Actor Jacqueline Fernandez remembersSushant Singh Rajput, as their movie Drivecompletes one year of release

JACQUELINE REMEMBERS SSR

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Donald Trump predicts a massive win for the Republicans in the November 3elections

TRUMP’S PREDICTION

INTERNATIONAL| P10

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 211 | www.orissapost.com

LEISURE | P2

PM Modi blazed through Bihar mocking RJD’sTejashwi Yadav and Congress’ Rahul Gandhias allies of dynasts TWO STATES | P7

‘ALLIANCE OF DYNASTS’

12 PAGES | `4.00

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IRREGULAR by MANJUL

I’ll vote for the biggest criminalfrom our area. That’s the only way

we can get rid of him!

BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2 | 2020

WEATHERBHUB

33.0° 33.0°CTK

21.2°MAX

MINTE

MP

Humidity 78% 76%Rainfall Nil Nil

Forecast

Dry weatherlikely

21.2°

SHORT TAKES

Srinagar: The chief of theterrorist group HizbulMuhajideen was killed in anencounter on the outskirts ofSrinagar Sunday, the policesaid, calling it “a major successagainst militancy”. Saifullah,who had taken command of theoutfit after the killing of RiyazNaikoo in May this year, wasone of the most wantedterrorists in the Jammu andKashmir and was involved inseveral attacks on the securityforces, an official said. P8

Hizbul Mujahideenchief shot dead

London: Prime Minister BorisJohnson ordered England backinto a national lockdown afterthe United Kingdom passed themilestone of one million Covid-19 cases and a second wave ofinfections threatened tooverwhelm the health service.Johnson, at a hastily convenednews conference in DowningStreet after news of a lockdownleaked to local media, said thatthe one-month lockdownacross England would kick in ata minute past midnightThursday morning and lastuntil December 2. P10

Johnson locksdown England

Dhenkanal: An elderly womaninfected with Covid-19 endedher life at a Covid hospital inDhenkanal district Sunday. Thedeceased woman has beenidentified as Basanti Nayak ofBiradia village under SadarBlock in the district. Accordingto reports, Basanti wasundergoing treatment at theCOVID Hospital in Dhenkanalafter being tested positive forCovid-19 October 29. Shewas under treatment in a room where five others werealso admitted.

Covid patient endslife in Dhenkanal

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New York, Nov 1: About 18 elec-tion rallies by Donald Trump are es-timated to have led to more than30,000 confirmed cases of coron-avirus and likely claimed over 700lives, a new study by StanfordUniversity researchers said, stress-ing that the communities wherethe US President’s rallies took place“paid a high price in terms of dis-ease and death.”

In the study titled ‘The Effects ofLarge Group Meetings on the Spreadof Covid-19: The Case of TrumpRallies’, researchers concluded 18rallies by Trump held between June20 and September 22 “ultimatelyresulted in more than 30,000 incre-

mental confirmed cases of Covid-19” and “likely led to more than700 deaths”, which may not neces-sarily have been among attendees.

“Our analysis strongly supportsthe warnings and recommendationsof public health officials concerningthe risk of Covid-19 transmission atlarge group gatherings, particularlywhen the degree of compliance withguidelines concerning the use ofmasks and social distancing is low.The communities in which Trumprallies took place paid a high pricein terms of disease and death,” theresearchers said.

Reacting to a Twitter post on thestudy, Democratic Presidential nom-inee Joe Biden said “PresidentTrump doesn't care about you. He

doesn’t even care about his ownsupporters.”

The study, released Friday, notedthat more than 8.7 millionAmericans have contracted Covid-19, resulting in more than 225,000deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention (CDC) has advisedthat large in-person events, partic-ularly in settings where partici-pants do not wear masks or practicesocial distancing, pose a substantialrisk of further contagion.

“There is reason to fear thatsuch gatherings can serve as ‘su-

perspreader events', severely un-dermining efforts to control thepandemic,” it said.

Researchers said the purpose ofthe study was to shed light on theseissues by studying the impact ofelection rallies held by Trump'scampaign between June 20 andSeptember 30.

The researchers said Trump ral-lies have several “distinguishingfeatures" that lent themselves tothis inquiry, adding that attendeesat Trump rallies numbered in thethousands and sometimes in tens ofthousands.

They noted that the rallies werenot geographically ubiquitous andthe degree of compliance with guide-lines concerning the use of masks

and social distancing was low “inpart because the Trump campaigndownplayed the risk of infection.

This feature heightens the riskthat a rally could become a “su-perspreader event.”

The researchers said that to cap-ture the effects of subsequent con-tagion within the pertinent com-munities, their analysisencompasses up to 10 post-rallyweeks for each event.

“Our method is based on a col-lection of regression models, one foreach event, that capture the rela-tionships between post-event out-comes and pre-event characteris-tics, including demographics and thetrajectory of Covid-19 cases, in sim-ilar counties,” it said.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 1: Goods andServices Tax (GST) collectionscrossed `1 trillion-mark for thefirst time in eight months in October,indicating the economy pickedfrom September after India easeda lockdown to contain the spreadof the coronavirus. The October col-lections are for transactions inSeptember. At `1.05 trillion, col-lections were not only ten per centhigher than `95,379 crore a yearago, but were almost equal to col-lections in February before thelockdown was announced.

The exact figure for Octoberstood at`105,155 crore, while it wasjust `211 crore more at `105,366crore in February. All collections– central GST (CGST), or state GST(SGST) or integrated GST (IGST)or compensation cess – were higherin October than in September.

For instance, CGST yielded`19,193 crore in October against`17,741 crore in September, SGSTdelivered `25,411 crore against23,131 crore. IGST collections stoodat `52,540 crore against 47,484crore. Of this `23,375 crore wascollected through import of goodsagainst`22,442 crore in September.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 1: A number of bank-ing rules have come in force fromSunday, which will directly affect con-sumer’s pocket. For instance, cus-tomers in some lenders have to payfees for deposit and withdrawal ofmoney from banks.

According to reports, private sec-tor lenders, ICICI Bank and Axis Bankin addition to Bank of India, Bank ofBaroda (BoB), Bank of India, PNB andCentral Bank have started chargingits customers for transactions beyondthe prescribed limits from Sunday, i.e.November 1.

The ICICI Bank is charging a con-venience fee for cash deposits by cus-tomers in cash recyclers during non-business hours and bank holidays. Afixed amount of `50 is being levied foreach transaction on the bank holidaysand between 6:00 pm and 8:00 am onworking days, starting from Sunday.

“Effective November 1, 2020, a con-venience fee of `50 per transaction,will be levied on cash deposited in thecash acceptor or recycler machineson bank holidays and between 6:00 pm

and 8:00 am on working days,” ICICIBank said.

In addition, the bank will levy a con-venience fee if the cash deposit in thecash acceptor/recycler machines ex-ceeds `10,000 per month either as a sin-gle transaction or multiple transactions.

However, the fee will not be applicableto senior citizens, basic savings bankaccount, Jan Dhan accounts, accountsheld by differently-abled and visuallyimpaired persons, student accountsor any other accounts identified byICICI Bank, the lender mentioned.

Meanwhile, Axis Bank had alreadystarted levying the charge earlier thisyear. It levies convenience fee on cashdeposit transaction done at the rate of`50 per transaction after banking hours(or between 5:00 pm to 9:30 am) and onnational and state bank holidays. Thebank’s convenience fee was effectivefrom August 1.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has set sepa-rate fees for current account, cashcredit limit and deposit withdrawalfrom overdraft account and depositwithdrawal from savings account.

The bank said that withdrawalsthree times in a month will be free butafter that, a withdrawal transactioncharge will be levied at a flat fee of`150 for a loan account.

Similarly, for savings account, de-posits three times in a month will befree but thereafter if customers de-posit money for the fourth time, then`40 will be levied on each transaction.

However, Jan Dhan account hold-ers have some relief in this. They willnot have to pay any fee on deposit butwill have to pay `100 only for with-drawal. Banks have not given any re-lief to senior citizens.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1:Proposals for laying of un-derground slurry pipelinefor transporting minerals,especially iron ore, by manyindustries at the 95th State-Level Single WindowClearance Authority(SLSWCA) here would notonly hit local employmentbut also be a financial set-back to the state exchequer.

At the SLSWCA meeting(October 9, 2020), the WaterResources department wasasked to frame guidelineson generating revenue fromwater used by the slurrypipelines. The IndustrialPromotion and InvestmentCorporation of OdishaLimited (IPICOL) manag-ing director decided to dis-cuss the issue at the nextSLSWCA meeting, sched-uled for November 3.

Essar Minmet Limitedhas sought approval fromthe SLSWCA for laying ofslurry pipeline for 14 MTPAbeneficiation at Keonjharand Paradip with an esti-mated cost of `6,650 crore.

Apart from expansion of itsintegrated steel plant, M/SJindal Steel and PowerLimited has proposed a 36MTPA underground slurrypipeline in two phases toAngul at an investment of`76,018 crore. The IPICOL hassought a detailed action planon the two slurry pipelineprojects within 90 days.

These apart, ThriveniEar thmovers PrivateLimited has proposed laying30 MTPA slurry pipelineconnecting Keonjhar’sBarbil and Deojhar toBhitargarh located nearParadip in Jagatsinghpurdistrict. The project wouldsee an investment of `948.90crore. Moreover, JSW hasalso proposed laying a 30MTPA slurry pipeline fromSarada Mines in Keonjharto Paradip.

Sources said that morethan 100cusec of river water,mostly from Baitarani, willbe used in a bid to trans-port iron ore (in slurry from)through the slurry pipeline.

Apar t from waterwastage, the slurry projectswill witness massive defor-estation and gullible trib-als losing their farmlands aswell. The network of slurrypipeline is said to passthrough more than 120 kilo-metre of forests. Thepipelines would passthrough Barbil, Remuli,Keonjhar, Anandapur, JajpurRoad, Kaling a Nag ar,Panikoili and Chandikholbefore reaching Paradip.

As the projects would wit-ness a massive deforesta-tion, locals await actionfrom the respective districtadministrations. The multi-crore rupee worth projectswill hit the local employ-ment on one hand whileproviding jobs to outsiders,added the source.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: Asthe soaring prices of kitchenessentials continue to burn ahole in common man’s pocket,traders attribute the crisisto the failure of the state gov-ernment in providing ade-quate cold storage facilitiesand monitoring market ratesthereby making Odisha in-creasingly dependent on otherstates for its vegetable needs.

Vegetable prices, which hadstarted to show a gradual in-crease during late Septemberthis year, entered the fifthweek of inflation, Sunday.While okra was being sold at`50 per kg at the beginningof October, it is now availablefor `70 per kg, registeringabout 40% rise in price.

Similarly the price of toma-toes rose from `45 to `60 in aspan of a month. Amongstthese, the price of onion rosesharply by 165% from`30 perkg to `180 per kg.

“The increase in price isusually seen during this timeof year as people observe theKarthik month by abstain-ing from non-vegetarian food.However, the yearly rise couldbe controlled if the govern-ment provides enough storagefacility within the state. Thiscould reduce our dependence

on other states,” SudhakarPanda, secretary of OdishaTraders Association.

As per sources, the statepresently has 40 cold storages.While 140 cold storages hadbeen constructed, only 30 areoperational now. Even the op-erating cold storages havebeen working only at 25-40%of capacity and have beenheavily underutilised leadingto increasing dependency onother states for vegetables.

“Take the example of po-tatoes. Each storage facility

has a capacity of 500 metrictonnes, 1.5 lakh Mt in total.While the state’s demand forpotato is around 14 lakh tone,the production is about 20,000tonnes. Some districts thatare rich in potato production,such as Koraput, don’t evenhave any cold storage facility,”explained Odisha ColdStorage Association secre-tary, Suvendu Sahoo.

Furthermore, traders men-tioned unseasonal rains andpoor monitoring which haveled to an incredible jump invegetable prices recently.With Odisha’s dependencyon three states vis-à-visMaharashtra, AndhraPradesh and Karnataka,Covid-19 and unseasonal rainshave hindered supply fromthose regions.

Now, pay for deposits & withdrawalsSOME BANKS WILL CHARGE A CONVENIENCE FEE FOR CASH DEPOSITS BY CUSTOMERS IN CASH

RECYCLERS DURING NON-BUSINESS HOURS AND BANK HOLIDAYS

Afixed amount of `50 isbeing levied for each

transaction on the bankholidays and between 6:00 pm and 8:00 am onworking days

The fee will not beapplicable to senior

citizens, basic savings bankaccount, Jan Dhan accounts,accounts held by differently-abled and visually impairedpersons, student accounts

Modi Sarkar ka naya kamar tod tohfa. Ab khudka paisa bank mein jama karwane aur nikalwane

par bhi bank karenge vasooli (now one’s own moneywill be charged for deposits and withdrawals by banks)

RANDEEP SINGH SURJEWALA I CONG GENERAL SECRETARY

Over 30K Covid cases, 700 deaths likely due to Trump rallies: StudyCOMMUNITIES WHERE THE US PRESIDENT’S RALLIES TOOK PLACE ‘PAID A HIGH PRICE’ IN TERMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH

GST collections cross`1 trillion in Oct

‘Slurry pipeline would hit local employment’

In this combo image, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) leaves via chopper after addressing an election rally in Samastipur and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav (R)arrives via chopper during an election rally in Patna, Sunday PTI PHOTO

VOTE RUSH

Govt apathy to blame for soaring vegetable prices

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: The officeof the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)Sunday said that a total of 11,205litres of liquor have been seized bythe Excise enforcement squad dur-ing the campaigning phase forTirtol and Balasore by-polls.

CEO Sushil Kumar LohaniSunday held a press conference toinform the media about the re-sults of its enforcement and vig-ilance drive before the by-polls.

The officer said that the seizedliquor was worth `17.29 lakh. He added that a total of 52 casesof violations of Model Code ofConduct (MCC) were reportedduring the campaigning by dif-ferent political parties.

“During the period, 52 viola-tions of MCC by the political par-ties/candidates, mostly related tonon-compliance to Covid-19 guide-lines and conducting meetingswithout prior permission, werereported. Accordingly 52 caseshave been registered at differentpolice stations,” a statement is-sued by the CEO said.

The CEO further said that a totalof 329 licensed arms have been ei-ther deposited, impounded or can-celled during the period, while atotal of 3,668 persons have beencharged under preventive Sectionsof Section 107 (security for main-taining the peace in other cases) andSection 116 (inquiry as to truth ofinformation) of the CrPC. The au-thorities have also executed 410non-bailable warrants against theerrant while three cases were alsoregistered during the period. P3

52 MCC violationsreported fromTirtol, Balasore: EC

SLSWCA to discuss revenue generationfrom water used by slurry pipeline Nov 3

Mumbai: After facing back-lash for reportedly sayingthat the MeToo movementbegan after women startedstepping out for work, vet-eran actor Mukesh Khannahas issued a statement in hisdefense.

According to him , hiswords were ‘perceived in ex-tremely wrong way’.

“I am surprised that mystatement has been perceivedin an extremely wrong way,and is being looked at in atotally flawed context. Thewhole thing has been blownout of pro-portion.It’sbeingsaidthat Iam

against women. But I can saywith confidence that not manyhave as much respect forwomen as I do. I never saidthat women shouldn’t work,”he said.

Khanna denied makingmisogynist remarks.

“A year back, I had made avideo for my YouTube chan-nel. In that video too, I nevermentioned that womenshouldn’t go out and work.How can I say or imply some-thing like that now? I justwant to request all my friendsnot to twist or present mystatement in a wrong man-ner,” he said.

Khanna further said thathe respects women a lot.

“In our country, womenhave succeeded in each andevery field — be it becomingDefence Minister, FinanceMinister, Foreign Ministeror even going to space.

“My acting career provesthat I have always

had g reat re -spect for peo-ple in generaland women inparticular,”he concluded.

IANS

Mumbai: Actress Kangana Ranaut has revealed her innerpoet yet again and penned a poem about love and long-

ing for summer.The actress shared the poem, titled Aasman, along

with a soothing video, which has been shot at herplace in Manali. The poem is about love and

longing for summer.“Poem I wrote and shot this summer, as

winter approaches reminiscing Aasman,”she wrote as she shared the video on Twitter.

The video had a voiceover from Kangana,as she recited her poem. It also talkedabout doubting a lover’s affection, usingthe vastness of the sky as an allegory. Theclip showed Kangana enjoying summerin the mountains, and Kangana lying inthe grass. She can also be seen enjoy-ing her time in the hills and warming

herself in front of a fireplace.She also posted snaps of her home in

Manali, while talking about the chang-ing season.

“In spring this garden was at its full aglory, honey bees, butterflies suckingthe nectar of life, in rains it gave shel-

ter to insects/reptiles, in autumn itswithering away, bone chilling snowwill cover it soon but beneath that itwill continue to long n spring willhappen again,” she wrote with apicture of her garden.

“Picture of the same section ofthe garden from last winter, onlythe skeletons of these trees/plantswill remain they will die n will beborn again, no season is per-manent, if death is inevitableso is life, be this gardenit will be ruined everytime yet it will riseevery time,” shewrote with an-

other photo-graph of the

garden. IANS

P2 CHRISTIAN CALLS HIMSELF ANENTHUSIASTIC DRIVER

leisure Actor Christian Bale says he is an enthusiasticdriver. “They might call me crazy. I say I’menthusiastic,” said Bale, who played race car driverKen Miles in the 2019 film Ford v Ferrari. He got allthe driving that he ever wanted to do for the film.

Actress Sophie Turner will be lending her voice for thecharacter of Princess Charlotte in upcoming animatedseries, The Prince. Turner has officially joined the castof animated series The Prince, created and executiveproduced by Family Guy fame Gary Janetti.

MONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSYou always see the largerpicture, and desire tochannelise all your ener-gies towards makingthings better. Such positive approachmakes you an excellent team player, andenables you to bring novel ideas and effec-tive solutions to the table, says Ganesha.

PISCESThis day promises to befilled with much romance,laughter, and fine dining,says Ganesha. You willseem irresistible to the opposite sex. Youmight also find yourself falling for someone.A breathe of fresh air could waft into oldrelationships, or new ones could be formed.

SAGITTARIUSYou are in a dilemmatoday. You may findyourself standing atcrossroads, and yourdecision power does not seem to help youmuch, says Ganesha. You are likely tobecome controversy's favourite child; thismay add fuel to the fire. Be wise, and takeguidance of experienced people.

LIBRAGanesha says that yoursocial status willincrease now. Today isan auspicious day forventuring in new business or changing yourprofession. For those involved in the fieldsof interior designing, or running beautyparlours, now is an especially bountifultime for making progress in your business.

SCORPIOA cheerful day lies aheadof you especially for thebusiness community. It'sa clincher, as good dealsnot only come to your door step, but yieldgood business. Feel, that you are the king ofthe world; bring out the best in you and youare bound to succeed.

LEOThere are chances ofconflict on the homefront today. Howeveryou will be able to solvethese problems owing to yourunderstanding nature. However,these conflicts would likely not havecropped up if you would have paidmore attention to your family.

VIRGOKeep an open mindand give vent to yourimagination. You willfeel very creativetoday, and will pursue your innovativeideas. Luck will favour you, and somethings on which you took some riskwill bear fruits.

GEMINIGanesha opines thattoday you might feel a lit-tle blue and under theweather. You may harbour feelings ofloneliness today. Your repressed emo-tions and yearnings as well as your intel-lectual leanings will likely come to thefore today, says Ganesha.

CANCERYour ideas today aresource of your energy.Asituation may arise,which will force you totake hard decisions later. A new busi-ness or venture may prove beneficial.

ARIESToday the stars advocatethat you concentrate onmoney matters and howto save some, and in this purpose youwill remain engrossed. However,Ganesha advises you not to neglectdomestic duties lest you encounter amorose spouse.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSYou are likely to turnexcessively self centredtoday, says Ganesha. Thiscould cause you to be very insecure. Youwill have a tendency to control anddominate others. There is a likelihoodthat you may, thereby, jeopardizeimportant relationships.

CAPRICORNThough less, you will getmoney from your invest-ments and otherresources. Don't ignorepending projects; complete them at theearliest so that you will have clear pic-ture about your requirements andresponsibilities, advises Ganesha.

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.

SOPHIE TURNER SET FOR ROYAL OUTING WITH NEXT

Kangana longs for lovein new poem Aasman

Mukesh defends himself afterbeing slammed for his remarks

Ayushmannwants to growold with TahiraMumbai: Actor Ayushmann Khurrana Sunday tookto social media to pour his heart out for his wife,Tahira Kashyap Khurrana, on their wedding an-niversary.

Calling Tahira his best friend, Ayushmannwrote: “Celebrating 125 years of togetherness.May be more. Because I know that I know youfrom centuries and time immemorial. This bondcan’t be limited to this lifetime.

“You’re my companion, lover, personal standup comedian, life coach and above all my bestfriend. I want to grow old with you. I know it’ll bea lot of fun. Sigh. Happy anniversary.”

Along with it, he posted a photograph of him giv-ing Tahira a piggyback ride.

Sharing the same picture on her Instagram ac-count, Tahira cracked a joke about their weddingnight. “And I don’t lie. That’s the only way he picksme up! Gunny bag aaaloo ki bori style! But this isthe love I love, perhaps picking on your brains@ayushmannk is easier this way than being cra-

dled and carried in your lap (a failed suhaagraat moment for us) To more ingenuity

to many more such rides ... umm#happyanniversary,” she added.

Ayushmann and Tahiragot married in November

2008. The couple have ason, Virajveer, and

a daughter,Varushka. IANS

Mumbai:As her movie

Drive completedone year of its re-

lease, actressJacqueline Fernandez

fondly remembered herlate co-star Sushant Singh

Rajput, and hoped he wasstill with her to celebrate the

milestone.The actress re-shared a post

of the film director, TarunMansukhani on her Instagram

Story, writing: “1 year of Drive”.In another

story, sheshared astill from

the film of her-self with the actor, writ-ing: “Wish he was stillhere with us miss youSush..”

In one story, she re-shared a short video

from the movie’s songMakhna shared by a fan account.Meanwhile, Tarun’s post read: “It’s

been a year since we released #drive. And it just doesn’t feel celebra-tory without Sushant. Drive wasfilled with some amazing memoriesand overflowed with unforget-table experiences. There are somany people to Thank for this.Some for all the hard work theyput into making this film andsome others for teaching meabout things. Happy an-niversary to my Drive family!”

To this, the actress com-mented: “Tarun this filmwill be always special forme .... Some memories wehave for Eva With Sush.”

Drive was astory of a thiefuniting witha street racerfor a grandheist involv-ing an elabo-rate game of de-ceit withauthorities. IANS

P3

downtown

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MONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARFOR A BIG CATCH

Fishermen trying their luckin Mahanadi river nearTulsipur Mathasahi inCuttack, Sunday

POLITICKLE BY MANJUL

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Nov 1: The Puri district ad-ministration Sunday launched the‘Mo Dham Mo Garba’ (My ShrineMy Pride) campaign ‘to make theHoly City the cleanest urban set-tlement in the country’.

The administration has launchedthe cleanliness drive to secure thenumber one place in the 2021Swachh Survekshan, a country-wide cleanliness survey for cities,said an official of the district ad-ministration.

Gobardhan PeethShankaracharya NischalanandaSaraswati Sunday unveiled the logoand tagline for the ‘Mo Dham MoGarba’ campaign at a special eventhere. The seer also felicitated the win-ners of the best logo and taglinecompetitions for the cleanlinesscampaign.

As many as 13,000 competitorsfrom the Puri city participated inthe online competitions for bestlogo and tagline for the campaign.Shriyansh Panda, a Class-V stu-

dent, was felicitated for the bestlogo while Pramod Chandra Swaingot the award for best tagline. Theduo was provided with Rs 10,000each as award money, said the of-ficial.

According to the official, theimage of a broom has been placedin the logo of the cleanliness cam-paign while ‘Pabitra Puri GarbaAmari’ (Pride in Purity) has beenselected as the tagline.

“Puri is one of the Char Dhams,four holy shrines, in the country. Thisis the abode of Lord Jagannath.Puri city should be a model for oth-ers with regard to the cleanlinessaspect. The city can secure the topplace in the Swachh Survekshan-2021 with cooperation from its res-idents,” said Collector BalwantSingh.

According to Singh, the cleanli-ness campaign would be under-taken in each and every ward ofthe Holy City. As part of the cam-paign, residents of the city wouldbe urged to segregate the garbagein separate trash bins. “Our vehi-cles will collect the segregated

garbage from each and every house-hold. The residents of the city willtake a pledge November 6 and 7 tokeep Puri clean. They would also puttheir signatures on the bannerspasted on the garbage-carrying ve-hicles. The signatures would be dis-played on the city beach November8,” said the Collector.

The Collector further revealedthat the administration would de-ploy special vehicles to carry driedup flowers, basil leaves and unsoldMahaprasad to a compost site.

According to Singh, the admin-istration will take steps to removesilt and garbage from the citydrains at least four times in a year.Earlier, the drains were beingcleaned once in a year. “Steps willbe taken to remove garbage fromthe streets at night. The people ofPuri should pay respect to our san-itary staffers for keeping the cityfree from garbage. The municipalbody of the city would soon launcha helpline to accept complaintswith regard to the garbage man-agement,” Singh said.

Campaign launched to make Puri the cleanest cityThe dist admin aims to secure the top position in the 2021 Swachh Survekshan, a countrywide cleanliness survey for cities

Puri city should be amodel for others withregard to the cleanlinessaspect. The city cansecure the top place inthe Swachh Survekshan-2021 with cooperation

from its residentsBALWANT SINGH | COLLECTOR, PURI

Gobardhan Peeth Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati (R) unveils thelogo and tagline for the ‘Mo Dham Mo Garba’ campaign at a special event inPuri, Sunday

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: The lastday for campaigning for BalasoreSadar and Tirtol Assembly seg-ments by-polls ended Sunday.

The countdown for the much an-ticipated by-polls has now startedwith the end of the campaigning.Several heavyweights of all majorpolitical parties in the last onemonth have toiled hard and puttheir best foot forward to woo thevoters and ensure victory for theirrespective candidates.

On the last day of the cam-paigning, almost all parties andcandidates went for door to doorcampaign, padayatra, bike and cyclerallies, in an attempt to strike achord with the voters.

Union MSME Minister PratapSarangi was seen participating ina cycle rally in Balasore to cam-paign for his party while several leg-islators and ministers of the BJDtried their best to conduct rallies inthe two constituencies.

Congress leaders like TaraprasadBahinipati also took the plungeand toured the areas seeking votesfor the party candidates.

The BJD had deployed more than12 ministers and three dozen MLAsin the two seats to bolster the partycampaigning in the areas.

With the end of the campaigning,most of the outsider campaignersare bound to return as per theElection Commission of India (ECI)norms for conduction of a fair andfree election. The office of the ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) Sundaysaid that it has asked the districtCollectors to ensure no outsiders stayin the areas during the polls andasked to take steps accordingly.

While the BJD has tried its bestto woo the electorate by roping in

their heavy weight ministers andMLAs like Debi Prasad Mishra,Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, SameerDash, Pratap Jena and others,Chief Minister Naveen Patnaiktoo conducted virtual rallies toattract voters.

The BJP has tried hands withUnion Ministers Pratap Sarangi,Dharmendra Pradhan and otherparty leaders like Pradipta Naik,Baijayant Panda and others.

The Congress party, besides theircandidates, had roped in TaraprasadBahinipati, Suresh Routray, AbhijitMukherjee, Satya Prakash Nayakand others to expand their cam-paigning. Now the eyes are on thepolling dates which will decide whowould take the reins of power fromthe two seats.

Fiery by-poll campaigns endChief Electoral Officer asks the district Collectors to ensure no outsiders stay in the by-poll areas during the polls

CEO holds a press meet on the by-polls, Sunday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)Sunday alleged that the ruling BJDgovernment in the state has beenblatantly using the governmentmachineries for its poll-relatedworks. The Saffron party accusedthe BJD of deploying several gov-ernment officials for poll works.

National spokesperson of theBJP, Sambit Patra, Sunday saidthat the party had communicationwith the Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) which is said to have as-sured the Saffron party of timelyaction and intervention in responseto the charges leveled against theruling government of the state.

“Our party conducted a virtualmeeting with the ElectionCommission. By-polls are sched-uled in Tirtol and Balasore. Massivemisuse of power and irregulari-ties are reported from the area. Weinformed the ECI about the sameSunday,” he said.

Patra also said, “Mainly thereare two issues in Tirtol. The formerCollector of Jagatsinghpur districthails from Tirtol and was trans-ferred after we made the request.However, he is still working fromTirtol and interfering in the electionsand trying to ensure the victory ofthe ruling party in the state. He isextending his whole hearted supportto the BJD.” The BJP leader added

that its party work-ers informed theCEO on the issuebut the office haspresented half-bakedinformation before theECI and it is said that theECI has assured them that theywould look into the matter and takeadequate steps accordingly.

“Secondly, we complained today

that hundreds of ministers andMLAs are campaigning and resid-ing in the two Assembly con-stituencies. They are using the gov-ernment machineries there tomanipulate the elections. The ECIhas assured us that before 48 hoursto the polls they would be vacated.What the government is doingthrough its MLAs, the whole Odisha

is watching,” he said.The by-electionsto both the seats

are scheduledNovember 3.It may bementionedhere thatcampaigningfor both the

seats haveended. While

the BJD iseyeing to

retain theseats, the BJP has been working toincrease its share in the Assemblythrough the by-polls.

BJD using govt machinery for campaign: BJPTHE SAFFRON PARTY REITERATES ITS ALLEGATIONS AND APPROACHES THE ECI

BJP leaders submit their complaint to the CEO, Sunday

Mainlythere are two

issues in Tirtol. Theformer Collector of

Jagatsinghpur hails from Tirtoland was transferred after we

made the request. However, heis still working from Tirtol and

interfering in the electionsto benefit the BJD

SAMBIT PATRA | NATIONALSPOKESPERSON, BJP

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: A per-son landed in trouble as somemiscreants decamped with a bi-cycle which the former hadrented through the ‘Mo Cycle’application. The ‘victim’ claimsthat the cycle got unlocked aftera failed QR scan and the mis-creants banked on it.

The victim, Chittaranjan Sahoo,works as a domestic help at the res-idence of a judge here underCapital police limits.

According to sources, Sahoohas been using the ‘Mo Cycle’ appregistered with the phone numberof the house owner’s son. Sahoo

who was asked to bring some gro-cery items from market went to thenearby ‘Mo Cycle’ stand to get abicycle, last Monday.

He tried to open the locked cycleby scanning the QR code. However,the scanning failed due to some net-work problem and Sahoo left theplace after a few failed attempts.

Few days later, the houseowner’s son received a phone callfrom the executive of the ‘Yanacustomer care’. He was informedthat some miscreants have de-camped with the cycle that got un-locked after Sahoo left the ‘MoCycle’ stand.

The Yana customer care ser-vice’s authorities also tried totrack the bicycle but failed to getany success. Police have been in-vestigating into the matter afterregistering a case in this regard.

MISCREANTS DECAMP WITH MO CYCLE ASRIDER LEAVES AFTER FAILED QR CODE SCAN

OTV CFO arrested over ‘fraudulent’ land deal

Artisans at Kathagada Sahi in Cuttack, Sunday, shaping a sculpture depicting the first visit of Mahatma Gandhi toOdisha OP PHOTO

IN MEMORIAM

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Nov 1: Only a handful ofHabisyalis Sunday offered puja infront of Srimandir here on the firstday of holy month of Kartika.

However, the elderly women didnot have the opportunity to offerprayers before Lord Jagannath asthe 12th century shrine has beenshut for devotees due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The district administration hadearlier urged the Habisyalis notto throng Puri city to observeKartika Brata in the wake of thepandemic. Only a few elderly womenfrom nearby places have gatheredin the city to observe the month-longritual,” said a local.

The Habisyalis took dips in theholy ponds of Puri in the wee hoursand performed ‘Sankalpa Puja’ infront of the Lions Gate of Srimandir.They also travelled around theshrine, added the local.

“I used to stay in Puri for a monthto observe Kartika Brata. This year,we have been deprived of the op-portunity to visit Srimandir andhave a Darshan of Lord Jagannath

due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I amreturning home after offeringprayers in front of the temple,”said Savitri Sahu, a Habisyali fromSakhigopal. Meanwhile, Srimandirauthorities claimed that adequatesteps have been taken to sellMahaprasad to people in the holymonth of Kartika.

According to the ShreeJagannath Temple Administration(SJTA), two temporary countershave been opened at the South andNorth gates of Srimandir to sellMahaprasad to devotees.

“Hundreds of people throngedthe temporary counters to buy thetemple delicacies on the first dayof Kartika,” said a servitor.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: TheEconomic Offences Wing (EOW)of the state Crime Branch Sundayarrested the Chief Financial Officer(CFO) of OTV, a media organisa-tion, on charges of purchasingland belonging to Scheduled Castepeople at Sarua village in Beguniaof Khurda district by fraudulentmeans. The accused person iden-tified as Manoranjan Sarangi isone of the directors of OdishaInfraTech Pvt Ltd, the firm ac-cused of fraudulently purchas-ing a plot of an SC individual.

In a press note, the EOW re-vealed that the state governmentasked the Crime Branch to probethe matter after some scheduledcaste persons from Sarua villagealong with an ex-employee of theOrtel communication alleged thatthe accused firm had purchased

the land flouting the prescribednorms. The investigative wing ofthe state police claimed aboutfinding prima facie evidence inconnection with the company’sinvolvement in cheating, forgeryand intimidation.

“During enquiry, prima facie it wasrevealed that one company namelyOdisha InfraTech Pvt Ltd purchasedland belonging to scheduled caste per-sons circumventing rules/laws usingforgery/cheating/intimidation andother dubious methods with an in-tension to cause losses to SC people,”claimed the EOW. EOW arrestedSarangi by registering a case (08/20)under various sections of IPC andScheduled Castes and the ScheduledTribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Meanwhile, the OSCPCR willseek a report from the CB on ‘tardyprobe’ into the ‘gangrape’ of aminor girl involving a few OTVemployees.

Habisyalis deprivedof Lord’s Darshan

Not allowed inside the Srimandir,Habisyalis perform the rituals out-side the shrine, Sunday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 4,65,90,951 3,36,01,859 12,02,818

India 80,89,593 73,71,898 1,21,144

Odisha 2,91,825 2,77,564 1,331

COVID-19 TRACKER

downtown/stateMONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP4

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CALL FOR STRIKE

Leaders of various trade unions participate in a state-level convention for a countrywide general strike November 26at the AITUC office in Bhubaneswar, Sunday OP PHOTO

PNN & AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: At least1,709 people tested positive for novelcoronavirus disease (Covid-19) in thestate Sunday, taking the caseload to2,91,825, while 11 fresh fatalitiespushed the death toll in Odisha to1,331, an official of Health andFamily Welfare (H&FW) depart-ment said.

Of the 1,709 cases, 985 were re-ported from various quarantinecentres, and the remaining detectedduring contact tracing, said the of-ficial. Khurda district, of whichBhubaneswar is a part, reportedthe maximum number of new casesat 221, followed by Mayurbhanj at121 and Cuttack at 115.

Taking to Twitter, the H&FW de-partment said, “Regret to inform thedemise of eleven Covid positive pa-tients while under treatment inhospitals.”

Sundargarh recorded three fa-talities, and one each succumbed tothe infection in Angul, Cuttack,Deogarh, Kendrapara, Keonjhar,Khurda, Malkangiri and Nuapada.

Of the 1,331 fatalities reported sofar, both Ganjam and Khurda dis-tricts accounted for 230 deaths eachfollowed by Cuttack at 111.

As many as 53 Covid-19 patientshave died in Odisha due to other ail-ments. The positivity rate in thecoastal state stands at 6.34.

Over 46 lakh sample tests havebeen conducted in the coastal stateso far, including 46,045 Saturday,

the official added. City sees 83 freshcases, 201 recoveries

With detection of 83 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, thecoronavirus tally in the Capitalcity rose to 29,236, the BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC) saidSunday. Of the new cases, 63 werelocal contact cases, while the re-maining 20 were from quarantine,the civic body said in a tweet.

The Temple City also registered201 recoveries in the last 24 hours,

taking the total recoveries to 27,744.Sero survey in Cuttack begins

todayThe Cuttack Municipal

Corporation will conduct a four-day-long serological survey to de-tect the prevalence of antibodiesagainst Covid-19 among the citi-zens beginning Monday, an officialsaid Sunday.

The assessment will be conductedin a phase-wise manner. CMC hasformed a dedicated team that in-

cludes the ward officer, health work-ers, NSS volunteers, Anganwadiworkers and sanitary inspector.The survey samples will be col-lected from one member of a fam-ily above 18-years of age. Jointly car-ried in cooperation with the IndianCouncil of Medical Research, thesurvey will be carried out between9am and 5pm. The serological sur-vey will start in the city fromNovember 2 and continue tillNovember 5.

State loses 11 more lives to CovidODISHA REPORTS 1,709 NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES, TAKING THE CASELOAD TO 2,91,825

n Khurda reported the maximumnumber of new cases at 221,followed by Mayurbhanj at 121 andCuttack at 115

n Sundargarh recorded threefatalities, and one each succumbedto the infection in Angul, Cuttack,Deogarh, Kendrapara, Keonjhar,Khurda, Malkangiri and Nuapada

n Of the total fatalities reported sofar, both Ganjam and Khurdadistricts accounted for 230 deathseach followed by Cuttack at 111

n Over 46 lakh sample tests havebeen conducted in the coastal stateso far, including 46,045 Saturday

Numbers vis-à-vis national data

A health professional collects swab samples for Covid test in Bhubaneswar,Sunday

IN NUMBERS

Dignitaries release a report on the status of street children in cities of Odisha during Covid-19 pandemic to mark the10th foundation day of Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Bhubaneswar, Sunday OP PHOTO

FOR OUR CHILDREN

AVIRAL MISHRA, OP

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: With thepandemic posing a threat to theirlivelihood and heavy losses incurreddue to Covid-induced lockdowns,florists of the temple city are fi-nally breathing a sigh of relief. Thefestive season has brought backsmiles to their faces and with theNew Year around, they hope tocompensate their losses.

As the state government earlierordered restrictions regarding visitto religious places to contain Covidspread, business for florists in thecity took a nosedive. Moreover, re-strictions on intra and inter-statevehicle movements also narroweddown options for those involved insale and supply of flowers.

“During these last two weeksonly, my business has returned tonormalcy. At present, I am doing 45per cent of daily turnover com-pared to pre-Covid days. The busi-ness sees momentum especiallyduring annual Rath Yatra, Raja fes-tival, Ganesh puja and Dola purn-ima,” said Sandeep Sahu, a floristat Unit-II market here. “However,since most of these fell during lock-down periods there was almost nobusiness.”

Mentioning the drop in prices,Sandeep said that since demandhas been less compared to previousyears, the prices too took a hit.“Marigold, which sees the highestdemand during the festive season,usually shoots up to Rs 80 per kg.However, this year it touched Rs45 at max,” he added.

Furthermore, with the state gov-ernment still putting restrictionson religious places and public gath-erings, traders complained that de-mand from large temples and otherinstitutions remain by and large nil.

Pradeep Bhuyan, who purveysto organisations such as Isckon andtemples as Lingaraj, said that thisyear the demand for flowers has re-mained relatively low with templesnot focusing much on decoration.

“Since the lockdown remained in

place for more than three months,most of the flower growers wereforced to sell their products at throw-away prices. While uncertainty re-mained during that time, manyfarmers did not reap their producefor the festive season and as a resultwhile supply remained less, de-mand was even lesser,” Pradeepmentioned.

However, with the marriage sea-son ahead and New Year aroundthe corner, the florists are hopefulof a turnaround in the business.Although dearth in supply of exoticflowers still persists in the market,the traders are hopeful of betterprospects ahead.

“Tulip and Lilly which are usu-ally most in demand for marriagedecorations are supplied from statesas Himanchal Pradesh and

Uttarakhand. However, it is un-likely that the demand for thesewill be same as earlier. While buy-ers are still unwilling to pay, sellersalso have been prudent. Hopefully,things will change next year,” saidRakesh Mohanty, a florist here.

Will the withering flower biz bloom Florists hope that with the ease in Covid restrictions, they may see a revival in the business

During these last twoweeks only, my businesshas been gatheringsteam. At present, I amdoing 45 per cent of dailyturnover compared topre-Covid daysSANDEEP SAHU | FLORIST, UNIT-IIMARKET

Since the lockdownremained in place formore than three months,most of the flowergrowers were forced tosell their products atthrowaway prices. Whileuncertainty remainedduring that time, manyfarmers didn’t even reaptheir producePRADEEP BHUYAN | FLORIST

POST NEWS NETWORK

Jeypore, Nov 1: The holy monthof Kartik has started. JagannathSagar, the biggest manmade pondin the state located at Jeypore inKoraput assumes much importancefor thousands of locals in thismonth. They take a holy dip in thepond, with a belief that they willearn virtues this month. But it isa pity that the sprawling pond is stillchoked with weeds and hyacinthsand stinks due to pollution.

The administration has not yetremoved the weeds. Devotees areworried about how their holy dipwill be conducted this year. Theyhave expressed their displeasureover such sorry state of the holypond. People from Bihar living inthe area also observe Chhat puja onits bank. People hold Boita ban-dana Utsav on Panchuka.

Old timers say, decades ago, thepond was of fering a scenicpanoramic view to the visitors withits blue water while Nakatidangarhill forms its backdrop. The placewas so scenic that the East IndiaCompany had accorded it withtourism status tag in 1719. In win-ter, the pond resembled famous DalLake of Kashmir, they added.

According to historians, the thenKing Ramchandra Dev-II had ex-cavated the pond on 300 acres ofland with 1 mile in length and ahalf mile in width. The British

East India Company accordedtourist destination tag to the pondthree years later. From 300 acres, thepond has now shrunk to just 100acres due to rampant encroach-ment. The pond was created withan aim to maintain environmentalbalance and meeting the water re-quirements of people of bothKoraput and Nabarangpur districts.Its scenic beauty drew a large num-ber of tourists till a few years back.

The Tourism department haddeveloped parks and garden onboth sides of the pond. However,these facilities are badly main-tained. Even though the pond ischoked with weeds, 15,000 to 20,000people take a bath in the pond everyday, a report said.

They lamented that uncleanwater and weeds are a problem forthem. The pond is said to be keep-ing the ground water recharged.That’s why, tube wells in the areado not have shortage of water, they

noted. However, hope for revival ofJagannath Sagar had brightenedwhen a fact-finding team of thedistrict administration assessedits condition before executing plansfor its restoration toward the lastpart of January, 2020.

Several months ago, JagannathSagar Development Committee hadapproached the National GreenTribunal seeking its interventionto check dumping of waste intothe pond and removing encroach-ments. The NGT had directed thedistrict administration to find theextent of pollution and take stepsfor its cleaning.

The team led by OSPCB RegionalOfficer found out that unchecked re-lease of municipality sewage hasseverely polluted the pond. Further,a large part of the water body is usedfor dumping garbage, which hasnot only affected the water qualitybut also threatened its aquaticspecies.

This Kartik, will Jagannath Sagar receive a makeover, devotees ask

THE PLACE WAS SO SCENIC THAT THE EAST INDIA COMPANY HADACCORDED IT WITH TOURISM STATUS IN 1719

POST NEWS NETWORK

Daringbadi/Brahmanigaon, Nov1: A senior police official ofBrahmanigaon police station inKandhamal district was criticallyinjured when vil lagers ofMeramaha attacked the cops car-rying out a raid on gambling denlate Saturday night.

Reports said a police team ofBrahmanigaon police station led byIIC Ranjit Kumar Muni was pa-trolling the area. The team raidedthe village as gambling was un-derway in the locality on the oc-casion of Kumar Purnima. The

gamblers launched an attack onthe cops and ransacked the policevehicle. Some of them even didblank fire from country gun.

As many as six villagers, in-cluding four women, have been ar-rested while many locals have fledthe village in fear of being arrested.The village has reputedly been de-serted. IIC Muni has been hospi-talised for treatment, said BaligudaSDPO Manas Ranjan Barik.

Police led by the SDP conducteda flag march in the area Sunday.

Police have registered a case.They said that all the accused willbe arrested soon.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Boudh, Nov 1: The body of awoman was found in mysteriouscircumstance near a canal atBiramchandrapur village underHarbhanga block in Boudh dis-trict Sunday morning.

The deceased was identified asSantoshini Jena (35), wife ofAstami Jena. Family members al-leged that she was murdered.

According to reports, she wentout of her house to attend na-ture’s call in the mor ning.However, she did not return home.Later, some villagers found herdead near the canal.

Though the reason behind herdeath was yet to be ascertained, itis being suspected that she wasmurdered as the body bore griev-ous injury marks and wounds.

Following information from lo-cals, police rushed to the villageand recovered the body which wassent for post-mortem.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Deogarh, Nov 1: An engineerhad to cough up Rs 1 lakh as finefor violating Covid guidelines whilethrowing a marriage feast for peo-ple in Deogarh district Saturday.Reports said the administrationraided Bagicha village while KulanToppno, an engineer of the LiftIrrigation department was ar-ranging a feast to celebrate hisson’s marriage Saturday after-noon. Over 500 people reportedlyattended the marriage feast.

After receiving informationfrom sources, Deogarh tehsildarPallabi Nayak and Deogarh IICPrashant Kumar Patra, sub-in-spector Pradip Ranjan Patra raidedthe marriage feast venue. For vi-olating the Covid guidelines, theofficials imposed the fine of Rs1lakh on Kulan. It may be men-tioned here that the governmenthas allowed a gathering of 100persons for a marriage function inthe wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

IIC hurt in attack by localswhile carrying out raid

Engineer fined `1Lfor violating Covidnorms in Deogarh

While the govt has permitted gathering of

100 persons for a marriage, the engineerhad invited 500 guests

WOMAN FOUNDDEAD NEAR CANAL

POST NEWS NETWORK

Keonjhar, Nov 1: Forest officialsSunday arrested three poachersfrom Samakoi reserve forest in thedistrict here and seized 55 kg wildboar flesh from them.

On a tip-off, the officials con-ducted a raid at the reserve forestand arrested poachers Jitu Mukhi,Purna Munda and Budhu Munda,sources said.

During interrogation, all the threepoachers confessed to have killed

the wild boars by electrocuting them.The poachers have been booked forviolating Wildlife Protection Act,1972, Forest department officialssaid. “We have seized GI wires, glassbottles, nylon ropes from the poach-ers,” they added.

Poachers often trap wild boarsand spotted deer by spreadinggalvanized iron (GI) wires andnylon ropes in the forest and itsnearby areas. Some poachersalso use trained dogs to kill theanimals.

3 poachers held, 55 kg wild boar flesh seized

PIC: BIKASH NAYAK

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kendrapara, Nov 1: To ensurethe safety of Olive Ridley turtlesduring their breeding and matingseason, the state governmentSunday clamped a seven-monthprohibition on sea fishing activ-ity within 20 km of the coast atthe river mouths of Dhamara, Deviand Rusikulya.

A blanket ban on sea-fishing re-mains enforced round-the-year inGahirmatha coast, which is ac-claimed as the largest habitationcorridors of these endangered ma-rine species. Besides, it has beenconferred the status of marinesanctuary in view of turtles con-gregation.

The sole objective of annualmeasures, that would remain ef-fective till May 31, is to ensure thesafety of marine animals duringtheir breeding and mating season,said forest officials, adding thatthe ban has been clamped in ac-

cordance with Sections 2, 7 and 4of Orissa Marine FishingRegulation Act (OMFRA), 1982 andprovisions of Wildlife ProtectionAct, 1972.

The fishing ban has been im-posed along a specified coast ofthe sea comprising sea turtle con-gregation area and their bufferzones at the river mouths ofDhamara, Devi and Rusikulya.

The prohibition of this naturehas been clamped as the turtlesperish in larger numbers eitherby getting entangled in fishingnets or hit by fishing trawler’ pro-pellers. It will be a multi-layered pa-trolling exercise involving the for-est, fisheries and marine policebesides the coast guard personnel.To ensure effective patrolling, 61 on-shore camps and five off-shorecamps have been set up. The armedpolice constabulary force will flankthe forest and fisheries patrollingteams.

“To ensure the safety of turtles,

the prohibitory orders are beingstrictly enforced. The trawler op-erators have been cautioned not

to venture into prohibited waterzones. Any act of trespass wouldinvite punitive measures,” said

Divisional Forest Officer, RajnagarMangrove (wildlife) Forest Division,Bikash Ranjan Dash.

Around 10,666 fishermen fami-lies will be affected following thefishing ban. Therefore, to com-pensate for the loss of income av-enues, the state government has de-cided to extend one-time livelihoodassistance of ̀ 7,500 to the affectedfishermen families.

Around 7.30 lakh Olive Ridley tur-tles had turned up for their an-nual sojourn for mass nesting in the2019-20 nesting season. The femaleturtles had emerged from the seato crawl on to the serene beach,dig pits to lay millions of eggs.

The female turtles virtually in-vade the nesting beaches usuallyat the dead of the night for layingeggs, the phenomenon otherwisedescribed as 'arribada'. After in-dulgence in instinctive egg-laying,the turtles leave the nesting groundto stride into the deep sea water.Hatchlings emerge from these eggsafter 45-60 days. It is a rare naturalphenomenon where the babiesgrow without their mother.

Olive ridley conservation: State imposes 7-month fishing ban

The fishing ban has been imposed along aspecified coast of the sea comprising sea turtlecongregation area and their buffer zones at the

river mouths of Dhamara, Devi and Rusikulya

Around 7.30 lakh Olive Ridley turtles had turned up for theirannual sojourn for mass nesting in the 2019-20 nesting season.The female turtles had emerged from the sea to crawl on tothe serene beach, dig pits to lay millions of eggs

POST NEWS NETWORK

Balasore, Nov 1: The adminis-tration and the police have made allnecessary arrangements for theby-poll to the Balasore Assemblyseat. Keeping the Covid safetyguidelines in mind, the adminis-tration has taken up measures forsmooth conduct of the election.

Voters will exercise their fran-chise in 346 polling booths, while85 booths have been identified as sen-sitive. Adequate police deploymenthas been made at these booths.Central forces will look after the se-curity of the strong room.

Central forces were seen con-ducting flag marches at differentplaces of the constituency aheadof the by-poll so as to ensure law andorder. A total of 35 platoons of po-lice forces are being deployed. Tenplatoons of police have already been

deployed while 10 more platoonsare being deployed gradually.

Six platoons of police belong tothe district while 20 platoons arefrom other districts. Nine platoonsof central forces were also deployed.

Besides, five additional SPs, 8DSPs, 22 inspectors, 152 ASIs and9 havildars and 163 APR were en-trusted with security monitoring.

In sensitive booths, central andstate forces have been deployed.

Meanwhile, political observerspointed out that the seat will mainlyhave a bipolar contest between theBJD ad the BJP.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bantala, Nov 1: The fate ofSatkosia tiger project has beenpushed into uncertainty followingthe death of Royal Bengal TigerMahaveer inside the project area,a report said.

Following the big cat’s death,the Inter-State Tiger RelocationProject, which was first introducedhere, was cancelled by the NationalTiger Conservation Authority(NTCA). The NTCA not only can-celled the project but also prunedthe annual grant given to theSatkosia tiger project.

The cut in annual grant directlyaffected the day-to-day affairs ofthe Satkosia Tiger Project. As aresult, the project authorities failedto pay salaries to the watchers ap-pointed to guard the project areaand had to sack them.

These temporary watchers wereappointed to look after the securityof the forest and wild animals, en-vironment protection and guard

against poachers and the timbermafia. The NTCA had trained themunder its supervision. These watch-ers used to walk for 10 km daily andkeep a track of the movement of ele-phants and tigers as well as thepoachers straying into the project area.

Reports said that over 207 ca-sual watchers have been dismissed.It is apprehended that the dismissalof the watchers might endanger thesecurity of the tiger project.

The Satkosia tiger project isspread over a large area cuttingacross Satkosia Wildlife Division,Mahanadi Wildlife Division andBaisipalli Wildlife Division. It isheaded by the Regional ChiefConservator of forest (RCCF),Angul Circle. The project area isnow spread over 1136.70 sq.kmafter the Centre published a no-tification directing to includesome reserve forests of Angul,Dhenkanal, Athamallik, Athagarh

and Boudh forest division.The tiger project is managed

with the funds sanctioned by theNTCA every year. This apart, thestate government also sanctions40 per cent of the funds sanctionedby the NTCA to the tiger project.

To meet the expenses of the tigerproject for the 2019-20 fiscal, theRCCF, Angul circle, had submit-ted a proposal of `26.78 crore toNTCA. However, NTCA sanctionedonly `15.96 crore. Similarly, theproject authorities demanded ̀ 15.96crore for the 2020-21 fiscal but were

sanctioned only `3.82 crore. The project authorities have

sacked 10 temporary watchers fromthe project area coming Dhenkanalwildl i fe division, 30 fromAthamallik forest division, 30 fromAthagarh forest division, 59 fromSatkosia forest division, 25 fromAngul forest division and 53 fromMahanandi wildlife division.

The presence of poachers andtimber mafia in the project areamakes it all the more unsecuregiven the absence of watchers. Itis alleged Mahaveer was killed bypoachers.

When contacted, Pradeep RajKarate, field director Satkosia tigerproject and RCCF, Angul circle,said the problem has arisen due toreduction in grant by the NTCA.As a result, the DFOs have been con-strained to dismiss the watchers intheir respective jurisdictions. Aproposal for more funds has beengiven to the NTCA which if sanc-tioned will result in re-appoint-ment of the watchers.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Baripada, Nov 1: The SimilipalNational Park was thrown open tovisitors Sunday after remainingclosed for more than seven monthsin the wake of the COVID-19 pan-demic, officials said.

Amid strict adherence to theguidelines, 258 tourists entered thepicturesque national park in 40 ve-hicles from two entry points on thefirst day, said AK Biswal, assistantconservator of forest of the SimilipalTiger Reserve (STR).

While 175 tourists went inside thereserve in 25 vehicles throughPithabata, 83 visitors entered in 15vehicles through the Kaliani entrypoint, said Biswal, who along withSTR staff greeted the visitors withroses at the entry gates.

“The visitors were enthusiastic.The vehicles, passengers and theirbelongings were scanned at theentry and exit points. The footfallis likely to increase,” he said.

Long queues of visitors wereseen both at Pithabata near Baripadaand Kaliani near Jashipur sincemorning for obtaining permissionto enter the reserve.

The permit to enter the parkthrough these two points were is-sued from 6-9 am. Each vehicle wasrequired to have a tour guide.

All the visitors were asked towear face masks, use sanitisersand strictly adhere to COVID-19protocols, including social distanceduring their visit, Biswal added.

The Similipal National Park, a toptiger reserve in the country, at-tracts thousands of tourists each year.

The authorities have made ad-ditional arrangements for the nightstay of the visitors with prior book-ing at Barehipani, Kumari,Gudugudia, Ramatirtha, andJamuani inside the sanctuary area.

The visiting day tourists are di-rected to come out of the Barehipaniand Joranda waterfall sights by 3pm and Chahala by 4 pm. All daytourists are required to leave thesanctuary area by 5 pm, the official said.

The visitors who intend to stayovernight can make their reser-vations at www.ecotourodisha.com,the official said.

Fate of Satkosia tiger project uncertain as NTCA cuts funds

Retrenched watchers outside forest range office OP PHOTO

To meet the expenses of the tigerproject for the 2019-20 fiscal, the RCCF,

Angul circle, had submitted a proposal of`26.78 crore to NTCA. However, NTCAsanctioned only `15.96 crore

The project authorities have sacked 10temporary watchers in the project

area coming Dhenkanal wildlife division,30 each in Athamallik and Athagarh forestdivisions, 59 in Satkosia forest division, 25in Angul forest division

DGP Abhay, who is on a three-day visit to Kandhamal, is at Khamalkhol CRPF camp under Baliguda block to review anti-Maoist operations with SOG andCRPF jawans OP PHOTO

SECURITY REVIEW

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sambalpur, Nov 1: Police ar-rested five persons from differ-ent places in Sambalpur districtfor their involvement in bettingon IPL matches Saturday night.

The police also seized five mo-bile phones and ̀ 15,150 from theaccused.

The arrested men were iden-tified as Somnath Ghosh (38) ofDurgapali, Rakesh Nakhatia (28)of Mungapada, Binod Soren (32)of Sakhipada, Vikash Rout (25) ofSunapali, and Babul Pradhen (30)of Tanlapada.

The accused were luring peo-ple into betting game. A case wasregistered against them.

Locals said, as betting casesare on the rise during the ongo-ing IPL season, police need to in-tensify raids in the areas to putcurbs on such illegal activitiesthat are financially bleeding people.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhadrak, Nov 1: In a major break-through, Bhadrak police Sundayarrested two persons for printingand circulating fake currencynotes.

The accused were identified asPriya Ranjan Nayak and BijayKumar Das. They were operatingat Nalanga area here close to thenational highway.

According to a source, the ac-cused men had called a youth fromBasudevpur area and made him anoffer to take ̀ 2 lakh fake currencynotes in exchange of ̀ 1 lakh realones.

When the youth asked themabout their address, they gave himthe address of the fake currencymanufacturing unit. The youthsubsequently approachedBasudevpur police and informedthem about the same.

The police formed a team andbusted the racket Sunday.According to the plan, some policeofficials followed the youth in civildress and caught the accused duoduring the transaction.

Police seized `41,200 in coun-terfeit currency notes, `72,000 inoriginal ones, a car, three vehiclenumber plates and three mobilephones from the possession of the accused.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Berhampur, Nov 1: Amid the easein Covid restrictions, miscreants areback on a looting spree, particu-larly in jewellery shops, templesand closed houses in this city andother areas of Ganjam district, a re-port said.

Cases of theft, burglary and loothave been taking place one afteranother, while the police seem clue-less.

Miscreants reportedly looted

gold jewellery weighing around 2.8kg from a shop in Bada Bazaar areahere late Saturday night after break-ing open the asbestos roof of thestairwell.

The police have not yet got anybreakthrough in this incident. Thejewellery shop owner J. Ravi Kumarfound the iron chest in the storeroom broken when he opened thestore in the morning. The door ofthe first floor and asbestos roof ofthe staircase of the shop were bro-ken. Based on a complaint filed by

the shop owner, the police alongwith a forensic team reached the spotand launched an investigation.Police also examined the footage ofCCTV cameras installed at theshowroom.

A case has been registered atBada Bazaar police station.

Miscreants had also looted 120 gmof gold jewellery and `1 lakh incash from the house of a retiredteacher at Nimakhandi MohantySahi September 29.

Thieves had looted gold and sil-ver jewellery at the Kali temple onthe premises of theChandrachudeswar temple nearNational Highway-16 at Khajuria by-pass October 1. Miscreants hadalso burgled the house of a doctorcouple at Banchhnidhinagar underBaidyanathpur police station areaa few days ago.

In yet another incident, thievesstole 120 gm of gold jewellery and`90,000 in cash from the house ofKalim Shariff at Somnathnagar.

In all these cases, police inves-tigations are underway, but nobreakthrough has been achieved.

Now, betting and gambling ac-tivities have gone up in the area.

Baidyanathpur police arrested sixgamblers and seized `13,000 fromthem Sunday.

Similipal park reopens fortourists after seven months

Five arrested for IPLbetting in Sambalpur

Counterfeit currencyracket busted inBhadrak, 2 arrested

85 sensitive boothskept under scanner

175 tourists went insidethe reserve in 25 vehiclesthrough Pithabata, 83visitors entered atKaliani entry point

BALASORE BY-POLL

Looters have a field dayin Silk City, cops clueless

Koraput district administration has successfully conducted Aparajita, an awareness drive against child marriages.The Women and Child Development department honours Collector Madhusudan Mishra and CDPO Sushama Mohapatrathrough videoconferencing Sunday OP PHOTO

CURBING CHILD MARRIAGES

FILE PHOTO

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

A s coronavirus wreaked havoc across Europe early this year, twoFrench doctors’ suggestion that Africans could be used as humanguinea pigs for testing vaccine against COVID-19 drew widespread

condemnation.The ‘deeply racist’ comments produced angry reactions not only from the

World Health Organization (WHO) but also from two legendary Africanfootballers Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o. One of the doctors later issuedan apology.

Since the WHO declared the virus a global health emergency and ratedCOVID-19’s global risk of spread and impact as very high, the race to find asafe and effective vaccine has been unprecedented.

As the pressing need for mass vaccination assumed the centre-stage,India emerged as a frontrunner in its pursuit. A number of vaccines are atvarious stages of human trial in the country.

While it’s important to find a vaccine for the deadly disease which has costmore than 1,200,000 lives so far, question may arise whether Indians couldbe used as guinea pigs in testing of the vaccine against the virus.

If the past experiences of similar clinical trials are anything to go by, thiscannot be ruled out.

Since India relaxed its laws governing drug trials in 2005, foreign drug com-panies have been taking advantage of the country’s pool of educated,English-speaking doctors and the huge population from which to choose trialsubjects.

More often than not giant multinational pharmaceutical companies enrolan Indian partner for the production of the vaccine to take advantage of theIndian firm’s abilities to produce these doses on a mass scale. This produc-tion of vaccines in India is found to be inexpensive and competitive. But sev-eral research organisations that these Indian firms commission for the pur-pose often involve the unscrupulous practice of choosing the poor, illiteratepeople who do not understand the meaning of clinical drug trials. It’s onething to administer the vaccine on a volunteer but it’s an entirely differentthing to do it on a person who is completely ignorant of the consequences.The basic premise of a clinical trial is that a subject should participate vol-untarily and since this is not done with the largely poor people on whom thetrials are conducted, they are continuing to be done unethically.

The contract research organisations which conduct most of the trials alsotake advantage of the weak regulation by not doing trials properly, savingtime and money for the pharma companies, often leading to adverse effectson those undergoing the trials.

Since companies worldwide are rushing through clinical studies to deliverthe inoculation, vaccine development that normally takes as long as a decadeto complete is now being compressed to less than a year by drug makers.

Russia, for instance, has approved its coronavirus vaccine, dubbed SputnikV, before the final stage of human testing is completed, raising safety con-cerns. Interestingly, the government of India has expressed its desire to usethis Russian vaccine on its citizens.

Though no serious malpractice has been detected in the vaccine trial inIndia so far, if past experiences of conducting such clinical trials are anyindication, India must not risk the lives of its people and it should not ruleout any wrongdoings. Admittedly, it is impossible to check the efficacy of avaccine without potential trial participants but subjecting unsuspecting Indiansto a trial without full knowledge and consent is illegal and inhuman.

T he pandemic, no respecterof individuals or identitieshas laid low the human

hubris. One way of reconciling tothe situation of isolation and liv-ing in and out of lockdowns is toturn to books, because books arefriends, books are community thatsee us through all vicissitudes of life.This is the time to look at the book-shelf, long ignored, with renewedinterest and read the most unlikelyof books we had passed over inbusy circumscribed lives. One suchbook is the ‘Art of War’ written bySun Tzu, the Chinese General, in5th century BC. The book is reveredtoday as a valuable treatise on mil-itary strategy and an importantmeditative commentary on warand peace. As relevant as when itwas written it is studied as a com-pulsory text in major militaryschools. One of the earliest trans-lations of the book is by LionelGiles in the year 1910. His was thesecond translation of the book anda definitive one which includes abiography of Sun Tzu and the his-tory of the text of ‘The Art of War’.Sun Tzu was a native of Ch’i Stateand came to the notice of Ho Lu,King of Wu who had carefully pe-rused the 13 chapters of his book,

was impressed with his strategy andappointed him his General.

There is much speculation onthe actual existence of Sun Tzuand a biography of his life, as gath-ered from the various texts ofChinese scholars is wholly on con-jecture and his text like ourUpanishads, crowd sourced overthe centuries. It is a composite textrather than the work of a singleauthor. Sun Tzu can boast of anexceptionally long distinguishedroll of commentators which woulddo honour to any classic. The leg-endary General may not have ex-isted. But the lessons of Sun Tzu en-dure. The thirteen chapters in thebook treat extensively the art ofwar through laying of plans forthe campaigns of war to actualwaging of the war through difficultconditions to securing victorythrough clever strategies and tac-tical decisions. Sun Tzu’s preceptsare clear. ‘In Peace Prepare for War’,‘In War Prepare for Peace’. ‘Thebest strategy is one that delivers vic-tory without fighting.’ ‘Winning ahundred wars in a hundred bat-tles is not the best outcome. Best isto subdue the enemy’s troops with-out ever engaging them on the bat-tlefield.’ Sun Tzu goes on to say

there should be no total preoccu-pation with war or peace but nor-mally, to keep peace and not take towar unless driven by necessity. Hissage advice to the conquerors is totreat the captured foes with kind-ness to augment their own strength.

One must understand the enemy,their plans, strengths, weaknesses,dispositions before leading the at-tack. Protracted wars drain re-sources and demoralise the forces.The physical terrain like deserts,rivers, hills, villages must be takeninto careful account and the bat-tlefield is a constant learning groundfor refinements to campaigns, poli-cies and procedures. While theSovereign’s function is to give broadinstructions, the wartime com-mander is the important personto take crucial decisions in anywar. He should be inspiring enoughto secure the loyalty of his sol-diers, have a keen understandingof the strategic placement of his per-sonnel, and know whether to takethe offensive or the defensive togain victory. War is about con-cealment and deception. ‘Let yourplans be dark and impenetrableand when you move fall like a thun-derbolt. Let your rapidity that of thewind, your compactness that of

the forest.’ The services of spies areto be utilised to acquire fore-knowledge of the foe because ‘anarmy without spies is like a manwithout ears or eyes.’ It is observedgreat generals like Alexander andNapoleon have achieved successin wars by largely adhering to sim-ilar principles as also in the morerecent wars in Afghanistan andMiddle East.

Nor is ‘The Art of War’ a dull ac-count of mere warfare, it is a fasci-nating mixture of the poetic andthe pragmatic. We can marvel atthe language and image employed.‘The onrush of a conquering forceis like the bursting of pent up wa-ters into a chasm a thousand fath-oms deep’ or regarding the tacticsof war he says they are ‘inexhaustibleas Heaven and Earth, unending asthe flow of rivers and streams, likethe sun and the moon they end butto begin anew; like the four seasonsthey pass away but to return soon.’Nor are Sun Tzu’s strategies confinedto the battlefield but can be equallyapplied to matters of business andgovernance and even the travailsof daily living. Leadership lessonsare many for those on whom it is in-cumbent upon to lead for greaterresults in every sphere.

The lessons of Sun Tzu endure

CAN HUMANITY GROW UP?T

he COVID-19 pandemicunderscores just howtightly interwoven hu-manity has become. A

single infected animal somewherein China set in motion a chain re-action with effects that, nearly ayear later, are still reverberatingin every corner of the planet.

This should not be particularlysurprising. The history of pan-demics tracks our unification asa species. The Black Death traveledon new trade routes forged be-tween Europe and Asia in theMiddle Ages. Smallpox crossedthe Atlantic Ocean with theEuropeans, devastating theAmericas. And the 1918 influenzapandemic reached six continentsin just months, owing to techno-logical advances in moving goodsand people. Each time humanitytakes bold steps toward deeper in-tegration, disease follows.

This has yielded profound ben-efits. We pool our knowledge, in-novation, and technology. We sharein the rich traditions of each other’scultures. We cooperate across vastdistances, working together onprojects too great for any individ-ual, or country, to complete ontheir own – such as eradicatingsmallpox from the face of the Earth.

But our interconnectednessalso brings profound costs. Weshare not only our greatest knowl-edge and culture, but our greatestrisks. We may go decades withoutseeing it, but our activities havea shadow-cost in risk that even-tually comes due. And it is notlimited to pandemics. Our new-found ability to share informa-tion across the world allows dan-gerous ideas – misinformation,warped ideologies, and hatred – tospread faster than any disease.

These challenges of an inter-connected world require new ap-proaches to ethics – new ways ofunderstanding our plight and co-ordinating our response. Ethics isnormally viewed from the per-spective of the individual: whatshould I do? But sometimes we stepback to take in a broader perspec-tive, and think in terms of the ob-ligations borne by societies or coun-tries. And in recent centuries, wehave begun to adopt a global per-spective, asking how the world oughtto respond to a pressing concern.

These new perspectives are de-manded by a changing world.Before we had civilization, it wouldrarely have made sense to think ofresponsibilities beyond our im-mediate ties. Only when we be-came more unified and startedencountering truly global prob-lems did we begin to consider ourcollective obligations to our planetand ourselves.

But now we need to go one stepfurther. Alongside our deepening in-terconnections, there has also beena profound change in the sheerreach of our actions. With the ad-vent of nuclear weapons, human-ity’s ever-increasing power overthe world around us finally reacheda point where we could destroyourselves. We entered a world wherewe could threaten not only every-one alive today, but everyone whocould follow, and everything theycould achieve; where we could be-tray not only the trust of everyonealive today, but of the ten thousandgenerations who preceded us.

As our power continues to grow,so do the risks: from extreme cli-mate change, to the coming biotech-nologies that will allow for engi-neered pandemics with a lethality

and transmissibility beyond whatnature has produced. Such threatsto our entire future, whether viaour extinction or an irrevocable col-lapse of civilization, are known asexistential risks. How we addressthem will determine the fate ofour species.

Meeting this challenge will re-quire a radical reorientation inour thinking – seeing our genera-tion as a small part of a muchgreater whole; a story that spansthe eons. We will thus need to adoptnot merely a global perspective,of everyone alive today, but theperspective of humanity itself – thehundred billion people who camebefore us, the nearly eight billionalive today, and the countless gen-erations yet to be born. By adopt-ing this ethical lens, we will havea better view of our crucial role inthe larger story of our species.

Thinking in these terms cansometimes feel unnatural, becausehumanity is not a coherent agent.We have deep disagreements aboutwhat we ought to do, and we areconstantly competing with oneanother. We struggle to act in con-cert even when it is obvious thatwe must. But this is true of all

collective agents, and it doesn’tstop us from referring to a com-pany’s interests or a country’s pri-orities. The point is not to deny thedifferences and sources of fric-tion between human agents; it isto ask what we could accomplishif we act together, or what re-sponsibilities we collectively bear.

Consider the whole of humanityin the terms of a single human life.The typical species survives foraround one million years, and hu-manity is just 200,000 years old,putting us in our adolescence. Thisseems an especially apt comparison,for like the adolescent, we are see-ing rapid developments in ourstrength, and in our ability to getourselves in trouble. We are almostready for the world, ready to ex-plore the dizzying potential the fu-ture holds. Yet when it comes torisks, we can be impulsive and care-less, seizing the short-term benefitsbut neglecting the long-term costs.

Within individual societies, weresolve these tensions by giving theyoung enough space to grow andflourish, while at the same timesteering them away from dangersthat they do not yet understand.Only gradually do we grant themthe freedoms of adulthood, hopingthat we’ve given them enough timeand guidance to make wise and pru-dent choices – and to recognisethat with freedom comes respon-sibility. Unfortunately, humanitydoes not have the luxury of a car-ing guardian. We are alone andwill have to grow up fast.

Whether humanity survivesthis critical period is ultimately upto us. Because the greatest risks arenot from nature, but from our ownaction, we can pull back from thebrink if we choose. We can take amore mature attitude to our in-creasing interconnection and tech-nological progress, setting asidesome fraction of the benefits theybring to guard against the associ-ated risks. Occasionally steppingback to adopt the perspective ofhumanity will let us see our predica-ment more clearly, providing thevision we need to guide us through.

The writer is a senior research fellow in

philosophy at the University of Oxford.

©PROJECT SYNDICATE

LOL

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

We share not only our greatest knowledge andculture, but our greatest risks. We may godecades without seeing it, but our activitieshave a shadow-cost in risk that eventuallycomes due. And it is not limited to pandemics.Our newfound ability to share informationacross the world allows dangerous ideas – misinformation, warped ideologies, andhatred – to spread faster than any disease

Educate before testing

Accountant in Heaven

An accountant dies and goes toheaven (no, that’s not the joke).

St. Peter, of course, is there, lookingthrough the files and asking a fewquick questions. “What sort ofaccountant were you?” “Oh, I was aCPA,” was the reply. “Name?” asks St.Pete. The accountant gives his nameand St. Peter finds his file. “Oh yes,we’ve been expecting you. You’ve

reached yourallotted time span.”

The accountant says, “I don’t get it.How can that be? I’m only 48 yearsold.” St. Peter looks again at the fileand says, “Well, that’s impossible.”“Why do you say that?” asks theaccountant. “Well,” says St. Peter,“we’ve been looking over your timesheets and the hours you’ve chargedyour clients. By our reckoning, youmust be at least 93 years old!”

MONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Forward, forever forward! at theend of the tunnel is the light...atthe end of the fight is the victory.

THE MOTHER

LITERATURE

EACH TIMEHUMANITY

TAKES BOLDSTEPS TOWARD

DEEPER INTEGRATION,

DISEASE FOLLOWS

Toby Ord

WISDOM CORNERIn individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations andepochs, it is the rule.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, becauseoneness is the secret of everything.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

People sacrifice the present for the future. But life is available onlyin the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that everystep can bring us to the here and the now.

THICH NHAT HANH

GLOBALISATION

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

NOR IS ‘THE ART OF WAR’ A DULL

ACCOUNT OF MEREWARFARE, IT IS A

FASCINATING MIXTURE OF THEPOETIC AND THE

PRAGMATIC

Sudha Devi Nayak

Wedding bells ring again

Sir, Seven months after silence, the Kalyan Mandaps (marriage halls) in Orissa would comealive with the sounds of wedding bells. The sounds of traditional band and chanting of hymnswould also reverberate in marriage halls. Guests in colourful attire add festive look to thesemandaps that wore a desolated look since March third week due to the Covid lockdown. It tookalmost seven months for the Central government to relax rules especially for marriage hallsas they were identified as a possible spreader of the virus. However, all marriages must beheld as per SOPs issued by the Union Health Ministry. As per the guidelines, the manager ofthe mandap must ensure the strict implementation of safety norms like thermal scanning,providing hand sanitiser and maintaining physical distance, failing which case will be filedfor negligence. Entry should be denied to those who fail to wear face masks. Even the brideand groom have to wear face masks no matter whether it suited their wedding attire. In thedining hall, only two chairs to be put instead of usual four chairs per table to maintain socialdistance. Buffets should only be held to prevent the people from sitting in close rows. Orchestrashould not be allowed as precaution. Even guests are to be allowed to the dining hall inbatches to avoid large congregation. It is learnt that some owners are offering discount rang-ing from 10 per cent to 30 per cent to woo people to book marriage halls following heavy lossessuffered by them in the last seven months. They are optimistic of the business to pick up oncethe situation returns to normal.

K. Ravi, BHUBANESWAR

cmyk

cmyk

Upsidaisy

There are lots of forms of this expression: upsidaisy, upsa-daisy, upsy-daisy, and oops-a-daisy, variously hyphenated on the rare occasions they

turn up in print. These days, it’s just a nonsense word. It’s said to a child asencouragement to get up again after falling over, or when somebody ispicking it up. Though the one thing most versions have in common is areference to a daisy, a flower is not involved. The common origin of all ofthese is up-a-daisy, dating from the early eighteenth-century. An even earlierversion is the English dialect up-a-day. This is just as nonsensical a phrase,but it does show that the final part of the modern expression is actually acorruption of day. Its history is closely bound up with lackadaisical, whichstarted out as the cry alack-a-day!, “shame or reproach to the day!” (that itshould have brought this upon me), but which by the eighteenth century hadturned into lackadaisy. Alack-a-day! was once a passionate and heartfelt cry,but it degenerated over time into a flabby exclamation of unease over someminor upset. It seems to have provided the model for up-a-day, originally adialect term that eventually made it back into mainstream English, albeit inmodulated and variable form.

Upsizing

This word has turned up on occasion in recent years in the computingfield, where it is used as the opposite of the much more common

downsizing with the sense: “(the action of) replacing a smaller system witha larger one, especially one with networking capabilities” (or, as some wagshave put it: “bringing the mainframe back from the dead”). It may be aboutto become a fashionable word in business, if we are to judge from an articlein the Economist, which asked “Will upsizing be the next management fad?”and answered its own question with a qualified “yes”. The word’s root sensein this context is “increasing the size of an organisation (by hiring staff)”,but — like downsizing — it has undertones of a formal policy forcefullypursued, perhaps for doctrinaire reasons. The management gurus argue thatupsizing is the natural consequence of downsizing: companies which haveshed surplus staff and returned to their core competencies are nowbeginning to recruit staff better suited to their new needs. Opponents ofdownsizing — and they are now many — say that upsizing is needed becausebusinesses have reduced in size too vigorously and find they can’t evencarry out their core functions properly. The agent noun upsizer and the verbupsize are also used.

Hail Sean Connery

Sir, The death of Sir Sean Connery atthe ripe old age of 90 brings the curtainsdown on the best James Bond ever. Thecharismatic Scottish actor starred inseven Bond films, beginning with ‘Dr No’(1962) and ending with ‘Diamonds areForever’. He was adept at comedy, ad-venture and drama and featured in manyacclaimed films including ‘The Hunt forRed October’, ‘Indiana Jones and the LastCrusade’, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’,‘The Wind and the Lion’, ‘The Man WhoWould be King’ and ‘The Rock’. Knightedin 2000 for his services to film and drama,Connery also bagged two Bafta awards andthree Golden Globes. His death leavesEnglish cinema much poorer.

NJ Ravi Chander, BANGALORE

cmyk

cmyk

GOA

MONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP7

BIHAR

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Parsa (Bihar), Nov 1: More thanthe electoral battle, the Parsa as-sembly segment in Saran district iswitnessing a fight playing out be-tween the families of two Yadav gi-ants of Bihar politics -- Lalu Prasadand Chandrika Roy.

The marital dispute betweenPrasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadavand Aishwarya Rai, a daughter ofChandrika Roy, has its shadow inthe poll battle on this seat whichvotes November 3.

Located in the Saran district,Parsa assembly constituency formsa part of Chapra Lok Sabha seat,which the RJD supremo has rep-resented four times.

Emerging motivated after the1974 JP movement, Prasad hadtaken a plunge in the electoral pol-itics in 1977, winning the Chapra LokSabha seat at the age of 29.

A Yadav-dominated constituency,the Parsa seat, besides the electoralfight, is also dominated by talks onthe bad marriage between Tej Pratapand Aishwarya.

Within six months of tying thenuptial knot in May 2018, their con-jugal relationship hit the bottle-neck and the dispute is now pend-ing with a Patna family court.

Roy and his family are canvass-ing against RJD candidate ChhoteLal Rai by telling the people in theconstituency about the alleged "ill-treatment" meted out to Aishwaryaby Prasad's family and asking vot-ers to deliver “justice”.

Tej Pratap himself is contestingfrom Hasanpur seat.

Chandrika Roy, who has repre-sented Parsa six times as an RJDleader, bade goodbye to the party inthe wake of the marital disputeand joined the Chief Minister NitishKumar's JD(U), which has fielded

him from the seat.Chhote Lal himself was hoping

a JD(U) ticket, but after the rulingparty's snub, he crossed over to theRJD and is now challenging his oldrival on the seat.

As a JD(U) nominee, Chhote Lalhad defeated Chandrika Roy, theson of former chief minister DarogaPrasad Rai, in 2005 as well as in2010. But in 2015, when the JD (U)and the RJD fought as allies, Parsa

was given to Lalu Prasad's partyin the seat-sharing arrangementand its nominees Chandrika Royemerged victorious.

Parsa is considered a bastion ofRoy's family, whose father DarogaPrasad Rai represented it seventerms since the first assembly pollsin Independent India in 1951.Chandrika Roy took over the seatafter the death of his father andhas won it six times since 1985.

The marital discord between thetwo families has been a raging topicin the constituency, though the RJDnominee is trying to underplay it.

Chandrika Roy and Aishwaryatalked openly on the topic at a re-cent rally of Chief Minister Kumarin Parsa and sought “justice” fromthe people.

The chief minister also rakedup the matter and attacked his betenoire Lalu Prasad for "mistreatinga well-educated girl”.

A subplot in fight for Parsa: Tej’s troubled marriageThe marital dispute between Lalu Prasad’s elder son and Aishwarya Rai, a daughter of Chandrika Roy, has its shadow in the poll battle

AGENCIES

Panaji, Nov 1: While the govern-ment is focusing on contract trac-ing and testing to gain control of theCovid-19 pandemic, Goa-based techcompany Transerve Technologiessaid that analysing waste water forthe coronavirus could help give a bet-ter picture of the extent of the pan-demic in a specific location.

Transerve, a geospatial softwaretechnology provider, said using lo-cation intelligence and by mappingsewerage nodes, policy makers candetect early traces of Covid-19 and ef-fectively utilise health care resources.

“This surveillance model cannot only be useful as an early warn-ing sign for Covid-19, but also for fu-ture outbreaks as well,” said co-founder and director of TranserveTechnologies. “This model has beensuccessfully implemented in de-tecting illegal drug use in Australia,

to eradicate polio in Israel, track sal-monella outbreaks in Hawaii, toname a few.”

The Panaji-based company’s pro-prietary geospatial platform is beingused in Uttar Pradesh across threeurban local bodies to assist in rev-enue enhancements for the city.

The company’s mobile-based

SaniTab solution helps with sched-uled desludging in Wai and Sinnarin Maharashtra with similar san-itation solutions being rolled out inTamil Nadu.

“This process involves config-uring optimal sampling from wastewater and faecal sludge manage-ment (FSM) nodal collection points,

community aggregation points,and truck routes. These samplescan be further collected at predefinedintervals and shared for appropri-ate testing. Post the testing phaseif any Covid positive result is re-ceived, the potential cluster will beflagged for necessary action,” saidco-founder Ashwani Rawat.

PM slams ‘alliance of dynasts’On the final day of campaigning, Modi dwelt at length on economicprogress made in Bihar, and drew the contrast with the ‘lantern age’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bagaha, Nov 1: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Sunday blazedthrough the electoral battlegroundin Bihar mocking RJD's TejashwiYadav and Congress leader RahulGandhi as "double yuvraj" (twocrown princes) who stood for "jun-gle raj" and were pitted against theNDA's "double engine" growthwhich has pulled the state out oflantern age.

Firing on all cylinders on a daywhen campaign for 94 assemblysegments going to polls in the sec-ond phase came to an end, Modi alsotouched upon contentious issueslike Balakot air strike, Ayodhya,Article 370, Citizenship AmendmentAct and the alleged anti-national slo-gans raised at JNU by pro-Left ac-tivists.

"One of the double yuvraj hadforged an alliance in Uttar Pradesha few years ago. He criss-crossedthrough the state wearing a blackjacket, waving at crowds. The al-liance was drubbed," said Modi re-ferring to Rahul Gandhi, whom hedid not mention by name.

Gandhi had entered into a be-lated alliance with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in 2017 andheld a joint campaign marked byroadshows with the catchphrase"UP ko ye saath pasand hai (UPlikes this coalition)".

The BJP went on to register anunprecedented victory in the state.

"Beware, that yuvraj is now inBihar, lending his support to 'jun-gle raaj ke yuva yuvraaj'. On the onehand, there is development brought

in by the double engine govern-ment of the NDA which has pulledBihar out of the darkness of thelantern age.

"On the other there are thesedouble-double yuvraj with the soleagenda of saving their thrones,"Modi said referring to RJD's chiefministerial candidate TejashwiYadav and Rahul Gandhi.

At his final rally in Bagaha, aremote part of West Champaran dis-trict, the prime minister also ap-pealed to voters of all those placesin other parts of the country whereby- polls will be held on November3 and for which campaign ended thisevening to vote in large numbers andhelp the NDA achieve victory.

By-polls are scheduled in, amongother places, 28 assembly seats ofBJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh wherea victory is crucial for the ShivrajSingh Chouhan government whichwas installed recently after the oneled by Congress' Kamal Nath fell fol-lowing defections by supporters ofJyotiraditya Scindia.

The prime minister dwelt atlength on economic progress madein the country and Bihar in par-ticular, and drew the contrast withthe "lantern age" that prevailedduring "jungle raj" an allusion to theRJD rule which faced allegationsof abysmal law and order situa-tion and lack of basic infrastructurelike roads and electricity.

The prime minister who sharedthe stage with Chief Minister NitishKumar, urged the voters to supportthe NDA's "double engine" a termhe has been using to denote the ad-vantages of having the same coali-tion ruling the Centre as well as thestate. He also asked the people toshun the five-party Grand Alliance,of which RJD and Congress arethe two largest constituents, "likefood that has caused indigestion,vomiting and loose motions".

Modi also made an indirect ref-erence to the controversial remarksmade by Pakistan minister FawadChaudhry on the floor of the na-tional assembly.

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To implementthis measure,noinfrastructurechanges arerequired as allthat is requiredis the techplatform andbiologicaltesting labs,which alreadyexist

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Patna, Nov 1: The oppositionRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Sundayaccused Prime Minister NarendraModi of "lying to the people" overa central package of `1.25 lakhcrore for Bihar, claiming that an RTIreply had revealed that no suchfinancial package was sanctioned.

"The people of Bihar do not ex-pect the Prime Minister to lie. Hedoes not have the dig-nity needed for thePrime Minister'spost," RJD Vice-PresidentShivanandTiwari saidwhile referringto a Right toInformation (RTI)query filed by oneMohamad Iqbal AnsariApril 4, 2017.

He claimed that the FinancialResources Division's Chief PublicInformation Officer Jagat Hazarikahad replied to the RTI plea thatthey don't have any information re-garding the issue.

Ansari had filed the RTI appli-cation in relation to a PMO pressrelease of August 18, 2015 regard-ing the Prime Minister’s ̀ 1,25,000-crore Bihar package sanctionedfor the state that year.

"Following this, Ansari filed an-other RTI plea on May 29, 2019

with the state Finance Department,with its Joint Secretary-cum PublicInformation Officer maintinedthat there was no such plan re-lated to the Prime Minister's Biharpackage of 2015. The FinanceDepartment has not received anysuch financial package sanctionedby the Centre," Tiwari said.

"Prime Minister Modi, BJPPresident JP Nadda and manyother NDA leaders make claims

about the Bihar package... ifthe Prime Minister's pack-

age sanctioned in 2015did not reach Bihartill May 2019, how canthey make claimsabout it. They arelying to the public,

and making falsepromises to woo the

voters. We have doc-uments to prove that

they are telling a lie. What moreproof is needed now after the RTI?"the RJD leader contended.

"Modi addressed a public rallyin Chhapra. He did not talk aboutthe real issues of Bihar," Tiwari added.

He said that while TejashwiYadav had pointed out to massiveunemployment in Bihar in the last15 years, Modi did not utter a wordon joblessness. "He had promised2 crore jobs every year before the2014 Lok Sabha elections but did notfulfil any promise."

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Panaji, Nov 1: The Corporation ofCity of Panaji (CCP) on Sunday re-laxed some restrictions related tothe ef figies of demon kingNarakasura that are set afire onthe eve of Diwali.

As per the tradition, giant-size ef-figies of Narakasura are paradedand later burnt to mark the vic-tory of good over evil.

According to mythology, thedemon was killed by Lord Krishnafor rescuing 16,000 women, whomhe had held captive.

CCP Mayor Uday Madkaikarsaid the civic body had earlier de-cided to impose several restric-tions, including no use of fire-crackers and hosting of 'best effigy'competitions in view of the pan-demic. It had also decided not toallow groups to burn effigies onthe streets. But now we have de-cided to relax the ban on the use ofsound system as well as the heightrestriction for the effigies ofNarakasura in order to allow theyouth to enjoy the festival, he said.

He said the youths have not beenable to celebrate any festival eversince the COVID-19 outbreak ear-lier this year.

According to Madkaikar, theNarakasura effigies were restrictedonly to eight feet as per the StandardOperating Procedures (SOP) re-leased by the CCP last month.

But there was a demand to relax

certain curbs, so we have decidedto allow these relaxations, he said.

The mayor said that Goa is open-ing up for tourists and the burningof Narakasura effigies is one ofthe tourist attractions in the state.

Narakasur Vadh marks the dayon which Krishna slew the Asura

king Narakasura, rescued 16,000women captured in his eastern cap-ital of Pragjyotisha orPragjyotishpur, and restored theirhonour. Marking the legend, gianteffigies of Narakasur are erected,stuffed with firecrackers, and burntat dawn.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Panaji, Nov 1: The Oppositionpar ties have slammed GoaAdministration over its order with-drawing government paid accom-modation to the doctors deputed instate run COVID-19 hospitals.

Goa Association of ResidentDoctors (GARD) Saturday hadthreatened to withdraw servicesof their members from variousCOVID-19 treatment facilities afterState Administration asked themto vacate the accommodations pro-vided to them near the place oftheir work.

Inde pendent MLA RohanKhaunte blamed Chief MinisterPramod Sawant for failing to standby the Covid warriors and claimedthat the bureaucracy was runningthe affair of the state.

Khaunte tweeted “absolute fail-ure of clueless @GoaCM who’sfailed to stand by our CovidWarriors. Bureaucracy is run-ning the show and harassingDoctors to evict accommodation

provided by the Govt.”“Is this how a CM and Govt

thanks the state’s Covid Warriors?,”he questioned in another tweet.

Goa Forward Party’s VicePresident Durgadas Kamat in atweet has said “the junior residentdoctors are working deligently andare available on call 24X7 through-out during #covidpandemic. Despiteirregular salaries they are doingtheir duties to serve the people ofGoa. Providing them with accom-modation is the least thing @GovtofGoa can offer to them.”

“Is this the way to treat#CovidWar riors Mr@DrPramodPSawant? It looks likeyou have completely lost it. Thereis no point in telling you! @Visranekindly look into this,” he added.

The resident doctors had threat-ened to strike Saturday after whichState Health Minister VishwajitRane had intervene assuring themto provide the solution. Rane hadtold reporters that he had spo-ken to Chief Minister over the issue.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Panaji, Nov 1: The Congress willstart a campaign opposing rail dou-bling and highway expansion plansin Goa as these are aimed at con-verting the coastal state into a coalhub, the party's state unit chiefGirish Chodankar said Sunday.

He told PTI the campaign willbe car ried out under the#OnlyGoalSayNoToCoal hashtag,and corner meetings would be heldto create awareness in people aboutthe environmental damage the twoprojects would cause.

Rail doubling and expansion ofthe highway connecting Goa to

Karnataka are to help companiesoffloading coal at Mormugao Portin Vasco. The Congress has opposedsuch plans earlier and will con-tinue to do so through this cam-paign, he said.

The South Western Railway(SWR) says that the double track-ing project will, besides helpingtransport of ore and coal, also im-prove tourism potential for Hospetand Goa. The project is expected toprovide temporary employment to1.46 lakh people.

“The project will boost economicdevelopment and provide gainful em-ployment avenues to Goans,” anSWR official said. As a part of the

SWR’s double tracking project, sev-eral stations along the Goa stretch

of the route will be redeveloped tohave more platforms and new sta-tion buildings.

The SWR is also considering re-developing the Chandor railwaystation, taking into considerationthe historic importance of the place,sources said. “All this will have aspill-over effect on the local as wellas the state’s economy,” an SWRspokesperson said.

While nearly 80% of the doubletracking work on the Margao-Sanvordem stretch has been com-plete, railway sources said it has beenplanned to complete the Sanvordem-Kalay stretch between June andDecember 2021.

Congress to oppose rail doubling

Goa Oppn slams govtorder on docs’ lodging

Ahead of Diwali, curbs on Narakasura effigies eased

MODI LYING ON PACKAGE: RJD

Thepeople of Bihar

do not expect the PMto lie. He does not havethe dignity needed for

the postSHIVANAND TIWARI |VICE-PRESIDENT, RJD

According to a RTI reply, Resources Division’sChief Public Information Officer Jagat Hazarika

didn’t have any information regarding the `1.25L crore central assistance for Bihar

P8

nationalMONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

There will beproblem in thesociety unless

everyone is equalbefore the law. Afugitive of the law isalso a fugitive of thesociety

JAGDEEP DHANKHAR | WEST BENGAL GOVERNOR

of theday uote

Any attemptto unilaterallychange the

status quo of theLine of ActualControl isunacceptable andthat the agreements between twocountries must be respectedscrupulously in their entirety torestore normalcy in ties

S JAISHANKAR | EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER

I have neitherbeenparachuted

nor have I come upthrough lift. I havecome up the hardway. Those whowere inducted into the party by meare now conspiring against me

SUVENDU ADHIKARI | WEST BENGAL MINISTER

The condition offarmers in the

country is known toeveryone. We read news offarmer suicides every day.In a way, it is happening onsuch a scale that thecountry has accepted itRAHUL GANDHI | CONGRESS LEADER

One thousand volunteers havebeen invited to enrol at theAligarh Muslim University medicalcollege to participate in theclinical trials for Covaxine thatwill begin from November 14 andcontinue till the end of January

NEW CHALLENGE

Two FIRs lodged Munger: Two separate FIRswere lodged in Bihar Sundayin connection with theviolence that took place inMunger during immersion ofa Durga idol which left oneperson dead and severalinjured, a police officer said.After the police lodged an FIRagainst law enforcersinvolved in an unwanted andunauthorised lathicharge ondevotees, Amarnath Poddarfiled an FIR in connection withthe "killing" of his son duringthe violence, he said. The FIRby the police has been lodgedwith Kotwali police station onthe basis of video showingpolicemen baton-chargingdevotees on Monday night,which has gone viral on socialmedia, the officer said.

Body found Kalyani: The body of a 34-year-old man was foundhanging from a tree near hishouse in West Bengal's Nadiadistrict Sunday, police said.The BJP claimed that Bijoy Sil,a resident of Gayeshpur, wastheir member and killed bygoons owing allegiance to theTrinamool Congress, a chargedismissed by the state'sruling party.

Cannabis seized Kolkata: Over 12 kg ofcannabis was seized from acar at Regent Park area in thesouthern part of Kolkata,police said. Acting on a tip-off, policemen intercepted acar on Brickfield Road andrecovered 12.5 kg of cannabishidden below the seats.

Brothers end lifeRaigarh: Two brothersallegedly committed suicidein Kelo Vihar colony inChhattisgarh's Raigarhdistrict, police said Sunday.Avinash Choudhary (32) andHarekrishna Choudhary (22)were found hanging from theceiling of a room in theirhouse on Saturday evening,an official said.

Narrow escapeMumbai: Former Maharashtraminister and NCP leaderEknath Khadse had a closeshave after one of the tyres ofhis vehicle burst Sundayevening in Jalgaon district ofMaharashtra, a police officialsaid. Nobody was injured in theincident, he said. "The incidenthappened when Khadse wason his way to Jalgaon fromAmalner in the district afterattending the inauguration of anewly-built quarter for policeofficials and a police station inAmalner at the hands of stateHome Minister AnilDeshmukh," the official said. "Atyre of the car in which Khadsewas travelling burst. But hisdriver controlled the vehiclewell, due to which nobody wasinjured," he added.

SHORT TAKES

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinag ar, Nov 1 : HizbulMuhajideen (HM) chief Dr Saifullahwas killed in an encounter on theoutskirts of the city Sunday, po-lice said, describing it as a huge suc-cess for the security forces.

Saifullah, who had taken com-mand of the outfit after the killingof Riyaz Naikoo in May this year,was one of the most wanted mili-tants in the Kashmir Valley and in-volved in several attacks on the se-curity forces, an official said.

“This is a huge success for thepolice and security forces. Thisis not a small achievement,”Inspector General of Police (IGP),Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said at theencounter site.

Recounting the events of themorning, an official said securityforces launched a cordon and searchoperation in Rangreth area near theold airfield following specific in-formation about the presence ofmilitants there. As the forces wereconducting searches in the area, themilitants fired. The forces retaliated,

resulting in the encounter. A mil-itant was killed in the exchangeof fire, the official said, identifyinghim as Saifullah.

Incriminating material, in-cluding arms and ammunition,were recovered from the encountersite, he added. Addressing reportersnear the encounter site, IGP Kumarsaid they had received informa-tion that Saifullah had come herefrom south Kashmir and was hid-ing in a house.

“So the security forces cordonedoff the area and an operation waslaunched. In the exchange of firing,one militant was killed. Accordingto our source, we are 95 per cent surehe is Dr Saifullah. We are retriev-ing the body and it will be identi-fied,” Kumar added.

Kumar said the network of J-KPolice has become stronger andpolice get information about anymilitant entering the city. Askedwhether any other militant wasapprehended alive from the en-counter site, he said a suspect hasbeen taken into custody and isbeing questioned.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi/Islamabad, Nov 1:The Centre has asked Pakistan toimmediately vacate from the Indianterritory of Gilgit-Baltistan whichthe Imran Khan government de-clared as its provisional fifthprovince Sunday.

Prime Minister Imran KhanSunday announced that his gov-ernment has decided to grant the"provisional-provincial status" toGilgit-Baltistan, a part of the erst-while princely state of Jammu andKashmir, illegally occupied byPakistan in 1947.

In a statement issued in NewDelhi by the Ministry of ExternalAffairs, spokesperson AnuragSrivastava said: "The Governmentof India firmly rejects the attemptby Pakistan to bring materialchanges to a part of Indian territory,under its illegal and forcible occu-pation."

The government reiterated thatthe Union Territories of Jammu

and Kashmir and Ladakh, includ-ing the area of so-called "Gilgit-Baltistan", are an integral part ofIndia by virtue of the legal, completeand irrevocable accession of Jammuand Kashmir to the Union of Indiain 1947.

Srivastava said that the Pakistangovernment has "no locus standion territories illegally and forciblyoccupied" by it. Such attempts byPakistan, intended to camouflageits illegal occupation, cannot hidethe grave human rights viola-tions, exploitation and denial offreedom for over seven decades to

the people residing in thesePakistan occupied territories, headded.

The spokesperson said that in-stead of seeking to alter the sta-tus of these Indian territories,Indian government calls uponPakistan to immediately vacate allareas under its illegal occupation.

Earlier, Prime Minister ImranKhan during his visit to Gilgit-Baltistan on Sunday said that he haddecided to give the provisionalprovince status to the region "keep-ing in mind the UN SecurityCouncil's resolutions.

"The Khan government is alsoholding elections in the region,where many activists have called ita Pakistani Army's fraud to grab andfurther occupy Gilgit-Baltistan.Backed by the Pakistani Army,Prime Minister Khan on the occa-sion did not miss the opportunityto praise the military, which is fac-ing stiff challenge from the politi-cal opposition headed by formerPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Jalaun (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 1:The Congress district presidentin Jalaun was beaten up by twowomen who claimed that theywere being stalked and harassedby the man.

Videos of the Congress leaderbeing slapped and hit with slippersby the women went viral on the so-cial media on Sunday, along witha photograph of the accused, AnujMishra, with Congress generalsecretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The incident took place onSaturday on Station Road in Orai.The two women, Maya andVarsha, said that the Congressleader had been frequently call-ing them up and harassing them.

They said that they had con-tacted UPCC president AjayKumar Lallu but he did not takeany action against his partyleader. "We also informed the po-lice but no action was taken. Withno option left, we called Mishrahere and publicly beat him up.What else could we do," thewomen said.

GEARING UP

A shopkeeper arranges various items put up for sale ahead of Kali Puja, atKumartuli in Kolkata, Sunday PTI PHOTO

India slams Pak’s Gilgit-Baltistan move

UP DIST CONGCHIEF THRASHED

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Chandigarh, Nov 1: Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh Sundaywrote to BJP president J P Naddaexpressing concern over the con-tinued suspension of goods trainsby the railways and warned of itsdangerous consequence on nationalsecurity and on the armed forces.

He said the situation could be-come extremely dangerous for thecountry if the armed forces are de-prived of critical supplies, amidincreasingly aggressive overturesfrom both China and Pakistan.

Singh, in an open letter to Nadda,said that despite easing of the block-ade by farmers agitating against thefarm bills the suspension on goodstrain continued and he called for col-lective will and statesmanship to re-solve the "festering imbroglio".

Singh warned that the armedforces were likely to be badly af-fected with the onset of winter, as theycould run out of supplies and otherrequisites once the snowfall blocksthe roads to Ladakh and the Valley.

"These are dangers that neitherthe central government nor any po-

litical party, including the BJP, canchoose to ignore," he said, adding that"the onus lies on all of us… We needto all liaise together, with the com-mon goal of solving the contentiousissue, in the interest of the country."

Even Punjab could become morevulnerable to security threats fromPakistan, if the current crisisaround farmers is not resolved atthe earliest, he warned, noting thatISI-backed terror groups were per-petually looking at exploiting anyunrest in the state.

The Chief Minister stressed

that this was neither the time northe occasion to indulge in politi-cal confrontation or allegationsand counter allegations."What isneeded at this critical moment isfor all of us to put aside any temp-tations we may be harbouring topromote our political interests," hesaid, adding that it is "time for allof us to rise above political con-siderations and to respond asstatesmen to a situation that threat-ens to spiral irrevocably out ofcontrol, if immediate steps arenot taken to stem the tide".

Referring to the losses caused inPunjab due to the prolonged block-ade, the chief minister said everyday of suspension of goods trainsmeant critical losses to the indus-try, agriculture and overall econ-omy, in view of critical shortages ofpower (coal), urea and DAP stocks.

The Chief Minister termed as dis-tressing the recent remarks ofsome BJP leaders on the prevailingcrisis situation, taking specificnote of the statements of BJP na-tional general secretary TarunChugh and Punjab BJP presidentAshwani Sharma.

Amarinder sounds alarm

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhopal, Nov 1: In a slip of thetongue, BJP Rajya Sabha memberJyotiraditya Scindia asked peopleto vote for his former party Congressduring a campaign for the November3 by-elections in Madhya Pradesh.

A video, in which Scindia is seenseeking votes for the Congress dur-ing a rally Saturday in favour ofBJP candidate Imarti Devi fromDabra town in Gwalior, has goneviral on social media. In the video,Scindia is heard saying, "My peopleof Dabra, raise your hand and makeyour fist to convince (state chiefminister) Shivraj Singh and me,make us believe that you will press

the 'hand' button on November 3."However, the BJP leader imme-

diately amended his sentence and ap-

pealed to people to vote for the 'ka-mal' (lotus) symbol of the saffronparty. Taking a dig at the goof-up, the

state Congress's Twitter handleshared the video and said, "Scindiaji, the people of Madhya Pradeshassure you that they will press thekey (on EVM) of 'Hath ka Panja'

(Congress's symbol) on November 3."When contacted, state BJP

spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi saidthat such a goof-up can happen byany person. "It was a simple slip ofthe tongue and this can happenwith anybody. Scindia immediatelyrectified. Everybody knows that heis a BJP leader," he said.

Scindia, 49, had joined Congressin 2002. After 18 years, he quit theparty in March this year. As manyas 22 MP Congress MLAs loyal tohim also resigned, which broughtdown the Kamal Nath-led state gov-ernment. Later, Scindia and hisloyalists joined the BJP. Bypolls toa total of 28 seats in the state willbe held November 3.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Visakhapatnam, Nov 1: A 17-year-old girl was brutally killed bya youth who slit her throat with aknife on a crowded street in thiscoastal city on Saturday night.

The youth resorted to the attackfollowing a heated argument withher. The accused was apparentlyangry over the girl rejecting hisadvances. Varalakshmi, a studentof 12th standard, died of excessivebleeding, police said.

The police have arrested Akhil,a law student, who killed the girlafter calling her near Saibaba temple at Sundarayya Colony inGajuwaka area. The accused, whofled after the attack, was later arrested by the police.

The police are on lookout for an-other youth who allegedly helpedAkhil in the attack.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sundayannounced `10 lakh ex-gratia tothe family of the victim.

Taking a serious note of the in-cident, he directed the ChiefSecretary, Director General of Policeand the Intelligence chief to takeserious action against the accused.

Reddy directed state homeMinister Mekathoti Sucharita,Disha special officers KrutikaShukla and Deepika Patil to im-mediately visit the family of the vic-tim to offer deep condolences.

The Chief Minister said thatawareness should be created amongwomen so that every woman download Disha app for their safety.

Especially, efforts should be madeto educate school and college girlsto compulsorily download the app,he said. Reddy directed the offi-cials to take stern action against per-petrators of atrocities againstwomen. He asked the officials to takeimmediate action as and when theyget a distress call from any womanclaiming threat to her life.

Youth slits girl’s throat

‘Vote for hand symbol’: Jyotiraditya’s faux pas at rallyA video, in which Scindiais seen seeking votes forthe Congress during arally Saturday in favourof BJP candidate ImartiDevi from Dabra town inGwalior, has gone viral on social media

The youth resorted to the attack following a heated argument with her. The accusedwas apparently angryover the girl rejecting his advances

‘HUGE SUCCESS’

Saifullah, who had taken command of the outfitafter the killing of Riyaz Naikoo in May this year,

was one of the most wanted militants in theKashmir Valley and involved in several attacks on

the security forces, an official said

HIZBUL CHIEFSHOT DEAD

In a statement issued bythe MEA, spokespersonAnurag Srivastava said:“The Government ofIndia firmly rejects theattempt by Pakistan tobring material changesto a part of Indian territory, under its illegaland forcible occupation”

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Palghar, Nov 1: A 26-year-oldtribal woman, who went missingfrom a hospital on October 10 afterdelivering twin girls, has beenfound hanging in Maharashtra'sPalghar district, police said Sunday.

The decomposed body of thewoman was spotted hanging froma tree at a forest in Jawhar talukaby some locals on Friday and theyalerted the police. Her relativesidentified the skeletal remainsthrough her 'mangalsutra' andsaree, police inspector AppasahebLengare said. Jaishree BarkyaPawar disappeared from the gov-ernment-run Patangshah CottageHospital in Jawhar on the night ofOctober 10.

Woman found dead

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Nov 1: The YogiAdityanath government is plan-ning to include the much-publicisedBikru massacre in the syllabusof police academies in the state.

The massacre carried out bygangster Vikas Dubey and hismen on July 3 in Kanpur will betaught as a lesson for policemenalong with some other importantcriminal cases. According to asenior police official, a commit-tee set up to improve the trainingand syllabus of IPS and PPS of-ficers has suggested that the VikasDubey case be included in thecurriculum.

The committee has suggestedthat the new batches of IPS andPPS officers should be taught thenuances of policing so that theydo not repeat the mistakes madein the past.

"The raid on the house of VikasDubey has revealed certain weak-nesses of the local police whichled to the death of eight police per-

sonnel. The police should havebeen prepared before the raidand information should havebeen collected about the pres-ence of men and arms at thegangster's residence. In future,police officers need to learn fromthis incident," the official said.

Even though, Vikas Dubey wasrunning a criminal gang, basedin the village, the local police didnot have any information aboutthis. The police official said thatin view of this incident, therewas a need to brace up the in-former network. Another casethat has been suggested for in-clusion in the syllabus is the Jyotimurder case of 2014 in which ahusband killed his wife for thesake of his girlfriend.

POLICE ACADEMY SYLLABUSMAY INCLUDE BIKRU CASE

P9

nationalMONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Who said BJPcannot be

defeated? Oppositionparties must believethat they can defeatthe BJP. I hope this willbe proved in BiharP CHIDAMBARAM | CONGRESS LEADER

As schools are poised to reopen inAndhra Pradesh from Monday,Education Minister Adimulapu Sureshsaid the state government has createdan app to monitor that all schools areadhering to the Coronavirus StandardOperating Procedures

WAR AGAINST VIRUS

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Owing to theaggressivecampaign by

the Delhigovernment thisyear, no dengue-related death hasbeen reported in the nationalcapital. Delhi has again defeateddengue this year

ARVIND KEJRIWAL | DELHI CM

of theday uote

Thegovernmenthas been

making policies anddesigningprogrammes toimprove the qualityof life of people and fast-trackIndia's development

M. VENKAIAH NAIDU | VICE PRESIDENT

An appeal is tothe voters tomake the BSP

candidatessuccessful, so thatthe right politicalmessage goes to therivals, and it would be better

MAYAWATI | BSP SUPREMO

One dies inbridge collapseImphal: One person waskilled after a bailey bridgeover Barak river in Manipur'sTamenglong districtcollapsed Sunday when asand-laden truck was passingthrough it, police said. Theincident took place in Taobamvillage when the Irang baileybridge caved in around 7 am,a senior officer said. "Thebridge collapsed when a 10-wheeler truck carrying sandfrom Dimapur in Nagalandwas passing through it. Thevehicle, which was headingtowards Imphal, fell into theriver," he said.

196 arrestedMumbai: Mumbai policearrested 196 people from abar and a pub in suburbanAndheri in the wee hours ofSunday for allegedly violatingthe lockdown guidelines, apolice official said. Acting oninformation, the city police'ssocial service branch raidedthe bar and the pub locatedin Sakinaka area of Andheri,he said. The policesubsequently arrested 196people, including 171 maleand female customers, 19workers, two owners of thefacilities, three managers anda cashier, the official said.

Man held Palghar: A 32-year-old man,who was on the run afterallegedly cheating aHyderabad-based jeweller of`39 lakh by supplying himfake gold, has been arrestedin Maharashtra's Palghardistrict, police said onSunday. Assistant policeinspector Bhimsen Gaikwadsaid a four-member gangfrom neighbouring Mumbaihad earlier befriended thejeweller and called him to themetropolis under the pretextof supply him one kg gold atcheaper rates. After gainingthe jeweller's confidence, the gang allegedly tookaround `39 lakh from him and supplied him fakegold, he said.

Cop dies Hyderabad: A 31-year-oldSpecial Protection Force(SPF) constable on duty heredied Sunday when his serviceweapon allegedly misfired,police said. The incidentoccurred at around 7 amwhen the constable was onsentry duty at a buildinghousing the currency chest ofa public sector bank inRanigunj area, they said. Theconstable died on the spotwhen the Self Loading Rifle(SLR) allegedly went offaccidentally and the bullet pierced his chin. Three other police personnel,who were inside the security post of the building,on hearing the gunshot came out and found himdead, they added.

SHORT TAKES

Probe ordered

Alarmed over the busting of fakefarmer beneficiaries of the

Prime Minister's much touted PM-KISAN scheme, the Centre hasordered a nation-wide probe intothe massive leakage of funds. TheCentre has released more than `1lakh crore into 11.07 croresfarmers’ accounts under thescheme. The Centre has askedstate governments to verify their

genuineness. The Centre transfers`2,000 every four months into alleligible farmers’ accounts. The massive scam surfaced inTamil Nadu. Top governmentofficials in the Agriculture Ministrysaid that "some unscrupulouselements had misused the login-idand password credentials ofdistrict officials under the schemefor bulk booking of ineligiblepersons". The Union Agriculture &Farmers Welfare Minister NarendraSingh Tomar admitted that largescale bungling had taken place inthe PM-KISAN scheme in TamilNadu. The probe revealed that outof 5.95 lakh beneficiaries accountsverified till September 15, 2020, 5.38lakh were ineligible. The services of96 contractual staff wereterminated, 52 persons includingcontractual staff were arrested anda large number of FIRs registered.

EC helpless

The Election Commission's latestdirective asking political parties

in Bihar to inform voters why itchose to field candidates withcriminal background seems to havegone for a toss. Of the 100 politicalparties in fray in Bihar for 243seats, only six have complied withthe directive. Other parties havenot informed the EC so far.However, most political partieshave given strange explanationsand competed with each other infielding "Bahubalis" in poll fray. The EC is now contemplatingto issue notice to those parties. The Election Commissionhad issued the directive in thewake of the Supreme Court order in February this year that parties must explain why they fielded criminals during elections.

Modi picks new CIC

After months of delay, thegovernment finally chose new

Chief Information Commissioner.Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, aformer officer of the ForeignService, is set to be the new ChiefInformation Commissioner (CIC). Ahigh-powered panel headed by thePrime Minister cleared Sinha'sname for the top post. The panelalso cleared the names of five otherInformation Commissioners. Morethan half of the vacancies hadarisen in the CIC and there was ahuge backlog.

2 BJP CMs under lens

At least two Chief Ministers ofBJP-ruled states are in the eye

of a storm, though for differentreasons. The future of both theChief Ministers has become

uncertain as party high commandis flooded with a large number ofadverse reports. If the KarnatakaChief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa isfacing all sorts of allegations fromhis own party men, Gujarat CMVijay Rupani has come undercriticism for his inapt handling ofaffairs. The fate of both the CMswill be decided after the by-elections in their respective stateson November 3.

A new Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shahis known for talking straight.

Lately, he was out of action foralmost three months after being hitby Covid. His absence was felt bymany because the Prime Minister isnot known for opening up. Eventhe BJP Chief J P Nadda prefers tokeep his counsel and shun themedia. There is no one in the ruling

establishment who carriesauthority to speak on thornyissues. Rajnath Singh is coming outof his cocoon but confines himselfto the task assigned and speaks ondefence-related issues only. It wasat this juncture that Amit Shahbroke his silence and dwelt onmany issues. But this was adifferent Amit Shah as he was notfull of fire and fury. But he put therecord straight and disapprovedmany a things that the hardliners inthe Parivar were doing; be itMaharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshiyari's letter to CMUddhav Thackeray or linking ofdrug cartel probe to onlyBollywood, media trial in theSushant Singh Rajput case andwhat not. He was telling clearlythat neither the Centre nor he perse, had any hand in all that had happened during the pastthree months.

KuruKolumn

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Chandigarh, Nov 1: A day afterUttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath announced his gov-ernment would bring a law against"love jihad", his Haryana counter-part M L Khattar said his govern-ment is also considering legal pro-visions against it to ensure "theguilty cannot escape".

Citing the recent murder of astudent in Faridabad's Ballabhgarh,Khattar said the incident is beinglinked to "love jihad", a derogatorycoinage used by right-wing activiststo refer to the alleged campaign ofMuslims forcing Hindu girls to con-vert in the guise of love.

Earlier in the day, Haryana HomeMinister Anil Vij tweeted the stategovernment "is contemplating alaw against love jihad". Speaking toreporters in Karnal, Khattar said,"This (Ballabhgarh) incident needsto be strongly condemned. This in-cident is being seen linked with thelove jihad issue... both the Centre andthe state government is taking the

love jihad issue very seriously.""The Centre and the state gov-

ernment are looking into this issueand legal advice is being taken sothat such incidents are not repeated.Legal provisions are being con-templated so that the guilty can-not escape and no innocent personis punished," he said.

Last week, a 21-year-old college

student, Nikita, was shot dead inBallabhgarh by a man. The vic-tim's family has alleged that theman was pressuring her to convertto Islam in order to marry him.Some Hindu outfits have allegedthat the woman's murder is a caseof "love jihad".

On Saturday, Adityanath hadsaid his government would come out

with a law to deal with "love jihad"and used the Hindu funeral chant'Ram Naam Satya Hai' to threatenthose who don't respect their daugh-ters and sisters.

He said posters would be put upof those involved in "love jihad".Addressing election rallies in UttarPradesh's Jaunpur and Deoria,Adityanath also welcomed theAllahabad High Court ruling de-claring that conversion for the solepurpose of marriage is not valid.Vij told reporters in Ambala whatAdityanath said on "love jihad"was right.

"To save daughters, it is necessaryto deal with love jihad. We need totake steps to deal with love jihad,"he said on Sunday. A'Mahapanchayat' was organised byvarious social organisations inBallabhgarh on Sunday to demandjustice for Nikita. The Haryanagovernment has set up a three-member Special Investigation Teamto probe the case. The police havearrested three men in the case in-cluding the main accused, Tausif.

BIDDING ADIEU

A devotee immerses an idol of Goddess Laxmi in Ganga after offering prayers in Kolkata, Sunday PTI PHOTO

27 NAXALSSURRENDER PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Raipur, Nov 1: Twenty-sevenNaxals, five of them carrying cashrewards on their heads, surren-dered in Dantewada district ofChhattisgarh Sunday, saying theywere impressed by the police's re-habilitation drive and disappointedwith the Maoist ideology, an offi-cial said.

The district police's campaignnamed 'Lon Varratu' (return toyour home/village), launched inJune this year for the rehabilita-tion of Naxals, is yielding posi-tive results as 177 ultras have so farsurrendered under it, he said.

"In the latest case, altogether27 cadres, including six women,turned themselves in before sen-ior police and CRPF officials atBarsoor police station in the dis-trict," Dantewada Superintendentof Police Abhishek Pallava said.

Of them, 11 cadres are nativesof Gufa village, seven fromBedma, five from Mangnar, threefrom Hitawada and one fromHandwada, he said without dis-closing their identity citing se-curity reasons.

These ultras were active asmembers of DandakaranyaA d iv a s i K i s a n M a z d o o rSangthan (DAKMS), KrantikariM a h i l a A d iva s i S a n g t h a n( K A M S ) - f r o n t a l w i n g s o fMaoists, Chetna Natya Mandli(CNM-cultural of fshoot ofMaoists) and jan- militia groups,Pallava said.

"All of them were allegedly in-volved in attacks on police teams,triggering IED blasts and puttingup Maoist posters and banners.Five of them carried rewards of`1lakh each on their heads," he said.In their statement they said, theywere disappointed with the "hol-low" Maoist ideology. They alsosaid that the recent surrender bytheir colleagues as a part of 'LonVarratu campaign of local policealso encouraged them to quit vi-olence, he said.

Each of them was given im-mediate assistance of `10,000 and will be provided facilities fur-ther as per the government's sur-render and rehabilitation policy,Pallava added.

Over 1 cr passengers deniedtrain travel in 2019-20: RTIPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 1: More than onecrore passengers could not travelby trains despite buying ticketsin 2019-2020 because of beingwaitlisted, a query filed underthe RTI has found, indicating ashortage of trains on busy routesin the country.

The RTI reply has said in 2019-2020, a total of 84,61,204 PassengerName Record (PNR) numbers,against which 1.25 crore passen-gers were scheduled to travel,were automatically cancelled dueto being waitlisted.

The Railway Ministry has forthe first time taken measures toreduce waitlisting for train travelwith the introduction of privatetrains. The Railways has also in-troduced special 'clone trains' onthe routes which generally havehigh passenger traffic. Thesetrains have l imited stop-pages/halts and faster transit

time. They primarily have 3-tierAC coaches and will run ahead of the already operating specialtrains on the same route. The Advance Reservation Period(ARP) of these 'clone trains' is 10 days.

The waitlisting of passengersand the automatic cancellation oftickets have been a problem for theRailways over the years with thenational transporter unable tomeet the demands of its grow-ing customers. After cancella-tion of PNRs, the ticket fare is re-funded to the passengers.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Chennai, Nov 1: Tamil NaduAg riculture Minister R.Doraikkannu, a Covid-19 patient,has succumbed to Covid-19, said asenior official of Kauvery Hospital.

"With deep grief, we announcethe sad demise of the HonourableMinister for Agriculture, ThiruR. Doraikkannu on 31.10.2020 at11.15 p.m.," said AravindanSelvaraj, Executive Director ina statement issued here. Earlieron Saturday, Selvaraj had saidDoraikkannu had suffered sig-nificant deterioration in vitalfunctions and was extremely crit-ical despite being on maximallife support.

The 72-year-old minister, electedfrom the Papanasam assemblyconstituency was admitted to thehospital on October 13 with seri-

ous breathlessness and testedCovid-19 positive.

"He has multiple comorbidi-ties and the latest CT scan shows90 per cent of lung involvement.He is currently on ECMO andVentilator, receiving maximumsupport," Selvaraj had said onSaturday. On October 13 morn-ing, Doraikkannu was taken toa hospital in Villupuram districtafter he complained of chest painand breathing trouble. He com-plained of ill-health while he wastravelling to Salem to pay homageto Chief Minister K. Palaniswami'smother who died on that day.

After his condition stabilised atthe gover nment hospital ,Doraikkannu was sent to KauveryHospital here in an ambulance.Doraikkannu also held the post ofSecretary, Thanjavur (North)District, AIADMK.

TN agri ministersuccumbs to Covid

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Pratapgarh (Uttar Pradesh), Nov1: Parents of a 20-year-old womanin Uttar Pradesh axed her to deathafter they found her pregnant outof wedlock. Both have been ar-rested.

The body of the unidentifiedyoung woman was found on therailway tracks near Alapur inPratapgarh district on October 25,said Nawabganj Station HouseOfficer (SHO) Akhilesh PratapSingh. The body was identified bythe father of the deceased KamleshKumar Yadav, a resident of

Kishundaspur village. He allegedthat his daughter had been mur-dered and submitted a complaint tothe police against an unidentifiedkiller.

An FIR was registered at theNawabg anj police station.Investigations, however, revealedthat the woman was pregnant at thetime of her death.

The SHO said that KamleshKumar Yadav and his wife AnitaDevi were called in for questioningon Friday. During interrogation,the two said that on October 24,they had taken their daughter, whowas unwell, for an ultrasound test

on the advice of a doctor. The testrevealed that the daughter was six-month pregnant. They tried to finda doctor for getting an abortiondone but could not succeed.

They repeatedly asked the daugh-ter about the man with whom shewas in relationship but she refusedto divulge his name. The parentsthen took her to the railway tracksin the night near Alapur and mur-dered her. They threw the body onthe tracks to make it appear like anaccident or suicide. The SHO saidthat the axe used has also been re-covered and the couple were sentto jail on Saturday.

Parents kill daughter in UP

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Jaipur, Nov 1: Rajasthan police,based on intelligence inputs pro-vided by the Military Intelligence(MI) Jaipur, have arrested a civil de-fence employee of the MilitaryEngineering Services (MES) inRajasthan's Niwaru on charges ofworking as an "espionage agent" fora Pakistani intelligence agency.

It was reported in September thisyear that the MI Jaipur learnt aboutan "espionage agent" in Niwaru,who was passing military-relatedinformation to his handlers inPakistan. The individual was iden-tified as Ramniwas Gaura, 28, a civilmotor driver working with the MES.

It was learnt that Gaura was incontact with one PakistanIntelligence Operator (PIO) namelyEkta @Jasmeet Kour throughFacebook and WhatsApp. Duringhis two years of contact with thePIO, he shared the informationabout units and formations atNiwaru and Jaipur as also infor-mation about various offices andpersonnel in these two places.

The case details were shared

with the police headquarters inJaipur, following which and a jointoperation was planned to appre-hend Gaura. A joint team of JaipurPolice Intelligence and MI Jaipurwas formed, and all the findingswere analysed again.

Further details were acquiredand conclusive evidence was gath-ered. Gaura was eventually de-tained on Friday. During ques-tioning, he reportedly confessedthat he had received a friend requestfrom the PIO's Facebook profile,"Ekta", in February/March 2020, andaccepted it.

T hey soon became "ver yfriendly", shared their WhatsAppnumbers with each other andstarted chatting, apart from in-teracting over audio/video calls.The PIO used to use an IndianWhatsApp number.

Man held for leakingArmy’s secret info

The body of the unidentified young

woman was found on therailway tracks near

Alapur in Pratapgarhdistrict October 25,

said Nawabganj SHOAkhilesh Pratap Singh

Now, Haryana mulls law against ‘love jihad’EARLIER IN THE DAY, HARYANA HOME MINISTER ANIL VIJ TWEETED THE STATE

GOVERNMENT “IS CONTEMPLATING A LAW AGAINST LOVE JIHAD”

P10MONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalWe are tryingto improve

effectiveness byreconstructingantivirus measures ina tailored fashion CHUNG SYE-KYUN | SOUTHKOREAN PRIME MINISTER

French police have made two newarrests in the probe into an attack on achurch in the southern city of Nice thatleft three dead, as authorities seek tounderstand the profile of the suspectedkiller, judicial sources said Sunday

NEW ARRESTS OVERCHURCH ATTACK

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When urbancommunitiesare engaged

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ANTONIO GUTERRES | UNITED NATIONS

SECRETARY-GENERAL

of theday uote

PresidentTrump isfocused on

feeding his ego,while theDemocraticpresidentialcandidate Biden focused ondecency and empathy

BARACK OBAMA | EX US PRESIDENT

Millions ofAmericanshave already

voted. Millions morewill vote in the daysahead. And mymessage to you issimple: The power to change thiscountry is in your hands. I don'tcare how hard Donald Trump tries.There is nothing that is going tostop the people of this nation from voting

JOE BIDEN | DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL

CANDIDATE

Lanka facestough times Colombo: Sri Lanka is facinga challenging time due to thedelay in receiving COVID-19test results, following thebreakdown of a key testingmachine amid a surge in thecoronavirus cases, officialssaid. The island nation has sofar recorded 10,663 COVID-19cases and 20 deaths due tothe disease. Health Ministryspokesman Dr JayaruwanBandara on Saturday said themain PCR testing machine atthe Base Hospital inMulleriyawa that can test500-1,000 samples daily brokedown earlier this week.

Austria to imposesecond lockdownVienna: Austrian ChancellorSebastian Kurz hasannounced that a secondlockdown will come intoforce in the country startingfrom Tuesday until the end ofthis month, in an effort tocontain the pandemic fromfurther spreading.

Quake joltsIndonesiaJakarta: An earthquakemeasuring 6.3 on the Richterscale struck Indonesia'sMaluku province Sunday, butdid not cause damages orcasualties, officials said. Themeteorology and geophysicsagency did not issue atsunami warning, as thequake did not potentiallytrigger giant waves, reportsXinhua news agency. theagency said.

Thousands protestin Jerusalem Jerusalem: Thousands ofIsraelis protested inJerusalem in the latestweekly demonstrationagainst Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, hishandling of the coronaviruscrisis and the corruptioncharges he faces.

Two killed in stabbing incidentQuebec: At least two peoplewere killed and five othersinjured in a stabbingincident in the Canadian cityof Quebec, police said,adding that a suspect hasbeen arrested. The attack ontook place Saturday nearthe Chateau Frontenac, onrue des Ramparts, CBCNews quoted Quebec Citypolice spokesperson EtienneDoyon as saying early Sundaymorning.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Beijing, Nov 1: China Sundaystarted the world's biggest ex-ercise of population count, con-ducted once in a decade, to doc-ument demographic changes inthe most populous country. Aboutseven million census takers begandoor-to-door survey for the sev-

enth census in the country toaccount for China's populationstated to be 1.37 billion in thelast census exercise ten yearsago.

Carrying out the census iscritical to understand the pop-ulation size, structure and dis-tribution, Ning Jizhe, deputyhead of the NationalDevelopment and Refor mCommission, said during a videoconference to promote the na-tional census.

The census collects data, in-cluding name, ID number, gen-der, marital status, education,and profession of Chinese citi-zens, state-run Xinhua news

agency reported. China has beenconducting a national popula-tion census every 10 years since

the 1990s. The exercise was ex-pected to provide the size of itsageing population.

In March last year, ChinesePremier Li Keqiang told themedia that China's populationaged above 60 years increasedto 420 million and that of childrenover six years to 100 million put-ting heavy pressure on nursingservices and day care centres.After implementing the decades-old one child policy, China is fac-ing a demographic crisis with arapidly ageing population. Chinahas permitted people to havesecond child since 2016. Chinacurrently has 250 million peo-ple above 60 years and 170 millionabove 65 years, Li said duringhis annual press conference last March.

China begins 7th national population census

An Earth-sized rogue planetdiscovered in the Milky Way

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

London, Nov 1:Scientists have dis-covered in the Milky Way an Earth-sized free-floating rogue planetwhich does not orbit any star.

Rogue planets are a bit un-common as although many ofthe known exoplanets discov-ered so far do not resemble thosein our solar system, they have onething in common - - they all orbit a star.

However, theories of planetformation and evolution predictthe existence of free-floating(rogue) planets, gravitationallyunattached to any star. Polishastronomers from theAstronomical Observatory ofthe University of Warsaw pro-vided the first evidence for theexistence of such planets in theMilky Way a few years ago.

Exoplanets can be only rarelydirectly observed. Usually, as-tronomers find planets usingobservations of the light from the

planet's host star. For example,if a planet crosses in front ofits parent star's disk, then the ob-served brightness of the starperiodically drops by a smallamount causing so called tran-sits. Astronomers can also meas-ure the motion of the star causedby the planet. Free-floating plan-ets emit virtually no radiationand -- by definition -- they do notorbit any host star, so they can-not be discovered using tradi-tional methods of astrophysi-cal detection.

Nevertheless, rogue planetscan be spotted using an astro-nomical phenomenon calledgravitational microlensing.Modern surveys hunting forgravitational microlensing eventsare monitoring hundreds of mil-lions of stars in the Milky Waycentre, where the chances of mi-crolensing are highest. Led byWarsaw University astronomers,the OGLE survey carries outone of such experiments

However, the newly-detected planet, detailed inthe Astrophysical Journal Letters, is the smallest

rogue world ever found

Illustration by University of Warsaw

AGENCIES

Butler (US), Nov 1: US PresidentDonald Trump has predicted a mas-sive win for the Republicans in theNovember 3 elections, saying themargin would be much bigger thanwhat the party had received fouryears ago.

Speaking at four different ral-lies in the battleground State ofPennsylvania Saturday, Trump saidhis administration has made tremen-dous accomplishments in the lastfour years under his presidency.

"It's going to be a very interest-ing Tuesday. You have a big redwave that has formed. Nobody'sever seen anything like this," Trumptold the cheering crowd. In almostidentical speeches, Trump reflectedupon the accomplishments of hisadministration in the first term,while made allegations of massivecorruption by the family of hisDemocratic challenger Joe Biden.

The president also accused theDemocrats of taking the country ona path of socialism and raisingtaxes if Biden wins the election.The president, who is trailing behindBiden in battle ground States in-cluding Pennsylvania, said that hewill win these States and his mar-

gin of victory would be greaterthan that in 2016.

A wave is forming, he said. "Theysee it forming on all sides and there'snot a thing they can do about it.This is the state where the story ofAmerican independence began,"Trump said at a place inPennsylvania where the first pres-ident George Washington plotted histrip across the Delaware River dur-ing the American Revolution.

"It's the state where the AmericanConstitution was signed. Threedays from now, this is the state thatwill save the American Dream. OnNovember 3, we're going to winPennsylvania. We're going to winfour more years in that very beau-tiful White House," he said. Trump,74, said he did excellent job in theareas of defence.

"In 2016, Pennsylvania votedagainst this failed establishment. Youvoted for an outsider who is finallyputting America first," he said as helisted some of his key achievementsfrom military to jobs and peace inthe Middle East.

TRUMP LEADS BIDEN IN IOWAWith just two days left for Tuesday's

US presidential election, a new pollhas placed President Donald Trumpin a seven-point lead against his

Democratic rival Joe Biden in the bat-tleground state of Iowa.

PREZ WARNS OF VOTE COUNT DELAYSUS President Donald Trump has

claimed that voters will have towait for weeks after the electionday to know who wins the hotlycontested race to the White House.

OBAMA JOINS BIDEN AT RALLYFormer US President Barack

Obama joined his former VicePresident and the incumbent

Democratic presidential nominee,Joe Biden at a campaign rally forthe latter in the state of Michigan.

2020 ELECTION SPENDINGREACHES NEARLY $14 BN

The total spending of the 2020 USelection cycle, including presidentialand congressional, has reachednearly $14 billion, surpassing morethan the combined figures of theamount spent during the last two elec-tion cycles, a study has found.

Trump predicts massive win for Republicans US PREZ POLL

PTI PHOTO

England to enter intomonth-long lockdown

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

London, Nov 1: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson announcedthat England will enter a month-longlockdown from Thursday."Now is the time to take action be-cause there is no alternative,"Johnson said in a virtual pressconference on Saturday at DowningStreet, Xinhua news agency re-ported.

The Prime Minister 's an-nouncement came just hours afterofficial figures showed that Britain'sconfirmed coronavirus cases surgepast one million mark.

"From Thursday until the startof December you must stay at home,you may only leave home for spe-cific reasons," he said in the livebroadcasted news conference.

Under the new measures, whichwill be effective until December 2,people in England will only be al-lowed to leave their homes for spe-cific reasons, such as education,work or food shopping, saidJohnson. Pubs, bars and restau-rants will close across the coun-try except for takeaways. Non-es-sential shops, hairdressers andleisure and entertainment venueswill also be shut, he said. Schools,colleges and universities will remain

open, the prime minister said,adding that those who cannot workfrom home, such as construction ormanufacturing workers, will beencouraged to continue going totheir workplaces.

Meanwhile, different householdswill be banned from mixing, al-though support bubbles and child-care bubbles will remain. Gymswill be shut but people can con-tinue to exercise outdoors, at mostwith one person from anotherhousehold, Johnson announced.

After December 2, the restric-tions would be eased and regionswould go back to the tiered sys-tem, the prime minister said.

"Christmas is going to be dif-ferent this year, perhaps very dif-ferent, but it's my sincere hope andbelief that by taking tough actionnow we can allow families acrossthe country to be together," Johnsonsaid. The British government haspreviously pursued a localized ap-proach to tackling the COVID-19pandemic with a three-tier alertsystem according to local infec-tion rates. Earlier Saturday, offi-cial figures showed that another21,915 people in Britain have testedpositive for COVID-19, bringingthe total number of coronaviruscases in the country to 1,011,660.

AFP PIC

JOVIAL MOOD

Children wave flags of the monarchy and Thailand national near Grand Place in Bangkok PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Beijing, Nov 1: The just-concludedkey conclave of the rulingCommunist Party of China (CPC)has finalised plans to build a fullymodern military on par with the USby 2027, media reports here said.

By the year 2027, which marksthe centennial of the founding ofthe People's Liberation Army(PLA), China will build a fullymodern military, a goal that is inalignment with the nationalstrength and will fulfil the futurenational defence need, state-runGlobal Times quoted Chinese an-alysts as saying on Saturday.

The Plenary session of the rul-ing CPC headed by President XiJinping which held a four-day meet-ing adopted his proposals for the for-mulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021-2025) for National Economicand Social Development and theLong-Range Objectives Through

the Year 2035. While the 14th Five-Year plan envisages massive over-haul of the country's domestic mar-ket to boost consumption in orderto reduce China's reliance on shrink-ing exports markets, the Vision2035 visualises a long-term plan,reflecting the development visionof Xi including the military.

Politically, Xi's Vision 2035 plansparked speculation that he couldcontinue in power for the next 15years. Xi, 67, has emerged as theCPC's most powerful leader after itsfounder Mao Zedong, holding theposts of CPC General Secretary,

head of the military besides thepresidency with prospects of alife-long tenure. A constitutionalamendment in 2018 has removedthe two-five-year term limit forthe President, which would en-able Xi to continue in power for life.His second term as the presidentis due to end in 2022.

The meeting headed by Xi hasset a new goal to turn the PLA intoa modern military force by 2027, bywhich time, China aims to buildan army on par with that of the US,the Hong Kong based South ChinaMorning Post reported.

China plans to make PLA on par with US military

TENS OF THOUSANDSPROTEST IN BELARUSREUTERS

Moscow, Nov 1: Riot police firedwarning shots into the air, usedstun grenades and made arrests todeter tens of thousands ofBelarusians who marched throughMinsk Sunday to demand veteranleader Alexander Lukashenkoleave power.

Huge demonstrations haveflooded the capital for 12 straightweeks since a disputed election,ratcheting up pressure on the em-battled leader of 26 years who hasclung to power and said he hasno intention to quit.

This week Lukashenko par-tially closed the border to the west,replaced his interior minister andsaid that any protester who lays ahand on officers policing theprotests should “at least leavewithout hands”.

Senior police officials havethreatened to use fire arms againstprotesters if needed.

7 DEAD AS TYPHOONBATTERS PHILIPPINESAGENCIES

Manila, Nov 1: A powerful supertyphoon slammed into the east-ern Philippines with ferociouswinds Sunday, killing at least sevenpeople and causing volcanic mud-flows to bury houses before weak-ening as it blew toward Manila,where the capital's main airportwas shut down, officials said.

Typhoon Goni hit the islandprovince of Catanduanes at dawnwith sustained winds of 225 kilo-meters (140 miles) per hour andgusts of 280 kph (174 mph). It wasbarreling west toward denselypopulated regions, includingManila, and rain-soaked provincesstil l recovering from a typhoon that hit a week ago and leftat least 22 people dead. Villagersfled to safety as the typhoon ap-proached, but the two appar-e n t ly s t aye d p u t , h e s a i d .ETA FORMS IN CARIBBEAN :Tropical Storm Eta formed inthe Caribbean, tying the recordfor most named storms in asingle Atlantic hur ricane season.

China currently has250 million people

above 60 years and170 million above

65 years

70-yr-old pulled out aliveas Turkey quake toll hits 53AGENCIES

Izmir (Turkey), Nov1: Rescue workers ex-tricated a 70-year-oldman from a collapsedbuilding in westernTurkey Sunday, some34 hours after a strongearthquake in theAegean Sea struckTurkey and Greece,killing at least 53 peo-ple and injuring morethan 900.

It was the latest se-ries of remarkable res-cues after the Friday af-

ternoon earthquake,which was centered inthe Aegean northeastof the Greek island ofSamos.

Search-and-rescueteams were workingin nine buildingsSunday in the Turkishcity of Izmir as daybroke. Turkish VicePresident Fuat Oktayraised the death toll inIzmir, the country'sthird-largest city, to 51as rescuers pulled morebodies out of toppledbuildings.

P11

businessMONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Demand is coming backin the housing market.Enquiries fromprospective home buyersare risingASHOK TYAGI | GROUP CFO, DLF

Hit by pandemic-related cuts in ad spend,Google’s digital media revenues fell by 7%in Q2 2020 to $38.3 bn, causing its marketshare to fall from 29% in Q1 2020 to 26.3%in Q2 -- its lowest share of the globaldigital media market in the past six years

GOOGLE’S DIGITAL MEDIASALES LOWEST IN 6 YEARS

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VARUN KHAITAN | CO-FOUNDER, URBAN

COMPANY

Royal Enfieldsales dip 7%New Delhi: Niche bike makerRoyal Enfield Sundayreported a 7% decline in itstotal sales at 66,891 units inOctober. The company hadsold a total of 71,964 units inthe corresponding month lastyear, Royal Enfield said in astatement. Domestic saleswere at 62,858 units lastmonth as against 67,538 unitsin October 2019, a dip of 7%,it said. Exports were down9% to 4,033 units ascompared to 4,426 units inthe year-ago month, thecompany added.

M&M tractorsales up 2%New Delhi: Mahindra &Mahindra (M&M) Sundayreported a 2% increase in itstractor sales at 46,558 unitsin October. The company hadsold 45,433 units of tractorsin October 2019, Mahindra &Mahindra (M&M) said in astatement. Domestic salesgrew 2% to 45,588 units inOctober this year comparedto 44,646 units in the year-ago month, it added.Exports during the monthstood at 970 units, ascompared to 787 units inOctober last year, up 23%,the company said.

Choudhary becomesPGCIL Dir (Projects)New Delhi: State-run PowerGrid Corporation of India(PGCIL) Sunday said thatAbhay Choudhary hasassumed the charge as itsDirector (Projects). Prior tothis assignment, he has beenworking as ExecutiveDirector (Commercial &Regulatory Cell) along withthe charge of CMD(Chairman & ManagingDirector) Coordination Cell, aPGCIL statement said. He isan electrical engineeringgraduate from NIT Durgapurand holds a Post GraduateDiploma in Managementfrom IMT Ghaziabad.

Equity MFs log`7,200cr outflowNew Delhi: Investors pulledout over `7,200 crore fromequity-oriented mutual fundsduring the July-Septemberquarter this year asexpensive valuation divertedthem towards profit-booking.In comparison, such schemeshad witnessed a hefty inflowof `23,874 crore in the samequarter last fiscal, data fromthe Association of MutualFunds in India showed.

SHORT TAKES

FPIs invest `22K crinto Indian markets in OctoberPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 1: Foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) turned netbuyers in October in Indian mar-kets by putting in ̀ 22,033 crore asparticipant sentiment was drivenby resumption of economic ac-tivities and robust quarterly cor-porate results among others. InSeptember, FPIs were net sellersat `3,419 crore.

As per depositories data, over-seas investors invested a net ̀ 19,541crore into equities and ̀ 2,492 croreinto debt during October 1-30.

Total investment on a net basisstood at `22,033 crore in October.

"Availability of surplus liq-uidity in the global markets hasbeen ensuring the flow of foreignmoney in Indian equities," saidHimanshu Srivastava, AssociateDirector - Manager Research,Morningstar India.

Besides, opening of the economy,resumption of business activitiesand better-than-expected quar-terly results helped in keeping in-vestor interest intact, he added.

Globally, the scenario continuesto evolve and there are multiple fac-tors which would dictate the di-rection of foreign flows goingahead, Srivastava said.

Harsh Jain, Co-founder andCOO at Groww, said India's newCOVID-19 case count is finallygoing down which might helpmake India's case even more at-tractive at this point, adding thatpositive news regarding a vaccinecould greatly accelerate invest-ments into India too.

‘Economy set tobounce back, timefor bold actions’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 1: Banks, financialand non-banking financial institu-tions have been asked to take "nec-essary actions" to credit into the ac-counts of eligible borrowers byNovember 5 the difference betweencompound and simple interest col-lected on loans of up to ̀ 2 crore dur-ing the moratorium scheme, RBIhas told the Supreme Court (SC).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),in an affidavit filed through AssistantGeneral Manager Prasanta KumarDas, referred to the October 23 ad-ditional response of the Ministry ofFinance and said the federal bankhas also acted in pursuance of thatby issuing a notification to banksand FIs recently on refund of extra

money to the borrowers. The central government had ear-

lier told the apex court that thelenders have been asked to credit intothe accounts of eligible borrowersthe difference between compoundand simple interest collected onloans of up to `2 crore during theRBI's loan moratorium scheme byNovember 5.

"All Primary (Urban) CooperativeBanks/State CooperativeBanks/District Central CooperativeBanks, All All India FinancialInstitutions and All Non-BankingFinancial Companies (includingHousing Finance Companies) to beguided by the provisions of thescheme and take necessary actionswithin the stipulated timelinetherein," the RBI said in its recent

affidavit.The top court is scheduled to

hear a batch of PILs including theone filed by Gajendra SharmaOctober 3 relating to charging ofinterest on interest by banks onEMIs which have not been paid by

borrowers after availing the loanmoratorium scheme of RBI dur-ing March 1 to August 31.

"I say... Ministry of Finance,Department of Financial Servicesin view of the unprecedented andextreme COVID-19 situation vide

its letter ... has approved a 'schemefor grant of ex-gratia payment of dif-ference between compound interestand simple interest for six monthsto borrowers in specified loan ac-counts (01.03.2020 to 31.08.2020)'along with operational guidelinesand mechanism for such grant,"

the RBI official said. The affidavit, which also con-

tained the decision of the govern-ment and the subsequent RBI's cir-cular as annexures, said that allbanks, FIs, and housing financefirms have been asked to pass on thebenefits of the Centre's decision toeligible borrowers.

Earlier, the Centre has said thatthe eligible borrowers will be ben-efitted by November 5 by the lendersafter the apex court had come downheavily on it, saying that nothing hasbeen done on ground to pass on thebenefits.

The Ministry of Finance has saidthat after crediting this amount,the lending institutions would claimreimbursement from the centralgovernment.

LOAN MORATORIUM Banks told to credit ‘interest on interest’ to borrowers

The Centre had earliertold SC that the lendershave been asked to credit into the accountsof eligible borrowers thedifference between CIand SI collected on loansof up to `2 crore

REUTERS

New Delhi, Nov 1: India’s FutureRetail Ltd (FRL) said Sunday thata Singapore arbitrator’s order inits dispute with Amazon is not en-forceable under Indian law andnot binding on the company.

Amazon October 25 won an in-junction from the arbitrator tohalt FRL’s deal to sell its retail as-sets to Reliance Industries for $3.4billion, arguing the Indian retailgroup had violated certain pre-existing agreements it had with theUS e-commerce giant.

Both FRL and billionaireMukesh Ambani’s Reliance saidin news releases later they wantedto press on with the deal with-out delays, setting the stage for a

showdown between the Indiancompanies and Jeff Bezos-ledAmazon.

Calling the proceedings beforethe so-called “emergency arbitra-tor” void, FRL told Indian ex-changes that any attempt on thepart of Amazon to enforce theorder will be resisted.

“FRL is also in the process oftaking appropriate legal actionto protect its rights,” the com-pany’s regulatory filing said onSunday.

Amazon did not immediatelyrespond to a request for comment.

FRL’s filing comes after ReutersSaturday reported Amazon hadseparately complained to India’smarkets regulator alleging theIndian company had misled share-

holders by incorrectly saying itwas complying with its contractualobligations, seeking suspension

of the deal’s regulatory review.In its Sunday filing, FRL said it

had complied with all regulatory

requirements and urged the mar-ket regulator and the Indian stockexchanges to continue to review itsdeal with Reliance for approval.

The dispute centres aroundFRL’s decision in August to sellits retail, wholesale and some otherbusinesses to Reliance for $3.38billion, including debt.

Amazon argues that a separate2019 deal it had with a Future unithad clauses saying the Indiangroup couldn’t sell its retail as-sets to anyone on a “restricted per-sons” list including any firms fromReliance chief Mukesh Ambani’sgroup.

The deal specified any disputeswoul d be ar bi tr ated underSing apore Inter nationalArbitration Centre rules.

‘Amazon dispute order not binding on company’AMAZON OCTOBER 25 WON AN INJUNCTION FROM THE ARBITRATOR TO HALT FRL’S DEAL TO SELL ITS RETAIL ASSETS TO

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES FOR $3.4 BILLION, ARGUING THE INDIAN RETAIL GROUP HAD VIOLATED CERTAIN PRE-EXISTING AGREEMENTS IT HAD WITH THE US E-COMMERCE GIANT

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 1: Ficci PresidentSangita Reddy Sunday said thatIndia's strategy of dealing withthe Covid crisis has paid off and thenation's economy is set to bounceback and emerge stronger.

"The speed, virality and impactof the Covid contagion is un-precedented. There was no standardplaybook for pandemic manage-ment. The dilemma for govern-ments across the world was creat-ing a balance between protectinglives and livelihoods," a FICCI state-ment quoted Reddy as saying.

"India took the path of a strictlockdown to ramp up health in-frastructure and focused on humanlives.

This strategy has paid off. Scienceevolved to give better cures, med-ical infrastructure was created,supplies like PPEs ramped up andour death rate has been contained,"she said.

The industry body's Presidentwas of the view that it's time for boldactions on the livelihood front.

Noting that the recent monetarypolicy assures that the governmentand the regulator will do every-thing it takes to keep the economyafloat, Reddy said: "Let us startpushing our growth agenda vig-orously.

She observed that the PMI formanufacturing and services hasrecovered to 56.8 and 49.8 re-spectively in September 2020.There has been a pick-up in e-way bill volumes, improvement inrevenue earning freight trafficof major commodities, positivegrowth in exports and most sig-n i f i c a n t ly i n c re a s e i n t h eSeptember GST collections to al-most pre-Covid-19 level.

These incremental trends areheartening and need to be sus-tained, and further initiatives likethe consumption vouchers mustcontinue to remain focused on de-

mand generation, she said.The Ficci President was of the

view that agriculture, advancedmanufacturing and infrastructuresectors are among the majorstrengths of India.

"First is strength of our agri-culture sector, which has performedwell even in this difficult period.India can emerge as the food bowlfor the world.

By multiplying the farmer pro-ducer organisations and givingthem adequate support, we canachieve good results both for farm-ers and consumers," she said.

If the collective energies andtalents are well channelised, ac-cording the Reddy: "The next decadewill be India's decade."

State GST collection posts21.79% growth in OctoberPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: Amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, the state wit-nessed a positive growth rate ofOdisha GST collection during thecurrent financial year in the monthof October, 2020. The StateCommissionerate of CT & GST de-partment revealed that Odisharecorded a decent growth rate of21.79 % in gross GST collection inOctober, 2020 as compared to thesame month in 2019.

This is the second successivemonth when the growth rate of grossGST collection has been positive &healthy. September also recorded apositive growth of 18.3% comparedto same month a year ago.

OGST component also recordeda positive growth rate of 5.16% inthe second successive month. Ithad recorded a modest growth of3.42% last month.

The settlement of IGST forOdisha during October is `480.83crore against a receipt of `307.69crore during last October recordinga positive growth of 56.27%.Similarly, collection under cess alsowitnessed a healthy growth of57.55% during this month.

However, owing to setback in thefirst quarter in view of the lock-down, progressive OGST Collection(April-October) continues to be neg-ative at 8.48% as the total collectioncould be `4,309.29 crore as against`4,708.39 crore collected during thesame period of the preceding year.

Similarly, due to the same reasonsthe progressive gross GST collectionduring April-October, 2020 has been`14,701 crore compared to `17,020crore during the corresponding pe-riod last year.

The VAT collection from non-GSTgoods has also been growing with rea-sonable consistency since last month

due to increase in consumption aswell as the decision to shift to monthlyreturns for all petroleum dealers in-stead of quarterly return periodprescribed previously.

The collections from petroleumdealers during September, 2020 andOctober, 2020 have been `464.25crore and ̀ 514.29 crore respectivelyagainst `431.04 crore and `369.40crore during September and October2019, having a growth of 7.6% &39% respectively.

Overall, the non-GST revenuehas witnessed a healthy growth of36.05% in October of current fiscalcompared to same month last year.

ON THE RISEThis is the secondsuccessive month whenthe growth rate of grossGST collection has beenpositive

September also recorded apositive growth of 18.3%

THE SETTLEMENT OF IGST FOR ODISHA DURING OCTOBER IS `480.83 CRORE AGAINST A RECEIPT OF `307.69 CRORE RECORDED IN THE

SAME MONTH A YEAR AGO

itel draws 6 crorecustomers in 4 years POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 1: Taking itssuccess story forward, itel fam-ily becomes stronger with over 6crore happy consumers in India,a resounding milestone for thesmartphone brand within fouryears of its operations in India.

This important milestone re-instates itel’s success story inIndia which has been driven by itscustomer-centric approach, in-novative and affordable productportfolio, robust distribution net-work along with localised mar-keting communication approach.

This festive season, itel cus-tomers would be able to enjoy themagical product portfolio of itelwith its flagship premium smart-phone Vision 1 in less than ̀ 7,000,A48 in less than ̀ 6,000, A25Pro inless than `5,000 and A23 in lessthan `4,000 making it affordable,accessible across all segments ofbuyers.

itel Vision 1, itel A48, itel A25Proand itel A23 are priced at `6,699,`5,999, ̀ 4,999 and ̀ 3,799 respectively.

Agriculture sector is our strength,which has performed well evenduring the pandemic. Indiacan emerge as the foodbowl for the world. Bymultiplying the farmerproducer organisationsand giving themadequate support, wecan achieve goodresults both forfarmers andconsumersSANGITA REDDY IPRESIDENT, FICCI

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 1: Companies likeVedanta, Jindal Steel and Power,Adani Enterprises, HindalcoIndustries and JSW Steel are inthe race for the first-ever auction of19 coal blocks for commercial min-ing, which will kick-start fromMonday.

The auction under which 19 coalblocks would go under the ham-mer will continue for eight days,from November 2-9, according to thelatest calender for electronic auc-tion of the coal ministry.

On Monday, the electronic auc-tion would be held for five coalblocks --Chakla, Jharkhand; MarkiMangli-II, Maharashtra; Radhikapur

(West), Odisha; Takli-Jena-Bellora(North) & TakliJena-Bellora (South),Maharashtra; and Urtan, MadhyaPradesh.

Companies l ike HindalcoIndustries and Adani Enterpriseswill be vying for Chakla coal blockin Jharkhand on Monday.

In case of Radhikapur (West)

coal block in Odisha, companieslike Jindal Steel and Power Ltd(JSPL) and Vedanta Ltd are in race.

With regard to Marki Mangli-IIblock in Maharashtra, YazdaniInternational Pvt Ltd, AndhraPradesh Mineral DevelopmentCor poration Ltd and RefexIndustries Ltd will be competingagainst each other.

Aurobindo Reality andInfrastructure Pvt Ltd and SunflagIron and Steel Company Ltd arein the race for Takli-Jena-Bellora(North) and TakliJena-Bellora(South) coal block in Maharashtra.

JMS Mining Private Ltd andStratatech Mineral Resources PvtLtd would be vying for Urtan blockblock in Madhya Pradesh.

Vedanta, Jindal to bid in coalblock auctions from today

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/2011/371591

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sportsMONDAY | NOVEMBER 2 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

MSD not to hangup his IPL gloves Abu Dhabi: Mahendra SinghDhoni will be back in the IPLnext year. The World Cup-winning captain confirmed ithimself at the toss of ChennaiSuper Kings’ (CSK) final gameof the season here Sunday.“Definitely not,” said Dhoniwhen asked by former NewZealand pacer Danny Morrisonif the game against Kings XIPunjab was his last for CSK.As expected, his terseresponse sent social mediainto frenzy. Dhoni’s final Indiaappearance happened to bethe 2019 World Cup semifinalagainst New Zealand.

Unique featRawalpindi: Aleem Dar brokeSunday the record for mostODIs as an on-field umpirewhen he stood for his 210thmatch in the series’ secondmatch between Pakistan and Zimbabwe here. The 52-year-old from Pakistansurpassed South African RudiKoertzen’s record of officiatingin most ODIs. AGENCIES

SHORT TAKES

Shastri tells injuredRohit to get fit firstPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dubai, Nov 1: India head coachRavi Shastri has revealed thatRohit Sharma’s medical reportstated that ‘he could be in dangerof injuring himself again’ andadvised him not to rush his come-back. Rohit is recovering from ahamstring injury he suffered in theongoing IPL.

Shastri said the call not to in-clude Rohit in the squad was takenby selectors after going through hismedical report. “It’s being han-dled by the people in charge ofthe medical part of it. We don’t getinvolved in that. They have sub-mitted a report to the selectorsand they have gone about theirbusiness,” Shastri said. “It is alwaysbetter not to rush comebacks. FirstRohit should be fit,” he added.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Abu Dhabi, Nov 1: Delhi Capitals(DC) and Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB) are both expectedto go all out against each otherMonday to arrest their rapid slidein the IPL and, more importantly,secure a top-two finish in the pointstable. DC and RCB go into the vir-tual quarterfinal, having lost four

and three games on the trot re-spectively, showing that things canchange rather quickly in the highly-competitive IPL.

At stake is a top-two finish whichprovides a couple of attempts tomake it to the final. The loser ofMonday’s game could still end upmaking the play-offs but it will bethen at the mercy of other teams.

DC were bossing most teams in thefirst half of the tournament. Howevertheirs have been a dramatic fall from

grace with their last win comingtwo weeks ago. Their problems havecompounded by the sudden loss ofform for opener Shikhar Dhawan.After back-to-back hundredsDhawan’s scores in the last threegames have been 0, 0 and 6.

After a nine-wicket hammeringSaturday by MI, skipper ShreyasIyer spoke on the need for a fearlessapproach.

“We’ll have to think about it(changes to the line-up) and be fear-less in our approach. We’ll keepthings simple and will not try tothink much,” he said.

RCB too are smarting from astring of three successive losses.They also suffered defeat Saturdayagainst SRH. The losses havereignited the debate on the team’sdependency on its star players –Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

Lot at stake for DC, RCB

TODAY’S

MATCH

RCB DC AT 7:30 PM

TELECAST: STAR SPORTS

RUTURAJ GAIKWAD’S MATCH-WINNING KNOCK ENSURES OUSTER OF KXIP FROM IPL 2020

Chennai win battle of Kings

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Abu Dhabi, Nov 1: Chennai SuperKings (CSK) crushed Kings XIPunjab (KXIP) by nine wickets to endtheir worst-ever IPL season hereSunday on a positive note. RuturajGaikwad (62 n o, 49b, 6x4, 1x6) gothis third successive half century asCSK ended KXIP’s run in the ongoingedition of the IPL.

KXIP needed a win in their finalleague game to remain in contentionfor the play-offs besides depending onother results. But CSK had other ideas.

Bringing his big-hitting prowessto the fore, Deepak Hooda (62 n o,30b, 3x4, 4x6) lifted a flounderingKXIP to 153 for six with a counter-attacking innings. However, in theend that did not prove enough.Gaikwad put on a solid opening

stand of 82 for the firstwicket with Faf du

Plessis (48, 34b, 4x4, 2x6)before finishing off the game

with a second-wicket unbeatenstand of 72 with Amabati Rayudu(30, 30b, 2x4). Both CSK and KXIP fin-

ished the tournament witha 6-8 win-loss record.

Earlier, Hooda’sblitzkrieg helped KXIPgoing past the 150-run

mark. Thanks tohim, KXIP man-

aged 40 runs inthe last threeovers afterCSK, optingto field,choked theirmiddle-order for

runs.PacerLungi

Ngidi (3/39)was the bestbowler for CSK.

Returning to the side after an in-jury-forced break, Mayank Agarwal(26) got KXIP off to a breezy start,collecting two boundaries off DeepakChahar’s first over. In-form skip-per KL Rahul (29) got into the act withthe day’s first six, over the thirdman region before scoring twoboundaries off Shardul Thakur.

In the next over, Agarwal wel-comed Ngidi by driving him to thelong-off boundary, but the SouthAfrican had his revenge in the nextdelivery as the opener edged theball into the middle stump. Thereafterthe runs simply dried up for KXIP.Their hopes took a further jolt forKXIP with leg-spinner Imran Tahir(1/24) catching big-hitting ChrisGayle (12) plumb in front. WithNicholas Puran (two) also failingto fire KXIP were always fighting anuphill battle to put runs on board. Brief scores:KXIP 153 for 6 (DeepakHooda 62 n o, Lungi Ngidi 3/39) lost toCSK 154 for 1 in 18.5 overs (RuturajGaikwad 62 n o, Faf du Plessis 48, Ambati Rayudu 30 n o) by nine wickets.Ruturaj Gaikwad

STANDING TALL: Pacer LungiNgidi celebrates with CSK matesafter dismissing Mayank Agarwal

FIGHT FOR PLAYOFF SPOT INTENSIFIES

Morgan, Cumminskeep Knights in hunt AGENCIES

Dubai, Nov 1: Both were fast andfurious, Eoin Morgan (68 n o, 35b,5x4, 6x6) with the bat and PatCummins (4/34) with the ball asKolkata Knight Riders kept them-selves in reckoning for the IPL-2020 playoffs here Sunday. In theprocess, KKR sent Rajasthan Royals(RR) packing out of the IPL de-feating them by 60 runs.

KKR posted a fighting total of 191for seven and then restricted RR 131for nine to in their 20 overs. They thusended up on 14 points from an iden-tical number of games. However, theywill have to wait for the game betweenMumbai Indians (MI) and SunrisersHyderabad (SRH). If SRH win, they willalso climb to 14 points and then the netrun rate (NRR) will come into play.

Morgan’s blitzkrieg led KKR toa fighting total. He was well-sup-ported by Rahul Tripathi (39, 34b,4x4, 2x6) and opener Shubman Gill(36, 24b, 6x4). Andy Russell (25, 11b.

1x4, 3x6) promised much, but failedto progress. Even then KKR putup a challenging total.

The Knights need not have wor-ried. Cummins simply blew awaythe top half of the RR claiming thewickets of Robin Uthappa (6), BenStokes (18), Steve Smith (4) andRiyan Parag (0) to just put KKR’sstamp firmly in the game. In be-tween the spell of Cummins, ShivamMavi had sent back the dangerousSanju Samson (1) to dash whateverhopes the Royals had.

Jos Buttler (35) and RahulTewatia (31) tried to make a gameout of it, but by then the requiredrun rate had climbed to more than13 runs per over. Both fell to spin-ner Varun Chakravarthy (2/20)and from then on RR batters werejust going through the motions. Brief scores: KKR 191 for 7 (EoinMorgan 68 n o, Rahul Tripathi 39,Rahul Tewatia 3/25) beat RR 131 for9 (Jos Buttler 35, Pat Cummins 4/34,Varun Chakravarthy 2/20) by runs.

Shreyas Iyer (L) and Virat Kohli

HAMILTON BLAZES TRACKS FOR 93RD FORMULA 1 WIN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Imola (Italy), Nov 1: Lewis Hamiltonovercame a sluggish start to win theEmilia Romagna Grand Prix hereSunday for a record-extending 93rdFormula One (F1) victory. Hamiltonbeat Mercedes teammate ValtteriBottas by 5.7 seconds and rushedover to celebrate with the team’s en-gineers and mechanics after the teamclinched another Constructors’ title.Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo wasplaced third for a second podium ofan impressive season.

Hamilton started from secondon the grid and was overtaken byMax Verstappen, who span off track11 laps from the end after his rearright tire blew, bringing out the

safety car and prompting drivers tochange to quicker tires.

Hamilton had missed the firstpit window and came in after theother drivers, but his lead was suf-ficient enough and he came back outabout two seconds ahead of Bottas.

The safety car remained on thetrack following another crash asGeorge Russell lost control andslammed into the track barriers. Hewas unharmed but upset at his ownerror while behind a safety car, as hesat on the grass and slapped himselfseveral times on the leg in frustration.

This gave Bottas a chance to pres-sure Hamilton with six laps left,but Hamilton got away cleanly afterthe re-start and clocked fastest lapson his way to another comfortablewin. F1 returned to Imola for the firsttime since 2006, when MichaelSchumacher won at the Enzo andDino Ferrari circuit situated inItaly’s auto racing heartland and thesite of Ayrton Senna's death froma high-speed crash in 1994.

MAN OF THE MOMENT: LewisHamilton celebrates with the trophy Sunday