PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: To boost do-mestic supply and provide reliefto consumers from rising onionprices, the Centre Friday imposedstock limits on both retailers andwholesalers with immediate effecttill December 31.

Now, retailers can stock oniononly up to 2 tonnes, whereas whole-sale traders are allowed to keep upto 25 tonnes. This will check hoard-ing and black-marketing, it said.

Onion prices have shot up sharplyto over `75 per kg in the past fewweeks in the wake of damage tothe standing kharif crop in pro-ducing areas due to heavy rainfallas well as hoarding.

Addressing media, ConsumerAffairs Secretary Leena Nandansaid, “This is a decisive step. We haveimposed stock limits on oniontraders with an immediate effect tillDecember 31 after concerns thattraders were releasing their storedstocks slowly, creating artificialprice rise situation.”

She said the government had toinvoke the recently passed EssentialCommodities (Amendment) Act,2020, which provides regulation ofagri-commodities "only" in thetimes of extraordinary price risesituation.

“Under this law, normally, wewould not be regulating agri-foodstuff like cereals and onion. But, intimes of extraordinary price rise,we can regulate if the retail pricebreaches the trigger levels specifiedin the law,” she said.

In case of onion, the average all-India retail price of onion of ̀ 55.60per kg that prevailed on October21 breached the trigger level as perthe formula specified under the ECAmendment Act, she said. The all-India average retail price of ̀ 55.60per kg was higher by 22.12 per centcompared with last year’s rates of`45.33 per kg and by 114.96 per cent

as against average rate that pre-vailed in past five years. So, the re-tail price had actually more than dou-bled and, therefore, decided to imposethe stock limits on the commodity,she added.

Later, Consumer Affairs MinisterPiyush Goyal tweeted that the Modigovernment has taken steps to curbhoarding and check prices. Stocklimits have been imposed on retail-ers and wholesale traders of onion.The government said action underthe Prevention of Blackmarketing andMaintenance of Supplies of EssentialCommodities Act, 1980, would betaken to prevent any hoarding.

Actor Kriti Kharbanda says that shewould like to star in a female-centric action film

KRITI’S DESIRE

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FTAF, a global watchdog for terror-funding decided to keep Pak on its‘grey list’

NO RELIEF FOR PAK

INTERNATIONAL | P10

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 204 | www.orissapost.com

LEISURE | P2

BSP holds ‘Brahmin Samvads’, a move designedto woo Brahmins, who are reportedlydisgruntled with the BJP TWO STATES | P7

BSP WOOS BRAHMINS

12 PAGES | `4.00

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IRREGULAR by MANJUL

See, people listen to you. You asked them notto gather in crowd.

BHUBANESWAR | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 | 2020

WEATHERBHUB

29.6° 31.5°CTK

21.5°MAX

MINTE

MP

Humidity 98% 82%Rainfall Nil Nil

Forecast

Generallycloudy sky

22.7°

INDEX VARIATION

SENSEX 40685.50 127.01

NIFTY 11930.40 33.90

DOLLAR 73.84 `0.02

EURO 87.46 `0.14

GOLD `50,675 `91

SILVER `62,295 `320BULL

ION

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RSES

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RREN

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MARKET WATCH

POST NEWS SERVICE & AGENCIES

New Delhi, Oct 23: The coronavirusvaccine, once available, will be dis-tributed under a special Covid-19 im-munisation programme with the Centreprocuring the doses directly and mak-ing it available for priority groups, of-ficial sources said.

According to them, the Centre willprocure the vaccine directly to makeit available to the priority groups free-of-charge through the existing networkof states and districts. States have beenasked not to chart separate pathwaysof procurement, they said.

The Centre, with the help of state andunion territory governments, hasstarted the process of identifyingaround 30 crore priority beneficiarieswho would be given vaccine dose in theinitial phase.

This special Covid-19 immunisationprogramme would run in parallel withthe Universal ImmunisationProgramme, but will use its processes,technology and network of the exist-ing vaccine distribution framework.

The government has demarcatedfour categories of people for vaccina-tion in the initial phase – around onecrore healthcare professionals includingdoctors, MBBS students, nurses andASHA workers, etc.; around two crorefrontline workers including munici-pal corporation workers, personnel ofthe police and armed forces; about 26crore people aged above 50; and a spe-cial group of those below 50 years of age

with co-morbidities and requiring spe-cialised care.

“States have been asked to enlist bymid-November the priority populationgroups.... Each person in the immu-nisation list will be linked with theirAadhaar cards so as to track them,” asource said. The existing digital plat-form and processes used for theUniversal Immunisation Programme(UIP) are being enhanced to trackCovid-19 vaccine administration andmovement – from procurement to stor-

age to distribution to individual ben-eficiaries – as and when the vaccine be-comes available, Health Ministry offi-cials have said.

Also, online training modules arebeing developed for vaccinators. The dig-ital platform that is being enhanced isElectronic Vaccine Intelligence Network(eVIN), which provides real-time in-formation on vaccine stocks and stor-age temperatures across all cold chainpoints in the country under UIP. UnderUIP, children, adolescents and preg-

nant women are currently vaccinatedagainst vaccine-preventable diseasesfree-of-cost by the state.

The National Expert Committee onVaccine Administration for Covid-19 hasalready mapped the existing cold chainbeing utilised under the government'simmunisation programme.

Govt plans agenda for Covid vaccinationTHE CENTRE WILL PROCURE THE VACCINE DIRECTLY TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO PRIORITYGROUPS FREE-OF-CHARGE THROUGH THE EXISTING NETWORK OF STATES AND DISTRICTS

State gears up forCovid-19 vaccination BHUBANESWAR: Close on the heels of theCentre’s initiative to draft a priority list forCovid-19 vaccination, the state govern-ment has started working on a data baseof healthcare workers, who are likely toget the vaccine first. The state govern-ment has asked all concerned officials toenroll all healthcare and Anganwadi work-ers for vaccination. Additional ChiefSecretary (Health & Family WelfareDepartment), Pradipta Kumar Mohapatrahas written to the Indian MedicalAssociation (Odisha State Branch), AYUSHAssociation, Nursing Association,Paramedic Workers’ Association, andPrivate Hospital Owners’ Association inthis regard. Mohapatra asked the associa-tions to contact the district Collectors/municipal commissioners/ chief districtmedical officer of their respective dis-tricts for enrolling all healthcare workersin the database by October 29. Meanwhile,former director of All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS), BhubaneswarDr Ashok Mohapatra Friday claimed thatthe vaccines against Covid-19 are likely tocome by March, keeping in mind the cur-rent pace of researches and trials.

SPUTNIK V TO BE TESTED ON 100 INDIANSMOSCOW: The Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 will be tested in India on 100volunteers, the Indian Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation’s Drug ControllerGeneral (DCGI) told the Russian news agency Sputnik. DCGI has granted permission topharmaceutical giant Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for conducting the tests. However, the dateand time of the test will be determined by the company. News agency Sputnik quoted theorganisation as saying that the vaccine will be tested in the second phase of its clinical tri-als before moving on to Phase II. Last week, the expert committee of DCGI had recom-mended granting permission to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for conducting Phase 2 clinicaltrials of Russian Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Sputnik V, in India.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New York, Oct 23: USPresident Donald Trump hasdescribed India and its air as“filthy” during the last pres-idential debate with hisDemocratic challenger JoeBiden while discussing theenvironment and the Parisclimate change agreement.

“Look at India, it’s filthy,it’s air is filthy,” Trump saidThursday night in Nashville,Tennessee, while compar-ing it to China and Russia towhat he said was the condi-tion of the US environment.

“We have the best carbonemission numbers that we'vehad in 35 years under this ad-ministration, we are work-ing so well with industry,” hesaid before lunging at Indiaand the other two countries.

That was the only men-tion of India during a debatethat mostly stayed clear offoreign policy and strate-gic interests.

North Korea's nuclearand missile programmecame up with Trump point-ing out that it had not con-ducted any nuclear testsduring his time in office,unlike when Biden was theVice President. He said thathe had prevented a war withPyongyang that formerPresident Barack Obamahad expected.

Trump asserted that hewill make China pay forspreading the Covid-19 pan-demic and that he was al-ready making it pay for thetrade problems and send-ing $20 billion to US farm-ers, which Biden disputed.

Look at India, it’s filthy,it’s air is filthy: Trump

POST NEWS NTWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: In a bid tosave the life of a critically ill patient,the Commissionerate Police Fridaycreated a ‘green corridor’ from a pri-vate hospital in the city to the BijuPatnaik International Airport.

The ‘green corridor’ was createdto facilitate shifting of Abhay KumarJena, a critically ill patient fromPuri district. Police personnel turnedall the traffic signals green on theroute from the hospital to the air-port so that the ambulance couldmove unhindered and speedily en-abling it to reach at the airport in lessthan eight minutes. Two police ve-

hicles escorted the ambulance. From the airport an air ambulance

took the patient to Hyderabad in one-and-a- half hours. This was the fourth‘green corridor’ created by the policein city to ensure unhindered passageto critically ill patients. Earlier ‘greencorridors’ were created thrice to takepatients from hospitals to the airport.

Abhay had undergone a lung sur-gery and also tested positive forCovid-19. He was recovering well,but complications set in and hiscondition became critical. Doctorsattending to him here decided toshift him to Hyderabad. Notably,‘green corridor’ is an escorted andtraffic-free path which helps the

harvested body parts as well as crit-ical patients to reach hospitals forfurther treatment in a short notice.

Commissioner of PoliceSudhanshu Sarangi had earlier in-formed about providing ‘green cor-ridor’ for ferrying critical patientsand body organs on the request ofthe patient’s relatives or the hospitalauthorities in the twin cities.

“We provide green corridor fa-cility for ambulance movement, asa standard policy, for transplant orother critical medical procedures onrequest from hospitals/family mem-bers of patients,” twitted Sarangi,October 10. The CommissioneratePolice started implementing ‘green

corridor’ facility for patients fol-lowing widespread resentment overthe death of a five-year-old, February11. In that case, the ambulance car-rying the ailing child to a privatemedical college and hospital atPatia got stuck in traffic jam whichallegedly led tothe child’s death.

Speaking on the issue, DCP trafficSoumya Mishra told Orissa POST,“The state government has specially in-structed us to provide traffic-free pas-sage for all seriously ailing patients, es-pecially people suffering from organfailure, and in emergency need fororgan transplantations. The hospitalscontact the DCP traffic who is the nodalofficer for green corridor facility.”

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: Amazon hasrefused to appear before a jointParliament committee lookinginto the Personal Data ProtectionBill, 2019, and this amounts to“breach of privilege of Parliament”,Parliament sources said.

If Amazon does not appear be-fore the panel October 28, “coerciveaction will be initiated” againstAmazon, sources said. The US e-commerce giant said their “sub-ject matter experts are overseas”and cited travel risks due to whichthey cannot appear.

The committee, which is look-ing into the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, followingconcer ns expressed by theCongress, had called all stake-holders, including Facebook andTwitter, to get an overview.

“Amazon has refused to appearbefore the panel October 28 and ifno one on behalf of the e-com-merce company appears beforethe panel it amounts to breach ofprivilege,” BJP MP MeenakshiLekhi, who heads the panel, toldthis news agency. The panel has de-cided to send a privilege notice ifthey do not turn up.

Meanwhile, top Facebook Indiaofficials appeared before the par-liamentary panel today and werequestioned for nearly two hours,parliament sources said. FacebookIndia was represented by its pub-lic policy director Ankhi Das.

The presentation of Twitter of-ficials before the panel will takeplace October 28, according to a no-tice issued by the Lok SabhaSecretariat. Google and PayTMhave been asked to appear beforethe panel October 29. While in-troducing the draft Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, in parlia-ment last year, Union ministerRavi Shankar Prasad said it em-powers the government to askcompanies - Facebook, Google andothers - for anonymous personaland non-personal data.

Amazonrefuses tomeet LokSabha panel

SHORT TAKES

Kapil Dev stableafter angioplastyNew Delhi: Cricket great KapilDev, who captained India totheir 1983 World Cup triumph, isstable after undergoing anemergency coronaryangioplasty having sufferedchest pain, according to ahospital statement Friday. The61-year-old former Indiacaptain was admitted aftermidnight at the Delhi hospitaland underwent the procedurein the early hours Friday.“Currently, he is admitted inICU and under closesupervision...” the hospital said.“Kapil Dev is stable now and heis expected to get discharged incouple of days.” P12

‘Poacher’ allegedlybeaten to death Baripada: Locals of Nachhipurvillage under Kaptipada policelimits in Mayurbhanj districtstaged protest in front of theforest office Friday afterdeath of a villager undermysterious circumstances.The family members ofdeceased alleged that he wasbeaten to death by forestemployees on suspicion ofbeing a poacher. Keeping thebody in front of the forestoffice, the villagers organizeda sit-in at the office seekingjustice to the deceased’sfamily.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Oct 23: In a landmarkdevelopment in the history ofgroundwater preservation in thecountry, wastage and misuse ofpotable water or groundwater will,henceforth, be a punishable offence,with the Central Ground WaterAuthority issuing a notification di-recting civic bodies to evolve a com-pliance mechanism with coercivemeasures for violations.

The notification issued by theCentral Ground Water Authority(CGWA) under Section 5 of theEnvironment (Protection) Act camein pursuance to the directions passedby the National Green Tribunal onOctober 15, 2019 in the RajendraTyagi vs Union of India case, inwhich the petitioner had sought tomake water wastage and misuse apunishable offence in the country.

The notification by the author-ity stated, "The civic bodies dealingwith water supply in all states andUTs, whether it is the Jal Board, JalNigam, Water Works Department,Municipal Corporation, MunicipalCouncil, Development Authorityor Panchayat, shall be duty-boundto ensure that there is no waste ormisuse of potable water tappedfrom underground and evolve acompliance mechanism with co-ercive measures for violations."

The notification, issued October

8, further stated that no person inthe country shall waste or misusepotable water resources tappedfrom underground.

Advocate Akash Vashishtha, whohad represented Rajendra Tyagiin the green tribunal, said, “Wastageand misuse of potable water andgroundwater will, henceforth, be apunishable offence in India.”

He added, “Failure to complywith the notification will be pun-ishable with imprisonment for aterm which may extend to five yearsor with a fine which may extend to`1 lakh, or with both. In case the fail-ure or contravention continues, anadditional fine can be slapped,which may extend to `5,000 forevery day during which such fail-ure or contravention continuesafter the conviction for the firstsuch failure or contravention, underSection 15 of the Environment(Protection) Act, 1986.”

“Section 15 of the Environment(Protection) Act deals with thepenalty in case of contravention orif anyone fails to comply with anyorders or directions issued underthe act. We had sought from theNGT to ask the government to issuedirections under Section 5 of theEnvironment (Protection) Act sothat any violation of contraven-tion or directions thereof is pun-ishable under Section 15,”Vashishtha added.

Misuse of potablewater now punishable

Police create ‘green corridor’ to help critically ill patient

The patient being taken to Hyderabad in an air ambulance, Friday

Centre imposes stock limits on onion traders

TEARJERKER Onion price (per kg)

• Bhubaneswar `80• Cuttack `70• Rayagada `80• Malkangiri `80• Koraput `80• Nabarangpur `60• Jajpur Road `80• Kendrapara `60• Nayagarh `70• Berhampur `80• Angul `75• Jharsuguda `80• Jagatsinghpur `80• Baripada `80• Puri `80• Sambalpur `80

Kriti would love to doa female-centric

action filmNew Delhi: Actress Kriti Kharbanda enjoyswatching action sequences on screen, and saysthat she would like to star in a female-centric ac-tion film.

“I would love to do a female action film. Actionsequences are something I not only like watch-ing, but also taking part in. I have been an out-doors person for as long as I can remember. I havedabbled in many kinds of sports. I play tennis,basketball and I played kho-kho back in school,"Kriti told IANS.

When she learnt pole dancing, and trainedin sword fighting for Housefull 4, she realisedthese were things she enjoyed.

“Action is something I enjoy, strengthis something I enjoy. I think there is some-thing about a petite little girl kickingsome a** and I can’t wait to show thatto the world,” she added.

She got to perform some action in theupcoming revenge drama Taish.

“I have been lucky. I wasn’t supposedto be a part of the action sequences inthe first draft. It was after we reachedLondon and we started shooting that(director) Bejoy Nambiar told me Iwould be in that part of the film as well.It felt really good. Go-karting is some-

thing I have enjoyed from a youngage. It is one of my biggest

stressbusters. I got achance to drive in

many sequences ofthis film. I have dab-bled in the thrillpart of the film,"she said. IANS

P2 MILEY CYRUS TO RELEASE SEVENTHALBUM NOVEMBER 27

leisurePop star Miley Cyrus will unveil her seventh album,Plastic Hearts, November 27. The singer made theannouncement on Instagram. The album will feature12 original tracks including her latest hit Midnightsky, and live covers of Heart of glass (Blondie) andZombie (The Cranberries).

Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds confessed onsocial media that he has cast his vote in theUS for the first time. “This is my first timevoting in America. I’d like to thank my wifeBlake for making my first time so gentle andloving,” Reynolds wrote.

SATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSThe cupid may strike youtoday. You don't wantmake a wrong firstimpression, so wear something nice andbe presentable all the time. Professionally,the day will be favourable for you to makesome important decisions.

PISCESOrganized and sorted asyou are, you will still findyourself clouded withemotions today. Thoseyou are thoughtful and calculative as a per-son, you will discover the joy of emotionsand the warmth that accompanies them.You will take the time to feel things insteadof thinking of them and this change in yourbehaviour will either be the cause of worryor amusement for those who are close toyou, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSZoom in on complicatedproblems and solve themwith style, says Ganesha.Don't fret over problems;instead concentrate on ways to solvethem. Your day will get even better whenperhaps, news from an overseas friendreaches you.

LIBRAGanesha says you willstay in accordance withyour prestige or socialstatus. Your innovativeideas will help you progress in your workfield. Now is a good time to put into com-pletion those ideas, which had taken aback seat.

SCORPIOIt's business time andshock your competitorswith the launch of the newproduct. However, starsare not aligned in a favourable way, whichindicates that you may come across somehurdles. Take your time, sort out the trou-bles and go ahead with your launch withmuch fanfare and celebrations.

LEOThe complete familyman that you are, it isyour near and dearones who have alwayslaid the foundation of your success. Sowhy should today be any different. Theauspicious tides of the day begin fromyour home and follow you everywhere.Be it work or play, you have a tempo thatis undiminished.

VIRGOThe remarkable man-ner in which you func-tion at work will earnfor you a lot of acco-lades and supporters. Your seniors willappreciate your dedication to work. Therewill be fun and entertainment in theevening. Ganesha says you can look for-ward to relaxing with some soft music.

GEMINIYou will meet all kinds ofpeople in matters relatedto work. You will need tounderstand their demands and needs andwill have to strive to fulfill them. Your cour-teous nature will endear you to people.You will receive praise for your intelligenceas well, says Ganesha.

CANCERChances are that yourinquisitive nature willput in a difficulty.Others will be angrywith you for keeping a secret a vitalinformation. Ganesha counsels you tostrengthen ties with friends and give uppresent attitude.

ARIESYou will be very logicaland rational today, ascreativity is put on theback-burner. The situation at your work-place will be full of challenges, but youwill take them head-on. Later, all thestress will be mitigated by the soothingtouch of your loved ones, says Ganesha.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSYou will manage toachieve all short-termgoals that you had settoday and your focus willnow shift to setting long-term ones. Workpressure will continue but you will make ita point to find some time to renew yourleisure activities.

CAPRICORNYou are witty and wise.With your extraordinaryvision and intelligenceyou will help many theircareer and later, thanks to you, they willbe near to their goals. Whenever somedark clouds of reality hover above yourhead, you know how to find the silver lin-ing and get out of a problem.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORDSUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to E.

RYAN REYNOLDS ON CASTINGHIS VOTE FOR FIRST TIME

Mumbai: Days after a complaint wasfiled against her for spreading hate, actress Kangana Ranaut Friday saidshe is ready to go to jail. She also revivedthe intolerance row, this time target-ing actor Aamir Khan.

Earlier this week, the Mumbai Policeissued summons to Kangana and hersister Rangoli Chandel follow-ing an FIR lodged against themwith sedition charges included.

“I worship people likeSavarkar, Neta Bose and Raniof Jhansi. Today the govern-ment, trying to put me in jail thatmakes me feel confident of my choices,waiting to be in jail soon n go throughthe same miseries my idols were sub-jected to, it will give a meaning to my life,Jai Hind,” she tweeted.

She also tagged actor Aamir for hissilence on the matter, in a separate

tweet she wrote in Hindi. She wrote:“The way Rani Lakshmibai’s fort wasbroken, my house was also broken;the way Savarkarji was put in jail forrebellion, they are trying their best tosend me to jail as well. Someone shouldgo and ask the intolerance gang about

how much pain they have gonethrough in this intolerant na-

tion? @aamir_khan.” Back in2015, Aamir had made head-lines when he had said thathe was ‘alarmed’ over rising in-

tolerance in the country andthat his wife Kiran Rao had even

suggested they leave India becauseshe feared for the safety of their child.

I n t h e f r e s h c o m p l a i n t ,Munawwarali Sahil A. Sayyed has ac-cused Kangana and her sister forspreading communal hatredand falsehoods. IANS

Chennai: Telugu superstar Prabhas turned 41 Friday, and wishes pouredin from industry colleagues, friends and fans alike.

Mahesh Babu tweeted: “Happy birthday, Prabhas! Wishing you in-finite success, happiness and peace always.”

“Wishing the sweetest #Prabhas brother a very happy birthday!! Maythis year be filled with lots of happiness and success...God bless!#HappyBirthdayDarling,” wrote on Arun VijayTwitter.

Rakul Preet Singh wrote: “Wishing you a super duper year .. greathealth and lots of happiness ...may your stardom keep growing infi-nitely,” she wrote.

Filmmaker Om Raut, who directs Prabhas in the upcoming biggieAdipurush, tweeted: “Dear Darling #Prabhas, wishing you a veryhappy birthday. Have a rocking day and a fabulous year ahead.”

“Wishing #Prabhas sir a very happy birthday..#ennisoni will be for-ever special,” tweeted Punjabi singer Guru Randhawa.

Rana Daggubati, who played Bhallaladeva opposite Prabhas inBaahubali shared a collage of their pictures on Instagram. Happy Happybrother @actorprabhas Wish you only the best,” Rana captioned thepost.

Prabhas started his acting career with the Telugu film Eeshwar in2002, and went on go do films like Raghavendra, Barish: The Season

Of Love, Varsham, Jeene NahinDoonga, Chatrapathi, Yogi,Rebel and Pournami.

His roles in the blockbusterBaahubali franchise madehim popular across the globe.

He will be next seen inRadhe Shyam and Adipurush

IANS

Mumbai: Actress Radhika Madan, who isknown for the funny captions she gives toher social media posts, has made a hilariousrevelation.

In a new Instagram picture, Radhika sitsdressed in a sports bra and ripped pants.

For the caption, she borrowed a dialoguefrom the popular nineties tele-seriesShaktimaan.

“Gangadhar hi Shaktiman hai,” she wrote.Shaktimaan narrates the adventures of

the fictional superhero of the same namethat Mukesh Khanna essayed in the block-buster series that aired on Doordarshan from1997 and 2005. On the acting front, Radhikawas last seen in Angrezi Medium and will

next be seen in KunalDeshmukh’s

Shiddat, co-star-ring Mohit

Raina,DianaPenty andSunnyKaushal.

IANS

takes a jibe at Aamir KhanPrabhas turns 41:

Wishes pour infrom fans & friends

Radhika hitsShaktiman mode

KANGANAKANGANA

P3

downtown

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SATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARMOTHER WORSHIP

Goddess Shyamakali inSinghabahini Besha as partof Dussehra celebrationsat Balisahi in Puri, Friday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 4,22,12,524 3,12,82,766 11,45,366

India 77,61,312 69,48,497 1,17,306

Odisha 2,77,887 2,59,418 1,214

COVID-19 TRACKER

FESTIVAL AMID PANDEMICTHIS YEAR, PUJA COMMITTEES IN THE TWIN CITIES OF CUTTACK AND BHUBANESWAR ARE CELEBRATING DUSSEHRA WITH STRICT ADHERENCE TO COVID-19

GUIDELINES. AS PART OF THE PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES AGAINST THE DEADLY VIRUS, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ADVISED NOT TO VISIT THE PUJA PANDALS

Festivities go onlineon Maha SaptamiPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: Durga Pujain the capital this year has a differentflavour to it as devotees seek bless-ings of the Goddess and prasad on-line. The unique celebration aroseas puja mandaps remain out ofbounds due to the ongoing pan-demic.

On the occasion of Mahasaptami,Kola Bou Snan, the main ritual of theday, is conducted by priests earlymorning.

Many pandals and puja mandapsin the city including Sahid Nagar pujacommittee’s made special arrange-ments for worship, arati and pus-panjali (ritualistic practices) throughvarious social media platforms.

Secretary of Sahid Nagar pujacommittee Narayan Mohapatra said,“From shasthi to maha dashami,

we are providing online puja servicesat different times. We upload detailsabout the same in our social mediapage. Devotees can avail these serv-ices from the comfort of their homes.We are also providing prasad withina two kilometer radius for whichpeople have to apply online.”

On similar lines, Old Station Durgapuja committee also provided on-line puja services and doorstep de-livery of Prasad in the capital city.

Secretary of the committee DeepakJena said, “This year is tough foreverybody but we have to under-stand the seriousness of this pan-demic and thus request people tonot come to pandals for darshan.”

Sangeeta Sahoo, a resident of VSSNagar, said, “Devotion can be shownfrom any place. It's not necessary tovisit a pandal when they are pro-viding darshan online.”

MANGALABAG

RANIHAAT COLLEGE SQUARE SAHID NAGAR BARAMUNDA NAYAPALLI

RASULGARH

MANISH KUMAR, OP

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: More thanhalf of the differently-abled popu-lation in the state is still out of theambit of the digital UniqueDisability Identity Card (UDID) de-spite the Ministry of Social Justicerolling out the cards around threeyear ago.

The UDID project was startedby the De par tment ofEmpowerment of Persons withDisabilities envisioning a holisticend-to-end integrated system forissuing such digital cards. It was saidthat these cards would pave wayfor an online national repository tofacilitate easy application of dif-ferent schemes and reduce chancesof duplication of data.

The latest information accessedfrom the state Social Security andEmpowerment of Persons withDisabilities (SSEPD) Departmentclaim that out of around 6 lakh dif-ferently-abled who had applied forthis, nearly 3 lakh have got it, leav-ing the remaining without the dig-ital IDs.

However, most of the benefici-aries, as per the department’s own

admission, have not received theirUDID cards as it is to be issuedwith State Identity cards to makethem eligible for availing several gov-ernment schemes.

The department has now askedall the Collectors to work on theissue and expedite the entire process.In a formal communication to theCollectors, the department hasasked them continue their workwith a view to ensure disburse-ment of the UDID cards.

SSEPD secretary Bhaskar Sarma

told Orissa POST, “These cer-tificates are given to the PwDs withmore than 40 per cent disability.There is a Medical Board whichcertifies the disability levels. Thecards are issued in phases. Recently,due to COVID outbreak, the med-ical board meeting also suffered a bit.”

The department officials claimthat checks and balances have beenplanned in the issue of disabilitycertificates to weed out fake beneficiaries.

Digital IDs still elude 50%eligible differently-abled

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: The weathercondition has become conduciveto withdrawal of southwest monsoonfrom entire Odisha within nextfour days. The monsoon had ar-rived in the state June 11 this year.

Conditions continue to befavourable for further withdrawalof southwest monsoon from someparts of the state during next twodays and from remaining parts dur-ing subsequent two days,Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centresaid in a bulletin Friday.

“This year the state experiencednormal rainfall so far. The statehas recorded 5 per cent excess rain-fall till today, which is normal,”said Met Centre director HR Biswas.

Usually, the monsoon season ex-tends from June to September, andthe state had recorded 1 per cent ex-

cess rainfall during this period, hesaid.

Due to back-to-back low pres-sures triggering heavy rainfall, theaverage rainfall in the state in-creased in the month of October. Nota single district in the state hasrecorded deficit rain during thismonth, the director stated.

Meanwhile, the depression overnorthwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha

coast has moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 22 kmphduring past six hours and lay cen-tered over northwest Bay of Bengaloff West Bengal and Bangladeshcoasts.

The intensity of depression wouldweaken in next 12 hours into a well-marked low pressure area overBangladesh. No rainfall warning hasbeen issued for the state.

Monsoon to retreat in 4 days The state has recorded5 per cent excessrainfall till Friday

Not a single district in the state has recorded deficit rain during Oct

No rainfall warning hasbeen issued for thestate

GOAIR FLIGHTSTO CHENNAIFROM NOV 17POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: In view ofincreasing passenger flow at BijuPatnaik International Airport(BPIA) here, domestic carrierGoAir has decided to resume di-rect flight services betweenBhubaneswar and Chennai fromNovember 17.

As per sources, GoAir flight G8-921 will take off from Chennai at11:05am and reach Bhubaneswarat 12:50pm. The return flight G8-922 will depart from Bhubaneswarat 1:20pm and land in Chennai at3:05pm.The book-ing for theflightsbegan Thursday.

With this, the number offlights operating from BPIA hasreached 25.

As opposed to normal func-tioning of about 45 flights, theBPIA authorities had decided toresume services to different citiesin a phased manner. “This hasbeen done observing increasedpassenger flow. Only 9,721 domesticpassengers had arrived in Maywhich reached around 80,000 inSeptember,” said a senior BPIAofficial.

REPORT CARDn The UDID project was started

by the Department ofEmpowerment of Persons withDisabilities envisioning aholistic end-to-end integratedsystem for issuing such digital cards

n Most of the beneficiaries, as perthe department’s admission,have not received their UDIDcards as it is to be issued withState Identity cards to makethem eligible for availingseveral government schemes

Oppn slams govt over development of TirtolPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: The oppo-sition Congress and BJP, Friday,attacked the ruling BJD in the statefor not developing Tirtol con-stituency despite holding the seatfor long.

Congress Odisha in-charge AChellakumar and BJP spokesper-son Prithivraj Harichandan ac-cused the BJD of failing to liveupto the expectations of the peopleof Tirtol.

Harichandan said, “Tirtol is oneof the undeveloped areas of Odisha.The ruling BJD MLAs had beenelected from the region often but thedevelopment work in the area isnot very encouraging. The regionhad been lacking basic infrastruc-ture like bridges, roads and oth-ers. Was the government unawareof the problem there earlier?”

He also said, “They are promis-ing the very basic developmentwork now. This indicates their per-

formance and care for the region.The BJP is standing with the peo-ple of the area to usher in devel-opment. We are confident that wewill win from the region and bringdevelopment in the area.”

Chellakumar said the develop-ment work in the state at large wasundertaken mostly by the Congressgovernment in the past. “Today isthe 10th day of my visit to Odisha.Wherever I have gone, the worksthere were done by the Congress gov-ernment. The Paradip port and aspinning mill at Jaisinghpur weredeveloped by the Congress gov-ernment,” he added.

CEO seeks reporton postal ballot Bhubaneswar: Expressing concernover the allegation in issuance ofpostal ballot in Balasore for bypoll,Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) SKLohani Friday asked the districtCollectors to submit a detailedreport by Saturday morning. Action will be taken as per law afterreceiving the report from theCollector, he said.According to reports, a 40-year-oldwoman’s vote was taken throughpostal ballot system for the by-election to the Balasore SadarAssembly constituency. Localsopposed her postal ballot allegingthat the woman voter from WardNo.1 is neither a divyang, norpregnant nor a Covid patient toqualify for inclusion in the list. It hasbeen alleged that such goof-up is adeliberate attempt to favour aparticularly party in the byelection.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: TheBhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC), Friday, dis-cussed preventive measures to voidwater pollution during immersionof idols, apparently to comply withthe guidelines issued by CentralPollution Control Board (CPCB).

The meeting, chaired by BMCCommissioner Prem ChandraChaudhary, took recommendationsfrom members of State Pollution

Control Board, deputy commis-sioner of police, Zonal DeputyCommissioners, Puja committeesand NGO representatives.

Chaudhury directed the mem-bers of the committee to scrupu-lously implement the order of theHigh Court and to take appropriatepreventive measure for abetment ofsurface water pollution due to im-mersion of idols in different waterbodies during the festivities inBhubaneswar.

“All of ficers of the BMC

Engineering Division need to stayprepared with adequate numberof temporary ponds having syn-thetic liner and earthen closings.Spot visit for the temporary pondswill be completed soon to ensuretimely immersion,” the BMCCommissioner maintained.

Furthermore, he also directedthe committee to form a team ofenvironmental scientists of SPCB,ZDCs, the member NGOs and themember of Puja committees re-sponsible for monitoring water

quality parameter, toxic contents ifany, and the colour used in Pujapandals. The committee has beenasked to submit the informationin this connection. List of viola-tors of CPCB guidelines will also beinformed by the committee for ini-tiation of action.

Moreover, an order has beenpassed for intensive awareness andIEC (Information Education andCommunication) activities have tobe continued during the festivitiesand around the mandaps.

Congress leader A Chellakumar speaksat a meeting in Tirtol constituency, Friday

BMC forms team to monitor idol immersions

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: The re-cently launched online citizen serv-ices by the state government facesseveral infrastructural roadblockswhich would affect its implemen-tation, opined several city-basedcivil society organizations (CSOs).

Several CSOs, while welcomingthe move, have called for an ef-fective mechanism such asmaking Jana Seva avail-able in those areas ormake online servicefacilitation centre sothat poor people canbe benefited.

Social activist NabaKishore Pujari said,“Offering online serv-ice is the need of thehour. But poor inter-net infrastructureand tele density posea major challenge.”

Arun PrasadDihudi, a member ofOdisha ShramajeebeeManch said, “We havealready tested the on-line access of educa-tion of the childrenwhere the govern-ment has mostlyfailed. The online service of FoodDepartment will also have similarconsequences.

According to the report ofDepartment ofTelecommunications, out of

Odisha's total 32.8 million wirelessinternet subscribers, 21 million arein rural areas. As far as the inter-net through wireline or cable isconcerned, of the total 0.23 millionsubscribers in Odisha, only 0.05million are from rural areas. RuralOdisha's wireline density is just0.13 pc. So, how can people accessonline services?” asked social activist

Anjan Pradhan.We have tweeted thou-sands of cases regarding

denial of ration cardunder our “No hungercampaign” and hadcalled on the Food

Minister to address theissue. While many havebeen benefited from our

efforts, universali-sation of this serv-ice needs politicalwill, said ManasSaurabh Behera, atwitter campaignerfrom JeebikaSuraksha Mancha.

This is a goodthing that the Odishagovernment is doingit online which willbenefit the people.However, we demandthat no one should

be left out due to lack of Aadharcard/ration card. And the govern-ment must include dal, edible oil andiodised salt in its food securityscheme, which is a long-standing de-mand of the people,” Pujari added.

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Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: State’snovel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tally rose to 2,77,887 Friday,with 1,793 people testing positivefor the viral infection, while 18more fatalities pushed the toll to1,214, an official of Health andFamily Welfare (H&FW) depart-ment said.

Of the 1,793 fresh cases, 1,031were reported from various quar-antine centres, and the rest weredetected during contact tracingexercise, the official said.

Khurda district, of whichBhubaneswar is a part, reported themaximum number of fresh casesat 208, followed by Cuttack at 160,Angul at 107 and Mayurbhanj at 104.

Taking to Twitter, the health de-partment said, “Regret to informthe demise of eighteen #COVID19positive patients while under treat-

ment in hospitals.”Three fresh fatalities each were

registered in Angul, Gajapati andKhurda, two each in Jajpur andMayurbhanj, and one each inBhadrak, Dhenkanal, Malkangiri,Nayagarh and Puri.

Ganjam district reported themaximum number of 225 deaths fol-lowed by Khurda (208), Cuttack(105), Puri (80) ,Balasore (63) andSundargarh (56).

Khurda district has topped thelist with 47,200 Covid cases fol-

lowed by Cuttack (25,001),Ganjam(20,959),Puri (12,101), Sundargarh(10,245) and Balasore (9,699).

As many as 53 Covid-19 patientshave died to comorbidities, the of-ficial said.

More than 42.40 lakh COVID-19tests have been conducted in thecoastal state thus far, including40 ,733 T hursday, added the official.

Meanwhile, official sources saidthat 500 Odisha Police personnelhave donated plasma so far.

Director general of police (DGP)Abhay said, “We note this mile-stone with humility and determi-nation to serve Odisha people withrenewed dedication.”

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaiktweeted, “Commend the gestureof 500 #CovidWar riors of@odisha_police for coming for-ward to donate plasma to treat se-rious patients. In these tryingtimes, such noble acts will en-courage others to #donateplasmato save precious lives.”

Covid-19 toll breaches 1,200ODISHA’S

CORONAVIRUS TALLYROSE TO 2,77,887 WITH1,793 PEOPLE TESTING

POSITIVE FOR THEINFECTION

IN NUMBERSKhurda, of

whichBhubaneswar

is a part,reported the

maximumnumber of

fresh cases at208, followedby Cuttack at160, Angul at

107 andMayurbhanj

at 104

Three freshfatalities eachwere registeredin Angul,Gajapati andKhurda, twoeach in Jajpurand Mayurbhanj,and one each inBhadrak,Dhenkanal,Malkangiri,Nayagarh and Puri

More than 42.40 lakh COVID-19tests have been conducted in

the coastal state thus far,including 40,733 Thursday

PAYING HOMAGE

People from various walks of life pay tributes to communist ideologue and revolutionary writer Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi on his death anniversaryat OSSTA office in Cuttack, Friday OP PHOTO

City institutegets distinct recognition UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: The Siksha‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemedto be University here, was rankedas the 20th best university by theNational Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF) this year.

The university was also cho-sen as the only university fromEastern India to get the presti-gious overall QS I -GAUGEDiamond Rating.

The ranking was decidedthrough rigorous and independentdata collection and analysis againstperformance metrics as set outin the methodology, SubhayouNayak, Director (Client Relations),QS I-GAUGE, said. SOA was

awarded‘DiamondRating’ in avirtual pro-gram in sixparameterswhich in-cluded teach-ing andlearning, em-ployability,facilities, so-

cial responsibility, research and ac-creditation.

QS I-GAUGE is a custom de-signed rating system for universi-ties and colleges in India whichenables academic institutions toeffectively benchmark their per-formance with reference to key in-dicators and lays down the devel-opmental roadmap for upgradingtheir educational services.

SOA had also received the e-Learning Excellence for AcademicDigitisation (e-LEAD) certificaterecently at the QS I-GAUGE awardsfunction for its excellence in e-learning and on-line teaching inthe wake of the Covid-19 pan-demic, SOA University sourceshere said.

ARMY OFFICER FROMSTATE GETS TOP ROLE POST NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi, Oct 23: Odisha-bornLieutenant General Nanda KishoreSahoo was appointed as DirectorGeneral of Dental Services andColonel Commandant of ArmyDental Corps here Friday.

As per Ministry of Defense data,during his military career of 37years, Sahoo held important rolesincluding Commander of a unit inKashmir Valley, Command Advisorof Western, Central and SouthernCommands.

Hailing from Jajpur district,the General Officer is an alum-nus of King George’s MedicalUniversity and a Post Graduatefrom Mumbai University in theSpecialty of Oral & MaxillofacialSurgery. He has the unique dis-tinction of being the Professorand Head of the Dental Departmentat Armed Forces Medical College,Pune and at the Army Hospital(Research & Referral), Delhi.

Lt Gen NK Sahoo is an inter-nationally acclaimed author,teacher and winner of K S Mastersilver medal. He is a recipient offive Commendations and thePresidential Award,VishishtSevaMedal(VSM) for hisexceptional services of a highorder.

Online services facing infra roadblocks: CSOs

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: The Uniongovernment has proposed legisla-tion of a uniform fire safety and fireprevention lawfor all the statesin an attempt toreduce the com-pliance burdenand promote easeof doing busi-ness.

The Centrehas written a let-ter to Odisha inthis regard. Inthe matter of firesafety and fireprevention, it isproposed toframe a uniform law for the coun-try instead of separate laws forthe states, sources said here, Friday.

The Centre has proposed for re-

peal/subsume/amendment of thestate Act. Accordingly, the stateLaw department has sought opin-ion of the Home department, whichis dealing with fire services in the

state.The Odisha Fire

Services Act, 1993 wasenacted to provide firesafety, fire preventionand constitution of astate fire service de-partment to carry outfire fighting measures,the sources said.

If the Parliamentlegislates a uniformlaw for all the statesthat will be applica-ble to the state afterthe same is adopted

by the state under Article 252 ofthe Constitution. The existing statelaw will become redundant, they said.

Uniform fire safetylaw for states likely

POST NEWS NETWORK

Cuttack, Oct 23: The city unit ofCongress party Friday alleged thatthe Centre and state governmenthave failed to regulate the prices ofessential commodities like onionand potato.

The partyclaimed thatthe recent risein vegetableprices has hitt h e c o n -sumers hard.“The outbreakof novel coro-navirus andt h e s u b s e -quent lock-d ow n h avetaken a heavytoll on the fi-nancial con-dition of com-mon people.T h e re c e n tspike in the prices of essentialcommodities has added to theirwoes. The Centre and state gov-ernment have failed to regulate theprices,” said Cuttack city Congresspresident Giribala Behera.

Behera claimed that the pricesof onion and potato have reached`80 and `40 in Cuttack and otherplaces in Odisha. “Now, one can-not get a bag full of vegetableseven if he spends ̀ 500. The districtadministrations are yet to moni-

tor the situa-tion and takenecessary ac-tion,” Beheraalleged.

TheCongressleader furtherclaimed thatsome un-scrupuloustraders are try-ing their bestto garner max-imum profitsby hiking theprices of edi-ble oil, pulses,potato, onionand g arlic

amid the festivities. “The price rise has exposed the

inefficiency and helplessness ofthe Food Supplies and ConsumerWelfare department of the stategovernment,” Behera alleged.

Centre, state failed toregulate prices: Cong

EXTORTIONIST, KIN THRASH COPS IN CITY

In the matter of firesafety and prevention, itis proposed to frame a

uniform law for theentire country

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: Many po-licemen including a sub-inspec-tor of Nayapalli police station sus-tained severe injuries followingattacks by an alleged extortionistand his family members at SaliaSahi here.

The injured SI, Bijay KumarBarik, has lodged a complaint withthe Nayapalli police in this regard.

According to sources, one Riyasat

Khan had filed a complaint withNayapalli police accusing SanjayaSethi, an alleged anti-social, and his

associate Nitish, of snatching awayhis scooter when he denied giv-ing him extortion amounting `30,000 October 20.

Khan along with his wife waspassing through Janata Nagarwhen the duo intercepted their ve-hicle and demanded the money.

Later, Nayapalli police started in-vestigation into the incident byregistering a case (419/20).

SI Barik along with some con-stables and home guards Thursday

reached the residence of Sethi toenquire into the allegations.During interrogation, Sethi, hismother and sister suddenly startedattacking Barik with sticks.

Other staffers were also injuredwhen they rushed to help the SI.The cops immediately bolted awayfrom the spot to save their lives.

The accused also threatenedthe cops of dire consequences i f t h e y a g a i n g o t h e r e f o r investigation.

Behera claimedthat the prices ofonion and potato

have reached `80 and `40 in

Cuttack and otherplaces in Odisha

Some unscrupuloustraders are trying theirbest to garner maximumprofits by hiking theprices of edible oil, pulses, potato, onion andgarlic amid the festivities

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: A womandied when a speeding truck hither scooter at Khandagiri squarehere, Friday.

The de-ceasedlady wasidentifiedas PritiNayak,38, of Raghunath Nagar underKhandagiri police limits. Accordingto sources, Nayak, an LIC agent,was on her way to Barmunda byher scooter (OD 33 V 1450) whenthe speeding truck hit her scooterfrom the rear.

Locals revealed that Nayak felloff the vehicle and died on thespot due to head injury.

Upon receipt of information,police reached the spot and seizedthe truck.

Woman dies inroad mishap

Several CSOs havecalled for an effectivemechanism such asmaking Jana Sevaavailable in those

areas or make onlineservice facilitationcentre so that poor

people can be benefited

Stationary truckcatches fire POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: A sta-tionary truck caught fire atMancheswar Industrial Estatearea here Friday, triggering panicamong passersby.

The fire fighters immediatelyrushed to the spot after receivingthe report of fire from the locals.However, the blaze was broughtunder control by the Fire Servicespersonnel.

Although the cause of the fireis yet to be ascertained, no majordamages, apart from the vehicle,were reported in the incident.

SOA wasawarded‘DiamondRating’ in a virtual program in sixparameters

LEFT RALLY

CPI(M) leader Janardan Pati addresses a rally of Cuttack Motor Staffers’ Union at Palamandap bus stand in Cuttack,Friday OP PHOTO

FILE PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Udala, Oct 23: Accusing forest de-partment officials of beating ayouth to death on suspicion ofbeing a poacher, the deceased’sfamily members staged a sit-inalong with the body at Podadiharange office here under Kaptipadapolice limits in Mayurbhanj districtThursday. Till the time of filingthis copy, the demonstration wascontinuing Friday.

The family members of the de-ceased are demanding adequatecompensation from the forest de-partment.

According to family members,Gajendra Nayak had gone toSimilipal forest October 9. He didnot return home that day. He wasfound October 10 inside the forestin a ‘critical condition’, familymembers said quoting forest de-partment officials. They admittedhim at the government hospital inBaripada. Later, they informedGajendra’s family members.

Gajendra was shifted to SCBMedical College and Hospital

October 14 as his condition starteddeteriorating. He breathed his lastOctober 22 while undergoing treat-ment. The family members de-mand a government job to one ofthem and financial assistance forthe deceased’s last rites. Some sen-ior officials held talks with the be-reaved family members.

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Jajpur, Oct 23: The state govern-ment has turned Kalinganagar intoan industrial hub, but its effortsfor pushing its ambitious plan fordownstream industries have notmet success. The plan has beenconfined to only land allotmentsto some small scale industries, areport said.

Notably, ancillary and down-stream industries in metals such assteel and aluminum, is listed asone of the six focus sectors by thestate government in its IndustrialPolicy Resolution (IPR), 2015.

As for Kalinganagar, the IDCO hasonly provided land to 36 small scaleindustries, but these SSIs are yet toreceive land.

Other basic infrastructure fa-cilities like roads, drainage, elec-tricity and water supply have notbeen put in place, leaving the im-portance of the downstream planin a limbo.

On the other hand, the govern-ment has a plan to shift the BijuPatnaik National Institute fromPuri to Kalinganagar so that skillsof technical students can be honed.But the IDCO has not yet providedland for this technical institute.

It is alleged that the IDCO hasfailed to cater for the basic needs ofthe downstream industries in theindustrial hub. As a result, the

scope of jobs as promised byKalinganangar industries hasshrunk.

On the other hand, many old in-dustrial units have allegedly gothundreds of acres of land withouttheir proper use in KalinganagarIndustrial Complex.

There are forest lands in the area,but there is a lot of problems inconversion of forest land for in-dustrial use.

A 21-year old company has taken1500 acres of land here. IDCO hasmoved the court to reclaim the landfrom it. Another company has got370 acres of land.

It was alleged that both the com-panies have been misleading gov-ernment in the name of industri-

alization after taking land.Four major industrial units are

lying closed while the companieskeen on downstream industrieshave been waiting for land overyears. The IDCO has sought con-version of 2200 acres of forest land.

Biju Patnaik National Institutehas been shifted to Kalinganagar.IDCO has allotted only 10 acres ofland at Jakhapura and Kacheriganunder Danagadi tehsil May 29, 2020.

However, 10 acres of land willfall short for the need of the BijuPatnaik National Institute, whichwas set up in Puri in 2002, but it failedto function fully.

Experts say large-scale steel andstainless steel industries inKalinganagar ensure that there is

no dearth of raw material for thedownstream metal sector inKalinganagar. Opportunities fordownstream and ancillary indus-try exist in areas like equipmentmanufacturing, foundries, flat andcold rolled products, fabrication,machining and precision equip-ment, appliances and white goods,auto components, fasteners andkitchenware.

Ranjan Nayak, president of theKaling ana g ar Smal l ScaleIndustries Association said theassociation has drawn attention ofthe Chief Minister to provide land,electricity, roads, water anddrainage. But IDCO authoritiescould not be available for com-ment in this regard.

KALINGNANGAR INDUSTRIALIZATION

Downstream industries in the doldrumsAncillary and downstream

industries in metals such assteel and aluminum, is listed asone of the six focus sectors by thestate government in its IndustrialPolicy Resolution (IPR), 2015

As for Kalinganagar, the IDCOhas only provided land to 36

small scale industries, but theseSSIs are yet to receive land

Other basic infrastructurefacilities like roads, electricity,

drainage and water supply havenot been put in place, leaving theimportance of the downstreamplan in a limbo

POST NEWS NETWORK

Chitrakoda, Oct 23: Kandhamal isknown for its organic turmeric cultiva-tion as it has been a good cash crop forscores of people. Taking a leaf fromKandhamal farmers, many women farm-ers have replicated success in turmericfarming in Swabhiman Anchal underChitrakonda block of Malkangiri dis-trict. They are earning in thousands an-nually, a report said.

Notably Chitrakonda, once a cut-offarea, was a backward region, but nowdevelopment is gradually taking shape.

The report said that organic turmericfarming has widely spread in forestedand hilly pockets like Jodamba,Panasput, Andirapalli, Jantri andG a j u l u m a m u d i p a n ch ayat s.Significantly, many women farmershave taken up this farming and earnabout Rs 40,000 on an average annually.In fact, turmeric farming has beenempowering women in this SwabhimanAnchal.

Take the case of Alaka Sethi, a womanfarmer of Panaspur area. She cultivatesturmeric on an acre of land. “Turmeric

is harvested once in two years. As partof the traditional practice, turmericseeds are cleaned and then boiled beforethey are laid to dry. I harvest about sixto seven quintals of turmeric everyyear,” she added.

Traders take away turmeric from thedoorstep at Rs 70 a kg and she earnsabout Rs 40,000 from it, she said. Anotherlocally known turmeric farmer is KamselSethi of the same area. She said shealso earns in thousands.

Besides these two farmers, manyother women have been successfullyfarming turmeric in five panchayats.Most of them said that lack of propermarket linkages has been a major hur-dle in promotion of this cultivation. “Wecould make more profits if we are pro-vided with right kind of the marketingfacility in the area,” they observed.

Most of the time, the turmeric farm-ers fail to sell their produce as its pro-curement price nosedives in the absenceof marketing facility, it was alleged.

In many interior villages, farmersare not even approached by local traders.Those who are in urgent need of cashhave no choice, but to sell turmeric at

throwaway price, it was said. Now, withCovid-19 sweeping across the region,some farmers face trading blues.

They also asserted that if turmericis promoted with government sup-port and market linkage, the areawould be able to export to other areas.The turmeric produced here is ofgood quality which holds the key toa major source of earning for a largepopulation in the area. It may benoted here that the district adminis-tration has sent samples of turmericfrom Swabhiman Anchal to New Dehli.The testing report found the samplesof excellent quality.

Locals put forth several demandslike setting up of a turmeric procure-ment centre, processing and storageunits in the area.

Moreover, the horticulture depart-ment, the ITDA, Odisha LivelihoodMission and Mission Shakti shouldcome out to promote this farming inthe large interests of people, who havebeen suffering for lack of livelihoodsources as development is graduallytaking baby steps after Swabhimanbridge was commissioned.

Turmeric farming adds glow towomen of Swabhiman Anchal

Organic turmeric farming haswidely spread in forested and

hilly pockets like Jodamba, Panasput,Andirapalli, Jantri and Gajulumamudipanchayats.

Alaka Sethi, a woman farmer ofPanaspur area cultivates turmeric

on an acre of her land. Turmeric isharvested once in two years. As partof the traditional practice, turmericseeds are cleaned and then boiledbefore they are laid to dry. I harvestabout six to seven quintals ofturmeric every year, she added.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Tirtol/Balasore, Oct 23: The by-poll fever is on the rise in Tirtol andBalasore Sadar Assembly con-stituencies with leaders of the BJD,BJP and the Congress trying theirbest to woo the voters. In spite of therough climatic conditions, candi-dates of respective parties andother leaders are constantly build-ing up the campaign trail.

The BJP is pitching its heavy-weights to win the mandate in boththe constituencies. Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan is scheduledto address Friday afternoon thevoters of Tirtol Assembly con-stituency through virtual mode.The BJP’s Raj Kishore Behera is con-testing from Tirtol.

In Balasore Sadar, BJP’s leaderand Lok Sabha MP AparajitaSarangi has already started door-to-door campaigning. She is try-ing to woo local women voters forparty candidate Manas KumarDutta, son of Madan Mohan Dutta,the erstwhile MLA from this seat.

Several senior BJD leaders arecamping in Tirtol and Balasore. Theyhave started door-to-door campaigningfor its candidates Bijay Shankar Dasand Swarup Kumar Das. The BJD ishopeful of winning both the seats andis banking heavily on party supremoand Odisha Chief Minister Naveen

Patnaik’s image. As far as campaigning is con-

sidered, the Congress is a distantthird. The party has fieldedHimansu Bhusan Mallick as itscandidate for Tirtol Assembly con-stituency while Mamata Kundu

will contest from the Balasore Sadarconstituency. Odisha Congress in-charge Chella Kumar and PradeshCongress Committee presidentNiranjan Patnaik, former MPPradeep Majhi will start cam-paigning from Friday onwards.

Tirtol, Balasore bypolls:Campaigning hots up

BALASORE: Even though 72 years have passed since independence,people of Nanadachhak and Kayakada villages of Parikhi Panchayat inBalasore Sadar Assembly constituency have still been suffering fromcommuting woes. They have been crossing a river by using a bamboobridge made by them, they fumed. Infuriated over lack of development,people of both the villages have decided to boycott the bypollNovember 3. “Even in mild rains, villages get flooded with sea water.We remain marooned for days together. We have been pleading withpolitical leaders and the administration, but our problems continueunheard,” they pointed out. They alleged that all development work hastaken a backseat in the villages. Over 400 residents of the two villagealleged that they had been facing a lot of difficulties in rainy season.Following the announcement of the poll notification, the villagers havebeen voicing their resentment over developmental issues.

2 villages to boycott bypoll

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhawanipatana, Oct 23: In a bidto contain the spread of COVID-19infection during ‘Chhatar Yatra’which is celebrated atBhawanipatana town in Kalahandidistrict on the occasion of DurgaPuja, prohibitory orders underSection-144 was imposed in thetown.

This information was given byDistrict Collector Gavali Parag.Entry of people from outside thetown and gatherings has beenbanned from midnight October 23to midnight October 25. He, however,said people with medical/emer-gency needs and media with ValidIDs will be allowed to enter thetown during the two days.

Movement and gathering of peo-ple was restricted to four personsat any point of time in the town fromOctober 23 to October 25, said Parag.The order shall remain in forcefrom 12.00 (midnight) of October 23to 12.00 am (midnight) of 25.10.2020.All executive magistrates, officers,officials of essential service de-

partments carrying valid IDproofs/movement passes shall beexempted from the purview of thisorder.

The Collector said any personcontravening this order will beprosecuted under Section 188 ofIPC. Parag also urged people tocelebrate Durga Puja at their homes.Live telecast of the ‘Chhatar Yatra’will be shown by various socialmedia platforms belonging to thedistrict administration and somenews channels, he added.

Section 144 imposed inBhawanipatna town

CHHATAR YATRA

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baripada, Oct 23: Even thoughthe state government has intro-duced various schemes to motivatechildren of Odisha to continueschool education, the district ad-ministration has failed to achievedesired results.

Forced by poor enrolment, theschool and mass education de-partment of Odisha has orderedclosure of 1,106 schools in the dis-trict. Sources said, there are a totalof 4,025 primary, upper primaryand high schools in the district. Atotal of 3,19,495 students study inthese schools and as many as 15,496teachers work there.

According to School and MassEducation (S&ME) department'sletter - 5465, 486 and 448, primaryschools with less than 20 and 25students and 172 upper primaryschools due to low attendance willhave been shut down in Mayurbhanjdistrict.

The S&ME department also in-structed the district administrationto achieve good environment, goodexamination results to increase thenumber of students in schools, goodinfrastructure and e-shiksha. The

government is spending crores of ru-pees under mid-day meals, free uni-form, free textbooks and otherschemes to encourage students to joingovernment-run or aided schools.However, rising cases of schoolsfacing closure due to poor enrol-ment has raised questions on the ef-fectiveness of the schemes and pro-grammes. According to guidelinesby the S&ME department, thereshould be one teacher in the schoolfor every 25 students. In Mayurbhanjdistrict, there are 4,848 extra teach-ers for a total number of studentsin government schools.

If the trend continues, there willbe no need for fresh appointment ofteachers in the government schools.Many parents from the district,meanwhile, said that the govern-ment-run schools are lagging farbehind in providing quality edu-

cation to students. As a result, en-rolment of students in privateschools is increasing day by day.

Parents said when children inrural areas walk to school with theexpectation of quality educationthey may encounter a different sce-nario. Either they drop out due tofamily pressures or lag behind pri-vate school-educated students.

Parents in rural areas who wantto give their children quality edu-cation and teach their children nec-essary skills, they choose privateschools in urban areas.

Even though private schools areexpensive, parents prefer them asthey hold out the hope of a brightfuture for children. Besides, whilethe pass percentage in governmenthigh schools in matriculation ex-amination has been declining, pri-vate schools' performance is better.

1,106 schools in Mayurbhanj to shut Primary schools withless than 20 and 25 students and 172 upperprimary schools withlow attendance will beshut down in the dist

Kin accuse forest staff of beating youth to death

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

P oliticians are loath to let a favourite babu go off into retirement. Theyfind ways to bring them back into the administration. In 2017, PunjabChief Minister Amarinder Singh had appointed retired chief secretary

Suresh Kumar as his chief principal secretary even though the state had aregular principal secretary, another IAS officer, because Kumar enjoyedhis full trust.

Now taking a cue from the neighbouring state, Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar has sprung a similar surprise in his administration,and one that is likely to alter power equations in the Chief Minister’s Office(CMO). He has appointed retired IAS officer DS Dhesi as chief principal sec-retary in the CMO.

According to sources, Dhesi was Haryana’s chief secretary for four yearsand retired last year. He was then appointed chairman of the HaryanaElectricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), which he has now left to joinhis new assignment. Though his duties have not been spelt out, it is quitelikely that Dhesi will become a power centre in the CMO, with all importantfiles meant for Khattar being routed through him.

SPECTRUM STORYCabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba will head a panel of secretaries to stream-

line the spectrum allocation process. The other members of the panel areHome Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash, I&B Secretary Amit Khare and Secretary,Department of Space, K. Sivan.Those in the know say that the com-mittee’s ambit may eventually bewidened to also include spectrumpricing issues, always contentious,as we have seen in the past.

According to sources, the high-powered panel will examine the possibility of drawing up an annual calendarfor auction of the spectrum that will give telecom companies a clear roadmap of the quantum as well as the frequency of spectrum being offered forcommercial use. It will also sort out the various spectrum-related issues be-tween ministries – as seen in the composition of the panel.

This may meet a long-standing demand of telecom companies that havebeen asking the government to clear the air for auctioning spectrum, whichwill help them plan and allocate resources efficiently, optimise their networksand roll out new technologies.

CLEANING THE AIRIt is that time of the year, Covid or not, when the air quality in north India

deteriorates rapidly. Stubble burning by farmers in Punjab, Haryana, UttarPradesh and Delhi is a major contributor to this. Every year several stepsare announced, media raises a big stink, but nothing much has happened.

This year, stubble burning has begun already and urgent steps would berequired to prevent Delhi from turning into a gas chamber. The Supreme Courthas now taken a serious note of the failure of these states to stop stubble burn-ing which poses a serious threat to public health in the region. It directedthe respective chief ministers of these states to remain present when thecourt takes up the matter of combating air pollution at the next hearing.Hopefully, some meaningful action will emerge from the apex court’s intervention.

Meanwhile, the state administration in Punjab and Haryana are busydealing with angry farmers agitating against the Centre’s controversialfarm bills. The chief secretaries have their hands full. This year couldsee a repeat of our previous trysts with polluted air at the onset of win-ter with babus issuing the usual warnings and threats to fine farmers whoare burning stubble.

Share a babu experience! Follow dilipthecherian@twitter.com. Let’s multiply the effect.

A lthough reports of a tradedeal with Taiwan have notbeen officially confirmed by

India, Beijing has issued a veiledwarning to New Delhi. Obviously,it is not just India-Taiwan. Beijingis reacting to the latest develop-ment in the Quad, and the ensuingdefence pact between India andthe US. As New Delhi decides to takeon China, the latter makes a des-perate attempt to bully India.

Recently, India participated sym-bolically in the National Day ofTaiwan, drawing a sharp responsefrom Beijing. The Chinese embassyin New Delhi issued an advisory tothe Indian media against felicita-tion of Taiwan on its National Day.New Delhi reacted by saying thatmedia in India is free and vibrantunlike in China. The cooperationbetween Taiwan and India is risingespecially since a pro-independ-ent Prime Minister took charge inTaiwan. Trade between the twocountries is on the rise and Taiwanhas a trade office in Mumbai.

On a serious note, observers in-terpret Beijing’s diplomatic advisoryto India as a military threat. The vibeemanating from China points toChinese military taking action ifNew Delhi were to seal a deal ofany sort with Taiwan. Since con-taining China consists of a multi-

pronged strategy, it is in order thatwe factor the development in theQuad. New Delhi has invited, for thefirst time, Australia to participatein the joint naval exercise alongwith Japan and the US. The part-ners in Quad have respondedwarmly to India inviting Australiato join the Malabar Naval exercise.

Arguably, the US views Quad asa countervailing body to China. Butfor long-term partnership betweenthese four democracies, Quad shouldmean more than China. It should bea partnership based on shared val-ues and interests including rule oflaw, freedom of navigation, respectfor territorial integrity and sover-eignty, peaceful resolution of disputesand free trade. India-Pacific regiondraws attention from other coun-tries like Germany, UK and France.Germany, which is holding the EUpresidency at present, is spear-heading an India-Pacific strategyfor the European Union. Germanyhas hinted that any engagementwith India will always have theChina angle in the equation. Out ofall the four members in Quad it isIndia that shares a long borderwith China and is facing Chinesehostility for many years. So, theonus is on New Delhi to keep theQuad going for a secure and con-flict-free India-Pacific region.

The third thorn in China’s fleshis the India-US defence deals inthe forthcoming 2+2 ministerialmeeting. India and US are going tosign the Basic Exchange and Co-op-eration Agreement, which pertainsto geospatial intelligence, and shar-ing information on maps and satel-lite images for defence. The BECAis sequel to LEMOA and COM-CASA; these three defence pacts areconsidered to be the troika of foun-dational pacts leading to deepermilitary co-operation.

On the pacts, the LogisticsExchange Memorandum ofAgreement (LEMOA) was signedin August 2016. It allows each other’smilitary to replenish from others’bases access supplies, spare partsand services from other countries’land, air and ports, which then canbe reimbursed. CommunicationsCompatibility and SecurityAgreement (COMCASA) signed in2018 after the first 2+2 dialogue al-lows US to provide India with en-crypted communications equip-ment and systems. In simpler terms,it is like WhatsApp or Telegram forthe two militaries. While LEMOAlays the bases for mutual trust onexchange of valuable assets, COM-CASA connects two militaries andBECA facilitates sharing classi-fied information in real time with-

out any risk of being compromised.All these pacts put together meanboth militaries coming closer andbuilding trust in the face of an in-creasingly aggressive China.

There are those who might reada US strategy in these pacts to weanIndia away from its dependenceon Russia. India was putting offUS overtures because of deep-rooted links between Pakistan andPentagon. The US could still relyon Rawalpindi for access to an exitfrom Afghanistan. Both these prem-ises have changed. The US is suc-cessfully nudging India to engagein Afghanistan, partly to replacePakistan and the Chinese aggres-sion has pushed New Delhi intoAmerica’s embrace.

Apparently, New Delhi has blownthe bugle although not so loudagainst China. The India-Pacificregion manned by Quad is the realbulwark against Chinese aggres-sion. New Delhi is the critical anchorin making India-Pacific a viablestrategic instrument. Japan mayhave originated the idea and theUS may have given it a push but itis India that has made Quad happen.Taiwan is a pinprick for China, butit should not become another Tibet.

The writer is Professor ofInternational Relations, JMI.

INFA

A bulwark against Chinese designs

INCREASE IMPORT DUTYM

any institutions hadassessed in June thatour economy will suf-fer a contraction of

five per cent. Now the same in-stitutions are saying that the con-traction will be of ten per cent. Thisis likely to get worse in the com-ing months because the coronapandemic is showing no sign ofabating. We may face a secondwave in the winter months if theexperience of resurgence of thepandemic in Europe is any guide.

In this gloomy scenario, thegovernment is mighty pleasedthat a huge 75 per cent increase insale of tractors, about 18 per centincrease in the sale of cars and 12per cent increase in the sale ofmotorcycles has taken place inSeptember 2020 as compared tothe same month the previous year.Question is this: how come thepurchase of tractors and cars is in-creasing when the GDP is con-tracting? My assessment is thatfarmers are making ‘distress’ pur-chases of tractors due to the short-age of labour caused by the failureof the government to encouragemigrant workers back to theirhost states. Similarly, the un-availability of public transportlike bus, metro and local trainshave pushed commuters to makedistress purchases of cars andmotorcycles. Owning a vehiclehelps in safe travel in Covid times.So, these purchases should not bemisconstrued as indicators of a re-vival of the economy.

The government, however, isaware of the contraction of GDP.It has encouraged banks to giveloans to consumers and busi-nesspersons aggressively to gen-erate demand in the market. Thereis a basic difference in the loanstaken by businesspersons and con-sumers. Loans taken by investorsare used for setting up factories,establishing shops or buyingtrucks. The businessperson and thenation generate additional incomefrom these investments; and hecould pay the interest and repaythe principal amount from thatadditional income. Say, a busi-nessperson took a loan of ̀ 10 lakh,earned an additional income of`3 lakh and used this to repay theinterest of `1 lakh and principal

of `1 lakh; and he may still havewith him ̀ 1 lakh for making newinvestment in the next year. Histotal expenditure will increasefrom ̀ 10 lakh this year to ̀ 11 lakhthe next year.

The situation of a consumerstands on an entirely different foot-ing because he is not likely to ob-tain any additional income frombuying, say, a fridge. Say, he tooka loan of ̀ 10 lakh. He would haveto pay an interest of `1 lakh andprincipal of `1 lakh and will beleft with ̀ 2 lakh less for making newpurchases in the next year. His ex-penditure will decrease from `10lakh this year to ̀ 8 lakh next year.The income of the common manis already under stress. They shouldnot invite further decrease in thesame by take a consumption loan.

The economy may show someimmediate benefits from disbur-sal of such loans just as steroidshelp increase the milk yield incows immediately but this willonly lead to problems later.

The second method of increas-ing demand in the market is for thegovernment to borrow and trans-fer some amount directly to thebank accounts of the people whocan use this windfall to buy goodsfrom the market. However, the

government will have to repay theloan and for this purpose it willhave to impose additional taxesor print notes. The imposition ofthese additional taxes will lead toa reduction in income in hands ofthe people and lower demand thenext year. Printing of notes will leadto an increase in the prices andagain lead to reduced demand thenext year. These are, therefore,band-aid type of temporary fixesthat will only push the economydeeper into the pit.

The third method of raisingmoney for making the direct trans-fers is for the government to in-crease import duties. The share ofimport taxes in the revenues ofthe government has declined from18 per cent about six years ago to12 per cent today. The governmenthas actively promoted imports byreducing import duties. Note thatwe have committed in the WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) thatwe will not increase the average im-port duties beyond 48 per cent.The actual rate today is less than20 per cent. Therefore, we face noroadblock from the WTO in dou-bling the import duties. The gov-ernment can increase the importduties, say, from present average20 to 40 per cent.

The government was obtain-ing revenue of `170 lakh crorefrom import duties a year till re-cently. Doubling of the import du-ties would lead to a reduction inimports, hence the revenue raisedwill be less than double. I reckonthe additional revenue generatedwill be about ̀ 150 lakh crore. Thismoney can be used to transfer`1,100 per year in the bank ac-counts of the 135 crore citizensor ̀ 5,500 per family per year. Peoplecan buy goods in the market fromthis money. Such a payment willnot lead to additional burden of in-terest in the ensuing years. It willalso not lead to increase in supplyof printed notes and inflation.

Indeed, there will be price risein the imported goods. But even thismay be short-lived until domes-tic production picks up to supplycheaper-than-imported goods. Thebenefit of this approach will be thatimported goods will become ex-pensive, domestic goods will be-come cheaper in comparison, do-mestic industries will revive andemployment will be generated.The income earned by workerswill establish a fortuitous cycleof demand generation and income.

A caveat is necessary here. Wehad high rates of import duties be-fore the economic reforms were un-leashed in 1991. That had not ledto increase in domestic produc-tion before 1991. One may ask how,then, will the imposition of highimport duties lead to increase indomestic production now? Thedifference today is that our busi-nesspersons have since been ex-posed to the international mar-ket and have acquired the capacityto produce goods of internationalstandards.

The pandemic is here to stayfor some time. Short-term fixeslike disbursals of loans will nothelp. But the government’s handsare tied. The only solution is tomake a huge increase in importtaxes and simultaneously imple-ment policies that encourage busi-nesspersons to adopt advancedtechnologies and make good qualitygoods at low cost.

The writer is a former Professor of

Economics at IIM Bangalore.

LOL

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

Short-term fixes like disbursals of loans will not help...The only solution is to make a hugeincrease in import taxes and simultaneouslyimplement policies that encourage businessess to adopt advanced technologiesand make good quality goods at low cost

Babus in good books

LOST IN A BALLOON

Two hobbyists get into their balloonfor an excursion. After a while, the

wind unexpectedly picks up, and theballoon goes out of control. The twoballoonists, with great effort, manageto keep the balloon stable, upright,and away from power lines. But theyare lost. With more effort, they getthe balloon near the ground. Whilefloating over a country road, they seea man walking below. One of theballoonists calls down to him: “We’relost! Can you tell us where we are?”

The manthinks for a while,

looks down, looks up,looks down again, stares into spacefor a minute, and then cries out:“You’re in a balloon!”The wind picks up, and the balloonfloats off. After a moment, oneballoonist says to the other: “Thatman must be a manager.”“Why?”“Three reasons. First, he took a longtime to answer. Second, he wasperfectly correct. Third, his answerwas perfectly useless!”

SATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Pain is the hammer of the Gods tobreak a dead resistance in themortal’s heart.

SRI AUROBINDO

QUAD

THE ECONOMYMAY SHOW

SOME IMMEDIATE

BENEFITS FROMDISBURSAL OF

LOANS JUST ASSTEROIDS HELP

INCREASE THEMILK YIELD

IN COWS IMMEDIATELY

BUT THIS WILLONLY LEAD TO

PROBLEMSLATER

BharatJhunjhunwala

WISDOM CORNERWe are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we canfrom life. WILLIAM OSLER

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age,which means never losing your enthusiasm. ALDOUS HUXLEY

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. DALAI LAMA

ECONOMY

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: edit@orissapost.com

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

NEW DELHI IS THE CRITICAL

ANCHOR IN MAKING

INDIA-PACIFIC AVIABLE STRATEGIC

INSTRUMENT

Dr. DK Giri

Centre vs states

Sir, Following the Punjab govern-ment’s footsteps, Rajasthan is set topass a law against the provisions offarm laws passed recently by the cen-tral government. Previously, manynon-BJP ruled states had passedlaws against the provisions of CAA,NRC, terming them anti-people. Inthe case of the present farm laws,they oppose it by saying that the lawsare against the interests of farm-ers. At this juncture, the SupremeCourt is urged to come out and in-terpret the laws regarding states’Constitutional rights and obliga-tions in relation to central laws,and clear the air so that peace reignsin the farm sector.

Satya Behera, BOLANGIR

Superstition in TV shows

Sir, As per Article 51 A(h) of the Constitution,a fundamental duty of the citizens is to developa scientific temper, humanism and the spirit ofinquiry. But, some television channels are pro-moting superstition and blind belief in theguise of popular family serials. Scenes of witch-craft, appearance of ghosts, witches, humansacrifice, mysterious and obscure cults arebeing shown in these serials. The scenes are notonly a contradiction of the Constitutional pro-visions but also creating an environment for psychological disorders among the weak-minded.These scenes are getting transported to thedreams of spectators. When scientists are re-searching for Mangalyaan, TV is being used tospread horror in society in the name of entertainment. Action should be taken againstthese serials. Sudhansu Sekhar Dhada, BHUBANESWAR

New gold rule

Sir, The central government’s consumer welfareministry has issued directions to some three lakhjewellery shops to abide by the compulsory hall-marking on every gold item they sell from mid-January 2021 and any violation shall invite stiffpenalty. There are facilities only at 27 places to issueBureau of Indian Standards (BIS) hallmarking. So,how could the mammoth task of hallmarking beachieved for all these jewellery outlets? The newact is also silent about the huge gold or ornamentdeposits in temples. In the absence of hallmark,what would be its value? Indian households pos-sess ornaments, gold and silver as inheritanceover generations, which are bereft of any such hall-marking. Every family possesses some ornamentsto carry on their sustenance in times of financialdifficulties. The government is urged to clear theair on this.

Janaki Ballav Dash, MAYURBHANJ

cmyk

cmyk

Dilip Cherian

BABUDOMBYTES

Understrapper

The late British author and newspaper columnist Simon Hoggart used tobe fond of this word, applying it particularly to a governmental minion

sent to make a statement before the House of Commons, thereby takingabuse that should have been directed at his boss. Few people now wouldgrasp the full import of the word, though its first element gives enough of aclue that it’s an alternative to underling. It was a popular term of the 18thCentury, its first user on record being Thomas Brown, a satirist now onlyremembered, if at all, for a verse translation of a Latin epigram he composedwhen under threat of being sent down by his Oxford tutor, Dr John Fell: “I donot love thee, Dr Fell, / The reason why I cannot tell; / But this I know, andknow full well, / I do not love thee, Dr Fell.” A strapper could be a labourer ora man who groomed horses, hence a menial employee. His subordinatewould be the ultimate underling.

Unfriend

This is a verb, meaning to remove a person as a “friend” on a socialnetworking site such as Facebook. It was chosen as Word of the Year

2009 by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Christine Lindberg, seniorlexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary programme, was quoted as saying“Unfriend has real lex-appeal.” She wrote in the Dictionary’s blog: “It hasboth currency and potential longevity. In the online social networkingcontext, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb formmakes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.” The New OxfordAmerican Dictionary’s editors have been criticised for selecting it and theword itself has gained few friends among writers. The main objection to it —apart from its inelegance — is that it ought to be defriend, which is alsoused, which would parallel the standard English befriend. However, theDictionary’s editors found unfriend was much more common. It ispresumably modelled on terms such as unsubscribe.

cmyk

cmyk

KERALA

SATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP7

UTTAR PRADESH

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Oct 23: The BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) is now focussingon a massive membership drive inUttar Pradesh.

With the 2022 Assembly elec-tions barely a year and a half away,the party has revived its social en-gineering formula and is wooing theBrahmins in a big way.

Party leaders have been asked toensure that at least 1,000 personsfrom each community in each dis-trict are enrolled as members. “Theparty wants to broaden its baseand include all major communi-ties. We will be launching an ag-gressive campaign for the Assemblyelections and issues will be relatedto the common man instead ofbeing caste-specific,” said a partyfunctionary. A major poll plank

for the party would be the law andorder situation during Mayawati’sregime and party leaders will com-pare the same with the currentstate of affairs. The party cam-paign will also focus on the man-ner in which the government istargeting Brahmins, Dalits, OBCsand even minorities. The BSP hasbeen holding ‘Brahmin Samvads’that have been addressed by seniorparty members over the past weeks.

The move is designed to wooBrahmins, who are reportedly dis-gruntled with the BJP. Interestingly,the BSP is now addressing UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath as ‘Thakur Ajay SinghBisht, Uttarakhand wale’. The ideais to underline the fact that he doesnot belong to the state and is an ‘out-sider’. Besides, the BSP also wantsto widen the Thakur-Brahmin di-vide and use it to its advantage.

In push for 2022, BSP woos BrahminsMaya makes a point by fielding candidate for RS LUCKNOW: Despite having an ef-fective strength of merely 19 MLAsin the 403-member Uttar PradeshAssembly, the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) has decided to field its na-tional coordinator Ramji Gautamfor the tenth Rajya Sabha seat fromthe state. According to party sources,the candidature of Gautam is learntto have been finalised in a meet-ing of party MLAs Thursday.Sources said Gautam’s nominationis likely to be filed October 26. Theelection is scheduled for November9. According to sources in the party,Gautam’s selection is crucial as hebelongs to the Dalit community, avote bank which Mayawati needs toconsolidate before the next Assemblyelections in the state. However, theBSP which had won 19 seats in 2017,now has an effective strength of 15.

Three BSP MLAs -- Anil Singh,Ramvir Upadhyay and MohammedAslam Raini -- have rebelled againstthe party and are openly support-ing the BJP while another legisla-tor, Mukhtar Ansari, is in jail. A can-didate needs 36 votes to win whilethe BSP has only 15. Party sourcessaid the BSP game plan was to cor-ner the other opposition parties.

The Samajwadi Party will be leftwith 10 surplus votes after gettingits candidate Ram Gopal Yadavelected and the Congress has an ef-fective strength of five legislators.Two of its MLAs -- Aditi Singh andRakesh Singh -- have already re-volted against the party. “By field-ing a candidate, the party leadershipwill ask the opposition parties to sup-port our Dalit candidate and if theyrefuse, their anti-Dalit mentalitywill stand exposed,” said a partyfunctionary. Ramji Gautam, wasnamed the national coordinator inJune 2019. He worked at a privatefirm as a chemical engineer be-fore joining the party in 2015.Currently, he runs a business ofpesticides and agriculture-relatedchemicals and belongs toLakhimpur Kheri district.

CASTE FACTOR

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kochi, Oct 23: The Kerala HighCourt Friday restrained theEnforcement Directorate (ED) andCustoms, probing the two separatecases in connection with the goldsmuggling case, from arresting MSivasankar, suspended IAS officerand former principal secretary tothe Chief Minister, till October 28.

The Court gave the directivewhile considering together the an-ticipatory bail pleas filed bySivasankar apprehending arrestby Customs probing the gold smug-gling and ED investigating themoney trail in the case.

The court adjourned the casefor October 28 for orders after com-pleting the arguments in both thepleas. Earlier, the court had re-strained the ED and Customs fromarresting Sivasankar till Friday.

Strongly opposing the anticipa-tory bail plea, the ED Friday sub-mitted that the custodial interro-gation of the officer was requiredas he was not cooperating with theinvestigation.

The agency said the role ofSivasankar in the gold smugglingcase was still being probed andgranting him anticipatory bail willadversely affect the investigation.

Earlier, in a written statement theED has submitted that Sivasankarappears to be connected with the se-rious economic offence allegedlycommitted by prime accusedSwapna Suresh.

In its submission, the ED has al-leged that the officer was "veryclose" to Suresh, a former UAE con-sulate employee, and would be send-ing WhatsApp messages to herthroughout the day.

According to the ED, the chatsshow that Suresh discussed every-thing with him and as such, it ishighly unlikely that he was notaware of the money she was mak-ing through gold smuggling andalso by way of commission kick-backs in the consulate contracts.

The Customs also opposed an-ticipatory bail, alleging thatSivasankar was not providing clearanswers to important questions inconnection with the case.

Refuting the charges againsthim, Sivasankar submitted that hewas being hounded by the agen-cies in the name of investigation inthe case.

He submitted he was not holdingany influential position in the gov-ernment at present and claimedthat he even was not getting a hotelroom due to the case.

Seeking anticipatory bail,Sivasankar said he has compliedwith all the directions till now andthere is no scope for him abscond-ing also.

HC restrains ED, Customs fromarresting Sivasankar till Oct 28

Clerics object to action againstUP cop for keeping a beard PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kochi, Oct 23: Gold worth lakhs ofrupees was seized by Customs Fridayfrom a woman passenger at KannurInternational Airport, with officerssuspecting it to be the handiwork ofa Gulf based smuggling syndicateusing women as carriers.

The 32-year-old woman, who ar-rived from Sharjah, allegedly car-ried the gold concealed in her un-derwear, Customs sources said.

They said officers of the AirCustoms, Kannur, seized 883 gramsof gold from her possession whenshe arrived along with her brotherand three children in an Air IndiaExpress Flight.

The woman, hailing from a northKerala district, was arrested, but re-leased on bail, the sources said.

Customs officials suspect thatthe woman was recruited by a Gulf-based Kerala gold smuggling syn-dicate, exploiting her family's poorfinancial condition.

They said preliminary investi-gations revealed that she returnedfrom Sharjah due to the poor fi-nancial condition of her husband,

who is in a low-level job in a firmthere. She came back with herbrother and children using the tick-ets allegedly offered by the syndi-cate for smuggling gold.

A senior officer said they sus-pected that the syndicate approachedthe woman offering free ticketswhen the family was in dire needof money for their return journey

to Kerala. He told PTI that the Gulf-based Kerala gold smuggling syn-dicates are very active even dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemic andwomen and children are being usedas carriers, exploiting their socio-economic conditions due to joblosses and failed businesses in the Gulf. The officer said the womanwould be summoned for interro-

gation after completing her manda-tory quarantine to prevent thespread of novel coronavirus.

In another development, Customssleuths at Kozhikode InternationalAirport seized 175 grams of 24 caratgold worth Rs 7.99 lakh and 6,000 cig-arettes from a passenger who arrivedfrom Shar jah Thursday, officials said.

‘Gold smuggling syndicate uses women as carriers’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23:Kerala Chief Minister PinayariVijayan has launched 26 newtourism projects across the state ina bid to boost the crisis-hit tourismsector.

Vijayan Thursday said thetourism sector in the state has suf-fered an estimated loss of aroundRs 25,000 crore due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the epidemic arrived ata time when the tourism sector inthe state was thriving after over-coming several crises.

“Once our state, the country andthe world survive COVID-19, Keralawill once again become a tourist par-adise,” Vijayan said while inau-gurating the projects in 14 districtsthrough video conference.

He said the state government isimplementing adequate projectsto boost the tourism sector. “Thetourism sector was estimated tohave lost Rs 25,000 crore due to theCOVID-19 crisis, which had alsoresulted in huge job losses,” he said.

The projects, a state governmentrelease said, are spread from the-hilltop tourist centre Ponmudi inThiruvananthapuram to the north-ernmost district Kasaragod. Thecompleted infrastructure devel-opment project in Ponmudi hasprovided playgrounds, landscap-ing and seating for children.

The chief minister also inau-gurated Malamel Para TourismProject at Kollam Beach and ThanniBeach.

A release issued by the statetourism department said inaugu-ration of a Rs 49 lakh beautificationproject of the Mooloor Memorialat Elavumthitta in Pathanamthittadistrict, home of the multi-talented

poet Mooloor S PadmanabhaPanicker, was also held.

The Green Tourism Complex,modelled on the Louvre Museumin Paris, at Pala in Kottayam,Aruvikkuzhi Tourism DevelopmentProject in Idukki District; Elapparaamenity centre, pathway to the fin-ishing point of the PunnamadaNehru Trophy boat race and twoboat jetties, the tourism project aspart of the Bhoothathankettu damin Ernakulam district, the botan-ical garden and renovation of thetourist centre at Peechi dam inThrissur are the few projects whichwere launched.

The gardens at Pothundi andMangalam dams in Palakkad dis-trict have also been renovated to wel-come tourists.

The Chief Minister also inau-gurated the Parassinikkadavu BoatTerminal and the PazhayangadiBoat Terminal, part of the Malnad-Malabar River Cruise TourismProject.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Lucknow, Oct 23: Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath Friday directed of-ficials to create a separate roomin every police station of the statewhere women complainants canconvey their problems to womenpersonnel without any hesitation.

“The separate room equippedwith all basic facilities should bemade in all police stations so thatan aggrieved woman is able tospeak without any hesitation tothe female police personnel. Notonly this, all the helpline numbers(1090, 181, 112, 1076, 1098 and 102) onwhich a woman can call for helpwhen needed should be writtenthere. A warning will also be writ-ten there for those who misuse thenumbers,” a statement quoting thechief minister said. The chief min-ister was speaking after inaugu-rating a women's help desk from hisofficial residence here Friday.

The woman's help desk will beset up at all the 1,535 police sta-tions of the state under the 'MissionShakti', a women's empowermentcampaign launched by the stategovernment.

The campaign was launched lastweek with an aim to provide helpto women and instil a sense of se-curity in them.

In his address, the chief minis-ter said the honour of women willhave to be maintained. "For this,take this program of 'missionShakti' to schools, colleges andother institutions as well. Makepeople aware about this (campaign)during morning prayers and anycultural event," the CM said.

Stating that a lot has changed dur-ing the week-long Mission Shaktiprogram, Adityanath said in thepast, those who made "a mountain

out of mole hill are themselves inthe dock."

"The police department has donea good job during this period. Theactivities of other departments re-lated to the campaign and the fu-ture action plan should be reviewedby the Chief Secretary and theChief Minister's Office," he said,adding that this is a campaign tochange people's thinking towardswomen.

The chief minister also spoke tosome women and public repre-sentatives at the women's helpdesks set up in Gautam Budh Nagar,

Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut and Agra. The women represen-tatives said the government hasbeen committed from the begin-ning to protect, honour and workfor self-reliance of women. DGPHitesh Chandra Awasthi said that"our whole effort is aimed to pres-ent force as a 'Mitra Police'". “ Wewill leave no stone unturned tomake Uttar Pradesh a safe state,”he aaid. He also informed the chiefminister about the progress of thecampaign so far. Additional ChiefSecretary (Home) Avnish KumarAwasthi conducted the program.

The BSP has been holding‘Brahmin Samvads’ that have been

addressed by senior partymembers over the past weeks, amove designed to woo Brahmins,who are reportedly disgruntled

with the BJP

The party is nowaddressing Uttar

Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi

Adityanath as‘Thakur AjaySingh Bisht,

Uttarakhand wale’

The partyalso seeks towiden theThakur-Brahmindivide anduse it to itsadvantage

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Saharanpur, Oct 23: The DarulUloom Deoband clerics are up inar ms against BaghpatSuperintendent of Police, AbhishekSingh, for suspending a Sub-InspectorIntesar Ali for keeping a beard.

Terming the action against thesub-inspector as ‘wrong’, the cler-ics are seeking action against theSP. The Ittehad Ulema-e-Hind na-tional president Maulana QariMustafa Dehelvi, said the actionhas been taken on the basis of biasand should be condemned.

He demanded that the govern-ment take action against the SP.

Some other clerics, who spoke oncondition of anonymity, also saidthat the action was a result of ‘re-ligious vendetta’.

The sub-inspector, posted inBaghpat, had been asked to eithershave off his beard or take requi-site permission because the policemanual does not allow any per-

sonnel, except Sikhs, to keep abeard. Ali had been warned thriceto shave off or seek permission forthe same. However, the policemandid not seek permission and con-tinued to keep the beard.

Earlier, SP Baghpat AbhishekSingh said that as per the policemanual only Sikhs are allowed tokeep a beard while all other po-licemen have to remain clean-shaven. “If any police personnel

want to keep a beard, he has toseek permission for the same.Intesar Ali was repeatedly asked toseek permission but he did notcomply and kept the beard withoutpermission,” the SP said. Ali joinedthe police force as sub-inspectorand was posted in Baghpat for thepast three years.

He told reporters that he had ap-plied permission to keep a beard butgot no response.

The sub-inspector, postedin Baghpat, had beenasked to either shave offhis beard or take requisite permissionbecause the police manual does not allowany personnel, exceptSikhs, to keep a beard

Create separate room at every PS forwomen complainants: Yogi to officials

Kerala will again become tourist paradise: Vijayan

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23:Active COVID-19 cases in Keralainched toward the one lakh-markas the daily positive count contin-ued to soar with 8,511 fresh casesFriday while the toll rose to 1,281with the addition of 26 deaths.

As many as 95,657 people werepresently undergo-ing treatment for theinfection while thetotal infection countstood at 3,64,895, thegovernment said.

The fresh caseswere detected aftertesting 64,789 sam-ples and included 82health workers,Health Minister KKShailaja said.

A total of 6,118 peo-ple were cured of thedisease, taking thecumulative recoveries in the stateso far to 2,80,793, the minister saidin a release. Two districts accounted

for over 1,000 fresh cases withMalappuram recording 1,375, thehighest in the state, followed byThrissur (1,020).

Thiruvananthapuram reported890 cases, Ernakulam 874 andKozhikode 751 cases. Twenty-sixCOVID-19 deaths in the past few dayswere confirmed, pushing the toll to1,281. Two of the deceased were

over 90 years of age.

Of the positivecases Friday, a totalof 148 had comefrom outside thestate and 7,269were infectedthrough contact.At least 2,80,184people are underobservation in var-ious districts, in-cluding 22,780 inhospitals. So far,42,12,611 samples

have been sent for testing.While 12 new areas got into the

list of hotspots, 14 were removed.

Kerala’s active casesnearing one lakh-mark

The woman's help desk will be setup at all the 1,535 police stations

of the state under the 'MissionShakti', a women's empowerment

campaign launched by the state government

The separate room equipped withall basic facilities should be madein all police stations so that anaggrieved woman is able to speakwithout any hesitation to thefemale police personnel. Allhelpline numbers on which awoman can call for help whenneeded should be written there. A warning will be written there forthose who misuse the numbers

The campaign was launched lastweek with an aim to provide

help to women and instill asense of security in them

The daily positivecount continued to

soar with 8,511 freshcases Friday while thetoll rose to 1,281 with

the addition of 26deaths in the

southern state

GULF-BASED RACKET

Customsofficialssuspect thatthe womanwas recruitedby a Gulf-based Keralagoldsmugglingsyndicate,exploiting herfamily's poorfinancialcondition

The womanwould besummonedforinterrogationaftercompletinghermandatoryquarantineto preventthe spread ofnovelcoronavirus

GULF-BASED KERALA GOLD SMUGGLING SYNDICATES ARE VERY ACTIVE EVEN DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMICAND WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE BEING USED AS CARRIERS, EXPLOITING THEIR SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

DUE TO JOB LOSSES AND FAILED BUSINESSES IN THE GULF

P8

nationalSATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

AmarinderSingh playedfraud with the

farmers throughmisuse of thePunjab VidhanSabha. All the anti-farmer acts passed by the Centrehave been endorsed by him

SUKHBIR BADAL | SAD PRESIDENT

of theday uote

Under BJPrule, MP isidentified with

the mafia,adulteration etc,while industries inthe state have gottotally ruined

KAMAL NATH | CONGRESS LEADER

Congressparty needs tofirst decide

who is their leader.Is it a person or afamily? In politics,you cannotunderstand the pain of poor andmiddle class citizens if you areblinded by the love for one family.Since Congress is a sinking ship, Iwonder how it can help the peopleof Morbi?

SMRITI IRANI | UNION MINISTER

The Maha VikasAghadi government is showingbudgeted provisions as aspecial package and trying toportray a false picture ofhelping farmersDEVENDRA FADNAVIS | MAHARASHTRALEADER OF OPPOSITION

The Karnataka government hasdecided to reopen diploma anddegree colleges includingengineering colleges after November17 that were shut after Covidpandemic outbreak since March

KARNATAKA TO REOPENDEGREE COLLEGES

Farmer ends life Aurangabad: A 30-year-oldfarmer allegedly committedsuicide by hanging himself inMarathwada region ofMaharashtra on Friday, afterhis crop got washed awaydue to recent heavy rains, apolice official said. Theincident occurred at Kadervillage in Omerga tehsil inthe morning, he said."According to his relatives,Shivaji Jadhav hangedhimself from a tree in theearly hours," S K Shaikh ofOmerga police station said.

Two arrested Amravati: Two persons havebeen arrested in Amravatidistrict of Maharashtra forallegedly cheating 41 personsof Rs 40,000 each on thepretext of arranging trips forthem to Thailand, police saidFriday. Dr Nandkishor ArunPatil (30) and his brother Vinodwere nabbed on Wednesdayfor allegedly taking moneyfrom the victims for arranginga trip to Thailand in June 2019and not refunding the moneyafter cancelling the tour, sub-inspector Rajesh Jaware ofAnjangaon police said. Theduo had floated attractiveadvertisements of trips toThailand through Manav SewaVikas Foundation and 41persons had responded to the ad and shelled out Rs40,000 each for the trip, whichwas scheduled for June 16,2019, he said.

Silver seizedThane: Silver and imitationjewellery worth Rs 6.17crore were seized from avan in Navi Mumbai inThane district, police saidFriday. The van was movingin a suspicious manner neara toll plaza on Thursdaynight and a search yielded929.414 kgs of silver andimitation jewelery beingtransported through courierservices to Pune, Kolhapurand other parts ofMaharashtra, SeniorInspector Sanjeev Dhumalof Vashi police station said.

Debris removed Malappuram: Part of thedebris of the Air India Expressplane that crashed at nearbyKaripur airport on August 7,killing 21 people, was Fridayshifted from the accident sitefor facilitating a thoroughprobe, airport authorities said.The airline's officials fromMumbai supervised theshifting of the cockpit portionof the aircraft to a nearbyarea, using a crane, they said.Twenty one people were killedwhen the AIE flight from Dubaiwith 190 people on boardovershot the tabletop runway,fell into a 35-feet valley andbroke into two portions.

SHORT TAKES

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: Constructionof a new Parliament building willbegin in December this year and islikely to be completed by October2022, while necessary measureshave been put in place to ensurethat Parliament sessions can beheld uninterrupted during this pe-riod in the existing buildings, LokSabha Secretariat said Friday.

Officials also said that sufficientsteps have been taken to controlair and noise pollution during theconstruction work for the new par-liament building, which will haveseparate offices for all MPs andthose will be equipped with the lat-est digital interfaces as a step to-wards creating 'paperless offices'.

The new building will also have agrand Constitution Hall to showcaseIndia's democratic heritage, a loungefor members of Parliament, a library,multiple committee rooms, diningareas and ample parking space.

In the new building, the LokSabha chamber will have a seatingcapacity for 888 members, whileRajya Sabha will have 384 seats forthe upper house members, sourcessaid after a review meeting chairedby Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.This has been done keeping in mindthe future increase in the numberof members for the two houses.

At present, Lok Sabha has a sanc-tioned strength of 543 membersand Rajya Sabha of 245. The ground-breaking ceremony is expected tobe held in December and may be at-

tended by President Ram NathKovind and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, besides the pre-siding officers of the two housesamong other dignitaries includingpolitical leaders.

The existing building is a Britishera building, designed by EdwinLutyens and Herbert Baker whowere responsible for planning and

construction of New Delhi. TheFoundation Stone of the existingParliament House was laid onFebruary 12, 1921 and the con-struction took six years and costRs 83 lakh at that time. The openingceremony was performed on January18, 1927 by the then Governor-Generalof India, Lord Irwin.

At the meeting, Birla said there

should be no compromise in en-suring quality control and timelycompletion of the work relating tothe new Parliament House. A mon-itoring committee will be consti-tuted to oversee the constructionwork, which would include officersof Lok Sabha Secretariat, Ministryof Housing and Urban Affairs,CPWD, NDMC and architect/de-signer of the project.

Last month, Tata Projects Limitedwon the bid to construct the new par-liament building at a cost of Rs861.90 crore. The new building willbe constructed close to the exist-ing one under the Central Vista re-development project.

In a statement, the Lok SabhaSecretariat said Birla chaired a re-view meeting regarding the con-

struction of the new ParliamentHouse today. The meeting was alsoattended by Union Minister of Statefor Housing and Urban Affairs ShriHardeep Singh Puri.

During the meeting, Birla wasbriefed about the progress madein the shifting of facilities and otherinfrastructure from the area pro-posed for the construction of the newbuilding. "The barricading planand the various mitigating measuresto control the air and noise pollu-tion during the construction processwere elaborated. The officers of theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs further briefed Birla aboutthe proposed movement plan ofVIPs and staff during this period,including during Parliament ses-sions," the statement said.

New Parliament building to be ready by Oct 2022

PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Oct 23: For merMaharashtra BJP leader EknathKhadse Friday joined theNationalist Congress Party (NCP)in the presence of the party's chiefSharad Pawar.

Sulking since his unceremoni-ous exit from the DevendraFadnavis-led ministry in 2016 overland grab allegations, Khadse (68)on Wednesday quit the BJP. Thesame day, state NCP chief JayantPatil announced he would be join-ing the Pawar-led party.

NCP is part of the ruling al-liance in the state along with ShivSena and Congress, whose MahaVikas Aghadi (MVA) governmentassumed office 11 months ago.Khadse, former MaharashtraRevenue Minister and also an ex-Leader of Opposition in stateAssembly, was inducted into theNCP at the party’s head office here.

The leader, who flew in here onThursday from his native Jalgaondistrict in north Maharashtra, wasin political wilderness during thelast four years, though he quit theBJP only two days ago. Khadse's for-mal entry into NCP, scheduled at2 pm, was delayed by over an houras Pawar was in a meeting withparty minister Jitendra Awhad.Jayant Patil welcomed Khadse inthe party, by offering him a scarf.Speaking to reporters on Wednesday,Khadse had blamed Fadnavis for"trying to destroy his life" and po-litical career, over three decades ofit spent in strengthening the BJPin Maharashtra.

Khadse joins NCP

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan Fridaysaid the next three months aregoing to be decisive in determiningthe coronavirus situation in thecountry as he urged people to fol-low COVID appropriate behaviourin the coming festival season andwinter months.

He also highlighted that the num-ber of active COVID-19 cases in thecountry are less than 7 lakh and thedoubling rate has increased to 97.2 days.

Vardhan, who reviewed theCOVID-19 preparedness with thehealth and medical education min-isters and other senior officials ofUttar Pradesh, said in the last threemonths, the country has seen sig-nificant improvement in the COVIDparameters, the health ministrysaid in a statement.

“From recording over 95,000COVID-19 cases in a day, they havebeen substantially reduced to lessthan 55,000 per day. The recovery rateof India is nearing 90 per cent. TheCase Fatality Rate (CFR) is also de-clining. CFR stands at 1.51 per centand is moving towards the target ofbeing less than 1 per cent," he wasquoted as saying in the statement.

“The number of active cases is lessthan 7 lakh and the doubling ratehas increased to 97.2 days, as ofnow," Vardhan said.

“From just one lab, the countrynow has nearly 2,000 laboratories.The number of total COVID-19 testsconducted across the country havesurpassed 10 crore. This is a posi-tive indication that we are movingin the right direction,” the minis-ter said.

He said appropriate measuresare being taken to combat the in-fectious disease.

"But the next three months aregoing to be decisive in determining

the situation of COVID-19 in thecountry. If we take adequate pre-caution and follow COVID appro-priate behaviour in the coming fes-tival and winter season, we will bein a better position to fight coron-avirus," Vardhan said.

“For a big state like UttarPradesh, it becomes important thatmaximum thrust is given to simpleprecautionary measures which areeffective in preventing the spreadof the disease to a large extent likewearing masks/face cover, espe-cially in public spaces, and follow-ing hand and respiratory etiquettes,”he added.

Next 3 months decisive: VardhanFIGHT AGAINST COVID

“From just one lab, the country now has nearly 2,000 laboratories. The number of totalCOVID-19 tests conducted across the country have surpassed 10 crore. This is a positive indication that we are moving in the right direction,” the minister said

PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Oct 23: PDP presidentMehbooba Mufti Friday said herparty and the recently-floatedPeople's Alliance for GupkarDeclaration will take a final deci-sion on whether to contest elec-tions or not in the Union Territory.

Jammu and Kashmir's main-stream political parties, includingthe National Conference and thePeoples Democratic Party, formedthe Gupkar alliance on October 15for restoration of special status ofthe erstwhile state and also to ini-tiate a dialogue between all thestakeholders on the issue.

In her first media interaction inover 14 months after the abroga-tion of provisions of Article 370 inAugust last year and her subse-quent detention, Mufti said per-sonally she was not interested in con-testing polls till the erstwhile state'sflag and constitution were restored.

"As far as the PDP is concerned,now we are not alone. If you re-member, we, along with the NC,had taken a united stand beforethe commencement of panchayatpolls (in 2018) that we will not par-ticipate in them. This time also,we will discuss it in the party, withour workers, and then discuss it inthe People's Alliance (for GupkarDeclaration). Whatever decisionwe take there, will be bound oneveryone," she told reporters at a

press conference at her Gupkarresidence.

However, the former chief min-ister said on the personal front,she had no interest in contesting anyelections till the erstwhile state's flagand its constitution was restored."Asfar as I am concerned, I have no in-terest in elections. Till the timethe constitution, under which Iused to contest elections, is re-turned to us, Mehbooba Mufti hasgot nothing to do with elections, letme tell you that," she said.

Mufti said she was not for powereven if the union territory was up-graded to a state."I am no more forpower be it a union territory oreven a state. I was never for power.If I had any greed for power, wewould not have left the Congress andcreated the PDP. We are not only forpower. We could have made thegovernment with the Congress(after 2014 polls), but we entered intoan alliance with the BJP for a rea-son," she said, adding that "I am notready to take any oath without myflag and my constitution".

PDP, Gupkar allianceto take call: Mehbooba

PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: A parlia-mentary panel Friday quizzedsocial media giant Facebookabout the quantum of their rev-enue, profit and tax payouts inIndia and asked what portion oftheir earnings were being usedfor data security in the country,sources said.

Facebook India's policy headAnkhi Das appeared before theJoint Committee of Parliamenton Data Protection Bill, 2019chaired by BJP MP MeenakshiLekhi.

She was questioned for twohours and asked some tough andsearching questions by the panelmembers from across the polit-ical spectrum, sources said.

During the meeting, a membersuggested that the social mediaplatform should not draw infer-ences from the data of its usersfor commercial benefits of itsadvertisers or for electoral pur-poses, they said.

The MPs also sought to knowthe revenue Facebook generatesfrom India and what percentageof the revenue is spent on safe-guards for data protection,sources said. India is the biggestmarket for Facebook in terms ofits users.

The panel also asked how muchtax the social media giant paysin India, they said.

During the meeting, concernswere also raised about the alle-gations that majority of the em-ployees of the social media giantin the United States were in-clined towards one specific po-litical party of the country.

PAR PANELQUIZZESFACEBOOK

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Hisua/Bhagalpur (Bihar), Oct23: Congress leader Rahul GandhiFriday accused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of having "insulted"the soldiers with his comment thatnobody had intruded into Indian ter-ritory in Ladakh, and also allegedthat his government did not help themigrant workers from Bihar dur-ing the lockdown.

Addressing his first poll ralliesin the state, Rahul Gandhi said theBJP's election promise of provid-ing 19 lakh jobs is akin to its pledgeof depositing Rs 15 lakh in bank ac-counts of the people. Raising theChina issues at his both rallies – thefirst at Hisua in Nawada district andanother at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur-- he said the Chinese army had in-deed intruded into the Indian ter-ritory, and the Prime Ministershould tell the country when they

will "be thrown out"."They have seized 1,200 sq km

of our land. But when the Chinesearmy intruded, why did our PrimeMinister insult our soldiers by say-ing that nobody entered into theIndian side?" Rahul Gandhi said."You ask any Army jawan, he willtell you that today the Chinesearmy is standing in the area which

we use to patrol earlier. Our land hasbeen snatched away from us," heclaimed. "The question is, Modi ji,when will you throw out the Chinesesoldiers sitting in our territory?" heasked. Upping the ante, Rahul saidthat the Prime Minister who callshimself a nationalist and a patriothas weakened the country over thelast six years.

Rahul takes a dig at Modi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav duringan election meeting, at Hisua in Nawada district, Friday PTI PHOTO

One-fourth of Delhi air ‘severely’ polluted

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Oct 23: Nine of the36 pollution monitoring station inDelhi showed 'severe' air qualityindex on Friday, according to theCentral Pollution Control Board'sdata.

According to the pollution mon-itoring agency, AQI in NorthDelhi's Alipur area was 447, whichfalls in the 'severe' category, fol-lowed by Shadipur, Wazirpur,Jahagirpuri, Mundka, Patparganj,Anand Vihar, Bawana, and VivekVihar.

Besides these, 26 pollution mon-itoring station showed 'very poor'reading and one logged moderateair quality index. The overall pol-lution levels continued to be in thelower end of the 'very poor' cat-egory at 372 at noon.

Vijay Kumar Sonu, Head ofEnvironment Monitoring andResearch Centre at IMD told IANSthat "due to calm wind there is nodispersion of pollutants". "Thewind speed will, however, pickup from October 26 and wouldlikely result in improvement ofAQI," he said.

The System of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting and

Research, which comes underthe aegis of Ministry of EarthSciences, also stated that the mostdominant factor for deteriora-tion is extremely calm surfacewind in Delhi, combined withlow inversion height followed bymoderate stubble related intru-sion.

"Highly calm surface wind con-ditions prevail over the Delhi re-gion and is forecast to continuefor next two days. It will lead tolow ventilation conditions andlittle dispersion for an extendedperiod and hence accumulationof pollutants near the surface.Further deterioration of AQI ispredicted for the next 2 days," theforecasting agency added.

SAFAR also stated that therewas significant stubble fire countaround Haryana, Punjab, andneighbouring regions with thecounts at 1,213 on Thursday,slightly less than what was a daybefore.

"However, the boundary layerwind direction is not fullyfavourable for pollutant trans-port towards Delhi region, theSAFAR model estimate of stub-ble burning share in PM2.5 is 17per cent for today," it added.

PTI PHOTO

Devotees take part in rituals as part of Durga Puja celebrations in Birbhum district of West Bengal, Friday PTI PHOTO

FESTIVE TIME

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nationalSATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Since the time Covid-19vaccine trials started, there

has been one discussionamong the poor people -- whether wewill be able to afford the vaccine?Today, I want to make it clear thatevery poor person in Madhya Pradeshwill get the vaccine free of costSHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN | MADHYA PRADESH CM

The Railways said that around2.4 crore candidates haveapplied for 1.4 lakh vacancies inIndian Railways for variouscategories of staff to be hired bythe Railway Recruitment Boards

RLYS RECEIVES 2.4 CRORE APPLICATIONS FOR 1.4L POSTS

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After mockingthe RJD forpromising to

create 10 lakh jobs,the NDA haspromised to create19 lakh jobs in Biharif elected. I did not know that 19was a smaller number than 10. Ithink I should go back to primaryschool

P. CHIDAMBARAM |FORMER FINANCE MINISTER

of theday uote

Andhra schoolhead arrested Penugonda (Andhra Pradesh):Andhra Pradesh's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)officials have arrested avillage school headmaster fordemanding a bribe of `10,000to issue duplicate certificatesto an old student, ACBofficials said Friday. SuryaPrakash, 46, once a studentof Penugonda's ZNVR HighSchool, approached school'sheadmaster J Srinivas forissuing duplicate certificatesas he had lost his certificatessometime ago. Srinivasallegedly demanded `10,000from him to issue duplicatecertificates.

4 Bangladeshisnabbed by BSF Kolkata: Four Bangladeshishave been apprehended byBorder Security Forcepersonnel in West Bengal'sNorth 24 Parganas forillegally entering India, astatement by the paramilitaryforce said Friday. All four ofthem were nabbed by borderguards at Dobarpara outposton Wednesday as soon asthey crossed the Ichhamatiriver, which separates thetwo countries, and set foot inIndia, it said.

Three killed Jammu: Three persons werekilled and eight injured onFriday in a road accident inJammu and Kashmir's hillyDoda district. Police said thevehicle, carrying thepassengers from Khillani toHambal, plunged into a deepgorge after the driver lostcontrol. The accident tookplace in the Domail village."Three persons died on thespot and eight were injuredin this road accident. "Theinjured have been shifted tohospital", police said.

SHORT TAKES

VENTING ANGER

Women from the farming community raise slogans as they take part in the ongoing agitation against the central government’s newly-introduced agri-bills, inAmritsar, Friday PTI PHOTO

Modi kicks offBihar electioncampaignPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dehri/Gaya/Bhagalpur, Oct 23:Prime Minister Narendra ModiFriday launched his campaign forthe Bihar assembly elections withthree back to back rallies where hecastigated the opposition over itsstand on repeal of Article 370 andreminded the people of the 15-yearreign of "crime" and "loot" underthe RJD.

Modi addressed rallies in Rohtas,Gaya and Bhagalpur districts,where he shared the stage withChief Minister Nitish Kumar andexcoriated the Congress-led oppo-sition for adopting a contrarianposition on "any step taken in na-tional interest".

The Prime Minister counted ab-rogation of Article 370, the lawagainst triple talaq, commence-ment of construction of Ram tem-ple at Ayodhya, and military op-erations at the borders among thesteps taken in national interestwhich the opposition frowned upon.

Appealing to the nationalisticzeal of the electorate, Modi rakedup the issue of annulment of Article370 which bestowed special statuson the erstwhile state of Jammu andKashmir. "You tell me, was not thecountry waiting for Article 370 tobe scrapped? When the NDA gov-ernment did that, they are talkingabout restoring the provision ifthey are back in power. "Still theyhave the audacity to come and seekvotes in Bihar which sends its sonsand daughters to protect the na-tion. Is it not an insult to the peo-ple of Bihar?" he told an election

rally at Dehri-on-Sone in Rohtasdistrict.

Referring to the Galwan Valleyclash with Chinese troops, Modisaid the sons of Bihar laid downtheir lives for the tricolour but didnot let "Mother India bow her head".The soldiers of Bihar were alsomartyred in the Pulwama attack,he said.

True to form, Modi commencedhis speeches at Dehri, Gaya andBhagalpur by greeting the peoplein the local dialects Bhojpuri,Magahi and Angika respectively.The Prime Minister began his ad-dress at the first rally in Rohtasby paying tributes to late Ram VilasPaswan, a member of his cabinet,and for mer Union ministerRaghuvansh Prasad Singh whodied a month ago shortly afterburning bridges with Lalu Prasad’sRJD.

Paswan's son Chirag, the LJPpresident who has pulled out ofthe NDA vowing to dislodge Kumarfrom power while proclaiming hisloyalty to Modi, profusely thankedhim for the gesture and tweeted: "Asa son, it is natural for me to bemoved by the respect and loveshown by the Prime Minister for mydeceased father".

Modi did not name Chirag but re-ferred to the "confusion" beingsought to be created by some peo-ple. "But there is a good trait amongBiharis and that is clarity. Theydon't get confused," he said. Modireminded the electorate rally afterrally to vote for the candidates ofJD(U), BJP, HAM and VIP that con-stitute the NDA in Bihar.

NAVY MISSILE SINKS SHIPWITH ‘DEADLY ACCURACY’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: In a demon-stration of its combat readiness instrategic sea lanes around India, theIndian Navy Friday released a videoof an anti-ship missile destroyinga sinking ship with "deadly accu-racy" somewhere in the Arabian Sea.

The missile was fired by frontlinecorvette INS Prabal as part of amega naval drill involving aircraftcarrier INS Vikramaditya and anumber of warships, attack heli-copters, aircraft and other assets ofthe Navy. An Indian NavySpokesperson tweeted that the mis-sile homed in on its target, an oldship, hitting with deadly accuracyat its maximum range.

"#AShM launched by

#IndianNavy Missile Corvette#INSPrabal, homes on with deadlyaccuracy at max range, sinking tar-get ship," he said. Chief of Naval StaffAdmiral Karambir Singh onThursday reviewed the operationalpreparedness of his force at variousshore-based locations a well as at sea.

He also addressed a select groupof combatants of the Navy's CarrierBattle Group over a broadcast fromthe INS Vikramaditya, India's onlyaircraft carrier, and reviewed theforce's overall combat readiness,officials said.

In his remarks, Admiral Singhcomplimented his force for con-tinuously maintaining "peak com-bat-readiness" and "high tempo" ofoperations over the past few months,they said. The Indian Navy has sig-

nificantly increased its deploymentin the Indian Ocean Region, in anattempt to send across a message toChina in the wake of escalation intension between the two countries.

Giving an overview of the pre-vailing security situation, the Chiefof Naval Staff stated that the Navywould continue to maintain a high-tempo of operations in comingmonths. "He also complimentedthe Carrier Battle Group and its com-batants for accurate and effectiveweapon firings, which left no doubtabout the Navy's readiness to meet anyemergent contingencies," the Navysaid in a statement on Thursday.

A carrier battle group is a meganaval fleet comprising an aircraftcarrier, accompanied by large num-ber destroyers, frigates and otherships. "Indian Navy continues tomaintain a high tempo of opera-tions and combat-readiness despitethe COVID-19 pandemic by adher-ing to stringent protocols onboardwarships, submarines and aircraftsquadrons and bases, and is fully pre-pared to tackle challenges in themaritime domain," the Navy said.

Saxena grantedinterim bailINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Oct 23: A Delhi courtFriday granted interim bail to ac-cused-turned-approver RajivSaxena in the `3,600-croreAgustaWestland VVIP chopperdeal scam case being probed by theCentral Bureau of Investigation.

Special Judge Arvind Kumargranted interim bail to him onthe personal bond of `2 lakh andsurety of like amount till the nextdate of hearing. His bail applica-tion was vehemently opposed bythe probe agency and the matterwill now come up on December 11for arguments on it.

On September 19, the agencyhad filed the supplementary chargesheet against 15 accused, includ-ing alleged middleman ChristianMichel and Saxena in connectionwith the case. The court had thentaken its cognisance and sum-moned the accused on October 23.

Saxena, along with few otheraccused appeared before the courttoday via video conferencing Friday.Those who appeared were let off onbail in the case, while others movedthe exemption application.

Cumulative COVID positivityrate continues to declinePRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: India has crossedthe 10 crore-mark in conductingtests for detection of COVID-19with 14,42,722 tests being done ina span of 24 hours, even as the cu-mulative positivity rate continuesto decline, the Union HealthMinistry said Friday.

High level of comprehensivetesting on a sustained basis hasalso resulted in bringing down thenational positivity rate, it said."Thisindicates that the rate of spread ofthe infection is being effectivelycontained. The cumulative posi-tivity rate continues to decline asthe total tests cross 10 crore," theministry underlined.

The national COVID-19 positiv-ity rate is 7.75 per cent as on date,it said. This is a result of the suc-cessful 'test, track, trace, treat andtechnology' strategy of the cen-tral government effectively fol-lowed by states and union terri-tories, it stated.

Fifteen states and union terri-tories, including Maharashtra,Kerala, Chandig arh, Goa,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, West Bengal andDelhi, are exhibiting higher COVID-19 positivity rate compared to thenational figure, indicting the needfor higher levels of comprehen-sive testing in these regions, the min-istry underscored. The last 1 croretests were conducted in nine days.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Manali, Oct 23: The coronavirus-induced lockdowns have cleanedup the fragile Rohtang Pass with thepiles of trash almost vanished andnature making a comeback in thecold, rugged and rocky mountainsof the Pir Panjal range of theHimalayas -- the origin of one ofNorth India's major rivers, the Beas.

Also the vehicular pollution plum-meting to levels unseen in the liv-ing memory. "What a pleasant sur-prise to see no littering of trash inhills en route to the Rohtang Pass,"remarked Nikita Pandey, a touristfrom Delhi.

"We should be thankful to Covid-induced lockdowns that gave naturea recovery time to regain its glory,"she said, while pointing towardsspots where non-biodegradable waste

was normally dumped carelesslyalong the banks of the glacial-fedBeas river near Marhi, en route to theRohtang Pass from Manali.

The Rohtang Pass is located at analtitude of 13,050 feet and 52 kmfrom tourist resort Manali inHimachal Pradesh. Her friend GauriVaidya said in her past visits, theninth this time in as many years, she

felt angry to see the stunning amountof waste like beer and liquor bottlesand food sachets dumped haphaz-ardly in the mountains.

"This visit is memorable to see na-ture blooming again amid pineforests and gurgling streams," sheadded. The picturesque RohtangPass, which remains under snoweven during the onset of summer,

is a major attraction for both do-mestic and foreign tourists.

According to the state tourism de-partment, more than 1,00,000 touristsvisit the Rohtang Pass every yearand tourism, including skiing,trekking and paragliding, is a keysource of income for the local peo-ple. For more than five months fromDecember, the pass remains cut offfrom the rest of the country dueto heavy snowfall.

After nearly six months of seal-ing borders, the state governmenton September 15 threw open itsborders for free movement of peo-ple and goods. "In the last one or twoweeks, the trend of tourists is pick-ing up in Manali and its nearbyareas. Compared to thousands oftourists that normally descend heredaily ahead of Diwali, now tourists,mainly from the northern states, are

thronging that too on weekends," anofficial of the state HimachalPradesh Tourism DevelopmentCorp. said here.

Travel agent Naresh Thakur saidthe tourists from Manali now pre-fer to travel towards the LahaulValley via the newly opened AtalTunnel, beneath the Rohtang Pass,rather than taking the long, treach-erous route of the pass.

"Snow is the only attraction forthe tourists and the mighty RohtangPass is the only destination nearManali that remains marooned insnow cover till end of May. In thisseason, Rohtang slopes are totallybereft of snow cover, so they arenot on their preferred list," he added.Government officials said theRohtang Pass normally closes for thetraffic every year in Decemberowing to snowfall.

LYNCH MOB ATTACKSRAPIST, HIS GRANDPAINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Chandigarh, Oct 23: A lynch mobwent berserk Friday and assaultedan accused and his grandfather,who were in police custody oncharges of raping and burning a six-year-old girl of a migrant labourerin Punjab's Tanda town.

The mob demanded the han-dover of the accused -- GurpreetSingh and his grandfather SurjitSingh -- so they could punish themwith their own hands and bringjustice to the victim. The accusedallegedly killed the child and thenburnt her body after which thehalf-burnt body was found fromtheir house, police said about thecrime that took place on Thursday.

The National Commission forProtection of Child Rights has

taken suo-moto cognizance of thecrime and sought a report fromthe state within three days. Thegirl's half-burnt body was foundat the residence of the accused inJalalpur village in Tanda inHoshiarpur district on Thursdayevening, the police said.

The accused have been arrestedon charges of murder and rapeunder the Indian Penal Code (IPC)and the Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.The police took the accused to ahospital in Tanda on Friday fortheir medical examination when themob attacked them. The police res-cued them as the mob broke downwindowpanes of the hospital. As perthe first information report, ac-cused Gurpreet took the girl to hishome where he allegedly raped her.

Artist creates Durga idolwith expired medicinesPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dhubri, Oct 23: With the COVID-19 pandemic having brought theworld to its knees, a 37-year oldAssam government employee, insolidarity with everyone fight-ing the global menace, has createda Durga idol here with strips ofexpired tablets, capsules and in-jection vials.

Sanjib Basak, an employee ofDhubri district administration,has, over the past few years, comeup with various innovative and

eco-friendly ideas to design theidol, but this year, amid theCOVID-19 crisis, he wanted tomake a difference with his cre-ation.

"During lockdown, I had ob-served that people were queuingup outside pharmaceutical shopsto buy essential medicines inbulk. It was then the idea struckme that I could be making MaaDurga's idol with medicine stripsto mark the pandemic," Basak,who had last year made the fig-urine with discarded electric

wires, said.It took the district official

nearly five months and 40,000strips of tablets, capsules and in-jection vials of different coloursto give shape to his idea. "Initially,I was worried that I won't be ableto make the idol this year due towork pressure and strict safetyprotocols. But I managed to cre-ate one with expired medicines."Paper, thermocol and board,among other things, were used tofix the medicine strips to a frameand create the idol," Basak added.

Officials mustuse the besttechnology,

including drones inconducting thecomprehensive landsurvey in the state

Y.S. JAGAN MOHAN REDDY | ANDHRA CM

DistrictsCollectors inGoa have been

directed to keeptabs on nightclubsand hotels, which donot follow socialdistancing norms and othergovernment SOPs

VISHWAJIT RANE | GOA HEALTH MINISTER

Corona gives fragile Rohtang Pass recovery time

PTI PHOTO

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering during an election rally,at Gandhi Maidan in Gaya, Friday PTI PHOTO

CHOPPER SCAM

5 killed in TN blast PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Madurai (TN), Oct 23: At leastfive women were killed in a blastat a private fireworks factory hereon Friday, police said.

Citing initial probe, police saidchemicals which were being mixedand stuffed caught fire due to fric-tion leading to a series of explo-sions, severely damaging the struc-ture located at Muruganeri village.Chief Minister K Palaniswamiannounced an ex-gratia of ̀ 2 lakheach to the kin of the deceased. Thevictims were identified asAyyammal, Suruliammal,Lakshmi, Veluthai and Kaleeswari.Several other workers managed toescape to safety, police said, addingfire service units fromVirudhunagar and Srivilliputhurwere used to put out the blaze.

P10SATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalIf the NewStrategic

Arms ReductionTreaty with the USexpires, Moscow canensure its securitywith modern weaponsVLADIMIR PUTIN | RUSSIAN PRESIDENT

The initial phase of the COVID-19lockdown, which was imposedthrough March and April inseveral countries, may havedramatically altered people’spersonal eating and sleepinghabits, according to a study

LOCKDOWN WOES

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A COVID-19vaccine couldbe available to

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In today’sworld, thepursuit of

unilateralism,protectionism andextreme egoismleads nowhere

XI JINPING | CHINESE PRESIDENT

20th Amendmentpassed in SL ParlColombo: The 20thAmendment to the Sri LankanConstitution, which willreplace the 19th Amendmentintroduced in 2015 thatcurtailed the powers of thePresident, was passed inParliament, the mediareported Friday. It waspassed Thursday night with156 MPs voting for the Billand 65 against, reports theDaily Financial Timesnewspaper.

20 Afghan armypersonnel killed Kabul: At least 20 Afghansecurity personnel werekilled in a Taliban attack inNimroz province, an officialsaid Friday. The attack tookplace in Khashrod districtThursday night, TOLO Newsreported. Khashrod Governor Jalil AhmadWatandost said six otherperonnel were taken hostageby the Taliban, without givingany other details.

Strict COVID-19rules in Belgium Brussels: Belgian Primeminister Alexander De Croostopped short Friday ofimposing another fulllockdown, as the country didin March, but introduced aseries of new restrictivemeasures as the number ofCOVID-19-related hospitaladmissions and deathscontinues to soar.

Israel strikes Gaza Jerusalem: The Israelimilitary said Friday it launchedovernight airstrikes in theGaza Strip after Palestinianmilitants fired two rockets,with no reports of casualtiesor major damage on eitherside. The military said fighterjets and other aircraft struck aweapons manufacturing siteand “undergroundinfrastructure” belonging tothe Islamic militant groupHamas, which rules Gaza.

Unrest in Nigeria Abuja: Gunfire has eruptedand jailbreaks have beenreported in Nigeria, as unrestover the shooting ofprotesters in the country’sbiggest city Lagos continues.Rights group AmnestyInternational has saidsecurity forces killed at least 12 people in LagosTuesday, the BBC reported.

15 detained Warsaw: Poland’s policesaid Friday they detained15 people during protests in Warsaw against a courtruling that toughened the nation's strict abortion law and bannedabortion of fetuses withcongenital defects.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kathmandu, Oct 23: Nepal PrimeMinister K P Sharma Oli has comeunder fire, including from the rul-ing Communist Party leaders, forbreaching diplomatic norms overhis meeting with Research andAnalysis Wing (R&AW) chiefSamant Kumar Goel.

Goel called on Prime Minister Oliat his official residence at BaluwatarWednesday evening.

However, the Indian intelligencechief's visit did not go down wellwith some political leaders of thecountry, including members of theruling party Nepal CommunistParty (NCP).

The meeting that took place be-tween RAW chief Goel and PrimeMinister Oli was against diplo-

matic norms and it doesn't serveNepal's national interest, said sen-ior ruling party leader BhimRawal."As the meeting took placein a non-transparent mannerwithout consulting with the con-cerned section of the ForeignMinistry, this may also contributeto weakening our state mecha-nism," he pointed out. BishnuRijal, deputy chief of the foreign

affairs department of the NCP,said politicians should not over-s t e p i n m a t t e r s r e l a t e d t o diplomacy.

“Diplomacy should be handledby diplomats—not politicians,” hesaid. The ties between the two coun-tries came under strain after DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh inaugu-rated an 80-km-long strategically cru-cial road connecting the Lipulekhpass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand May 8.

Nepal protested the inaugura-tion of the road claiming that itpassed through its territory. Dayslater, Nepal came out with the newmap showing Lipulekh, Kalapani andLimpiyadhura as its territories.

India too had published a newmap in November 2019 showingthe areas as its territories.

Row in Nepal over R&AWchief ’s meeting with Oli

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Paris, Oct 23: In yet another majorsetback, Pakistan Friday failed toget off the ‘grey list’ of FinancialAction Task Force (FATF), theglobal watchdog for terror-fund-ing and money laundering.

The Imran Khan-led government lost Pakistan's bid atthe FATF because of its failure tocomply with the requirements ofthe Paris-based watchdog. Pakistan,already facing severe economicand financial crisis, has been inthe grey list since 2018.

Being in the grey list makes it dif-ficult for the already debt-riddenIslamic Republic to get financial aidfrom international agencies.

India has been persistentlyprotesting against Pakistan's con-tinued cross-border terrorism inKashmir and its inaction againstthe mastermind and planners of the26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The banned terror outfits,Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and HizbulMujahideen, and their chiefs HafizSaeed, Masood Azhar and SyedSalahuddin, continue to get statepatronage and protection inPakistan.

A report of the United NationsSecurity Council released earlierthis year said the three terrorgroups are collaborating with AlQaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan.

India Thursday had stronglyrecommended that Pakistan, whichcontinues to provide safe havens tothe banned terror groups, shouldcontinue on the grey list.

On Friday, after concluding itsthree-day virtual plenary session,the FATF decided to keep Pakistanin its grey list. Sources said Pakistanhad failed to comply with at leastsix of the 27 points in the FATF'saction plan.

PANDEMIC CHAOS

Millions in UK entertougher lockdown

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

London, Oct 23: Millions ofpeople across the UK entertougher lockdown from Friday,including a complete “firebreak”shutdown in Wales, as the coun-try battles to get a grip on aresurgence of COVID-19.

Greater Manchester's popu-lation of 2.8 million joinedLiverpool City Region andLancashire in England's highesttier of restrictions at midnight,which involves a near-completebusiness shutdown.

South Yorkshire will moveinto the same Tier 3 restrictionsfrom midnight on Saturday,bringing the total number ofpeople living under England'stightest rules to more than sevenmillion.

Tier 3 of "very high" COVID-19 alert level means people can-not mix with other householdsand pubs and bars will be closed– unless they are serving sub-stantial meals. Some areas inthe top tier have also gone fur-ther, closing businesses such asbingo halls, casinos, bettingshops and soft play centres.

Households are banned frommixing at all, even outdoors in

private gardens or anywhereinside, and people are advisedagainst travelling into or out ofthe area.

Under the tier system backedup by fines for serious breacheslaid out by UK Prime MinisterBoris Johnson last week, Tier 1is set at a medium COVID-19alert with some meeting be-tween households permittedwithin the “rule of six” on gath-ering numbers and a high alertof stricter movement and gath-ering rules are set for Tier 2 – thecategory in which London wasadded to last weekend.

And from Friday evening, 3.1million people in Wales willhave to stay at home as the 17-day firebreak lockdown begins.Welsh First Minister MarkDrakeford used his daily brief-ing to hit back at critics of histough stance.

Meanwhile, Scotland FirstMinister Nicola Sturgeon un-veiled her region's five-tierstrategy, two more than thosein force across England. It fea-tures five levels of measures –from level zero to four – to beapplied in different areas ofScotland depending on thespread of the virus.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

United Nations, Oct 23: Between150 million and 175 million more peo-ple will fall into extreme poverty dueto the COVID-19 pandemic, an ex-pert said at the UN.

Special Rapporteur on extremepoverty and human rights OlivierDe Schutter said that between 150million and 175 million more peo-ple will fall into extreme poverty, dueto the epic fallout from COVID-19.

Schutter told the UN GeneralAssembly Third Committee (Social,Humanitarian and Cultural)Wednesday as delegates raised con-cerns about the plight of the world'smost vulnerable in a series of interactive dialogues.

"We must rethink our develop-ment model," De Schutter said,adding that most of those who willfall into extreme poverty will beworkers in the informal sector orin precarious employment condi-tions — most of them women.

In order to emerge from theworst crisis since the 1929 GreatDepression, "we cannot count,as we did in the 20th century, oneconomic growth as usual," hesaid. Environmental sustainabil-ity and social justice must be considered prerequisites for shaping the economic recoverythat countries envision, he said.

De Schutter was one of five in-dependent experts participatingin virtual dialogues with delegates,

which covered topics ranging fromextreme poverty and internal dis-placement, to the human rights toeducation, safe drinking water andadequate housing. Experts de-scribed the interplay between con-

flict and climate change, and rec-ommended ways to ensure that stu-dents can access water and sani-tation in school during thepandemic. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary,Special Rapporteur on the human

rights of internally displaced per-sons, said the intersecting risks ofclimate change and armed conflictcan push people into displacement.She focused on the slow-onset effectsof climate change — sea-level rise,desertification, glacial retreat andflood — which can have disastrousconsequences.

Most affected will be peoplewhose livelihoods depend heavilyon ecosystems: indigenous peo-ples, farmers, herders, pastoral-ists and fisherfolk.

Displaced persons also risk beingexposed to COVID-19, due to theirlimited access to health care, water,sanitation and adequate housing,Jimenez-Damary said, according toinformation on the UN website.

‘nCoV to push 150-175 mn more people into poverty’MOST AFFECTED WILL BE PEOPLE WHOSE LIVELIHOODS DEPEND HEAVILY ON ECOSYSTEMS: INDIGENOUS

PEOPLES, FARMERS, HERDERS, PASTORALISTS AND FISHERFOLK

Pakistan fails to getoff FATF ‘grey list’

AGENCIES

New York, Oct 23: US PresidentDonald Trump and his challengerJoe Biden clashed over COVID-19,immigration, racism and climatechange during their final debate,ahead of the November 3 presi-dential election, presentingAmericans with sharply divergentviews of where they would leadthem over the next four years.

The two leaders traded barbsduring the debate that lasted justover 90 minutes, attacking eachother's positions on controlling theraging coronavirus pandemic andcurbing the country's world-lead-ing death toll of over 2,23,000. Onclimate change, Trump accusedChina, India and Russia of nottaking care of their “filthy air” ashe justified America's withdrawalfrom the landmark Paris climateagreement. The prime-time debatein Nashville, Tennessee, was a lessacrimonious and more substan-tive affair than their previousshowdown September 29, whichdevolved into insults and name-calling. This prompted the debateorganisers to put in place muted mi-crophones during the candidates'opening statements on each topic

to minimise disruption.The debate, deftly moderated by

NBC's Kristen Welker, saw plentyof personal attacks between 74-year-old Trump, a Republican, andhis 77-year-old Democratic rival,Biden, whose mutual dislike wasquite evident. Millions of Americanshave already made up their mindsabout the election, with more than47 million people having cast earlyballots by mail or in person due toCOVID-19 fears. The figure exceedsthe early vote total in 2016. There areabout 230 million eligible voters intotal.The coronavirus dominatedthe opening minutes of the Trump-Biden face-off with President Trump

terming the contagion a “world-wide problem”. "This has been aworldwide problem, but I've beencongratulated by many countries onwhat we've been able to do,” hesaid. Trump once again blamedChina for the virus and and saidBeijing failed to prevent the dis-ease from becoming a pandemic. Heclaimed that America was veryclose to developing a vaccine againstthe deadly disease that Biden saidwas claiming 1,000 lives daily inthe US. "We have a vaccine that'scoming, it's ready. It's going to be an-nounced within weeks and it's goingto be delivered,” Trump said. Thepresident said his generals have

lined up for the fast distribution ofthe vaccine, as he expects to have100 million vials. Biden challengedTrump and alleged that his policieshave resulted in a large numberof deaths in the country. Biden and Trump clashed on racerelations, a topic that has gainedprominence after the horrific mur-der of an African American in po-lice custody early this year inMinneapolis.

Biden termed Trump "one of themost racist presidents we've had inmodern history", asserting thathis Republican rival at his last de-bate did not condemn white su-premacy and told an extremistgroup to "stand down and standby.” When the debate moved to thetopic of immigration, Trump ap-peared callous about the toll that hispolicies have taken on over 500children who were separated fromtheir parents at the border. "Theyare so well taken care of. They arein facilities that are so clean,"Trump said. Trump's cold responseallowed Biden to attack the presi-dent, calling his family separationpolicy contrary to everything thatAmerica stands for. The two can-didates accused each other of se-rious corruption charges.

FLYING HIGH

Birds fly over the water in Kuwait City UNI PHOTO

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Beijing, Oct 23: China Fridaywarned the UK against offering cit-izenship to Hong Kong residentsand "immediately correct its mis-takes" in order to avoid retalia-tory measures.

In response to China imposingthe national security law on HongKong, the UK in July reaffirmedits plan to offer citizenships onlyto those holding a British NationalOverseas (BNO) passport, reportsthe BBC. Around 300,000 people currently hold a BNO passport,while an estimated 2.9 million peo-ple are eligible for it, according tothe British Consulate General inHong Kong. Addressing the mediahere, Foreign Mnistry spokesmanZhao Lijian was asked if Beijingwould take retaliatory measuresor stop BNO passport holders fromleaving Hong Kong, the SouthChina Morning Post reported.

“The Chinese government hasrepeatedly made clear its strongstance on this issue, but the Britishside has insisted on interferingwith Hong Kong affairs and China'sdomestic issues.” As the Britishside broke its own promises, theChinese government will con-sider not recognising the BNOpassport as a valid travel docu-ment, and reserve the right to im-pose further measures," Also in astatement issued Friday, aspokesman for the ForeignMinistry's Hong Kong office alsosaid he "strongly opposed andfirmly objected" to the UK move.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Islamabad, Oct 23: Pakistan'santi-corruption body has slappeda fresh cor ruption case on deposed Prime Minister NawazSharif, compounding the legal woes of the embattledOpposition leader who has fre-quently attacked the powerful mil-itary as well as the government.

Sharif, the 70-year-old supremoof the Pakistan Muslim League(Nawaz) who was ousted frompower in 2017 by the SupremeCourt on corruption charges, is cur-rently in London for medical treat-ment. The National AccountabilityBureau also approved cases againstSharif's ex-personal secretaryFawad Hasan Fawad, former fed-eral minister Ahsan Iqbal, for-mer foreign secretary AizazChaudhry and former IntelligenceBureau (IB) chief Aftab Sultan,Dawn newspaper reported.

On Thursday, a total of 11 caseswere approved at NAB's ExecutiveBoard Meeting (EBM) presidedover by its chairman, retiredJustice Javed Iqbal.

According to the NAB, a freshcase was approved against Sharifalong with Chaudhry, Sultan andFawad for “illegally” purchasing73 high-security vehicles for the se-curity of foreign dignitaries.

China warns UK overHK citizenship plan

Sharif charged withfresh graft case

FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

TRUMP, BIDEN SPAR OVER nCoV, CLIMATE

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former VicePresident Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate PTI PHOTO

PTI PHOTO

AFP PHOTO

PTI PHOTO

AP FILE PHOTO

PTI PHOTO

P11

businessSATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

The Indian Economy is still inthe recovery mode. Tourism

provides a big boost to the economy,but right now inbound travel fromforeign countries has not beenrestored, preventively, to control thepandemic. Likewise, the job markethas not started to look up just yetAMIT ADARKAR | CEO, IPSOS (INDIA)

Walmart Inc’s Flipkart will buy a 7.8%stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltdfor `15 bn, the fashion retail firm said.The investment comes at a time whenAmazon, RIL and Flipkart are in a race togain market share in India’s online market

FLIPKART TO BUY STAKEIN FASHION UNIT

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Energy demandrises againNew Delhi: Easing oflockdown curbs lifted India'senergy demand in Septemberafter a decline of six months,said India Ratings andResearch (Ind-Ra) Thursday.In a report on India’s powersector, the ratings agencysaid that in September 2020,the all-India energy demandincreased 4% Y-o-Y afterdeclining for the sixconsecutive months to 112.6billion units. "This was led byan improvement in thedemand from the northernregion and the westernregion due to the furtherlifting of lockdown for certaineconomic activities underUnlock 4," the report said.

Huawei reports9.9% rev growthShenzhen: Huawei Fridaysaid that it generated arevenue of 671.3 billion yuan($98.57 billion) in the firstthree quarters of this year,an increase of 9.9% over thesame period last year. Theresults showed thatrestrictions imposed by theUS slowed down growth ofthe Chinese technology giantas duriing the same periodlast year, the companyreported revenue growth of24.4%. For the Septemberquarter, Huawei reportedrevenue of 217.3 billion yuan($31.91 billion), an increaseof just 3.7% over the thesame period last year, saidthe report.

Bad loans surgeamid pandemicMumbai: Amid financialstress among borrowers inview of the ongoingcoronavirus pandemic, SBICards and Paymentsreported a rise in its grossNPAs during the quarterended September. Thecompany’s gross NPA, duringthe July-September quarter,was at 4.29%, against 2.33%from the same period of thelast financial year. FurtherSBI Cards, in its quarterlyearnings, also said that itsgross NPA for the periodunder review would havestood at 7.46%.

Tech M Q2 profit slips 5%Mumbai: Tech MahindraFriday reported 5.27% declinein September quarter netprofit at `1,064.6 crore, evenas profit margins widenedsharply. Revenue of theMahindra Group companygrew 3.32% over last year and2.32% over the precedingJune quarter to `9,371 crore.The operating marginimproved sequentially by over4 percentage points to 14.2%.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Oct 23: Reserve BankGovernor Shaktikanta Das has saidthat there is room for rate cut butmonetary policy action would de-pend upon the evolving situation onthe inflation front which is cur-rently above the tolerance level ofthe central bank.

“I recognise that there existsspace for future rate cuts if the in-flation evolves in line with our ex-pectations. This space needs to beused judiciously to support recov-ery in growth,” opined the gover-nor as per the minutes of theMonetary Policy Committee (MPC)released by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI).

The reconstituted MPC, whichmet from October 7 to 9, had de-cided to keep the benchmark lend-ing rates unchanged in view of thehardening of retail inflation.

Das said after the sharpest con-traction in economic activity inthe first quarter of 2020-21, a num-ber of high frequency indicators ofeconomic activity for the secondquarter suggest a sequential im-

provement."There are, however, downside un-

certainties that could put sand inthe wheels of this nascent recovery.Primary among them is the riskof a second wave of COVID-19.Private investment activity is likelyto be subdued, even as domestic fi-nancial conditions have eased sig-nificantly," he said.

External demand is also expectedto remain anaemic with sharp con-traction in global economic activ-ity and trade. As per RBI, the fullyear gross domestic product (GDP)is expected to contract by 9.5% witha strong rebound next year.

"On the outlook for inflation,food inflation should moderate

going forward on a combinationof good kharif harvest and afavourable rabi season," theGovernor said.

As per the RBI's assessment,headline inflation would moder-ate in H2 of the current year andfurther in Q1 of next fiscal year.

Inflation remained above theupper tolerance threshold of 6 percent since June, with signs of ag-gravation of price pressures. Thegovernment has asked RBI to keepinflation at 4% (+, - 2%).

Deputy Governor and MPCmember Michael Debabrata Patranoted that India has entered atechnical recession in the firsthalf of the year for the first timein its history.

"GDP is an aggregative indicatorof economic activity and hides theextent of human misery and the lossof social and human capital causedby the health crisis.

"Nonetheless, if the projectionshold, the level of GDP would havefallen approximately 6% below itspre-COVID level by the end of 2020-21 and it may take years to regainthis lost output," he said.

Rate cut will depend uponmoderation in inflation: DasThe RBI Governor said after the sharpest contraction in economic activity

in Q1 FY 2020-21, a number of high frequency indicators of economicactivity for Q2 suggest a sequential improvement

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Oct 23: The country'sforeign exchange reserves toucheda life time high of $555.12 billionafter it surged by $3.615 billion inthe week ended October 16, ac-cording to RBI data. In the previ-ous week ended October 9, 2020, thereserves had increased by $5.867billion to reach $551.505 billion.

During the latest reportingweek, the rise in total reserveswas due to a sharp rise in ForeignCurrency Assets (FCAs), a majorcomponent of the overall reserves.FCA jumped by $3.539 billion to$512.322 billion, the data showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, FCAsinclude the effect of appreciationor depreciation of non-US units likethe euro, pound and yen held in theforeign exchange reserves.

Gold reserves were up by $86 mil-lion in the reporting week to $36.685billion. The special drawing rightswith the IMF remained unchangedat $1.480 billion during the re-porting week.

The country's reserve positionwith the IMF declined by $11 mil-lion to $4.634 billion during thereporting week, as per the data.

Forex reservestouch life time highof $555.12 bn

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Oct 23:Strong local fun-damentals will aide the revival ofIndia's aviation sector, believesAirbus South Asia President, RemiMaillard. In a conversation withIANS, Remi Maillard, Presidentand MD, Airbus India and SouthAsia, expressed confidence in the in-dustry's potential along with its re-vival prospects on the back of strongfundamentals.

"I remain confident about the fu-ture of the Indian aviation indus-try because of the strong local fun-damentals," Maillard said. "That iswhy, in parallel to our efforts ofcatalysing a safe traffic recovery,we need to work on further strength-ening the foundations for India tobecome a world leader in the civilaviation industry.

This implies further developing

the domestic market, turning Indiainto an international hub, grow-ing the MRO and training eco-sys-tems as well as stimulating the hel-icopter business," he added.

Notably, the sector has been heav-ily battered by the coronavirus out-break and its cascading impact onthe overall travel industry.

Maillard termed the pandemic asthe 'gravest crisis' that industryhas ever faced.

"There is not one single player inthe market that is immune to the cri-sis, be it an airline, a lessor, anMRO, a training center, an airport,an equipment supplier or an aircraftmanufacturer. It is a long-term cri-sis," he elaborated.

"Given how deep the crisis is, afull recovery in aviation will takeyears specifically when it comes tointernational flights," he added.

Nevertheless, Maillard pointed out

that with the economy opening upgradually, demand for air travelhas started to pick-up.

"We have now started seeing agradual increase in air travel asthe domestic flights have increasedin a phased manner," he said.

"We are hopeful passenger de-mand will further pick up duringthe festival season. Now the situa-tion remains very fluid and un-certain and we predict that 2021

will remain a difficult year for theindustry. This is why we need tocontinue adapting ourselves to nav-igate the crisis," he added.

According to him, the regionalconnectivity scheme, 'Udan', willplay a major role in the growth ofthe domestic market.

Besides, the aerospace major isaiding its airline partners to fullyutilise the potential of its cargobusiness.

"Indian carriers have started fo-cusing on international marketsin the recent past and the inductionof wide-body aircraft will be a keystrategy for consideration in theirgrowth plans," he said.

"We are also supporting our cus-tomers to diversify in the cargomarket for them to capture addi-tional sources of revenue," he added.

Furthermore, Maillard sees im-mense potential in the chopper,MRO and aviation training seg-ments of the industry.

As a case in point, he pointedout that India has only about 270 civilhelicopters which is less than 1%of the worldwide helicopter fleet.

"India's civil helicopter market hasa large runway for growth. Theemergence of new segments likeurban air connectivity as well as thelaunching of next generation hel-icopter plat-forms such as the re-

cently certified H160 and the 5-bladed H145 will also further drivegrowth," he said.

‘HOPEFUL OF QUICK REVIVAL OF INDIA’S AVIATION SECTOR’

Given how deep thecrisis is, a full recovery

in aviation will take yearsspecifically when itcomes to internationalflightsREMI MAILLARD I PRESIDENT AND MD,AIRBUS INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23:The Centre hasborrowed and transferred `6,000crore as the first tranche of GSTcompensation shortfall to 16 statesand two union territories, includ-ing Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar,Assam, Delhi and J&K, the financeministry said Friday.

Last week, the Centre gave in tothe demands of opposition-ruledstates to borrow and fund the GSTcompensation shortfall.

The finance ministry said thatthe Centre would borrow from themarket to pay the GST compensa-tion shortfall of `1.1 lakh crore tostates, and then act as an inter-mediary to arrange back-to-backloans to state governments.

The ministry said the govern-ment of India has evolved a specialborrowing window to address theshortfall in the GST collection dur-ing the year 2020–2021. Twenty-onestates and two union territoriesopted for this special window in-volving back-to-back borrowingcoordinated by the Ministry ofFinance. Out of these, five states didnot have any shortfall on accountof GST compensation.

"Today, the central governmentborrowed and transferred `6,000crore as first tranche to 16 statesnamely Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,

Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu,Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand and two union terri-tories: UT of Delhi and UT ofJammu and Kashmir," it said

The borrowing is at an interestrate of 5.19 per cent and tenor of bor-rowing is expected to be broadly inthe range of 3 to 5 years, the min-istry said it intends to release ̀ 6,000crore to the states every week.

GST SHORTFALL

Centre borrows, transfers`6K cr to 16 states, 2 UTs

FM Nirmala Sitharamansaid that the Centrewould borrow from themarket to pay the GSTcompensation shortfallof `1.1 lakh crore tostates, and then actas an intermediaryto arrange back-to-backloans to state governments

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: Country’sleading linen fabric and appar-els brand Linen Club launchedits Linen Utsav campaign inOdisha. With this campaign, LinenClub is offering its consumers anopportunity to try its newlylaunched product innovation(s)while also enjoy never seen be-fore offers on both Linen Clubfabrics and apparel.

Keeping in mind the currentpandemic situation, the brandlaunched a special antiviral treatedfabric range – Linen ClubLinShield. Carefully crafted usinganti-viral technology, LinShieldis safe and stylish at the sametime and shields the user againstharmful viruses and microbes. Itis anti-viral, skin-friendly, anti-bacterial and anti-odour.

Linen club has also introducedits thoughtfully crafted Linenmask range which is designedwith special 3-layered shield. Theseantiviral and antibacterial masksare high on breathability, lightand easy to wear, reusable andwashable. Consumers can alsoselect from Linen Club’s wide fes-tive range which includes finelycrafted linen fabrics in variouscolours, designs and patterns.

Apart from fabrics, consumerscan also pick from Linen Club’sReady-to-wear range which includesKurta, Nehru Jacket and more.The exclusive Linen Club show-rooms are located at – JanpathRoad, Vani Vihar Square,Bhubaneswar, near GurudwaraSingh Sabha, Janpath,Bhubaneswar and at CantonmentRoad, in front of DCP Office, Cuttack.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 23: RenaultIndia has announced the additionof 34 new sales and service touchpoints across India in last twomonths. This marks a total of morethan 90 new sales and service touch-points that Renault has added acrossthe country in less than a year.The aggressive network expansionis part of a strategic business focusto grow the brand across existingand emerging markets.

With this expansion RenaultIndia has bolstered its networkpresence to more than 415 salesand 475+ service touchpoints,which include 200+ Workshop onWheels locations across the coun-try, with benchmark sales andservice quality.

“We are not only attracting newdealers in these times, but also get-ting more investments and ex-pansion requests by existing part-ners. An increasing networkpresence is making it possible forus to cater to more customers across

the country, and thereby playing animportant role in our consistentsales volumes,” said SudhirMalhotra, Head - Sales & Network,Renault India.

Renault India has announced ex-citing offers across the range and ex-clusive additional offers for publicsector employees, central and stategovernment employees that includeboth doctors and teachers.

These offers include special ad-ditional of fers worth up to`22,000, which adds to the at-tractive festive offers alreadyrolled out across the range withbenefits of up to `70,000 onDUSTER, `40,000 on KWID and`30,000 on TRIBER.

Renault India bolstersnetwork presence

The aggressive network expansion ispart of a strategic business focus to growthe brand across existing and emerging markets

LINEN CLUBLAUNCHES‘LINEN UTSAV’

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Oct 23: Buybacks areseeing a strong trend with cash-rich companies, led by IT giants TCSand Wipro, announce buybacksworth ̀ 27,588 crore to reward share-holders by returning excess cashon the balance sheets.

In the period, April 1 to October15, 15 companies have announcedbuybacks worth ̀ 27,558 crore, as perMotilal Oswal Financial Services.

Hemang Jani, Head of EquityStrategy, Broking & Distribution,Motilal Oswal Financial ServicesLtd, said: "We have seen strongtrend of buybacks both throughtender offer and through stock ex-changes as the markets have beenstrong. Companies having strongcash flow and no immediate capexare using this tool for the benefitof shareholders."

Among the companies an-nouncing buybacks are TataConsultancy Services (worth`16,000 crore), Wipro (`9,000 crore),Majesco (`631.3 crore), IndiabullsReal Estate (`500 crore), Rites (`257crore) , Kalpatar u PowerTransmission (`200 crore), EclerxServices (`109.5 crore), JK Paper

(`100 crore), Dhanuka Agritech(`100 crore), HSIL (`70 crore),OnMobile Global (`54.1 crore),Cheviot, James Warren Tea, RaneBrake Lining, Magna ElectroCastings among others.

Nirali Shah, Senior ResearchAnalyst, Samco Securities, said al-most all the major listed Indian ITcompanies have opted the route ofreturning the excess cash on theirbalance sheet via buybacks. "Thetechnology pack has in fact set thetone for buybacks," she said.

Usually, buybacks occur whena company's shares are tradingat a discount and the manage-ment decides to invest in itself.Buybacks reduce the number ofoutstanding shares, but don't ac-tually change the valuation ofthe company.

"Going forward, as the economypicks up and as growth resumes topre-Covid levels, the number ofbuybacks by companies shouldalso decline," Shah added.

Some of the world's most suc-cessful investors, including multi-billionaire Warren Buffett and thelegendary Peter Lynch, are en-thusiastic advocates of owningbuyback stocks.

TCS, Wipro announce`27,558 cr of buybacks

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: FMCG majorNestle India Friday announcedits plans to invest ̀ 2,600 crore overthe next three to four years to aug-ment its manufacturing capacityin the country, terming the moveas "vindication of confidence andtrust" the company has in its Indiajourney.

The company, which saw a ro-bust 10.23% growth in its domes-tic sales in the July-Septemberquarter, said its production unitshave returned to "normal output"post lockdown. As per Nestle'splan, the new investments areaimed at expansion activities of theexisting units and towards theconstruction of its new upcom-ing unit in Sanand, Gujarat.

Meanwhile, the FMCG major -- which follows January-Decemberfinancial year -- posted a marginal1.37% drop in its net profit at`587.09 crore in the third quarterended September 30, 2020.

Its net sales, however, were up10.19% at `3,525.41 crore duringthe period under review, the com-pany said. Domestic sales in July-September moved up 10.23% to`3,350.10 crore as against ̀ 3,039.09crore in the year-ago period.

Nestle, which presently oper-ates eight production units inIndia, said its factories have re-turned to normal output and wit-nessed growth driven by an im-proved supply situation.

Nestle India clocksdouble-digit salesgrowth in Q2

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/37159

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sportsSATURDAY | OCTOBER 24 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Kapil Dev undergoesangioplasty followingheart attack; now stablePRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 23: India’s firstWorld Cup-winning cricket cap-tain Kapil Dev suffered a heart at-tack and underwent an angioplastyhere Friday but is expected to be dis-charged in the next couple of days,said the hospital where he is cur-rently admitted.

The 61-year-old, who is based inDelhi’s Sundar Nagar area, com-plained of chest pain Thursdayfollowing which he was taken toFortis Escorts Heart Institute emer-gency department in Okhla.

“Kapil Dev suffered a heart attack.He was evaluated and an emer-gency coronary angioplasty wasperformed in the middle of night,”the hospital said in an updatedhealth bulletin after only mentioningchest pain in its initial statement.

“Currently, he is admitted in ICUand under close supervision of DrAtul Mathur and his team. Kapil Devis stable now and he is expected toget discharged in a couple of days.”

The 1983 World Cup-winning leg-endary all-rounder was wished aspeedy recovery by many on so-cial media, including India’s cur-rent captain Virat Kohli and Sachin

Tendulkar among others. “Praying for your speedy re-

covery. Get well soon paaji,” Kohlisaid. “Take care @therealkapildev!Praying for your quick recovery. Getwell soon Paaji,” wished Tendulkar

Also wishing him good healthwere India batsman ShikharDhawan and badminton playerSaina Nehwal. Kapil’s former team-mate Madan Lal said he has con-veyed some of the concern of hiswell-wishers to the Chandigarh-born legend’s family.

The imposing former player,who also tried his hand at golf afterretiring from cricket, is the onlyplayer to claim over 400 wickets(434) and accumulate more than5000 runs in Tests.

Europa League: Arsenal, Spurs, AC Milan winASSOCIATED PRESS

London, Oct 23: Gareth Bale hada quiet first start for Tottenhamsince returning to the London club,while Carlos Vinicius made a moreimpressive debut by setting up twogoals in a 3-0 win over LASK in theEuropa League.

Their North London rival ArsenalThursday opened their fourthstraight Europa League campaignwith a 2-1 come-from-behind win atRapid Vienna in an opening roundof games. On a good night forPremier League clubs, Leicesterearned a comfortable 3-0 home winover Zorya Luhansk.

AC Milan earned a 3-1 away winat Celtic, while Roma came from agoal down to win 2-1 at Young Boys— as did Granada to upset PSVEindhoven away.

Lucas Moura finished off an-other free-flowing move to open thescoring after being set up by Vinicius.Bale sent a low cross into the areafrom the right that defender AndresAndrade deflected into his own.Vinicius then teed up substituteSon Heung min to wrap up the winsix minutes from time.

Arsenal went behind when goal-keeper Bernd Leno played a poorpass that fell to Rapid forwardTaxiarchis Fountas, who slotted in

a low shot from a tough angle in the51st minute.

David Luiz headed in a free-kickfrom Nicolas Pepe to level the scorebefore Mohamed Elneny freedHector Bellerin down the right tocross for Pier re-EmerickAubameyang to complete the come-back from close range for Arsenal.

Milan didn’ t need ZlatanIbraimovic to score this time, asRade Krunic and Brahim Diaznetted in the first half at Celtic.Substitute Jens Petter Haugeadded the third for Milan in in-jury time after Celtic pulled oneb a c k t h r o u g h M o h a m e dElyounoussi.

Carlos Vinicius rejoice after settingup Lucas Moura’s goal

Asian Chess: India men, eves in semisPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Chennai, Oct 23: The top-seededIndian women’s team Fridaystormed into the semifinals of theAsian Nations (Regions) OnlineCup 2020 Championship, while theirmale counterparts eked out a fight-ing win over Mongolia to securethe last four berth.

The Indian women made shortwork of Kyrgyzstan in the last-eightround, winning the two match-upseasily – 4-0 and 3.5-0.5. The Indianwomen will face Mongolia in thesemifinal Saturday.

The Indian men, on the otherhand, were given a tough fight byMongolia. Both the matches ended

with a similar 2.5-1.5 scoreline infavour of India. They will take onIran in Saturday’s semifinal.

Young WGM R Vaishali contin-ued her good run, winning both hermatches. She beat AlexandraSamaganova while Padmini Routand PV Nandhidhaa too registeredtwo victories. Bhakti Kulkarni droppedhalf a point to Begimai Zairbek Kyzyin the second match as the Indians un-derlined their superiority.

Vaishali was in impressive formin the preliminary round with ascore of 6.5 from nine rounds toland the gold for the top board whilecaptain Mary Ann Gomes claimedthe gold for fifth board with fivewins from as many games. Padmini

took silver for third board with 7.5points from nine matches.

The men’s quarterfinals saw theIndian men face a strong challengefrom Mongolia. In the first match,Nihal Sarin went down to GanzorigAmartuvshin while SP Sethuramanand Sasikiran posted wins overTsegmed Batchuluun and SugarGan-Erdene respectively while cap-tain Surya Sekhar Ganguly drewwith Sumiya Bilguun.

In the second match, B Adhibanoutclassed Ganzorig Amartuvshinwhile Sarin beat Sumiya Bilguun.Sasikiran played out a draw againstGan-Erdene to secure the winthough Ganguly suffered a defeatagainst Batchluun.

BOULT, OPENERS HELP MI MAUL CSK

TRENT BOULT

Ishan Kishanhits one down

the ground

AGENCIES

Sharjah, Oct 23: Trent Boult (4/18)and Jasprit Burmah (2/25) pro-duced a devastating pace-bowlingspell in tandem before openers IshanKishan (68 n o, 37b, 6x4, 5x6) andQuinton de Kock (46 n o, 37b, 5x4, 2x6)overwhelmed Chennai Super Kings(CSK) bowling attack to help MumbaiIndians (MI) register a compre-hensive 10-wicket victory here intheir IPL game, Friday.

MI bowlers wreaked havoc to re-strict CSK to 114/9. In reply, Kishanand De Kock forged together anunbeaten 116-run partnership toseal a dominating win in 12.2 overs.

Put in to bat, CSK were five wick-ets down inside powerplay and theMS Dhoni-led side could never recoverfrom there. CSK went past 100 thankslargely to Sam Curran’s (52, 47b, 4x4,2x6) enterprising half century. Theyoung Englishman mixed cautionwith aggression and some creativityto top the scoring chart.

Incidentally, Curran’s 43-run part-nership for the ninth wicket withImran Tahir (13 n o) was the high-est partnership of the CSK innings.

CSK had a horror start and slippedto 3/4 inside three overs, then 30/6 in-side seven overs before being re-duced to 43/7 in 8.5 overs. Boult gotrid of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du

Plessis and Ravindra Jadeja, whileBumrah dismissed Ambati Rayuduand N Jagadeesan off successiveballs. Skipper Dhoni’s (16) poor runcontinued as he fell to leggie RahulChahar (2/22) after having smackeda six of the previous ball.

BRIEF SCORES: CSK 114/9(Sam Curran 52; Trent Boult 4/18,Rahul Chahar 2/22, Jasprit Bumrah2/25) lost to MI 116/0 (Ishan Kishan68 n o, Quinton de Kock 46 n o) by10 wickets.

POINTS TABLETEAM M W L N/R NRR PTSMI 10 7 3 0 +1.448 14DC 10 7 3 0 +0.774 14RCB 10 7 3 0 +0.182 14KKR 10 5 5 0 -0.828 10SRH 10 4 6 0 +0.092 8KXIP 10 4 6 0 -0.177 8RR 11 4 7 0 -0.620 8CSK 11 3 8 0 -0.733 6

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