" g`ez_x z_ $cu ayrdv `w fa a`]]d - daily pioneer

��

One person was shot dead inMainpuri in poll-related

violence, but elsewhere thethird phase of the UttarPradesh (UP) election endedpeacefully on Sunday with avoter turnout of around 61 percent.

The seats for which votingtook place on Sunday are locat-ed in the west, central andsouthern parts of UP. In 2017,the BJP won 49 of these 59 seatswhile the Samajwadi Party (SP)won just nine. The Congresswon one seat and Mayawati'sBahujan Samaj Party (BSP),none.

The polling ended at 6 pmon Sunday with an average 61

per cent turnout of voters till 6pm. An average of 48.81 percent voting was recorded till 3pm in 59 Assembly con-stituencies spread in 16 districts

in the third phase of Assemblyelections in the State.

In Mainpuri, a BJP work-er was shot near a pollingstation. The accused, identi-

fied as a SP worker, is in cus-tody.

Among the key con-stituencies where polling washeld on Sunday are Karhalwhere former Chief Ministerand Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav is contestinghis maiden Assembly election.The BJP has pitted UnionMinister of State in theMinistry of Law and JusticeSatya Pal Singh Baghel againstAkhilesh Yadav.

According to the ElectionCommission, the averagepolling percentage till 5 p.m.was 59 per cent in Hathras,57.14 per cent in Firozabad,59.11 per cent in Kasganj,63.58 per cent in Etah, 60.80

Continued on Page 6

��

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday said that

the Samajwadi Party and otheropposition parties were soft onterror, adding that the SP hadwithdrawn cases against ter-rorists responsible for 14 inci-dents in the state when theytook over power in 2012.

Addressing election ralliesin Hardoi and Unnao, whichare going to polls in the fourthphase on February 23, theprime minister said: “Ourcountry has been facing ter-rorism of jihadi organisationsfor the past several decades.When a terror attack takesplace, it hurts the poor and themiddle class the most. Tourismand trade get affected.However, opposition partiesare soft on terror because oftheir vote bank politics. The SPwithdrew cases against terror-ists responsible for 14 attacks inUP, some of whom were given

capital punishment and lifeimprisonment by courts lateron. They withdrew casesagainst those responsible forthe attack on Sankat Mochantemple in Kashi and Lucknowcourt. Congress leaders calleda terrorist like Osama binLaden 'Osamaji' and shed tearson the killing of a terrorist inBatla House encounter. And wehave built the National WarMemorial and National PoliceMemorial.”

Modi said that during their(opposition) governments, aseries of blasts took place inDelhi Mumbai, Ahmedabad,Hyderabad etc, adding thatwhen he saw bloodshed ofinnocent people inAhmedabad, he took thepledge to give the culprits a les-son and recently the courtawarded them death sentence.

The prime minister alsocautioned voters against thevenom of casteism being spreadby opposition parties, adding

that they do not belong to anycaste or community and all thatmatters to them is their fami-lies’ development rather thanthe development of the stateand its people.

“It’s time to give a fittingreply through your votes tothose who played havoc withthe state by giving patronage tomafia and gangsters; who with-drew cases against terroristsresponsible for killings of inno-cent people for their vote bankpolitics; and those who spreadrumours against Covid vac-

cines that protected people’slives during the pandemic,”the prime minister said.

Hitting out at SamajwadiParty leader Akhilesh Yadavover one of the videos in whichhe is seen insulting police-men, and also Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi who clappedwhile the Punjab chief minis-ter was insulting people of UP,Modi said that their politicsrevolved around their mafiafriends and families respec-tively and they had nothing todo with development and thewelfare of people.

Modi said: “SP’s chief min-isterial candidate himself isunsafe on his seat. That’s whyhe had to call his father, whohad a humiliating ouster fromthe party, to campaign forhim.” He added: “The people ofUP are saying, ‘Jo suraksha layehain, jo samman laye hain, humunko layenge’ and ‘Aayenge toYogiji hee’. The people of UP

Continued on Page 6

��

��

The BJP government hasstalled the development of

Uttar Pradesh and it will beremoved from power like theCentral farm laws wererepealed, Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadav saidon Sunday.

“I want to say that ‘kaka’has gone and Baba will also golike it. Kaka means ‘KaleKanoon’ (black farm laws)which have been withdrawn bythe government,” he told anelection rally here, apparentlyreferring to Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath when he said‘Baba’.

“Baba chief minister saysthat I get up at 12 at night. I amhis neighbour and I also seesmoke coming out from hisresidence from time to time. Heis working 24 hours a day thatis why youngsters are not get-ting jobs in UP,” he said.

Claiming that his partyhas already won majority inUttar Pradesh polls, Yadav said

BJP leaders have lost all hopesafter the first two phases ofpolling.

“By the last phase, one willonly find bhoot (ghosts) danc-ing at BJP booths. People willreduce the BJP to zero in thefourth round of polling,” Yadavsaid.

“The BJP dupes even poorpeople. They gave a free cylin-der but hiked the prices of LPG,making it impossible for themto get the cylinders refilled,”Yadav said.

“Farmers are already trou-bled by inflation. We will pro-vide free fertilisers to smallfarmers in the state. BJP peo-ple used to say they will ensurethat people who wear slipperscan fly in aeroplanes, but theBJP sold the aeroplanes andships after coming to power.They are now selling even rail-way stations,” Yadav said.

Reiterating the party’spromise of providing 300 unitsof electricity free, Yadav said“Adityanath cannot take thename of power plants neither

does he know how to operatesmartphones and tablets.”

The former state chief min-ister said close to 11 lakh gov-ernment posts are lying vacantwhich will be filled when hisgovernment comes to power.

“We will open policerecruitment for youths aftercoming to power. If needed wewill provide age relaxation tothose candidates who turnedoverage due to the COVIDpandemic,” he said, adding hewould also appeal to the Armyto recruit more youths from thestate.

Yadav said BJP leaders talkabout Pakistan and terrorism inUP whereas “people here needfertilizers and jobs”.

He also took a jibe on theBJP for not giving a ticket toLegislative Assembly SpeakerHriday Narayan Dixit.

Speaking in Ayodhya later,Yadav urged people to notallow vitiating of the compos-ite culture of the region.

“This land of Faizabad-Ayodhya reflects the ‘Ganga-

Jamuni tehzeeb’. Don’t spoilthe culture by being misguid-ed by other parties, he said inthe district’s Rudauli area whilecampaigning for party candi-date Anand Sen.

He said people who false-ly promised to double theincome of farmers have to beuprooted from power.

Batting for farmers in thestate, Yadav said paddy is notbeing bought and the BJP isonly working to fill the coffersof the rich . BJP leaders tell allkinds of lies. Small leaders tellsmall lies, big leaders tell big liesand the biggest leaders tellwhite lies, he said.

Remembering late SPleader Mitrasen Yadav, he saidthe party can never forgetBabuji’s work done for poorand downtrodden.

He appealed to people tovote SP to power to fulfil thedream of the seven-time MLA.

Unnao will go to polls inthe fourth phase on February23, and Ayodhya on February27.

��

�� !"#$%��&��

�� !��"��#��$�!��#��#�� !!�� %��"&!�� !!��'� �� ()�

�� !��"�#��$�� %&�'��"!��"�#��$��

��&��&� �� ()*��+,��'��-.&��$$��

�,��%��#�/��"��-� �� 0��0�0�-+��

�� 1��-�� -�0��2 3��

��

�� !�"��#$%�&�'(�$(%�)�!�)*))+��$,��-

�� -� �-� ��

�--�-��/��-��4�5 �

��!"!�"�#

0��1-��/��+� �� 1�6�� 1 ��-�� +

$!%&�'��2�/5 ��+�+

2��-� ��+ /

��

��

"��$�"$�� 1�

Punjab saw a sizeable declinein voters’ turnout when the

State recorded 65.32 per centpolling on Sunday in compar-ison to a voters turnout of 78per cent in the 2017 Assemblypolls. Sunday’s voting will sealthe fate of as many as 1,304candidates, including 93women, in the ElectronicVoting Machines (EVMs).

Even though the pollingcontinued even after 6 pm, andthe Election Commission ofIndia released the figure of65.32 per cent by 9:30 pm, theOffice of Punjab ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) did notcome out with the updated offi-cial data. The State’s CEO Dr SKaruna Raju claimed that the

Continued on Page 6

��

�� ! ��""��!�#��$��%&''()*(��+��+��,��&--./��0�� .��1��%�23��,�2��41,��5"��$��2��4��$101��')*(678��%+� �"��42�.9:4 )-(())!34'- 77;'�. ��<��4=)7-'>' ');*;�' '*)*;�-'?) ()��"��<��4=)7*'>'-) ))(�'-) *(��<��4=)7 '>' * '? �' * '?7�@� ��<��41��(�9��A� �9�%��9��B��1�%@� ��&**)))'��4)**& )**) 77��//��<��4!&-*��(�1<0@.�A��/9��1��&')*-)*�5��4)*')& ;8?;))C ;8??))

�� !�� "�� #��$��%�� &�� !��

�� !"#�!$!!

�� 5��-�

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Sunday

slammed the Samajwadi Party,accusing it of being responsi-ble for scams, fielding terror-ists and criminals, and orches-trating riots every fourth dayduring its regime.

Yogi, who was addressinga series of public meetings inLakhimpur Kheri, targeted hisguns on the Samajwadi Partyand said, "Father of one of theterrorists convicted byAhmedabad court in bombblast cases holds a position inSamajwadi Party and is cam-paigning for them. AkhileshYadav has not given a state-ment on it. I want to ask himwhy he has so much sympathyfor terrorists? Is he not equal-ly responsible for playing withthe security of the country?"

Yogi said that theAhmedabad court on Fridayhad pronounced the quantumof sentence for 38 terrorists inthe 2008 serial blast case.“Capital punishment and lifeimprisonment were awarded.They included some terroristsfrom UP too. The family mem-bers of one of them were seenwith the SP chief, asking forvotes for the party," he added.

Criticising the oppositionover the issue of law and order,corruption and nepotism, YogiAdityanath said, "SamajwadiParty, Bahujan Samaj PartyCongress live for their families;they encouraged dynasties. Ifwe talk about nationalism,they talk about casteism.Before 2017, celebrations wereonly limited to SaifaiMahotsava, today celebrationsmean Deepotsava of Ayodhya,Rangotsava of Mathura-Vrindavan, Dev Deepawali ofKashi and celebrations of UPDiwas.”

Further attacking the SP,Yogi Adityanath charged thatduring the previous govern-ment rule "anndata (graingrowers) used to commit sui-cide and the poor used to dieof starvation, and people wereforced to live in darkness".

"There was a jungle raj andcriminals overpowered theauthorities. Police stations wererun by history-sheeters, busi-nesses were destroyed, youthwas unemployed," he added.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath went on to saythat Uttar Pradesh, in a span ofthe last five years, had trans-formed to a 'safer place', hadseen all-round developmentand was moving ahead withthe leading states of the coun-try. “All promises made by theBharatiya Janata Party in 2017under (Narendra) Modi ji'sleadership have been fulfilled.Today, there are no riots andanarchy, no curfews are beingimposed right before festi-vals," he said. The GolaGokaran Nath Dham,Lakhimpur would be beauti-fied on the lines of KashiVishwanath, Ayodhya,Mathura and soon the localswould get new avenues ofemployment, declared YogiAdityanath.

The double engine govern-ment has always respected thefaith of the people. After thebeautification of KashiVishwanath Dham, Ayodhya,and Mathura, Gola GokaranNath Dham will also be devel-oped, he announced.

Attacking the SP and BSP,Yogi Adityanath asked peopleif they were getting powersupply, and double-dose ofration presently. As the people

replied in the affirmative, heasked again if they used to getit during the previous govern-ments and went on to answer,"The previous governmentsused to like darkness anddestruction."

On the occasion, Yogiannounced, “If our doubleengine government comes topower again then all thewomen older than 60 years ofage will be given free access totravel in the state roadwayscorporation buses.”

Stating that earlier, thefunds meant for the develop-ment of the state were sent tothe "itra wale mitra", Yogiadded, "SP's 'itra wala mitra'locked up funds and moneymeant for the state's develop-ment and for the benefit thepoor behind their RCC walls."

The chief minister furthersaid that soon people ofLakhimpur would have theirown medical college andwould not have to travel toplaces like Delhi, Lucknow foravailing proper healthcarefacilities. He said the SP andBSP got boundary walls ofkabristan (cemetery) con-structed, so they should betterask for votes from kabristan.

Lambasting Akhilesh

Yadav's party for always "mis-leading the public and defam-ing the state", the chief minis-ter said, "The SP leaders andworkers were seen nowhereduring the COVID-19 pan-demic whereas the double-engine government at theCentre and the state used themoney and resources toadminister free vaccines topeople, provide free treatmentand to feed the poor".

Highlighting the Covidmanagement in the countryand the state under the leader-ship of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the chief min-ister said that the Uttar Pradeshgovernment tried its best tosave lives and livelihood dur-ing the pandemic, adding,"Bimari se bhi jyada mautbhook se hoti' and that is thereason we provide free rationtwice a month during COVID-19.” Yogi said that the doubleengine government of UPwaived loans of over 1,45,683farmers from Lakhimpur.Similarly, he said, 6,200,71farmers of Lakhimpur weregetting Rs 6,000 annuallyunder PM Kisan SammanNidhi and over 1,03,603 hous-es under PMAY/CMAY wereprovided in Lakhimpur.

��

As the third phase of pollingin Uttar Pradesh was

underway, Bahujan Samaj Partychief Mayawati on Sundayurged the people to vote out theruling party for giving falsepromises of providing thememployment. In a series oftweets, the BSP chief said thatto get rid of all kinds of falsepromises of the Bharatiya JanataParty, it was necessary that theruling party was changed.

In another tweet, she said,"The ruling party's wrong poli-cies which made the poor peo-ple poorer should not be trust-ed anymore and that BSPshould be trusted."

Mayawati added, "Thebiggest failure of the BharatiyaJanata Party is not being able toprovide employment to thepeople. In fact, the employmentopportunities that were therewere also snatched away fromthe people” She added, "Thebiggest responsibility of thegovernment in current time isto give livelihood opportunitiesto the people.” She appealed tothe people that in the thirdphase of voting in the 59 assem-bly seats of 16 districts of UP on

��

The entire family ofMulayam Singh Yadav cast

their votes in their native vil-lage Saifai on Sunday in thethird phase of the ongoing UPassembly elections.

Veteran leader andSamajwadi Party founder-patron Mulayam Singh Yadavcast his vote in Etawah duringthe third phase of the assemblyelection. Mulayam Singh Yadavarrived at the polling booth ina wheelchair owing to his poorhealth. He was accompaniedby his security team.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav,who is also the party's chiefministerial candidate, cast hisvote in the Saifai polling booth.

Mulayam Singh Yadav,Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal SinghYadav, Dimple Yadav, PrateekYadav, Ankur Yadav, AbhishekYadav, Aparna Yadav, TejPratap Yadav, Sarla Yadav,Premlata Yadav, AbhayramYadav, Dharmendra Yadav,Ram Gopal Yadav, AkshayYadav among others cast theirvotes at the same polling boothin Saifai during every election.

Saifai, which comes inJaswantnagar assembly con-stituency in Etawah district.Mulayam's brother andPragatisheel Samajwadi Party(Lohia) chief Shivpal Yadav iscontesting from Jaswantnagarseat.

Before casting his voteShivpal Yadav met his elderbrother Mulayam Singh Yadavand sought his blessings.Shivpal Yadav said that theSamajwadi Party-led alliance

would win more than 300 seatsin the Uttar Pradesh assemblyelection in 2022.

"I am convinced that wewill see a large victory in thiselection. I believe our coalition(Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party(Lohia) and Samajwadi Party)will win about 300 seats,"Shivpal Singh Yadav said.

The PSPL leader also stat-ed that his nephew, AkhileshYadav, would be sworn in as thestate's chief minister.

Lucknow (PNS) SamajwadiParty on Sunday alleged dis-crepancies in the electronic vot-ing machines (EVMs) duringthe third phase of polling inUttar Pradesh.

The SP claimed that evenwhen a voter pressed the buttonnext to Samajwadi Party, thevoter verifiable paper audit trail(VVPAT) issued a slip of theBJP. “BJP's slip is coming outafter pressing the button of SPat booth number 121 ofBhognipur assembly constituen-cy in Kanpur Dehat. TheElection Commission shouldtake cognisance of it for ensur-ing smooth and fair voting," the

Samajwadi Party twitter handleposted in Hindi. The EC saidthat they found the complaintbaseless. "We received a com-plaint that a chit displaying theBJP symbol is getting generat-ed after pressing the buttonagainst SP's cycle symbol on theEVM at booth number 21 inBhognipur, Kanpur Dehat. Thiscomplaint has been found base-less," said Additional ChiefElectoral Officer BD RamTiwari. Samajwadi Party alsomade several other complaintsurging the EC to step in andensure "fair and smooth" elec-tions. On Twitter, the partyalleged that the VVPAT at a

booth in Hamirpur was defec-tive. "228 Vidhan Sabha ofHamirpur district, Booth No.432 Slip is not coming out aftercasting vote," the party said.

Samajwadi Party alsoalleged that EVMs at somepolling booths in Mainpuriwere malfunctioning. In UP alleyes are on Karhal assembly seatfrom where Samajwadi partychief Akhilesh Yadav is contest-ing his first assembly election.The Bharatiya Janata Party hasfielded Union Minister of StateSP Singh Baghel from Karhal.The SP has lost this seat onlyonce since the party's inceptionin 1992.

ment does not end by givinggas cylinders, ration sacks, anda small amount of money.People's stomachs are not goingto be filled with hate and freepolitics," she said.

Targeting the BJP, she saidthat farmers were not gettingfertilisers as almost all govern-ment centres for distribution offertilisers were closed while pri-vate distribution centres wereopen. She said that all leadersknew that they would comeafter five years, talk about reli-gion, raise people's spirit, talkabout castes and get vote but noone realized that if they did notwork, if they did not give

employment, then they wouldnot get votes.

"All kinds of skills are pre-sent in Uttar Pradesh but youthare unemployed. Farmers areworried. Women are beingoppressed. Traders are upset.What's the problem? Why isthis happening? Because thepolitics that is in front of youonly works to mislead you.Everyone understands that ifthey ask for votes in the nameof religion and caste, they willget your vote. They will grow,they will flourish and flourish.The great friends, industrialists,will flourish. They have to stayin power. Their goal is to

remain in power at any condi-tion," Priyanka asserted.

Targeting Samajwadi Partychief Akhilesh Yadav, Priyankasaid, "Since three years that Ihave been working in UP notonce did I see Akhilesh Yadavleave his house on the issues ofthe people. Three monthsbefore the election, suddenlythe bus came out and the jour-ney started, on what basis diddoes he ask for votes? Same, onthe basis of polarisation. Inthree years, when women wereraped, crimes were committedagainst them, neither BahujanSamaj Party chief Mayawati norAkhilesh were seen.”

NOTICE

I Om Parkash, Vill- Chakbari,P.O.- Raja Ka Talab,Teh- Fatehpur Distt- Kangra,H.P.-176051, my son's namewrongly printed in mydocuments Atul Vasisth ��But right name is AtulVashisht ��

&��(��)*��(+��,�� -

�� #�� " ��'��

��

Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra on

Sunday attacked the BharatiyaJanata Party government, call-ing it anti-farmer, anti-peopleand anti-poor. She asked thevoters to throw out YogiAdityanath from power andinstall a Congress governmentso that they could get muchbetter governance.

The Congress general sec-retary said, "Farmers stood onthe border of Delhi for a year,700 farmers were martyredand six farmers were crushedby a minister's son yet these(BJP) people kept quiet. Theprime minister did not even askthe farmers what is your problem.”

“What was the need to'kill' 700 farmers to take the lawback? Indira Gandhi, RajivGandhi used to go to the vic-tims when they were primeministers. They used to followtheir raj dharma, serve thepeople, but BJP's religion is justto fight elections in the nameof caste and religion," sheadded.

Targeting the BJP, Priyankasaid that the government wasnot giving dues of sugarcanefarmers while airplanes werebeing bought for the primeminister.

On the second day of herRae Bareli tour, PriyankaGandhi Vadra addressed sever-al street meetings in Jagatpur,Babuganj, Unchahar,Gangaganj, Gaura,Bachhrawan, Maharajganj,along with road shows fromDegree College to TripulaTirahe making appeal to votefor Congress candidates.

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel alsoparticipated in the public meet-ing in Bachhrawan withPriyanka and appealed to thepeople vote the Congress topower in Uttar Pradesh. Hesaid that it was clear from thevoting in three phases thatpeople had made up theirmind to throw out the YogiAdityanath government andsend him back to the Math inGorakhpur.

The Congress general sec-retary said that only theCongress fought against injus-tice done to the poor. "Theresponsibility of the govern-

��'��(��(��

Sunday, everyone must casttheir vote with great enthusiasmand save themselves by theirvote. Along with this, a pleasantchange of power in UP is alsonecessary to get rid of all kindsof false and constant deceit ofthe opposition parties, sheadded. Earlier on Saturday,Mayawati had alleged that peo-ple, especially those belongingto minority communities, wereliving in fear under the BJP gov-ernment and promised that herparty would work to ensuresocial justice to all if voted topower in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a rally inAmbedkarnagar, the formerchief minister also accused theSamajwadi Party of workingagainst the interests ofScheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes. “Dalits,Backwards and especiallyMuslim communities have beenliving in fear and terror underthis government. Harassmenton the basis of caste and religionwill not be allowed in any caseunder BSP rule," the BSP supre-mo said.

"We are fighting to form amajority government like 2007and to get rid of the casteist, nar-row-minded, arrogant and dic-tatorial rule of the BharatiyaJanata Party. You will have tosupport BSP, the only party thatcares for all sections of societyto ensure this," Mayawati said.

The BSP came to power inUP in 2007, winning 206 assem-bly seats out of the total 403. Itsseat count was reduced to 80 in2012 and just 19 in the 2017election. Unlike the ruling BJPand the SP, the BSP's cam-paigning in UP has remainedsubdued. However, her partyleaders insist that Mayawatihas a loyal voter base and shehad kept away from the limelight even before her 2007victory.

�� ! "�#!�$!#��!�#��%�

&��+�(�,��.��

)�� *+��

�� !"#�!$!!

��$��"��#�&�'#�(��"�)'*�+"��,-��

Alarge number of studentsand alumni of various

departments of BabasahebBhimrao AmbedkarUniversity have made the uni-versity proud by achievingsuccess in the UGC NET.Rohit Kumar and NikhilKumar from the departmentof Library and InformationScience secured NET-JRFwhile Anurag Vidyarthi,Satveer Singh Nehra,Divyanshu Gupta and RajeevRanjan succeeded in NET.

Sunidhi Singh, Rita,Sandeep Sinha, Anuj Kumarand Chandra Mohan fromthe Law department andAamir Faisal, Kamlesh Yadav,Shashank Shukla, Simran andAshwani from Sociologydepartment cleared NET asdid Deeksha Arya, SubhashKumar, Rishabh Kumar andJanhvi Patel from the Statisticsdepartment. Mohit from ITdepartment, Shalini Srivastavaand Neelu Sharma from thedepartment of MassCommunication andJournalism, Gulshan Kumar,Damini Verma, Ganesh,Anupam Pathak from PoliticalScience, Vibhav Sharma,Shantanu, Durgesh, RaviVerma, Anubhuti, RaviMishra and Kavita alsoachieves success. BBAU Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Singh andall the teachers congratulatedthe students.

Meanwile, more than 100students form 18 departmentsand institutes of LucknowUniversity qualified NET. “Itis a prestigious moment for aneducational Institution whenerstwhile students achievenew heights and bring laurelsto it,” Vice-Chancellor AKRai said.

��

Taking on Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath and BJP,

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav said on Sundaythat with the completion ofthird phase polling, the BJP’sfate was sealed as ‘shunya’(zero). Addressing the gather-ing Natkur village inSarojininagar constituencywhere he sought votes forAbhishek Mishra and SushilaSaroj, Akhilesh said the BJP’sfate became ‘thanda’ after thefirst phase polling and ‘shunya’after the third phase. Taking adig at BJP, Akhilesh dubbed theparty ‘Harti Janta Party’.

“The party is selling every-thing be it airports, planes,ships, harbours, trains or rail-way stations,” he said. He point-ed out that the BJP hadpromised to double the incomeof farmers, but it did not hap-pen. “In fact, the governmentbrought black laws for thefarmers but they had to takethem back because they want-

ed votes,” he said.“We have the support of

BEd, TET, BTC and BPEdaspirants who have been fight-ing for their rights, and theywill be given employment. Wewill provide compensation tofarmers more than the circlerates. We will provide 300units of free electricity,”Akhilesh said. He added thatthe double-engine governmenthas already derailed and it isgoing to lose.

Hitting back at Yogi’s state-ment that Akhilesh wakes uparound noon, the former chiefminister said he is also keepinga watch on Yogi’s house.

“If they are watching ourhouse, we are also watchingtheir house, and I can tell youthat smoke emerges from hishouse. Looking at the pictureswhich he posts online, it showsthat Yogi does not know howto operate a smartphone. Jogarmi nikalna chahta hai, pub-lic uski steam nikaal degi,” hesaid. The ‘Vijay Yatra’ ofAkhilesh Yadav moved to

Awadh crossing at Singarnagar,Parivartan crossing,Hazratganj, Akbari Gate,Khadra and then culminated atMunshipulia.

Meanwhile, city roadsremained abuzz with candi-dates of various political partiesbusy in campaigining even asLucknow goes to poll onWednesday. UP minister andBJP candidate AshutoshTandon took out a rally fromBhootnath market on Sunday.Union minister Anurag Thakurwas also present in the rally.

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Bagheladdressed a rally inGautampalli and urged peopleto vote for the Congress candi-date.

Mayor Sanyukta Bhatiasought support the LucknowWest candidate AnjaniSrivastava by taking part in a‘padyatra’ and a ‘jansampark’programme. She also visitedthe Lucknow North constituen-cy to seek votes for the partycandidate.

Shravasti: BJP president JPNadda on Sunday attackedSamajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav, saying hetook oath to protect theConstitution, but instead triedto protect terrorists. He alsoaccused the former UttarPradesh chief minister and theBJP's rivals in the state ofpatronising goons and themafia.

Accusing Yadav of "with-drawing cases of terroristsaccused of bomb blasts",Nadda said, "The court did notspare these accused. The courtsaid that you cannot withdrawthe cases, these terrorists can-not be released."

"The terrorists, whomAkhilesh wanted to save, weresentenced by the court," hesaid while addressing an elec-tion rally in the Shravastiassembly constituency onSunday for party candidateRam Pheran Pandey. The BJPchief said that Yadav tookoath to protect theConstitution but he tried pro-tecting terrorists.

Nadda also claimed thatthe father of one of thoseconvicted in the Ahmedabadblast case and who is a residentof Sanjarpur in Uttar Pradesh'sAzamgarh, is campaigning forthe Samajwadi Party.

Polls to the 403-memberUttar Pradesh assembly isbeing held in seven phases,and the thirds was held onSunday. Polling in Shravasti

will be held in the fifth phase.Claiming that the mafia

and goons ruled during thetenure of the previous govern-ment, which was led by Yadav,the BJP chief said that AzamKhan, whom Yadav used tocall 'sahab', Mukhtar Ansariand Atiq Ahmed had a freerun in during the previousgovernment but are now in jailfor the last five years.

They are in jail becauseChief Minister YogiAdityanath is doing justice,while Yadav did politics ofappeasement, he said. “TheATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad)Centre in Deoband along withthose at (coming up at)Meerut, Bahraich, Rampur,Azamgarh and Kanpur andwill make UP fear-free underthe leadership of YogiAdityanath,” Nadda said.

He told the gathering that"if you want to get employ-ment and a fear-free UttarPradesh, then the only way for that is to vote for BJP candidates”.

Nadda claimed that duringthe previous Akhilesh Yadavgovernment, 200 riots tookplace in the state but in the lastfive years, there was not a sin-gle riot in Uttar Pradesh underthe chief ministership ofAdityanath. Taking a jibe atYadav, he said that today elec-tions were held in Karhal andhis revered father --MulayamSingh Yadav -- had to go thereto save him. PTI

Etawah: Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Sundaytermed the BJP's allegation thathis party has links with thefather of an Ahmedabad terrorstrike case convict as part of astrategy in the state assemblypolls. Yadav made the claimwhile talking to reporters in hisvillage Saifai in Etawah district.

Asked about the BJP allega-tion that the convict's fatherbelonging to Azamgarh is an SPleader, Yadav said, Strict actionshould be initiated against a ter-rorist. And if the BJP is level-ling the allegation during theelections, the BJP is movingwith a strategy.”

Yadav's reaction came aday after the BJP on Saturdaydubbed Samajwadi Party as"friends of minority appease-ment" and alleged that it haslinks with terrorists involved in

the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts.Addressing a press confer-

ence at the BJP headquarters inNew Delhi, Union ministerAnurag Thakur released a pho-tograph in which a man, allegedto be the father of one of theconvicts in the Ahmedabadserial blasts case, is seen stand-ing with Akhilesh Yadav.

Addressing an election rallyin Lakhimpur Kheri, UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath tooon Sunday accused the SP ofbeing sympathetic towards ter-rorists, alleging that the fatherof one of the convicts has linkswith the party.

A special court on Fridaysentenced to death 38 membersof terror outfit IndianMujahideen in the Ahmedabadserial blasts which killed 56people and injured over 200. Italso gave life terms to the other

11 IM operatives in the case.Former Lok Sabha MP fromKannauj and Yadav's wifeDimple Yadav, meanwhile,described her party's pre-pollalliance with Rashtriya LokDal and some other politicaloutfits as a bouquet with everyconstituent doing its job.

Dimple Yadav too wasspeaking to reporters in her vil-lage Saifai after casting hervote. "We have prepared a bou-quet ('guldasta') of differentcolours and everyone is doingtheir job," she said when askedabout her party's pre-pollalliance. She also said the elec-tion results, which will bedeclared on March 10, will be"very positive" for the SP.

In his talks with reporters,Akhilesh Yadav also dubbed theBJP as a party of liars , claim-ing that it tried to show UP's

development through pho-tographs of China and the USA

"Who used the photos ofChina? Who used the factoriesof the US to show develop-ment? No party can be a biggerliar than the BJP, he said.

He asserted after the count-ing of votes on March 10, theSamajwadi Party will form thegovernment and referring toChief Minister Adityanath as'Baba Mukhya Mantri', said he"would be given a farewell".

On allegations of dynasticpolitics being followed by theSamajwadi Party, Yadav assert-ed, "Those who do not have afamily, how can they under-stand the pain of the familypeople? Only a family mancan understand the problem ofinflation and its impact andunderstand his responsibilitytowards his family.” PTI

/0�1��2��(�1�� )*��

��.*'�� /)�&�0�&�0"��#�+��%�1�� !""��#��#��(��./*"��/�

,��)��

��

Agroup of men was accusedof abetment to suicide after

a businessman ended his life inAlambagh as he failed to payback the loan he had taken fromthem. The deceased was iden-tified as Mukesh Gaud (42) ofShram Vihar Colony inMawaiya, Alambagh. His wifePoonam Gaud lodged a case inthis connection. Those namedin the case were identified asNarendra Singh aka Lukka ofAlambagh, Alok Sonkar ofHussainganj, MohammedChand of Para, MohammedBasir of Para, Pappu Mahajan,of Alambagh, MohammedIrshad of Ashiyana, MohammedAshfaq of Hussainganj andMohammed Zahid ofAlambagh. The police registereda case under Section 306 of IPC.

As per reports, the accusedare into the money pool-inbusiness and Mukesh was amember of this group. Mukeshhad taken a loan to run his busi-ness and was paying the moneyin installments. During thepandemic, Mukesh suffered

losses and he started payingback the money in smallerinstallments.

However, the accused wereforcing him to pay total amount.“They used to force Mukesh topay the total amount and threat-en to kill him. They also threat-ened to get his shop closed. Thethreats exerted a mental pres-sure on Mukesh and he was notin a good frame of mind,”Poonam said. She added thatMukesh was summoned by theaccused to meet them at a placenear Charbagh railway stationon February 17.

“Mukesh reached therearound 8 pm. The accused bul-lied Mukesh and asked him topay back the money byFebruary 18. They also askedhim to give them a cheque andsaid that he was in a mood tousurp the money. Mukesh wasupset and frightened when hereturned home that night,” shealleged.

She said Mukesh narratedthe entire conversation he hadwith the accused. “Around 11am on February 18, he con-sumed some poisonous sub-

stance when he was home alone.We rushed him to a hospitalwhere he was declared broughtdead,” she stated.

While the police weretightlipped when asked aboutthe probe details and arrest ofthe accused, sources said theaccused have gone under-ground.

Meanwhile, farmer Rakeshaka Tikesh Bhurji, who was aresident of Mall, was shot deadover a political enmity inDanaur village in the area onJanuary 28. Police claimed thisafter the arrest of two accusedon Sunday. Those arrested wereidentified as Dayaram ofDanaur village in Mall andDiwakar Pandey of Atrauli inHardoi.

Both the accused owned uptheir crime during interroga-tion. SP, Rural, Hridesh Kumarsaid the police were conductingraids to nab others, includingone who claims to be a journal-ist, named in the case.

Dayaram’s wife Suma hadnamed former gram pradhanSurendra Singh and ChhotakkeMaurya in the FIR. As per the

confession of the accused,Rakesh had campaigned forsitting gram pradhan SunitaGautam in the panchayat elec-tions and was in the oppositecamp of former gram pradhanSurendra Singh. The resultsescalated the enmity betweenhim and Surendra Singh as lat-ter’s supported candidateDayaram lost to Sunita Gautam.Surendra allegedly chalked outa plan to eliminate Rakesh andDayaram and others helpedhim in the criminal conspiracy.

��(��#A youth was electrocuted

while working at a wedding inBijnor police station area ofLucknow on the interveningnight of Saturday and Sunday.The deceased was identified asShailendra Kumar Rawat (19)of Hasanpur village ofMalihabad. He worked as awaiter in weddings and otherfunctions.

As per reports, Shailendrawas doing the dishes in Saraiyavillage when he inadvertentlycame in contact with a live wireand died on the spot.

-��

Lucknow (PNS): Marriage cel-ebrations turned into sorrowwhen a cop of Delhi Police diedunder mysterious circum-stances in Muzaffarnagar.

The incident took place afew hours before the marriageof the cop in Muzaffarnagarwhen everyone was enjoyingand dancing to DJ music to cel-ebrate the occasion on Sunday.

The local police reachedthe spot and claimed after aninitial probe that the victimseemed to be talking on hismobile and suddenly fell fromthe terrace and died. However,they sent the body for post-mortem examination and wereexamining the video recordingof the function to ensurewhether the victim had somedispute before the incident andwith whom he was talking onphone at the time of incident.

Reports said that the wed-ding procession of Anuj, a 30-year-old constable of DelhiPolice and resident of Kutbi vil-lage of Shahpur police stationarea in Muzaffarnagar, was togo to Loni in Ghaziabad onSunday. Anuj's marriage was totake place on Sunday. The DJcontinued to play at home tilllate Saturday night. The baratiswere getting ready and alsodancing to beats of `dhol' onSunday morning.

During this called onAnuj's mobile. Anuj went to theterrace while talking on phone.According to Anuj's fatherRavindra, some guests raisedan alarm when they saw Anujfalling from the terrace. Heclaimed that in shock and grief,they rushed the victim to anearby hospital where he waspronounced dead.

Suspecting some foul play,Ravindra said that he could notsay whether his son died of afatal fall from the terrace orthere was some larger conspir-acy behind his death.

On receiving the informa-tion, Superintendent of Police(Rural), CO Budhana and localpolice reached the village andinquired about the incident.Further investigations were on.

Meanwhile another mar-riage function also turned intoa tragedy when Vishal Yadav(26), son of Raj Bahadur Yadav,was shot at during celebrationof his tilak ceremony in KauraGhani village of Saraimeerpolice station area in Azamgarhon Saturday. The groom wasrushed to a nearby hospitalfrom where the doctors referredhim to the district hospitalafter finding his condition crit-ical. The police reached the spotand claimed to have conduct-ed raids to nab the suspects.

(��!��"��*��"��Lucknow (PNS): A day afterascertaining the identity of 25-year-old constable Ruchi SinghChauhan, whose body wasrecovered from a drain behindSGPGI on Thursday, policedetained her lover, a tehsildar,his wife and his aide, who is abusinessman.

The police said they woulddisclose the names of theaccused and other details onMonday due to their preoccu-pation with the public meetingsof different political leaders.

ADCP, East, Qasim Abdisaid the woman constable wasasking the tehsildar to marryher as she had divorced herhusband, and it led to hermurder. Probe revealed thatRuchi came in contact with thetehsildar through Facebooktwo years back and fell in love

with him. Ruchi’s married lifewas on the rocks and she hadalready applied for divorce.

During her courtship withthe tehsildar, she came to knowthat he was married and alsohad children, but she was readyfor marriage despite that. Oflate, she started presurring thetehsildar to marry her, but thethe latter was not consideringthat. She even threatened toframe her in a case.

The tehsildar planned toeliminate Ruchi, and his wifehelped him. On the fateful day(February 12), Ruchi reachedPGI police station area wherethe tehsildar and his friend mether. The ADCP said that onbeing asked by the tehsildar, hisfriend offered Ruchi a glass ofjuice laced with sedatives.

After she fell unconscious,

they choked her throat andlater dumped the body into thedrain. As days progressed, herface got distorted and it delayedher identification. The policearrested the tehsildar, his wifeand his friend on the charges ofmurder. The tehsildar is post-ed in Pratapgarh.

On Saturday, the identity ofthe woman constable wasascertained on the basis of herclothes by a female friend.Ruchi was a native of Najibabadlocality in Bijnor. She wasdeployed in Barabanki andwas attached with the policeheadquarters in Lucknow.

She was reported missingon February 13 as she did notjoin her duty, and her mobilephone was also switched off.An official of the police head-quarters lodged a missing

report at Sushant Golf Citypolice station. A spokesman ofthe commissioner of policesaid Ruchi’s brother lodged acase in this connection and thepolice detained the tehsildar,his wife and their friend.

�.�&�A sum of Rs 1.1 lakh and

ornaments worth several lakhwere stolen from an advocate’shouse in Naka police stationarea on Saturday. House ownerMohammed Zeeshan ofRajendra Nagar practices at thecivil court in Wazirganj. In hiscomplaint, Zeeshan stated thathe left for the court around 10am on Saturday while his fam-ily members also left for theirwork. “When I returned homearound 5 pm, I found thehouse burgled,” he said.

3(�� (�� ,��1�� 4�� +� ��

�� !�� #��!��

�� !"#�!$!!

��(�� (��2��+

There will be a new arrange-ment in the Shree Kashi

Vishwanath Mandir on theauspicious occasion ofMahashivratri under whichthe devotees could take waterand milk to the sanctum sanc-torum of the temple but theywill not be allowed to carrymaterials of pujan.

In view of Mahashivratrifalling on March 1, the templeadministration has alreadystarted the preparations sothat the devotees could face noinconvenience while havingdarshan in the temple and so,it is considering to implementa new arrangement on this aus-picious occasion under whichthe devotees will not beallowed to carry materials ofpujan such as garlands, flow-ers, etc but they could takewater or milk in an utensil.

A pot will be kept at allfour entrance gates of the tem-ple in which the devotees willput the pujan materials andthese will be given to them asprasad when they will exitafter having darshan in thetemple. The temple adminis-tration is considering imple-menting this new arrange-ment for the convenience ofthe devotees.

The devotees can carrywater or milk which will beoffered in a pot to be kept out-side the temple. The templeadministration is also consid-ering to make one gate for theentrance and exit and thus thepujan materials will be distrib-

uted among them and prasadfrom the entrance gate. Thetemple administration willoffer the pujan materials toBaba Vishwanath and give tothe devotees.

To maintain the cleanlinessin the temple premises, thesanitation employees will bedeployed at various places andthey will continue cleaningthe places after each half anhour. The control room willalso been opened from wherethe officers will monitor thesanitation and other work sothat the devotees could not faceany inconvenience. The teamsof security personnel will alsobe constituted to control therush of devotees.

It will be the firstMahashivratri after the PrimeMinister Narendra Modiunveiled Shree KashiVishwanath Corridor onDecember 13, 2021 which wasconstructed in the premises ofShree Kashi VishwanathDham, an extended premisesof the Shree Kashi VishwanathMandir.

EMPHASIS ONRESEARCH BASED LEARN-ING FOR IMPROVEMENTIN EDUCATION QUALITY:Varanasi Sahodaya Complex,an organisation of the princi-pals, organised a two-day con-ference in Babatpur Branch ofthe Seth MR Jaipuria SchoolsBanaras which concluded onSunday.

Founder and Vice-Chancellor, ShooliniUniversity, Himachal PradeshProf Atul Khosla was the chief

guest of the closing sessionwho said that the languageshould not be compulsory tolearn anything and added thatthe talents are also in the smalltowns and not only in metrocities. The pace of timingchange is fast in the presenttime and the change is takingplace in a short time whichused to take a long time in thepast, he said and emphasisedon the research base learningfor the improvement in thequality of education.

Chairperson of VaranasiSahodaya Complex Dr RanjanRai laid an emphasis that theteachers should generate apositive educational environ-ment to make the education abetter and added that thechanges in the education couldbe made as per the require-ments of students to face thepresent challenges.

The key speaker and edu-cationist Rupam Shah impart-ed knowledge and training tothe participants about the newtechnologies being applied inthe educational system. Thesecretary of organisationMukesh Shailet also put hisviews in the session.

Few principals were alsohonoured by the organisationwith 'Shiksha BhushanSamman'. A total of 48 princi-pals and 255 teachers attend-ed the conference. Tausif Khanconducted the proceedingsand Prakash Joseph HarisRichard offered a formal voteof thanks at last. The confer-ence was held under the lead-ership of the Principal of

Babatpur Branch of the schoolSudha Singh.

BHU STUDENTS CON-TINUE PROTEST: The stu-dents of the Banaras HinduUniversity (BHU) on Sundaycontinued their demonstra-tion demanding the onlineexamination and hybrid class-es for the convenience of thestudents, particularly girl stu-dents.

Scores of students gatheredat the VC Lounge on varsitycampus here and continuedtheir demonstration. They haddemonstrated at the centraloffice where the office of V-Cis also located a day earlier.

About 70 per cent coursehas been completed and theannual examination is also tobe conducted in two months tocome, the agitated studentssaid and added that the stu-dents who are living in remoteareas and failed in getting hos-tels, will have to live in lodgesto attend the offline classes andexamination which is costlyand not affordable for them. Insuch a situation, the hybridclasses are the best option andthe examination should also beconducted online, theydemanded.

There are a number ofstudents who live in otherstates and they will have tocome here just for two monthsto appear at the examination.Moreover, the students attend-ed maximum classes onlineand so, they, particularly girlstudents, will face inconve-nience to appear at the offlineexamination, the students said.

($"��. � ��,.��2��+

Though for the last twoassembly elections, the

overall performance of BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) remained,by and large, static in this beltof Purvanchal (eastern UP), itspresence in all the constituen-cies cannot be written off eas-ily. Many political pundits feelthat if the BSP is not in a dom-inating position even in thiselection, its presence maychange equations in many con-stituencies. For the party, 2007was the peak time when in theentire state the BSP had won206 seats out of 403, giving anabsolute majority to its presi-dent Mayawati to form her gov-ernment for the fourth time,with confidence. This was thetime when the BSP had soft-ened its approaches towardsother castes, especially theupper caste Brahmins, drop-ping its earlier hatred policieswhich was considered as themain factor helping the partyperform superbly well at thattime.

However, though the partycould not change much of itspolicies to keep non-Dalit othercastes intact in party fold, thelatter got more friendly wel-come in rival camps especial-ly in Samajwadi Party (SP)and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), the two frontline polit-ical parties forming their gov-ernments in 2012 and 2017respectively with thumpingmajority. Actually, all thesepolitical parties have startedseeing their rise since the RamTemple movement in the statein early 1990s. It was the peri-od when the BJP saw its risesupporting Ram Temple inAyodhya, while the SP opposedthe demolition of Babri Masjid.The BSP also opposed the

demolition of Babri Masjidbut not as strongly as its rivalSP had done at that time underthe leadership of MulayamSingh Yadav. Later, when theMandal factor gained strengthand the Kamandal factor weak-ened, it saw the further rise ofSP and BSP.

It was only after the dom-ination of Narendra Modi, whooften claimed himself belong-ing to OBC, in Indian politicssince 2014, the BJP startedseeing remarkable rise as theparty had started playing thesocial engineering card strate-gically, denting into the tradi-tional vote-bank of both the SPand BSP. In last assembly elec-tion in 2017, the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)led by BJP had won 41 seats outof 61 of this region comprising10 district of three divisions ofVaranasi, Vindhyachal and

Azamgarh, Out of these, BJPitself won 34, while its allianceseven whereas the SP slipped to12 while BSP just seven. In2012, the SP had won 39 seatswhereas BSP eight and BJP justfive.

The BJP’s performance waseven worse than 2007 when itclaimed six seats whereas SP 17and BSP 36. The delimitationof constituencies also played akey role in weakening thesocial engineering factor ofBSP in many of the seats in thisregion.

A retired IPS officer PKMishra felt that the biggestcause of sharp decline in BSPin the state is weakening of itsleadership. ‘When the partywas in the Opposition duringthe last one decade, it wasexpected that Mayawati wouldremain active as the otherswere, especially Akhilesh Yadav

during the last five years,’ hesaid, and added that besides,the BSP leadership also failedto maintain its contacts withthe leaders of various commu-nities, especially the Brahminswho had helped Mayawaticome to power in 2007 withabsolute majority.

Almost similar views werealso expressed by Joint Directorof Parshwanath Vidyapeeth DrSP Pandey. ‘Due to weaknessand inactive approaches of BSPleadership, its sizable vote-bank was slipped to the BJP asits central and state govern-ments during the last few yearslaunched several schemesattracting the lower strata of thesociety through distributingfree ration, Ujjawala and otherwelfare programmes,’ said DrPandey, feeling that it is one ofthe biggest factors helping therivals woo its vote-bank.

/.��,��4�� (

��!��"��+��!�,��-.�!��/

.��/��/��0�� 1+��

��!��" ��'��(�� (��2��+

In view to intensify electioncampaigning of Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP), in theremaining four phases, topparty leaders including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Union Home Minister AmitShah and will boost the partyelectioneering in various dis-tricts of Kashi region includingPurvanchal (eastern UP).Giving this information hereon Sunday, regional presidentMahesh Chand Srivastava saidthat the PM will address pub-lic meetings in Kaushambi onFebruary 23, while atAmethi, Sultanpur, Prayagrajand Pratapgarh on February24.

He further informed thatAmit Shah will take out roadshows on February 22 in theRaniganj assembly(Pratapgarh), trans-YamunaKoraon (Prayagraj

(Yamunapar) apart from West,North and South assemblyseats of Prayagraj city areas.Along with this, a programmeof Shah is also proposed intrans-Ganga Prayagraj. Besides,the visit of BJP President JPNadda is also proposed forWest, North and South seats ofPrayagraj on February 22 apartfrom Kunda and Prayagraj(Gangapar) assembly ofPhulpur next day. He will alsoreach Varanasi district onMarch 2 to attendprogrammes in CityNorth, Sewapuri along withMirzapur Nagar seat.

Apart from them, DefenseMinister Rajnath Singh is pro-posed to visit Malhani andBadlapur (both Jaunpur dis-trict) and Jangipur (Ghazipur)on February 24, while Gyanpur(Bhadohi), Shivpur (Varanasi)and Chakia (Chandauli) onMarch 4.

Union Minister Nitin

Gadkari is also proposed tovisit Kashi region on February22, 23 and March 2. UnionMinister Smriti Irani will visitKarchana and City West(Prayagraj) as well as Isauli(Sultanpur) on February 21.Union Minister Piyush Goyalis proposed to attend functionsin North, West and South con-stituencies (Prayagraj) onFebruary 23.

Not only these top centralleaders but also the seniorstate level politicians will alsogive a boost to party election-eering in the region. DeputyCM Dinesh Sharma will be inMariyahu on February 24,while Shahganj (Jaunpur) andPindra (Varanasi), Pratappurand Phaphamau (Prayagraj)and West (Prayagraj) onFebruary 25 and Rohaniya,Sewapuri and City North(Varanasi) on March 5.

State president SwatantraDev Singh is proposed to visit

Rampur Khas, Patti and SadarVidhan Sabha of Pratapgarhdistrict on February 22.

In the long list of the BJPthe visits of several other partycampaigners are also proposedand they are former UnionMinister Uma Bharti, party’sGeneral Secretary BL Santosh,former Union MinisterShahnawaz Hussain and statein-charge Radha Mohan Singhapart from Hema Malini whowill be in Ghorawal, Obra andDuddhi areas of Sonbhadraand in Mirzapur district onFebruary 24 and Bara(Prayagraj), Kunda (pratap-garh) and Chail (Kaushambi)on February 25 andMachhlishahr, Mariyahu andJafrabad and MungraBadshahpur in Jaunpur districton March 5. Manoj Tiwari,Ravi Kishan, Dinesh Lal Yadav'Nirhua' and many others willalso take out road shows inthese areas.

2' ��)��'��(�� (��0�

Attacking the opposition,the Deputy Chief Minister,

Keshav Maurya said that in thethree phases of polling, thecycle has gone to Saifai. He alsosaid that just as there is no traceof SP, BSP and Congress inSirathu, similarly there is notrace of them in the entirestate.The deputy CM arrived atTridev Sangam of Kara dhamin Sirathu (Kaushambi) alongwith his supporters. Headdressed a public meeting atGandhi Memorial InterCollege, Kara dham and said heis confident of his and party’swin in elections.Addressingthe public meeting, Mauryasaid that although he is busybecause of elections, his sup-porters at Sirathu are doingselfless work like the mightyarmy of Lord Hanumanbecause of which he is sure ofhis victory from Sirathu assem-bly seat.Describing the ‘doubleengine’ government as a medi-um of development, Maurya

said that when this doubleengine government was notthere, people’s land were occu-pied and it was completelygundaraj that dominated thescenario. However, now thestate government has takenstrict action against the mafiaand goons. At the same time,he also cautioned the landmafia’s for not to indulge in ille-gal possession of any land.Hesaid that such land would bevacated and after vacating thesame, houses and schools willbe constructed for thepoor.While addressing theworkers, the deputy CM men-tioned schemes of the govern-ment and said that the peopleof the state will not be deprivedof any scheme. Referring to thesituation of power, he said thatearlier there was no electricitybut now the state governmenthas assured uninterruptedpower supply.Describing theresolutions mentioned in theSankalp Patra of the BJP, hesaid that after March 10, assoon as the BJP wins, the farm-

ers will not have to pay theirirrigation bill.Meanwhile, BJPNational general secretaryKailash Vijayvargiya alsoattended the voters’ conventionin Kasia, Kaushambi as well asdeputy CM Keshav Maurya’spublic meeting in KadaMandal. He also addressed thepublic.

HC JUNKS CONTEMPTPLEA AGAINST LOUD-SPEAKERS IN TEMPLES,MOSQUES : The Allahabadhigh court dismissed a con-tempt petition regarding usageof loudspeakers in temples aswell as in mosques, observingthat the time of filing of thepetition indicates that it is asponsored litigation so as toaffect the communal harmonyof the Uttar Pradesh state keep-ing in mind the stateelections.In the contempt peti-tion, the petitioner Islamuddinof Rampur district had request-ed the court to punishRabindra Kumar Mander, whois district magistrate of Rampuras well as superintendent of

police (SP), Rampur for wilful-ly disobeying the earlier orderpassed by this court in a pub-lic interest litigation (PIL) onApril 15, 2015, by which thecourt had directed the districtadministration of Rampur andthe regional pollution controlboard (RPCB) to ensure thatthere is no noise pollution byuse of loud speaker or anyother device causing noise pol-lution beyond the prescribedstandard in the noise pollution(regulation and control) rules,2000

According to the petition-er, it was in the year 2021 thatcertain people started usingloudspeakers in the temple aswell as mosque which led tonoise pollution. Hence, he filedthe present contempt petitionbefore the high court onFebruary 3, 2022 for ensuringthe compliance of the earliercourt’s order dated April 15,2015 and to also to punish theauthorities concerned whichallegedly disobeyed the court’sorder.

$�� 4�� (�� 5��(�� (��0�

Countdown for UttarPradesh Assembly Election

2022 has started in Prayagraj.The visits of star campaignersare intensifying. On Monday,the Minister of Women andChild Development,Government of India, SmritiIrani is coming to Sangamcity. Here, Allahabad North,Allahabad South, AllahabadWest will gather support for theBJP candidates by holding anelection rally.BJP spokespersonRajesh Kesarwani said thatUnion Minister Smriti Iraniwill leave Delhi on February 21at 10:25 am. She will reachPrayagraj at 12 noon. Afterthat, at 2:30 pm in Meerapur ofAllahabad South assembly, at3:45 pm in Pritam Nagar areaof Allahabad West assemblyand at 5 pm in Katra ofAllahabad North assembly con-stituency, she will address theelection meeting.The venue ofthe election meeting of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has

been changed. Now his meet-ing will be held on February 24in the LDC College premiseslocated in Soraon assemblyconstituency of Gangapar inPrayagraj. Earlier the venue ofthe event was fixed asPhaphamau. Along with BJP'sNational General SecretaryKailash Vijayvargiya, State VicePresident Laxman Acharya,Kashi area election in-chargeMahila Morcha Nanda Daglaalso inspected the venue. Someresponsibilities were alsoshared by sitting with the localpeople there. In a meetingheld at the Civil Lines office onSaturday, it was decided tochange the venue of the PrimeMinister's election meeting.City unit President GaneshKesarwani said that partyworkers should come out inGangapar and Yamunapar andurge more and more people toattend the election meeting ofthe Prime Minister. Duringthis, Jharkhand's OrganizationGeneral Secretary Dharampal,State Vice President Laxman

Acharya, Yamunapar districtin-charge Omkar Kesari,Ashwani Dubey, Vaibhav NathBharti etc. were present.Beforethe Prime Minister's electionrally, Home Minister AmitShah will hold a roadshow onFebruary 22. This roadshowwill pass through AllahabadNorth, Allahabad South andAllahabad West assembly seats.BJP spokesperson RajeshKesarwani said that the timingof the programme has notbeen decided yet. Preparationshave started at the party levelfor this event.BJP's NationalGeneral Secretary and RajyaSabha member Arun Singhwill be in the city on Sunday.Apart from interacting withjournalists at BJP's media cen-ter at 11 o'clock, he will alsohold several public meetings inKarchana assembly constituen-cy. During this, he will countthe work of the government tothe general public, while meet-ing party workers and officebearers will give them themantra of victory. BJP media

in-charge Rajesh Kesarwanisaid that the National GeneralSecretary will hold a publicmeeting at 12:30 in Mungari, at4:30 in Dharwara, Badhera at6:30.

On February 21, ArunSingh will hold a public meet-ing at 12 o'clock in the MejaVidhan Sabha at Chakkadihand at 2 o'clock in the SanskritPathshala located in the KoraonVidhan Sabha.BJP's MahilaMorcha has also increased elec-toral activity. Scooty Yatra willbe taken out on February 25.This decision was taken in themeeting of the office bearers ofthe Morcha.

During this, BJP MahilaMorcha Madhya Pradesh statepresident Maya Naroliya saidthat this rally is going to be heldto tell about the works of thegovernment. State MahilaMorcha General Secretary Dr.Kirtika Agarwal, RanjanaVajpayee, Shikha Rastogi,Chandra Ahluwalia, ShashiVarshney etc. were present onthis occasion.

"�6� ��7�� +��8�$��,� �+�(��(�� (��0�

Graduation Ceremony ofthe 28th GNM Nursing

Batch and the Lamp Lightingand Capping CeremonyCelebrations of the 32nd GNMNursing Batch of fresherNursing Students, NazarethHospital School of Nursingwas held at the School campuson Sunday.This Ceremony wasgraced and blessed with thepersonal presence as the ChiefGuest, by Mrs Sushil Kumari,Chief Judicial Magistrate,District Kaushambi and theGuest of Honor was Rev SrVeena Cecilia, ProvincialSuperior – North ProvinceSociety of the Helper ofMary.The function waspresided over by Rev Fr LouisMascarenhas theAdministrator of CatholicDiocese of Allahabad and alsothe present Director ofNazareth Group ofInstitution.The program start-ed with a prayer dance by stu-dents of Nazareth HospitalSchool of Nursing, this was fol-

lowed by the formal LampLighting Ceremony by the dis-tinguished dignitaries includ-ing the chief guest Mrs SushilKumari, Guest of Honour RevFr Louis Mascarenhas, Rev SrVeena Cecilia, Rev Fr VipinD’Souza (Administrator),DrAshok Agarwal MS, Rev SrMoncy (Matron) and Re SrEugine (Principal of NazarethHospital School ofNursing).The Caps wereblessed by Rev Fr LouisMascarenhas and was followedby distribution of the Caps tothe 32ndfresher nursing stu-

dents by the Chief Guest. TheLamp Lighting Ceremony forthe fresher Batch of NursingStudents was conducted by theGuest of Honour, thereafter, aDivine and Professional Pledgewas taken by the NursingStudents.

The Chief guest distributedthe GNM nursing course pass-ing out Certificates to the nurs-ing students of the 28th Batch.The 3rd year students present-ed a delightful Group dance. Sr.Eugin, Principal of NursingSchool in her words ofacknowledgement appreciated

the efforts of the teachers andthe hard work done by thenursing students. The Guest ofHonour distributed theExcellence award to the stu-dent. A Nepali dance whichwas presented by ANM Staffwas widely appreciated by theaudience.The Chief Guest inher words of Wisdom, Adviceand Guidance to the Students,spoke on the Noble Human,Divine and Holistic nature andcare of the Nursing professionand services. Sincerity,Dedication, Compassion.

Affection and Professionalcommitment are the hallmarksof the nursing profession.TheChief guest also gave theMeritorious Student Awards. Agroup dance by the Interns ofthe Nursing school, which wasvery much appreciated by thedistinguished audience.

Vote of Thanks was deliv-ered by Anjana and was fol-lowed by the Cake CuttingCeremony by the passing outGraduate students. The pro-gram concluded with the ren-dition of the National Anthem.

)��'��&��/A L L A H A B A D ( P N S ) :'Chanakya' of the BharatiyaJanata Party Amit Shah will behere in Prayagraj on February22 to take out a massive RoadShow of about 10 kilometers,covering all the three urbanAssembly constituencies of thedistrict-- Allahabad City North,Allahabad City South, andAllahabad City West.Immediately after the confir-mation of Amit Shah's pro-gramme, leaders engagedthemselves in preparing theroute map of the Road Show,which is to be painted saffronwith flags, buntings, postersand hoardings to add to theattraction.Leaders of KashiPrant of the Sangh Parivarhave also arrived here to chalkout plans for ensuring thetremendous success of AmitShah's Road Show to be organ-ised just two days before thepublic meeting of the prime

minister. Venue of NarendraModi's rally has been changed.Earlier he was scheduled toaddress the rally inPhaphamau, but now ground isbeing booked for the purposein Soraon. The Road Show ofAmit Shah will mobilise peo-ple in densely populated local-ities of Labour CrossingAllahpur (Bharadwaj Puram),Alopibagh, Bairahna,Kothaparcha, Bahadurganj,Chowk, Khuldabad,Nakhaskohna, Sulemsaraimainly.The route is yet to begiven final shape, and effortsare being made to cover agood number of areas underthe three urban constituencies.Amit Shah is likely to coverMuslim dominated areas alsowhere Asaduddin Owaisi istrying to leave his impact onthe voters. Besides Amit Shah'sRoad Show, Smriti Irani, whohad compelled Rahul Gandhi

to run away from Amethi, willvisit Prayagraj a day earlier onMonday. She will address pub-lic meetings, one each inAllahabad City South,Allahabad City West, andAllahabad City North. Thiswill prove to be a groundworkfor the success of Shah's showon Tuesday. Meerapur, PreetamNagar, and Katra areas havebeen selected for the meetingsof Smriti Irani.

AU STUDENTS’PROTEST CONTINUES: Thecampus branching Arts facul-ty of Allahabad University con-tinues to witness massiveprotests by a large number ofstudents. The protest is beingstaged by students in favour oftheir demand for holdingannual exams in an onlinemode.

The protest has been stagedagainst the decision of varsityauthorities which has

announced to conduct annualexams in an offline mode.Meanwhile, taking a seriousview of the ongoing agitation ofstudents demanding the offlineexaminations, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof SangitaSrivastava has formed a high-powered committee to checkthe problem and submit itsreport.“ The first meeting ofthis high-powered committeewas held on Saturday and allthe aspects of the ongoingoffline teaching and proposedexamination schedule were dis-cussed.

The committee hasresolved the issue by meetingfive representatives of the agi-tating students and discussionof their grievances will meet onMonday (February 21) at 2 pmin the office of theDean, Faculty of Science”,informed AU PRO, Prof JayaKapoor.

�� !"#�!$!!

�<$$2��<1@21+� $'��()#*�

Indian wrestlers continuedperforming brilliantly on the

international horizon. In theongoing International RankingSeries in Bulgaria with theirstrong performances Indian

wrestlers bagged two silvermedals and one bronze. NorthEastern Railway (NER)’swrestler Gourav Baliyan andOlympian Ravi Dahiya won sil-ver medals while OlympianDeepak Punia bronze. GouravBaliyan by winning silvermedal in 79 kg weight catego-ry brought joy among thesportspersons, coaches and

sports lovers of NER. President,North Eastern Railway SportsAssociation (NERSA), YogeshMohan, General SecretaryPankaj Kumar Singh, wrestlingsecretary JP Singh and seniorrailway officials have congrat-ulated Baliyan on his achieve-

ment.Earlier, Baliyan in therecently held Junior WorldWrestling Championship inUfa, Russia won the bronzemedal and in Senior NationalWrestling Championship goldmedal. Under the supervisionof Chandravijay Singh, assistantsports officer of North EasternRailway and coach of theIndian wrestling team, Baliyan’s

regular training takes place.BID TO PROVIDE

SECURITY TO PASSEN-GERS: Railway ProtectionForce (RPF), North EasternRailway (NER) makes con-stant efforts to provide securi-ty to the passengers. In thissequence, RPF, Gorakhpur,found a 15-year-old boy in anunclaimed condition on plat-form No 2 of Gorakhpur,recently. He was handed over tothe Childline Gorakhpur.Meanwhile on the informationof Divisional Security ControlRoom, Lucknow, recoveringthe bag left behid by a passen-ger from train No. 12004 wasdeposited at RPF post,Lucknow Junction, from whereit was handed over to the pas-senger concerned. On the otherhand, on the informationreceived from the DivisionalSecurity Control Room,Lucknow, the RPF, Basti onthe arrival of train number-12531 at Basti’s platform No 1recovered the bag of a passenleftbehind. It was later handed overto the passenger concerned.Besides RPF, Farrukhabad, intrain number-14723 found thebag of a passenger which was leftbehind. The bag was handedover to the passenger at theFarrukhabad RPF post.

,*3�/��

�<$$2��<1@21+� +',-)�.��

Prize distribution ceremony of the winningparticipants during the flower and fruit exhi-

bition was organised in the Viva Club whosechief guest chairperson, Uttara Mahila Mandal,Karobi Sen, gave away the prizes for differentcategories. In thecategory of HouseLawn, Kitchenand FlowerGarden for Dtype Anita Singhgot the first prize,SP Sinha secondand DevendraShinde the thirdprize. In this cat-egory for C typehouse Jyoti Tiwarigot the first prize,Vishwajit Roysecond and RatnaTripathi the thirdprize. Whereas for B type house SubhashChandra got the first prize, Arun Sen secondand Krishna Ghosh the third prize. In Rangolidecoration competition, Madhavi Bantu got thefirst prize, Devendra Shinde second, SrishtiMishra third and Kiran Prasad the consolationprize. For cactus and succulent Dr ShikshaSaxena was first, Archana Agarwal andDharamvir Singh second and Devendra Shindegot the third first prize, in bonsai Dr ShikshaSaxena got the first prize, Rahul Verma second

and Meenu Roy received the third prize. In palmand ornamental category, Rahul Ghosh got thefirst prize, Geeta Soni second and Dr ShikhaSaxena the third prize. In seasonal floweringFather Charles got the first prize, MD Yahia sec-ond and Ratnakar the third prize. In the cutflower category, Uzma Khan was rewarded for

rose, AnitaSingh fordahlia, AparnaMandal formarigold, MDYahiya forgladiolus andUzma Khanfor seasonalflower. In thecategory ofvegetables IshaJain was giventhe prize forc a b b a g e ,Father Charlesfor brinjal, SP

Sinha for cauliflower, Archana Agarwal fortomato, Kalpana Jetha for carrot, Isha Jain forpotato, Archana Agarwal for peas, and MD Yahiafor seasonal vegetables. The participants wererewarded for different varieties of fruits displayedduring the exhibition, which included Dr ShikhaSaxena for papaya and Ajay Kumar for guava,Subhash Chandra for banana and Sunita forlemon. Gardeners who had done excellent workin different houses for flower and fruit exhibitionwere also encouraged by being awarded prizes.

�<$$2��<1@21+�/0�1�#*�

Under the Systematic Voters'Education and Electoral

Participation (SVEEP) pro-gramme a rangoli was made offlowers at BLJ ground inMahuaria locality on Saturdayto make people aware for max-imum voting. It was preparedby 95 students under the super-vision of eight art teachers ofdifferent schools. The 50x50feet rangoli attracted largegathering throughout the day.As per the vision of SVEEPincharge/ Chief DevelopmentOfficer (CDO) Srilaxmi VS itsoutline was prepared by AnilRao, a teacher in BLJ InterCollege with the association ofJP Kureel, a teacher in JantaJanardan Inter College,Bhurkura. The students of AryaKanya Inter College,Kanshiram Girls’ Inter Collegeand Sundar Mundar KanyaInter College worked hard toprepare it. The Scouts andGuides of Shiv Inter College,MPMB Inter College andRajasthan Inter College theyworked hard to manage thecrowd at sprawling ground.Divisional CommissionerYogeshwar Ram Mishra visitedthe place along with DistrictMagistrate Praveen KumarLaxkar and students raised theslogan, ‘Sab Kaam Chhod DoSabse Pahle Vote Do’ to wel-come them. DC praised theentire team, including DHOMeva Ram, DIOS SatyendraKumar, principals associatedwith it and artists who preparedit. The DC made an appeal tothe gathering to create aware-ness for increasing the votingpercentage.

POLL: The observersappointed by ElectionCommission of India (ECI) inthe district regarding theassembly election 396-CityAssembly constituency MVallalar, 395-ChhanbeyAssembly constituency AnusuaDatta Barua,397-MajhawaanAssembly constituency Monica

Malik, 398-Chunar Assemblyconstituency Vijay Pal Singhand police observer AbhishekJorwal held a meeting withDistrict Election Officer/DMPraveen Kumar Laxkar,SP AjaySingh, returning officers anddeputy collectors to becomeaware with the arrangementsfor the elections which were toheld on March 7th. After beingintroduced with all the presentofficers the observers told tohold the elections properlywith free and transparent. DEOsaid there were 18,91,042 vot-ers in the dustrict out of which9,92,400 are male and 8,98,512female, 130 are of other cate-gory and 13,413 Divyangs. Hesaid 1,336 polling stations and2,268 polling booths were therein the district. In order toensure the peaceful conduct ofelection the DEO said 21zonal magistrates and 145 sec-tor magistrates had beenappointed. He said 175 pollingstations and 336 polling boothshad been identified as criticaland 67 hamlets as vulnerablepolling booths. He apprisedthat 30 MCC teams, one mediacertification and surveillanceteam 15 flying squad teams and45 permanent surveillanceteams had been formed. Heinformed that facilities ofpotable water, toilet, ramp etcwere available at all the pollingbooths and all had beeninspected by the sector magis-trates and sub-divisional mag-istrates concerned. SP Ajay

Singh said that as per thedirection of ECI the deploy-ment of adequate force wasbeing done and for the critical,sensitive and vulnerable pollingbooths CRPF was to bedeployed. Deputy DistrictElection Officer(DDEO)/ADM Shiv PratapShukla said that the first timechecking, repair, randomisationof EVMs had been completedbefore the representatives of thepolitical parties and the date ofsecond was to be finalised asper the direction of theobservers.

He said adequate vehicleshad been arranged for pollingparties and gave detailed infor-mation about the training ofpolling personnel, packing ofstationery etc on the occasion.The meetung was also attend-ed by ASP city Sanjay KumarASP operation Mahesh SinghAttri.

ARRESTED: Padari policerecovered a kidnapped minorgirl and arrested the kidnaperon Saturday. According to areport received here, one per-son had lodged a named firstinformation report (FIR) onFriday in which it was allegedthat the accused had kidnappedhis minor daughter by enticingher. Police recovered the girlfrom Aghawar Chauraha underPadari police station. Theaccused was arrested byincharge Paindapur police out-post, Uday Narain Singh, andhis team on Saturday.

��7��#�%&��,&��"��#

��'��&��&��8�&��9��%%��(�� (��

Polling ended peacefully forthe third phase of elections

to 10 assembly constituenciesin Kanpur on Sunday.

According to the districtadministration, 57.8 per centpolling was recorded.

Massive security arrange-ments had been made aroundthe polling centres.

This time a large numberof model booths were set up inKanpur Nagar where the spon-sors distributed coffee, samosa,biscuits, chips, toffees and bal-loons free to voters.

Although there was muchhullabaloo over Covid protocol,hardly 20 per cent people wereseen following the norms at thepolling centres.

The polling began at 7:00am and there was a rush in theinitial hours. This year therewas much enthusiasm for vot-ing among the new young vot-ers of the state, they could beseen lining up in queues fortheir turn at the polling booths

across the city. The main attraction was

the selfie points set up outsidethe polling centres.

As mobile phones werebanned in the polling centres,people had to make their rela-tives run to fetch mobilephones to click pictures at theselfie points after they hadcast their votes.

The electorate, especiallyyouth and middle aged women,had to stand in queues for overhalf an hour for their turn toclick a picture at the selfiepoints.

Vehicles were not allowedinside the polling centres, anumber of aged people wereseen trudging to the booths tocast their votes.

The tall claims that thereshall be a waiting room or aplace to wait seemed hollow assuch places were rarely to beseen. Interestingly, the peoplewho were offered coffee,samosa and biscuits for free,called their relatives to vote andthus to say the lure of free cof-

fee and samosa drew quite anumber of voters to the boothswill certainly not be wrong,

Chhatrapati Shahu JiMaharaj University, Kanpur,Vice-Chancellor Prof VinayPathak, after casting votealong with his betterhalf, appealed to the peopleto vote as it helped informing a strong governmentand led to economic growth ofthe nation.

He appealed to every stu-dent of the university to cast hisor her vote first before break-fast. Prof Pathak and his wifecast their votes at the booth setup in Asha Girls’ Inter College,Chandra Nagar.

Similarly, UIHS DirectorDr Pravin Katiyar alsovoted along with a large num-ber of his health sciences stu-dents,

Meanwhile, the returningofficer in an official statementdenied that anti-social ele-ments forced Muslim womenwho reached the polling boothsin hijab in Arya Nagar con-

stituency to take off their hijabbefore casting vote. He alsoscoffed at rumours that Muslimwomen created a furor over

being threatened to take offtheir hijab. He said such claimswere baseless and sheerrumour.

��(�� (��

Director of Gaur HariSinghania Institute of

Management and Research,Dr Rahul Goyal, while address-ing the 5th BrandCraft inter-national marketing summit‘Agile marketing in VUCAworld’, said that the recentyears saw varied changes inmarketing and Covid restric-tions saw changes in ways themarketing was done.

He said work-from-homehad become a norm, e-meet-ings had become mandatoryand all these changes hadchanged marketing substan-tially and companies agileenough to adapt to the chang-ing situations were now super-seding the conventional marketleaders.

The session began withsenior brand manager andbusiness head of Africa Cluster,

Zydus Group, Gaurav Jain,sharing how Zydus had beencoping with the changes overthe past years, both nationallyand internationally. He told theaudience that today manypharmaceutical organisationswere relying on operationalstructure indicators that couldimpact their success and will-ingness to compete.

The second session com-menced with senior managersales defence business (north &east) for Bacardi India Pvt. Ltd,Vishal Gautam, explaining thedark marketing in liquor indus-try, touching upon the conceptsof surrogate marketing andending with a detailed analysisof supply chain management or‘route to market’ as popularly

called in the industry.The concluding session

was conducted by SumitRaghunath, GM Ad Sales,Inext, who deliberated on thevaried modes of media, differ-entiated between journalismand reporting in print, outdoor,as well as in audio visual media.He drew a vivid picture of evo-lution in the media industryduring the VUCA time.

During the session stu-dents raised questions whichwere aptly answered by thespeakers.

The programme endedwith the award and certificateof appreciation and the vote ofthanks being proposed by DrShekhar Trivedi, Convener,BrandCraft 2022.

The programme wasattended by the faculty, staff,students of GHS-IMR alongwith JK Business School,Gurugram.

��(�� (��

Regency Health will hold acancer screening camp on

Tuesday under the supervisionof Dr Farhan Akhtar and DrJitin Yadav with the objective toprovide super speciality con-sultation to people from small-er towns and the grassrootslevel.

Addressing press persons,both the doctors said that inIndia, the incidence of cancerwas increasing rapidly there-fore it was important to stepup cancer literacy and aware-ness among people in UttarPradesh. Both said as KanpurNagar was known as thegutkha capital of the country,the incidence of cancer, espe-cially oral cancer, was high inthe city and special attentionwas needed to develop aware-ness about it in the city and thestate.

Dr Akhtar, who is a radiooncologist, said the use ofgutkha had been shown tohave genotoxic and clasto-

genic properties and in somecases, alcohol played animportant role in oral cancer,rather than smoking. He saidthe use of smokeless tobaccoproducts together with alco-holism and smoking increasedthe chances of oral cancer. Hesaid gutkha had made inroadsinto traditional society andpeople with lower socio-eco-nomic status took it as analternative source of smoking.

He said the myth in favourof gutkha that it was lessharmful than smoking prod-ucts was a major challenge inIndia. He said nearly 4,200chemical constituents hadbeen identified in gutkha andthere were many main car-cinogens in gutkha.

He said due to ignorance,fear and social stigma peoplecome to the doctor late withstage III or IV cancer whichrequired surgery and extensivetreatment. He said it was alsoimportant to dispel the mythsand inform the people aboutthe signs and symptoms of

cancer and the importance ofscreening for early detection.He said when cancer care wasdelayed or inaccessible therewas a lower chance of survival,greater problems associatedwith treatment and highercosts of care.

He said with this cancerscreening camp RegencyHealth aimed to create aware-ness about cancer and provideaffordable and quality treat-ment to the people at thegrassroots level.

He said if one had any ofthe symptoms like red or whitepatches in the mouth, a lumpin any part of the body, unex-plained bleeding from anypart of the body, change inmole or wart, hoarseness ordifficulty in swallowing,change in bladder or bowelmovement, unreasonable painin any part of the body, onemust immediately consult adoctor. He said the signs andsymptoms of cancer were oftenignored, and sometimes thesymptoms may not occur at

all. He said cancer screeninghelped in looking for cancerbefore a person had any symp-toms.

Dr Jitin Yadav, surgeon,said the free screening campwould enable people to get toknow about their risks, espe-cially women and people whoconsumed tobacco in anyform. He said it would also bebeneficial for the people whowere not able to afford screen-ing and get the tests done ataffordable rates.

He said screening testshelped in finding cancer at anearly stage, before symptomsappeared and when abnormaltissue or cancer was foundearly, it was easier to treat orcure. He added that in some ofthe cases by the time symp-toms appeared, the cancermay have grown and spread.He said early diagnosis ofcancer focused on detectingsymptomatic patients as earlyas possible so they had the bestchance for successful treat-ment.

��,��(��9�� :;<#��

0��1��"��!��#�� !!��&��,��

2�33(4�3.�(45�(36127��(�� !!��!��'� ��,�

-4)5�3��

8��#��4��!��9��8�� &��84�)��,��

��,(�7��1��,�,� ��, ��,�+��+� ��

+��6��KANPUR (PNS): Mothertongue is the language that aperson has grown up speakingfrom early childhood and canbe termed as a person’s nativelanguage. It is therefore themedium of communicationthat a person is most familiarwith and this familiarity can beused for providing education.This year the theme is ‘Usingtechnology for multilinguallearning: Challenges andopportunities’. The NewEducation Policy tries to bringchanges in many areas in edu-cation and one of them is themedium of instruction inwhich education will be pro-vided in primary schools andthis policy states that the moth-er tongue will be the mediumof instruction up to Class 5 inall schools.

This was stated by princi-pal of Pt Vishambhar NathDegree College, Dr DeependraMishra, while addressing a vir-tual session on ‘Mother Tongue’on Saturday. He said it wasessential for one to under-stand that a child understoodthe mother tongue and henceif the instructions were in thatlanguage itself then transitionto school education wouldbecome smooth and easy. Hesaid if a student was made tolearn in a foreign language onewould not only have to learn toread and write in that languagebut also learn that languageitself, and this approach bur-dened students with learningtwo incredibly complex con-cepts at the same time thusresulting in a much slowerrate of learning. He said theNEP recommended that class-es be taught in the communi-ty’s mother tongue during theearly years of primary school sothat students could fully learnto read and write, and duringthis time they should also beintroduced to early mathemat-ical concepts and other acade-mic subjects.He cited theresearch by Rajathurai Nishantifrom Bharathidasan Universitywhich showed that the moth-er tongue was vital in framingthe thinking and emotions ofpeople. He said this education,therefore, caused comprehen-sive development of a child.

�� !"#�!$!!��

#��$��"$(�/.$�� -��-�

The Congress is closelywatching the growing

bonhomie between someregional parties and the ChiefMinisters’ interactions in themidst of the ensuingAssembly elections in fiveStates, including the crucialUttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Sources in the party saidCongress president SoniaGandhi, who is hopeful toretain Punjab and wrestUttarakhand, Goa andManipur from the BJP and itsalliance partners, is contem-plating to call on a grandopposition meeting post theassembly election results onMarch 10 and before the sec-ond part of the budget ses-s ion resumes in theParliament.

Party sources said allincluding TMC will be invit-ed to formulate a commonintention strategy towardstaking on the BJP in the2024 General Elections.

“We held two meetingsearlier. On both occasions, allopposition parties were invit-ed. This time, too, they willbe invited,” said CommunistParty of India (Marxist) gen-era l secretar y SitaramYechury, a key person behindthe initiative.

The last when the oppo-sition parties met was onAugust 20 last year with par-ticipation of 19 political par-ties during which SoniaGandhi had urged the lead-ers to rise above individualcompulsions in the interest ofthe nation and start formu-lating for the single objectiveto oust BJP and bring back agovernment that “believes inthe values of the freedommovement and in the princi-ples and provisions of ourConstitution".

The unification contin-ued until the TrinamoolCongress launched an offen-sive against the grand oldparty probably devised bypol l strategist PrashantKishor who is now thrownout from all the close quar-ters of parties he workedwith. "The message is loudand clear after PrashantKishor made efforts to reestablish his relations withBihar Chief Minister NitishKumar now.

As politically all is awarethe sour relations of Nitishand his major partner BJP inBihar it is certain that postresults if the UP and otherresults don't meet BJP'sexpectations then Nitish maylook for a different shore totide with," said a very seniorCongress leader, requesting

not be named.Congress, which is antic-

ipating a massive gain ascompared to the other nonBJP parties in poll fray now,may flex its muscles againstTMC, which in recentmonths has been questioningits supremacy.

Sonia in her last meetingwith opposition parties,which was boycotted byTMC, had mentioned shewas looking beyond the TMCwhen she invited DMK, NCP,RJD, SP, BSP, CPI (M) andShiv Sena for a strategy meet-ing during the winter sessionof Parliament.

Sources said TMC supre-mo West Bengal CM MamataBanerjee had expressed herannoyance over the way thedraft was prepared by CPI Mleader Sitaram Yechur yregarding which she had sug-gested for a core group of afew leaders to monitor regu-larly. Congress has swunginto action after Mamatatook a lead in roping DMK,TRS, Shiv Sena andSamajwadi Party early thismonth leading to the latestmeeting of Telangana CMKCR and Maharashtra CMUddhav Thackeray. Congressis in alliance governmentwith Thackeray inMaharashtra and with DMKin Tamil Nadu.

2��!�)��$7$8

��($,.��$�.$�� 5�50

Having deliberated at lengthon the need to float an

Opposition front to take on theruling BJP in the 2024 LokSabha polls, Chief Ministers ofTelangana and Maharashtrasaid here on Sunday that “thereis need for parivartan (change)in the country” and that theyhad made a "new" and “goodbeginning” at their meet-ing.After a length-lengthy lun-cheon meeting with UddhavThackeray – at which the twoleaders discussed inter-stateand political issues, KCChandrashekhar Rao (KCR) -- also met NCP chief SharadPawar at the latter's Silver Oakresidence in south Mumbai anddiscussed the ways to cobble ananti-BJP front for the 2024 LokSabha elections.At a joint inter-action with the media aftertheir meeting, the TelanganaChief Minister said, “We havemade a good beginning. Youwill get to see a good result ofour meeting very soon.Uddhav and I have been talk-ing to the leaders of like-mind-ed regional and national par-ties. Both Uddhav and I feel

that there is need for parivar-tan (change) in the country. Inthe coming days, we will allmeet in Hyderabad or someother place to prepare a jointroad map for the 2024 LokSabha polls.”

Describing Uddhav as hisbrother, KCR said, “We are likebrothers. Our two States sharea border of 1,000 km. I felt veryhappy to meet him. We had alengthy discussion on variousissues. There was an agreementbetween us many of the issues.With an aim to bring aboutprogress, increase the pace ofdevelopment, make somestructural changes in gover-nance and policies in the coun-try, we have decided to worktogether in future. I inviteUddhav to come toTelangana.”“With the cooper-ation of the MaharashtraGovernment, we built theKaleshwaram project.Telangana has benefittedimmensely from the project,”KCR said.

The TRS chief — who hasbeen criticising the ruling BJPon various issues for the pastfew weeks and had recentlydemanded the immediate dis-missal of Assam Chief MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma for mak-ing unsavoury remarks aboutformer Congress president andMP Rahul Gandhi – slammedthe Modi Government for“misusing” Central investigat-ing agencies against its politi-cal opponents.

“We condemn the mannerin which central probe agenciesare being misused. The Centremust change its policies or itwill face the consequences,”KCR said.Accusing the BJP ofpractising “vindictive politics”,Uddhav said, “The atmosphereprevailing in the country is notgood. The vindictive politicspractised by some people is notgood. It is not part of ourHindutva culture. It does notaugur well for the country. Itdoes not matter who becomesthe Chief Minister or Prime

Minister. We have to thinkabout what will happen to thecountry...”

Hitting out at the ModiGovernment for its failure toaddress the “fundamentalissues” facing the country,Uddhav said, “What we arewitnessing is that some peopleare not bothering to deal withthe fundamental issues facingthe country. Instead, they aretrying to defame others.”

Stressing on the need forStates co-operating with oneanother, Uddhav said, “Thereis a need for the States havecordial relations between them.States cannot function in an adhoc manner without botheringabout national interest.”

The Maharashtra ChiefMinister said that “a newbeginning” had been made atthe meeting between him andKCR. “It will take some forthings to take shape. We allhave to work hard. But, I amconfident that our effort willyield results. We will keepposted about the progress thatwe will make in the comingdays.”

Talking about the meetinghe had with KCR, Pawar said,“Our discussions were basedon principles and the problemsconfronting the country. It'sour responsibility to show theway to the countrymen, solvethe problems of farmers andcommoners.” On his part, KCRsaid, “Pawar is our senior

leader. He supported our agi-tation (for Telangana State)right from 1969 till its birth(2014). We feel the country isnot being run properly, devel-opment is stalled and theexpected progress has nottaken place.”At Sunday’sUddhav-KCR meeting, sever-al of Maharashtra Ministers,Sena MPs Sanjay Raut andArvind Sawant, the ChiefMinister’s son Tejas Thackeraywere present. Senior NCP lead-ers, including Praful Patel,were present at the meetingbetween Pawar and KCR.

The Telangana ChiefMinister was accompaniedamong others by his MLC-daughter K. Kavitha, MPsRanjit Reddy, Santosh Kumar,BP Patil, MLAs Palla R Reddy,TRS General Secretary ShravanReddy and southern actorPrakash Raj.

The TRS chief, who hastaken the lead in forging analliance among the non-BJPparties for the 2024 Lok Sabha,is expected to meet the ChiefMinisters of non-NDA Stateslike West Bengal, Tamil Naduand RJD’s Lalu Prasad in thedays ahead. While formerPrime Minister and JDS leaderHD Devegowda has alreadyextended his support to KCRfor the initiative, MamataBanerjee and MK Stalin havealso evinced interest in floatingan anti-BJP front for the 2024Lok Sabha polls.

'�$3��,��(��,�44��=/0�� '>'?��.��

6��'�123(��

)��:��!��#��%��""��!�

:;<�2�� 1� ��=��+-�/��+

per cent in Mainpuri, 54.55 per cent inFarrukhabad, 60.28 per cent in Kannauj, and 58.35per cent in Etawah. The voter turnout was 57.55 percent in Auraiya, 58.48 per cent in Kanpur Dehat, 50.76per cent in Kanpur Nagar, 53.847 per cent in Jalaun,57.71 per cent in Jhansi, 67.38 per cent in Lalitpur,57.90 per cent in Hamirpur and 62.02 per cent inMahoba.

The districts where polling was held on Sundayare Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri,Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, KanpurDehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur,Hamirpur, and Mahoba.

The third phase polling will also seal the fate ofthe SP chief ’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is con-testing from his traditional Jaswantnagar seat. Beforethe campaigning ended for the third phase onFriday, Congress general secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra undertook a door-to-door march in Kanpur,Kalpi, Jalaun, and Hamirpur.

While BSP chief Mayawati addressed electionmeetings in Jalaun and Auraiya.

The BJP had approached the ElectionCommission seeking deployment of paramilitaryforces at all booths in Karhal. Among other promi-nent faces in the fray in this phase are BJP’s SatishMahana (Maharajpur in Kanpur) and RamvirUpadhaya (Sadabad in Hathras), and Louise Khurshid,who is contesting on the Congress ticket fromFarrukhabad Sadar. Louise Khurshid is the wife ofsenior Congress leader Salman Khurshid.

Former IPS officer Asim Arun is contesting fromKannauj Sadar on the BJP ticket while UP MinisterRamnaresh Agnihotri is also in the fray from theBhogaon seat in Mainpuri district.

In the third phase of polls as many as 627 can-didates are in the fray, of which 97 are women. Over2.16 crore voters were eligible to exercise their fran-chise at 25,794 polling places and 15,557 polling sta-tions. Districts, where polling was held, are Hathras,Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad,Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, KanpurNagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, andMahoba.

In Etawah city, one person Krushnkant Tewari atthe Kokpura polling booth died of cardiac arrest. Hewas rushed to the hospital. Later his body was hand-ed over to family without a post-mortem. InMainpuri an incident of group clash leading to stonepelting was reported from the Kishni Assembly seat.Police later controlled the situation.

The SP and BJP workers clashed at a polling boothof the Babina Assembly seat in Jhansi district over fakevoting. One person was injured in the incident.

In the Kanpur Cantt Assembly seat many voterscould not cast their vote as their name was missingfrom the electoral rolls. The name of the entire fam-ily of Brijesh Shukla who had contested the munic-ipal election in 2012 was missing from the voters’ list.In the Kasganj Assembly seat five people were takeninto custody for attempting to cast vote with fake iden-tity papers.

��+�/��-��0-��+-��/�2��-�0�� +4�5��

will celebrate Holi twice this year, first on March

10 when the Bharatiya Janata Party gets a thumpingmajority in the assembly polls.”

He said that the opposition parties were not con-cerned about the welfare of poor people, farmer’suplift, safety and security of girls and women andemployment of the youth, adding that they were bestat making only false promises to people.

The prime minister remarked: “When they werein power, they could never ensure adequate supplyof electricity. In fact, during the previous government,power cuts were normal and power supply was newsin UP. When a transformer got burnt down in an area,it remained without power for months. So, they cannever give you electricity, but they can give you elec-tric shocks.”

“They could hardly give houses to the poor andbuilt only 34,000 toilets while the Yogi Adityanath ledgovernment has built 70,000 houses and five lakh toi-lets in Hardoi alone in the last five years. A total of23 lakh people have got property cards in UP underthe double engine government of Uttar Pradesh,” hepointed out.

Modi said LPG cylinders were being provided towomen under Ujjwala scheme whereas poor peoplewere being benefited from Ayushman Bharat withhealth insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh. He saida total of 5.5 crore people had got tap water under JalJeevan Mission in the country.

“The Yogi government has also made record pur-chases of wheat from farmers and record paymentsto sugarcane farmers, which SP and BSP could neverdo. Besides, farmers are getting money transferred totheir accounts under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Ibelieve that small farmers can play a big role in alle-viating poverty in villages. The previous governmenthad shut down 21 sugar mills in UP,” he said.

Referring to a video of an old woman BJP sup-porter circulating on social media, Modi said that sheopenly said that she could not cheat a party that wasgiving her ration.

Modi said that UP was witnessing rapid devel-opment under the double engine government in termsof infrastructure, education, industry while the ben-efits of development reached the poor. “Medical col-leges and expressways are being built and develop-ment activity will gain momentum when the BJP gov-ernment comes back in UP under the leadership ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanath,” he added.

“During SP government ‘katta aur satta’ weregiven full freedom to operate. Mothers were concernedabout their daughters’ safety. Traders were scared ofextortionists. Dynasts protected criminals. But nowunder the Yogi government, mafia and criminals donot want bails and prefer to stay in jails,” the primeminister said.

��:(!=><?��30�+--+�-�� -� ��

polls remained peaceful with “not a single caseof disruption of poll and inducement of voters thatwas brought to the Commission’s notice during theday”. However, several complaints were made and alle-gations were levelled by some party leaders and can-didates over malfunctioning of EVMs, while reportsof firing, clashes between two groups, skirmishes,arguments, attack on candidates, were also reportedfrom different places.

“As far as the law-and-order situation is con-cerned, some minor poll-related incidents were wit-nessed in the State and a total of 18 First Information

Reports (FIRs) have been registered on the day ofpolling to avert any untoward incidents,” said Dr. Rajuin the official statement released after the completionof polling time, which is till 6 pm.

The commission’s spokesperson maintained thatcompiling the final figure “is a long and manualprocess as the figures are being collected from all24,740 polling stations and will be matched with statu-tory papers, which is taking time and the data is beingcompiled to assure that there should not be an errorin the final figure”.

The maximum polling percentage was witnessedat 77.8 per cent in Gidderbaha, while the lowest at50.1 per cent was recorded in Amritsar West.

The State has recorded a dip in the total voterturnout this time as compared to 65.96 per cent inthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 77.37 per cent in the 2017Assembly polls, and 70.89 per cent in the 2014 LokSabha polls. However, the election authorities claimedthat the final figure is expected to surpass 70 per cent,which will be shared by Monday evening.

The fate of many stalwarts, including ChiefMinister Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab Congresschief Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh, five-time Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal, SAD president Sukhbir Badal,Aam Aadmi Party State unit president BhagwantMann, and many others, is now locked in the EVMsand would be declared along with others on March10.

The CEO said that in the morning during themock poll, 146 ballot units, 152 control units, and 433VVPAT machines were replaced, while 72 ballot units,64 control units, and 649 VVPATs were replaced dur-ing the conduct of the poll.

Earlier during the day, AAP leader RaghavChadha alleged EVM glitches at several booths acrossPunjab, while also accusing SAD and Congress ofbooth capturing. In a series of tweets, Chadha accusedthe rival parties of impairing EVMs and has asked theElection Commission of India (ECI) to take imme-diate action.

“Reports coming in from Guru Har Sahai AC,Booth No. 23. Capturing attempted by SAD work-ers. They entered booths & are asking polling offi-cers to let their NRI family members to vote(through someone on their behalf ) else theywon't allow anyone to vote,” Raghav Chadha wrotein a tweet.

Lashing out at Cong’s ‘polling agent’ for not let-ting voters freely exercise their franchise, he said,“In Bhoa AC's Booth No 95, a polling agent ofCongress has placed his chair next to EVM so thathe has a clear view of who is voting for which party.He isn't removing his chair despite complaints.”

He further went on to accuse the poll officersof ‘not applying ink’ on voters who have cast theirvotes. “This is a serious issue and can lead to bogusvoting,” he added. However, no clarification on thesame was provided by the Commission.

Besides, two sons of Ferozepur Urban BJP can-didate Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi and Bollywood actorMahie Gill besides an aide of the constituency’sCongress nominee were booked for poll code viola-tion.

A clash was also reported to have taken placebetween workers of BJP and AAP at a border villagein Ferozepur (urban). In Kurali, which falls inKharar assembly seat, SAD candidate Ranjit Singh Gillcomplained about a disagreement between presidingofficer at Model Town booth and his polling agents,leading to some protests.

��

�� -��-�

Amidst continuing tensionin Ukraine, India on

Sunday asked all its citizensthere, including students toleave the country immediate-ly. This was the second advi-sory in the last five days by theIndian Embassy in Kyiv. Thefamilies of Indian Embassyofficials, too, were ordered toreturn to India immediately inview of the growing danger..

In the latest caution, theEmbassy, which has set up a24X7 control centre there tohelp its citizens, urged Indiannationals and students to tem-porarily leave the country as

tensions escalate."In view of continued ten-

sions in Ukraine, all Indiannationals whose stay is notdeemed essential and all Indianstudents are advised to leaveUkraine temporarily. Indianstudents are advised to also getin touch with respective studentcontractors for updates on char-ter flights," the advisory read.

Indian nationals were alsourged to avail of the commer-cial and charter flights fororderly and timely departurefrom there. The advisory onFebruary 15 had asked thestudents to leave the country assoon as possible.

There are more than

20,000 Indian students study-ing in various universitiesthere. Since tension mountedwith Russia, the air fares shotup. However, till now there wasno plan to evacuate Indiansfrom Ukraine.

However, till now therewas no plan to evacuate Indiansfrom Ukraine.

Air India, which wasrecently sold to Tata group bythe Government, will fly threespecial aircraft to Ukraine onFebruary 22, 24 and 26. Theflights will operate to and fromBoryspil International Airport,Ukraine.

India has all along reiter-ated its stand of a "quiet and

constructive diplomacy" toresolve the crisis and said so inthe United Security Councillast week. Russia appreciatedthe Indian viewpoint and saidin a tweet, "We welcome#India's balanced, principledand independent approach."

Desperate diplomaticefforts were now on to preventthe Russian invasion accordingto some Western countries andthe United States of America.However, Ukraine has main-tained there is reason to panicand Russia has also main-tained it will not take anyarmed action.

A telephone conversationbetween French President

Emmanuel Macron andPresident Vladimir Putin aboutthe situation in Ukraine gotunderway on Sunday, accord-ing to agency reports.

Russia, according toWestern leaders, has more than150,000 troops along with mis-sile batteries and warshipsmassed around Ukraine, poisedto strike.

Insisting that it has nointention to attack Ukraine,Russia, as per some reports, hasdone little to defuse tension. Itsstate media reportedly accusedKyiv of plotting an assault onrebel-held, pro-Russia enclavesin eastern Ukraine in theDonetsk and Luhansk regions.

�� !"#�!$!!

Ahmedabad: The 38 convictsin the 2008 Ahmedabad serialblasts case deserve the deathsentence as allowing them toremain in society is akin toreleasing a "man-eater leopard"in public that consumes inno-cents, the special court has saidin its order.

In the judgement, a copyof which was made available onSaturday, the court also saidthat in its opinion, the deathsentence will be reasonable asthe case falls in the "rarest of therare" category.

The special court had onFriday sentenced to death 38members of the terror outfitIndian Mujahideen (IM) forthe Ahmedabad bombingswhich killed 56 people andinjured over 200 on July 26,2008. The court also gave lifeterms to 11 other IM convictsin the case.

It was for the first time inthe country that the maxi-mum number of death sen-

tences were handed down by acourt in one go.

"The convicts createdunrest in a peaceful society andcarried out anti-national activ-ities while living here. Theyhave no respect for the consti-tutionally-elected governmentat the Centre and in Gujarat,and a few believe only in Allahand not in the government orthe judiciary," special judge AR Patel said in the order.

There is no need for thegovernment to keep the con-victs in jail, especially thosewho said they believed only intheir God and none others, thecourt said, adding there is nojail in the country that can keepthem lodged forever.

"If such people are allowedto remain in the society, it willbe like releasing a man-eaterleopard in public. Such convictsare like a man-eater leopardthat eats innocents in society,including children, youth,elderly, women, men, new-

borns, and people of differentcaste and communities," thejudge said in the order.

The prosecution hadsought death sentence for allthe 49 convicts in the blastscase, including those whohatched the conspiracy andthose who planted the bombs.

"For the people carryingout such terrorist activities,death sentence is the onlyoption, for the sake of peaceand safety of the country andits people," the court said aboutthe 38 convicts.

Handing down life sen-tences to 11 other convicts tillthe end of their natural life, thecourt said their crime was lesssevere compared to the mainconspirators.

"They took part in theconspiracy along with the mainconspirators, and took part interror training camps in thejungles in Halol-Pavagadh inGujarat and Vaghmon inKerala on their own accord, but

their role in the crime does notinvolve death sentence," thecourt observed.

"But, if they get anythingless than imprisonment tilltheir last breath, then theseconvicts will again commitsimilar crimes and will helpothers, is also certain," it said.

Responding to argumentsof some convicts that theywere framed because they wereMuslims, the court said it can-not accept this, because inIndia, there are crores ofMuslims who live as law-abid-ing citizens.

"Why did the investigatingofficers arrest only these peo-ple? Others should have beenarrested had they also beeninvolved in the case. The inves-tigating officers are responsiblepeople," the court said.

The police had claimedthat members of the IM, a rad-icalised faction of the bannedStudents Islamic Movement ofIndia (SIMI), were behind the

Ahmedabad blasts which wereplanned to avenge the 2002post-Godhra riots in Gujaratthat claimed the lives of over1,000 people, most of themfrom the Muslim community.

While 38 accused wereconvicted by the court underthe Indian Penal Code (IPC)Sections 302 (murder) and120B (criminal conspiracy)and provisions of the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act, 11others were held guilty forcriminal conspiracy and alsounder various sections of theUAPA, the prosecution hadsaid.

The court imposed a fineof Rs 2.85 lakh on 48 convictsand Rs 2.88 lakh on anotherconvict.

It also awarded compensa-tion of Rs one lakh to the kinof those who died in the blasts,Rs 50,000 to those who wereseriously injured and Rs 25,000to those who received minorinjuries. PTI

Chennai: Tamil Nadu regis-tered a poll percentage of 60.70per cent in the February 19urban local bodies electionthat witnessed an interestingmulti-cornered contest withthe constituents of the opposi-tion AIADMK alliance con-testing on their respectiveparty's own strengths, ratherthan remaining together,against the DMK combine.

Among the 21 corpora-tions, which went to polls, theGreater Chennai Corporationregistered the lowest turnout of43.59 per cent while Karurpolled the maximum of 75.84per cent on Saturday, accordingto the Tamil Nadu StateElection Commission(TNSEC).

The single-phase electionwas held to fill up 12,838 postsin 21 corporations, 138 munic-ipalities, 490 town panchayatsand 649 urban local bodies inthe state. A total of 74,416 can-

didates including many inde-pendents entered the fray.

Among the municipalities,Dharmapuri registered animpressive turnout of 81.37per cent and Nilgiris recordedthe lowest voter turnout of59.98 per cent, the SEC said.

On the whole, the townpanchayats and municipalitiesrecorded a good voter turnoutof 74.68 per cent and 68.22 percent respectively, while thehighly urbanised corporationssaw a low turnout of 52.22 percent.

The electoral fortunes ofthe candidates of various polit-ical parties and independents,as well, will be known onFebruary 22 when the SECtakes up the counting of votes.

The local body elections inTN were held after more thana decade. The polls were lastconducted in 2011 when theAIADMK was in power in thestate. PTI

%"� �� >��8�$��?��

�� ! ��""#

�$�,$(��,��$��

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is likely to meet

her counterparts fromOpposition parties in Delhi inthe second week of Marchwhen she would be in thenational Capital, sources inthe Bengal’s TrinamoolCongress said.

In Delhi, Mamata is likelyto meet the leaders like TamilNadu Chief Minister MKStalin, his Telangana counter-part K Chandrashekhar Raoand Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray.

With this purpose in mindthe TMC supremo has alsolined up the second TrinamoolCongress national workingcommittee meeting in Delhi.Party spokesperson and RajyaSabha Member SukhenduSekhar Roy said that the ChiefMinister was likely to hold theNWC meeting in Delhi.

He would not dwell onwhether the timing of the pro-posed NCW meeting had any-thing to do with the ChiefMinister’s meet. Inside sourceshowever said that Banerjee

wanted her entire party lead-ership by her side during herpresence in Delhi during theChief Minister’s conclave.

“Considering the domi-neering attitude of the BJPGovernment and the regularinterference in the StateGovernment’s affairs throughthe Governor’s office MamataBanerjee proposed to take upthis issue with the other ChiefMinisters and they haveresponded to her call,” said aBengal TMC leader who is alsoa part of the newly constitutedTMC NCW.

Banerjee had spoken toRao and Stalin soon afterBengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar prorogued the StateAssembly allegedly without-consulting the StateGovernment weeks ahead of

the commencement of theBudget Session.

Following his conversationswith her the Tamil Nadu ChiefMinistertweeted, “Beloved Didi… telephoned me to share herconcern and anguish on theConstitutional overstepping andbrazen misuse of power by theGovernors of non-BJP ruledStates. She suggested for a meet-ing of Opposition CMs.” He fur-ther said that he had “assuredher of DMK’scommitment touphold State autonomy,” adding“Convention of OppositionCMs will soon happen out ofDelhi.”

On whether the Congressor Left Chief Ministers wouldjoin the meeting the BengalTrinamool leader said “anyopposition Chief Minister whothinks that the BJPGovernment is trying to breakthe federal structure of thecountry is welcome in themeeting … because it is not theconcern of the TMC or DMKor Congress but it is the con-cern of all the political partieswho want to preserve thedemocratic federal structure ofthe country.”

.��)��123��.�� 6��6�2��/��

�$�,$(��,��$��

The Trinamool Congress onSunday expelled 61 party

leaders from North 24 Parganasdistrict alone for filing nomi-nation defying its diktats aheadof the February 27 municipalelections. The party is consid-eringsimilar steps in cases ofother municipal boards too,sources said.

“In consultation with thetop leadership the district partyhas decided to expel the 61leaders who have gone againstthe party line and filed nomi-nation either independently oron the tickets of other parties,”district party president ParthoBhowmick said.

Election to 108 municipalboards will be conducted onFebruary 27.

Hundreds of sitting TMCcouncilors from various dis-tricts had revolted and theirsupporters have been protest-ing on the streets after theywere denied party tickets tocontest in the coming elections.

“Discipline is primary inthe party and anyone who

defies the party decision will beconsidered to be defying theorders of our party supremoMamata Banerjee … for suchpeople TMC is not the rightplace,” said Bhowmick.

BJP spokesperson SamikBhattacharya said that “theTMC is a party of syndicateswhere elected posts are a majorsource of earning … now new-faces have been given ticketsbecause they also want theirshares inthe booty … thosewho have been denied ticketshave descended on the streetsbecause they will now losetheir source of earning.”

CPI(M)’s SujanChakrabarty said that “theTMC will come to an end a sitwas born … it rose by corrup-tion and chit fund money andit will die by corruption.”

�*'�)!!"��2 �"��3� ��#��0�"��4�!)�!�#/��'��

��$��%�&�'�(��)��)��'��*�&��$��%�+�$�%��,��'�&��%�*��%��$��&��'��-��+

��'�&�*�&��

��

Veteran TrinamoolCongress leader and senior

Bengal Minister Sadhan Pandeon Sunday died at a Mumbaihospital after prolonged ill-ness, State Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said.

The 71-year-old leaderwho is survived by his daugh-ter Shreya Pande,also a politi-cian had been a seven-timeMLA from North Kolkata’sBurtolla area.

The Chief Minister got theinformation from NorthKolkata MP SudipBandopadhyay tweeted: “Oursenior colleague, party leaderand Cabinet Minister SadhanPande has passed away todaymorning at Mumbai.

Had a wonderful relationfor long. Deeply pained at thisloss. My heartfelt condolencesto his family, friends, followers.”

In another condolencemessage, the Chief Ministersaid that she has lost an elderand would miss his advice onvarious matters.

��)�$��%��.,/��'�*��$

Hathras: The GeneralSecretary of Bharatiya JanataParty Yuva Morcha has beenshot in a suspicious conditionin Sikandrau of Hathras districtof Uttar Pradesh. The leader ofBJYM in injured conditionwas found in the upper roomof the house. The injured leaderwas admitted to the hospitalfrom where he was referred toAligarh JN Medical College.But he succumbed to death onthe way to Aligarh. On gettingthe information, the policereached the spot. The case isbeing investigated.

District General Secretaryof BJP Yuva Morcha, KrishnaYadav was shot in suspiciouscircumstances on Sunday after-noon. He was found in an

injured condition in the upperfloor at the residence located atSikandrarau. There have beenreports of bullets being firednear the temple. Police is prob-ing the incident. Krishna Yadavhas been working in the GauRaksha Dal for a long time.About six months ago, he wasmade District GeneralSecretary in the executive com-mittee of Bharatiya Janata YuvaMorcha. On Sunday afternoon,the police received informationthat Krishna Yadav had suf-fered an injury. He is lyinginjured in a critical conditionon the top floor of the houselocated at Gausganj Sikandrau.Before the arrival of the police,relatives took them to Aligarhwhere he succumbed to death

on the way. Police have founda pistol and a cartridge shellfrom the upstairs room. It isbeing told that Krishna hasbeen shot near the forehead.Police is trying to find out thereason behind the incidentand the case is being investi-gated and the dead body hasbeen sent for post-mortem.

Voting percentage inHathras58.95% of votes werecasted in Hathras till 5 pmwhere on the other hand peo-ple boycotted voting in the vil-lage bheem nagariya stating ifthere is no road constructedthen we will not vote.

People of nagla bihari ofsikandrarau of hathras also boy-cotted voting due to unhygien-ic conditions in the village. PNS

03�5�'��%��%��&�#��#��&��%

Bhaderwah/Jammu: A sus-pected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)terrorist was arrested in Dodadistrict of Jammu and Kashmir,officials said on Sunday.

Adil Iqbal Butt, a residentof Sazan-Bajarni village, wasapprehended by a joint searchparty of police, Rashtriya Riflesand Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)during checking of vehicles atThathri on Saturday, the offi-cials said.They said a pistol, twomagazines and nine roundswere recovered from the pos-

session of the suspected ter-rorist.

Preliminary investigationrevealed that he was beinghandled by Mohd Amin alias“Muzamil” alias “Haroon” alias“Umar”, a terrorist from Dodawho is presently operatingfrom Pakistan, the officialssaid.

They said a case under rel-evant sections of law has beenregistered at police stationThathri and further investiga-tion is on. PTI

�� +#�&�5�#��!�*�#��#�&*'�%671��!&�

Srinagar: The Army onSunday paid floral tributes tosoldiers killed in an encounterwith militants in Shopian dis-trict of Jammu and Kashmir.

Two Army soldiers and aLashkar-e-Taiba terrorist werekilled in the gunbattle in theZainpora area of Shopian onSaturday.

"Army today paid tributesto Sep Chavan Romit Tanajiand Sep Santosh Yadav, whomade the supreme sacrifice on19 February 2022 atChreymarg in Shopian dis-trict," Defence spokesman ColEmron Musavi said.

In a solemn ceremony atBadami Bagh Cantonmenthere, Chinar CorpsCommander Lt Gen D PPandey and all ranks paidhomage to the gallant soldierson behalf of the proud nation,

he said.Sepoy Tanaji (23) had

joined the Army in 2017. Hehailed from Lokmanya Nagarvillage in Thane district ofMaharashtra and is survived byhis mother, the spokesman said.

Sepoy Santosh Yadav (28)had joined the Army in 2015.He belonged to Tadva Villagein Deoria District of UttarPradesh. He is survived by hiswife, he said.

"The mortal remains ofSep Tanaji and Sep Yadav willbe taken for last rites to theirnative places, where they wouldbe laid to rest with full militaryhonours.”

“In this hour of grief, theArmy stands in solidarity withthe bereaved families andremains committed to theirdignity and well-being," thespokesman said. PTI

��)�� #�*0�#��#!��!"&*��.*""�&�*'�/! *�'��'+!�'#��

@=A�#�%��8��#��&��%��9��'�&��"��%��&�� &��%��'�"��B��&��$��#C��0��1��2��2�##�� "��"�#3#�!!��2 �3

Srinagar/Mumbai: Formeractor Zaira Wasim of “Dangal”fame has expressed her disap-pointment over the hijab rowand said it is an unjust choiceto make between educationand hijab, which is an obliga-tion in Islam.

The hijab row began lastmonth when six students atGovernment PU College inUdupi, who attended the classwearing the headscarf wereprohibited from entering thecollege as it was in violation ofthe stipulated dress code.

Wasim penned a lengthynote on social media, which sheposted on her Twitter andInstagram accounts, voicingher opinion on the backlashhijab-wearing girls and womenare facing in the country.

“The inherited notion ofhijab being a choice is an ill-informed one. Hijab isn't achoice but an obligation in Islam. PTI

�D��%�E&��,&��'�&�� %��"?�%��%�F��

��!!��!�� !�� !��#��(��!�� ()

Bengaluru: The Congress inKarnataka continued its agita-tion inside the KarnatakaAssembly for the past threedays demanding removal ofRural Development andPanchayat Raj Minister K SEshwarappa for his allegedstatement on the national flag.

The Congress legislatorshave been camping in theVidhana Soudha inside theAssembly Hall and have beensleeping there in the night.

"The agitation is happeningbecause of the adamant standof the BJP. Who is asking forEshwarappa's resignation? Noone. We want his dismissal.Our appeal is also to GovernorThaawarchand Gehlot to dis-miss him," KPCC chief D KShivakumar said.

He was confident that theminister would be dismissedfrom office in the next twodays.

Stating that Chief MinisterBasavaraj Bommai is underpressure from within the party,

Shivakumar said if the CM hasself-esteem then he would havethrown out "foul-mouthed"Eshwarappa from the govern-ment when the latter had saidMedium and Large IndustriesMinister Murugesh Niraniwould become the next chiefminister.However, the ChiefMinister said on Saturday thatthe Congress has lost the moral-ity to be the opposition party.

Reacting to a questionabout the protest and campinginside the Karnataka Assemblyby Congress party members,Bommai said they had lostmorality to be either the rulingparty or even sit in the oppo-sition.

"D K Shivakumar andother Congress legislators gohome for a while to come backagain. The agitation will con-tinue either till the dismissal ofEshwarappa or till the end ofthe current assembly session,"a source close to Shivakumartold PTI.

The source said the legis-

lators have been sleeping atnight inside the Assembly, per-form yoga under the rising sunand jog and walk around theVidhana Soudha in the morn-ing. The Congress in Karnatakahas been demanding the resig-nation of the minister and thathe be booked for seditionregarding his statement aboutthe national flag.

The party's agitation led tochaos in the assembly andcouncil proceedings for threedays. Eshwarappa had saidon February 9 that 'Bhagwadhwaj' (saffron flag), maybecome the national flag sometime in the future.

The senior party leader,however, had said the tricolouris the national flag now, and itshould be respected by every-one.

"Hundreds of years ago, thechariots of Sri Ramachandraand Maruthi had saffron flagson them. Was the tricolour flagthere in our country then?,"Eshwarappa had said. PTI

Kolkata: CPI(M)'s studentwing SFI is scheduled to organ-ise protests across West Bengalover the "mysterious" death ofLeft leader Anish Khan inHowrah district.

Khan's family alleged thatpeople donning police uniformsentered their residence in Amtaon Friday night, dragged the Leftleader, who had gained promi-nence during the anti-CAA stir,to the terrace and threw himdown, causing his death.

Police, however, denied theallegation that any law enforcerhad gone to Khan's residence,and said that he was founddead near his residence.

The incident has triggeredwidespread protests, withCongress, CPI(M) and BJPaccusing local TrinamoolCongress leader of master-minding the killing, while theruling party claimed it was a"deep-rooted conspiracy"which could have been hatchedoutside West Bengal.

Over 500 students of Aliah

University, cutting across partylines, had fought a pitchedbattle with the police in Kolkataduring a candle light vigil onSaturday night.

They demanded that thekillers of Khan, a prominentface during the agitationagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) andinitiatives to help the poorduring coronavirus-inducedlockdowns, be nabbed andgiven exemplary punishment.

"In solidarity with Khan'sfamily and protesting studentsof Aliah University, theStudents' Federation of India(SFI) will take out protest ral-lies across the state on Sundayand Monday," SFI state com-mittee member Subhajit Sarkartold PTI.

"An SFI delegation led byjoint national secretary DipsitaDhar and state presidentPratikur Rahman has visitedKhan's residence. We stronglybelieve it was not an isolatedincident. PTI

+/ �&��'��%��$��&�%&%��%%0��'��8��"�%&��,%�#��&��&�B��#��9��

'$�� #��;��"�#�!��"��

5��"&��" �� !�� !!�� -��-�

The Election Commission onSunday restored the number

of star campaigners a party canfield for campaigning in theongoing polls in five states. Now,recognised national and Stateparties can field a maximum of40 star campaigners. Other par-ties which are registered but notrecognised can now have 20 starcampaigners. “... The numbers ofboth active and new COVID-19cases are receding and the restric-tions put in place both by the cen-tral government and state gov-ernments to check the spread ofpandemic are being lifted grad-ually...The Election Commission

after due deliberation has decid-ed to restore the maximum limiton number of star campaign-ers...," the Commission said in aletter to political parties.

The letter said now the max-imum limit on the number of starcampaigners for recognisednational and state political par-ties "shall be 40 and for other thanrecognised political party it shallbe 20." The Commission furtheradded that the list of StarCampaigners shall be commu-nicated within a period of 7(seven) days from the date of thenotification.

The Commission had inOctober 2020 reduced the num-ber of star campaigners for recog-

nised national and state partiesfrom 40 to 30, as large gatheringswere witnessed during cam-paigning in Bihar assembly elec-tions and bypolls in several statesamid the coronavirus pandem-ic. For unrecognised registeredpolitical parties, the maximumnumber of star campaigners wasbrought down to 15 from 20.

It said for both phases ofManipur assembly polls, phase 5,6 and 7 of Uttar Pradesh electionsand assembly bypoll to Majuliseat in Assam, the list of addi-tional star campaigners can besubmitted to the ElectionCommission or the concernedChief Electoral Officer by 5 PMon February 23.

with the availability of varietyof online programmes tolearners, will substantially con-tribute to achieving 50 per centGER in higher education by2035 as envisaged in NEP-2020. The Budget lays majoremphasis on digital learningand proposes for developmentof e-contents for schoolchild-ren and expansion of ‘oneclass one TV channel’ pro-gramme to 200 TV channels inregional languages under thePM e-vidya scheme. This willensure delivery of high-qual-ity teaching materials toschoolchildren coming fromall sections, more especiallythose from Governmentschools, rural areas anddeprived sections where prop-er internet connectivity is stillan issue.

Education in regional lan-guages will enhance literacy inrural India that constitutesnearly 65 per cent of the totalpopulation. In the long run, itwill lead to a technologyempowered transformation insocioeconomic scenario of thecountry. The Budget focuseson creating an educationecosystem that is employ-ment-centric with the launchof a digital skilling platform

DESH-Stack e-portal forskilling, upskilling andreskilling of youth throughonline training. It is a welcomemove to fulfil the demands ofemployment sectors.

Talent requirements of theindustry and other sectors canonly be bridged by skilling theyouth in respective areas. Themove of aligning NationalSkill Qualification Frameworkwith the demand of industrieswill enthuse youth to regular-ly upskill themselves and tokeep them always skilling andrelevant as professionalsmatching the demands of thejobs in the changing times.Further, according to theBudget, to promote skill inyouth, ITIs will be entrusted totake up new skilling courses topromote skills as well as criti-cal thinking.

Aligning with the DigitalIndia Mission to transform thenation into a digitally empow-ered society and knowledgeeconomy, the Budget propos-es to setup a Digital University,which will be a Central univer-sity in a digital mode to pro-vide world-class quality educa-tion to students from acrossthe country. The university willcome up with hub and spoke

model where from a cen-tralised ‘hub’ online educationmaterials can be accessed fromdifferent location ‘spokes’ ofthe country. The best univer-sities of the country will collab-orate with the digital univer-sity. Students from remoteareas will be in a position to getonline access to quality educa-tion in different Indian lan-guages sitting at their doorstep.

In this digital era, wheneducation is not confined toonly classrooms and text-books, digital learning withpowerful e-contents in Indianlanguages will boost up enrol-ment in school and highereducation. It will democratiseeducation by extending itsreach up to all strata of thesociety, bridging the prevailinggaps and paving the waytowards building a vibrantknowledge economy. TheBudget proposals for skillingthe youth and giving digitalpush to education are perfect-ly aligned with the vision ofNEP-2020 and United NationsSDGs to make available high-quality education to all.

(The writer is the Vice-Chancellor, Central Universityof Gujarat, Gandhinagar. Theviews expressed are personal.)

�� Sir — This refers to ‘2000 Indian studentsleft in lurch in Canada as 3 colleges shutshop’ (Sunday Pioneer, Feb 20). Theabrupt closure of these colleges inMontreal has left the students high anddry. The institutions have cited financialproblems triggered by the COVID-19 pan-demic for their decision to shut shop.Some of the students had paid the pend-ing fee, running into lakhs of rupees,before the colleges closed for the wintervacation late last year. The QuebecGovernment suspended the licence ofthese colleges following the detection offinancial and academic irregularities.

Most students take admission inCanadian institutions with the long-term objective of working and settlingdown in the Maple Country. Disruptionof their studies adversely impacts theircareer prospects and families which havetaken hefty loans or sold/mortgagedtheir property to send their childrenabroad find themselves on the brink ofruin. The Trudeau Government shouldmake alternative arrangements for thecompletion of their studies or ensure thattheir tuition and visa fee is refunded. It’sunacceptable to abandon these youngpeople who are contributing handsome-ly to Canadian economy. At the sametime, the system of checks and balancesneeds to be firmed up.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

�� Sir — The verdict of the special courtawarding death penalty to the 38 convictsin the Ahmedabad serial blasts case is quiteremarkable and appreciable. It has beena long wait for the people of Ahmedabadsince 2008. The serial blasts took place onJuly 26, 2008, and killed 56 people andinjured over 200. The very next day, a fewsuspects were arrested. The trial beganwithin a couple of years. Unfortunately, ittook almost 12 years to announce the finalverdict. Genocide is always an unpardon-able crime. The 2008 serial blasts were theoutcome of an assiduous, deliberate andshrewd attempt of conspiracy by a groupof anti-social elements intending to ruin

the lasting legacy of secularism and plu-ralism of our great nation.

We Indians should not tolerate any-thing that endangers the harmoniousexistence of people. Such acts of sabotageshould be nipped in the bud so as to ensurea peaceful life to the people of our subcon-tinent. The long delay in completing thetrial indicates the inefficiency of our judi-ciary system in handling such sensitivecases. Trials of scores of such cases havebeen moving at a snail’s pace. Our judicialsystem must speed up the pending trials.

Prabhakaran Vallath | Kozhikode

�� Sir — According to an analysis last yearby the Association for DemocraticReforms (ADR), the number of MPs withdeclared criminal cases has been increas-ing over the last decade. Of the 543 win-ners analysed by ADR in 2009 LokSabha elections, 162 (30 per cent) haddeclared criminal cases against them, with76 (14 per cent) facing serious criminal

charges. The share of MPs with criminaland serious criminal cases increased to 43per cent and 29 per cent, according to ananalysis of 539 winners in the 2019 LokSabha election. India’s law bars a personconvicted of any offence and sentencedto an imprisonment of two years or morefrom contesting election.

Those facing charges are free to runas our overburdend judicial system cantake decades to decide a case. Also, it isnoteworthy that only 48 per cent candi-dates are graduates. The eligibility crite-ria for MPs and MLAs should be modi-fied on two grounds: One, to be at leasta graduate; and two, any candidate withany criminal record (pending or ongoingcase) would be disqualified. This amend-ment is necessary according to the needof the hour as well as to teach a lesson tothose indulging in unlawful acts.

Ishita Patidar | Ujjain

� ) � @ � � � ! % 7 � � ) . . ! � "

8889&�*"� *!'��9+!)�� !��"�#��$��G ��G ��%&�'��"!��"�#��$��

�� !"#�!$!!

�0

��&��7��0��1��2��0345��6�5�

��0,#'�&�D,%&��%��%��#��&��&��#,��&��%��&�%&��8�%�&��,��&��8�%��-�B>)>)��#��'�&�� #��5�%%��

-5��-� �1��-��

-��-��-�-�� 3�0�+� ��+�

� ��5�-��-5+� �0�-��0-��5-��

-��-��-�-��0�-��/�1-�� 1

��-+ �-��3�0! �� +

-��5��+��-��

-5��+� ��-��

2� ��+�+-��+

"�33��# 3��331��2 3��

��7��2��4

��&�� "�� 5��%&�� #�� 5�#��,��'�@��&��C?��&��&�8��&��$��'��,�&,��#��'��,�&,��%&%?��

"��%&��%��&�#��&��&��C%��%B&��!��5��#��''�#��;))��%��#��%��8��,%�+&�&�%��%%� �#��?�� '�"�#B��&��'��#��,��&��#�&��"��'!��5��$&��%��#�&��&�&��,'��#��%9�� %�#��#� �� %� �� 9��$�� &��#��%��#�'��'��$��%,�8��?��9��$&��&��'��#�8��$"��&��"B��'��%�&� ��$��!��@��%��#��&��C��#�,�&�9��&��"��D��$$��&,��&��%��&��&��'��%��&��!��,%�'��&��%��'�"��%��$��"��%��&�"��B

��?�"��$��#,�&%��#��&��'��9&��$%!

-�'��'� &��'�� &��'"��B&��#��%�'�8�%��$$��&,��&��&��,��,&�� &�� #� ��&�� "�� &"��%� ��#�"�� "$��%� �� $$��8�#�� "$��"��&!� �,��'� &�� 0,#'�&?��5��%&��"��+�&��"��#� &�� #�8�8�#��,&�#��%��#� &��$��&��&��'��,�&,��%��&��!��0,#'�&��,��#��%$��$,%��%��H��"��I� #��%!� ��#� 5��#��?� &��"��5��#��1��,$?� ��%� ��'�&��%��#�#��%��#�%&��#�&��"��$��&��,��#��8�%��,&��9��9��&��"��&��"��#%!�0��'��'��#��%��%��%&�,"��&�9�,�#�$�8��&��9��9�&��'��%��&��'��,�&,��#��#��%��'�8��%��&��8�&�� ?��'��'� ��#� ��"",��&��J� &��'��'��9��#��$$��&,��&��%��"B��%��#�&��,&�!

"��0��7��| ��

��

��0��

Education is a key contrib-utor to the economicgrowth and prosperity ofany country. Skilled,

innovative and specialised humancapital, coupled with technolog-ical innovations, propels theeconomy by causing higheremployment generation andincreased productivity. The 2022Budget had education as a primefocus area and was marked by anallocation of a record �1,04,278crore to education for 2022-23,with a jump of 11.86 per centcompared to the allocation of�93,224 crore in 2021-22. Thisprogressive Budget, with a digi-tal push, has been widely laudedby the educationists as it endeav-ours to fulfil the vision ofNational Education Policy (NEP-2020) and Digital India Missionby strengthening online educa-tion and skilling the youth. Witha strong digital education net-work, inclusivity as well as acces-sibility of quality educationthroughout the country can beensured.

Digital education, with theintegration of ever-evolving tech-nology with powerful e-contentmaterials has made the teachinglearning very innovative, motivat-ing, interactive and attractive. Inthe 21st century, where our lifeand work activities are dominat-ed by digitisation, digital educa-tion methodologies shall enableneed-based acquisition of cogni-tive skills to learners. Theirknowledge and skills will increasewith variety of interesting e-materials.

Like other countries, Indiahas faced disruption in tradition-al classroom teachings due to theclosure of educational institu-tions during the last two years asa result of the COVID-19 pan-demic. To minimise offlineteaching loss and to maintainregular academic calendar,schools and higher educationalinstitutions of the country shift-ed to the online mode of teach-ing, learning and evaluationmarked by extensive use ofonline platforms and e-contents.All stakeholders in education sec-tor realised the potentials of e-learning during the pandemicand got accustomed with it.

A robust digital infrastruc-ture across the country, coupled

��2��3��3��!��%�� !��*��!

��4��%��"��!�� -��%�/��2��*��5�� 6�� !��"��4��

*�� 3�� $�� *+��2��*��#��7�� 1�� *+7��!#��(��)��/��!�� +�� !��*��!��2��3�� *��!��*��

+�� "�� 8�� "��3�� 9�-��*�� *��,��! ��:;!�� 2 �� #��/��0��!0��!��-��*+�2��0�� 0�� !�� 0��

��$��)��<��+��"��

�� "�� !��0��!��$��+��"�� "�� )��0�� !��8��%�� "��"��!��-��=5.��>$��

��!�� 6

0��%��? ��@�AAA��? �� !��"��,��B�� )��+�� @�AAA��@�ACA��)��"�� D+�-E ��

"�� @F+��*��"��"��CC+��@G+��"�*��"�� .��,��)��.��.��=::;��@�AAA��0� ��/�� "�� +�-��@H:A�� 5��6 �� 0��<��B�� 0�� !��'��5��6��5��6+��'��0��*��+�-��!��

@A,��+� ��

"��*��3��

/��9��'

� ��57

��#��"�� %��;�!��!�� <��&��1��0�!��

�/�� /�� '�/��'��

��0+��%�&��$��&��&��&#��%�C&�9�� 9�&��&��"��$�&��%&%!

'��10�5�K5��9�&�

%��#�8�#,��?� ��C&�&�� ,&9��&�� 8��&�%��,��&��%��&��&$��!

�2��2��0K��%��&

��

��,%%��8�#�%�� ?&��+�9��"$�%��%�'��B��&��#,�$��#��&�#

��"��%&%!

��6�8�0��2�K��"��%

��%��&��9��#��&��+��&��%��&��%!

��9��2��0K5,��"�+��'��#�8

��&�'��%��"�#�L�� &�9�"��&�"� ��,��,'�!

$6��0

K+��"��9�

6��

"%�&$"��%�.$��$�(��$��.�� .�%��&�(%�$(��:'��;��,��#�&&��(��%��(�� .��.��$(�%<��,��(�"��=��,(��,��($��(��$(%�(�%$��$�,$�#.��$#($

�.��($��'$(��!��.��$��&�,$�#.��'��#�#�%��

,��)�8.��(�� (�'�&�(��'/�>=��(�'/��$#�(

$"��.$.

2��

3��!�� !�� "��!

�� 0�� I��

"�� !��!�� !��"��!��JA��0��3��+��+!<�7!C��!��!��

3�� !��

�� "��C��.�� F�J ��

�� <�� "�� "��!��!��

�� B��;�� @AA�AAA�� 0�0��:J�;AA��CAG�@AA��D+�)E�� "��

0� �� "�� !��)��!�� !��!��2/+�� !��

"�� CA��4�� I�� )�� !�� "��I��

*�� -�� "��!��"�� "�� *�� 0��

K-��K!"�� FA�AAA��"�� !��0��

�� !��"��

�� !"#�!$!!

�58889&�*"� *!'��9+!) �� !��"�#��$��G ��G ��%&�'��"!��"�#��$��

�� ! �$�B! =�C�7!%�.%��9@�)%!@"%.1�%�@)%3@"%-

��

7�5��#1�1

�:��,��#6�"

"��

The phrase, 'minimum govern-ment, maximum governance', isobviously not making the desiredimpact for want of adequate

senior officers at the Centre. The moveof the central government to make certainchanges in the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954aims to avail the services of IAS on dep-utation with the central governmentfrom the respective state cadres. However,there is an avalanche of opposition frommany states.

The States, especially non-NDA ruledStates, are apprehensive that the proposedchanges would confer overarching pow-ers to the Union Government in the post-ing of IAS officers. This may be followedby similar changes in the service rules ofother All India Services (AIS) like IPS andthe Indian Forest Service Officers. Underthe extant Rule 6(1) of the IAS CadreRules, 1954, 'A cadre officer may, with theconcurrence of the State Government con-cerned and the Central Government, bedeputed for service under the CentralGovernment or another State Governmentor [---] body [---] wholly or substantial-ly owned or controlled by the CentralGovernment or by another StateGovernment'. But the proviso to the rulesays, 'Provided that in case of any disagree-ment, the matter shall be decided by theCentral Government and the StateGovernment concerned shall give effectto the decision of the CentralGovernment.'

The fierce tussle is over the changesproposed in Rule 6. The proposed amend-ment has a new proviso thus- 'Providedthat each State Government shall makeavailable for deputation to the CentralGovernment, such number of eligible offi-cers of various levels to the extent ofCentral Deputation Reserve (CDS) pre-scribed under Regulations referred to inRule 4(1), adjusted proportionately by thenumber of officers available with the StateGovernment concerned vis- a-vis the totalauthorised strength of the State Cadre ata given point of time. The actual numberof officers to be deputed to the CentralGovernment shall be decided by theCentral Government in consultation withthe State Government concerned'. Theoriginal proviso under Rule 6(1) has beenretained with this addition-'within aspecified time'. That means, in case of dis-agreement between the State and theCentral Government, the decision of theCentral Government shall be effectedwithin the time line stipulated in the dep-utation order, which may be in the natureof a 'marching order' for the officer.

The argument of the StateGovernments is that an officer, whom theCentral Government may choose to takeout of a State without the agreement of theState Government under whom he/ she isserving, will stand released from his/ hercurrent assignment forthwith. Somenon-NDA ruled states find "the revisedamendment proposal more draconian

�-�1�--�/��5��/��+

5�+��0- 5��-5-��-�

� ��-��+��

� ��-+��-��-�+

+�� +�// �-�+

�-/� ��/��5�-2-�� 1�

��2 �� /-��5 ��+-�

��0��-��- �

�-�+�-�� 2-�0�+-�2 �1?� �

�- �� //-�-��+� ��+?�0��

�-�� -�+��-+?0- �1��-

+�-��++-�+�/��-��

than the former, against the basicstructure of India's Constitutionalscheme, destructive of nation'sfederal polity and apprehend thatit will create 'fear psychosis', pro-mote arbitrariness and would 'com-pletely render' the officers and allState governments 'at the mercy ofthe Central Government". Thereis lurking fear of immense poten-tial for harassment and vendettapolitics. Many retired civil servantshave publicly forewarned about theadverse consequences andappealed for stalling the move.

The DoPT has denied that theCentre was trying to accord itselfundue powers and clarified that theStates have not been sending offi-cers for central deputation as perfixed ratio. It has also been reiter-ated that officers would be postedon central deputation only in con-sultation with the States but alsomade it clear that 'Once the num-ber of officers to come on deputa-tion to the Centre is fixed aftermutual consultation, the CentralGovernment should have overrid-ing powers to get those officers'.

But oft, between the preceptand the practice, there falls theshadow. There have been instanceswhen orders were issued by theCentral Government without con-sulting the State Governments. InJune, 2001, Tamil Nadu policeraided former chief minister MKarunanidhi's home and arrestedhim along with his DMK col-leagues Murasoli Maran and T RBaalu, both then Ministers in NDAGovernment. Piqued, the CentralGovernment asked the StateGovernment to send on centraldeputation the three IPS officersconnected with the raids.Jayalalithaa not only refused but

also wrote to other Chief Ministerscanvassing support to protect therights of the States.

The plea of the CentralGovernment is that a rising short-fall in civil servants deputed byState Governments to the Centreimpelled the Centre to amenddeputation rules to give itselfpower to transfer officers withoutthe consent of States. According toregulations, the States must ear-mark 40 per cent of senior posts inevery cadre to meet central require-ments, but there is a CDR shortfallacross States ranging between 61 to95 percent. There is particularlyshortage for joint secretaries, direc-tors and deputy secretaries. Also,there is shortage of IPS officerswith the Central Government. Ayear ago, Home Secretary wrote toChief Secretaries reminding ofinsufficient nominations of IPSofficers to fill up vacant centralpolice posts. The Centre maintainsthat the actual number of officersto be deputed will be decidedonly after due consultation with theState Government, even after theamendment to the AIS rules.

Officers of AIS-an Act ofParliament enacted in 1952- arerecruited by the UPSC and placedin various State cadres. They areexpected to serve both the Centraland State Government (homecadre) in various stints being the'shared asset' of both the Union andthe States. However, if the officersare taken away on central deputa-tion without prior consultationwith the State Government andwithout ascertaining the willing-ness of the officer concerned, theCentral Government may takeaway-the States fear- a star per-former or a bold and upright offi-

cer from the State abruptly.Arbitrary central deputation isbound to disturb the planningand developmental work of theStates and affect the service morale.Upright officers too, as evidentfrom some instances cited, could besubjected to punitive central post-ing if their action ruffles politicalfeathers. On the contrary, it's alsoa fact that generally IAS and IPSofficers do not prefer to go on cen-tral deputation to below JointSecretary level posts as they do notget those coveted facilities whichthey get as DM or SP. But certain-ly, there is an imperative need tobring middle level officers on cen-tral deputation under a standingconsultative machinery. To quoteSardar Patel, what he said in 1948,an 'all India service[....] mustremain above party and weshould ensure that political con-siderations either in its disciplineor in its control are reduced to theminimum, if not eliminated alto-gether'. He had famously referredto the civil servants as the 'steelframe of India'. Given the evolv-ing nature of electoral politicswhich tends to turn arbitrary, andat a time vindictive, vile or petty,'the steel frame' must be preservedin its pristine purity. The agreedformula of CDS must be imple-mented with due consultation withthe stakeholders so that AIS offi-cers refrain from developing aprovincial or feudal mindset andbroaden their perspective by serv-ing, in their different stints, boththe Union and the States, being theshared assets of the nation.Consultation and consensus, andnot unilateralism, must informdecision making, being the bedrockof our cooperative federalism.

(The writer is formerAdditional Secretary, LokSabha and a member ofDelhi Bar Council. The

views expressed are personal.)

Rahul Gandhi's scathinginvective against the gov-ernment during the

debate on the Motion of Thankson the President's address hasgarnered accolades in certainquarters.

In his speech, he makessweeping generalizations aboutthe incompetence of the cur-rent government, speculates onits malevolence and comes tothe frightening conclusion thatIndia today is in a near state ofcollapse-isolated from the out-side, crumbling from theinside, as he puts it.

But do his arguments val-idate his conclusion?

First, he reiterates the usualcliché about two India's- onerich and the other poor butprovides no proof to back hisclaim. He totally overlooksthe poor centric projects of the

government listed by thePresident namely the PM AwasYojana, which has constructed2 crore pucca houses or the'Har Ghar Jal initiative', whichhas brought tapped water to 6crore additional householdssince 2019; neither does hemention the digitalization thatprovided prompt monetaryrelief to crores of needy Indiansduring the pandemic.

The credibility of his pon-tifications hits a new low whenhe elaborates on the unem-ployment rate without factor-ing in the gargantuan impactof the pandemic.

Next he hectors the gov-ernment on national adminis-tration invoking the concept of'Union of States'.

He avers, "It is a partner-ship, not a kingdom….Congress smashed the idea of

a king in 1947, but now thathas come back. There is avision that India can be ruledby a stick from the Centre.Every time that has happened,the stick has been broken...,"

True, India cannot beruled by the stick: a fact thatthe Congress learnt the hardway, when Indira Gandhiimposed Emergency in 1975and then suffered a humiliat-ing defeat in the 1977 elections.

Had the BJP been ruling

with an iron hand, it wouldhave been relegated to thedustbin of history after its first5-year term. This did not hap-pen. In fact, the peoplereturned the BJP to powerunder Modi with an evengreater majority (303 vs 282)and a 37.4% vote share-thehighest vote share by a singleparty in 30 years. Such spectac-ular results can only beattained by the people's con-currence not by a stick.

Next Rahul Gandhi ram-bles incoherently about sup-pression of languages and cul-tures with repeated referencesto Tamil Nadu. He says: "youpeople are confused. The prob-lem is, you think that you cansuppress these languages, thesecultures, these histories…. Youhave no idea of history, youhave no idea what you are deal-

ing with, because the people ofTamil Nadu have inside theirheart, the idea of Tamil Nadu,the idea of Tamil language andthen the idea of India"

What exactly he is tryingto convey beats me. It is unde-niable that the current govern-ment is a strong advocate ofour indigenous cultures andvernacular languages.

Also, Rahul Gandhi needsto know that it was theCongress Government's deci-sion (under his great grandfa-ther) to impose Hindi as thesole official language at the costof Tamil that provoked thedeadly anti-Hindi riots of 1965.

Shifting his attention toexternal affairs, Rahul sancti-moniously hypothesizes: "Thestrategic goal of India shouldhave been to keep China andPakistan separate. But what

you have done is to bringthem together."

Rahul Gandhi is clearlyunaware that the unholyalliance between China andPakistan is as old as the hills.

His unabashed sense ofentitlement filters throughwhen he tells us his greatgrandfather spent 15 years injail, his grandmother was shot32 times and his father wasblown to bits.

Finally, he concludes onwith a grim premonition of adoomsday scenario: "Thenation is at risk from outside.The nation is at risk frominside ………completely iso-lated on the outside, fightingon inside, institutions cap-tured, States not able to speakto each other. This worries me.It frightens me for my coun-try……..."

What we see here is abizarre alarmist rant. Oneman's desperation, frustration,ignorance and insecuritiesimprinted on a nation to pro-ject a picture of gloom anddoom.

Our country was at risk in1962 when the pacifist policiesof the Congress Party almostresulted in China annexingthe North East. The countrywas at risk from inside duringthe anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984,And the country was at risk in2008 when a paralyzedCongress government didnothing while terroristsattacked Mumbai and heldour nation hostage.

Today India is stronger,more confident and moresecure of its place in theworld than it was nine yearsago.

�� !"� # $�%&'($)�*(��$�(%�$��$��(��*�&'��+ �# $�% ' )�� &,�#($��-��(,��%.��-� %�(�,�-(%,��. �%�� %/��0�(,��(��$��11 $

,��-�� '��

:�:7��#3�

(The writer is an academicand political commentatorbased in the US. The views

expressed are personal.)

,�� !"#�!$!!

�$�� 5�50

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) on

Saturday grilled former NSEdirector Ravi Narain whoserved as the CEO of NSEbefore Chitra Ramakrishnain connection with the probeinto certain irregularities atthe NSE.

Earlier, it was speculatedthat he had fled to London butthe CBI source confirmedthat Ravi Narain is very muchin Mumbai and his statementwad recorded.

"Ravi was asked to join theinvestigation. He responded toour summon. He was called ata Mumbai office where he wasgrilled. He is also a suspect in

the case," said the CBI source.Ravi was too evasive and

tried to evade a lot of ques-tions. He also requested thathis LoC should be closed.

Now CBI will record thestatement of AnandSubramanian who was hiredin NSE by flouting all rules byChitra Ramakrishna as aChief Strategic Advisor.

Chitra Ramakrishna, theex MD and CEO of NationalStock Exchange (NSE) wasrecently grilled by the CBI inMumbai.

On February 18 she gother statement recorded withthe federal probe agency.

The CBI had asked heraround 50 questions. She hadtried to play victim card by

claiming she didn't know a lotof things. She also had claimedthat she was innocent andsomebody was trying to frameher.

CBI had asked her, forhow long she had been send-ing mails to Yogi Baba, wasshe given any cut for sharingclassified information, if yes,where did she invest themoney.

The CBI had alreadyissued Look Out Circular(LoC) against Chitra, AnandSubramanian, the formerGroup Operating official andRavi Narain, the ex-NSE CEO(before Chitra).

Sources told IANS thatChitra and two othersinvolved in the case were

flight risk and hence the LOCswere issued. Arrests in thecase is now more likely.

The CBI has lodged anFIR against Chitra on thebasis of the 192 page report ofthe SEBI in which she hasbeen accused of leaking clas-sified information to a YogiBaba who lived in theHimalayas.

"There was a flight risk,there were possibilities thatthey may flee abroad and tak-ing preventive steps we issuedthe LOC," sources had toldIANS.

On February 17, theIncome Tax Department hadconducted raids at the houseof Chitra in Mumbai andChennai during which icrim-

inating documents wererecovered.

The I-T departmentscanned various transactionsand digital records. They alsorecorded the statements of afew of her employees.

Recently, SEBI hadimposed a fine of Rs 3 croreon her. SEBI had uploaded a192-page order on its officialwebsite narrating how Chitrawas allegedly involved in sus-picious activities by leakinginformation.

Chitra had said that asage, who lives in theHimalayas, was giving herdirections. She also sent himemails regarding the NSE.She quit SEBI in December2016.

".@�� $/!�� +� �$@��"� �� -��-�

Air India has won a nod ofan appeals court in Quebec

to challenge a Canadian courtorder that allowed foreigninvestors in Bengaluru-head-quartered Devas Multimedia toseize its funds to recover com-pensation for a failed 2005satellite deal with AntrixCorporation, a commercial armof ISRO.

In a February 11 ruling,Judge Christine Baudouinagreed with Air India that thecourt should take a closer lookat the claim brought by threeMauritius investors and theGerman major DeutscheTelekom to identify the airlineas an alternative to Governmentof India to facilitate recovery ofcompensations awarded byinternational tribunals over thefailed satellite deal.

"Without expressing anopinion on the merits or on thechances of success in appeal, Iam satisfied that the present

matter is one that should be sub-mitted to the court," JudgeBaudouin wrote in a brief order.She set a hearing in the case forMay 13. Earlier this month, a USfederal court for the southerndistrict of New York stayedproceedings to identify AirIndia as an alter ego of India andto find its assets in the US tofacilitate recovery of compen-sation awarded by internation-al tribunals. The shareholders -CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd,Devas Employees Mauritius PvtLtd and Telecom DevasMauritius Ltd - have been tar-geting government assetsabroad to recover a total of USD1.3 billion compensation theywon in three different arbitra-tions initiated over the nixeddeal to deliver communicationsservices throughout India. Theyhave got an attachment orderfrom a French court for theIndian government's proper-ties in upmarket Paris. OnJanuary 8, 2022, they got a rul-ing from a Superior Court in the

Quebec region of Canada toseize 50 per cent of Air India'sfunds being held by theInternational Air TransportAuthority, a Montreal-basedtrade association for the world'sairlines that facilitates paymentof air navigation charges billedto airlines and countries.

The same judgment wasalso cited in the New Yorkcourt by the Mauritius investorsto seek seizures of the carrier'sassets in the US to recovercompensation over the failed2005 deal. "According to AirIndia Ltd... The matter raises anew issue of law, namely:whether the assets of a state-owned company with a distinctlegal identity and no involve-ment in the original claimbetween the Plaintiffs (Devasshareholders) and the Republicof India, can be validly seizedex parte before judgment inhands of another third party(IATA), to pay the debt of theState itself," Judge Baudouinwrote in the order.

.��3 ��'�)��5��/��:��

�� -��-�

Retirement fund body EPFOadded 14.6 lakh subscribers

on a net basis in December2021, an increase of 16.4 percent compared to the year-agoperiod, according to the latestpayroll data.

The provisional payrolldata of Employees' ProvidentFund Organisation (EPFO)released on Sunday showedthat the EPFO had added 12.54lakh net subscribers duringDecember 2020.

The net subscriber addi-tion in December has increasedby 19.98 per cent as comparedto the previous month ofNovember 2021, a labour min-istry statement said.

The net subscriber addi-tion in November 2021 wasrevised downwards to 12.17lakh from 13.95 lakh provi-sional estimates released inJanuary 2022.

Of the total 14.60 lakh netsubscribers added inDecember, 2021, 9.11 lakh newmembers have been enrolledunder EPF & MP Act, 1952 forthe first time. Approximately5.49 lakh net subscribers exit-ed but rejoined EPFO by opt-ing to continue their member-ship with EPFO by transferring

their PF accumulations fromprevious to present PF accountinstead of opting for final with-drawal. Further, it stated thatthe number of members exit-ing EPFO has been on a declin-ing trend since July, 2021.

According to the data, theage-group of 22-25 years reg-istered the highest number ofnet enrolments with 3.87 lakhadditions during December2021. The age-group of 18-21also registered a healthy addi-tion of around 2.97 lakh netenrolments. The age-groupsof 18-25 years have contributedaround 46.89 per cent of totalnet subscriber additions inDecember, 2021. This indi-cates that many first-time jobseekers are joining the organ-ised sector workforce in largenumbers.

A state-wise comparison ofpayroll figures highlighted thatthe establishments covered inthe states of Maharashtra,Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Naduand Karnataka are in lead byadding approximately 8.97 lakhsubscribers during the month,which is around 61.44 per centof total net payroll additionacross all age groups.

Gender-wise analysis indi-cated that net female payrolladdition during the month is

approximately 3 lakh.Share of female enrol-

ment is approximately 20.52per cent of the total net sub-scribers addition during themonth of December, 2021.

Industry-wise payroll dataindicated that ‘expert services'category (consisting of man-power agencies, private securityagencies and small contractorsetc.) constitutes 40.24 per centof total subscriber additionduring the month. In addition,growing trend in net payrolladditions has been noted inindustries like building andconstruction industry, textiles,restaurants, iron and steel etc.The payroll data is provision-al since the data generation isa continuous exercise, as upda-tion of employee record is acontinuous process, the min-istry noted.

The previous data hencegets updated every month.From the month of May-2018,EPFO has been releasing pay-roll data covering the periodDecember 2017 onwards, itstated. The EPFO providesprovident fund, pension bene-fits to the members on theirretirement and family pension& insurance benefits to theirfamilies in case of untimelydeath of the member.

�;��&&��93�"�./��0�+�*0��*'��+��

�� 5�50

Amendments to the sur-plus/profit distribution

rules for IPO-bound LIC,which has already improved itsmargins by 700 bps to 9.9 percent and will further rise to 20per cent when the nationalinsurer shifts its business mixto non-participating policies,can give nightmares to privateplayers who have been thrivingon this segment for too long,says a report.

According to an analysis ofits initial public offer (IPO) fil-ings by Swiss brokerage CreditSuisse, SBI Life, ICICI P ruden-tial, HDFC,Life and Max Lifewill face the maximum impactof the LIC move.

The report notes thatLIC's margin has already goneby up 700 bps to 9.9 percentafter government amendedLIC's surplus/profit distribu-tion rules which allows it tomake a 10 per cent shift in thebusiness mix from participat-ing policies to non-participat-ing policies, which is only 4 percent now, which can take itsmargins to 20 per cent.

This is based on theassumption a full transition tonew surplus distribution from100 per cent for non-partici-pating policies now and 10 percent for participating policies.

A participating (par)insurance policy provides bothguaranteed and non-guaran-teed benefits to policyholdersin the form of bonus or divi-dend payouts, while a non-par-ticipating (non-par) policy typ-ically provides guaranteed ben-efits to policyholders, but theydo not receive profit or divi-dend payments. Currently, LICjust has 4 per cent of its newbusiness premium coming infrom non-participating poli-cies, while the same is for its thetop five private sector peersrange from 20 to 45 per cent.

LIC has 43 per cent market

share in individual business. Itsfilings highlight how its prof-itability has unshackled afterdemutualisation, wherein itsembedded value (EV) rose 5xto Rs 5.4 lakh crore, taking itsshareholder interest in the sur-plus to Rs 14.6 lakh crore fromnon-participating funds, whichis 37 percent of its AUM.

Embedded value (EV) is acommon valuation measureused by life insurance compa-nies outside of North Americato estimate the consolidatedvalue of shareholders' interestin the company.

Incoming competition innon-par is a big risk to privateplayers that derive a large shareof profitability, which variesfrom 50 to 75 per cent fromnon-par, and have a dispro-portionately high share owingto LIC's legacy constraints,says the report.

The report goes on to addthat LIC's non-par marginsare superior to its own par busi-ness as well as private non-parmargins.

Even after 21 years of lib-eralisation, LIC still has 66 percent market share of the indus-try's new business premiumsowing to its strong agency net-work of 1.3 million (7x of itsprivate players), it noted.

LIC's AUM remains largestat 16x of the next player.

Within industry, new busi-ness premium or NBP andgroup business makes up 60per cent and LIC dominates itwith nearly 78 per cent marketshare. In the individual busi-ness, LIC's market share byvolumes remain broadly stableat 75 per cent, led by the dom-ination in par segment.

However, in terms of NBP,LIC has been losing marketshare due to a poor presence inthe high-ticket ULIPs and non-par category which offer pureprotection, deferred annuities,etc where private players con-tinue to dominate.

0�7�"�.�&9�� 9��8�� "��'��''��&��&�&�$8&�$��%4��$��&

�� -��-�

The government will soondecide on giving addition-

al charge of the post of chair-man cum managing director(CMD) of state-owned NewIndia Assurance as the term ofincumbent Atul Sahai comes toan end later this month.

The Banks Board Bureau(BBB) has not started theprocess for selection of the headof the country's largest publicsector general insurance firm asthe Delhi High Court hadobserved that the Bureau is nota competent body in this case.

The court held that circularsenabling BBB to select the GMand directors of government-owned general insurers are notlegally valid. The next hearingon the matter is scheduled forMarch 21. BBB, the headhunterfor state-owned banks andfinancial institutions, is the advi-sory body formed by the gov-ernment in 2016 for selection of

candidates for top-level boardappointments. In absence ofdirection from the high court,the additional charge for NewIndia Assurance would be givento someone effective March 1 asregular appointment would takesome time, sources said.

The finance ministry hadproposed to give additionalcharge to Oriental InsuranceChairman Anjan Dey till theappointment of a new CMD ofthe Mumbai-based New IndiaAssurance, sources said.

However, the sources added,insurance sector regulatorIRDAI has sought clarificationfrom the government on theproposal of giving additionalcharge to Dey, citing some pro-visions of the Companies Act.The Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority of India(IRDAI) also pointed out thatNew India Assurance is a list-ed entity on the stockexchanges and has to follow alllisting norms, sources said.

�$�� -��-�

The Centre has received 5proposals for

'Semiconductor' and 'DisplayFabs' manufacturing worth$20.5 billion. Accordingly, theproposals were received duringthe first round of applicationsubmission for the Centre's'Semicon India Programme'.

Last year, the UnionCabinet approved the SemiconIndia Programme with an out-lay of Rs 76,000 crore to ensuredevelopment of'Semiconductor and Display'ecosystem in the country.

"India SemiconductorMission, which has been set upas a dedicated institution for'Semicon India Programme',has received 5 applications forSemiconductor and DisplayFabs with total investment tothe tune of $20.5 billion," theMinistry of Electronics & ITsaid.

As per the ministry, threecompanies -- Vedanta in JVwith Foxconn; IGSS venturesPTE, Singapore; ISMC, havesubmitted applications for'Semiconductor Fabs'.

"The applications havebeen received for setting up 28nm to 65nm 'SemiconductorFabs' with capacity of approx.120,000 wafers per month andthe projected investment of$13.6 billion wherein fiscalsupport from the CentralGovernment is being soughtfor nearly $5.6 billion." In2020, the Indian semiconduc-tor market stood at $15 billionand is estimated to reach $63billion by 2026.

�� -��-�

Federal Bank subsidiaryFedbank Financial Services

Ltd (FedFina) has filed pre-liminary papers with Sebi for itsinitial public offering (IPO).

The draft red herringprospectus (DRHP) was filedwith the capital markets regu-lator on February 19, 2022,Federal Bank said in a regula-tory filing on Sunday.

"Our subsidiary FedbankFinancial Services has filed itsdraft red herring prospectuswith Sebi for the proposedIPO of its equity shares onFebruary 19, 2022," it said.

The IPO comprises a freshissue of equity shares and offerfor sale by Federal Bank andTrue North Fund VI LLP.

"FedFina is proposing toundertake theIPO...Comprising a fresh issueof equity shares by FedFina

aggregating up to Rs 9,000million (Rs 900 crore) (thefresh issue) and an offer for saleof up to 1,64,97,973 equityshares by our bank and up to2,92,16,313 equity shares byTrue North Fund VI LLP,"Federal Bank said.

The private sector banksaid the offer includes a reser-vation for subscription by eli-gible employees of FederalBank and FedFina and thebank's shareholders.

The offer is subject toreceipt of requisite approvals,market conditions and otherconsiderations, it added. As ofFebruary 19, 2022, FederalBank held 23,56,85,332 equityshares aggregating to 73.31per cent of the issued, sub-scribed and paid-up share cap-ital of FedFina. FedFina hadtotal revenues of Rs 697.72crore in FY21, with net profitof Rs 61.68 crore.

1�8&�&��%��#��#��'�8��'�##�&��'��9 �#��%%,��5�

;�&;*'��4*"�� 8*#/��0*

+�"�� #��'��""��8�%�$��$�%��%9��&��M>)!(��

��+��,�++� ,�� -��-�

The government is planningto revamp the commerce

department which will have amore coherent trade promotionstrategy with clear targets andexecution accountabilities, anofficial statement said onSunday.

Under the plan, there is aproposal to set up a dedicatedtrade promotion body and atrade remedies review com-mittee. The commerce ministryalso said that there will be astrengthened negotiationecosystem with right expertiseand robust end-to-end process-es with clearly defined focusareas and institutions in therevamped department.

“It aspires to achieve anoptimal mix of talent with spe-cialists and generalists sourcedfrom across private and gov-ernment sectors. The depart-ment will have an agile setupresponsive to market opportu-nities and exporter needs viainterlinkages across bodies.There will also be synergizedbranding for India across alldomains highlighting clear pri-ority areas,” the ministry said.

It added that the revamp-ing is aimed at further buildingon its strategic direction andaspirations for the next decade.

There is also a need forscaling up and re-engineeringthe operation model withenhanced ‘new-age’ capabilities

and to move from inherent tra-ditional roles to new roles, itsaid.

For this, a project wasundertaken to design a futureready department of com-merce.

A dedicated ‘TradePromotion Body’ to drive over-all promotion strategy, exporttargets and execution is pro-posed to be set up and astronger active role for missionsin trade promotion for marketintelligence, leads generationand localized research has beenenvisaged, it said.

“Strengthening negotia-tions via multi-skilled negoti-ation teams and separationbetween bilateral and WTO(World Trade Organisation)negotiations has been envi-sioned,” it said.

It has also been proposedto set up a ‘Trade RemediesReview Committee’ includingministry of commerce andindustry, ministry of financeand line ministries for trans-parency in investigations out-comes. Further centralisationand digitisation of trade facil-itation processes has been rec-ommended to drive ease ofcompliance and schemeadministration.

Rehauling the data andanalytics ecosystem via cen-tralized data management andembedded analytics capabilitiesin the department has alsobeen proposed.

+ ��&��%�&,"��,&��+-4�/�&��'��%?��%��%�?��'��&��#�%�� -��-�

Technology is a tiger thateveryone is riding, India’s

top stock exchange NSE’s thenCEO Chitra Ramkrishna hadtold PTI eight years ago.

At the time, she herself wasriding the tiger at the helm ofthe National Stock Exchange,which had overtaken over 100-year-old Bombay StockExchange as India's biggestbourse within a year of itslaunch in 1994.

Ironically, it was a majortechnical glitch in the NSE’ssophisticated algorithm-basedsuperfast trading that had pro-pelled her to the top as its firstwoman CEO in the male-dom-inated world of stock trading:On the morning of October 5,2012, NSE was hit by the so-called ‘fat finger trade’ whichresulted in a trade getting exe-cuted in a fraction of a secondfor a whopping amount of Rs650 crore and triggering amassive ‘flash crash’, wiping offnearly Rs 10 lakh crore frominvestors’ wealth in the Indianstock market within seconds.

Such was the momentumthat a mandatory trading haltcould be put in place only aftera sudden 16 per cent crash inthe benchmark index Nifty —it missed two check-posts, firstat 10 per cent and then at 15per cent within six seconds.

The madness ended after15 minutes but still someonehad to pay the price. The headthat rolled was that of NSECEO Ravi Narain. A fewmonths later, Narain’s batonwas formally handed over to hisdeputy, Chitra Ramkrishna,

on April 13, 2013.Today, the 59-year-old

Ramkrishna stands at the cen-tre of an equally bizarre scan-dal after it was revealed that shewas guided by a mysterious‘Himalayan Yogi’ in taking keybusiness decisions of theexchange decisions thatimpacted the business of anexchange which recorded adaily average turnover of wellabove Rs 2 lakh crore last yearand which ranks as the world'slargest derivatives exchangeand the fourth largest for cashequities in terms of the num-ber of trades.

Several people aware ofthe developments said on con-dition of anonymity that thetime has now come for a deep-cleansing of this marquee insti-tution and directions havecome right from the top to allregulatory, enforcement andinvestigative agencies to get tothe bottom of the murkygoings-on amid suggestionsthat malpractices includingserious cronyism were cov-ered up by officials, eventhough it was known to themseveral years ago.

A former top regulatoryofficial, who had looked intothe exchange’s affairs at thattime very closely, said the topmanagement and some keydirectors clearly failed to dis-charge their duties, largelybecause they trusted people atan institution that serves as afrontline regulator for theIndian capital market, whereNSE has a near-monopoly withover 90 per cent market sharein some key segments.

Virtually every regulatory,

administrative and probeagency in the country is on thejob and those under the scan-ner include all directors whoserved on the NSE board dur-ing those years, the top man-agement personnel as alsothose from the regulatory andgovernment sides, a seniorofficial said.

Issues being probed arenot limited to identifying the‘Yogi’, but also encompassmuch-bigger concerns such aslapses at various levels, includ-ing the board, the regulator andthe government, includingthose relating to the contro-versial co-location facilitiesand high-frequency trades, theofficial added.

Another ex-regulator, whoalso did not wish to be named,said NSE owes its existence andrise to a collective effort of thegovernment, regulators andthe industry, and it could be putback in shape by a group ofcommitted and visionary indi-viduals.

However, it appears that acoterie comprising former andserving bureaucrats, somehighly ambitious brokers, topgovernment functionaries anda few corporate executives,including those at theexchange, created and exploit-ed various loopholes for theirown personal gains, he added.

With the years-old casefinally attracting public atten-tion, officials said, directionshave come from the top nowthat no one should be sparedand all veils must be lifted toexpose every single wrongdo-ing or lapse, from the smallestto the biggest one.

The former regulator saidit was astounding that theentire saga has remained buriedfor almost a decade despitemultiple orders passed by theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi), which points tothe power play at work in thiscocktail of corruption, deceit,money laundering, illicit trad-ing and business rivalry.

Such concerns are alsobeing cast on the "fat fingertrade" fiasco of October 5,2012.

The exchange was also toldby Sebi it was wrong in resum-ing the trade in 15 minutes, asagainst a much larger tradinghalt that was required underthe regulations, and in notinforming the other majorstock exchange, the BSE.

‘Fat-finger trade’ is a termused for punching error orwrong pressing of orders on thetrading terminals. But therewere allegations that the crashwas triggered by something else— perhaps wasn’t a technicalerror but a deliberate manipu-lation. The exchange was latercensured by Sebi after a probeand was asked to beef up itssystems and processes.

Yet, what followed appearsto have been quite the opposite,at least at the human resourcelevel.

Soon after her elevation,Ramkrishna appointed AnandSubramanian as her adviser,and later promoted him toGroup Operating Officer at ahuge salary of Rs 4.21 crore. Healso happened to be the hus-band of her friend and an NSEstaffer. The NSE board turneda blind eye to the appointment

on the grounds that he was aconsultant, and that the CEOhad the authority to appointhim.

A much bigger lapse wasrevealed when a Sebi-orderedaudit and a regulatory inter-vention in October 2013 foundout about the presence of anunknown person, whoRamkrishna said was a‘Himalayan Yogi’ and her spir-itual mentor, guiding virtuallyall her business decisions,including the controversialappointment and promotionsof Subramanian.

The audit uncovered sev-eral email exchanges betweenRamkrishna and the unidenti-fied yogi.

In its final report, some-time in October 2016, the auditand the bourse dismissed theinformation exchange, whichthe regulator had found to besensitive, as a routine matter bydeclaring that Subramanianhimself was posing as the Yogito manipulate Ramkrishna andall was well since both of themwere quitting the NSE, theofficial said. Ramakrishna leftin December 2016.

It was clearly a white-washby the exchange in an attemptto keep the scandal underwraps, and to allowRamkrishna a graceful exit,said the official, adding thatSebi in its final order hadrefused to accept thatSubramanian was posing as theyogi.

Multiple people, includingthose who worked with the topleadership of the exchange atthat time and at regulatory andgovernment departments, said

it looks almost certain that thisYogi is an imaginary identitycreated by one or multiplepeople, including some in keypositions to controlRamkrishna.

Sebi has levied a fine of Rs3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs 2crore each on the NSE, Narainand Subramanian and Rs 6 lakhon V R Narasimhan, who wasthe chief regulatory officer andchief compliance officer.

In addition, Sebi has barredthe NSE from launching anynew product for a period of sixmonths, while Ramkrishna,Subramanian and Narain havebeen restrained from associat-ing with any market infra-structure institution or anySebi-registered intermediaryfor 2-3 years.

NSE said there have beenseveral changes at the boardand management level at thebourse over the last few yearsand it has operationalised thedirectives of Sebi on variousmatters over the years and hastaken measures to furtherstrengthen the control envi-ronment, including the tech-nology architecture.

The exchange also said it iscommitted to the highest stan-dards of governance and trans-parency and will extend full co-operation to the regulator fora satisfactory closure of thematter. Ramkrishna was part ofthe initial leadership teamselected by the government toset up NSE, which got incor-porated in 1992 and becameoperational in 1994. She wasthe third person to head theexchange after R H Patil, its firstchief, and Narain.

1+��'%��&��&��"��&�+��,��&��'��New Delhi (PTI): HindujaGlobal Solutions (HGS) onSunday said its UK arm hasbagged a contract worth Rs 2,100crore to provide critical cus-tomer support to UK citizens.HGS UK Ltd bagged the contractfrom UK Health SecurityAgency, which is responsible forNHS Test & Trace, and the con-tract will assist with future con-tact tracing needs for COVID-19and other health security risks.

7�&$%�� !"#�!$!!

Kyiv:Hundreds of artillery shells explod-ed along the contact line betweenUkrainian soldiers and Russia-backedseparatists, and thousands of people evac-uated eastern Ukraine, further increasingfears Sunday that the volatile region couldspark a Russian invasion.

Western leaders warned that Russiawas poised to attack its neighbour, whichis surrounded on three sides by about150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes andequipment. Russia held nuclear drillsSaturday in neighbouring Belarus and hasongoing naval drills off the coast in theBlack Sea.

The United States and many Europeancountries have alleged for months thatRussia is trying to create pretexts toinvade. They have threatened massive,immediate sanctions if it does.

Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskyy called on Russian PresidentVladimir Putin to choose a place to meetwhere the two leaders could meet to tryto resolve the crisis.

“Ukraine will continue to follow onlythe diplomatic path for the sake of a peace-ful settlement,” Zelenskyy said Saturday atthe Munich Security Conference. Therewas no immediate response from theKremlin.

Zelenskyy spoke hours after separatistleaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a fullmilitary mobilization and sent more civil-

ians to Russia, which has issued about700,000 passports to residents of therebel-held territories. Claims that Russiancitizens are being endangered might beused as justification for military action.

In new signs of fears that a war couldstart within days, Germany and Austriatold their citizens to leave Ukraine.German air carrier Lufthansa canceledflights to the capital, Kyiv, and to Odesa,a Black Sea port that could be a key tar-get in an invasion.

NATO's liaison office in Kyiv said itwas relocating staff to Brussels and to thewestern Ukraine city of Lviv.

“They are uncoiling and are nowpoised to strike, ” U.S. Defense SecretaryLloyd Austin said Saturday of Russia'sreadiness to launch an attack.

U.S. President Joe Biden said lateFriday that based on the latest Americanintelligence, he was now “convinced” thatPutin has decided to invade Ukraine incoming days and assault the capital.

Kyiv: The Defense Minister ofBelarus says his country's jointexercises with Russian troopswill continue because of risingtensions in Ukraine.

The exercises, which wereto end Sunday, brought a siz-able contingent of Russianforces to Belarus, which bor-ders Ukraine to the north. Thepresence of the Russian troopsraised concern that they couldbe used to sweep down on theUkrainian capital, Kyiv.

Russia and Belarus havetight cooperation under analliance referred to as theUnion State, which stops shortof the countries' actual inte-gration.

Defense Minister Viktor

Khrenin said Sunday thatBelarusian President AlexanderLukashenko and RussianPresident Vladimir Putindecided “to continue testing theresponse forces of the unionstate.”

Khrenin cited “the increasein military activity near theexternal borders of the unionstate and the aggravation of thesituation in Donbas” - theregion of eastern Ukraine con-trolled by pro-Russia sepa-ratists.

Lukashenko joined Putin atthe Kremlin on Saturday toobserve Russian forces conductnuclear drills, according toRussian officials.

AP

Moscow:Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy, facing asharp spike in violence in andaround territory held byRussia-backed rebels andincreasingly dire warnings thatRussia plans to invade, onSaturday called for RussianPresident Vladimir Putin tomeet him and seek resolutionto the crisis.

“I don't know what thepresident of the RussianFederation wants, so I amproposing a meeting,”Zelenskyy said at the MunichSecurity Conference, where healso met with U.S. VicePresident Kamala Harris.Zelenskyy said Russia couldpick the location for the talks.

"Ukraine will continue tofollow only the diplomatic pathfor the sake of a peaceful set-tlement.”

There was no immediateresponse from the Kremlin.

Zelenskyy spoke hoursafter separatist leaders in east-ern Ukraine ordered a fullmilitary mobilisation onSaturday while Western leadersmade increasingly dire warn-

ings that a Russian invasion ofits neighbor appeared immi-nent.

In new signs of fears that awar could start within days,Germany and Austria told theircitizens to leave Ukraine.German air carrier Lufthansacanceled flights to the capital,Kyiv, and to Odessa, a Black Seaport that could be a key targetin an invasion.

NATO's liaison office inKyiv said it was relocating staffto Brussels and to the westernUkraine city of Lviv.Meanwhile, top Ukrainian mil-itary officials came under ashelling attack during a tour ofthe front of the nearly eight-year separatist conflict in east-ern Ukraine. AP

Warsaw: As tensions soar inUkraine's east and Westernleaders issue dire warningsthat a wider war could becoming, calm persists alongUkraine's western border withEuropean Union nationPoland.

A sports centre paintedwith the Olympic rings in asmall Polish community direct-ly on the border stands readyto house Ukrainian refugees. For now, the centre in Medykais empty. At the nearby bordercrossing, there is no sign of

Ukrainians fleeing. Many Ukrainians do just

the opposite: cross the borderback into Ukraine after work-ing or shopping in Poland,some defiantly vowing todefend their country in case ofa larger Russian invasion.

“Russia expected everyoneto panic and flee to Europe, tojust buy buckwheat and pasta,food, but we all boughtmachine guns and weaponsand cartridges," VolodymyrHalyk, 29, said.

"No one is afraid, no onewill abandon their homes, noone will flee.”

Halyk and a friend,Volodymyr Yermakov,

described themselves as veter-ans of the war against Russia-backed separatists that began ineastern Ukraine in 2014.

Yermakov, 34, said he wasprepared to take up arms againshould Russian PresidentVladimir Putin launch an inva-sion.

“Putin is an aggressor anddoes not allow anyone to live anormal life," he said. "Theywant to take our territory, andthat's the truth.”

Russia has denied plans toinvade Ukraine, but Western

officials have said that with anestimated 150,000 troops andequipment surrounding thecountry on three sides, anattack could happen at anytime.

People in Poland, whichwas controlled by Moscowduring the Cold War, are fol-lowing the news of Russia's mil-itary buildup with concern.

The Polish government lastyear became embroiled in amigration dispute with anoth-er eastern neighbour, Russianally Belarus.

Poland and the EuropeanUnion accused Belarus ofassisting people from theMiddle East to cross the borderinto Poland.

The Polish governmentcalled the migration part of aneffort of hybrid war aimed atdestabilising central Europeand the EU more widely.

Mariusz Gumienny, thetown council chairman inMedyka, said the thousands ofadditional US troops whoarrived in the area are helpingto maintain a sense of securi-

ty.“It calms the mood,” he

said.The US deployed nearly

5,000 more troops to Poland inrecent weeks. They come inaddition to 4,000 rotationaltroops the US began sendingafter Russian actions againstUkraine in 2014.

The job of the Americansoldiers is to reassure NATOally Poland and to be in placeto help evacuate US citizens orUkrainians should that be nec-essary.

The Hague: An internation-al case accusing Myanmar ofgenocide against theRohingya ethnic minorityreturns to the United Nations'highest court Monday amidquestions over whether thecountry's military rulersshould even be allowed torepresent the Southeast Asiannation.

Four days of public hear-ings at the InternationalCourt of Justice start Mondayinto Myanmar's preliminaryobjections to the case that wasbrought by Gambia, anAfrican nation acting onbehalf of an organization ofMuslim nations that accusesMyanmar of genocide in itscrackdown on the Rohingya.

In August 2017,Myanmar's military launchedwhat it called a clearancecampaign in Rakhine state inthe country's west in responseto an attack by a Rohingyainsurgent group.

The campaign forcedmore than 700,000 Rohingyato f lee to neighbouringBangladesh and led to accu-sations that security forces

committed mass rapes andkillings and burned thou-sands of homes.

Gambia argues that thecampaign amounted to abreach of the genocide con-vention and wants the courtto hold the country responsi-ble.

The figurehead who ledMyanmar's legal team incourt last time there were

public hearings in the case —the nation's ousted leaderAung San Suu Kyi — is inprison after being convictedon what supporters calltrumped up charges.

Opponents of Myanmar'smilitary rulers say they haveappointed two officials to thecountry's legal team at theU.N. Top court who are thesubject of international sanc-

tions. Critics of the militaryrulers say that the NationalUnity Government — a shad-ow civilian administration —should be representing thecountry at hearings in TheHague.

The group says it hasappointed an “acting alternateagent,” U.N. AmbassadorKyaw Moe Tun, and says it'swithdrawing the country'spreliminary objections.

“This is a shameful dou-ble-whammy. Myanmar isbeing represented at the ICJby people sanctioned for grosshuman rights abuses and vio-lating the rule of law," saidChris Gunness, director of theMyanmar AccountabilityProject.

“But in any case, this ille-gal junta should not be rep-resenting Myanmar, it shouldbe the NUG.”

The court didn't respondto a request for comment onMyanmar's representation atthe hearings.

“What's really importanthere is that ... If it is the juntathat's in court, this is notsomething that should be

taken to confer legitimacyon the junta,” said AkilaRadhakrishnan, president ofthe Global Justice Center.

At public hearings in late2019, lawyers representingGambia showed judges maps,satellite images and graphicphotos to detail what theycalled a campaign of murder,rape and destruction amount-ing to genocide perpetratedby Myanmar's military.

That led the court toorder Myanmar to do all itcan to prevent genocideagainst the Rohingya. Theinterim ruling was intendedto protect the minority whilethe case is decided in TheHague, a process likely totake years.

Since that ruling, the mil-itary has seized control of thenation.

The takeover promptedwidespread peaceful protestsand civil disobedience thatsecurity forces suppressedwith lethal force. About 1,500civilians have been killed,according to the AssistanceAssociation for PoliticalPrisoners.

London: The UK is set todrop the legal requirement toself-isolate for upto 10 days ontesting positive for coronavirusas part of the government's so-called "living with Covid" plan,Downing Street indicated onSunday.

On being asked about theplan, Prime Minister BorisJohnson urged the public to not"throw caution to the wind" ashe attempts to move beyondstate mandated rules for tack-ling the spread of the deadlyvirus.

He told the BBC that hewants to focus on addressingthe health crisis with a “vac-cine-led approach”, rather than“banning certain courses ofaction”.

“Now is the moment foreverybody to get their confi-dence back. We think you canshift the balance away fromstate mandation," said Johnson.

"COVID will not sudden-ly disappear, and we need tolearn to live with this virus andcontinue to protect ourselveswithout restricting our free-doms," he said.

"We've built up strong pro-tections against this virus overthe past two years through thevaccine rollouts, tests, new

treatments, and the best scien-tific understanding of whatthis virus can do. Thanks to oursuccessful vaccination pro-gramme and the sheer magni-tude of people who have comeforward to be jabbed we arenow in a position to set out ourplan for living with COVID,"he added.

According to reports,Johnson is set to announce theend of the quarantine require-ment on Monday.

Special coronavirus lawsenacted at the peak of the cri-sis in 2020 and renewed overthe course of subsequent wavesof the pandemic are due toexpire on March 24, but lastweek Boris Johnson had sug-

gested that all of England'sremaining measures could endsooner if the data remainedencouraging.

The latest official figuresshow that the country record-ed 34,377 COVID cases onSaturday.

Meanwhile, about 91 percent of people in the UK aged12 and over have had a firstdose of the vaccine, 85 per centa second dose, and 66 per centa booster or a third dose.

Under the next stage of theUK's coronavirus strategy, localauthorities will have to manageoutbreaks using pre-existingpublic health powers, similar toother diseases.

The Opposition Labour

Party said Johnson was "declar-ing victory before the war isover", while some experts andcharities expressed concernover the early lifting of allrestrictions.

"It clearly hasn't been guid-ed by data or done in consul-tation with the healthcare pro-fession,” warned Dr ChaandNagpaul, Indian-origin chair ofthe British Medical Association(BMA).

Widespread communityPCR testing for people withsymptoms is expected to stopunder the new plan. It remainsunclear whether the distribu-tion of the quicker and cheap-er lateral flow tests will bescaled back.

Since the COVID law wasenacted in March 2020 with astrict “stay at home” lockdownto help the country's health ser-vice cope with the crisis, chang-ing levels of restrictions ondaily life have been in placeacross all parts of the UK.

The curbs have includedthe "rule of six" for indoor gath-erings, regional tier systems, aswell as so-called "Plan B" mea-sures after the fast-spreadingOmicron variant emerged lastyear. PTI

Kathmandu: Nepal has alwaysbeen pursuing an indepen-dent,balanced and non-alignedforeign policy and its sovereignParliament will decide whatdevelopment assistance is need-ed for the country,the Ministryof Foreign Affairs said here onSunday, in responseto the con-tentious USD 500 millionMillennium CorporationChallenge(MCC) programme.

The Nepal governmentpresented the aid grant forapproval in ParliamentonSunday, triggering vociferousprotests from members ofsmaller factions of theCommunist Party and severalpro-left youth outfits whostaged rallies and chanted anti-US slogans, causing police touse tear gas and water cannonsto disperse the protesters.

"The decision to acceptdevelopment assistance is takenby Nepal in terms of ournational interest and priorities,"Nepal's Ministry of ForeignAffairs said in a statement onSunday. “It is the sovereignParliament of Nepal alone thatdecides what developmentassistance is needed in the best

interest of Nepal and its peo-ple," it said.

Nepal's political parties aresharply divided on whether toaccept the US grant assistanceunder the MCC agreement,which is under consideration inthe House of Representatives.Nepal's Leftist political partieshave been opposing the pact,saying it was not in nationalinterest and that it was meantto counter China.

"Nepal has always beenpursuing an independent, bal-anced and non-aligned for-eign policy. In pursuant to thispolicy, as a sovereign country,Nepal has accepted and utiliseddevelopment assistance as perher national requirement andpriority," the statement added.

On Friday, Chinese

Foreign Ministry spokesmanWang Wenbin in Beijingsaidthat China is “glad to see”international assistance toNepalbut it should come with-out any political stringsattached.Reacting to China'sstatement, the US embassyhere had said, whetherNepalileaders ratify MCC is a decisionfor Nepal to make, as a sover-eigndemocratic nation, andNepal's decision alone.

"The USD 500 millionMCC grant is a gift from theAmerican peopleand a part-nership between the two coun-tries that will bring jobsandinfrastructure to Nepal andimprove the lives of Nepalis",theUS embassy said in a state-ment on Saturday. "This pro-ject was requested by theNepali government and theNepalipeople and designed totransparently reduce povertyand grow theeconomy ofNepal," it added.Nepal and theUS in 2017 signed the MCCagreement, meant forbuildingNepal's infrastructuresuch as electric transmissionlines and improvementofnational highways. PTI

.��* ��8��,��

��(3��;� ��

�"�,�� +��(��,��,��

Hong Kong: Stringent anti-virus controls that ban publicgatherings in Hong Kong ofmore than two people might betightened to stop a surge ininfections, the territory's tophealth official said Sunday, as14 deaths and more than 6,000new cases were reported.

Health Secretary SophiaChan, speaking on a radioprogram, gave no details ofpossible new restrictions andcalled on the public to stay athome.

Hong Kong already isoperating under its strictestcurbs on travel, business andpublic activity since the pan-demic began. In place sinceFeb. 10, they also prohibitgatherings of more than twohouseholds. Restaurants, hairsalons and religious sites wereordered closed.

The territory had 6,067confirmed cases in the previous24 hours. That was close toThursday's 6,116 cases, its high-est daily total yet.

Chief Executive CarrieLam said last week the rapidspread of the omicron variantwas overwhelming Hong Konghospitals. The government saidThursday that 90% of hospitalbeds were filled.

To ease the pressure, con-struction crews from mainlandChina will build isolation unitsfor 10,000 people after crowd-ing at hospitals forced patients

to wait outdoors in wintercold.

Also Sunday, the govern-ment said EnvironmentSecretary Wong Kam-singwould work from home afterhis driver received a prelimi-nary positive virus test result.Wong tested negative but heand his driver will undergoadditional testing.

AP

4��1��'��(��

��<��=��'' ��

2��(��/��

%'�� !�=��!��!��>!�#��#��$� !�

Islamabad: Pakistan's mar-itime authorities have arrested31 Indian fishermen and seizedfive of their vessels for alleged-ly fishing in the country's ter-ritorial waters, officials said onWednesday.

The Pakistan MaritimeSecurity Agency (PMSA) saidthat it apprehended the intrud-ing vessels on Friday duringpatrolling in the PakistanExclusive Economic Zone(EEZ).

Pakistan Maritime SecurityAgency (PMSA) announcedthat it made the arrest fromPakistan's Exclusive EconomicZone (EEC) on 18 February.

The PMSA said that one ofits "ship apprehended fiveIndian fishing boats along with31 crew."

The boats were towed toKarachi for further legal pro-ceedings as per Pakistani Lawand UN Convention on Law ofthe Sea, it said. Pakistanand India regularly arrest fish-ermen from either side forviolating the maritime bound-ary which is poorly marked atsome points. PTI

��*�� !�� +�

�� !��"�0��!!��&�� =�� #��"��%��!�� #��#=�=0��&��%��,� ��

��!��!!��#�!� "��1� �!7�.��

�� !"#�!$!!

��%&&'())�� )*�*��&�)

/!�=/).@ ��).%!$!.@�.��@..�7)�3�� )!��%!�"�3)&�)��@$%�.�@�3�D�)�!%&.�/.! !.!"E�@$�=�"��!@" �&�!" �.%�!@.�

��$��,&��"��&�%�"��N,��&�?�%$��%$��""�&��&��K�&��&��%$��"�&��%9�"��&��'�&�#��&��

K��#��'�&��9�%&,#��%��'�&��%$��"��8��=)?)))�"��!��%��?�$,��%��#�&�#��&��D�,��

�� %��%,''�%&%�&��&�&��%"��&��%�7��&��$��,&��'�$��&��%��&��?�&��'��&��&�� 9�&��$��%�"��N,��&�!O�,��#��'%�%,''�%&�&��&

%"��$��&��,��&��"�&&��%�7��&��%�"��"��$�&��&&��'��&��%��#,��'$��%$��"�"�&��&�?P�9��&��&��,&��%��&��$�$��!��%��%��8��&��&�&��%��#��'%��'��'�&��&��&��%��&��#�&��#,��.$�%,��&��$��,&��"��'�"��&��$��#,�&�8��'�!��%��%��8��'��&��'�&��%&��%��9��&��

&��C%�� #�&��%��"%�&��%��&��8��&��&$��,&��"��'�&�8��&��&��&��%�%,''�%&�#��&��%��&��&��&��&,��8��9!�

,"��&�C%�#�,'%��8��$��,&�#��8��%��%%�&��&��9��#��#�$�%��O��'��&��&�&��8��"��&��#

�,"��&�P?��#��'�&��%&,#�!��%��&�%&%�"��%,��#�&��&��&��:;��&�8�

$��"��,&��'��#��&%�H� %I��&"��&��;?)))�%�&�%��'�>(A��8��%��#��;)Q��,�&��%?��8��'��&��&%!��&9�$��%�9��,�$��,&�#�K ��#��#��2��7,��8��'��9��&��#�'��,%�$��$��#��&�,%��"�#��"�#��%!��"�%&��N,��&��#�&��&�#�� %�9��&�B�$��$&��#�,'?��"�7�$��?�9��%��#�&�� #�9�?�&��#��&�%�#�,'�"�&��"��?��#��!��&��9��,�#��&��%&��&��%�&�%!��&��&��%�9��,�#�&�#��'��,%��8��%��8��%�&�%��#�"��%�&�%��%��#��&��%&�� &��8��%��%�#��#��"�,��9��#��?�9�&��&%�%,��%��"��%��'��%�!

�� !��

+��&��&��$��%&��%��%��##�%&��%%�&��9�&��B��#�%��B��%�#��'��%"%?�9��B��%�#�$��%&��%��%��%%��"�,�

&��&��8��"��&?��8��#��&��%��$,��%��#��D�,��!��%��9�%

��#,�&�#��&��+��?��%&,#��&��&��7��'��#�$��&"��&?�,�#��&��',�#��#�� %��#�&��"+�8�&��,��,��8��%�&��H+��I!+��%��#�&��&�$�&��&�%��,%�#��%�$��%&��%��%��

$��#,�&%�"�#��$��8��#��&��%��&��.��&��$��"��%!�O��&,��&��?�&��%�� 9��&��,%��#8��%��&%��8��'��'��%"%?��#��%�?��%&�#�$��&��$�&��,"��%�,��%��%��&��.$��&��&��&�8�%��%��$��"��&%!��&�#�8��$"��&%��B��%�#�$��%&��%��%��8��#�&��&��,%��%��##�&�8�%��8��,%��$$��&��%!� ��"��%&,#�� ,�#�&��&�9��&��%��B��%�#�$��%&��%��%��,%�#�&��"�&��%��'��%"%��%%?P�%��#�%��!

�� "��#��$ ��

1�8��"��&%��%%&��9��#��

%$��#��'��&��%&�M;!A&��8��?��,&�>�$��&��&��'��1��?��%,�%�#�%��'��#,%&��%&��&��"�,��&�9��#��#��8��"��&?�$��"�&��'��&��&��,"��&��%��,�#��'��&%��9��#�%&�,�&��?�%��#��9�%&,#�!��9��%��?�$,��%��#��5�%%��,%�&&%B��%�#

��'��%�&��-��&�� ?�%��9�#�&��&�&��,'��&��%��&��%��%,�%�#��%�8��#��%%�%��&��%��#��,�&��%?�"�%&��&��'�8��"��&�%,$$��&�9�%��#��'�&�9��#%�$��,&��'��#,%&��%�%,��%��%%��,��%?��%&�,�&��?�"��'?&��%$��&?��'��,�&,��?��%&��?�9�&��#��%��%!��%��,#��&�.�� %��$��#,�&��&��

"�7��#��%,$$��&��,�%,%&��'��,�#9�&��$,"$��'��&��5�##��-�%&?�&��%&�%%�%%"��&��8��#��#��&��%&�"�&��8��"��&��B��"�,��'�8��"��&�%,�%�#��%�'��?�%��#!

+��.�'�(��(��,��7��'��.��'��'��'�(��$&��%��$�+�89#'��"��$%�&

��9�%&,#��%��#��&��#��""��'��&��&��%��&��#�$��%%��#��!��%��%��,�#�&��&

#�$��%%��$��#��,%��#�8��$"��&?��#&��%��9�&��9��%��#�$��%%��.$��#��%&��#��"�"��!��%&,#�9�%�$,��%��#��&��D�,�� ,&��%

$��"�#��'��"�B9�#��%%��&��%&,#�H1�+I?��&��N,�&��&�%��%�&��&��'��"��%��""��&��%%��&�#�9�&��$��&��,��#�&��%!��1�+��#��&��#�>A��$��&��%��#�R(�&��%��$&%�B�&��"�%%�'�%�&��&��#��$��&��%�B�&��&�9��%%��&�#�9�&�#�$��%%��!�"��'�&��%�?�Q:�&��%��$&%��#�%�8��$��&��%�9��%��%%��&�#�9�&��%�"$&�"%��!��#�&��%,''�%&��%��#�'��&��%�%��&��&9��#�%��%�%?9��"��#��8��&��%�#��% ��%%��&�#�9�&�#�$��%%��!

In a democratic system, there always has to be anopposition party and a leader of the opposition

who keep a vigilant eye on the policies and day-to-day functioning of the government and try to findout shortcomings, discrepancies or defects in thepolicies and performance of the ministers or thedepartments under them. In a way, it is the dutyof the opposition to find faults and criticise the rul-ing regime by all possible means. Such is the zealand enthusiasm of these parties, that they are everready and well-prepared to dislodge the party inpower to occupy the ministerial seats if such anopportunity comes their way. This is why democ-racy is generally lauded for these functions of theopposition as these are considered as its plus points.But, not many of us realise the fact that howevergood these democratic values of eternal vigilance,criticism and readiness, these have their roots inrivalry, group selfishness, lust-for power and fault-finding. So, even if the fruits of vigilance, criticismand constant chase of the rival look attractive at first,the habit of finding the shortcomings of others andspeaking always negative of them in one’s publicspeeches and writings, leads to the devaluation ofthe person who practises these negative values asstate-of-the-art.

Further, the mediawhich articulates and, inthe process, accentuatesthese, knowingly orunknowingly creates anenvironment of rivalry,non-co-operation, nar-row mindedness, groupinterests, unfriendly crit-icism and more. As aresult, the whole socialand economic climatebecomes negativeamong members of thecivil society. One mustunderstand that these values are in sharp contrastto the qualities of ‘a person with a balanced and sta-ble mind’, as described in Shrimad Bhagwad Gitãand in all the spiritual literature which, because ofits immense and perennial value, has been preservedfor posterity through all the ravages of time. Theancient spiritual culture draws our attention,repeatedly, to the human qualities or the moral val-ues of love, co-operation, friendliness, forgiveness,kindness, looking at the virtues of others, havinghumility and the spirit of sacrifice and more.

Recently a spiritual organisation, during aninternational project called Global Co-operation fora Better World, invited various leaders from all overthe world for a healthy debate on the subject. Duringthe debate, most of the leaders extended their fullsupport and co-operation for the project in theirrespective countries. Towards the end when themoderator proposed the following: “In keeping withthe spirit of this worldwide project of co-operationin which more than a hundred countries are par-ticipating, we wish to propose it to all concernedcountries that, an ‘Opposition Leader’, henceonwards, be called a ‘Co-operation Leader’. Afterhearing this proposal there was laughter everywhereamong those leaders of opposition as well as thosefrom the ruling government. Most of the opposi-tion leaders said that if this proposal is accepted byour country, then, “We will all lose our jobs and ourparty would suspect that we have an intention tocross over to the party in power and are making asubtle attempt to lead all other members also intothe party that is running the government.” Thisclearly shows that the parliamentary system of gov-ernment will continue to have these negative val-ues and would, therefore, have the negative results,which these values give birth to. But let us hope thata really brave and wise leader would come upon thescene one day and will catalyse a change in thesevalues and the system based on these.

For the last two years, MamtaGoswami and her friends havepacked their bags with notebooks

and tiffin boxes not to go to school butto a place where they can find a networkto attend their online classes. They leavein the morning before classes begin andreturn in the evening. However, there isno guarantee that the network will bestable for the entire day. While few girlsare lucky enough to at least attend class-es online, many are not allowed by theirparents as they have to walk quite a dis-tance. “Many times, we walk one kilo-metre away from our homes where wecan access network only for some time.It also gets very difficult to submit ourassignments on time due to a lack of net-work. If there are any questions regard-ing our studies neither we can Googleit nor talk to any teacher,” expressedMamta. She emphasised if only she hada network so that access to education-al apps or keeping herself updated withcurrent affairs would be easier.

Mamta is a resident of Rolyana vil-lage, located 20 kilometres away fromBaijnath in Garur Block in Bageshwar

district of Uttarakhand. Although theabsence of a network is not new for thevillagers here, education being shifted toonline mode has left the students of thisvillage has affected the girls especially.The majority of the households own onemobile phone which is made availableto the son in the family. The girls are ableto use the phones for online classes onlywhen the brothers are over with theirclasses.

According to a report, a studyshows how boys had more access to dig-ital infrastructure such as mobilephones, internet services, radio and

media. This highlights how the lack ofdigital schooling has deprived girls ofeducation in the last few years. Besides,girls are more involved in householdchores leaving them very little time tothemselves and even time or energy towalk to a place where they can access anetwork to use their phones.

Preparing for the board examina-tion, Sarojini, another resident of the vil-lage, said, “Everyone knows the impor-tance of board examinations.Understanding its importance, ourteachers are available online. But becauseof a poor network, I am not able to con-tact them and get answers to my ques-tions. It is impacting my education.” Sheemphasised that if the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT) and net-work companies had paid any attentionto improving the network in theseremote rural areas, many students likeher would not have been affected neg-atively. Likewise, teachers are also wor-ried about the impact. Neeraj Pant, ateacher from the village, is concernedabout how the students, especially theones appearing for the boards, will copewith online classes without any network.“The absence of a network makes itextremely difficult for us to guide andstay in touch with the students. How isit possible for the students to appear forthe boards without attending classes? Itshould be a matter of concern for boththe school and the education depart-ment,” he informed.

On the other hand, villagers havebeen facing this issue for ages now.According to Manju Devi, the phone isthe only means of contacting familymembers who have migrated to thecities in search of employment. But dueto a lack of network, contacting them isa challenge. “Nowadays, everything isdigital. Many tasks can be easily com-pleted through the internet. But we can-not even make calls without troublednetwork, let alone access to the internet,”she lamented.

Time and again, the people of thisvillage have been trying to raise this issueof the poor network as it is very crucialto carry out several important tasks.While poor network infrastructureinfluences the villagers in accessing var-ious services, it certainly impacts girls’education and access to information.

(The writer is a resident ofRolyana village, Bageshwar and an

advocate for equal rights for girls andwomen.)

The world has been moving twosteps forward, one step back and

another few steps forward, circlingback and forth and navigating inways that seem big and small. Andin this has come a change that wasunexpected but spread like wildfirefor employees worldwide — Hybridworking.

With several pushbacks anddelays over office openings, manyoffices have settled for the hybridmodel. About 66 per cent of theorganisations have pushed back theopening dates due to the pandem-ic and 9 per cent of the workers havemoved during the lockdown whichhas made it virtually impossible forthem to travel to the office every day.But how does one make hybridsmoother? How does one keep theemployees more engaged and will-ing to work? Here are a few tips onhybrid working and boosting pro-ductivity.

Plan your weekly roster Not being in proximity can

sometimes lead to a new set of chal-lenges. It is important to make upfor the lack of face-to-face commu-nication with a well-planned weekof work and activities. This meansassigning reasonable but well-main-tained deadlines, having a fixedamount of people on a certain pro-ject, having brain dump sessionsand so on.

Work together as a team When staying connected is a

task, it is important to ramp up onthe importance of not just connec-tions but working together as ateam. The team needs to commu-nicate not just on time but also inthe most effective manner possible.It is also important to have stan-dardised meeting times and followtime limits as closely as possible. Atthe same time, micro-managing ismostly avoidable as should allow theemployees to set a mutually agree-able time where working together

is beneficial for them.

Train the managers right About 71 per cent of the

employees and managers weresurprised by how efficient theemployees were when working ina hybrid model, but the best wayto boost productivity is to let thework be interactive. This is whyinvesting in great managers andtraining them the right way isextremely important. The rightkind of manager is the one who isnot only effective at assigningwork and managing teams but isinteractive and able to foster a senseof growth and friendliness amongstthe team.

Get to know your employeesAssigning the right people to

the right role is one thing, and

involving them in an interactiveenvironment is another. There’s alot of fatigue, burn-out and appre-hension surrounding the currentclimate and how it’s affecting workwhich is why it is important to letthem know that they can talk to thepeople around them and the high-er-ups. Spending just 10 minuteswith the team to talk about non-work-related happenings helpsthem ease up and find a small senseof community which in turn helpsboost productivity. In 2019, a studywas conducted about belonging-ness and how it affects work andthere was about a 56 per centincrease in work turnover when theemployees felt connected to theirwork and workplace. Getting toknow your employees is a good wayof tracking team productivity andgiving feedback freely.

Invest in digital infrastructure There’s been a massive yet pre-

dictable rise in the use of businesscommunication platforms thathave taken place over the last twoyears. But investing in digital infra-structure is not just about commu-nication software, but also findingways to rely less on emails, sharingfiles effectively, tackling networkand connectivity issues, findingways to boost in-department com-munication, and a lot more. About74 per cent of people have report-ed that they’ve lost files sharedbetween them which makes usrealise how important it is to sharenot just in large volumes, but in aneffective manner too. It also isimportant to ensure timely workwhich is why keeping boundariesand maintaining time frames areimportant when assigning work.

Skill building Having an emphasis on growth

and skill acquisition makes a per-son see more worth in their job. Byproviding training, the attrition ratecan be lowered by 53 per centdepending on how they see thetraining relevant to their skills.Building skill is now also a lot moreabout how to use skills in a way thatworks effectively, but also abouthow to adapt them to any mode ofwork. Communication in itself isa skill that is cultivated over time.There are also ways to increase skillbuilding amongst groups. Thiscould be in the form of team activ-ities and solving hypothetical prob-lems and analysing issues togeth-er or giving them a product andpitching it together.

Workplace productivity hasbeen rapidly evolving and hybrid

workspaces have quickly rede-fined what productivity evenmeans. Productivity is boostedwhen the workplace is innovative,communicative, mental and phys-ical well-being. Now that there’s noother way of adapting to the newenvironment other than withhybrid work forms, it is time to takesmall steps to see a big difference.

The world changed so muchand gone are the days when all thework can only be on-site, but withimmense digitisation comes awhole new barrage of issues. Thisis why finding ways to motivateyour team to avoid burnout andtherefore ensuring productivity isso important.

(The author is the founder &CEO of Troop Messenger, a team

collaboration and business communication platform.)

�� (��&��&��#��'��,�&%?�9�� '&�'�&��9�&��&��$$�%�&��#&��$��'��%%?�%��%��3��1 0�5��5� � ��3 �!

"@%��9��@.�� '��/��'�� '��4*�� -�)9��5

2�� '��/�� !�.*'��4�!)�/!)��/��+/�'��&�#/��&�'�)*+��!4��) "!��'&�+!) �'*��9�� "*�#��8��#!��'��#/�#�#/��#��'�*#*!'�*��)"��

*�&�� !"#�!$!!

$�� 0��-��

Struggling like never beforeunder Diego Simeone,Atlético Madrid got the con-

vincing win it needed before fac-ing Manchester United and oldnemesis Cristiano Ronaldo.

The class of João Félix and LuisSuárez - combined with someteam defending finally living up toSimeone's standard - gave Atléticoreasons to feel better about itsupcoming Champions Leagueclash after a 3-0 win at Osasuna onSaturday in the Spanish league.

Karim Benzema, MarcoAsensio and Vinícius Júnior allscored in the second half to giveleague leader Real Madrid a 3-0win over Alavés. Second-placeSevilla trails Madrid by sevenpoints before it visits Espanyol onSunday.

Atlético's first away win in theleague since late November cameafter an embarrassing home loss tobottom side Levante. The win inPamplona saw Atlético move aheadof Barcelona into fourth place.

Félix smashed in a poor clear-ance by Osasuna goalkeeper SergioHerrera for the third-minute open-er. Felix's pass in the 59th launched

a counterattack that Suárez cappedwith an exquisite left-foot strike -from 40 yards out - over the headof Herrera, who was caught off hisline.

Ángel Correa rounded off thewin in the 88th with his team-high12th goal of the season.

"We are happy with the wintoday after coming from such a badgame, but we knew how to turn thesituation around," the 22-year-oldFélix said after his 100th appear-ance in all competitions forAtlético.

"This gives us confidence afterscoring three and not concedingonce."

United is the next test forAtlético when it visits WandaMetropolitano Stadium onWednesday in the ChampionsLeague round-of-16 first leg.Ronaldo will return to face a teamwhose fans learned to fear andloath the striker who helped RealMadrid beat Atlético in twoChampions League finals, as wellas in domestic league matches, inhis nine seasons in the Spanishcapital.

The win comes amid Atlético'sworst run of results since Simeonetook over the club and turned it

into a winner a decade ago. Beyondthe goals against Osasuna, Atléticofinally showed the same defensethat Simeone has made the foun-dation of its success by keeping itsfirst clean sheet in eight games.

"We had been struggling inthese types of games for quite sometime," Simeone said.

"Today we restored that defen-sive security and from there theteam showed it has talent and canproduce goals."

SECOND-HALF SURGEDespite the lopsided score,

Madrid still showed the sameproblems behind its poorest run ofan otherwise strong campaign.Madrid was outclassed in its lastgame by Paris Saint-Germain andwas fortunate to only lose 1-0 intheir Champions League match.

Alavés, a team in the relegationzone, got the opportunities it need-ed to dream of an upset at theSantiago Bernabéu, but it was leftto rue some jittery finishing. BothJason Remeseiro and substitutePere Pons were gifted balls near thearea from Casemiro and Asensio,only for both players to shoot wellwide.

Once Asensio broke throughwith a superb curling strike from

outside the box in the 63rd, it wasall Madrid the rest of the way.

Vinícius finished off a slickpassing combination betweenFederico Valverde, Asensio andBenzema to double the lead withhis 13th league goal of the seasonwith 10 minutes left.

Benzema added a third fromthe penalty spot late after Rodrygowas fouled, taking his league-lead-ing tally to 18 goals.

"It takes us time to get to getinto games, it is a weakness (thatwe have)," said coach CarloAncelotti.

"Recently it has been tough forus to score. Today Karim was feel-ing better, Vinícius too, and oursecond half was much better thanthe first. Now we have a week toimprove this aspect."

DANJUMA TREBLEVillarreal warmed up for

Juventus after striker ArnautDanjuma scored a hat trick to leadhis team to a 4-1 win at Granada.The Netherlands forward got twoof his goals from penalties.

Unai Emery's side also movedahead of Barcelona and into fifthplace before it hosts Juventus intheir Champions League match onTuesday.

�� 050�� 5

Former champions Bengaluru FC andOdisha FC will lock horns in a

must-win game for both the teams in theIndian Super League (ISL), here onMonday.

Bengaluru are sixth in the pointstable with 23 points from 17 games, fouradrift of fourth-placed Kerala Blasters.Odisha are a spot below them at seventhposition having 22 points from 17encounters.

The Blues saw their nine-gameunbeaten streak coming to a halt againstleaders Hyderabad and then sufferedanother defeat to lowly NorthEast UnitedFC, derailing their fresh hopes of a semi-final berth to a certain extent.

"We need to focus only on this game.There are three points to win, and we needto improve. We played well for 20 min-utes against NorthEast United, then wegave up. It was the same in the second halfand that's why we conceded two goals,"Bengaluru head coach Marco Pezzaiuolisaid at the pre-match press conference.

"Odisha is a very good team on thecounter-press and if you give them spacelike we saw in the first game that we lost,they can score goals," he said of their oppo-nents. Bengaluru rely on set pieces morefor their goals while Odisha are one of thehighest scorers from open play in Hero ISL21-22. Bengaluru are the joint top scor-ers from set-pieces in Hero ISL 21-22scoring 17 from dead ball situations thisseason, sharing the record withJamshedpur FC.

When it comes to open play, Odishahave scored 21 goals from open play,

more than half of the goals.The Blues will also bank on in-form

forward Cleiton Silva to help the teamwith the goals, as will Odisha who willdepend heavily on Jonathas Cristian todeliver the goods upfront.

The two Brazilians are the leadingscorers for their respective teams andfind themselves among the top scorersthis season.

Jonathas has scored in each of his last5 league games. After his goal againstChennaiyin FC in Odisha FC's lastleague game, he became the first OdishaFC player to score in 5 straight leaguegames.

Cleiton Silva, on the other hand, hasscored in two of his last three leaguegames. Only Greg Stewart (7) has scoredmore goals from set pieces this seasonthan Cleiton Silva (6).

"It's normal in football that you needother teams to give you results. But wecan only control ourselves, but if I amgoing to think about opponents to helpus, that won't help. I need to focus on myteam and our own results," Pezzaiuolifurther said.

�� +�/

Indian boxers were handed tricky draws at the StrandjaMemorial tournament here even as Nikhat Zareen will

begin her campaign in the quarterfinals.Sumit and Anjali Tushir are set to face tough oppo-

nents in their respective opening-round bouts.Zareen, who clinched a gold medal in the 2019 edi-

tion, has received a bye in the 52kg opening round.Apart from Zareen, Nandini (+81kg) is another

Indian boxer to feature directly in the last-8 stage.However, in the 66kg category, Tushir will face a stiff

challenge from two-time World Championships medallistRussia's Saadat Dalgatova in the opening round.

Among men, Akash has been given a bye in the 67kgopening round while Sumit (75kg) is drawn to start his cam-paign against the World Championships silver medallistRussia's Dzhambulat Bizhamov on Sunday.

A 17-member Indian team of seven men and 10 womenis participating in the tournament which is the first of theGolden Belt Series and also a testing event for InternationalBoxing Association's World Boxing Tour format.

Varinder Singh (60kg) will begin India's challenge onSunday against Russian Artur Subkhankulov in the men's60kg category. Sumit, Lakshya Chahar (86kg) and NarenderBerwal (+92kg) are the other Indians to be seen in actionon Day 1.

Europe's oldest international boxing tournament,which was first held in 1950, will be played till February27.

$�� -

Taiwan's premier wants aTaiwanese Olympic speed-

skater to be punished for wearingwhat appeared to be a suit fromChina's team during training.

Symbols of the two sides areespecially sensitive at a time whenChina's ruling Communist Party,which claims Taiwan as part of itsterritory even though the islandhas long operated with its ownnational government, is trying tointimidate the democracy by flyingfighter jets and bombers nearby.

Huang Yu-ting, one of fourTaiwanese athletes at the WinterGames, posted a video on hersocial media page Jan. 23 showingher training in what appeared to bea Chinese suit, the Central NewsAgency reported. It said Huangapologized and removed the video.

Premier Su Tseng-chang askedthe Ministry of Education and theSports Administration to investi-gate so Huang would "receive anadequate punishment," CNAreported, cit ing a Cabinetspokesperson, Lo Ping-cheng.

The Olympics are one facet ofa wide-ranging campaign byBeijing to isolate Taiwan.

The International OlympicCommittee requires Taiwaneseathletes to compete under thename "Chinese Taipei," whichobscures the island's longstandingself-ruled status.

Taiwan's SportsAdministration said Huang wouldface no penalty but should be"more aware of the sensitivity ofcross-Taiwan Strait politics,"according to CNA.

$�� 0- 3 �1

Apile of figure-skating rubblecreated by Russian misbe-

havior. A new Chinese champi-on — from California. An aceAmerican skier who falteredand went home empty-handed.The end of the Olympic line forthe world's most renownedsnowboarder. All inside an anti-COVID “closed loop" enforcedby China's authoritarian gov-ernment.

The terrarium of aWinter Games that has beenBeijing 2022 wound to its endSunday, capping an unprece-dented Asian Olympic trifectaand sending the planet's mostglobal sporting event off to theWest for the foreseeable future,with no chance of returning to

this corner of the world until atleast 2030.

It was weird. It wasmessy and, at the same time,somehow sterile. It was con-

trolled and calibrated in waysonly Xi Jinping's China couldpull off. And it was sequesteredin a "bubble" that kept partici-pants and the city around them

— and, by extension, the spo-radically watching world — atarm's length.

By many mechanicalmeasures, these Games were asuccess. They were, in fact,quite safe — albeit in the care-fully modulated, dress-up-for-company way that authoritari-an governments always do best.The local volunteers, as is usu-ally the case, were delightful,helpful and engaging.

“The Chinese peopleembraced these Games. Even inthe closed loop, we could makethis experience of excitement, ofwarmth, of hospitality and offriendliness,” InternationalOlympic Committee PresidentThomas Bach said Friday.

There was snow —most of it fake, some of it real.

$�� 0- 3 �1

Sheets of paper raineddown like super-sized

confetti on the bench,which players leapt off atfull speed to pile on top ofgoaltender Harri Sateri withsuch force that theyknocked the net off itsmoorings.

After finally accom-plishing what so manyFinland teams before wereunable to do, there wasplenty of strength to goaround. Finland, known asSuomi in Finnish, is nowsynonymous with gold.

The Finns knocked offthe favored Russians 2-1Sunday to win the men'shockey tournament withoutNHL players at the BeijingGames, capturing anOlympic gold medal forthe first time in the nation'shistory.

"We got what we camehere for," Finland defense-man Sami Vatanen said.

"We battled hard, andwe got the first Olympicgold medal in Finnish icehockey history. It's some-thing something special,and nobody can ever take itaway from us."

Finland had never wonat the Olympics on themen's or women's side. Itlast reached the final in2006 and lost to Sweden,matching the silver from

1988.The defending champi-

on Russians had to settle forsilver instead of going backto back.

"Life doesn't end withthis," coach AlexeiZhamnov told Russian TV.

"There's still a lot ofcompetitions ahead of us."

After winning gold in2018 as the OlympicAthletes from Russia, theRussians competed thistime as ROC, short forRussian OlympicCommittee. The ROC andOAR names were the resultof sanctions for doping andcover-ups across multipleOlympic sports.

The tournamentunfolded in the shadow ofanother Russian dopingsaga, this time involving 15-year-old figure skaterKamila Valieva. Wordemerged after the Russian

team won gold that Valievatested positive for a bannedsubstance in December. Shewas allowed to skate in theindividual event, finishinga disappointing fourth.

Players and coachesfrom the Russian hockeyteam and others at the rinkfaced questions about thescandal and the IOC's rul-ing not to hold a medal cer-emony if she finished onthe podium.

For the Russian hockeyplayers, no matter thename, the silver in themen's tournament was the32nd medal the country'sathletes earned in Beijing.Just not the gold theyexpected.

"On this day, we're thebest country in the world inhockey," Finland forwardHarri Pesonen said.

While the Russianslooked like the new

favorites when the NHLwithdrew because of pan-demic-related schedule dis-ruptions in late December,the Finns were actually thebig winners.

With recent NHL play-ers such as captain ValtteriFilppula, forward LeoKomarov and defensemenSami Vatanen and MikkoLehtonen on the team,Finland had the firepowerto go along with its hall-mark of strong structure,defense and goaltending.

That combinationhelped Finland go throughthe Olympics undefeated insix games, including athree-goal comeback tobeat rival Sweden in thepreliminary round. Finlandbeat Switzerland, Slovakiaand the Russians to rollthrough the tournament inefficient, business-like fash-ion with longtime coachJukka Jalonen behind thebench. This game endedbetter for the Finns than thelast final 16 years ago, whennational stars TeemuSelanne, Kimmo Timonen,Mikko and Saku Koivu andJere Lehtinen almost got thejob done. The FinnishOlympic heroes this timeincluded Sateri, leadinggoal-scorer SakariManninen, defensemanVille Pokka, alternate cap-tain Marko Anttila, andwinger Hannes Bjorninen.

$�� 5 ��

Italian league leader AC Milandropped crucial points in the title

race after drawing 2-2 at last-placeSalernitana. Milan is two pointsahead of defending champion InterMilan, which has played two fewergames, and three points ahead ofthird-place Napoli, which has onegame in hand.

It could have been worse forMilan coach Stefano Pioli's side, asCroatia forward Ante Rebic rescueda point with a powerful strike fromoutside the penalty area in the 77thafter being set up by striker OlivierGiroud on Saturday.

Five minutes earlier, strikerMilan Djuric headed Salerintanaahead. The game started well forMilan.

Brazilian midfielder JuniorMessias put Milan ahead in the fifthminute but striker FedericoBonazzoli equalized for the homeside in the 29th with a fine scissorkick after goalkeeper Mike Maignanfailed to properly clear a cross.

Inter hosts midtable Sassuolo onSunday and Napoli goes to playCagliari on Monday. Veteran FranckRibery captained Salernitana and theformer France winger missed agood chance in the second minute.

Milan punished the home side

moments later when defender TheoHernandez made a typically surgingrun from near the halfway line andplayed a clever pass into the path ofMessias, who curled the ball confi-dently into the left of the net.

Jose Mourinho's seventh-placeRoma scraped a 2-2 home draw withVerona after trailing 2-0 inside thefirst 20 minutes.

Czech Republic midfielderAntonin Barak gave Verona a fifth-minute lead and Frenchman AdrienTameze made it 2-0.

But Mourinho drew on hisexperience to make telling changes,as forward Cristian Volpato andmidfielder Edoardo Bove scored

after coming off the bench.The 18-year-old Volpato netted

in the 65th, three minutes after com-ing on, and the 19-year-old Bove didso six minutes after his entry tomake it 2-2 in the 84th. It was Bove'sfirst goal for the club.

Veteran striker FabioQuagliarella hit both goals asSampdoria beat midtable Empoli 2-0 at home to move further awayfrom the relegation zone.

Quagliarella, who turned 39last month and made his leaguedebut 22 years ago for Torino, net-ted twice inside the first 30 minutesto reach 90 career goals forSampdoria.

��

�� -��-�

Former Indian football team coachRustam Akramov, who introduced the

legendary Bhaichung Bhutia to the inter-national game in 1995 and took the BlueTigers to their highest-ever FIFA ranking,has died at his native place in Uzbekistan.

He was 73. The legendary Uzbek coachdied on February 15, according to the offi-

cial website of the National OlympicCommittee of Uzbekistan.

"The National Olympic Committee ofUzbekistan, the Council of Sports Veteransof Uzbekistan express their condolences tothe family and friends of Rustam Akramovin connection with his death," theUzbekistan Olympic body said.

During his career, he made a huge con-tribution to the development of Uzbek andformer Soviet football.

The All India Football Federation(AIFF) condoled the death of Akramovwho was in charge of the national teamfrom 1995 to 1997. "We mourn the pass-ing away of former India National Teamhead coach Rustam Akramov. May his soul

rest in peace," the AIFF's official Twitterhandle said.

Akramov did not have any major tro-phy to show for during his short tenure withthe Indian team but it was he who gave thenSikkimese teenager -- Bhaichung Bhutia -- his debut in a Nehru Cup match againstThailand in March 1995. Akramov helpedBhutia to shape up as a striker instead ofplaying as an attacking midfielder at clublevel.

>��2��$($��/ �*8�'��#/"�#�#!�0�� '*�/�&4!��8��*'�-/*'��*#

�� &��<��'��

)��&�<��"��! �� !"#!$%�&#��

��(/��

*�&�� !"#�!$!!

�� +��3��E+

West Indies named a 15-membersquad, to be led by star all-

rounder Stafanie Taylor, for thewomen's World Cup to be played inNew Zealand between March 4 andApril 3.

Off-spinner Anisa Mohammed,who will be playing in her fifth WorldCup, has been named vice-captain.

Anisa, who is one wicket shy of300 international scalps across for-mats, had led the side in the finalmatch of the ODI series in SouthAfrica earlier this month after Taylorsustained a concussion.

Experienced leg-spinner AfyFletcher is also in the squad as shemade her comeback after maternityleave.

The squad includes five youngplayers who could be making theirdebuts at the marquee event -- spin-ner Karishma Ramharack, pacerAaliyah Alleyne, seamer CherryAnn Fraser, all-rounder Chinelle

Henry and opening batter RashadaWilliams.

West Indies have also namedthree travelling reserves as part of thetournament's COVID-19 protocols -- Kaysia Schultz, Mandy Mangru andJannillea Glasgow.

"The squad selected shows ablend of youth and experience. Wehave Anisa Mohammed who's play-

ing in her fifth World Cup and willhelp guide the younger ones select-ed. We have five players who havehad their maiden Cricket WorldCup selection," selector Ann Browne-John said in a statement.

"The team just completed aseries against South Africa where theplayers got good preparation beforethe tournament.

$�� 5-�0��-

Kusal Mendis and captainDasun Shanaka shared an 83-

run partnership to guide Sri Lankato a consolation five-wicket winagainst Australia in the fifth andfinal Twenty20 match at theMelbourne Cricket Ground onSunday.

Mendis made 69 off 58 balls,with five boundaries and a six, andbatted throughout the innings tohelp Sri Lanka overcome someearly wobbles, including two run-outs, before he and Shanaka (35off 31 balls) ran down Australia's154-6 in the final over.

It was Mendis' highest score ina T20 international match andhelped break an eight-match los-ing streak for the tourists inAustralia to the delight of thethousands of Sri Lanka fans at theMCG.

Shanaka played a near flawlesssupporting role and made the

result all but certain with a tow-ering six over midwicket in thefinal over off Kane Richardson tolevel the scores. He was bowlednext ball but ChamikaKarunaratne was able to bring upthe winning run off Daniel Sams,who replaced an injuredRichardson for the final two balls.

"The boys played really wellthroughout the series, made astatement that when we come forthe World Cup (in October) we'llbe prepared," Shanaka said."(Kusal) has been an outstandingplayer throughout.

"We should keep on givingopportunities to the right players."

Matthew Wade'sunbeaten 43 off 27 balls and a 64-run partnership with allrounderDaniel Sams (18 off 15 balls)helped Australia recover from asluggish start to get to a compet-itive 154-6 after captain AaronFinch won the toss and decided tobat first.

Australia lost both Finch (8)and Ben McDermott (3) early asSri Lanka's bowlers dominated thepower play overs before GlennMaxwell (29) and Josh Inglis (23)helped the home side generatesome momentum.

Dushmantha Chameerareturned 2-30 and Lahiru Kumarahad 2-34 to lead Sri Lanka'sattack.

The tourists gave debuts toopening batsman Kamil Misharaand and allrounder JanithLiyanage, with veterans DineshChandimal and DanushkaGunathilaka missing out.

Australia won the series 4-1,having won the first game by 20runs and the second in a SuperOver in Sydney after the scoreswere level at the end of the regu-lation overs.

Australia won the third gameby six wickets on Tuesday inCanberra and again by six wick-ets in Friday's match at the MCG.

�� 1��

India U-19 star Yash Dhull capped off a dreamfirst-class debut by scoring his second hun-

dred of the game as the Ranji Trophy Group Hmatch between Delhi and Tamil Nadu ended ina draw here on Sunday.

With his unbeaten 113 off 202 balls on thefourth and final day, Dhull became only the thirdbatter after Nari Contractor (1952/53) and ViragAwate (2012/13) to score a hundred in eachinnings on Ranji Trophy debut.

After Shahrukh Khan got Tamil Nadu theall-important first innings lead with a sensation-al 194 off 148 balls on day three, Dhull and hissenior opening partner Dhruv Shorey (107 off165) batted for 60.5 overs to take Delhi to 228for no loss in the second innings before the play-ers shook hands for a draw.

Dhull, who came into the game straight fromthe U-19 World Cup triumph in the Caribbeanand with no recent red ball cricket under his belt,instantly showed that he belonged to the first-class level.

His second hundred of the match came ineasier batting conditions. With Delhi under pres-sure at seven for two on day one, the 19-year-old showed remarkable skill and maturity to bailthe team out of trouble and help them to 452along with Lalit Yadav.

Courtesy Shahrukh's display of brutal hit-ting, Tamil Nadu gained three points comparedto Delhi's one after reaching 494 in their firstinnings.

Delhi face Jharkhand in their second gamefrom February 24.

all out in 107.5 overs.Vasisht, Thakur slam tons, Himachal eke out

hard-fought draw vs PunjabHimachal Pradesh showed strong fightback

lower down the order with centuries from AkashVasisht and Praveen Thakur to salvage a drawagainst Punjab in their Ranji Trophy group Fopener at the Kotla here on Sunday.

Having conceded a 172-run first inningslead, Himachal Pradesh resumed the final dayon 151/5 with left-handed all-rounder Vasishton overnight 36 as he along with Praveen Thakurstitched a match-saving 172 run partnership forthe seventh wicket to eke out a hard-fought draw.

Vasisht slammed 15 boundaries en route tohis career-best 140 from 196 balls, while wick-etkeeper-batter Praveen Thakur struck a fine 103not out batting at number eight.

Punjab settled for three points by virtue oftheir first innings lead, while Himachal Pradeshreturned with one point.

Bengal bounce back to stun Baroda after

Shahbaz, Abhishek's fiftiesAll-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed and debutant

wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel struck unbeatenfifties as Bengal bounced back after their first-innings debacle to secure a dramatic four-wick-et win over Baroda in their Ranji Trophy GroupB opener here on Sunday.

Chasing 349 on the fourth day after beingshot out for a paltry 88 in the first innings,Bengal rode on the duo of Ahmed and Porel,who stitched an unbroken 108-run partnershipfor the seventh wicket to steer their team home.

Resuming on 146/2, Bengal received an earlyjolt when skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran got outwithout any addition to his overnight total of 79in the fourth ball of the day.

There were familiar jitters in the middle withBengal losing three quick wickets including theduo of Sudip Chatterjee (18) and overnight bat-ter Anustup Majumdar (33) in the space of fourballs to be 176/5.

Medium pacer Abhimanyusingh Rajput(3/73) revived Baroda's hopes with the doubleblow.

But Bengal's deputy sports minister and for-mer skipper Manoj Tiwary, who made a returnto cricket after his foray into politics last year,arrested the slide with a fighting 37 from 61 ballsbefore becoming Rajput's third victim.

Tottering at 242/6, Bengal unearthed a futurestar in the 19-year-old Abhishek, who showedutmost maturity and matched his senior part-ner, Shahbaz.

�� 1��

The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) hasdecided to hold an enquiry into match-fix-

ing allegations raised by the Silchar team in JK Baruah U-19 Inter-District Tournament20021-2022.

The allegations were raised over a groupmatch between Jorhat and Northeast FrontierRailway Sports Association (NFRSA) teams atGolaghat on February 16-17.

The Silchar District Sports Association hasclaimed that the NFRSA team allowed Jorhatto improve its net run rate towards the end ofthe match on the second day of the match toensure Jorhat dislodges Silchar from the topposition in the group.

The match ended in a draw between Jorhatand NFRSA, thus knocking out Silchar fromfinal round.

ACA secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI thatthe matter is being looked into and appropri-ate follow-up action will be taken.

"The Apex Council of the ACA will holda meeting with the stakeholders in the mat-ter on February 23. We will give each sideappropriate opportunity to place their ver-sions," Saikia said.

"The Apex Council will then come at itsdecision within 48 hours," he added.

The ACA has also invited Rajya SabhaMP Sushmita Dev, who had previously rep-resented Silchar Lok Sabha constituency, tothe hearing.

$,��

Wriddhiman Saha, theveteran wicketkeeper

who has been left out ofIndia's Test squad for thehome series against SriLanka, has said that headcoach Rahul Dravid toldhim after the series defeat inSouth Africa that the teammanagement would look atplaying new wicketkeepersgoing forward in the longestformat. In an interview withSportstar, Saha said he wastold that the team was keento give chances to youngertalents.

The Board of Controlfor Cricket in Indiaannounced the squad for theupcoming series against SriLanka that comprises threeT20 Internationals and twoTests on Saturday. The bigtalking point, besides theappointment of Rohit

Sharma as captain of the Testteam, remained the exclu-sion of veteran playersAjinkya Rahane, CheteshwarPujara, Ishant Sharma andWriddhiman Saha.

"Rahul bhai said, 'I don'tknow how to tell you this,but for a while, a few selec-tors and the team manage-ment are thinking of tryinga new keeper'," Saha wasquoted as saying.

"I asked him whether it

is because of my age or fit-ness, but Rahul bhai told methat it is not just because ofage or performance. Theywere looking at younger tal-ents, and since you are notplaying in the eleven, wethought of looking at othertalents." Saha added that hehe isn't thinking of retire-ment at the moment andwith the Indian PremierLeague coming up, there'sstill plenty of cricket left in

him. It was reported onFebruary 8 that the Bengalwicketkeeper had pulled outof Ranji Trophy as he hadalready been informed thathe is unlikely to be selectedin the Indian team againstSri Lanka. Saha revealed inthe interview that he had toskip the ongoing leg of RanjiTrophy to be with his fami-ly. While announcing India'ssquad for the Sri LankaTests on Saturday, ChetanSharma, head of the seniorselection committee, saidthat age is not a criteria forselection to the team.

"I can't tell you on whatgrounds he [Saha] has beendropped. That's for selectors.All I can tell you is that hewas told before and asked toplay the Ranji trophy, whichis the ladder for the Indianteam. What we discussedbetween ourselves we can'ttell you," said Chetan.

$�� -

Karachi Kings ended its dismal run inthe Pakistan Super League with a 23-

run defeat to Quetta Gladiators onSunday.

Karachi, led by Pakistan all-formatcaptain Babar Azam, became the firstteam in the history of Pakistan's premierTwenty20 league to finish with just onewin as the 2020 champion lost nine of its10 games. Without injured fast bowlerMohammad Amir, Karachi lost all five ofits home games before notching a solitary22-run win against Lahore Qalandars lastFriday.

Englishman Jason Roy's 82 off 64balls rallied Quetta to 166-4 after captainSarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and elect-ed to bat in a game between the two bot-tom-placed teams.

Karachi's brittle middle order falteryet again to finish on 143-8 despite theopening pair of Joe Clarke (52) and Babar(36) providing a solid platform of 87 runs.

Fast bowler Khurram Shahzad, play-ing his first game this season, grabbed 4-22 to pull back Karachi's run chase.

3��8�.��*��. ��*��:=�,*��

��: �3��14��2�3�#

.�� /��

��

�-��#!�"!!.�*'#!)�#+/�4*2*'��""��#*!'�

��%"��'%��.�&%��+�9�&��S�#��&%��

)��.��-��'��6��

��

Indian seamers fired in unisonafter Suryakumar Yadav's bel-ligerent fifty as the hosts coast-

ed to a series-sweeping 17-run winover the West Indies in the third andfinal T20I here on Sunday.

After Deepak Chahar limped offthe field after failing to complete thethird over due to a hamstring injury,Harshal Patel (3/22), VenkateshIyer (2/23 from 2.1 overs) andShardul Thakur (2/33) performedtheir tasks impressively to defendIndia's 184/5.

Wicket-keeper batter NicholasPooran continued his fine formslamming a third successive fifty (61off 47 balls; 8x4, 1x6) but it was notenough as West Indies managed just167 for nine.

For Rohit, it was his third suc-cessive clean sweep as fulltime skip-per, having earlier defeated NewZealand (0-3) in T20Is and WestIndies (0-3) in ODIs. The win alsomatched their 2020 record of ninesuccessive victories on the trot.

For the West Indies, this wastheir third successive bilateral seriesdefeats away from home -- 0-2 toNew Zealand in 2020-21 and 0-3 toPakistan 2021-22 -- as they cappeda forgettable India sojourn losing sixmatches on the trot (includingthree in the ODI leg).

Though ebutant pacer Avesh

Khan (4-0-42-0) struggled with hisline, Chahar made early inroads forIndia early on removing both theopeners -- Kayle Mayers (6) andShai Hope (8) -- in the space of 11deliveries inside the powerplay.

Chahar swung the ball bothways and also smartly changed his

pace to deceive the Windies open-ers and gave the first breakthroughin the fifth ball after India reviewedit successfully to dismiss Mayers.

In his next over, he took the out-side edge of Hope with a peach ofan outswinger and looked on firebefore he sustained an injury and

limped off the field without com-pleting his over.

In absence of Chahar, Harshalstepped it up displaying his brilliantcricketing mind as he executed hisslower ones to perfection to be thewrecker-in-chief.

Earlier, Suryakumar Yadavunleashed his brute power on wayto a 31-ball 65, and was well sup-ported by all-rounder Venkatesh (35not out off 19) as India posted achallenging 184 for five after beingput in to bat.

Suryakumar smashed sevensixes and one boundary in an excep-tional display of power-hittingbefore getting out for his career-bestT20 score in the final delivery.

Pace bowling all-rounderVenkatesh smashed four fours andtwo sixes at the other end as the duoput together 91 runs from 37 ballsfor the fourth wicket to help Indiarecover from a mini middle ordercollapse.

The rejigged Team India lostthree wickets for 55 runs in the mid-dle overs including that of skipperRohit Sharma, who batted at num-ber four, to be struggling at 98/4 in15 overs.

Surya cruised to his fourth T20fifty in just 27 balls with a massiveinside-out six over covers offRomario Sheperd in the final overas India stepped up in style smash-ing 86 runs in the final five overs.

� �'�()��*��+�+��,��-��.�!�#��++��*$��88*'��**'��44!��'&*�<S�9��%4�3�� >)>)S�9��%4��8�>)>;� /��>)>>�*R�9��%4��>);>� $��>);QR�9��%4�/�� 5��>);:R�9��%4�5�� 3,��>);A"��66��?��@�2��6�1��2��2��)*��:&��"�5��0��;A;>�%'��'�� H>);AB>)IS�+��7��"�#� H>);AIS*��&�+��"�� H>);SB>>I��&�4�%'��'��#��'��%&��&��;;�%,��%%�8��9��%��&9��>);:�6>);R��,&�&��#�#��&��8��/,��5�"��%&�&,%�&��"��9��2��)*��:�26��24��1�0��?�0��;AA=��%&� �#��%A>�+�� RA�0��'��#�%�R:��9�F��#�2��?�� 8��9��0��)*��0��A>);A�H �#I4� �#��9��=B)>);S�H� I4 �#��9��=B)>);S�H �#I4� �#��9��>B;>)>>�H �#I4� �#��9��=B)

" g`ez_x z_ $cu ayrdv `w fa a`]]d - daily pioneer

Documents