45 ˚ ˚ -˚ ˘ ˚3 ˝ˆˇ ˆ˘/˛ ˜˝˝(!˘ˆˆ (˚˘ˇ˛ˇ˛) ˜˝˚ ˇ%’

12
A mid accusation by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that Home Minister Amit Shah was influ- encing the Election Commission and the Central forces into manipulating the conduct of elections, the sec- ond phase of polling ended in West Bengal with an impres- sive turnout despite reports of stray violence, rigging, threats and alleged murder of political workers coming in from both East and West Midnapore. Though elections were conducted in 30 constituencies across four districts, Nandigram — from where Mamata is fighting against her protégé-turned-challenger Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP — remained at the centre stage of all controversies with Mamata bringing charges of rigging and violence by BJP supporters. Just as the Chief Minister personally intervened entering a booth at Boyal village fol- lowing reports that BJP men had turned TMC polling agents out of the booth, hun- dreds of supporters from two sides armed with brickbats and lathis gathered in the area shouting slogans. Even as the police and Central forces had a trying time to keep the two sides away from each other, the TMC chief got trapped inside the booth for more than two hours. The administration had to arrange for a large contin- gent of security men to escort her back to her temporary residence at Reyapara. O n the day India entered the third phase of world’s biggest Covid-19 inoculation drive with the vaccine net extended to those above 45, the country reported the biggest jump in new coronavirus cases in nearly six months at 72,330. The death toll at 459 was the highest in nearly four months. This has taken the total Covid-19 tally to 1,22,21,665 and deaths at 1,62,927. The Covid surge in the country is due to a new strain and the situation is exactly like the one in the UK when the virus underwent a mutation around Christmas, Dr Randeep Guleria, chief of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, told a news agency. Maharashtra with 39,544 cases took the lead followed by Chhattisgarh (4,563) and Karnataka (4,225). India’s active caseload has reached 5,84,055 and now comprises 4.78 per cent of the country’s total infections. A net rise of 31,489 cases has been record- ed in the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours. India’s cumulative recov- eries stand at 1,14,74,683 with 40,382 recoveries being regis- tered in a span of 24 hours. A new coronavirus variant reported from Chhattisgarh has become a cause of worry for the Government. T he much-awaited Delhi- Meerut Expressway was opened for commuters and general traffic on Thursday. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced the opening of traffic on the 96-km state-of- the-art expressway and said the Government has fullfilled the promise of reducing travel time between Delhi and Meerut. “Delhi-Meerut Expressway has now been completed and opened to traffic. We have fulfilled our promise of reduc- ing travel time between Delhi- Meerut from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes,” Nitin Gadkari took to Twitter to announce.During a review meeting of the expressway early this year, Gadkari had committed to complete the full stretch by the end of March 2021. The 96-km-long 14-lane expressway will reduce travel time between Meerut and Delhi to 45 minutes. At pre- sent, commuters travel through NH 58 to reach Delhi and it takes over three hours to cover a distance of 70 km.The expressway will also reduce the travel time of commuters from Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Haridwar and Dehradun to Delhi. A portion of the Delhi- Meerut Expressway which was phase I of the four-phase pro- ject was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2018. T he Centre on Thursday decided to withdraw the order to drastically cut inter- est rate on small savings schemes to the relief of mil- lions of small savers and prompting the Congress to link the U-turn to the ongoing State Assembly elections. A day after delivering a massive jolt to depositors, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the Government will with- draw orders to cut interest rate on small savings schemes and assured to restore the rates to last quarter of the financial year ending on March 31. Her own Ministry had on Wednesday reduced interest rate by up to 1.1 per cent across various small savings schemes, including the National Savings Certificates (NSC) and Public Provident Fund (PPF). “Interest rates of small savings schemes of GoI shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quar- ter of 2020-2021, i.e, rates that prevailed as of March 2021. Orders issued by over- sight shall be withdrawn,” Sitharaman said in early morning tweet. Interest rate on PPF was reduced by 0.7 per cent to 6.4 per cent, while NSC was to earn 0.9 per cent less at 5.9 per cent. R ajasthan on Thursday began the registration for an insurance scheme under which each family in the State can claim up to 5 lakh every year for medical expenses. The State began the regis- tration for Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme, announced by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the state budget 2021-22. “Rajasthan has become the first state in the country, where each family will get health insurance of 5 lakh each year. People can get registered and be assured of cashless treat- ment,” Gehlot claimed in a tweet. He said the registrations for the Government’s cashless treatment for all have begun in the State from today. “It is one of our biggest health care schemes aimed at providing medical relief to all residents of Rajasthan,” he said. N early 77 per cent of 73.45 lakh voters exercised their franchise in 39 Assembly seats in Assam during the second phase of polling on Thursday. According to the EC, Bokajan recorded 76.25 per cent turnout; Cachar 72.28 per cent; Darrang 80.81 per cent; Dima Hasao 74 per cent; Hailakandi 78.94 per cent; Hojai 75.71 per cent; Karbi Anglong 75.93 per cent; Karimganj 73.02 per cent; Morigaon 84.03 per cent; Nagaon 77.25 per cent; Nalbari 86.69 per cent; Rangia 73.38 per cent. Meanwhile, the EC issued a showcause notice to Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly making threatening remarks against Opposition leader Hagrama Mohilary of the Bodoland People’s Front. New Delhi: The Centre has decided to keep all public and private sector Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) operational throughout April, including on gazetted holi- days. F ollowing surge in Covid- 19 cases in Delhi, students will continue to attend virtu- al classes and this was con- firmed by the Delhi Government on Thursday. It announced that stu- dents of any class should not be called to schools physical- ly in the new academic session till further orders. The Directorate of Education (DoE) also told schools that teaching and learning activi- ties, which started on April 1, for students should continue through digital mode for aca- demic session 2021-22. “It is clarified that stu- dents of any class should not be called physically in school for the academic session 2021- 22 till further orders,” the DoE said in an official order. Schools in Delhi were closed in March last year ahead of a nationwide lock- down to contain spread of novel coronavirus. While several States par- tially reopened schools in October, the Delhi Government let schools to reopen for students in Classes 9 to 12 for practical works and remedial lessons, from January 18 to February 5. New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday asked two poll observers to submit a report on complaints by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the State witnessed the second phase of voting across 30 Assembly seats. “A separate hand written complaint was received from Chief Minister via CEO West Bengal today in the late after- noon,” the poll body said. I n a volte-face, Pakistan’s Cabinet on Thursday reject- ed a proposal of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to import cotton and sugar from India, according to a media report.The decision comes a day after Pakistan’s new Finance Minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday announced to lift a nearly-two year old ban on the import of cotton and sugar from India after a meeting of the ECC chaired by him. However, a Cabinet meet- ing chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday rejected the ECC proposal to import cotton yarn and sugar from India, Geo TV reported, cited sources. There was no official word on the decision of the Cabinet.Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Khan’s close aide and Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said that all ECC decisions have to be approved by Cabinet and only then they can be seen as “approved” by the Government. “Just for the record — All ECC decisions have to be approved by Cabinet & only then they can be seen as “approved by govt”! So today in Cabinet there will be discussion on ECC decisions incl trade with India & then govt decision will be taken! Media shd be aware of this atleast!” Mazari, known for her hawkish stand on Kashmir, tweeted. T he State on Thursday reported the highest single- day spurt of 394 new Covid-19 cases after a gap of several months. The new cases report- ed from 25 districts and the State pool mounted the State’s total positive’ tally to 34,1311.The new infections included 231 quarantine and 163 local contact cases. The day’s maximum 70 cases were reported from Khordha district followed by Kalahandi with 43, Nuapada 40, Bargarh 34, Sundargarh 31 and Cuttack 27.Out of the 70 cases in Khordha district, 52 were registered in capital city Bhubaneswar. Besides, 15 cases were reported from the State pool.Earlier, the State had reported highest of 297 new cases on Wednesday after wit- nessing 200-plus cases for almost six consecutive days last month.Currently, the active cases in the State stood at 2,246 and the cumulative sam- ples tested were 90,73,232. However, 121 patients recovered on the day, taking the total recoveries to 33,7,212 in the State. W hile a target was set to cover two lakh benefi- ciaries in a day for Covid-19 vaccination, more than that was achieved on Thursday when 2, 03,162 people were inoculated across the State. With this, State has already vaccinated more than 26 lakh people.Three cases of Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) were reported across State. 2,14,896 beneficiaries of 45 to 59 years have taken first dose and 1,010 of same age groups have taken second one. T he East Coast Railway (ECoR) has shattered all records of the Indian Railways in freight loading in the Financial Year 2020-21. From April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, the zone loaded 205 mil- lion tons of freight shattering the earlier record of highest freight loading that was held by erstwhile undivided South Eastern Railway in the year 2002-03 when it loaded 202.56 MT. By this, the ECoR became the 1st Zone to cross the mile- stone of 200 million tonne of loading for 2 times in a row. It also broke its own record of 200.95 MT of freight loading achieved last financial year 2019-20. The target set by the Board for the financial year for ECoR was actually 203.02 MT, which the zone has clearly surpassed. The three divisions of the ECoR have contributed great- ly to the stupendous feat achieved by it. The Khurda Road Division has bettered its target of 127.02 MT by achiev- ing 131.37 MT. Khurda Road and Waltair division have obtained 4th and 6th position respectively in Indian Railways among all zones in freight loading. Sambalpur division has bet- tered its last year loading of 11.48 MT by loading 12.37 MT of freight this financial. The ECoR utilised 8,447 wagons per day during the period, i.e. about 154.8 rakes/trains per day. With an operating ratio of 47.71%, the ECoR zone easily becomes the most profitable zone of Indian Railways. Operating ratio is the term used to determine the prof- itability. For every rupee earned by the zone, it has to spend 0.47 paisa. Different sectors across the spectrum have shown tremendous increase over last year. The credit for the success of ECoR goes to its selfless, dedicated and hard working workmen who are ably guided, motivated and encouraged by its General Manager Vidya Bhusan, said an official release. A fter intense heat wave conditions for the past couple of days in the State, rains and thunderstorms have been predicted in the next few days by the India Meteorological Department (IMD. As per the IMD Regional Centre, the heat wave condi- tions would prevail in the State for the next 24 hours. An orange warning has been issued for Baleswar, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Boudh, Subarnapur, Balangir, Nuapada, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Angul and Dhenkanal districts. From Friday, maximum temperature (day tempera- ture) is very likely to fall by 3 to 4 degree Celsius across the State. Besides, several districts would experience light to moderate rain or thunder- shower for the next four days. T he new Financial Year 2021-22 was officially inau- gurated on Thursday by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, and to mark the event, he trans- ferred Rs 693.94 crore as input cost for Rabi season to the accounts of 34 lakh farmers of the State under the much tout- ed KALIA scheme. "It is heart- ening to note that KALIA has impacted lives of 37 lakh farm- ers as well as 17 lakh landless farmers. It is the only scheme in the country which provides benefits to the landless poor," the CM said. Patnaik also pointed out that the farmers are the back- bone of the economy. “During the pandemic they made us proud. We are proud that for them we are getting the 'Krushi Karman' Award continuously in a row. Their sacrifice and hard work made the State proud,” said Patnaik. "I am always with the farmers. They deserve to get more than one half of the present MSP and we would continue our fight for the implementation of MS Swaminathan Committee rec- ommendations," Patnaik asserted. Speaking on the occasion, Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Minister Aruna Kunar Sahoo said that KALIA scheme has become a role model for others to follow. Agricultural Production Commissioner Raj Kumar Sharma placed welcome address and 5T Secretary V K Pandian coordinated the pro- gramme.

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Page 1: 45 ˚ ˚ -˚ ˘ ˚3 ˝ˆˇ ˆ˘/˛ ˜˝˝(!˘ˆˆ (˚˘ˇ˛ˇ˛) ˜˝˚ ˇ%’

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Amid accusation by WestBengal Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee that HomeMinister Amit Shah was influ-encing the ElectionCommission and the Centralforces into manipulating theconduct of elections, the sec-ond phase of polling ended inWest Bengal with an impres-sive turnout despite reports ofstray violence, rigging, threatsand alleged murder of politicalworkers coming in from bothEast and West Midnapore.

Though elections wereconducted in 30 constituenciesacross four districts,Nandigram — from whereMamata is fighting against herprotégé-turned-challengerSuvendu Adhikari of the BJP— remained at the centre stageof all controversies withMamata bringing charges ofrigging and violence by BJPsupporters.

Just as the Chief Ministerpersonally intervened enteringa booth at Boyal village fol-lowing reports that BJP menhad turned TMC polling

agents out of the booth, hun-dreds of supporters from twosides armed with brickbatsand lathis gathered in the areashouting slogans.

Even as the police andCentral forces had a tryingtime to keep the two sides awayfrom each other, the TMCchief got trapped inside thebooth for more than twohours. The administration hadto arrange for a large contin-gent of security men to escorther back to her temporaryresidence at Reyapara.

��� �� �����

On the day India enteredthe third phase of world’s

biggest Covid-19 inoculationdrive with the vaccine netextended to those above 45, thecountry reported the biggestjump in new coronavirus casesin nearly six months at 72,330.The death toll at 459 was thehighest in nearly four months.

This has taken the totalCovid-19 tally to 1,22,21,665and deaths at 1,62,927.

The Covid surge in thecountry is due to a new strainand the situation is exactly likethe one in the UK when thevirus underwent a mutationaround Christmas, DrRandeep Guleria, chief ofDelhi’s All India Institute ofMedical Sciences, told a newsagency.

Maharashtra with 39,544cases took the lead followed byChhattisgarh (4,563) and

Karnataka (4,225). India’sactive caseload has reached5,84,055 and now comprises4.78 per cent of the country’stotal infections. A net rise of31,489 cases has been record-ed in the total active caseloadin a span of 24 hours.

India’s cumulative recov-eries stand at 1,14,74,683 with40,382 recoveries being regis-tered in a span of 24 hours.

A new coronavirus variantreported from Chhattisgarhhas become a cause of worryfor the Government.

��� �� �����

The much-awaited Delhi-Meerut Expressway was

opened for commuters andgeneral traffic on Thursday.Minister for Road Transportand Highways Nitin Gadkariannounced the opening oftraffic on the 96-km state-of-the-art expressway and said theGovernment has fullfilled thepromise of reducing traveltime between Delhi andMeerut.

“Delhi-Meerut Expresswayhas now been completed andopened to traffic. We havefulfilled our promise of reduc-ing travel time between Delhi-Meerut from 2.5 hours to 45

minutes,” Nitin Gadkari tookto Twitter to announce.Duringa review meeting of theexpressway early this year,Gadkari had committed tocomplete the full stretch by theend of March 2021.

The 96-km-long 14-laneexpressway will reduce traveltime between Meerut andDelhi to 45 minutes. At pre-sent, commuters travel throughNH 58 to reach Delhi and it

takes over three hours to covera distance of 70 km.Theexpressway will also reduce thetravel time of commuters fromMuzaffarnagar, Saharanpur,Haridwar and Dehradun toDelhi.

A portion of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway which wasphase I of the four-phase pro-ject was inaugurated by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inMay 2018.

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The Centre on Thursdaydecided to withdraw the

order to drastically cut inter-est rate on small savingsschemes to the relief of mil-lions of small savers andprompting the Congress tolink the U-turn to the ongoingState Assembly elections.

A day after delivering amassive jolt to depositors,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday saidthe Government will with-draw orders to cut interest rateon small savings schemes andassured to restore the rates tolast quarter of the financial

year ending on March 31. Her own Ministry had on

Wednesday reduced interestrate by up to 1.1 per centacross various small savingsschemes, including theNational Savings Certificates(NSC) and Public ProvidentFund (PPF).

“Interest rates of smallsavings schemes of GoI shallcontinue to be at the rateswhich existed in the last quar-ter of 2020-2021, i.e, ratesthat prevailed as of March2021. Orders issued by over-sight shall be withdrawn,”Sitharaman said in earlymorning tweet.

Interest rate on PPF wasreduced by 0.7 per cent to 6.4per cent, while NSC was toearn 0.9 per cent less at 5.9 percent.

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Rajasthan on Thursdaybegan the registration for

an insurance scheme underwhich each family in the Statecan claim up to �5 lakh everyyear for medical expenses.

The State began the regis-tration for Chiranjeevi HealthInsurance Scheme, announcedby Chief Minister AshokGehlot in the state budget2021-22.

“Rajasthan has become the

first state in the country, whereeach family will get healthinsurance of �5 lakh each year.People can get registered andbe assured of cashless treat-ment,” Gehlot claimed in atweet.

He said the registrations forthe Government’s cashlesstreatment for all have begun inthe State from today.

“It is one of our biggesthealth care schemes aimed atproviding medical relief to allresidents of Rajasthan,” he said.

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Nearly 77 per cent of 73.45lakh voters exercised their

franchise in 39 Assembly seatsin Assam during the secondphase of polling on Thursday.

According to the EC,Bokajan recorded 76.25 percent turnout; Cachar 72.28per cent; Darrang 80.81 percent; Dima Hasao 74 per cent;Hailakandi 78.94 per cent;Hojai 75.71 per cent; Karbi

Anglong 75.93 per cent;Karimganj 73.02 per cent;Morigaon 84.03 per cent;Nagaon 77.25 per cent; Nalbari86.69 per cent; Rangia 73.38per cent.

Meanwhile, the EC issueda showcause notice to AssamMinister Himanta BiswaSarma for allegedly makingthreatening remarks againstOpposition leader HagramaMohilary of the BodolandPeople’s Front.

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New Delhi: The Centre hasdecided to keep all public andprivate sector Covid-19Vaccination Centres (CVCs)operational throughout April,including on gazetted holi-days.

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Following surge in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, students

will continue to attend virtu-al classes and this was con-firmed by the DelhiGovernment on Thursday.

It announced that stu-dents of any class should notbe called to schools physical-ly in the new academic sessiontill further orders. TheDirectorate of Education(DoE) also told schools thatteaching and learning activi-ties, which started on April 1,for students should continuethrough digital mode for aca-demic session 2021-22.

“It is clarified that stu-dents of any class should notbe called physically in schoolfor the academic session 2021-22 till further orders,” theDoE said in an official order.

Schools in Delhi wereclosed in March last yearahead of a nationwide lock-down to contain spread ofnovel coronavirus.

While several States par-tially reopened schools inOctober, the DelhiGovernment let schools toreopen for students in Classes9 to 12 for practical works andremedial lessons, fromJanuary 18 to February 5.

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( ���������#������������#�����New Delhi: The ElectionCommission (EC) on Thursdayasked two poll observers tosubmit a report on complaintsby West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee as the Statewitnessed the second phase ofvoting across 30 Assemblyseats. “A separate hand writtencomplaint was received fromChief Minister via CEO WestBengal today in the late after-noon,” the poll body said.

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�� ����� ��������������������������� ��������������������� �������������� ������� �������������� ������� ������ ���������� ���!��� ��������� �"������ #"$

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In a volte-face, Pakistan’sCabinet on Thursday reject-

ed a proposal of the EconomicCoordination Committee(ECC) to import cotton andsugar from India, according toa media report.The decisioncomes a day after Pakistan’snew Finance MinisterHammad Azhar on Wednesdayannounced to lift a nearly-twoyear old ban on the import ofcotton and sugar from Indiaafter a meeting of the ECCchaired by him.

However, a Cabinet meet-ing chaired by Prime MinisterImran Khan on Thursdayrejected the ECC proposal toimport cotton yarn and sugarfrom India, Geo TV reported,cited sources.

There was no official wordon the decision of theCabinet.Ahead of the Cabinetmeeting, Khan’s close aide andMinister for Human RightsShireen Mazari said that allECC decisions have to beapproved by Cabinet and onlythen they can be seen as“approved” by the Government.

“Just for the record — AllECC decisions have to beapproved by Cabinet & onlythen they can be seen as“approved by govt”! So today inCabinet there will be discussionon ECC decisions incl tradewith India & then govt decisionwill be taken! Media shd beaware of this atleast!” Mazari,known for her hawkish standon Kashmir, tweeted.

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The State on Thursdayreported the highest single-

day spurt of 394 new Covid-19cases after a gap of severalmonths. The new cases report-ed from 25 districts and theState pool mounted the State’stotal positive’ tally to34,1311.The new infectionsincluded 231 quarantine and163 local contact cases.

The day’s maximum 70cases were reported fromKhordha district followed byKalahandi with 43, Nuapada40, Bargarh 34, Sundargarh 31and Cuttack 27.Out of the 70cases in Khordha district, 52were registered in capital cityBhubaneswar.

Besides, 15 cases werereported from the Statepool.Earlier, the State hadreported highest of 297 newcases on Wednesday after wit-nessing 200-plus cases foralmost six consecutive dayslast month.Currently, the activecases in the State stood at2,246 and the cumulative sam-ples tested were 90,73,232.

However, 121 patientsrecovered on the day, taking thetotal recoveries to 33,7,212 inthe State.

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While a target was set tocover two lakh benefi-

ciaries in a day for Covid-19vaccination, more than that wasachieved on Thursday when 2,03,162 people were inoculatedacross the State.

With this, State has alreadyvaccinated more than 26 lakhpeople.Three cases of AdverseEvent Following Immunisation(AEFI) were reported acrossState. 2,14,896 beneficiaries of45 to 59 years have taken firstdose and 1,010 of same agegroups have taken second one.

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The East Coast Railway(ECoR) has shattered all

records of the Indian Railwaysin freight loading in theFinancial Year 2020-21. FromApril 1, 2020 to March 31,2021, the zone loaded 205 mil-lion tons of freight shatteringthe earlier record of highestfreight loading that was held byerstwhile undivided SouthEastern Railway in the year2002-03 when it loaded 202.56MT. By this, the ECoR becamethe 1st Zone to cross the mile-stone of 200 million tonne ofloading for 2 times in a row. It

also broke its own record of200.95 MT of freight loadingachieved last financial year2019-20.

The target set by the Boardfor the financial year for ECoRwas actually 203.02 MT, whichthe zone has clearly surpassed.

The three divisions of theECoR have contributed great-ly to the stupendous featachieved by it. The KhurdaRoad Division has bettered itstarget of 127.02 MT by achiev-ing 131.37 MT.

Khurda Road and Waltairdivision have obtained 4th and6th position respectively inIndian Railways among allzones in freight loading.Sambalpur division has bet-tered its last year loading of11.48 MT by loading 12.37 MT

of freight this financial. TheECoR utilised 8,447 wagonsper day during the period, i.e.about 154.8 rakes/trains perday. With an operating ratio of47.71%, the ECoR zone easilybecomes the most profitablezone of Indian Railways.Operating ratio is the termused to determine the prof-itability. For every rupee earnedby the zone, it has to spend 0.47paisa. Different sectors acrossthe spectrum have showntremendous increase over lastyear.

The credit for the successof ECoR goes to its selfless,dedicated and hard workingworkmen who are ably guided,motivated and encouraged byits General Manager VidyaBhusan, said an official release.

-���� ����� � �.����/���� �"�������) ���� �#� �)������,������������ ��01����-������12���-���0��������������������� ����� �������������������!�����#�������������������� ����� ��3������������ �#��������#� ������ �

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After intense heat waveconditions for the past

couple of days in the State,rains and thunderstorms havebeen predicted in the next fewdays by the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD.

As per the IMD RegionalCentre, the heat wave condi-tions would prevail in theState for the next 24 hours.

An orange warning hasbeen issued for Baleswar,

Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack,Nayagarh, Boudh,Subarnapur, Balangir,Nuapada, Kandhamal,Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj,Deogarh, Sambalpur, Anguland Dhenkanal districts.

From Friday, maximumtemperature (day tempera-ture) is very likely to fall by 3to 4 degree Celsius across theState.

Besides, several districtswould experience light tomoderate rain or thunder-shower for the next four days.

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The new Financial Year2021-22 was officially inau-

gurated on Thursday by ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik, andto mark the event, he trans-ferred Rs 693.94 crore as inputcost for Rabi season to theaccounts of 34 lakh farmers ofthe State under the much tout-ed KALIA scheme. "It is heart-ening to note that KALIA has

impacted lives of 37 lakh farm-ers as well as 17 lakh landlessfarmers. It is the only schemein the country which providesbenefits to the landless poor,"the CM said.

Patnaik also pointed outthat the farmers are the back-bone of the economy. “Duringthe pandemic they made usproud. We are proud that forthem we are getting the 'KrushiKarman' Award continuouslyin a row. Their sacrifice andhard work made the Stateproud,” said Patnaik. "I amalways with the farmers. Theydeserve to get more than one

half of the present MSP and wewould continue our fight forthe implementation of MSSwaminathan Committee rec-ommendations," Patnaikasserted.

Speaking on the occasion,Agriculture and FarmersEmpowerment Minister ArunaKunar Sahoo said that KALIAscheme has become a rolemodel for others to follow.Agricultural ProductionCommissioner Raj KumarSharma placed welcomeaddress and 5T Secretary V KPandian coordinated the pro-gramme.

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Political parties have beenplaying a major role in elec-

toral democracies but many ofthe democratic practices havebeen missing within the func-tioning of political parties.

With the rise in the coali-tion politics and number ofregional political parties, thereare suggestions to bring legis-lation to regulate political par-ties. The Election Commissionof India has proposed a num-

ber of electoral reforms tostrengthen democracy thatincludes reforms relating topolitical parties. The LawCommission of India report onelectoral reforms 2015 recom-mends that there should be acomprehensive legislation, maybe named as the PoliticalParties’ Registration andRegulation Act, to regulate theregistration and functioningof political parties or alliancesof parties in India.

It is important to reformthe political parties for bettergovernance and to increase inaccountability to peoplebecause the leaders gettingelected to the Parliament andAssemblies are mostly chosenby the parties first and latervoted by the people. The par-ties have been fighting electionsmore than the candidates andthe voters while choosing acandidate are mostly beinginfluenced by the parties. In thecontext of our democracy, cur-rently the two important issuescoming up for debate among

citizens are the inner partydemocracy and funding ofelections. Both are intercon-nected.Very often, there areissues raised by many aboutpractice of inner party democ-racy as it has been observedthat most of parties do not con-duct internal elections period-ically to elect office bearers anddo not possess a membershiprecord. Organizational meet-ings are not taking place asdemocratic procedures.

The party leaders are calledas high commands or supremewhere mostly personal loyaltyto leaders is being treated asmain criterion to choose as fol-lowers along with allegiance todynastic succession.

Many of the national andState parties' top decision mak-ing positions are a hegemonically controlled by family mem-bers and their close aides.There has been a tendency withmany parties to prefer peoplewith money bags, like richpeople, companies, criminalsand goons who are most use-

ful during elections for short-term gains. The continuity ofthis process is not desirable forbuilding a healthier democra-cy in a country like ours.

It may be increasingly dif-ficult for the women , peoplefrom marginalized sections ,economically poor and otherminorities to participate indischarging their rights as cit-izens not just to vote but alsoto participate in elections to getelected to the highest decisionmaking bodies of the country.

The post-independenceIndia witnessed a continuedover representation of the fam-ily members of former kingsand Zamindars, land lords andthe neo-rich, industrialists,mining owners, traders, mediaowners and moneyed peoplefrom various kinds of domi-nant upper social strata whohave been influencing the par-ties generation after generationas its leaders and allowing verylittle space to others to come inas party leaders to play a rolefor the people and the country

as a whole. It has been noticedthat majority of parties also lacksocial inclusiveness in theirleadership positions.

Especially the women andmarginalized sections and reli-gious minority are almostunderrepresented in decisionmaking forums. They are cor-nered into cell leaders of theirsocial groups such as women,SC, ST, OBC, and religiousminority cells debarring tobecome a leader of masses orparty leaders.

This has been a seriousconcern in countries like ourswhere we have lack of homo-geneous social groups / citizens/voters. The under representa-tion has been motivating peo-ple to get mobilized in casteand religion line to assert theirdemocratic participation byforming separate political par-ties with their leadership. Inorder to strive towards theideas of social justice, genderjustice and secularism and toensure diversity in representa-tion which are being adopted

in our Constitution, it is high-ly required to follow inclusivesocial policies. So it is desirablethat political parties must adoptlegal provisions in their by-lawsrelating to representation ofwomen and other marginalizedcommunities in their partystructure.

The second most impor-tant issue is relating to partyfunds. As there has been noscope of State funding to polit-ical parties specially to manageelections, mostly the politicalparties are dependent on dona-tions from public and othersbut these sources of fundingand its disclosure have been stilla point of debate and the mat-ter is sub judice. Recently theSupreme Court refused to staythe sale of electoral bonds.

The Central ElectionCommission in 2008 has madea provision for availability ofincome tax return of the polit-ical parties in public domain.The Supreme Court judgmentin ADR petition made manda-tory disclosure of candidates

with criminal, financial andeducational background by fil-ing an affidavit with theElection Commission. Withthe change in the funding lawnow electoral trusts are beingset up by corporates to fundingpolitical parties.

The electoral bonds start-ed in 2017 through banksmostly beneficial to rulingnational parties and a fewregional parties. As per thesource in 2018-19 financialyear political parties havedeclared donation of Rs 1,931crore through these bonds.

The BJP has got about 75per cent while Congress has 20per cent of the total donation.Parties such as BSP, CPI andCPM have no such donations.There is no limit to donationsand these donations sources arenot being disclosed in public.

This a matter of seriousconcern for functioning ofdemocracies and the role ofmoney power in elections. Thedirect nexus of corporate andpolitical parties has paved the

way for crony capitalism andinfluenced pro-corporate eco-nomic policies which are detri-mental to the fundamentalideas of socialism and concen-tration of wealth in the handsof few, adopted in theConstitution of our country.

The current process pavedthe way towards empoweringrich people and companies tomanage democratic politics ofthe country.

There has been a proposalby various commissions onelectoral reform to adopt Statefunding to political parties andelection which will be mostideal and the support can beboth in cash and kind based onthe vote performances of theparties in the last elections.

This has been a practice incountries such as Germany.This will prevent the entry ofcorporate funding in electionsand parties with large massbase can do better than partiesenjoying corporate supportand buying votes by usingmoney and muscle power.

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While garlanding the stat-ue of Utkalgaurav

Madhusudan Das at Governor’sHouse Square on the UtkalDivas here, the Milita OdishaNisha Nibaran Abhijan(MONNA) demanded thatOdisha be a liquor-free State.The forum wrote a letter toChief Minister Naveen Patnaikin this regard.

MONNA presidentPadmacharan Nayak said manyOdias had sacrificed their livesfor formation of Odisha as aseparate State and had dreamtof a prosperous and gloriousOdisha. However, during over20 years rule by CM Patnaik,consumption of liquor has

increased by 20 times and itsimpact is well known, he said.The liquor consumption hasgiven rise to premature deathof many people due to roadaccidents and diseases.

A proof of this is rise inwidowhood of a large numberof young women, that is, about10 lakhs in 20 years, said

Nayak. He demanded thatmany of social evils and crimescan be controlled and Odishacan have faster growth if Stateis made liquor free.Amongothers, Malaya Tripathy, BaniDas, Khageswar Bala, SoumyaRanjan Mohanty, IndumatiNayak and Santilata Routraywere present.

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On the occasion of UtkalDivas, the Bhubaneswar

Municipal Corporation (BMC)on Thursday launched a‘Wheel of Kindness’ initiative,under which citizens candonate their old clothes to bedistributed among slumdwellers in the city.

The clothes would bewashed, pressed and packed at‘The ‘Kindness Hub’ located atMadhusudan Nagar before dis-tribution.

Interested people candonate their clothes at theBMC main office and zonaloffices or they can give a call onmobile number +917978242201 for collection ofclothes from theirdoorsteps.Besides, the BMC is

also planning to keep drop-boxes for clothes at places likeshopping malls and apartmentsin the coming days. A special-ly-designed vehicle named‘Kindness on Wheels’ wouldroll on the streets nearby slumsfor distribution of clothesamong the needy. The bus hassegregated racks with clothesfor kids, women and men.

Now, the bus would ply onthe streets nearby differentslums or labour markets acrossthe city in two shifts, from 9 amto 2 pm and then from 4 pm to9 pm every working day. Therewould be no cloth distributionon Sundays.

NGO Vikash has beenengaged to collect, wash anddistribute the clothes. It hasbeen given the task of collect-ing at least 17,500 pieces of

clothes every month. TheKindness Hub accepts clothesof persons of all ages, rightfrom babies to elderly people,apart from bed-sheets, towels,blankets and other such neces-sities.

“The purpose behind thisinitiative is to collect old clothesthat can be still be used andmake those available to theneedy free of cost. Besides, itwill encourage people not todiscard their wearable oldclothes, instead they can give itto us as a result these clothesreach the needy and homelesspeople living in the city,” saidBMC Commissioner PremChandra Chaudhary. The BMCwould spend around Rs 1.60lakh every month as part itsrunning and maintenance costof the initiative.

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The Chief Minister’s 5TSecretary VK Pandian on

Thursday launched the ‘HighSchools Transformation’ pro-gramme in Gajapati district aspart of the State Government’s5T initiatives.

The 5T Secretary launchedthe ambitious programme atfive Government-run schoolsin the district through virtualmode to transform the schoolswith state-of-the-art infra-structures for the develop-ment of students.

The schools are MR BoysHigh School, Paralakhemundi;SKCG High School, Gurandi;Government High School,Gumma; Government HighSchool, Chelligada andGovernment UG High School,

Sinkulipadar. The schoolswould be equipped with mod-ern facilities such as smartclassrooms, e-libraries, sci-ence laboratories, sports facil-ities and reading rooms.

The 5T Secretary inter-acted with officials and teach-ers and discussed about theavailable amenities and soughtsuggestions from them onimproving the schools.Gajapati Collector AnupamaSaha was present on the occa-sion.

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Unidentified miscreantsallegedly looted cash of Rs

30,000 and gold ornamentsfrom the Mausimaa Temple inPuri late on Wednesday night.

The incident came to thefore when the lock of the tem-ple’s gate and the donationbox were found broken onThursday morning.

The town’s Kumbharapadapolice started an investigationinto the incident. “I am sur-prised to learn about the inci-dent of theft in MausimaaMandir.

The district and policeadministrations must take allsteps to nab culprits and workout a comprehensive and effec-tive strategy to ensure safetyand security of all places ofworship in Puri,” said GajapatiMaharaja Dibyasingha Deb.

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Aservitor urinated insidethe Shree Jagannath

Temple in Puri on Thursday,which led to disruptions in therituals of the deities.

As per reports, the incidenttook place at around 11.30 amwhen the elderly servitor uri-nated involuntarily near theBhitara Katha of the temple.

The Mahasnana (holybath) ritual of the deities wasthen initiated, resulting in clo-sure of darshan of the Lorda bydevotees for two hours.

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The ruling BJD is all geared upto retain its traditional

stronghold Pipili Assembly con-stituency with a massive victo-ry ahead of the by-electionscheduled there on April 17.

As part of the strategies, BJDsupremo Naveen Patnaik hasassigned several party leaders,including Minister Samir RanjanDash, the charge of blocks, pan-chatyats and the NAC.

Samir Dash and MLAAtanu Sabyasachi Nayak havebeen given the charge to super-vise the electioneering process inPipili block while MinistersNaba Kishore Das and SusantaSingh along with BibhutiBalabantaray are in charge ofDelang block. Besides, MLASudhir Kumar Samal has beengiven the charge of Pipili NAC,informed BJD general secretaryManas Mangaraj. Earlier onWednesday, party chief hadappointed four senior leaders,party vice-president Debi PrasadMishra, Pipili by-poll observerPratap Keshari Deb.

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Cybercrimes are on the risein the State. As many as

629 people lost a total of Rs84,78,394 to various cyberfrauds in the State in March.

The Commissioneratepolice’s Cyber Help Desk onThursday said police couldmanage to recover over Rs 2lakh from the fraudsters.

According to sources, asmany as 629 people in the Statehad registered complaints withthe Cyber Help Desk regardingcyber crime-related cases inMarch.Out of the 629 cyberfraud cases, a total of 310 caseswere reported from the Statecapitalalone.

Most of the victims wereduped after sharing OTP andUPI codes. However, afterinvestigation police managed to

recover only Rs 2,53,647 fromthe cyber frauds. Cyber fraudcases in the State during Marchincluded 170 UPI frauds and 80credit or debit card frauds.

People who were dupedhad received calls from differ-ent criminal syndicates oper-ating from Deoghar, Bihar,West Bengal, Rajasthan,Jharkhand and Kerala. Policehave been able to block fewtransactions and SIM cardswhich the cybercriminals usedto cheat people.

Notably, as many as 1,207people had lost over Rs 1.4crore to various cyber frauds inthe State during February 2021.Out of the 1,207 cases, a totalof 368 cyber fraud cases hadbeen reported fromBhubaneswar alone.

The Commissioneratepolice had launched a specialhelpdesk and helpline numberin January to initiate immedi-ate action against the offenders.

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Ahead of the Pipili by-poll,the BJP on Thursday

demanded immediate with-drawal of the State ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) onthe ground of ‘conflict of inter-est’.

In a letter to the ElectionCommission of India (ECI),the BJP alleged that CEO SushilKumar Lohani, is also holdingcharge of the ExciseDepartment Secretary.“As CEOSushil Kumar Lohani is sup-posed to work independentlyand impartially without anyinfluence or favour to anypolitical party, his position asPrincipal Secretary, that too of

a such sensitive department asExcise, brings him in directconflict with his role as CEOduring the ongoing Pipilibypoll,” BJP’s stated to the ECI.

The BJP alleged that theruling BJD has the track recordof using bureaucrats includingsenior police and administra-tive service officers for politi-cal work. The BJP furtherfeared that liquor would flowinto the constituency in the runup to the election if Lohanicontinued to hold both theoffices.

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Odisha police has grownfrom 4,000 personnel in

April 1, 1936 to 60,000 now. Ithas made rapid strides in everyfield, said Director General ofPolice (DGP) Abhay on theoccasion of the 86th FormationDay of the Odisha police hereon Thursday.

Besides, it has remarkablycurbing crime and Maoistactivities in the State, said theDGP. The Odisha police hasworked tremendously in therescue of missing children.

Police are working tirelessly toprevent women and childexploitation, he said “We haveachieved a lot in law and ordersituation. Police have earned

success in Maoist operation atSwabhiman Anchal inMalkangiri in last two years. Anumber of police stations andoutposts have been newly

established in State. Similarly,police have received manysophisticated arms and ammu-nition,” Abhay added. On theoccasion, the DGP paid trib-utes to the police martyrs andCovid warriors.

Twin City Commissionerof Police SoumendraPriyadarshi said theCommissionerate Police iscommitted to provide betterservice to the people andensure safety and security oftheir lives and properties inCuttack and Bhubaneswar. Onoccasion, 10 officers were con-ferred with DGP’s Disc fortheir outstanding contributionto society. Covid-19 martyrswere also conferred with DGP’sDisc posthumously.

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The Sundargarh policelaunched a year round

training facility in football forchildren in the age group of 6-16 years on Thursday.

The training will be pro-vided by experienced coachesof Ador Football Academy(AFA) who are certified byManchester United asGrassroots soccer coach. Aconducive environment willbe provided to the kids along

with looking after their dietaryneeds and logistical support.This is a community policinginitiative of Sundargarh policewith an aim to involve local

children in sports in order toimprove community partici-pation and in turn reduce theuse of drugs and involvementin criminal activities.

Approximately 200 kids willbenefit from the initiative in thefirst phase. Based on the out-put, the programme will be fur-ther modified.

The programme waslaunched on Thursday in pres-ence of IG WR Kavita Jalan,Collector cum DistrictMagistrate Nikhil PawanKalyan and SP SundargarhSagarika Nath at the Ekalavyaground in Reserve Police Lines,Sundargarh.

A demo match was con-ducted between the local teamand kids from the slum areas ofSaliasahi, Bhubaneswar whoare presently being trained bythe AFA.

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The Tata Power on Thursdaytook over management and

operations of Nesco upon com-pletion of the sale process.Now, Nesco will operate underthe company name as TPNorthern Odisha DistributionLimited (TPNODL).

As per order issued by theOdisha Electricity RegulatoryCommission (OERC), TataPower holds 51 per cent ofequity with management con-trol and the State-ownedGridco will have 49 per centequity stake in the company.The TPNODL shall now beresponsible for distributionand retail supply of electricityin five circles of Nesco cover-ing close to 2 million con-sumers with annual input ener-gy of 5450 MUs in areas ofBaleswar, Bhadrak, Baripada,Jajpur and Keonjhar.

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The land celebrates diversi-ties in true sense. The land

boasts a rich cultural heritageand calendars more festivalsthan months in a year. That’sthe glorious Odisha!With con-stant transformation from anancient province of theMauryan Empire to the mod-ern Odisha, the land has neverlost its essence of socio-culturalmagnificence.

Earlier a province of Bihar,Odisha was separated into anindependent State on April 1,1936. To celebrate the unitedspirits of Odias, this day hasbeen celebrated as OdishaFoundation Day or UtkalaDivas ever since. But how welldo we know the history of this

land?Here are some lesserknown facts about Odisha: Itwas initially named ‘Utkal’ as,justifying the Sanskrit term, itwas a land of majestic art andcrafts where some of the finestartisans settled down.

Around 2,000 years ago,the land was home to tribes ofcivilised, urbanised and cul-tured people, who resided inKalahandi, Balangir andKoraput regions with Asurgarhas their capital.

This was way beforeOdisha became the core ofSamrat Ashoka’s Kalinga.Theland is mentioned in Ramayanaand Mahabharata as Kantara,which altogether includedKalahandi, Koraput and Bastar.Records from the 4th centurypoint out that Odisha, the then

‘Indravana’ was a vessel of pre-cious stones and gems of theMauryan Empire. After sepa-ration from Bihar, Odishabecame the first independentState that was formed on a lin-guistic basis. The newly-formed Odisha had six dis-tricts, Cuttack, Puri, Baleswar,

Sambalpur, Koraput andGanjam. It was headquarteredat Kanika Palace inCuttack.John Austin Hubbackbecame first Governor of inde-pendent province of Odisha.The State’s initial capital wasCuttack. Later, Bhubaneswarwas declared capital.

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State Health and FamilyWelfare Minister Naba

Kishore Das has requestedUnion Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan in a letter toconsider non-shifting of theMalaria Research Centre ofRourkela to Ranchi. During1988, a field unit of ICMR wasestablished at Rourkela in the

name of "Malaria ResearchCentre" by the CentralGovernment for field researchon malaria, develop anddemonstrate appropriatemalaria control methods alongwith study of socioeconomicfactors influencing malaria inSundargarh and surroundingtribals-dominated districts withlarge forest cover and hilly ter-rain areas.

The institute was doing acommendable work along withproviding evidences to theState malaria control pro-grammes. It has up-scaled the

use of LLIN and Larvivorousfish. Due to this, Odisha hasrecorded a drastic decline inmalaria cases in major parts ofthe State in accordance with theCentre’s goal to eliminatemalaria hundred per cent.

In this situation, MinisterDas has requested Dr HarshBardhan to consider for non-shifting of the Malaria ResearchCentre from Rourkela toRanchi. Such a decision wouldcreate a huge gap in malariaeradication work in westernand northern districts of theState, he has pointed out.

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The BJP’s Sana Bazar Mandalunit here on Monday urged

the Government to fulfill var-ious demands raised by it.

The demands include com-pletion of Janibilla WaterProject pipeline from City highSchool ground up toNeelakantheswar mango mar-ket among others.

The ruling BJD got vote inGanjam district by giving falsepromises to provide drinkingwater to every house before theelection, but so far the muchtalked Janibilla water project isyet to be completed fully andthe ruling BJD befooled thepublic, former District presi-

dent KC Pati alleged. The partydemanded rollback the holdingtax hike and the hike in elec-tricity charges.

Similarly, crores of rupeeswhich the State Governmentreceives from the Centre in thename of Swatchh Bharat pro-

gramme is being reportedlydiverted and misappropriatedto satisfy somes vested interests,and on the contrary, the BeMCis arbitrarily collecting Rs 30per month from each housewhich is undemocratic, theparty alleged.

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In a bizarre incident,unidentified miscreants set

ablaze medicines worth lakhsof rupees in a village grave-yard in Chandura hamletunder Taradapada Panchayatsix km away from here onTuesday night.

Eye witnesses revealedthat a tractor carrying somegoods had reached at the vil-lage graveyard on Tuesday latenight and then unloaded the

consignment there after a fewminutes. Later, fire broke outthere. When villagers rushedto the spot, they found thatmedicines, saline bottles, liq-uid jerricans and drugs sub-stances were burning.

The villagers doused thefire and reported police aboutthe incident.

Meanwhile, the policehave started an investigation.The persons behind the inci-dent were yet to be traced.Additional district medicalofficer Dr Ajaya Kumar Swainmaintained ignorance aboutthe matter.

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On occasion of the 86thyear of formation of

Odisha as a separate State, thePresident, Vice-PresidentPrime Minister, Governorand Chief Minister, wishedthe people of the State.

Taking to twitter,President Ram Nath Kovindsaid, “Greetings to my Odishabrothers and sisters on UtkalDivas. Praying for a brightfuture and prosperity forOdisha in the times to come.”

Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu, said, “Mygreetings to the people ofOdisha on their State forma-tion day today. Odisha isknown for its marvellousmonuments, unique handi-

crafts, breathtaking beachesand diverse wildlife.

My best wishes for theprosperity of the State andwell being of its vibrant peo-ple.”Prime Minister NarendraModi said, “Greetings on thespecial occasion of UtkalaDibasa.

I bow to the unique cul-ture of Odisha. The people ofOdisha have contributedimmensely to India’s progress.May the people of the State beblessed with happiness andgood health.”

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah said, “On ‘UtkalaDibasa’, I extend my warmgreetings to our beloved sis-ters and brothers of Odisha.May the divine land ofMahaprabhu Jagannath con-

tinue to scale new heights ofprogress. I pray for everyone'swell-being and prosperity.”Governor Prof Ganeshi Lalwhile wishing the people ofthe State urged everyone totake a vow to work for a pros-perous Odisha.

He also requested every-one to continue the fightagainst the Covid-19 pan-demic.Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik said Odisha is knownfor its self-respect, unity andcourage.

He urged everyone tofight coronavirus to keep one-self and the family safe.Union Minister DharmendraPradhan wishing the peopleon the occasion urged every-one to work for the State’sprogress and prosperity.

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It was a nostalgic moment forthe Odia community residing

in Dubai, UAE, as they gath-ered at the foot of Burj Khalifa,the tallest building in the world,on Thursday morning and cel-ebrated the Utkal Divas on theforeign land.

The Odia families whocongregated at the foot onBurj Khalifa celebrated Odisha’sformation Day by singingKantakabi LaxmikantMohapatra’s ‘Bande UtkalJanani.’ Later, they relished onOdisha’s much-loved tradi-tional delicacies Arisa Pitha,Aloo Dum and Baraa. The

celebration was apparently ahumble gesture from the Odiapeople who have been residingin the UAE for almost a decadenow, expressing that theymissed their motherland andare yearning to visit once theCovid-19 pandemic situationnormalises.

Richa Samantray, an Odiaentrepreneur settled in theUAE for the last 10 years, hadvolunteered to prepare theOdia delicacies for the day’sspecial occasion and that gaveher immense joy, she said.

Another OdiaPriyandarshee Panigrahi, whois working with an FMCGcompany, said that reciting

‘Bande Utkal Janani’ at thevenue was a unique experiencefor him. Adding to the list,Rajesh Tripathy, who has beenworking with a large globalbusiness school, expressed thatthe celebration was symbolicand inculcated a sense of patri-otism and fraternal bondingamong the fellow Odias resid-ing in foreign land.

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The Paradip Port Trust(PPT) achieved an all-time

traffic throughput of 114.55million metric tonnes (MMT)

during the year 2020-21 asagainst the previous year’s traf-fic of 112.68 million metrictonnes exhibiting a growth of1.65 %.

PPT Chairman VinitKumar, addressing a Press meetheld here on Thursday, said thecargo handling record of 100-MMT mark was achieved bythe port for the fourth consec-

utive year. During the year, theport performance parameterviz. Berth-day out-putimproved to 23,943 MT, Pre-berthing detention hasimproved from 15.32 hours inFY 19-20 to 6.20 hours in FY2020-21 and the BerthOccupancy is 74% as against73% in the previous year.

The Port’s profit before taxstands at Rs.722 crore which isan increase of 6.02% over lastfiscal which stood at Rs 681crore. The port also took upmodernisation projects worthover Rs 2,000 crore.

On the front of environ-ment, the port has dry fog sys-tem in MCHP and two MobileCannons Dust Suppression,two Mechanised RoadSweeping Machines, two

Wheel Washing Systems, twoSewage Treatment Plants(STPs) of 2.5 MLD and 2 MLDcapacity, 12 meter height and2.9 km long Net Barriers alongthe port periphery.

The port organised a sixmonths free residential trainingprogramme for 120 unem-ployed youths through theCentral Institute of PlasticEngineering Technology(CIPET) Bhubaneswar at acost of Rs 72 lakh and all ofthem have been gainfullyemployed after the training.

Besides, free cataract oper-ations have been conducted on102 poor persons at PPT hos-pital in a year. It took a num-ber of welfare measures as welland did a commendable job onCovid front.

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Ahigh relief mural sculpturecommemorating 100 years

of Mahatma Gandhi’s first visitto Odisha’s Silver City Cuttackwas unveiled on the occasion ofUtkal Divas on Thursday.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik unveiled the bronzesculpture featuring MahatmaGandhi addressing his follow-ers in a public meeting with hiswife Kasturba and socialreformers Gopabandhu Das,Pandit Nilakantha Das andAcharya Harihar Das in atten-dance at Belleview Square onKathajodi riverbed in Cuttackcity.The Government has start-ed celebrating 100 years of

Gandhi’s visit to Odisha sinceMarch 23. During his first visitto the State, Gandhi hadaddressed a grand and historicpublic meeting on the riverbedof Kathajodi in Cuttack.

The mural has beeninstalled at the place in mem-ory of the event.Gandhi hadvisited Odisha eight timesbetween 1921 and 1946 andhad travelled to many parts of

the State during the period.“Mahatma Gandhi was a strongsupporter for formation ofOdisha as a separate state-hood.

The ideologies of two leg-ends of 20th century, Gandhiand Gopabandhu, will inspiretoday’s generation,” the ChiefMinister said after unveilingthe mural sculpture. “Truth andnonviolence is India’s greatest

contribution to the world. Asthe worshipper of nonviolence,Mahatma Gandhi has given anew direction to whole worldand its relevance is now beingrealised worldwide,” he said ina statement.

Earlier in the day, Patnaikhad paid his rich tribute toUtkalmani Gopabandhu Dasby inaugurating a statue of thelegendary leader at

Cantonment Road on UtkalDivas in Cuttack. “The name‘Gopabandhu’ always comesfirst in mind when we speakabout humanity, service andkindness.

He is the source of inspi-ration and symbol of humani-ty. This ‘Statue of Humanity’will encourage people for ser-vice to poor for ages,” Patnaiksaid in a release.

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The Orissa High Court whilehearing a PIL recently

issued a directive to theSuperintendent of MKCGMedical College Hospital(MCH) to open the second gateof the MCH for the benefit ofthe patients and their visitors.

The PIL was filed by theBharatiya Bikash Parishad ledby its president SurendraPanigrahi. According to infor-mation available, the first gate

is the main gate that faces theNH at the Medical CollegeSquare which remains open allthe time, while the secondgate is located in close vicini-ty of city’s busiest new BusStand.

Thousands of seriouspatients and their attendantswho come from different ruralareas of Ganjam, Gajapati,Kandhamal, Rayagada,Koraput, and Khurda districtsfor treatment usually get downin the new Bus Stand being thelast stoppage and convenient toreach the hospital which is loat-ed with in a walkable distancefrom the new bus stand.

Even though the secondgate of the MCH is very closeand at a walkable distancefrom the new Bus Stand, the

patients are forced to take adivert route covering addi-tional 3 km and that too, amidhuge traffic via by hiring a taxior auto that takes additional 30minutes time.

Since the hospital author-ities have closed the secondgate for last several years, onsome pretext or the other, it iscausing much inconvenience tothe patients, both in terms ofcost and time which is uncalledfor, said petitioner Panigrahi.

Even the serious patientswho come from remote villagesand far-off places of other dis-tricts by ambulance via AskaRoad are forced to divert theirambulance for another 3 kmbecause the second gate alwaysremains closed. Sometimesthere is a possibility of loss of

life of the serious patients asthey consume another 3 kmride as well as half an houradditional time posing a threatto their life.

It may be recalled that, theBharatiya Bikash Parishad hadbeen spearheading the agita-

tion against the closure of thesecond gate for last few years.It had submitted memorandato medical authorities, districtadministration, RDC and theGovernment several times inthe past besides resorting todemonstration.

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It has been decided to run aspecial Express train between

Puri and Gunupur with effectfrom April 22 from Puri andfrom April 23 from Gunupur.The Puri-Gunupur Special fromPuri will leave at 0930hrs fromApril 22 and will reach Gunupurat 2050hrs. In the return direc-tion, the Gunupur-Puri Special

from Gunupur will leave at0600 hrs from April 23 and willarrive at Puri at 1545hrs.

Puri-Gunupur-Puri Specialtrain has six second classreserved seating coach and twoguard cum luggage van in itscomposition having stoppagesat Sakhigopal,Birpurusottampur, Delang,Kanas Road, Motari, KhurdaRoad, Tapang, Nirajkapur,

Bhusandpur, Kalupadaghat,Kuhuri, Gangadharpur,Balugaon, Chilka, Khalikot,Rambha, Humma, Ganjam,Chhatrapur, Jagannathpur,Brahmapur, Golanthara, SurlaRoad, Ichhapuram, Sompeta,Mandasa Road, Palasa, Pundi,Naupada, Tekkali, Pathapatnam,Parlakhemundi, Kashinagar andBanasadhara between Puri andGunupur from both directions.

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In a freak mishap, a tractordriver died after tyre report-

edly burst at Atharanala inPuri town on Thursday. Thedeceased was identified asAkshay Jena of Krupasagar

Patna village under Puri Sadarpolice limits.According toreports, Akshay came to agarage with his tractor atAtharanala for tyre pressurecheck-up in the morning.While filling air into wheel, itsuddenly burst. Source said

that the impact was so severethat the tractor driver shot uparound 15 feet high. He sus-tained critical head injuriesand died on the spot.Later,police sent the body to DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH)for post-mortem.

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Though paddy collectionfrom the registered farm-

ers of the district throughsocieties has ended here, stillabout 19,000 farmers could-n’t sell their produce. The left-out farmers were experienc-ing distress sale.

While the Governmentrate is Rs 1,868 per quintal forthe paddy meeting FAQ stan-dard, reports said that farm-ers who couldn’t dispose oftheir paddy were selling thesame paddy at the rate of Rs1,200- Rs 1,300 finding noother means.

For the Kharif crop pro-curement, while as many as78,833 farmers have regis-

tered their names, theGovernment has purchasedpaddy of nearly 22 lakh quin-tals from around 60,000 farm-ers. As a result, over 18,800farmers were left out.

While the procurementtarget was about 20 lakh quin-tals, the district authoritieshad sent a proposal to procure22 lakh quintals to theGovernment and later sentanother proposal for pro-curement of additional 6-7quintals.

However, they are yet toget any fresh order for anoth-

er round of procurement. The deprived paddy cul-

t ivators meanwhileapproached all concernedincluding the Civil SupplyOfficer, district Collector,DRCS etc and staged protestsin various forms, yet theywere still left high and dry asthe procurement period wasover.

Under the circumstances,the local middlemen in con-nivance with the outsiderswere allegedly procuringpaddy at a less price by Rs500-Rs 600 than the MSP.

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The members of the PrivateBus and Truck Operators'

Association, Bar Associationand other organisations haveurged the district Collector toexempt vehicles of Balangirdistrict from paying tax atBhainsapali tollgate.

Toll tax from vehicles atBhainsaplali tollgate inBalangir-Sonepur road NH57in Balangir district are nowbeing collected since April 1.In

a memorandum submitted tothe district Collector onTuesday evening, they pointedout that Balangir is a part ofKBK district and people haveless purchasing power.

The Covid-19 pandemichas hit the transport sectorbusiness hard and in such a sit-uation ,imposition of toll tax ontransporters would affect themadversely, they said.

Moreover ,in neighbouringBargarh district ,vehicles reg-istered in that district areexempted from toll tax there.

Keeping in view the abovefacts, vehicles of Balangir dis-trict be exempted from payingtoll tax at Bhainsapali tollgate,they urged.

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Following Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman’s

announcement of withdrawalof the interest rate-slashingorder, the Opposition onThursday hit out at her askingwhether the U-turn was an“oversight” or an “election-dri-ven hindsight” and even soughther resignation.

The Congress asked theFinance Minister to clarify if theinterest rates would not bereduced after the ongoingAssembly elections anddemanded a guarantee on that.It also asked whether the rulingBJP was running a “circus” or aGovernment on the manner inwhich the order was issued by“oversight” and later withdrawn.

Congress leader RahulGandhi alleged that the smallsaving rates would be reducedsoon after the elections in fourStates and a UnionTerritory.”There was already aloot on petrol and diesel andsoon after the elections end, thesmall saving rates will be reducedand there will be a loot on thesavings of the middle-class. ThisGovernment is of jumla(rhetoric) and the loot of com-mon people,” he said in a tweetusing the hashtag “oversight”.

“Really NirmalaSitharaman ‘oversight’ in issu-ing the order to decrease inter-est rates on GOI schemes orelection driven ‘hindsight’ in

withdrawing it?” Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi wroteon Twitter.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, party leader RajeevShukla said Sitharaman shouldclarify whether the order hasbeen withdrawn, postponed orwould be re-implemented later.

Congress general secre-tary and chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala saidSitharaman has no right tocontinue as the FinanceMinister. “Madam FM, Are urunning a ‘Circus’ or a‘Government’? You have nomoral right to continue asFM,” he wrote on Twitter.

“One can imagine the func-tioning of economy when suchduly approved order affectingcrores of people can be issuedby an ‘oversight’. Who is thecompetent authority referred inorder,” Surjewala added.

Senior Congress leader andformer Finance Minister PChidambaram said when infla-tion is at about six per cent andexpected to rise, the BJP

Government is offering inter-est rates below six per cent, hit-ting the savers and the middleclass below the belt.

“The BJP Government haddecided to launch anotherassault on the middle class byslashing the interest rates andprofiting itself. When caught,the FM is putting forward thelame excuse of ‘inadvertenterror’,” he tweeted.

The Trinamool Congresstook a dig at the ModiGovernment with its MPsWhile Derek O’Brien andMahua Moitra calling it anApril’s Fool joke even as thenew entrant in the party andformer Finance MinisterYashwant Sinha tweeted, “Rollback Modi’.

“What is the biggest AprilFool’s joke here? That a nowrolled back small savings ratecut was issued by ‘oversight’?Or that Nirmala Sitaraman isFin Min of this country?”Moitra tweeted. O’Brien said itwas egg on face again. “BecauseMO-SHA too busy throwingpetals from trucks and crack-ing April Fool jokes of falsepromises at election rallies,” hemocked at the BJP leadership.

Sinha made a tongue-in-cheek remark. “I am very sadtoday. I thought I alone had themonopoly of roll backs. This govthas outdone even me. Labourlaws, small savings interest ratesare a couple of examples. RollBack Modi,” he tweeted.

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With the objective ofachieving self-reliance in

the defence sector, the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) hasdeveloped a light-weight bul-letproof jacket which meets thequalitative requirements of theIndian Army.

Giving the details here onThursday, officials said theDRDO laboratory, DefenceMaterials and Stores Researchand DevelopmentEstablishment (DMSRDE),Kanpur has developed the lightweight Bullet Proof Jacketweighing 9.0 kilogrammes.

The Front Hard ArmourPanel (FHAP) jacket was test-ed at Terminal BallisticsResearch Laboratory (TBRL),Chandigarh and met relevantBIS standards.

The importance of thisvital development lies in thefact that each gram of jacketweight reduction is crucial in

enhancing soldier comfortwhile ensuring the survivabil-ity. This technology reduces theweight of the medium sizedjacket from 10.4 to 9.0 kilo-grammes. Very specific mate-rials and processing technolo-gies have been developed in thelaboratories for the purpose.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh congratulated the DRDOscientists and Industry fordeveloping the light weightbullet proof jacket to make thesoldiers more comfortable.Secretary Department ofDefence R&D and ChairmanDRDO G Satheesh Reddy con-gratulated the DMSRDE teamfor the development.

The infantry soldiersguarding the Line of ActualControl(LAC)facing China andthe Line of Control(LOC)withPakistan besides troopsdeployed in counter-terroristoperations need these jackets.

The jacket has to be lightyet able to stop the bullet as thesoldier carries lot of other

equipment including the rifle, spare ammunition, com-munication set and other relat-ed items for fighting effective-ly.

Till about ten years backthere was a shortage of morethan three lakh bullet proofjackets. However, in 2016, the

government ordered procure-ment of more than 1,80,000jackets worth over � 650 crores.The entire lot, more or less, hasbeen delivered.

Incidentally, the first everIndia Standard (IS) on BulletResistant Jacket specifically forIndian armed forces to protect

against small arms and ammu-nition was released in 2019.Now, India has its ownStandard for Bullet ProofJackets (BPJ)which prescribesminimum requirements of bul-letproof jackets against smallarms and their evaluation pro-cedures.

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In order to fast-track synergyamongst the three Services

and cut down costs, Chief ofDefence Staff(CDS)GeneralBipin Rawat on Thursday oper-ationalised the third JointLogistics Node in Mumbai.This node will supply ammu-nition rations and fuel besidesother items to the Army. Navyand IAF. Earlier, the servicesused to have their own set-upsto cater to these needs therebyenhancing expenses and dupli-cation.

With the rapidly changingnature of war fighting and oper-ational preparedness, all futureconflicts will be conducted byTri-Service in an integratedmanner. Keeping this objectivein focus and to enable theIndian Armed Forces to con-duct successful operations, it isessential that they be providedwith sound logistics supportduring all stages of the war, offi-cials said here on the need forsuch nodes.

The third node in Mumbaiwas operationalized by Rawatfrom New Delhi through videoconferencing. These nodes willprovide integrated logisticscover to the Armed Forces fortheir small arms ammunition,rations, fuel, general stores, civilhired transport, aviation cloth-ing, spares and also engineeringsupport in an effort to synergisetheir operational efforts.

Speaking on the occasion,Rawat said establishment andoperationalisation of joint nodesis a very important first step inthe direction of logistics inte-gration of our three Services.Acceptance of each other’s lim-itations and learning from eachother’s strengths and best prac-tices is essential to help improvethe functioning and efficacy of

these nodes. This initiative will accrue

advantages in terms of saving ofmanpower, economise utilisa-tion of resources, besides finan-cial savings. Successful func-tioning of these three nodes willprove to be important steppingstones for opening of moresuch centres in different parts ofthe country.

The nodes would enhancejoint inter-operability betweenthe Services and go a long wayin improving the logisticsprocesses of the Armed Forcesin accordance with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s direc-tions to enhance the jointnessamong the three Services.

The CDS also emphasisedon the need to work towardsgreater logistics integration withnational logistics, which hasbeen provided renewed impetusin the recent past by saying itwould help the Armed Forces totake benefit from the infra-structural and logistics improve-ments taking place at the nation-al level.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Thursday barred

former Union Minister andDMK leader A Raja fromcampaigning for 48 hourswith immediate effect anddropped him from the list ofDMK’s star campaigners inpoll-bound Tamil Nadu, overhis “derogator y” and“obscene” remarks againstTamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami.

The EC also advised Raja“to be watchful and not tomake interpretate indecent,derogatory, obscene remarksand lower the dignity ofwomen in future during theelection campaign”.

The order did not specifythe exact time the ban wouldend, but if the communicationwas received by Raja thisafternoon, he cannot cam-paign till the afternoon ofApril 3. The 48-hour banmeans that Raja would not be

able to address any publicmeetings, rallies, press con-ferences or even give mediainterviews until April 3. . If aleader is a “star campaigner”,his campaigning expenditureare borne by the party and notby the candidate himself.

“The Commission alsoadvises you to be watchful andnot to make intemperate,indecent, derogatory, obsceneremarks and lower the digni-ty of women in future duringelection campaign,” the orderread. There have beeninstances where the EC hasmentioned the exact timewhen the ban would end.

In his reply to the EC,Raja had defended his state-ment saying that in Tamiloratory, simile is a well-accepted norm. In myspeech, evolution of thepolitical heights and theirmeans of MK Stalin andEdappadi K Palaniswamiwere compared through asimile as new born babies forthe easy understanding of the

masses. This was in responseto the CM’s repeated allega-tions that MK Stalin hasnever worked hard tobecome a leader. Hence, ifthe full text is considered bythe committee, I’m hopefulthat it will wipe out the insultand consequent injur yinflicted on me,” the formerUnion minister added.

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The ElectionCommission

on Thursdayissued a show-cause notice toAssam Minister and BJP leaderHimanta Biswa Sarma forallegedly making threateningremarks against Oppositionleader Hagrama Mohilary ofthe Bodoland People’s Front.He has been asked to respondto the notice by 5 pm on April2.

“...the Commission is,prima facie, of the view thatthat Sarma has violated theabove said provisions of theModel Code of Conduct. Now,therefore, the Commissiongives you an opportunity toexplain your position in mak-ing above statement on orbefore 5 pm of April 2, failingwhich the Commission shalltake a decision without any fur-ther reference to you,” thenotice read.

The notice was issued bythe EC following a complaintfiled by the Congress party

a g a i n s tH i m a n t aB i s w aSarma fora l l e g e d l ym a k i n gthreateningr e m a r k s

against opposition leaderHagrama Mohilary of theBodoland People’s Front. TheBodoland People’s Front is anally of the Congress in Assam.

Assembly elections inAssam are being held in threephases. While the first phasewas on March 27, voting in thesecond phase is underway onThursday. The last phase is onApril 6.

The notice to Sarma citedvarious provisions of the modelcode, including the one dealingwith refraining from makingunverified allegations againstpolitical rivals and, avoiding“corrupt practices” and offencesunder the election law, such asbribing of voters, intimidationof voters, impersonation ofvoters.

It also quoted a transcriptof the speech provided by thestate election machinery.

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As the Covid-19 vaccinationfor all those above 45 began

on Thursday, health expertshave called for inoculating everyadult above 18 citing studies thatthe new Covid variants aremore threatening to youngerpeople.

However, the Governmentis presently more keen on vac-cinating those 45 years since thisage group is reporting highmortalities.

“Those above 45 years areconsidered to be at highest risk-- 90 per cent of Covid-19deaths in India have been in thecategory of those above the ageof 45.

“This step has been takenafter detailed deliberations withthe states and Union Territorieson March 31 to optimally utiliseall COVID-19 VaccinationCentres across the public andprivate sectors to ensure rapidincrease in the pace and cover-age of Covid vaccination,” theUnion Health Ministry said.

“This decision is in line withthe graded and pro-activeapproach employed by the gov-ernment of India along with thestates and UTs for Covid-19 vac-

cination,” it said in a statement.However, health experts

feel that it’s time to cover theentire population as the coun-try is witnessing the secondwave. “Today we’ve got a crisisupon us with infections anddeaths registering new highevery passing day. We shouldvaccinate the entire adult pop-ulation and provide them witha walk-in option to get the jabat any vaccination centre. Ourvaccination pace is not soimpressive given the huge pop-ulation we have,” said Dr RahulBhargava, senior hematologistfrom Fortis Hospital,Gurugram.

He agreed with AIIMSdirector Dr Randeep Guleria’sview that more kids andyounger people are gettinginfected during the second waveas compared to the first wavereported in August andNovember last year. The mor-bidity and mortality due to thedeadly virus is higher in elder-ly people.

“At a time when theGovernment has itself warnedthat the situation is going frombad to worse, our efforts shouldbe to scale up vaccination paceand cover maximum people.

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The Election Commission(EC) has seized liquor,

unaccounted cash, narcotics,freebies worth �366.09 croretill the second phase of pollingin Assam and West Bengal.The total seizure is over sixtimes higher than the totalcombined seizure of �60.91crore during the assembly pollsin 2016. “Till date �112.54crore has been seized in Assam(as against a total seizure of�16.58 crore in 2016) and atotal of 253.55 crores for WestBengal (as against a totalseizure of �44.33 crore in2016),” the EC said.

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Establishment of alternatefunding through voluntary

crowd and corporate funding,and increase in assistance forpatients needing one-timetreatment from �15 lakh to � 20lakh and identifying centre forexcellence are some of the keyfeatures proposed by the UnionHealth Ministry in the newly-drafted Rare Disease Policy.

As per the policy, rare dis-eases have been earmarkedunder three categories based onthe nature of treatment. Theyare disorders amenable to one-time curative treatment, dis-eases requiring long term orlifelong treatment having rela-tively lower cost of treatmentand diseases for which defini-tive treatment is available butchallenges are to make optimalpatient selection for benefit,very high cost and lifelongtherapy, like Lysosomal StorageDisorders (LSD) like GaucherDisease, Hunter Syndrome andFabry Disease.

The policy comes on thelast day of the deadline given bythe Delhi High Court whichhas asked for the government’sentire unspent budget allocat-ed to rare diseases for the pastthree years to be immediatelymoved into the rare diseasesfund. However, the policy issilent on this aspect.

Instead, the policy pro-poses the formulation of analternative form of funding tohelp patients of rare diseases.This includes voluntary crowd-funding treatment by setting upa digital platform for voluntaryindividual contribution andcorporate donors to voluntar-ily contribute to the treatmentcost of patients of rare diseases.

Noting that India has closeto 50-100 million people affect-ed by rare diseases or disorders,the policy report said almost 80per cent of these rare conditionpatients are children and aleading cause for most of themnot reaching adulthood is dueto the high morbidity andmortality rates of these life-threatening diseases.

It also seeks to provideassistance for patients needingone-time treatment for rarediseases increased to �20 lakhfrom �15 lakh.

“Assistance to be providedunder the Rashtriya ArogayaYojana,” the policy said addingthat the beneficiaries of theassistance are not limited to theBPL families but extended toalmost 40 per cent of popula-tion eligible under the PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

The policy also notes thatas the number of persons suf-fering from individual rarediseases is small, they do notconstitute a significant marketfor drug manufacturers todevelop and bring to marketdrugs for them.

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Scientists have developed anew technique to track the

huge bubbles of gas, threadedwith magnetic field lines, whichare ejected from the sun dis-rupting space weather andcausing geomagnetic storms,satellite failures, and poweroutages, the Department ofScience and Technology said

Thursday.The new technique will be

used in India’s first solar mis-sion Aditya-L1.

As the ejections from thesun, technically called CoronalMass Ejections (CMEs), causevarious disturbances of thespace environment, forecast-ing their arrival time is veryimportant. However, forecast-ing accuracy is hindered by

limited CME observations ininterplanetary space, the DSTstatement said.

A software namedComputer Aided CMETracking Software (CACTus)based on a computer visionalgorithm was so far used todetect and characterise sucheruptions automatically in theouter corona where theseeruptions cease to show accel-erations and propagate with a

nearly constant speed, it said.However, this algorithm

could not be applied to theinner corona observations dueto the vast acceleration expe-rienced by these eruptions.

This severely limited thecapability to track the erup-tions as CMEs accelerate inthe lower corona. Moreover,with the advancement inspace technology, there hasbeen a tremendous increase inthe amount of data obtainedfrom spacecraft, according tothe statement.

Identifying and trackingsolar eruptions in huge num-ber of images can becometedious if done manually, thestatement said.

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To streamline the formsand processes in reducing

the compliance burden onthe higher education sector,the Ministry of Educationand the University GrantsCommission (UGC) havestarted interactions with allthe stakeholders to furtherease out the system.

Certain areas includinggovernance and regulatoryreforms, and reengineeringof processes and increaseduse of technology to ease stu-dents, faculty and staff havebeen identified for streamlin-

ing processes and reducingcompliance burden. The inter-actions have begun onlineamongst the stakeholders.

A senior education min-istry official said repeatdemand for information byregulatory bodies leads to a lotof repetitive work and there-fore only information thatprovides value additionshould be insisted on fromHEIs.

The first such onlineworkshop organised in theseries was chaired by AmitKhare, Secretary, HigherEducation, Ministr y ofEducation. Apart from the

Higher Education Secretary,Professor DP Singh,Chairman, University GrantsCommission and ProfessorAnil D Sahasrabudhe,Chairman, All India Councilfor Technical Education(AICTE) was also present.

During the online inter-action, representatives fromIndustry Associations such asCII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, andVice Chancellors from sever-al central, state, deemed, pri-vate universities and technicaluniversities shared their viewson reducing compliance bur-den in Higher EducationInstitution.

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The Government has pro-cured 78,392 tonnes of

wheat in the first fortnight ofthe fresh procurement seasonwhich began on March 15,2021 as compared to the 60metric tons last year duringthe same period.

According to the Ministryof Consumer Affairs, the pro-curement has started only inRajasthan, Gujarat andMadhya Pradesh. It is likely topick up pace as it takes off inHaryana, Maharashtra, UttarPradesh and Uttarakhandfrom April 1. The procure-

ment of Punjab has beendelayed to April 10 due to aspike in Covid-19 cases in thestate.

Last year also, Punjab haddelayed procurement for 10days due to the pandemic.The procurement estimatefor wheat has been fixed as427.36 LMT for the year2021-22.

During previous year2020-21, a quantity of 390LMT procured in the centralpool and benefitting 43.36lakh farmers. The harvestingexercise will pick up in acouple of days with procure-ment.

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The NIA has conductedsearches at 31 locations in

Andhra Pradesh andTelangana in MunchingputMaoist case of Hyderabadrelating to furtherance of theultra-Left agenda.

On Wednesday, the NIAconducted searches at 31 loca-tions spread across eight dis-tricts of Andhra Pradesh--Visakhapatnam, Guntur,Prakasam, Srikakulam,Kurnool, Krishna, EastGodavari and Kadapa besidesfour districts of Telangana

namely Ranga Reddy,Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Medak.

The case relates to fur-thering the activities of theproscribed organisation, CPI(Maoist) in Andhra Pradesh inthe guise of frontal organiza-tions.

The case pertains toseizure of revolutionary liter-ature of CPI (Maoist), pressnotes, medicines, wire bundlesand explosive substances fromaccused Pangi Naganna , whowas intercepted byMunchingput Police duringvehicle checking.

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The Indian Army will par-ticipate in a four-nation

military exercise inBangladesh from April 4 to 12which is being organised tomark the birth centenary ofBangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman and 50 years of thatcountry’s liberation war, offi-cials said on Thursday.

A 30-member IndianArmy team comprising offi-cers, junior commissioned

officers (JCOs) and soldiersfrom the Dogra regiment willparticipate in the exercise‘Shantir Ogroshena’ (frontrunner of peace), they said.

Besides armies ofBangladesh and India, theexercise will be participated byRoyal Bhutan Army and SriLankan Army, the defenceministry said.

“The theme of the exerciseis ‘Robust Peace KeepingOperations’. Militar yobservers from the US, UK,

Turkey, Kingdom of SaudiArabia, Kuwait and Singaporewill also be in attendancethroughout the exercise,” itsaid.

The year 2021 marks the50th anniversary of the liber-ation of Bangladesh and thebirth centenary of Rahman.

In reflection of close ties,India is also hosting a numberof events to mark the 50thanniversary of the 1971 warthat led to liberation ofBangladesh.

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Gandhinagar: Sparks flew inthe Gujarat Assembly on theconcluding day of the Budgetsession on Thursday withCongress legislator ImranKhedawala tearing a copy ofthe Bill proposed to amend the'Dharma Swatantrya' (Freedomof Religion) Act, 2003 aimed tocombat forceful religious con-versions, better known as 'lovejehad', that was tabled in theHouse by the ruling BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP).

While speaking on the pro-visions of the amendment Bill,Khedawala said, "HomeMinister Pradeepsinh Jadeja

has only mentioned that thedaughters of the Hindu com-munity are targeted by menfrom a specific community.Daughters, be it from any reli-gious community, will always beour daughters. I too have overhundred testimonies of Muslimgirls marrying into other reli-gion. I am deeply hurt by thewords of the minister."

On hearing this, theSpeaker of the House, RajendraTrivedi, interrupted theCongress legislator butKhedawala stuck to his words.

"Nobody can force any-body to marry into a specific

religion and in no religion it iswritten to forcibly convert any-one to accept that. In this Bill,only one community is specif-ically targeted with words like'Jihadi'. I opposite this Bill andI'm tearing down its copy,"Khedawala said as tore thecopy of the Bill which he hadin his hand.

The gesture was followedby an uproar from the BJPmembers in the House.

The proposed amendmentseeks to prohibit and punishreligious conversions promis-ing better lifestyle, divine bless-ings and impersonation.IANS

Lucknow: Controversies, oneafter another, seem to be chas-ing mafia don and BSP MLAMukhtar Ansari. Now it is theambulance that took the jaileddon to Punjab's Mohali courtthat has raised a storm.

The vehicle had a registra-tion number belonging to UttarPradesh.

The registration number ofthe ambulance, UP41 AT 7171,belongs to Barabanki districtand had expired in 2017. It hasnot been renewed since then.Also, the name of the hospitalin which the ambulance wasregistered is dubious.

Barabanki RTO officials,who did not wish to be named,said that apart from the regis-tration, the fitness of the vehi-cle had also expired in 2017.

What is intriguing is whywas an ambulance from UttarPradesh used to take MukhtarAnsari to a court in Punjabfrom Ropar jail.

The Punjab Police, onWednesday, had producedAnsari before the court inconnection with an alleged2019 extortion matter.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA AlkaRai, said, "Who provided the

so-called ambulance MukhtarAnsari in which MukhtarAnsari was presented in court?It should be investigated.

Whether it was an ambu-lance or the luxury vehicle ofthe mafia don should also beinvestigated.

Under what circumstancesdid the vehicle of UP registra-tion number reach Punjab andhow is the mafia don roamingin this car?"

Mukhtar Ansari is chargedwith the murder of Alka Rai'shusband Krishnanand Rai whowas shot dead in 2005. IANS

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Aburqa clad Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorist

along with three other gun tot-ing associates on Thursdaytargeted the house of a localBJP leader in Nowgam area ofSrinagar in which one of thesecurity guards deployed onguard duty attained martyrdomwhile all the family membersincluding minor son of the BJPleader escaped unhurt.

The BJP leader identifiedas Mohd Anwar Khan was notpresent inside the house at thetime of the attack. The securi-ty guard martyred in the attackhas been identified asConstable Rameez Ahmad Itooof Anantnag.

Inspector General of Police

Kashmir range Vijay KumarThursday said, "four Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists including twofrom Srinagar carried out theattack on the guard post of thehouse of senior BJP leader inNowgam area". The IGP saidtwo of the four terroristsinvolved in the act have beenidentified as Shahid Khursheedand Obaid Shafi. “Both belongto Lashkar-e-Toiba. The identi-ty of two others is being ascer-tained who are also believed tobe from Lashkar,” he said

"This is the second terror-ist attack on me, Anwar Khantold reporters in Jammu". Hesaid as BJP is gaining popular-ity in different parts of Kashmirattempts are being made to cre-ate a sense of insecurity amongthe party leaders".

Last year, over half a dozenBJP leaders, sarpanches, cor-porators were targeted by theterrorists to discourage themfrom participating in the grass-roots politics aimed at strength-ening all three tiers ofPanchayati Raj Institutions.

Anwar Khan told

reporters, "he left his homeearly in the morning as he wasscheduled to travel to Jammu.Anwar Khan said, "I have seenthe CCTV footage and it isclearly visible when the terror-ists, one of them clad in aburqa, knocked at the maindoor and the security guardopened the door. While he wasseen opening the door twoother terrorists opened indis-criminate firing and his serviceweapon was taken away byanother member of the group

before escaping. Anwar Khansaid, his minor son was alsopresent near the front gate ofhis house when terrorists tar-geted the security person-nel.With the grace of Godalmighty he escaped unhurt, headded.

In Jammu, Lt-GovernorManoj Sinha strongly con-demned the terror attack on aBJP leader's house in Nowgam,Srinagar. In a condolence mes-sage Lt- Gov Manoj Sinha said,"We lost our brave jawan of

J&K Police. My prayers for thedeparted soul and sympathieswith his family. Such coward-ly acts are against humanity &perpetrators shall be brought tojustice".

Condemning the attack,several senior BJP leaders saidthat the killers of humanitycannot be heroes for anyone.

National General Secretary,BJP & Prabhari J&K, TarunChugh expressed anguish overthis highly deplorable incidentand stressed that exemplarypunishment will be ensured tokillers. He said that theseRepeated terror attacks cannotweaken democracy in the region.

J&K BJP President,Ravinder Raina strongly con-demned the attack and said thatthe whole humanity is feelingshocked and ashamed of theserepeated attacks. He said thatbeing soldiers of democracy thesocial and political activistswork tirelessly in strengtheningthe democracy, but terrorists,their bosses and their sympa-thizers absolutely do not wantpeople to prosper.

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In a tragic incident thatcaused a major stir in the

north Maharashtra city, a 38-year-old Covid-19 patient --with plummeting Oxygen lev-els-- died in the small hours ofThursday, hours after he stageda protest along with an Oxygencylinder near the mainentrance of the NashikMunicipal Corporation (NMC)for allegedly not getting admis-sion in district civil, municipalhospital and private hospitals.

After making unsuccessfulrounds to various private andmunicipal hospitals seekingadmission, one Babasaheb Kole– a resident of Kamatewadelocality of Nashik's CIDCO areawho had tested positive onTuesday and was finding it dif-

ficult to breathe --was onWednesday evening taken to agovernment hospital where theofficials provided him an Oxygenmask and cylinder. However, hedid not get admission even in thegovernment hospital.

In his effort to draw theattention of the civic authori-ties, Kole --sporting a yellow T-shirt, blue jeans and wearingthe oxygen mask connected toa cylinder, sat in a chair nearthe entrance of the NMC build-ing on Wednesday evening toprotest against the lack of aCovid bed for him in the civicand other hospitals at Nashik.

Before long, a crowd gath-ered around him and the mes-sage reached NMCCommissioner Kailash Jadhav,who rushed AdditionalMunicipal Commissioner Dr

Pravin Ashtikar to meet him.Minutes later, Kole was takento a civic hospital, where hedied in the small hours ofThursday.

Kole’s Oxygen levels hadcome down to 37 per centagainst the normal 95-96 percent, when he was rushed tothe NMC hospital. He wasfinding it very difficult tobreathe. He breathed his lastafter the efforts by doctors atthe NMC Hospital to revivehim failed.

Meanwhile, the NashikMunicipal Commissioner hasasked the Nashik Police toinvestigate and identify thepersons who ‘instigated’ thepatient to go on a protest infront of NMC headquartersand what their “ulteriormotives”.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday made a

strong Hindutva pitch at the hus-tings attacking Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee forderiding those who wear saffronrobes, and sport tilak or chotis(ponytails).

Modi who was addressing arally at Joynagar in South 24Parganas aconstituency --- witha healthy population of minor-ity Muslims --- roundly invokedHindutva saying, “Earlier she wasirritated by chants of Jai ShriRam and was loath to allowimmersion of idols during DurgaPujas … but now she hasbecome so intolerant towardsthose who wear saffron attire orsport tilak and ponytail that sheeven call them rakshasas … thepeople are watching this.”

Referring to the ChiefMinister’s criticism of his recent

visit toJasoreshwari Kali Templein Jessore and Matua headquar-ters at Orakandiin Bangladesh hesaid “is visiting a Kali Temple orthe temple ofHarichand Thakura crime … but here the ChiefMinister is abusing mefor visit-ing these temples too.”

Speaking about her repeat-ed personal attacks and even useof slangswhile referring to himthe Prime Minister said, “Iunderstand that shehas a grudgeagainst me which is why shekeeps on abusing merepeatedly… I don’t mind that but I will notallow her to insult theheritage ofBengal … I will not allow her todenigrate the basicvalues upheldby the likes of Baba SahebAmbedkar and enshrined intheConstitution of India.”

The Prime Minister wasapparently referring to therepeated attack byChief Ministerof outsiders particularly the anti-social elements fromBihar and

UP who she alleged had infil-trated Bengal to vitiate theelec-toral process. “After taking oathand sitting on a constitutional-post you cannot abuse the citi-zens of any other state … it isun-constitutional,” he said.

Even on Thursday she toldthe media at Nandigram how“hundreds ofcriminals have beenbrought in by the BJP from UPand Bihar and otherStates to rigthe elections and do crime here.”

Reiterating that the BJPwould win more than 200 seatsModi said thatinitial trends ofpolling showed that TMC wasgoing out of power.“Didi you arelosing the elections … TMC isgone.”

Taking a dig at the ChiefMinister her said “Didi alwayssays cool,cool, cool, butTrinamool is not cool … it is ashool (trident)because she haskilled the State’s democracy withshool”.

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KOCHI: Poll pundits andpolitical analysts in Kerala wereflabbergasted as Leader of theOpposition RameshChennithala late Wednesdaynight uploaded the names of4.3 lakh bogus voters and mul-tiple entries on a website.

Chennithala had filed anappeal in the Kerala HighCourt seeking deleting or freez-ing the fake and counterfeitnames in the electoral rolls.Earlier in the day, a DivisionBench consisting of ChiefJustice S Manikumar andJustice Shaji P Chaly directedthe Election Commission topermit voters to leave thepolling booths only after theindelible ink is dried.

Kerala goes to the polls onApril 6 to elect the 140 mem-ber Legislative Assembly in asingle phase polling. ThoughChennithala said there wereonly 4.3 lakh fake voters in therolls, Prof Stanly Sebastian, aneducational entrepreneur-cum-social activist claims there aremore than 20 lakh fake votersin the State’s electoral rolls.

The CPI(M) which hasgone on the defensive follow-ing the disclosures by theLeader of the Opposition saidthe party would initiate crim-inal action against Chennithalafor disclosing State Secrets inthe public domain.

M A Baby, polit bureaumember, who is the chief ide-ologist of the party, said thatChennaithala would have toface legal action for uploadingthe names of 4.3 lakh fake vot-ers in a website by name oper-ationtwins.com. “Who autho-rised Chennithala to upload thenames of such voters in a por-tal? Has he taken the permis-sion from the voters before dis-closing the names through theportal,” asked Baby, a Marxistleader held in high reverence bythe party cadre.

N Gopalaswamy, formerChief Election Commissioner,told The Pioneer that there wasno chance of the court inter-vening in the issue at thisjuncture. “The Chief ElectoralOfficer has to reply to thischarge. How this many nameswere included in the electoralroles? What was the CEO doingall these months?” asked theformer CEC.

G Rajagopal, counsel forthe ECI said the situation wasvery grave but one the pollprocess begins nothing couldbe done to stop it. “The onlyoption is to ensure that the fakevoters who managed to get intothe rolls do not cast the votes,”said Rajagopal.

The view was echoed by KRamkumar, senior advocate,Kerala High Court. He was ofthe view that it was not possi-ble to hold fair election basedon the rolls prepared by theCEO.

“I am shocked at the indif-ference shown by the officialswhile preparing the electoralrolls. There is widespread irreg-ularities in this list but at thisjuncture, it is too late to go forany legal recourse. There is apolitical party in the State, thecadre of which are past mastersin casting fake votes,” saidRamkumar, State’s leading civilrights activist. There are 2.67crore voters in the State, out ofwhich 1.37 are females and 1.29males.

Tikka Ram Meena, CEO,who is known for his close con-tacts with the chief minister,feigned ignorance about howthis many names found theirway to the rolls. Prof Sebastiansaid he has been alerting allconcerned, including the ChiefElection Commissioner, PMO,home minister, chief ministerof Kerala and all political par-ties about this discrepancysince 2018. PNS

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In a landmark decision aimedat boosting the pilgrim traf-

fic to Jammu and Kashmir theAdministrative Council (AC)Thursday approved the pro-posal to allot 496 Kanal 17Marla to the TirumalaTirupathi Devasthanams(TTD) for building of Templeand its allied infrastructures.

The decision was takenduring an AdministrativeCouncil (AC) meeting held inJammu under the chairman-ship of Lieutenant GovernorManoj Sinha.

According to a press state-ment issued by the Departmentof Information and PublicRelations, "the piece of landwould be made available onlease basis for a period of 40

years to construct pilgrimamenities Complex,V e d a p a t a s a l a ,Spiritual/Meditation Centre,Office, Residential Quartersand Parking". "In future, therewould be medical and educa-tional facilities also on thecampus", the statement added.

The DIPR statement fur-ther read, "TTD, a board estab-lished by Government under

the TTD Act, 1932 is a chari-table organization of interna-tional repute with a proventrack record of activities in thespiritual, cultural, social, andeducational sphere".

" Its arrival in J&K will tapthe tourism potential particu-larly pilgrim tourism inJammu, the City of Temples,besides enhancing economicactivities".

"Once developed, the TTDinfrastructure will be an attrac-tion for the pilgrims andtourists in addition to the MataVaishno Devi Shrine andAmarnathji Shrine. It willenable tourists to come and staylonger in Jammu city. Thefuture development on thecampus will also contribute toeconomic growth of theregion", the statement added.

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New Delhi: Minister of Statefor Jal Shakti Rattan lal Katariaexpressed his pleasure andcongratulated the officials as JalJeevan Mission crossed the 4crore mark in providing newfunctional household tap con-nections to rural households.As on date, 57 districts, 709blocks, 44,409Panchayat,86,886 villages haveensured 100% coverage ofFHTC. Kataria, who testedpositive for Covid-19 last week,is admitted in a hospital atGurugram. He shared his picson Social Media yesterdaywhere he can be seen dis-charging important workthrough the Digital platform.

Mr Kataria was apprisedabout the successful Pilot pro-ject for effective monitoring ofwater supply in villages, exe-

cuted in 5 states using theInternet of things (IoT) tech-nology. This has been done incollaboration with TataCommunity Initiatives Trust(TCIT) & Tata trusts. The vil-lages spread across 5 statesn a m e l yUttarakhand,Rajasthan,Gujarat,Maharashtra & H.P, coveringvarious Agro-climatic zones,were identified for this pilot.

The IoT shall provide realtime information to publichealth officials,members ofVillage water supply commit-tee (VWSC), general publicregarding the quantity andquality of water supplied tousers. It shall make use of sen-sors to observe flow, pressurelevel, chlorine analyzer as wellas the level of ground water. Itshall help prevent supply of

unfit water, arrest leakages andprovide valuable info to VWSCto plan for source developmentand augmentation.

The success of Pilot projecthas motivated states to active-ly deploy this technology.

Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana &Arunachal Pradesh have float-ed tenders and other states arein state of initiating this process

Mr Kataria acknowledgedthe importance of technologyin improving public service

delivery. He cited that even at the

time of following strict quar-antine protocols for social iso-

lation, technology enables vir-tual connect with the socialworld and helps one to workand contribute.

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The second wave of Covid-19 turned into a crisis in

Maharashtra on Thursday, asthe daily infections touched anall-time high of 43,183 casesand 249 more people died ofthe pandemic in various partsof the state.

A day after the staterecorded a staggering 39,544infections were recorded, theCovid-19 situation inMaharashtra worsened onThursday, as the dailycaseloadA rose to an alarming43,183 and the death tollincreased to 249 as against 239fatalities registered onWednesday.

With 43,183 fresh cases,the total infections inMaharashtra climbed from28,12,980 to 2,85,61,63.Similarly, with 249 newdeaths, the total Covid-19 tollrose from 56,649 to 54,898.

As 23, 600 patients weredischarged from the hospitalsacross the state after full recov-ery, the total number of peo-ple discharged from the hos-pitals since the second week ofMarch last year went up to24,33,368.. The recovery ratein the state dropped from85.34 per cent to 85.20 percent..

Meanwhile, the numberof “active cases” total cases inthe state increased from

3,56,243 to 3,66,533. Thefatality rate in the statedropped from 1.94 per cent to1.92 per cent.

There are a maximum of64,599 “active” cases in Pune,followed by Mumbai (54,807)Nagpur (48,806), Thane(42,151), Nashik (36,292),Aurangabad (14,482), Jalgaon(6959), Amaravati (2983) andAkola (4054).

With 18 fresh deaths, theCovid-19 toll in Mumbai rosefrom 11,690 to 11,708, whilethe infected cases went up by8646 to trigger a jump in theinfections from 4,14,773 to4,23,419.

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affect-ed city-district inMaharashtra, saw the totalnumber of cases increase from5,36,262 to 5,44,287, while thetotal number of deaths inPune rose from 8325 to 8343.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rosefrom 3,39,590 to 3,44,385while the total deaths climbedfrom 5970 to 5970.

Of the 1,99,75,341, sam-ples sent to laboratories,28,56,163 have tested positive(14.3 per cent) for COVID-19until Thursday.

Currently, 19,09,498 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 18,432 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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New Delhi/Mumbai: Cricketbetting syndicates linked withunderworld gangs operatingprimarily in Gujarat,Maharashtra and Karnatakaallegedly paid "protectionmoney" to disgraced Mumbaicrime branch officer, SachinVaze, presently being interro-gated by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) atits Mumbai office. Vaze's aideNaresh Gor, a well knownbookie in Mumbai, identifiedbetting syndicates and extort-

ed 'protection money' duringcricket season at the behest offormer crime branch officer,highly placed sources revealedto IANS.

Commenting on the Vaze'smulti-crore extortion racket,reportedly patronised by keypeople in Maharashtra gov-ernment, the BJP spokespersonRam Kadam said that besidesextorting large amount ofmoney from dance bars andclubs, Vaze's men were mintingmoney by sheltering betting

cartels." Naresh Gor, a big timebookie, was Vaze's pointsmanwho targeted illegal bettingrings operating in the state, andcollected huge amounts fromthem. The extortion racketrequires a thorough probe tounmask the real faces behindthis hafta vasooli," RamKadam, three times MLA fromMumbai told IANS.

31-year-old Naresh Gor,who hails from Kutch, wasassociated with top cricket bet-ting syndicates spread across

India's west coast from Gujaratto Karnataka. According toATS Mumbai, Naresh Gor pro-cured dozens of SIM cards onfake IDs from a trader inAhmedabad. The trader iden-tified as Kishore Thakkar hasnow been detained by the NIA,which is probing the MansukhHiren case. Bookie, NareshGor was arrested in murder ofMansukh, the owner of theexplosive laden SUV, parkednear billionaire MukeshAmbani's famous house Antilia

located in posh south Mumbaiarea of Mumbai.

Sources said as the cricketbetting racket operates in Indiathrough mobile phones andother similar gadgets, NareshGor was specialised in procur-ing SIM cards, phone sets, wifirouters and dongles in bulk onfake ids."On Vaze's instruc-tions, Naresh procured 93 SIMcards, 14 mobile phonesbetween March 3 to March 5,to execute the plan for killingMansukh Hiren," said an offi-

cer of ATS, Mumbai adding,"In fact Vinayak Shinde, atainted cop also involved in themurder had earlier introducedGor to Vaze." Sources saidthrough Vinayak Shinde, book-ie Gor made connections in theunderworld and started tar-geting top bookies to extortprotection money on behalf ofVaze. Most of the online bettingsyndicates operate from MiddleEast countries and are furtherlinked to the Dawood Ibrahimgang.

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4,00,000 e-rickshaws were soldin 2019-2020, with over a mil-lion on the roads across India.

It would be prudent forthe Ministry of RoadTransport to establish betternorms for the next generationof e-rickshaws, from passen-ger safety to battery disposal.But the Ministry as well ascities and States should look atother viable opportunities inelectrification. Buses are oftenspoken about as the next bigopportunity; being large lad-der-on-frame vehicles, sys-tems such as battery swappingare being spoken about foradditional range. But whatabout buses that get used a bitless? Airport buses, for exam-ple. At many airports acrossIndia, buses are still used totransport passengers and crewto and from planes. Why can’tthose and many other airportinfrastructure vehicles such asbaggage tractors and airlinecars be electric? The addition-al costs of such equipment canbe passed on to airline passen-gers, which amortised overmillions of passengers will bea few rupees per ticket.

What about school busesand other transport for stu-dents? Most such transport isused only twice a day over a

limited distance, usually wellunder 100 km, and mosteducational institutions haveenough parking area to buildcharging infrastructure. Startcalculating the impact ofputting children in electricbuses as it will help themunderstand the economicand environmental benefits.

But the biggest near-termelectrification opportunity liesin commercial deliveries. Thefastest growing sector of theIndian commercial vehiclemarket over the past decadehas been Light CommercialVehicles (LCVs). This hascoincided almost perfectlywith the rise of online com-merce. While changing fromthe LCVs, colloquially knownas “Chhota Hathi”, will be dif-ficult with little charging infra-structure and uneven roads,the metropolitan areas caninsist on a changeover to elec-trifying such vehicles.However, this cannot be abruptand must not happen thanks tothe fiat of a bureaucrat orMinister, let alone a judge in acourt. But happen it must; aplanned switchover in a cou-ple of years will not only givethe industry an opportunity toscale up manufacturing, it willalso aid in the creation of

charging infrastructure.An even greater and blind-

ingly obvious opportunity is infood and local delivery usingelectric two-wheelers. It isheartening to see that somedelivery boys and girls haveswitched over to electric two-wheelers and even electrifiedcycles such as Yulu, but still notenough. A large order by a foodretailer or even an e-commerceoperator for electric two-wheel-ers specifically oriented fordelivery will also give a massiveboost to the manufacture ofsuch products in India.

The holy grail of electrifi-cation is of course a wide-scalechangeover in passenger vehi-cles and public transportation.There are several technologyissues that remain to be sortedout; should India look athybrids as a middle step, forexample, or should investmentsbe made in hydrogen? Thereare also serious cost questionsbut, most importantly, the pub-lic has to be convinced of theutility of such vehicles.

This is the third part of aseries on electric vehicle adop-tion and policy issues aroundthe same in India.

(The author is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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There is one thing that Ihave to get off my chest:The rapid adoption ofelectric three-wheelers,

e-rickshaws as we call them, hasbeen dramatic. Whenever anopportunity arises in India,companies emerge to takeadvantage of it. However, e-rickshaws while a brilliant modeof transport for last-mile connec-tivity are patently unsafe, whichis particularly ironic since theGovernment is promoting vehic-ular safety by imposing new con-ditions on passenger vehicles andmotorcycles while totally ignor-ing the e-rickshaw space.

That said, it would be sillyto ignore how much e-rickshawshave changed the economicprospects of workers in manyparts of India. In the part ofDelhi where I live, e-rickshawshave given domestic workers theability to travel to and from theirhomes for �10 each way, savingthem a half-hour one-way walk,which not only saves them fromthe intense heat of the summersun but the time saved allowsmany such workers to take onanother job, an investment of�500 a month on transportallows them to earn much more.The push towards safety, nomatter how well-intentioned,will increase the price of e-rick-shaws and thus the amountthat users will pay; however itwill need to be done because e-rickshaws need to be reined in.

But there is no doubt that thesuccess of e-rickshaws is proofthat electric vehicles can be a suc-cess as they have almost com-pletely replaced cycle-rickshawsacross major urban centres.

The reason for this successwas simple; there was a need forlast-mile transportation, which isnon-existent in India.Transportation from bus stops,Metro and railway stations usingauto-rickshaws was expensiveand while cycle-rickshaws costthe same amount per ride as ane-rickshaw, they took longer. Assuch, these e-rickshaws have notbeen a ‘replacement’ of a mode oftransport, rather they have beenadditive. While there have beensome legal wrangles around reg-istration and sales, an estimated

SOUNDBITE������������� ���������Sir —The BJP is going from strength tostrength, and the Modi juggernaut is on aroll. Irrespective of the results in the fiveStates that are undergoing polls, theOpposition has much work to do. TheCongress is neither here nor there. Tall lead-ers are deserting the party one after anoth-er. At another level, the partners of theUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA) appeardisillusioned with a lethargic Congress.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, per-haps for the first time in her long stint,appears to be losing her grip on the coali-tion partners. Top UPA leaders have, at leastinternally, expressed their deep resent-ment with the way Sonia Gandhi has beenpersisting with her son Rahul Gandhi to takeover from her. Against this backdrop, revivalof the “third front” is being discussed inpolitical corridors.

The “third front” can make someimpact if it is able to guard itself from col-lapsing like a pack of cards due to disagree-ments and ambitions. Leaders have to rallybehind a pivot; personal agendas should beleft behind. Many experienced and ablenon-BJP and non-Congress leaders werelooked upon with suspicion by the peoplebecause of their inability to stay united. The2014 “third front” flattered to deceive: It wasgrounded even before it took off. One won-ders whether some headstrong leaders, likeMamata Banerjee, can ever mingle with therest when it comes to fighting the BJP.However, Sharad Pawar, fresh from his“king-making manoeuvres” in Maharashtra,may act as a fulcrum for the third front, ifhe can bring all non-Congress and non-BJPparties, that are unambiguous in their ide-ology and agree on a common minimumprogramme, on a single platform.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

���� ��� ��������������������������Sir — The Pakistan Cabinet’s latest decisionagainst the earlier one, which had ratifiedthe import of sugar and cotton from Indiaafter nearly two years, can hardly be termeda positive development for the relations

between the countries. The positive newshad come amid a series of diplomatic over-tures to thaw the bilateral ties. The earliermove had come in the wake of Pakistan’sPremier Imran Khan writing to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and calling for thecreation of an enabling environment for a“result-oriented dialogue” with India.

The reopening of trade at Wagah forcotton and sugar exports, had it come about,would have been among the first substan-tive relaxations in bilateral ties following theFebruary 25 restoration of the ceasefire atthe Line of Control. One was hoping to seea new beginning in the bilateral relations,which can improve through bilateral talksonly; the use of force and third-partyinvolvement is not a viable option.

Devendra Khurana | Bhopal

������������� �����Sir — It refers to the editorial ‘All hands on

deck’ (April 1). Having a district action planis indeed a good idea by the Governmentto avoid bigger lockdowns like last year.During the second surge, we need to beproactive and use the lessons learnt last year.

A better coordination between Statesand the Centre will decide our fate. Threekey elements of success are — Tracing,Testing and Vaccinating, and more vaccinesshould be rolled out at the earliest to havea wider range for such a vast population asours. Also, there is no substitute to takingprecautions like wearing masks and main-taining social distancing.

All eligible people must come out andvaccinate themselves without further delay.Exporting vaccines to other countries cantake a back seat for some time now.

Bal Govind | Noida

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������2���!������������ �������������!�����%������ ���%� ������������������� ������ ���������������%�=������������������

The Coronavirus-induced lockdown, which leftmillions of workers unemployed, recently hadits anniversary on March 25. Unfortunately, this

coincides with the start of the second wave of the out-break of the deadly virus. During the lockdown, eco-nomic activities came to a standstill and so did theincome of millions. The pandemic has pushed mil-lions of labourers and their families deep into pover-ty. Many labour-intensive industries were shut downduring lockdown and even afterwards. The mass exo-dus of migrant workers from cities and industrial townson foot and by other means reminds us of the painthat they and their family members have gone through.The Government aid, inoculation drives and policystimuli certainly endeavoured to extend a helping hand;yet the damages to jobs, income and social equalityare irreversible. Economists and multilateral agencieshave expressed grave concerns on the rising levels ofpoverty and inequality. In the current scenario dom-inated by recession and uncertainty, it becomes vitalto study the factors that can help alleviate poverty inIndia.

However, poverty and inequality are not newissues in our country. Rather, they have been the co-travellers with the journey of our economic growthand have started turning more severe recently due tothe pandemic and subsequent uncertainty that loomslarge on the economy. At the international level also,the World Bank’s Millennium Development Goals putthe objective of ‘poverty eradication’ on priority.Eradication of poverty lifts the living standard of indi-viduals in terms of education, health and social sta-tus, thus bringing equality in the society. Poverty isdirectly linked to employment which is a derivativeof productive sectors which differ in States. Thus, thepoverty levels in various States are also significantlydifferent from one another. However, the commonobjective of all the States is ‘poverty alleviation’.

The historical data from as many as 23 States werestudied in terms of poverty reduction and associatedfactors. including unemployment and growth of pro-ductive sectors — agriculture, industry and services.An attempt was made to empirically fathom the rela-tionship between poverty reduction and associatedmacro-economic factors. The latest State-wise data onpoverty for 2004-05 and 2011-12 were sourced fromthe Reserve Bank of India’s ‘Handbook of Statistics onIndian States’. With the increasing levels of industri-alisation, the States have managed to reduce povertylevels in a span of seven years. Goa, Andhra Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Uttarakhand witnessedhighest poverty reduction of more than 65 per cent.In contrast, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh bare-ly lifted their people from poverty, with less than 20per cent reduction in it. The poverty ratio had declinedfrom 37 per cent in 2004-05 to 22 per cent in 2011-12. Historically, rural areas witnessed a higher pover-ty ratio (26 per cent) as compared to urban (14 percent).

Poverty reduction rate in States is found to be neg-atively correlated with growth in the rural unemploy-ment in a significant manner, but was found not asso-ciated with the urban unemployment growth. Thisimplies that the States with higher reduction in ruralunemployment (Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura,Kerala and Punjab) excelled in poverty reduction.However, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Naduand Madhya Pradesh are exceptions to this. TheseStates, despite exhibiting a higher growth in ruralunemployment, managed to gain higher in poverty

alleviation. In contrast, the States thatexhibited a high growth in ruralunemployment (Assam, Jharkhandand Chhattisgarh) had to pay the costof slender poverty alleviation. It con-cludes that the rural employment in theStates holds the key to eradication ofpoverty.

India, where more than 65 percent of population lives in villages, can-not afford to ignore the role of ruralemployment and income generation.To alleviate poverty, employment gen-eration in rural areas is more impor-tant than that in urban India. Thisaligns with the fact that rural Indiaexhibits more poverty ratio than urbanareas. The major source of income inrural areas is believed to be agricultureand the allied services.

Further, the association of pover-ty reductions with growth of produc-tive sectors — agriculture, industry andservices — in different States isanalysed. As expected, the correlationbetween poverty reduction and thegrowth rates of all productive sectorsis significant with varying magnitudesand directions. The productive sectors,with their varying productivities, serveemployment as well as generate incomewhich helps people lift from poverty.Interestingly, growth in agriculture isnot sufficient to absorb the increasingjob requirements in rural India andhence is alone not capable of povertyreduction. The States with a highergrowth in the agriculture sector(Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh), exhib-ited lowest gains in poverty reduction.Notably, these States could not thrivein a higher growth of industry and ser-vices sectors. In contrast, the States with

the lowest growth in agriculture buthighest growth in industry and services(Goa, Andhra Pradesh and HimachalPradesh) outperformed the otherStates in attaining the poverty allevi-ation objective. In other words, it is notagriculture but industry and servicessector that buttress poverty alleviationacross States in India. Between indus-try and services, services turned out tobe more influential in poverty reduc-tion.

This finding echoes the theory ofeconomic growth and structuralchange presented by Nobel laureateand American economist SimonKuznets. According to the theory, adeveloping economy shifts from agri-culture (primary) to industry (sec-ondary) and then to services (tertiary)sector — a process of ‘structuralchange’. In this process, employmentshifts from the lower to higher produc-tive sector, yielding an overall produc-tivity and income gain in the econo-my. India, being a developing econo-my, treaded this path of structuralchange, however, bypassing industri-alisation and tertiarisation.

At present, even if industrialisa-tion is promoted with the primaryobjective of poverty reduction, Indiamay not gain much in terms ofemployment. This is due to the capi-tal intensification facilitated by high-er fixed-capital investment in indus-tries, making them capital intensive.Collectively, this issue of dispropor-tionate growth in employment ascompared to output growth is termedas ‘jobless growth’ in industries. In con-trast, the services sector, being moreproductive and labour-intensive as

compared to agriculture and industry,guarantees a higher level of incomeand contributes significantly in pover-ty eradication. This is substantiated bythe findings of the instant study: Thetop six States in poverty reduction —Goa, Andhra Pradesh, HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura andKerala — are the ones with the high-est growth and share of services inState GDP.

Conclusion: State-wise povertyreduction is quite heterogeneous dueto differences in the employmentscenario and sectoral growth of States.While some States outperformed theothers in poverty alleviation, others arestill struggling to lift their people upfrom poverty line. It is important tounderstand the factors impactingpoverty reduction in the States of Indiafrom historical evidences. In terms ofemployment, it is the rural employ-ment that drives poverty alleviation.Whereas, in terms of productive sec-tors, it is the services sector that is themajor source of employment genera-tion and hence poverty reduction.

The key of poverty alleviation lieswith employment generation in therural India that houses two-third ofIndia’s population. More than agricul-ture, industry and services sectorsdevelopment— industrialisation andtertiarisation— must be promoted inrural India. The current wave of pri-vatisation and production-linkedincentive schemes must consider theinclusion of rural areas. At the sametime, skill development in rural areasis the need of the hour to enable therural population to join the workforcein higher productive sectors.

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The initial bootlessskilling setup in Indiawas nothing but a

notion of a lopsided skilldevelopment. The potentialof India’s demographic div-idend was realised with thelaunch of Skill India Missionby the Ministry of SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship (MSDE)on July 15, 2015.

The Governmentfocused on developing acomprehensive programme,which would provide an aidin removing the stumblingblocks to the mission. Themain focus of the pro-gramme has been to createconvergence across the sec-tors and the States in termsof skill training activities.

Recognising the poten-tial of the India’s youth, af lagship programme,Pradhan Mantri KaushalVikas Yojana (PMKVY), was

launched with its six keycomponents aiming to skillone crore youth by 2020.Various studies suggestedthat the respondents weresatisfied with the skills train-ings imparted to them,which further helped themin attaining gainful employ-ment.

The scheme, however,suffered from various loop-holes in terms of traininginfrastructure, limited par-ticipation by the private sec-tor, lack of compliance tointernational standards anda considerable gap betweenthe industries’ demands andskills supply. A sequel ofthis scheme, PMKVY 2.0,was launched the followingyear with an aim to over-come all the drawbacks ofPMKVY.

The scheme was aimed atskilling 10 million youthduring 2015-16 and acquired

a budget of �12,000 crore.However, it could achieveonly approximately 50 percent of its set target by 2019and thus failed to stop themass migration triggered bythe pandemic. The casecould have been less intensehad the scheme been suc-cessful in providing employ-ment to people in their areasonly.

Apart from this, arequirement of skilled work-force as reported by theNational Skill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC) wasestimated at 347 million, tobe achieved by 2022, whichseems a distant dream asIndia has been facing ashortage of skilled manpow-er for more than a decadenow.

The training capacitystands approximately at 4.3million, in contrast to 12 mil-lion people which are expect-

ed to join the workforceevery year for training, thusdepriving them of effectiveskill training modules. Thismakes the scenario worseand is a major obstacle inIndia’s growth. This patternof escalated numbers hasbeen witnessed to drain thefunds of the State, resultingin a shortfall of funds forother imperative areas.

A realistic estimation oftargets along with the flexi-bility for the usage of allocat-ed cash reserve is the need of

the hour. Another factorwhich serves as a major gapin the skill developmentframework is the ignoranceof quality by the traininginstitutes, which furtherhampers the trust of thetrainees. A Government-appointed committee high-lighted this issue.

A sincere resolution tothis problem can be achievedby regular audit of the train-ing centres, which theGovernment has alreadybeen doing for some timenow. In addition, the trainerscan be encouraged toupgrade their knowledge andrewarded for their achieve-ments based on the students’feedback. This wouldundoubtedly enhance thequality of the trainers hiredand the subsequent trainingsprovided by them to the can-didates.

Nevertheless, the private

sector, too, plays a crucial rolein the vocational trainingframework. Initially, the pri-vate sector was quite alien tothis Government initiative;however, it did not remainsecluded for long. TheGovernment realised thatindustry linkages serve as asine qua non, for the effectivetraining and employment ofyouth. With almost 90 percent of the population below60 years of age, and 35 percent of it below 19 years,employment generation isdefinitely not a cinch andrequires relevant and ade-quate industry linkages, so asto make the workers trainedand meet the internationalbenchmarks. This wouldcontribute to enhancing theirskill set, making them glob-ally competent and creatingnew opportunities for them.

Despite the Public-Private Partnership (PPP)

models adopted by the State,there seems to be a lot ofuntapped potential for thesame, which called for anoth-er initiative, called thePMKVY 3.0, introduced bythe Government on January15, 2021, in 600 districts.

Launched with a targetof skilling 8 lakh youth with300 courses over 2020-21, thescheme focuses on impartingmore demand-driven skillsand revolves around digitaltechnology and Industry 4.0skills. The scheme is vestedwith a total of �948.90 croresand emphasises upon therole of District SkillCommittees (DSCs) andState Skill DevelopmentMissions (SSDM) inanalysing the skill-demandgaps at a district levels. Thisscheme looks promising as itexcludes any of the draw-backs of the previousschemes.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Swapnil is senior researchscholar at IISc, Bengaluru,and Majumder is an inde-

pendent researcher. Theviews expressed are personal.

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The writer is AssistantProfessor at the GoswamiGanesh Dutta Sanatan

Dharma College,Chandigarh.

The views expressed are personal.

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London: The most seniorBlack adviser to UK PrimeMinister Boris Johnson hasresigned, the government saidThursday, the day after a reporton racial disparities concludedthat Britain does not have a sys-temic problem with racism.

The government deniedany link between the departureof Samuel Kasumu and themuch-criticized report, whichhas been accused of ignoringthe experiences of ethnic-minority Britons.

The prime minister’s officesaid Kasumu would leave his

job as a special adviser for civilsociety and communities inMay, as had “been his plan forseveral months.”

It denied the resignationwas related to Wednesday’spublication of a report by theg o v e r n m e n t - a p p o i n t e dCommission on Race andEthnic Disparities, which con-cluded that Britain is not aninstitutionally racist country.

But Simon Woolley, a formergovernment equalities adviserand a member of the U.K. Houseof Lords, said Kasumu’s exit wasconnected to the “grubby” and

“divisive” report.“(There is a) crisis at No. 10

when it comes to acknowledg-ing and dealing with persistentrace inequality,” Woolley said.

Kasumu had consideredquitting in February. He wrotea resignation letter, obtained bythe BBC, that accused Johnson’sConservative Party of pursuing“a politics steeped in division.”He was persuaded to stay in hisjob temporarily to work on acampaign encouraging peoplefrom ethnic minorities to getvaccinated against the coron-avirus. AP

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Protesters in Myanmar onThursday marked two

months since the militaryseized power by once moredefying the threat of lethalviolence and publicly demon-strating against the toppling ofthe democratically elected gov-ernment.

The February 1 coup hasbeen met with massive publicresistance that security forceshave been unable to crushthrough escalating levels ofviolence, including now rou-tinely shooting protesters.Outside efforts including sanc-tions imposed by Westernnations on the military regimehave failed to help restorepeace.

In Yangon, the country’sbiggest city, a group of youngpeople shortly after sunriseThursday sang solemn songshonoring the more than 500protesters killed so far. Theythen marched through thestreets chanting slogans calling

for the fall of the junta, therelease of deposed leader AungSan Suu Kyi and the return ofdemocracy.

Protests were also held in

Mandalay and elsewhere.The demonstrations fol-

lowed a night of violenceincluding police raids and sev-eral fires. In Yangon, several

retail shops owned in whole orpart by Myanma EconomicHoldings Limited, which is aninvestment arm of the military,went up in flames. The shopsare the targets of boycotts bythe protest movement.

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Opponents of Myanmar’smilitary government

declared the country’s 2008constitution void and put for-ward an interim replacementcharter late Wednesday in amajor political challenge tothe ruling junta.

The moves, while moresymbolic than practical, couldhelp woo the country’s armedethnic militias to ally themselveswith the mass protest movementagainst the military’s seizure ofpower in February.

The actions were taken bythe CRPH, an underground,self-styled alternative govern-ment established by elected law-makers who were not allowed totake their seats when the militarystaged the coup and ousted anddetained civilian leader AungSan Suu Kyi. The CommitteeRepresenting Pyidaungsu

Hluttaw, the national Parliament,made the announcements onsocial media.

The 2008 constitution,implemented under army rule,ensured the military maintainedits dominance during the coun-try’s decade of progress towarddemocracy, such as by reservingit a quarter of the seats inParliament and retaining respon-sibility for state security. Thejunta that seized power from thecivilian government February 1cites emergency provisions in thecharter as giving its takeover con-stitutional legitimacy.

The CRPH also presenteda Federal Democracy Charteras an interim constitution. Itaims to end Myanmar’s longhistory of military dictatorshipas well as meeting the long-standing demands of its myri-ad ethnic minority groups forgreater autonomy in theirregions.

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The influx of refugees fromMyanmar at the Indian

and Thai borders and else-where is “ominous” and likelyjust the beginning, UNSecretary General’s specialenvoy on Myanmar has told theSecurity Council, warning thatregional security could deteri-orate further and no country inthe region would want a “failedstate” as their neighbour.

Myanmar’s military top-pled the country’s governmenton February 1 and seizedpower for one year, detainingtop political figures, including

de facto leader Aung San SuuKyi and President U WinMyint. The coup sparkedprotests and other acts of civildisobedience, leading to thedeaths of hundreds in militarycrackdown.

The 15-nation Councilheld closed consultations onMyanmar on Wednesday, daysafter the country witnessed thebloodiest day since the demon-strations against the February1 coup began, with securityforces killing at least 107 indi-viduals — including sevenchildren, on March 27.

In her remarks to theclosed meeting of the Council,

obtained by PTI, Special Envoyof Secretary-General AntonioGuterres on MyanmarChristine Schraner Burgenersaid that a robust internation-al response requires a unifiedregional position, especiallywith the neighbouring coun-tries leveraging their influ-ence towards stability inMyanmar.

“The regional security andeconomic consequences aregetting worse and could dete-riorate further. The influx ofrefugees at the Indian andThai borders and elsewhere isominous and likely just thebeginning,” she said.

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US President Joe Biden onThursday let the ban on

foreign workers visa, in par-ticular H-1B, lapse as the noti-fication issued by his prede-cessor Donald Trump expired,a move which is likely to ben-efit thousands of Indian IT pro-fessionals.

Amidst a national lock-down and the Covid-19 crisis,Trump in June last year issueda proclamation that suspendedentry to the US of applicants forseveral temporary or “non-immigrant” visa categories,including H-1B, arguing that these visas pre-sented a risk to the US labourmarket during the economicrecovery.

On December 31, Trumpextended the order to March31, 2021, noting that an exten-

sion was warranted as the pan-demic continued to disruptAmerican’s lives, and high lev-els of unemployment and jobloss were still presenting serious economicchallenges to workers acrossthe US.

Biden did not issue a freshproclamation for the ban on H-1B visas to continue afterMarch 31.

He had promised to lift thesuspension on H-1B visas, say-ing Trump’s immigration poli-cies were cruel.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreignworkers in specialty occupa-tions that require theoretical ortechnical expertise. Technologycompanies depend on it to hiretens of thousands of employeeseach year from countries likeIndia and China.

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Ashooting at a SouthernCalifornia office building

on Wednesday killed four peo-ple, including a child, andinjured a fifth person beforepolice shot the suspect, policesaid.

Shots were being fired asofficers arrived at a two-storyoffice building on LincolnAvenue in Orange, southeast ofLos Angeles, at about 5.30 pm,Lt. Jennifer Amat said.

“An officer-involved shoot-ing occurred” and the suspectwas taken to a hospital, Amatsaid, but she didn’t immediatelyknow his condition.

The shooting was on thesecond floor of the building,Amat said. Media reports saidbodies could be seen on the

building’s second-floor walk-way and in a courtyard.

Amat had no details aboutthe confrontation, what mayhave sparked the attack or whya child may have been at thebuilding at 202 W. LincolnAve. Signs outside indicated ahandful of businesses werelocated there, including aninsurance office, a financialconsulting firm, a legal servicesbusiness and a phone repairstore.

By 7. pm, the situationhad been stabilised and therewasn’t any threat to the public,police said. In a tweet, Gov.Gavon Newsom called thekillings “horrifying and heart-breaking.”

“Our hearts are with thefamilies impacted by this ter-rible tragedy tonight,” he wrote.

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Seven Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates were

convicted Thursday on chargesof organizing and participatingin an unlawful assembly duringmassive anti-governmentprotests in 2019 that triggereda crackdown on dissent.

The seven include mediatycoon and founder of theApple Daily tabloid Jimmy Lai,as well as 82-year-old MartinLee, a veteran of the city’sdemocracy movement. Lai hadalready been held without bail

on other charges related to hispro-democracy activities.

They were convicted fortheir involvement in a protestheld on Aug. 18, 2019.Organizers said that 1.7 millionpeople marched that day inopposition to a proposed billthat would have allowed sus-pects to be extradited to main-land China for trial.

The activists, apart fromthose who have been remandedin custody on other charges, weregranted bail on condition they donot leave Hong Kong and musthand in all their travel documents.

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The US state of Alabama hasblocked a yoga bill that

would have lifted a decades-oldban on the popular age-oldIndian practice in publicschools after objections fromconservative groups who fearedthat followers of Hinduismcould engage in conversion,according to a media report.

Pushed by conservativegroups, the Alabama Board ofEducation in 1993 had voted toprohibit yoga, along with hyp-nosis and meditation in publicschools in the southeasternstate. Last year in March, theAlabama House ofRepresentatives voted 84-17to pass the “Yoga Bill” whichwas moved by state legislatorJeremy Gray from theDemocratic Party.

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European nations’ immu-nization campaigns against

Covid-19 are “unacceptablyslow” and risk prolonging thepandemic, a senior WorldHealth Organization officialsaid Thursday.

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO’sregional director for Europe,said vaccines “present our bestway out of this pandemic,” butnoted that to date, only 10% ofEurope’s population hasreceived one dose and thatonly 4% have been fully pro-tected with two doses.

“As long as coverageremains low, we need to applythe same public health andsocial measures as we have inthe past, to compensate fordelayed schedules,” Kluge said.

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GST collections remainedabove the �1-lakh-crore

mark for the sixth month in arow in March, rising 27 percent annually to record � 1.23lakh crore, the finance ministrysaid on Thursday.

The Ministry said thesteep increasing trend in goodsand services tax is a clear indi-cation of rapid economic recov-ery post pandemic.

Closer monitoring againstfake-billing, deep data analyt-ics using data from multiplesources including GST, incometax and customs IT systemsand effective tax administrationhave also contributed to thesteady increase in tax revenueover past few months, it added.

The gross GST revenuecollected in March 2021 stoodat �1,23,902 crore. Of this,central GST stood at �22,973crore, state GST at �29,329crore, integrated GST at �62,842 crore (including �31,097crore collected on import of

goods) and Cess at �8,757crore (including �935 crorecollected on import of goods).

GST revenue in March2020 was �97,590 crore.

“GST revenues duringMarch 2021 are the highestsince the introduction of GST.

“In line with the trend ofrecovery in the GST revenuesover past five months, the rev-enues for the month of March2021 are 27 per cent higherthan the GST revenues in thesame month last year,” theministry said in a statement.

During the month, rev-enues from import of goodswere 70 per cent higher and therevenues from domestic trans-action were 17 per cent morethan the revenues from thesesources during the same monthlast year.

The GST revenues declined41 per cent and 8 per cent inthe June and September quar-ters, respectively. However,with economic recovery, themop-up grew 8 per cent and 14per cent in December and

March quarters of this financialyear.

GST collections, whichdirectly reflect the state of eco-nomic activity, had plummet-ed to a record low of Rs 32,172crore in April 2020, after thegovernment imposed a nation-wide lockdown to curb thespread of coronavirus.

The lockdown, categorisedby several agencies as one of thestrictest in the world, pum-melled the economy, asdemand dried up and non-essential businesses were shut-tered. In the April-June quar-ter, the economy contracted bythe steepest ever 24.4 per cent,and 7.3 per cent in Septemberquarter. However, in October-December it came back inpositive territory with 0.4 percent growth.

As restrictions were grad-ually lifted, many sectors of theeconomy were able to springback into action although out-put remains well below the pre-pandemic levels.

Deloitte India Senior

Director M S Mani said, “Inaddition to the trend of high-er overall GST collections overthe past six months, all majorstates have shown a significantincrease compared to the pre-vious year.”

He added that the increasein collections on importsaccompanied by the increase indomestic transactions wouldindicate that the overall pro-duction and consumption cycleis back to normal.

ICRA Principal EconomistAditi Nayar said the healthyGST collections in March 2021,along with the additional devo-lution of Rs 45,000 crore to thestate governments for the just-concluded fiscal, confirm therating agency’s view that the taxrevenues in FY2021 haveexceeded the RevisedEstimates.

“We continue to expectthe GoI’s fiscal deficit to under-shoot the FY2021 RE of Rs 18.5lakh crore, suggesting amplecash balances at the start ofFY2022.”

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday

said salary income earned bynon-resident Indians in Gulfcountries would continue to beexempt from tax in India.

Quoting a tweet of TMCMP Mahua Moitra, Sitharamanclarified that the Finance Act2021 has not brought in anynew or additional tax on Indianworkers inSaudi/UAE/Oman/Qatar.

The minister said the saidamendment in the FinanceAct, 2021, has merely incor-porated general definition ofthe term “liable to tax” in theIncome Tax Act to provide clar-ity.

“This amendment has notaltered the taxability of salaryincome earned by non-residentIndian citizens in Gulf coun-tries.Their salary income

earned in Gulf countries wouldcontinue to be exempt in India,”the Office of Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Moitrahad tweeted a picture of anamendment in Finance Bill,2021, saying the “complicatedwords” in the amendment is “inreality a Special Gulf workerstax”.

“FM going back on herwords. Hardworking Indianworkers inSaudi/UAE/Oman/Qatar to betaxed EXTRA,” Moitra tweet-ed. Sitharaman’s office tweeted:“No going back on words. TheFinance Act, 2021 hasn’tbrought in any additional ornew tax on hardworking Indianworkers inSaudi/UAE/Oman/Qatar.”

The minister also saidthat drawing conclusions with-out comprehending the facts isworrying.

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The Income Tax Departmenthas issued refunds worth

over �2.62 lakh crore to morethan 2.38 crore taxpayers in2020-21.

This include �87,749 crorepersonal income tax refunds to2.34 crore taxpayers and �1.74lakh crore worth corporate taxrefunds in 3.46 lakh cases.

The refunds issued in2020-21 marks an increase ofalmost 43.2 per cent, the I-Tdepartment said in a statement.

“Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) has issuedrefunds of more than �2.62lakh crore to more than 2.38crore taxpayers from 1st April,2020 to 31st March, 2021,” thestatement said.

The total refunds issued in2019-20 were worth Rs 1.83lakh crore.

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Indian equities started thenew fiscal on a strong note

on Thursday, with the BSESensex surging over 520 pointsto settle above the 50,000-levelon across-the-board buying byparticipants amid positive glob-al cues.

At the closing bell, the 30-share BSE index quoted 520.68points or 1.05 per cent higherat 50,029.83, driven by gains inbanking, IT and energy stocks.Of the Sensex stocks, 25 closedin the green.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose 176.65 points or 1.2per cent to settle at 14,867.35.IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank,ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, BajajFinance and Ultratech Cementwere prominent gainers. State-run SBI rose 1.7 per cent amida rally in public sector banks.

On the other hand,HUL, Nestle, HDFC Bank,TCS, Titan and

Tech Mahindra sufferedlosses.

“Domestic equitiesshrugged-off COVID-19 spikeson favourable global cues andrecovered sharply mainly led bystrong buying in financials andautomobile stocks. Strongmonthly volume for Marchhelped auto stocks attractinvestors’ interest,” Binod Modi,Head - Strategy at RelianceSecurities, said.

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State-owned CIL onThursday said it provided

additional coal supply in thecountry during 2020-21, whichprompted customers to opt 90million tonnes of domesticcoal instead of importing itfrom abroad. At the end ofCOVID-19-hit 2020-21, CoalIndia Ltd’s (CIL) silver lining,amid output and offtake chal-lenges, came in the form ofcurbing coal imports to thetune of 90 million tonnes (MT),the public sector undertakingsaid in a statement.Also, beat-ing the previous estimates, thestate-owned coal major bookedan all-time high of 124 MT inits e-auctions.Sustaining itsgrowth trajectory throughoutthe fiscal, over burden removal(OBR) logged 17 per centgrowth easing the way forfaster future production, thestatement said.

New Delhi:The labour min-istry has set up expert com-mittees to review the stan-dards under the OccupationalSafety, Health and WorkingConditions (OSH&WC) Code,2020.The Code has amalga-mated thirteen different labourlegislations and is aimed at sim-plifying the laws regulatingthe occupational safety, healthand working conditions inestablishments. “The central

government has constitutedexpert committees compris-ing industry and subjectexperts from both public andprivate sector across the coun-try to review the existing rulesand regulations on safety,health and working conditionsstandards, pertaining to facto-ries, docks and constructionwork,” the ministry said in astatement on Thursday.

PTI

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In a major step towardsresolving its overall debt,

IL&FS on Thursdayannounced completion of its 49per cent stake sale in Chineseroad asset, Chongqing YuheExpressway Co Ltd (CYEC),which would help the compa-ny to address debt of about Rs2,600 crore.

It sold the stake to ChinaMerchants & PingAnInfrastructure Phase 1 EquityInvestment Fund (Tianjin) CoLtd (PingAn), a fund jointlyowned by PingAn Insuranceand China Merchants.

This is the largest transac-tion for IL&FS since the sale ofits wind energy assets to Orix,IL&FS said in a statement.

IL&FS has duly received Rs1,035 crore ($141.3 million) inSingapore as part of this trans-action.

The consideration will be

used to pay around $88 millionof Bank of Baroda loans andthe balance to meet IIPL lia-bilities, including the bond-holders under IOPL.

IL&FS Group held 49 percent stake in CYEC through itsstep down Singapore-basedsubsidiary, ITNL InternationalPte Ltd (IIPL).

The balance 51 per centstake in CYEC is held byChongqing Expressway Group(CEG).

PingAn had bid at anaggregate equity valuation of$281 million for 100 per centstake. This valued IIPL’s 49 percent stake at around $140 mil-lion and PingAn had agreed totake over the Rs 1,600 croredebt (as of December 2018) inthe CYEC.The transaction wascompleted post receipt ofapproval from retired SupremeCourt Justice D.K. Jain and theNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT).

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The Government’s privatisa-tion policy for PSUs fails to

address their potential irrele-vance in an increasingly com-plex and disrupted world, asper a report by KotakInstitutional Equities.

The report said PSU com-panies have already become

irrelevant in most B2C sectorssuch as aviation, telecommu-nications or are steadily losingmarket shares to their privatesector competitors in finan-cials.

The market certainly doesnot have a favourable view ofthe future prospects of thePSUs given the large erosion inmarket capitalisation of most

PSUs over time, it added.“We see large existential

issues for PSUs given theirpresence in challenged andchallenging industries.

The government’s privatisation policy may notachieve strategic (value max-imisation) and financial (assetmonetisation) objectiveseither,” it said.

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Gold rallied by �881 to�44,701 per 10 gram in the

national capital on Thursdayfollowing a sharp recovery inglobal precious metal prices,according to HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, ithad closed at Rs 43,820 per 10gram. Silver also gained Rs1,071 to Rs 63,256 per kilogramfrom Rs 62,185 per kilogram inthe previous trade.

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Parineeti Chopra is basking in the goodreviews that she has got for her powerful and

versatile performances in three back to back films— The Girl On The Train (TGOTT), Sandeep AurPinky Faraar (SAPF) and the recently releasedSaina. Pari reveals that going forward she willonly look to ‘shock and awe’ people with her filmchoices that will allow her to showcase her act-ing skills effectively.

Pari says, “I’m currently over the moon withthe reviews that I have got for TGOTT, SAPF andSaina and I realised that what the audience andcritics loved was my decision to pick versatileroles that helped me shine as a performer. Goingforward too, my film choices will be instinctive,bold and hopefully I will be able to shock andawe people like I have done with these three backto back films.”

For Pari, 2021 has started on a good note andshe intends to capitalise on this positive momen-tum. She says, “They have been praising my workand saying things like Parineeti 2.0, return ofParineeti, the power packed hat-trick of ParineetiChopra. It feels very special and rare as no actorhas achieved this feat of releasing three films inone month and I cannot believe it. It’s been agood start to my year because people have real-ly liked what I have tried to do on screen.”

She adds, “Their love is a big validation thatI should always get out of my comfort zone andshake things up for myself. It’s a big lesson thatI have learnt and I’m going to ensure that Iapply this when it comes to my film choicesgoing forward.”

Listening empowers you to seewith your eyes closed. Yes, visual-isation is what I am talking about.

Since the beginning of humankind,whenever a person wanted to focus onsomething or listen carefully to remem-ber or absorb knowledge, the first stepwas to close the eyes primarily to cutoff the mind from the outer world (visu-als) and remove every distraction. Inearlier times, whether people used totravel to dif ferent parts of thecountry/world without any map serviceor understand a process, they used toclose their eyes and listen carefully tocreate a mental image to remember thedirections and memorise.

We have enough instances from ourmythology or history about the impor-tance of sound, especially in learning.Today, even though the ecosystem isdynamic and the invention of newertechnologies like VR, 4D, AR, etc, areproviding multiple means to consumecontent and learn, the importance ofaudio as the fundamental means oftransferring knowledge cannot be dis-counted. Moreover, with so many for-mats of content, there is an increased

chance of facing distraction andergonomic difficulties in learningthrough video/VR-based education.Even though these formats offer greatentertainment and leisurely experi-ences, it does not suitably address theabove concerns, especially consideringthe post-COVID scenario. During thepandemic, screen times have skyrock-eted, and as a positive measure, peopleare turning to less captive formats tosave their time and health.

Audio-based learning answers allthese concerns so well that some of thesubjects/topics are now made availablein audio formats. These topics can bebest learned on audio, hence, the term‘Audio First’ was coined to describe it.For instance, if an individual has tostudy history by reading a book, theprocess itself is so long and monotonousthat the student loses interest to con-sume the relevant pointers. If you tryto learn the same subject throughvideo, content production becomesunaffordable and time-consuming.However, the same can be taught inaudio most effectively without worry-ing about the high cost of content pro-

duction or long hours of monotonousreading.

Another robust case can be madefor learning languages, which under-standably has considerable marketpotential. Whenever someone wants tolearn a new language, the most crucialelement in the process is to listen to thecontent in the language carefully. It willhelp people attain a knack for the lan-guage, develop better pronunciationand fluency, and eventually make learn-ing much less complicated.

Let us also look beyond students orlearners for developing life skills. Thereis another vast use case of learningthrough audio in corporate L&D formultiple industries like hospitality,travel, food delivery, e-commerce, taxiservice, etc. All the mentioned indus-tries are operations-intensive and haveprofessional requirements to train theirpeople on SOPs (Standard OperatingProcedures) many times over. Withminimal infrastructure or devicerequirements, audio becomes thesmartest choice for corporates to traintheir employees on SOPs without tak-ing additional time from their workschedule or their lives. Audio helps toconvert any activity time into learningtime, unlike other mediums/formats,which require dedicated schedules toconsume the content.

In the next three years, AI-basedvoice assistants will take learning to thenext level. Further to this, voice assis-tants will seamlessly deliver quizzes,facts and interaction-based knowledgein such streamlined ways that peoplewill start preferring them over tradition-al teaching methodologies. This can beattributed to the convenience and per-sonalisation that these voice assistantsare capable of providing.

With the extent of transformationbrought to us every day by AI, machine-learning, data-analytics, and other tech-nologies, it won’t be surprising to see bigleaps in human productivity. A lot of thedevelopments will be linked to the con-sumption of content through audio aspeople are preferring to multitask andcater more time to learning. Rather thanwasting precious time in transiting forwork, moving physical things likebooks, tablets, and computers around,they would prefer to operate devicesthrough voice-commands for a hassleand stress-free lifestyle. We are alreadywitnessing disruption through freshideas like voice recognition, wherein, anAI and machine learning-based techdelivers customised content after recog-nising the owners’ voice. The possibil-ities for the future are immense, andpeoples’ love for audio will be at the cen-ter of new learning experiences. Thenext generation of technology in audiowill be embraced with open arms, justlike radio, MP3 devices, and audio appshave been in recent years.

(The writer is the COO of Khabri.)

Be honest now, are you a bitpartial to Diet Cola? I am.

As much as I like carbonateddrinks, truth be told, they arequite sugary and since mybody can’t get rid of that sugarefficiently enough, the onlyway to fuel myself is the dietpath. But being a diet cola doesnot mean that there has to bea sacrifice on the taste front. Agood diet cola should give youthe same satisfaction as thereal thing. Now, you must bewondering why any discussionaround 350-horsepower carswould have the word ‘diet’ init. Both the Audi S5 and theBMW M340i are not the full-fat, fire-breathing ultra sportssedans. The six-cylinder tur-bocharged petrol-drinkingRS4 and the M3 are no joke,but they are saner than theirbrethren.

So let us get a couple ofthings out of the way. TheBMW M340i can be slotted inbetween the 330i sedan andthe M3. The Audi RS5 isAudi’s only performance sedan

on the market right now. Theyboth have almost 350 horse-power and they can both hit 0-100 in around 4.5 seconds. TheAudi has a V6 and the BMWa straight-six. They have bothbeen sprinkled with the fairydust of each company’s perfor-mance engineers, with suspen-sion and engine tweaks. Butthe big difference is in price,the BMW has an ex-show-room price of �63 lakh and theAudi costs �79 lakhs. Thishuge difference is explainedalmost entirely by the factthat the BMW is locally assem-bled at BMW’s plant nearChennai and the Audi is animport.

But there should be nopresumption here that theBMW is superior to the Audibecause, even though I have a

soft sport for BMW, I love theS5. I loved it in the previousgeneration and I love the cur-rent one. One of my mostmemorable automotive expe-riences was in the S5 and thislatest iteration of the car is a lotof fun to drive. Get onto apiece of tarmac where you canlet the car slide around a bitand it will put a smile on yourface. It has before-you-know-it fast speed and I must admit,I have always been partial tothe Sportback shape of the S5which, in my opinion, is theperfect size for a Sportback.

But you can’t really ever

argue with the sticker price, anon-road price difference of 20lakh is quite massive and makeno mistakes the M340i is noslouch. BMW has given thiscar the manufacturer’s XDrive

all-wheel-drive system whichgives it massive amounts ofgrip no matter what the roadconditions. Unlike a full-fat Mcar, and the M3 is on its waysoon to be one, you cannot put

the car into rear-wheel-driveonly mode. But given thatthis car is relatively affordable,that is not a bad thing. Toomuch power too soon is arecipe for disaster. The M340ihas just the right amount ofpower and performance. It isnot a full-fat M3, but it givesyou a great experience ofpower and performancedespite being a bit of a ‘sleep-er’.

But the Audi is possibly anicer car to live with, and eventhough it feels a bit moredated on the inside, it is the carthat I’d rather live with.

Actor Daisy Shah is an ani-mal lover and often feeds

strays. She says that she alwayscarries food with her when sheventures out. The actor wasrecently seen feeding the straydogs and cows in Andheri.

“I often feed the strays Icome across, as and when I can.I actually have a box of dog bis-cuits in my car wherever I go.So, if I stop at a signal or if I amwalking from my car to some-place and I see these adorableanimals, I always feed them.There is unmatchable pleasurein doing so,” she said.

She says that proper segre-gation of garbage needs to bedone in order to make sure thatanimals don’t consume thewrong things.

“One needs to understandthat stray animals require to eatas well, so they try to fish outfood from wherever possible.Many a time it lands up beingfrom the big garbage bins thatare around the city, which areprovided by the BMC. Thegovernment has surely done itsbit in keeping our city clean byproviding us with these garbagebins, but people are yet unawareof segregating their garbagecorrectly.”

She urges people to dividetheir garbage properly so that itcan be disposed off in an appro-priate manner.

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An American author, MaryAntin, once said, “Amongthe liveliest of my memories

are those of eating and drinking...”Well, I won’t deny it either. Recently,for instance, I, along with three ofmy friends, each distinct from theother, headed towards Gurugram’s32nd Milestone. Climbing up awhite spiral staircase, we made ourway into an Asian-themed bar anddiner — RYU.

The dragon was the prime ele-ment of the bar that distinctlydominated the first floor’s visuals asthe concept creator of the restaurantbelieves that every dragon has a per-sonality of its own, thus, inspiringpeople to delve deeper into theirlayers and exploring different ver-sions of themselves as they relaxcomfortably at the restaurant.

Walking past the interiors, wemoved towards the rooftop andfound a comfortable spot — a cor-ner table. But I was overcome withcuriosity about the meaning ofRYU? To find out the same, Igoogled the name and came toknow that RYU is a fictionalJapanese fighting character andthe protagonist of Capcom’s StreetFighter series. Sitting under theshade of an intricate Japaneseumbrella, I, then, realised that therestaurant is inspired by the cultureand tradition of Japan, China andMalaysia. The warm, dim yellowlights and soft music in the back-ground set our mood for the night.

We started with Chilli garlicmushrooms. The tender buttonmushrooms were tossed in therich flavour of garlic. The slightpungency could be traced to thevinegar and soya sauce. Though ittasted a little sweet due to the useof caramelised onions. Even though

I am not a huge fan of mushrooms,I found myself indulging and goingfor a second round.

Thai crispy vegetables whichhad broccoli, carrots, bell peppers,cabbage and cauliflower wok-tossedin lemon, chilli and a few other Thaiherbs was served next. To ensurethat these remained crunchy evenafter turning a bit cold, the execu-tive chef Lekh Bhadur KhadgaMagar used rice flour. This garlicky,super crunchy dish was certainlythe star of the night, not only for mebut for my pals as well.

Next up was the Classic vegspring rolls. Served with sweetchilli sauce, these vegetables stuffedcrispy tangy rolls were fried to per-fection and didn’t have any trace ofoil, which usually is the norm inother places. Not high on spices orany kind of excessive flavours, it was

comfort food at its best.I wanted to pair beer with the

meal, however, one can’t help butlook at the menu when it has a widerange of cocktails to choose from.Taking suggestions from the mixol-ogist Nikit Singh, we orderedaround five drinks, each with a dif-ferent base. While Pandarama wasa sweet mixture of vermouth, pas-sion fruit, orange juice, thyme &lime float with flamed absinthe(anise-flavoured spirit) and cinna-mon, Sex on the roof had maliburum, Midori, banana puree, pineap-ple and lime. It reminded me of thebeach while chilling on the rooftop.The third was Smoked popcorn old-fashioned. It was a twist of classic oldfashioned incorporated withflavours of popcorn and grapefruitsmoked with RYU’s special osman-thus woodchip and Jameson. The

fourth — Junglebird, with its strongflavours — made the best impact onmy already impressed tastebuds.Another reason was the presenta-tion. It came in a bird-shapedglass, which was surrounded by anest-like arrangement, which jus-tified its name. A twist to aMalaysian classic, this versioninfused jackfruit and thyme rum,tiramisu syrup, Campari, pineapplejuice and lime. Last, the fifth wasgin-based Flower power. It came inwine glasses, shaken with elder-flower yuzu, thyme and lemonjuice topped with in-house saltedcoconut foam.

But I was yet to be done withthe food, Yasai tempura made itsway to my table. This was the veg-etarian version of tempura whichusually consists of seafood, meatand vegetables battered and deep-

fried. But it also had elements ofsushi. It had tempura fried aspara-gus, carrot wrapped with Japaneserice and seaweed flavoured withspicy Japanese mayonnaise. To saythe least, sushi is often a disap-pointment for me but this partic-ular one wasn’t... for sure.

They say an Asian menu isincomplete without dim sumsand momos. It’s true! So we triedtheir Veg momos and Bok choyasparagus. The momos hadminced vegetables as the stuffingand were steamed to perfection.The dim sums filling had steamedbok choy, asparagus and corian-der. It was served with hot chillisauce. You know the dim sum, ifliterally translated, means “touchthe heart”. And this one just didthat.

We were pretty near satura-tion and we ordered a Veg kebabplatter, which included oven-cooked paneer tikka, malai broc-coli and hara bhara kebab. It wasserved along with mint chutney.While paneer tikka and harabhara kebab were exactly howthey are served everywhere, malaibroccoli was the exception. As itis I am fond of broccoli and I havebeen a fan of cheese for as long asI can remember — it was a per-fect fusion for me as it wasflavoured with cream cheese.

I must say — if not for thedelectable bites, people must visitRYU for its exceptional signaturecocktails. In the words of ShyamThakur, co-founder of the restau-rant, “I have always been incred-ibly passionate about cocktails.The flavours, the skill, the kind ofprecision that goes inside creatingone great cocktail – it’s an art wor-thy of obsession.”

Among the zillion other things thatthis pandemic has changed in our

lives, it has changed the way we eat.This means different things for differ-ent people.

While many of us used the timeat home to turn to cooking and bak-ing and completely did away withordering in and takeaways — there-by eating cleaner and healthier; therewere also those who had to juggleWFH and household chores anddidn’t find time to streamline theirdiets.

On the contrary their lifestylebecame more sedentary and eatinghabits more disorganised. Not tomention the physiological reasons forturning to food when the world hasturned upside down.

In short, people are strugglingwith their eating right now andprobably in different ways thanthey’re used to. An expert on Tata SkyFamily Health, Mona Johar,Functional Integrative Nutrition andCo-Founder Mechanism Wellness,lists down ways of mindful eating inthe time of work from home.

STRUCTURE YOUR DAYNot having the usual comfort

zones like socialising, travelling towork or spending time outdoors innature, has pushed us towards eatingdisorders in the last one year. And ofcourse, the havoc caused by theabsence of a routine. It is importantfor people to carry on with a sched-ule, to try to wake up at set times andgo to sleep at certain times. This willgive them a purpose and do away with‘pandemic boredom’. Once there is astructure, things like diet, exercise andsleep will automatically fall into place.

DESKTOP DIETWhen life revolves around a table

and chair for most parts of the day,thanks to home-schooling and WFH,the obvious conclusion is meals on thedesk (read more snacking)! Whilesnacking may help in keeping yourenergy levels up, in a sedentary envi-ronment it also aids your body in stor-ing unnecessary fat. One should havea combination of either low calorieand high protein snacks or low calo-rie and high fiber snacks. Plan yourmeals in advance and keep them asfresh and organic as possible.

EAT MINDFULLYMindful and intuitive eating prac-

tices are not diets. They are mindsetsthat require you to trust your naturalinstincts and listen to your body’shunger and fullness cues. Mindful eat-ing is about rethinking food choicesand practices; going back to tradition-al ways of eating and engaging yoursenses by noticing colors, smells,sounds, textures, and taste. Work yourway up to eating mindfully every dayand forgive yourself when you don’t.It can take weeks, months so bepatient with yourself, and enjoy theprocess of building a stronger mind-body connection and improving yourrelationship to food.

START AN INTUITIVE JOURNEY

�Honour hunger: Keep your bodybiologically fed with adequate energyand carbohydrates. Once you reach themoment of excessive hunger, all inten-tions of moderate, conscious eating arefleeting and irrelevant.

�Don’t eat for the wrong reasons: Getin touch with your feelings and don’tlet food become an excuse for not deal-ing with emotions such as anger, anx-iety, or loneliness.

�Make peace with food: Buy food youfeel like eating. Listen to your foodcravings, it is alright to indulge everyonce in a while.

�Stop when full: Listen for the bodysignals that tell you that you are nolonger hungry. Observe the signs thatshow that you’re comfortably full.

�Don’t over-exercise: Check in withyour body, do not exercise hard whenexhausted, opt for a gentler routine.Have a variety of workouts at your dis-posal and pick and choose based onhow your body’s feeling.

�Exercise and move for enjoyment:Not expressly for weight loss or calo-rie burning.

�Eat nutrient dense food: Notice howyou feel when you choose healthy,high-quality food. Take stock of yourphysical, mental and emotionalresponses.

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The increased participa-tion of English playersin the IPL, where there

is constant pressure to per-form, will benefit them duringthe T20 World Cup to be heldin India later this year, reck-ons star all-rounder BenStokes.

Over the years more andmore English players havechosen to take part in thelucrative league. This year,there are 14 England crick-eters contracted to play IPL,including white-ball skipperEoin Morgan, Jos Buttler,Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, MoeenAli, Sam Curran, Tom Curran,Sam Bil l ings, LiamLivingstone, Jason Roy, ChrisWoakes and Dawid Malan.

“Yes — the percentage of

English players in the IPLhas probably grown in the lastfive or so years,” Stokes, whowill turn up for the RajasthanRoyals, told Sky Sports.

“Not only is that great forthe individual but it is alsogreat for the players involvedin the England set-up; it givesthem experience in the mosthigh-profile competition inthe world but not only that —you are under constant pres-sure to perform,” the impos-ing all-rounder added.

India is set to host the T20World Cup later this year andStokes feels it is the perfectopportunity for English play-ers, who were a part of therecently-concluded tour ofIndia, to get more familiarwith the Indian conditions.

“You’ve got billions ofpeople watching you and

you’ve got the pressure of thefranchise on you.

“Being constantly exposedto that is a huge benefit to usas a team, especially with theT20 World Cup coming up atthe end of the year in India; it’sa great chance for the Englishguys to get more experience inthese conditions,” Stokes said.

After being held in theUnited Arab Emirates lastyear due to the Covid-19 pan-demic, the IPL returns toIndia and Stokes hopes fanswould be allowed back in thestadiums soon.

“It’s great for the compe-tition that it’s come back to itsroots after taking place inDubai last year, which was anachievement in itself.

“Fingers crossed that fanswill be allowed back in atsome point during this IPLbecause they are a huge partof this game and why we play.

“It was an amazing feelingto have fans back in thegrounds on our (England’s)

recent tour of India — eventhough 100 per cent of thecrowd were against us! Beingback in the thick of thatatmosphere was amazing!”

The Royals had a disap-pointing campaign last year,finishing last. However, Stokes

is optimistic about the seasonahead.

“Last year was obviouslydisappointing. Yes, we fin-ished bottom of the table butI think it’s not as simple as that.We ebbed and flowed with ourperformances throughout the

season: we had some greatones followed by some prettypoor performances.

“But every year is a cleanslate and we are really excitedabout the prospects of what weare able to do on the field thisyear,” he added.

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New Zealand beatBangladesh by 65 runs in

a rain-shortened third T20I atEden Park on Friday to claima series clean sweep.

With their innings reducedto 10 overs due to bad weath-er, Bangladesh were all out for76 with three balls to spare, wellshort of the 142 target set byNew Zealand.

The Black Caps made 141for four after losing the toss andbeing asked to bat, with FinnAllen hitting 71 from 29 balls.

Spinner Todd Astle was thestandout bowler, taking fourwickets for 13 runs in his twoover spell.

Captain Tim Southee saidit was satisfying for the NewZealanders to notch their sev-enth home series win of theseason on all formats.

“It’s been a great summer

and we’ve played some goodcricket and seen a lot of guyscome into the environmentand do well,” he said.

Bangladesh captain LitonDas said mistakes cost his side,including a series of droppedcatches that allowed Allen to

run away with the match.“We’re not playing good

cricket in batting and fielding,”he said.

“We’ve been very goodbowling but that’s cost us.We’re a young team and we’relearning.”

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Australian Open championNaomi Osaka crashed out

of Miami Open in the quarter-finals on a day of upsets that alsosaw top-seeded DaniilMedvedev ousted.

Seventh-seeded SpaniardRoberto Bautista Agut beatMedvedev 6-4, 6-2, for his thirdwin in as many meetings withthe Russian who was runner-upto Novak Djokovic at theAustralian Open and ascendedto No 2 in the world with hisvictory at Marseille in March.

Bautista booked a semi-final showdown with 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner, theworld No 31 who beatKazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

Against Sinner, he’ll belooking to avenge a three-setdefeat in the third round atDubai.

Women’s world No 2 Osaka— seeded second behind top-ranked Ashleigh Barty in theprestigious ATP Masters andWTA hardcourt tournament— had bowed out hours earli-er, the Japanese star’s 23-matchwinning streak coming to acrashing halt with a 6-0, 6-4 lossto Greece’s Maria Sakkari.

Osaka hadn’t dropped a setat love since her last defeat,which came in February 2020 ina Fed Cup match.

“She has the most wins sofar this year so she’s in greatform — it meant a lot to me,”said Sakkari, who let loose ascream of delight after the finalpoint.

Sakkari will face eighth-seeded Canadian BiancaAndreescu for a place in thewomen’s final.

Andreescu, ranked ninth inthe world, clawed out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over tenacious58th-ranked Spaniard SaraSorribes Tormo.

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Returning to action afterserving a one-year ban,

Bangladesh star all-rounderShakib-Al-Hasan is ready toplay any role that his IPL sideKolkata Knight Riders expectsfrom him in the upcomingseason.

The Bangladesh super-star, who was part of KKRtitle-winning campaigns in2012 and 2014, played justthree matches for SunrisersHyderabad in 2019 before theban spelt his ouster from thegame.

The ICC had bannedhim for two years, with oneyear of that sentence sus-pended, after he acceptedthree charges of breaching theICC anti-corruption code.

Now in his secondinnings at KKR, Shakib is notaverse to open the batting likeSunil Narine or play the roleof a finisher, beside bowlingthose tidy left-arm spin — toseal his place.

“I’m open to anything tobe honest,” the 34-year-old,who was bought by his formerfranchise for �3.2 crore said.

Since his ban ended inOctober last year, he hasplayed only for his domesticside Khulna in theBangabandhu T20 Cup.

“I’m very much confi-dent, it’s just that I need onegood game to get it going. IfI can start well, I think I cando well for the team.”

In his last stint for SRH,he only played three match-es, while at KKR too he maynot be a regular as he’s primar-ily seen as a back-up optionfor Sunil Narine.

Shakib said it indeedaffects the overseas players tosit out in a game but with theoptions being limited he hasto have an open-mindapproach.

“There are 8-10 overseasplayers in each team andonly four can play. You can-not blame the team selection.

You have to keep an openmind, keep training hard andneed to make sure wheneveryou get a chance, you grab theopportunity with both hands.”

In the post-GautamGambhir era, KKR havemissed playoffs for two yearsin a row and Shakib hopedthings would change this timeround.

“From outside, you cansee it in different ways. Thisteam has grown in last twoyears. This is the year I thinkKKR will be able to deliver theperformance that fans havebeen asking for. I’m verymuch optimistic, KKR will getthe result.”

KKR also have includedveteran India off-spinnerHarbhajan Singh to an alreadystrong spin lineup featuringSunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadavand Varun Chakravarthyamong others.

“We got a very good spindepartment, having said thatwe have got a great pacebowling lineup too. All in all,we have got a very goodbowling lineup,” he conclud-ed.

The two-time champi-ons will kick-start their cam-paign against SunrisersHyderabad in Chennai onApril 11.

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Australia and Chennai SuperKings fast bowler Josh

Hazlewood has pulled out of theupcoming edition of the IndianPremier League to take a smallbreak from cricket and keephimself fresh for the Ashes andthe T20 World Cup later thisyear.

Hazlewood was to departwith other Australia’s IPL-boundplayers and join CSK but decid-ed to skip the cash-rich league,which will start on April 9 andgo on till May 30, and spendtime at home for the next twomonths.

The 30-year-old playedthree games for CSK in the IPLlast season.

“It’s been a long 10 monthsin bubbles and quarantine at dif-ferent times, so I decided to havea rest from cricket and spendsome time at home and in

Australia in the next twomonths,” Hazlewood was quot-ed as saying by cricket.Com.Au.

“We’ve got a big winterahead. The West Indies is goingto be a long tour, withBangladesh (T20 tour) potential-ly thrown on the end of that.

Then potentially the T20 WorldCup leading into the Ashes, soit’s a big 12 months.

“As it always is withAustralia, and I want to givemyself the best chance to bementally and physically ready forthat,” he added.

The right-armer followscompatriots Josh Philippe (RCB)and Mitchell Marsh (SRH) inwithdrawing from the IPL, whilesome other Australians mayconsider opting out also, accord-ing to the report.

With the pulling out of theIPL, Hazlewood is now availablefor the back end of the domes-tic season. He is expected to beavailable for NSW for theSheffield Shield final if theyqualify. “I haven’t been bowlinga great deal ... Workloads are abit too low … hopefully I can usethe next two weeks to build upand if we’re in the Shield final Ican play that,” the pacer said.

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Rajasthan Royals’ newrecruit Shivam Dube says

he is ready to bat at anyposition for his team and islooking to get some “extratips” from Director Of CricketKumara Sangakkara toimprove his batting duringthe IPL.

Dube, who has featuredin one ODI and nine T20s forIndia, was brought by theRajasthan Royals for a whop-ping �4.40 crores.

“I think, I have played atmany positions, so I don’t caremuch about what I can do, Icare much about what teamsneeds from me,” 27-year-oldDube said.

“So if they want me to batup the order, I can bat at any

number, early in the innings,and if they want me as a fin-isher in any game, I can dothat also.

“I have played the roles in

many formats, so I am reallyfree about that.”

After the IPL auctions,Sangakkara had said thatDube’s batting will be themain focus and “if there is anopportunity for him to bowl,it would be very rarely andvery few overs, if at all.”

Dube said he is lookingforward to getting some“extra-tips” from the SriLankan legend, with whomhe will be working in theupcoming season.

“... He (Sangakkara) hasplayed a lot of cricket and heis going to watch me andgoing to tell me what I needto add in my game to improveand to be a better left-hand-ed batsman,” he said.

“Many things would bethere, but from a batting

perspective, it would be morefrom my side to get someextra t ips from Sanga(Sangakkara), so I can per-form well in the tourna-ment.”

Dube said he is solelyfocused on winning the tro-phy for his team.

“First of all ... If I am play-ing for any team, I just expectmy team and myself to aimfor the trophy. I don’t expect(anything personally). . .Because as a professional youknow what you want andwhat teams will give you,what roles you have to playand that you will get from thecoach...

“The one thing I wouldalways be grateful is that I willbe playing for Rajasthan andthey will be trusting me a lot.”

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��3*�.$$ ��)**��$)��$(��+�Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Ridersbatsman Nitish Rana was onThursday cleared to train withhis teammates after testingnegative for Covid-19, morethan a week after returningpositive for the infectious dis-ease.

The 27-year-old lefthanderhad tested positive a day afterhis arrival in Mumbai onMarch 21, following which hewent into isolation in the teamhotel.

“Nitish Rana had checkedinto the KKR team hotel inMumbai, on March 21 with anegative Covid report whichwas done on March 19... Hewas tested on March 22, dur-ing his quarantine and thereport showed that he waspositive,” KKR said in a state-ment.

“He has had no symptomsand has been completelyasymptomatic since. He isolat-

ed himself and was tested againtoday. We are glad to reportthat he has tested negative. Weexpect him to start trainingwith the team shortly and befully fit well before the start ofthe season.”

Rana had scored 352 runsin 14 matches during the IPL2020 season.

It remains to be seenwhether he will be fit to play fortheir season-opener againstSunrisers Hyderabad inChennai on April 11. PTI

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Germany fell to a humiliating2-1 home loss to North

Macedonia on Wednesday,handing the hosts their firstWorld Cup qualifying defeat in20 years and piling the pressureon coach Joachim Löw.

Napoli midfielder EljifElmas scored the winner fiveminutes from time, after IlkayGundogan’s penalty had drawnGermany level following 37-year-old striker Goran Pandev’sfirst-half opener.

The four-time world cham-pions have never failed to qual-ify for football’s biggest tourna-ment, but did not enter theinaugural edition in 1930 andwere banned in 1950.

However, Löw’s men arealready languishing third inthe Group J table, three pointsadrift of leaders Armenia andbehind the Macedonians ongoal difference.

“That should not have been

allowed to happen,” fumedGermany’s stand-in captainGundogan to RTL after thenation’s first World Cup quali-fying loss since the infamous 5-1 thrashing by England in 2001.

“It felt as though NorthMacedonia only got near ourgoal twice and scored twice —it was too easy.”

The defeat was just the lat-est setback suffered byGermany, after their embarrass-ing 6-0 drubbing by Spain lastNovember and the shock

group-stage exit at the 2018World Cup in Russia.

The loss, which ended an18-match winning streak inWorld Cup qualifying, will pilemore pressure on Löw, who willstep down after Euro 2020 inJuly after 15 years in charge.

The result will also weighon struggling Chelsea strikerTimo Werner, who squandereda golden chance with the score1-1 after coming off the benchin the second half.

The former RB Leipzig

striker has now scored only twogoals in his last 31 appearancesfor club and country.

In other matches, AntoineGriezmann scored the onlygoal of the game in the secondhalf as reigning world champi-ons France ground out a 1-0 vic-tory over Bosnia andHerzegovina.

Griezmann headed inAdrien Rabiot’s cross on thehour in Sarajevo to give theholders their second away winin four days.

At Wembley, HarryMaguire thundered home a latewinner as England beat Poland2-1 to seize control of theirgroup with three wins fromthree.

Captain Harry Kane gaveGareth Southgate’s men a first-half lead from the penalty spotbut they faded at an emptyWembley and were punishedwhen Jakub Moder struck aftera defensive howler from JohnStones.

England looked likely todrop their first points of thecampaign before ManchesterUnited defender Maguire savedStones’s blushes with five min-utes remaining after an assistfrom the Manchester City man.

Also, Italy and Spain winagainst Lithuania (2-0) andKosovo (3-1) respectively.

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Pakistan will adopt a “mod-ern day” approach in the

upcoming ODI series againstSouth Africa and look to put300 plus totals by finishing witha flourish, captain Babar Azamsaid on Thursday.

Pakistan will play threeODIs and four T20Is againsthosts South Africa, startingwith the first one-dayer inCenturion on Friday.

“We are trying to play‘modern-day cricket’ for theupcoming event. We will try togain the necessary pointsthrough the series againstSouth Africa. We will startstrong. If our finishers fire, wecan reach a total above 300,”Babar, who leads Pakistan in allthree formats, said during vir-

tual press conference.“The key to getting 300

plus scores is finishing with aflurry in our innings. Wehaven’t played a lot of ODIssince the World Cup so we arealso making a fresh start witha modern day approach.”

The Pakistan skipper alsotalked about maintainingmomentum and said his teamis working hard on improvingits power hitting capability.

He promised to try to playfearless cricket and try outsome combinations for longerperiods to see which oneworks.

Babar said said the coach-es had been working hard withthe lower order batsmen andallrounders so that they couldfinish strong in ODIs and T20sas well with higher strike rates.

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