a reflection of the callousnessor lack of empathy within our politicalestablishment that only gives impor-tance to anything that impacts its elec-toral prospects, but also indicts all ofus citizens, who prefer to live in igno-rance.

Leaving all this aside, to understandwhat exactly the signing of a “Doklam-type agreement” signifies, we wouldneed to focus on how that confronta-tion, in July 2017, which lasted for 75days, played out. To understand thecontext, it is necessary to remind one-self that at that time, our general elec-tions were due in just over a year andthe NDA Government was already fac-ing difficulties because of a falteringeconomy, not helped by a rather disas-trous demonetisation exercise.

Clearly the last thing the Centreneeded was trouble on our borders.This is ironical, given that the BJP prob-ably won handsomely because of thePulwama incident and our subsequentattack on Balakot.

The critical importance of theDoklam plateau lies in the fact that itstraddles the People’s Liberation Army(PLA)-occupied Chumbi Valley, whichis to its north, and the Jampheri Ridgeto its south, which overlooks theSiliguri Corridor, India’s lifeline to itsNorth-Eastern States. Though the sta-tus of the Doklam plateau itself is underdispute with the Chinese laying claim,it was till recently in the possession ofour steadfast ally, Bhutan. Therefore, itwould be reasonable to expect that theIndian Army would intervene in sup-port of the Bhutanese Army if theChinese attempted to illegally occupythe plateau, given the potential threatthat it posed to our own security as well.

Therefore, when the PLA com-menced road construction towards

the Jampheri ridge, our Army didrespond to the ingress in an extreme-ly robust manner to halt Chinese roadconstruction activity. Surprisingly,however, this action was at the initia-tive of the local commanders on theground, unwilling to be bullied by thePLA, reportedly much against thewishes of the Army Headquarters andthe Government, who were probablyfearful of the consequences of oppos-ing the Chinese.

Favourable public opinion, howev-er, forced the Government’s hand andthey had no choice but to walk the talkon nationalism. This matter was sub-sequently supposedly resolved at theWuhan informal summit where avaguely-worded statement, the so-called “Wuhan Consensus”, wasreleased. In view of the mutually-agreed withdrawal of troops by bothsides at the confrontation site to reducetension and probably based on goodfaith, the Indian Army carried out troopwithdrawals as required. However, thePLA reneged and after pulling backonly a few hundred metres, establisheda new camp, recommencing road con-struction activity along a slightly dif-ferent alignment three months later. Inthe process, it illegally occupied muchof the Doklam plateau.

The latest reports suggest that theycompleted construction in January2019 with the road terminating at thebase of the Jampheri ridge.

However, the response of theGovernment to this provocation wasremarkably subdued with no counter-action being initiated by the Armyagainst renewed Chinese activity.Clearly its hands had been tied by theGovernment making abundantly clearthat the present Prime Minister had,like those before him, succumbed toChinese pressure despite being fullyaware of the grave implications of theChinese activity. Therefore, the

Government’s refusal to acknowledgethe PLA’s alleged occupation of approx-imately 1,000 sq km of disputed terri-tory in eastern Ladakh was not unex-pected. Nor was the public endorse-ment of this stand despite the loss of 20bravehearts to Chinese treachery atGalwan.

Since then, the surprise pro-activeaction of the Army to occupy heightsalong the Kailash Range may havestrengthened the hands of theGovernment in the continuing negoti-ations but it has not truly understoodthe significance of the military action.

If India understood the importanceof the military action, it would refuseto discuss the issue in any talks just asthe Chinese have done over theiroccupation of disputed territory in theDepsang sub-sector. While it is quiteapparent that the Chinese are not in afavourable position to launch a full-fledged offensive at present due to hos-tile weather conditions and a lack ofrequisite forces, the situation may wellchange by next spring.

Would the Government then stillremain steadfast in its aim and contin-ue to confront the bully, or will it backdown, as it has before, accepting somefacile, token, face-saving tidbit thrownat us by the Chinese? After the Centre’searlier misstep in Doklam, there mustbe fairly serious reservations, within thesecurity establishment at least, as towhether this Government can followthrough on its present course to its log-ical end, especially given that Chinacontrols the escalation ladder.

Actions always speak louder thanwords and we will soon know if Modihas it in him to be different from thosein whose footsteps he follows.

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

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Houston: Young electors in the US have been making theirvoices heard and although the votes are being counted,their choice could shape the outcome of the closely-fought2020 presidential election and decide the presidency ofthe world's oldest democracy. According to the Center forInformation and Research on Civic Learning andEngagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, voters agedbetween 18 to 29 are voting in record numbers, includ-ing more than eight million young people who voted earlyor absentee in the 2020 elections.

“I think with the recent happenings, racial injusticeand the pandemic, it's kind of driving people to be morepassionate about the things that are happening in ourworld as well as just passionate about electing leaders thathave the same ideas and values that they do,” TexasSouthern University junior Mariah Campbell said.

Young voters have been making their voices heard andmobilising, an extension of rising youth activism inresponse to concerns over issues such as racial inequality,climate change and gun violence, CIRCLE said.

According to an analysis from the CIRCLE, the pre-eminent, non-partisan research center on youth engagementat Tufts University's Jonathan M Tisch College of Civic Life,youth votes have been crucial in the 2020 elections. PTI

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Washington: From Ford Model T cars that popped off theassembly line in just 90 minutes to 60-second service for burg-ers, the United States has long had a major hand in makingthe world a frenetic and impatient place, primed and hun-gry for instant gratification.

So the world's realization Wednesday that the U.S. Electionwinner might not be known for days or longer was jarringfor a planet weaned on American speediness.

The guessing game of trying to figure out whether — andhow — President Donald Trump or challenger Joe Bidenwould end up in the White House quickly turned global.

Government leaders scrambled to digest the delay andordinary people swapped views, hopes and fears on feeds andphones. Some scratched their heads — not for the first time— over the U.S. Presidency being decided not by the overallvotes by by whoever wins 270 votes in the Electoral College.

Gloating was heard from parts of the world that have beenon the receiving end of U.S. Criticism about their electionsand governance. Underscoring how the drama captured glob-al audiences, television graphics in Japan used fireballs todenote some of the battleground states crucial to the outcome.

“I'm hearing it may take some time before things are sort-ed out,” said the Japanese finance minister, Taro Aso. “I haveno idea how it may affect us.” A Spanish resident of Paris wasstunned to wake up without a declared winner. “I thought therewas going to be something clear. And I have read differentarticles, no one really knows who is going to win,” Javier Saenzsaid. AP

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Washington: Democrat Joe Biden waspushing closer to the 270 Electoral Collegevotes needed to carry the White House,securing victories in the “blue wall” bat-tlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan,and narrowing President Donald Trump'spath.

With just a handful of states still up forgrabs, Trump tried to press his case in courtin some key swing states, It was unclear ifany of his campaign's legal maneuveringover balloting would succeed in shifting therace in his favour.

Two days after Election Day, neithercandidate had amassed the votes neededto win the White House. But Biden's vic-tories in the Great Lakes states left him at264, meaning he was one battleground stateaway — any would do — from becomingpresident-elect.

Trump, with 214 electoral votes, faceda much higher hurdle. To reach 270, heneeded to claim all four remaining bat-tlegrounds: Pennsylvania, North Carolina,Georgia and Nevada.

With millions of votes yet to be tabu-lated, Biden already had received more than71 million votes, the most in history. AP

Beijing: A wary China on Thursday hoped thepresidential poll process in the US would endsmoothly and successfully and said that there is aroom for cooperation between the two nationsdespite “some differences,” as observers forecastheightening of the rivalry between the top twoeconomies no matter whoever emerges victorious.

The US presidential election remained unde-cided Thursday evening, turning the nation's atten-tion to a handful of battleground states that con-tinue to tabulate the crush of mail-in ballots thatwill decide whether Donald Trump or Joe Bidenwill be victorious.

“People are following closely, me included butit seems that the votes are still being counted andresults have not come yet,” China's Vice-ForeignMinister Le Yucheng said at a media conferencehere when asked to comment on the USPresidential poll. “We hope the election will pro-ceed smoothly and successfully,” Le, a formerAmbassador to India said, adding that there is aroom for cooperation despite “some differences”.

“As per the China-US relationship, China's atti-tude is clear and consistent. China and the US havesome differences but we have extensive commoninterests and room for cooperation,” he said hop-ing that the incoming American administrationwould meet Beijing halfway. PTI

Washington: Democratic presidential candi-date Joe Biden has pledged that his adminis-tration would rejoin the historic ParisAgreement on climate change.

Biden, 77, has not won the presidentialelections yet, but is inching closer to bedeclared the winner by garnering 253 electoralvotes out of the required 270. His Republicanrival and incumbent US President DonaldTrump has got 213 electoral votes, accordingto latest projections released by the US media.

On November 4, the US formally with-drew from the 2015 Paris Agreement onClimate Change, a decision originallyannounced three years ago.

“Today, the Trump Administration offi-cially left the Paris Climate Agreement. Andin exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration willrejoin it,” Biden tweeted on Wednesday night,reflecting his decision to reverse one of the keypolicies of the Trump administration on dayone.

The US, under the Obama administration,had acceded to the Paris Agreement in 2016.It was a signature achievement of the Obamaadministration. The Paris accord committedthe US and 187 other countries to keeping ris-ing global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels and attempting to limit themeven more, to a 1.5C rise. PTI

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Chicago: A federal appealscourt has allowed a Trumpadministration rule that woulddeny green cards to immi-grants who use public benefitslike food stamps to go back intoeffect while it considers thecase.

The Election Day develop-ment was the latest dizzyingtwist in a legal battle over thecontroversial rule that theTrump administration argues

helps ensure those who are self-sufficient come to the country.

On Monday, US DistrictJudge Gary Feinerman inChicago struck down the ruleand US Citizenship andImmigration Services stoppedapplying it to pending applica-tions. Government attorneysappealed, and the 7th USCircuit Court of Appeals put ahold on the ruling the next day,allowing the restrictions to

take effect again.USCISspokesman Matthew Bourkesaid Wednesday that the agencywould immediately restartapplying the rule to pendingcases, but not “re-adjudicateany applications or petitionsthat were approved” in light ofMonday's decision.

Under the Trump admin-istration rule, officials can denypermanent residency to legalimmigrants over their use of

food stamps, Medicaid or otherpublic benefits. Green cardapplicants must show theywouldn't be burdens to thecountry, or “public charges”.

Immigrant rights advo-cates deemed it a “wealth test,”while health experts warned ofpoorer health outcomes andrising costs as low-incomemigrants chose between nec-essary services and trying tostay in the country legally. AP

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Facing intense pressure fromreligious leaders, the

Pakistan Government hasallowed thousands of TableeghiJamaat members to hold athree-day gathering in Lahorestarting from Friday despite anuptick in the number of newcoronavirus cases.

“The government hasallowed the Tableeghi Jamaat tohold annual religious congre-gation in Raiwind with the par-ticipation of 54,000 followers,”said a handout issued by thePakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)government here on Thursday.

It added that the three-daycongregation will start onFriday and attendees have start-ed to arrive from across thecountry. However, no one fromoutside the country is allowedto participate in the religiousgathering, the statement read.

The government said the

COVID-19 rules will be strict-ly followed in the congregation.Children and high-risk adultswill not be allowed.

Pakistan has seen a spikein the number of new coron-avirus cases after a brief lull inSeptember. The virus deathtoll stands at 6,893 with over3.3 lakh confirmed infections.

On Thursday, Pakistanreported 605 new coronavirusrecoveries, taking the numberof reported cases to 316,665.

Earlier in the year, theTableeghi Jamaat memberswere criticised for congregat-ing in Lahore. Some 80,000members of the Jamaat hadattended the religious congre-gation at the Raiwind Markazearlier in March. A number ofnew coronavirus cases hadsurfaced from there.

Prime Minister ImranKhan was slammed on socialmedia for allowing the con-gregation on Friday.

London: The UK Government on Thursday reminded peopleabout the tough fines in place over severe breaches as Englandentered its second stay-at-home lockdown in order to try andcontrol the rapid spread of COVID-19 infections, expected tolast at least until December 2.

UK Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said that while thepolice forces of the country will continue to follow the princi-ple of policing by consent, they would respond to “egregiousbreaches” and hand out fines where necessary.

Under the legal requirements in place, people have been toldto stay at home unless leaving for work if they can't work from home or to shop for essentials or a form of daily exer-cise. PTI

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Tanzania's populist PresidentJohn Magufuli has taken

the oath of office for a secondfive-year term amid tight security after the opposi-tion called for a fresh election,the disbandment of the elec-toral commission and an “endless peaceful demon-stration” over the October 28vote.

Magufuli over the weekendsaid he will not pursue anoth-er term amid some concernsthat the ruling party, which won nearly all parlia-ment seats, might try toextend the presidency's two-

term limit.Police and the army tight-

ened security ahead of theswearing-in, and the leaders ofTanzania's two main opposi-tion parties, ACT Wazalendoand CHADEMA, were chargedwith organizing unlawful assembly and demon-stration.

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Housing sales may fall by35-40 per cent in the

ongoing fiscal year even asdemand improved during theSeptember quarter, ratingagency ICRA said while revis-ing its forecast.

It had earlier estimated a45 per cent decline in sales vol-umes in FY2021.

Sales across the top eightcities - Delhi-NCR, MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR),Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru,Pune, Hyderabad andAhmedabad - rebounded in thesecond quarter of FY2021,indicating some green shoots ofnormalisation.

“With some further recov-ery expected in H2, ICRA isrevising its earlier estimate ofsales volume decline in FY2021to 35-40 per cent,” it said in astatement.

ICRA said the uptick inabsorption levels during thesecond quarter of FY2021 hasbeen driven by affordable andmid/upper-mid segments.

The residential real estatesegment witnessed a sharprecovery in the Septemberquarter, post a severe decline inQ1 FY2021.

“The Covid-19 pandemichad triggered one of the worstdemand crashes that the Indianresidential real estate industrywitnessed in recorded history.

“Overall, the housing salesvolume witnessed a year-on-year decline of 50 per cent inH1 FY2021 across the top eightcities of the country,” ICRAsaid.

However, sales volumebounced back considerably,with a quarter-on-quartergrowth of 60 per cent record-ed across property markets inthe second quarter of the cur-rent fiscal.

The recent improvementwas primarily driven by a grad-ual unlocking of the economy,pent-up demand and improvedaffordability on the back ofreduced home loan rates andattractive paymentschemes/discounts, the ratingagency said.

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With an uptick in demandfor travel, a majority

of respondents (75 percent) are planning on vacationsduring this festive season withhigh priority on safety andhygiene, including looking atthe number of cases in thevicinity and sanitisation mea-sures, according to a survey.

About 75 per cent ofrespondents said they are plan-ning to take up a vacation dur-ing this festive season, as com-pared to 61 per cent in 2019who were willing to go on aholiday during the festive sea-son, indicating an uptick indemand for travel, online trav-el company Yatra.Com said inthe survey.

The trend of advancebooking continues with 39.3per cent of respondents plan-ning leisure trips for morethan one month in advance, itadded. Further, the surveyshowed that safety and hygienetake priority while planning aholiday, as travellers are look-ing at the number of cases inthe vicinity, sanitisation mea-

sures, government guidelines,and amenities in case of emer-gency, among other factors.

The Yatra annual festivesurvey was done online among5,000 respondents.

Further, the surveyshowed that about 52.5 percent of respondents are seekingmedical or travel insurancefor the sake of security andmore than 50 per cent ofrespondents said they wouldprefer ordering room servicerather than visiting restaurantsand bars. On taking extra safe-ty precautions, about 72.1 percent of respondents said theywill be going through sanitisa-tion processes followed by themonuments and tourist spotsbefore planning a visit to them.This assurance is important asabout 48.2 per cent of therespondents are planning theirholiday with the family, itadded. The survey also foundthat mountains have beatenbeaches as a preferred locationfor holiday goers, with 37.9 percent of respondents saying theywould like to visit the hills toescape the monotony and stressbrought by the pandemic.

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Equity benchmarks gallopedto near nine month-highs

on Thursday following across-the-board buying as globalmarkets ratcheted higherdespite uncertainty surround-ing the US election results.

Rallying for the fourthstraight session, the BSE Sensexsurged 724.02 points or 1.78per cent to close at 41,340.16.

The benchmark has closedabove the 41,000-level for thefirst time since mid-Februarythis year. The Sensex has alsowiped off all losses for the 2020calendar year. It had closed at41,306.02 on January 1, 2020.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty zoomed 211.80 points or1.78 per cent to finish at12,120.30. All Sensex compo-nents closed in the green, ledby banking, finance, energy, ITand metal counters.

SBI was the top gainer,soaring 5.63 per cent followingrobust Q2 results. Tata Steel,IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance,Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, AsianPaints and Titan were the otherprominent winners, spurtingup to 5.34 per cent. Globalequities marched higher amidindications that DemocraticParty candidate Joe Biden mayclinch the US presidential polls,even as the Republicans looklikely to retain their slim major-ity in the Senate. Meanwhile,the Trump campaign hasmoved court over the ballotcounting process in battle-ground states like Pennsylvaniaand Michigan, raisingprospects of protracted legalwranglings over the tightly-contested election.

Investors are expecting lessconfrontational trade policieswith China and other countriesunder a possible Biden presi-dency, while the Republican-controlled Senate would pre-vent measures like higher taxesor stricter regulations, ana-lysts said. “Domestic marketmoved in tandem with the

global market and marched to8 months high, in expectationthat the US presidential elec-tion is moving in favour of theDemocratic Party.

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Cargo volumes at the GMRgroup-owned Delhi air-

port have recovered 94 per centy-o-y in September at 77,000MT, as the private aerodromeoperator handled a record2,366 freighter movements ina single month.

The total cargo handledby the Delhi airport inSeptember 2019 had stood at82,220 million tonnes (MT),according to DelhiInternational Airport Ltd(DIAL).

Economic activities in thecountry, following gradualunlockings in the past fewmonths, are showing positivesigns of recovery with Delhiairport seeing a significantsurge in both cargo tonnageand freighter movements inSeptember, it said in a release.

Of the 77,000 MT cargohandled during the previousmonth, 48,000 MT was inter-national, while the remaining29,000 MT domestic, it said.

DIAL added that the cargothroughput has met an impres-sive recovery of 94 per cent in

September compared to thesame month of 2019.

Also, the total cargo vol-ume in the first half of the fis-cal stood at 2,88,00 MT, whichis expected to grow further inthe coming months, DIAL said.

Freighter airlines, includ-ing passenger aircraft used tocarry cargo, have significantlycontributed in creating capac-ities to meet the demand,according to the release.

DIAL said it has alsoenhanced significantly freighterhandling capacity with the set-ting up of three additionaldedicated freighter parkingbays, taking their total numberto 12.

What were the challengesduring the distribution ofpulses under the PM GaribKalyan Ann Yojana(PMGKAY)?

During lockdown every-thing was shut. The labour wasnot available, vehicles were notmoving and offices were shut.The first 15-20 days wereextremely challenging. NAFEDwas entrusted with the task ofsupplying 5.85 lakh MT puls-es to 36 states/UTs by theGovernment of India towardsthe end of March. After that wegradually obtained permis-sions to get the supply chainmoving. We shifted all theoperations online and got thepulses delivered in the states.The passes for the mill labour-ers too were taken by us. April,the first month was very slow.During May we managed tocomplete more than 50 percent and completed the supplyin the third month.

We started dispatching thepulses from April 15 since theauctions too had to take placebefore the pulses were allotted,bags printed and repacked.Our pulses are not available indistricts unlike those of theFood Corporation of India.Pulses are grown and werestored in five-six states. Thesehad to be moved to mills,where they were milled andrepacked. Moreover, the millsdid not have the capacity tomeet the demand so moremillers were added to theapproved list.

On the procurement side,we had to double the numberof centres to ensure that thefarmers don’t have to travel toomuch. We used all modes oftransport to distribute the puls-es - ship, flights, road.

What were the challengesduring procurement?

The mandis posed a hugechallenge as social distancinghad to be maintained. Farmerswere called in a staggered man-ner through SMS and theirarrival had to be planned in away that social distancing wasmaintained. We had to increasethe number of centres. Forinstance, in one cluster of vil-lages, there was one centreand we increased it to two-three. We made paymentsonline. During Covid times wepumped in more than Rs30,000 crores in the rural econ-omy.

The prices have soared duringand post lockdown. So howare you ensuring that con-sumers are not affected bythis?

We were giving free puls-es under PMGKAY. As per gov-ernment instructions, we areintervening in the market andselling the pulses, especially theones which have seen a spike inthe rates. For instance, theprices of Tur have increased. Sothe intervention of NAFED isto sell it at Rs 85/kg through-out the country. The operationhas already started in TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh

and soon it will be rolled out inDelhi. This will be sold in ourstores and at other places tooat this rate under the govern-ment of India’s initiative. In themarket it is Rs 135/kg.

Then there are onions. Inthe history of India for the firsttime we have procured 1,00,000MT of onions. Normally it is10-15,000 MT. Last year it was50,000 MT and this year it hasdoubled. We started procuringfrom the farmers towards theend of April when farmerswere getting Rs 4 or 5 per kg inthe mandi. We bought it for Rs8 -9 per kg. This programmewas inaugurated byMaharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray.

How is NAFED’s businessevolving in the new normal?

We have to change with thetimes. During the procure-ment we have to implementsafety measures. Recently wehave been declared as anagency for formation of FPOsalso. We will make and regis-ter farmer producer groups atpar with NABARD. We arenow focussing on, according tothe new Agricultural Policy,whether we should registerthem in groups or in compa-nies. This will be a game chang-er. The Prime Minister hasannounced one lakh crore forinfrastructure. We are makingbusiness plans for farmers tosee how they can access funds.

There is a mandi ahead ofNashik, where in partnershipwith FPOs who have given usabout 4-5 acres of land, whereNAFED has made the DPR forthe infrastructure that is need-ed. The group will get a partialsubsidy and for the remainingamount NAFED has filed aloan application which couldbe obtained from the infra-structure fund. We will belinking all the farmer groups

with the government schemes.The mandi will have all theinfrastructure for packing, sort-ing, grading, pre-cooling forvegetables so that they stay forsome days.

We are setting up a portalfor e-kisan mandi. All the bigbuyers and sellers would be onthe platform. The quality of theproduct can be checked hereand the registered farmers willconfirm the deal if they find itworth it. Farmers will get thatkind of freedom. But it is along-term project and can onlyhappen over a period of time.We plan to make 100 mandisin the next six months.

NAFED will set up thestructure of the mandis outsideAPMC and hand it over to theAPOs and other stakeholderswho will run these mandis. Thefarmers and NAFED have anequal stake in this. These willbe transparent so that the farm-ers know what is happeninginside them.

The decision of selling ornot is with the farmer. If themoong dal which the farmerbrings has high moisture levelof say around 14 percent asopposed to 12 percent, whichis allowed, earlier he wouldhave been forced to sell it at aprice lower than MSP. Now themandi would have facilities

for drying. There will also be amachine to remove foreignmatter as this too is often aground for paying less to thefarmer. The Fair AverageQuality (FAQs) will be main-tained by the different facilitiesthat the mandi offers. A min-imal service charge would belevied on the farmers whichwould go to the FPO runningthe mandi. This would go inproviding the value additions atthe mandi, infrastructure, por-tal costs and more. We areempowering the farmer not toget exploited.

Will the new Agriculturalpolicy lead to a mass migra-tion of farmers to new man-dis?

People are apprehensiveabout the new policy but whyare they underestimating thefarmer? He will go to the bestplace where he is getting a ben-efit. If APMCs don’t do anybusiness below MSP then farm-ers will never leave those. Iffarmers have a choice, they cango to the kisan mandis run byhim. Just like consumers havethe freedom to buy from a shopor a mall, the farmers tooshould have the freedom to sellanywhere.

If private people set upthese structures and there is no

enforcement, chances are thereas they are profit-oriented.When I had a meeting with theDefence Minister, RajnathSingh I had said that the gov-ernment should supportNAFED to run the mandi sothat people are confident. Butif the mandis are run byindustrialists then it would besaid that there has been a sell-off.

We have taken over a com-pany called Federation ofIndian FPOs and Aggregators(FIFA). Around 1,000 FPOshave become our members atnational level. We are offeringour services to make the theirDPRs, find out where theseorganisations can get theirmoney from. Getting access tofunds by the farmers’ groupsand cooperatives was a biggap area which we are trying tofill.

We also floated a tenderrecently for setting up morethan 500 retails in the countryin six months. The farmingproducts will be connected tothe market. If we ask any otherretailer to keep our products,these groups ask for money.Within next six months youwill see NAFED as the secondbiggest retailer in the country.Even international brands havecome and have applied to setup store under the NAFEDbrand.

We are expanding in retailand have launched masalaswith the tag line “kisan sekitchen tak”.

We have signed a contractwith farmers in Chattisgarhand Karnataka giving priceassurance for buying millets.

We have already depositedRs 500 crore in cash in thebanks during Covid time.Compare this with three yearsback when we owed Rs 2,000crore to the banks which wehave paid. PNS

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Government facing severepressure on revenues due

to the Covid disruptions mayend the current financial yearwith a 30 per cent drop inGoods and Service Tax (GST)collections.

This would be a big setbackto the Centre that is alreadyburdened with adequatelycompensating the states forGST related revenue shortfall.

According to the EcoScopereport by Motilal OswalFinancial Services, GST col-lections is expected to come inat Rs 9-9.2 lakh crore range inFY21 as against the budgetedestimate of Rs 13.8 lakh crore.

This comes despite the factthat GST collections stood at Rs1.05 lakh crore in October, 10.2per cent higher than the col-lections in October 2019.

The October collections

were also the highest amountof GST collected since February2020 when the Covid-19 pan-demic broke out in India.

With this, the total amountof GST collected during April-October 2020 stood at Rs 5.6lakh crore, a decline of 20.2 percent year-on-year (YoY).

Additionally, as against thetarget of Rs 13.8 lakh crore forFY21, the government has col-lected Rs 5.6 lakh crore so far,which is 41 per cent of FY21budget estimate (BE) as against58 per cent (of FY20 BE)achieved last year by this time.

Within the total GST col-lected last month, CGSTamounted to Rs 19,190 crore,SGST amounted to Rs 25,410crore and IGST amounted toRs 52,540 crore. Moreover,GST collection on imports alsorose by 9 per cent YoY to Rs23,380 crore in October 2020,implying pure domestic col-lections at Rs 81,780 crore(which saw growth of 10.6 percent YoY) during the month.

Notably, daily e-way billgeneration in October 2020 (up

to October 25) was 2 millionunits, the highest in eightmonths. This is indicative ofsustained pick-up in econom-ic activity, the brokerage said.

Growth in GST revenue inSept-Oct 2020 (vs the contrac-tion seen in Mar-Aug 2020)implies the trajectory of theeconomy’s recovery, and cor-respondingly, the government’srevenues, Motilal Oswal said.

Since the relaxation givenfor filing of returns has ended,the 8m GSTR-3B returns filedin October 2020 is for the eco-nomic activities conductedonly in September 2020.

The report highlighted thatthe level of returns filed hasreached pre-Covid levels.

Overall, another monthlygrowth in GST collection inOctober 2020 is definitely wel-come. The uncertainty regard-ing the trajectory of GST col-lection under normal circum-stances - post the nationwidelockdown and compliancerelated reliefs - seems to havereduced after last month’s read-ing.

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New Delhi:Gold prices rose�158 to �50,980 per 10 gramin the national capital onThursday, supported by arally in global prices, accord-ing to HDFC Securities.Inthe previous trade, the pre-cious metal had closed at�50,822 per 10 gram.Silverprices also jumped �697 to�62,043 per kilogram from�61,346 per kilogram in theprevious trade.In the inter-national market, gold rose to$1,916 per ounce, while sil-ver was also trading in thegreen at USD 24.34 perounce. PTI

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Almost every automotivewriter and publication in

India will award different typesof best car awards, and I’m guiltyof that as well. But a few awardslook at new technologies intro-duced in a year or even newengines for that matter. This isbecause unless forced to by reg-ulations, the pace of technolog-ical development in cars thesedays is fairly gradual. If youwould have told me in 2000 thatin 2020 not only would theworld be brought to a halt by avirus but a commercially avail-able two-litre diesel engine canproduce close to 250 horsepow-er, I would have thought you outof your mind. Even petrolengines today are incrediblylean-burning. You can easily getsmall petrol hatchbacks to 14-15kilometers a litre in urban con-ditions without resorting tohyper-miling.

Sometimes the change is a bitdramatic, take the advent ofpopular automatics in India forwhich Maruti should take thecredit when they fitted an‘Automated ManualTransmission’ (AMT) on theCelerio and have made AMTtechnology so popular that manyother manufacturers includingHyundai, Nissan-Renault andTata have followed suit. Don’t getme wrong here, while drivingcars fitted with an AMT is still a

lot more convenient than a carwith a manual, AMT’s com-pared to regular automatics, carsfitted with traditional torqueconverters, ContinuouslyVariable Transmission (CVT)boxes or even more moderndual-clutch transmission (DCT)systems, feel horribly lazy. Yes,you learn how to get the best outof them but truth be told, AMT’sare not for enthusiastic driving.And nor, to be very honest, arethe large majority of CVT sys-tems. Many of them do not evenlet you hit the rev limit. Thenthere are DCT systems, designedfor exhilaration but not exactlyeconomical.

However, none of these arenew. These are all clutchless sys-tems that remove the need forone to operate their left foot andchange the gears automatically.Some systems offer various typesof manual override contraptions,

from a simple up-down pusherby shifting the lever to the sideor a paddle system, but they’renot manuals by any stretch. Thisis what makes the ‘IntelligentManual System’ (IMT) broughtto India by the Hyundai MotorGroup through their Hyundai(Venue and i20) and Kia (Sonet)products fairly unique. There area couple of things here, I describethis as a clutchless manual systembecause you, as the driver, arealways in control of the gears. Butyou are not operating a clutch. Ihave just completed one monthwith my long-term Kia Sonetwith an IMT system and while Iwill be honest and admit that Iwas a bit hesitant of the IMTwhen I drove it for the first timeon a Venue, I’ve actually grownto like the system. In my firstreview of the IMT system, I won-dered whether you can teach anold dog new tricks? Well, this olddog really likes the IMT.

I have honestly never drivenanything like an IMT before,something so unique rarelycomes in a ten-lakh rupee car.That said, I will be the first toadmit that IMT systems are notfor everyone and can be veryconfusing to those who drive onefor the first time. But as anyonewho has driven a manual inbumper-to-bumper traffic inBengaluru, Delhi or Mumbaican attest, the constant changing

of gears in such conditions is tir-ing and stressful even thoughmany of those who swear bymanuals will say that ‘manuals’are the only way to drive a carproperly.

Okay fine, there is a slight lagwhen you change. But unless youare a fearsome heel-and-toe stylechanger, the lag in gearshifts isnothing really to be concernedabout. Yes, as the weather inDelhi gets colder I am noticingthat the gears are a bit stickyupon a cold start first thing in themorning but once the car gets upto temperature there are a fewproblems. This is somethingthough that I will keep an eye onover the coming months with theSonet as the mercury continuesto dip in Delhi.

But as a system, this does notfeel as compromised as say anAMT does, and mated to theGroup’s 120PS one-litre tur-bopetrol engine, you can reallyhave some fun with the IMT aswell. And given that it is a lotcheaper than the Dual-ClutchTransmission available on thesame models, it is a great combi-nation of performance, conve-nience and price. I do not knowif other manufacturers have accessto this technology or if they willbring cars equipped with an IMTinto India even if they do, but inopinion, the IMT is the automo-tive technology of the year.

The good old theatre is taking a U-turn in our otherwise socially-dis-tanced lifestyles. And Delhi theatre

enthusiasts are definitely in for a treat asthe Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts,Mandi House, has opened its doors for thefirst play to be showcased in the post-COVID era. Culture-starved and inrevenge mode, aficionados have alreadybooked all shows.

Rama Theatre Natya Vidya (RAT-NAV) in collaboration with AustrianEmbassy, Austrian Cultural Forum, TheEmbassy of the Czech Republic and sup-ported by Sideways Consulting, is set topresent Giraftari, based on Franz Kafka’snovel, The Trial — today and tomorrow.

Media veteran and founder of RAT-NAV, Rama Pandey, also the director of theplay, lists the necessary measures taken tofollow the social distancing norms, due towhich there will be only 50 per cent seatoccupancy in the auditorium. The area isbeing sanitised before the play and everyaudience member will be given a compli-mentary mask. With Giraftari, Ramaplans to “kickstart the theatre space whichhas been shut for the past few months.”

The Theatrician (in association withThe Cacophonee), at Akshara Theatre, isset to present two ‘one hour, one act’ plays— The Red Hot Bombay Lovers and TheLockdown Lovers.

Being the first such play to be show-cased in an indoor theatre, AnusuyaVaidya, co-founder, Akshara Theatre,talks about the safety protocols — 50 percent auditorium occupancy, distancedseating availability, sanitisation after everyshow and masks for those who require.

However, a few questions arise here —even as all the norms are being followed,is there enough participation from the pub-lic to watch live shows? And why not con-tinue showcasing it digitally until the sit-uation gets into place?

Vaidya shares that Theatrician, the firsttheatre company to begin online theatrepost lockdown, was “keen on resuming the

theatre physically. They wanted to makethe audience relive what theatre actuallyfelt and experienced like. Performingspaces and arts have been adversely affect-ed due to the pandemic and I think, nowwas the time to bring it on again. I am surepeople have also grown bored of everythinggoing online. In-person experiences havetheir own significance.”

As per the recent observations, shepoints out at how the amphitheatres havestarted grabbing attention again. “Even atAkshara, we can see the audience for theoutdoor theatre growing, where a fewcomedies have been staged recently. Thisindicates that people now want to ventureinto the outdoor space once again. Andwhen amphitheatres can grab attention,why not closed ones too? We are actuallyexpecting a full house on Sunday. Theresponse has been positive,” adds Vaidya.

Pandey says, “The last few monthshave been quite difficult for the theatrecommunity. The impact of lockdown onperforming arts has been immense. I amglad that we have got an opportunity to bethe first play in the post-COVID era at theSRCPA. The show must go on!”

She adds that given the pandemic, “itis our responsibility to take adequate pre-cautions and bring back our audience. It’simportant that these spaces flourish again.Mandi House is the cultural heart of Delhi.We need to let it throb again and reignitethe passion.”

Pandey believes that since the audiencewill be back, watching theatre, after a longtime, the theme of the play should resonatewith the public’s mind to grab more eyes.“The plot of Giraftari will remain relevantin all times as it addresses the plight of thecommon man in such scenarios,” she adds.

Set in contemporary Delhi, Giraftariis the story of a common Indian man, whohas been alienated by society. Pandey usesa fusion of the lost Indian oral and folkforms in the play. Art forms ranging fromTasha Dhol and Nafiri instruments of thestreets of Purani Dilli, can be seen, too.

Lending support to the initiative,Abhijit Avasthi, founder, Sideways, says,“Especially, in a time when most of us arefinding it hard to make sense of what’sgoing on around us, we are certain thatRama ji’s adaptation with nuanced localsensibilities will leave a deep positiveimpact on the audience. It’s our privilegeto partner with RATNAV and theConsulate of Austria in the staging of thistimeless and important classic.”

Matthias Radosztics, MinisterPlenipotentiary, says, “Although, the playwas published a few years ago but keep-ing in mind the pandemic situation, theplay is suitable for all! Its primary objec-tive is to reach the common man in uncer-tain times.”

Directed by Tathagata Chowdhury, theplay, The Red Hot Bombay Lovers, aims toexplore the dark complexities and non-stopexuberance of humans, which aims at reju-

venating the public minds after sevenmonths of lockdown and staying put.

Anusuya adds that the two plays arelight-hearted comedies as “people nowwant to come back to entertainment.”

(The plays at Akshara will be staged onNovember 8 at 7 pm and 8.15 pm.)

Actor Tiger Shroff is set tostar in an action film set in

a post-pandemic, dystopian era.Sharing a teaser motion posterthat goes with the theme of thefilm, titled Ganapath, Tigerwrote on Instagram,“This one is specialfor me, and especial-ly for you guys!P r e s e n t i n g#Ganapath — getready for moreaction, thrill andentertainment!”

The teaser hasa dialogue byTiger thatgoes: "Jabaapan dartahai nah tabapan bohotmarta hai(when I getscared, Ibash up alot).” Theaction-packedthriller ishelmed bydirector VikasBahl, whod i r e c t e dQueen andSuper 30 in thepast and andproduced byJ a c k k yB h a g n a n i .Ganapath isplanned as thefirst film of afranchise.

“This film isdifferent for mefrom the rest ofthe films I’vedone till datebecause of thecharacter I play.After multiple con-versations withVikas and Jackky,the script and scalelook promising.I am really

looking forward to this one.This will be my first time work-ing with Jackky and Vikas andit will be exciting to collaboratewith them,” said the Baaghiactor.

Jackky Bhagnani is equallythrilled. “I look at Tiger as a

global star. He has all thepotential and every ingredientthat makes him unique andsets him apart. His filmshave slick action with aninternational flavour that

appeals to the audienceall over the world. I

am sure the com-bination ofVikas and Tigerwill make magicand redefinethe actiongenre,” he said.

For direc-tor Vikas Bahl

working withTiger and Pooja

Entertainment isthe perfect synergy oflike-minded forces. Hesaid, “I am very excit-ed about working withTiger. It’s a challengeto pull off the scalefor a script that isset-up in a futuris-tic world, but withan actor like Tigerand a partner likeJackky Bhagnaniand PoojaEntertainment, I

am sure that wewill be able tobring this larg-e r - t h a n - l i f evision tofruition!”

The shootbegins in mid2021 and thefilm is sched-

uled to releasein the fol-

l o w i n gyear.

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Planning a party at homecan be interesting butcreatively exhausting as

well because there is so muchto experiment and play withthe party menu — be it thedecor, food or the drinks.

While the run of the milldrinks like the colas and thealcohols or the lemonades areeasy to whip up and serve, whatwill really amaze your guests isthe personal touch and inno-vation.

This festive season cele-brate in style with fun partydrinks and be a great host. Hereare some drinks tried and test-ed across numerous gatheringsand the feedbacks have justmade them better.

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Jelimals, ITC’s confectionerybrand in the Jelly segment,

has shifted its portfolio offer-ings to Jelimals Immunoz —jellies fortified with two keynutrients Vitamin C and Zincthat help support the immunesystem amongst children. Aserving of two, great tasting jel-lies per day will ensure kids get50 per cent RDA of Vitamin Cand 15 per cent RDA of Zinc— both essential to support theimmune system.

The pandemic-led,unprecedented rise in demandfor immunity supporting prod-ucts paved way for the need tosafeguard children through thecategory and the product’slaunch comes as a natural pro-gression to enable supporttowards their welfare in thepresent context.

Data gathered by InfoLeapMarket Research &Consultancy LLC for JelimalsImmunoz from 364 children,aged 8-12 years acrossMumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru andKolkata revealed that 86 percent children feel that theirmother is putting extra effort inthe kitchen to make new andinteresting food, 92 per centstill miss the experience ofeating outside food/eating in arestaurant. If given a‘Superpower’ 74 per cent chil-dren would utilise it to savepeople and find cure fromCOVID-19 with concern forparents and family being fore-most for the children. This fol-lowed by saving humanityincluding doctors, soldiers,friends, animals and testing

individuals for the virus. To discuss the findings

and how adults can help makethe transition for children, thebrand hosted an exclusivewebinar with experts, parentsand kids Jelimals Immunoz:Kid Me Not. Father and celebri-ty chef Kunal Kapur, motherand actor Sameera Reddy, childartist Aaryan Prajapati andartist and anchor Karan Wahimoderated the discussion.

In the backdrop of thecurrent times when hygieneand safety are of paramountimportance in every family,chef Kunal shared personalinsights, instances and anec-dotes on how to prepare funand tasty home-made food forkids that are alternatives to out-side food. He elaborated andemphasised on how ghar ka

khana gained relevance duringthis lockdown, beside sharingtips on how to jazz up regulareveryday meals.

Speaking about the initia-tive, Mr. Anuj Rustagi, COO —Chocolate, Coffee,Confectionery and NewCategory Development —Foods, ITC Ltd, said, “It is ourendeavour to support thehealth of kids with our prod-ucts and we are doing this inthe “Jelimals’ way” – makingthis fun and engaging for bothparents and kids much like ourDo the 5 video. We are delight-ed share hacks on how moth-ers can spice up the fun quo-tient for their children throughexciting dishes, without com-promising on the nutritionaland health benefits”.

Commenting on the col-laboration, chef Kunal said,“Even in the most difficulttimes, food has been a com-forter for children and adultsalike. The disproportionatesurge in search for interestingrecipes, videos and experi-ments in the kitchen are all atestament to this analogy. Withthe lockdown, individuals gotcreative with the essentialoptions available in theirkitchen or in the fridge tocook-up exciting meals thatwould not only satiate hungerbut also nourish the soul.Mothers especially have beenexploring trendy variations todishes or broadening their culi-nary creativity to make foodexciting for children whichhas also become a mainstayduring the lockdown.”

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With momentum on their side,a confident Sunrisers

Hyderabad would look for anoth-er complete performance to contin-ue their forward march in the IPLwhen they face a struggling RoyalChallengers Bangalore in theEliminator here on Friday.

Pushed to the wall after a slowstart to the tournament, SRH pro-duced a lion-hearted effort in thesecond leg and peaked at the righttime to qualify for the play-offs byfinishing third in the league stand-ings, just ahead of RCB.

It has been contrasting resultsfor the two teams in the businessend of the tournament.

While RCB suffered four con-secutive defeats to finish the leaguestage at the fourth spot, SRH reg-istered a hat-trick of wins to edgepast Virat Kohli’s men in the stand-ings.

SRH made a remarkable turn-around in their final three games —defeating Delhi Capitals, RCB andtable-toppers Mumbai Indians tobook their last-fourth berth.

And come Friday, SRH wouldbe brimming with confidence, espe-cially after their 10-wicket winover MI in the last must-win game.

The credit for SRH’s success inthe past few matches goes to theopening pair of Warner andWriddhiman Saha.

The duo has clicked upfrontand has so far shared two centurystands — 107 against DC and then151 against MI.

While Warner has led SRHfrom the front, scoring 529 runsfrom 14 games to occupy the sec-ond spot in the scorers’ list, Saha(184 runs from 3 matches) hasproved that the SRH team manage-ment has erred in benching him for11 ties.

Such has been Warner andSaha’s performance that the likes ofManish Pandey, Kane Williamson,Priyam Garg and Jason Holderwere hardly bothered.

On the bowling front, SRH hasfound the right combination inSandeep Sharma, Jason Holder,Shahbaz Nadeem, T Natarajan andRashid Khan and is expected tostick with them.

While Sandeep has been sensa-tional in the powerplays, Natarajanhas done the job in the the deathovers.

Rashid has been consistent inthe middle overs, but certainly theinclusion of Holder and Nadeemhas provided balance to the team.

On the other hand, knowingvery well that another blundercould send them packing, theKohli-led RCB have a lot to ponderover.

Coming into the match withfour consecutive losses, RCB’s con-fidence would be rock-bottom.

But skipper Kohli understandsit is not the time to think about pastresults and what matters from hereon is three wins on the trot to liftthe IPL title.

But it would be easier said thandone as RCB seem to have lost someof their steam.

In their last match against DC,RCB’s batting-heavy top-orderfailed to live up to expectations.

Josh Philippe, who has beenbrought in place of Aaron Finch, haslooked good in patches but hasn’tbeen able to convert his starts andin all likelihood, Kohli might betempted to bring back Finch onFriday.

Young Devdutt Padikkal, whoscored his fifth fifty of the event intheir last game, has been consistentat the top but Kohli needs to stepup as of late, his strike rate has comeunder the scanner.

Kohli and AB de Villiers needto take responsibility in the bigmatch for RCB, which also featuresthe likes of Chris Morris, ShivamDube and Washington Sundar andbats quite deep.

Navdeep Saini, who was restedin the last match after he suffereda split webbing, is expected toreturn to partner Mohammed Siraj,Isuru Udana and Morris.

The spin department will beunder the wings of Sundar andYuzvendra Chahal.

SQUADSSunrisers Hyderabad: KaneWilliamson, David Warner (c),Jonny Bairstow (wk), ManishPandey, Mohammad Nabi, PriyamGarg, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), ViratSingh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, BasilThampi, Abhishek Sharma, BillyStanlake, Sandeep Sharma, ShahbazNadeem, Shreevats Goswami,Siddarth Kaul, K Khaleel Ahmed, TNatarajan, Mitchell Marsh, BavanakaSandeep, Fabian Allen, AbdulSamad, Sanjay Yadav, RashidKhanBenchRoyal Challengers Bangalore: ViratKohli (c), AB de Villiers, ParthivPatel (wk), Aaron Finch, JoshPhilippe, Chris Morris, Moeen Ali,Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed,Devdutt Padikkal, YuzvendraChahal, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn,Pawan Negi, Isuru Udana, ShivamDube, Umesh Yadav, GurkeeratSingh Mann, Washington Sundar,Pavan Deshpande, Adam Zampa.

ˇ ˜ be counted, deputy campaign...2020/11/06 · lots are counted. the state had 3.1 million mail...

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