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IRREGULAR by MANJUL

What do you mean bywhich terrorist has holed up?

It’s Prez Trump

SHORT TAKES

Bhubaneswar: Anukul Maiti, 55,the key accused in the I-Corechit fund scam breathed his lastduring treatment at CapitalHospital Sunday. He was lodgedin Jharpada jail since 2017, Maitiand his wife Kanika, residents ofKolkata, were the managingdirectors of I-Core E-ServicesLimited. CBI had arrested themon charges of cheating in 2017.They were later produced in aBhubaneswar court and sent tojudicial custody.

I-Core MD, lodged inJharpada jail, dies

Cuttack: The Odisha State BarCouncil Sunday announcedelection of the affiliated barassociations in the State will beheld on December 12, 2020 forthe remaining period of the year2020-21. In a letter to theelection officers of affiliated barassociations, the state BarCouncil stated the polling willbe done by secret ballot forposts at different bars from 8am to 4 pm.

Bar associationpolls Dec 12

Rourkela: The owner of acrusher unit, Pradeep Kundu,was allegedly abducted byunidentified miscreants nearBijabahal under Biramitrapurpolice limits in Sundargarhdistrict Saturday evening.According to sources, Pradeephad gone to Bijabahal Saturdayto meet his staff and give themtheir salaries. While he wasreturning, some miscreantsabducted him. Police found hiscar from on NH-143.

Crusher unitowner kidnapped

Actor Bhumi Pednekar says she wantsto leave a legacy by acting ingood cinema

SETTING GOALSXi Jinping orders officials to expedite theconstruction of rail line in Tibet, close toArunachal Pradesh

CHINA’S RLY PROJECT IN TIBET

INTERNATIONAL | P10

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 218 | www.orissapost.com

LEISURE | P2

Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami was moved to theTaloja jail after allegedly using a mobile phonewhile in judicial custody TWO STATES | P7

ARNAB SHIFTED

12 PAGES | `4.00BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9 | 2020

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WEATHERBHUB

30.5° 30.5°CTK

16.8°MAX

MINTE

MP

Humidity 65% 56%Rainfall Nil Nil

Forecast

Dry weatherlikely

18.0°

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 8: After facing alot of criticism, the OxfordUniversity Press has changed thedefinition of the word woman. Thechange was made following an ex-tensive review that was initiatedby petitions filed last year criticis-ing the inclusion of words ‘bitch,bint, wench’ and other offensiveterms as synonyms for women.

The updated definition in theOxford Dictionary now acknowl-edges that a woman can be a person’swife, girlfriend, or female lover,rather than being all these thingsonly to a man. The changes havebeen made to the definition of manalso and now it includes similargender-neutral terminology. Otherterms that have been revised under

the changes are related to sexual at-tractiveness and activity.

Several labels have also been as-signed terms categorised as deroga-tory, offensive or dated. The wordbitch and bint, are also no longerlisted as a synonyms for the wordwoman. According to an OxfordUniversity Press spokeswoman, the

changes were implemented afteran “extensive review of entries re-lated to woman and many other re-lated terms.”

According to The Guardian, thecampaigners requesting thechanges had argued that the ex-amples the dictionary offered forman were much more exhaustive,

than those for woman. They saidthat the dictionary presentedwomen as a subordinate or an ir-ritation. The petition also de-manded that all the terms thatstressed men’s ownership overwomen or discriminated and pa-tronised them, should be elimi-nated. Additionally, the definitionof woman was to be enlarged to in-clude examples representative ofminorities such as transgenderwomen and lesbian women.

Women’s Aid and the Women’sEquality party had supported thecampaign this year on InternationalWomen’s Day. They signed an openletter and demanded OUP to changethe sexist definitions. “Bitch is nota synonym for woman. It is dehu-manising to call a woman a bitch.It is but one sad, albeit extremely

damaging, example of everydaysexism. And that should be explainedclearly in the dictionary entry usedto describe us,” the letter read.

The campaign was started byMaria Beatrice Giovanardi. The pe-tition has reached 30,000 signaturesand reportedly, Maria was “veryhappy” with the changes and felt thecampaign had achieved 90 per centof its aims. She called the inclu-sion of gender-neutral terminol-ogy “a huge step forward for theLGBTQI people.” She added, “It isrespecting their love and unions.”

However, she remained disap-pointed by the fact that though theword bitch, that is defined as a“spiteful, unpleasant or dislikedwoman” was now labelled offen-sive in the dictionary, it still con-tinues to be listed as a synonym.

MANISH KUMAR, OP

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8:Private laboratories in thestate have started antibodyor serological tests, whichwas so far done only in gov-ernment hospitals. Manyonline and offline lab serv-ices are offering lucrativeservices and encouragingpeople to undertake the test.

Antibody test is under-taken to detect past infectionby the novel coronavirusby measuring and screeningantibodies developed inhuman bodies against theviral disease owing to itsexposure to the virus in the past.

According to the privatelabs, as several asympto-matic patients recover with-out knowing that they hadbeen infected by the virus,this test can help them in as-certaining whether theywere exposed to the virus atany point of time.

However, city doctors saidthat antibody test shouldnot be used by people forany treatment or course cor-rection but only be under-taken to know about theirpast exposure to the virus.This technology is also usedby government agencies forresearch work.

“This test reveals thatwhether a person was ex-posed to the virus in thelast 3-4 weeks. It does notmention about current in-fection. As many Covid-19patients are asymptomatic,it helps them to knowif theywere infected in the past. Italso measures the levels ofantibodies in people,” said

Dr Manoj Sahu, gastroen-terologist at SUM Hospital.

According to the doctors,two types of antibodies areproduced in human bodieswith the exposure of thevirus-IgM and IgG. WhileIgM develops faster and diesfaster, IgG lasts longer andprotects the recovered pa-tients for a longer time.

“Higher numbers of an-tibodies show better pro-tection and they can be eli-gible for plasma donation,”Dr Sahu said.

“While many people haveexpressed their keennessto undergo the test, it isworth mentioning that anti-gen test does not confirmwhether a person will beinfected by the virus in fu-ture,” said Dr Alakta Das, acity gynaecologist.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8: Odisha hasbeen a leading producer of cotton, asnearly 10 crore kg of the fiber is pro-duced annually in 12 districts of thestate. However, it is a pity that thereare no cotton mills in the state to makeuse of the cotton.

According to the state Handicraft,Handloom and Textiles Minister’sstatement in the Assembly, one cottonprocessing mill is operational at Kesingain Kalahandi district, six cooperative-backed cotton mills are lying defunct.

What is sad is that in the absence ofprocessing units or textile parks to usethe state’s cotton output, people arebereft of potential employment op-portunities in this sector. In such a sce-nario, the major parts of cotton producedhere are exported to other states.

Roughly1,22,335 weaver families,most of them in western Odisha, areeking out their living in handloomsector. According to an estimate, theyannually use cotton worth `95 crore.

Though these weavers have beendemanding a textile park in westernOdisha to promote handloom items,there is no one to lend them an ear.

Assistant Director of Textiles DebrajSahu told Orissa POST that the gov-ernment procures cotton from farm-ers through mandis. “As there is no cot-ton mill here, the product is exportedto other states – mostly the southernstates. Some cotton is also sold toPunjab and Haryana, he added. Sources

said cotton cultivation is carried outin 12 districts – Kalahandi, Bolangir,Rayagada, Nuapada, Subarnapur,Bargarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Koraput,Boudh, Kandhamal and Angul.

The state produced 5,78,500 balesor 9,83,45,000 kg cotton in the 2019-20fiscal. Out of this Kalahandi aloneproduced 2,27,240 bales of cotton.However, the harvested cotton was ofno use to the weavers here due to clo-sure of six cotton mills.

The Odisha Weavers’ Cotton Mill inBargarh, Kalinga Cotton Mill inDhenkanal, Utkal Weavers CooperativeCotton Mill in Khurda, JagannathWeavers’ Cooperative Cotton Mill inAthagarh of Cuttack district, SaralaWeavers’ Cooperative Cotton Mill inJagatsinghpur district and Sri GopinathWeavers’ Cooperative Cotton Mill inBalasore have downed shutters longback. Only the Konark Cotton Mill,spread over 50 acres, at Kesinga inKalahandi district is the only func-tioning cotton mill in the state.

The state government has initiateda move to revive three defunct cottonmills, including are Odisha CottonMill in Bargarh, Kalinga Cotton Millin Dhenkanal and Sri Gopinath CottonMill in Balasore, through privatisa-tion. Privatisation of Sri GopinathCotton Mill is complete and the processof handing over the land is on.

Many have demanded establish-ment of more cotton mills and textileparks in the state to curb migration ofskilled workers to other states.

Establishment of more cotton mills andtextile parks will benefit these skilledmigrant workers who now work inmills located in Gujarat, Karnataka andWest Bengal, the departmental ministeracknowledged. Meanwhile, the weavers’association members said establishingmore cotton mills and textile parksas per the Odisha Apparel Policy-2016will create more employment oppor-tunities in the state.

Priyaranjan Kar, secretary of OdishaArtisan Federation, said that Odishahas more than three lakh weavers butthe state government is unable to sup-ply them cotton as per their demand.These weavers now depend on stateslike Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh fortheir livelihood. Duryodhan Chand, atussar saree weaver in Gopalpur, termedthe state government’s move to getglobal brand tag to Odisha Handloomas unfortunate. “Instead of makingraw materials available for weavers, thegovernment is keen on internationalrecognition only,” he lamented.

PLENTIFUL COTTON OUTPUT GOES IN VAIN

Oxford Dictionary updates definitions of the word ‘woman’The OxfordDictionary amends the

definitions of theword ‘woman’

and also updates the sexist and

offensive synonyms used

for women

AGENCIES

New York, Nov 8: US President-electJoe Biden has called for national heal-ing after a deeply divisive campaign ofharsh rhetoric but issued a warningagainst those who would “bet againstAmerica”.

In his victory speech in Delawareon Saturday night after the media de-clared him the winner of the 2020 pres-idential race, Biden said: “We embarkon the work that God and history havecalled upon us to do.”

The speech focused on domestic issues,especially bringing the nation togetherand pulling it out of the Covid-19 crisis.He said his task is “to make America re-spected around the world again”.

“Tonight, the whole world is watch-ing America,” he said. “And I believe atour best, America is a beacon for theglobe. We will lead not only by the ex-ample of our power, but by the powerof our example.”

“This is a great nation. It has alwaysbeen a bad bet to bet against America.We are good people. This is the UnitedStates of America,” Biden added.

The former Vice President did not

get into any specifics of policy or pro-gramme except on the coronaviruspandemic. During his campaign he ac-cused President Donald Trump of mis-handling the pandemic, which has re-sulted in over 225,000 deaths and madefighting it a priority.

“I will spare no effort or commit-ment to turn this pandemic around,”he said. He announced that he was ap-pointing a panel of leading scientistsand experts to create an action pro-gramme based on his and KamalaHarris's Covid-19 plan for fighting it

starting on January 20, the day aPresident is sworn in. "That plan willbe built on bedrock of science. It willbe constructed out of compassion, em-pathy and concern."

Addressing the nation’s polarisa-tion, he said: “Let this grim era of de-monisation in America begin to end,here and now.”

Speaking directly to Trump sup-porters, he said: “To those who votedfor President Trump, I understandyour disappointment tonight. I've losta couple of elections myself.” He ap-

pealed to them to “give each other achance”, to end “the harsh rhetoric” andto “lower the temperature”.

It’s time to heal America: Joe BidenTHE US PRESIDENT-ELECT HAS CALLED UPON CITIZENS TO END THE ‘GRIM ERA OF DEMONISATION’

Trump doesn’t plan toconcede any time soonWASHINGTON: After the declarationSaturday that Democrat Joe Bidenhad won the race for the WhiteHouse, Republican President DonaldTrump and his allies made one thingclear: he does not plan to concedeanytime soon. The president, who hasspent months trying to undermine theelection results with unproven allega-tions of fraud, pledged Saturday to goforward with a legal strategy that hehopes will overturn state results thatgave Biden the win in Tuesday’s vote.Trump aides and Republican allies,while somewhat conflicted on how toproceed, largely supported his strate-gy or remained silent. “The simplefact is this election is far from over.Joe Biden has not been certified asthe winner of any states,” Trump saidin a statement released by his cam-paign around midday.

Several patients areasymptomatic andrecover withoutknowing that theyhad been infected.This test can help in ascertaining whetherthey were exposedto the virus at anypoint of time

Pvt labs in City beginantibody tests for nCoV

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8: Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik Sunday di-rected that there would be no changein the post-matric scholarshipamount given to students fromScheduled Caste and ScheduledTribe categories in the state.

The scholarship will continueas per the previous provisions.

The notification of the SC and STDevelopment Department has nowbeen put on hold, said a statementby the Chief Minister's Office.

The Chief Minister directed the

department to put up a resolutionon this matter on hold and imme-diately send the file to the CMOfor a detailed review. The govern-ment decision came a day afterYouth Wing of the Odisha Congressslammed it for reducing moneygiven to SC and ST students underits post-matric scholarship scheme.

The state had slashed such schol-arship for SC and ST students in atleast 15 courses, including BTechand MBA courses, said sources.

Earlier, addressing reportershere Saturday, Youth Congress statepresident Smruti Ranjan Lenka

said, “Both state government andthe Centre are playing with the fu-ture of the SC and ST students bycutting down the post-matric schol-arship. On the by-poll day(November 3), the state SCSTDevelopment Department issueda notification reducing the post-matric scholarship amount.”

The post-Matric scholarshipscheme is a Central governmentscheme and was started by the UPAgovernment with 100 per cent fund-ing. However, after the Modi gov-ernment took charge, it reduced thefunds flow, the Congress leader said.

No cut in SC/ST scholarship: CM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Nov 8: Four securityforces personnel, including anArmy officer, and three militantswere killed during a failed infil-tration bid by the ultras along theLine of Control (LoC) in Jammu andKashmir’s Machil sector Sunday, of-ficials said.

The militants made an abortive bidduring the night to infiltrate intothe Indian side of the LoC in Machilsector in north Kashmir’s Kupwaradistrict, they added. The infiltratorswere challenged and three of them

were killed, the officials said. However,three Army soldiers, including an of-ficer, and a Border Security Force(BSF) jawan were also killed dur-ing the operation, they added.

Meanwhile, Srinagar-based de-fence spokesperson Col RajeshKalia said at about 1 am, a BSF pa-trol noticed suspicious movementnear the Anti-Infiltration ObstacleSystem (LoC fence), about 3.5 kmfrom the LoC. The BSF personnelchallenged the infiltrators and agunbattle ensued, in which a mil-itant was killed, he said.

“A BSF soldier was killed in ac-

tion (KIA) and the firefight stoppedat 0400 hours,” Col Kalia said in astatement. He said more troops wererushed to the area and the movementof the militants was tracked with thehelp of surveillance devices.

“Contact was re-established at1020 hours when heavy fire wasdrawn by own search parties ap-proximately 1.5 km from the LoC.In the ensuing firefight, two moreterrorists were killed. Own troopssuffered three KIA and two in-jured,” Col Kalia said.

He added that the injured sol-diers have been evacuated.

4 jawans, 3 militants killed in J&K’s Machil

ALTHOUGH ODISHA IS A LEADING PRODUCER OF COTTON, ABSENCE OF TEXTILE MILLS COMPELS WEAVERS TO STARVE OR MIGRATE

A cotton cultivator in Ganjam district

Mumbai: AyushmannKhurrana and Bhumi Pednekar-starrer Bala was released oneyear ago on this day. The ac-tress says she wants to leave be-hind a legacy and thinks that

only can bedone withgood cin-

ema.Bala,di-rected

by

Amar Kaushik, revolves arounda young man suffering frompremature balding.Talkingabout the movie, Bhumi said:“Bala is a very special film. It’sagain a film where I got a chanceto experiment with a powerfulcharacter. ”

Bala marked the third col-laboration between Bhumi andAyushmann. The two have alsoworked in movies like DumLaga Ke Haisha and ShubhMangal Saavdhan.

Bhumi, who will soon beseen in Durgavati, said: “I def-

initely want to leave behinda legacy and I think you

can only do that with goodcinema..” IANS

Varun celebratesBiden's victoryMumbai: Actor Varun Dhawanseems to be over the moon afterthe victory of Democratic nomi-nee Joe Biden in the US presiden-tial elections, going by his post onsocial media.

Varun posted a string of pic-tures on Instagram Sunday morn-ing, wherein he is seen dressed ina US flag print suit paired with awhite shirt and red sunglasses.

The actor congratulatedPresident-elect Biden using hischaracter name ‘Kunwa’ fromupcoming movie Coolie No. 1.

“KUNWAR- BIDEN 2020Hamare naye dost @joebidencongratulation (congratula-

tions to our new friend.A# p r e s i d e n t n o 1 # k u n -warsaab #coolieno1 com-ing soon,” Varun wrote inthe caption. IANS

Mumbai: Actress Rakul Preet Singhhas been working really hard andlost track of day and night.

Rakul made the confession onInstagram. In the image, the actressis seen getting her hair and makedone for the film she is currentlyshooting.

On the picture,she wrote:

“#Nightshootmode. When you havelost track of day/night”.

Recently, Rakul shared that a blingbag is one of the main characters inher upcoming film, which also featuresJohn Abraham, Arjun Kapoor, andAditi Rao Hydari.

Rakul posted a picture onInstagram, where Arjun is seen giv-

ing a metallic coloured bag to theactress.

“That bling bag is alsoone of the main charac-

ters what say @kaachua@arjunkapoor #lifeon-set #laughter #work-life,” Rakul Preetsaid.

The yet-untitledfilm is a romanticcomedy is di -rected byKaashvie Nair.

IANS

P2 SINGER NOEL GALLAGHER ‘WARY’ OF COVID VACCINE

leisure Singer Noel Gallagher is not keen on the ideaof Covid vaccination, whenever it becomesavailable. “I’'d be very, very wary of taking avaccine. I don’t even take tablets,” said theformer Oasis band member.

When it comes to unwinding, nothing works forSharon Stone as a good bath, yoga and her colouringbooks. “Go and have a really good bath. Why not pullup a yoga mat? How about painting, drawing orcolouring in? They are very calming,” she said.

MONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSIf you are tangled in somelegal matters, Ganeshaadvises you go for an outof court settlement. Youare strong, and with patience and perse-verance you will sail smoothly through dif-ficult times. People, however, may perceiveyou as a headstrong or inflexible person.

PISCESYour powers of concentra-tion and focus come to thefore. Your lucidity and eyefor detail will save youfrom many a hassle that could have devel-oped later on. The time that this will saveyour bosses and peers will bring you manyaccolades, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSYou are in a mood toentertain your familyand friends today, pre-dicts Ganesha. Jovial andcheerful you, a family tour is onyour mind. Meanwhile, you evendecide to catch up on your work,and you may receive accolades forthe work delivered.

LIBRARub-a-dub and scruband scrub: that is yourmotto today as you payextra attention to sani-tation. Call it the quirky side to you, buttoday, you may plan to wash your car,rearrange the furniture, and take upcleaning tasks in the afternoon.

SCORPIOYour day will gravitate tobeing constructive today,predicts Ganesha. Atwork, your dedication willkeep others on their toes; and you milesahead. Marital bliss will be at its best. Allin all, a colourful day, says Ganesha.

LEOIf you thought theRubik's Cube was con-fusing, wait till you seewhat the day has instore for you. A rather nasty profession-al glitch will baffle and bewilder you.You may want to gear up for certainunpleasant situations at work.

VIRGOSpeech-craft will beyour potent weapontoday, predictsGanesha. The gift ofgab was never more silvery, as youenchant your way into the hearts ofthe opposite sex sometime late in theday. Put-off work will be completed.

GEMINIYou may be forced toshare your personalbelongings with someoneelse. This may make you a little angry, evenjealous perhaps. Spirituality and a visit to areligious place may help you restore yourpeace of mind, suggests Ganesha.

CANCERLove is not just in theair, it is everywhere. Thelove bug will bite you sohard that it may makeyou weep. If you are a part of a long-standing relationship, you will fall in lovewith your partner all over again.

ARIESLike a true man of words,today you will talk yourway into whatever it isthat you want! If you've been wooingsomeone, a tête-à-tête will work won-ders for you. But make sure you don'tshirk responsibilities and completeyour pending projects before yourboss comes asking for them.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSThere is a chance thatyour analytical ability willget noticed today by yourboss, predicts Ganesha. Such an ana-lytical skill will add to your awarenessand wisdom in the afternoon. Youmight go on a shopping spree to buycassettes, CDs and similar electronicgadgets, expects Ganesha.

CAPRICORNIt's all true and not toohard to digest either:your family will be yourladder to success andwill bless you with all the luck you need,says Ganesha. You will make a goodhead-start today, right from your home,and will continue to maintain the sametempo at work too.

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.

STONE’S UNWIND THERAPY: GOOD BATH, YOGA, COLOURING BOOKS

LOS ANGELES: Congratulatory posts have beenpouring in over the last several hours for USPresident-elect Joe Biden and his running mateKamala Harris, who is set to become the first female

Vice President of America.Many of the congratu-latory messages were in

fact for Harris, forbreaking the glass

ceiling and be-coming the first

woman to be-come US VicePresident.

‘MADAM VICE-PRESIDENT NOLONGER A FICTIONAL CHARACTER’

“Crying and hold-ing my daughter, lookbaby, she looks likeus,” tweeted actressMindy Kaling, refer-ring to KamalaHarris.

“Amma, we made itOverjoyed to welcome our new VicePresident: @KamalaHarris,” wrotePadma Lakshmi, popular as posted TopChef host to global audiences.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus,famous for her role ofthe Vice President ofthe United States in thepopular series, Veep,shared: “Madam VicePresident is no longera fictional character.”“What a tremendous

moment in our nation’s history!” tweetedHollywood star Reese Witherspoon,and added:“Congrats to ournew President@JoeBiden andthe FirstFemale VicePresident inour history@KamalaHarris.”

“Just started getting chocked up.I really wish my friend @chad-

wickboseman was here to see

@KamalaHarris be-come the first femaleVP in history,” wroteactor Josh Gad.

Singer Alicia Keysposted: “Let’s keepbeing loud & strong.Now the real work begins! Big congrats

to @KamalaHarris.”“Congratulations

to President-elect JoeBiden and VicePresident-electKamala Har ris,”posted pop superstarBeyonce, with a pic-

ture showing Bidenand Harris wearing masks and shar-ing a high-five un-der neath anAmerican flag.

Singer MileyCyrus wrote: “NowTHIS is a PARTY INTHE USA!@JoeBiden@KamalaHarris.”

Actress-filmmaker Elizabeth Bankswrote: “I’m so so so relieved. Congrats@JoeBiden I am crying at the thoughtof @KamalaHarris as Vice President of

the United States -wow wow wow.”

“Madam VicePresident! I’m weep-ing!” wrote JesseTyler Ferguson.

IANS

HOLLYWOOD CELEBRATESKAMALA HARRIS’ FEAT

RAKUL PREET LOSESTRACK OF DAY, NIGHT

Pednekar wantsto leave a legacy

Pic: VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

P3

downtown

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MONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARON LORD’S DUTY

Artisans preparingdecorative pieces for theupcoming NagarjunaBesha ritual of LordJagannath in Puri, Sunday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 5,04,44,506 3,56,58,577 12,58,690

India 84,11,034 77,64,763 1,25,029

Odisha 3,01,574 2,88,168 1,425

COVID-19 TRACKER

POLITICKLE BY MANJUL

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8: The stateleadership of the Congress partySunday attacked the Narendra Modigovernment at the Centre over thedemonetization move, four yearsback, and said India is still facingits ‘detrimental consequences’.

Congress Legislative Leader inOdisha Assembly NarasinghaMishra and veteran leaderPanchanan Kanungo Sunday helda press conference to attack theBJP government at the Centre.

“When the demonetisation wasannounced in 2016, tall claims weremade by Prime Minister NarendraModi that it would help in reducingcounterfeit notes, tackle terrorism

and several others. However, fouryears down the line we saw thatmost of the promises made by thePM failed to yield the desired re-sults,” Mishra said.

“Are we able to see large depositsof black money to the governmentcoffers? Most problems againstwhich the move was planned haveonly increased,” he added.

Mishra said that the Indian econ-omy collapsed due to the disastrousmove taken by the BJP govern-ment at the Centre. “In 2014-15, theGDP growth was 7.2 per cent. In2019-20 it was 4.2 per cent. The econ-omy only crashed during the BJPgovernment at the Centre,” he said.

“Around 25 lakh people have losttheir jobs and the unemployment

has also risen during the last fewyears of the BJP regime. It was thepoor who were the most affected dur-ing demonetisation. This showsthe intention of the governmentwas not good. It was meant to helpthe corporates, harass the commonman which ultimately damagedthe country badly rather than help-ing it,” Mishra said.

Kanungo also blamed the Odishagovernment for supporting the move.He said, “As per the RBI report, be-tween 2018-19 and 2019-20, in twostates—Bihar and Uttar Pradesh thecounterfeit notes only increased.Both the states are run by the BJP gov-ernment. The Modi government mustanswer how the fake note industryflourished post demonetization.”

He also added, “Odisha govern-ment supported the move. Now, thefake note industry has made itspresence in Odisha too. Counterfeitnotes grew with the rate of 121 percent in one year. It was just a politicalmove to help their party.”

Cong slams Saffron on 4th

anniv of demonetisationAre we able to see largedeposits of black money tothe government coffers?Most problems againstwhich the move wasplanned have only increasedNARASINGHA MISHRA | CONGRESSLEGISLATIVE LEADER, ODISHA ASSEMBLY

Congress leaders Narasingha Mishra (L) and Panchanan Kanungo addressthe press conference, Sunday

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8: The adventof digitised services has made sev-eral cumbersome works of theRevenue department hassle freeand allowed the citizens to get theirwork done in shorter duration oftime besides doing away with themandatory visits.

The department in collaborationwith the Board of Revenue, Cuttackin the past few years has worked to-wards digitisation of land recordsand came out with several new so-lutions to cater to the needs of thenew generation government.

“The life of landholders has be-come much easier and hassle freewith transparency ending the eraof discretionary power.We have now digitisedland records, payment ofland revenue has beendone online where mu-tation of land has beenmade in the shortesttime,” an official fromthe department said.

The Revenue department alongwith the Board of Revenue has nowstarted simplifying the kisams andsatwas recorded in the Record ofRights or ‘Patta’ and consequently,

rationalising the fixation of fairand equitable rent to bring about par-ity resulting in simplifying the land

administration in a rev-olutionary way.

“After digitization, itcame to the notice of thegovernment that in spiteof issuance of guidelinesand instructions pub-lished in the ‘Kisam

Niyamabali’ and ‘Rayati Jami RecordKariba Pranali on SatwaNiyamabali’, by the Board of Revenuein the years 1992 and 1975 respectively,there is still existence of 7797 typesof Kisam and 750 types of Satwas in

the Record of Rights,” a statementfrom the Board of Revenue said.The board said one of the primereasons for such large number ofkisams in the records is due to theuse of different vernacular names.The department has been workingtowards universal nomenclature ofthe same for reducing confusions anddisputes. “In the second phase, therationalisation of purely govern-ment kisam (1308 in number)recorded in the four governmentbooks namely, Abada Jog yaAnabadi, Abada Ajogya Anabadi,Rakhit and Sarbasadharana shallbe taken up,” the board said.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Nov 8: Chandanpur policeclaimed to have arrested four per-sons including a woman on chargesof smuggling brown sugar intothe Holy City Saturday.

Police also seized 273 grams ofbrown sugar from the accused.

“Illegal drugs trade has beenon the rise in the Holy city. Wehave found 273 grams of brownsugar from a car during routinechecking near Balabhadrapur by-pass Saturday afternoon. Fourpersons have been arrested in thisconnection,” said a police officer.

The accused were Sheikh Sajan,Sheikh Samatulla and his wifeApsara Begum of Jaleswar inBalasore and Prakash Behera ofPuri. “They were souring brownsugar from Balasore and selling itin Puri,” police said.

PNN & AGENCIES

Puri, Nov 8: ‘Mo Dham, MoGarba’ is not about a week or amonth, but should be carried onin a daily basis, Housing andUrban Development MinisterPratap Jena said while attendingthe concluding event of the week-long cleanliness drive in the HolyCity here, Sunday.

Applauding the efforts of thedistrict administration, munici-pality and people from severalwalks of life in their bid to trans-form Puri into one of the ‘cleanesturban settlements in the country’,Jena said, “Puri is among the fron-trunners to secure the number oneplace in the 2021 SwachhSurvekshan, a countrywide clean-liness survey for cities. The stategovernment has been actively pro-viding the requisites to achievethe goal and will continue to do soin future as well.”

Puri MLA Jayanta Sarangi, too,praised the efforts of the district ad-ministration towards the noblecause. The drive has gone a long wayin inculcating a sense of cleanlinessamong the Holy City residents, theMLA pointed out.

Highlighting the future course ofthe drive, Puri Collector BalwantSingh discussed the importance ofhealth, sanitation and sanctity intransforming Puri into the clean-est city in India apart from secur-ing an independent identity onworld map.

The event saw ‘Swachh Sathis’and other participants taking oath

to keep the Pilgrim City clean.“The cleanliness campaign was

undertaken in each and every wardof the Holy City. As part of thecampaign, residents were urged tosegregate the garbage in separatetrash bins. Our vehicles collectedthe segregated waste from the house-holds. The residents of the PilgrimCity took a pledge to keep Puri

clean. They also put their signa-tures on the banners affixed on thegarbage-carrying vehicles. The sig-nature-bearing banners were dis-played on the Blue Flag Beach,”said a senior district administrationofficial who attended the event.

People from several walks of life,including Puri municipality exec-utive officer Bijay Kumar Das and

additional executive officer SarojKumar Swain, attended the event.

According to sources, in a bid tosecure the number one position inthe 2021 Swachh Survekshan, thedistrict administration had launchedthe week-long sensitisation drive inPuri November 1.

Gobardhan PeethShankaracharya NischalanandaSaraswati had unveiled the logoand tagline for the campaign at a spe-cial event here.

According to the districtCollector, Puri is one of the CharDhams, four holy shrines, in thecountry. This is the abode of LordJagannath. Puri city should be amodel for others with regard tothe cleanliness aspect. The citycan secure the top place in theSwachh Survekshan-2021 with co-operation from its residents.

Curtains down on ‘Mo Dham, Mo Garba’ THE DISTRICT ADMIN HAD LAUNCHED THE WEEK-LONG SENSITISATION DRIVE IN PURI NOV 1

Residents were urged tosegregate the garbage in

separate trash bins

Municipality vehicles collectedthe segregated waste from

the households

‘Swachh Sathis’ and other participants take oath to keep the Pilgrim City clean, Sunday OP PHOTOS

The residents of the Pilgrim Citytook a pledge to keep Puri

clean

They also put their signatureson the banners affixed on the

garbage-carrying vehicles

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Nov 8: The Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA) hasexpedited process for silver plat-ing of the doors of as many as eightgates of Srimandir.

A 21-member committee is allset to meet at Niladri Bhakta Niwashere at 4 pm Monday (November 9)to finalise designs for the silverplating work, SJTA sources said.

The temple administration hadearlier planned to cover the doorsof Jay-Vijay, Kalahata, Beharana,Satapahacha and Bhoga Mandap

gates of Srimandir with silver.There was also a plan for silverplating of the doors at Nrusinghatemple, Bimala temple andMahalaxmi temple on the 12th cen-tury shrine precincts.

“Around 2.5 tonnes of silver wouldbe required for covering the eightdoors with the white metal. A devo-

tee has come forward to donate sil-ver and bear all other expenses forthe beautification work. Some ar-tisans from Mumbai will also par-ticipate in the November 9 meeting,”said a source in the SJTA.

The first meeting of the 21-mem-ber committee was first organisedOctober 27. The meeting deliber-

ated on various issues related tothe silver plating work.

It is learnt that the temple ad-ministration would construct newwooden doors for the eight gatesbefore initiating the silver platingwork. The doors would be con-structed with fine quality teakwoods, said an official of the SJTA.

“Initially, the doors at theSatapahacha gate of Srimandirwould be covered with silver. Theexperts would observe the workand make necessary changes inthe remaining seven doors,” said theofficial.

Notably, many devotees havecome forward to donate gold and sil-ver to Srimandir for beautificationwork. Recently, the SJTA has ap-proved designs for a new set of or-naments for the presiding deitiesafter a devotee from Mumbai showedhis interest to donate 5kg gold toSrimandir.

Srimandir panel to finalise designs today

AROUND 2.5 TONNES OF SILVERWOULD BE REQUIRED FOR

COVERING THE EIGHT DOORS WITHTHE WHITE METAL

A DEVOTEE HAS COME FORWARD TODONATE SILVER AND BEAR ALL

OTHER EXPENSES FOR THE BEAUTIFICATION WORK

SOME ARTISANS FROM MUMBAIWILL ALSO PARTICIPATE IN THE

NOVEMBER 9 MEETING

A 21-MEMBER COMMITTEE IS ALL

SET TO MEET ATNILADRI BHAKTA

NIWAS HERE AT 4 PM

SILVER PLATING OF DOORSPNN & UNI

Bhubaneswar/Kendrapara, Nov8: The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) has soughtan action taken report (ATR) fromthe state Home Secretary on thepreparedness to meet the emer-gency in Bhubaneswar.

Acting on a petition filed byrights activist Radhakanta Tripathy,the NHRC sought the ATR withinfour weeks. A copy of the orderwas also marked to the directorgeneral of police (DGP) for his in-formation and needful action.

The order of the NHRC came re-cently to handle the unpreparednessof the state Capital to face exigen-cies, like the situation that croppedup after the petrol pump blastOctober 7 near Raj Bhavan in

Bhubaneswar. The governmenthospitals in Bhubaneswar, Tripathysaid, are not well equipped to dealwith patients with burn injuries.

The traf fic jam fromBhubaneswar to Cuttack wherethe injured were treated could notget proper medical attention andthere was a delay in ensuring treat-ment also, Tripathy said.

The negligence and failure ofthe state government to ensuresafety, fire fighting infrastructure,continuous surveillance and vigilto protect human rights, timely

proper medical treatment, propertraffic management amounts to se-rious violation of human rights,he alleged.

The rights activist urged theNHRC to take this case as extremelyurgent and ensure proper healthcare facilities in government hos-pitals in the Capital City, fire safety,traffic management and ancillaryand incidental issues to meet theemergency situation inBhubaneswar.

The apex human rights watchdogsought the ATR latest by December10 this year.

Earlier, acting on a petition filedby Tripathy, the NHRC sought anATR from the Chief Secretary andthe Secretary, Ministry of Petroleumand Natural Gas over the explo-sion in the petrol pump.

NHRC seeks ATR on preparedness to meet exigencies in Capital city

Digitisation has only eased Revenue dept’s ops

INCULCATE & INSTIL

The signature-bearing banners were displayed on the Blue Flag Beach

A woman shapes earthen lamps at Basantpur on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar ahead of the Diwali festival, Sunday.(Bottom) A vendor sells varieties of colours near Ram Mandir in the Capital city for the drawing of Rangoli for the festival OP PHOTOS

FESTIVAL AHEAD

4 drug peddlersheld in Puri

downtown/stateMONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP4

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Nov 8: The Neelachal UrbanHaat, set up by the state govern-ment in the Holy City here to pro-mote local handicraft products, hasbeen closed for last two months.

A banner put up by the author-ities in front of the urban haatclaimed that the market place hasbeen temporarily closed sinceSeptember 1 to facilitate some ren-ovation work.

However, locals are of the viewthat the authorities concernedclosed the urban haat as traderswere unwilling to run stalls at themarket place due to poor business.

The state government establishedthe urban haat in 2009 by spend-ing around Rs3 crore. The motivewas to promote local handicraftand handloom products among thetourists.

It had constructed an open-airtheatre and a musical fountain atthe haat to attract tourists.

Former President PratibhaDevisingh Patil had inauguratedthe posh market in the presence ofthen Gover nor of OdishaMuralidhar Chandrakanta

Bhandare and Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik. Patil had visitedall the 36 stalls at the market and ap-preciated the handicraft productsof the state.

However, the traders started shut-ting down their stalls within just twomonths of the inauguration of themarket citing poor businessprospect. The administration did nottake any steps to promote the urbanhaat and bring tourists to the stalls,locals said.

“All the 36 stalls at the market havebeen shut down by the traders. Themusical fountain has been lying de-funct. No cultural event has been or-

ganised in the open-air theatre for thelast several months,” said a local.

The boundary walls of the mar-ket have been partially damageddue to poor maintenance while themurals on the shop walls have fadedaway. Moreover, the doors and win-dows of some shops have been dam-aged by some miscreants, he added.

It is learnt that the OdishaIndustrial InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation (Idco)had been assigned to do mainte-nance work at the Neelachala UrbanHaat. Initially, the Idco was spend-ing lakhs of rupees for mainte-nance work at the urban haat.

However, it could not get any rev-enue from the project, sources said.

“The fate of Neelachal UrbanHaat has been pushed into uncer-tainty as the market has been closedsince last couple of months. Themain gate of the haat has beenlocked,” said a social activist.

Sources in the district admin-istration, meanwhile, claimed thatthe Handlooms, Textiles andHandicrafts department of thestate government has taken con-trol over the urban haat. “Soon,steps would be taken to revive theurban haat after the renovationwork,” they added.

Why Neelachal Urban Haat has remained shut A banner put up by the authorities in front of the urban haat says that the market place has been

temporarily closed since September 1 to facilitate some renovation work

The state govt established theurban haat in 2009 by spending

around Rs3 crore

Former President PratibhaDevisingh Patil had inaugurated

the posh market

However, the traders startedshutting down their stalls

within just two months of theinauguration of the market citingpoor business prospectThe closed entrance of the urban haat

WITHIN JUST 2 MONTHS

PNN & AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Nov 8:State’s (Covid-19) caseload rose to 3,01,574 Sundaywith 1,434 more people testing pos-itive for the infection, while 15 freshfatalities pushed Odisha’s deathtoll to 1,425, a senior Health andFamily Welfare (H&FW) depart-ment official said.

Of the 1,434 new cases, 833 werereported from various quaran-tine centres, and the rest weredetected through contact tracing,said the official.

Khurda district, of which statecapital Bhubaneswar is a part, re-ported the maximum number ofnew cases at 144, followed by Cuttackat 141 and Balasore at 99, the offi-cial pointed out.

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

Three deaths each were reportedfrom Khurda and Sambalpur, twoeach from Bargarh and Bolangir, andone each from Cuttack, Ganjam,Deo g arh, Jharsuguda andSundargarh.

As many as 53 Covid-19 patientshave died in the coastal state due topre-existing ailments.

Khurda district continued to be inthe top in the fatalities with 248 deathsfollowed by Ganjam (232), Cuttack

(119), Puri (87), Sundargarh (77)Balasore (71) and Mayurbhanj (67).

The state’s positivity rate standsat 6.11, the official further said,adding that over 49.39 lakh sampletests have been conducted in Odishathus far, including 50,881 Saturday.

Meanwhile, the state govern-ment has made partial modifica-tions regarding the number of

guests at marriage functions.The district Collectors/munici-

pal commissioners shall take de-cisions on the number of personsto be allowed in such functions(limit of 200) keeping their localsituation in mind.

The order has been Special ReliefCommissioner has issued an orderto this effect.

The state government has alsodirected that all schools in thestate shall remain closed tillDecember 31, 2020.

State logs 15 more Covid deathsOF THE 1,434 NEW CASES, 833 WERE REPORTED FROM VARIOUS QUARANTINE CENTRES

Numbers vis à vis national data

Sample collection for Covid testing underway at Bhubaneswar, Sunday

n Khurda reported the maximumnumber of new cases at 144,followed by Cuttack at 141 andBalasore at 99

n Of the 15 fatalities, three eachwere reported from Khurda andSambalpur, two each fromBargarh and Bolangir, and oneeach from Cuttack, Ganjam,Deogarh, Jharsuguda andSundargarh

n Khurda alone accounted for 248deaths in the state so far, followedby Ganjam at 232 and Cuttack at119. As many as 27 other districtshave recorded less than 100deaths each

n Odisha’s positivity rate stands at 6.11

n Over 49.39 lakh sample tests havebeen conducted in Odisha thusfar, including 50,881 Saturday

IN NUMBERS

POST NEWS NETWORK

Boinda, Nov 8: The districtCollector of Angul ordered a probeinto the alleged incident where twofarmers were asked to do sit-ups fornot wearing masks, a report saidSunday.

The farmers on the alleged orderof Kishorenagar tehsildar were or-dered to do the exercise for notwearing masks as per Covid -19norms.

Reports said that the districtCollector Siddharth Shankar Sahudirected the Athamallik sub-col-lector to conduct a probe and sub-mit a report to him in this regard.

According to reports, two farm-ers hailing from Kishorenagar areain Angul district were allegedlymade to do sit-ups by a tehsildar fornot wearing masks during Covid-19 norms enforcement drive,Saturday. The matter came to foreafter video of the incident wentviral on social media, Sunday.Reports said that the tehsildarLaxmi Prasad Sahu and local policeofficials were carrying out an en-forcement drive on Covid-19 inKishorenagar area.

The tehsildar noticed the twofarmers Maguni Sahu and SusantRana returning home riding amoped without wearing masks.The two farmers are natives ofPanduripathara village underKishorenagar police limits. Sahuand the police officials interceptedthem near the College Chhak underKishorenagar police limits.

The tehsildar allegedly asked

the two farmers to get down and payfine of Rs 500. The two however,expressed their inability to pay thefine and requested the tehsildar toallow them to go, the official di-rected the two farmers to do sit-upten times. The two farmers however,alleged that they were wearingmasks but the tehsildar detainedthem and asked them to pay fine.

Left with no option, Maguni didsit-ups for eight times while Sushantcompleted ten sit-ups as directed bythe tehsildar.

Maguni alleged that the tehsildar

and police officials interceptedthem and asked the two to pay thefine. Though his mask was properlyplaced, Sushant’s mask was belowthe mouth.

“The officials asked us to pay Rs500 as fine and even used foul lan-guage. We were allowed to go onlyafter we prostrated before the tehsil-dar,” Maguni said.

Rejecting the charges, the tehsil-dar said the two persons were underthe influence of alcohol and no oneasked them to do sit-ups.

He further said that they stoppeda moped while enforcing the maskwearing at College Chhak Saturday.Sahu and the police officials askedthe two persons riding the mopedto pay the fine as they were notwearing masks and also in an ine-briated condition.

They however, did sit-ups in-stead of paying the fine. The tehsil-dar said that they made them onlyaware on the need to wear masksbut never asked them to do sit-ups.The local IIC was also present at thespot, the tehsildar added.

Farmers ‘asked’ to do sit-upsfor not wearing masks

While the officials saythat the two farmerswere in inebriated condition and were neverasked to do so, a viralvideo raises questions on their claims. A probehas been ordered toascertain the truth

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sambalpur, Nov 8: Non-releaseof funds has hit the managementof Covid-19 healthcare facilities inthis district, a report said.

Reports said that the districtadministration owes an out-standing amount of Rs 1.5 crore tothe supplier of various kits and fa-cilities for the Covid treatmentfacilities since the outbreak ofthe disease in the district. As aresult, the suppliers are reluctantto further supply various materi-als which have hit successful func-tioning of the treatment facili-ties. It is alleged that there issufficient funds at disposal in thisregard but non-release of funds hasaggravated the problem.

The state government has takenvarious steps to check the spreadCovid-19 in the state. Several Covidhospitals, temporary medical cen-tres and Covid Care Centres wereestablished to treat the Covid pos-itive patients after cases startedrising in the state.

Sources said over Rs30 lakh is out-standing towards supply of oxy-gen and Rs40 lakh towards supplyof medicines and Rs 15 lakh to-

wards lodging of Covid patientsin hotels. Similarly, Rs 20 lakh to-wards requisition of private am-bulances to ferry the Covid pa-tients, Rs 40 lakh for food supply andRs 10 lakh for supply of toiletries.The supply agencies after failing toget their dues are now reluctantto keep up with the supply to theCovid-19 healthcare facilities.

The suppliers have met the of-ficials concerned several times toget back their payment but invain. This has happened follow-ing imposition of curbs on spend-ing of state disaster response

funds, September 30, a senior of-ficial clarified.

The suppliers have demandedthat the district administrationshould make use other funds to set-tle their outstanding dues failingwhich they will be forced to stop sup-plying the materials to the Covid hos-pitals in coming days.

Observers claimed that the sit-uation if aggravates might disruptthe functioning of Covid hospitalin the district in coming days.

They cited the example of iso-lation ward of VSS Institute ofMedical Sciences and Research(VIMSAR) where Covid patientshad to suffer for over eight hoursdue to lack of oxygen cylinders inthe hospital, November 2. The mat-ter was resolved after eight hoursafter the kin sought the attentionof the hospital authorities towardsshortage of oxygen cylinders.

BJP leader Govind Agarwal saidthat the state government shouldgive priority on ensuring betterhealthcare facilities for the Covidpatients and fund shortage shouldnot come on the way.

Collector Subham Saxena said thearrears of the suppliers will be re-leased soon.

Snapshots of the viral video

Fight against nCoV faces fund crunchSAMBALPUR ADMINOWES RS 1.5 CRORETO THE SUPPLIER OFVARIOUS KITS ANDFACILITIES FOR THECOVID TREATMENTFACILITIES SINCETHE OUTBREAK OFTHE DISEASE IN THEDISTRICT

POST NEWS NETWORK

Rayagada, Nov 8: In a majordrug haul, police seized a truckloaded with 11.14 quintal of ganjaat a place near Jeypore SugarCompany Ltd (JSCo) area inRayagada district late Saturdaynight.

Police’s initial investigation re-vealed that the contraband packedin polythene bags is worth aroundRs 1,00,00,000.

The Rayagada town police weretipped off that a huge consign-ment was being smuggled in atruck. The police swung into ac-tion and a team led by IIC NiharRanjan Pradhan raided a truckparked at a place near JeyporeSugar Company Ltd. Following asearch, 45 polythene bags packedwith ganja were found in the truck.However, the driver of the truckmanaged to flee from the spot.

The truck was brought to the po-lice station and in the presenceof the magistrate, the seized con-traband was measured.

Police’s preliminary investi-gation reveals that the abscondingdriver is a native of Maharashtra.They have launched a probe.

Drugs worth `1crseized in Rayagada

With the onset of winter, people buying woollen garments from a vendor at Unit-I market in Bhubaneswar, Sunday

WINTER HAS COME

SBI Bhubaneswar Circle Chief General Manager Ruma Dey lays the foundation stone of a centenary gate at the mainbranch of the bank in Cuttack to mark its 100th anniversary celebration, Sunday OP PHOTO

CENTENARY CELEBRATION

OP PHOTO

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Bargarh, Nov 8: Despite beingtwo kilometres close to a perennialriver, the natives of Sarangpur vil-lage under Rajborasambar blockin Bargarh district are strugglingto get their daily quotas of drink-ing water.

Sarangpur comprises of threewards and there are several resi-dential areas like Meherpada,Gaudapada, Bazaar pada,Schoolpada and Brahmanapada.The population of the village isover 1,500 and most of the familiesdepend on agriculture for theirlivelihood.

The villagers have been facingacute drinking water problem fora long time now. “There is AngaRiver two kilometres from the vil-lage. Yet, we are facing difficultiesin getting drinking water,” the vil-lagers rued.

“In summer season, the prob-lem gets more acute. We have alreadytaken up the issue with the ad-ministrative officers and local peo-ple’s representatives but to no avail,”

they added. The village has fivetube wells. Of them, three dispensewater unfit for consumption. Thevillagers use water from the re-maining two for drinking and cook-ing purposes. But, they allege thatthey are not giving out enoughwater. They take much more timethan normal to fill a bucket, forcingthem to stand at the tube wells for

long hours. “We have to keep our pots in line

from early in the morning to makesure that we get the required amountof water. We have a pond in our vil-lage. We stopped using its water asthe pond was full of hyacinths andother waste. As of now, the pond islying neglected. A drinking water proj-ect in our village will be of immense

help to us,” said Snehalata Panda. According to another villager,

Neelanchal Darwan, the village’syear-long drinking water problemwill be solved if water from theAnga River is supplied to themthrough pipes.

The villagers urged the admin-istration to take immediate steps toaddress their problem.

Living near river, yet water-stressed

POST NEWS NETWORK

Joda/Bhubaneswar, Nov 8: A fewyears after a massive mining scamin Keonjhar and other mineral bear-ing areas in the state was unearthed,tax evasion by mineral exporters hascome to the fore. The illegality hasbeen going on with impunity.

The Customs department de-tected the illegality at the ParadipPort a few days ago.

Following the mining scam, manyleaseholders had to deposit croresof rupees as penalty after theSupreme Court pronounced itsorder on the basis of the CentralEmpowered Committee report andinvestigation by the MB ShahCommission.

According to reliable sources, acargo ship named as MV MagnusFortune was loaded with 52,051tonnes of iron ore at the port recently.The iron ore was being exportedby BS Minerals, a mineral exportcompany. Officials of the Exciseand Customs departments had car-ried out raids on various mineralexport companies.

During the raids, officials cameto know that the exporter had man-aged to evade tax on the mineralsloaded on the ship.

The department immediatelyseized the minerals at the port andimposed a penalty of Rs 8, 7, 26, 314and claimed a bank guarantee of Rs1 crore from the exporter. The de-partments after getting a bond of Rs5.40 crore had let go of the ship toits destination.

This incident may be a tip of theiceberg while it is alleged that manymineral exporters have been ex-porting minerals to the interna-tional market easily without payingtaxes. It was learnt that the mineralbeing exported in MV MagnusFortune ship was in fact trans-

ported from Koida mining circlein Sundargarh and from Joda min-ing circle in Keonjhar.

As per the norms made by theIndian Bureau of Mines (IBM), ironore having ferrous content less than57 per cent are made free of customtax while 30 per cent of the total

value of the exported mineral hasto be paid as custom tax in case theiron ore contains over 58 per centferrous content.

A number of questions now cropup after this exposure came to thefore. How such high quality mineralwas being exported under the garbof low quality mineral in the ship.How such illegality could not bedetected earlier despite having aproper system at work.

How high quality minerals arebeing exported without the knowl-edge of the joint director of mines,deputy director of mines and minesinspectors. Now, the role of miningofficials has come into question byvarious quarters.

When asked about the issue, jointdirector of Joda mining circle SalilKumar Behera said he was unawareof it. Sources said such illegali-ties in mineral transportation havebeen going on. A non-Odia traderbased in Barbil is said to be in-volved in the shoddy activities inmineral transportation.

The trader has got trading li-cense from the office of the joint di-rector at Joda. Various quartershave demanded a high level probeinto the illegalities in mineral transportation.

TAX EVASION GOES ON IN MINERAL EXPORT MURKY AFFAIRS According to reliable

sources, a cargo shipnamed as MV Magnus

Fortune was loaded with52,051 tonnes of iron ore atthe port recently. The ironore was being exported by

BS Minerals, a mineralexport company. Officials of

the Excise and Customsdepartments had carried

out raids on various mineralexport companies

As per the norms made bythe Indian Bureau ofMines (IBM), iron ore

having ferrous contentless than 57 per cent aremade free of custom taxwhile 30 per cent of the

total value of the exportedmineral has to be paid as

custom tax in case theiron ore contains over 58per cent ferrous content

During the raids, officials came to know that the exporter had managed to evade tax onthe minerals loaded on the ship. The department immediately seized the minerals at theport and imposed a penalty of Rs 8, 7, 26, 314 and claimed a bank guarantee of Rs 1 crore

from the exporter. The departments after getting a bond of Rs 5.40 crore had let go of theship to its destination

POST NEWS NETWORK

Talcher, Nov 8: The much-awaitedTalcher-Ghantapada over-bridgemeant to ease traffic in industrialareas like NALCO, FCI and Talcherin Angul district has been stuck inlimbo since 2016.

The district administration hasturned a deaf ear to repeated pleasof the locals to complete the project.

Fed up with the four-year delay,locals took up the matter with thedistrict administration recently de-manding immediate completion ofthe bridge and approach road worksin larger interests of the residents.

The then Union Coal MinisterPrakash Jaiswal had laid the foun-dation stone June 1, 2012. With theestimated cost of Rs 35 crore, the con-struction of the over-bridge wastaken up by the construction com-pany RKD. The company began the

work October 21, 2016 and October20, 2018 was fixed as its deadline forcompletion.

Locals alleged that the govern-ment had decided to construct thebridge because of the level crossingwhich is a hurdle for smooth com-munication of people from the in-

dustrial areas. Every day more than 50 coal-

laden trains cross the level crossingfor which the locals have to wait forhours before reaching their desti-nations.

Only 20 per cent of the con-struction work has been com-

pleted till now.The locals lamented that major

works like shifting of level crossing,construction of guard and RI walls,top slab and approach roads fromboth sides of the over-bridge are yetto commence.

The over-bridge construction ledto blocking of the road and as a re-sult, people are forced to take a di-version route. The route can’t becalled a road as it is just a muddystretch. Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik had laid the foundationstone October 3, 2013 for the ROB.Accordingly, the construction wastaken up by the Public WorksDepartment (PWD) and December31, 2018 was fixed as its deadline.

Sub-collector Rajanikant Swainsaid that a high-level meeting washeld recently. In the meeting it wasdecided that the construction com-pany will take only 10 months moreto complete the work.

4 yrs on, over-bridge project stuck in limbo

POST NEWS NETWORK

Buguda, Nov 8:People of Sankurupanchayat under Buguda block inGanjam were aggrieved over poorconnectivity. They had long beendemanding restoration of theBuguda-Manitira road, but the ad-ministration has been indifferentto their demand.

People of Sankuru and Chilihmahave been suffering commutingwoes due to the bad shape of theroad. Harassed, the villagers de-cided to take matters into theirown hands. Funds for the projectwere generated from among them-selves.

Over 300 people of the panchayatdecided to repair the road with-out expecting money from the ad-ministration. They cleaned the 3-km long road and started fillingup craters with murram and otherconstruction material with theirown resources Saturday. They setan example for others as far ascommunity efforts are concerned.

“The road has been in bad shapefor last 20 years. Neither the ad-ministration nor local leaders tookefforts for the restoration of theroad, despite repeated demands,”they said. Various quarters havecommended the efforts of the vil-lagers.

Villagers repair road on their own, draw praise

POST NEWS NETWORK

Malkangiri, Nov 8: DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) Abhayvisited Malkangiri district Sundayand underscored the need for fast-tracking of infrastructure devel-opment with the strengthening ofsecurity system.

The top cop paid a visit toSwabhiman Anchal and interactedwith residents on various prob-lems they face. He also went to theGorusetu BSF camp and held dis-cussions on the movement ofMaoists in the area.

With winter fast approachingthe DGP distributed warm clothesamong the poor tribal people. Healso handed over school bags and

clothes to children.The DGP held a review meeting

with senior police, BSF, SOG andDVF officials about the ongoinganti-Maoist operations, movementof ultras, law and order situationand developmental activities.During the meeting he stressed onintensifying the operations againstthe Maoists. Despite the ongoinganti-Maoist operations, activitiesof the left wing extremists havenot been completely smashed insome areas of southern Odisha.

Significantly, the visit of theDGP came days after a Maoist campwas busted during a joint operationby Odisha Police, BSF and AndhraPradesh Police in SwabhimanAnchal of the district.

DGP takes stock of anti-Maoist ops

POST NEWS NETWORK

S a m b a l p u r, N ov 8 : T h eSambalpur district administra-tion is on its toes for organisingthe Hirakud ‘eco retreat’ festivalat Balbaspur which will start fromDecember 1 and continue tillFebruary 28.

According to sources, TourismDirector Sachin R Yadav visitedthe site Sunday and reviewed thepreparations. District CollectorShubham Saxena, Sadar Sub-

Collector Suryawanshi Mayurand several other senior officialsaccompanied Yadav.

The festival is expected to boosttourism in western Odisha.

The mega festival will givetourists a unique experience ofcamping in luxurious cottages,tasting amazing cuisines, tak-ing part in adventure sports,water sports, nature trails and cul-tural programmes. The festivalwould have at least 25 premiumSwiss Cottage tents, an air-con-

ditioned restaurant as well as aconference hall. Visitors can alsovisit various tourist places inthe district.

Notably, the state governmentis poised to organise ‘eco retreat’festivals at five different tourist des-tinations, including Hirakud,Badamul area of Satakosia,Nalitapatia area of Bhitarakanikaand Daringbadi as well. The firstedition of ‘eco retreat’ festivalwas successfully hosted onRamchandi beach in Konark.

Illegal sand mining rampant in Ib river

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sundargarh, Nov 8: Illegal sandmining has been rampant at dif-ferent sand ghats of IB river pass-ing near Sundargarh town. But,the administration is allegedly sit-ting pretty, a report said.

The tehsil administration hasnot yet completed the process ofleasing out sand quarries whilethe mafia has been taking advan-tage of the situation. It is said thatas construction activities and in-frastructure development projectsare in full swing in various partsof the district, sand has high de-mand in the area.

Sources said that work ofPradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,

roads, drains and other construc-tion activities are being carriedout in the civic body area. The ex-ecutive officer of the Sundargarhmunicipality had urged the tehsil-dar October 19 seeking permissionof lifting 1000 CM sand every day.The tehsildar had allowed ownerof eight tractors to lift sand.

Now question arises how thetehsildar granted permission totractor owners without leasing outthe sand mines.

In view of this, sand mafia hasbeen into the sand lifting activi-ties while people keen on leaseawaiting the lease process.

Owing to illegal sand mining,the government is losing hugeamount of revenue.

Tehsildar Jogeswar Bhoi saidthere is official guideline to permitsand lifting for emergency officialconstruction and development ac-tivities. The permission to the mu-nicipality will be cancelled, he added.

Hirakud eco retreat festival from Dec 1

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhadrak, Nov 8:Eleven passengerswere critically injured after a pri-vate bus they were travelling inskidded off National Highway-16near Trisulapur Chowk in Bhadrakdistrict Sunday morning.

According to a source, the bus‘Sanu Manu’ was heading fromBalasore to Bhubaneswar carry-ing over 35 passengers. As the buswas nearing Trisulapur Chowk,

the driver lost control over thewheels. As a result, the bus skiddedoff the National Highway andplunged into a nullah.

The incident took place at around6.00 am in the morning.

Hearing the cries of the pas-

sengers, local people rushed to thespot and immediately informedthe police. After a while, a team fromBhadrak Rural police station andfire personnel reached the spot andrescued the passengers. The in-jured passengers were immedi-ately shifted to the Bhadrak dis-trict headquarters hospital.

What led to the driver losing hiscontrol over the wheels is yet to beascertained. The police havelaunched a probe.

11 critically injured in bus accident

Over 300 peopledecided torepair the roadwithout expectingmoney from the administration

Residents ofSarangpur village

under Rajborasambarblock in Bargarhdistrict are strugglingto get their dailyquotas of drinking water

Villagers say, insummer season,

the problem getsmore acute. Theyhave already taken upthe issue with theadministrativeofficers and localpeople’srepresentatives but to no avail

FARM TRAINING

OUAT, Bhubaneswar, holds a training programme for farmers on use of advanced agricultural implements at KrishiVigyan Kendra in G. Udaygiri of Kandhamal district OP PHOTO

People catch fish in a pond in Paralakhemudi area of Gajapati district, Sunday OP PHOTO

IT’S NO FISHY AFFAIR

power post P6

B lack or white, where has the money of this country gone, is a ques-tion every Indian should be asking. Especially because now, with thecoronavirus taking its economic toll, this is a very important query.

“'To relieve the country from the grip of corruption and black money,there is a need to take another strong step. Presently in use five hundredrupee and thousand rupee currency notes will no longer be legal tenderfrom midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016,” said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as he announced demonetization of two high-value cur-rency notes to curb corruption and flush out black money from the coun-tries’ rich and powerful.

Summarizing the objectives of the move, the PM had added that thestep would strengthen the hands of the common man in the fight againstcorruption, black money and fake currency and put down terror funding.

Celebrities and political leaders in droves voiced their support for the pro-nouncement and some even described the prime minister’s announcementa ‘historical masterstroke’. However, most sensible people across the coun-try immediately understood Modi’s economic game was intended for po-litical benefits but everyone was afraid to voice opposition, scared they wouldbe targeted as hoarders of black money.

West Bengal Chief Minister and leader of Trinamool Congress MamataBanerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were the first leadersto condemn the move, citing the devastating effect it was having on the livesof poor citizens of the country.

As the people thronged empty ATMs and cashless banks, chaos unfoldedon the streets. The drive that started against black money suddenlychanged to Cashless Economy. Companies like Paytm and others surfacedto fill the void created by the cash crunch. There were daily televisionannouncements of change in policies regarding the old currencies. Tocompound the problem, new currency notes were not made available fora long duration of time.

To regain the confidence of the people, Modi made a highly emotive speechon November 13 in Goa, asking people to grant him 50 days to restore nor-malcy. Otherwise, he said, they could burn him alive. As the goals set fordemonetization--bringing out black money and eradicating corruption-- failedto create any tangible results, the goalposts also kept shifting. From cor-ruption, counterfeit notes and terror funding, the rhetoric began to centrearound making India a digital and cashless economy, widening the taxbase and formalising the country’s economy.

Some of the celebrities and politicians who gave a thumbs up to Modi’scurrency policy adventure backtracked from previous statements when newsleaked that as much as 99.3 per cent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notesreturned to the banking system. This indicated that just a minuscule per-centage of currency was left out of the system after the government’s un-precedented note ban. All this while, no one bothered to question PM Modiabout the old currency notes left in Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand and otherneighboring countries which had constant trade with India and acceptedpayments in Indian rupees. Those notes were never accepted back by theIndian government.

Four years on, today, many small and informal sector businesses and in-dustries still lie shattered. They are yet to recover from the twin blows ofdemonetization and the unplanned and hurried introduction of Goodsand Service Tax (GST).

Every ‘nationalistic’ Indian supported the objectives stated by thePM. Eliminating the scourge of black money and corruption, flushingout counterfeit notes and choking terrorist funding sounded very pleas-ant to the ears of those Indians. But taking into consideration the financialand human cost of the move, demonetization turned out to be a body blowto the poorest of the poor Indian and has damaged the economy sogravely that it has not yet recovered.

D uring the COVID-19 pan-demic, public life in muchof the world has largely

ground to a halt. For the two billionpeople living in conflict-affectedcountries, however, there has beenno lull in violence and upheaval.Some of the world’s conflicts haveeven escalated or been reignitedduring the crisis, dealing devas-tating new blows to infrastructureand healthcare systems that wereonly beginning to be rebuilt.Globally, we continue to invest farmore in the tools of war than in thefoundations of peace.

Of course, some are working forpeace. On March 23, at the outsetof the pandemic, United NationsSecretary-General António Guterrescalled for a global ceasefire, inorder to enable countries to focuson the COVID-19 crisis and allowhumanitarian organisations toreach vulnerable populations. Morethan 100 women’s organisationsfrom Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Syria,and Yemen quickly joined the ap-peal with a joint statement advo-cating a broad COVID-19 truce,which could form the basis for a last-ing peace. It should come as nosurprise that women were amongthe first to support the call for aceasefire. Last week, governmentsand civil society came together tomark 20 years since UN Security

Council Resolution 1325 first recog-nised women’s pivotal roles on thefrontlines of peace-building efforts.

It is women – including youngwomen – who do much of thepainstaking, long-term work thatunderpin high-profile formal agree-ments, which are still often reachedin talks that exclude them. For ex-ample, in Syria, women have ne-gotiated ceasefires to allow the pas-sage of humanitarian aid, workedin field hospitals and schools, dis-tributed food and medicine, anddocumented human-rights viola-tions. In South Sudan, women havemediated and resolved tribal dis-putes to prevent conflicts from es-calating to violence.

Women also spearhead the crit-ical work of campaigning for peace,including through education pro-grams, which teach young peoplethat conflict is never inevitable.Feminist organisations have longcalled for nuclear disarmament,arms control, and the reallocationof funds from the military to socialinvestments. These appeals are es-sential. But they have gone unan-swered. So has the UN’s call for aCOVID-19 ceasefire: according tothe Norwegian Refugee Council, inthe two months following Guterres’appeal, armed conflict in 19 coun-tries displaced at least 661,000 peo-ple. Unless we listen to women, and

shift our investments from war to-ward peace, the devastation willcontinue. Last year, global militaryexpenditure reached $1.9 trillion, fol-lowing the largest annual increasein a decade. In the last quarter-cen-tury – since the landmark BeijingDeclaration and Platform for Actioncalled on governments to ‘recog-nise and address the dangers to so-ciety of armed conflict and the neg-ative effect of excessive militaryexpenditures’ – defense spending hasdoubled. More weapons and sol-diers mean fewer resources for the55 per cent of the global population– including nearly two-thirds ofthe world’s children – who lackany social protection, leaving themexposed to the pandemic’s brutalsocial and economic consequences.

We should be spending ourmoney not on tools of destruction,but on a kind of ‘feminist peace’ thatupholds basic economic and so-cial rights for all. This means guar-anteeing broad social protectionsand delivering vital services, suchas healthcare, childcare, and edu-cation. The pandemic has high-lighted the critical importance ofother services as well. For example,shelters for survivors of gender-based violence have faced surgingdemand during lockdowns, andneed more funding to meet it. In ad-dition, governments should be en-

suring adequate supplies of med-ical and personal protective equip-ment, which have often run outduring the pandemic, even in theworld’s richest countries. A femi-nist peace also means that every-one’s voice is heard, with all groupsincluded fully and meaningfullyin the decisions that affect theirlives. Here, women’s organisationshave a vital role to play, helpingwomen and other marginalisedgroups gain access to decision-making arenas and giving themthe resources and confidence toparticipate.

But, again, more funding is needed.Bilateral aid to women’s organisa-tions in fragile or conflict-affectedcountries averaged $96 million peryear in 2017-18 – a mere 0.005% ofglobal military expenditure. For allthe devastation it has caused, COVID-19 also represents a generationalopportunity to build more inclu-sive economies and societies, free ofviolent conflict. A concerted effortto demilitarise our world and builda feminist peace – beginning with aglobal ceasefire, and followed by acomprehensive reappraisal of howwe allocate our resources – mustbe central to this vision.

The writer is ExecutiveDirector of UN Women.

©PROJECT SYNDICATE

Investing in a feminist peace

PROPHETIC SANDERSI

t was nice to receive mailsfrom friends who had as-sembled at Lucknow boyNusrat Durrani’s Dumbo

apartment under the BrooklynBridge on November 3, 2016, elec-tion night, armed with champagnebottles to be uncorked as soon asHillary Clinton pipped the post.

In the event, the champagnebottles stood in one straight line onthe dining table like a row of brood-ing bishops. Trump had shockedall the guests. A submarine sand-wich hurled as a missile by a de-spairing guest knocked the lampover. I have repeated the abovestory because that is what historyis supposed to be -- a continuous rep-etition of facts. So indelibly etchedon my mind is that party inBrooklyn that every US election willbring alive that episode.

There is another reason for thatepisode to be so etched on mymind. I did not wish to be the onlyone out of sync with the generalmood that evening, but I was in aminority of one who expectedHillary to lose. Having arrived inNew York a fortnight ago for a dis-cussion in the various campusesof my book, ‘Being the Other: TheMuslim in India’, kept me awayfrom a 24X7 bombardment of pun-ditry on elections.

A cluttering of detail tends topush out of focus the simple, plau-sible outline conditioning of elec-toral behaviour. Experience frommost electoral theatres had taughtme a simple lesson: people weretired of two parties, one indistin-guishable from the other.

This was happening at local lev-els too, even in India. The AamAadmi Party’s record 67 out of 70seats in 2015 was one such wave,smothered by the media which iscontrolled by the corporates whosekey projects in New Delhi werethreatened by the untried party. Itdid not have the ideological spineto withstand the assault from themain political parties and the cor-porate media. Therefore, the bub-ble burst. AAP is now an ordinaryparty circling around power.

There are comparisons betweenJoe Biden scraping through andHillary Clinton losing in 2016: nei-

ther were popular candidates.They were candidates that theDemocratic Party ‘manoeuvred’ asfront-runners because on both oc-casions Bernie Sanders was themost popular candidate, but hisdemocratic socialism was anath-ema to the establishment.

As soon as it became clear thatSanders was leading the field, theestablishment came out, all gunsblazing. Thomas Friedman, whomthe New York Times values as itsstar columnist, forgot all decenciesof independent journalism andwrote two full columns rootingfor former New York Mayor,Michael Bloomberg and a bil-lionaire several times over, as oneof the Democratic front-runners.There was no hope in hell thatBloomberg would win (buy) thenomination but, by spending abillion on TV, he would disruptthe game sufficiently for Sandersto advance. “This is a capitalistcountry,” thundered Bloomberg. Toprotect his credibility, Friedmanadmitted in his column, that hiswife worked for one of Bloomberg’scharities. This was just one of theumpteen tricks employed to ob-struct Sanders.

There was a straightforwardreason why Clinton was the wrong

candidate. The velocity given toglobalisation after the Soviet col-lapse gave a fillip to rampagingcapitalism. Inequalities broke allbarriers. It did not require ThomasPiketty to enlighten as that evenin India barely one per cent of therich had cornered 51.53 per cent ofthe wealth. The picture in the USwas worse. Occupy Wall Street be-came a popular movement. It in-vited a capitalist riposte -- the TeaParty. People were disgusted withWashington, which symbolisedthe US establishment. A questbegan for an anti establishmentcandidate. Just one such candi-date appeared to be Bernie Sanders.People were looking for social wel-fare, universal healthcare, edu-cation - - exactly what theBloombergs of the US thoughtwould kill the initiative whichmade America great. Quite un-abashedly, the Democratic Partygave the impression that it waspreferable to lose the White Housethan lose corporate support.

One hoped the shock reversal of2016 would have taught theDemocrats a lesson. Across theAtlantic, Jeremy Corbyn was beinglikewise thwarted by New Labour.One of their leading lights, LordPeter Mandelson, had sworn to

‘undermine’ Corbyn. The otherday they suspended him. Corbynwas to Mandelson what Sanderswas to Bloomberg. This in June 2017when the latest opinion polls pro-jected Corbyn as the possible PrimeMinister. Another example thatthe establishment trumps the pop-ular will. Whither democracy, then?

At this very time, another realitywas allowed to go unnoticed. AFox News poll showed that Sandershas a +28 rating above politicianson both sides of the political spec-trum. At that time, the Guardian’sTrevor Timm wrote, “One wouldthink with numbers like that,Democratic politicians would befalling over themselves to be as-sociated with Sanders, especiallyconsidering the Party as a wholeis more unpopular than theRepublicans and even DonaldTrump right now. Yet, instead ofembracing his message, the es-tablishment of the party contin-ues to resist him at almost everyturn, and they seem insistent theydon’t have to change their ways togain back the support of hugeswathes of the country.”

Sanders’ popularity is now recog-nised, but after he spelt out thescenario on October 23 in a talkshow on how the drama will un-fold when votes are counted inthese elections, he is well on his wayto being prophetic.

“In states like Pennsylvania,Michigan, Wisconsin, and else-where, Republicans are likely to goto the polling booths to cast theirvotes. Democrats, are likely tomail in their votes. When count-ing begins, the votes counted firstwill be Republican votes for thatreason. So, by 10 pm on countingday, Trump will thank his votersand announce victory. But nextmorning when millions of mailswill be counted, the trend willchange. That is when Trump willscream murder: I told you they’llcheat.” Mayor Rudi Giuliani hasalready elaborated the case inPhiladelphia.

The writer is a senior commentator

on political and diplomatic issues.

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

There are comparisons between Joe Bidenscraping through and Hillary Clinton losing in2016: neither were popular candidates. Theywere candidates that the Democratic Party‘manoeuvred’ as front-runners because on both occasions Bernie Sanders was the mostpopular candidate, but his democratic socialism was anathema to the establishment

Show us the money

MONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Our human knowledge is acandle burnt on a dim altarto a sun-vast Truth.

SRI AUROBINDO

WORLD

SANDERS’ POPULARITY

IS NOW RECOGNISED,

BUT AFTER HESPELT OUT THE

SCENARIO ONOCTOBER 23 IN A

TALK SHOW ONHOW THE DRAMA

WILL UNFOLDWHEN VOTES

ARE COUNTED IN THESE

ELECTIONS, HE IS WELL ON HISWAY TO BEING

PROPHETIC

Saeed Naqvi

US ELECTION

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

WOMEN SPEARHEADTHE CRITICAL WORK

OF CAMPAIGNINGFOR PEACE, INCLUDINGTHROUGH

EDUCATION PROGRAMS, WHICH

TEACH YOUNG PEOPLE THAT

CONFLICT IS NEVER INEVITABLE

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Politicised society

Sir, We knew man is a social animal. But giventhe current situation, humans no longer seemto be social creatures. Now, the judgments andbehaviour of 70 per cent of the people have be-come completely political. Amid factional strifein politics, many developmental works arebeing hampered from every angle. Even vil-lages and towns are being ruined by dirty pol-itics. Workers from various political partiesare creating instability in families, wards, andvillages by giving the villagers liquor andmoney. Those who oppose the ruling party invillages and towns do not get any governmentbenefits. Efforts are underway to suppress in-dividual freedom and the right to freedom of ex-pression in politics. Whether we are living ina democratic country or not, is a question.

Santosh Kumar Mohanty, CUTTACK

cmyk

cmyk

Biden and Indo-US relations

Sir, The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris win in the US Presidential elections has considerableimplications for India. Biden administration is likely to strengthen India-US ties. On theother hand, there will be disagreements between the two countries over issues such asreligious fundamentalism, Kashmir policy, the Citizenship Amendment Act, the NationalRegister of Citizens, Islamophobic politics and so on. There could certainly be continu-ity in the Indo-US ties on various fronts. Being a Democrat, Biden may not be as aggres-sive as Trump on the China front. However, reversing the stand on Beijing and changingthe policy will not be in Washington’s favour. Hence, the US will continue to be tough onChina. As for trade, negotiations that were underway for trade deals will have to be re-worked. Trade ties between the two countries will have to be reset. Given that the econ-omy of the two countries has to be revived in the wake of COVID-19, the two countrieswill look at a comprehensive trade deal. With regard to the strategic front, there will besome relief for India when Biden government reviews the Iran nuclear deal. Biden’s JointComprehensive Plan of Action policy will allow India to move on the Chabahar Projectsand secure strategic routes to Afghanistan. Biden’s decision to join the Paris Accord isof great importance in fighting the problem of climate change. As for human rights, therewill be friction areas between the leaders of the two countries. In short, India-US rela-tions will strengthen with the new US administration but with some friction.

Venu GS, KOLLAM (KERALA)

W ith Joe Biden emerging the winner in US Presidential race, thetop BJP leadership has started to think of ways to repair thedamage PM Narendra Modi’s open support to President Donald

Trump has caused.After the US Presidential election results were declared, Trump’s fail-

ure in his bid for a second term in office may cause great damage to Indo-US relationship because of the way the Modi dispensation got involvedin the internal politics of America. In fact, the repair exercise began, itis being rumored, three days back when the counting of votes indicatedBiden was going to trump Trump in a photo finish. No other PrimeMinisters of India had ever campaigned for any US Presidential candi-date the way Modi did during his US tour last year when he urged theIndian diaspora to vote for Trump who desperately needed those votesto keep alive his hope for victory. It caused diplomatic hassles then andthe Opposition parties went hammer and tongs against Modi for breach-ing the time-tested foreign policy option of not openly siding with anyUS Presidential candidate. The burden of Opposition criticism was thatIndo-US ties would come under strain in the event of Trump’s defeat andvictory of a Democratic Presidential candidate. Modi didn’t care fordiplomatic finesse or niceties, waved his hand along with Trump at thepacked stadium in Houston like a rock star and sought the support of theIndian settlers for the incumbent President. That was Howdy Modi. Notstopping there, Modi invited Trump to visit India and attend a programthat was titled Namastey Trump in Gujarat. A huge crowd was organ-ized for that rally.

The moment the chances of victory for Trump started receding slowly,but steadily, the worried BJP leadership tried to delink Modi from Trumpin a subtle way. First the party president JP Nadda and then its ideologueand influential RSS leader Ram Madhav were fielded for damage control.Nadda used a Bihar poll campaign rally to project Modi as a more compe-tent leader than Trump. Nadda suggested it would be wrong to bracket Modiwith Trump. He said Trump was witnessing a setback in key states becauseof poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, while Modi has “succeededin keeping the situation under control.”

“America mein kya aarop laga? Ki Donald Trump corona ko theek tarikese handle nahi kar saka…Yahi hai na aarop? (What was the charge againstthe US President? That he mishandled the pandemic. This is thecharge, right?),” Nadda asked the crowd. “But Modiji’s interventionat the right time has saved 130 crore people from coronavirus,” Naddasaid. The fact, however, is India is now second only to the USA interms of the number of corona cases and deaths. According to the lat-est figures released by the Johns Hopkins University’s Centre forSystems Science and Engineering (CSSE) 47.3 million people havecontracted the virus globally of which the USA accounts for over 12million and India 8.3 million. Over 230,000 people have died in the USAagainst 123,000 in India. Nadda conveniently forgot the excruciatingpain migrant workers had to undergo because of the shoddily plannedand theatrically announced first lockdown by Modi on 24 March 2020at that horrible timing of 8 pm.

No sooner had Nadda given the first hints of distancing Modi fromTrump than Ram Madhav wrote an article to allay fears that Biden-Kamala Harris winning team could be “bad news” for US-India rela-tions. In an attempt to insulate Modi, he mouthed the trite, old cliché:“There are no permanent friends, or permanent enemies; only per-manent interests”.

The Modi-government’s controversial Kashmir policy, the NationalRegister of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act have reportedly“disappointed” Biden. It’s time Modi learns foreign policy can’t begeared to suit the ruling party’s narrow, domestic agenda. What has beenpainstakingly built over decades in India’s foreign policy is now beingthrown away because a few people at the top are incapable of understandinginternational diplomacy and its delicate nuances.

Trump gone, now what

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Nov 8: The BJP lashedout at the People's Alliance forGupkar Declaration (PAGD)Sunday, a day after the allianceannounced it would contest theupcoming first-ever DistrictDevelopment Council (DDC)polls in Jammu andKashmir unitedly,saying it is onlyafter powerand is befool-ing peopleabout seek-ing therestoration ofthe erstwhilestate's specialstatus.

The PAGD -- an al-liance of seven mainstreamparties of Jammu and Kashmirseeking the restoration of the erst-while state's special status -- an-nounced on Saturday that it wouldcontest the DDC polls unitedly notto allow the sacred space in democ-racy to be "invaded or marauded

by divisive forces".Ter ming the alliance the

"Gupkar Gang", Jammu andKashmir BJP's general secretaryand Kashmir affairs in-chargeVibodh Gupta said the parties init are after power and people shouldunderstand their intentions.

"If the alliance is against theConstitution of India, then

how come is this gangfighting the DDC elec-

tion under the sameConstitution? Hesaid the PAGD'sdecision to con-test the DDC pollsreflects the "dual

poli t ics" beingplayed by it.

"This is how theGupkar Gang is playing

cheap politics and trying to befoolpeople. On one hand, they want toremain in the system and gain power,but on the other hand, they are op-posing the same Constitution underwhich they are supposed to takeoath," the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader said.

cmyk

cmyk

JAMMU &KASHMIR

MONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWARP7

MAHARASHTRA

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Nov 8: Republic TVEditor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, ar-rested in connection with the sui-cide of an interior designer, was onSunday shifted to Taloja jail inMaharashtra's Raigad district froma COVID-19 quarantine centre inAlibaug, a police official said.

Goswami was moved to the Talojajail after he was allegedly foundusing a mobile phone while in ju-dicial custody at a local school des-ignated as COVID-19 centre forAlibaug prison in Raigad district,he said.

The Raigad crime branch foundGoswami was active on social mediausing somebody’s mobile phone,despite his personal mobile phonehaving been seized by police whenhe was taken into custody onNovember 4, the official said.

While being escorted to Taloja jail,Goswami shouted from the policevan, alleging that he was assaultedby Alibaug jailer Saturday evening,his life was in danger and he wasnot allowed to speak to his lawyer.

Meanwhile, former BJP MP KiritSomaiya in a tweet said he metjailer of the Taloja prison Sundayand the latter assured him thatGoswami will not be harassed andhe will also be provided required

medical treatment.Goswami and two others - Feroze

Shaikh and Nitish Sarda - were ar-rested by Alibaug police November4 in connection with the suicide ofarchitect-interior designer AnvayNaik and his mother in 2018 overalleged non-payment of dues bycompanies of the accused.

After his arrest from his LowerParel residence in Mumbai,Goswami was taken to Alibaug,where the Chief Judicial Magistrateremanded him and the two othersin judicial custody till November 18.

Goswami was then kept at a localschool which has been designatedas a COVID-19 centre for the Alibaugprison.

The Bombay High Court will onMonday pronounce its order onthe interim bail application filed byGoswami and the two others inconnection with the abetment ofsuicide case.

A notice issued late Saturdaynight on the high court's website saidthe bench would assemble at 3 pmon November 9 for pronouncementof the order.

Arnab shifted to Taloja jailTHE RAIGAD CRIME BRANCH FOUND GOSWAMI WAS ACTIVE

ON SOCIAL MEDIA USING SOMEBODY’S MOBILE PHONE

‘I WAS ASSAULTED’

While being escorted to Taloja jail,Goswami shouted from the police

van, alleging that he was assaultedby Alibaug jailer

Goswami and two others - FerozeShaikh and Nitish Sarda - were

arrested by Alibaug police November4 in connection with a suicide

When Biden spoke of distantrelatives living in Mumbai

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Jammu, Nov 8 : T he Civi lSecretariat, the seat of Jammuand Kashmir administration, willopen here Monday after function-ing in summer capital Srinagarfor six months as part of the nearly150-year-old practice known in theUnion Territory as 'Darbar Move'.

Adequate arrangements, espe-cially those related to security,have been put in place to ensuresmooth functioning of the civilsecretariat and other move officesincluding the Raj Bhavan and po-lice headquarters in Jammu, offi-cials said.

The COVID-10 pandemic delayedthe darbar move from Jammu toSrinagar this summer. The CivilSecretariat and other move offices,

which observe a five-day week,closed in Srinagar on October 30,while the offices observing a six-day week closed the next day.

All the offices are reopening inJammu on November 9.

The practice of 'Darbar Move' -- under which the administrationfunctions in Jammu during sixmonths of winter and in Srinagarduring summer -- was started byMaharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 to es-cape extreme weather conditionsin the two regions of the state.

However, the practice was con-tinued even after Independencewith the aim of providing gover-nance benefits to both Kashmirand Jammu regions for six monthsby turns.

Inspector General of Police,Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singhchaired a meeting on Thursdayevening to review security arrange-ments for the opening of the moveoffices and directed his officers toensure elaborate security meas-ures in the entire Jammu district,

including border areas.Singh also asked the officers to

ensure adequate security in andaround the Civil Secretariat, RajBhavan and at various round-abouts, junctions and other im-portant areas in the city.

The IGP directed the officersabout various challenges, espe-cially those posed by striking dailywage employees, and called foralertness to deal with any law-and-order situation arising due to any protest.

The practice of ‘DarbarMove’ was started byMaharaja Gulab Singh

in 1872 to escapeextreme weather conditions in the

two regions

UT admin base now in JammuJ-K ‘DARBAR MOVE’

Centre stallingprojects: UddhavPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Nov 8: Hardening his gov-ernment's position vis-a-vis theownership of land in Kanjurmargin Mumbai where the metro 3 carshed project will be coming up,Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Sunday saidthe Centre was trying to stall de-velopment projects in the city.

In a webcast, Thackeray said adefamation campaign was ran by"Maharashtra-haters" who triedto project the state as a hub for thedrugs and narcotics farming.

He slammed the BJP for oppos-ing the shifting of the metro carshed project to Kanjurmarg fromthe green lung Aarey Colony.

"Recently it was said that theland in Kanjurmarg where the(metro 3) car shed project wasshifted to is a salt pan land...You areattempting to stall the develop-ment projects in Mumbai," Thackeray said.

The state government and theBJP have been at loggerheads sinceThackeray announced shifting ofthe metro car shed project lastmonth.

Thackeray said a string of at-tempts were made to create hurdlesin the development of the state,but they all came unstuck.

"Maharashtra-haters ran adefamation campaign against thestate to malign its image. Theytried to paint Maharashtra as alawless state where farming ofdrugs and narcotic substances hap-pens.

"But, the fact is that we received

investments worth crores of ru-pees for whichMoUs were signed,and now work would also startsoon," said the chief minister whoheads the tripartite governmentof the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.

While MoUs worth Rs 17,000crore were signed in June this year,deals of Rs 35,000 crore were inkedrecently, the CM added.

He said the new deals would gen-erate employment opportunitiesin different sectors including elec-tronics, logistics etc, for at least23,182 people.

"In the next few years,Maharashtra will become the hubof logistics and data," the CM added.

Referring to recent floods andheavy rains in the state, Thackeraysaid crops on the area of 41 lakhhectares were damaged.

He said the state governmentpromptly announced a relief pack-age of Rs 10,000 crore to mitigatethe hardships of farmers.

People throng a market for shopping ahead of Diwali festival, in Jammu, Sunday PTI PHOTO

DIWALI AHEAD

Probe on unused meds

AGENCIES

Bhadarwah, Nov 8: Authoritiesin Bhaderwah area of Jammu andKashmir's Doda district have or-dered a probe after medicines fromhospital supply, worth lakhs of ru-pees, were found abandoned at sev-eral places along Neeru River, of-ficials said Sunday.

The medicines, reportedly meantfor the distribution among theCOVID patients, were noticed bypeople after hundreds of fish diedunder mysterious circumstancesand were found floating in the rivernear Gupta Ganga temple, Parnalaand Atal -g arh area, the officials said.

“We have taken serious note ofit and a fact finding team has beenconstituted to probe the incident andthose found guilty will be dealtwith iron hands,” AdditionalDeputy Commissioner, Bhaderwah,Rakesh Kumar told PTI.

Kumar, who is himself headingthe fact finding team, said the hos-pital authorities have maintainedthat even the expired medicinesare not thrown anywhere but prop-erly disposed every month in pres-ence of senior officers.

Neeru River is considered the life-l ine of additional districtBhadarwah because it is the mainsource of potable water and pro-vides water supply to dozens oftrout fish farms besides being thesource of income to local fishermen.

"We found hundreds of stripsof different medicines floating atseveral places and raised an alarmas hundreds of fish had died mys-teriously in the recent past,” NeerajSingh Manhas, a resident ofAtalgarh, said.

He said the medicines include hy-droxy chloroquine, azithromycin,betamethazone, paractemol, zinctablets having expiry of 2022.

“It clearly indicates that the med-icines were meant for Covid pa-tients and have been dumped inwater body for unknown rea-sons…May be the delivery mandid not want to visit the COVIDpatient," Manhas said.

Demanding stern action againstthose involved, the locals said theresponsibility should be immedi-ately fixed and those who havecommitted the crime should be

put behind the bars.Two trout fish farms including a

trout hatchery at Gatha and Bhejavillage have been established onthe banks of Neeru by the fisheriesdepartment besides more than adozen trout fish farms of famousrainbow trout give employment todozens of unemployed youth of the area.

Workers of trout fish farms haveclaimed that mortality rate hassuddenly increased after the med-icines in large quantity were thrownin the river.

"Since past one week, we havebeen collecting and removing med-icines from our pond every day.Despite all of our efforts, dozens offish have died in last couple of daysand hospital authorities are re-sponsible for this," said Barkat Aliof Bagwan trout fish farm Atalgarh.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai , Nov 8 : When USPresident-elect Joe Biden was inIndia’s financial capital in 2013, hehad told an audience that his dis-tant relatives live in Mumbai.

Biden reiterated his claim twoyear s l ater at an event inWashington, saying there are fiveBidens living in Mumbai.

With the 77-year-old Democrat setto take oath as the 46th US Presidentin just over two months, nobody inMumbai has so far turned up toclaim that he is Biden's relative.

Decades after he received a let-ter from someone by the last nameof Biden from Mumbai, soon afterbecoming a senator, Biden learnedthat his "great, great, great, great,great grandfather" had worked inthe East India Company.

"There are five Bidens inMumbai, India," Biden, then VicePresident, told a Washington au-dience in 2015 at an event organ-ised by the Confederation of IndianIndustry and Carnegie Endowmentfor International Peace on the oc-

casion of the 10th anniversary ofIndia-US civil nuclear deal.

In 2013, when Biden travelled toMumbai on his maiden vice pres-idential trip to India, he spokeabout this letter he received whenhe became the senator for the firsttime several decades ago.

In his address to the BombayStock Exchange on July 24, 2013,Biden narrated his story of the'Biden from Mumbai'. "It's an ho-nour to be back in India and tobe here in Mumbai. Off script fora second here, I was reminded Iwas elected to the United StatesSenate when I was a 29-year-old kid

back in 1972, and one of the firstletters I received and I regret Inever followed up on it.

"Maybe, some genealogist inaudience can follow up for me,but I received a letter from a gen-tleman named Biden - Biden, myname - from Mumbai, assertingthat we were related," Biden hadtold the Mumbai audience sevenyears ago.

In his 2015 speech in Washington,Biden had claimed that his "great,great, great, great, great grand-father" George Biden was a Captainin the East India Trading com-pany and after retirement, decidedto settle in India and married anIndian woman.

Biden had also said someoneprovided him with the details in-cluding the phone numbers ofthe Bidens in Mumbai. He hadinformed the audience that hewas yet to call his Mumbai kin butwas planning to do so.

It is not clear if Biden did man-age to contact them as the fiveBidens he spoke of have not 'sur-faced' yet.

BIDEN HAD CLAIMED THAT HIS “GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER”GEORGE BIDEN WAS A CAPTAIN IN THE EAST INDIA TRADING COMPANY

The medicines, reportedly meant for the distribution among the COVID patients, werenoticed by people after hundreds of fish diedunder mysterious circumstances and were

found floating in a river

PAGD only afterpower, says BJP

Ifthe alliance is

against theConstitution of India, then

how come is this gangfighting the DDC election

under the sameConstitution?

VIBODH GUPTA | J &K BJP’SGENERAL SECRETARY

P8

nationalMONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

Uttarakhandgovernment’spragmatic

industrial policy hasensured a largeamount ofinvestment cominginto the state and this flow willcontinue uninterrupted

TRIVENDRA SINGH RAWAT | UTTARAKHAND CM

of theday uote

Citizens havesuccessfullymanaged to

bring dengue casesto 489 this year from15,867 in 2015, whilecompared to 60dengue-related deaths in 2015, therehas been no fatalities this year

ARVIND KEJRIWAL | DELHI CM

The Delhigovernmenthas failed to

combat pollution inthe city and hasmade firecrackertraders a scapegoat.I am not against the ban but itshould have been announced sixmonths back, not two days agoprohibiting sale, purchase and useof firecrackers

VIJAY GOEL | BJP LEADER

The Centreshould come up

with a white paper toinform people about theimpact ofdemonetisation, GST andthe coronavirus pandemicon the country's economyASHOK GEHLOT | RAJASTHAN CM

As BJP patriarch LK Advani turned93 Sunday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi called him a livinginspiration for crores of BJPworkers and countrymen andwished him a long and healthy life

ADVANI TURNS 93

Gold seized Chennai: The CustomsDepartment here Sunday saidit has seized 1.31 kg goldworth Rs 70.7 lakh while itwas being smuggled into thecountry by six persons onSunday and Saturday. In astatement issued here, theCommissioner of Customs,Chennai International Airportsaid that Mohammed Asifand Mohamed Sharif arrivedby Air India Express andIndigo flights respectively. Onpersonal search of Asif, twopackets containing goldpaste weighing 140 gramswere recovered from hispocket from which 123 gramsof gold of 24k purity weighingwas extracted.

Couple shot at Muzaffarnagar (UttarPradesh): A 17-year-old girland her alleged lover wereshot at in Pipalheda villageunder the Khatoli police inMuzaffarnagar. The accusedin the case is a cousin of thegirl, who was opposed totheir relationship. He hasbeen arrested. The girl andher 18-year-old lover havebeen admitted shifted to ahospital in a seriouscondition on Saturdayevening after the incidenttook place.

Man killed New Delhi: A 28-year-old manwas stabbed to death insouth-east Delhi's East ofKailash in a brawl overurination in front of a grocerystore, following which twoshopowner brothers werearrested, police said Sunday.Police said brothers Vinayand Vimal were sittingoutside their closed shop in CBlock Market when 34-year-old Jagjeet Singh urinatedthere on Friday night. After aheated argument with thetwo brothers, Jagjeet left butlater came back with hisfriends Amit, Ramandeep,Gurvinder, Jaspreet, JagatSingh, Karan, and Amandeep.Some persons from themarket came out in supportof Vimal and Vinay and bothparties indulged in a brawl.Jagjeet and his accomplicesfled the spot.

Body found Thane: The body of a missingautorickshaw driver wasfound floating in a creekSunday here in Maharashtra,police said. Prima facie, thedeceased, Vivek Kharat (25),committed suicide byjumping into the Retibundercreek in Waghbil area, aKasarvadawali police stationofficer said. Kharat had beenmissing since November 4and a missing personcomplaint was lodged by hisfamily members onNovember 5, he said.

SHORT TAKES

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Sunday said de-monetisation has helped reduceblack money, increase tax compli-ance and given a boost to trans-parency as the BJP and the Congresssparred over its outcome on thefourth anniversary of withdrawalof high value currency notes.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhialleged that Modi's move was aimedat helping a few of his "crony cap-italist friends" and had "destroyed"the Indian economy, prompting astrong response from the BJP whichsaid the exercise was an "attack" oncorruption and black money thatwere rampant during the "lostdecade" of the Congress-led UPAgovernment.

Rahul Gandhi and the Congresshave been alleging that demoneti-sation was not in the interest ofthe people and had adverse effectson the economy, a charge the gov-ernment has dismissed repeatedly.On November 8, 2016, Modi an-nounced on national television hisgovernment's decision to ban all cur-rency notes of higher denominationof`500 and`1,000 from midnight onthe same day.

Taking to Twitter, the primeminister listed the beneficial out-comes of demonetisation.

"Demonetisation has helped re-duce black money, increase taxcompliance and formalisation andgiven a boost to transparency," hesaid."These outcomes have beengreatly beneficial towards nationalprogress," Modi said using thehashtag 'DeMolishingCorruption'.

Along with his tweet, the primeminister also shared a graphic onhow demonetisation has ensuredbetter tax compliance, improvedtax and GDP ratio, made India alesser cash based economy andgave a boost to national security.

But in a video released as partof the Cong ress ' online'SpeakUpAgainstDeMoDisaster'

campaign, Rahul Gandhi said thequestion is how the economy ofBangladesh "surpassed" the Indianeconomy as there was a time whenIndia used to be one of the most highperforming economies of the world.

"The government says that thereason is COVID but if that is thereason, there is COVID inBangladesh and elsewhere in theworld also. The reason is not COVID,the reason is 'Notebandi' and GST,"Rahul Gandhi said. Hitting back,the BJP said demonetisation wasgood for the country and resultedin cleaning up of the economy, for-malisation of the informal sectorand revenue aggregation.

"Demonetisation had dealt abody blow to the systemic financialcorruption and black money econ-omy. Since then, it has simultane-ously invigorated formal economyand brought unprecedented fi-nancial benefits to all sections of so-ciety," BJP national spokespersonRajeev Chandrasekhar told a pressconference at the party's head-quarters in Delhi.

"If there is anybody who should-n't talk about loot, mismanage-ment of the economy it should bepeople from the Congress. Duringthe last decade of the Congress-led UPA government, there wasrampant black money and cor-ruption in the country's economy."

The Cong ress- led UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) was inpower at the Centre for two termsfrom 2004 to 2014."Demonetisationhad three significant and tangibleimpacts -- cleaning up of the econ-omy, formalisation of the infor-mal sector as it helped us to reachthe poor and needy, and revenue ag-gregation," Chandrasekhar said.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Guwahati, Nov 8: Apart from de-fending the frontiers, fighting ter-rorists, and undertaking rescuemissions in emergencies, the IndianArmy has now launched coachingfor students in the northeast regionas educational institutions remainshut for over seven months now dueto the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under "Operation Sadbhavna",the Army's Spear Corps has un-dertaken to conduct coachingclasses for students of Classes 9 to12 in Miao and Kharsang villagesof Arunachal Pradesh's Changlangdistrict, bordering Myanmar.

Defence spokesman, Lt. Col P.Khongsai said Sunday that thecoaching classes were started onFriday and based on their re-sponse and performance, theArmy would likely to considerintroducing similar initiativesin other states of the northeast.

The Covid-19 pandemic has ad-versely affected the education ofchildren, with no schools run-

ning and classes shifted to on-line mode, he said, noting thatchildren in rural areas with poorinternet connectivity have suf-fered the most as online classesare often a distant dream.

"Understanding the concern,the aim of this proposal is to en-sure that an important academicyear of senior children fromthese remote areas is not wasteddue to pandemic, mitigate theanxiety of parents and finallyprevent drop-outs."

He said a solemn opening cer-emony was conducted at Miaoand Kharsang on Friday and wasattended by village SamitiPresident, the Principal of gov-ernment higher secondary school,Kharsang and teachers of theKendriya Vidyalaya, Miao.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHT

A worker arranges wax lamps before packing ahead of Diwali in New Delhi, Sunday PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Tiruvarur (TN), Nov 8: The an-cestral villages of US Vice-Presidentelect Kamala Harris in Tamil NaduSunday erupted in joy over theDemocrat Senator's elevation andushered in an early Diwali withfirecrackers and sweets to cele-brate her win.

The joy of locals inThulasenthirapuram andPainganadu villages in this Cauverydelta district knew no bounds asthey rejoiced the victory of "thewoman of our house". The villages,which are native to her maternalgrandparents, were keenly waitingfor the outcome and once President-elect Joe Biden triumphed againstincumbent Republican PresidentDonald Trump, it was evident his run-ning mate Harris would be his deputy.

The villagers had earlier heldspecial prayers for Harris' win andonce they were answered, celebratedit with much fanfare on Sunday.The locals celebrated 56 year-oldHarris' win by bursting crackersand distributing sweets, even asspecial prayers were held at thelocal temple, in which state Food

Minister R Kamaraj participated.People gathered on roads in large

numbers carrying the photos ofHarris and handmade signs.Hundreds of digital banners havebeen put up in the area. Politicianscutting across party lines distrib-uted sweets to the people.

A local at Painganadu who drewa large 'kolam' (Rangoli) was allsmiles when she hailed the victoryof the "woman of our house." Thecolourful 'kolam' hailed Harris asthe 'pride' of the village.

Arulmozhi, a councillor repre-senting the area in the Mannargudipanchayat union, wished Harrisvisited the village after assuming

office."Even for winning an elec-tion at the local level, women haveto struggle a lot. We can under-stand how difficult it would havebeen for Kamala Harris to win thatfiercely fought election. We hopeKamala will one day pay a visit toour village after assuming officeand we are eagerly waiting to shakehands (with her)," she said.

The villagers had already keptthe crackers ready in anticipationof Harris' win, even as the peoplewere proud that their villages hap-pen to be the native place of thegrandparents of Kamala Harris.Thulasenthirapuram andPainganadu are agrarian villages andare located very close to each othernear Mannargudi in the district.

Harris' grandfather P V Gopalanmoved out of Thulasenthirapuramvillage as a young man and tookup a job in the British govern-ment service. Her grandmotherRajam belonged to the nearbyPainganadu village.

Though Kamala's ancestors leftthe village many decades ago, fam-ily members had kept their con-nections with the temple atThulasenthirapuram intact.

TN VILLAGES ERUPT IN JOY

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8: From start-ing home kitchens to selling su-perfoods online, several younglawyers, who otherwise spent theirtime in courtrooms, used the coro-navirus-induced lockdown to ex-plore their entrepreneurship andbusiness skills.

Having time in hand as courtsacross the country had restrictedtheir functioning with the onset ofthe COVID-19 pandemic and sub-sequent nationwide lockdown, theselawyers got the opportunity to nur-ture their ideas, hobbies and pas-sions, while carrying on with theirlegal profession.

Due to the pandemic, the numberof cases reduced substantially, said29-year-old Ankit Malhotra, a lawyerwith specialisation in constitu-

tional law and licensing."I had alot of time because of this and cameup with the idea of selling superfoodslike nutritious edible seeds, and avariation of spices and herbs thathelp boost immunity, besides of-fering other health benefits," saidthe lawyer, who now has a start-upcalled 'Bag of Herbs'.

Courts took up only urgent casesfor hearing during the lockdown,which was imposed in the end ofMarch to prevent the spread of theinfection. Since June, the govern-ment is gradually easing restric-tions under 'Unlock'.

"During the lockdown, I was ini-tially helping my parents in theirwork. It was during this time, I alsocame across vendors who were sell-ing herbs and spices. I decided to ex-plore my passion of making peoplecook at home with products which

have high nutrition value and otherhealth benefits," Malhotra said.

"I came up with my start-up 'Bagof Herbs', which offers ingredientsthat are rich in nutrients, healthy

and boost immunity, while at thesame time are pleasing to the palate,"he said. Those interested, can alsolearn about healthy recipes on thestart-up's website and about thehealth benefits of products, thelawyer said, adding that its socialmedia pages also accepts suggestionsfrom customers.

Malhotra is expanding his busi-ness through e-commerce sites likeGrofers, Flipkart and Amazon andhas plans to make the start-up afull-time enterprise. Corporatelawyers Mahima Ahluwalia Sinhaand Yashita Dalmia started homekitchens in Gurgaon and the na-tional capital. Sinha, who has beenin the legal profession for the last12 years, has started a home kitchencalled 'Assi Tussi Bhalo Achi' thatoffers a fusion of Bengali andPunjabi cuisine. The lawyer said that

she has neither left the legal pro-fession nor has plans to leave it.

Sinha said that during the lock-down she and her mother-in-lawSagarica Lala came up with theidea of setting up a home kitchenthat would offer a mix of Punjabiand Bengali cuisine. Offering some-thing different was the prime ob-jective behind the venture, she said.

"I am trying my best to manageboth, my legal profession and thehome kitchen. I am exploring mylove and passion for food and cook-ing. I have WhatsApp groups and aFacebook page through which Itake orders. We are gradually in-creasing the menu and it’s on adaily basis," Sinha said. She addedthat the lockdown was a boon for heras earlier she always had a packedschedule and never got time to ex-plore her passion.

NEW FOCUS

Army helping NE students

Lawyers used lockdown to explore business ideas, hobbies

4TH ANNIV OF DEMONETISATION

CONG, BJP ENGAGEIN WAR OF WORDS

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Mumbai, Nov 8: In a major swoop,the Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) raided the home of well-known film producer Firoz A.Nadiadwala and seized drugsworth around Rs 3.59 lakh, an of-ficial said here Sunday.

The NCB has also arrestedNadiadwala's wife Shabana Saeed,besides three other drug peddlersin the operation conducted at dif-ferent places in the city and inThane during the day. It seized717.1 gms ganja, 74.1 gms charasand 95.1 gms MD (commercialquantity), worth Rs.3.59 lakh fromNadiadwala's home in Juhu andanother location.

Besides another 10 gms of ganjawas recovered from another ac-cused Wahid A. Kadir Shaikh,alias Sultan. Saeed's statementwas recorded after which she wasplaced under arrest, said the NCBofficial.

There was speculation thatFiroz Nadiadwala is likely to besummoned for interrogation, butthere was no confirmation fromthe officials.

NCB ARRESTSFIROZ’S WIFE

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 8: AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal has for thesecond time turned down requestfor his consent for filing a criminalcontempt case against AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy for writing a letter to the CJI against Justice NV Ramana.

Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay isseeking contempt action againstReddy for writing a letter to ChiefJustice of India SA Bobde for mak-ing "wild and reckless" allegationsagainst Justice Ramana. In hisfresh letter to Upadhyay, Venugopalsaid: "Given that the Chief Justiceof India is seized of the matter, itwould not be appropriate for meto grant consent and preclude thedetermination of the Chief Justiceof India on the matter.

"As you are no doubt aware, con-tempt is a matter between the courtand contemnor, and no person as aright can insist upon the initiationof contempt proceedings. For thesereasons, I cannot accede to yourrequest for reconsideration."

Venugopal said that his refusalto grant consent does not precludethe lawyer from bringing these

facts to the notice of the court. "Iwould invite your attention to thefact that my refusal to grant consentdoes not preclude you from bring-ing these facts to the notice of theHon'ble Judges of the SupremeCourt with a prayer for initiationof suo motu action. You may exer-cise this right either by way of in-formation placed on the adminis-trative side or by bringing it to theattention of the court during thehearing of WP(C)699/2016 whereyou are already a petitioner in per-son," the AG said.

On November 2, the AttorneyGeneral had said that the timing of Reddy's letter to the CJI on alle-gations against Justice Ramanaand making it public through apress meet was "suspect", but de-clined consent for initiating con-tempt proceedings against theAndhra politician.

Responding to Upadhyay's earlierletter, the AG had said: "I am of theopinion that the timing of the let-ter, as well as its being placed in thepublic domain through a press con-ference, could certainly be said tobe suspect, in the background ofthe order dated September 16 passedby Justice Ramana, directing pend-ing prosecutions of elected repre-sentatives to be taken up and dis-posed expeditiously."

In an unprecedented move, theChief Minister had written to ChiefJustice Bobde, alleging that theAndhra Pradesh High Court wasused to destabilise and topple dem-ocratically elected government,and sought the Chief Justice's in-tervention in the matter. He urgedthe CJI to consider initiating steps"as may be considered fit and properto ensure that the state judiciary'sneutrality is maintained".

AG refuses nod to contempt case against Jagan

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 8: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Sunday inaugu-rated the Ro-pax ferry servicesbetween Surat and Saurashtra re-gion in Gujarat, and announcedthat the Shipping Ministry willbe named Ministry of Port,Shipping and Waterways to re-flect the revamp underway.

"With this service, you will saveon time and expenses. Apart fromthis, traffic will be reduced by road,which will help reduce pollution.In a year, about 80,000 vehicles andabout 30,000 trucks will be able totake advantage of this new service.This will also save petrol and diesel,"Modi said while inaugurating theservice through videoconference.

Modi said the ferry connectiv-ity of Saurashtra with a big busi-ness centre in Gujarat will changethe life of that region. "Now thefarmers and livestock farmers ofSaurashtra will have more ease inbringing vegetables, fruits andmilk to Surat," he pointed out.

The Prime Minister claimedthat maritime business-related in-frastructure and capacity build-ing in Gujarat is in full swing. Hecited the examples of GujaratMaritime Cluster, Gujarat MaritimeUniversity, CNG Terminal atBhavnagar and many such facili-ties coming up in Gujarat.

He stressed that the capacityof ports on the maritime bordersof the country was also in theprocess of increasing. New portsare getting built at a rapid pace inan effort to maximise the use ofIndia's 21,000-km long waterways.

The ferry service will work as agateway to south Gujarat andSaurashtra region. It will reducethe distance between the two placesfrom 370 km to just 90 km. Thecargo travel time will reduce from10 to 12 hours to about 4 hours,leading to huge saving of around9,000 litres per day in fuel and alsolower maintenance costs of vehi-cles drastically. The Prime Ministerconcluded his speech by stress-ing on 'vocal for local', urging peo-ple to buy local products in festi-val season.

PM launchesferry service

Courts took up onlyurgent cases for hearingduring the lockdown,which was imposed in theend of March to preventthe spread of the infection

The Congress partystands in solidarity

with 30 lakh armedforces personnel and will notpermit any dilution of therights of those who serve theirmotherland day in and day outRANDEEP SURJEWALA | CONGRESS CHIEF SPOKESPERSON

P9

nationalMONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

The Nagaland government hasdecided to celebrate the popularHornbill festival virtually thisyear, amid the surge in COVID-19cases in the country

VIRTUAL PROGRAMMES TOMARK HORNBILL FESTIVAL

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1,000 posts ofAyushassistant have

been approved toencourage yogaeducation in schools

MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR

| HARYANA CM

of theday uote

Karnataka willsoon enact alaw

prohibiting religiousconversions

K. SUDHAKAR |KARNATAKA HEALTH AND

FAMILY WELFARE MINISTER

The 'Har GharNal se Jal'project under

Jal Jeevan Missionwill be completedwithin 9 months inaspirational districtsof the country on a priority basis

GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT | UNION

MINISTER

13 Bangladeshisapprehended Kolkata: Thirteen Bangladeshinationals have beenapprehended by BorderSecurity Force personnel inborder points of West Bengal'sNorth 24 Parganas districtwhile trying to crossover toIndia, a BSF statement saidSunday. All 13 were nabbed bythe border guards in separateincidents Friday. While fiveBangladeshis wereapprehended at Bithari borderoutpost, six nationals of theneighbouring country werenabbed near Hakimpur borderoutpost, the statement said.

Youth arrestedBallia (UP): A 24-year-oldyouth was arrested forallegedly abducting andraping a minor girl on thepretext of marriage, policesaid Sunday."On August 28, a16-year-old girl was abductedby her 24-year-old neighborand taken to Kerala. The girlwas raped on the pretext ofmarriage,” Station HouseOfficer of Bairia police stationSanjay Tripathi said.“On thecomplaint of the girl's father,a case has been registeredagainst the accused underthe India Penal Code and theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences Act," headded. Police said the girlwas rescued and sent formedical examination.

Naxal killed Bijapur: A Naxal was killedwhile two security personnelsustained injuries in anencounter in Bijapur inChhattisgarh Sunday, policesaid. The exchange of firetook place at around 10:30 amnear Bhattiguda village underPamed police station limits,on the border with Telangana,a senior official said.

Two dead Dhubri (Assam): Two personswere killed and a few othersinjured in a collision betweena tractor- trolley and a bus onNational Highway 17 inAssam's Kokrajhar districtSunday, police said. Theaccident took place near NewPanbari in Bogribari policestation area when the sand-laden tractor-trolley tried toflee on seeing anenforcement team of theMotor Vehicles Inspector, apolice officer said.

Man found dead Muzaffarnagar (UP): A 35-year-old man was found deadwith his throat slit in UttarPradesh's Muzaffarnagardistrict on Saturday evening,police said. Duringinvestigation, police arresteda 28-year-old man, whoconfessed he had killed Robinfor allegedly having an illicitrelation with his wife andharassing her over phone, anofficer said. The deceased'sbody was recovered inKhatauli town and sent forpost-mortem, the officer said.

SHORT TAKES

Covid shadow on Winter Session

The ongoing Covid pandemic has madethe government re-think on holding the

Winter Session of Parliament in November-December. As many as 45 Members ofParliament including several Ministers andChairman of the Rajya Sabha M VenkaiahNaidu got infected during the Monsoon

session of Parliament in September. One ofthe Union Ministers even lost his life due tocoronavirus. Though, the government isnot constitutionally or legally obliged tohold the Winter Session as the Monsoonsession concluded September 28. As perprovision, there should not be a gap ofmore than six months between the twosessions. Therefore, the government cannow hold the next session in March. But theBudget session will mandatorily beginJanuary 30 next year.

Priyanka back in Lutyen’s Delhi

After a brief stint in Gurugram inHaryana, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is back

in Lutyen’s Delhi. She vacated hergovernment bungalow a couple of monthsback when the Modi government servedher with a notice. There was a big

controversy as Urban Affairs MinisterHardeep Singh Puri revealed to the mediathat Priyanka wanted an extension to staywhich he happily granted. But Priyankadenied the charge making Puri to revealagain that request was made to him onbehalf of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by Gandhifamily’s most trusted person. Finally, sheshifted to Gurugram at the DLF’s posh flatfor a short while. Now she is back in SujanSingh Park near Khan Market. The flat isowned by late Khushwant Singh’s familyand she is on rent.

JD (U) slide worries BJP

Irrespective of Modi's undiminishedcharisma and immense popular appeal,

the BJP leadership has a reason to worry inBihar. Now that polling is over in thebitterly fought polarised battle, the BJP israttled as its key partner Nitish Kumar'sgraph is on the downhill. The mishandling

of migrant labourers and coronavirusissues may cost him dearly and hurt BJPmore in the months to come if the NDAloses Bihar. It is not as if the BJP was notaware of the sliding graph of Kumar. Allinternal surveys conducted by the RSS andthe BJP signalled that the Bihar CM’spopularity is waning. The vocal Bihar BJPleadership wanted to go alone smellingblood riding on the Modi wave. It was inthis background that PM Narendra Modi,BJP president JP Nadda and Home MinisterAmit Shah held two rounds of talks onBihar in June-July. A conscious decisionwas taken to go with Janata Dal (U) as theconsequences of dumping Nitish couldhave been fatal. It would have pushed himto go back to the RJD-Congress alliance. Inorder to offset the anti-incumbency factorof Nitish, a buffer zone of sort in the formof LJP’s Chirag Paswan was created. It wasdone with the hope that LJP could cut intoanti-Nitish votes which otherwise would

have gone to the RJD-Congress-Lefttripartite. One will have to watch if theBJP’s gambit pays off.

Ram Madhav’s big slide

It seems BJP’s rising star has run out ofluck. He was incharge of the Jammu &

Kashmir affairs and North East. When hewas removed as BJP general secretary, itwas widely believed that he will get a RajyaSabha seat and possibly a ministerial berthwhen reshuffle takes place. It was alsoexpected that he will be nominated to theRajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh where theBJP is set to win at least eight out of tenseats. But his name didn't figure in the list.It now transpires that he is vacating hisSouth Avenue government flat as wellwhich he had been allotted as party’sgeneral secretary. What he will do next isnot known.

KuruKolumn

Delhi seeing third corona wave: JainPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dungarpur (Rajasthan), Nov 8:The national capital has hit thepeak of the third wave of COVID-19, and the number of cases suggeststhat it has been the worst since thepandemic arrived in the city, DelhiHealth Minister Satyendar Jainsaid Sunday.

He said the government had noplans yet to rope in hotels and banquet halls to augment the bed capacity for COVID-19 patientsas the AAP dispensation had increased the number of beds in hospitals of Delhi.

The national capital has beenwitnessing a fresh surge in coron-avirus cases amid the festive seasonand rising air pollution. On Friday,Delhi recorded over 7,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time. The cityon Saturday reported 79 deaths,the highest number of fatalities inover four months.

Jain, who is on an official visitto Rajasthan's Dungarpur, said thefirst wave had hit its peak aroundJune 23 and the second onSeptember 17. "The third wave of

COVID-19 is at its peak in Delhi.The number of cases suggests it isthe worst wave so far. But the caseswill come down soon," Jain told re-porters here.

Delhi reported its first case onMarch 1, when a businessman inEast Delhi was diagnosed withCOVID-19 after returning from Italy.The minister cited aggressive test-ing and contact-tracing among rea-sons for the sudden spike in thenumber of cases being reported.

Jain, however, said laxity on thepart of the people has also been amajor reason behind the surge.

"Some people think nothing willhappen to them if they don''t weara mask. They are wrong. Mask is theonly medicine for COVID-19 till a vac-cine is developed," he added.

The National Centre for DiseaseControl, in a report drafted recently,had warned that Delhi needed to beprepared for about 15,000 freshCOVID-19 cases daily taking into ac-count the winter season-relatedrespiratory problems, large influxof patients from outside and fes-tive gatherings.

On Friday, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal had said that like the pre-

vious two waves of coronavirus,the third one would end soon inDelhi as he urged Delhiites to makewearing masks a movement to ar-rest the spread of COVID-19.

"Till there is a vaccine for co-rona, consider face masks as the vac-cine. These are the biggest protec-tion against COVID-19 infection.We need to promote wearing facemasks as a movement," he had said.The national capital on Saturdayrecorded 6,953 new cases of the infection. Daily cases began risingin the city in September. It startedto come down a bit by the last week. The number of people inhome isolation in the city stood at24,100 on Saturday.

LET’S PLAY

Zebras play at Alipore Zoo in Kolkata, Sunday PTI PHOTO

Five of familyfound dead PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kolkata, Nov 8: Five members ofa family, including two children,were found dead at their residencein West Bengal's Dakshin Dinajpurdistrict Sunday, a senior police of-ficer said.

Bodies of Anup Barman (33), hismother Ulubala Barman, wifeMallika Barman and two daugh-ters -- both under 10 years -- BeautyBarman and Snigdha Barmanwere recovered by a team of policeofficers around 6 am from their res-idence at Jamalpur village inTapan police station area.

According to the officer, it was-n't yet clear if this was a case of sui-cide or murder. Locals noticedAnup's body hanging from the ceil-ing of his residence and informedthe police. He was suffering fromcancer and had little or no moneyleft for his treatment, he said.

It could be that all of them weremurdered at their residence, orthe 33-year-old might have killedhis family members before tak-ing own life, he said.

Girl set ablazeby jilted loverINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Ballia (Uttar Pradesh) Nov 8: Ina shocking incident, a 15-year-oldDalit girl was set ablaze in a villagein Ballia district by a youth forspurning his sexual advances.

The police said that the accused,Krishna Gupta, 21, has been ar-rested. The victim was admitted toa hospital in Ballia but as her con-dition worsened, she was shifted toVaranasi for advanced treatment.

The incident took place late onFriday night. Dubhar police sta-tion SHO Anil Chandra Tiwarisaid that on the complaint f thegirl's father, the police have regis-tered a case against the accusedunder various sections of the IndianPenal Code, the Scheduled Casteand Scheduled Tribe (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act and the Protectionof Children from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act. The girl's father toldthe police that the accused abductedhis daughter and set her on fire asshe had been rejecting the man's sex-ual advances towards her.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 8: The militarytalks between India and China atChushul in eastern Ladakh to re-solve the border dispute ended ina stalemate but both countries haveagreed to continue the dialogue topush for a peaceful settlement, theMoD said Sunday.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD)said in a statement that both coun-tries agreed to continue the dia-logue and communication throughmilitary and diplomatic channelsand take forward the discussions,push for a settlement of other out-standing issues, so as to jointlymaintain peace and tranquillityin the border areas.

The ministry pointed out that"the two sides had a candid, in-depth and constructive exchangeof views on disengagement alongthe Line of Actual Control in theWestern Sector of India-China bor-der areas."

The Ministry further said thatboth the countries also agreed to ear nestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, en-sure their frontline troops exer-cised restraint and avoided mis-understanding and miscalculations."They also agreed to have anotherround of meeting soon," theMinistry said.

Since the talks ended in a dead-lock and no thinning of troops willhappen, soldiers of both the coun-tries deployed in the area will re-main exposed to minus 20 degreesCelsius temperatures. The 8thCorps Commander-level talks be-tween both the countries began at

9.30 am and ended at 7 pm on Friday.It was for the first time thatLieutenant General PGK Menon ledthe Indian military delegates.

Earlier, he had attended two suchtalks but the delegation was ledby then Lieutenant GeneralHarinder Singh, who was trans-ferred last month to the IndianMilitary Academy (IMA) wherehe would be in charge of trainingthe future generations of Armyofficers. Ministry of ExternalAffairs Joint Secretary NavinSrivastava was also part of the del-egation.

While the talks were on, Chiefof Defence Staff General BipinRawat on Friday claimed that thesituation on the Line of ActualControl remains tense and a warwith China cannot be ruled out. Hehad said: "In the overall securitycalculus, border confrontations,transgressions, unprovoked tac-tical military actions spirallinginto a larger conflict therefore can-not be discounted."

General Rawat said that the sit-uation along the Line of ActualControl in eastern Ladakh re-mained tense. But he pointed outthat India's posturing is unam-biguous and "will not accept anyshift in the Line of Actual Control".He also said that China's People'sLiberation Army is facing unan-ticipated consequences for its mis-adventure in Ladakh because of thefirm responses by Indian forces.Both the countries' military topcommanders met seven times ina bid to resolve the six-monthstandoff. The seventh meetingtook place on October 12 but thattoo ended in a deadlock.

Indo-China talksto continue: MoD

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Niwari/Bhopal, Nov 8: Four-year-old Prahlad, who fell in a borewellin Niwari district of MadhyaPradesh, eventually lost the battlefor life Sunday, despite a relentlessrescue operation that lasted 90hours.

Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan mourned his death andannounced a compensation of `5lakh to the bereaved family. Prahladfell in borewell Wednesday morn-ing while playing near a farm inSetpura in Niwari district. He wastrapped at a depth of about 60 feet.

Rescue work went on for threedays, in which Army, NationalDisaster Response Force, StateDisaster Response Force, police,home guards were involved. ThoughPrahlad was finally brought outaround 3 am and rushed to NiwariHospital but he was declaredbrought dead by doctors.

The Chief Minister expressedgrief over Prahlad's death: "Prahladcould not be saved even after a res-cue operation of 90 hours. The teamof SDRF, NDRF and other expertsworked hard day and night but fi-nally at 3 am, the son's dead body wastaken out. In this hour of grief, I andthe whole state stand with Prahlad'sfamily and pray for the peace of

the soul of the innocent son." He saidthat a new borewell will also be in-stalled at their farmland.

After Harikishan's son Prahladfell into the 200-feet borewell, the rescue teams dug up a 60-footdeep bore parallel to the borewelland then built a horizontal tunnel to access the boy, but hecould not be saved.

4-YR-OLD BOY STUCK IN BOREWELL DIES

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan mourned his death and announced a compensation of `5 lakh to the bereaved family

Drinking tea in papercups not safe: IIT studyPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8: Disposablepaper cups are not safe for drink-ing tea and a person drinkingthree cups of tea in them willend up ingesting 75,000 tiny mi-croplastic particles, a study bythe Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Kharagpur, has found.

According to Sudha Goel,Associate Professor at IITKharagpur, who led the research,disposable paper cups are a pop-ular choice for consuming bev-erages. "Our research has con-firmed contamination of the hotliquid served in paper cups dueto the de g radation of mi-croplastics and other hazardouscomponents from the lining ma-terial of the cup. Paper cups areusually lined by a thin layer of hy-drophobic film which is made ofmostly plastic (polyethylene) andsometimes co-polymers to hold theliquid in the paper cup. Within 15minutes this microplastic layerdegrades as a reaction to hotwater, " she said.

"According to our study, 25,000micron-sized (10 µm to 1000 µm)microplastic particles are re-leased into 100 ml of hot liquid (85– 90 degrees C) residing in thepaper cups for 15 minutes. Thus,an average person drinking 3 reg-ular cups of tea or coffee daily, ina paper cup, would be ingesting75,000 tiny microplastic particleswhich are invisible to the humaneye," she added.

The researchers followed twodifferent procedures - in the firstprocess, hot ultrapure (MilliQ)water (85–90 degrees C) waspoured into the disposable papercups, and it was allowed to sitfor 15 minutes.

The national capital has beenwitnessing a fresh surge in

coronavirus cases amid thefestive season and rising airpollution

Delhi reported its first case onMarch 1, when a

businessman in East Delhi wasdiagnosed with COVID-19 afterreturning from Italy

AGENCIES

Wilmington, Nov 8: Joe Biden justwon the presidency. That may turnout to be the easy part. The president-elect already was braced to dealwith the worst health crisis the na-tion has seen in more than a centuryand the economic havoc it haswreaked.

Now, he has to build a governmentwhile contending with a Senatethat could stay in GOP hands, aHouse sure to feature fewerDemocratic allies and a public thatincludes more than 70 million peo-ple who would prefer that PresidentDonald Trump keep the job. Therealso is the looming question ofwhether Trump, who has claimedthe election was being stolen fromhim, will cooperate. Traditionally,the transition process relies on theoutgoing administration workingclosely with the incoming one, evenif they are from different parties.

A senator for decades and vicepresident for eight years, Bidenhas a deep personal understand-ing of the workings of government,and he's surrounded by a small

groupof top

advisers with equally vast insti-tutional knowledge.

Their top priority in the 10 weeksbefore Inauguration Day January 20will be building a staff and assem-bling the pieces needed to tacklethe coronavirus pandemic. Bidensaid he would unveil a group of sci-entists and experts Monday to helphim craft a plan to tackle the pan-demic. Biden said that “our work be-gins with getting COVID under con-trol,” adding that Americans “cannotrepair the economy, restore oureconomy or relish life's most preciousmoments” without doing so.

Biden is likely to move quickly inannouncing Cabinet picks and topaides central to his pandemic re-sponse, including leaders of the de-partments of the Treasury andHealth and Human Services, and aNational Economic Council direc-tor. That's according to people in-volved in transition planning whospoke on condition of anonymity todiscuss private conversations. Biden'scampaign declined to comment. Akey member of Biden's inner circlewho is thought to be a frontrunnerfor chief of staff is Ron Klain,

President Barack Obama's Ebolaresponse “czar” during the out-break of that disease in the US in2014.

Ted Kaufman, who briefly wasappointed senator after Biden be-came vice president in 2008, isdirecting the transition. He'sworking closely with Jeff

Zients, who held variousObama administrationroles, including acting di-rector of the Office ofManagement and Budget;Yohannes Abraham, whowas an Obama senior ad-

viser to the NationalEconomic Council; and for-

mer Obama White HouseCommunications Director Jen Psaki.Zients may also be in the mix for atop appointment in the adminis-tration, perhaps even as chief ofstaff, according to a former seniorObama-Biden administration offi-cial who spoke on condition ofanonymity to discuss internal de-liberations. Also heavily involved intransition are the top architects ofBiden's presidential campaign, in-cluding senior advisor Anita Dunn.Those close to the process recallwhen Obama took office in 2009 andfaced tremendous pressure to en-gineer a speedy turnaround amid theglobal financial crisis, the collapseof the housing and auto industries,and turbulent financial markets.Transition work began months be-fore Election Day and intensifiedin the three-plus days it took to de-clare a winner. Biden will have toname 4,000-plus political appointees,including more than 1,200 requiringSenate confirmation. The transi-tion process formally starts oncethe General Service Administrationdetermines the winner based on allavailable facts. That's vague enoughguidance that Trump could pres-sure the agency's director to stall.

P10MONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalI am following withconcern the news from

Ethiopia. While calling on thetemptation of armed conflict tobe cast aside, I invite everyoneto prayer and brotherly respect,to dialogue and peacefulreconciliation of discordPOPE FRANCIS

India has donated 28 ICU ventilators to Nepal tosupport its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Embassy said Sunday

INDIA DONATESVENTILATORS TO NEPAL

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Today willbecome agreat day in

the history ofAzerbaijan

ILHAM ALIYEV |PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN

of theday uote

I think we areliving at amoment in

time where theworld is a veryuncertain andanxious place and ofcourse, the dynamic of globalcompetition is a feature of our livesas well, and I think the real risk wehave with quite a lot of the regionalconflicts that are gong on at themoment, is you could seeescalation lead to miscalculation

NICK CARTER | BRITAIN’S CHIEF

OF THE DEFENCE STAFF

Armenia mustbe convincedto negotiate

in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflictwith Azerbaijan andcalled for a peacefulresolution

TAYYIP ERDOGAN | TURKISH PRESIDENT

Global nCoV casesexceed 50mnLondon: Global coronavirusinfections exceeded 50million Sunday, according toa Reuters tally, with a secondwave of the virus in the past30 days accounting for aquarter of the total. Octoberwas the worst month for thepandemic so far, with theUnited States becoming thefirst country to report morethan 100,000 daily cases. A surge in Europecontributed to the rise. The latest seven-day average shows global dailyinfections are rising by morethan 540,000.

UK, EU to resumetrade talks London: Negotiators from theUK and the European Union(EU) will resume talks on apost-Brexit trade deal inLondon Monday as"significant differences"remained between the twosides, a Downing Streetstatement said. Thestatement came after a callbetween UK Prime MinisterBoris Johnson and EuropeanCommission President Ursulavon der Leyen on Saturday"for a stock take on theprogress in the negotiations",reports Xinhua news agency.

Matter of concernKabul: A new report hasrevealed that Talibanviolence in Afghanistan hasincreased by 50 per cent inthe past three months as thepeace talks in Doha were atan impasse, it was reported.The report by the SpecialInspector General forAfghanistan Reconstruction(SIGAR) released Saturdaysaid that the Taliban violencedrastically increased inAfghanistan during August,September and November,TOLO News reported.

Protests in ThailandBangkok: Thai pro-democracy protesters were confronted by riotpolice and sprayed by watercannons Sunday as they tried to approach Bangkok'sGrand Palace to deliverletters about their politicalgrievances addressed to thecountry's king. The protestershad pushed aside a bus thatwas serving as a barrier totry to approach the palace,which houses the royaloffices. The protesters hadmet earlier at Bangkok'sDemocracy Monument andmarched as darkness fell,pushing past an initial thin line of police. Protesters threw objects atpolice during the melee, butboth sides backed off after afew minutes and it appearedthat no one suffered anyserious injuries.

SHORT TAKES

Transition challengesawait Biden

Congratulations@JoeBiden on yourspectacular victory!As the VP, yourcontribution tostrengthening Indo-USrelations was critical andinvaluable. I look forward toworking closely together onceagain to take India-US relationsto greater heightsNARENDRA MODIPRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

The US is our mostimportant ally and Ilook forward toworking closelytogether on ourshared priorities,from climate change to trade and securityBORIS JOHNSONBRITISH PRIME MINISTER

I look forward tofuture cooperationwith Joe BidenANGELA MERKELGERMAN CHANCELLOR

The Americans havechosen theirPresident. We havea lot to do toovercome today’schallenges. Let’swork together!EMMANUEL MACRONFRENCH PRESIDENT

Trump’s damaging policy hasbeen opposed by the Americanpeople. The next USadministration shoulduse the opportunityto make up for pastmistakesHASSAN ROUHANIIRANIAN PRESIDENT

We're fortunate that Joe's gotwhat it takes to bePresident andalready carrieshimself that way.Because when hewalks into the WhiteHouse in January, he'll face a series ofextraordinary challenges noincoming President ever has – araging pandemic, an unequaleconomy and justice system, ademocracy at risk, and a climatein perilBARACK OBAMA44TH US PRESIDENT

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVCE

New York, Nov 8: America'sVice President-elect Kamala Harrisdelivered a rousing victory speechin Wilmington, Delaware, hittingfamiliar themes and hailing JoeBiden for his "audacity" in choos-ing a woman as his running mate.

"Every little girl watchingtonight sees that this is a countryof possibilities," Harris said towild cheers. Harris' motherShyamala Gopalan, core to everyHarris stump, came in for spe-cial mention. Harris arrived in amotorcade flashing red and bluelights, the first sign that the earthhas shifted from beneath theDonald Trump-Mike Pence WhiteHouse. When she spoke, Harrisoffered glimpses of the incredi-ble promise of multiculturalAmerica. Dressed in a luminouspeach and white pant suit withsatin tones, Harris beamed as

she walked on stage to the soundsof her favourite hip hop music.Here are a few standout quotesfrom Harris' powerful remarks ata location that has come to beknown as America's most famousparking lot: "Congressman JohnLewis, before his passing, wrotedemocracy is not a state. It is anact. And what he meant was thatAmerica's democracy is not guar-anteed. It is only as strong asour willingness to fight for it.To guard it, and never take itfor granted and protecting ourdemocracy takes struggle. Ittakes some sacrifices, but thereis joy in it. And there is progress.Because we, the people, have thepower to build a better future."

" My m o t h er S hya m a laGopalan Harris...who is alwaysin our hearts. When she camehere from India at the age of 19,she could not have imagined thismoment. But she believed so

deeply in America, where a mo-ment like this is possible. And soI'm thinking about her, and aboutthe generations of women, Blackwomen, Native American womenwho have paved the way for thismoment tonight."

"What a testament it is to Joe'scharacter that he has the audac-ity to break one of the most sub-stantial barriers that exists inour country, and select a womanas his vice president. But whileI may be the first woman in this

office, I will not be the last. Becauseevery little girl, watching tonightsees that this is a country of pos-sibilities. And to the children ofour country, regardless of yourgender, our country has sent youa clear message: Dream withambition, lead with convictionand see yourselves in a way thatothers may not simply becausethey've never seen it before, butknow that we will applaud youevery step of the way." "And tothe American people. No matterwho you voted for. I will strive tobe a vice president, like Joe wasto President Obama: loyal, hon-est, and prepared waking upevery day thinking of you andyour family. Because now iswhen the real work begins, thehard work, the necessary work,the good work, the essentialwork to save lives and beat thisepidemic to rebuild our econ-omy."

Gems from Kamala Harris’ victory speech

AGENCIES

Washington, Nov 8: US President-elect JoeBiden will work towards providing a roadmapto American citizenship for nearly 11 mil-lion undocumented immigrants, includingover 500,000 from India, and will also es-tablish a minimum admission number of95,000 refugees annually.

As a largely immigrant community, butin some cases with American roots reach-ing back generations, Indian-Americansknow firsthand the strength and resiliencethat immigrants bring to the United Statesof America, according to a policy docu-ment issued by the Biden campaign.

"He (Biden) will immediately begin work-ing with Congress to pass legislative im-migration reform that modernises our sys-tem, with a priority on keeping familiestogether by providing a roadmap to citi-zenship for nearly 11 million undocumentedimmigrants -- including more than 500,000from India," it said.

The Biden administration will supportfamily-based immigration and preservefamily unification as a core principle ofthe US' immigration system, which includesreducing the family visa backlog, it said.President Trump had imposed a contro-versial travel ban, often referred to by crit-ics as a "Muslim ban", on several Muslimmajority countries, including Iran andSyria, through a series of executive orders.“Biden will rescind Trump's “Muslim ban”on day one and reverse the detrimental asy-lum policies that are causing chaos and ahumanitarian crisis at our border,” the pol-icy document said.

Over 5L Indians mayget US citizenship

People watch fireworks after media announced that Joe Bidenhas won the 2020 US presidential election REUTERS

Biden refers to Harris as ‘South Asian’While praising his running mate Kamala Harris as "a fantastic Vice

President", US President-elect Joe Biden avoided calling her"Indian" and instead referred to her as "South Asian". "I will be hon-oured to be serving with a fantastic Vice President, Kamala Harris,who will make history as the first woman, first Black woman, firstwoman of South Asian descent, and first daughter of immigrants everelected to national office in this country," he said at a victory rally inhis home state of Delaware on Saturday night. Race categorisationsrecognised by the US government do not include "South Asian", whileAsian Indian is listed officially for people of Indian descent.

AP PHOTO

Supporters of Trump rally outside the State Capitol building afternews media declared Biden to be the winner REUTERS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yangon, Nov 8 : Voters in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon,turned up early Sunday in largenumbers to vote in nationwideelections that are expected to re-turn to power the party of NobelPeace Prize laureate Aung SanSuu Kyi.

Suu Kyi's National League forDemocracy party won the lastelections in 2015 in a landslide,ending more than five decades ofmilitary-dictated rule in the coun-try. With Myanmar under threatfrom a coronavirus surge, maskwearing was mandatory in thelines at polling stations, andmany voters also donned plas-tic face shields and gloves. Bodytemperatures were taken andhand sanitizing gel was freelydispensed by officials, but socialdistancing rules were only fit-fully observed.Traditional cam-paigning ahead of the election

was severely limited by socialdistancing and quarantines insome areas.

“The voter turnout here ismore than we expected,” saidZaw Win Tun, a neighbourhoodadministrator and official atYangon's Pho Myae polling sta-tion. More than 90 parties arecompeting for seats in the lowerand upper houses of Parliament,while there were also elections atthe state levels.

SUU KYI PARTY SET TOWIN MYANMAR VOTE

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Beijing, Nov 8:Chinese PresidentXi Jinping Sunday instructed of-ficials to expedite the construc-tion of the new USD 47.8 billion rail-way project connecting thecountry's southwest Sichuanprovince to Linzhi in Tibet closeto the Indian border in ArunachalPradesh, saying it would play a keyrole in safeguarding stability in theborder areas.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway willbe the second railway line intoTibet after the Qinghai-TibetRailway project. It will go throughthe southeast of the Qinghai-TibetPlateau, one of the world's most ge-ologically active areas, accordingto the Chinese official media.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railwaystarts from Chengdu, capital ofSichuan province and travelsthrough Ya'an and enters Tibetvia Qamdo, shortening the jour-

ney from Chengdu to Lhasa from48 hours to 13 hours. Linzhi,also known as Nyingchi, is lo-cated close to Arunachal Pradeshborder.

The India-China border disputecovers the 3,488-km-long Line ofActual Control, the de-facto bor-der between the two countries.China claims Arunachal Pradesh

as part of south Tibet which isfirmly rejected by India.

Linzhi also has an airport whichis one of the five airports built byChina in the Himalayan region.

The Ya'an-Linzhi section runs1,011 km with 26 stations. Trainsare expected to run at speeds be-tween 120 and 200 kms per hour.The total cost of the entireSichuan-Tibet Railway project isaround 319.8 billion yuan (USD 47.8billion), according to a recent re-port by the state-run Global Times.In a video conference, ahead of thecommencement of the con-struction of the project, Xi iden-tified it as a major measure infacilitating the ruling CommunistParty's general plan for govern-ing Tibet in the new era, andstressed the project's importantrole in safeguarding nationalunity, promoting ethnic solidar-ity and consolidating stability inborder areas.

Xi orders expediting raillink close to India border

P11

businessMONDAY | NOVEMBER 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

The overall structure of themarket remains positive. Withthe economic activity recoveringfast, more earnings upgradecannot be ruled outSIDDHARTHA KHEMKA | HEAD, RETAIL RESEARCH,MOTILAL OSWAL FINANCIAL SERVICES

The Union Ministry of Road Transport andHighways has issued a notification making aFASTag mandatory for all four-wheeler vehiclesfrom January 1, 2021. Accordingly, the ministrytook the decision via amendments to theCentral Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989

FASTag TO BE MANDATORY

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The healthygrowth insmartphone

shipment in theSeptember quarteris expected tocontinue throughOctober and early November duringthe festive months.

NAVKENDAR SINGH | RESEARCH DIRECTOR

(CLIENT DEVICES AND IPDS) AT IDC INDIA

of theday uote

ZydusWellness hasdone well to

come out of thechallenge oflockdown anddemand loss in thatperiod. We are hoping to continue our current momentumand grow the business on the back of new launches and demand recovery for H2

TARUN ARORA | CEO, ZYDUS WELLNESS

The openingof theeconomy,

resumption ofbusiness activitiesand better thanexpected quarterlyresults have kept investor interestintact. The fall in the COVID-19cases in India and weak US dollaralso augured well

HIMANSHU SRIVASTAVA | ASSOCIATE

DIRECTOR, MANAGER RESEARCH,MORNINGSTAR INDIA

Former SBI chairman diesPanaji: Former chairman ofState Bank of India (SBI) PGKakodkar died in PanajiSunday following a cardiacarrest. The family sourcesstated that 83-year-oldformer banker passed awayafter suffering a cardiacarrest. He was also on theManaging Committee ofGoa Chamber of Commerceand Industries (GCCI).Kakodkar joined SBI as aprobationary assistant inthe year 1957 and retired aschairman of the bank onMarch 31, 1997.

‘Looking tosustain growth’New Delhi: Pharma majorCipla is looking at sustaininggrowth through the pandemicand has decided certainpriorities for the comingquarters, including digitaladoption and profitablegrowth, according to thelatest investor presentationof the company. The drugfirm has earmarked digitaladoption and resilientoperations as first of the keypriorities for the comingquarters to achieve sustainedgrowth, it added.

MFs withdraw`14,300 cr in OctNew Delhi: Mutual fundspulled out a massive `14,300crore from equities inOctober, making it the fifthconsecutive month ofwithdrawal, as fundmanagers sold stocks tomeet redemptionrequirements. DuringJanuary-May 2020, mutualfunds (MFs) made a netinvestment of more than`40,000 crore in stockmarkets, data available withthe Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) showed.

Godrej Propertiesnet debt up 56 pcNew Delhi: Realty firm GodrejProperties' net debt rose 56per cent during the July-September period to `2,733crore from the previousquarter and is likely to risefurther as the companycontinues to invest in acquiringnew projects. In an analystpresentation, the companysaid its net debt stood at`2,733 crore as on September30, 2020, as against `1,752crore at the end of the Junequarter. Net debt stood at`1,159 crore at the end of thelast financial year.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8: India Inc Sundayhailed the victory of Joe Biden inthe US Presidential election, whilehoping for enhanced ties and co-operation between India and theUnited States, especially in the af-ter math of the coronavirus pandemic.

Congratulating President-ElectBiden and Vice President-ElectKamala Harris, CII President UdayKotak said, "with rising trade andinvestment ties between the twocountries, the health of oureconomies are inextricably linkedand we must work together dur-ing this critical time toreinvigorate the bi-lateral economicagenda - facili-tating eco-nomicgrowth, en-hancing jobcreation,supportingsmall busi-ness and en-abling coopera-tion ininvestment-related move-ment of professionals."

With the election of Biden asPresident and Harris as VicePresident, he said, "we are lookingforward to engaging with the ad-ministration's leadership to pro-mote post-pandemic economic sta-bility, business collaboration, ourshared democratic values and in-creased people-to-people ties thathave defined the special India-USrelationship."

Assocham Secretary GeneralDeepak Sood said, "under the Biden-Harris leadership, the Indo-US eco-

nomic ties would go fromstrength to

strength, gettingdeeper into

areas of ad-vanced sci-entific re-searchand devel-

opment,business to

business co-opera-tion in

strategicareas."

He expressed confidence thatPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Biden would chalk out great co-operation in dealing with the coro-navirus pandemic.

"The vaccine development, man-ufacture and distribution wouldrequire immense global cooperation:India and the US would surely beleading such cooperation," Soodsaid, while also applauding Harris'

feat of becoming the first womanVice-President of the US, saying:"You have been so gracious in hail-ing your Indian roots and values".

PHD Chamber of Commerce andIndustry President Sanjay Aggarwalsaid India and the US, the world'slargest democracies have alwaysshared strong social, cultural andeconomic ties.

"We strongly believe that India-US partnership will be the definingrelationship of the 21st century.We look forward to a continuedstrengthened bilateral trade andinvestment growth trajectory anddefence cooperation between thetwo nations."

For Mahindra Group ChairmanAnand Mahindra, the US electionwas also about lessons on leadership.

In a tweet he said, the lessons fromthe US election are, "leadership isabout policy AND personality" and"Leaders will be judged by what theySAY not just what they DO. Leadersmust ultimately represent everyone,not just those who voted for them(and) leaders with decency and val-ues haven't gone out of fashion."

INDIA INC LOOKS FORWARDTO ENHANCED INDO-US TIES

REUTERS

Washington, Nov 8: President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to workmore closely with US allies in con-fronting China on trade, and isseen as unlikely to roll back hispredecessor’s tariffs on importedsteel, aluminum, Chinese andEuropean goods any time soon.

“I’ve been told that if you closeyour eyes, you might not be able totell the difference” between theBiden and Trump trade agendas,said Nasim Fussell, for merRepublican trade counsel at theUS Senate Finance Committee.“Biden’s not going to be quick to un-ravel some of these tariffs.”

Biden, who captured the presi-dency Saturday after days of votecounting, was elected with thestrong backing of trade unionsand progressives who have beenskeptical of past free trade deals,so he will face pressure to maintainprotections for vulnerable indus-tries, such as steel and aluminum.

His top economic priority will beto revive an economy slammed bythe coronavirus pandemic, so tradeagreements will likely take a backseat to stimulus efforts and infra-structure development.

Biden advisers say he will seekto end “artificial trade wars” withEurope and would immediatelyconsult with US allies before de-ciding on the future of US tariffson Chinese goods, in a bid for “col-lective leverage” against Beijing.

Former Trump and Obama ad-ministration trade officials say

that in order to roll back tariffs onChinese goods, Biden would likelydemand the same basic conces-sions from China that Trump did:curbing massive subsidies to state-controlled firms, ending policies thatforce US companies to transfertechnology to Chinese counter-parts, and opening its digital serv-ices markets to US tech firms (an-other big Biden donor constituency).

“Any president will have these ontheir agenda, but they’re going tobe really difficult,” said JamiesonGreer, who served until April aschief of staff at the US TradeRepresentative’s office.MORE PREDICTABLE

A Biden administration will bemore predictable on trade afterTrump’s abrupt shifts and tariffthreats, said Wendy Cutler, a formerUSTR trade negotiators.

“The days of advisers scram-bling to implement what they learnthrough presidential tweets willbe in the past,” said Cutler, vicepresident at the Asia Society PolicyInstitute. Biden is not seen likelyto try to revive the Trans-PacificPartnership, the 12-country PacificRim trade deal negotiated by theObama administration but aban-doned by Trump in 2017.

Ademocratic process

voted for a change in a verydefining year globally!

Congratulations to the Americancommunity that ensured that the

democratic process was notcompromised in a tough external

environmentSAJJAN JINDAL |

CHAIRMAN & MD, JSW GROUP

Biden’s trade policywill take aim at ChinaBiden, who captured the presidency Saturday, was electedwith the strong backing of trade unions and progressives

who have been skeptical of past free trade deals

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8:Former ReserveBank Governor Bimal Jalan Sundayopined against a fresh fiscal stim-ulus to boost pandemic-hit econ-omy saying it is more importantto spend the amount already com-mitted by the government than toincrease the deficit.

"I think the fiscal stimulus is al-ready there…What you need is tospend the total amount of expendi-ture that you have already announcedand implement what has been an-nounced so far. That is much moreimportant than increasing the fiscaldeficit target again,” Jalan said.

In May, the Centre had announceda `20 lakh crore 'AatmanirbharBharat' stimulus to help the nationtide over the economic crisis in-

duced by coronavirus."... if you have finished the total

amounts of resources that you havealready announced, then you shouldincrease the fiscal deficit," he added.

So far, the Centre has announcedthree rounds of stimulus measures.Recently, Economic Affairs SecretaryTarun Bajaj had said that FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman willsoon announce the next set of stim-ulus packages to boost the coron-avirus-hit economy.

Replying to a question on India'scurrent macroeconomic situation,Jalan said the COVID-19 pandemichad an adverse effect on economicactivity, but now the Indian economyis on a revival mode.

"The expectation is that by 2021,this loss in jobs and the loss ingrowth would have been made up

by the end of 2021," the former RBIGovernor noted.

And by 2021-22, if there is no re-currence of a similar COVID-19crisis in the next few months, thenthe economy would certainly im-prove, he said.

"And the rate of growth 2021-22may be 6-7 per cent," he said addingthat "but we will have to wait andsee that the COVID-19 issue does notrecur again."

The Reserve Bank of India hasprojected the Indian economy to

contract 9.5 per cent in the currentfiscal due to COVID-19 pandemic,while the International MonetaryFund (IMF) and World Bank esti-mates the contraction at 10.3 percent and 9.6 per cent, respectively.

Asserting that the governmenthas done a very important job in an-nouncing the policies to boost thepandemic-hit economy, Jalan saidthe main issue that India needs tograpple with is implementation ofpolicies. "The government has an-nounced some very good policies...The main issue before the govern-ment now is to implement, and theimplementation has to be donequickly," he emphasised.

On inflation, Jalan said with agood agriculture output, he expectsinflation in the next year wouldalso be lower.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8: State-ownedONGC has invited bids from globaloil and gas companies for under-taking work to boost productionfrom its ageing fields as it looksto reverse declining output.

The 15 -year ProductionEnhancement Contract (PEC) willrequire firms to commit to in-vesting in capital and operatingexpenditure to increase produc-tion, higher than the existingbaseline output, according to thetender document.

A tariff will be paid in USD perbarrel of oil and USD per millionBritish thermal units for gas forany incremental hydrocarbon pro-duced and saved over the baseline.

ONGC October 27, issued the ex-pression of interest (EoI) noticeoffering 15-year PECs to outsidecontractors for an unidentifiednumber of "mature" fields.

The company made no men-tion of oil or gas field names in theEoI notice, but sources said thefields are largely in Assam andGujarat, the country's oldest pro-ducing basins.

"ONGC intends to undertakeproduction enhancement from itsonshore mature fields under'Production Enhancement Contract(PEC)' with suitable oil and gascompanies of global repute whohave technical expertise, financialcapability and resources to in-crease production" the tender said.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Nov 8: Sale of Indian-made foreign liquor declined 29 percent during the first half of thecurrent financial year, according todata released by the Confederationof Indian Alcoholic BeverageCompanies (CIABC).

In a statement, the industry bodysaid that the fall in demand wassevere in Andhra Pradesh, WestBengal, Puducherry, and Rajasthan,which still continue to impose co-rona tax as high as 50 per cent. Inthese states, sales dropped by al-most 50 per cent.

"All India sales volume growth forIMFL segment for the first half ofthe year 2019-20 was 29 per cent.

Leaving out April when the entireliquor trade was shut down underlockdown, the sales growth for theperiod May to September in 2020 was'-16 per cent' over the same period

last year," the CIABC said in a state-ment.

It noted that though the pan-India liquor sale has improved inthe second quarter, it was the first

quarter (April-June) which did themaximum damage. In the secondquarter (July-September), sales im-proved over first quarter, rising upto 78 million cases (9 litres each) ofIMFL which was 9 per cent belowthe same period last year.

Overall, sales recovery in statesthat imposed no tax or came upwith marginal tax increases in lightof corona pandemic was better.

The major states which reportedmaximum drop in sales in Q2 wereAndhra Pradesh (down 51 per cent),Chhattisgarh (40 per cent), WestBengal (down 22 per cent) andRajasthan (20 per cent). The UnionTerritory of Jammu and Kashmirwitnessed a decline of 39 per centduring July-September quarter.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 8: Energy com-pany Shell India is planning toengage with 25-30 startups everyyear from 2022 onwards throughits E4 Programme to help themscale their business, according toa senior company official.

Shell, under its flagship E4Programme, incubates and sup-ports startups via various modulesof linking talent, technology, cap-ital and know-how to accelerateIndia's transition to a sustainableenergy future.

The company in the last threeyears has been able to engage with30 startups and supported themwith investments and mentoringat Shell campus located in India.

"We have 30 startups now thathave come through the E4 pro-gram and we're in the process ofadding 10 to 12 more that'll startthe program in January. We'replanning on ramping the programto 25 to 30 annually.

"So, the first couple of yearshave been a slow ramp to get thereand now we're at that run ratewhere we expect 25 to 30 annu-ally," Shell E4 Programme, gen-eral manager, James Unterreinersaid.

Firecracker ban: CAIT demands compensation

‘Not fresh stimulus, vital is to spend committed amount’Asserting that the government has done avery important job inannouncing the policiesto boost the pandemic-hiteconomy, Jalan said themain issue that Indianeeds to grapple with isimplementation of policies

ONGC puts mature oil,gas fields on block

Shell E4 plansto engage with 25-30 startups

Liquor sales fall 29 pc in first half: CIABC

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Nov 8:The Confederationof All India Traders (CAIT) Sundaysaid states that have banned sale offirecrackers should compensate fire-cracker traders for the losses suf-fered by them due to the ban.

CAIT in a statement demandedthat Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and chief ministers ofother states should "compensatethe firecracker traders for the lossesthey have accrued due to ban on saleof firecrackers".

The traders' body also termedthe order of Delhi Pollution ControlCommittee dated November 6, 2020which states that there will be a"complete ban" on bursting and

sale of all kinds of fire crackersfrom November 7-30, 2020 in theterritory of NCT of Delhi, as "nulland void and a blatant violation oforder of Supreme Court of India".

In 2018, the Supreme Court hadbanned the use of polluting fire-crackers and allowed the sale of"green firecrackers" in a bid to con-trol air pollution. The "green crack-ers" are not as polluting as the con-

ventional firecrackers and theycontain at least 30 per cent less par-ticulate matter such as sulphurdioxide and nitrogen oxide.

Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi gov-ernment has decided to ban fire-crackers in the national capitaland ramp up medical infrastructurein hospitals, Kejriwal said after areview of the COVID-19 situationrecently.

BIZ BUZZGST portal can now handle 3L taxpayersconcurrentlyNew Delhi: Goods andServices Tax Network(GSTN) portal nowhandles almost doublethe taxpayer traffic forreturn filingimmediately afterlockdown, an officialstatement saidSunday. "It has been made possible as the GST infra has beenupgraded to handle up to 3 lakh concurrent logged-in users at atime," it said. GSTN augmented the capacity of the gateway from 1.5lakh to 3 lakh concurrent logged in taxpayers in June 2020 as aproactive measure to handle the expected sharp surge in the indirecttax-related activities on the portal after easing of lockdown. Further,the upgrade has enabled GSTN to handle and scale up to 5 lakhconcurrently logged-in taxpayers, if necessary.

Innaya Jewels opens newstore at Esplanade Mall

Bhubaneswar:‘Innaya Jewels’, anew jewelleryshowroom wasinaugurated atEsplanade One Mall,in City. Unionminister of MSMEPratap ChandraSarangi unveiled thestore. Mahendra

Gupta of Gupta Cables was also present at the inaugural ceremony.Started by woman entrepreneur Komal Khandelwal that provides100% certified diamond jewellery and BIS hallmark gold jewellery.Khandelwal feels that diamond jewellery was anciently only worn bykings and queens. “Since last few decades only the richs couldafford it. These days even the middle class wants to wear it,” Komaladded. Entrepreneur wants to provide exclusive designs, bestquality and reasonable price to all class of people. Komal isspecialised in customised designing. Eminent social worker PrahladKhandelwal, Vijay Khandelwal, Lion Ram Prasad Patra, Gautam Rayand others were present at the launching function.

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 9 | 2020 | BHUBANESWAR

AGENCIES

London, Nov 8: Chelsea recoveredfrom conceding a goal for the firsttime in six matches to beat SheffieldUnited 4-1 in the Premier Leaguegame here Saturday. The resultsealed a fourth straight victory inall competitions for Frank Lampard’sexpensively assembled team.

When David McGoldrick deftlyflicked the ball into the net in theninth minute at Stamford Bridge,he became the first player to scoreagainst Chelsea since Southamptondefender Jannik Vestergaard's stop-page-time equaliser October 17.

It prompted a fine reaction fromChelsea. They scored twice in eachhalf to move into third place in thePL (Premier League) points table.

Tammy Abraham equalised in the23rd by sweeping home a cut-backfrom Mateo Kovacic. Then BenChilwell met a deep, in-swingingfree- kick from Hakim Ziyech witha close-range finish at the back postin the 34th. Ziyech’s delivery was

dangerous all match and hiswhipped free-kick from near thecorner flag was glanced in at thenear post by Thiago Silva for theBrazil defender’s first goal forChelsea. Timo Werner wrapped upthe scoring in the 80th minute

AGENCIES

Paris, Nov 8:Top seed Rafael Nadal’sbid for a maiden Paris Masters titlewas halted Saturday when theSpaniard was beaten 6-4, 7-5 in thesemifinals by German fourth seedAlexander Zverev. Nadal, whoreached the final at Bercy in 2007,was only briefly in contention as hesurrendered his serve three times.

The 20-time Grand Slam cham-pion broke back after falling 2-4 behind in the second set but it wasa brief comeback as the 23-year-oldZverev stole his serve again in the11th game. He then served it out,prevailing on his second match pointwhen Nadal’s forehand flew wide.

Zverev will look to claim hisfourth Masters title against Russian

third seed Daniil Medvedev, whoqualified with a commanding 6-4,7-6 (7-4) victory against CanadianMilos Raonic.

“I feel good. Look, I’m in the

final of a Masters, so I’m quitehappy about that. And I have justbeaten Rafa,” said Zverev. “So thatis never easy to do. I think thewhole world will agree with meon that, all the players will agreewith me on that. It’s going to be afinal against Daniil. Obviously twobest players of the tournament arestill left,” he added.

Nadal said he was satisfied withhis overall performance, althoughhe rued his tactical game-plan.

“I did things well. I think I re-turned better than the other days,but was impossible at the begin-ning. I think I understood that Ihad to go back too late, because I wasnot able to, he was serving bombsand hitting the right spots all thetime,” he said.

Donning new hat London: West Indies pacelegend Michael Holding hasbeen appointed patron of theMCC Foundation. The 66-year-old Holding, is a passionateadvocate for equality incricket and the widercommunity. Holding,nicknamed ‘WhisperingDeath’, carved out areputation as one of the bestfast bowlers of all time.Recently he has earned praiseas a powerful and eloquentadvocate for racial equality. “Iam thrilled to support theMCC Foundation and its workto make cricket a game thatchampions respect andequality for all,” Holding said.

Second-best againEckental: RamkumarRamanathan yet again settledfor a runner-up finish on theChallenger circuit, losing thefinal of the Eckental Opentennis tournament toAmerican Sebastian Korda,here Sunday. The unseededIndian, celebrating his 26thbirthday, lost the summit clash4-6, 4-6 to his seventh seedrival, ranked 135, in 83minutes. This is the fifth timeRamkumar has lost a final onthe Challenger circuit.Nevertheless, it wasRamkumar’s best performanceof the 2020 season.

Saha injuredAbu Dhabi: Seniorwicketkeeper-batsmanWriddhiman Saha’s saga ofpicking up injuries continuedas he has been diagnosed witha hamstring tear. The injury issure to raise questions abouthis availability for the tour ofAustralia. BCCI will now take acall after considering physioNitin Patel’s medical reports.“Wriddhiman Saha has ahamstring tear,” SRH skipperDavid Warner said after theSunday in the game againstDelhi Capitals (DC). In case ofa grade 1 tear, Saha will beable to go to Australia. AGENCIES

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Sharjah, Nov 8: The momentumis with defending championsSupernovas as they eye a thirdstraight Women’s T20 Challengetitle, with a determined Trailblazersstanding in their way in the finalhere Monday.

In the winners-take-all T20 final,the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side willhave momentum behind them, hav-ing beaten Smriti Mandhana andcompany in the lastround-robin gameSaturday.Supernovas, cham-pions in 2018 and2019, just about man-aged to ward offtheir rivals in a last-over thriller.

The two-run victory enabledSupernovas to enter the final, whileknocking the Mithali-Raj ledVelocity out of the competition.

For the defending champions,opener Chamari Atapattu (111 runs)has been in brilliant form. The SriLankan veteran is the top scorer forSupernovas this season. Against theTrailblazers, she played an ag-gressive innings (67 off 48-balls)

to notch up the first half centuryof the tournament.

Harmanpreet, who had scoredtwo half centuries including one inthe final last year, has been dis-missed for 31 in both the matches.The big-hitting Indian T20 captainwill look to get back to her destructive best in the final.

They will be up ag ainstTrailblazers, who started theircampaign on a sensational note.Their bowlers, led by England’s

Sophie Ecclestoneand veteranJhulan Goswami,bundled outVelocity for a pal-try 47. However,they were unable

to dish out a similar displaySaturday.

The spinners are expected toplay a huge role and both sidesboast of quality tweakers.Trailblazers have the World No. 1T20 bowler in left-arm spinnerEcclestone along with RajeshwariGayakwad. On the other hand,Supernovas are armed with theservices of India’s star leg-spinnerPoonam Yadav and Radha Yadav.

Supernovas have upperhand against Trailblazers

GROUP STAGE RESULTSVelocity beat Supernova by 5 wickets

Trailblazers beat Velocity by 9 wickets

Supernova beat Trailblazers by 2 runs

ZVEREV SHOCKS NADAL Ziyech leads Chelsea fightback

Alexander Zverev

Thiago Silva jumps the highest to head in Chelsea’sthird goal against Sheffield United, Saturday

ALL-ROUND EFFORT FROM SHREYARS IYER’S TEAM PROPELS THEM TO IPL FINAL

AGENCIES

Abu Dhabi, Nov 8: ShikharDhawan’s (78, 50b, 5x4, 22x6) fine halfcentury and a fine all-round effortby Marcus Stoinis (38, 3/26) helpedDelhi Capitals (DC) beat SunrisersHyderabad (SRH) by 17 runs hereSunday. DC scored 189 for three intheir 20 overs after winning the tossand deciding to bat. Then they restricted their opponents to 172for eight in ‘Qualifier 2’.

So it will be DC who will be fac-ing MI for the IPL crown Tuesday,While DC will be going for theirmaiden IPL title, MI have won thetrophy four times already makingthem the most successful team inthe tournament. No doubt, MI willstart favourites after they won‘Qualifier’ 1 quite easily.

In hindsight, it was SRH’s poorfielding that prevented them fromwinning a game which could havebeen theirs. SRH fielders droppedthree catches, one of which was offDhawan. They also gave away nineruns through misfields and in thesetypes of matches that can make a

huge difference. David Warner’sside had to pay a heavy price forthe mistakes they admitted.

Then to add to their woes, SRHwere without man in for m

Wriddhiman Saha. They also lostWarner (two) early and during thechase their backs were against thewall. Yes, Kane Williamson (67, 45b,5x4, 4x6) and Abdul Samad (33, 16b,

2x4, 2x6) gave them a whiff of hopewith a partnership of 57 runs for thefifth wicket. However, onceWilliamson fell, the writing wasclear on the wall for SRH.

Earlier Dhawan and his 86-runopening wicket partnership withStoinis (38, 27b, 5x4, 1x6) in lessthan 10 overs took DC close to the200-run mark. Dhawan was at his fluent best as he played some de-lightful shots square off the wicketon both sides. However, it wasStoinis who galvanised the scoringwith some tremendous shots. Itstarted in the third over with Stoinisgetting two successive boundariesoff pacer Sandeep Sharma.

However, worst was to follow forSRH in Jason Holder’s next over.Stoinis hammered the West Indiancaptain for 18 runs in the fourthover of the DC innings. Brief scores: Brief scores: DC189 for 3 (Shikhar Dhawan 78,Shimron Hetmyer 42 n o, RashidKhan 1/26) beat SRH 172 for 8 (KaneWilliamson 67, Abdul Samad 33,Kagiso Rabada 4/29, Marcus Stoinis3/26) by 17 runs.

DC destroy SRH dreams

IN PRIME FORM: Shikhar Dhawan of Delhi Capitals heaves one to the leg-sideduring his knock against SRH, Sunday BCCI PHOTO