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A fter four days of inaction in the killing of nine, includ- ing four farmers under the wheels and lynching of 4 BJP men, in Lakhimpur Kheri, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested two accused and summoned Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Asheesh Mishra for ques- tioning. Mishra will be questioned in the Lakhimpur Kheri vio- lence, Lucknow Range IG Laxmi Singh told reporters on Thursday morning. Sources said the cops, who concentrated on preventing Opposition leaders from reach- ing the spot, acted after the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the State Government to submit status report on Friday mentioning of the inves- tigation made so far and if any of the named accused arrested. Interestingly after the apex court listed the matter for hearing on Thursday morning, the State Government on Wednesday announced the for- mation of a one-member judi- cial commission headed by a retired judge of the High Court. The commission led by Pradeep Kumar Srivastava has been asked to submit a report within two months. The Yogi Adityanath Government’s decision to appoint the single-person com- mission came three days after it had announced that a retired High Court judge will investi- gate the violence. Sources from Lakhimpur confirmed that to show some visible “investigation” in the status report to be submitted on Friday, the police arrested two persons identified as Luvkush Rana and Ashish Pandey. The police said the two arrested are close aides of Asheesh and more raids are going on to arrest the prime accused. Half-a-dozen other sus- pects have been detained for interrogation in the matter, disclosed a senior officer. Meanwhile, according to reports, Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Asheesh remained untraceable on Thursday. The cops claimed to have launched a hunt for him and had also served sum- mons on him to report at the local police station. Besides Asheesh, another high profile accused Ankit Das, whose name came up in one of the videos and who was allegedly present in his SUV, behind the Thar jeep of Asheesh, is untraceable. Ankit is the nephew of former BSP MP Akhilesh Das. Sources said Ankit is very close to Union Minister Ajay and was often seen with the Minister’s son Asheesh. It may be mentioned that the Lakhimpur Kheri violence has triggered a major political storm in Uttar Pradesh. The police have booked Asheesh on multiple charges, including murder and criminal conspiracy. The Opposition leaders are raising demand for the removal of the Union Minister. Mishra has been claiming that his son was not in the car which ran over the protesters. He claimed the driver lost the balance after stone pelting by the protesting farmers and then some protesters came under the car. Later, his driver, along with 3 others, was lynched by the protesting crowd and the car was set on fire, the Minister has claimed. I n a major security breach, “unidentified” terrorists shot dead a school principal and a teacher, both belonging to the minority community, inside a Government Boys Higher Secondary school located in the Idgah area of Srinagar Thursday morning. Gory images of both the teachers, lying in a pool of blood on the school campus, sent shock waves as they flood- ed various social media plat- forms in real-time. After killing the duo, the terrorists fled away without facing any resistance. Teachers belonging to the minority com- munity claimed no security personnel have been deployed across the majority of school buildings in Kashmir valley. The Centre has con- demned the targeted killing of civilians in Jammu & Kashmir and expressed concern about the cross-border terrorism. In a press briefing on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “What’s happening in Kashmir is strongly condemnable. Targeted killing of innocent people. We are concerned about cross-border terrorism. We will raise it at every meet- ing with all partners and make efforts that the international community should make in this regard.” Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level security meeting in his office to review the situation after a spate of targeted killing in Kashmir. T he number of people show- ing willingness for vacci- nation is on an increase, a sur- vey conducted by the online community platform LocalCircles has said. The sur- vey said only seven per cent of Indian adults are currently hesitant to get inoculated against Covid-19, the lowest vaccine hesitancy level in the country so far. Meanwhile, the vaccination drive in the country has been progressing at a robust pace. India has so far administered 92.63 crore doses of the Covid- 19 vaccine. As many as 6.93 crore doses are still available with the States/UTs. As the vac- cination drive picks up pace, the total number of adminis- tered doses is set to cross the 100-crore milestone in the next few days. According to Sachin Taparia, the founder of LocalCircles, they had received 12,810 responses from citizens - 67 per cent men and 33 per cent women - across 301 dis- tricts. The survey sought to understand from unvaccinated citizens their reasons for not taking the jab and their plan on getting inoc- ulated. P utting an end to the vaccine certification row, the UK on Thursday announced that Indians, fully vaccinated with Covishield vaccine, will no longer require to undergo quar- antine on their arrival in Britain from October 11. The announcement was made by British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis. “No quarantine for India travellers to the UK fully vac- cinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October. Thanks to the Indian Government for close cooperation over last month,” he said. In its latest travel guide- lines, the UK said the “red list” will reduce to seven countries and “proof of vaccination will be recognised from 37 new countries and territories”. It said the British Government extended the inbound vacci- nated arrivals system to a fur- ther 37 countries and territories across the globe including India, South Africa and Turkey. T he Supreme Court on Thursday sought a status report by Friday from the Uttar Pradesh Government in Lakhimpur Kheri violence and whether anyone has been arrested so far. Terming “unfortunate” the killing of nine people, includ- ing four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri incident, the apex court also sought details of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the judicial enquiry commission set up by the State Government. The incident, which trig- gered a major political storm with the Opposition parties accusing the BJP Government in UP of shielding the culprits, was heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana as a suo motu (on its own) case. “You yourself have pointed out, it has also been reported and it is in the letter petition, which we have received, that eight persons, some of them are farmers and one is a journalist and there are other persons also who have been killed. These all are unfortunate incidents in which different persons have been murdered,” the bench said. “We need to know who are the accused persons against whom you have registered the FIR and whether they have been arrested or not. Please explain this in your status report,” it said and fixed the case for hearing on Friday. The bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, started by saying, “Grievance is that you are not looking into it (incident) prop- erly and the FIR is not regis- tered properly,” Lawyer Garima Prasad, appearing for the State Government, also termed the incident as unfortunate and said an SIT and the judicial commission of inquiry have been set up by the Government and she may provide the details in the status report. “I can get details by tomorrow... The judi- cial commission of inquiry is being led by a former judge of the Allahabad High Court judge”, she said and sought a copy of the letter whose cog- nisance has been taken by the bench. “You also tell us about the status of the PIL before the Allahabad High Court in the case...Tomorrow we are listing. Get all the instructions,” the bench observed orally. During the brief hearing, the CJI referred to a message to the court. B JP president JP Nadda on Thursday announced a re- constituted 80-member National Executive of the party, dropping Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi, and Subramanian Swamy. The key decision-making body has not held its meet in the last two years. The next National Executive meeting will be held on November 7 in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Union Ministers, State leaders and veterans like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, are on the list. Varun has been backing agitating farmers’ demands going against the party line on the issue and had demanded the arrest of those responsible for running-over farmers in the Lakhimpur violence in UP and also went on to share a viral video. Besides Maneka and Varun, BJP president removed former Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh who was also opposing the three controversial Central farm laws. J harkhand on Thursday vac- cinated only about 75,000 residents against Covid-19, while the active caseload of the disease jumped past 100 on the day as fresh cases of coron- avirus infection outnumbered Covid recoveries by a fair mar- gin, figures compiled by the health department highlighted. According a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM), the state on Thursday reported at least 27 fresh Covid cases against only nine recoveries, and the active caseload reached a triple-digit figure of 101. Jharkhand, how- ever, did not report any casu- alties caused by the viral infec- tion on the day. At least 13 fresh Covid cases against four recoveries took the active caseload in Ranchi to 45, while nine cases of coronavirus infection against only three recoveries took the count of active caseload in East Singhbhum to 30, NHM data highlighted. Dhanbad reported two Covid cases against zero Covid recoveries on the day, while West Singhbhum, Khunti and Bokaro reported one fresh Covid case each. At least 11 of 24 districts in Jharkhand did not have active cases of Covid-19 by the end of Thursday. As per data com- piled by the NHM, as many as 43,330 residents were administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 on Thursday, while at least 33,496 beneficiaries received the sec- ond jab. Around 55,000 bene- ficiaries vaccinated on the day fell in the age bracket of 18 years to 44 years. As many as 1596 session sites were operational across the state on Thursday, indicat- ing that on an average only about 50 beneficiaries were inoculated in each of the ses- sion sites that opened their doors. According to officials spearheading the immunisa- tion drive in Jharkhand, each session site in the state has the capacity to administer vac- cines to at least 100 beneficia- ries daily, which is twice the number of vaccinations done on Thursday. Government data high- lighted that more than 8000 residents were administered vaccine jabs in Ranchi as well as in Dhanbad, while East Singhbhum managed to inoc- ulate hardly 5000-odd resi- dents on the day. As per gov- ernment records, more than 1.40 crore residents in Jharkhand have received at least one dose of vaccine against Covid-19 and at least 44 lakh of them have also received the booster dose. The state on Thursday test- ed swab samples of as many as 35,988 residents and 0.07 per cent of them were found infect- ed by SARS-CoV-2 virus. So far, over 3.48 lakh people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the state and 98.49 per cent of them have recovered, while 1.47 per cent of patients could not survive. T he incumbent government of Jharkhand led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren is com- mitted towards promoting new investments in the state by creating a favourable environ- ment for setting up new indus- tries in the state. The govern- ment is receptive to the prob- lems faced by existing indus- tries in the state and is com- mitted to revive old or deceased infrastructures. In this bid, the government launched Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2021 during the investors’ meet organized in New Delhi between 27 & 28 August 2021. On 13 September 2021, CM Hemant Soren took note of the plights of the Small, Micro & Medium enterprise indus- tries running in Jharkhand and directed senior officials of the Department of Industries to review all issues and take cor- rective action. “Our Government is ded- icated towards solving issues around MSMEs & small units as Jharkhand’s growth as a business-friendly investment destination needs the partici- pation of both domestic & external investors. I am direct- ing Dept of Industries to review all issues & take corrective actions”, he tweeted. As per the directions of the Chief Minister, different stake- holder departments have picked up pace in giving clear- ance for the establishment of new industrial units as well as clearance for consent to oper- ate. As per the week-wise date of ‘Consent to Establish’, given by Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board, available for September till the first week of October reflects the same. ‘Consent to Establish’ clearance is given by Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board to the industries seeking per- mission for the establishment of new industrial units. As per the record, 115 applications were pending clearance with JSPCB in the first week of September 2021. This has now come down to only 44 appli- cations pending for approval of ‘Consent to Establish’. Within one month, more than 71 applications have been approved and cleared for 'Consent to Establish'. In the case of ‘Consent to Operate’, more than 360 appli- cations were pending with JSPCB, in the first week of September. After strict direc- tions from the Chief Minister, this number has come down to 150, in the first week of October. More than 200 applications seeking Consent to Operate have been given approval. CTO is given to industries falling under categories of green (less pollution potential), orange (pollution poten- tial) and red (critically pollution potential) for a certain period of five years, 10 years and 15 years as per the industry requirements. Failing this may cause closure of the set up. As per the directions of the CM, Secretary, Department of Industries, Pooja Singhal had held a meeting with the mem- bers of JSIA, an umbrella orga- nization of the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises indus- tries of Jharkhand on 16 September 2021. During the meeting, Secretary Singhal took note of all the major issues faced by the industries and had assured them of every possible solution. She had directed officials of different stakeholder depart- ments to work at a fast pace to resolve all the issues faced by the enterprises operating in the state. “This is high time that we ensure that no industrial unit has to face any kind of problem in their operations due to lethargy of any Department. Strict directions have been delivered to every stakeholder department with regards to the directions from the hon- ourable Chief Minister. We are ranked 5th in Ease of Doing Business and to attract new investors we are working hard to ensure delivery of all clear- ances through the Single Window System. Jharkhand has been one of the most attractive destinations for the Mines & Mineral based indus- tries. With the launch of JIIPP 2021, we are including provi- sions for other focus sectors such as Textile, Agro-Food Processing, Pharma, EV and Electronic Manufacturing apart from others. We invite new investors to come and invest in Jharkhand, leverage the large skilled workforce of Jharkhand and run a hassle-free busi- ness, the government is here to support them,” said Singhal.

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After four days of inaction inthe killing of nine, includ-

ing four farmers under thewheels and lynching of 4 BJPmen, in Lakhimpur Kheri, theUttar Pradesh Police arrestedtwo accused and summonedUnion Minister Ajay Mishra’sson Asheesh Mishra for ques-tioning.

Mishra will be questionedin the Lakhimpur Kheri vio-lence, Lucknow Range IGLaxmi Singh told reporters onThursday morning.

Sources said the cops, whoconcentrated on preventingOpposition leaders from reach-ing the spot, acted after theSupreme Court on Thursdaydirected the State Governmentto submit status report onFriday mentioning of the inves-tigation made so far and if anyof the named accused arrested.

Interestingly after the apexcourt listed the matter forhearing on Thursday morning,the State Government onWednesday announced the for-mation of a one-member judi-cial commission headed by aretired judge of the High Court.The commission led byPradeep Kumar Srivastava hasbeen asked to submit a reportwithin two months.

The Yogi Adityanath

Government’s decision toappoint the single-person com-mission came three days afterit had announced that a retiredHigh Court judge will investi-gate the violence.

Sources from Lakhimpurconfirmed that to show somevisible “investigation” in thestatus report to be submitted onFriday, the police arrested twopersons identified as LuvkushRana and Ashish Pandey. Thepolice said the two arrested areclose aides of Asheesh andmore raids are going on toarrest the prime accused.

Half-a-dozen other sus-pects have been detained forinterrogation in the matter,disclosed a senior officer.

Meanwhile, according toreports, Union Minister ofState Ajay Mishra Teni’s sonAsheesh remained untraceableon Thursday. The cops claimedto have launched a hunt forhim and had also served sum-mons on him to report at thelocal police station.

Besides Asheesh, anotherhigh profile accused AnkitDas, whose name came up inone of the videos and who wasallegedly present in his SUV,behind the Thar jeep ofAsheesh, is untraceable. Ankitis the nephew of former BSPMP Akhilesh Das.

Sources said Ankit is very

close to Union Minister Ajayand was often seen with theMinister’s son Asheesh.

It may be mentioned thatthe Lakhimpur Kheri violencehas triggered a major political

storm in Uttar Pradesh. Thepolice have booked Asheesh onmultiple charges, includingmurder and criminal conspiracy.

The Opposition leaders areraising demand for the removalof the Union Minister.

Mishra has been claimingthat his son was not in the carwhich ran over the protesters.He claimed the driver lost thebalance after stone pelting bythe protesting farmers andthen some protesters cameunder the car.

Later, his driver, along with3 others, was lynched by theprotesting crowd and the carwas set on fire, the Minister hasclaimed.

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In a major security breach,“unidentified” terrorists shot

dead a school principal and ateacher, both belonging to theminority community, inside aGovernment Boys HigherSecondary school located in theIdgah area of SrinagarThursday morning.

Gory images of both theteachers, lying in a pool ofblood on the school campus,sent shock waves as they flood-ed various social media plat-forms in real-time.

After killing the duo, theterrorists fled away withoutfacing any resistance. Teachersbelonging to the minority com-munity claimed no securitypersonnel have been deployedacross the majority of school

buildings in Kashmir valley.

The Centre has con-demned the targeted killing ofcivilians in Jammu & Kashmirand expressed concern aboutthe cross-border terrorism.

In a press briefing onThursday, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said, “What’shappening in Kashmir isstrongly condemnable.Targeted killing of innocent

people. We are concernedabout cross-border terrorism.We will raise it at every meet-ing with all partners and makeefforts that the internationalcommunity should make inthis regard.”

Meanwhile, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah chaired ahigh-level security meeting inhis office to review the situationafter a spate of targeted killingin Kashmir.

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The number of people show-ing willingness for vacci-

nation is on an increase, a sur-vey conducted by the onlinecommunity platformLocalCircles has said. The sur-vey said only seven per cent ofIndian adults are currentlyhesitant to get inoculatedagainst Covid-19, the lowestvaccine hesitancy level in the country so far.

Meanwhile, the vaccinationdrive in the country has beenprogressing at a robust pace.India has so far administered92.63 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. As many as 6.93crore doses are still availablewith the States/UTs. As the vac-

cination drive picks up pace,the total number of adminis-tered doses is set to cross the100-crore milestone in the nextfew days.

According to SachinTaparia, the founder ofLocalCircles, they had received12,810 responses from citizens- 67 per cent men and 33 percent women - across 301 dis-tricts. The survey sought tounderstand from unvaccinatedcitizens their reasons for nottaking the jab and their plan on getting inoc-ulated.

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Putting an end to the vaccinecertification row, the UK on

Thursday announced thatIndians, fully vaccinated withCovishield vaccine, will nolonger require to undergo quar-antine on their arrival in Britainfrom October 11.

The announcement wasmade by British HighCommissioner to India AlexEllis. “No quarantine for Indiatravellers to the UK fully vac-cinated with Covishield oranother UK-approved vaccinefrom 11 October. Thanks to theIndian Government for closecooperation over last month,”he said.

In its latest travel guide-lines, the UK said the “red list”will reduce to seven countriesand “proof of vaccination willbe recognised from 37 newcountries and territories”. Itsaid the British Governmentextended the inbound vacci-nated arrivals system to a fur-ther 37 countries and territoriesacross the globe includingIndia, South Africa and Turkey.

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The Supreme Court onThursday sought a status

report by Friday from the UttarPradesh Government inLakhimpur Kheri violence andwhether anyone has beenarrested so far.

Terming “unfortunate” thekilling of nine people, includ-ing four farmers in LakhimpurKheri incident, the apex courtalso sought details of theSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) and the judicial enquirycommission set up by the StateGovernment.

The incident, which trig-gered a major political stormwith the Opposition partiesaccusing the BJP Governmentin UP of shielding the culprits,was heard by a bench headedby Chief Justice NV Ramana asa suo motu (on its own) case.

“You yourself have pointedout, it has also been reportedand it is in the letter petition,which we have received, thateight persons, some of them arefarmers and one is a journalistand there are other persons alsowho have been killed. These allare unfortunate incidents inwhich different persons havebeen murdered,” the benchsaid.

“We need to know who arethe accused persons againstwhom you have registered theFIR and whether they havebeen arrested or not. Pleaseexplain this in your status

report,” it said and fixed thecase for hearing on Friday.The bench, also comprisingjustices Surya Kant and HimaKohli, started by saying,“Grievance is that you are notlooking into it (incident) prop-erly and the FIR is not regis-tered properly,”

Lawyer Garima Prasad,appearing for the StateGovernment, also termed theincident as unfortunate andsaid an SIT and the judicialcommission of inquiry havebeen set up by the Governmentand she may provide the detailsin the status report. “I can getdetails by tomorrow... The judi-cial commission of inquiry isbeing led by a former judge ofthe Allahabad High Courtjudge”, she said and sought acopy of the letter whose cog-nisance has been taken by thebench.

“You also tell us about thestatus of the PIL before theAllahabad High Court in thecase...Tomorrow we are listing.Get all the instructions,” thebench observed orally.

During the brief hearing,the CJI referred to a message tothe court.

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BJP president JP Nadda onThursday announced a re-

constituted 80-memberNational Executive of the party,dropping Maneka Gandhi,Varun Gandhi, andSubramanian Swamy.

The key decision-makingbody has not held its meet inthe last two years. The nextNational Executive meetingwill be held on November 7 inDelhi.

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and senior UnionMinisters, State leaders andveterans like LK Advani andMurli Manohar Joshi, are onthe list.

Varun has been backing

agitating farmers’ demandsgoing against the party line onthe issue and had demandedthe arrest of those responsiblefor running-over farmers in theLakhimpur violence in UP andalso went on to share a viral video.

Besides Maneka andVarun, BJP president removedformer Union MinisterChaudhary Birender Singhwho was also opposing thethree controversial Centralfarm laws.

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Jharkhand on Thursday vac-cinated only about 75,000

residents against Covid-19,while the active caseload of thedisease jumped past 100 on theday as fresh cases of coron-avirus infection outnumberedCovid recoveries by a fair mar-gin, figures compiled by thehealth department highlighted.

According a bulletinreleased by the National HealthMission (NHM), the state onThursday reported at least 27fresh Covid cases against onlynine recoveries, and the activecaseload reached a triple-digitfigure of 101. Jharkhand, how-ever, did not report any casu-alties caused by the viral infec-tion on the day.

At least 13 fresh Covidcases against four recoveriestook the active caseload inRanchi to 45, while nine casesof coronavirus infection againstonly three recoveries took thecount of active caseload inEast Singhbhum to 30, NHMdata highlighted.

Dhanbad reported twoCovid cases against zero Covid

recoveries on the day,while West Singhbhum,Khunti and Bokaroreported one freshCovid case each. At least11 of 24 districts inJharkhand did not haveactive cases of Covid-19by the end of Thursday.

As per data com-piled by the NHM, asmany as 43,330 residentswere administered thefirst dose of vaccineagainst Covid-19 onThursday, while at least 33,496beneficiaries received the sec-ond jab. Around 55,000 bene-ficiaries vaccinated on the dayfell in the age bracket of 18years to 44 years.

As many as 1596 sessionsites were operational acrossthe state on Thursday, indicat-ing that on an average onlyabout 50 beneficiaries wereinoculated in each of the ses-sion sites that opened theirdoors. According to officialsspearheading the immunisa-tion drive in Jharkhand, eachsession site in the state has thecapacity to administer vac-cines to at least 100 beneficia-ries daily, which is twice thenumber of vaccinations doneon Thursday.

Government data high-lighted that more than 8000

residents were administeredvaccine jabs in Ranchi as wellas in Dhanbad, while EastSinghbhum managed to inoc-ulate hardly 5000-odd resi-dents on the day. As per gov-ernment records, more than1.40 crore residents inJharkhand have received atleast one dose of vaccineagainst Covid-19 and at least 44lakh of them have also receivedthe booster dose.

The state on Thursday test-ed swab samples of as many as35,988 residents and 0.07 percent of them were found infect-ed by SARS-CoV-2 virus. Sofar, over 3.48 lakh people havetested positive for Covid-19 inthe state and 98.49 per cent ofthem have recovered, while1.47 per cent of patients couldnot survive.

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The incumbent governmentof Jharkhand led by Chief

Minister Hemant Soren is com-mitted towards promoting newinvestments in the state bycreating a favourable environ-ment for setting up new indus-tries in the state. The govern-ment is receptive to the prob-lems faced by existing indus-tries in the state and is com-mitted to revive old or deceasedinfrastructures. In this bid, thegovernment launchedJharkhand Industrial and

Investment Promotion Policy2021 during the investors’ meetorganized in New Delhibetween 27 & 28 August 2021.

On 13 September 2021,CM Hemant Soren took note ofthe plights of the Small, Micro& Medium enterprise indus-tries running in Jharkhandand directed senior officials ofthe Department of Industries toreview all issues and take cor-rective action.

“Our Government is ded-icated towards solving issuesaround MSMEs & small unitsas Jharkhand’s growth as abusiness-friendly investmentdestination needs the partici-pation of both domestic &external investors. I am direct-ing Dept of Industries to reviewall issues & take correctiveactions”, he tweeted.

As per the directions of theChief Minister, different stake-holder departments havepicked up pace in giving clear-ance for the establishment ofnew industrial units as well as

clearance for consent to oper-ate. As per the week-wise dateof ‘Consent to Establish’, givenby Jharkhand State PollutionControl Board, available forSeptember till the first week ofOctober reflects the same.

‘Consent to Establish’clearance is given by JharkhandState Pollution Control Boardto the industries seeking per-mission for the establishmentof new industrial units. As perthe record, 115 applicationswere pending clearance withJSPCB in the first week ofSeptember 2021. This has nowcome down to only 44 appli-cations pending for approval of‘Consent to Establish’. Withinone month, more than 71applications have beenapproved and cleared for'Consent to Establish'.

In the case of ‘Consent toOperate’, more than 360 appli-cations were pending withJSPCB, in the first week ofSeptember. After strict direc-tions from the Chief Minister,

this number has comedown to 150, in the firstweek of October. Morethan 200 applicationsseeking Consent toOperate have been givenapproval.

CTO is given toindustries falling undercategories of green (lesspollution potential),orange (pollution poten-tial) and red (criticallypollution potential) for acertain period of fiveyears, 10 years and 15years as per the industryrequirements. Failingthis may cause closure of the setup.

As per the directions of theCM, Secretary, Department ofIndustries, Pooja Singhal hadheld a meeting with the mem-bers of JSIA, an umbrella orga-nization of the Micro, Smalland Medium enterprises indus-tries of Jharkhand on 16September 2021. During themeeting, Secretary Singhal took

note of all the major issuesfaced by the industries and hadassured them of every possiblesolution.

She had directed officials ofdifferent stakeholder depart-ments to work at a fast pace toresolve all the issues faced bythe enterprises operating in thestate.

“This is high time that weensure that no industrial unit

has to face any kind of problemin their operations due tolethargy of any Department.Strict directions have beendelivered to every stakeholderdepartment with regards tothe directions from the hon-ourable Chief Minister. We areranked 5th in Ease of DoingBusiness and to attract newinvestors we are working hardto ensure delivery of all clear-ances through the SingleWindow System. Jharkhandhas been one of the mostattractive destinations for theMines & Mineral based indus-tries. With the launch of JIIPP2021, we are including provi-sions for other focus sectorssuch as Textile, Agro-FoodProcessing, Pharma, EV andElectronic Manufacturing apartfrom others. We invite newinvestors to come and invest inJharkhand, leverage the largeskilled workforce of Jharkhandand run a hassle-free busi-ness, the government is here tosupport them,” said Singhal.

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The PSA Oxygen Plant at AllIndia Institute of Medical

Sciences, Rishikesh was dedi-cated to the nation by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday through video con-ferencing. Along with this, thePM also dedicated the oxygenplants to the nation in eachstate / union territory.

In this episode, in view ofthe wider health interest of rail-way workers, inauguration ofPSA Oxygen Plants inDivisional Railway Hospitals ofECR in Danapur, Pandit DeenDayal Upadhyay and Dhanbadand foundation was laid forPSA plants at DivisionalRailway Hospital of Sonpur andSamastipur Division CentralSuper Specialty Hospital, Patna.

PSA Oxygen Plant wasinaugurated by Dr. MahendraNath Pandey, Minister ofHeavy Industries, Governmentof India at Divisional RailHospital of Pandit Deen DayalUpadhyay Mandal. Whileaddressing the people presenton the occasion, he said that inview of the convenience of thepeople during the Corona peri-od, the capacity of this hospi-tal was increased from 60 bedsto 115 beds and today due tothe commissioning of this oxy-gen plant, now oxygen cylin-

ders are available on any bed.Oxygen will not have to begiven by imposing it, but oxy-gen supply on every bed will beavailable in this railway hospi-tal by pipeline just as it is in anysuper specialty hospital. On thisoccasion Sadhna Singh, MLA,Sushil Singh, MLA andDivisional Railway ManagerRajesh Kumar Pandey andother high officials and doctorswere present.

Also, the foundation stoneof PSA Oxygen Plant at CentralSuper Specialty Hospital, Patnawas laid by Nitin Naveen, RoadConstruction Minister,Government of Bihar. Whileaddressing the people presenton the occasion, he said that theCorona period made us allaware of the need of oxygen

plant and on the instructions ofPrime Minister, turning thisdisaster into an opportunity,the work of setting up oxygenplants in major hospitals of thecountry. On this occasion,Anupam Sharma, GeneralManager, East Central Railwayalong with high officials anddoctors of East Central Railwaywere present.

Similarly, PSA OxygenPlant was inaugurated by SushilKumar Modi, MP at DivisionalRailway Hospital of DanapurDivision. Rit Lal Rai, MLA andDivisional Railway ManagerPrabhat Kumar along withother high officials and doctorswere present.

Establishment of PSAOxygen Plant at DivisionalRail Hospital of Dhanbad

Division was inaugurated byPashupati Nath Singh, Memberof Parliament. On this occa-sion, Raj Sinha, MLA andDivisional Railway ManagerAshish Bansal and other highofficials and doctors were pre-sent.

The foundation stone ofPSA Oxygen Plant inDivisional Rail Hospital ofSamastipur Division was laidby Prince Raj, MP. DivisionalRailway Manager AlokAgrawal along with other highofficials and doctors were pre-sent on this occasion.

In this episode, the foun-dation stone of PSA OxygenPlant was also laid in theDivisional Railway Hospital ofSonpur Division, where Dr.Ramanuj Prasad, MLA andDivisional Railway ManagerNilamani and other high offi-cials and doctors were present.

In his welcome address,General Manager AnupamSharma while welcoming NitinNaveen, Road ConstructionMinister, Government of Biharand other dignitaries present atthe function organized atCentral Super SpecialtyHospital, Patna said that todaywe are all indebted to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,under whose guidance, IndianRailways is moving towards anew heights.

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With Durga Puja a few days away the SteelCity is gripped with a festive mood, with

shops already abuzz with buyers. The footfallof customers has increased since mid-October,and tradesmen in the state capital are expect-ing bumper sales that would help them copewith the loss incurred during the nationwidelockdown. After six months of lull in businessactivities owing to a lockdown, the Durga Pujarush in the market has brought hope for tradersin the city.

The footfall of customers has increasedsince mid-October, and traders in the city areexpecting good sales that would help themcope with the loss incurred during the pan-demic lockdown.

“With easing of lockdown, buyers are look-ing forward to going on a shopping spree.Some are looking for investment in gold tosecure their future. People are buying jewelleryfrom an investment perspective, so there is ademand for precious jewellery these days,” saidVishal Sachdeva, a trader analyst.

Moreover, with the signing of bonusagreements in several companies, big brandshave gone all the way to woo the customers.From consumer electronics to apparels mak-ers almost all the major players have come upwith attractive offers.

Several organisations are also hostingconsumer fairs under strict Covid-19 norms.The three-day Consumerex Fair organised bythe Jamshedpur unit of Marwari MahilaManch (MMM) at Tulsi Bhawan in Bistupurwitnessed brisk business with a large numberof visitors purchasing items of clothing,household requisites, clothes, and decorativematerial more so in view of the upcoming fes-tive seasons of Durga Puja and Diwali. Stallsoffered huge discounts to customers that addedto the propensity of sales at the fair.

“We believe that consumer fairs are anappropriate platform for promotion of womenentrepreneurs since they can woo customersin large numbers. During the festive season,people go on shopping sprees and what bet-ter way to attract them than fairs,” said one ofthe organisers.

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Four BJP leaders includingMP Palamu V D Ram made

a graceful exit mid-way fromthe function held here for thedigital inauguration of thepressure swing adsorptionmedical oxygen generationplant.

The exit was made whenthe state BJP general secretaryAditya Sahu telephoned ManojKumar Singh who was sittingin this function along with theMP and few other BJP leadersto move out of the ceremony asthe BJP found the digital inau-guration of the PSA medicaloxygen generation plant onOctober 6 by the State govern-ment improper and unethicalwhen the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had to do thesame on October 7.

Sources said MP V D Ram,Manoj Kumar Singh, VijayOjha and Lovely Gupta werepresent in the function and thisteam had even participated in

the lamp lighting ceremony aswell. However, Manoj KumarSingh a senior State BJP leadersaid he got a call from the stategeneral secretary Aditya Sahuji right through this functionheld in the premises of theMMCH here in Daltonganjon Wednesday October 6 ask-ing everyone of the BJP thereto leave the function as thisinauguration a day earlier ofPrime Minister's pre scheduledprogramme was bad in tasteand showed Hemant Sorengovernment's intention to grablimelight when in reality theseplants had come with the PMcares fund.

Sources said it was the MPV D Ram who immediatelyrose from his chair and movedout. The rest three followedhim with equal immediacy,said Manoj Kumar Singh.Lovely Gupta who was sittingat the far end of the dais toowas quick in her exit.

Later speaking to this cor-respondent MP V D Ram said

his cell phone got corrupted onWednesday and he was virtu-ally cut off from all cell phonecommunications.

He said our state generalsecretary Aditya Sahu musthave tried calling him to tellhim to abstain from this func-tion but as his cell phone wasout of order on WednesdayOctober 6 he marched into thisfunction oblivious of the stateBJP leadership decision.

Ram said the digital inau-guration programme here hadnothing to show that all thiswas done with the PM caresfund as there was no photo ofthe Prime Minister NarendraModi nor any word about thePM cares fund.

The MP said there were nocommon people in this pro-gramme except a battery ofdoctors, ANMs, Sahiyas andhealth officials etc.

Sources said it was a silentand unobstructive walk out ofthe BJP team here leaving thefunction to go on.

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The special investigationteam of CBI interrogated

Harsh Singh, cousin brother-in-law of Jharia MLAPoornima Neeraj Singh, inconnection with Judge UttamAnand alleged murder casehere at its camp office.

The two accused in thiscase Lakhan and RahulVerma, who were taken intoremand for the third time bythe investigation agency, toowere present while Harshwas being interrogated,sources said.

Harsh happens to bealleged conspirator of RanjaySingh murder case and is onbail. Judge Anand was look-ing after this high profile mur-der case that was outcome ofrivlaey of cousins of Singhclan.

Ranjay was private body

guard of former Jharia MLASanjeev Singh and was gunneddown near Big Bazar aboutthree years ago.Then policehas named Harsh as conspir-ator of this murder case onbasis of its investigation.

The CBI is said to be crosschecking the suspected con-nection of Harsh with judgemurder case. It is worth men-tioning that the agency alsohas announced a reward of Rs10 lakhs for those who gaveclues in this case . The rewardamount was doubled by theagency since it had announcedreward while it had takenremand of the accused earli-er.

Almost two months havepassed since the judge wasknocked down by a speedingauto rickshaw near RàndhirVerma square on July 28.

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Aviral video is doing therounds on social media in

Garhwa, in which a doctor isseen ruthlessly assaulting aman. The victim has beenidentified as Rahul Kumar, aresident of Bana village underMeral police station, while thedoctor was Dr Dipak Pandey,Director of Arogyam hospitallocated in the Garhwa townnear Nawada More.

The case was that SavitaDevi, wife of Rahul Kumar,wanted to undergo steriliza-tion for family planning. Forthis purpose Rahul consultedthe village Sahiya, whoadvised to undergo an oper-ation in Arogyam Hospital.When contacted, Dr. DeepakKumar Pandey, Director ofArogyam hospital said thatSavita Devi will have toundergo an operation andfour units of blood would berequired. A total of Rs 49,000was spent.

The operation was doneafter paying the amount. Aftersome months her wife againbecame pregnant. To getinformation about this, two-three days ago he went to the

hospital and complained thatthe doctor had beaten him up.

Garhwa Civil SurgeonKamlesh Kumar said that tillnow the application has notbeen given by the victim, onreceipt of the application,appropriate action will be takenafter investigating the matter.

Superintendent of Police,Garhwa, Anjani Kumar Jhasaid that the in-charge ofGarhwa police station has beenappointed to investigate thematter and appropriate actionwill be taken after the investi-gation report is received.

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Despite lockdown andCOVID-19 restrictions last

year, the district recorded 177fatal accidents and 91 deaths in2020. The previous year, in2019, the death toll was evenhigher at 124.

In an attempt to addressthis problem and reduce thenumber of fatalities, theGarhwa police with the col-laboration of the DistrictTransport Office have launchedvarious drives to instil roadsafety awareness campaignsamong motorists and pedes-trians, Anjani Kumar Jha,Superintendent of Police,Garhwa told.

The initiative, which waslaunched from January till thesecond wave of Covid-19 lock-down on Saturday, will involvecivic agencies associated withthe District Transport Office.After relaxation in Covid-19restrictions it again started inAugust. Underscoring theimportance of the need to

improve the district trackrecord, District TransportOfficer Manish Kumar point-ed out that more people died offatal accidents than theCOVID-19 pandemic.

“The entire country and itsmedical infrastructure hasgeared up towards fighting thepandemic. We need to addressaccidents with the sameurgency. Little has been done toreduce deaths due to road acci-dents, which are avoidable andcan be prevented successfully,”he added.

For this, motorists andpedestrians, too, have a part toplay. “We have chalked out aseries of programmes, includ-ing inculcating a road safetyculture among road users. Theother important aspect includesawareness of the Golden Hourrule; the Good Samaritan lawthat encourages people to helpaccident victims; and mostimportantly, safety measures tobe taken while using roads.”

Catch them young

To spread awarenessamong school children andeducate them on traffic rules,the police have prepared 25short animated videos that willbe played in public places andschools.

This apart, dedicated staffwill be deployed at all at allsquare intersections nearschools to teach them how toride bicycles safely. “This willgive children practical experi-ence on road usage,” said asenior officer who is part of theenforcement drive. He addedthat this project will com-mence after once COVID-19rules are relaxed

District roadsOne of the main problems

raised by citizens during theirinteractions is the sorry state ofroads. “Civic agencies associ-ated with road engineeringwill also be roped in to main-tain the roads as this can alsobring down the number ofaccidents,” Manish Kumarsaid.

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Central Coalfields Limited(CCL) dedicated 3 PSA

oxygen plants installed atCentral Hospital Gandhinagar,Central Hospital Ramgarh andCHC Tandwa on Thursday.Along with this 2 PSA Oxygenplants are under constructionat CHC Ormanjhi and CHCSonahatu.

An MoU has also beensigned with Bokaro districtadministration for constructionof two 200 LPM PSA plants atCovid Hospital, Bokaro.

At Gandhinagar Hospitalplant was inaugurated in thepresence of Rajya Sabha MP,Deepak Prakash, MLA RanchiCP Singh, MLA Kanke, SamriLal, Mayor Ranchi, Asha Lakra,CMD CCL, PM Prasad.Director Technical(Operation), VK. Srivastava,CMS, CCL, Dr DKL Chowhan,CMS GNH, Dr Ratnesh Jain,Dr Anjan Jha and others.

Similarly, MLA, Mandu,

Jai Prakash Bhai Patel inaugu-rated the Oxygen Plant atCentral Hospital, Ramgarh inpresence of Director Technical(P and P), Bhola Singh, CMS D.VK Singh and others.

Arrangements for the livewebcast of the Prime Minister,Narendra Modi’s programmewas made wherein Oxygenplant established across theCountry were dedicated to theNation. Public representatives,health workers, and the otherstakeholders of the companyattended the webcast, he added.

Three plants at Tandwa,Ormanjhi and Sonahatu are

being established under theCSR policy of the company andhave a capacity of 200 LPM.The plants at central hospitalsGandhinagar and Ramgarhhave a capacity of 1000 LPM.The oxygen plant at the CCLGandhinagar hospital will sup-ply up to 200 beds.

CCL has been at the fore-front to support the govern-ment in its fight against theCovid-19 pandemic. The com-pany has signed an MoU of Rs10 crores with eight districtadministrations of state to aug-ment the health infrastructurein these districts.

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Singhbhum Chamber ofCommerce and Industry,

which is the largest trade body inKolhan, has said that based on theinputs the trade body receivedfrom the market, it is a clear indi-cation that the footfall hasincreased in various shops andpeople are buying things from themarket during the festive season.

“We have also appealed to theHemant Soren government torelax existing curbs on the func-tioning of markets during theweekend, especially on Sundays,in view of the festive season.After facing a massive loss in ourbusiness in view of Covid-19 out-break since March last year ourtraders are banking on the currentfestive season starting from Durgapuja for the revival of their busi-nesses,” said Vijay AnandMoonka, president, SinghbhumChamber of Commerce andIndustry

The state government hasalready eased its Covid howeveris continuing with its weekendlockdown under which non-essential trades are still not per-mitted to run their business fromSaturday night (8pm) till Mondaymorning (6am).

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The 40-hours mediationtraining programme for

advocates and experts organ-ised by Jharkhand LegalServices Authority (Jhalsa)concluded on Thursday. Atthe concluding session of themediation training programmeheld at Jhalsa office, JharkhandHigh Court judge-cum- exec-utive chairman of JharkhandLegal Services Authority,Justice Aparesh Kumar Singhwas present as chief guest.

In mediation, the disputingparties work with a neutralthird party, the mediator, toresolve their disputes. Themediator facilitates the resolu-tion of the parties' disputes bysupervising the exchange ofinformation and the bargainingprocess.

The concluding functionwas also attended by mediationtrainer from Rajasthan BKGoel, judge trainer fromPunjab and Haryana HighCourt mediation expertMonika Jalota, mediationexpert from Jharkhand RajeshDas and experts and lawyersfrom Garhwa, Giridih,Jamshedpur, Jamtara, Khunti,Koderma, Latehar, Lohardaga,Palamu, Ranchi and Saraikela.

The mediationtraining had com-menced on August21, and in sevenbatches mediationlawyers and expertswere provided train-ing.

Jharkhand HighCourt justice ApareshKumar Singh andHigh Court justice, AnubhaRawat Choudhary, member ofstate level mediation monitor-ing committee had jointly inau-gurated a 40-hour intensivemediation training program,for the first batch of 22 advo-cates at Nyaya Sadan, Ranchion August 21.

A total of 126 participantswere trained for advocate andexpert mediators from all overJharkhand. It may be noted thatas per the directions ofJharkhand High Court StateLevel Monitoring Committeeand Mediation andConciliation ProjectCommittee (MCPC), SupremeCourt of India the training pro-gramme was conducted inseven batches.

The first batch trainingsession commenced on August21 which continued till August25, while the last batch train-ing session commenced onOctober 3 which concluded onOctober 7. The Mediation andConciliation ProjectCommittee (MCPC), SupremeCourt of India had nominatedjudge trainers and advocatesfrom various High Courts ofIndia who provided training tolawyers and experts. After

training these participants willwork as advocate mediator andexpert mediator in differentcourts of Jharkhand.

At the concluding session,Justice Aparesh Kumar Singhsaid that there was a shortageof mediators in Jharkhand, toovercome the shortage trainingprogram was conducted byJhalsa, Ranchi for about 45days. With the services of arbi-trators, the disposal of caseswill be faster and the burden oflitigation on the courts will bereduced. Justice ApareshKumar Singh highlighted theimportance of mediation in thepresent time and said that it isthe duty of mediators to helpthe parties to find a solution.

Justice Singh also thankedthe trainer B.K.Goel, JudgeTrainer from Rajasthan andMonica Jalota, trainer fromPunjab and Haryana HighCourt and Rajesh Das, Trainerfrom Jharkhand for their val-ued contribution.

The program started witha welcome address by Mohd.Shakir, Member Secretary,Jhalsa. He said that everyoneparticipated in the training ofmediators which lasted forabout 45 days.

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Ranchi is the only district leftwith active cases of

mucormycosis in Jharkhand,latest data compiled by theIntegrated Disease SurveillanceProgramme (IDSP) revealed onThursday. The fungal infectionwith a fatality rate of 50 percent had spread to at least 18 of24 districts in the state in thepast eight months and claimed31 lives, highlights IDSP data.

According to IDSP records,there were only three patientsof mucormycosis, commonlyknown as black fungus, inJharkhand on Thursday, and allthree of them were undergoingtreatment in Ranchi – a districtthat accounts for 66 of the 168mucormycosis cases and 11 of31 casualties reported in thestate so far.

As per IDSP data, EastSinghbhum has reported 25cases of mucormycosis, thesecond highest among districtsin the state, while 11 peoplewere found infected by blackfungus in Hazaribag. Amongother affected districts, Bokaroreported nine cases, Dhanbad

and Giridihreported eightcases each,while sevenpeople werefound infectedin Ramgarhand six inPalamu.

Among the31 fatalitiesreported in the state, 11 deathsoccurred in Ranchi, five in EastSinghbhum, three in Ramgarh,two each in Dhanbad andGodda, and one death each inBokaro, Chatra, Deoghar,Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih,Hazaribag and Koderma.

While the cases of blackfungus have dropped signifi-cantly in Jharkhand, doctorshave warned against compla-cency, citing the high fatalityrate of the disease and poorimmune response in Covidsurvivors with comorbid con-ditions.

Dr. Pradip Bhattacharya,the in-charge of the new trau-ma centre at RIMS, wheremucormycosis patients haveundergone treatment, said thateven though cases of this fun-gal infection have reduced, itwas best to seek medical atten-tion at an early stage if symp-toms of the disease occur.

“Symptoms can escalate ina short period of time, so it isbest to seek medical attention

at the earliest,” said Dr.Bhattacharya. “Neglect of ini-tial symptoms may lead to lossof vision or brain damage inpatients,” he added.

Mucormycosis is a rareinfection caused by exposure tomucor mould found in soil,plants, manure and decayingfruits and vegetables. The lineof treatment includes surgeryand administering anti-fungaldrugs. Jharkhand notified blackfungus as an epidemic earlierthis year following directionsfrom the Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare, which hadraised an alert owing to thesudden rise in cases of this fun-gal infection among Covid sur-vivors then.

Doctors say that Covidsurvivors should consult ENTspecialists if they feel discom-fort in their nose, swelling onone side of the face or pain.Black fungus is usually testedby endoscopy followed by abiopsy of samples collectedfrom the patient.

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Leaving studies of hundredsof students in lurch

Hazaribagh based IndiraGandhi Balika Vidyalaya(IGVB), one of the most pres-tigious government schools ofJharkhand, has been forced toshut down. The order to closethe school, which got reopenedjust a month ago after over anyear of closure due to theCorona pandemic, came evenwithout proper travel arrange-ment for the girls, staying in theboarding school.

Ironically, the decision tointerrupt and gravely compro-mise on the future of the girlscame just to give way to shoot-ing of a web series named'Bihar Diaries'. The commercialdrama is based on a bookwritten by Amit Lodha, anIPS, accounting the officer'sthrilling endeavour to nabVijay Samrat, one of the mostfeared ganglords of Bihar.

A notice, dated October 5addressing all the parents,directed them to travel all theway to the school on October7 at 10 in the morning to taketheir wards back with them.

However it became a night-mare for the parents whenthey found no bus arrangementtill 2 pm on Thursday. "We havecome from Dumka travellingovernight. One bus said to beleaving for Dumka reached atschool only by 12 and that alsohas broken down. I have noidea what to do with mydaughter," said Mahesh Manjhi.

Similar were the fates of thegirls coming from other farflung areas like Pakur, Palamu,Latehar, Chaibasa etc.

"My village is 40 kilometersaway from Gumla. How Iwould travel that far at nightwith my daughter," was thewords of pensive NarendraKumar who had come to takehis daughter studying in class

8.Repeated

attempts andseries of argu-ments withthe schooladministra-tion and thepro duct ionteam of thefilm could notfind any waytill well pastthe afternoonleaving chil-dren and theirparents hun-gry under thesun.

"I haveorders fromthe DeputyD i r e c t o r ,S e c o n d a r yeducation ofthe depart-ment tovacate theschool andpermit thefilm shootingon thepremises. The team of film pro-duction had promised to makeall the necessary arrangementsbut they did not," said Todabal,Principal of the IGBV.

Sources with the schooladministration said that thePrincipal was put under intensepressure from higher authori-ties of the department to vacatethe campus and pave way forthe shooting. The Principalhad initially objected to theproposal citing problem of thegirls and their studies especiallyafter Covid lockdown

Moreover the decision ofshutting down the school wasequally baffling for the teach-ers. "We had hardly resumedstudies and had to make lots ofefforts since the students hadcome after almost two years.But now this happened mid-way. It is very bad for the stud-

ies of the children," said ateacher requesting anonymity.

When asked about thepredicament, DC of HazaribagAditya Kumar Anand said hewas not aware of the order. "Iam of no knowledge who hasgiven the order to close theschool. You should approachthe official concerned," repliedthe DC and disconnected thephone when told about themismanagement in dispatchingthe girls.

While Principal Secretaryto the Chief Minister RajeevArun Ekka expressed his shockover the decision to shut thegirls' school to allow shootingof a commercial film. "This isimproper and should not havehappened with the girls. Let meget the details about where theorder has come from," he said.

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The Uttar Pradesh policeprevented a group of

Jharkhand Congress leadersfrom visiting Lakhimpur Kheridistrict of Uttar Pradesh, whereeight persons including fourfarmers died during the vio-lence on October 3 duringfarmers’ protest.

They were stopped onWednesday midnight, atJharkhand-Uttar Pradesh bor-der near Vindhamganj inGarhwa district. They weretold by the UP police that aprohibitory order under section144 of CrPC has been imposedand they can’t be allowed tovisit.

Jharkhand Congress pres-ident Rajesh Thakur, ministersBanna Gupta and Badal, MLAsBandhu Tirkey and MamataDevi, presidents of some of thedistricts and other office bear-ers were in the team that washeading for Lakhimpur Kheri.

All of them returned toRanchi but the Congress lead-ers after being stopped heldprotests. They accused the YogiAdityanath government ofUttar Pradesh and the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forcommitting atrocities on farm-ers.

AICC secretary andMahagama MLA DipikaPandey Singh is the party in–charge for Uttarakhand. Sheis probably the only leader

from Jharkhand who has goneso close to Lakhimpur Kheriand the Congress’ agitationtherein.

“There is complete anarchyin Uttar Pradesh. Congressleaders were detained and ini-tially they were denied per-mission to visit victims’ fami-lies. Farmers were murdered bythe son of the minister of statefor home and affairs. But theBJP government is protectingculprits,” said Pandey.

These leaders fromJharkhand were instructed bystate Congress in-charge RPNSingh to visit Lakhimpur Kherito join the agitation as RahulGandhi, Priyanka Gandhi andother senior leaders have visit-ed the place.

Rajesh Thakur on the otherhand alleged that officials of UPadministration misbehavedwith them.

“We had informed the UPgovernment that we want tovisit. But, no information wasgiven to us that we have notbeen given permission for thesame. We were prevented byUP police. Officials of UttarPradesh were behaving sobadly with us like that ofNathuram Godse,” said Thakur.

Jharkhand BJP rebuttedand said that Congress leadersshould hold demonstrationoutside the residence ofJharkhand chief ministerHemant Soren instead.

“The agriculture ministerof Jharkhand is a CongressMLA. So far no loan waiver offarmers has been done and thefarming sector in Jharkhand isfacing a crisis. They shouldhave better held a demonstra-tion in front of CM HemantSoren,” said BJP presidentDeepak Prakash.

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The Ranchi police onThursday arrested Manoj

Munda, the main conspiratorof the BJP rural district presi-dent Jit Ram Munda murdercase. Munda, was abscondingfor past 15 days. He was arrest-ed from Ranchi Civil Courtpremises. To avoid the ever-increasing police raid, he hadreached the court to surrenderon Thursday, but the police,who had a tip off, caught himbefore he could surrender.

Talking to the media beforehis arrest, Manoj Mundadenied his involvement in themurder of Jit Ram Munda casesaying that the police washarassing him due to mutualenmity. Police had placed areward of Rs 1 lakh on ManojMunda. This was announcedby Ranchi SSP SK Jha onWednesday. Jha hadannounced that Rs 1 lakh to begiven to those who give infor-mation about Manoj Munda.

Prior to arrest to Jit RamMunda, the Ranchi police hadearlier arrested two shooters inthis case. The shooters hadconfessed that Manoj Mundahad given them money to elim-inate Jit Ram Munda. TheRanchi police to solve the casehad constituted an SIT. The SITteam had arrested Dablu Yadavfrom Ghazipur in UP andKartik Munda from Ranchi onSeptember 28. Two bikes, a carand many other items wererecovered from the arrestedcriminals.

BJP leader Jitram Mundawas shot on September 22evening near Hotel Aryan inOrmanjhi. The Ranchi districtpresident of the BJP’s scheduled

tribe wing wastaken to a privatehospital afterbeing shot byunidentified bike-borne assailants.He was declaredbrought dead atthe hospital. Theincident triggereda sharp attackfrom the opposi-tion BJP, whichaccused ChiefMinister HemantSoren of failing tocontrol the lawand order situa-tion.

Union tribal affairs minis-ter Arjun Munda rushed to thehospital where the victim wastaken after the incident. “Hisdeath is due to completeadministrative failure. He hada threat to his life as he was

attacked in past as well aboutwhich the administration wasaware. He even applied for anarms license. The administra-tion neither provided himsecurity nor issued the armslicense.” Munda had said.

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Four newlyappointed judges

of Jharkhand HighCourt are likely totake oath on Fridayat the White HouseBuilding ofJharkhand HighCourt. JharkhandChief Justice Dr.Ravi Ranjan willadminister oath ofsecrecy to GautamKumar Choudhary (Directorjudicial academy), Ambuj Nath(Registrar General ofJharkhand High Court),Navneet Kumar (Chief judicialcommissioner of Ranchi dis-trict court) and Jharkhand Lawsecretary Sanjay Prasad whohave been promoted as HCjudges.

In September the SupremeCourt Collegium headed byChief Justice of India NVRamana had given its consentfor their elevation on the rec-ommendation of JharkhandHigh Court. The SupremeCourt collegium had held ameeting on September 1 in thisregard where proposals wereaccepted. The recommenda-tion was sent to President ofIndia Ram Nath Kovid for hispermission.

Currently in Jharkhand

High Court there are 15 judgesincluding Chief Justice Dr RaviRanjan. With this the numberof judges in Jharkhand HighCourt will be 19 whereas thesanctioned strength of judges inJharkhand High Court is 25.

Overall the SupremeCourt's Collegium hadapproved 68 names for eleva-tion as Judges of 12 HighCourts. Jharkhand is amongthe 12 High Courts that hadsent the names. These HighCourts include Allahabad,Rajasthan, Calcutta, Jharkhand,Jammu and Kashmir, Madras,Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,Punjab and Haryana, Kerala,Chhattisgarh, and Assam. TheCollegium recommended thenames of 10 women for eleva-tion as judges, including MarliVankung for Gauhati HighCourt.

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In a bid to provide bankingservices like loan facilities to

the people of the State so thatthey can get the benefit to upliftthere living standards,Customer Outreach Campaignwas organized by the leadbank, Bank of India (BoI),Ranchi on Thursday atJagannath Nagar Club,Dhurwa, Ranchi under theaegis of State Level Bankers‘Committee, (SLBC),Jharkhand.

Minister of Drinking Waterand Sanitation, Government ofJharkhand, Mithilesh Thakurwas the chief guest in this pro-gramme. General Manager,BoI, Bikram Keshari Mishra,Zonal Manager, BoI, RanchiZone, Pankaj Kumar Sinha,General Manager, CanaraBank, Hitesh Goyal, GeneralManager, Union Bank of India,

Vinod Patnaik and all officialsof public sector banks, privatesector banks and governmentdepartments were also pre-sent. The programme was for-mally inaugurated by lighten-ing the lamp. After this, all theguests were invited on the daisby the Deputy Zonal Manager,BoI, Ranchi Zone.

In the welcome address,General Manager, BoI, BKMishra, informed that BoI is inthe lead role in 15 districts outof total 24 districts ofJharkhand. “Along with this,the responsibility of the SLBCis also with BoI. Apart fromRanchi district, a similar'Customer OutreachCampaign' is being organizedby BoI in Khunti andLohardaga districts also. Themain objective of organizingthis programme is to reach asmany people as possible,” headded.

Appreciating the role ofbanks as Chief Guest of theprogramme, Thakur said that

the role of banks in bringingpositive changes in the lives ofpeople of every section of the

society and appealed to all thebanks to be the backbone of theeconomy.

In this Customer OutreachCampaign, stalls were set up byall the banks and governmentdepartments, displayingdetailed information regardingall Financial Inclusion andRetail Credit products likeJeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,Suraksha Bima Yojana, AtalPension, Mudra Loan, StandUp India, Kisan Credit Card,Housing Loan, Vehicle Loan,Education Loan and others.

The people were madeaware of various schemes indetail. On this special occasion,the Minister himself handedover sanction letters to some ofthe customers. A total of 1,717customers were disbursed loansof Rs 55.94 crore in Ranchi dis-trict under various schemes inthis program. The programwas concluded by ShailiKachhap, Sr Manager, Bank ofIndia.

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The 20-day service and dedication campaign organised by Stateconcluded today. The BJP workers on the completion of 20

years of Narendra Modi service as Prime Minister and ChiefMinister of Gujarat posted letters of gratitude to Prime Minister.BJP State President and MP Deepak Prakash expressing his grat-itude towards Prime Minister Modi said that for past 20 yearsNarendra Modi had made a valued contribution to nation firstas Chief Minister of Gujarat and then Prime Minister. Modi script-ed a new tale of good governance and development. Prakash saidthat the country is progressing at a fast pace under the leader-ship of the Prime Minister. With the mantra of Sabka Saath SabkaVikas, villages, poor, farmers, laborers, dalits, deprived are con-nected with the mainstream of development.

Prakash congratulated and conveyed his best wishes to thePrime Minister on completing the tenure of 20 years.

BJP Legislature Party leader Babulal Marandi expressed hisgratitude to the Prime Minister through a postcard along withthe workers in Hatma Basti, Morhabadi.

On this occasion, he said that under the leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, tribals and Dalits of the country wereconnected with the mainstream of development.

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In a major step to ensure gen-der parity, the Supreme

Court on Thursday allowed girlcandidates to appear for theentrance examination to theprestigious Rashtriya IndianMilitary College (RIMC),Dehradun in December. TheGovernment had some weeksago allowed entry of womencadets to the elite NationalDefence Academy followingthe apex court’s directive.

Girls can now appear forthe RIMC entrance examina-tion for the first time since theinstitution was set up in 1922to train boys for a career in thearmed forces. Similarly, womencadets will join the NDA for thefirst time since the tri-serviceinstitute was established in1954.

As regards the RIMC, theapex court said girls can appearfor the examination onDecember 18 and added theCentre has walked a mile andshould walk a step ahead.

A bench headed by JusticeS K Kaul directed the Centre toissue necessary modifiedadvertisement in this regardwithin two days withoutchanging the schedule.

“We put to the AdditionalSolicitor General that therespondent has walked a mile

and should walk a step ahead.We do believe that six monthsis more than enough for a dis-ciplined organisation like therespondent to arrange theiraffairs.

The apex court made itclear that this would be applic-able insofar as the is con-cerned. However, with regardto the Rashtriya MilitarySchools, the process will beginwith the academic session2022-2023. They are at Chail(Himachal Pradesh), Ajmer(Rajasthan), Belgaum(Karnataka), Bengaluru(Karnataka) and Dholpur(Rajasthan).

The top court perused theaffidavit filed on behalf of theUnion of India in pursuance ofits order dated September 22,2021 and said, “Dehors theniceties, the fact is that all boysschools were going to turn intoco-education institutions, issomething the respondent has

accepted.”It will have its own rami-

fications in terms of infra-structure and personal require-ments, the court said. “The onecaveat we have is that what isbeing proposed is that theentrance examination sched-uled in June, 2022 will be per-mitted to be taken by the girlsresulting in their entry inJanuary 2023 and periodicallythe strength would increasewith a schedule given up toJanuary, 2028,” the bench said.It also said the manner andhow it has to be implemented,“we leave to the respondent”.The matter is now listed fornext hearing on January 18,2022.

At the outset, AdditionalSolicitor General(ASG)Aishwarya Bhati informed thebench comprising Justice M MSundresh that preparations forthe December 18, 2021 exam-ination were already at an

advanced stage.Bhati sought the nod from

the bench to allow entry ofgirls into the RIMC andRashtriya Military School forthe year beginning fromJanuary 2023 and not June2022.

The bench, however,refused to accept the submis-sion and said six months timewas more than enough forpreparations to be made for theinduction of girls for the June2022 session.

“You are effectively post-poning everything, why doyou want to postpone for ayear? You will have sixmonths”, the bench said.

The ASG told the benchthat October 30, 2021 is the lastdate for submission of appli-cations and the examination isscheduled for December 18,2021. The apex court, howev-er, said “we are not saying thatthere are no difficulties”.

The top court had earlierdirected the Centre to file anaffidavit within two weeks onthe issue of induction of girlsto RIMC in Dehradun sayingthe issue cannot be delayedfurther.

The apex court was hear-ing a plea filed by advocateKailas Udhavrao More whohas raised the issue of entry ofgirls to the RIMC Dehradun.

Earlier in July, the apexcourt had said as far as RIMCis concerned, it is stated that itis a 99-year-old institutionwhich will complete 100 yearsnext year. “The question iswhether it completes its 100years with gender neutrality ornot!” the top court had said.

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As India witnessed anincrease in Covid-19 cases

and deaths on the first day ofnine-day long festival ofNavratri on Thursday—thecountry reported more than20,000 cases and 300 deaths—the Union Health Ministrywarned people of the threat ofCovid resurgence during festi-vals and wedding season andsaid that we need to be watch-ful in the month of October,November and December.India added 22,431 new casesand 318 deaths on Thursday.On Wednesday, the countryhad reported 18,833 cases and278 deaths.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Union Health JointSecretary Lav Agarwal warnedthat the challenge of Covid hasnot ended yet adding that con-tinuous efforts have to bemade. “On an average, 20,000Covid cases have been record-ed daily. Of these 56% caseswere reported from Kerala lastweek,” the official said.

“We need to be watchful ofthe months of October,November & December. Weneed to be alert. Avoid crowd-ed places, unnecessary travel;stay home, celebrate festivalsvirtually, explore online shop-ping,” he added.

As the festival seasonapproaches, the Governmenthad earlier cautioned against aspike in coronavirus infections

and stressed that the call of thehour is vaccine acceptance,maintenance of Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, respon-sible travel and responsiblefestivities.

With 22,431 people testingpositive for coronavirus infec-tion in a day, India’s total tallyof Covid-19 cases rose to3,38,94,312, while the activecases declined to 2,44,198, thelowest in 204 days. The dailyrise in new coronavirus infec-tions has been below 30,000 for13 straight days.

“28 districts across 12States, UTs reporting weeklypositivity rates between 5 and10 per cent. 34 districts acrossnine states and UTs report aweekly positivity rate of morethan 10 per cent,” he said.

Some districts inArunachal, Assam, Himachalreported high positivity.Situation has improved nation-ally, but there are pockets ofworries. 5 States are still report-ing over 5% positivity, Agarwaladded.

In the meantime, a four-member central team hasassessed the Covid-19 situationin Mizoram amid a worryingsurge in infections in the north-eastern state. Mizoram crossedone lakh Covid cases yesterdaywith 1,471 people testing pos-itive for the virus. Further,Mizoram’s low recovery rate of84.40 per cent against thenational average of 97.94 percent is worrying, said the offi-cial.

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Those who have survivedCovid-19 should take

enough measures to protecttheir heart! For, the heartdamage from Covid-19extends well beyond the dis-ease’s initial stages, accordingto a study that found evenpeople who were never sickenough to need hospitalisationare in danger of developingheart failure and deadly bloodclots a year later.

Covid patients who need-ed intensive care are at signif-icantly greater risk, withalmost one in seven sufferinga major adverse cardiac eventthat they wouldn’t have oth-erwise had within a year.

Heart disease and strokeare already the leading causesof death worldwide. Theincreased likelihood of lethalheart complications in Covidsurvivors -- who number inthe hundreds of millions glob-ally -- will add to its devasta-tion, according to the study,which is under considerationfor publication by a Naturejournal.

“The aftereffects ofCovid-19 are substantial,”said Ziyad Al-Aly, director ofthe clinical epidemiologycenter at the Veterans AffairsSt. Louis Health Care Systemin Missouri, who led theresearch. “Governments andhealth systems must wakeup to the reality that Covidwill cast a tall shadow in theform of long Covid, and havedevastating consequences. Iam concerned that we are nottaking this seriously enough.”

The chances of a heartattack, stroke, or other majorcardiovascular event in thefirst 12 months of Covidrecovery increase with theseverity of the initial illness,the researchers found. Theycompared the risks of heartcomplications in 151,195 vet-

erans who survived Covid tothe risk in more than 3.6 mil-lion of their peers who did-n’t contract the pandemicdisease.

The data were collectedfrom the largest integratedhealth-care system in theU.S. Most of its users arewhite and male, which maylimit how generalizable thestudy’s findings are to othergroups, the authors said.

They found non-hospi-talized Covid patients had a39% increased risk of devel-oping heart failure and a 2.2-fold increased risk of a poten-tially deadly blood clot,known as a pulmonar yembolism, in the followingyear, compared with someonewho didn’t develop the dis-ease. That works out to anextra 5.8 cases of heart-fail-ure and 2.8 cases of pul-monary embolism for every1,000 Covid patients whowere never hospitalized.

Being hospitalized forCovid is associated with a5.8-fold increased risk of car-diac arrest and almost a 14-fold greater chance ofmyocarditis, or inflamma-tion or the heart muscle, thestudy found. Researchers arestill trying to unravel thecauses of heart damage inCovid patients. Possiblemechanisms include linger-ing damage from direct viralinvasion of heart-muscle cellsand the cells that line bloodvessels, blood clots and aber-rant and persistent inflam-mation, the authors said.

The findings from nat-ural disasters and previouspandemics suggest indirecteffects of Covid-19, includingsocial isolation, financial dis-tress, changes in dietaryhabits and physical activity, aswell as trauma and grief,may also influence the risksfor cardiovascular disease,they said.

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In the backdrop of killing ofcivilians, including Kashmiri

Pandits, in Jammu & Kashmir,Union Minister for MinorityAffairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi onThursday said terrorists will notbe allowed to succeed in theirnefarious designs to hijack theatmosphere of peace and pros-perity in the State through vio-lence.

Naqvi who is currently vis-iting the Kashmir valley saidthat perpetrators of killings ofinnocent people will be elimi-nated.

Naqvi said that the“Dynastic Politics” had deliber-ately deprived the people ofJammu-Kashmir of mainstreamdevelopment process and theirConstitutional rights by using

the Article 370 as their securitycover.

He said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi led Governmenthas made Jammu-Kashmir freefrom “Corruption of Clan”.Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh havebeen moving forward on thepath of inclusive development bydemolishing the “web ofdynasty”. After several decades,people of Jammu, Kashmir,Ladakh have become an equalpartner of transparent democ-ratic and development process.

The Minister said that afterabolition of the Article 370;rights of the people of Jammu-Kashmir and Leh-Kargil regard-ing trade, agriculture, employ-ment, culture, land and proper-ty etc have been providedabsolute Constitutional protec-tion and safe-guard.

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The f if th AnnualCoordination meeting

between Director General,Sashastra Seema Bal, Indiaand Inspector General,Armed Police Force, Nepalconcluded here on Thursday.

The meeting was heldbetween October 4 and7,2021 and the Indian delega-tion was led by Kumar RajeshChandra, Director General,Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)and included officers fromSSB, Union Home MinistryExternal Affairs Ministry.

The Nepal delegation wasled by Shailendra Khanal,Inspector General of APFand included officers fromAPF and Home and ForeignMinistries of Nepal.

The meeting deliberatedon the security scenario onthe Indo-Nepal border anddecided to take further mea-sures for enhancing coordi-nat ion and cooperat ionbetween the two BorderGuarding Forces, the SSBsaid in a statement, addingthe meeting was held in avery cordial and positiveatmosphere.

The meeting agreed onconduct of regular jointpatrolling along the Indo-Nepal border with a focus oncontroll ing trans-bordercrimes, smuggling of arms,human trafficking and otherareas of concern.

The Help Desks estab-lished by both APF and SSBat major transit points of theIndo-Nepal border would cont inue to facilitate movement of citi-zens of both countries espe-cially during the festival sea-son.

In addition, the meetingalso concurred to augmentmutual exchange of trainingand exposure visits, it furthersaid.

The next Coordinationmeeting will be held in Nepalnext year.

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Mineral dust, biomassburning, secondary sul-

fate, secondary nitrate fromnorthwest India and Pakistan,polluted cities like Delhi, theThar Desert, and the ArabianSea area besides the long-rangetransported marine mixedaerosols are the main sourcesof aerosols in the centralHimalayan region, according toa Government study.

“This dust transport andforest fires are the main sourcesof total suspended particles(TSP), particularly in pre-mon-soon period (March-May)when TSP concentration peaksin the region,” the study wascarried out by the researchersat the Aryabhatta ResearchInstitute of ObservationalSciences (ARIES), an institute

under the Union Science andTechnology Ministry alongwith Indian and foreign col-laborators.

The study on source appor-tionment of atmospheric pol-lution, which elucidates theatmospheric chemistry, emis-sion source origins, and trans-port pathways of aerosol overthe central Himalayan region,will help in the assessment ofcontributions and temporalvariability of sources that influ-ence the area through region-al transport as well as climateimpacts assessment.

Himalayan region, whichhas a unique role in the Asianclimate, is considered a vul-nerable environment.

“Several chemical specia-tion studies have been per-formed for carbonaceousaerosols and inorganic species

over the western and centralHimalayan regions during thelast decade, reporting the dom-inance of transported aerosolplumes from the Indo-Gangetic Plains,” the studysaid.

It revealed the predomi-nance of mineral dust in springand summer and biomassburning and secondary sulfatein winter.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has arrest-

ed Bipin Kumar on moneylaundering charges in the SrijanMahila Vikas Sahyog SamitiLimited (SMVSSL) case, alsoreferred to as Srijan scam ofBihar, pegged at over Rs 500crore.

Kumar is one of the mainaccused in the Srijan scam,wherein Government fundswere diverted to various bankaccounts of SMVSSL.

“Bipin Kumar was a closeassociate of Late ManoramaDevi, founder of SMVSSL. Healong with various govern-ment officials, bank officials,private persons and othermembers conspired to divertthe government funds into theaccounts of Srijan and the saidaccount was used for the ben-efit of all the conspirators, theED said in a statement.

SMVSSL opened variousbank accounts in Bank ofBaroda, Indian Bank andBhagalpur Co-operative Bankwith the help of bank officials.Further in conspiracy with thegovernment officials, the fundslying in the District LandAcquisition Office, IndiraAawas Yojana and DistrictWelfare Scheme among otherswere transferred to Srijan’saccount, it said.

In furtherance of the con-spiracy, the funds from Srijanwere mis-utilised for purchaseof flats and other immovableproperties in Ghaziabad, Pune,Patna and Bhagalpur.

The ED had initiated amoney laundering investiga-tion on the basis of an FIR reg-istered by the CBI here.

The ED probe revealedthat Kumar had acquired mov-able and immovable propertiesout of the proceeds of crime.As a result of initial investiga-tion, two ProvisionalAttachment Orders wereissued attaching assets worth�18.45 crore including 32 flats,18 shops, 38 plots/house, 47bank accounts and two vehi-cles.

During the entire investi-gation under Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act, BipinKumar has been non-cooper-ative and did not comply withthe summons issued by theagency, it said.

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Union Minister Ajay KumarMishra, whose son has

been booked in a murder casefor allegedly mowing downfour farmers in LakhimpurKheri district of Uttar Pradesh,on Thursday, inaugurated anational conference on prisonsorganised by the BPRD even asthe national media, which wasearlier invited to cover theevent, was barred from it.

The 61-year-old Minister ofState for Home Affairs attend-ed the conference at the head-quarters of the Bureau of PoliceResearch and Development(BPRD) in the Mahipalpur areaof the national capital and

addressed prison departmentofficers who represented variousstates and union territories,officials said.

Mediapersons, who reachedthe venue, were not allowed toenter the BPRD campus.Though the BPRD had invitedthe media last week itself for theseminar, it cancelled the invita-tion after the Lakhimpur inci-dent, where Mishra landed inthe controversy and his son’sname cropped up in the FIR forthe death of the farmers.

Called as the national thinktank on police subjects, theBPRD on Wednesday had with-drawn the media invite for theevent, saying it is being put on“hold and the invitation may be

treated as cancelled”. The oppo-sition has been demanding thesacking of Mishra, the BJP LokSabha MP from Kheri seat,over the violence. Eight peoplewere killed in the violence --four farmers, two BJP workers,a driver of the Minister and ajournalist working for a privateTV channel.

The Minister has categori-cally denied allegations of hisson Ashish Mishra’s involve-ment in the incident that tookplace on October 3 during thevisit of UP deputy chief minis-ter Keshav Prasad Maurya to thedistrict. Police have registereda murder case against AshishMishra and others over thedeath of the farmers.

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The Supreme Court onThursday granted interim

bail to Yes Bank founder RanaKapoor’s wife Bindu Kapoorand two daughters - Radhaand Roshni Kapoor in the Rs4,000 crore Yes Bank-DHFLscam.

A bench comprisingJustices S.K. Kaul and M.M.Sundresh said: “In the mean-time, the petitioners are grant-ed interim bail with no spe-cific conditions at this stage asthe petitioners were original-ly granted bail/interim bailsubject to certain terms andconditions by the trial Courtwhich would naturally equal-ly apply here”.

On September 28, theBombay High Court hadrejected the bail applicationsmoved by Kapoor’s wife anddaughters.

Additional SolicitorGeneral S.V. Raju, represent-ing the CBI, submitted a sup-plementary charge sheet filedagainst the petitioners for theoffence of forgery underSections 468 and 471 of theIPC. He added petitionershad been denied bail by bothtrial court and the HighCourt.

Senior advocate HarishSalve, representing the peti-tioners, submitted one of thepetitioners had an infant whoshe was still breastfeeding.Salve submitted the charge

levelled that Rana Kapoorhad forged the signature ofone of his daughters (RadhikaKapoor), surprisingly, thedaughter herself had beendenied bail.

The bench said it appearsthat on account of lesseroffences being charged for bythe supplementary chargesheet, bail is sought to bedenied even though the peti-tioners were granted bail ear-lier when they were chargedunder Section 409 carrying alife sentence and/or grantedinterim bail after supplemen-tary charge sheet when theywere arrayed as accused forthe first time. Raju submittedthat he would like to place acounter affidavit on record.

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The Supreme Court onThursday shot a volley of

questions at the Centre, seekingan explanation on the reason forfixing Rs 8 lakh as income cri-terion for declaring economi-cally weaker section (EWS) cat-egory to claim reservation in AllIndia Quota seats in NEETexaminations.

A bench headed by justiceD.Y. Chandrachud askedAdditional Solicitor GeneralK.M. Nataraj: “What is the rea-son for fixing Rs 8 lakh incomecriterion. You have to demon-strate, what was the data beforeyou?”

The bench, also comprisingjustices Vikram Nath and BVNagarathna asked how couldthis income criterion be applieduniformly across the country.

Justice Chandrachud fur-ther queried: “Have you lookedat the GDP per capita of everystate and then devised this eco-nomic criterion... What exercisedid you undertake for reachingRs 8 lakh figure.”

Citing the differencebetween standard of living in ametropolitan city and a remotevillage, the bench said people liv-ing in Mumbai and Bengaluruwith the same annual earningcannot be compared with some-body living in Bundelkhand.

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Union Home MinisterAmit Shah on Thursday

reviewed the security situationwith National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval, UnionHome Secretary Ajay Bhalla,Intelligence Bureau ChiefArvind Kumar and DirectorGenerals of the CRPF and BSFand discussed the current sit-uation prevailing in the coun-try.

The officials in the Home

Ministry said that this was aroutine meeting which hasbeen held on a regular inter-val but it was learnt that theongoing security situation inKashmir was also discussed inthe backdrop of ‘lone wolfattack’ on the individuals inthe Valley.

The sources in the secu-rity set up also said that dur-ing the meeting, the infiltra-tion bid from the Pak-occu-pied Kashmir (PoK) at thebehest of Pakistan was alsodiscussed.

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Congratulating PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

for completing 20 years ashead of public office, BJPchief JP Nadda on Thursdaysaid that today India stands asa confident and self-reliantnation under him.

Nadda said that Indiastands as a confident andself-reliant nation underPrime Minister Modi.

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Four days after winning theby-elections by a record

margin of 58,832 votes BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Thursday wassworn in as a regular Memberof the Bengal LegislativeAssembly by Governor JagdeepDhankhar.

The Chief Minister wasearlier defeated fromNandigram seat by StateOpposition Leader and BJPcandidate Suvendu Adhikariand was in need to get electedto the State Assembly within sixmonths.

Apart from the ChiefMinister two other TrinamoolCongress candidates JakirHossain and Anirul Islam alsotook oath on Thursday. WhileHossain won from Jangipurseat Islam won fromShamshergang. Both the seatsare in Murshidabad hithertoknown as a strong bastion ofthe Congress and the Left.

By-elections to the remain-ing four seats of Shantipur

Assembly seat in Nadia district,Khardaha seat in North 24Pargagas district, Gosaba inSouth 24 Parganas district andDinhata in Cooch Behar dis-trict would be held on October30.

The Congress on Thursdaymade it clear that it would con-test only from ShantipurAssembly seat leavingKhardaha, Dinhata and Gosabato the Left.

The BJP on Thursday alsoannounced candidates for the

four seats — Joy Saha fromKhardah; Niranjan Biswasfrom Santipur; Ashoke Mondalfrom Dinhata; and Palash Ranafrom Gosaba.

The Chief Minister had onSunday announced the names

of the TMC candidates fromthe four seats. While Stateminister SovandebChattopadhyay will contestfrom Khardah; Braja KishoreGoswami will fight fromSantipur. Udayan Guha who

was defeated by Union MinisterNisith Pramanik by a few votes--- before preferring to retainhis parliamentary seat --- willcontest from Dinhata. TMC’sSubrata Mandal has been field-ed from Gosaba.

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Bengal BJP continued to suf-fer organizationally with

more leaders continuing toquit the party --- senior saffronleader and former MLASabyasachi Dutta being thelatest of the lot.

Dutta, a former Mayor ofR a j a r h a t - B i d h a n n a g a rCorporation on Thursdayreturned to the TrinamoolCongress. A protégé of seniorTMC leader Mukul Roy ---who left the BJP to return to hisearlier outfit in May --- Duttahad joined the BJP just before

the April-May Assembly elec-tions but was defeated from theRajarhat-Bidhannagar seat.

Dutta’s departure from theBJP comes after the party lostfour MLAs and senior leaderslike Mukul Roy and BabulSupriyo and three other MLAs.

Soon after joining theTMC Dutta said “it feels goodthat I have been able to returnto my old home which I hadleft because of some misun-derstanding … but finally I hadto return and I have return andonce again resume my work asa soldier of Mamata Banerjee.”

Dutta had earlier criticizedthe BJP for the Lakhimpur

Kheri incident.Apart from Dutta there

were talks of increasing cama-raderie between BJP MLAfrom Cooch Behar MihirGoswami and the TMC lead-ership. Cooch Behar districtTMC president on Wednesdayvisited Goswami’s house andheld “family discussions” formore than an hour. Whilethere was no comment fromGoswami on the developmentthe TMC leader said “we aregood family friends and it wasa family discussion … I had notvisited his house for quite along time … so I came and methim.”

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Lucknow: Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhi Vadraon Thursday demanded a probeby a sitting judge of the SupremeCourt or a High Court into theLakhimpur Kheri violence andsaid Union Minister Ajay KumarMishra, whose son is amongthose booked, should resign toensure an impartial probe.

Priyanka Gandhi, who hadon Wednesday met the familiesof three of the eight peoplekilled in the violence, toldreporters here, "In my viewand that of the victims' familiesas well, the case should beprobed by a sitting Supreme

Court or high courtjudge, and not theretired judge."

The UttarPradesh Governmenthas constituted a one-member commissionof retired high court judgePradeep Kumar Srivastava toprobe the violence during afarmers' protest rally thatclaimed eight lives on Sunday.

Before leaving for Bahraich,Priyanka Gandhi said, "I don'twant to comment on the probeas it has not started yet. But I cansay that for unbiased probe, theminister should resign as he has

the Home portfolioand all this comesunder him."

The Congressleader said the familiesof the victims she hadmet told her that they

were not interested in the com-pensation announced by theGovernment, but "want justice".

The Minister should be"sacked" and those involved inthe act should be arrested."All the police force wasdeployed to stop us and it sur-rounded victims' families so thatno one could reach there tomeet them. PTI

L u c k n o w / L a k h i m p u r :Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav on Thursday said UnionMinister of State for Home AjayMishra's son has not yet beenarrested in the LakhimpurKheri violence case eventhough evidence pointed to hisrole in the incident.

"As fingers are raisedtowards MoS (Ajay Mishra) inthe BJP Government, theaccused in Lakhimpur caseare not yet sent to jail," Yadavsaid while speaking to reportersat his residence in Lucknowbefore heading to Lakhimpur

to meet the aggrieved families."Those named in the FIR

should go to jail. Governmentshould take immediate actionand the matter should beprobed by a sitting judge of theHigh Court. There are videosclips, statements of eyewit-nesses, the statement (of min-ister) in which he is threaten-ing. As he (accused AshishMishra) is the son of the MoS,action has note been taken yet,"he said.

"Do you think farmers canget justice till he (father ofaccused) is MoS?" he asked.

KOCHI: Kerala on Wednesdaylogged 12,288 new Covid-19patients out of 99,312 samplestested during the last 24 hours.The 141 deaths registered onWednesday took the fatalities tilldate in the State to 25, 952,according to a release by HealthMinister Veena George. Theminister said Test Positivity Ratein Kerala was 12.3 per cent as onWednesday . “The death rate in Kerala con-tinues to be alarming though theinstances of Covid-19 has comedown. This is a matter of con-cern,” said a senior office bear-er of Indian MedicalAssociation. Schools and col-leges are being opened in phas-es across the State. EducationMinister Sivankutty toldreporters on Wednesday that allschools in the State would func-tion for six days a week.

Over crowded buses andmini-vans in towns and ruralareas are matters of concern aspassengers do not wear face-masks and openly violate thenorms prescribed by theDepartment of Health.

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The concept of Mega Integrated TextileRegion and Apparel Park (MITRA)

announced by the Union Government with anoutlay of �4,445 crore has fired up the enthu-siasm among the business community and pop-ulation in South West Tamil Nadu.

The mission envisages setting up of sevenworld class textile and apparel parks across thecountry with liberal financial incentives like �500crore to each Greenfield Park while eachBrownfield Park would get �200 crore. Eachpark, which is in the form of textile township,would offer 1,00,000 direct employment and2,00,000 indirect employment, said a releaseissued by the Union Ministry of textiles.

These textile parks encompass the Five F for-mula specified by the Union Government asmandatory requirement: Farm to Fibre toFactory to Foreign (export). “This is a dreamproject because the world-class industrial infra-structure would attract cutting age technologyand boost Foreign Direct Investment and localinvestment in the sector,” said Raja MShanmugham, chairman, Tirupur ExportersAssociation.

The MITRA concept would result in an inte-grated textile value chain right from spinning,weaving, processing/dyeing and printing to gar-ment manufacturing at 1 location, saidShanmugham.

Each Park would have minimum 1,000 acres

of land with Core Infrastructure that includeIncubation Centre & Plug & Play facility,Developed Factory Sites, Roads, Power, Waterand Waste Water system, Common ProcessingHouse & Common Effluent Treatment Plantsand other related facilities like Design andTesting Centres.

Tirupur, Coimbatore and other regions insouth west Tamil Nadu which are crying fordevelopment would be the ideal location to setup these parks,” said C P Radhakrishnan, two-time MP from Coimbatore who knows the pulseof textile manufacturing business like the backof his hand. “Chennai and surrounding areas areall overcrowded with industries and people.South West Tamil Nadu has Tirupur, a hub ofIndia’s knitwear manufacturing and the conceptsuits the region,” Radhakrishnan told ThePioneer.

Raja M. Shanmugham said the conceptParks would enhance the competitiveness of thetextiles industry, by helping it in achievingeconomies of scale and will create huge jobopportunities for millions of people.

KOCHI: Vallillath MadathilMadhavan Nair, popularlyknown as Ambassador VMMNair, India’s oldest survivingdiplomat, breathed his last lateTuesday night. He was 102 andwas suffering from age relatedissues.

Ambassador Nair, born onOctober 8, 1919 and joined theelite Indian Civil Service in1942. As a diplomat, he held var-ious interesting positions inmany countries representing India and hadexciting and unforgettable expe-riences.

He was in Alexandria asIndia’s Charge’ d’ affaires whenthe then monarch King Faroukwas overthrown in a coup d’étatby Mohammed Naguib andGamal Abdel Nasser in 1952.“Naguib was overthrown byNaasser himself and put underhouse arrest for decades.

The King escaped to Italyby his personal yacht!,” Nairwrote in his memoirs.

When he was assigned toCambodia as India’sAmbassador, Nair had to sailthrough Mekong River fromSingapore to Phnom Penh by aDutch cargo ship as the thenGovernment of India had pre-scribed that the diplomats serv-ing in that part of the worldshould travel only by surfaceroute.

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New Delhi: Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla Thursday assertedthat no country should raise inits parliament issues related tothe internal affairs of othercountries. Birla, who is leadingan Indian parliamentary dele-gation to G20 ParliamentarySpeakers' Summit in Rome,held a bilateral meetingThursday with Lindsay Hoyle,the speaker of the UnitedKingdom House ofCommons.

According to a Lok SabhaSecretariat statement, Birlasaid on the occasion thatevery country has its own sov-ereignty which other countriesshould respect. N ocountry should raise the inter-nal affairs of other countriesin its Parliament unless thosematters affect the interests ofthat country, it said, quotingBirla. Both leaders agreedthat the members of theirParliaments must exchangeviews through parliamentary

diplomacy and try to find outhow democratic institutions canbe strengthened in the interestof people. Speaker Birla'sremarks came against the back-drop of some British MPs rais-ing the issue of farmers' protestagainst three agri laws enactedlast year. PTI

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The Congress-led UDFopposition on Thursday

demanded a comprehensiveprogramme, involving inter-national experts, to end theincreasing incidents of man-animal conflict in forest fringeareas of Kerala and protect thelives and livelihood of people.

They urged the LeftGovernment to increase thecompensation amount forthose who die or are injured inthe wildlife attack and to imple-ment a special insurancescheme for those living in thefringe areas.

The Government has theresponsibility to protect not justwildlife but also human beings,they said while raising theissue during the zero hourdemanding a discussion stop-ping other House proceedings.Congress legislator SunnyJoseph, who sought a notice forthe motion, said a serious sit-uation was prevailing in manyparts of the State as several peo-ple had been killed and injuredand crops damaged widely dueto the attack of wild animalswhich strayed into human set-tlements.

Leader of opposition inthe state Assembly V DSatheesan drew theGovernment's attention on theneed to evolve a comprehensiveprogramme to check thewildlife menace on a time-bound manner without losingany more lives.

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More than seven and a halfmonths after her husband

and seven-time MP MohanDelkar committing suicide in aMumbai hotel room, the widowof late MP from the UnionTerritory of Dadra & NagarHaveli Kalaben M. Delkar joinedthe ruling Shiv Sena along withher son Abhinav and hundredsof supporters here on Thursday.

Chief Minister and ShivSena president UddhavThackeray welcomed them intothe party-fold by tying the cus-tomary ‘Shiv Bandhan’ on theirwrists. Talking to media personsafter the Kalaben Delkar’s entryto his party, Shiv Sena MP andspokesperson Sanjay Rautannounced that she (Kalaben)wouldbe the Sena’s candidate forthe forthcoming Lok Sabha by-polls necessitated by the death ofher husband. Thursday’s devel-opment comes as a setback tothe BJP in the Union Territoryof Dadra & Nagar Haveli, asDelkar had represented theparty before winning the LokSabha seat as an independent.

It may be recalled that 58-year-old Delkar was found hang-ing in a hotel along MarineDrive in south Mumbai onFebruary 22 this year. Fifty-eight-year-old Delkar is sus-pected to have committed sui-cide by hanging himself. Thepolice had recovered a 16-pagesuicide note from the hotel

room where Delkar’s body wasfound.

On February 24, the rulingCongress – which is one of thethree constituents in the MVAgovernment in Maharashtra hadturned the needle of suspiciontowards Administrator of theUnion Territory (UT) of Dadra,Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diuand former BJP MLA PrafulPatel who, it alleged, was amongthe UT officials that harassedDelkar leading the latter endinghis life.

In a video-conference heldwith Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh, StateCongress general secretarySachin Sawant and party’sspokesperson Dr Raju Wagmarealluded to a video clip releasedby late Delkar in mid-2020 andthe suicide note left by the lat-ter and rooted for thoroughinvestigations into the circum-stances leading to the suicide bythe sitting MP.

“The tragic end of MrDelkar needs to be investigated.He has left a 16-page suicidenote in which he has men-tioned the names of all the offi-cials who harassed him. It isbeing discussed among peoplethat he has mentioned the nameof Praful Patel, who is current-ly working as the Administratorof Dadra, Nagar Haveli andDaman & Diu since 2016,”Sawant and Dr Wagmare hadsaid in their representation to theState Home Minister.

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households that earned lessthan �1 lakh a year wereimpacted, the losses upsetonly 77.6 per cent of thosewho took home more than�10 lakh. More than a fifth ofthe rich not only managed toprotect their incomes but wit-nessed an increase in theiroverall wealth. As per theKnight Frank Wealth Report,2021, 60 per cent of India’s“ultra wealthy” saw anincrease in their individualincome in 2020 and 91 percent of them expect their networth to rise further in 2021.At present, the number ofultra high net worth individ-uals in India is 6,884, alongwith 113 dollar-billionairesand the figure is expected togo up by 63 per cent between2020 and 2025.

Another listing, HarunGlobal Rich List, 2021,revealed that India rose to thethird spot with 177 dollar-bil-lionaires, 40 more than lastyear. Of them, 150 becamericher, and included 50 newfaces. Established businesshouses such as MukeshAmbani, Gautam Adani, ShivNadar, Kumar MangalamBirla, Pankaj Munjal and oth-ers were the main beneficia-ries. Mumbai was home to 61dollar-billionaires, followedby Delhi (40).

According to the RBI

Annual Report, 2021, privateconsumption, at negative nineper cent in 2020-21, “regis-tered a contraction for thefirst time in the past fourdecades”. Government con-sumption sharply decreasedfrom 7.9 per cent in 2019-20to 2.9 per cent in 2020-21.The NSO Estimates inFebruary 2021 indicated that“aggregate demand, measuredby real GDP, contracted byeight per cent” in 2020-21.

This was the severest con-traction felt since 1980-81. Onthe other hand, it was surpris-ing to notice in the RBI’s May2021 round of ConsumerConfidence Survey that 50.6per cent of the respondentssaid that their overall spend-ing went up. The results of thesurvey attributed it to two fac-tors — a rise in general infla-tion and prices and the differ-ence between what the con-sumers spend on essentialitems: food, fuel and educa-tion and non-essentials liketravel and entertainment. TheRBI Annual Report statedthat despite COVID and lock-downs, or due to them, overthe past year inflation raisedits ugly head. In 2021, infla-tion was the highest since2013-14 and it was largelyfuelled by price rise in essen-tial commodities like foodand beverages, fuels, petrol,

diesel and cooking gas.This unprecedented situ-

ation has a direct bearing onthe Government. Despite pro-viding economic stimulus andtaking measures to curb infla-tion, the Government could-n’t do much to revive theeconomy. The reflection ofthe post-pandemic distressis clearly visible.

Nobody can deny thatthe Modi Government did acreditable job in deliveringwelfare benefits but still 46 percent people think its eco-nomic policies have primar-ily benefited big business.For the first time in fiveyears, the unstable state of theeconomy has begun to cloudthe Government’s ratings. If71 per cent of the respondentshad rated the Government’shandling of the economy“outstanding” or “good” inAugust 2019, only 47 percent believe it be the casenow; 20 per cent rate its han-dling of the economy as“poor/very poor”. Surveyswarn that the ruling partywould not get 272 seats if theLok Sabha polls are heldtoday. So, it’s a wakeup call forthe ruling party.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist and Chairman,Panwar Group of Institutions,Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Theviews expressed are personal.)

����������� ������ ���Sir — This augurs well that the UPGovernment has eventually relented andallowed Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi along with othersenior party leaders to visit the familiesof the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheriviolence, and averted thereby the situ-ation from turning graver, given thatnine persons including four farmers andone journalist have been killed in theviolence and those injured are recuper-ating. To rub it in, the agitating farm-ers’ leader Rakesh Tikait has put theGovernment on a week’s ultimatumthreatening to launch a countrywide agi-tation if prime accused Ashish Mishrais not arrested in next six days.

With Assembly polls in six Statesincluding the most politically significantUttar Pradesh round the corner, it seemsa tall order for the ruling regime as theprime accused reportedly happens to bethe son of a Union Minister. On the faceof it, these developments in UttarPradesh have provided the Oppositionwith a stick to beat the Government with.Now, this appears to be a litmus test forthe Government to find a way out of theimbroglio with a view to making anomelette without breaking eggs. Let’s waitand watch how this political cookie inUP crumbles.

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

��������������������Sir — India has the dubious distinctionof having the maximum number ofroad fatalities. The most unfortunatething is that we don’t learn from our mis-takes on the road. Studies reveal that 80per cent of the accidents are due to thefault of drivers, most of them with validdriving licence holders. It is observed thatobtaining a driving licence in India is justa matter of a few thousand rupees.Many of the drivers are not aware of roadsafety measures which need immediateintervention from the authorities.

Therefore, it is necessary to ensureproper safety awareness for drivers andmonitor issuance of licences. New drivers

need more comprehensive training andrigorous test levels on safety awareness.Education and enforcement can togeth-er bring about a shift in the mindset ofdrivers. Better road sense, the ability of adriver to comprehend road signs, payheed to speed restrictions are some of thedriving etiquettes that will ease the pres-sure on traffic police. Discipline ensuressafety and faster movement of traffic.Frequent camps on road safety with catchyslogans like, “alert today – alive tomor-row”, “two-wheelers are for two, and notfor too many”, and “fast drive could be thelast drive” are the need of the hour.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

���� ��� �����������Sir — It’s inspiring to know that due toan article published in the media, theTelangana Government and Minister forMunicipal Admin & UrbanDevelopment, KTR, have swiftly and pos-itively responded by giving financial help(scholarship) to a student named Anushato complete her MBBS studies. Heartycongratulations to the media, the

Telangana Government, KTR andAnusha. However, I request all the Stateand the Central Governments to reducethe fee of the higher educational institu-tions in India. Only then the studentsfrom poorer and middle class back-grounds can complete their higher stud-ies excellently with a happy mind.

Small help can be done to one anoth-er by society. For big help, theGovernment should set up a ready sup-port system to lend a helping hand tothose in need. Nowadays, higher educa-tion degrees have a promising future inIndia, and even globally. What we urgent-ly need is an efficient and swift supportsystem to promote not just elementarybut higher education as well. Only pri-mary education to poor students cannotcontribute to making India self-reliant.Bigger and bolder developmental foot-steps need to be taken to direct the youthon the path of growth.

Nivriti Sreelekha | Secunderabad

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The two phases of theCOVID-19 pandemichave been a learningexperience, globally. The

calamity has proved to be agreater leveller. Whether king orpauper, living in rural or urbanareas, educated or uneducated,it affected everybody’s lives andlifestyles, making us face unex-pected and unprecedentedthings.

According to a 2021 Oxfamreport, this has been a globaltrend. A survey of 295 econo-mists across 79 countries foundthat most of them were con-vinced that the COVID-19 cri-sis would lead to high inequal-ities in terms of income, wealthand gender. For example, 87 percent of the economists foresawthat “income inequality in theircountry was either going toincrease or strongly increase”.The prediction has turned out tobe true in many countries,including India.

For the first time in fourdecades, the Indian economy —already on the slope even beforepandemic — touched the ebb in2020-21. The CMIE data indicatethat over 10 million Indians losttheir jobs during the secondwave and 97 per cent of house-holds suffered loss of income andwitnessed a dip in real incomes,adjusted to inflation, in the pastyear. The remaining three percent included either the superrich or the wretched poor. Theformer have sources that deliv-er incomes even during lock-downs and the really poor onesdo not have scope for further fall.

The situation can be bestexplained with the help of vari-ous other surveys conducted byindependent organisations. The339,065 COVID deaths in thelast 14 months dealt a doubleblow to public health andprospects of an economic recov-ery. The most hit were the infra-structure, manufacturing, con-struction and services sectorswhich provided maximum jobs.

According to experts,though most families wereaffected by income diminution,the inequality between the havesand have-nots had widened.This disparity stands proved bythe CMIE data which indicatedthat while 99.3 per cent of Indian

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On September 19, the day ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath com-pleted four and half years inoffice, Samajwadi Party nation-

al president and former chief ministerAkhilesh Yadav tweeted that the bookletreleased by the Government on its achieve-ment was a bundle of lies. He called theachievements of the BJP Government as“solahaanejhoot (a complete lie)”. Yadav isa senior opposition leader. So, his criticismdidn’t come as a surprise. What, however,did surprise me was his ostrich-likeapproach of burying his head in the sandand refusing to see the reality.

What goes without saying is the factthat the motto of Yogi Adityanath’s gov-ernment has been ‘sabkasaath, sabkavikas,sabkavishwas’. That is why UttarPradeshhas emerged as the most transpar-ent and growth-oriented government inthe state’s history.

Can Akhilesh Yadav deny the fact thatUP which carried the image of being aBIMARU state has now emerged as the sec-ond-strongest economy in the country?Can he deny that over 4.5 lakh youthreceived government jobs in the last fourand a half years? Can he deny that therecruitment of youth was based complete-ly on merit and in compliance with reser-vation rules? Akhilesh should ask thosewho have been recruited and they will tellhim that under Yogi’s watch there has beenno involvement of middlemen.

With schemes like Mission Shakti andcampaigns like Anti-Romeo Squads, thegovernment has worked towards safeguard-ing women and making them self-reliant.

For better understanding, one shouldlook at some figures.This government didcancel 40 lakh ration cards issued duringthe previous Akhilesh Yadav govern-ment. But it wasnot vendetta politics. Thebeneficiaries issued those cards were notpoor. So, our government made newration cards for those who deserved it.Meaning, the real poor.

As many as 15 crore people got freeration during the ongoing coronavirus pan-demic. This government provided insur-ance cover for three crore migrant work-ers. Nobody could raise a finger at ourworking. This has been possible because ofthe commitment and transparency shownby the government. Even the UP covidmanagement model has received laurelsfrom all across the world including theWorld Health Organisation.

Furthermore, 1.38 crore poor peoplehave got free power connections while 2.61crore toilets have been built in the last fourand a half years. Apart from this, six crorepeople are benefitting from the AyushmanBharat scheme. Is this a ‘jhoot’ that pridewas restored to women by giving them‘Izzat Ghar’ in the form of toilets? Almostall the villages across the state have toilets.

The state has written a new era of devel-opment through the construction of 341km-long Purvanchal Expressway,Bundelkhand Expressway, Gorakhpur Link

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At last, jobs have grown,by 29 per cent in theApril-June quarter,

says the employment surveyof the labour bureau. Thetotal employment rose to3.08 crore compared to 2.3crore jobs in 2013-14 as perthe seventh quarterly eco-nomic survey (QES), in man-ufacturing, health, educa-tion, IT/BPO, trade, financialservices. During this periodthe highest rise was noticedin the IT/BPO sector -- by asmuch as 152 per cent. Itemploys about 6.7 per cent ofthe labour force. Anotheraspect is the constant dippingof the total number ofemployees on payrolls since2017 from 11.3 lakh employ-ees to 10.3 lakh in 2019. Thenumber of public sectoremployees reduced from

19.59 lakh in 1997-98 to16.14 lakh in 2006-07.Similarly, women employeesdeclined during 2017-20,dipping from 1.15 lakh in2017 to 87,667 in two years.NITI Ayog CEO AmitabhKant in the Aayog portal in2020 commented: “Thoughthere is sufficient employ-ment, but the true challengeis to create well-paying qual-ity jobs. Unfortunately, theleak of data from the firstyear of the two-year pilotperiodic labour force survey(PLFS) done by the NSSO,before it could be fully veri-fied, and subsequent mediareports jumping to conclu-sions based on incompleteand half-baked data hasadded confusion and misdi-rection to the prevalent situ-ation rather than helping.”

Those surveys presented apoor job scenario, says Kantand the survey sample wassmall and inadequate. India’soriginal strength was a mixedeconomy. It had its problems.The private sector had to facetough rules to be in compe-tition. So, liberalization waswelcomed. It saw a revamp inthe PSU structures and theemergence of efficient, prof-it-making PSUs. Many of

these became globally com-petitive. But policy changesand influence of the privatesector saw these giantsdiminishing through jobsqueezes and delayed deci-sion-making. While jobs andoverall numbers of PSUsdeclined with gradual disin-vestments, a proper modelneed to replicate those giantswas largely absent. Whilegiving a boost to the privatesector is welcome, it alsoneeds to be seen that theycome up with their ownmodels and survive not juston acquisition of public sec-tor assets. That is where apragmatic private sector isneeded or else the countryhas to rethink how the pub-lic sector is not only retainedbut get back its strength. Acountry to make a firm

progress has to have two dif-ferent kinds of models.

The CMIE on September3 report says urban unem-ployment rose to 9.78 per centin August from 8.3 per cent inJuly and 10.07 per cent in June2021. The urban unemploy-ment rate was 7.27 per cent inMarch, just before the secondwave of Covid-19 hit thecountry. Another observa-tion of the PLFS is that therehas been a sharp increase inemployment in agriculturefrom 42.5 per cent of totalemployment in 2018-19 to45.6 per cent in 2019-20. Thistrend is interpreted as a sequelto the pandemic closures ofmany activities, including theunorganised constructionssector. The migrant labourerschose to work in the agricul-ture sector. The NSO’s period-

ic labour force survey forJuly 2019 - June 2020 men-tions a surge in female labourforce participation rate.However, much of theincrease is in the most sub-optimal category of unpaidfamily workers. The rise inagriculture, too, is mostly inthis category. As in manydeveloping countries, Indiaalso showed signs of declinein agricultural employmentcorresponding to production.The employment rate forunpaid workers in householdenterprises increased from13.3 per cent in 2018-19 to15.9 per cent in 2019-2020.For female workers, theemployment for unpaid workincreased to 35 per cent from30 per cent in 2018-19.Experts believe that such datais not a good sign for gender

empowerment in employ-ment. India needs to look atthis lowest level of subsistence.Amitabh Kant does not talkabout them but stresses on the�1.96 lakh crore Production-Linked Incentive scheme. Hehopes it would generate anincremental production of$520 billion in five years andpave the way for $5 trillioneconomy. It is basically aimedat funding the private sector.Had this been aimed at thepublic sector, the gains couldhave been more. It is still notlate to include the public sec-tor. That jobs are not growingeverywhere is also clear fromQES. In many sectors therehave been job losses like theaccommodation industry,travel and tourism and wagereduction in many othersincluding IT.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The writer is an MLC and vice-president,Bharatiya Janata Party,

Uttar Pradesh. Theviews expressed are per-

sonal.)

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(The writer is a senior journalist. The views

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Expressway, Ballia Link Expressway,and 594 km-long GangaExpressway connecting westernUttar Pradesh with eastern UP.The state now boasts of landmarkwork in the aviation sector. We willsoon have one more internationalairport at Kushinagar. Ongoingconstruction work of internationalairports at Jewar and Ayodhya willgive wings to aviation in the state.The state currently boasts five inter-national airports and eight domes-tic airports while work is underwayon 10 airports.

Among the biggest policy tri-umphs of the Yogi Government hasbeen its resolve to transform thelives of farmers and making themself-reliant and prosperous. In its4.5 years of governance, over �2.94lakh crore have been transferreddirectly to the account of farmers.Over 45.74 lakh sugarcane farmersin Uttar Pradesh have been paid arecord cane price payment of morethan �1,44,000 crore between 2017-2021 which indicates the pro-farmer stance of the government.This initiative yielded unimagin-able results and the state recordedover 476 lakh metric tonnes ofsugar, which is a record to date.Besides, the government haswaived off loans worth �36,000crore of about 86 lakh farmers tohelp them get back on their feet.

The pro-farmers approach ofthe state government played ahuge role in the production of2,399 lakh MT of food grains. Thegovernment has also providedcompensation of �2,376 crore tothe farmers under Prime MinisterFasal Bima Yojana. Addressing theissue of farmers’ crops rotting in the

warehouses, the Yogi governmentprocured 435 lakh MT of foodgrains, and also cleared paymentsof �79,000 crore.

The change is perceptible nowas big investors are ready to investin UP today. This is because of theprevalence of rule of law in thestate, which had been missingfrom the state for the past severalyears. During Akhilesh Yadav’sregime, riots were a routine affairas it took place every three to fourdays between 2012 and 2017. Nota single riot has taken place in thelast four and a half years of the BJPgovernment due to the zero-toler-ance policy against crime andcriminals. That is why, the state hasrealised the dream of ‘ApradhmuktUttar Pradesh’ in the Yogi regime.The crackdown against a largenumber of criminals and gangstersand confiscation of their propertyworth over �1800 crore and thedemolishing of their Illegal prop-erties have helped the state stampits authority.

While the previous govern-ments were protecting and patro-nising criminals and dreaded gang-sters, this BJP government is tak-ing action against each of them,irrespective of caste or creed.Therefore, criminals surrenderingand saying that they are afraid ofthe police has become a commonsight. In contrast, Akhilesh Yadav’stenure witnessed terrorists beingoffered clemency and innocentsbeing punished.

This is the reason why thedomestic and foreign industrialists,who were scared of investing in UPdue to lawlessness and bureaucrat-ic red tape during previous govern-

ments, are willing to invest in thestate today due to the restoration ofrule of law. This has made UP num-ber two in ease of doing businessin the country. Industrialists areinvesting over �3 lakh crore in thestate in different fields. Even theMSME sector, which had beenlying defunct in the state for the pastseveral years, is currently exportinggoods worth �1,21000 crore. Nowonder then, that UP is well on theway to becoming an export hub ofthe country.

If Uttar Pradesh can boast of itsachievements, it is because of theout-of-the-box thinking of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and theperfect implementation of theCentral government schemes inUttar Pradesh by Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath. This is the bene-fit of a double-engine government,fruits of which people are harvest-ing now. If Uttar Pradesh is at thetop position in schemes like PMKisan Yojana, Swachh BharatMission, Ujjwala Scheme, and UjalaScheme or food grains production,it is all because of the coordinatedefforts of the double engine, and thesame party in power both in thestate and at the centre. In the edu-cation sector, seven new universi-ties are being built, including AtalBahari Vajpayee Medical Universityand the Police and Forensic Institutein Lucknow under the new educa-tion policy.

Uttar Pradesh has changed andthe change is perceptible. The gov-ernment has achieved this becauseof transparent work culture with adedicated and committed work-force. This is the hallmark of thisbrand new Uttar Pradesh.

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America’s “humiliating”troop withdrawal from

Afghanistan resulting in thePakistan-backed Taliban cap-turing power in Kabul has cre-ated an “extremely dangerous”situation in South Asia whereIndia could suffer a cycle of sec-tarian violence similar to theone seen in the Middle East, aformer US NSA has said during a key Congressional hearing.

General (retired) HRMcMaster said this during aCongressional hearing onAfghanistan on Wednesday.

“I think it’s an extremelydangerous situation in SouthAsia broadly… I do think thatit is in China’s interest, right?That the Pakistani Governmentand Army go after these jeha-di groups less selectively. It’salso in the interest obviously ofsecurity and stability acrossSouth Asia.

“One of the greatest dan-

gers I think would be India suf-fering this kind of cycle of sec-tarian violence that you seeacross the greater Middle East.That could be incited by someof these groups like, you know,al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba,”McMaster told members ofthe House Foreign AffairsCommittee.

He said the world and theUS are in a more dangerous sit-uation than they were onSeptember 10, 2001.

“The reason we’re not see-ing attacks like 9/11 are becauseof our defensive capabilitiesthat we’ve developed. But thesegroups are growing stronger,”he said.

Jehadi terrorist organisa-tions are not only growinglarger in numbers, more con-fident and richer, they are alsobecoming more destructive,McMaster, who was one of thenational security advisers offormer President Donald

Trump, said.“Our humiliating with-

drawal left terrorists with bil-lions of dollars of weapons.Those weapons will be sharedamong the over 20 US-desig-nated terrorist organisations inthe terrorist ecosystem acrossAfghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.

As some of those groupshave already turned againstthe nuclear-armed PakistaniArmy and Government, it isnot difficult to imagine terror-ists gaining access to the mostdestructive weapons on Earth,McMaster said.

“It is for these reasons that,I believe, our self-defeat inAfghanistan and our broaderdisengagement from the fightagainst jehadi terrorists inter-nationally in recent months hasmade jihadist terrorists moredangerous today than they were on 10 September2001.

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The Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN)

has emerged as an importantplayer in the internationalarena and major point forIndia’s global economic engage-ment, India’s External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar said hereon Thursday.

Making this point, he alsosaid the ongoing corona pan-demic has led to need forchange in the ASEAN andreview co-operation andexpand its ambition.

The 10-nation ASEAN isconsidered one of the mostinfluential groupings in theregion and India and severalother countries including theUS, China, Japan and Australiaare its dialogue partners.

Addressing an event,Jaishankar also said the cen-

trality of the ASEAN to theIndo-Pacific and the impor-tance of ties between India andthe grouping are self-evident.

However, if the groupinghas to remain relevant withchanging times, “then we muststrive to go beyond ideas andconcepts that have outlivedtheir shelf life,” the ExternalAffairs Minister said.

Jaishankar said the largerregion is undergoing “signifi-cant” socio-economic changesand that the pandemic hasclearly accelerated them.

“It is important that we —India, the ASEAN and ourrelationship — we recognisethat a different world awaits us.It is one that puts a greater pre-mium on trust and trans-parency, resilience and relia-bility, as also on choices andredundancy,” he said.

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The shift of Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence chief

Lt Gen Faiz Hameed toPeshawar Corps in KhyberPakhtunkhwa could be aimedat posting a trusted Talibanofficial in the region whichhosts Pashtuns in significantnumbers and effectively man-age the evolving Afghan situ-ation as also control theGovernment in Kabul.

Besides ethnic Pashtuns,the Khyber Pakhtunkhwaregion under Pakistan controlalso hosts a significant numberof Afghan refugees. TheTaliban does not recognise theDurand Line as the borderbetween Afghanistan and

Pakistan and the latter is seek-ing to settle the dispute with afavourable dispensation hold-ing forte in Kabul now.

Lt Gen Nadeem AhmedAnjum has served tenures inrestive Balochistan as InspectorGeneral of the Frontier Corps,Balochistan as well asCommandant of Commandand Staff College, Quetta andhis appointment as ISI chiefcould be aimed at managingthe Baloch insurgency in theprovince that also hosts theChina-Pakistan EconomicCorridor. The CPEC faces con-tinuous threats from the Balochfreedom fighters who oftentarget the Chinese engineersand other personnel working inthe area and also hit the

Pakistani security forces withimpunity, experts said. Anjumwho belongs to the Punjab reg-iment and has also served asKarachi Corps commander.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwaregion falls under the operationaljurisdiction of the PeshawarCorps of the Pakistan Army andHameed’s appointment as itscommander is aimed at ironingout possible differences withthe Afghan Taliban and thelocal administration in handlingof the Pakistan Taliban or theethnic Pashtuns residing in theprovince. Hameed’s presencecould be aimed at settling all suchdisputes at the local level itselfwithout drawing the attention ofthe spy agency or the Pakistanarmy headquarters, they said.

Karachi: A powerful 5.9-mag-nitude earthquake jolted amountainous part of Pakistan’sBalochistan province early onThursday, resulting in the col-lapse of a coal mine and severalmud houses that left at least 22people dead and over 300 oth-ers injured, officials said.

The National SeismicMonitoring Centre inIslamabad said that the epi-centre of the earthquake wasnear Harnai, which has a largenumber of coal mines, at adepth of around 15 kilometres.

The quake affected Quetta,Sibi, Harnai, Pishin, QilaSaifullah, Chaman, Ziarat andZhob in Balochistan. Most ofthe deaths and injuries werereported from the remotenorth-eastern district of Harnaiwhere at least 13 people have died, according to officials. PTI

Washington: Senate MajorityLeader Chuck Schumer said onThursday an agreement hasbeen reached with Republicansto extend the Government’sborrowing authority intoDecember, temporarily avert-ing a debt crisis.

“Our hope is to get thisdone as soon as today,”Schumer declared as he openedthe Senate. In their agreement,Republican and Democraticleaders edged back from a per-ilous standoff over lifting thenation’s borrowing cap, withDemocratic senators acceptingan offer from Senate GOPleader Mitch McConnell. AP

Stockholm: UK-based Tanzanian writerAbdulrazak Gurnah, whose experience ofcrossing continents and cultures has fedhis novels about the impact of migrationon individuals and societies, won theNobel Prize for Literature on Thursday.

The Swedish Academy said the awardwas in recognition of Gurnah’s “uncom-promising and compassionate penetration

of the effects of colonialism and the fateof the refugee.”

Gurnah, who recently retired as a pro-fessor of post-colonial literatures at theUniversity of Kent, got the call from theSwedish Academy in the kitchen of hishome in southeast England — and ini-tially thought it was a prank.

He said he was “surprised and hum-

bled” by the award.Gurnah said the themes of migration

and displacement that he explored “arethings that are with us every day” — evenmore now than when he came to Britainin the 1960s.

“People are dying, people are being hurtaround the world. We must deal with theseissues in the most kind way,” he said. AP

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New Delhi: India's GDP isexpected to grow at 9.1 per centin 2021-22 as economic recov-ery, post the second wave of thepandemic, seems to be holdingground, Ficci said on Thursday.

Ficci's Economic OutlookSurvey also noted that theongoing festive season wouldsupport this momentum.

However, the industry bodycautioned that a likely surge inpeople's movement duringDiwali can lead to a rise in thenumber of Covid cases again.

"The latest round of Ficci'sEconomic Outlook Survey hasput forth an annual medianGDP growth forecast for 2021-22 at 9.1 per cent. This marksa marginal improvement fromthe growth projection of 9 percent recorded in the previoussurvey round (July 2021)," thechamber said.

Pick-up in monsoon rainsin the latter part of the seasonand subsequent increase inkharif acreage is likely to keepgrowth expectations of the agri-culture sector upbeat, it said. PTI

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Fitch Ratings has cut India'seconomic growth forecast

to 8.7 per cent for the currentfiscal but raised GDP growthprojection for FY23 to 10 percent, saying the second Covid-19 wave delayed ratherthan derail the economic recov-ery.

In its APAC SovereignCredit Overview, Fitch Ratingssaid India's 'BBB-/Negative'sovereign rating "balances astill-strong medium-termgrowth outlook and externalresilience from solid foreign-reserve buffers, against highpublic debt, a weak financialsector and some lagging struc-tural factors".

The ‘Negative' outlook, itsaid, reflects uncertainty overthe debt trajectory followingthe sharp deterioration inIndia's public finances due tothe pandemic shock.

Fitch said it has furtherlowered India's GDP forecast

for the fiscal year ending March2022 (FY22) to 8.7 per centfrom 10 per cent in June as aresult of the severe secondvirus wave.

It had in June cut thegrowth forecast from 12.8 percent.

The projections for 2021-22 fiscal compares to a con-traction of 7.3 per cent record-ed in the last financial year anda 4 per cent growth in 2019-20.

"In our view, however, theimpact of the second wavewas to delay rather than derailIndia's economic recovery,reflected in an upward revisionof our FY23 (April 2022-March2023) GDP forecast to 10 percent from 8.5 per cent in June,"it said.

High-frequency indicatorspoint to a strong rebound inthe second quarter of the cur-rent fiscal (April 2021-March2022), as business activity hasagain returned to pre-pan-demic levels.

Fitch, however, saw a wider

fiscal deficit. "We forecast a 7.2per cent of GDP (excluding dis-investment) central govern-ment deficit in FY 22," it said.

The government on June28 this year announced a fiscalpackage worth about 2.7 percent of GDP. Much of this con-sists of loan guarantees, withonly 0.6 per cent of GDP inhigher on budget spending.

"However, buoyant rev-enue performance largely off-sets the higher spending andshould help contain the fiscaldeficit," it said.

"Wider fiscal deficits andgovernment plans for only agradual consolidation putgreater onus on India's abilityto return to high GDP growthover the medium term to lowerthe debt ratio."

Inflation has hoveredaround the upper end of theReserve Bank of India's (RBI)target inflation band of 2-6 percent for the past severalmonths, as commodity pres-sure raised prices.

Mumbai: India Inc is set topost an 18-20 % revenuegrowth for July-September ascompared to the year-ago peri-od, domestic rating agencyCrisil said on Thursday aheadof the filing of quarterly earn-ings by companies.

The handsome growth inthe topline will be driven byboth higher volumes and high-er commodity prices, the rat-ing agency said.

However, the rising inputprices may have capped oper-ating profit margin expansionfor companies when comparedto the preceding quarter, theagency said.

Companies had taken acautious approach immediate-ly after the onset of pandemicand resorted to a host of costcontrol measures includingsalary cuts which resulted inbusinesses being largely pro-tected even as demand driedup.

Crisil said the recovery forthe Q2 was seen across sectors,led by higher volumes andcommodity prices. Volumegains are attributable to a lowbase of the second quarter offiscal 2021, which saw region-al lockdowns and slower eco-nomic activity.

PTI

New Delhi:Petrol and dieselprices across the countrysoared to all-time high levels onThursday as rates were hikedagain in line with the spurt ininternational oil prices.

Petrol price was increasedby 30 paise per litre and dieselby 35 paise a litre, according toa price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

The price of petrol in Delhirose to its highest-ever level of�103.24 a litre and to �109.25per litre in Mumbai, the noti-fication showed.

Diesel rates too touched arecord high of �91.42 in Delhi

and inched closer to the �100-a-litre mark in Mumbai. It currentlycosts �99.55 a litre in Mumbai.Prices differ from state to statedepending on the incidence oflocal taxes.

The increase on Thursdaypushed rates to a new recordhigh. Petrol crossed the Rs100-a-litre mark in Lucknowand Gandhinagar - the last ofthe handful of state capitals thathad rates less than that. Petrolprices, which is dictated by theincidence of local taxes andfreight, had already crossed theRs 100 mark in several places inUttar Pradesh and Gujarat. PTI

New Delhi: The Ministry ofFisheries, Animal Husbandry& Dairying on Thursdayunveiled a blueprint of theNational Digital LivestockMission (NDLM). The UnionAnimal Husbandry MinisterDr Sanjeev Balyan unveiled theblueprint in the presence ofNational Dairy DevelopmentBoard (NDDB) ChairmanVarsha Joshi, AdditionalSecretary Upamanyu Basu andJoint Secretary SinduraGanapathi, Gujarat Co-opera-tive Milk Marketing FederationLtd. (GCMMF) MD Dr RSSodhi and directors of severalamilk unions of Gujarat.

Speaking on the occasion,Dr Balyan said that the livestocksector has a unique combina-tion of being the backbone ofrural livelihood. “The growthwould have been a lot better ifthere were concerted efforts toharmonise programmes acrossthe country in order to createan ecosystem that is conducivefor growth of the sector. PNS

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The Centre on Thursdayreleased �40,000 crore to

States and UTs to compensatefor the shortfall in GST rev-enues, taking the total amountreleased as loan so far this fis-cal year to �1.15 lakh crore.

"The Ministry of Financetoday released an amount of�40,000 crore to States and UTswith legislature under the back-to-back loan facility to meet theshortfall in GSTCompensation.

"Earlier on July 15, 2021,an amount of �75,000 crorewas released to states & UTswith legislature. With thecurrent release, the totalamount released in the cur-rent financial year as back-to-back loan in-lieu of GSTcompensation has reached�1.15 lakh crore," an officialstatement said.

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The pandemic-induced lock-down and social distancingnorms hit the pause button on

our fashion game. Since we werecaged in the four walls of our homesweet home, comfy nightwear andbreezy clothes became our constantcompanion. The stylish and trend-ing clothing eventually took a back-seat, especially for the females!

While some offices have nowopened with 50 per cent capacityand some are working with a hybridmodel, the rest plan on reopeningsoon. As we near the end of 2021and inch towards the new Year withhope and revival, it’s time to getback to work in style! This is ourcue to revisit our wardrobe and pre-pare ourselves fashionably for thefuture.

Here are a few chic outfit cus-tomisation ideas that could help yourevamp your closet and brace youfor stylish hybrid times ahead, irre-spective of whether you just need to

dress for a quick zoom call, or thatlong-awaited office visit.

Oversized clothes are the newtrend

Owing to the coronavirus, thehabit of wearing denim or tight-fitclothes has eventually faded away.Oversized and baggy clothes that letour skin breathe are what attract usnow. They have become our com-panion ever since as they are vogu-ish, comfy, and effortless to carry.Hence, having these garments is oneof the feasible options while you are

reworking your office closet. Forinstance, you could opt for baggy,flared, or plazzo pants with fittedshirts, or flabby shirts, blouses,and tops with the balloon or puffysleeves. Adopting this fashion hackwould compliment your curves andwould also extend the requiredattribute of elegance to your work-place outfit.

S l ay i ng l ou ng e w e a r w it hpanache

One of the quirky yet comfiesttrends while customising your

wardrobe for a hybrid model of liv-ing is giving a new avatar to yourloungewear. You could easily pairup your mundane t-shirt-trouser orfancy pajama set with a blazer andthe right pair of footwear. Youcould also accessorise the lookminimally with gold-toned jewelryor vibrant scrunchies and clips andyou will be all set for your office!You could style the camisole topswith a shirt or shrug and baggypants for the perfect new-age fash-ion style for your workplace as well.

The business casual lookPassé are the days when the

strict formal look ruled the work-places. The novel Coronavirus hashelped in bringing about changesand business casual attire nowseems to be ruling the fashion styleguide for offices. Hence, you couldopt for flared trousers and jeggingsthat offer the same comfort astracks and yoga pants but radiatethe appearance of wel l- f ittedtrousers. You could also ditch plaint-shirts and solid shirts and exper-iment with prints, patterns, and tex-tures or opt for those with puff andruffle designing. These will turn outto be the appropriate pieces forhybrid culture as you would be ableto easily carry the look both whilein office or while stepping out forpersonal commitments.

Focus on minimalismStaying low is the new fad in

fashion. Bid goodbye to bold, pop-ping colors and rather shift towardsblouses, shirts, and tops of subtletones of nudes, pastels, and ivory.This way you could carry them as-is while on virtual meetings or evendazzle up the look with a shrug, for-mal coat or jacket while steppingout for the workplace.

As we plan to step into ourworkplaces once again, we wouldwant to make an entrance withvogue and elegance after a hiatus.Outfit customisation is the way togo to fulfill our fashion require-ments both for virtual meetings aswell as offline purposes.

(The author is the founder ofVROU, the creator of the original

Indian scrunchie.)

David Abraham and RakeshThakore, who are highly

sought after for their timeless, sus-tainable ensembles will be seen, inassociation with R-Elan's ‘fabric ofthe future’, tomorrow on the thirdfay of the phygital edition ofFDCI x Lakme Fashion Week.

The duo have created a collec-tion that explores different ways tocreate fashion using practices thatare sustainable and mindful.

The eco-friendly presentationwas inspired by the theme of‘Assemble. Disassemble.Reassemble’ will be made fromgreen gold; a unique fabric creat-ed from recycled PET by R-Elan.The range will consist of classicshapes that are timeless and ver-satile, forming the basis of a con-temporar y ready-to-wearwardrobe, perfect for every occa-sion.

Commenting on the collabo-ration with Abraham and Thakorefor their collection, GunjanSharma, CMO of PolyesterBusiness at Reliance Industries Ltdsays, "The eco-friendly collectionby Abraham and Thakore magnif-icently combines sustainabilityand style, and it enhances keyaspects of our fabric of the future— R | Elan. The collection show-cases excellent efforts in differentways to create fashion using prac-tices that are sustainable andmindful. Ensembles like thesedrive us at Reliance to stretch thelimits of imagination and bringout new technologies that aremore sustainable and eco-friend-ly."

The exploration of techniquessuch as patchwork, hand stitchingand quilting, form the focus of thecollection. While creating 'glam-our out of waste', a selection of

evening wear in the collection,these garments have been intri-cately embroidered using sequinsthat have been made from sheets

of discarded PET materials.Abraham and Thakore reveal,

"The process of the breaking downof PET materials to create textilesis a crucial step in the circularjourney of responsible fashionproduction. The collection takesa look at the traditional methodsof recycling and upcycling of tex-tiles that are a part of our commontextile heritage. There couldn'thave been a better partner tohelp design this collection than R-Elan. Working with R-Elan's rangeof eco-friendly green gold fabricswas an interesting experience."

True to their DNA, the soon-to-be showcased range will explorenew sustainable fashion practicesranging from drawing on tradi-tional hand skills to investigatingnew materials and technologiesthat can effect positive change.

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From the moment we are awake,to the time we fall asleep, we are

in a state of stress. It's evident thatevery minute something is stress-ing us out and it seems like this hasbecome a normal thing in every-one's life.

Constant stress has been the‘new normal’, for years now. Peoplehave gotten addicted to stressunknowingly and for some it is amatter of pride that they ‘havestress’. Although, stress is a physi-ological response to keep us safefrom immediate threat by releasingcortisol, epinephrine and not epi-nephrine, but, excessive and con-stant stress can do more harm thangood.

Stress is known to lead toinsomnia, headache, irritable bowelsyndrome, breathing issues, ulcers,high blood pressure, obesity, sup-pression of the immune system,diabetes, heart ailments and painin the body. An excess of stress, alsoknown as the distress syndrome,can prove to be very harmful forone’s mental, emotional and phys-ical health. In the current fast-paced world, many a times, we startperceiving the excessive workload,driving in traffic, family concerns,daily deadlines of emails, etc. asstress. The unconscious algorithmsare running for all of us. The keyis to be aware and then to be ableto change the state.

We should pause and breathe;be aware of the present momentinstead of constantly chasing ‘thenext’ in order to reduce stress inour lives. Especially, post the pan-demic, the number of stressors areoff the chart — work pressure,financial & economic uncertainty,relationship issues, peer pressure,spike in health issues, sleep disor-ders, fears, irritability, need for val-idation on social media and socialwithdrawal among other thing.

Stress has become a silentkiller — it eats you up graduallyuntil it becomes too difficult foryou to control what you feel andhow you act towards others. Do notlet stress control your life; controlyour stress instead, by doing thingsthat can help lessen the feelings of

anxiety. A great help in managingstress and increasing the levels ofenergy is a fixed morning routinewhere one takes out time to feelgratitude, meditate, read a fewpages of a book while sipping tea,exercise, write a journal and take acold shower. Needless to say thatthis routine is effective only post awholesome seven-eight hours ofsleep.

Read on for some quick waysto ease stress.

Communion with natureNature has the ability to calm

and heal. Take a walk and look atthe trees, leaves, grass and sky; feelthe breeze. Few minutes with naturedaily can assist greatly in calmingthe mind and reducing stress.

Take frequent breaksDon’t drown yourself in hours

and piles of work. Take frequentbreaks and in those breaks stretcha little, walk a bit, take few deepbreaths, listen to your favorite songor read a comic strip; anything thathelps you relax.

Meditation and breathing

Daily meditation of five-15minutes is known to have a pro-found impact on calming the mindand releasing stress, worry and anx-iety. You may focus on your breath,a mantra, silence or any otherfocal point. Make sure you stick toa technique and do not keep hop-ping from one to another as thatmay slow the progress and maycause you to stop the practicecompletely. Deep breathing andother breathing exercises are won-derful for mindfulness.

Technology detoxFor a few hours everyday, keep

away from technology. Spend timewith your family and friends with-out your phones, laptop or televi-sion. Focus on your connectionswith people to reduce stress andincrease joy in life.

GratitudeMake gratitude and apprecia-

tion a part of your life. Say it outaloud. Appreciate your body, yourphone, your sneakers, your beatingheart, your best friend — every bigand small thing that adds value toyou and your life.

Have funWhen was the last time you let

yourself loose? When was the lasttime you laughed without the fearof being judged? When was the lasttime you took time out for your-self? Be a kid. Try new things. Havefun and remember, laughter is thebest medicine for stress release.

Seek supportIt is important to confide in

someone who offers a non-judg-mental space for you to share allthat you desire. Ask for help fromfriends and family when you feeldistressed; don’t assume that oth-ers won’t understand. In case ofchronic stress, seek help from anexpert.

It’s about time people acknowl-edge the colossal impact of stressand make some lifestyle changes toaddress the stressors before stressbecomes life-threatening for them.Stay healthy!

(The author is a psychothera-pist, life coach, healer and thefounder as well as director of theGateway of Healing.)

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In the last few years, the conve-nience food industry has shown

a growth trajectory in India.Amidst the pandemic, as peoplestarted to work from home, thedemand has spiked and has contin-ued to sustain at a rapid rate. Dueto the busy and fast life, it has alsobeen widely accepted by non-working people. The consumptionpattern in the post-pandemicworld has been shifted from raw toconvenience food. Indian con-sumers are relooking at immuni-ty and healthy food offerings whileadding to their convenience. In thefood industry, the two overarchingthemes that have emerged amongstconsumers are products with bet-ter immunity and products withbetter nutrition for their healthylifestyle.

About 79 per cent of Indianconsumers prefer to have instantfood due to time constraints, asindicated by the recent survey ofASSOCHAM. As per recent mar-ket reports, the convenience foodsegment is expected to show a vol-ume growth of 5.8 per cent in 2022.As convenience food also fallsunder the ready-to-eat category,there is a lot of misconceptionaround the health factor. Processedor instant food has a generalnotion that they are unhealthy.However, convenience food, asthe name suggests, aids consumersin saving time with healthy optionslike pre-cut, pre-washed fruits,and vegetables, and spices.

Convenience food is availablein a variety of forms and is welldesigned considering the require-ment of the consumer. Indianhouseholds are accustomed tospices in their daily kitchen recipes.Hence, these healthy alternativesfrom the ready-to-eat segmentlike dehydrated, vegan, gluten-free flakes, and powders are a greatconvenience. The use of conve-nience foods mainly assists anddoes not fundamentally change thediets of people. For instance, peo-ple in single households, those withlow cooking skills, bachelor, and

the elderly would benefit from con-venience food options.

As the Indian consumers aregrowing health-conscious, there isa spike in demand for healthysnacks that also caters to specificdietary needs, including mineral-fortified, gluten-free, whole grain,organic, reduced-calorie, omega-3, vitamin, and clean-label prod-ucts. Many entrepreneurs, startups,large food companies with a pas-sion and vision to recognise majormarket opportunities are enteringthe segment of health-focusedconvenience food. The market iswitnessing a growing assortmentof innovative products that areboth convenient and healthful.

With the pandemic, peoplehave endured working from home,and hence cooking healthier foodat home has been one of the majoremerging trends. This resulted incutting down on junk food con-sumption. However, it is a chal-lenge to manage work at home,while balancing personal life.Therefore, the range of conve-nience food options aided con-sumers to cook healthy in a time-saving mode. Consumers can pre-pare healthier food at home byincluding legumes, fruits, leanmeat, and vegetables that arenutritionally rich. These healthyadditions will reduce the fat, sodi-um, and added sugar whileincreasing the mineral, vitamin,protein, and fibre content of themeal and in each serving.

The food industry is stilldominated by several majorplayers, however, in recent years,the snacking landscape hasevolved, thanks to the prolifer-ation of new speciality productlines that are healthful in nature.The fastest and the largest grow-ing sub-segment is the snack barcategory. Especially in the after-math of the Covid situation,consumers are drawn to snackbars as they become more awareand watchful of what they eatwhile avoiding products withhigh sugar or salt.

Let me tell you a real story— Amentee once approached me

who wanted to lose fat. After ask-ing all the basic information, I askedher to send her pictures to me (wenormally tell our clients to send ustheir photos without their faces withrespect to their privacy). However,the mentee simply refused to do soand said, “No Chirag! I cannot sendyou my images.” I agreed and toldher that it was fine if she wasuncomfortable with the idea ofsharing her image with me, but Itold her to still click a few of themfor her own reference so that she isable to compare it later for aprogress check. To my surprise, shesaid no to that as well.

I was a little taken aback andasked her the reason behind herreluctance, she confessed her fear offacing the mirror. She shared thatshe cannot look at herself at the mir-ror as it brings back some painfulmemories. Once, she had takenpart in some random online trans-formation challenge, but afterposting her picture, she wasridiculed on social media. Somerandom accounts commented onher physique and her skin colour. Infact, she had to take therapy sessionsto overcome it.

The conversation reflected thesignificance of mental health and Idecided to hire a psychologist onboard along with the team of my fit-ness coaches. The role of a psychol-ogist is to handle clients who areunknowingly suffering from depres-sion or anxiety symptoms and tohelp those who lack motivation andare unable to build any sort ofhealthy habits.

During my inquiry calls, Irealised that many people are suf-fer from food, relationships, andself-image issues.I dug deeper andcollected massive data of all thosewho have been trapped by randomtransformation challengesonline—lose your fat in 21 days, getyour abs in three months, andmany marketing gimmicks. Also, Iconsulted many psychologists.

�How transformation challengesaffect your relationship with food

Most of us have to maintain agood relationship with our dailyfood to live healthier and happily forthe rest of our lives.

In social media challenges likebody transformation, the prize

money is decided upon a deadlineto lose weight, and people starvethemselves to the core. While tak-ing part in such transformationchallenges, they eat only eightwhole eggs and two scoops of wheyprotein in the entire day for threemonths straight. Some people go ona complete juice diet and quit carbscompletely to get ahead in suchchallenges.

�The self-image issue There is no gain in following a

fitness regime if you are developingsome sort of self-image issue, likealways being worried about that oneinch on your biceps, or the cut of absor your face looking thin, or simi-lar things. Also, you must address

it by taking the help of an expert.Moreover, if you are not going tolove the person you are right now,you won't be able to love the per-son you are going to becometomorrow.

So, by showcasing and creatingfalse expectations in your mindabout your own limitations andyour body, these challenges createself-image issues.

�Unrealistic & unhealthy prac-tices

In fitness industry, one knowsthat salt and water intake before aphoto shoot or a stage perfor-mance helps in getting a shreddedlook. It might make one look goodin pictures but is not a healthy prac-

tice, and many times coaches maketheir mentees do this during the lastweeks of the transformation chal-lenge in order to show the maxi-mum effort.

�How these transformation chal-lenges are ruining the fitnessindustry?

These challenges might bebringing more people into fitness-based lifestyle, but in the long run,it is creating false expectations,false comparisons, and developingthousands of self-image issuesamongst the people.

There are many cases where thethyroid functionality of many peo-ple turned imbalance, severalwomen stopped getting their men-strual cycles for four to six months.There are many people who havesuffered from severe hair fall andskin issues due to deficiency.

�Advice to the readersFitness is a journey and not how

many months one takes to get absor how many kilograms one lost ina span of 12 to 24 weeks. Everyoneis stressed in their lives either interms of relationships, finances orfamily issues. It may sounds nega-tive but one needs to understandthat one just cannot compare one-self to someone who is sitting in apenthouse or to the person who issomehow managing his family of sixin a small room.

Mental health is more importantthan those social media ‘likes’ or theprize money.

(The author is a fitness entre-preneur and promotes ethical fit-

ness.)

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Navaratri is known for itsnine days of fasting.

There are two schools ofthought behind this, one isthe religious folks, andanother is scientific thought.What if we tell you that fast-ing makes sense scientifical-ly?

If you have paid atten-tion to the dates we celebrateNavratri, both times coincidewith season changes. A timewhen our body is prone tofalling ill. Fasting duringthese days helps boost yourbody's immunity level. Whenwe fast, the count of ourwhite blood cells reduces,and in response, our bodyproduces new white bloodcells. Thus, making ourimmune system stronger androbust to fight the wave ofdiseases that come with thechange in seasons. However,to ensure your body's immu-nity levels improve, you needto ensure you fight for a min-

imum of three days, allowingthe body time to producenew white cells.

The next benefit of fast-ing during the nine days ofNavratri is weight loss ifdone correctly. Insulin isresponsible for storing fat inour bodies. So, when weconsume food consistently,our bodies produce fat-stor-ing insulin more. The con-stant spike in insulin levels isresponsible for all the excessfat our body storage. Whenwe keep long gaps betweenour meals, our body hasfewer opportunities to pro-duce inulin. Thus, occasion-al spikes in insulin levelsresult in less fat being storedin the body, resulting inweight loss while ensuringyour body is healthy.However, you need to ensureyou eat clean even when youfast. Don't get tempted byunhealthy Navratri approvedsnacks and meals.

Another benefit of fast-ing during Navratri is anti-ageing. When we fast, thecells in the body enter amode known as autophagy.Autophagy has beenresearched to show that thecells in our body heal andrejuvenate themselves whenwe allow them the chance todo something other thanbreak down and digest thefood.

The nine days of fastinghelp our body detox. Due todetoxification, the firstchange any nutritionistmakes or any trainer wants toimplement is a change in theflour that we consume. Ithelps the body to expel all thestored gluten, allowing it todetox on its own.

Fasting can help get relieffrom digestion troubles andbloating. A common issuewith our current lifestyle, theconstant need to digesteverything we eat, putsundue pressure on our diges-tive system, and therefore,not giving it a chance to heal.Other than digesting thefood, our system is alsoresponsible for absorbing thenutrients from the food.When we fast, we give ourdigestion system a chance torejuvenate and heal, allowingthe body to better absorb thenutrients and micronutri-ents from the food we havedigested.

Fasting during Navratrialso allows your body toimprove the texture of yourskin, hair, and fat burningprocess.

(The author is the dieti-cian and co-founder of

Fitelo)

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OKAGBARE FACING CHARGES IN DOPING CASEMonaco: Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare isfacing three charges in a doping case whichsurfaced in dramatic circumstances when shewas barred from running in the Olympic 100-meter semifinals hours before the race. TheAthletics Integrity Unit revealed on Thursdaythat Okagbare tested positive for blood boosterEPO in Nigeria in June, in addition to anotherfailed test for human growth hormone inSlovakia in July, which was announced duringthe Olympics. Okagbare was also charged withfailing to cooperate with the investigation aftershe disobeyed an order to produce “documents,records and electronic storage devices” inrelation to the other charges, the AIU said.

NEED TO WIN GOLD : SAVITANew Delhi: The Indian women's hockey teamwill settle for nothing less than a gold in nextyear's Asian Games to seal a direct ticket to 2024Paris Olympics, said goalkeeper Savita Punia.The Indian women's team had produced ahistoric fourth place finish at the Tokyo Gamesafter losing 3-4 to defending champions GreatBritain and Savita said the team is focussed to dowell in the upcoming events, especially AsianGames, to get over the pain of missing out on anOlympic medal."The whole world has supportedus after our fourth place finish at Olympics butwhen you get so close to a medal and come backempty handed, it is a kind of pain which onlyathletes can understand.

GOLD FOR INDIA IN JUNIOR SHOOTING WORLDSMumbai: Top pistol shooter Manu Bhaker baggedher fourth gold as Indian continued its dominationof the International Shooting Sport Federation(ISSF) Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru,bagging a gold and silver medal on the eighth dayof competition.The Indian junior wom'n's sportspistol team comprising Manu Bhaker, RhythmSangwan, and newly crowned world juniorchampion in the individual women's sports pistolNaamya Kapoor, dominated proceedings in the25m pistol team women junior competition onWednesday beating USA 16-4 in the gold medalmatch.This was Manu's fourth gold of thecompetition to go with one bronze, while it was the14-year old Naamya's second gold of thechampionship.On Wednesday,

BEN STROKE UNDERGOES SECOND SURGERYLondon: Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes hasundergone a second surgery on his broken index fin-ger that is likely to rule him out of the Ashes, accord-ing to a report here. Stokes, who has been on indef-inite leave since pulling out of the home Test seriesagainst India, initially underwent surgery fourmonths ago after he picked up the injury on his leftindex finger while playing in the IPL for RajasthanRoyals. "Leeds based consultant Doug Campbell, whoalso performed the first surgery back in April, tookthe screws out of Stokes' healed finger on Mondayand resolved the scar tissue that had been causingthe agonising pain around his tendons and liga-ments," tabloid 'Daily Mirror' reported.

FRENCH LEAGUE FANS TRAVEL BANParis: The French league has banned fans fromLille and Marseille from traveling to away gamesfor the rest of the year following violence inrecent games. The LFP's disciplinary committeeissued its verdicts at midnight on Wednesday,giving each club a suspended deduction of onepoint.Lens was also given a suspended one-pointdeduction and ordered to play two home gameswithout fans. Angers had one section of itsstadium closed for two games. Both clubs hadalready served those punishments, but Angerswas also ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 euros($23,000). Last month, about 50 Marseillesupporters ran onto the field and clashed withAngers counterparts in their tribune at the finalwhistle. Agencies

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The Indian women's cricket team recov-ered from a precarious position of 55/3

to reach 131 for 4 in 15.2 overs before heavyrain stopped the proceedings in what wasdeveloping into an intriguing clash betweenthe bat and the ball in the first of the threewomen's T20I against Australia at theCarrara Oval here on Thursday. The matchwas abandoned with only 15.2 overs possi-ble.

India got off to an explosive start withSmriti Mandhana, who scored a brilliantcentury in the one-off Test last week, andShafali Verma putting on 31 runs on theboard.

Shafali dealt exclusively in sixes. hittingthree in her 14 ball stay, while Smriti lookedintent on taking down the left-arm spin ofSophie Molineux, and it needed AshleighGardner's introduction in the fourth overto shift the tone, with the off-spinner

removing both openers in the space of fiveballs. Smriti got out first, caught by HannahDarlington for 17. Shafali was caught byGeorgia Wareham for 18. Sophie returnedin the sixth over and duly struck with thebig wicket of the returning HarmanpreetKaur (12), who had looked in ominoustouch in striking three boundaries from herfirst four balls.

Aussie quick Tayla Vlaeminck (0-32),

who in her fourth over hit 122.9kph (andamused viewers when the television speedoclaimed she hit what would have been, bysome distance, a world-record 145km/h ontwo occasions), according to a report onCricket Australia website.

It was Jemimah Rodrigues who came toIndia's rescue, the right-hander cutting thespinners beautifully as she got back in hercrease and played the ball late and into thegaps.

She then took Darlington over extracover twice in the debutante's first over tostamp her authority on the innings, andwhile Yastika Bhatia, who struck a run-a-ball 15 fell from Georgia Wareham's first ballat the other end, Rodrigues pressed on asIndia women reached a strong position.

But soon after, the rain set in, leavingAustralia (seven points) needing to claimjust one of the remaining two matches toclaim the series, and India (five points) stillrequiring another two wins.

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The International CricketCouncil (ICC) on Thursday

confirmed that it will replace'batsman' with gender-neutralterm 'batter' in all its playing con-ditions, starting with this month'smen's T20 World Cup, scheduledto be played in UAE and Oman.

In September, the MaryleboneCricket Club announced it wouldbe replacing the word 'batsman'with 'batter' in the Laws of Cricket.That change will now be reflect-ed across all ICC playing condi-tions going forward.

The ICC said over the pastfour years it has been moving awayfrom the word "batsman", with"batter" implemented regularly incommentary and across the organ-isation's channels. ICC actingCEO Geoff Allardice said the

MCC's decision to move to ‘bat-ter' in the Laws of the game wasone they 'welcomed'.

"The ICC has been utilisingthe term batter for some time nowacross our channels and in com-mentary and we welcome theMCC's decision to implement itinto the Laws of cricket and willfollow suit with our playing con-

ditions that are derived from theLaws," Allardice said in a state-ment. "This is a natural and per-haps overdue evolution of oursport and now our batters are gen-der-neutral in the same way asbowlers, fielders and wicket keep-ers," he added.

Allardice also said that it's asmall change but one that will havea significant impact on cricketbeing viewed as a more inclusivesport.

"Of course language changesalone will not grow the sport, wemust ensure that girls and boyswho are inspired to play crickethave a fantastic, fun first experi-ence and are both able to progressas cricketers without barriers," hesaid.For ICC Hall of Famer andformer Australia star LisaSthalekar the move to 'batter' is asimple but important one in grow-

ing a sport that truly is for every-one. Unaware cricket was a sportplayed by women as a child,

Sthalekar went on to become oneof the finest players Australia hasever produced before making the

step into commentary.Having grown up using the

term 'batter' as a player, she stuckto the word when she steppedbehind the microphone andremembers being told by a co-commentator in one of her earli-est gigs that "batter was for fish."

"We don't say ‘hey look at thatfieldsman', we say ‘look at the field-er'. We don't say 'bowlsman', wesay 'bowler'," she said to icc-crick-et.com following the MCC deci-sion. "So if there is a similar termto describe someone with a pieceof wood in their hands, whywouldn't we follow suit?"

According to ICC, it's worthnoting that up until this century,the phrase 'fieldsman' was theaccepted term with the MCCstepping in in 2000. Nowadays, itwould be hard-pressed to find any-one saying 'fieldsman'.

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The 2024 EuropeanChampionship quali-

fying groups will be drawnin Frankfurt in one year,UEFA said Thursday.

The qualifying formatwas not announced,though the 54 teamsinvolved will likely bedrawn into 10 qualifyinggroups, each with five or six

teams playing from Marchto November in 2023.

That would let the toptwo in each group advancedirectly to the 24-teamfinals tournament joininghost Germany.

The Euro 2024 lineupwill likely be completed inMarch 2024 by three play-off brackets involvingteams based on their stand-ings in the Nations Leaguegroups played next year.

The Nations Leaguegroups are played next Juneand September, ahead ofthe Oct. 9 draw for theEuro 2024 qualifyinggroups.

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KL Rahul saved his best forthe last as his unbeaten 98

off 42 balls, which for a changewas full on intent quotient,helped Punjab Kings crushChennai Super Kings by sixwickets in an inconsequentialIPL encounter on Thursday.Chasing 135 for victory, thePunjab team stormed to victo-ry in 13 overs as the CSK skip-per M S Dhoni could not findanswers to stop Rahul'sonslaught.

Skipper Rahul was on theattack from the word go,launching into the CSKbowlers. The stylish right-hander clobbered eight sixes togo with seven boundaries. Hefinished it in style with a big sixoff Shardul Thakur.

The Punjab skipper hadbeen panned for his approachin some of the earlier match-es where he dragged the gamedeep but Punjab Kings failedto finish on the winning side.Rahul's strike-rate had beenpanned often during this edi-tion and finally the flair wasback in his batting.

Alas, it came when thehorse has bolted the door.

Thakur picked three wick-ets for 28 runs in three to beCSK's best bowler on a daywhen the other bowlers includ-ing Deepak Chahar (1/48 from4 overs), Josh Hazlewood (0 for22 in 3 overs) and DwayneBravo (0/32 in 2 overs) lookedclueless in the face of Rahul'sstylish onslaught.

Rahul kept hitting bound-

aries and sixes at will even asthe other batters didn't comeup with any meaningful con-tribution. Anything on hislegs was whipped betweenfine leg and mid-wicket withutter disdain.

The skipper and MayankAgarwal (12) put on 46 in just4.3 overs before he dominatedanother partnership withShahrukh Khan (8) for thethird wicket, adding 34 runs infour overs.

None of the CSK bowlers

was able to stop a maraudingRahul as Punjab Kings went onthe offensive in a bid to winquickly and boost their net run-rate. Despite the easy win,Punjab's NRR did not go pastfourth-placed Kolkata KnightRiders with both teams on 12with the latter set to play laterin the night.

Earlier, Punjab Kings lim-ited Chennai Super Kings to134 for 6 despite Faf du Plessis'76 off 55 balls.

The CSK score was largely

due to the fighting half-centu-ry by veteran South Africanplayer du Plessis and the 26runs in the last two overs.None of the other CSK playerscrossed 15-run mark.

For Punjab, leggie RaviBishnoi impressed in a spell of4-0-25-1 which included thescalp of CSK captain M SDhoni while Arshdeep Singh(2/35) and Chris Jordan (2/20)did a good job for Punjab.

Du Plessis waged a lonebattle, ensuring that the Punjabbowlers did not run away withthe game with a hard-workinghalf-century.

The 18th over saw him hittwo boundaries off Jordan'sthird over as CSK continued theattempt to cobble up arespectable score.

The South African hit twomore sixes, one off Arshdeepand one off Mohammad Shamiin the final over to give amuch-needed push to the CSKinnings towards the end.Ravindra Jadeja remained notout on 15 (17 balls, 1 six).

That only 30 runs came inthe powerplay indicated theCSK batters' difficulty in gettingShami & Co away. Coupledwith the regular loss of wickets,the three-time championscrawled to 50 in the 10th over.

Shami, in particular, washard to get away. His first spellof three was brilliant, as he con-ceded only six runs. Left-armpacer Arshdeep continued toimpress and got the wickets ofthe in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad(12, 14 balls, 1 four) and MoeenAli (0).

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India produced yet another dis-appointing performance as they

were held to a goalless draw by205th ranked Sri Lanka despite adominant display in their secondSAFF Championships match hereon Thursday.

The seven-time championspaid the price of not creatingenough chances and wasting thosethey got against a Sri Lankan side98 places below them in the FIFArankings.

Though they have a lion'sshare of the ball possession, the107th-ranked Indians were inef-fective from the set-pieces and diddo not much in open play eitheragainst their opponents, who onlyhave five countries ranked belowthem in a 210-team table.

Igor Stimac's full-strengthteam is still searching for a win intwo matches. They have drawnagainst 10-man Bangladesh 1-1 intheir opening match on Monday,that has put pressure on Stimac.

A loss or a draw against cur-rent table toppers Nepal (six

points) on Sunday can make Indiadifficult to qualify for the final. Thetop two teams from the round-robin league qualify for the final tobe played on October 16.

India made three changesfrom the previous match startingeleven with Seriton Fernandesand Mandar Rao Dessai replacingChinglensana Singh and PritamKotal in the defence and SureshSingh coming in for Manvir Singhupfront.

Stimac's side controlled thematch from the very beginningwith the Sri Lankans barely anychance at the Indian goal butsomehow the forwards, led by cap-tain Sunil Chhetri, could not bulgethe opposition net. Chhetri him-self could not do much on the day.

The best chance of the firsthalf came in the 22nd minute butListon Colaco's free header froma nice cross from the right flank byUdanta Singh sailed over the bar.

India kept on pressing for agoal but failed to put any real pres-sure on the opposition defence inthe remaining period of the firsthalf.

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The ICC will have psycholo-gists on board to counsel

players on mental health issuesduring their stay in bio-secureenvironment for the upcomingT20 Word Cup in Oman andUAE, senior official AlexMarshall said on Thursday.

Marshall, the head of ICC'sIntegrity Unit and also in chargeof overseeing a foolproof bio-secure environment, said thatthe respective team manage-

ments are expected to deal withpotential "bio-bubble breaches",while advising strict adherenceto the rules during the show-piece which begins fromOctober 17.

"Some people, we have toaccept that their mental healthwill be affected in controlledenvironment. The ICC willmake available 24 hours a day,a psychologist to speak to anyindividual who seeks help,"Marshall said during a virtualmedia interaction.

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Eighteen former NBA players havebeen charged with defrauding the

league's health and welfare benefitplan out of about $4 million, accord-ing to an indictment Thursday.Federal prosecutors planned a newsconference to describe the case thatwas brought in Manhattan federalcourt. It wasn't immediately clear

whether all those charged had beenarrested.

The list of former players includ-ed Jamario Moon, Glen Davis andSebastian Telfair.

According to the indictment,the ex-players engaged in a wide-spread scheme to defraud the plan bysubmitting false and fraudulentclaims to get reimbursed for medicaland dental expenses that were neveractually incurred.

The 18 players were among 19individuals charged in the indictment.It said that the scheme was carried outfrom at least 2017 to 2020, when theplan received false claims totalingabout $3.9 million. Of that, thedefendants received about $2.5 mil-lion in fraudulent proceeds.

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Shubman Gill hit a secondconsecutive fifty asKolkata Knight Ridersregistered the highest

score at the venue this season,posting a competitive 171 forfour against Rajasthan Royals intheir final IPL league matchhere on Thursday.

Gilll (56 off 44) andVenkatesh Iyer (38 off 35) gotKKR's innings to a rollickingstart after being put into bat,stitching 79 runs for the open-ing stand.

Rahul Tripathi (21),Dinesh Karthik (14 not out off11) and skipper Eoin Morgan

(13 not out off 11) also playedgood hands towards the end totake KKR to past the 170-runmark. Young left-arm pacerChetan Sakariya was the pick ofthe bowkers for RR with figuresof 1/23.

Riding on Gill and Iyer'simpressive start, KKR reached50 in the eighth over.

Iyer didn't curb his natur-al instinct and first clobberedJaydev Unadkat over the deepmidwicket boundary and thenstraight over the bowlers's headtwo bowler's later to accumulate14 runs off the 10th over asKKR reached 75 for no loss atthe halfway mark.

Inspired by Iyer's power-hitting, Gill then joined the

party and welcomed RahulTewatia with a maximum.

But Tewatia had the lastlaugh as he gave his side theimportant breakthrough whenhe went through the defence ofIyer between his legs as the left-hander went for an extravagantreverse sweep.

RR skipper then introducedGlenn Phillips into the attackbut the off-spinner went for 17runs, albeit he picked up thewicket of Nitish

Rana in the process. RahulTripathi was lucky to get areprieve as he was dropped bySamson when he outside edgeda full delivery off MustafizurRahman in the last ball of the13th over.

Tripathi cashed in on thechance and struck Shivam

Dube for back-to-back bound-aries in the next over.

Nitish Rana played a 5-ball12-run cameo before Karthikand Morgan joined hands toend KKR's innings on a high.

GILL'S FIFTY TAKES KKR TO 171/4

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