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T he Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for over eight hours for the third consecutive day in con- nection with a money laun- dering probe linked to the National Herald newspaper. The agency has asked him to appear again on Friday for further questioning. Rahul arrived at the ED headquarters around 11.35 am and his questioning began at 12 noon. He took a break for an hour at 3 pm and rejoined the questioning session at 4 pm which continued past 9 pm. The entire questioning ses- sion of Rahul is being record- ed both in audio and video for- mats. His statements are being printed on A4 size papers. Rahul minutely reviews his printed statements before putting his signatures on them and submitting the same to the investigating officer of the case who is an Assistant Director level officer, sources said. The Congress leaders alleged that the Delhi Police forcibly entered the AICC headquarters in the national Capital and thrashed the party workers. The Delhi Police rub- bished Congress’ allegations. The party also shared pur- ported video clips on social media showing police person- nel entering its office premis- es. Congress leader Ajay Maken shared a video as visual proof of police personnel entering the AICC headquarters at 24, Akbar Road. “Delhi Police entered the headquarters of the Congress, the country’s prin- cipal Opposition party, and assaulted our workers. Is democracy alive?” Maken wrote on Twitter in Hindi. “Watch the full clip,” he added. Addressing a press confer- ence, party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the action of the Delhi Police was “crim- inal trespass” which will not be tolerated and will be account- ed for. A video of police alleged- ly manhandling Congress workers was also doing rounds on social media. The Congress has demand- ed that an FIR for “criminal trespass” be registered, the erring police personnel be sus- pended and disciplinary action initiated against them. The ED’s questions revolved around his “personal role” in decision making with regard to the media organisa- tion and its owner Young Indian, assets owned by Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) that published the National Herald newspaper and how Young Indian (YI), a not-for- profit company, was undertak- ing commercial activities of renting out its land and build- ing assets, they said. Continued on Page 2 A joint team of the security forces on Wednesday avenged the killing of Vijay Kumar, a young bank manag- er from Rajasthan, by elimi- nating two Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terrorists in an anti-terrorist operation in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, while the ter- rorist who killed teacher Rajni Bala is trapped in an ongoing operation in Kulgam. Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said the slain LeT terrorist identified as Jan Mohd Lone was involved in the recent killing of bank manager Vijay Kumar in Kulgam on June 2. Kumar also revealed that Jan Mohd was earlier working as overground worker of LeT’s district commander Adil Ramzan and he killed the bank manager on the direction of the said LeT commander. Jan Mohd later joined the terror outfit after executing the terror attack. Another slain terrorist has been identified as Tufail Nazir. According to police, Tufail had earlier escaped from two encounters at Chaki Samad area of Kulgam on April 9 and Khur-Batpora area of Kulgam on April 11. Sharing the operational details, official sources said the joint team of security forces established an initial cordon around the suspected cluster of houses in village Kanji Ullar area of Shopian which was subsequently strengthened. Continued on Page 2 I n the absence of the TRS, the AAP, the BJD and the YRS Congress, a meeting of Opposition parties convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday failed to arrive at a consensus candidate for the Presidential election. The Opposition leaders decided to meet again after NCP supremo Sharad Pawar again declined their suggestion. Mamata and left parties have reportedly suggested the name of Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The TMC chief also came out with the name of veteran NCP leader Farooq Abdullah. Wednesday’s meeting decided to build consensus among all Opposition parties to challenge the ruling BJP’s can- didate, said several leaders. “I sincerely appreciate the leaders of the Opposition par- ties for suggesting my name as a candidate for the election of the President of India, at the meeting held in Delhi. However, I like to state that I have humbly declined the pro- posal of my candidature. I am happy to continue my service for the well-being of the com- mon man,” said Pawar later on Twitter. Pawar said the next meeting of the Opposition leaders will take place in Mumbai on June 20-21. Leaders of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the NCP, the DMK, the RJD, and the Left parties attended the over two-hour-long meeting called by the Trinamool Congress supremo, while the AAP, the SAD, the AIMIM, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJD skipped it. The leaders of the Shiv Sena, the CPI, the CPI(M), the CPI(ML), the National Conference, the PDP, the JD(S), the RSP, the IUML, the RLD, and the JMM were among those who attended the meet- ing, which took place on the day the nomination for the presidential election began. The election will be held on July 18. The Akali Dal also skipped the meeting protesting the Congress’ presence. The AAP said it will “consider the mat- ter only after the Presidential candidate is declared”. Continued on Page 2 O f the total 5,334 existing large dams in the country, at least 227 dams are more than 100 years old, thus posing greater safety risks, cost higher in terms of maintenance and have declining functionality due to sedi- mentation. Apart from these 5,334 dams, at least other 411 large dams are under various stages of construction across the States. Overall, Maharashtra leads with 2,394 dams, while Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are at the second and third spots in terms of the number of dams. India’s dams annually store about 300 billion cubic metres of water. As many as 80 per cent of dams are exceeding 25 years of age and over , said an official from the Central Water Commission (CWC) under the aegis of the Department of Water Resources. He said the ageing of dams and deferred maintenance of the dam have made dam safety a matter of concern. “To deliberate on their safety and con- sequent challenges, a one-day nation- al workshop is being held on Dam Safety Act, 2021 for Dam Safety gover- nance in India on June 16 in the national Capital here,” he said. The Dam Safety Act 2021 was enacted by the Parliament and came into force on December 30, 2021. The Act is aimed at ensuring surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of the specified dam for prevention of dam failure-related disasters and to pro- vide for an institutional mechanism to ensure their safe functioning. The brainstorming session follows a recent study that pointed out that India must analyse the costs versus ben- efits of its ageing dams, and conduct timely safety reviews in order to ensure safety of the structures, and the safety of those who inhabit the areas down- stream. A study by the Canada-based United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, released in January had pointed out that climate change is also likely to acceler- ate the ageing of dams. All over the world, many large dams built in the 20th century may start to show signs of ageing, and many may already be operating at or beyond their design life, the study said. For India, 2025 is set to be a big year as more than 1,000 dams would turn roughly 50 years or older, it noted Fifty years is not a defining age for all dams because the design life also depends on factors such as construction and maintenance, the study said, adding that a well constructed and well main- tained dam can go up to a 100 years. However, 50 is roughly the age when a dam may begin to show signs of ageing. In some cases, dam components such as gates and motors may need to be replaced after 30 to 50 years, it added. Therefore, an assessment of the structure should be carried out, and, if needed, the dam should be decommis- sioned, said the study. Islamabad: Cash-strapped Pakistan Government has urged people to cut down the consumption of tea as sipping fewer cups a day would help reduce the import bill eating into the nation’s depleting for- eign exchange reserves. The appeal from Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal came after it emerged that Pakistan consumed tea worth Rs 83.88 billion (USD 400 mil- lion) in the fiscal year 2021-22, The News International news- paper reported. He said that Pakistan, the biggest importer of tea in the world, has to borrow money to import it. “I appeal to the nation to cut down the consumption of tea by 1-2 cups because we import tea on loan,” Iqbal said while speaking to reporters here on Tuesday. Continued on Page 2 T he CBI on Wednesday arrested Kalyani Singh, daughter of the acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, in connection with the killing of national level shooter Sukhmanpreet Singh, alias Sippy Sidhu, over six years ago in Chandigarh. During probe, the CBI found some documentary evi- dence suggesting Kalyani Singh and Sidhu were close, and a romantic relationship had turned sour, officials said. The CBI had called Kalyani Singh, daughter of acting Chief Justice Sabina Singh, for ques- tioning where she was found evasive in responses following which she was arrested. The agency had registered the FIR in the killing of Sidhu, who was also a lawyer, on April 13, 2016, on the request of Chandigarh Administration, the CBI said in a statement. “During further investiga- tion, alleged involvement of the accused (Kalyani Singh) came forth in the case. Accordingly, she was examined and arrest- ed. The arrested accused was produced today (Wednesday) in the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh and she was remanded in four days police custody,” the CBI said in its statement. The case was originally registered by police station, Sector-26, Chandigarh as FIR No. 374 dated September 21, 2015, in connection with the murder of Sidhu in the night of September 20, 2015 in Sector 27, Chandigarh by unknown persons. Sidhu had started his own law firm styled as Sippy Sidhu LLB at Mohali (Punjab). The bullet-riddled body of national-level shooter and corporate lawyer Sidhu, 35, was found in a park in Sector 27 on September 20, 2015. Sippy was the grandson of the late Justice SS Sidhu, a former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge. The alleged role of judge’s daughter in the murder cropped up during the CBI investigation. However, the agency wanted to have a water- tight lead and in September 2016, it announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to any persons lead- ing to provide a clue to crack the case, officials said. The CBI also issued a newspaper advertisement stat- ing that “there is reason to believe that a woman was accompanying Sidhu’s killer at the time of the murder. The said woman is also being given this opportunity to come for- ward and contact us if she is innocent. Otherwise it shall be presumed that she was a party to the offence”. Continued on Page 2 A fter witnessing a mild dip in daily cases a day ago, India on Wednesday saw a new three-month high in the daily Covid tally with 8,822 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall count to 4,32,45,517. Delhi and Maharashtra are recording a spike in cases over the last few days. Delhi’s daily tally case count reached 1,375 on Wednesday with positivity rate rising to 7.01 per cent. Maharashtra, which has reported a few cases of sub lin- eage of Omicron, BA4 and BA5, is witnessing rising new infections with 4,024 new cases, 3,028 recoveries and 2 deaths in the last 24 hours. According to the Union Health Ministry data, a total of 15 deaths have been reported since Tuesday, with the total fatalities due to the virus at 5,24,792. With 8,822 fresh coron- avirus infections being report- ed in a day, India’s tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 4,32,45,517 on Wednesday, while the count of active cases increased to 53,637, according to Union Health Ministry data. The count of active cases now comprises 0.12 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.66 per cent, the Ministry said. An increase of 3,089 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the data showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at two per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.35 per cent, according to the ministry. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said the surge in Covid-19 cases in the State is restricted to certain districts, and despite the spike, hospi- talisations remain at 2-3 per cent. Continued on Page 2 A fter denying him a Rajya Sabha berth, the Janata Dal (United) has now mount- ed pressure on its senior leader and union Steel Minister RCP Singh to resign from the Union Cabinet. The JD(U) has also expelled several leaders report- edly for following RCP Singh’s pro-BJP political line. JD(U) Parliamentary Board chairman Upendra Kushwaha said on Wednesday that Singh should “heed the message” and resign from the Union Cabinet. Singh is a member of the Rajya Sabha and his tenure ends on July 7. As per the rules, a Minister can occupy the post for a maxi- mum period of six months unless he or she gets elected to either House of Parliament. Kuswaha’s comment is seen as yet another sign of growing rift between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP. Singh is seen close to the BJP leadership. He and his supporters have been regular- ly praising the Modi Government and its policies. “There is no technical problem as such if he (Singh) continues in his chair. But if he heeds the message and reads the political situation, it would be nice if he resigns,” Kushwaha told reporters. The JD(U) will have no representation in the Union Cabinet when RCP Singh comes out of it.. Asked what responsibilities Singh, a former national pres- ident, was likely to be given in the JD(U) if he gives up his cab- inet berth, Kushwaha said dis- missively, “It is for him to decide. The party has other things on its agenda.” About the expulsion of a number of perceived “RCP supporters”, including party spokesperson Ajay Alok, Kushwaha said, “Anybody who does not follow the party line will face the consequences.” Continued on Page 2 New Delhi: The ruling BJP, which is a little short of the majority in Presidential College votes, on Wednesday began the consultation exer- cise on evolving a consensus name for the Presidential election with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speak- ing to several key Opposition leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, said BJP leaders. Continued on Page 2

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Page 1: ?` T`_dV_dfd Z_ @aa¶d ^VVe `_ AcVk a`]] aZT\ - Daily Pioneer

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Wednesday questionedCongress leader Rahul Gandhifor over eight hours for thethird consecutive day in con-nection with a money laun-dering probe linked to theNational Herald newspaper.The agency has asked him toappear again on Friday forfurther questioning.

Rahul arrived at the EDheadquarters around 11.35 amand his questioning began at 12noon. He took a break for anhour at 3 pm and rejoined thequestioning session at 4 pmwhich continued past 9 pm.

The entire questioning ses-sion of Rahul is being record-ed both in audio and video for-mats. His statements are beingprinted on A4 size papers.Rahul minutely reviews hisprinted statements beforeputting his signatures on themand submitting the same to theinvestigating officer of the casewho is an Assistant Directorlevel officer, sources said.

The Congress leadersalleged that the Delhi Policeforcibly entered the AICCheadquarters in the national

Capital and thrashed the partyworkers. The Delhi Police rub-bished Congress’ allegations.

The party also shared pur-ported video clips on socialmedia showing police person-nel entering its office premis-es. Congress leader Ajay Makenshared a video as visual proofof police personnel entering theAICC headquarters at 24,Akbar Road. “Delhi Policeentered the headquarters of theCongress, the country’s prin-cipal Opposition party, andassaulted our workers. Isdemocracy alive?” Maken

wrote on Twitter in Hindi.“Watch the full clip,” he added.

Addressing a press confer-ence, party leader RandeepSingh Surjewala said the actionof the Delhi Police was “crim-inal trespass” which will not betolerated and will be account-ed for.

A video of police alleged-ly manhandling Congressworkers was also doing roundson social media.

The Congress has demand-ed that an FIR for “criminaltrespass” be registered, theerring police personnel be sus-

pended and disciplinary actioninitiated against them.

The ED’s questionsrevolved around his “personalrole” in decision making withregard to the media organisa-tion and its owner YoungIndian, assets owned byAssociated Journals Ltd (AJL)that published the NationalHerald newspaper and howYoung Indian (YI), a not-for-profit company, was undertak-ing commercial activities ofrenting out its land and build-ing assets, they said.

Continued on Page 2

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Ajoint team of the securityforces on Wednesday

avenged the killing of VijayKumar, a young bank manag-er from Rajasthan, by elimi-nating two Lashkar-e-Tayyebaterrorists in an anti-terroristoperation in south Kashmir’sShopian district, while the ter-rorist who killed teacher RajniBala is trapped in an ongoingoperation in Kulgam.

Inspector General ofPolice Kashmir, Vijay Kumar,said the slain LeT terroristidentified as Jan Mohd Lonewas involved in the recentkilling of bank manager VijayKumar in Kulgam on June 2.

Kumar also revealed thatJan Mohd was earlier workingas overground worker of LeT’s

district commander AdilRamzan and he killed the bankmanager on the direction of thesaid LeT commander.

Jan Mohd later joined theterror outfit after executingthe terror attack.

Another slain terrorist hasbeen identified as Tufail Nazir.

According to police, Tufailhad earlier escaped from twoencounters at Chaki Samadarea of Kulgam on April 9 andKhur-Batpora area of Kulgamon April 11.

Sharing the operationaldetails, official sources saidthe joint team of security forcesestablished an initial cordonaround the suspected cluster ofhouses in village Kanji Ullararea of Shopian which wassubsequently strengthened.

Continued on Page 2

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In the absence of the TRS, theAAP, the BJD and the YRS

Congress, a meeting ofOpposition parties convenedby West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee onWednesday failed to arrive at aconsensus candidate for thePresidential election.

The Opposition leadersdecided to meet again afterNCP supremo Sharad Pawaragain declined their suggestion.Mamata and left parties havereportedly suggested the nameof Gopalkrishna Gandhi. TheTMC chief also came out withthe name of veteran NCPleader Farooq Abdullah.

Wednesday’s meetingdecided to build consensusamong all Opposition parties tochallenge the ruling BJP’s can-didate, said several leaders.

“I sincerely appreciate theleaders of the Opposition par-ties for suggesting my name asa candidate for the election ofthe President of India, at the

meeting held in Delhi.However, I like to state that Ihave humbly declined the pro-posal of my candidature. I amhappy to continue my servicefor the well-being of the com-mon man,” said Pawar later onTwitter. Pawar said the nextmeeting of the Oppositionleaders will take place inMumbai on June 20-21.

Leaders of the Congress,the Samajwadi Party (SP), theNCP, the DMK, the RJD, andthe Left parties attended theover two-hour-long meetingcalled by the TrinamoolCongress supremo, while theAAP, the SAD, the AIMIM, theTelangana Rashtra Samithi

(TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJDskipped it. The leaders of theShiv Sena, the CPI, the CPI(M),the CPI(ML), the NationalConference, the PDP, the JD(S),the RSP, the IUML, the RLD,and the JMM were amongthose who attended the meet-ing, which took place on theday the nomination for thepresidential election began.The election will be held onJuly 18.

The Akali Dal also skippedthe meeting protesting theCongress’ presence. The AAPsaid it will “consider the mat-ter only after the Presidentialcandidate is declared”.

Continued on Page 2

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Of the total 5,334 existing largedams in the country, at least 227

dams are more than 100 years old, thusposing greater safety risks, cost higherin terms of maintenance and havedeclining functionality due to sedi-mentation. Apart from these 5,334dams, at least other 411 large dams areunder various stages of constructionacross the States.

Overall, Maharashtra leads with2,394 dams, while Madhya Pradesh andGujarat are at the second and third spotsin terms of the number of dams. India’sdams annually store about 300 billioncubic metres of water. As many as 80 percent of dams are exceeding 25 years ofage and over , said an official from theCentral Water Commission (CWC)under the aegis of the Department ofWater Resources.

He said the ageing of dams anddeferred maintenance of the dam havemade dam safety a matter of concern.“To deliberate on their safety and con-sequent challenges, a one-day nation-al workshop is being held on DamSafety Act, 2021 for Dam Safety gover-nance in India on June 16 in the

national Capital here,” he said.The Dam Safety Act 2021 was

enacted by the Parliament and cameinto force on December 30, 2021. TheAct is aimed at ensuring surveillance,inspection, operation and maintenanceof the specified dam for prevention ofdam failure-related disasters and to pro-

vide for an institutional mechanism toensure their safe functioning.

The brainstorming session followsa recent study that pointed out thatIndia must analyse the costs versus ben-efits of its ageing dams, and conducttimely safety reviews in order to ensuresafety of the structures, and the safety

of those who inhabit the areas down-stream.

A study by the Canada-basedUnited Nations University Institute forWater, Environment and Health,released in January had pointed out thatclimate change is also likely to acceler-ate the ageing of dams.

All over the world, many large damsbuilt in the 20th century may start toshow signs of ageing, and many mayalready be operating at or beyond theirdesign life, the study said. For India,2025 is set to be a big year as more than1,000 dams would turn roughly 50 yearsor older, it noted

Fifty years is not a defining age forall dams because the design life alsodepends on factors such as constructionand maintenance, the study said, addingthat a well constructed and well main-tained dam can go up to a 100 years.However, 50 is roughly the age when adam may begin to show signs of ageing.In some cases, dam components suchas gates and motors may need to bereplaced after 30 to 50 years, it added.

Therefore, an assessment of thestructure should be carried out, and, ifneeded, the dam should be decommis-sioned, said the study.

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Islamabad: Cash-strappedPakistan Government hasurged people to cut down theconsumption of tea as sippingfewer cups a day would helpreduce the import bill eatinginto the nation’s depleting for-eign exchange reserves.

The appeal from FederalMinister for Planning AhsanIqbal came after it emerged thatPakistan consumed tea worthRs 83.88 billion (USD 400 mil-lion) in the fiscal year 2021-22,The News International news-paper reported.

He said that Pakistan, thebiggest importer of tea in theworld, has to borrow money toimport it.

“I appeal to the nation tocut down the consumption oftea by 1-2 cups because weimport tea on loan,” Iqbal saidwhile speaking to reportershere on Tuesday.

Continued on Page 2

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The CBI on Wednesdayarrested Kalyani Singh,

daughter of the acting ChiefJustice of Himachal PradeshHigh Court, in connectionwith the killing of national levelshooter Sukhmanpreet Singh,alias Sippy Sidhu, over sixyears ago in Chandigarh.

During probe, the CBIfound some documentary evi-dence suggesting Kalyani Singhand Sidhu were close, and aromantic relationship hadturned sour, officials said.

The CBI had called KalyaniSingh, daughter of acting ChiefJustice Sabina Singh, for ques-tioning where she was foundevasive in responses followingwhich she was arrested.

The agency had registeredthe FIR in the killing of Sidhu,who was also a lawyer, onApril 13, 2016, on the requestof Chandigarh Administration,the CBI said in a statement.

“During further investiga-tion, alleged involvement of the

accused (Kalyani Singh) cameforth in the case. Accordingly,she was examined and arrest-ed. The arrested accused wasproduced today (Wednesday)in the Court of Special JudicialMagistrate, Chandigarh andshe was remanded in four dayspolice custody,” the CBI said inits statement.

The case was originallyregistered by police station,Sector-26, Chandigarh as FIRNo. 374 dated September 21,2015, in connection with themurder of Sidhu in the night ofSeptember 20, 2015 in Sector27, Chandigarh by unknownpersons. Sidhu had started hisown law firm styled as SippySidhu LLB at Mohali (Punjab).

The bullet-riddled bodyof national-level shooter andcorporate lawyer Sidhu, 35,was found in a park in Sector27 on September 20, 2015.Sippy was the grandson of thelate Justice SS Sidhu, a formerPunjab and Haryana HighCourt judge.

The alleged role of judge’sdaughter in the murdercropped up during the CBIinvestigation. However, theagency wanted to have a water-tight lead and in September2016, it announced a reward ofRs 5 lakh to any persons lead-ing to provide a clue to crackthe case, officials said.

The CBI also issued anewspaper advertisement stat-ing that “there is reason tobelieve that a woman wasaccompanying Sidhu’s killer atthe time of the murder. Thesaid woman is also being giventhis opportunity to come for-ward and contact us if she isinnocent. Otherwise it shall bepresumed that she was a partyto the offence”.

Continued on Page 2

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After witnessing a mild dipin daily cases a day ago,

India on Wednesday saw anew three-month high in thedaily Covid tally with 8,822new cases in the last 24 hours,taking the overall count to4,32,45,517. Delhi andMaharashtra are recording aspike in cases over the last fewdays. Delhi’s daily tally casecount reached 1,375 onWednesday with positivityrate rising to 7.01 per cent.

Maharashtra, which hasreported a few cases of sub lin-eage of Omicron, BA4 andBA5, is witnessing rising newinfections with 4,024 new cases,3,028 recoveries and 2 deathsin the last 24 hours.

According to the Union

Health Ministry data, a total of15 deaths have been reportedsince Tuesday, with the totalfatalities due to the virus at5,24,792.

With 8,822 fresh coron-avirus infections being report-ed in a day, India’s tally ofCovid-19 cases rose to4,32,45,517 on Wednesday,while the count of active casesincreased to 53,637, accordingto Union Health Ministry data.

The count of active casesnow comprises 0.12 per cent ofthe total infections, while thenational Covid-19 recoveryrate was recorded at 98.66 per

cent, the Ministry said. Anincrease of 3,089 cases hasbeen recorded in the activeCovid-19 caseload in a span of24 hours, the data showed.

The daily positivity ratewas recorded at two per centand the weekly positivity rateat 2.35 per cent, according tothe ministry. MaharashtraHealth Minister Rajesh Topeon Wednesday said the surge inCovid-19 cases in the State isrestricted to certain districts,and despite the spike, hospi-talisations remain at 2-3 percent.

Continued on Page 2

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After denying him a RajyaSabha berth, the Janata

Dal (United) has now mount-ed pressure on its senior leaderand union Steel Minister RCPSingh to resign from the UnionCabinet. The JD(U) has alsoexpelled several leaders report-edly for following RCP Singh’spro-BJP political line.

JD(U) ParliamentaryBoard chairman UpendraKushwaha said on Wednesdaythat Singh should “heed themessage” and resign from theUnion Cabinet. Singh is amember of the Rajya Sabha andhis tenure ends on July 7. Asper the rules, a Minister canoccupy the post for a maxi-mum period of six monthsunless he or she gets elected toeither House of Parliament.

Kuswaha’s comment is seenas yet another sign of growingrift between Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar andthe BJP. Singh is seen close to

the BJP leadership. He and hissupporters have been regular-ly praising the ModiGovernment and its policies.

“There is no technicalproblem as such if he (Singh)continues in his chair. But if heheeds the message and readsthe political situation, it wouldbe nice if he resigns,” Kushwahatold reporters. The JD(U) willhave no representation in theUnion Cabinet when RCPSingh comes out of it..

Asked what responsibilitiesSingh, a former national pres-ident, was likely to be given inthe JD(U) if he gives up his cab-inet berth, Kushwaha said dis-missively, “It is for him todecide. The party has otherthings on its agenda.”

About the expulsion of anumber of perceived “RCPsupporters”, including partyspokesperson Ajay Alok,Kushwaha said, “Anybody whodoes not follow the party linewill face the consequences.”

Continued on Page 2

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New Delhi: The ruling BJP,which is a little short of themajority in PresidentialCollege votes, on Wednesdaybegan the consultation exer-cise on evolving a consensusname for the Presidentialelection with senior partyleader Rajnath Singh speak-ing to several key Oppositionleaders, includingMallikarjun Kharge, MamataBanerjee and Akhilesh Yadav,said BJP leaders.

Continued on Page 2

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With the closure of schools,lack of access to internet

connectivity and mobilephones for online classes, thenumber of children working inthe agricultural sector has goneup in six districts ofMaharashtra, including Jalna,Nandurbar and Pune duringthe Covid-19 period.

According to the findingsof a survey conducted by NGOChild Rights and You (CRY) insix districts, the number of chil-dren who are in child labour orworking in agriculture hasgone up since 2020 after theoutbreak of the Covid-19. Thetotal number has gone up from2556 in 2020 to 3356 in 2021and to 3309 in 2022.

“Closure of schools, lack ofaccess to internet connectivityand mobile phones for onlineclasses, financially stress of thefamilies with huge job losses aswell as the long strike of staterun bus services seemed tohave affected children’s acade-mic prospects’ in rural areas,thereby forcing them to workin agriculture as well as in fam-ily run enterprises. WithinCRY intervention areas inMaharashtra, close to 55% chil-dren accessed online educationbecause of their linkage with

Activity Centres and access todigital learning aids (tablets),”Kreeanne Rabadi, Director,CRY (West) said.

One of the findings of thesurvey said: “Children havemigrated to neighbouring citiesfor work. These children oftenwork as waiters or in brickkilns, as helpers, beggars andlabourers in cities of Mumbai,Pune, Daund, Beed, Manmad,Aurangabad and Nashik.Many also migrate to work insugarcane harvesting, irriga-tion, cultivation of agricultur-al land, sowing or planting,intercropping, threshing, spray-ing etc”.

Even in cities, CRY – in itssurvey -- found that a largenumber of children, despiteattending online classes, areopting to work. In Mumbai’stwo intervention areas, CRYfound the pandemic and thelockdown to have had a mul-

tilayered impact on familiesthat were on the margins inurban centres.

In areas of Mumbai likeBandra’s Rahul Nagar, SionKoliwada and Mankhurd’sCheetah Camp, CRY foundthat out of 589 children in theage group of 14 to 18 years,while 145 children are cur-rently involved in a differentkind of jobs of which 84 girlsare engaged in householdchores like cooking, sweeping,washing clothes and utensilsand taking care of elderly oryoung ones.

“Children have unfortu-nately felt the burden of theirfamily’s financial conditionsand have preferred to workrather than go to school. Thechildren who claimed toaccompany their parents towork in fields earning along-side them anywhere betweenRs 100 to Rs 500 per day,” oneof the observations in the sur-vey said.

“More investment is need-ed in programs to get childrenout of the workforce and backinto schools, and increasedefforts need to be made to pro-vide social protection for fam-ilies so that they don’t have tomake the difficult choice ofpulling their children out ofeducation and putting them towork,” Rabadi said.

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As monsoon rain pum-melled the northeast,

Cherrapunji in Meghalayarecorded a massive 811.6 mmof rainfall in 24 hours ending8:30 am on Wednesday, thehighest in June since 1995.“One of the wettest places inthe world, Cherrapunji hasrecorded more than 750 mm ofprecipitation on a June day on10 occasions since the IMDstarted keeping records”, the

India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) said.

On June 16, 1995, the townnestled in the East Khasi Hillsgauged 1563.3 mm of rainfall.A day before, on June 15, 1995,it received 930 mm of precip-itation. The Met office said thesouthwest monsoon furtheradvanced into more parts ofMaharashtra, Karnataka, TamilNadu and coastal AndhraPradesh on Wednesday.

It said the ongoing spell ofintense rainfall is likely to con-tinue in the northeast and sub-

Himalayan West Bengal andSikkim during the next fivedays.

"Under the influence ofstrong southwesterly windsfrom the Bay of Bengal inlower tropospheric levels anda trough in westerlies in mid-dle tropospheric levels, iso-lated extremely heavy rainfallis likely over ArunachalPradesh on June 15; overAssam and Meghalaya on June15-16 and sub-HimalayanWest Bengal and Sikkim tillJune 17," it said.

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The Delhi government hasdecided to construct its own

state guest house, 'Dilli Sadan',on the lines of several otherstates, in Dwarka sector 19 of thecity. Official said that almostevery state of the country has itsown guest house, 'Sadan' or'Bhawan' in the national capital.The officials said a proposal inthis connection has beenfinalised, and the Delhi Tourismand TransportationDevelopment Corporation(DTTDC) has been entrustedwith the task of constructing the'Dilli Sadan'.

The facility is to come up ona 3,899.42 square metre plot ofland will be used to "house andhost" dignitaries and officialsinvited by the city governmentfrom India and abroad, they said.

According to the proposaldocument, 'Dilli Sadan' will haveall the modern and latest facili-ties. "All states have their ownBhawans in Delhi. Similarly, theGovernment of Delhi intents toset up its 'Dilli Sadan' for pro-viding reliable and economic

accommodation for staying ofdignitaries and officers comingto Delhi for various purposes.Government guests can also beserving officials as well as oth-ers," the document stated.

It stated that Dilli Sadan willbe located in sector 19 inDwarka near Manipur Sadanand Bihar Sadan. It will come upnear the Dwarka Sector 10 metrostation. Dilli Sadan's distancefrom the Indira GandhiInternational Airport will bearound 11 km.

The document said DilliSadan will be different fromother state guest houses as it willbe a green building with at leasta 3-star IGBC rating and will beequipped with a number ofmodern facilities such as restau-rants, cafeteria, lounge, VIP suitsetc. "The state guest house shallbe designed to cater to therequirements like entrance lobby,reception, artwork, conferencehall, meeting rooms, kitchenand dining, restaurant, ATM,WiFi, CCTV, rain water har-vesting, water treatment plant,sewage treatment plant etc," itstated.

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Delhi Police Head Constablehas written a letter to

Police Commissioner RakeshAsthana urging him to takesteps towards road safety andensure that police personnelfollow traffic rules.

Sandeep Kumar who iscurrently posted at the PatelNagar police station of theCentral district, said he hadlearnt through an RTI that228 Delhi Police personnelfrom various units up to the

rank of ACP were killed in roadaccidents from 2010 to 2021.

Kumar also mentioned thathe has been injured twice inroad accidents at Daryganjand Moti Nagar and since thenhas been involved in raisingawareness about road safetyand use of helmets.

“It is requested that impor-tant steps should be taken sothat police personnel adhere totraffic rules and everyoneremains safe and following theideals of Shanti, sewage andnyay, we can fulfil our respon-

sibilities and make Delhi apleasant place," Kumar said inHindi.

Claiming that the numbersof police personnel who died inaccidents is more than thosekilled by terrorists or by crim-inals, Kumar in the letter writ-ten earlier this month, said themajority of those who diedwere constables. He cited a2021 order by the then specialcommissioner of police, Traffic,Mukesh Chander, flagging vio-lations of traffic rules by policepersonnel.

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From Page 1In December 2021, the CBI

raised the reward money to Rs10 lakh, stating that members ofthe public are requested tocome forward, if they have anycredible information regardingthe murder or any relevantinformation. However, theinvestigating agency failed tomake headway in thecase.Earlier in 2020, the CBI hadalso filed an “untraced report”in the court and had mentionedthat investigation may beallowed to open and continue asit has brought strong suspicionas to the role of a woman toeliminate Sippy Sidhu. But SippySiddhu’s relatives protestedbefore the designated court thatdirected the CBI to expedite theprobe.

From Page 1“After confirming the pres-

ence of one to two terroristshiding in one of the houses, thesecurity forces started evacu-ating the civilians in the vicin-ity to a safe location. As thecivilians were being moved, theterrorists climbed to the roof ofthe house, opened indiscrimi-nate fire and hurled grenades”,official sources said.

To prevent collateral dam-age in the area the securityforces stopped engaging theterrorists and prioritised theevacuation of civilians out ofthe danger zone, while keepingterrorists under observation.

From Page 1The TRS said there was “no

question of sharing any plat-form with the Congress.” It alsoaccused the Congress of “gang-ing up with the BJP” inTelangana, especially in therecent by-polls.

“Leaders of all partiesrequested Pawar to contest thePresident’s election and be thejoint candidate, but he declinedthe offer,” DMK leader TRBaalu told reporters after themeeting. He said some leadershave requested that MallikarjunKharge, Pawar, and Mamata tonegotiate and discuss the issueof a consensus Opposition can-didate for the Presidential elec-tion with all non-BJP parties.RJD’s Manoj Jha, however, saidthe leaders would convincePawar to reconsider the offer ashe was the right candidate.

CPI’s Binoy Viswam said,“There was consensus in themeeting that there should beonly one candidate who isacceptable to all”. He said thatonly Sharad Pawar’s name cameup during the meeting. RSP’sNK Premchandran, however,

said that Mamata later alsosuggested the names of FarooqAbdullah and GopalkrishnaGandhi as possible Oppositioncandidates. The leaders whoattended the meeting includedPawar and Praful Patel of theNCP, Mallikarjun Kharge,Jairam Ramesh and RandeepSurjewala of the Congress, HDDeve Gowda and HDKumaraswamy of the JD(S),Akhilesh Yadav of the SP,Mehbooba Mufti of the PDPand Omar Abdullah of theNational Conference. Themeeting which began atConstitution Club at 3 pmended a little after 5 pm.

Mamata last week invitedleaders of 19 political parties,including seven ChiefMinisters, for the meeting in thenational Capital to produce a“confluence of Opposition voic-es” for the July 18 election. Withthe ruling NDA having abouthalf the votes of the electoralcollege and the possible supportof fence-sitters like the BJD,AIADMK, and YSR, its candi-date is likely to sail through thecontest.

From Page 1The BJP authorised Singh

and the party’s chief JP Naddato consult with other parties forbuilding a consensus on a pres-idential candidate.

Singh made the calls toKharge, Mamata, and Yadavbesides some other leaders ona day when leaders of 17Opposition parties met here tobuild a consensus on a jointOpposition candidate. Singhhas also called Janata Dal(United) leader and Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar andBiju Janata Dal (BJD) supremoand Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik to deliberateupon the presidential polls,said senior party leaders.

From Page 1The federal budget docu-

ment for the outgoing fiscalyear showed that Pakistanimported �13 billion (USD 60million) worth of more tea thanthe last fiscal year.

In the fiscal year 2020-21,�70.82 billion (USD 340 mil-lion) was spent on the importof tea, the News NetworkInternational news agencyreported.

Pakistan’s foreign exchangereserves dropped from aroundUSD 16 billion in February toless than USD 10 billion in thefirst week of June, barelyenough to cover the cost of twomonths of all its imports.

Last month, the govern-ment restricted the import ofdozens of non-essential luxu-ry items as part of its bid to saveforeign exchange.

Iqbal’s appeal to cut downthe consumption of tea by oneto two cups did not go downwell with people as they start-ed criticising him on socialmedia.

“Did Ahsan Iqbal reallyask the nation to cut down onchai? Did he honestly really askus for that? Do they really thinkwe’re that stupid,” a Twitter usersaid.

“Ahsan Iqbal urging thenation to cut down on chai imsorry but I can not be a part ofthis,” another user named Zohasaid in a tweet.

The planning ministersaid the traders’ communityhas also been asked to closemarkets by 8:30 PM to con-serve energy.

From Page 1Tope said no new variant

is detected except Omicron.The number of people who

have recuperated from the dis-ease has surged to 4,26,67,088,while the case fatality rate wasrecorded at 1.21 per cent, asper the data.

According to the ministry,195.5 crore vaccine doses havebeen administered in the coun-try so far under the nationwideCovid-19 vaccination drive.

India’s Covid-19 tally hadcrossed the 20-lakh mark onAugust 7, 2020, 30 lakh onAugust 23, 40 lakh onSeptember 5, 50 lakh onSeptember 16, 60 lakh onSeptember 28, 70 lakh onOctober 11, 80 lakh onOctober 29, 90 lakh onNovember 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19,2020.The country crossed thegrim milestones of two crorecases on May 4, 2021 andthree crore on June 23.

Fifteen new fatalities dueto the disease were reported inthe country — seven fromKerala, four from Maharashtra,

two from Delhi and one eachfrom Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan.

A total of 5,24,792 Covid-19 deaths have been reportedso far in the country, including1,47,875 from Maharashtra,69,842 from Kerala, 40,108from Karnataka, 38,025 fromTamil Nadu, 26,223 fromDelhi, 23,525 from UttarPradesh and 21,206 from WestBengal.The Ministry stressedthat more than 70 per cent ofthe deaths occurred due to co-morbidities.

On the Covid-19 jab front,India’s vaccine coverage hasreached 195.5 crore doses.Over 3.53 crore first dosesand over 1.99 crore seconddoses have been administeredfor the age group of 12 to 14.Over 5.99 crore first dosesand more than 4.72 crore sec-ond doses have been given tothe 15 to 18 age group.Meanwhile, over 3.61 croreprecaution doses (boostershots) have been given to peo-ple above 60 years of age,healthcare workers, and front-line workers.

From Page 1Incidentally, Ajay Alok has

been attacking the Congressand the RJD over corruptioncharges even as the JD(U)leaders have kept away frommaking any statement againstRahul Gandhi over his ques-tioning by the EnforcementDirectorate. Ajay Alok alsorecently made some trenchantcomments against TejashwiYadav.

Singh, who is perceived tohave grown too close to allyBJP, is said to have miffedKumar by not taking the latter’sconsent before accepting aministerial berth at the Centre.Kumar has been opposed to“token representation” beinggiven to allies by the BJP whichenjoys a brute majority in theLok Sabha.

In a related development,the JD(U) has also come outwith a detailed statement rebut-ting state BJP president SanjayJaiswal’s contention that Biharwas lagging behind in devel-opment because of uncheckedpopulation growth.

The statement, issuedjointly by JD(U) spokespersonsNeeraj Kumar, Nikhil Mandaland Arvind Nishad, made nomention of the BJP or Jaiswal,but rued “bad name beinggiven to Bihar by repeatedtalks of population growth”.

The statement asserted thatBihar had fared better thanmost states in checking popu-lation explosion ever since

Kumar assumed command. Italso questioned the linkbetween high density of pop-ulation and progress whichJaiswal had sought to establishin a lengthy Facebook post lastweek and cited the example ofdensely-populated Keralawhich is noted for its exem-plary performance in terms ofhuman development.

The JD(U) statement alsorailed against “dushprachar”(malicious campaign) against“a particular religion”, high-lighting “almost equal fertilityrates among both Hindus andMuslims”.

It also pooh-poohed thesuggestion, made explicitly byJaiswal, that those with twochildren or less be providedwith incentives in Governmentjobs, pointing out that a simi-lar proposal was rejected in2000 by the Atal BihariVajpayee Government at theCentre which chose to focusmore on health and education,like the Nitish Kumar admin-istration has been doing in theState.

In the recent past, NitishKumar had rejected all of BJP’spet agenda including UniformCivil Code National Register ofCitizens (NRC), removal ofloudspeakers from mosques.The BJP has started raising thedemand for population controlmeasures after Nitish Kumardecided to go for caste censusin Bihar, an issue the saffronparty is not comfortable with.

From Page 1Other questions being put

to Rahul include the incorpo-ration of the Young Indian, theoperations of the NationalHerald newspaper, the loangiven by the Congress to theAssociated Journals Limited(AJL) and the funds transferwithin the media establish-ment.

Congress president SoniaGandhi and her son RahulGandhi are among the majorpromoters and shareholdersof Young Indian.

The money launderingprobe relates to alleged finan-cial irregularities in theCongress-promoted YoungIndian Private Limited, whichnow owns the National Heraldnewspaper.

The newspaper is pub-lished by the AJL and owned byYoung Indian Private Limited.

Congress president SoniaGandhi, who is currentlyundergoing treatment at a hos-pital here for Covid-relatedcomplications, has also beensummoned by the agency forquestioning in the case onJune 23.

The ED recently registereda fresh case under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) aftera trial court here took cogni-sance of an Income-Tax depart-ment probe against YI on thebasis of a private criminalcomplaint filed by BJP MPSubramanian Swamy in 2013.

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National Security Advisor(NSA) Ajit Doval on

Wednesday called for bolster-ing cooperation against ter-rorism without any reserva-tions as he addressed a virtualmeeting of the five-nationgrouping BRICS.

The virtual meeting, host-ed by China, took place over aweek before the top leaders ofthe BRICS hold a virtual sum-mit that is expected to beattended by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, ChinesePresident Xi Jinping andRussian President VladimirPutin among others. TheBRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) bringstogether five of the world'slargest developing countries,representing 41 per cent of theglobal population, 24 per centof the global GDP and 16 percent of the global trade.

At the meeting of the NSAsof the BRICS hosted by China,Doval also emphasised theneed for urgent reforms of the

multilateral system in order toaddress global issues with cred-ibility, equity and accountabil-ity.

The NSA particularly high-lighted that cooperation againstterrorism should be bolsteredwithout any reservations.

He also welcomed theongoing cooperation under theframework of the BRICSCounter-Terrorism WorkingGroup.

Doval also spoke aboutthe need for continuing coop-eration against the challenges ofpandemics and climate change.

The NSA called for givingimportance to cooperation inthe areas of Information andCommunication Technology(ICT), outer space and mar-itime security.

He said there is a need toprevent the use of ICT by ter-rorists.

Doval also delved into theimportance of having "trustedand resilient supply chains".

The BRICS virtual summitis scheduled to be held on June23 and June 24.

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Delhi recorded 1,375 newCovid cases but no casu-

alties on Wednesday. This wasan increase of 20 cases in thelast 24 hours, the highest sinceMay 8. The positivity rate roseto 7.01 per cent. This is the sec-ond-consecutive day that Delhihas crossed the benchmark ofover 1,100 Covid cases in a day.

With the new cases, Delhi'stally of Covid cases increasedto 19,15,905 and the death tollstood at 26,223, the HealthDepartment said in its latestbulletin.

“There are 9,582 beds forCovid patients in Delhi hospi-tals and 169 (1.76 per cent) ofthem were occupied,” it said. Atotal of 19,622 Covid testswere conducted a day ago.

Data show that despite theincrease in cases and the Centreurging States to reach out to theeligible population during the‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ cam-paign that started in June,Delhi’s immunisation drive hasbeen slow.

Only 3.17 lakh doses wereadministered in June as com-pared to 3.2 lakh doses duringthe last 14 days of May.

Experts said that the DelhiGovernment is not imple-menting the Graded ResponseAction Plan (GRAP) devisedby the Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA), since hospital admis-sions are low. The GRAP stip-ulates measures to be taken bythe Government as per the pos-itivity rate and bed occupancy.

According to aGovernment doctor posted inthe west district, they havedirected all public health cen-tres to increase the number ofteams deployed for monitoringhome isolation cases. "We havesought a report from them onit and on the available stocks ofCovid drugs and also if stocksof any medications are running

out. If case of a shortage we willput in the request with theDGHS," he said.

He also said that healthteams have been asked to takeminute details of patients’ trav-el history, location of officesand all the places visited threeto four days before testing pos-itive.

"After getting those detailswe will be studying the Covidtrend there," he asserted. Healso shared that they havereviewed the status of hospitalbeds, including those with oxy-gen and ventilator facilities.

"Despite the spike in cases,the hospitalisation rate is low.People with co-morbidities aregetting hospitalised and thereare also instances where trau-ma patients or those comingfor treatment of other illness-es turn out to be positive for theinfection," he added.

On Tuesday, Delhi hadlogged 1,118 cases and twodeaths while the positivity ratewas 6.50 per cent. Delhi onMonday reported 614 newcases and zero death due to thedisease, while the positivityrate stood at 7.06 per cent.

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Protests erupted in Delhi onWednesday as Congress

leader Rahul Gandhi was ques-tioned by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) in theNational Herald case for thethird-consecutive day. Stand-offs were witnessed outside andbetween the Congress' head-quarters and the ED's office incentral Delhi, with police andsecurity personnel struggling tokeep protesters in check. Policedetained 240 Congress workersand leaders including five MPsand 33 women party workers.

The Congress leaders onWednesday alleged that theDelhi Police forcibly entered theAICC headquarters in thenational Capital and thrashedthe party workers while theDelhi Police rubbished theCongress’ claims that their per-sonnel barged into the party'sheadquarters and baton-

charged their leaders. Theparty also shared video clips onsocial media showing policepersonnel entering its officepremises. Congress leader AjayMaken shared a video as visu-al proof of police personnelentering the AICC headquartersat 24, Akbar Road.

“Delhi Police entered theheadquarters of the Congress,the country's principalOpposition party, and assault-ed our workers. Is democracyalive?” Maken wrote on Twitterin Hindi. “Watch the full clip,”he added.

Addressing a press confer-ence, party leader RandeepSingh Surjewala said DelhiPolice’s action was "criminaltrespass" which will not be tol-erated and will be accountedfor.

A video of police allegedlymanhandling Congress workerswas also doing the rounds onsocial media. The Congress has

demanded that an FIR for"criminal trespass" be regis-tered, the erring police person-nel be suspended and discipli-nary action initiated againstthem. On the other hand, DelhiPolice denied the allegations oflathi-charge and termed them“untrue”. “The workers cameoutside and threw barricades atpolicemen. So, there mighthave been some tussle.

The allegations of police-men forcibly entering the officeand lathi-charging are absolute-ly false. Police are not using anyforce.

There would be no issues ifthe organisation comes andtalks to us and gives a properlist. If there’s an unorganisedgathering, we are taking actionand talking to workers. If theydon’t listen to us, we have todetain them,” said Special CP(Law and Order) SagarpreetHooda Special CP Hooda said,"We had tried to stop them and

tried to close gate of AICC HQsin order to prevent a processionfrom being taken out... In thisprocess, there might be somescrimmage, but police had nottried to enter the premises of theAICC and they had no reasonto enter."

According to SumanNalwa, spokesperson, DelhiPolice, for the past three days,senior leaders of the Congresshave been repeatedly informedthat any kind of procession andprotest is allowed only at des-ignated areas as per theSupreme Court guidelines.

“Despite the suggestions ofDelhi Police to have the protestat Jantar Mantar, the Congressleaders with utter disregard ofthe Supreme Court guidelinesand our suggestions have againand again tried to create pub-lic disturbances in the area,” saidthe spokesperson.

“On Wednesday, againsome Congress workers had

tried to take out a processionfrom the party office and wereprevented by police personnelpresent there from assemblingunauthorisedly.

Some of the miscreantsburnt tyres and damaged policebarricades which led to trafficcongestion and inconvenienceto the commuters. Police triedto prevent the situation fromdeteriorating while maintainingutmost restraint,” said thespokesperson.

Several videos went viral onsocial media in which theCongress workers can be heardchanting and shouting in thebackground with some yelling“Rahul Gandhi zindabad, zind-abad” as one person walks pastthe camera with a party flag.

The same video alsoshowed women police person-nel dragging away a woman ina blue kurta; four cops grab alimb each as the woman is car-ried away.

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Traffic movement was slowin central Delhi on

Wednesday after the policeblocked several roads anddiverted traffic as Congressleader Rahul Gandhi appearedbefore the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) for the thirdconsecutive day of questioningin an alleged money launder-ing probe

Police diverted traffic onroads that had been closed andadequate security arrange-ments were also put in place.

A senior police officersaid around 400 traffic per-sonnel were deputed in theNew Delhi district.

"No call was receivedabout any congestion in theNew Delhi district. The traf-fic was managed smoothly.The diversions were made onroads which were closed," theofficer said. In a series oftweets, the traffic department

mentioned the routes to beavoided and said necessaryarrangements had been madeas a precautionary measure.

"On 15.6.22, kindly avoidMotilal Nehru Marg, AkbarRoad, Janpath & Man SinghRoad between 0700 hrs &1200 hrs. Due to specialarrangements traffic move-ment will not be possible onthese roads," the Delhi TrafficPolice tweeted. In anothertweet, it said, "On 15.6.22, plsavoid Gol Methi junction,Tughlak Road Junction,Claridges Junction, Q-pointJunction, Sunehri MasjidJunction, Maulana Azad RoadJunction & Man Singh RoadJunction between 0700 hrs &1200 hrs. Due to spl arrange-ments, there will be heavy traf-fic movement here."

The department alsoasked commuters to avoid SPMarg, Dhaula Kuan flyoverand Gurgaon road between2.15 P.M. and 2.45 P.M. due tospecial traffic arrangements.

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As the heatwave continuedto scorch the national

Capital, the power demand inDelhi on Wednesday clocked7,334 MW, the highest to datein the month of June.

According to the sources indiscoms, Delhi’s power demandcontinues its northwards climb,creating new records along theway. On Wednesday at 3:35P.M. the city’s peak powerdemand not only clocked theseason’s highest of 7,334 MW,but also the highest-ever in themonth of June.

“Before June 9, the city’speak power demand had nevercrossed the 7,000 MW duringJune. However, on May 19 thisyear, it clocked 7,070 MW. Infact, it has already crossed the7,000 MW-mark six times inJune this year and once in May,”it stated. “This June, every sin-

gle day of the month, Delhi’spower demand has crossed the6,000 MW-mark. In 2021, itcrossed the 6K mark on nineoccasions through the month,five times in 2020 and thrice in2019,” it said.

“Earlier in May, barringfive occasions, every day Delhi’speak power demand crossedthe 6,000 MW-mark. Delhi’speak power demand in Mayhad never crossed 6,000 MW in2021 and 2020. In 2019, it hadcrossed the 6,000 MW-markonly on three occasions - May29 (6,020 MW), May 30 (6,240MW), and May 31 (6,461MW),” sources said.

While giving the reasonbehind the increasing powerdemand in Delhi, he said thatthe cooling load was the mainreason behind Delhi’s powerload. In fact, according to esti-mates, almost around 50 percent of the city's power demandin the summers is because ofthe cooling load which includesACs, coolers, and fans.

“The Capital city’s expect-ed peak power demand for2022, is around 8,200 MW,” hefurther said.

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Heatwave returned to partsof the Capital despite the

weather department predictinga cloudy sky and light rain onWednesday. At least four out ofthe 11 weather stations inDelhi recorded a heatwave asthe maximum temperatures atthese places settled at least 4.5notches above normal.

The SafdarjungObservatory, the city's basestation, recorded a maximumtemperature of 42.2 degreesCelsius as against 39.6 degreesCelsius on Tuesday. The mer-cury jumped to 45.1 degreesCelsius at Mungeshpur innorthwest Delhi, making it thehottest place in the Capital.

Weather experts said thun-derstorm activity remainedconfined to parts of UttarPradesh such as Mathura,Hathras and Aligarh. A troughpersisting over this region islikely to move down towardsDelhi, they said.

"A fresh WesternDisturbance, an inducedcyclonic circulation overPunjab and moisture-ladeneasterly winds will providerelief from heat fromThursday," said MaheshPalawat, vice-president (cli-mate change and meteorology),Skymet Weather.

He said pre-monsoonactivity in tropical and sub-tropical regions is a suddendevelopment due to high tem-peratures and humidity and amicro prediction of such devel-opment is difficult.

Such events are not asso-ciated with a pre-defined orprominent weather systemsuch as a low-pressure area thatcould help weather forecasterspredict the area of impact withgood probability, he said. TheMet office had issued a yellowalert, warning of thunder-showers and gusty windstowards afternoon or evening.

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In a move that will make legaldocuments such as FIRs and

property registration papers eas-ily comprehensible to people,Delhi Lieutenant GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena hasinstructed police, land and rev-enue officials to do away withtheir archaic language.

Sources said that at a recentmeeting with officials on "easeof doing business", Saxenainstructed the officials for mak-ing the public interface with thegovernment easily understand-able to the citizens."He said thearchaic language being used indocuments of various depart-ments, particularly police, landand revenue departments, the

sub-registrar's office, the DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)and the lower judiciary, needs tobe changed and updated accord-ing to the contemporary lin-guistic needs of people," sourcessaid.

In many departments,including police, land and rev-enue, an old language formatwith a predominance of Persianand Urdu words, in accordancewith British-era laws, is used forofficial purposes that is difficultto understand for many people,the sources said.

The LG has asked the homeand revenue department officialsof the Delhi government tosimplify the language used inpolice summonses, FIRs, landrecords, mutation and registry

documents and several otherlegal documents in a "time-bound" manner, they added.Saxena also suggested that evenas government departmentsstart the exercise of simplifyinglanguage of official papers, thecourts could be requested tosimplify language being used inlegal matters and documents, thesources said. The LG alsoinstructed the officials to preparea department-wise list ofreforms that could be intro-duced to make system trans-parent and more people-friend-ly. The departments concernedhave been instructed to seekpublic opinion on such mattersand based on feedback and via-bility of suggestions, specificreforms could be introduced.

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Amember of the LawrenceBishnoi-Kala Jathedi gang

has been arrested for demand-ing Rs 5 crore as “extortionmoney” from a Gurugram-based businessman, police said.

The police have also recov-ered an illegal weapon and livecartridge from the criminal.

The accused has been iden-tified as Aakash a native ofMujjafarnagar of Uttar Pradesh.

The complainant businesstold the police that on Mondayaround 1.32 pm he received aWhatsApp voice call, messageand voice note from a man whointroduced himself as A mem-ber of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Kala Jathedi gang and demand-ed Rs 5 crore as extortion andthreatened him with dire con-sequences if the amount was

not made. Acting promptly ateam of crime branches nabbedthe accused on Tuesday fromBasai Chowk along with an ille-gal weapon. "The accused con-fessed his crime and disclosedthat his associate had provid-ed the complainant contact

details and the weapon to himand on Monday he sent threat-ening calls and messages to thevictim," Preet Pal Sangwan,ACP (crime) said. The phoneused in the crime has also beenrecovered from the accusedpossession, he said.

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The Special Cell of DelhiPolice has arrested two

men for allegedly makingextortion calls to a Ludhianabased businessman in the nameof Lawrence Bishnoi and GoldyBrar group.

The accused have beenidentified as S Singh (29) andA A Khan (24), both residentsof Bilaspur in Chattisgarh.

According to K P SMalhotra, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), IFSO unit of Specialcell, on June 12, Punjab Police(Cyber Police station

Ludhiana) contacted IFSO Unitand sought help in tracing thealleged persons. “A case wasalready registered with PunjabPolice on the complaint of abusinessman based inLudhiana, who alleged that heis receiving threats calls fromsome unknown internationaland Indian phone numberson his mobile number sinceJune 4,” said the DCP.

“The callers identifiedthemselves to be from thenotorious Lawrence Bishnoiand Goldy Brar gang andthreatened him to pay ransommoney of Rs 10 Lakhs and alsoshared bank account number.

They further threatenedhim that in case of failure ofpaying ransom money his fatewould be like SidhuMoosewaala,” said the DCPadding that it was informed byPunjab Police that the locationof the one of the alleged phonenumber is in Delhi and thealleged person is changing hislocation frequently.

“Acting on the informationprovided by the Punjab Police,the leads were further devel-oped through thorough tech-nical analysis and digital footprints. Singh and Khan wereapprehended from Gurugram,Haryana,” said the DCP.

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Several market and traders’associations in the Capital

have expressed hope that the'Whole shopping festival' envi-sioned by Delhi Governmentwill boost sales and help inbringing business back to thepre-Covid level.

The traders said they areoptimistic that such a festivalwill also help in increasingemployment opportunities.

Ashok Randhawa, presi-dent of Sarojini Nagar MiniMarket Traders' Association,"We are very hopeful that theshopping festival will help ingiving a boost to sales whichhave been marred by theCOVID-19 pandemic. It willalso help in giving employ-ment."

Randhawa pointed out thatdue to Covid, businesses havesuffered great losses and theyare still trying to recover fromit."When Covid emerged, sev-eral boys who used to work inclothes outlets left for theirhome town. They haven'treturned and neither we havecalled them because business-es are still not at the pre-covidlevel," he said.

A representative ofChandni Chowk market asso-ciation said it was among thefew markets in capital whichhas the capacity and capabili-ty to host the big festival.

"Chandni Chowk andConnaught Place is only mar-ket in capital where they canhost a festival. These two mar-kets are developed," SanjayBhargava, president of ChandniChowk Sarv Vypar Mandal,said.

Bhargava cited success ofthe 1998 festival at ChandniChowk market ---ChaudhvinKa Chand -- to assert that suchfestivals provide a great oppor-tunity for businesses to flour-ish."In 1998, we have had abiggest festival -- ChaudhvinKa Chand where lakhs of peo-ple had come. The festivalhelped in making market pop-

ular and the festival helped inincreasing the sales manifolds."This also helped food stalls.This festival if reorganised willhelp in improving the condi-tion and will lead to a surge inthe sales," he added.

However, Bhargavaexpressed concern that the"multiplicity of the agencies"might pose a problem in thesmooth organisation of thefestival.

"It might have a positiveimpact but they (the govern-ment) need to be careful.Several agencies will beinvolved and cooperationamong them is necessary.History is seen that agencies donot cooperate. Like police,there is a need to provide secu-rity but they do not provide itwhen necessary," he said.

Meanwhile, traders point-ed out the lack of clarity regard-ing this festival. "There is a lackof clarity. Is government tryingto involve the just markets orit will include street vendorsalso. We already have Diwalifestivals and other festivalswhere we provide discounts tocustomers.

"We discuss among our-selves and decide on the dis-counts. How will governmentcontribute to it?" askedAshwani Marwah, general sec-retary of the TradersAssociation in Lajpat Nagarsaid.

On Monday, Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodiaannounced that Delhi govern-ment will organise a 'WholesaleShopping Festival' to celebrateiconic wholesale markets incapital and to give them a newidentity across the world.

Addressing representativesfrom wholesale markets,Sisodia had said, "This is aunique feature of Delhi that ithas wholesale markets foralmost everything includingtextiles, electronics, spices, andbooks etc. Our aim is to pro-mote business of these whole-sale markets and increaseemployment opportunities inthese markets."

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Vice Chiefs of Army andIAF on Wednesday

defended the new ‘Agnipath’scheme for recruitment ofjawans into the armed forcesafter several veterans criticisedit and a protest broke out inBihar against it. The ViceChiefs said the recruits called‘Agniveers’ will be equippedwith unique skills sets duringthe four-year military serviceand the forces will have a

younger profile with fitter sol-diers. Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Tuesday had rolledout the ‘Agnipath’ policy andtermed it as transformative.The recruitment of nearly46,000 jawans includingwomen will start after 90 days.The jawans will serve on a con-tract basis and will be demo-bilized after four years.

Only 25 percent of theAgniveers will be retained fora permanent stint of 15 years ormore.The first batch of‘Agniveers’ will be ready by July

next year. The veteransslammed the policy and said nopilot project was initiated to testthe efficacy of the scheme.They described the Agnipath asthe “death knell” of the forcesas it will impact the operationalefficiency and professionalismof the forces.

Defending the scheme, IAFVice Chief Sandeep Singh toldNDTV while there were initialapprehensions, the issues havebeen resolved. "I can assure youthat the skilling process or thetraining process for the

Agniveers would be phased andprogressive," he said. On theconcerns that in the case of IAFwhere very skilled trades peo-ple like mechanics and techni-cians — those who handlecutting edge state-of-the-artsystems — are trained, can wethen afford to lose them afterjust four years, Air MarshalSingh said they will give theserecruits a shorter training,which will basically be a cap-sule on essential military train-ing and then certain trade orbranch-specific preliminarytraining.

"We'll send them on thefield to use them along with amix of experienced regularpeople. Therefore, that detailedtraining for more complex sys-tems aircraft, where they do

deeper operational or mainte-nance activity, would be doneonly for those people who willjoin as regulars after four yearsof engagement as Agniveers.So, I don't think there is a bigissue with this," he said.

On the possibility ofrecruiting from technical insti-tutes as the Air Force is a high-ly specialised technical wing,the Vice Chief said they arealready in discussions withthem. "It's not only us who willtailor our training curriculum,but those institutes will alsooptimise their curriculum sothat these potential Agniveersalready come with pre-acquiredskills which we want. This will

be done pan India so that weget people from all over," hesaid. He stressed that the qual-ity of new recruits will not suf-fer just because of the four-yearduration of service.

On why youngsters wouldopt for four-year service overjoining Central Armed PoliceForces or paramilitary wherethey can have full careers witha pension, the Vice Chief saida salary or pension is not onlycriteria for the youth to join‘Agnipath.’ "I think that enoughsurveys has been done thatthere are many people whowould find this limited fouryears engagement more attrac-tive because they will go back

with skill sets with the services.And that's unique. Along withtraits of leadership, cama-raderie, and teamwork they getwhen they go back, along withcertain certificates which wegive them, they will be job-ready. So I think it would meetbest of both requirements," hesaid.

Army Vice Chief B S Rajusaid the scheme faced hurdlesover the last two years due tothe corona pandemic.

Talking to ANI, he said"Ninety days from now, first ofthe recruitment rally will takeplace. About 180 days fromnow, first of the recruits will bein our training centres. And

about a year from now, we'llhave first of Agniveers cominginto our battalions." "The aver-age age of a soldier is about 32-33 years.

With Agnipath, in around8-10 years, we'll be able to lowerthe profile of soldiers to about26 years. It'll make the Armyfitter. We'll be able to handlemore challenging situations indifficult areas that troops oper-ate in," he said.

"Beauty of this scheme isthat it's going to be introducedvery slowly. In first year, we'regetting around 40,000 recruits.These recruits will be selectedpan-India, and will go throughsix months of training.

NEW DELHI: Vice AdmiralAjendra Bahadur Singh, FOC-in-Chief Western NavalCommand, on Wednesday, saidinduction of women willdepend on the service's oper-ational requirement. “There's aprovision that if service wants,we can recruit (women). Nopercentage has been decided,will be finalized as we goalong,” he said. PNS

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India and the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) on Wednesdayreviewed the entire gamut oftheir ties and ongoing fightagainst the corona pandemicbesides the situation in theIndo-Pacific.

Giving details of the par-leys, the ministry of externalaffairs said here the relationswere reviewed under the aegisof the 24th ASEAN-IndiaSenior Officials Meeting(SOM), a day ahead of the for-eign ministerial dialogue thatis expected to focus on furtherexpansion of trade and strate-gic ties as well as cooperationin the Indo-Pacific.

Singaporean ForeignMinister Vivian Balakrishnan,Vietnam’s Bui Thanh Son andIndonesian Foreign MinisterRetno Marsudi have alreadyarrived in the national capitalfor the India-ASEAN talks onThursday. India is hosting theforeign ministers of Associationof Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) nations from June 16

to 17 to mark the 30th anniver-sary of its relations with the 10-nation grouping.Secretary(East) Saurabh Kumarco-chaired it with PermanentSecretary of Singapore AlbertChua here. The Meeting sawthe participation of SeniorOfficials from other ASEANMember States.

The SOM reviewed theASEAN-India strategic part-nership and its future direction.As India and ASEAN cele-brate the 30th anniversary oftheir Dialogue Relations, theSOM leaders made their assess-ment on the progress of coop-eration under all three pillars ofPartnership – political-securi-ty, economic and socio-cultur-al, the ministry statement said.

The Meeting also deliber-ated on the steps for furtherimplementation of ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2021-2025). The two sides alsoexchanged views on regionaland international issues ofmutual interest includingCOVID-19 pandemic and postpandemic recovery. India wel-comed the positive contribu-

tions and continued support ofSingapore in strengthening

ASEAN-India Relations as theCountry Coordinator.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) conducted

searches at four places inJammu and Kashmir onWednesday in connection witha case related to cross-LoCtrade and terror financing.

The searches were con-ducted at three locations innorth Kashmir's Baramulla dis-trict and one in Handwaraunder Kupwara district, theNIA said in a statement.

The case relates to gener-ation of additional profitsthrough trade across the Lineof Control (LoC) betweenJammu and Kashmir andPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) and using the proceedsfor fomenting terrorist activi-ties in the Union territory.Thecase was registered onDecember 16, 2016, it said. Thecross-LoC trade started in 2008via two trade facilitation cen-tres in Baramulla andPoonch.vThe trade has beensuspended since April 2019.

“During the searches conduct-ed today digital devices alongwith incriminating documents

have been seized. Furtherinvestigation in the case con-tinues,” the agency added.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has arrest-

ed two persons, Vikas Kalraand Sidhant Gupta, in a moneylaundering case in whicharound Rs 425 crore werefraudulently remitted outsideIndia using 19 dummy Indianentities.

The ED had initiatedmoney laundering investiga-tion on the basis of FIR regis-tered by Punjab National Bankagainst 19 entities whichopened accounts with theirMint Street, Chennai branchand in a span of six monthsremitted Rs 425 crore to vari-ous entities in Hong Kong andUAE. On verification, the

Indian entities were found to benon-existent and the real ben-eficiaries were found to be thepromoter directors of entitiesoutside India who are beingbrought to book, the ED said ina statement.

“In this regard one VikasKlara had incorporated threeentities in Hong Kong of whichhe was the sole director andhad used the same for thepurpose of laundering Rs 18.95crore.

On similar lines, SidhantGupta had incorporated anentity in Hong Kong usingwhich Rs. 2.5 crore was laun-dered,” it said. The SpecialCourt (PMLA) has sent boththe accused to judicial custodyfor 15 days. Further investiga-tion is in process, it added.

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Disability rights activistshave expressed their dis-

appointment with the draftNational Policy for Personswith Disabilities, saying mere-ly having a policy documentwithout budgetary support andmonitoring mechanisms is likea piecemeal approach towardsthe sector.

"A genuine attempt toinject new directions and ini-tiatives seems to be missing" inthe draft policy, the NationalPlatform for the Rights of theDisabled (NPRD) said, twodays after the Union SocialJustice and EmpowermentMinistry invited public feed-back till July 9 on the new draftdocument, which proposesinterventions in disability pre-vention, education, healthcare,social security and accessibili-ty.

Promoting AtmanirbharBharat in the disability sector,bringing out a dynamic data-base to provide information on

a real-time basis and betterengagement of Ayush researchand care to address this sectorare among the salient featuresof the draft policy.

However, the activistsfrom the NPRD rued thatmajor portions of the 100 pagesdraft policy are devoted toreiterating what is already speltout in the UN Convention onthe Rights of Persons withDisabilities or mandated by theRights of Persons withDisabilities Act, 2016 (RPDAct) or programmes/schemesalready operating.

The NPRD said the draftshould have called for reme-dying the situation. "However,it does not do so, even whileimplementation of the man-dates of the RPD Act wouldrequire substantial allocations.

No increase in the Centre'scontribution towards disabili-ty pension is recommended,which continues to be at a pit-tance of Rs. 300 per month," itnoted. Even while connectionbetween poverty and disabili-ty is acknowledged in draft.

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Accusing Congress of resort-ing to violent protests to

"hide" its corruption, the BJP onWednesday said Oppositionparty's stir shows its progressivedecline and claimed that cov-ering up Gandhi family's allegedgraft is "true satya" of its "satya-graha". BJP spokespersonSudhanshu Trivedi invokedMahatma Gandhi's decision tocall-off Congress's non-coop-

eration movement due to vio-lence, and claimed that tparty's"violent protests" now foropposing probe in a case of cor-ruption shows how small partyhas become.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Trivedi noted that RahulGandhi, who is being ques-tioned by ED in National Heraldcase, is neither his party's pres-ident nor leader of oppositionas he questioned Congress'sshow of strength for him. The

Congress has now become sole-ly a family party, he claimed.The BJP's attack on Congresscame as Gandhi appearedbefore Enforcement Directorateon Wednesday for third con-secutive day of questioning inNational Herald money laun-dering case.

Both chief ministers ofparty — Ashok Gehlot ofRajasthan and Bhupesh Baghelof Chhattisgarh—and most ofits MPs are in the national cap-

ital as part of Congress' protestsagainst ED's summons to RahulGandhi, he observed. Are twochief ministers not "betraying"mandate given to them by theirstates by camping in nationalcapital, asked Trivedi.

"Violence that Congress isresorting to cover up blatantcorruption of their leadership isexposing true 'satya' of their so-called 'satyagraha'," he said onprotests by Congress. There arereports of Congress workers

engaging in arson and violencein different parts of country, hesaid. Taking a swipe at opposi-tion party over the allegationthat Gandhi family "grabbed"assets of Associated JournalsLimited, which publishesNational Herald, through YoungIndian, the BJP spokespersonsaid it was a strange case inwhich leadership of a party hasengaged in corruption byallegedly capturing assets linkedto their own organisation.

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External Affairs Minister SJaishankar and his Spanish

counterpart Jose ManuelAlbares Bueno on Wednesdayheld wide-ranging talks onbilateral cooperation in areas ofdefence, trade and culturebeside the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. Albares is on a day-long visit to India.

“Warm and productive dis-cussions with Foreign Minister@jmalbares of Spain. Discussedour growing engagements inpolitical, defense, economicand cultural domains.

Envisage enhanced collab-oration to support self relianceand resilient supply chains,”Jaishankar tweeted. India andSpain enjoy close and friendlyrelations. The bilateral ties got

a fresh impetus after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi visit-ed Spain in 2017.

On his part, Albaresdescribed India as a globalpower and an important part-ner of Spain. In a tweet inSpanish, he said the meetingwith Jaishankar was excellentand that both sides will con-tinue to work to deepen thebilateral relations and signed adeclaration for cultural andacademic cooperation.

On Tuesday, the Ministryof External Affairs said thatAlbares’s visit would be anopportunity to review theentire gamut of our bilateralrelations and further deepenthe partnership across variousareas including trade, defence,science and technology andclimate change.

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The Ministry of Educationon Wednesday said it will

recognise in-service trainingreceived by Agniveers, oryouth selected in the Agnipathrecruitment scheme, as cred-its for a graduation pro-gramme designed by IGNOU.

Under IGNOU’s specially-designed degree programmethis in-service training willcount for 50 per cent of cred-it.

The programme will alsoallow for multiple entry-exitpoints with appropriate certi-fication.This will enableAgniveers to follow civilian

courses, said a EducationMinistry Press release.Theministry will launch a special,three-year skill-based bachelordegree programme for servingdefence personnel that willrecognise the skill trainingreceived by them during theirtenure.

The programme, designedby IGNOU, will be executed bythem too. Both technical andnon-technical skill trainingreceived by the Agniveer willamount to 50 per cent of thecredits required for a graduatedegree.

The rest of the 50 per centwill come from a basket ofcourses including subjects likelanguages, Economics, History,

Political Science, PublicAdministration, Sociology,Mathematics, Education,Commerce, Tourism,Vocational Studies,Agriculture, Jyotish, abilityenhancement courses onEnvironmental Studies andCommunication Skills inEnglish.

The IGNOU programmewill be aligned to UGC normsand National CreditFramework/National SkillQualification Framework(NSQF). The Agniveer couldalso exit after completion ofthe first year course andreceive an UndergraduateCertificate, and receive anUndergraduate Diploma on

successful completion of thefirst and second year courses.If they complete the full three-year course, they will receive aDegree.

All India Council forTechnical Education (AICTE)and National Council forVocational Education andTraining (NCVET) and UGChave all recognised the frame-work of the programme.

The Degree – BA, BCom,BA (vocational), BA (TourismManagement) – will be award-ed by IGNOU as per UGC,and will be recognised both inIndia and abroad. IGNOUwill sign MoUs with the threearmed forces for implementa-tion of the scheme.

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The National TechnicalAdvisory Group on

Immunisation (NTAGI), theGovernment’s scientific advi-sory panel on immunization,will soon meet to review dataon Covaxin and Corbevax vac-cines for the 6-12 age groupand also deliberate on cuttingdown the gap between the sec-ond and precaution doses fromthe current nine to six months.

Sources in the Ministrysaid that it will hold its meet-ing amid a fresh spike inCovid-19 cases in the country.Currently, those aged 12 yearsand above are vaccinatedagainst Covid-19.

The agenda for theNTAGI's Standing TechnicalSub-Committee (STSC) meet-ing includes discussion on astudy by the CMC Vellore onthe feasibility of allowing pre-caution dose of a Covid-19 vac-cine separate from the oneused for primary vaccination,the Covid burden in paediatricpopulation, and long-term safe-ty of ZyCoV-D vaccine, thesources said.

India's drug regulator inApril had granted emergencyuse authorisation for BiologicalE's Covid-19 vaccine Corbevaxfor those aged five to 12 yearsand Bharat Biotech's Covaxinfor children in the age group ofsix to 12 years.

The Covid Working Groupof NTAGI which reviewed thefindings of the ChristianMedical College (CMC) Vellorestudy in May had found a lackof uniformity in results uponmixing of jabs for boostershots.

The study stated that thescientific evidence showed thatadministering a booster dose ofCovishield after primary vac-cination with Covaxin gives 6to 10 times higher antibodylevel as compared to whenCovaxin is given as the pre-caution dose after a gap of sixmonths after the primaryschedule.

"However, the sameadvantage was not observedwhen Covaxin as a booster shotwas given after two Covishielddoses," the sources said.

Considering programmat-ic challenges, it was decidedthat the matter would be dis-cussed in the NTAGI's STSCmeeting for final recommen-dation. Also, the committee inits meeting held in May citedlack of clear evidence of bene-fit of reducing the intervalbetween last dose of the pri-mary schedule and the protec-tion dose.

It felt that studies pre-sented for the session had valu-able scientific information butwere not helpful in taking adecision for current policyquestions.

The ICMR was then askedto extract data from theNational Vaccine TrackerPlatform to determine the

breakthrough infection rates atthree, six and nine months aftercompletion of the primaryschedule before the onset of theOmicron wave and overlappingwith the Omicron wave.

It was informed that thereis no data available on com-parative effectiveness of boost-er/protection dose adminis-tered at six months versus ninemonths. Currently, all those

above the age of 18 who havecompleted nine months afterthe administration of the sec-ond dose are eligible for theprecaution dose. The Uniongovernment last month allowedcitizens and students travellingoverseas to get the shot beforethe stipulated nine-monthwaiting period as required bythe guidelines of the destina-tion country.

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Astudy by ICMR andHyderabad-based Bharat

Biotech has said that theadministration of Covaxin asa booster dose enhances vac-cine effectiveness againstCovid-19's Delta variant andgives protection againstOmicron variants BA.1.1 andBA.2.

The findings of the study,however, have not been peerreviewed. It is published onbioRxiv, a preprint server. Theprotective efficacy of BharatBiotech's Covaxin followingtwo and three-dose immu-nizations against the Deltavariant and the efficacy of theCovaxin against Omicronvariants were studied in aSyrian hamster model (animalmodel to study human-asso-ciated diseases), it said.

The antibody response,clinical observations, viralload reduction and lung dis-ease severity after virus chal-

lenge were observed, it added."In the Delta infection study,where we compared the pro-tective response between thetwo and three-dose regimens,we could observe the advan-tage of the booster dose vac-cination in the protection.Although the neutralisingantibody levels were compa-rable among the groups, lungdisease severity was foundmore reduced after the threedose vaccination.

"The virus shedding andviral organ load were consid-erably reduced in both the twodose and three-dose immu-nised animals indicating thevaccine efficacy against Deltavariant," the study said.

New Delhi: The Union HealthMinistry has asked theNational Medical Commission(NMC) to consider conduct-ing a special mop-up round tofill up the remaining superspecialty seats. There are 930super speciality seats whichinclude 534 D.M/M.Ch and396 DNB seats are still lyingvacant after two rounds ofcounselling and one mop-upround of counselling.

The Ministry has alsodecided to lower the cut offpercentile for additionalrounds of counselling.

This came after theMinistry found that manyseats have been left vacant dueto the high cut off marks.Hundreds of seats belonging tocoveted posts such as DMcardiology, oncology and neu-rology among a few others.“The matter was examined inthe Ministry in consultationwith Dte.GHS, and it has been

decided to conduct a specialmop-up round to fill up theremaining super specialty seatsafter reducing the percentileappropriately”, reads the lettersent to NMC. “After conduct-ing two rounds of counsellingand one mop-up round ofcounselling, 930 super spe-ciality seats (534 D.M/ M.Chand 396 DNB seats) are stilllying vacant.

All these seats are clinicalsuper speciality seats includingsome from Government med-ical colleges,” said ChandanKumar, Under Secretary toGovernment of India in theletter. The Ministry has soughtcomments on this to proceedfurther in the letter.

“You are therefore request-ed to have the matter exam-ined and to provide com-ments thereon at the earliest toenable this Office proceedfurther”, said Kumar in the let-ter issued on Tuesday. PNS

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The Supreme Court onWednesday adjourned a

plea filed by the NCLT BarAssociation challenging thenotification fixing the tenure ofthe members of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal asthree years.

A vacation bench ofJustices J K Maheshwari andHima Kohli asked SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta to sub-mit two sets of resolutions ofthe committee headed by theChief Justice of India.

"Only one copy for twojudges? We'll have it tomorrow,we didn't expect this," thebench said while posting thematter for Thursday.

The Centre had earlier toldthe top court that a committeechaired by the Chief Justice ofIndia had held a meeting onApril 20 in which questionregarding the tenure of 23members of National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) has beendeliberated upon.

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Aday after expressing dis-gust at the slow function-

ing of the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) probing amultitude of school-levelrecruitment scams, theCalcutta High Court onWednesday directed the cen-tral agency to form a dedicat-ed Special Investigation Team(SIT) to investigate the allegedcorruption in the recruitmentof primary level school teach-ers.

More popularly known asthe Teacher’s Eligibility Testscam it would be investigatedunder the court’s supervision.

Retired Joint Director ofthe CBI, Upen Biswas who hadsuccessfully probed the Biharanimal husbandry scam wasmade a party to the instant case— after he told media channelsthat he, too, was approached bysome agents with “offers” fromthe recruitment racketeers.

Biswas reportedly request-ed the Court of Justice AbhijitGandopadhyay to form a SIT

for better handling of the case.Justice Gangopadhyay had ear-lier ordered a number of CBIprobes into a multitude ofrecruitment scams that tookplace in the past several years.

Biswas a former TrinamoolCongress Minister came intothe picture after he alleged thata person had approached himwith offers and offered to helpthe CBI if he was asked to doso. In the same context theCourt asked the “respected”retired officer to help the CBI.

“There are thousands ofsuch agents … the CBI has tocatch the “spider” in the mid-dle of the cobweb,” Biswassaid.

The Judge directed theCBI to form a SIT of at least 15officers under a Joint Directorwho would investigate the TETscam only and submit a reportbefore the Court on June 17.

The same Court had a fewdays ago dismissed from ser-vices 269 teachers who hadsecured their jobs through“backdoor.”

The Court had earlier

ordered CBI probe into theappointment of Group D,Group C, Secondary andHigher Secondary teachers(conducted by the SchoolService Commission) anddirected the Agency to even totake into custody the ministersand top bureaucrats if requiredto hasten the probe process.

The Judge had dismissedAnkita Adhikari — the daugh-ter of junior EducationMinister Paresh Adhikari —who was working as a teacherteaching political science inClass XI and XII at a school inCoochbehar.

Though the CBI had inter-rogated senior Bengal MinisterPartho Chatterjee andAdhikari, apart from somesenior bureaucrats and chair-men of various Boards theJudge looked unhappy with theslow progress of the investiga-tion and expressing disgustearlier said: “I expect the CBIwill do exemplary work in theprobe process. I hope that thisinvestigation does not face thesame fate as the Saradha chit

fund scam. My only wish isthat those deprived because ofcorruption get proper employ-ment scope.”

The lawyers representingthe CBI however told the courtthat results in the teacherrecruitment cases will soon bevisible as a new joint directorhas joined the Kolkata office.N Venugopal replaced PankajSrivastava as joint director onMonday.

Srivastava was investigat-ing Sharada, Narada and othercases.

The court had earlier setup a judicial commission ledby retired Justice RK Bag. TheCommission had submitted adamaging report implicatingthe Ministers and bureaucratsand suggested that criminalcases be registered againstthem.

Meanwhile, CBI officials,on Wednesday afternoon con-ducted a raid at the office of theWest Bengal Board of PrimaryEducation (WBBPE) andseized all the documents per-taining to the recruitment.

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Singapore HighCommissioner Simon

Wong Wie Kuen, onWednesday, met ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath andproposed Singapore to be thefirst partner country in theUttar Pradesh Global Investors’Summit.

In the courtesy meetingheld at the chief minister’sofficial residence between adelegation from Singapore ledby the Singapore HighCommissioner and ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, dis-cussions were held to furtherimprove the bilateral relationsand cooperation in existingfields and ways to expand it,particularly concerning thestate of Uttar Pradesh.

During the talks,Singapore High Commissioner

Wong informed the chief min-ister that various companiesfrom Singapore had investedabout USD 250 million inUttar Pradesh and most of theinvestments were in Noidaand adjoining regions.

Expressing confidence inthe leadership of ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath andlauding the better connectivi-

ty and the Ease of DoingBusiness in UP after 2017,Wong said that many compa-nies from Singapore wereinterested in investing in UttarPradesh.

“We are encouraging ourinvestors to invest in Lucknowand other parts of the state.The Global Investors’ Summitwill be a good opportunity for

these companies. It will be apleasure to collaborate withUttar Pradesh in various areasof urban development andplanning, including watermanagement. Singapore is will-ing to work in Uttar Pradesh asper the intention of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,”Wong said.

Terming Uttar Pradesh ashis ‘second home’, Wong saidthat Chief Minister YogiAdityanath had established avery favourable atmospherein the state.

Taking forward the coop-eration between Singapore andUP in various fields, Wong dis-cussed the proposed skill uni-versity in the state. He said thatif Singapore could become apartner in this project in someway, it would be useful in fur-ther improving the relationsbetween the two countries.

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With a spurt in Covid cases in UttarPradesh in the last fortnight, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath stressed the needto expedite the process to give boosterdoses to youth over 18 years of age and alsoasked people to exercise caution.

During a review meeting here onWednesday, Yogi said that new cases ofnovel coronavirus infection were increas-ing in different states of the country hencethe people should be made aware of theimportance of booster dose and boostervaccination centres.

In the last 24 hours, UP recorded 318fresh COVID-19 cases – highest in the lastone month. During this period 178COVID-19 patients recovered. At present,there are 1,645 active cases in the state.Over 93 per cent of these patients are

undergoing treatment at home.So far 33.40 crore doses of Covid vac-

cine have been administered in the state.With this, 94.79 per cent people of the statehave taken both the doses of the vaccine.

The government record claims that98.72 per cent adolescents in the age groupof 15-17 years have received the first doseof Covid vaccine and 82.57 per cent ado-lescents have received the second dose.

In the age group of 12-14 years, 92.54

per cent children received the first dose ofthe vaccine and 52.12 per cent childrenhave received the second dose. Besides,more than 33.43 lakh preventive (boost-er) doses have also been provided.

The chief minister said that there wasa need to further increase the fleet ofadvanced life support ambulances.

“All mobile medical vans should befunctional. Technical support should betaken to keep their response time to a min-imum,” he said and added that the facili-ties of trauma centres in medical institu-tions of the state should be furtherstrengthened.

The chief minister said that the IndianInstitute of Technology, Kanpur had pre-pared a model to ensure availability ofsound health facilities in rural areas andan action plan should be submitted afterstudying it.

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Continuing the tirade against NupurSharma, the suspended leader of

Bharatiya Janata Party, senior SamajwadiParty leader Mohammed Azam Khan saidhe spearheaded the campaign for the Babrimasjid for over two decades but neveruttered a word against the Hindus andtheir religion.

“If somebody can cite a single instancewhere I ever said anything againstHinduism then I will quit Rampur alongwith my family forever. I did so as I sin-cerely follow my religion which prohibitsspeaking ill for other religions,” AzamKhan said in Rampur on Wednesday whilecampaigning for the Samajwadi Party can-didate in the by-election to Rampur LokSabha seat.

Azam Khan said Prophet Mohammed

never took revenge from those who wereagainst him and prayed for forgivenessfrom Allah for them.

Polling in Rampur is scheduled to beheld on June 23. The Samajwadi Party hashigh stakes in Rampur Lok as it is fight-ing to retain this Lok Sabha seat.

Azam Khan was elected to Lok Sabhafrom Rampur in 2019. He contested therecent UP assembly election from Rampur

and later resigned his Lok Sabha seat.Recalling the ordeal he faced during

the 27-month imprisonment Azam Khansaid, “The government left no stoneunturned to eliminate me during the pan-demic. I was in jail and survived two wavesof the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

Azam Khan said that he along with hisson and wife were sent to jail and there wasa conspiracy to kill all three inside the jail.He alleged that the conspiracy to eliminatehim was still on.

Targeting his arch rival, the scion ofNawab Rampur Naved Mian, Azam Khansaid, “Nawab, who can never win the sup-port of the people, is advising the rivals ofthe Samajwadi Party in by-election toRampur Lok Sabha seat.”

Much to the chagrin of Azam Khanand his party, the Nawab of Rampur, aCongress leader, has extended his supportto the Bharatiya Janata Party.

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ARohingya living in Aligarhwith the help of forged

documents has been arrestedby the team of ATS Lucknow.He had been living as an offi-ciating priest in a mosque inBhujpura area of the city fornearly seven years and hadcome to live on rent inJohrabagh area of Civil Linesonly two months ago. After hisarrest, the ATS has now takenhim on remand on the ordersof the Lucknow court. Now heis being questioned about hiscontacts and family. It is to benoted that even before this,Rohingyas living on fake formshave been caught from thecity.

On the basis of confiden-tial information, the ATSLucknow unit, which isengaged in surveillance ofRohingyas who have come to

India illegally crossing theBangladesh border, raided here.A person named KhaleqAhmed, who was living on rentin a house in Johra Bagh areaof Civil Lines of the city, wasarrested. According to theinformation, Khaliq Ahmed isoriginally a resident of WaliBazar town located inMangadu police station area ofAkyab district of Myanmar. Hecame to India in the year 2015and was living in Aligarh bygetting Indian identity cardmade with the help of fakeforms. He has got the IndianIdentity card made. He wasworking as an officiating priestin a mosque in BhujpuraColony here.

It also came to the noticethat earlier he had also taughtin the madrasas of Deobandand Muzaffarnagar. On thisinformation, the team laid siegethere. During this siege, news

was received that he wasreturning from Jammu toAligarh and was arrested assoon as he came to Aligarh.After this, the team took himdirectly to Lucknow, where acase has been registered againsthim under sections 419, 420,467, 468 and 471 in addition to14 Foreigners Act in ATS policestation Lucknow.

Here, the ATS applied forremand against Khaleq, onwhich he was granted 10-daypolice custody remand. NowATS will inform him about get-ting admission in India, prepar-ing fake forms and family etc.At the same time, in the inter-rogation till now, it has come toknow that Khaleq till nowlived in a room near themosque in Bhujpura itself. Butnow he started living on rent ina house in Johra Bagh CivilLines. He had rented this roomonly two months back.

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Large-scale investments inthe healthcare and allied

field in Uttar Pradesh aregoing to change the landscapeof this sector in the comingyears, as is emerging from theproposals presented at thethird groundbreaking cere-mony (GBC-3) held inLucknow earlier this month.

The sectors includehealthcare, pharmaceuticalproduction and medical sup-plies sector. A look at sector-wise distribution of proposalsindicates that there are 65projects in the pharmaceuticaland medical supplies and eightmega projects in the healthcaresector, with proposed invest-ment going up to Rs 800 crore.The projects with total invest-ments of Rs 2,205 crore areslated for various districts of

the state. The projects in phar-maceuticals and medical sup-plies sector have a total invest-ment of Rs 1,088 crore, thusbringing the total investmentin healthcare and allied sectorsto Rs 3,293 crore.

This means that in thecoming years, several newhospitals, diagnostic centres,pharmaceutical productionand medical supplies unitswill start functioning in dif-ferent parts of the state. Withthe increase in the number ofmedical colleges all over thestate, this will lead to tremen-dous improvement in health-care, including availability ofhospital beds, medicines, oxy-gen and other things.

The Yashoda Foundationproposes to set up two bigfacilities. The first is YashodaFoundation's Mediciti SuperSpeciality and Cancer Hospital

in Ghaziabad, at a proposedinvestment of Rs 800 crore.This Yashoda Medicity will bea 500-bedded, quaternary caresuper specialty and cancerhospital. Slated to be com-pleted by January 2024, it willcreate 4,250 jobs.

The second project isYashoda Foundation's BiotechPark proposed in GreaterNoida. This project includesYashoda Hospital andResearch Centre with a hos-pital and bio-tech park whichwould include a biotech andinformation technology (IT)hub, a 250-bedded tertiarycare super specialty hospital,commercial and residentialbuildings etc. The proposedinvestment on this project isRs 525 crore. There will be acreation of 450 jobs when theproject is completed by March2024.

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The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi(VBA) and various Muslim

organisations, led by Dalitleader Prakash Ambedkar, willtake out a massive morcha tothe Azadi Maidan on Friday todemand the arrest of suspend-ed BJP spokesperson NupurSharma and expelled formerDelhi BJP media unit headNaveen Kumar Jindal for hisalleged remarks againstProphet Mohammad.

The VBA’s peace morchawill begin from its Madanpuraoffice and culminate at down-town Azadan Maidan in southMumbai. The activisits of sev-eral Muslim organisations willjoin the morcha.

Announcing this, VBA’sstate president Rekha Thakur

said: “The issue involvingNupur Sharma is no longer thecountry’s internal matter. Ithas assumed an internationaldimension. Nupur Sharma’sremarks against ProphetMohammad have triggeredbacklash in the Middle-Eastand European countries. Thisdevelopment will have animpact on the Indians livingthere and also on the Indianeconomy.”

“Lakhs of Indians live indifferent parts of the world. TheKuwait government has alreadyindicated that it would deportIndians living there. Currently,as many as 90 lakh people livein the Gulf countries. Of themoney received from Indiansworking abroad, 55 per centremittances come from theGulf countries. In 2020, Indiareceived remittances amount-

ing to a staggering Rs 5,78,800crore from Gulf countries. Inthis backdrop, the utterances byNupur Sharma and NaveenJindal will have a severe adverseimpact on the Indian econo-my,” she said.

“In national interest, wehave decided to take up theissue. Because, just to protecttwo of its party functionaries,the ruling BJP is holding theentire country to ransom. Weare taking out a peace morchatomorrow to demand the arrestof Nurpur Sharma and NaviJindal and demand the enact-ment of Hate SpeechProhibition law proposed byVBA,” she said.

Thakir said that her partyfront had given letters to theheads of the three Maha VikasAghadi (MVA) constituents –Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress,urging them to support herorganisation’s morcha.

VBA convenor PrakashAmbedkar rooted for sternaction against Nupur Sharma"Stern action should be takenagainst Nupur Sharma.Suspending her from the partyis not a strict action. If anyonesays anything against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, thenstrict action is taken against theperson immediately. Why notin this case?,"

Ambedkar, who is thegrandson of late Dr. B RAmbedkar, said that there wasa threat to the lives of Indiansliving abroad due to the state-ments by Nupur Sharma andthe leaders who supported her.

Meanwhile, anticipating ahuge turnout at the morchabeing taken out fromMadanpura to Azad Maidan byVBA on Friday, the city policehave made elaborate securityarrangements to ensure againstuntoward incidents during themorcha.

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Eleven candidates filed theirnominations on the first

day Wednesday for the July 18presidential polls, and thepaper of one of them wasrejected for want of proper doc-uments, sources said.

The nomination processbegan with the issuance of thenotification on Wednesdaycalling electors to fill up thevacancy at the country's high-est constitutional post. Thenomination process wouldcontinue till June 29.

Parliamentary sources saida person named Lalu PrasadYadav from Saran in Biharwas among those who filedtheir papers.

The nomination of one of

the candidates was rejected asthe person had not attached acertified copy of the entryshowing his or her name in thecurrent electoral roll for theparliamentary constituency inwhich the candidate is regis-tered as an elector.

The candidates who filednominations on Wednesdaywere from Delhi, Maharashtra,Bihar, Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh.

A nomination paper of acandidate for the election hasto be made in the prescribedformat and has to be sub-scribed by at least 50 electors asproposers and at least 50 elec-tors as seconders.

The security deposit for theelection of Rs 15,000 shouldalso be deposited.

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��������������� ���������Sir — Blaming the UP Government for“making a mockery of the Constitution”,three former apex court judges among 12prominent persons have appealed to theSupreme court to react to the “violenceand repression by State authorities againstMuslim citizens” protesting over BJPrepresentatives’ remarks on ProphetMuhammad. The letter complained to theSupreme Court against the bulldozing ofthe houses of the protesters and request-ed it to take suo motu cognisance. Besidesformer Supreme Court Justices BSudarshan Reddy, V Gopala Gowda andAK Ganguly, the June 14 letter has beensigned by three former High Court judgesand six lawyers.

The Prayagraj Development Authorityon June 12 bulldozed the house of JavedAhmad, alleged to have been involved inthe June 10 violent protests triggered bynow-suspended BJP spokesperson NupurSharma’s controversial remarks againstProphet Mohammed. The signatories tothe letter include Justice AP Shah, formerChief Justice of the Delhi High Court andformer chairperson of the LawCommission of India; Justice K Chandru,who served the Madras High Court, andJustice Mohammed Anwar, who servedthe Karnataka High Court. It is high timeSupreme Court must react.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

���������������������������Sir — Forget about the Government’savowed goal to fill 2 crore vacancies a yearafter the 2014 general election. Now thatit has been eyeing the 2024 national elec-tion, to assuage the feelings of crores ofirritated unemployed youth, theGovernment on Tuesday unveiled 45,000Agnipath vacancies, which has beenplanned and is being implemented by theDepartment of Military Affairs (Army, Airand Navy). Under this scheme, youngsterswould join the forces for a period of fouryears and serve the country. Interestingly,it’s part of the Government’s efforts

toward reducing expenditure and the ageprofile of defence personnel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasalso asked Ministries and departments torecruit 10 lakh people on mission modein the next 18 months. The overall unem-ployment rate in India has increased to7.83 per cent in April 2022. Compared tothe overall unemployment, the recruit-ment of 10.45 lakh people in the next year-and-half is a waterdrop in the ocean.People wonder that when, as per themedia, when 30 lakh posts are lying vacantin Central Government (and 22 lakh postsin PSUs), what is the problem of theGovernment in undertaking recruitmentfor these idle vacancies?

Bidyut K Chatterjee | Faridabad

����������� ��� ������� �Sir — Many thanks to The Pioneer forpublishing a useful and important arti-cle, ‘Let us donate blood because we can’(June 14) on the World Blood Donor Day.Every year, this day is observed to pro-mote awareness on the need for blooddonation and thank voluntary blood

donors for their life-saving gift. The hostnation for World Blood Donor Day 2022is Mexico, and the theme this year is‘Donating blood is an act of solidarity.Join the effort and save lives’. Blood isneeded for all kinds of patient care: fromtraumas to obstetrical haemorrhage tohaematological conditions.

Provider organisations can play animportant role in raising awareness of theimportance of donating blood. Besides cre-ating an opportunity to receive free healthscreening, donating blood can help lowerblood pressure and the risk of heart attack.Donating blood can lengthen a donor’slifespan and improve mental wellbeing.The feeling someone gets by helping anunknown person by donating blood issomething indescribable. By simply com-mitting about 15 minutes of one’s time, alife can be saved with minimal effort.Where else can a small investment yieldsuch a great return?

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

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and civilian authorities tohave acted in concert and rec-onciled the findings of bothreports. That would haveallowed them to jointly initi-ate action to ensure account-ability and also to institutecorrective measures to avoidrecurrence of such tragicincidents.

The NagalandGovernment, however, seemsto have had other ideas. It hasgone ahead independentlyand filed charges, withoutfirst obtaining the requisitesanction from the Centre, asrequired by law. This viola-tion is an obvious attempt topressure the Centre to actquickly in its favour. Itundoubtedly appears that theState Government isindulging in populism tocurry favour politically, butthere could be other moredevious reasons for theaction, as will be elucidated inthis and a succeeding piece.

In the long term, thisaction will have a deleteriouseffect on civil-military rela-tions as the Government iswell aware. Even if sanctionwere to be accorded, as theincident occurred in an oper-ational area, the Armyauthorities will, in all proba-bility, take over the case andtry the personnel under theArmy Act. In that context, thefindings of the Army Court of

Inquiry would be of greatimportance. Clearly, there-fore, the apparent rush to trialsuggests that there is more atstake here than just fixingaccountability.

This aspect is also clear-ly borne out by the fact thatsoon after the incident, evenbefore the SIT had been con-stituted or any preliminaryinvestigations even com-menced, a joint statementwas issued by Nagaland DGPT John Longkumer andKohima DivisionalCommissioner RovilatuoMor. It stated that “the Armymade no attempt to ascertainthe identity of thecivilians…and the villagersfound the forces trying tohide six bodies by wrappingand loading them in a pick-up van with the intention oftaking them to their basecamp”.

This was followed with asuo moto FIR lodged by theNagaland Police against theArmy personnel involved,accusing them of murder.The immediate question thatcomes to mind is what wasthe reason for such precipitateaction on the part of the DGPand the DivisionalCommissioner? In theirimpetuousness, they vitiatedthe entire investigation. Whathope was left for a free, fairand unbiased investigation

being conducted, especiallyby a team composed whollyof officers belonging toNagaland Police?

More importantly, it hasbeen established that therewere no independent wit-nesses at the site. In fact, twoinjured miners were givenlifesaving first aid by thetroops themselves and imme-diately evacuated to a civilianhospital in Dibrugarh; time-ly action that ensured theirsurvival. Moreover, the troopscould have dispersed then aswell if they so desired but,instead, awaited the arrival ofthe police, which nevershowed up. Their actionsprove, in no uncertain terms,that they acted in good faith.

Can the same be said ofthe civil administration, espe-cially the non-arrival of policewho were just 40 minutesaway? Clearly, the statementof the DGP and theDivisional Commissioner wasbased on hearsay and lackscredibility. They have muchto answer for!

(This is the first of twoparts on the issue.)

(The writer, a militaryveteran, is a Visiting Fellowwith the Observer ResearchFoundation and SeniorVisiting Fellow with ThePeninsula Foundation,Chennai. The views expressedare personal.)

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Last December, thisauthor had written onthe tragic incident thatoccurred in Nagaland’s

Mon district earlier that month(‘AFSPA in the Northeast: Is sta-tus quo the answer?’). In a trag-ic case of mistaken identity, sixcoal miners were killed bytroops from a Special Forcesunit. Subsequent escalation bylocal villagers who descendedon the site four hours later,allegedly at the behest of theDSP, led to the murder of onesoldier with the rest beinginjured, many of them serious-ly. They were finally able to dis-engage with difficulty, having toleave behind four vehiclesloaded with gear and ammuni-tion. The unruly mob subse-quently set these trucks on fire,which resulted in the ammuni-tion in the burning trucks“cooking off ”, or exploding.This probably led to the deathof seven others, which the policepromptly pinned on the detach-ment that had left.

This case is again makingheadlines as the Nagaland Policehas chargesheeted 30 soldiersunder various sections of theIPC, including criminal con-spiracy, murder, attempt tomurder, voluntarily causinggrievous hurt by dangerousweapons and disappearance ofevidence. That an operationaltask assigned by higher head-quarters, based on inputsreportedly provided by theIntelligence Bureau, constitutesa criminal conspiracy speaksvolumes of the quality of theinvestigations. But that in noway suggests that there was noconspiracy, in fact all evidencepoints to one, but in which themilitary was clearly the scape-goat.

The chargesheet is based onthe report of an SIT constitut-ed by Nagaland Police, thoughthis report is not yet public.Indeed, we are also to hear whatan Army Court of Inquiry thatdelved into the matter has to say.In the circumstances, especial-ly as these soldiers were protect-ed under the Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act (AFSPA),ideally a joint investigationshould have been undertakenbut, in its absence, one wouldhave expected that the military

Page 7: ?` T`_dV_dfd Z_ @aa¶d ^VVe `_ AcVk a`]] aZT\ - Daily Pioneer

violating the system of “one coun-try, two systems,” which was previ-ously agreed upon in 1997.

Document 9 (2013) issued bythe CCP prohibited a range of activ-ities such as advocating the Westernconcept of constitutional democra-cy, neoliberalism and its idea ofjournalism, questioning the reformsintroduced by the CCP, and under-mining the history of CCP andadvocating for a ‘new China.’Additionally, education is activelyused as a tool for “socialist mater-ial civilisation and spiritual civiliza-tion,” which leaves no room fordoubt that the political objectivesof the CCP are far more superior tothe people’s fundamental freedomof speech and expression.

Further, the 4th Plenum of the18th Central Committee (2014)reiterated that the CCP’s leadershipover the socialist legal system pre-vailed and required the people tosubmit to the party leadership.

Thus, a ban on dissent orprotest assumes a geopolitical sig-nificance. The CCP has increasedits attempts to restrict public speechon media and the internet, as theyhave shown less tolerance for pub-lic dissent and opposition. Article306 of the Criminal Law andArticle 42 of the Procedure lawallows for the criminal chargeslevied against those lawyers whosubmit counter-arguments againstthe state.

Further, the code of practice ofthe All-China Lawyers Associationobligates all the lawyers to be faith-ful to the party and then the state.Thus, the mass arrests and harshpunishment of human rightslawyers exemplify how the CCP hassystematically silenced the voices ofdissent. The ‘709 crackdown’ that

was initiated in 2015 is notorious-ly known for arresting variouslawyers, apart from the social andthe legal activists such as LiQiaochu and Xu Zhiyong to namea few. Cai Xia, a former CentralParty school teacher who equatedthe CCP to a “political zombie” got a lengthy prison sentence of 18 years.

The CCP’s propensity to stiflevoices and use force did not subsideeven during the critical periods ofthe Covid pandemic. The interna-tional media witnessed the horri-fying visuals of the repressive mea-sures adopted for its ‘Zero Covid’policy. The CCP recently reiterat-ed its resolve to “fight against anyspeech that distorts, questions or rejects our country’s Covid-control policy.”

In China and at internationalplatforms, there have been demandsfor independent investigations intothe handling of the outbreak. Ofcourse, as expected, such demandshave been categorically rejected bythe Chinese authorities.

Nevertheless, the cultural geno-cide, mass detention, and illegalorgan harvesting of the Uyghurs,apart from denying them theirconstitutional right to protestagainst the state levied atrocities,have been raised many times in theinternational media and on variousplatforms such as the AmnestyInternational and United Nations.

The Kazakhs and other pre-dominantly Muslim minorities inXinjiang too are subject to inhumanand degrading treatment. Theminorities, human rights activists,and lawyers have been meted outthe most inhuman treatment.

From a critical perspective,the same measures that were used

for crushing political dissent arebeing used by Chinese President XiJinping to take over the CCP’s lead-ership for life by actively using rec-tification campaigns. In 2021, ‘XiJinping thought’ was introduced inthe curriculum from the primaryschool level to the university level.

One of the thoughts emphasis-es upon “absolute authority of theparty over the people,” thereby dis-torting the fundamental values ofarmed forces to safeguard thenation. Instead, the PLA is nowensuring the interests of Xi Jinpingand the CCP. Ideally, the peopleworldwide owe their allegiance tothe nation or the motherland; notso in the case of China. Deliberatedistortions thus mark the formu-lations of the laws in China.

A pertinent question that hasto be asked is how the CCP canerase the memories of the stringentlaws and their application, whetherof the Tiananmen Square massacreor the Wuhan, Beijing andShanghai restrictions duringCovid-19? Have not the harshquarantine measures foreverembedded in the minds of theChinese people? Such truths wouldbe told and retold from one generation to another in the private sphere.

How many more decades canthe bubble of authoritarianismsurvive, as it needs to regularly suf-focate the voices of dissent, whichbecomes a vicious circle? TheCCP’s mindset to prioritise loyal-ty to the party over loyalty to thenation has been largely the causeof its wrongdoings. Building legit-imacy through counter-memoriesdoes not lead to long-term loyalty; it sometimes can lead todisastrous results instead.

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Corruption isn't foughtwith slogans on TikTok,”complained veteran

Colombian presidential candi-date Gustavo Petro. But socialmedia can win elections, and aRightwing dark horse calledRodolfo Hernández, who callshimself the ‘King of TikTok,’ maycrush Petro’s hopes of becomingColombia’s first-ever leftist pres-ident next Sunday (19 June).

It did seem that Petro’smoment had finally arrived.Going into the first round of thepresidential election last month,he was well ahead of the estab-lishment candidate, FedericoGutierrez, a serviceable replicaof outgoing president IvanDuque—but the runner-up wasactually Hernández, whosesocial media skills make him areal threat to Petro.

Hernández is a wealthy 77-

year-old businessman whoseresemblance to Donald Trumpis more than skin-deep. Heflaunts his ignorance proudly, hisspeeches consist mostly of slo-gans and abuse, and he almostnever discusses actual policies.But he does promise to kick outthe corrupt politicians.

“Almost all of them are rob-bers, thieves, scoundrels, delin-quents,” he claims, and he’sabout half-right. Indeed, he maybe one himself: he faces a graftinvestigation from his time asmayor of the city ofBucaramanga. But it’s the usualpopulist strategy: target small-time crooks while serving andprotecting the rich and power-ful.

Hernández is not a newphenomenon in Latin America:Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonarohas been doing a Trump tribute

act for years. And while he maymanage to deflect the ‘pink tide’from sweeping across Colombia,it will still cover most of theregion by the end of this year.

It’s called ‘pink’ to distin-guish it from the ‘red tide’ ofCommunist and other hard-leftmilitants who made majorinroads in Latin American pol-itics in the latter half of the 20thcentury.

In most Latin Americancountries these revolutionarymovements were stamped outby US-backed military coups. Ina few countries—Cuba,Nicaragua, Venezuela—they live

on as stagnant and impoverisheddictatorships. But with the endof the Cold War, the passiongradually went out of politics,and the extremists faded awayon both sides.

What’s left is a ‘pink tide’ ofnon-violent social democrats,competing in democratic elec-tions with conservative partiesthat defend the interests of thelocal establishments. There’snothing uniquely LatinAmerican about this, nor aboutthe fact that the conservatives areincreasingly resorting to populiststrategies.

The difference is that LatinAmerican countries are muchmore unequal than those inother parts of the West (exceptthe United States), which prob-ably explains why there is a ‘pinktide’ of social-democratic gov-ernments coming to power in

Central and South America.That tide began to run

around the turn of the century,with the elections of RicardoLagos in Chile (2000), LuizInácio ‘Lula’ da Silva in Brazil(2003), and Néstor Kirchner inArgentina (2003). Its most recentsuccesses have been Luis Arce inBolivia (2020), Pedro Castillo inPeru (2021) and Xiomara Castroin Honduras (2022).

Not to mention the electionof Mexico’s first socialist presi-dent, Andrés Manuel LópezObrador (AMLO) in 2018, andthe likely return to power of Lulada Silva in the Brazilian electionnext November. Those twocountries alone account formore than half of LatinAmerica’s population.

Colombia, with 50 millionpeople, is third-biggest, and itmay also turn pink this month.

In the first round Gustavo Petrogot 40 per cent of the votes andRodolfo Hernández only 29 percent. The populist Rightwingerwill probably pick up morevotes from the candidates whowere eliminated in the firstround than Petro will, but it’sheading for a photo-finish.

Either way, Colombia isheading for major change. IfHernández wins, he’s proposingto declare a state of emergencyfor 90 days and suspend all judi-cial and administrative functions“in order to address corruption.”He will rule by decree, in otherwords, and he gets to choosewho is arrested. It could end upas a populist dictatorship.

Unlike Hernández, Petro isa known quantity, active in pol-itics for the past thirty years. He’snot really radical, but he wouldbe Colombia’s first-ever presi-

dent from the left, so for someColombians his policies wouldseem extreme: things likeexpanding social programs, end-ing oil and gas exploration, andinvesting in agriculture.

To pay for all that, he’splanning to raise taxes on thecountry’s 4,000 richest peopleand on the mining industry. Hewill be making enemies of somepowerful people, and the headof the Colombian army hasalready expressed his concern.

Colombia has a long, unbro-ken tradition of ‘conservative’rule, and an almost equally longhistory of low-level civil wars.Change there is especially risky,and what is on offer from theright this time may be even moredestabilising than what is beingoffered by the left.

But in general, the pink tideis still rising.

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(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘The Shortest History ofWar’. The views expressed

are personal.)

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2� 1:�9��1 The Communist Party of China(CCP) prioritises political alle-giance to itself over the country. Asa result, Chinese national pride is

now closely linked to the CCP. For instance,Premier Zhao Ziyang was removed justbefore the 1989 Tiananmen massacre andspent his last 16 years isolated in the party’sheadquarters, the period in which he wasnot allowed to meet people and his sympathisers.

The philosophy of crushing differentvoices results in the various discourses andnarratives of memories and counter-mem-ories. Although the memories of punish-ment and imprisonment related to theTiananmen democracy demonstrationshave been well documented in internation-al history, there have been deliberateattempts by the CCP to ban the commem-oration of the violent suppression.

Until recently, Hong Kong and nearbyMacao were the only places where the mas-sacre could be remembered, but bans havebeen imposed lately there too. The last fewdecades witnessed the commemorations inHong Kong and elsewhere by the peopleand various social groups such as the‘Tiananmen Mothers,’ raising the questionsabout the future democratisation anddemanding legitimacy for the Chinese cit-izens’ right to protest.

In the realm of national and interna-tional politics, the memories of ruthless sup-pression by the armed forces shape up theregion’s geopolitics. The attempts of theCCP to change the national emotional land-scape by setting up new narratives by intel-lectually and ideologically denying permis-sion to observe memorial services for theJune 4 incident need to be analysed fromthe perspective of crushing democracy.

From the history textbooks to the banon the candle marches to mark the suppres-sion of democratic rights of the people, Xiis leaving no stone unturned to erase thememories, fears of democratisation andquestioning by the younger generation. Thishas led to the stifling of political dissent.

The CCP has ensured that profoundcontradictions prevail in the Constitutionitself. The right to peaceful protest withoutresorting to arson and creating difficultiesfor other people has been widely recognisedin almost all democratic countries. In Chinatoo, it is recognised as the “right to freedomof expression” and enshrined in Article 35.However, at the same time, Article 33(4)speaks of citizens’ “duties prescribed by theConstitution and the law,” thereby giving alegal loophole to the CCP to formulate lawsto erase memories.

Thus, what the world witnesses is theformulation of laws such as the ‘NationalSecurity Law’ (2020) for Hong Kong,which has substantially reduced theautonomous powers of Hong Kong.Interestingly, the law also applies to the“non-permanent residents” and people“from outside [Hong Kong]... who are notpermanent residents of Hong Kong,” thusgiving sweeping powers to the CCP, while

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French President EmmanuelMacron suggestedon

Wednesday that he would soongo to Kyiv to meet withUkrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy but saidhe would not publicly discussdetails about such a trip.

Answering a journalist'squestion during an official visitto Romania, Macron said thetiming was right for a visit toUkraine's capital but that hewould not “enter into logistics”.

Ukraine has been at warsince Russia invaded the neigh-bouring country more than 31/2 months ago.

“We are in a momentwhere we need to send clearpolitical signals - us,Europeans, us, the EuropeanUnion - toward Ukraine andthe Ukrainian people,” Macronsaid after meeting withRomanian President KlausIohannis at an air base insoutheastern Romania.

The two presidents met inpreparation for a June 23-24European Union leaders' sum-mit in Brussels and a June 29-30 NATO summit in Madrid.France currently holds the EU'srotating presidency.

Macron said a “message ofsupport” must be sent toUkraine before EU heads ofstate and government “have to

make important decisions” attheir Brussels meeting.

The leaders are scheduledto consider Ukraine's requestfor EU candidate status.

The French president alsomentioned the need to findways to allow Ukrainian grainexports. “All these reasons ...Justify deep discussions andnew steps,” he said.

News outlets have widelyreported rumours of Macronpreparing to travel to Kyivwith German Chancellor OlafScholz and Italian PremierMario Draghi.

The German governmenthas refused to confirm or denythe media reports, whileDraghi's office would notcomment publicly on an immi-nent visit.

Macron also met withNATO troops stationed at theRomanian air force's MihailKogalniceanu Air Base onWednesday, a day after he saidthey could serve as a “power-ful deterrent” on the alliance'seastern flank.

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NATO defense ministersattending a two-day

meeting starting Wednesdaywill discuss beefing upweapons supplies to Ukraine,and Sweden and Finland'sapplications to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance,Secretary-General JensStoltenberg said.

The meeting, less twoweeks before a summit ofNATO leaders in Madrid,comes with Kyiv imploringthe West to send more andheavier weapons to help fendoff Russia's onslaught in east-ern Ukraine.

“Allies are committed tocontinue providing the mil-itary equipment that Ukraineneeds to prevail, includingheavy weapons and long-range systems,” Stoltenbergsaid. He added thatUkrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy wouldbe invited to address the

June 29-30 Madrid summit,either in person or by video-conference. Increased armssupplies can't come soonenough for the Ukrainianforces battling to keep Russiafrom taking control of theircountry's industrial east aftermore than 3½ months of war.In his nightly address to thenation, Zelenskyy pleadedTuesday for more and fasterdeliveries of Western arms,specifically asking for anti-missile defense systems.

U.S. Defense SecretaryLloyd Austin is hosting ameeting Wednesday of about50 nations at NATO'sBrussels headquarters to dis-cuss weapons deliveries toUkraine. Ukrainian DeputyDefense Minister HannaMalyar said Tuesday that theinvaded nation's military hadreceived only around 10% ofthe Western weapons it hadrequested “to create paritywith the Russian army.”

“No matter how much

effort Ukraine makes, nomatter how professional ourarmy, without the help ofWestern partners we willnot be able to win this war,”Malyar said in a televisednews conference.

She said Ukraine uses5,000 to 6,000 artilleryrounds a day, while Russiauses 10 times more.

The NATO meetingopens with a working dinnerWednesday evening at whichministers will speak withtheir counterparts fromUkraine, as well as Georgia,Sweden, Finland, and theEuropean Union.

“This will be an oppor-tunity for Defense Minister(Oleksii) Reznikov to updateus on what Ukraine urgent-ly needs. And for NATOallies to make newannouncements of support toUkraine,” Stoltenberg said.

The defense ministersmeeting this week also planto discuss moves to beef upforces along NATO's easternflank and elsewhere, whichhave gathered pace sinceRussia invaded Ukraine.

“This will mean morepresence, more capabilitiesand higher readiness, withmore NATO forwarddeployed combat formationsto strengthen our battle-groups in the East, more air,sea and cyber defenses, pre-positioned equipment andweapon stockpiles,”Stoltenberg said.

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The Russian military saidWednesday that it usedlong-range missiles to

destroy a depot in the westernLviv region of Ukraine whereammunition for NATO-sup-plied weapons was being stored.Those strikes came as fightingraged for the city ofSievierodonetsk in the easternDonbas area, the key focus ofRussia's offensive in recentweeks.

Russia-backed separatistsaccused Ukrainian forces ofsabotaging an evacuation ofcivilians from the city's besiegedAzot chemical plant, whereabout 500 civilians and anunknown number of Ukrainianfighters are believed to be shel-tering. It wasn't possible to ver-ify that claim.

A humanitarian corridorfrom the Azot plant had beenannounced a day earlier byRussia. The Ukrainian governorof Luhansk Serhiy Haidai onWednesday refused to com-ment on Russian statementsregarding a humanitarian cor-ridor, but told The AssociatedPress that “heavy fighting inSievierodonetsk continues todayas well.” The situation in the cityis getting worse, Haidai admit-ted, because the Russian forceshave more manpower and

weapons.“But our military are hold-

ing back the enemy from threesides at once,” Haidai said. “Theenemy is advancing because ofsignificant advantage in artilleryand people, but the Ukrainianarmy is holding on to its posi-tions in the city.”

Russian Defense Ministryspokesman Igor Konashenkovsaid that Russian forces usedhigh-precision Kalibr missiles todestroy the depot near the townof Zolochiv, which is in the Lvivoblast near the border withNATO member Poland.

Konashenkov said M777howitzers, a type supplied by theUnited States, were being storedthere. He said that Russian

airstrikes also destroyedUkrainian “aviation equipment”at a military aerodrome in thesouthern Mykolaiv region, hesaid.

The strikes came as Ukrainekeeps up its pressure on Westerncountry to deliver more arms,and as NATO countries pledgemore heavy weapons forUkraine.

In recent days, Ukrainianofficials have spoken of theheavy human cost of the war,with the fierce fighting in theeast becoming an artillery bat-tle that has seen Kyiv's forcesoutgunned and outnumbered.

“The losses, unfortunately,are painful, but we have to holdout,” Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said lateTuesday in his nightly videoaddress. “The more losses theenemy suffers there, the lessstrength it will have to contin-ue the aggression. Therefore, theDonbas is key to determiningwho will dominate in the com-ing weeks.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, anadviser to Ukraine's PresidentVolodymry Zelenskyy, tweetedWednesday that he gets a dailymessage from the Ukrainiandefenders there saying: “We areholding on, just say: when toexpect the weapons?” He saidthat is the same message he hasfor NATO leaders.

Meanwhile, the deputy chairof Russia's Security Council andformer president DmitryMedvedev suggested that Russiaappears intent on the destruc-tion of its neighbor.

In a Telegram post, he wrotethat he saw reports that Ukrainewants to receive liquified naturalgas in a deal from its “overseasmasters” with payment due intwo years.

He added: "But there's aquestion. Who said that in twoyears Ukraine will even exist onthe map of the world?”

Medvedev, the former pres-ident, has been making harshstatements against Ukraine andthe West since the war began onTelegram.

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as saying.Xi asserted that Beijing

was taking an independentposition on the Ukrainianissue, "taking into account thefacts and historical realities".

"We actively contribute topreserving peace on the glob-al scale. Likewise, we con-tribute to maintaining a stableeconomic order in the world,"he stressed.

However, it is not yet clearwhether Xi has offered to medi-ate to end the Russia-Ukrainewar, shedding Beijing's earlierreluctance to do so.

China, a close ally ofRussia, steadfastly declined tocondemn Russia's invasion ofUkraine ever since Putinlaunched a “special militaryoperation” which led to theUnited States and its alliesimposing sweeping sanctionson Russia stepping up weaponssupplies to Kiev. J

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Chinese President Xi Jinpingon Wednesday expressed

his readiness to play a "con-structive role" to help settle theUkrainian crisis, according tothe Chinese state-TV.

In a telephonic conversa-tion with his Russian counter-part Vladimir Putin, Xi said,"All parties concerned musttake a responsible stance, thuspromoting the correct settle-ment of the crisis in Ukraine."

"China is prepared to keepplaying its constructive role,"the Chinese state-TV quoted Xi

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The US is expected toannounce Wednesday that

it will send about $1 billion inmilitary aid to Ukraine, thelargest single tranche ofweapons and equipment sincethe war began, in an effort tohelp stall Russia's slow butsteady march to conquer theeastern Donbas region, USofficials said.

According to offi-cials, the aid is expected toinclude anti-ship missilelaunchers, howitzers, and morerounds for the High MobilityArtillery Rocket Systems thatUS forces are trainingUkrainian troops on now.Officials spoke on condition ofanonymity to discuss detailsnot yet made public.The aid comes as US DefenceSecretary Lloyd Austin con-vened a meeting in Brussels ofmore than 45 nations to discusssupport for Ukraine.

At the start of the meeting,Austin warned that the Westmust step up weapons deliver-ies to Ukraine and prove itscommitment to helping thecountry's military fight along a1,000-km (620-mile) front linein a grinding war of attritionwith Russia. And he urged theparticipating nations todemonstrate “our unwaveringdetermination to get Ukrainethe capabilities it urgentlyneeds to defends itesel.

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Aprivate company that usessatellites to spot sources of

methane emissions around theglobe said Wednesday that itdetected one of the largest arti-ficial releases of the potentgreenhouse gas ever seen, com-ing from a coal mine in Russiaearlier this year.

Montreal-based GHGSatsaid one of its satellites, knownas Hugo,' observed 13 methaneplumes at the Raspadskaya minein Siberia on January 14. Theincident likely resulted in about90 metric tons of methane beingbelched into the atmosphere inthe space of an hour, the com-pany calculated.

“This was a really, really dra-matic emission," Brody Wight,GHGSat's director of energy,landfills and mines told TheAssociated Press.

Cutting down methaneemissions caused by fossil fuelfacilities has become a priorityfor governments seeking to takequick, effective steps againstclimate change. That is becausemethane is powerful heat-trap-ping gas second only to carbondioxide, which stays in theatmosphere for longer.

GHGSat said the plumes

detected at Raspadskaya mayhave been released intentional-ly, as a safety measure, since thegas can seep out of mines andignite with potentially deadlyoutcomes. Two methane explo-sions and a fire killed 91 peopleat this mine in 2010, one of theworst such disasters in post-Soviet times.

Companies can prevent theuncontrolled release of methanethrough best practices. Capturedgas can be burned as fuel, less-ening its global-warmingimpact.

GHGSat said it measuredfurther plumes over the mineduring subsequent flyovers thefollowing weeks, though thesedidn't reach the same “ultraemission” scale seen on January

14. “Even if it is only for a shortperiod of time it doesn't takelong for this to be a significantemission," said Wight.

Manfredi Caltagirone, whoheads the International MethaneEmissions Observatory at theUN Environment Program, saidhe was not aware of any biggerrelease of methane from a coalmine.

“If this event is the result ofan accumulation of methanethat has been then released all atonce instead of over severaldays, the environmental impactwould be the same as if a small-er plume was to be released con-stantly over several days,” saidCaltagirone, who wasn'tinvolved in the GHGSat obser-vation.

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The truck driver had the radio on, hisdaughter's stuffed toy keeping him

company, and was bouncing his lum-bering vehicle down one of the innu-merable dirt tracks in Ukraine that arevital thoroughfares in the country's vast

agricultural heartlands.Then the right rear wheel hit a Soviet-era

TM-62 anti-tank mine. The explosion blewVadym Schvydchenko and his daughter's toyclean out of the cabin. The truck, and his liveli-hood, went up in flames.

Astoundingly, the 40-year-old escapedwith just minor leg and head wounds. Othershaven't been so lucky. Russia's war in Ukraineis spreading a deadly litter of mines, bombsand other explosives.

They are killing civilians, disruptingplanting, complicating the rebuilding ofhomes and villages, and will continue takinglives and limbs long after the fighting stops.

Often, blast victims are farmers andother rural workers with little choice but touse mined roads and plow mined fields, in acountry relied on for grain and other cropsthat feed the world.

Schvydchenko said he'll steer clear of dirttracks for the foreseeable future, althoughthey're sometimes the only route to fields andrural settlements. Mushroom-picking in thewoods has also lost its appeal to him.

“I'm afraid something like this can hap-pen again,” he said.

Ukraine is now one of the most minedcountries in Europe. The east of the country,fought over with Russia-backed separatistssince 2014, was already contaminated bymines even before the Feb. 24 invasion mul-tiplied the scale and complexity of the dan-gers both there and elsewhere.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service saidlast week that 300,000 square kilometers —the size of Arizona or Italy — need to becleared. The ongoing fighting will onlyexpand the area.

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Singapore ForeignMin to attend SpecialASEAN-India meet

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Israel is looking to U.S.President Joe Biden's Mideast

trip next month to bolster itsefforts to normalise relationswith Saudi Arabia, a countrywith which it does not haveofficial ties, according to Israel'sforeign minister.

Yair Lapid spoke a dayafter the White Houseannounced the whirlwind tripto Israel and the West Bank fol-lowed by a flight to SaudiArabia.

At a news conference inJerusalem, Lapid was askedabout his expectations fromBiden's expected stop in thekingdom and first said he did-n't want to “steal the show fromthe president's visit.”

But he said Saudi Arabiaand Israel, as well as the widerMiddle East, are under threatfrom Iran's nuclear capabilities.

“Everybody's looking toSaudi Arabia these days for sev-eral reasons,” Lapid said.

“The fact that the presi-dent's going to fly directlyfrom here to Saudi Arabia isprobably signifying that thereis a linkage between the visitand the ability to improve rela-tions,"

Israeli leaders have long

said they want to add countriesto the four Arab states -Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco andthe United Arab Emirates ---that established diplomatic tieswith Israel known as theAbraham Accords.

“There is a list of targetcountries: Saudi is first amongthem,” along with other nationssuch as Indonesia, he toldreporters.

Asked whether therewould be an Israeli official onthe plane to the kingdom,Lapid said he didn't know, butjoked that the president's planeis “a big aircraft,” so therewould be room.

Israel and Saudi Arabia donot have official diplomaticrelations, but have shared clan-destine security ties over ashared enmity of regional arch-rival Iran.

It has long been rumoured

to be among the Arab statesconsidering the establishmentof open ties with Israel.

In 2020, then-Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahureportedly flew to Saudi Arabiafor a meeting with CrownPrince Mohammed binSalman.

That purported meetingcame shortly after Israel hadestablished full relations withthe United Arab Emirates,Bahrain and Sudan as part ofthe U.S.-brokered “AbrahamAccords.”

A similar normalisationagreement was later inked withMorocco.

Saudi Arabia's KingSalman has been a longtimesupporter of the Palestiniansand their desire to establish anindependent state in the WestBank, Gaza Strip and eastJerusalem.

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The European Union islaunching legal action

against the UK in response toBritain's unilateral moves to ripup parts of the post-Brexitdeal between both sides, offi-cials said Wednesday, But theEuropean Commission, thebloc's executive branch, insist-ed it remained open to findinga joint solution outside of thecourts.

The proposed UK bill seeksto remove customs checks onsome goods entering NorthernIreland from the rest of the UK.That will override parts of thetrade treaty that Prime MinisterBoris Johnson signed with theEU less than two years ago.

The EU believes that theUK's unilateral decision is vio-lating international law and isunacceptable. EuropeanCommission Vice PresidentMaroš Šefcovic told a newsconference in Brussels that he'swilling to keep talks going withthe U.K. In bringing long-termcertainty to people and busi-nesses in Northern Ireland, but

insisted solutions should befound within the so-calledNorthern Ireland Protocol.

The protocol is the part ofthe Brexit deal which keepsNorthern Ireland in the EU'ssingle market for goods.

Šefcovic, however, didn'texclude imposing tariffs on U.K.Goods in the future if the disputecan't be settled.

The 27-nation bloc said itwill restart the infringementprocedure launched against theU.K. Government last year afterBritain unilaterally extended agrace period that applies totrade on the island of Ireland.

The action had been put on holdin September 2021 as both par-ties tried to find joint solution,but the EU says it is forced torelaunch the action because ofthe impossibility to hold con-structive talks with British coun-terparts. “There have been onlynew and new demands comingfrom the U.K. Government,"Šefcovic said. In addition, theEU will kick off further actionagainst the U.K. For a perceivedfailure to carry out necessarycontrols under the EU rules, andto provide trade statistics data asrequired under the protocol.

The U.K. Government saidits proposed measures will easethe impact on businesses by can-celing checks and reducingpaperwork for goods comingfrom Britain into NorthernIreland and which are stayingthere. Goods moving intoIreland or the EU market wouldcontinue to be checked.

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Sri Lankan Navy onWednesday arrested 64

persons, who were suspect-ed to be attempting to ille-gally migrate from the coun-try via sea routes, during aspecial operation in the east-ern seas.

The Navy intercepted asuspicious local f ishingtrawler, during a patrol offTrincomalee. After search, itapprehended 64 persons,believed to be illegal immi-grants heading to a foreigncountry by sea, along withthe fishing trawler used forthe illegal activity, a Navyrelease said. Among theapprehended individualswere 50 men, 11 women andthree children. They comefrom Jaffna in the north,Trincomalee in the east andfrom the northeastern regionof Mullaithivu.

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The new I2U2 grouping ofIndia, Israel, the UAE and

the US will hold its first virtu-al summit next month as partof the Biden administration'sefforts to re-energise and revi-talise American alliances acrossthe world, according to theWhite House.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, US President Joe Biden,Israeli Prime Minister NeftaliBennett and UAE PresidentMohammed bin Zayed AlNahyan would attend the first-of-its-kind virtual summit ofthe I2U2 grouping next monthfor discussions of the foodsecurity crisis and other areasof cooperation, it said onTuesday. The virtual summit ofthe four countries would takeplace during Biden's trip to theMiddle East region from July13 to 16, a senior administra-tion official told reporters dur-ing a conference call.

President Biden looks for-ward to this unique engage-

ment with Prime MinisterBennett, Prime Minister Modiand President Mohammed binZayed, the official said.

State Departmentspokesperson Ned Price, dur-ing his daily news conferenceon Tuesday, told reporters thateach of these countries aretechnological hubs.

“India is a massive con-sumer market. It is a massiveproducer of high-tech andhighly sought-after goods as

well. So, there are a number ofareas where these countriescan work together, whether itstechnology, trade, climate,COVID-19, and potentiallyeven security as well,” he said.

“Part of our approach fromthe start is not only to revitaliseand re-energise our system ofalliances and partnershipsaround the world, but also tostitch together partnershipsthat did not exist previously orwere not utilised to their full

extent,” Price said.“Biotechnology is also

prominent. Deepening tradeand economic ties betweenthese countries is in our inter-est when it comes to the rela-tionship between Israel and theUAE. That is something wehave sought to deepen. Thesetwo countries have deepenedtheir relationship in recentyears, including in the eco-nomic realm,” he said.

Biden will visit the MiddleEast region from July 13 to July16 with stops in Israel, the WestBank and Saudi Arabia, andengagements with nearly adozen counterparts from acrossthe region and beyond.

“The first stop is Israel.This will be President Biden'sfirst visit to the country asPresident, and it comes nearly50 years after his first visit toIsrael as a young senator,” saidthe official.

During the trip, Biden willengage with nearly a dozen ofhis counterparts in three stops-- Israel, the West Bank, and

Saudi Arabia.It is part of this clear

sequence of global engage-ments at an importantmoment, the official said.

“It demonstrates, webelieve, the return of Americanleadership to bring countriestogether to address commonthreats and challenges, some-thing the US can uniquely do.

“And with new frameworksthat aim to harness uniqueAmerican capabilities to enablepartners to work more closelytogether, which is essential toa more secure, prosperous andstable Middle East region overthe long term,” the officialsaid. Biden's visit will also focuson Israel's increasing integra-tion into the region, boththrough the Abraham Accordswith the UAE, Morocco andBahrain; through deepeningties between Israel, Jordan andEgypt; and also entirely newgroupings of partners, includ-ing Israel, India, the UAE, andthe United States -- what theycall I2U2, said the official.

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New York's highest courtrejected former President

Donald Trump's last-ditch effortto avoid testifying in the stateattorney general's civil investi-gation into his business practiceson Tuesday, clearing the way forhis deposition next month.

The state's Court of Appealssaid there was no “substantialconstitutional question” thatwould warrant its interventionin the matter following an inter-mediate appellate court's rulinglast month enforcing a subpoe-na for Trump's testimony.

The court also dismissed amotion by Trump's lawyers tostay the subpoenas, saying thatdoing so would be “academic,”since it wasn't taking up the for-mer president's appeal in the firstplace.

Trump and his two eldestchildren, Ivanka and DonaldTrump Jr., agreed last week toanswer questions under oathstarting July 15 unless the Courtof Appeals decided to step in.

A messages seeking com-ment on Tuesday's ruling wassent to Trump's lawyer. Alan

Futerfas, a lawyer for Ivanka andDonald Trump Jr, declined com-ment. A message was also leftwith a spokesperson forAttorney General Letitia James.

The appellate division of thestate's trial court ruled May 26

that the Trumps had to under-go a deposition, upholding alower court's ruling that James'office had “the clear right” toquestion Trump and certainother figures in his company, theTrump Organization.

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US Rep. Tom Rice of SouthCarolina has been ousted

from Congress in hisRepublican primary after vot-ing to impeach Donald Trumpover the January 6 insurrec-tion.

He is the first of the 10House Republicans who votedto impeach Trump to lose areelection bid. Rice, a five-termcongressman, was defeatedon Tuesday by state Rep.Russell Fry, who was endorsedby Trump. Rice was a strongsupporter of Trump's policiesin Washington but said he was

left no choice but to impeachTrump over his failure to calmthe mob that violently soughtto stop the certification of JoeBiden's victory. US Rep. NancyMace of South Carolina alsoangered Trump, but she soughtto make amends and won herGOP primary over her ownTrump-backed challenger.

In other races on Tuesday,Democratic Rep. Dina Titus inNevada handily defeated herprogressive challenger, whileRepublican Rep. MarkAmodei won his primaryagainst a son of one of thestate's most famous sports fig-ures.

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Singapore's Minister forForeign Affairs Vivian

Balakrishnan will attend aSpecial ASEAN-India meet-ing in New Delhi and meet hiscounterpart S Jaishankar, theforeign ministry said here.

The minister will co-chairthe Special ASEAN-IndiaForeign Ministers' Meeting inNew Delhi with India'sExternal Affairs MinisterJaishankar on Thursday, anddeliver remarks at theMinisterial Session of the DelhiDialogue XII.

Incidentally, the meetingmarks the 30th anniversary ofASEAN-India DialogueRelations, Singapore's Ministryof Foreign Affairs said in astatement.

The ministers will discussways to strengthen theASEAN-India StrategicPartnership and exchangeviews on regional and interna-tional developments.

Balakrishnan, along withthe other ASEAN foreign min-isters and ASEAN secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi, will alsocall on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the statementsaid.

Page 10: ?` T`_dV_dfd Z_ @aa¶d ^VVe `_ AcVk a`]] aZT\ - Daily Pioneer

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Mumbai: Sliding for the fourthstraight day, the BSE Sensexshed 152 points in choppytrade on Wednesday amidmixed global cues ahead of theUS Federal Reserve’s policydecision.

The rupee tumbling to yetanother lifetime low against theUS dollar and unabated foreigncapital outflows also weighedon the bourses, traders said.

The BSE benchmark oscil-lated between gains and lossesin a range-bound session,before finally closing 152.18points or 0.29 per cent lower at52,541.39, an over 10-monthlow. The index has now lost2,778.89 points in four days.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty declined by 39.95 pointsor 0.25 per cent to end at15,692.15.

NTPC was the top laggardin the 30-share Sensex pack,declining 2.02 per cent, fol-lowed by Infosys, RelianceIndustries, Wipro, HUL, TechMahindra, PowerGrid andITC.

On the other hand, BajajFinserv, Bajaj Finance, TataSteel, Larsen & Toubro, SBI,Asian Paints and M&M wereamong the gainers, climbing asmuch as 4.24 per cent.

Telecom stocks were large-ly flat, with the BSE Telecom

index dipping 0.17 per cent,after the Union Cabinetapproved the auction of 5Gairwaves and gave its nod forsetting up of captive 5G net-works by big tech firms.

“Equity markets tradednervously ahead of the US Fedmeet outcome. While strengthwas seen in morning, sellingpressure in the second halfdragged the indices lower. Alleyes would be on the US Fedmeet outcome,” said AjitMishra, VP - Research, ReligareBroking Ltd.

Globally, investors wereawaiting the US Fed’s policy

decision later in the day amidexpectations of an aggressiverate hike to tame red-hot infla-tion.

“Looming fears of stagfla-tion and volatility ahead of theFed meeting decision forcedthe market to close flat with anegative bias.

“The aggressive rate hikeof 50-75 bps is mostly factoredby the market but updatedeconomic and interest rateforecasts to be detailed by thecentral bank will closely controlthe future trend,” said VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services. PTI

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Mumbai: Life InsuranceCorporation of India intro-duced a new plan DhanSanchay with effect from14.06.2022 which is NonLinked, Non-participating,Individual, Savings LifeInsurance Plan which offers acombination of protection andsavings. It provides Guaranteedincome Benefit during thePayout Period from the date ofMaturity, and GuaranteedTerminal Benefit payable withthe last instalment of GIB.

The plan is available for aterm of minimum 5 to maxi-mum 15 years. Plan providesLevel Income Benefit,Increasing Income Benefit,Single Premium Level IncomeBenefit & Single Premiumenhanced cover with Level

Income Benefit as per thechoice of the customer.

Maturity benefit shall bepayable in the form ofGuaranteed Income Benefitand Guaranteed Terminal

Benefit. The plan providesfinancial support for the fam-ily in case of unfortunate deathof the Life Assured during theterm of the policy after thecommencement of risk. PNS

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New Delhi: The panel of min-isters on GST rate rationalisa-tion is scheduled to meet onJune 17 to discuss possibletweaking in tax rates, sourcessaid.

The Group of Ministers(GoM) is likely to discuss pos-sible changes in the tax slab,they said, adding that the finalreport of the panel would takesome more time.

The GST Council, com-prising finance ministers ofthe Centre and states, is likelyto meet by the end of thismonth and will discuss, amongother things, the GoM interimreport on rate rationalisation.

The finance ministrysources had earlier said that

with inflation at a record high,there is hardly any scope forrationalisation of GST rates ongoods and services at present.

The council had last yearset up a 7-member panel ofstate ministers, headed byKarnataka Chief MinisterBasavaraj Bommai, to suggestways to augment revenue byrationalising tax rates. TheGoM had last met inNovember 2021.

The GoM has been man-dated to review items under aninverted duty structure to helpminimise refund payout andreview the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) exempt list toexpand the tax base and elim-inate the breaking of the inputtax credit (ITC) chain.

Under the GST, a four-ratestructure exempts or imposesa low rate of tax of 5 per centon essential items and levies atop rate of 28 per cent on lux-ury and demerit goods. Theother slabs of tax are 12 and 18per cent.

Besides, a cess is imposedon the highest slab of 28 percent on luxury, demerit and singoods. PTI

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New Delhi: The telecomindustry is expected to shell outaround �1-1.1 lakh crore on the5G auction, despite telcos’reservations over high spec-trum prices, ICRA said onWednesday but cautioned thatsector debt level is likely to risewith upcoming auctions.

The auction of over 72GHz of the spectrum is set tocommence on July 26, 2022.

According to Icra, giventhe relaxed payment terms forthe auction, the upfront outgois likely to be around �10,000crore for the industry.

It said industry ARPU(Average Revenue Per User) isexpected to increase to �170 by

the end of FY2023, driven bytariff hikes and consistent up-gradation of subscribers.

“While telecom operatorsconsider reserve prices to bevery high, nonetheless Icraexpects telcos to buy spec-trum worth around �1-1.1 lakh

crore in these auctions, whichwill be primarily towards devel-oping 5G capabilities but alsoplugging other gaps,” it said ina statement.

While the upfront pay-ment may remain low as Traihas recommended an elongat-ed payment plan, the totaldebt on the industry is likely toincrease, which is expected tokeep the debt metrics sub-dued, the rating agencyexplained.

ICRA’s comments came inthe wake of the Cabinetapproval for the auction ofairwaves capable of offeringfifth-generation or 5G tele-com services, including ultra-high-speed internet. PTI

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Geneva: The four-day 12thMinisterial Conference(MC12) of the WTO has beenextended by one day tillThursday to facilitate outcomeson the main issues under dis-cussion.

According to a statementby the WTO (World TradeOrganisation), following theconsultations by WTODirector-General NgoziOkonjo-Iweala with MC12chair Timur Suleimanov, thevice chairs and the ministerfacilitators, delegations wereinformed that the conferencewill be extended till June 16.

At the meeting of heads ofdelegations late on June 14, DGOkonjo-Iweala called on mem-bers to go the extra mile to findconvergence on the variousissues at stake at the minister-ial gathering and to be mind-ful that time is running out toconclude meaningful agree-ments, it added.

The conference was ini-tially scheduled to close onWednesday. PTI

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New Delhi: The Governmentis looking to hire a new chair-man of National Bank forAgriculture and RuralDevelopment (Nabard) toreplace GR Chintala, who willbe demitting office on August1. Chintala was appointed asthe Nabard Chairman in May2020.

Even those working in pri-vate sector banks and financialinstitutions and organisationsin agriculture, cooperative andrural development sectors, withrelevant experience will be eli-gible for the appointment. PTI

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New Delhi: India’s petrol con-sumption jumped by 54 percent and that of diesel soaredby 48 per cent in the first fort-night of June from a year ear-lier with continuing demandrecovery from a relatively lowbase in 2021 when the world’sthird-biggest oil user was in thegrip of the second wave ofCovid-19.

Petrol sales by state-ownedfuel retailers, which controlroughly 90 per cent of the mar-ket, at 1.28 million tonnesbetween June 1 and 14 was 54.2per cent higher than the same

period last year when a devas-tating second Covid-19 wavewreaked havoc on the econo-my.

This consumption was 48.2per cent higher than thedemand in the first fortnight ofJune 2020 and 25 per cent morethan the 1.02 million tonnes ofsales in the pre-Covid June2019. Month-on-month saleswere up 0.8 per cent, prelimi-nary industry data showed onWednesday.

Diesel, the most-used fuelin the country, saw sales jump-ing 47.8 per cent year-on-year

to 3.4 million tonnes betweenJune 1-14. This was 37.3 percent higher than the corre-sponding period of June 2020and 20.3 per cent more than the

pre-Covid 2019 period. It was12 per cent higher than the 3.03million tonnes of consumptionduring May 1-14 this year.

Industry sources said con-

sumption in June was higherbecause demand returned afterhigh prices in the previousmonth impacted sales. Alsoaiding the demand was the startof the harvesting season.

Another factor was the lowbase effect.

Cooking gas, whose priceswere hiked by �103.50 percylinder since March, saw salesrising by 4.21 per cent to 1.06million tonnes in the first fort-night of June. This was 20.3 percent higher than 2020 and28.1 per cent more than June 1-14, 2019. PTI

New Delhi: Gold prices in thenational capital rose by �3 to�50,304 per 10 grams in linewith a jump in internationalprecious metal prices, accord-ing to HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theyellow metal settled at �50,301per 10 grams.

Silver also gained �304 to�60,016 per kg from �59,712per kg in the previous trade.

In the international mar-ket, gold was trading higher atUSD 1,820 per ounce and sil-ver was trading flat at USD21.35 per ounce.

“Gold prices traded firm

with spot gold prices atCOMEX trading up at USD1,820 per ounce on Wednesday.Gold prices halted decline withweaker dollar and fall in USbond yields,” said Tapan Patel,Senior Analyst (Commodities)at HDFC Securities. PTI

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New Delhi: India’s merchan-dise exports in May rose by20.55 per cent to USD 38.94billion, while the trade deficitballooned to a record USD24.29 billion, according to thegovernment data released onWednesday.

Imports during May 2022grew by 62.83 per cent to USD63.22 billion, the data showed.

The trade deficit stood atUSD 6.53 billion in the samemonth last year.

Cumulative exports inApril-May 2022-23 rose byabout 25 per cent to USD78.72 billion.

Imports in April-May2022-23 increased 45.42 percent to USD 123.41 billion.

The trade deficit during the

first two months of this fiscalwidened to USD 44.69 billionagainst USD 21.82 billion in theyear-ago period.

Petroleum and crude oilimports during May 2022surged 102.72 per cent to USD19.2 billion.

Coal, coke and briquettesimports jumped to USD 5.5 bil-lion against USD 2 billion inMay 2021.

Gold imports increased toUSD 6 billion during themonth under review from USD677 million in May 2021.

Engineering goods exportsin May increased by 12.65 percent to USD 9.7 billion, whilepetroleum products exportsgrew by 60.87 per cent to USD8.54 billion. PTI

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New Delhi: The spectrum auc-tion for 5G services marks thebeginning of a new era forIndian telecom,Communications MinisterAshwini Vaishnaw said onWednesday.

The comment assumes sig-nificance as the Union Cabinethas approved the modalities forholding 5G spectrum auction,and 72 GHz of radio waves willbe put on the block by July-end.

Spectrum auction willcommence on July 26, 2022.

The Cabinet also decidedto enable the development andsetting up of ‘Private CaptiveNetworks’ to spur a wave ofinnovation in new-age indus-try applications such asmachine-to-machine commu-nications, Internet of Things(IoT), Artificial Intelligence(AI) across automotive, health-care, agriculture, energy, andother sectors.

“The beginning of a newera for Indian Telecom. 5Gspectrum auction announced,”Vaishnaw tweeted.

Continuing the telecomreforms agenda, developmentand setting up of PrivateCaptive Networks will beenabled, he wrote. PTI

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New Delhi: India has wit-nessed the sharpest rise amongthe Asian economies, with asix-position jump from 43rd to37th rank on the annual WorldCompetitiveness Index com-piled by the Institute forManagement Development,largely due to gains in eco-nomic performance.

Denmark has moved to thetop of the 63-nation list fromthe third position last year,while Switzerland slipped fromthe top ranking to the secondposition and Singaporeregained the third spot fromfifth, a global study showed onWednesday.

Others in the top 10include Sweden at the fourthposition, followed by HongKong SAR (5th), theNetherlands (6th), Taiwan(7th), Finland (8th), Norway(9th) and the USA (10th).

Meanwhile, the top-per-forming Asian economies areSingapore (3rd), Hong Kong(5th), Taiwan (7th), China(17th) and Australia (19th).

After a stable but stagnantfive years, 2022 witnessed sig-nificant improvement in thecompetitiveness of the Indianeconomy, IMD said, addingthat this is largely due to gainsin economic performance(from 37th to 28th).

The domestic economy hasexperienced a stratosphericrise from 30th to 9th positionin a year, Institute forManagement Development(IMD) noted.

The labour market, a keysub-factor in the business effi-

ciency parameter, moved upfrom 15th to 6th, while man-agement practices and businessattitudes and values also mademajor leaps.

“With Prime MinisterNarendra Modi having mademajor improvements in thecontext of retrospective taxes in2021, India appears to haverestored the trust of the busi-ness community.

Its re-regulation of a num-ber of sectors, including drones,space and geo-spatial map-ping, also likely played a role inthe country’s stellar perfor-mance in the 2022 WCR,”economists at IMD WorldCompetitiveness Centre said. PTI

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Kolkata: JSW Steel crude steelproduction in May on a stand-alone basis jumped 31 per centto 17.89 lakh tonnes, the com-pany said on Wednesday.

The crude steel output inMay of FY’21 was 13.67 lakhtonnes. The flagship companyof the USD 22 billion JSWGroup stated that production offlat-rolled products alsoexpanded by 29 per cent to12.84 lakh tonnes for the monthcompared to 9.99 lakh tonnes

in the same month last fiscal.While the production of

long items rose by 25 per centon y-o-y basis to 3.86 lakhtonnes for the month of May2022. The production in thesame month last year was 3.09lakh tonnes.

Currently, JSW Steel has aninstalled annual crude steelcapacity of 18 million tonnes inIndia, which comprises 12.5MTPA of flat products and 5.5MTPA of long products. PTI

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Mumbai: The rupee plunged13 paise to close at a fresh all-time low of 78.17 (provisional)against the US dollar onWednesday, as a lacklustre trendin domestic equities and per-sistent foreign fund outflowsweighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the localcurrency opened at 77.99 andfinally settled at its all-time lowof 78.17, down 13 paise over itsprevious close of 78.04.

“Expectation is that UScentral bank could raise ratesby 50 bps. Hawkish comments

could continue to keep the dol-lar supported at lower levels.Major crosses remained underpressure following broad gainsin the dollar,” said GaurangSomaiya, Forex & BullionAnalyst, Motilal OswalFinancial Services.

Somaiya added, “Weexpect the USD-INR to tradewith sideways and quote in therange of 77.70 and 78.40.”

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell 0.64 per cent to 104.84. PTI

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Russian and Belarusian play-ers will be allowed to com-

pete at the US Open this year butonly as neutrals, the UnitedStates Tennis Association(USTA) announced on Tuesday,a decision that stands in starkcontrast to Wimbledon whichbanned them.

Wimbledon's move to ban

them from the tournamentwhich begins later this monthprompted the men's ATP andwomen's WTA Tours to strip thegrasscourt Grand Slam of itsranking points.

Wimbledon's decision pre-vents players such as men'sworld number one DaniilMedvedev of Russia from play-ing at the All England LawnTennis Club (AELTC) but the

USTA said Russian andBelarusian players would bewelcome at Flushing Meadows.

"Alongside the other GrandSlams, the ITF, the ATP and theWTA, the USTA, which ownsand operates the US Open, haspreviously condemned, andcontinues to condemn, theunprovoked and unjust invasionof Ukraine by Russia," the USTAsaid. "The USTA... supported thebanning of the Russian andBelarusian Tennis Federationsfrom the ITF, and therefore allinternational team competi-tions, and the directive for play-ers from those countries to playunder a neutral flag when com-peting outside of internationalteam competitions."

The USTA's decision willallow Medvedev to defend hismaiden Grand Slam title after hebeat Novak Djokovic in thefinal last year to deny the Serba calendar year Grand Slam.

Players from Russia andBelarus were allowed to play atthe French Open too.

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Costa Rica became the last team to qual-ify for this year's World Cup as Joel

Campbell's early goal gave the CentralAmericans a nervy 1-0 win over NewZealand in a play-off on Tuesday.

Former Arsenal forward Campbellnetted in the third minute in Doha andNew Zealand, who were reduced to 10 men

in the second half, could not find anequaliser despite dominating for longperiods.

Costa Rica will face Germany, Spainand Japan in a tough Group E at the tour-nament which starts in Qatar in November.

Victory put Costa Rica into their thirdstraight World Cup and sixth in total. Theirbest effort so far was a surprise run to thequarter-finals in 2014.

New Zealand striker Chris Wood hadwhat he thought was a leveller ruled outby VAR shortly before half-time at theAhmad bin Ali Stadium due to a foul ear-lier in the move.

The Kiwis also saw Kosta Barbarousessent off, barely eight minutes after com-ing on as a substitute, for a challenge onCosta Rica's Francisco Calvo. That deci-sion was also changed by VAR after he hadinitially been shown a yellow card.

Both sides had suffered badly from thepandemic upheaval.

The whole Oceania qualifying group,that New Zealand won to reach this play-off, was held behind closed doors in Qatarthis year because of the coronavirus.

Costa Rica star Bryan Ruiz wentdown with Covid-19 two weeks beforeTuesday's game and the team had to denyaccusations that they played two infectedplayers against Jamaica in January.

New Zealand's neighbours Australiatook the 31st qualifying spot in the samestadium on Monday when they beat Peru5-4 on penalties.

The first World Cup in an Arabnation starts in Qatar on November 21,with the final on December 18.

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England are staring rele-gation from the top tierof the Nations League inthe face after a 4-0

thrashing by Hungary onTuesday inflicted the ThreeLions' heaviest home defeatsince 1928.

Hungary secured their firstwin over England for 60 years inBudapest 10 days ago and fol-lowed that up with their first winon English soil since a famous6-3 win at Wembley in 1953.

A double from Roland Sallaiand late goals from Adam Nagyand Daniel Gazdag keptHungary on course to reach theNations League finals next year.

Marco Rossi's men are notheaded to the World Cup inQatar, but lead Germany by apoint, with European championsItaly two points behind thegroup leaders with two games togo. England are three pointsadrift at the bottom of the sec-tion and need a revival inSeptember away to Italy andhome to Germany to avoid rel-egation.

However, of greater concernfor Gareth Southgate will be hisside's form just five monthsaway from the World Cup.

Southgate was the targetfor much of the scorn of the

home crowd in Wolverhamptondespite his record of leadingEngland to a first major tourna-ment final for 55 years at Euro2020 and the semi-finals of the2018 World Cup.

The only goal Southgate'smen have scored in four NationsLeague matches this month wasKane's late penalty in a 1-1 drawin Germany a week ago.

The return of a crowd atMolineux after Saturday's goal-less draw with Italy was playedbehind closed doors did little tospark England into life.

Fatigue at the end of a longseason that began just weeksafter losing the Euro 2020 finalto Italy has been blamed forEngland's lacklustre form.

However, there are majordefensive issues for Southgate toaddress before the World Cup.

John Stones rounded off amiserable evening when he washarshly sent off for a second yel-low card eight minutes fromtime. The Manchester City cen-

tre-back was also at fault for theopening goal as he turned a free-kick into Sallai's path, whoseshot had too much power forAaron Ramsdale.

Sallai produced anotherdeadly finish to doubleHungary's lead 20 minutes from

time when he latched ontoMartin Adam's inch-perfectpass to fire in betweenRamsdale's legs. Kane saw alooping header come back offthe bar as England briefly stirred.

But they were cut open atease on the counter-attack in the

closing stages as Hungarysecured a memorable win.

Nagy drilled home a pow-erful shot from the edge of thearea. Stones was then given hismarching orders before Gazdagbroke clear to rub salt inEngland's wounds.

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Memphis Depay scored an injury-timewinner just seconds after Gareth Bale

had equalised for Wales as the Netherlandssnatched a 3-2 Nations League victory onTuesday. The win in Rotterdam keeps Louisvan Gaal's men three points clear of Belgium,who won 1-0 against Poland in Warsaw, at thetop of Group A4.

Noa Lang put the Dutch in front in the17th minute with his first international goaland Cody Gakpo quickly made it two.

Brennan Johnson completed a spell ofthree goals in eight-and-a-half minutes by

pulling one back, before Bale came off thebench and scored a 92nd-minute penalty.

But home substitute Depay had the finalsay as the Netherlands made it three wins fromfour matches in the tournament.

Club Brugge forward Lang gave thehosts an early lead with a fine individual strike,turning the Welsh defence and drilling a pow-erful shot past goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

The advantage was doubled midwaythrough the first half as Gakpo scored afterhis initial effort was blocked.

But Wales hit back less than three min-utes later, as Dan James won the ball and fedNottingham Forest forward Johnson to score

for the second time in four days.Wales manager Robert Page introduced

Bale and Aaron Ramsey for his team who arestill looking for a first win in the group.

Bale netted a spot-kick after ConnorRoberts was fouled to score his 39th interna-tional goal and spark wild celebrations on theaway bench.

But Wales, who had also levelled in thereturn fixture against the Dutch in stoppagetime last week and then lost, did the sameagain.

The visitors were caught out as a ball intothe box was flicked on and Barcelona'sDepay reacted quickest to score.

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Germany equalled theirbiggest ever win over

European champions Italy asTimo Werner scored twice ina thumping 5-2 NationsLeague victory on Tuesday.

The result inMoenchengladbach matchedthe Germans' 5-2 triumphover the Azzurri at Berlin'sOlympic Stadium back in1939.

An early goal by JoshuaKimmich and IlkayGundogan's penalty atBorussia Park put the hosts 2-0 up before the floodgatesopened early in the secondhalf. Thomas Müller scoredhis 44th goal for Germany onhis 116th internationalappearance before Wernerscored twice in quick succes-sion.

Italy's consolation goalscame late on through 18-year-old striker WilfriedGnonto and AlessandroBastoni.

The result sees Germanymove second in Group A3 asprevious leaders Italy droppedto third, with Hungary topafter a shock 4-0 win overEngland in Wolverhampton.

Germany could onlyscramble a 1-1 draw thanks toa late Kimmich goal when thesides last met in Bologna inearly June, but this was a vast-ly improved performance.

Italy coach RobertoMancini paid the price formaking nine changes fromthe team which drew withEngland last weekend as onlyGianluigi Donnarumma andDavid Frattesi kept theirplaces in an experimentalside.

German coach HansiFlick made five alterations tothe team which drew withHungary in Budapest lastSaturday as Gundogan seizedhis chance on his return.

The Manchester City starbossed the Italian midfield,creating more space up front.

Germany took the leadwhen Werner andHoffenheim's David Raumcombined to set up Kimmich,who fired in on 10 minutes.

Italy conceded again justbefore half-time when Bastonibrought down JonasHofmann and Gundoganswept the resulting penaltypast Donnarumma.

Müller grabbedGermany's third goal when hedrilled a sloppy clearance intothe Italian net.

Werner punished the vis-itors with two goals inside aminute, as Serge Gnabry pro-vided both assists after slicingthrough the Italy defence.

Germany goalkeeperManuel Neuer, who had beenoutstanding all night, wasfinally beaten when heblocked a shot by FedericoDimarco into the path ofGnonto, then Bastoni headed in.

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UEFA are considering introducing a four-team mini-tournament at the start of each

season, just before the Champions Leaguegroup phase begins, European football's gov-erning body confirmed on Tuesday.

French sports daily L'Equipe reported thatUEFA were weighing up the idea of a compe-tition involving the winners of the previous sea-son's Champions League along with three other

leading clubs. L'Equipe reported that the ideawas included in the invitation to tender for thebroadcast rights for the new, expandedChampions League from 2024 to 2027.

UEFA said "it is an idea mentioned in thecall for bids, but nothing is decided".

A source with knowledge of the proposalsaid the mini-tournament would not necessar-ily mean more games.

The Champions League group stage isbeing expanded from the 2024/25 season to fea-ture 36 clubs, up from the current 32.

They will all be together in one pool witheach team playing eight matches, all against dif-ferent opponents, compared to eight groups offour teams playing six matches each at present.

Last month UEFA president AleksanderCeferin said that talks had taken place abouttransforming the UEFA Super Cup to make ita four-team competition rather than the cur-rent one-off match between the ChampionsLeague winners and Europa League winners.

Real Madrid will play Eintracht Frankfurt in this year's Super Cup in Helsinkion August 10.

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Jurgen Klopp said Liverpoolhad shown "decisiveness and

ambition in equal measure" toland Darwin Nunez for a fee thatcould rise to a club-record 100million euros (£85 million, $105million).

The Champions Leaguefinalists have splashed an initial75 million euros on the 22-year-old, with an extra 25 million inperformance-related add-onsaccording to figures released byBenfica.

That could take Nunez'smove beyond the £75 millionLiverpool paid for Virgil VanDijk in January 2018 and makehim the fifth most expensivetransfer in Premier League his-tory.

The Uruguayan scored 34goals in 41 appearances lastseason, including twice againstLiverpool in the ChampionsLeague quarter-finals.

"This is super news, reallysuper news," Klopp told theLiverpool website. "I'm verygrateful to everyone at the clubfor making it happen. We've

shown decisiveness and ambi-tion in equal measure.

"Darwin is a wonderful

player; already really good but somuch potential to get even bet-ter. "That's why it's so exciting,

to be honest. His age, his desire,his hunger to be even better thanhe currently is. His belief in ourproject and what we are lookingto do as a club."

Liverpool narrowly missedan unprecedented quadruple oftrophies last season.

Klopp's men lifted theLeague Cup and FA Cup, butlost out on the Premier Leaguetitle to Manchester City by onepoint and were beaten 1-0 byReal Madrid in the ChampionsLeague final.

And Nunez said he wants towrite himself into the club's sto-ried history.

"I'm really happy anddelighted to be here atLiverpool. It's a massive club,"said Nunez.

"When I arrived at thetraining ground, I was reallysurprised to see the set-up andthe structure and all the trophieshere. "You can then imagineyourself winning more trophiesand then later on when youcome here again and see the tro-phies on display, you can say,'Look, I was a part of that, I wasthere at that time, winning tro-

phies.' "That's one of the reasonswhy I came here to Liverpool -to win trophies and titles."

His arrival continuesKlopp's overhaul of Liverpool'sattacking options.

Luis Diaz made a hugeimpact in the second half of lastseason after a January movefrom Porto, while Diogo Jotahas scored 34 goals in the pasttwo seasons.

City have already signalledtheir intent to maintain theirdominance of the PremierLeague under Pep Guardiola bybeating Europe's top clubs to thesignature of prolific Norwegianstriker Erling Haaland fromBorussia Dortmund.

Liverpool will hope Nunezcan match Haaland's impact asthey aim to take the title off Citynext season.

"He plays without fear, he'spowerful. I know he will exciteour supporters," said Klopp.

"He has all the pieces welook for. He can set a tempo, hebrings energy, he can threatenspace from central and wideareas. He is aggressive anddynamic with his movement."

���� ���2�

Spain's women will have thesame pay for representing

their country as men, theSpanish football federationannounced on Tuesday.

The agreement will be forthe next five years and whilesalaries are not paid for play-ing for Spain, the deal ensuresmale and female players enjoythe same terms regardingbonuses and image rights.

Working conditions willalso be made equal, includingprovisions for travel, food andaccommodation.

"From now on, the playersof the national team will havean advance on bonuses, exact-ly the same as for the men'steam. We have closed an agree-ment for the next five years,"said the federation's presidentLuis Rubiales.

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ENGLAND TROUNCED BY HUNGARY

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Equal pay to begiven to Spain's menand women's teams

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AGlenn Maxwell masterclass has helpedAustralia pull off its greatest ODI run

chase against Sri Lanka.Maxwell's unbeaten 80 helped Australia

chase down a rain-revised target of 282 runsin a two wickets victory in Wednesday'sseries opener in Pallekele.

Australia had never chased down morethan 267 against Sri Lanka in an ODI before.

The visitors started out chasing a total of301 in 50 overs but a 90-minute rain breakreduced the innings to 44 overs with the vis-itors requiring 282 under DLS.

Maxwell, playing in his first ODI in 18-

months smashed six fours and six sixes to score80 not out off 51 balls after the visitors stut-tered against the bowling of spinner WaninduHasaranga who bagged four wickets.

Australia lost opener David Warner for aduck in the second over, leg before wicket toMaheesh Theekshana.

Fellow opener Aaron Finch scored 44 off41 balls before he was caught behind by KusalMendis off Hasaranga.

When rain halted play, the visitors were 73for two with Steve Smith and MarnusLabuschagne at the crease.

After play resumed, Labuschagne fell for24. Marcus Stoinis scored 44 off 31 balls. Smithmade 53 before he was clean bowled by DunithWellalage.

Alex Carey scored a quick 21 off 22 ballsand Pat Cummins, playing his first ODI after18 months with an injury, fell for a duck.

But Maxwell saw his team home, endingthe match with two consecutive sixes.

"I tried to be there as long as I could. Ithought it was a good opportunity to get therun rate down against the young spinner,"Maxwell said.

Sri Lankan skipper Dusan Shanakabemoaned too many short balls and full toss-es.

"300 is a winning total on this ground, butour bowling cost us the game," Shanaka said.

Earlier in the day, the hosts began theirinnings with solid batting performances byopeners Danushka Gunathilaka and PathumNissanka, who scored half centuries in theiropening stand of 115.

Both men hammered an Australian fast-bowling attack plagued by injuries before thevisitors caught Gunathilaka short of his creasewith a direct hit by Stoinis.

Nissanka top-edged a reverse sweep toAshton Agar to hand Finch a simple catch twoovers later.

Mendis anchored the innings with anunbeaten 86 off 87 balls to take the hosts to300.

The second ODI on Friday morning is atthe same venue.

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Wicket-keeper batter HardikTamore hogged the limelight

with a stroke-filled 115 to propelMumbai to 393 in their first inningson the second day of their RanjiTrophy semifinal against UttarPradesh, here on Wednesday.

In reply, Uttar Pradesh werereeling at 25 for two at stumps, hav-ing lost opener Samarth Singh (0) andPriyam Garg (5) early.

While the first day belonged toyoung Mumbai opener YashasviJaiswal, who had hammered his sec-ond first-class hundred, it was Tamoreshow on Wednesday at the JustAcademy ground.

Tamore, who was roped asreplacement for injured Aditya Tare,reposed the faith of the team manage-ment, and along with all-rounderShams Mulani (50) frustrated the UPattack after play commenced late dueto wet outfield.

But the UP bowlers, particular-ly left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar

(3/107) made a remarkable comebackas Mumbai lost their last four wick-ets for 47 runs.

Earlier, Tamore and Mulani duotook their time to settle down andonly punished the loose deliveries.

Mulani, resuming at hisovernight score of 10, played the per-fect second fiddle to Tamore, whonotched up his second first-class hun-dred.

Right-handed Tamore, whoresumed on unbeaten 51, anchoredthe innings after the domestic giantsbegan from their overnight score of260 for five. He and Mulani forged acrucial 113-run stand for the sixthwicket before Karan Sharma baggedhis third wicket to dismiss the latter.

Tamore, in his 233-ball knock,hammered as many as 12 boundariesand one maximum, while Mulanistruck five boundaries in his 50-ballknock before being caught byMadhav Kaushik.

Once Mulani fell, Tamore wasdevoid of partners as Tanush Kotian(22), Dhawal Kulkarni (0), Tushar

Deshpande (1) failed to provide himsupport.

Tamore was the last man to bedismissed after he fell to Kumar.

For UP, Karan Sharma (4/46)snared four wickets while Kumargrabbed three.

����%��'����2����Alur: Manoj Tiwary, veteran ofmany-a-fightback, in company of util-ity man Shahbaz Ahmed, kept Bengalalive as they reached 197 for five aftera top-order collapse against MadhyaPradesh, here on the second day.

At stumps, Tiwary (84 batting,182 balls) played his best knock of thisseason, while Shahbaz (72 batting,149 balls) was equally defiant as theyjoined forces at a precarious 54 for fiveand added 143 runs for the unbrokensixth wicket.

This was after a 64-run seventhwicket stand between centurionHimanshu Mantri (165, 372 balls)and Puneet Datey (33) took MadhyaPradesh to a more than respectablefirst inning score of 341.

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India's superstar javelin thrower NeerajChopra made a spectacular return to

competition after his historic Gold in theTokyo Olympics, a stunning throw of89.30m shattering his national recordand placing him second in a star-stud-ded field at the Paavo Nurmi Games inTurku, Finland, on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Chopra's first com-petitive event after just over 10 monthswas nothing short of extraordinary as henearly touched the coveted 90m mark,considered the Gold standard in theworld of javelin throw.

Chopra's earlier national recordwas 88.07m which he had set in Patialain March last year. He had won theTokyo Olympics Gold with a throw of87.58m on August 7, 2021. He openedwith an impressive 86.92m before send-ing the spear to 89.30m. His next three

attempts were fouls while he came upwith 85.85m in his sixth and final throw.

Finland's 25-year-old OliverHelander, who has a personal best of

88.02m and season's best of 80.36m, wasthe surprise Gold winner with a bestthrow of 89.83m which he produced inhis second attempt.

Chopra's 89.30m effort will take himto fifth spot in the world season leaders'list. Reigning world champion AndersonPeters of Grenada, the pre-event favouritewith his world leading monster throw of93.07m while winning Gold in theDoha Diamond League last month, wasthird with a best effort of 86.60m.

Chopra had said in recent mediainteractions that he would not put him-self under pressure with the thought ofthrowing beyond 90m and would lookto build up gradually to peak during theJuly 15-24 World Championships inEugene, USA.

Chopra will next take part in theKourtane Games in Finland on Saturdaywhere he is currently based. He will fea-ture in the Stockholm leg of theDiamond League on June 30. He hadearlier trained in the USA and Turkeybefore shifting base to Finland lastmonth.

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He hasn't been able totranslate his IPL forminto national colours butIndia opener Ruturaj

Gaikwad is not too worried as forhim it is all about "staying consis-tent mentally" and "trusting theprocess".

The 25-year-old fromMaharashtra has amassed 1207runs in 36 IPL matches so far butmanaged just 120 in six T20Is,including the maiden fifty that hescored in the third T20 againstSouth Africa here on Tuesday.

Asked if life is on the edge forhim, Gaikwad said: "Not really onthe edge, it is just part and parcelof the sport.

"Last year I had a really goodyear so people come with a lot ofexpectations when you have a greatyear even in IPL and domestic."

His form was patchy in the IPLthis year as well before he turnedthings around, scoring 368 runs,including three fifties in 14 match-es for Chennai Super Kings.

"In the IPL, the wicket wasslightly bowler-friendly. There wasno flat wicket, it was two-paced, theball was turning, and there wassome swing.

"So 3-4 games in IPL, I got outto good balls where in some dis-missals, some good shots went tothe fielder's hand, it is part of T20cricket.

"You will have off days and real-ly bad days. It is a matter of stay-ing consistent mentally, trustingyour process."

In the first two games, Gaikwadscored 23 and 1 to once again raisequestions on his ability as an open-er. However, he delivered when itmattered most, slamming a 35-ball57 studded with seven fours and

two maximums."Coming into the series as

well, the first two wickets I felt wereon the tacky side. It was stoppinga bit batting first in the last twogames but here the wicket wasgood, ball was coming into the bat,so I played my game.

"I changed nothing, mythought process, everything was thesame."

In the second T20I, India hadscored 148 for six with batters goingfor their shots despite losing wick-ets.

Shreyas Iyer had said that theteam will look to keep attackingeven if it loses wickets.

Gaikwad said: "Going after thebowlers was not about being reck-less or playing rash shots. I thinkwe as a batting unit have somestrength, certain shots we play asindividuals. It is about backing our-selves and putting pressure on thebowlers.

"Just making sure that you areshowing the intent, no matter if youare playing first ball or second ball,or you are set, even if you are bat-

ting at 30-40, if it is there in yourarea, in your strength, just have togo for it, that is what the thinkingis about."

There was hardly any timebetween the second and the thirdgame and Gaikwad said the teamjust looked to stick to what workedfor it and be slightly more con-scious about its bowling.

"The conversation was aboutstaying positive. We played reallywell in both the games. Therewere just some crunch momentswhere they played really well and

����� ��������

Senior opener KL Rahul is all setto miss the 'fifth' Test against

England in Birmingham nextmonth as he is unlikely to recoverfrom a groin injury that forced himout of the ongoing T20I seriesagainst South Africa.

"Rahul has not recovered fromhis groin injury. The Test squadmembers are assembling in Mumbaitoday and will fly out midnight.Rahul is not travelling with the team.He will take some more time torecover although he might appearin a fitness test during weekend.Chances of recovery aren't lookingbright," a BCCI official said.

All the players, except Pant, areleaving for England early Thursdayfor the July 1-5 contest, notablebeing skipper Rohit Sharma, ViratKohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, JaspritBumrah and Mohammed Shami.

It is understood that since thereis only one Test match, which is aspill-over from the 2021 series, theselectors are still not thinking aboutKL Rahul's replacement as of now.

"You have Shubman Gill, whohas opened in most of his Testmatches. Else, Cheteshwar Pujaracan also open the batting, in casethere is any fitness issues for any ofthe two openers. It was a 17-mem-

ber squad and 16 will be going. Sothat's not a problem," the sourceadded.

����������%����������Indian Premier League winning

captain Hardik Pandya was deserv-ingly named skipper of the Indianteam for the two-match T20I seriesagainst Ireland in Dublin on June 26and 28.

The only new face in the side isMaharashtra right-hand batterRahul Tripathi, who was rewardedfor his stellar batting during this edi-tion of IPL where he scored more

than 400 runs for SunrisersHyderabad.

Pandya, who is Rishabh Pant'sdeputy in the current T20I seriesagainst South Africa, was elevatedto the leadership role and will jointhe Test squad in England after thecompletion of the home series.

Sanju Samson, whose profliga-cy has been well documented overthe years, gets another shot atredemption, as he made a comebackfor the series, having guidedRajasthan Royals to the IPL final.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has beennamed vice-captain for the series.

����� � 1�

India opener Ishan Kishanclimbed up 68 places to grab

the seventh spot among batters,while the bowling duo ofBhuvneshwar Kumar andYuzvendra Chahal also madegains in the latest ICC T20rankings released onWednesday.

Kishan, who has been oneof India's consistent perform-ers in the ongoing T20I homeseries against South Africa,aggregating 164 runs in threematches including two half-centuries, has made a massivejump to enter the top 10 amongT20 batters.

The 23-year-old is the loneIndian batter in the top 10 withKL Rahul occupying the 14spot.

Among bowlers,Bhuvneshwar is up seven placesto 11th while leg-spinnerChahal has climbed up fourplaces to 26th.

Australia's Josh Hazlewood

has regained his number onespot among T20 bowlers, whileMaheesh Theekshana of SriLanka is up 16 places to eighthin the list.

In the Test rankings, pacespearhead Jasprit Bumrah hasmoved a spot to third, behindcompatriot RavichandranAshwin, who remains static onnumber two.

England's Joe Root is backat the top after smashing a sec-ond successive century in theongoing ICC World TestChampionship series againstNew Zealand.

Root, who had reachedwithin striking distance ofMarnus Labuschagne after thefirst Test, has wrested back thetop spot from the Australia bat-ter, whom he now leads by fiverating points.

����� �/�2��

India's Lakshya Sen andKidambi Srikanth crashed out

in the opening round of theIndonesia Open badmintontournament after losing instraight games, here onWednesday.

While world No 8 Sen lostto compatriot H S Prannoy 10-21, 9-21 in an all-India firstround clash, world No 11Srikanth, who was making acomeback after nearly a month,was stunned by 41st rankedBrice Leverdez of France 21-23,10-21.

Sen, who is in red hot form,clinched his first-ever Super500 title this year. The 20-year-old reached the finals of the pres-

tigious All EnglandChampionships and was alsopart of the Indian men's teamthat lifted the historic ThomasCup crown.

In the doubles action, theduo of M R Arjun and DhruvKapila opened their accountwith a win, getting the better ofhigher ranked Japanese pair ofKelichiro Matsui and YoshinoriTakeuchi 27-25, 18-25, 21-19.

However, it was curtains forthe women's duo of AshwiniBhat and Shikha Gautam, losing9-21, 10-21 to China's ZhangShu Xian and Zheng Yu in just28 minutes.

The campaign also endedfor another women's pairing ofHaritha M Harinarayan andAshna Noy.

���� ��������

The DY Patil Stadium in NaviMumbai will host the summit

clash of the U-17 Women's WorldCup on October 30 while the semi-finals will be played in Goa, FIFAand Local Organising Committee(LOC) announced on Wednesday.

Bhubaneswar is set to hostIndia's three group stage matchesbeginning on October 11.

The official draw will takeplace on June 24th.

The 24 group stage games willconclude on October 18 and thematches will be shared among allthree host states - Odisha, Goa andMaharashtra.

The quarter-final round ofgames will be held on October 21and 22 following which the semi-finals will be held on October 26.

The Kalinga Stadium inBhubaneswar will see hosts India

compete in all three group stagegames on October 11, 14 and 17.

Meanwhile, the DY PatilStadium in Navi Mumbai and thePandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium inFatorda will equally share the fourquarterfinal games.

A total of 32 games contestedby 16 teams will decide the winnerof the seventh edition of the bien-nial youth tournament over 10match-days, with each venue host-ing double headers on each match-day.

Promoting women in leader-ship, the LOC has equipped theIndian footballing ecosystem with162 female coaches in the grassrootsthrough its legacy initiative, theCoach Education ScholarshipProgramme. Further editions ofboth, the coaching programmeand the football carnival, areplanned in the lead up to the 11thOctober kick off.

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overtook us. So it was just that theybatted really well, but today theyhad a batting collapse.

"Coming here, we just wanted

to stick to what we did in the lasttwo games and look to improve asa group. Bowling-wise, we wereslightly more aware of the game,

there was more awareness and thatworked well for us."

India will face South Africa inthe 4th T20 on Friday.

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Root new No.1 batter in Tests

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