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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday said his

three-nation visit to Europe,starting Monday, comes at atime when the region facesmany challenges and choices.He also said he intends tostrengthen the spirit of coop-eration with European part-ners. The visit comes in thebackdrop of the ongoingRussia-Ukraine conflict andseveral nations in Europe arenow against Russia.

It will be the PrimeMinister's first overseas visitthis year and Modi will tourGermany, Denmark andFrance. In a statement, thePrime Minister said he wouldbe visiting Berlin on May 2 atthe invitation of GermanChancellor Olaf Scholz, fol-lowing which he will travel toCopenhagen on May 3-4 at theinvitation of his Danish coun-terpart Mette Frederiksen tohold bilateral engagements andalso participate in the SecondIndia-Nordic Summit.

On the way back to India,Modi said, he will make a

brief stopover in Paris for ameeting with French PresidentEmmanuel Macron. “My visitto Europe comes at a timewhen the region faces manychallenges and choices,” Modisaid.

“Through my engage-ments, I intend to strengthenthe spirit of cooperation withour European partners, whoare important companions inIndia's quest for peace andprosperity,” the Prime Ministersaid in his departure state-ment. Detailing his engage-ments, Modi said his visit toBerlin will be an opportunity tohold detailed bilateral discus-sions with Chancellor Scholz,whom he met at G-20 last yearin his previous capacity asVice-Chancellor and FinanceMinister.

“We will co-chair the 6thIndia-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations(IGC), a unique biennial for-mat which India conducts onlywith Germany. Several IndianMinisters will also travel to

Germany and hold consulta-tions with their German coun-terparts,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister saidhe sees this IGC as an earlyengagement with the newGovernment in Germany,within six months of its for-mation, which will be helpfulto identify priorities for themedium and long term.

In 2021, India andGermany commemorated 70years of the establishment ofdiplomatic relations and havebeen strategic partners since2000, he noted.

Underlining the long-standing commercial tiesbetween India and Germanythat form one of the pillars oftheir strategic partnership,Modi said Chancellor Scholzand he would also jointlyaddress a Business Roundtablewith the goal of energisingindustry-to-industry coopera-tion, which will help strength-en the post-Covid economicrecovery of both countries.

Continued on Page 2

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New Delhi: Amid rising infla-tion and growing joblessness,there is some good news for theIndian economy. The Goodsand Services Tax (GST) col-lection in April touched thehighest-ever level of about�1.68 lakh crore, up 20 per centfrom the period a year-ago, onimproved compliance, theFinance Ministry said onSunday. In April this year, 1.06crore returns in GSTR-3B werefiled.

The gross GST collectionin April is �25,000 crore morethan the previous highest col-lection of �1.42 lakh crorerecorded in March. The grossGST revenue collected in Aprilis �1,67,540 crore, of whichCGST is �33,159 crore, SGSTis �41,793 crore, IGST is�81,939 crore (including�36,705 crore collected onimport of goods) and cess is�10,649 crore (including �857crore collected on import ofgoods), the Ministry said.

Continued on Page 2

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In a huge relief to Pakistan,which is grappling with a

major economic slump, thebeleaguered nation has secureda “sizeable package” of around$8 billion from Saudi Arabiaduring the visit of PrimeMinister Shehbaz Sharif,reported local media.

The generous $8 billionpackage from Saudi Arabiaincludes a doubling of the oilfinancing facility, additionalmoney either through depositsor Sukuks, and rolling over ofthe existing $4.2 billion facili-ties, reported The NewsInternational.

“However, technical detailsare being worked out and willtake a couple of weeks to get alldocuments ready and signed,”the media outlet quoted sometop official sources privy to thedevelopment as saying. Continued on Page 2

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Hours after meeting UnionTextile Minister Piyush

Goyal and demanding a roll-back of the Centre's decision tocap the price of raw jute at�6,500 per quintal, Bengal BJPMP Arjun Singh threatened toagitate against his ownGovernment “even if it meanssupporting Mamata Banerjee.”

Goyal had called Singh toDelhi and after the meeting, hereferred the matter to theTextile Secretary for a solution.

The Union Minister'sassurance for a solutionnotwithstanding, Singh wouldnot stop attacking the Centre.He said his struggle and dis-cussions would continue till thematter was solved. “There hasbeen an assurance from theMinister, but I will not stop myagitation till any fruitful resultcomes,” the BJP strongmansaid. Continued on Page 2

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The world, which is reelingunder the impact of the

Covid-19 pandemic, just gotsome more bad news. As theEarth heats up, researchershave predicted that wild ani-mals will be forced to relocatetheir habitats — likely toregions with large human pop-ulations — dramaticallyincreasing the risk of a viraljump to humans that couldlead to the next pandemic.

Climate change could driveover 15,000 new cases of mam-mals transmitting viruses toother mammals, sayresearchers who have studiedthe link between climatechange and viral transmission.

The study conducted bythe research team led by sci-entists at GeorgetownUniversity and published inNature, is one of the first to pre-dict how global warming willshift wildlife habitats, increase

encounters among speciescapable of swapping pathogens,and quantify how many timesviruses will jump betweenspecies.

The study is “a critical firststep in understanding thefuture risk of climate and land-

use change in the next pan-demic”, says Kate Jones, whomodels interactions betweenecosystems and human healthat University College London,and who was not involved inthe study.

Continued on Page 2

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Three persons, including twoteenagers and a Zomato

delivery boy, died and twoothers suffered major injuriesin a high-impact crash involv-ing a car and a motorcycle inEast Delhi's Shakarpur area onSunday. The car turned turtlefollowing the collision, trappingits occupants. Two of thedeceased have been identifiedby the police as sisters Jyoti (17)and Bharti (19) who wereinside the car, while the thirdvictim is the motorbike riderwearing a Zomato T-shirt, whois yet to be identified.

After the accident, all theseven car occupants — mem-bers of a family — were takenout of the vehicle by the police.According to police, the bikewas in front of the car but thesequence of events that led tothe accident is yet to be estab-lished. The CCTV cameras arebeing scanned to ascertain its

cause. Deputy Commissionerof Police (East) PriyankaKashyap said, “On May 1,around 1 a.m., a PCR callabout an accident involving acar and a bike on Vikas Margwas received at Shakarpurpolice station. The staff imme-diately reached the spot andfound one damaged motorcy-cle and one Wagon R carturned upside down.” Both thevehicles were severely damagedin the crash.

The motorcycle rider wastaken to the hospital and thepeople stuck in the car wererescued, she said.

Four of the injured weretaken to Hedgewar Hospitalwhere two of them — Jyoti andBharti — were declaredbrought dead. The remainingtwo suffered minor injuries,while the motorcyclist wasdeclared brought dead at GuruTeg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital,the DCP added.

Continued on Page 2

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Sunday said that the currentheatwave that has been makinglife tough for people and ani-mals alike, is likely to abate overDelhi and adjoining parts ofnorthwest and central Indiafrom Monday.

The IMD predicted a part-ly cloudy sky with the possi-bility of thunder developmentat isolated places over Delhi,Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,Haryana-Chandigarh, east

Rajasthan and parts of UttarPradesh on Monday.

This is likely to give somerespite to residents from thescorching heat as the IMDhad on Saturday informed thatnorthwest and central Indiahad recorded the highest tem-peratures in April in 122 years.March was also the hottestmonth in 122 years.

. Meanwhile, the WorldMeteorological Organisationhas announced that maximumtemperatures in widespread

areas hit 43-46 degrees Celsiuson April 28 and that theextreme heat will last untilMay 2.

The IMD data showed thatBikaner in Rajasthan was thehottest city on Sunday record-ing 47 degrees Celsius, followedby Ganganagar at 46.9 degreesCelsius.

At least 30 cities acrossIndia recorded the maximumtemperature above 44 degreesCelsius.

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New Delhi: The maxi-mum temperature inDelhi on Sunday settledat 40.5 degrees Celsius,two notches above theseason's average, as thecity continued to reelunder heatwave conditions.

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The Supreme Court hasrefused to entertain a PIL to

impose restrictions to preventcivil servants from contestingelections immediately afterretirement or resignation fromservice, by imposing a “coolingoff period”, saying it cannotdirect the legislature to enact alaw.

A bench of Justices IndiraBanerjee and A S Bopanna saidwhether there should be any“cooling off period” for civilservants for them to contestelections or not is best left tothe legislature concerned.

"In this case, there is nocomplaint of violation of anyfundamental right of the peti-tioner or any group of personsrepresented by the petitioner.Nobody has the fundamentalright to get a mandatory orderof this court directing theappropriate legislature to enactlaw or the executive to framerules imposing restrictions onthe eligibility of civil servantsto contest elections. This writpetition cannot, therefore, beentertained by this court," thebench said.

The top court said a man-damus cannot be issued todirect the respondents to enactlaw and/or to frame rules even

under the wider powers con-ferred under Article 226 of theConstitution.

"A mandamus lies forenforcement of a fundamentalright or a statutory right, or theenforcement of a fundamentalduty related to enforcement ofa fundamental right or a statu-tory right.

"In exceptional cases, awrit may even lie for enforce-ment of an equitable right.The breach or threat to breacha fundamental, statutory ormay be enforceable equitableright, is the sine qua non forissuance of a writ of man-damus," the bench said.

The apex court said thiscourt or a high court cannotdirect the legislature to enact aparticular legislation or theexecutive to frame rules.

"This court, and/or thehigh court, does not give anydirection to the State to enforcean Act passed by the legislature.Nor does the court enforceinstructions in a departmentalmanual not having statutoryforce, any non-statutoryscheme or concession whichdoes not give rise to any legalright in favour of the petition-er, far less, any recommenda-tion made by an authority suchas the Election Commission.

"It is for the Union of India

to take a decision on the rec-ommendation of the ElectionCommission, in accordancewith law. It is not for thisCourt to decide what should bethe policy of the government.Policy matters are never inter-fered with, unless patently arbi-trary, unreasonable or violativeof Article 14 of theConstitution," the bench said.

The top court said it can-not even issue a mandamus tothe government for enforce-ment of a Cabinet decision.

"It is only when an admin-istrative order confers rights orcreates estoppel against thegovernment, that mandamuscan be issued to enforce the cir-cular. Similarly a mandamusmay be issued to cancel anadministrative order, whichviolates the rules of fairness,"the bench said.

The apex court said therecan be no doubt that law maybe enacted, laying down thenorms and qualifications forcontesting specific elections.

"There can be no doubtthat civil servants should main-tain the highest ethical stan-dards of integrity and honesty;political neutrality; fairnessand impartiality in the dis-charge of duties, courtesy,accountability and transparen-cy."Integrity, impartiality, neu-

trality, transparency and hon-esty are non-negotiable. Ethicalstandards necessarily have to beenforced and stringent actiontaken against the officer con-cerned whenever there is anybreach of ethical standards aslaid down in the All IndiaServices (Conduct) Rules, 1968.

It is not for this court tointerfere in matters relating toframing of law, rules or policy,the bench said.

"Whether there should beany 'cooling off period' forcivil servants for them to con-test elections or not is best leftto the legislatureconcerned.The allegations ofbureaucrats deviating fromstrict norms of political neu-trality with a view to obtainingparty tickets to contest elec-tions, is vague, devoid of par-ticulars and unsupported byany materials which could jus-tify intervention of this court.

"No particulars have beengiven of the number and/orpercentage of erstwhile bureau-crats, who have contested elec-tions on the ticket of a politi-cal party, not to speak of any acton their part, prior to theirretirement, in deviation of thestandards required of bureau-crats," the bench said while dis-missing a plea filed by oneVivek Krishna.

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Seventeen Kashmiri youthswho had travelled to

Pakistan on valid travel doc-uments but sneaked back intothe valley have been killed inanti-terror operations, withofficials raising concerns thatthe ISI has adopted a newmodus operandi to paint themilitancy here as an indige-nous movement.

Since 2015, a large num-ber of youngsters procuredtravel documents to visitPakistan to pursue higherstudies, meet relatives or formarriage purposes, officialssaid.Recently, the UniversityGrants Commission and theAll Indian Council forTechnical Education, thehigher and technical educa-tion regulators of the country,had issued a statement, advis-ing students not to travel toPakistan for pursuing highereducation.

"Any Indiannational/Overseas Citizen ofIndia who intends to takeadmission in any degree col-lege/educational institutionof Pakistan shall not be eligi-ble for seeking employment orhigher studies in India on the

basis of such educational qual-ifications (in any subject)acquired in Pakistan," theUGC and the AICTE hadsaid in a joint statement.

The reason, the officialssaid, was that these youthswere brainwashed across theborder and some of themwere imparted with armstraining or used for moneylaundering.

The State InvestigationAgency (SIA) of Jammu andKashmir Police has filed acharge sheet against aHurriyat leader and others forsell ing MBBS seats inPakistani colleges and usingthe proceeds for terror activ-ities.

Hundreds of studentsfrom Jammu and Kashmirhave travelled to Pakistan inrecent years for higher stud-ies and a few of them werebrainwashed, provided armstraining or recruited in sleep-er cells with a motive to gath-er information to be sharedwith the handlers sittingacross the border, the officialssaid.They said a well-oiledseparatist lobby would arrangerecommendation letters fromHurriyat leaders and othervalid travel documents fromthe Pakistan Embassy to facil-itate their visit to Pakistan foradmission.

All the arrangements ofparents as well as students inPakistan were usually done bythe separatists under a well-planned conspiracy with theirco-conspirators based inPakistan.

The students were madeto appear in the NationalTalent Search (NTS) test atHurriyat office in Pakistan asa stealth tactic to make thembelieve that they were writinga pre-qualifying test whichwould lead to their admissionin professional colleges inPakistan.Such tests were most-ly facilitated by Kashmiri sep-aratists and their relativeswho had gone to Pakistan inthe 1990s to get illegal armstraining and had settled inPakistan-occupied Kashmirand other areas there.

After the test, some of thestudents were brainwashedand taken for arms trainingand later pushed into Jammuand Kashmir along with infil-

trating terrorists.The officials said that as

many as 17 youths who hadgone on valid travel docu-ments to Pakistan and werebelieved to be in that countryreceiving education werekilled either at the Line ofControl or during encounters,leaving their parents in dis-belief. Security officials havebeen tracking the youths whotravelled to Pakistan on validvisas for short durations anddisappeared after their returnas they believe that they couldbe possible sleeper cells of ter-ror groups operating fromacross the border.

Security agencies believethat there was a six weeks'training course for new terrorrecruits and intelligenceinputs suggest that some ofthe youths were provided aquick module of fabrication ofimprovised explosive devicesusing easily available explosivematerial within a week's time.

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Security forces on Sundayarrested two 'hybrid' terror-

ists in Kulgam and Sringardistricts of Jammu andKashmir, police said.

"#KulgamPolice & Army (34 RR) arrested one #hybrid#terrorist of proscribed terroroutfit LeT namely YaminYousaf Bhat of GadihamaKulgam," the Kashmir ZonePolice said on its Twitter han-dle.

The police said incrimi-nating material, arms andammunition, including a pistol,two grenades and 51 pistolrounds were recovered from hispossession.

Another 'hybrid' terroristwas arrested from Nowgam

area of the city here, the policesaid.

"On a specific input,Srinagar Police & (50 RR)arrested a hybrid terroristnamely Sheikh Sahid Gulzar ofMuchhwa, Badgam fromNowgam, Srinagar," theSrinagar Police said in a tweet.

Incriminating materialincluding a pistol and liveammunition was recoveredfrom him, they said.

A case has been registeredunder relevant sections, theyadded.

Officials had earlierexplained that a 'hybrid ter-rorist' carries out a task givento him by his handlers and thengoes back to his normal work,waiting for the next assign-ment.

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Senior Congress leaderAbhishek Manu Singhvi has

alleged that the BJP was creat-ing "artificial issues" such as thedebate over "Hindi as thenational language" or hijab

controversy to divideIndians and cautioned peopleagainst fighting amongst them-selves "on the saffron party'sterms".

Singhvi, in an interviewwith PTI, called West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee a "vital and indis-pensable" part of the anti-BJPspace but refused to acknowl-edge her as the only oppositionface.

On Congress-TMC rela-tions, the Rajya Sabha memberfrom West Bengal said that the

Trinamool Congress's attackon the Congress was in thecontext of assembly electionsin Goa and other states, and"we will have to wait for thewhole thing to pan out for the2024 Lok Sabha polls".

He said that reforms areneeded in the Congress but itdoesn't necessarily have totake place holding the hand ofpoll strategist Prashant Kishor,who did not join the grand oldparty after negotiationsbetween the two sides failed.

"BJP is fishing in troubledwaters, it is creatingFrankenstein monsters...Theywant to divide, scare, provokeand antagonise people.Someday they bring up hijab,someday they find language.These are artificially createdissues. They draw you into the

debate because it suitsthem...Don't fight on theirterms," he said on the sidelinesof the annual awards ceremo-ny of the Ladies Study GroupCharitable Trust in Kolkata onSaturday.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah's statement in Aprilthat Hindi should be accepted

as an alternative to English andnot to local languages evokeda controversy.

Presiding over the 37thParliamentary OfficialLanguage Committee meet-ing in Delhi, Shah had said thatPrime Minister NarendraModi has decided that themedium of running the gov-

ernment is in the official lan-guage and this would definitelyincrease the importance ofHindi.

Shah's statement hassparked a debate over whetherHindi is the national languageor not, with several cine starsfrom Bollywood and southernfilm industries expressing theiropinions on the matter.

Singhvi, however, battedfor the 1968 three-languageformula first incorporated intothe National Education Policyby the Indira Gandhi govern-ment.

"We have a three-languageformula – English, Hindi andthe local language. It has stoodthe test of time for the last 60years. But the BJP is trying todestablise it as per their polit-ical gameplan," he said.

The three-language for-mula calls for study of Hindi,English and a modern Indianlanguage (preferably from theSouth) in Hindi-speakingstates and Hindi, English anda regional language in non-Hindi speaking regions.

On Banerjee, Singhvi said,"I have been repeatedly sayingthat Mamataji is a vital andindispensable part of the non-BJP space. But to say that sheis the only opposition face, thisexclusively monopolisingapproach is wrong. But nobodycan deny she is a pillar ofstrength for the entire non-BJPspace."

Noting that the TMC'sapproach of attacking theCongress and stressing on theimportance of regional partieswas limited to assembly elec-

tions in Goa and other states,he said, "We will have to waitfor the whole thing to pan outfor the 2024 general elections.Who knows what will happenthen?"

He said that the sooner allopposition parties realise thattheir strength lies in prevent-ing a split in anti-BJP votes thebetter.

On Banerjee repeatedlycalling for more space forregional parties in nationalpolitics in place of Congress,Singhvi asserted, "It is veryclear that no party can ignoreor devalue Congress in anynon-BJP formation. But wealso need regional parties.Congress and regional partiesmust coalesce in the non-BJPspace."Singhvi, who has recent-ly been made the chairperson

of Parliamentary Committeefor Home Affairs, however, dis-missed allegations of TMChaving a "secret understand-ing" with the BJP.

"It is completely wrongand devoid of facts," he said.

On BJP demanding theimposition of President's Rulein West Bengal following theBirbhum killings and inci-dents of gangrape, the seniorlawyer alleged that the saffronparty was only playing politics.

"These are law and ordersituations, and any such inci-dent is condemnable. TheTMC government has takenstrictest action and we demandstronger action but we don'tsupport BJP's allegation thatsuch incidents are state-spon-sored. The BJP is only playingpolitics," he said.

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Awoman, who sufferedburn injuries in the

Rampurhat massacre in WestBengal's Birbhum district inMarch, died on Sunday morn-ing while undergoing treat-ment, police said.

With this, 10 people havedied of burn injuries aftertheir houses in Bogtui villagewere allegedly firebombedfollowing the murder of localTMC leader Bhadu Sheikh.

The woman was admittedto the hospital with 27 percent burn injuries, a policeofficer told PTI.

"She was discharged afterher condition improved. But,

she was again admitted to theRampurhat Medical Collegeand Hospital after her healthcondition started deteriorat-ing. She died early Sundaymorning," he said.

The CBI took over theinvestigation of the incident,which happened on March20, from the state police onthe direction of the CalcuttaHigh Court.

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Atleast 12 passengers wereon Sunday injured due to

severe turbulence on a SpiceJetMumbai-Durgapur f lightdescent. The aircraft landedsafely at Durgapur. However,the injured passengers wereprovided with immediate med-ical assistance upon arrival inDurgapur.

According to the airline,the Boeing B737 aircraft man-aged to land safely and thoseinjured were given medicalassistance.

In a statement, Spicejetsaid," Today, SpiceJet BoeingB737 aircraft operating flightSG-945 from Mumbai toDurgapur encountered severe

turbulence during descentwhich unfortunately resulted ininjuries to a few passengers".

"SpiceJet expresses itsregret at this unfortunate inci-dent and is providing all pos-sible medical help to theinjured,” it stated.

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From Page 1In a statement, the

Ministry said that there is a“clear improvement in the com-pliance behaviour, which hasbeen a result of various mea-sures taken by the tax admin-istration. This included nudg-ing taxpayers to file returnstimely, to making complianceeasier and strict enforcementaction against errant taxpayersidentified based on data ana-lytics and ArtificialIntelligence.”

From Page 1Notably, Shehbaz Sharif and

his official entourage have leftSaudi Arabia but PakistanFinance Minister Miftah Ismailis still staying there to finalize themodalities of the increasedfinancial package.

“Just said goodbye to PrimeMinister Shehbaz Sharif andother colleagues at JeddahAirport, who are on their way toIslamabad after a brief stopover

in Abu Dhabi to meet CrownPrince Muhammad Bin Zayed.I remain in SA to meet Saudiofficials and start technical-leveltalks,” tweeted Ismail.

According to the official,Pakistan's proposal of doublingthe oil facility from $1.2 billionto $2.4 billion was accepted bySaudi Arabia, which also agreedthat the existing deposits of $3billion would be rolled over foran extended period up to June

2023.“Pakistan and Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia discussed an addi-tional package of over USD 2 bil-lion either through deposits orSukuk and it is likely that evenmore money will be provided toIslamabad,” the media outletquoted the official sources whichadded that the size of the totalpackage would be determinedafter additional money was final-ized.

From Page 1The research predicts that

much of the new virus trans-mission will happen whenspecies end up together in cool-er locales as temperatures rise.And it projects that this willoccur in species-rich ecosys-tems at high elevations, partic-ularly in areas of Africa and Asiathat are densely populated byhumans, including the Sahel,India and Indonesia. Assumingthat the planet warms no morethan 2 °C above pre-industrial

temperatures this century - afuture predicted by some climateanalyses - the number of first-time meetings between specieswill double by 2070, creatingvirus transmission hotspots, thestudy says.“This work providesus with more incontrovertibleevidence that the comingdecades will not only be hotter,but sicker,” says Gregory Albery,a disease ecologist at GeorgetownUniversity in Washington DCand a co-author of the study.

To make their predictions,

Albery and his colleagues devel-oped and tested models, and ransimulations over a five-year peri-od. They combined models ofvirus transmission and speciesdistribution under various cli-mate-change scenarios, focusingon mammals because of their rel-evance to human health.

The team built the speciesdistribution model to predictwhere mammals would move tofind more livable habitats as theplanet warms. The virus trans-mission model predicts the prob-

ability of a virus jumpingbetween species for the firsttime by taking into accountwhere species might meet astheir habitats shift, and howclosely related they are evolu-tionarily (viruses are more like-ly to transmit among relatedspecies).

Many factors could lessenthe risk to human health, includ-ing increased investment inhealth care or a virus being sur-prisingly unable to infecthumans, she adds.

From Page 1The weather department on

Sunday predicted formation of alow pressure area over southAndaman Sea around May 6.

A low pressure area whichmay or may not turn into acyclonic storm causes rainfall. Inits daily bulletin, the weatherforecast agency on Sunday saidthat a cyclonic circulation is like-ly to form over the SouthAndaman Sea and its neigh-bourhood around May 4.“Under its influence, a LowPressure Area is likely to formover the same region aroundMay 6. It is likely to become moremarked during the subsequent24 hours,” the bulletin said.Large swathes of the country arereeling under severe heatwaveswith temperatures in some partstouching 47 degrees Celsius. On

Sunday, the IMD said that heat-wave conditions will continueover northwest and central Indiafor the next two days. Heatwaveto severe heatwave conditionscontinued in some parts of WestRajasthan on Sunday and grad-ually these are expected todecrease to heatwave conditionsin isolated pockets on May 2 and3. Heatwave conditions will con-tinue in isolated pockets overWest Madhya Pradesh from tillMay 3, whereas in East MP,Telangana, Jammu and Vidarbhathey will be on till May 2. Underthe influence of an east-west ori-ented trough across north andnortheast India in the lower tro-pospheric levels, widespreadrainfall with lightning and gustywinds are very likely over north-east India and the sub-Himalayan West Bengal.

From Page 1“We have registered a

case under Indian Penal Code(IPC) Sections 279 (rash dri-ving or riding on a publicway), 337 (causing hurt by actendangering life or personalsafety of others) and 304A(causing death by negligence)and an investigation has beentaken up. Efforts are still onto establish the identity of themotorcycle rider,” Kashyapsaid.

From Page 1He had left the Trinamool

Congress to join the saffronoutfit before the 2019 generalelections and he defeated the sit-ting TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi.

On whether he would joinBengal Chief Minister Mamatain her anti-Centre move on thejute issue, Singh said he would“because it is not the question ofwhich party you belong to … itis the question of the issue thatis at hand … and here the issuerelates to the survival of not onlyjute industry workers but alsolakhs of farmers associated withjute farming in Bengal”.

From Page 1Modi said from Berlin he

would travel to Copenhagenfor a bilateral meeting withPrime Minister Frederiksenwhich will provide an oppor-tunity to review the progressin “our unique 'GreenStrategic Partnership' withDenmark, as well as otheraspects of our bilateral rela-tions. I will also participate inthe India-Denmark BusinessRoundtable as well as interactwith the Indian community inDenmark.”

Apart from the bilateralengagements with Denmark,Modi will also take part in theSecond India-Nordic Summitalong with Prime Ministers ofDenmark, Iceland, Finland,Sweden and Norway where“we will take stock of ourcooperation since the FirstIndia-Nordic Summit in 2018.The Summit will focus onsubjects like post-pandemiceconomic recovery, climatechange, innovation and tech-nology, renewable energy, theevolving global security sce-nario and India-Nordic coop-eration in the Arctic region,”he said.

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In a shocking incident, a 77-year-old builder was brutal-

ly murdered by unknown per-sons in his home in northDelhi’s posh Civil Lines area onSunday morning. According topolice, the victim, identified asRam Kishore Agrawal, wassleeping alone when theunknown attackers broke intohis house, robbed a largeamount of cash from the roomand attacked him with aweapon. Police said some card-board boxes containing cashwere also found missing fromthe room of the deceased androbbery is suspected to be themotive behind the killing.

Agrawal, a resident ofKothi number 1, Ram KishoreAgarwal Marg of the CivilLines area, used to live on theground floor of his two-storeyhouse while his son and fami-ly lived on the first floor.

The entire family wasinside the house when theincident took place. Thebuilder's wife had passed awaylast year due to coronavirus.

They have four-five servants intheir house, police said.

According to Sagar SinghKalsi, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), North district, on May1, at 6:52 am a police controlroom (PCR) call was receivedat Civil Lines police stationfrom a person informing aboutthe death of his father.

“He told police that hisfather had been found with histhroat slit and was taken to hos-pital,” said the DCP adding thatAgrawal was declared broughtdead at Sushrut Trauma CentreCivil Lines.

“During initial investiga-tion, it has been revealed thatat around 6:40 am, Agrawal’s

son had found him lying on hisbed with four knife injuries onhis body and some cardboardboxes containing cash werealso found missing from theroom. Though the exactamount of cash is yet to beascertained,” said the DCP.

“However, a security guardtold police that he had spottedtwo persons trying to flee fromthe house in the early morninghours,” said the DCP.

“Police have registered acase under section 302 (mur-der), 397 (Robbery, or dacoity,with attempt to cause death orgrievous hurt) and 34 (com-mon intention) of Indian PenalCode (IPC) at Civil Lines policestation and an investigation hasbeen taken up,” said the DCP.

“The spot was inspected bythe crime team and multipleteams have been formed fromacross the district to nab theculprits at the earliest,” said theDCP.

Meanwhile, police teamsare also scanning CCTV cam-eras in the area to identify theaccused and to ascertain thecrime sequence, said police.

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Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu has said India wants

its leaders to guide the globalfamily. Naidu said it shouldcome from the universitieswith different innovative ideas.The Vice President also saidearly education of a child mustbe in mother tongue.

He was speaking at DelhiUniversity's CentenaryCelebration at University'sNorth Campus on Sunday.Naidu said the Indian educa-tion system must also focus on"our culture". "If the early edu-cation is given to a child inmother tongue they will beable to grasp it. If given inanother language, first theyhave to learn the language andthen they will understand," hesaid.

Naidu emphasised thatchildren must learn theirmother tongue first and thenother languages. "One musthave proficiency in their lan-guages and have originalideas," he added. Vice PresidentNaidu, who is the chancellor ofthe university, was the chiefguest at the event andDharmendra Pradhan,Minister of Education, was theguest of honour.

The Vice President

launched a commemorativecoin of hundred-rupee denom-ination, a commemorative cen-tenary stamp, and a commem-orative centenary volume(booklet) — a pictorial repre-sentation of the journey of theuniversity. Delhi Universitywas established on May 1,1922.

Naidu also said whenNature and Culture cometogether the future becomesbright. He pointed out to thestudents who go abroad forhigher education or employ-ment that they need to returnto their motherland and dosomething for their land. Headded that whatever they haveachieved, it should be sharedwith the motherland.

Naidu also invoked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sremarks at an event on Saturdaywhere the latter underlined theneed to encourage the use oflocal language in courts."Yesterday PM Modi also talkedabout the need for local lan-guages in courts. Why courtsalone, it should be implement-ed everywhere," he added. Hecongratulated Delhi Universityfor completing 100 years.

"I would like to congratu-late all the people for thegrowth, development andprogress of this university andfor making this one of the pres-tigious institutions," he added.

Naidu also launchedUndergraduate Curricular

Framework (UGCF) 2022(Hindi version),Undergraduate CurricularFramework (UGCF) 2022(Sanskrit version), and abrochure, University of Delhi:A Glimpse - a reservoir of thehistorical landmarks achievedby the University.

Speaking at the event,Pradhan said the promotion oflocal languages will help inchannelling students' creativi-ty.

"The national educationpolicy emphasised the impor-tance of local language. Thelocal language help in chan-nelling the creativity of a stu-dent," Pradhan noted. Pradhansaid that in future we will haveto becomejob creators and not

job seekers and DelhiUniversity will play animpor-tant role in this. He said thatDU is celebrating its cente-naryyear in the AmritMahotsav of the country. Whenthe countrycelebrates 100 yearsof its independence, DU will becelebrating125 years of itsestablishment. DU will have todo a lot in the field of researchin the next 25 years.

He also congratulatedDelhi University for releasingbrochures in three languages:English, Hindi, and Telugu.Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singhsaid, "We have completed 100years of academic excellence.DU is doing very well. We willcontinue to make our contri-bution to the life of Indians."

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Eye conditions like allergiesand infections are quite

prevalent in summers due toscorching heat and industryexperts are of the view that thistime of the year is crucial totake care of ocular health.

“Allergies, infections suchas conjunctivitis and dry eyeare some of the conditions. Weneed to be extra careful as theseconditions can worsen if time-ly medical advice is not fol-lowed,” says Dr. Tushar Grover,Medical Director, Vision EyeCentre, New Delhi.

High level of pollutantsand irritants in the air poseanother challenge. The symp-toms may include itchiness,redness of the eyes or experi-encing a burning sensation.

“Our eyes become sensitiveduring summer, so it is essentialto protect them. Even if you arewearing contact lenses, wearingeyeglasses can protect your eyes,”

says Dr Chikirsha Jain, SeniorConsultant, Retina andOphthalmology, Ujala CygnusRainbow Hospital, Agra.

In case one does not useproper eye protection, he/shecan also develop dry eyes as thetear film in the eye can evapo-rate more quickly. If leftuntreated, the condition maylead to eye inflammation.

“Exposure to sun's ultravi-olet rays during the summermonths can increase the risk ofvarious eye conditions, reiter-ating the imperativeness ofregular eye examinations. Asschools have reopened now, eyeexamination must be consid-ered as a mandate in schoolreadiness.

“Studies show that the pan-demic has increased the num-ber of children who may beidentified with myopia andthose who have refractive errormay further need correction,”says Dr. Rishi Raj Borah,Country Director, Orbis India.

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The national Capital hasrecorded a slight dip in the

maximum temperature ascompared to Saturday, asDelhi’s maximum temperatureon Sunday settled at 40.5degrees Celsius, which is twonotches warmer than the nor-mal temperature for this timeof the year, according to theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD). The min-imum temperature in the citysettled at 25.8 degrees Celsius,which was one notch above thenormal temperature for thistime of the season. Meanwhile,the national Capital’s peakpower demand on Sundaycloaked 5996 megawatt.

The IMD data showed thatthe relative humidity recordedat the Safdarjung observatory,in the morning at 8:30 am was61 per cent and 36 per cent inthe evening at 5:30 pm.

The weather stations atRidge, Ayanagar, Mungeshpur,Najafgarh, Pitampura, Palam,and Lodhi Road recorded max-imum temperatures of 40.4degrees Celsius, 44.6 degreesCelsius, 41.4 degrees Celsius,42.1 degrees Celsius, 41.1degrees Celsius, 40.2 degreesCelsius and 39.6 degreesCelsius respectively, stated theIMD data.

On Saturday, Delhi wit-nessed a maximum tempera-ture of 43.5 degrees Celsiuswhich was five notches higherthan the normal temperature ofthe year.

The IMD on Sunday pre-dicted that the heat wave con-ditions to continue overNorthwest India and overCentral India during the nexttwo days and abate thereafter.

While informing about thethunderstorm, the IMD saidthat the thunderstorm activitywas very likely over Northwest

and East India till 04th Mayand over Northeast India till03rd May, 2022.

“Heatwave to severe heat-wave conditions prevailed oversome parts of Delhi; in isolatedpockets over Gurgaon,Chandigarh, and HimachalPradesh,” IMD said in a state-ment. The weather stationadvised the general public toavoid heat exposure and keepcool, avoid dehydration, drinksufficient water even if not thirsty,avoid heat exposure, wear light-weight, light-colored, loose, cot-ton clothes and cover the head byuse of cloth, hat or umbrella, etc,use ORS, homemade drinks likelassi, Torani (rice water), lemonwater, buttermilk, etc, to keepyourself hydrated to avoid anyhealth issue.

The national capitalrecorded a maximum temper-ature of 43.7 degrees Celsius onApril 18, 2010.

The all-time high temper-

ature for the month is 45.6degrees Celsius, which wasrecorded on April 29, 1941.

Meanwhile, according tothe sources in discoms, the cap-ital's peak power demand onSunday cloaked 5996 MW.

“On six occasions in April2022, Delhi’s peak powerdemand has clocked the high-est ever in April, each breakingthe previous record in quicksuccession. On April 19, it was5735 MW, 5761 MW on April20, 5781 MW on August 21,5786 MW on April 27, 6050MW on April 28, and 6197 onApril 29,” said sources.

“Delhi’s peak powerdemand had breached the 7000MW for the first time – peak-ing at 7016 MW in 2018. Thisexpected peak power demandof around 8200 MW is anincrease of around 285 per centover the peak power demand of2879 MW in 2002,” sourcesstated.

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Ahead of the festival of Eid,former Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) MP from ChandniChowk Vijay Goel on Sundayled a cleanliness drive aroundthe Jama Masjid, in the nation-al Capital.

Raising the slogan"Swachhata Se Sadbhavna"(harmony through cleanliness),Goel said cleanliness is neces-sary before festivals, includingEid. Following Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's message of'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwasand Sabka Prayas', he said,"Everyone is participating inthis cleanliness drive."

Goel, the vice chairman ofthe Gandhi Smriti EvamDarshan Samiti, representedChandni Chowk twice in Lok

Sabha. He was also a Unionminister in the governmentsled by Modi and Atal BihariVajpayee. "I have helped in thedevelopment of a heritage parkin the Jama Masjid area. Twodays later Eid will be celebrat-ed and I believe cleanlinessshould be there before the fes-tival," Goel said.

The North DelhiMunicipal Corporation (NMC)helped in the cleanliness drive.

Shahi Imam of JamaMasjid Syed Ahmed Bukharilauded Goel for his initiative.

"It's very good. He has alsobeen active in ensuring that thearea is free from encroach-ments," Bukhari said. The fes-tival of Eid is to be celebratedafter sighting of the moon,expectedly on Tuesday.

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The Delhi High Court hasdirected the Delhi

Government to decide withinsix weeks a complaint against aprivate school here for alleged-ly charging an excessive fine ondelayed payment of tuition fees.

Hearing a petition by AjayAggarwal, father of two stu-dents studying in classes 12 and8 in the school, Justice RekhaPalli directed the department ofeducation to decide the peti-tioner's complaint by passing areasoned and speaking order inaccordance with the laid downprocedure and principles ofnatural justice.

In case the petitioner isaggrieved by any order passedby the authorities, it will beopen to the petitioner to seeklegal recourse as permissible in

law, the judge said."The writ petition… is

accordingly disposed of bydirecting the respondent no. 2(DoE) to decide the petitioner'scomplaint dated 22.12.2021 bypassing a reasoned and speak-ing order within a period of sixweeks in accordance with thelaid down procedure and byfollowing principles of naturaljustice," the court said in itsorder dated April 27.

The counsel for the DelhiGovernment told the courtthat the authorities will exam-ine the petitioner's complaintand expeditiously pass anorder. The petitioner claimedthat the private school in ques-tion indulged in unethical prac-tices, including levying exces-sive late fines on delayed pay-ment of tuition fees, which wasin utter violation of the DelhiSchool Education Rules.

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Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks theculmination of the fasting

month of Ramzan, will be cel-ebrated in the country onTuesday as the moon was notsighted on Sunday evening.Fatehpuri Masjid Imam MuftiMukarram Ahmad told PTIthat the Ruet-e-HilalCommittee of the mosque con-tacted many places in NewDelhi, West

Bengal, Bihar and otherparts of the country to estab-lish that the moon had notbeen sighted anywhere."Therefore, Monday will bethe last day of Ramzan and Eidwill becelebrated on Tuesday,"he said.

Markazi ChandCommittee head KhalidRasheed Firangi Mahali alsoannounced that the Shawwalmoon had not been sighted andtherefore Eid would be cele-brated on May 3. Muslimsocio-religious organisationEdara-e-Sharia, Patna,announced that Eid would becelebrated on May 3 as themoon had not been sighted inthe evening.

For the past two years,Muslims have been observingthe fasting month and cele-brating Eid in the shadow ofthe COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, many of theCovid curbs have been liftedfollowing a dip in cases andvaccination of people.

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Aday after the AAPannounced the formation

of 10,000 'tiranga shakhas' inUttar Pradesh, BJP MP ParveshVerma on Sunday said DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalshould visit the RSS head-quarters in Nagpur and attendits three-year course to learnabout nationalism. One doesnot become a nationalist bysimply holding the nationalflag, the BJP leader said.

On Saturday, Aam AadmiParty's (AAP) in-charge ofUttar Pradesh affairs SanjaySingh said the party will open10,000 'tiranga shakhas' in thestate in the next six months toeducate people about the BJP's"divide and rule" policy. Theparty will begin appointing'pramukhs' to the 'tirangashakhas' from July 1, Singh said.

"I invite Kejriwal ji to visitthe RSS office in Jhandewalan (inDelhi) and Nagpur and attendthe three-year course of the RSSto learn about nationalism,"Verma told reporters at theDelhi BJP office.The West DelhiMP said Kejriwal will become a"good human being" if he followsthe spirit of the RSS ideology.

Verma asked how Kejriwalcan become a nationalist afterquestioning India's surgicalstrikes and 'The Kashmir Files'movie."Nationalism lies in theheart and mind of a person.This is fake nationalism of theAAP and Kejriwal after thedrubbing in the recentAssembly polls in UP, Goaand Uttarakhand," he said.TheBJP leader also said he willsoon write a letter to Delhi LtGovernor Anil Baijal for theremoval of "illegal" loudspeak-ers from mosques.

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Sunday alleged that

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lead-ers in Municipal Corporation ofDelhi are operating NGOs like amafia nexus to squander moneyand these NGOs are more regis-tered in the name of the relativesof BJP leaders and their associ-ates. Senior AAP leader andMCD in-charge, Durgesh Pathaksaid that until now these NGOswere collecting their funds them-selves but now the BJP has putout a proper order directingMCD officials to go to every trad-er, every industrialist and anyother person they can find toextort money in the name ofdonation into these NGOs.

“In April, they circulated anentire list of NGOs by region withtheir bank account details. I amcertain this is the first instance ofsuch brazen corruption. The BJP

has put government officials onthe job of collecting funds fortheir loot. These NGOs were firstawarded tenders for variousworks then government officialswere asked to collect funds forthem,” alleged Pathak.

“A tender was awarded forschool upkeep work to a non-existent NGO by the MCD. Thefirst question that arises out ofthis mess is why was the NGOawarded the tender in the firstplace? Then we investigated fur-ther to discover more detailsabout the NGO, which is regis-tered in Ashok Vihar with notrace of an office or anyone in-charge,” said Pathak.

“This so-called NGO wasblindly handed over all the workfor MCD schools and the BJP fur-ther directed its officers to extortas much money as possible fromevery single shop in the area inthe name of fundraising,” saidPathak.

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As the Landfill fires are mak-ing the headlines for quite

sometime, the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC) on Sunday has chalkedout a proper plan for garbagemanagement to ensure 100 percent scientific disposal of wastematerials. This move will alsohelp in reducing the garbagepileup from the existing land-fill sites. According to a seniorSDMC official, with the incep-tion of several measures such assetting up of an ‘engineeredlandfill site’, a new waste toenergy plant, material recoveryfacility, etc, the civic agency israpidly achieving its goal ofproper waste management.

While informing the detailsof the plan for the Okhla land-fill site, he said that this land-fill site is spread over an area ofabout 47 acres and the land hasbeen allotted to the civic agency

for setting up a new landfill site.“South Corporation has

planned to close the existinglandfill site in a phased mannerand for segregation of tradi-tional and legacy waste at thissite, 25 trommel machines of2500 tons per day capacityhave also been deployed. Thetraditional method of segrega-tion of 51 lakh metric tonnes ofgarbage at this landfill site isexpected to be completed byDecember 2023,” he informed.

“The civic body has alsoplanned to construct a newwaste to energy plant inTehkhand,” said a senior offi-cial adding that the work to setup a new waste to energy plantis going on in a speedy manner.Once operational, the facilitywill be able to dispose of 2000tons of garbage every day andgenerate 25 MW of electricity.Construction work of this plantis likely to be completed bySeptember this year.

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Delhi EnvironmentMinister Gopal Rai has

asked various departments toprovide data on trees trans-planted by them in the Capitaland their health status.

The Minister will chair ameeting on Monday wherethis data will be analysed toascertain the impact of the'Tree Transplantation Policy'notified by the Governmentin December 2020. "All agen-cies concerned, including theDelhi Jal Board, municipalcorporat ions, DelhiDevelopment Authority,Railways, Public WorksDepartment etc, have beenasked to provide data on treestransplanted by them. This isbeing done to ascertain theimpact of the policy," an offi-

cial said.Rai will also take a call on

appointing a common agencyfor all departments for a treetransplantation audit.

According to the 'TreeTransplantation Policy', agen-cies concerned are required totransplant a minimum of 80percent of the trees affectedby their development works.The benchmark tree survivalrate at the end of one year oftree transplantation is 80 per-cent. Last year, theDehradun-based ForestResearch Institute (FRI) hadconducted an audit of annu-al sapling plantations under-taken in Delhi from 2016 to2019. According to the auditreport released earlier thismonth, 72 percent to 81 per-cent of the saplings planted inDelhi between 2016 and 2019have survived.

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The Transport Departmentof the Delhi Government

has asked owners and driversof transport vehicles to carryvalid certificate of fitness. Ifcaught without a valid fitnesscertificate, vehicle owners mayface imprisonment up to oneyear or fine up to Rs 10,000 orboth.

The move comes after thedepartment found that manysuch vehicles were found ply-ing without valid fitness cer-tificates in violation of the theMotor Vehicles (MV) Act. Theenforcement teams have beenasked to keep looking for suchvehicles on the roads and soona drive will be launched tocatch the violators, said a seniorofficer of Delhi government'sTransport department.

"It has been observed bythe Transport department thatmany owners or drivers,including transport vehiclesbelonging to governmentdepartments, local bodies andpublic sector units, are plyingtransport vehicles without validfitness certificate which is grossviolation of The MotorVehicles (MV) Act, 1988 andrules framed their under," saida public notice recently issuedby the Transport department.

All vehicle owners anddrivers, including those usingpublic service vehicles, goodscarriage vehicles, buses andcabs of schools and colleges,need to have a valid vehicle fit-ness certificate.

According to section 56 ofthe MV Act, a transport vehi-cle is not deemed to be valid-ly registered unless it carries avalid certificate of fitness issued

by the Transport department ofDelhi government, said thenotice.

Such transport vehicle isnot eligible to ply on the roadstill the fitness certificate isobtained. According to rule 62of the Central Motor VehiclesRules, 1989, the fitness certifi-cate is valid for a period of twoyears for vehicles up to eightyears old and one year for vehi-cles older than eight years.

The owners and driversplying transport vehicles with-out valid fitness certificateattract a fine of Rs 2,000-5,000for first offence and Rs 5,000-10,000 for second and anysubsequent offence. In suchcases, there is also a provisionof imprisonment of owner ordriver, the notice said.

The fitness certificate for e-rickshaws and e-carts is validfor a period of 3 years.

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The national Capital onSunday reported 1,485

fresh Covid-19 cases and nodeaths. According to datareleased by the Delhi healthDepartment, In the past 24hours, the national capital'spositivity rate was recorded at4.89 per cent. On Saturday, thecity had logged 1,520 cases andone death. The total tally ofactive cases has risen to 5,997and 1,204 people have recov-ered in the past 24 hours.

The new cases pushed thecoronavirus infection tally inthe national capital to18,84,560, while the deathcount stood at 26,175. OnFriday, it saw 1,607 COVID-19cases and two deaths with apositivity rate of 5.28 per cent.

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Congress on Sunday con-tinued its attack on the

Modi Government over its"surreptitious" move to disin-vest several PSUs including thelatest move the sell off thestakes in State owned PawanHans Ltd by fraudulent means.Raising questions and elabo-rating on the loopholes overthe deal to sell Centre’s 51 percent stake in helicopter servicesprovider Pawan Hans Ltd(PHL). The party sought toknow why the governmentdid not explore merging thefirm with ONGC instead ofdeciding to hand it over to aconsortium that is just six-months-old.

The Finance Ministry onFriday said Star9 Mobility PvtLtd will buy the government’s51 per cent stake in helicopterservices provider Pawan HansLtd (PHL), along with the

transfer of management con-trol, for Rs 211.14 crore.

The reserve price for thestrategic sale, which comesafter three unsuccessfulattempts, was fixed at Rs199.92 crore based on the val-uation carried out by the trans-action adviser and asset valuer.

Attacking the governmentover the decision, Congressspokesperson Gourav Vallabhsaid that in the series of mis-calculated and injudicious dis-investment decisions to justi-fy their financial policies, “theyare committing a series ofblunders”.

The reserve price for thesale of this 51 per cent major-ity stake was fixed at Rs 199.92crores and the other two bid-ders that participated madebids of Rs 181.05 crore and Rs153.15 crore respectively,Vallabh pointed out.

Vallabh said while thismay seem like a normal disin-vestment, there are several

things that raise eyebrows suchas the the Star9 MobilityPrivate Ltd, a consortium ofBig Charter Private Limited,Maharaja Aviation PrivateLimited and Almas GlobalOpportunity Fund SPC, set-upjust six months ago on October29, 2021.

Star9 Mobility Private Ltddoesn’t have any helicopters ofits own while Big CharterPrivate Limited has just 3 heli-copters in its fleet, he said.Also, Almas GlobalOpportunity Fund SPC is setup under the jurisdiction ofCayman Islands and has nocorrelation or experience inthis sector, he said.

Vallabh also claimed thatthere is a court case ongoingbetween Big Charter PrivateLimited and Ezen AviationPrivate Limited in the DelhiHigh court He pointed out thatPawan Hans employee unionexpressed interest in partici-pating in the disinvestment

process and had also recom-mended that Pawan Hans bemerged with ONGC or madea subsidiary company but thegovernment “brushed it off ”.

“Pawan Hans made a netprofit of Rs. 242.78 crore in2016-17 but has gone downhillsince 2018-19 making losses ofRs 63.67 crores in 2018-19 andRs 33.15 crores in 2019-20,” hesaid.

Posing questions for theModi Government over thedecision, Vallabh said thatwith details available aboutthe bidders and their consor-tium there are red flags, andhow did the government agreeto such a deal.

“There were three biddersthat participated in the disin-vestment process but only onebidder bid over the reserveprice. What was the govern-ment’s reason to go aheadwith just one proper bid?”Vallabh said.

Did the government

explore merging Pawan Hanswith ONGC, keeping in mindthey already have 49 per centstake and Pawan Hans playinga very strategic role withONGC, HAL etc., he asked.

Pointing out that a com-pany that has been consistent-ly making net profits sudden-ly starts making losses since2018-19 around the same timewhen the disinvestment wasfirst processed, Vallabh askedis this again an attempt tolower the valuation to ease saleto someone who would bene-fit.

Vallabh pointed out thatPawan Hans is South-EastAsia’s largest helicopter com-pany with a f leet of 42Helicopters Off shore opera-tions, connecting inaccessibleareas, charter services, searchand rescue work, VIP trans-portation, corporate and spe-cial charter flights, hotlinewashing of insulators and Heli-pilgrims such to Kedarnath,

Badrinath, Amartnath, MaaVaishno Devi, are some of itsmajor services Loss-makingPHL is a 51:49 joint venture ofthe government and ONGC.ONGC had earlier decided tooffer its entire shareholding tothe successful bidder identifiedin the government strategicdisinvestment transaction, on

the same price and terms as thegovernment.

The government inDecember last year receivedthree financial bids for buyingthe company.Vallabh accusedthe BJP of inept handling of theeconomy and said after eightyears of disastrous financialmanagement, the economy is

reeling. He had earlier ques-tioned the disinvestment moveover Central ElectronicsLimited and the Concor fol-lowing which the governmentput on hold the sale of both theunits.

The BJP government hasforced sectors to the end oftheir tethers that needed sup-port and have magically madegood companies and sectorsstruggle, he alleged.They areviolating all prudence andcommon logic to find a wayout of the financial misman-agement caused in the last 8years, Vallabh said.Pawan Hanshas been incurring losses in thelast three years (FY-19, FY-20and FY-21). It has a fleet of 42helicopters of which 41 areowned by the company.Theowned helicopters have anaverage age of over 20 yearsand three-fourths of them arepresently not being manufac-tured by the original equip-ment manufacturer.

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India is the biggest target ofcyber threats to educational

institutions and online plat-forms followed by the USA, theUK, Indonesia and Brazil,according to a report.

The report also says thatthe adoption of remote learn-ing during the COVID-19 pan-demic, digitisation of educa-tion, and prevalence of onlinelearning platforms are key trig-gers that enlarged the attacksurface.

The report, titled "CyberThreats Targeting the GlobalEducation Sector", also claimedthat data shows a 20 per centincrease in cyber threats to theglobal education sector in thefirst three months of 2022when compared to the corre-sponding period of 2021.

The report has been com-piled by the Threat Researchand Information AnaylticsDivision of CloudSEK, aSingapore-based AI-drivenDigital Risk ManagementEnterprise.

CloudSEK's XVigil plat-form scours thousands ofsources (across the surface,deep and dark web) to detectcyber threats, data leaks, brandthreats and identity thefts.

"Of the threats detected inAsia and Pacific last year, 58 percent of them were targeted atIndian or India based educa-tional institutions and onlineplatform. Indonesia was distantsecond being the target of 10per cent cyber threats. Thisincluded attacks on BYJU's,IIM Kojhikode and TamilNadu's Directorate of TechnicalEducation," the report said.

"Overall, the USA was thesecond most affected countryacross the globe with a total of19 recorded incidents, account-ing for 86 per cent of thethreats in North America.These include ransomwareattacks on prestigious institu-tions such as HowardUniversity and University ofCalifornia. In addition, high-risk API vulnaribilities wereuncovered in Coursera, themassive open online courseprovider," it added.

According to DarshitAshara, Principal ThreatResearcher at CloudSEK, thegrowing global education andtraining market both onlineand offline, is expected toreach USD 7.3 trillion by 2025.

"This promising outlook ispredicated on the expandingeducation technology market,

population growth and increas-ing digital penetration in devel-oping countries. Hence, it's nosurprise that cybercriminalsare gravitating towards entitiesand institutions in the sector,"he said.

Adoption of remote learn-ing by schools, universitiesand related entities to combatthe disruption caused by theongoing COVID-19 pandem-ic; large-scale digitisation ofeducational content material,student data and documentsand online learning platformscatering to the needs of every-body ranging from preschoolchildren to retired profession-als are among the reasons list-ed in the report, behind thetrend.

The report findings indi-cate that several cybercriminalsare actively leaking databases,

accesses, vulnerabilities andexploits, and other informationbelonging to educational insti-tutions, on cybercrime forums.

"Databases and accessesare the most commonly soughtafter data types. The databas-es leaked from educational

institutions primarily containinformation PersonallyIdentifiable Information (PII)of students and their families,including name, date of birth,email address, phone number,and physical address; websiteuser records and credentials

and examination results andscores," it said.

The experts have assertedin the report that given the sizeand impact of the educationsector, it is critical for institu-tions, students, parents, teach-ers, and the government toensure that the informationgathered and stored is notleaked and exploited by cyber-criminals.

Creating awareness amongusers regarding cyber-attacks,online scams, and phishingcampaigns; enacting strongpassword policies and enablemulti-factor authentication(MFA); updating and patchingsoftware, systems, and net-works on a regular basis; main-taining multiple backups, bothonline and offline, in separateand secure locations; monitor-ing logs for unusual traffic

and activity to websites andother applications are amongthe recommendations madein the report.

"The institutions shouldblock illegitimate IP addressesand deactivate port forwardingusing network firewalls. Theyshould perform real-time mon-itoring of the internet to iden-tify and mitigate low-hangingthreats, such as misconfiguredapps, exposed data, and leakedaccesses, that are leveraged bycybercriminals to carry outlarge scale attacks.

"The students, parents, fac-ulty, and staff should avoidclicking on suspicious emails,messages and links; not down-load or install unverified apps;use strong passwords andenable multi-factor authenti-cation (MFA) across accounts,"the report added.

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The National MedicalCommission (NMC) has

cautioned medical aspirants inIndia against travelling toPakistan for an MBBS degree,BDS or any other equivalentmedical degree, making it clearthat such degrees will not bevalid.

The NMC, top medical edu-cation regulator body said thatsuch students shall not be eligi-ble to appear for FMGE or seekemployment in India on the basisof the educational qualificationsgained from universities in theneighboring country.

“Any Indian national oroverseas citizen of India whointends to take admission inBachelor of Medicine Bachelorof Surgery (MBBS) or Bachelorof Dental Surgery (BDS) orequivalent medical course inany medical college of Pakistanshall not be eligible for appear-ing in Foreign Medical

Graduates Examination (FMGE)or seeking employment in Indiaon the basis of educational qual-ifications (in any subject)acquired in Pakistan except thosewho had joined Pakistan degreecolleges before December 2018or later after obtaining securityclearance from Ministry ofHome Affairs till date,” stated DrSandhya Bhullar, secretary, NMCin a circular on April 28, 2022.

However, the Commissionhas also clarified that migrantsand their children who acquiredhigher education or medicaldegree in Pakistan but havebeen awarded Indian citizenshipwill still be eligible to appear forFMGE/NEXT and seek employ-ment in India, after obtainingSecurity Clearance from theUnion Ministry of Home Affairs.

This notice from the NMCcomes a days after a similarnotice was issued by UGC andAICTE. In the notice, which wasissued on April 22, the UGC andthe AICTE said that any Indiannational or overseas citizen of the

country who intends to takeadmission in any degree collegeor educational institution ofPakistan “shall not be eligible forseeking employment or higherstudies in India”.

Sources said that highereducation regulatory bodies havetaken the step following consul-tations among the Union HomeAffairs Ministry, Union Ministryof External Affairs and NMCofficials in view of continuationof terrorist funding activitiesfrom the neighbouring country.

The NMC had earlier issueda warning against the onlinemedical courses being offered byseveral Chinese universities.Students aiming to pursue med-ical or any other courses fromforeign universities have beenadvised to “exercise due dili-gence, said the Apex medical reg-ulator.

The commission has alsoalready clarified that it does notapprove any medical coursewhich is conducted only inonline mode.

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Two new sub-lineages of theOmicron coronavirus variant

can dodge antibodies from ear-lier infection well enough to trig-ger a new wave, but are far lessable to thrive in the blood of peo-ple vaccinated against COVID-19, South African scientists havefound.

The scientists from multipleinstitutions were examining omi-cron’s BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lin-eages - which the World HealthOrganization last month addedto its monitoring list. They tookblood samples from 39 partici-pants previously infected byomicron when it first showed upat the end of last year.

Fifteen were vaccinated -eight with Pfizer’s shot; sevenwith J&J’s -- while the other 24were not.

“The vaccinated group

showed about a five-fold higherneutralization capacity ... andshould be better protected,” saidthe study, a pre-print of whichwas released over the weekend.

In the unvaccinated samples,there was an almost eightfolddecrease in antibody productionwhen exposed to BA.4 and BA.5,compared with the original BA.1omicron lineage. Blood from thevaccinated people showed athreefold decrease.

South Africa may be enter-ing a fifth COVID-19 wave ear-lier than expected, officials andscientists said on Friday, blam-ing a sustained rise in infectionsthat seems to be driven by theBA.4 and BA.5 omicron sub-variants.Only about 30 percentof South Africa’s population of 60million is fully vaccinated.

“Based on neutralizationescape, BA.4 and BA.5 havepotential to result in a newinfection wave,” the study said.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has con-

ducted searches in Assam inconnection with Maoist caseof Cachar district of the State.

The NIA conducted thesearch operations at two loca-tions in Kamrup district ofAssam on Friday.

The case relates to thearrest of Maoist leader ArunKumar Bhattacharjee aliasKanchan Da, a member ofCentral Committee of bannedCommunist Party of India(Maoist) along with his asso-ciate Akash Orang alias Kajal,a member of the outfit’sAssam State Organizing

Committee by Assam Police.The duo was arrested

from Patimara Tea Gardenunder Udarband police stationof Cachar district on March 6,2022.“These accused personsalong with their other associ-ates were involved in spread-ing the network ofCPI(Maoist) in Assam andNorth-East region,” the NIAsaid in a statement.

The case was initially reg-istered vide FIR No. 02/2022at Crime Branch PoliceStation, Panbazar, Guwahati,district Kamrup and subse-quently re-registered by NIAon March 16.

During the searches, theNIA claimed to have recov-ered incriminating docu-ments. Further investigationin the case is continuing, it

added. On April 3, the agencyhad conducted searches at 17locations in Assam and arrest-ed a member of the outlawedCPI (Maoist) for allegedlyspreading its network in thenortheast region of the coun-try.

The searches were carriedout in places in Cachar,Karimganj, Dibrugarh andDhubri districts.

During searches conduct-ed then, digital devices andincriminating documents ofthe CPI (Maoist) were seized.

The outfit and its associ-ates arrested in the case wereallegedly involved in spread-ing the network of the CPI(Maoist) in Assam and otherparts of the northeast regionof the country in the face ofcontinued reverses in the tra-ditional hotbeds of Maoistmovement in the affectedStates.As part of the initialorganizational buildup, theoutfit is known to seek trac-tion among the peasantryclass and the workers union byorganizing protests anddemonstrations.

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Amid the ban on theexport of palm oil by

Indonesia, the Governmenton Sunday claimed that Indiahas optimum stock of all edi-ble oils. Quoting industrysources, the Ministry ofConsumer Affairs has saidthat the present stock of alledible oils in the country isaround 21 LMT (lakh metrictonne) while another 12 LMTis in transit, arriving in May2022 in the country.

On the oilseeds front, theDepartment of Agricultureand Farmers Welfare's secondadvance estimate released inFebruary 2022 shows a posi-tive picture of soyabean pro-duction for the year 20221-22at 126.10 LMT, which is high-er than last year's productionof 112 LMT, the ministrysaid.

As a result of the highersowing of Mustard seeds by37 per cent in all major pro-ducing states includingRajasthan in comparison withlast year, the production mayrise to 114 LMT in the 2021-22 season.

Palm oi l (Crude +Refined) constitutes roughlyaround 62% of the total edi-ble oils imported and areimported mainly fromIndonesia and Malaysia, whileSoyabean oil (22%) is import-ed from Argentina and Braziland Sunflower oil (15%) isimported mainly fromUkraine and Russia.

In a statement, the min-istry said that a close watch isbeing kept on day to daybasis on prices of Edible oilsso that appropriate measurescan be taken to keep a checkon the prices of edible oil forensuring that the pricesremain stable and interest of

consumers are protected.The Inter-Ministerial

Committee held weekly onAgri-Commodities chairedby Secretary (Food) closelymonitors the prices and avail-ability of agricultural com-modities including edible oilkeeping in view the interest ofthe farmers, industry andconsumers.

The committee reviewsprice situation on weeklybasis, consider relevant mea-sures in relation to edibleoils and other food itemsdepending on the domesticproduction, demand, domes-tic and international pricesand international trade vol-umes. Special teams have alsobeen constituted by bothCentral & State Governmentsto prevent hoarding and prof-iteering under the EssentialCommodities Act. These sur-prise checks shall continue tocheck unscrupulous elements.

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Army Chief General ManojPande on Sunday said his

top priority will be to makesure operational readiness ofthe force to deal with any chal-lenge. He also said the Armywill not allow any loss of terri-tory in the backdrop of ongo-ing stand-offs with China at theborder in Eastern Ladakh.

Pande also said the globalgeopolitical situation is chang-ing rapidly "as a result of whichwe have multiple challengesahead", asserting that the Army,in "coordination and coopera-tion" with the Indian Air Forceand the Navy, will unitedly deal

with any situation. He wasapparently referring to theongoing Russia-Ukraine con-flict.

Interacting with mediaafter inspecting Guard ofHonour here on Sunday, thenew Army chief said he willfocus on the ongoing reforms,restructuring and transforma-tion of the Army to enhance itsoperational and functional effi-ciency besides giving impor-tance to achieving self-reliancein defence.

He said his "utmost andforemost" priority would be toensure very high standards ofoperational preparedness toface current, contemporaryand future security challenges

across the entire spectrum ofconflict.

On the situation at theLine of Actual Control(LAC)inLadakh, Pande said in an inter-view to ANI, the Indian troopsare holding important physicalpositions and will not permitany change in the status quo orany loss of territory.

Calling the situation at theLAC normal, he said the IndianArmy has given an adequateresponse to unilateral andprovocative actions by China tochange the status quo by force.

On the India-China bordertalks, the new Army chief saidthe process is ongoing. “Webelieve this is the way forward.We are confident that as wecontinue to talk with the otherside we will find a resolution tothe ongoing issues,” he said.

Highlighting the pre-paredness of the Indian secu-rity forces, the Army Chief saidadditional equipment andtroops have been inducted inthe border areas. Our focus hasalso been on infrastructuredevelopment to match logisticand operation requirements, headded.

On the situation with

Pakistan, Pande said theDGMOs of the two armiesarrived at an understanding ayear ago that helped in improv-ing the situation for the civil-ian population on the groundon both sides of the Line ofControl(LOC).

The Army chief said he willtake forward the "good works"of his predecessors, and assuredthe soldiers and officers of theArmy that ensuring their wel-fare will be his key priority.

Pande on Saturday tookcharge as the 29th Chief of theArmy Staff after incumbentGeneral M M Naravane retired.Pande, who was serving as theVice Chief, became the first-ever officer from the Corps ofEngineers to rise to the top job.

Before taking charge asVice Chief of Army Staff onFebruary 1, Pande was headingthe Eastern Army Commandthat takes care of the LAC inSikkim and Arunachal Pradeshsectors.

"I am aware of the bigresponsibility and I am prayingto God that I am givenstrength, capability and wis-dom so that I can carry on withthe responsibility," Pande said.

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Kerala woke up to a tumul-tuous Sunday morning as

a heavy posse of policemendrove down fromThiruvananthapuram toEerattupetta in Kottayam dis-trict and arrested P C George,seven-term MLA, from hisresidence in connection with acomplaint filed by the youthwing of the Muslim League.

George who was slappedwith charges under Sections153A and 295A of the IndianPenal Code by the police wasgranted conditional bail by theJudicial Magistrate Court,Thiruvananthapuram withinhours of his arrest. By that time,the BJP and various SanghParivar outfits had stageddemonstrations across the Statecondemning the arrest.

Leaders of Muslim Leagueand some Islamic outfits hadcomplained to the State PoliceChief that George whileaddressing a public meeting atthe capital city on April 29 haddemanded that India should be

declared as a HinduRepublic and he hadblamed the Muslimyouths for the orga-nized Love Jihad.They also accusedthat George’s speechwas likely to createhatred between vari-ous communities inthe State.

Speaking toreporters after he wasreleased on bail, George saidthat he stood by what he dis-closed at the April 29 publicmeeting. “I did not blame theMuslim community in gener-al for terrorism activities. Butit is a universal truth that thereare many Islamic outfits whichwere on a mission to annihilatenon-believers. Who can denythe practice of Love Jihad ?”asked the septuagenarianleader.

George also said that hisarrest was a Ramadan Gift tothe Islamic terrorists by ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan.Activists of DYFI, the youthwing of the CPI(M) held

demonstrations across Keralaexpressing solidarity with thechief minister and the police forarresting George

The Armed Reserve PoliceCamp at Thiruvananthapuramwitnessed tense moments asunion minister of State forexternal affairs VMuraleedharan was deniedpermission by the police tomeet George. ValsanThillankeri, the president ofHindu Aikyavedi, whileaddressing a media meet laterin the day declared that theHindus in the State wouldstand with George in this hourof crisis.

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Nearly 54,000 unauthorisedloudspeakers were

removed from religious placesand the volume of over 60,000was set to permissible limitsacross Uttar Pradesh followinga Government order, a seniorpolice official said on Sunday.

A statewide drive under-taken to remove unauthorizedloudspeakers from religiousplaces and set the volume ofothers within permissible lim-its began on April 25. Underthis exercise, a total of 53,942loudspeakers were removedand volume of 60,295 loud-speakers was set within per-missible limits till Sundaymorning, Additional DirectorGeneral of Police (Law andOrder) Prashant Kumar said.

The drive will continue inthe coming days, confirmed asenior home department offi-

cial. The ADGP said that theloudspeakers are being removedfrom all religious places withoutany discrimination.

Explaining further aboutthe action, Kumar said, "Theloudspeakers which are beingremoved are unauthorised."

Those loudspeakers whichhave been placed without takingdue permission from the districtadministration or the ones whichare placed in excess of the per-mitted numbers are categorisedas unauthorised, he added.

He said, "Orders of thehigh court regarding loud-speakers are also being con-sidered during the exercise."

As per the said 2017 order,the High court had asked theUP government if the loud-speakers at religious and publicplaces were installed after tak-ing permission in writing fromauthorities referring to the NoisePollution (Regulation andControl) Rules, 2000. The recentdrive against loudspeakers fol-lowed after Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, during a reviewmeeting, in April, said thatpeople have the freedom to per-form their religious practicesaccording to their faith.

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The observance of May 1 asLabour Day brings no hope

for betterment to about 1 lakhlabourers employed in Aligarh’slock and hardware units whenseminars, conferences and ral-lies were organized in differentparts of the city to mark LabourDay. Getting education fortheir children aged 8 to 14 yearsis a mirage. For earning littlesums, they pay a heavy price interms of their health by work-ing in closed room underunhygienic conditions.

Busy in searching ragsfrom the garbage container ofNagar Nigam kept at the road-sides in Aligarh DevelopmentColony of Marris road, LabourDay meant another day forSuneeta and RajKumari,labourers engaged in Brickkiln in the unorganized sector.Aligarh district ranking secondin the state for labours engagedin both the organized andunorganized sectors. Theoffices of district magistrateand deputy labour commis-sioner have not come out witha single plan or project which

can act as a silver lining in theprocess of welfare of labour.Although government hasintroduced more than 17 wel-fare scheme for labour butthey are running on papers asout of 1 lakh, only 8000 labourare registered in labour depart-ment.

Belonging to large families,Suneeta work with her threesisters, all aged below 20 yearsand involved in rags pickingbusiness, to provide eveningmeals for her family. RajKumari is the eldest among hersix brothers and sisters. Herother brothers are also engagedin a polishing locks factory.

Not only this, several poorand street girls holding a sackon their back bigger than thechildren’s height do their dutyof collecting useful rags infront of convents schools onRamghat Road at the sametime when children of richfamilies come out with joysafter finishing their day stud-ies by schooling and nonenotices the yawning gapbetween the two.

The labour departmentconducts raids just to achieve

the given target and then whathappens to the like Suneeta andRaj Kumari Seema after that,the department is not con-cerned with.

These labours do not haveany roof. They do not get anysupport from any non govern-ment organizations. Life forthem is hard but they do notcomplain of harsh realities of

daily life. They appear to be assatisfied as a moneyed person.They do not leave others tothink of their wreathed condi-tion. So this labour Day has nomeaning to life.

Not only this, ninety threepercent of the one -lakh-strongunorganized workers inAligarh work as bondedlabourers. And 85 percent of

them cannot avail weekly offswithout pay cults, while 0.5percent workers succeeded indrawing additional wages foradditional works. These are thefindings in study conducted byBonded Labour LiberationOrganization, an NGO fromDelhi.

Aligarh administrationincluding Labour Departmentis apathic to the blatant viola-tion by Private Employers ofthe Supreme Court Verdictregarding mandatory weekly,closure of all shops and facto-ries thus depriving the workersa weekly rest day.

According to Labaour Act,weekly closure is compulsoryfor everyone whether con-cerned under the Shop andCommercial Establishment Actor Factory Act. These Actsstipulate that the employers arebound to give four days restwithout any pay deduction ina month to their employees.

Besides this, not a singlemigrants workers from otherstates like Bihar, Bengal andOrissa has received benefitsentitled under the Inter-Statemigrant Workman’s Act 1979.

It is learnt that out of 2 lakhunorganized workers, 36 per-cent are migrant workers fromBihar, Bengal and Orissa.

The main markets ofAligarh like Railway Road,Mahavirganj, Centre Point,Ramghat Road andSudamapuri are scheduled tobe closed on Tuesday. Similarlymarkets in Muslim areas likeAmir Nishan, Dodhpur andUpper Kot should remainclosed on Friday. But thesemarkets operate throughoutthe week due to the negligentattitude of the labour depart-ment. The employees are alsoforced to slog for long hours inthe shops and factories, stretch-ing beyond the statutory 10AM to 8 PM.

Not only this, these laboursare also deprived of minimumwages and SC/ST workers arethe worst off. Study says that96 percent of labourers have noknowledge of minimum wages,holidays act. SC and ST work-ers are the worst sufferers. 96per cent of SC and ST workersdo not receive their minimumwages.

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The first ever authorizedbiography of Soli Sorabjee,

one of the leading legal wizardsof modern times , who playeda prominent role in manyConstitutional issues in post-independence has hit bookshelves across India. “SoliSorabjee: Life and Times”authored by AbhinavChandrachud, takes readersthrough the most tumultuousperiod of India marked bymany communal riots, RamJanmabhmi Temple issue andConstitutionals crisis.

Sorabjee, who was keepinggood health, was claimed bythe pandemic Covid-19 onApril 30, 2021. The biographyhas been released on April 30,the first anniversary ofSorabjee. Besides being a wide-ly respected lawyer, Sorabjee

was a western classical musi-cian of good standing.

Soli Sorabjee, a name syn-onymous with Indian judicialsystem, holds many distinc-tions which may not havemany parallels in the country’shistory. A contemporary ofthe legendary Nani Palkhivala,Sorabjee was highly critical ofthe Hindutva forces when theydemolished the structure byname Babri Masjid. But thatdoes not prevent Atal BihariVajpayee from appointing himas the Attorney General ofIndia when the BJP formed agovernment at the Centre forthe first time in 1998.

At the age of 47, Sorabjeeappeared in the supreme Courtto defend the Morarji DesaiGovernment’s decision to dis-solve the Congress-led legisla-tures in the country. The argu-ments put forward by Sorabjee

occupies a prominent posi-tion in the annals of Indianjudicial history. Chandrachudchronicles how Sorabjee whowas an admirer of JawaharlalNehru had criticised the BJP‘for being obsessed with demol-ishing mosques' had advisedthem to replace 'Hindutva'with 'Bharatva' or 'Indianness',was chosen by Prime MinisterVajpayee to represent the gov-ernment in the Supreme Courtin many cases including theAyodhya case.

The authorised biographyrecounts how a lawyer with ahumdrum customs and exciselaw practice, whose grandfathersold horse-drawn carriages inBombay, became a U.N. humanrights rapporteur, and repeat-edly defend the fundamentalright to free speech and expres-sion in the Supreme Court ofIndia.

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Amajor accident happenedin Aligarh, UP on Sunday

when an uncontrolled truckcoming from Anupshahartrampled many passers-by onthe Nagla Patwari road adjacentto the city at around 12 noon.After that it collided with thetree. Four passers-by died inthe accident, while four peoplewere injured.

The driver is abscondingafter the accident. Among thedead is Sabir, a technician inthe Department ofOphthalmology, AligarhMuslim University. His postingis in the office of the depart-ment located at Gandhi EyeHospital. In relation to theincident, it has been told byMunicipal Magistrate PradeepKumar Verma that 4 personshave died in this unpleasantaccident. Along with this, fourother people have been injured.

In which 3 injured are beinggiven medical treatment atDistrict Malkhan SinghHospital and 1 injured personin Medical College.

Sabir, a technician in theDepartment of Ophthalmologyof Aligarh Muslim University,was going to his house inFirdous Nagar on bike alongwith his wife Praveen. Thetruck hit them from behind.Praveen's condition is critical.After this the truck went fortwo kilometers hitting severalvehicles. Due to this, 13-year-old Faran of Firdaus Nagar hasdied. Four people includinganother person Munir havedied in the accident. The bod-ies have been sent for post-mortem.

The uncontrollable truckalso damaged the roadside tap-pers. At the same time, thehandcarts of those selling fruitson the handcart were alsodamaged.

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On the occasion of LabourDay, Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath rolled out a newplatform — e-Pension portal —to ensure transparent and hassle-free disbursement of pension tothe retired Government employ-ees. During the launch of the por-tal on Sunday, the Chief Ministersaid, “Labour Day marks the hardwork and contribution of eachworker towards the growth of thestate. The e-Pension portal willend the struggles of those receiv-ing pensions and will make theprocess transparent, paperless,contactless and cashless.”

Taking note of complaintsand grievances of the stategovernment employees whosuperannuate from services,the portal will track the statusof their applications (PPO)and will ease the lives of lakhsof people who will benefitfrom it. “Through technology,Uttar Pradesh, in the last five

years, has brought revolution-ary changes in the lives of its 25crore people. The governmentis making consistent efforts tointroduce technology in everyfield,” the chief minister said.

Speaking about the portal,Yogi said that it was the effortof the Finance department toend the pain and agony of thesenior citizens. “This end toend online pension portal hasbeen developed to make theprocess of receiving pensionsimpler and it will eliminate theneed for pensioners to go any-where physically,” he added.

On the occasion, Yogistressed on making good use ofknowledge, experience andefforts of the retired employeeswhich could help in value addi-tion towards the progress anddevelopment of the state.

Praising the services of theworkers, Yogi said, “Each work-er’s hard work matters and hascontributed to the progress ofthe state. You will be recognised

as ‘Pension-Yogi’ not ‘Pension-Bhogi’ as you are a ‘Karm-Yogi’,” he remarked.

Working on the guidelinesprovided by the Union gov-ernment, the state Financedepartment has created theportal which will have theoption of tracking the status ofemployees who attain the ageof 59years six months. It willbenefit around 11.5 lakh pen-sioners in the state. This systemhas been implemented for thestate government employeesand soon other departmentswill also join the process whichwill benefit lakhs of people andno one will have to run for pen-sion, the chief minister said.

Listing the efforts of thegovernment towards providingsocial and economic security tothe labourers, Yogi said thatevery worker, whether migrantor resident, had been providedan insurance cover of Rs 2 lakhand health insurance cover ofRs 5 lakh.

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Maharashtra is all set tobecome a one trillion-

dollar economy and it will bethe first state in the country todo so, Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari said here on Sundayon the occasion of 62ndanniversary of the State's for-mation.

Koshyari addressed anevent held at the Shivaji Park inMumbai's Dadar area where heunfurled the national flag.

Chief Minister UddhavThackeray was also present onthe occasion and the two, whohave in the past criticised eachother on various issues, wereseen exchanging greetings.Koshyari said Maharashtra hasset an example before thenation while combating thethree waves of COVID-19 in awell-planned manner. Morethan 92 per cent of the state'sadult population has beenadministered at least one doseof COVID-19 vaccine, he said.

“Though we were passingthrough the COVID-19 pan-demic, the state did not allowany impediment to affect its

progress and development.Maharashtra is all set tobecome a one trillion dollareconomy and it will be the firststate in the country to do so,”he said.

Koshyari said he felt happyto note that Maharashtra standssecond in the country in theexport preparedness index,released by the Niti Aayog.Maharashtra also ranks secondin the Centre's 'GoodGovernance Index report –2021', he added.

“The policy regarding theelectric vehicles made by mygovernment is comprehensiveand its implementation hasalso started in the state. Ascompared to the previous year,the registration of EVs inMaharashtra has increased by

157 per cent,” the governorsaid.

The state government hasalso decided to give rebates inproperty tax to citizens andhousing societies which willstart EV charging stations, hesaid.

The VAT on CNG hasbeen reduced from 13.5 percent to 3 per cent in order togive a boost to the use of envi-ronment-friendly natural gas.

“This will provide relief tothe citizens,” the governor said.

He said the governmenthas planned a bulk drug parkin Raigad district along theDelhi-Mumbai corridor and itwill be erected over an area of2,500 acres.

Besides, a medical equip-ment park has also beenplanned at the Auric Smart Cityin Aurangabad over 350 acresof land, he said.

The government is pro-moting waterways for passen-gers to reduce stress on roadsand railway lines, he said,adding that a water taxi servicehas been started from Belapurin Navi Mumbai to Mumbai,Elephanta and JNPT.

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The Uttar PradeshGovernment has embarked

upon a mission to tap theimmense tourism potential ofits abundant historical her-itage sites dating from theMahabharata period to thestruggle for Independence.

The Government is devel-oping the Mahabharata Circuitand Bundelkhand as part ofthis mission.

The Government’s motivebehind this move is to increasepeople’s awareness of UP’s richhistorical heritage and remindthem of the lost and forgottensaga of its heroes such asMaharani Laxmibai andMaharaja Suheldev.

Principal Secretary(Tourism) Mukesh Meshramsaid that on the directions ofChief Minister YogiAdityanath, efforts were beingmade to improve infrastructureand other facilities for touristsin a phased manner at all the

significant historical sites, aspledged in Bharatiya JanataParty’s 2022 poll manifesto,for the convenience and safe-ty of tourists.

The Government is alsotrying to promote the sites asbrands in order to attract visi-tors, he added.

“Work is underway tobuild a grand bronze statue ofMaharaja Suheldev riding a400foot high horse in Bahraichat a cost of about Rs 45 crore.Similarly, the preparation of thedetailed project report (DPR)for the proposed Light andSound Show at Maharaja BijliPasi Fort in Lucknow is inprogress,” Meshram remarked.

The Yogi Government 2.0aims at carrying forward its2018 policy to develop places ofhistorical significance inBundelkhand andMahabharata circuits. The landof Bundelkhand is synony-mous with bravery and culturein itself.

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The Uttar PradeshGovernment’s Prosecution

department has remained inthe top position in the entirecountry in terms of the num-ber of entries of the all-Indiae-Prosecution portal.

The number of entries ofUP this year is more than 77lakh, followed by MadhyaPradesh at 20 lakh and Gujaratwith 4.4 lakh.

The E-Prosecution portalis managed by theGovernment of India underthe Digital India Mission. UPis also at the number oneposition in terms of display ofdisposal of online cases on thisportal with about four lakhentries, followed by 1.3 lakhfor MP and 1.2 lakh forGujarat.

The state's Prosecution

department is first in thecountry in providing onlinelegal opinion to all police sta-tions in the state with 1.5lakh entries. Rajasthan andWest Bengal follow with88,000 and 35,000 entries,respectively.

The department also holdsthe privilege of being first inthe country for digitisation ofall prosecution related work incourts and feeding them onthe e-Prosecution portal. Thenumber of entries for UP was25 lakh, followed by MP (3.8lakh) and Gujarat (2.2 lakh).

The five districts withcommendable performanceon the e-Prosecution portalare Lucknow, Agra,Ghaziabad, Moradabad andGautam Buddha Nagar.

UP also holds the distinc-tion of being first in India forensuring prosecution in

crimes against women with55.2 per cent success in 2019and 61 per cent success in theyear 2020.

Under the Gangsters Act,UP recorded successful pros-ecution in 77 per cent cases inthe year 2021. In cases underPOCSO Act and crimesagainst women, theProsecution department suc-ceeded in getting capital pun-ishment to five convicts.

In the next 100 days, thedepartment aims at securingconviction of 1,000 convictsunder POCSO Act and crimesagainst women. It is alsoplanned to ensure convictionin crimes under POCSO Actwithin one month, and ensurepunishment in at least 90 percent of the decided casesunder the Arms Act.

The e-Prosecution Mobileapp is also being developed

which will incorporate digiti-sation of all judicial proce-dures of prosecutors in courts.

According to AdditionalDirector General of PoliceAshutosh Pandey, theProsecution department isconducting a 100-day specialcampaign under the MissionShakti for women empower-ment.

Specific formats had beendesigned for providing month-ly information on action takenagainst 25 listed mafia groupsin UP; cases underway anddecided under the POCSOAct; cases pertaining to illicitliquor and the Arms Act.

The objective is to moni-tor the progress of officials inall districts in maintaining asteady progress in prosecutionof important cases and thusinstill a sense of confidenceamong the people.

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A30-year-old woman wasgangraped by five men

who also recorded the act andmade the video viral inShahjahanpur, police said onSunday.

The woman, in her com-plaint, alleged that on April 22,five men dragged her into a hutoutside her house and tookturns to rape her.

Additional Superintendentof Police (City) Sanjay Kumarsaid that an FIR of gang rapewas registered on Saturdaybased on the complaint of thewoman, a resident of a villagein Madanapur police stationarea, and a probe into the mat-ter was on. The accused, thewoman alleged, also filmed

the act and made the videoviral a week after the incident.The accused are abscondingand attempts are on to nabthem, the ASP said.

Meanwhile in a separateincident in Bareilly, a 19-year-old jilted lover shot himselfdead after killing another manand injuring his family mem-bers, police said on Sunday.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice in Bareilly DineshPrabhu said as per the prelim-inary investigation, it was a caseof a failed love affair.

According to police, RinkuGangwar, a resident of Bareillydistrict, was allegedly in a rela-tionship with Rachna Gangwar(22), but her parents had fixedher marriage with another per-son.

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Charges under the stringentNational Security Act

(NSA) have been slappedagainst the principal of a schoolin the Uttar Pradesh Board ofSecondary Education'sIntermediate English questionpaper leak case, police said onSunday.

Three other prime accusedalready face action under NSAin the case.

Ubhaon Station HouseOfficer Avinash Singh saidthat NSA had been invokedagainst Akshay Lal Yadav, theprincipal of Ma LachhiyamuratYadav Higher SecondarySchool.

Earlier, NSA was invokedagainst three other accused inthe paper leak case -- master-mind Nirbhay Narain Singh,Bhimpura Maharaji DeviMemorial Inter College man-ager Raju Prajapati andRavindra Singh.

Police have so far arrestedover 52 people, including threejournalists, six school managersand five school principals, inconnection with the leak ofClass 12 English question paperon March 30.

Ballia District Inspector ofSchools Brijesh Mishra is alsoamong those arrested in thecase. The three journalistsarrested in the case wererecently released on bail.

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to transfer the powers ofChancellor to the ChiefMinister. The CM had givenanother term to his favoriteVC, without any concurrenceof the Chancellor, the legallystipulated appointing author-ity. It was done against hiswishes. The Governor of WestBengal; Jagdeep Dhankahar;tweeted on December 30,2021, on how State govern-ment officials had issuedappointment orders to thenew VCs of 24 universitieswithout bringing him in thepicture. He is the Chancellorof State-funded universitiesas well Visitor of the privateuniversities and the appointingauthority in all these cases.Probably, taking a cue fromKerala and West Bengal, andsome other similar attempts todilute the authority of theGovernor as Chancellor, theTamil Nadu Government haspassed two legislations, formal-ly transferring the powers ofthe Chancellor to the ChiefMinister! The reason was thatthe Governor was not listen-ing to the State government!As appointing authority, theCM will also hold the powerto sack the VC. The appoint-ed luminary has to consistent-ly remain conscious of thesword of sudden ouster everhanging over his head. Severalpoliticians, who give prefer-ence to ideological attach-ments far more than nationalinterests or the aspirations of

the young, firmly believe thatall talk about University auton-omy; and it is being headed byan outstanding individual are‘meant only for academic dis-cussions, nothing more. Theyare worried about the recom-mendations in the NationalEducation Policy – NEP-2020– which proposes the consti-tution of a strong Board ofGovernors –BoG –and shallbecome the appointing author-ity of the VCs and other headsof the Higher EducationInstitutions –HEIs. The NEP-2020 mentions: “It is envisagedthat all HEIs will be incen-tivized, supported and men-tored during this process, andshall aim to becomeautonomous and have such anempowered BoG by 2035.”Some politicians in power aredisturbed about it. The Keralaand Tamil Nadu Governmentsare supposed to be working ontheir own education policy,rejecting the NEP-2020. If ithappens, it would damage theinterests of the young peoplefrom these states permanent-ly, on the national and alsointernational stage.

Despite impedimentsbeing thrown in the well-ini-tiated implementation of theNEP-2020, the nation mustmove ahead with the policymandate, which said, “It iseffective governance and lead-ership that enables the cre-ation of a culture of excellenceand innovation in higher edu-

cation institutions. The com-mon feature of all world-classinstitutions globally includingIndia has indeed been the exis-tence of strong self-gover-nance and outstanding merit-based appointment of institu-tional leaders.”

In the third decade of the21st century, several lumi-naries have predicted ted at thetime of decimation of the eraof imperialism that ‘futureempires shall be empires ofknowledge. This has alreadycome true. Nations that fail torealize its import shall certain-ly lag behind others. However,it is encouraging that Indianacademia and scholarshipaccept the new outlook, and itsfinds reflection in the resolvemade at the national level —

“All leadership positionsand Heads of institutions shallbe offered to persons withhigh academic qualificationsand demonstrated administra-tive and leadership capabilities

along with abilities tomanage complex situations.Leaders of an HEI will demon-strate strong alignment to con-stitutional values and the over-all vision of the Institution,along with attributes such as astrong social commitment,belief in teamwork, plural-ism, ability to work withdiverse people, and a positiveoutlook. The selection shall becarried out by the BOGthrough a rigorous, impartial,merit-based, and competency-based process by an EminentExpert committee constitutedby the BOG.”

Some politicians need tobe reoriented on what Indianeeds to better the lot of itsgenerations ahead. The task isto bring education out of andaway from political interfer-ence; the uninitiated must bebrought to the fold in light ofthe words of MahatmaGandhi: “To me politicalpower is not an end but one ofthe means of enabling peopleto better their condition inevery department of life.”

(The author works in edu-cation, social cohesion and reli-gious amity. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

�����������Sir — Congratulations to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for this historical initia-tive to set up ultra-modern Cancer-carefacilities in Assam and in other parts ofthe state. The PM personally inaugurat-ed the hospital at Dibrugarh and `virtu-ally’ launched six cancer hospitals inBarpeta, Tezpur, Jorhat, Darrang,Kokrajhar, and Lakhimpur. It will beSouth Asia’s single largest affordablecancer care network and will give a bigboost to affordable cancer treatment inAssam and the Northeast. Such wide-spread and specialized cancer care net-works in Assam were badly needed as thestate and the rest of the northeast havewitnessed an alarming rise in the num-ber of cancer cases. As many as 34,000new cancer cases are detected every yearin Assam alone.

These new hospitals are all equippedwith the latest Hi-tech equipment forchemotherapy, robotic surgery, bonemarrow transplant, diagnostic andadvanced imaging, nuclear medicine,and stem-cell research. Earlier patientsfrom poor and middle-class families hadto go outside the state for treatment most-ly to Mumbai. Though Tata MemorialHospital, Mumbai, is a cost-effectivehospital, everyone couldn't travel to themetropolis for treatment. Now, this newnetwork of cancer-care hospitals willgreatly benefit the patient, especiallyfrom the economically weaker section ofthe society.. These new hospitals will fur-ther augment the healthcare capacity inAssam and in the Northeast.

Ramesh G Jethwani | Bangalore

��� ������Sir — In the 11th Chief Minister andChief Justices' Conference held at VigyanBhawan, Delhi, on Saturday, Chief Justiceof India, NV Ramanna indirectly, took akind of class of the top leaders of the coun-try. The arrows of his words hit the righttarget. The leaders understood that whenthe Chief Justice is saying that the respon-sibilities of the legislature, judiciary, andexecutive have been divided in detail in

the constitution, we should take care ofour 'Lakshman Rekha'. If the working ofgovernance is in accordance with the law,then the judiciary will never come in itsway. Another thing he said is that “courtdecisions are not implemented by theGovernment for years and years. Despitejudicial pronouncements, there is delib-erate inaction on the part of the govern-ment which is not good for the country.For example, in a landmark judgment inSeptember 2006, the Supreme Courthad directed all states and union territo-ries to bring in police reforms. But whathappened to that order? They didn't doanything because politicians need policeon their side. The police will become inde-pendent as soon as this law is implement-ed. That's why no government would everimplement the police reform bill.

Jang Bahadur Singh| Jamshedpur

����������������������������Sir — The scorching heat this year hascrossed all previous records. This Marchhas been declared the hottest March in thelast 122 years. The South Asia region is

facing a severe heat wave this summerwhich has also led to a shortage in elec-tric supply. According to experts, thewhole world has been hotter this year ascompared to previous years.

This is due to human activities and thedanger of climate change predicted byexperts. According to experts, the earthwill witness more such heatwaves in thecoming years. The carbon emission fromreckless industrial activities is a majorregion behind the warming of the earth.The governments of developed countriesneed to step up their resolve to tackle thisissue and work on decreasing dependenceon carbon. Scientists around the worldwith the help of governments should exe-cute plans in an emergency mode to stopglobal warming. Every political forcearound the world should prioritize thismajor issue on their agenda. This globalconcern should be addressed immediate-ly for the betterment of humankind andfuture generation.

Deba Prasad Nayak | Odisha

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Great institutions theworld over owe theircredibility and accept-ability to academic lead-

ers, who get respect and admira-tion for generations. Recall thecreation of Banaras HinduUniversity (BHU} by PanditMadan Mohan Malaviya. Hecould persuade Dr. S.Radhakrishnan to accept its Vice-Chancellorship. It would beimpossible now. There are setrules, regulations, and laid-downprocedures to select a VC. The VCpresides over considerable fundsand makes a considerable num-ber of academic and non-acade-mic appointments. He too has tofollow clearly articulated rules,regulations, and procedures. Weall understand why VCs in somestates work under tremendouspolitical pressure. In the majori-ty of the States, the Governor isalso the Chancellor of state-fund-ed universities. He has the statu-tory authority to oversee theprocess and procedure for theappointment of VCs and holdsthe power to select the person heconsiders best from among thepanel of three/five names pre-pared by the search committee. Inthe ancient Indian tradition ofknowledge quest, which led to thecreation of great global centers likeTaxila, Nalanda, Vikramshila,and others, the Kulapati - now VC- is supposed to be an embodi-ment of knowledge, scholarship,values, compassion, empathy, andan outstanding luminary of emi-nence. He is the ultimate Acharya,his conduct and behavior have tobe exemplary. That is why, inde-pendent India put such appoint-ments within the authority of theGovernor, who is supposed to bea non-partisan person. There areample instances – again, excep-tions apart – that we had andhave– Governors/ Chancellorswho strictly adhered to values andprinciples in appointing univer-sity leaders. Of course, someChief Ministers, who want totalcontrol of the universities, do notrelish such independent assertionof authority in the selection of Vcs.

It was in early December2021 when the Kerala Governor,Arif Mohammad Khan, deeplypeeved by the blatant interferenceof the state government, offered

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It is also observed that UP RERAhas registered residential and com-mercial projects of theallottees/sub-allottees without not-ing the limitations on the use of 70percent of plot of land for Sportsinfrastructure as mentioned in thelease agreement executed by theAuthority. As none of the majorSport infrastructure has beenundertaken till date and none of the9-hole golf courses andInternational Level CricketStadium are likely to be complet-ed in near future, the homebuyersof those residential projects beingconstructed are likely to face issuesin getting their flats registered.Incidentally, most directors of all 4SPCs at the time of allotment havesince resigned and left. The deci-sion of the Noida Authority toapprove the use of increased FARof the entire area of the sport cityin residential/ commercial projectsof allottees/sub-allottees withoutensuring the construction of inte-grated sport infrastructure in 70%area of each Sport city project isinjudicious and highly improper. Itwouldaffect the future prospects ofthe home buyers of these residential projects as their flatscannot be registered unless envisioned integrated sport infra-structure in 70 % area of each sportcity project.

Further, the C&AG has deter-mined that NOIDA Authority hadgiven significant incentives of Rs8,643.61 crore in terms of reducedpricing of plots and allowance ofextra Floor Area Ratio (FAR) andGround Coverage (GC) to the 3real estate developers for develop-ment of sporting infrastructure asagainst the payment of �5598crores made for 33, 44, 193 sqm(826 acres) of land. Keeping in

view the ongoing development ofgroup housing projects vis-vis lit-tle progress observed in develop-ment of sports infrastructure inthese Projects in last ten years, itwould tantamount to providingundue benefit of �8,643.61 crore tothese three developers. NOIDAAuthority, while allowing thebuilders to pursue group housingprojects, abdicated its total respon-sibility towards completion ofenvisioned sports infrastructure.

Thus, the world class sportsinfrastructure envisioned by theBoard in 2007 for holding nation-al and international sports eventsfailed to materialise even after adecade. Though the main objec-tives of establishment of sports cityhave not been achieved, thesedevelopers appeared to havegrabbed nearly 825 acres of primeland in the city at one-third of themarket rate with aid and abetmentof senior officials of the Authority.Incidentally, there was a singleCEO of the Authority who dealtwith the allotment of Sport Cityplots in 2010-11 and 2014- 2015.

Discretionary allotment ofFarm Houses at prime locations onthrowaway prices: In 2009-2011,Noida Authority allotted 157 plotsfor farm houses of 10,000 sqm eachaggregating 18,37,340 sqm inprime sectors of Noida at one-fifthof market rates in an arbitrary anddiscretionary manner mostly to bigbusiness houses, influential realestate developers/ builders, politi-cians, prominent lawyers and theirfamily members without followingany transparent bidding processunder schemes which did nothave any objective criterion forselection of the beneficiaries. Manycompanies, their directors, fami-ly members etc cornered multiple

plots at throwaway prices. Therewas no bidding and selection ofallottees was done based on an“interview” by a committee.

The C&AG has pointed outfollowing cases of multiple allot-ments:

Allotment of 11 plots (FH -3& FH-19/164, FH-4 & FH-18/164,FH-2 & Fh-20/164, FH-5/164,FH-6/164, FH-17/164 and FH-1 &FH-20/165) was made on 30March 2011 to thecompanies/entities of the samegroup (Anil Kumar andCompany).

Allotment of four plots (FH-2, 3, 4, 5 sector 131) was made on27 July 2009 to a group of compa-nies with the samepromoter/director (Rajiv Kumar).

Allotment of seven plots (FH-15 & FH-18/128, FH-25 & FH-26/128, FH-27, FH-28 & FH-29/128) was made on 30 October2009 to four companies of thesame promoters (Sanjeev J Aerenand Sunita S Aeren).

Allotment of seven plots ( FH-16 & FH-17/128, FH-11 & FH22/128, FH-23, FH-24 & FH-33/128 was made (two on 26March 2010 and five on 30October 2009) to three companies(Meadows Infradevelopers Pvt.Ltd., Glory Infrabuild Pvt. Ltd. andHandful Infra DevelopersPvt.Ltd.) of same promoters(Ankur Chadha and Geetu Arora).

In two cases it was observedthat four plots ( FH-11 & FH-22/128, FH-12 & FH-21/128) ofsector 128 of two companies(Meadow Infradevelopers Pvt.Ltd and Snerea realtors Pvt. Ltd.)allotted on 30 October 2009 weretransferred to the same individual,Vichitra Lata, on 28 September2010. (To be continued)

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India and a member ofRERA, Bihar betweenApril 2018-December,

2021. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

In the corridors of IndiraParyavaran Bhawan thereare whispers about the the

Environment Minister’s inten-tion to revamp the forest servicecadres.The Indian ForestService (IFS)is one of the old-est civil servicesand today is inthe midst of a big challenge tomeet the growing aspiration ofthe changing society in view ofrising population, shrinkingresources base, dependency oftribal and rural poor on theforests as also of agriculture andwater availability in the coun-try. The threat of climate changeand meeting the millenniumdevelopment goals and the roleplayed by forest in environmen-tal conservation, climate changemitigation and adaption haveassumed international dimen-sions and hence there is a needto revamp the cadre manage-

ment of various levels of posts. One of the weakest links in

environmental management isthe lack of an organized set upat the field and district level. Afew years ago, there was a pro-posal to enlarge the scope ofForest Service and rename it asIndian Forest and EnvironmentService (IFES). Today it is con-sidered essential to do by reor-ganizing the IFS. The trainingof officers shall have to berevised to broaden the coursecontents. The present cadres ofpollution control board, etc.,shall be subsumed in this newservice. At the headquartersthere should be different independent wings to give focusto emerging challenges in thesector.

The job profile of forestersof all rankshas changed a lotsince its organizational struc-

ture was created in British peri-od which proved the test of thattime. However, after indepen-dence, the number of postsincreased haphazardly to meetthe new policy framework yet-today the structure remainstruncated at the point of deliv-ery i.e. the forest beat levelwhich is headed by the forestguards who have no in depthknowledge of policy issues andspreading dimensions of forest

management and also at thedistrict level the set-up is incon-gruous with civil administra-tion. In Tripura, the govern-ment in 2015 replaced theDivisions with functional terri-torial forest sub-division head-ed by the State Forest Service(SFS) officers. The Ranges weremade co-terminus with blocksand the District set-up withDistrict Forest Officers madeco-terminus with civil admin-istration for better coordinationand to integrate with otherdepartments and for betterman power utilization. Theremay be more officers at the dis-trict level for other line func-tions but territorial administra-tion becomes unified andfocused. The experienceimproved the efficiency at deliv-ery point with the use of stateforest officers gainfully. This

exercise should be done allover India by review of SFS,range officers and other subor-dinate cadres. The forest beatsshould be headed by theforester rank official. ForestThana should also be estab-lished in certain locations. Allranks in subordinate forest offi-cials should be at par withpolice in rank and pay. Likepolice personnel the forest fieldstaff must be paid 13 months’salary and other facilities. Forestfield staff needs to be providedwith better weapons, vehiclesand other infrastructure tomeet the challenges from smug-glers. However, in many bigforested districts like Sarandaand Chaisbasa, etc., it may bepossible to do it by postingmore Additional DFOs insenior scale.

There is also a need to

focus on the task of technolo-gy development at the statelevel. There is a need to createForest Research andEnvironment Service sub-cadrewhich will work both at thegovernment of India as well asat state level. The Director ofIndira Gandhi National ForestAcademy should be designat-ed as Director-GeneralTraining and all SFS and othercadre’s training institutionsshould be placed under him tostreamline the training andbring uniformity in forestrytraining of all categories offorestry personnel.

A few months ago, NationalCommission of Schedule Tribesrecommended renaming theIFS as Indian Forest and TribalDevelopment Service. The pro-posed forest and environmentservice can actually be assigned

the tribal development workwhich will promote harmony inforests conservation and tribaldevelopment.

Forests constitute morethan 21 percent of our landmass. Many economists arguethat its contribution to GDPshould also be commensurate.Eco-development has tremen-dous potential to garner revenuefor the government as well aslocal people and farmers and itshould be made central activi-ty of forest management.National and State level inde-pendent Eco-developmentwings/ boards or corporationsneed to be set up to harness thepotential.

It would be necessary to setup a study group outside theMinistry to propose changes andthen discuss it extensively withstates before implementation.

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(The author is Chairman.Centre for ResourceManagement and

Environment. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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������644���5<�� Though the Noida Authority hadcommitted to monitor theprogress of project in thebrochure, none of the envisaged

sport infrastructure projects has beencompleted as yet. Neither has theAuthority encashedon the indemnitybond of the allottees for failure to com-plete the project within stipulated time.

In case of allotments in SC 01 inSectors 78/ 79(allotted in May 2011), SC01 in Sector 150 (allotted in May 2011)and SC 02 in Sector 150 (allotted inSeptember 2014), the allottees wererequired to complete the project in phas-es within five years from the date of exe-cution of lease deed. In case of SC-01 inSector 152 (allotted in July 2015), the allot-tee was required to complete the construc-tion of the international level cricket sta-dium in the first phase within three yearsand the remaining residential and com-mercial projects within five years from thedate of execution of the lease deed.

The C&AG has pointed out thatplots for Sports Cities were allotted with-out preliminary consultation with nation-al/international bodies like BCCI, ICC andwithout fixing and prescribing the tech-nical specifications, etc., required for dif-ferent sports infrastructure -golf course,international level cricket stadium, Tenniscentre, Multi-purpose Sports Hall forGymnasium, Volleyball, TT, Basket Balletc. They also didn’t do any due-diligenceand analysed the reasonableness of therates/bids quoted by the allottees. It wastherefore no wonder that none of the envi-sioned sports infrastructure have beencompleted in last ten years though theconstruction of sports infrastructure wasto be given priority in Sport City and com-pleted first and only afterwards, other res-idential and commercial projects were tobe taken up. However, the allottees tookup the GH projects first and two residen-tial projects have not only been taken upbut completed or partially completed.

Though the terms and conditions pre-scribed in Brochures permitted sub-divi-sion of the plots meant for only residen-tial and commercial use (30% of the sportcity plots), the Authority allowed sub-divi-sion of the entire plot (826 acres) of the4 sport city projects into 81 sub-plotsthereby destroying the entire concept ofdevelopment of integrated Sport City. The578 acres of land earmarked for sportinfrastructure in 4 sport cities was too sub-divided into 34 sub plots, thereby makingthe objectives of Integrated Sports infra-structure like nine-hole golf course inthree sport cities in sectors-78/79 and 150,international cricket stadium in Plot SC-02 in sector 150, unachievable. The workon cricket stadium has not even com-menced though it was to be completed bythe end of 2018. The Authority has not yetencashed the indemnity bond of the allottee.

RERA failed to detect limitations on70 per cent of the Sports City plot,endangering the interests of home-buyers.

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Poland's armed forces saidon Sunday that military

exercises involving thousandsof NATO soldiers have begun.

They are regular exercisesaimed at improving the secu-rity of the alliance's easternflank but come this year withRussia's war against Ukraineraging nearby.

Due to those circum-stances, Poland's militaryappealed to the public on

Sunday not to publish infor-mation or photos of thecolumns of military vehiclesexpected to move through thecountry in the coming weeks.

It warned that “ill-consid-ered activity” could harm thealliance's security. “Let's beaware of the dangers!” thestatement said.

The Polish Army said in astatement that 18,000 soldiersfrom over 20 countries weretaking part in the DefenderEurope 2022 and SwiftResponse 2022 exercises thatare taking place in Poland andeight other countries.

The exercises are scheduledto run May 1-27.

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U.S. Speaker of the HouseNancy Pelosi has met with

Ukraine's president. Footagereleased early Sunday byPresident VolodymyrZelenskyy's office showedPelosi in Kyiv with aCongressional delegation.Those with Pelosi includedReps. Jason Crow, JimMcGovern and Adam Schiff.

Zelenskyy told the delega-tion: “You all are welcome.”

Pelosi later said: “Webelieve that we are visiting youto say thank you for your fightfor freedom. We are on a fron-tier of freedom and your fightis a fight for everyone. Ourcommitment is to be there foryou until the fight is done.”

The visit was not previ-ously announced.Pelosi metwith Zelenskyy in Kyiv

The American legislatorsassessed Ukraine's needs for thenext phase of the war, withPelosi vowing that Washingtonwould stand with the countryuntil it defeats Russia.

Pelosi, a CaliforniaDemocrat who is second in lineto the presidency after the vicepresident, was the most seniorAmerican lawmaker to visitUkraine since Russia's warbegan more than two monthsago.

Her previously unan-nounced visit came just daysafter Moscow bombed theUkrainian capital while theU.N. Secretary-general wasthere.

Pelosi and a half-dozenU.S. Lawmakers met for threehours late Saturday withZelenskyy and his top aides toget a first-hand assessment ofthe war effort to date.

Speaking to reportersSunday in Poland, the delega-tion members were unanimousin praising Ukraine's defensesso far, in painting the battle ofone as good against evil and inassuring continued long-term

U.S. Military, humanitarianand economic support.

“We were proud to conveyto him the message of unityfrom the Congress of theUnited States, a message ofappreciation from theAmerican people for his lead-ership and admiration for thepeople of Ukraine for theircourage,” Pelosi said.

Their visit came two daysafter U.S. President Joe Bidenasked Congress for $33 billionto bolster Ukraine's fightagainst Russia, more than twicethe size of the initial $13.6 bil-lion aid measure that Congressenacted early last month andnow is almost drained.

With the war dragging intoits third month, the measurewas designed to signal toRussian President VladimirPutin that U.S. Weaponry andother forms of assistanceweren't going away.

“This is a time we stand upfor democracy or we allowautocracy to rule the day,” saidRep. Gregory Meeks, a

Democrat from New York.“This is a struggle of free-

dom against tyranny,” said Rep.Adam Schiff, a Democrat fromCalifornia. “And in that strug-gle, Ukraine is on the frontlines.”

Rep. Jason Crow, aDemocrat from Colorado, aveteran and a member of theHouse intelligence and armedservices committee, said hecame to Ukraine with threeareas of focus: “Weapons,weapons and weapons.”

“We have to make sure theUkrainians have what theyneed to win. What we haveseen in the last two months istheir ferocity, their intensepride, their ability to fight andtheir ability to win if they havethe support to do so.”

“The United States ofAmerica is in this to win, andwe will stand with Ukraineuntil victory is won,” he added.

The full congressional del-egation included Meeks, whochairs the House ForeignAffairs Committee; Schiff, who

chairs the House IntelligenceCommittee; Jim McGovern ofMassachusetts who chairs theHouse Rules Committee; Crow,Barbara Lee of California; andBill Keating of Massachusetts.

“You all are welcome,”Zelenskyy told the delegation,according to a video of theencounter released by his office.

Pelosi told Zelenskyy: “Webelieve that we are visiting youto say thank you for your fightfor freedom."

“We are on a frontier offreedom and your fight is afight for everyone. Our com-mitment is to be there for youuntil the fight is done,” Pelosiadded.

The delegation continuedits trip in southeast Poland, andmembers were later visiting thecapital, Warsaw, to meet withPresident Andrzej Duda andother senior officials.

Poland has received morethan 3 million refugees fromUkraine since Russia launchedits war on Feb. 24.

“We look forward tothanking our Polish allies fortheir dedication and humani-tarian efforts,” Pelosi said.

Speaking at a news con-ference in Poland, Pelosi saidshe and others in the delegationapplauded the courage of theUkrainian people. She addedthat the delegation broughtZelenskyy “a message of appre-ciation from the Americanpeople for his leadership.”

McGovern said Russia'swar had repercussions farbeyond Ukraine, saying it wasexacerbating a food crisis thatwould be disastrous for poorpeople across the globe.

“Putin's brutal war is nolonger only a war against thepeople of Ukraine,” McGovernsaid. “It's also a war against theworld's most vulnerable.”

He added that Ukraine is a“breadbasket of the world.” “Idon't think that Putin cares ifhe starves the world,”McGovern said.

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Russian “cyber soldiers” havelaunched a new offensive

against foreign leaders, target-ing social media platformswith a large-scale disinforma-tion campaign that seeks tolegitimise the invasion ofUkraine, according to researchfunded by the U.K.

Paid operatives workingfrom a factory in St. Petersburguse the Telegram messagingapp to recruit and coordinatesupporters who then flood thesocial media accounts ofKremlin critics with commentssupporting Russian PresidentVladimir Putin and the war inUkraine, the U.K. ForeignOffice said Sunday.

The so-called troll factoryhas developed new techniques

to avoid detection by socialmedia platforms, posting com-ments and amplifying pro-Kremlin content created bylegitimate users rather than cre-ating its own content, theForeign Office said.

Traces of its activity havebeen found on eight socialmedia platforms, includingTelegram, Twitter, Facebookand TikTok.

The operation has targetedpoliticians and wider audi-ences in a number of countries,including the U.K., SouthAfrica and India, the ForeignOffice said.

It is believed to have linksto Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who hasbeen sanctioned by both theU.S. And Britain for financingthe Kremlin's online influenceoperations.

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Satellite photos analysed byThe Associated Press show

damage to oil depots just acrossthe Ukrainian border in Russiaafter suspected Ukrainianattacks.

The photos from Saturdayshow damage at two sites inBryansk. The blasts damagedmultiple tanks, leaving the sur-rounding grounds charred.

The explosions happenedon Monday. One hit an oildepot owned by Transneft-Druzhba, a subsidiary of theRussian state-controlled com-pany Transneft that operates thewestern-bound Druzhba(Friendship) pipeline carryingcrude oil to Europe.

The second facility is ashort distance from the other.Bryansk is located about 100kilometres north of the borderwith Ukraine.

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Elena Trofimchuk f ledUkraine to Romania more

than a month ago. She nowsees Bucharest's North RailwayStation as a second home.

She doesn't live there, butit's where she spends most ofher day welcoming fellowUkrainian refugees escapingfrom Russia's war and helpingthem sort out tickets, accom-modation and onward desti-nations.

The 26-year-old said thatkeeping herself busy and use-ful keeps her from dwelling onRussia's shelling of her home-town, Odesa, where many ofher friends remain.

“If you sit and do nothing,you can just become crazybecause you're always search-ing for news. It's very hard. Sohere I can help people buy tick-

ets and find accommodations.I even help Romanians in thekitchen,” Trofimchuk said.

Before the outbreak of thewar in Ukraine, she worked asa photographer.

Trofimchuk is just one ofmany orange-vested Ukrainianvolunteers working at the sta-tion.

Ukrainian volunteer VitaliiIvanchuk flew all the way fromSri Lanka where he lived withhis Ukrainian girlfriend tohelp refugees coming intoRomania.

The 29-year-old IT devel-oper said that manyUkrainians have a tough timecommunicating withRomanians, and volunteerswho can speak both Ukrainianand English are in highdemand.

His girlfriend, AnastasiiaHaiduk, quit her investment

job shortly after the war startedand decided to volunteer at thestation until the war ends and she

can be reunited with her familyin Ukraine.

The Romanian government

is currently giving away free traintickets to Ukrainian refugeesarriving in Romania that theycan use to travel on to Hungary,Austria, Germany, Switzerland,Slovakia and Bulgaria.

Trofimchuk said she wasmoved by the warm welcomeand the Romanians' show ofsolidarity with Ukraine.

“Every Romanian personwants to help. They're veryfriendly. And I was shockedabout this. I'm so happy thateveryone wants to help,”Trofimchuk said.

Nearly 5.5 million peoplehave fled Ukraine since thestart of Russia's war on Feb. 24,according to data from theU.N. Refugee agency.

Most have entered coun-tries on Ukraine's western bor-der: more than 3 million peo-ple have fled to Poland, whilemore than 817,000 others have

fled to Romania and around520,000 have crossed intoHungary, UNHCR statisticsshow.

For some Ukrainian vol-unteers, their Saturday eveningritual is to join a weeklydemonstration at the RussianEmbassy in Bucharest alongwith Ukrainian residents andRomanians.

Station volunteers inBucharest say they are nowseeing an increasing number ofarrivals from Odesa followingRussian missile attacks on thesouthern Ukrainian port cityon the Black Sea coast.

But Trofimchuk skipped arecent protest, saying sheexpected people to arrive fromher hometown.

“I will stay at the station aslate as I can because theremight be people who need myhelp,” Trofimchuk said.

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Some women and childrenwere evacuated from a steel

plant that is the last defensivestronghold in the bombed-outruins of the port city ofMariupol, a Ukrainian officialand Russian state news orga-nizations said, but hundredsare believed to remaintrapped with little food orwater.

The United Nations wasworking to broker an evacu-ation of the up to 1,000 civil-ians l iving beneath thesprawling Soviet-era Azovstalplant after numerous previousattempts failed. Ukraine hasnot said how many fightersare also in the plant, the onlypart of Mariupol not occupiedby Russian forces, but Russiaput the number at about2,000. An estimated 100,000civilians remain in the city.

Russian forces haveembarked on a major militaryoperation to seize significantparts of southern and easternUkraine, the country's indus-trial heartland. Ukrainianforces fought village by villageSaturday to hold back theRussian advance.

Russia's RIA Novostinews agency said Saturdaythat 19 adults and six childrenwere brought out from thesteelworks, but gave no fur-ther details.

A top official with theAzov Regiment, theUkrainian unit defending theplant, said 20 civilians wereevacuated during a cease-fire, though it was not clear ifhe was referring to the samegroup. There was no confir-mation from the UN.

“These are women andchildren,” Sviatoslav Palamarsaid in a video posted on theregiment's Telegram channel.He also called for the evacu-ation of the wounded: “Wedon't know why they are nottaken away and their evacu-ation to the territory con-trolled by Ukraine is notbeing discussed.”

Video and images frominside the plant, shared withThe Associated Press by twoUkrainian women who saidtheir husbands are amongthe fighters refusing to sur-render there, showed uniden-tified men with stained ban-dages; others had openwounds or amputated limbs.

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Ukrainian forces foughtvillage by villageSaturday to hold back a

Russian advance through thecountry's east, while the UnitedNations worked to broker acivilian evacuation from thelast defensive stronghold inthe bombed-out ruins of theport city of Mariupol.

An estimated 100,000 civil-ians remain in the city, and upto 1,000 are living beneath asprawling Soviet-era steel plant,according to Ukrainian offi-cials. Ukraine has not saidhow many fighters are also inthe plant, the only part ofMariupol not occupied byRussian forces, but Russia putthe number at about 2,000.

Russian state media outletsreported Saturday that 25 civil-ians had been evacuated fromthe Azovstal steelworks, thoughthere was no confirmationfrom the UN Russia's RIANovosti news agency said 19adults and six children werebrought out, but gave no fur-ther details.

A top official with theAzov Regiment, the Ukrainianunit defending the plant, said20 civilians were evacuatedduring a cease-fire, though itwas not clear if he was referringto the same group as theRussian news reports.

“These are women andchildren,” Sviatoslav Palamarsaid in a video posted on theregiment's Telegram channel.He also called for the evacua-tion of the wounded: “We don'tknow why they are not takenaway and their evacuation tothe territory controlled byUkraine is not being discussed.”

Video and images frominside the plant, shared withThe Associated Press by twoUkrainian women who saidtheir husbands are among thefighters refusing to surrenderthere, showed unidentifiedmen with stained bandages;others had open wounds oramputated limbs.

A skeleton medical staffwas treating at least 600wounded people, said thewomen, who identified theirhusbands as members of theAzov Regiment of Ukraine'sNational Guard. Some of thewounds were rotting with gan-grene, they said.

In the video the men saidthat they eat just once daily andshare as little as 1.5 litres (50ounces) of water a day amongfour people, and that suppliesinside the besieged facility aredepleted.

One shirtless manappeared to be in pain as hedescribed his wounds: twobroken ribs, a punctured lungand a dislocated arm that “was

hanging on the flesh”.“I want to tell everyone

who sees this: If you will notstop this here, in Ukraine, it willgo further, to Europe,” he said.

AP could not indepen-dently verify the date and loca-tion of the video, which thewomen said was taken in thelast week in the maze of corri-

dors and bunkers beneath theplant.

The women urged thatUkrainian fighters also be evac-uated alongside civilians, warn-ing they could be tortured andexecuted if captured. “The livesof soldiers matter too,” YuliiaFedusiuk told AP in Rome.

In other developments:

Ukrainian Deputy AgricultureMinister Taras Vysotsky said intelevised remarks that Russianforces have seized hundreds ofthousands of tons of grain interritory under their control.Ukraine is a major grain pro-ducer, and the invasion haspushed up world prices andraised concerns about short-

ages.A Russian rocket attack

destroyed the airport runway inOdesa, Ukraine's third-mostpopulous city and a key BlackSea port, the Ukrainian armysaid.

The bodies of three menwere found buried in a forestnear the Kyiv suburb of Bucha,the head of Kyiv's regionalpolice force said. The men,whose bodies were foundFriday, had been torturedbefore they were shot in thehead, Andriy Nebytov wrote onFacebook. Ukrainian officialshave alleged that retreatingRussian troops carried outmass killings of civilians inBucha.

Russian Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrov said in an inter-view that Russian andUkrainian negotiators talk“almost every day.” However, hetold Chinese state news agencyXinhua, “progress has not beeneasy.” Two buses sent to evac-uate residents from the easterntown of Popasna were firedupon, and contact with theorganisers was lost, MayorNikolai Khanatov said: “Weknow that (the buses) reachedthe town and then came underfire from an enemy sabotageand reconnaissance group.”

Getting a full picture of theunfolding battle in easternUkraine has been difficult

because airstrikes and artillerybarrages have made it extreme-ly dangerous for reporters tomove around. Also, bothUkraine and Moscow-backedrebels have introduced tightrestrictions on reporting fromthe combat zone.

But Western military ana-lysts suggested that the offen-sive in the Donbas region,which includes Mariupol, wasgoing much slower thanplanned. So far, Russian troopsand the separatists appeared tohave made only minor gains inthe month since Moscow saidit would focus its militarystrength in the east.

Numerically, Russia's mil-itary manpower vastly exceedsUkraine's. In the days beforethe war began, Western intel-ligence estimated Russia hadpositioned near the border asmany as 190,000 troops;Ukraine's standing militarytotals about 200,000, spreadthroughout the country.

Yet, in part because of thetenacity of the Ukrainian resis-tance, the US believes theRussians are “at least severaldays behind where they want-ed to be” as they try to encir-cle Ukrainian troops in the east,said a senior US defence offi-cial who spoke on condition ofanonymity to discuss theAmerican military's assess-ment.

With plenty of firepowerstill in reserve, Russia's offen-sive still could intensify andoverrun the Ukrainians.Overall the Russian army hasan estimated 900,000 active-duty personnel. Russia alsohas a much larger air force andnavy.

Hundreds of millions ofdollars in military assistancehas flowed into Ukraine sincethe war began, but Russia's vastarmouries mean Ukraine'sneeds are nearly inexhaustible.

Mariupol officials havedescribed dire shortages offood, water and medicine. UNhumanitarian spokesmanSaviano Abreu said the worldorganisation was negotiatingwith authorities in Moscowand Kyiv, but he could not pro-vide details of the ongoingevacuation effort "because ofthe complexity and fluidity ofthe operation”.

“There is, right now, ongo-ing, high-level engagementswith all the governments,Russia and Ukraine, to makesure that you can save civiliansand support the evacuation ofcivilians from the plant,” Abreutold AP. He would not confirmvideo posted on social mediapurportedly showing UN-marked vehicles in Mariupol.

Ukraine has blamed thefailure of numerous previousevacuation attempts on con-

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Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy

switched to Russian in hisnightly video address to urgeRussian soldiers not to fight inUkraine, saying even their gen-erals expected that thousandsof them would die.

He said Russia has beenrecruiting new troops “with lit-tle motivation and little com-bat experience” for the unitsthat were gutted during theearly weeks of the war so theseunits can be thrown back intobattle.

He said Russian comman-ders fully understand thatthousands of them will dieand thousands more will bewounded in the coming weeks.

“The Russian comman-ders are lying to their soldierswhen they tell them they canexpect to be held seriouslyresponsible for refusing to fightand then also don't tell them,for example, that the Russianarmy is preparing additionalrefrigerator trucks for storingthe bodies. They don't tellthem about the new losses thegenerals expect,” Zelenskyysaid late Saturday.

“Évery Russian soldier canstill save his own life. It's bet-ter for you to survive in Russiathan to perish on our land,” hesaid.

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Dr Dare Adewumi wasthrilled when he was hired

to lead the neurosurgery prac-tice at an Atlanta-area hospitalnear where he grew up.

But he says he quicklyfaced racial discrimination thatultimately led to his firing andhas prevented him from gettingpermanent work elsewhere.

His lawyers and otheradvocates say he's not alone,that Black doctors across thecountry commonly experiencediscrimination, ranging frommicroaggressions to career-threatening disciplinaryactions. Biases, conscious ornot, can become magnified inthe fiercely competitive hospi-tal environment, they say, andthe underrepresentation ofBlack doctors can discouragethem from speaking up.

“Too many of us are worriedabout retaliation, what happenswhen you say something," saidDr Rachel Villanueva, presi-dent of the National MedicalAssociation, which representsBlack doctors. “We have scoresof doctors that are sending usletters about these same dis-criminatory practices all thetime and seeking our help as anassociation in fighting that.”

According to theAssociation of AmericanMedical Colleges, Black doctorsmade up just 5 per cent ofactive physicians in the US in2018, the most recent dataavailable.

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The Nepal government on Sunday appoint-ed new chiefs of the country's police and

paramilitary forces, a senior official said.In a Cabinet meeting, Additional

Inspector General (AIG) Dhiraj Pratap Singhwas appointed the 29th Inspector General ofthe Nepal Police. Singh is the third senior-most officer in the police department afterBishwa Raj Pokharel and Sahakul Thapa, whowere also in the race for the new post.

The government also appointedAdditional Inspector General Raju Aryal tothe post of Inspector General of the ArmedPolice Force (APF), the country's paramilitaryforce, the official said. Aryal was promoted asthe Additional Inspector General of the APFonly last week, while Singh was appointed tothe post of AIG on March 31 this year.

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Acase under stringent blas-phemy laws was registered

against Pakistan's ousted pre-mier Imran Khan and 150 oth-ers, including some members ofhis former cabinet, in connec-tion with the hounding ofPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharifand his delegation at Masjid-e-Nabwi in Saudi Arabia, officialssaid. Video clips circulating onsocial media showed some pil-grims - apparently supporters ofKhan – shouting ‘chor' (thief)and 'gaddar' (traitor) as soon asSharif and other members of hisdelegation arrived at theProphet's Mosque in Madinalast Thursday.

The Pakistani pilgrims alsoused abusive language againstthe delegation members.Madina police claim to havearrested five Pakistanis involvedin the sloganeering.

Punjab police on Saturdaynight registered an FIR againstKhan, who is also the chairmanof the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) and 150 others, includingformer federal ministers FawadChaudhry and Sheikh Rasheed,former adviser to the primeminister Shahbaz Gul, formerdeputy speaker of the NationalAssembly Qasim Suri, andKhan's close aides in London,Anil Musarrat and SahibzadaJehangir, officials said.

The case has been regis-tered in a police station inFaisalabad, around 180 kmfrom Lahore, on the complaintof local resident Naeem Bhattion the charges of desecration ofthe Prophet's mosque in

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Rioters who smashed their way into the U.S.Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, succeeded — at least

temporarily — in delaying the certification ofJoe Biden's election to the White House.

Hours before, Rep. Jim Jordan had been try-ing to achieve the same thing. Texting withthen-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows,a close ally and friend, at nearly midnight onJan. 5, Jordan offered a legal rationale for whatPresident Donald Trump was publicly demand-ing — that Vice President Mike Pence, in hisceremonial role presiding over the electoralcount, somehow assert the authority to rejectelectors from Biden-won states. Pence “shouldcall out all electoral votes that he believes areunconstitutional as no electoral votes at all,”Jordan wrote. "I have pushed for this," Meadowsreplied. “Not sure it is going to happen.”

The text exchange, revealed in a court fil-ing from the congressional panel investigatingthe Jan. 6 riot, is in a batch of startling evidencethat shows the deep involvement of some HouseRepublicans in Trump's desperate attempt tostay in power. The evidence provides new detailsabout how, long before the attack on the Capitolunfolded, several GOP lawmakers were par-ticipating directly in Trump's campaign toreverse the results of a free and fair election.

It's a connection that members of the HouseJan. 6 committee are making explicit as they pre-pare to launch public hearings in June. TheRepublicans plotting with Trump and the riot-ers who attacked the Capitol were aligned intheir goals, if not the mob's violent tactics, cre-ating a convergence that nearly upended thenation's peaceful transfer of power.

“It appears that a significant number ofHouse members and a few senators had morethan just a passing role in what went on," Rep.Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairmanof the Jan. 6 committee, told The AssociatedPress last week. Since launching its investiga-tion last summer, the Jan. 6 panel has been slow-

ly gaining new details about what lawmakerssaid and did in the weeks before the insurrec-tion. Members have asked three GOP law-makers — Jordan of Ohio, Rep. Scott Perry ofPennsylvania and House Minority LeaderKevin McCarthy of California — to testify vol-untarily. All have refused. Other lawmakerscould be called in the coming days.

So far, the Jan. 6 committee has refrainedfrom issuing subpoenas to lawmakers, fearingthe repercussions of such an extraordinary step.But the lack of cooperation from lawmakers has-n't prevented the panel from obtaining newinformation about their actions.

The latest court document, submitted inresponse to a lawsuit from Meadows, containedexcerpts from just a handful of the more than930 interviews the Jan. 6 panel has conducted.It includes information on several high-levelmeetings nearly a dozen House Republicansattended where Trump's allies flirted with waysto give him another term.

Among the ideas: naming fake slates of elec-tors in seven swing states, declaring martial lawand seizing voting machines. The efforts start-ed in the weeks after The Associated Pressdeclared Biden president-elect.

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Sri Lanka's Opposition leaderSajith Premadasa on Sunday

said that the country is wit-nessing the most calamitousand disastrous Labour Daysince its independence and theworking people were observinga “Black May Day” this yeardue to the "reckless" policies ofthe "tyrannical regime" led byPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka is currently in thethroes of unprecedented eco-nomic turmoil since its inde-pendence from Britain in 1948.

The crisis is caused in partby a lack of foreign currency,which has meant that the coun-try cannot afford to pay forimports of staple foods andfuel, leading to acute shortagesand very high prices.

Premadasa, who is alsothe Samagi Jana Balawegaya(SJB) leader, said in a messageto mark the InternationalWorkers' Day that the present“reckless” government led byPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksahas pushed the island nation tothe brink of bankruptcy for thefirst time in its history, theColombo Page news portalreported.

“Due to the inability, fail-ure, illogical arbitrariness andarrogance of a tyrannicalregime, our country and futuregenerations have been plungedinto an unprecedented fate.

“In such a situation, work-ing people in our country haveto celebrate May Day this year

as a “Black May Day”, he wasquoted as saying by the onlinenews portal.

Premadasa said that thismay be the last May Day cele-brated in an anarchic countryand a victory for working peo-ple. Labour Day is a symbolicday that commemorates thehistory of the bitter struggle inwhich working people sacri-ficed their lives shedding bloodand sweat and carried on for along time up to victory, he said.

“But now the currentregime in our country isdepriving working people ofeven the rights they won in thepast. “We have never seen agovernment in history that hasshattered all hopes of people inthe country in such a shortperiod of time after assumingpower,” the Opposition Leadersaid, adding that the govern-ment has robbed all hopes ofworking people of the state andthe private sector.

Even people who are bare-ly making their ends meethave been thrown onto theroad, he claimed.

“The entire working class,including in health, farming,fisheries, estate, transportationsectors etc., are facing severehardships. And, it is not evenpossible to find a non-anarchic,unbroken field.

“Even those who are per-forming the most essential ser-vices, risking their lives tocarry out their mission, havefallen out of the attention of therulers,” Premadasa said.

Unscrupulous economicmanagement has led to theplundering of local resourcesand it is almost impossible tofind even a single field whichremains undisrupted, he said.

“Social problems have beenaggravated by the inability ofthis bankrupt government toprovide basic necessities suchas food, shelter, clothing, med-icine, education, employmentand so on.

“This anarchic regime,which has failed to create anenvironment in which the peo-ple can live without fear or sus-picion, has made its sole exis-tence dependent on state ter-rorism,” Premadasa added.

Meanwhile, former presi-dent and the Chairman of theSri Lanka Freedom Party(SLFP) Maithripala Sirisenasaid that the government has toaccept the people's demands,pointing out that PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa took overa prosperous country but nowover 200,000 to 300,000 peoplehave to face hunger and star-vation.

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Awoman was rescued onSunday from the rubble

of a building in central Chinamore than 50 hours after itcollapsed, leaving dozenstrapped or missing, statemedia said.

Separately, police arrest-ed nine people including thebuilding owner on suspicionof causing a major liabilityaccident, the official XinhuaNews Agency said.

State broadcaster CCTVshowed video of rescuersbringing the woman out ona stretcher about 4:30 p.M.Some could be heard shout-ing words of encouragementduring the operation. Shewas taken to a hospital and isin stable condition, CCTVsaid. She was the sixth person

rescued from the building,which collapsed on Friday after-noon in the inland city ofChangsha, the capital of Hunanprovince. About 20 othersremained trapped, and another39 had not been accounted foras of late Saturday.

Besides the owner, policesaid they had arrested threepeople in charge of design andconstruction and five others forwhat they said was a false safe-ty assessment for a guest houseon the building's fourth to sixthfloors.

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Citizens and trade unionsin cities around Europe

were taking to the streets onSunday for May Day march-es, and to put out protest mes-sages to their governments,notably in France where theholiday to honour workerswas being used as a rallyingcry against newly reelectedPresident EmmanuelMacron.

May Day is a time of highemotion for participants andtheir causes, with police onthe ready. Turkish policemoved in quickly in Istanbuland encircled protesters nearthe barred-off Taksim Square— where 34 people werekilled In 1977 during a May

Day event when shots werefired into the crowd from anearby building.

On Sunday, policedetained 164 people fordemonstrating without per-mits and resisting police at thesquare, the Istanbul gover-nor's office said. At a site onthe Asian side of Istanbul, aMay Day gathering drewthousands, singing, chantingand waving banners, ademonstration organised bythe Confederation ofProgressive Trade Unions ofTurkey.

In Italy, after a two-yearpandemic lull, an outdoormega-concert was set forRome with rallies andprotests in cities across thecountry. Besides work, peace

was an underlying themewith calls for an end toRussia's war in Ukraine.

Italy's three main labourunions were focusing theirmain rally in the hilltop townof Assisi, a frequent destina-tion for peace protests. Thisyear's slogan is “Working forpeace.”

“It's a May Day of socialand civil commitment forpeace and labour,” said thehead of Italy's CISL union,Daniela Fumarola.

Other protests wereplanned far and wide inEurope, including in Slovakiaand the Czech Republic,where students and othersplanned to rally in support ofUkraine as Communists,anarchists and anti-European

Union groups held their owngatherings.

In France, the May Dayrallies — a week after thepresidential election — areaimed at showing Macron theopposition he could face inhis second five-year termand to power up against hiscentrists before June legisla-tive elections. Oppositionparties, notably the far leftand far right, are looking tobreak his government'smajority. Protests wereplanned across France with afocus on Paris where theCommunist-backed CGTunion was leading the mainmarch through eastern Paris,joined by a handful of otherunions. All are pressingMacron for policies that put

the people first and con-demning his plan to raise theretirement age from 62 to 65.

In a first, far-right leaderMarine Le Pen was absentfrom her party's traditionalwreath-laying at the foot of astatue of Joan of Arc, replacedby the interim president ofher National Rally party. LePen was defeated by Macronin last Sunday's runoff of thepresidential election, andplans to campaign to keep herseat as a lawmaker.

“I've come to tell theFrench that the voting isn'tover. There is a third round,the legislative elections,” saidJordan Bardella, “and it wouldbe unbelievable to leave fullpower to EmmanuelMacron.”

���� /535�*5

Sri Lanka's beleagueredPresident GotabayaRajapaksa on Sundayurged all political parties

to set aside their differences andappealed to the protesting citi-zens to join hands to steer a "pro-people struggle", amidst grow-ing demands for his govern-ment's immediate resignationover its failure to tackle thecountry's worst economic crisis.

His message to the peopleon International Workers' Daycame a day after the powerfulBuddhist clergy in the islandnation warned that peoplewould be influenced to reject allpoliticians if Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya'selder brother, did not resign tomake way for an interim gov-ernment to resolve the politicaland economic crisis in the coun-try. "On this#InternationalWorkersDay, Ionce again invite all politicalparty leaders in #lka to come toa consensus on behalf of thepeople. It's my sincere wish tocall on the people to join handsto steer a pro-people strugglesetting aside political differ-ences," Gotabaya tweeted.

Sri Lanka is currently in thethroes of unprecedented eco-nomic turmoil since its inde-pendence from Britain in 1948.The crisis is caused in part by alack of foreign currency, whichhas meant that the country can-not afford to pay for imports ofstaple foods and fuel, leading toacute shortages and very highprices. On Thursday, nearly1,000 trade unions staged a

one-day nationwide strike,demanding the immediate res-ignation of the government,including President Gotabayaand Prime Minister Mahinda.

The unions from a numberof sectors, including the state ser-vice, health, ports, electricity,education and postal joined thestrike under the theme ‘Bow tothe people - government gohome', urging the President,the Prime Minister and thegovernment to ‘go home'.

In his May Day message,Gotabaya said instead of fol-lowing up on who is responsi-ble for the current problematicsituation, what is needed is tofocus on what action can betaken to provide immediaterelief to the public, online por-tal newsfirst.Lk reported.

Pointing out that in thepast three years, the group thatfaced the most serious chal-lenges in the country are the

working class, the presidentsaid they are also the ones whowere resilient in the face of allthese challenges and made greatcommitments to strengthen thenational economy.

"As the day-to-day chal-lenges they face are even moreintense today, the government istaking various approaches to lib-erate the people from this situ-ation and alleviate the oppressivenature of the situation," he said.

Thousands of demonstra-tors have hit the streets across SriLanka since April 9, as the gov-ernment ran out of money forvital imports; prices of essentialcommodities have skyrocketedand there are acute shortages infuel, medicines and electricitysupply.

Gotabaya emphasised thatthe loss of foreign exchange hascreated many issues, and man-aging all these factors is the wayto solve the current problems.

"Bearing the responsibilityof creating a better future for thepeople of this country, as theHead of State and on behalf ofthe people I invited the leadersof all political parties to worktogether," the Daily Mirroronline newspaper quoted thepresident as saying. Each second,our goal is to find solutions toexisting crises by resorting tomethods that can alleviate thesuffering of the people, he said.

"On this year's Workers'Day, I once again invite the lead-ers of all political parties to cometo a consensus on behalf of thepeople to overcome the chal-lenge we face. I respectfully callon the working people to putpolitics aside and join to steer thestruggle in a positive directionwith a pro-people revolutionarytransformation on behalf of theworking people. "It is with theseaspirations that I join with youin celebrating the International

Workers' Day that embodiesthe Workers' Brotherhood, theglobal labour force," the reportquoted the president as saying inhis message.

A senior leader from SriLanka's Opposition partySamagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB),Lakshman Kiriella, on Saturdaysaid his party will prove theirmajority in Parliament this weekfor the no-confidence motionagainst the government led bythe Rajapaksa family.

President Gotabaya hasasked the Opposition to showtheir majority by garnering thesupport of 113 lawmakers in the225-member Parliament to formthe interim government.

“Everyone will be able to seethat we command a majoritynext week and I will not revealhow we are going to do it as ofnow,” the Daily Mirror newspa-per had quoted SJB MP andChief Opposition Whip Kiriellaas saying. Sri Lanka needs at leastUSD 4 billion to tide over itsmounting economic woes, andtalks with international institu-tions such as the World Bank aswell as countries like Chinaand Japan for financial assistancehave been going on.

Sri Lankan officials were inWashington last week to nego-tiate with the InternationalMonetary Fund for a bailout.

India has agreed to extendan additional USD 500 millioncredit line to help Sri Lankaimport fuel.

India has already agreed todefer USD 1.5 billion in importpayments that Sri Lanka needsto make to the Asian ClearingUnion.

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Madina, hooliganism and hurt-ing the sentiments of Muslims,they said.

The FIR has been registeredunder different sections, includ-ing 295 A (deliberate and mali-cious acts intended to outragereligious feelings of any class byinsulting its religion or religiousbeliefs) of the Pakistan PenalCode.

According to the FIR, over100 supporters of Khan weresent to Saudi Arabia fromPakistan and the UK to carryout the mission of targetingSharif and his delegation atMasjid-e-Nabwi in Madina.Khan and other nominatedleaders of the PTI had givendirections to party workers inthis regard, it said.

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New Delhi: India's petrol anddiesel sales growth moderatedin April while cooking gasLPG consumption fell as recordhigh prices dented demand,preliminary industry datashowed on Sunday.

Petrol sales growth mod-erated to 2.1 per cent in Aprilwhen compared with the sameperiod in the preceding month,while diesel demand wasalmost flat. Cooking gas LPG,which had consistently showngrowth even during the pan-demic period, saw a massive 9.1per cent month-on-monthdrop in consumption duringApril. State-owned oil firmshad on March 22 ended a 137-day hiatus in rate revision andbegan passing a USD 30 perbarrel increase in cost of rawmaterial (crude oil) duringthat period when five statesincluding Uttar Pradesh wentto polls.

Petrol and diesel prices

rose by Rs 10 per litre betweenMarch 22 and April 6 -- thehighest-ever increase during a16-day period since fuel priceswere deregulated two decadesback.On March 22, cooking gasprices too were hiked by Rs 50per cylinder to Rs 949.50 -- thehighest-ever rate for the sub-sidised fuel.The price increas-es moderated the consumption.

Petrol sales by state-ownedfuel retailers, which controlroughly 90 per cent of the mar-ket, at 2.58 million tonnes dur-ing April were nearly 20.4 percent higher than the sameperiod last year. PTI

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Bengaluru: The Governmentwill review norms of thedesign-linked incentive (DLI)program which envisages tosupport 100 companiesinvolved in product design inthe semiconductor space aspart of a Rs 76,000 crorescheme for developing the elec-tronic chip ecosystem in thecountry, Minister of State forElectronics and IT RajeevChandrasekhar said on Sunday.He also said the scheme willcontinue to be in place to sup-port all product design projectsand start-ups, among others.

"Whether the DLI normsneed to be modified... We havegot some feedback from thisconference that maybe the DLIhas been designed to be verynarrow. Maybe there is a cap onfunding that is too restrictive.We will examine all that,"Chandrasekhar told reporters.

He was addressing themedia at the Semicon India2022 conference after sevenmemorandums of under-standing (MoUs) were signedbetween government organi-sations and technology com-panies.

"I want to say this veryclearly that the USD 10 millionpackage of the Rs 76,000 crorepackage is for the ecosystem anddesign and innovation is a veryimportant part of the ecosystem.Talent is a very important partof the ecosystem. There is aneed to sort of redesign some ofthose pieces, we will do it,"Chandrasekhar said.

The scheme provides forreimbursement of up to Rs 30lakh per application for MPW(multi-project wafer) fabrica-tion of design and post-siliconvalidation activities; reim-bursement of up to 50 per centof the eligible expenditure sub-ject to a ceiling of Rs 15 croreper application for designingsemiconductor goods; andreimbursement of 6 to 4 percent of net sales of designedsemiconductor goods over 5years subject to a ceiling of Rs30 crore. At the event, theMinistry of Electronics andIT announced the onboardingof Prof Rao Tummala fromGeorgia Tech University, US,on the Advisory Committee ofIndia Semiconductor Mission.

MoUs were signed

between Cyient, WiSigNetworks and IIT Hyderabadto enable mass production of"5G Narrowband-IoT- theKoala Chip, Architected andDesigned in India".

Signalchip Innovations,Ministry of Electronics andIT (MeitY) and the Centre forDevelopment of AdvancedComputing (C-DAC) signed anagreement for not only designand manufacture but alsodeployment and maintenanceof 10 lakh Integrated NavIC(Navigation with IndianConstellation) and GPSReceivers.

State-run CDACannounced partnership withSynopsys, Cadence DesignSystems, Siemens EDA andSilvaco for making availabletheir Electronic DesignAutomation (EDA) tools anddesign solutions for Chips toStartup (C2S) Programmebeing implemented by CDAC.

Chips to Startup (C2S)Programme of MeitY aims tocreate 85,000 specialised engi-neers at B Tech, M Tech and PhDlevels for expanding Indian semi-conductor talent. PTI

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New Delhi: A committee appointed by regulator IRDAI has sug-gested over a dozen low-cost "micro insurance" modules with aview to expand protection plans for uncovered population andsmall businesses.

The committee has suggested that the insurers should beallowed to adopt a modular approach using various permuta-tions and combinations for Combi MI (Micro Insurance) prod-ucts. 'MI' aims to protect low-income people with insurance prod-ucts that are affordable. The objective of MI is to empower peo-ple to cope with and recover from common risks such as deathof the breadwinner, paying for treatment of serious illnesses,reconstructing destroyed homes and businesses, among others.

A one-stop solution to meet the insurance protection needsof these targeted groups will go a long way in achieving the objec-tive of increasing insurance penetration in these strata of soci-ety, the panel said in its report.

"There is a case to have a Combi MI product which can bedeveloped on a modular basis, giving flexibility to the insurerto offer coverage to different groups and individuals as per theirspecific protection needs," the report said.

The panel has recommended 14 standard modules and sug-gested that such products may be sold by insurers either on indi-vidual basis or group basis.

Insurers, it said, may follow a modular approach using var-ious permutations and combinations, leaving the choice to theproposer.Certain standard products prescribed by the InsuranceRegulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) canbe offered as modules. PTI

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New Delhi: Indian FMCG play-ers, particularly food and snacksmanufacturers, have said theyare concerned about Indonesia'smove to ban exports of crudepalm oil, though some of themexpect the decision is likely tohave only transitory impacts ona short-term basis.

Several industry leadershint that they will reduce theirreliance on palm oil in phasesand shift to alternatives such asrice bran oil and cottonseed oilfor food products.

Last week Indonesia, theworld's largest palm oil producer,banned shipments of crudepalm oil (CPO), adding to theprevious sanctions on refined oil,to soften the prices in its domes-tic market.

However, the Indian indus-try and experts expect theimpact of this will be transitoryin nature as Indonesia con-sumes only around one-third ofits palm oil output.

India Ratings and Research(Ind-Ra) "believes that the banis unlikely to sustain for a longduration, given that Indonesiaconsumes less than 40 per centof its total palm oil production,resulting in the impact beingtransitory".

India is the world's largestimporter and second-largestconsumer of palm oil, whichaccounts for around 30 per centof the country's edible oil con-sumption, said Ind-Ra.

Expressing similar viewsMayank Shah, senior categoryhead at Parle Product, said palmoil is perishable and eventuallythey (Indonesian exporters)would have to open up. Theirproduction is much higher thanthe local requirement.

"Hopefully, there could besome reversal in this in the next10 days as it is not possible forthem to continue with the banfor a longer time," Shah told PTI.

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New Delhi: Amid multiplecases of electric two-wheelerscatching fire, Road Transportand Highways SecretaryGiridhar Aramane on Sundaysaid each and every incidentwill be probed and asserted thatthe Indian EV industry isbound to prosper and growbeyond 'our imagination'.

Aramane further said theMinistry of Road, Transportand Highways (MoRTH) hasachieved an overall asset mon-etisation value of about Rs21,000 crore in FY22 as part ofthe Centre's NationalMonetisation Pipeline.

"Each and every incident(of electric vehicles catchingfire) will be probed into," hetold PTI in an interview.

Recently, there have beenmultiple incidents of electricvehicles (EVs) catching fireand resulting in deaths andsevere injuries to people.

Asked if the spate of highprofile battery fires is under-mining India's bid to become

a leader in EVs, Aramane saidnot necessarily, if the manu-facturers quickly establish nec-essary functional safety proto-cols, quality control and qual-ity assurance systems.

"The Indian EV industry isbound to prosper and growbeyond our imagination," heasserted.

Aramane said an expert

panel that has been formed toenquire into the matter has notsubmitted its report.

"All the problems and theprocurement, design, manage-ment, operations, manufactur-ing of the batteries and electricvehicles have to be examined,"he said, adding following thatappropriate recommendationswill be given. PTI

Mumbai: The primary objec-tive of the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC)process is resolution of a dis-tressed firm, but the recoverypercentage also needs to bekept in mind, SBI ManagingDirector J Swaminathan saidon Sunday.

Financial and operationalcreditors owe money to com-panies facing insolvency pro-ceedings and so recovery has tobe an important factor whileachieving resolution of stressedassets, he noted.

"All of us clearly under-stand, as the lenders' forum,that resolution is the primaryobjective of legislation likeIBC. So, I don't think that thereis any moving away from thatparticular point.

"We will stay the course onthose lines, despite the criticismthat either we are being pushedmore towards recovery, or weare just being mindful of a res-

olution, disregarding the recov-ery percentage," Swaminathansaid at an event organised byIndian Institute ofManagement, Ahmedabad.

He, however, added thatwhile attempting a resolution,"we cannot lose sight of recov-ery".Swaminathan said if thenarrative starts buildingtowards haircuts, then it islikely that the lenders may nottake any decision, which willlead to paralysis, and then thestressed units will go into liq-uidation. "In such a case, theentire objective of legislationlike IBC towards resolving cor-porate stress in an orderlymanner will be defeated," hepointed out. Haircut taken bylenders as part of resolutionplans approved under IBCrefers to the shortfall in recov-ery to creditors as compared totheir claims submitted in theinsolvency process of a stressedborrower. PTI

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New Delhi: Five of the top-10 most valued firms together addedRs 67,843.33 crore in market valuation last week, with HindustanUnilever Limited and Reliance Industries emerging as the biggestgainers.While Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, HindustanUnilever, Bharti Airtel and HDFC emerged as the gainers fromthe top-10 pack, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, ICICI Bank,Adani Green Energy and State Bank of India were the laggards.

The market valuation of Hindustan Unilever jumped by Rs25,234.61 crore to Rs 5,25,627.06 crore, the most among the top-10 firms.The market capitalisation (mcap) of Reliance Industriesadvanced by Rs 21,892.61 crore to reach Rs 18,87,964.18 crore.

HDFC Bank's valuation climbed Rs 16,251.27 crore to Rs7,68,052.87 crore and that of HDFC rallied Rs 3,943.09 crore toRs 4,03,969.09 crore.

Bharti Airtel added Rs 521.75 crore, taking its valuation toRs 4,06,245.26 crore.In contrast, the market valuation of TataConsultancy Services tumbled Rs 22,594.64 crore to Rs12,98,999.83 crore. The market capitalisation of Infosys tankedRs 7,474.58 crore to Rs 6,59,587.97 crore. The valuation of StateBank of India declined by Rs 3,480.6 crore to Rs 4,43,106.96 croreand that of ICICI Bank dipped Rs 2,600.14 crore to Rs5,16,762.48 crore. PTI

New Delhi: Continuing itsselling spree for the seventhconsecutive month, foreigninvestors have pulled out Rs17,144 crore from the Indianequity market in April amidfears of an aggressive rate hikeby the US Fed that hauntedsuch investors and dented sen-timents.

Further, foreign flows arelikely to remain volatile in thenear term amid the highprospect of aggressive ratehikes globally and the head-winds in terms of higher crudeprices, and rising Inflation,experts said.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) remained net sellers forseven months to March 2022,withdrawing a massive net

amount of Rs 1.65 lakh crorefrom equities.

These were largely on theback of anticipation of a ratehike by the US Federal Reserveand due to the deterioratinggeopolitical environment fol-lowing Russia's invasion ofUkraine.

After six months of sellingspree, FPIs turned into netinvestors in the first week ofApril due to correction in themarkets and invested Rs 7,707crore in equities.

After a short breather, onceagain they turned net sellersduring the holiday-shortenedApril 11-13 week, and the sell-off continued in the succeedingweeks too. PTI

New Delhi: The country'slargest carmaker Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) on Sunday report-ed a 6 per cent decline in totalwholesales to 1,50,661 units inApril.

The company had dis-patched 1,59,691 units to deal-ers in April 2021, MSI said ina statement.

Last month, the company'sdomestic sales slipped 7 percent to 1,32,248 units as against1,42,454 units in April 2021, itadded.

Sales of mini cars, com-prising Alto and S-Presso, fell32 per cent to 17,137 unitscompared to 25,041 in thesame month last year.

Similarly, sales in the com-pact segment, including mod-els such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis,Baleno and Dzire, slumped 18per cent to 59,184 units against72,318 in April 2021. PTI

New Delhi: Tata Motors onSunday said its total salesincreased by 74 per cent inApril to 72,468 units com-pared to 41,729 in April 2021.

The company's domesticsales increased by 81 per centto 71,467 units from 39,401units in April 2021, TataMotors said in a statement.

Total passenger vehicle dis-patches to dealers rose by 66per cent to 41,587 units asagainst 25,095 units in April2021.Similarly, domestic com-mercial vehicle sales surgedover two-fold to 29,880 lastmonth against 14,306 units inthe same month last year. PTI

Tinsukia: Indian Oil Corp(IOC) rolled out M15 petrol -- 15 per cent blend of methanolwith petrol -- on a pilot basisin Assam's Tinsukia district.

Union Minister of State forPetroleum and Natural GasRameswar Teli launched theM15 petrol in the presence ofNiti Aayog member VKSaraswat and IOC chairmanSM Vaidya on Saturday.

Teli said that blending fuelwith methanol will providerespite from the rising prices.

"Pilot rollout of M15 is astepping stone towards achiev-ing fuel independence andreducing the import burden,"he said.Steps are being taken byIOC to make India self-suffi-cient in energy, he added. Thepilot rollout was done inTinsukia by the company dueto the ready availability ofmethanol. PTI

Cairo: Egypt's Suez Canal saidSunday its monthly revenueshit an all-time record, raking inUSD 629 million in April.

The unprecedentedincome came as the Suez Canalin March increased transit feesfor ships passing through thewaterway.

Adm. Ossama Rabei, headof the Suez Canal Authority,said in a statement that 1,929vessels sailed through the SuezCanal last month, compared to1,814 in April 2021.

He said the revenues roseby 13.9 per cent compared toApril last year when the crucialwaterway received USD 553.6million.About 10 per cent ofglobal trade, including 7 percent of the world's oil, flowsthrough the Suez Canal, whichconnects the Mediterraneanand Red seas.The canal, whichfirst opened in 1869, is a majorsource of foreign currency toEgypt. PTI

New Delhi: The free tradeagreement between India andthe UAE has come into effecton Sunday, under whichdomestic exporters in varioussectors like textiles, agriculture,dry fruits, gems and jewellerywill get duty-free access to theUAE market.

In a symbolic gesture foroperationalising the agreement,Commerce Secretary BVRSubrahmanyam handed overCertificates of Origin to threeexporters from the gems andjewellery sector here.

These consignments toDubai will not attract any cus-toms duty under the pact,which is officially termed asComprehensive EconomicPartnership Agreement(CEPA).

The Central Board ofIndirect Taxes and Customs

(CBIC) and the DirectorateGeneral of Foreign Trade(DGFT) has issued relevantnotifications for the opera-tionalisation of the agreementfrom May 1.

"Today, CEPA betweenIndia and the UAE is cominginto force. Today, we are send-ing the first consignment fromIndia to UAE, which will ben-efit from this agreement,"Subrahmanyam said here.

The UAE is the second orthird largest trading partner ofIndia and that country is a gate-way to the middle east, NorthAfrica, Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, he noted.

The trade pact will help intaking the two-way trade toUSD 100 billion in five yearsfrom the existing USD 60 bil-lion. "USD 100 billion is just astarter…As we go along, it will

become USD 200 billion andthen USD 500 billion in theyears to come," the secretarysaid, adding 99 per cent of "ourexports will go to zero duty inUAE". The gems and jewellerysector contributes a substantialportion of India's exports to theUAE and is expected to bene-fit significantly from the tariffconcessions obtained forIndian products under thispact.Overall, India will benefitfrom preferential market accessprovided by the UAE on over97 per cent of its tariff lines (orgoods), which account for 99per cent of Indian exports tothe UAE in value terms -- par-ticularly from labour-inten-sive sectors such as textiles,leather, footwear, sports goods,plastics, furniture, and engi-neering products.

Underscoring the need for

Indian products to be compet-itive in the international mar-ket, the secretary said thatthere was a need to build andaugment domestic capacities.

He also informed thatIndia is negotiating trade agree-ments at a very fast pace withcomplementary economies,including the UK, Canada andthe EU.

Exports of goods and ser-vices account for about 22-23per cent of India's GDP,Subrahmanyam noted.

"Our vision is that we shouldtake India to a point where 25-30 per cent of our GDP is (from)exports," he added. He assertedthat the Department ofCommerce has also beenstrengthening itself to be future-ready and meet the challenges oftomorrow with a focus on tradepromotion. PTI

New Delhi: Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Sunday reporteda 13 per cent decline in domestic sales to 7,874 units for April.The company had sold 9,072 units in the domestic market dur-ing April 2021, HCIL said in a statement.

Exports last month stood at 2,042 units against 970 units inApril 2021."The customer sentiment continues to show improve-ment and positivity, which is reflected in strong demand.However, the supply chain issues remain a challenge for the indus-try, which is impacting the ability to meet the growing demand,"HCIL Director (Marketing and Sales) Yuichi Murata said.

The automaker is hopeful that the situation improves soon-er than later so that the demand-supply equation can be morebalanced, he added. "On our new City e:HEV, we have receivedan overwhelming response from the market, reaffirming the pref-erence for a strong electric hybrid model in the mainstream seg-ment. We will be launching this segment-defining product onMay 4, 2022," Murata noted. PTI

New Delhi: Fundraisingthrough emerging investmentinstruments — REITs andInvITs — plunged 59 per centto Rs 22,145 crore in 2021-22primarily on account of uncer-tainty around the world andvolatility in the stock market.

In comparison, Rs 54,731crore was raised in 2020-21.Prior to that, Rs 11,496 crorewas mobilised through theseavenues in 2019-20, data withthe Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) showed.

The funds were raisedthrough initial offer, preferen-tial issue, institutional place-ment and rights issue. Thetotal fundraising also includedmoney collected by unlistedInvITs, Sebi noted.

REITs and InvITs are rel-atively new investment instru-ments in the Indian context butextremely popular in globalmarkets. PTI

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New Delhi: State-owned insur-ance behemoth LIC has saidthat it will retain part of itsstake in IDBI Bank to reap thebenefits of the bancassurancechannel.

Along with the govern-ment, Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) will alsodivest its stake in IDBI Bank,but may not exit completely,LIC Chairman MR Kumar toldPTI in an interview.

LIC is currently doingroadshows for its maiden pub-lic issue, which opens for sub-scription on May 4.

The government for thepast few years has been plan-ning to sell its 45 per centminority stake in IDBI Bank tostrategic investors as part of itsprivatisation drive.

Last week, the Departmentof Investment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM)Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandeyhad said the IDBI Bank pri-vatisation process was under-way and that the quantum ofthe stake sale would be deter-mined after the completion ofthe roadshow.

IDBI Bank became a sub-

sidiary of LIC with effect fromJanuary 21, 2019, followingthe acquisition of an addition-al 82,75,90,885 equity shares.

On December 19, 2020,IDBI Bank was reclassified asan associate company due tothe reduction of LIC share-holding to 49.24 per cent fol-lowing the issuance of addi-tional equity shares by thebank under a QualifiedInstitutional Placement (QIP).

"Strictly speaking, we arebelow the threshold limit ofmanagement control but then,what government really meansis that management control isto be given in such a way thata private entity picks up andruns the bank, and governmentin the process gets value out ofthat," Kumar said.

He further said that "sinceLIC is also in the picture, mystand has always been veryclear that we will also divestalong with the government, butit may be 49 per cent.

So, it will depend on howthis whole transaction plays outand what kind of investorsexpress interest". He furthersaid LIC does not want to

"hold a big stake" but someholding as it has been a win-win for both entities.

IDBI Bank has been thestrongest contributor to thebancassurance channel, he said,adding for the bancassurancearrangement to continue LICmay not require to hold theentire stake.

Bancassurance is anarrangement between a bankand an insurance company,allowing the latter to sell itsproducts to the bank's cus-tomers and others through thebranch network.

In the last three years, thebank has gained a lot in termsof savings accounts, cash man-agement, and premium collec-tion, he said.

"Once you've seen the resultof fee-based income coming outof this (arrangement), once theboard has recognised that thisfee-based income is going togrow, the bank would also liketo have continuity in the rela-tionship," the chairman noted.LIC had bought a 51 per centstake in IDBI Bank in 2019 forRs 21,624 crore at an averageprice of Rs 61 per share. PTI

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Record seven-time winners Lyon saw offFrench rivals Paris Saint-Germain on

Saturday to join holders Barcelona in the finalof this season's Women's Champions League.

The showpiece in the Italian city of Turinon May 21 will bring together the leading sidein European women's football over the lastdecade and the team who ended their hegemo-ny last year and are now seeking to retain theirtitle.

Ada Hegerberg and captain Wendie Renardscored Lyon's goals either side of a Marie-Antoinette Katoto strike as they beat PSG 2-1to win their semi-final tie 5-3 on aggregate.

The match at the Parc des Princes waswatched by a new record crowd for a women'sclub game in France of 43,254, a week after aworld record 91,648 saw Barcelona win the firstleg of their tie at home to Wolfsburg.

Earlier Barcelona's run of 45 consecutivewins was ended as they went down 2-0 toWolfsburg in Germany, but the Spanish cham-pions advanced 5-3 on aggregate to their thirdfinal in four seasons.

Barcelona won their first title last year whenthey crushed Chelsea 4-0 in the final inGothenburg. That ended Lyon's run of five con-secutive Champions League crowns and theFrench club also saw their grip on their domes-tic title ended last season by PSG.

Yet they are on the brink of reclaiming thatcrown and they are determined to wrestle backthe Champions League too after following uptheir 3-2 first-leg win to see off a battling PSGside. "We started this season with the aim ofreclaiming the trophy," said Lyon's SelmaBacha, who was full of praise for Barcelona.

"They are helping European football evolve.They play in a similar way to the men's teamand are an example to the rest of women's foot-ball."

Lyon silenced the home crowd in Paris bytaking a 14th-minute lead thanks to 2018 Ballond'Or winner Hegerberg, the Norwegian risingabove Ashley Lawrence to head in Bacha's crossfrom the left wing.

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Unseeded Wang Zhiyi with-stood a late fightback from

world champion AkaneYamaguchi to record a stun-ning victory in the women'ssingles final of the BadmintonAsia Championships onSunday.

The Chinese world num-ber 16 needed treatment on aback injury before hanging onto beat the Japanese top seedand defending championYamaguchi 15-21, 21-13, 21-19in just under an hour and a halfof pulsating action that had araucous crowd rocking inManila.

As in her semi-final winSaturday over second seed AnSe-young of South Korea, the22-year-old Chinese had torecover from the loss of theopening game.

After levelling the match,Wang looked to be heading fora comfortable victory as sheraced into a 16-5 lead in the

decider before nerves and herniggling back kicked in to giveYamaguchi a lifeline.

The Japanese player used

all her experience to claw herway back as Wang began tomake unforced errors andYamaguchi levelled at 19-19after a lung-bursting 30-shotrally.

But Wang, who momentsearlier had needed attentionfrom the trainer at the side ofthe court, summoned upreserves of energy and forcedYamaguchi to go long to set upa first championship point.

Another marathon rallyfollowed, but when Yamaguchinetted the rising star ofChinese badminton collapsedon to her back in exhaustionand elation as she becameAsian champion for the firsttime.

Later Sunday the men'ssingles final will see fourthseed Jonatan Christie ofIndonesia face Lee Zii Jia ofMalaysia, the third seed.

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Atletico Madrid's top-four hopes suf-fered another blow as they crashed

to a disappointing 2-0 defeat at the handsof Athletic Bilbao.

Athletic Club deservedly took thelead after just eight minutes even if theopener came in fortuitous circum-stances, with Inaki Williams' shot takinga wicked deflection off Mario Hermosoto leave Jan Oblak with no chance.

The visitors looked disjointed in theearly stages and almost fell furtherbehind, with Inaki Williams agonising-ly close to getting on the scoresheet whenhis wicked cross cannoned off the post.

Diego Simeone changed the systemin response to his side's desperately poorstart, moving to a back four, as Atletigrew into the contest. AntoineGriezmann registered their first shot ontarget in the 43rd minute - a tame head-

er - and Yannick Carrasco went close fol-lowing a lung-busting run.

After the restart, Griezmann's searchfor a first league goal since Novemberwas almost ended with a terrific free-kickthat rattled the crossbar.

But Atleti soon had a mountain toclimb when Renan Lodi's lax pass wasintercepted by Iker Muniain, who drewthe foul from Hector Herrera and InakiWilliams coolly dispatched a Panenkapenalty past Oblak.

Desperately chasing the game, Atletithrew players forward in search of anunlikely comeback, but it was the homeside that looked most likely to grabbingthe third goal on the counter-attack.

The result leaves Atletico Madridfour points above fifth-placed Real Betishaving played a game more, whileeighth-placed Bilbao moved to within apoint of a Europa Conference Leaguespot.

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Everton kept alive their hopesof Premier League survival by

beating Chelsea 1-0 on Sunday asTottenham leapfrogged Londonrivals Arsenal into the top fourwith a thumping win againstLeicester.

The result at a raucousGoodison Park means FrankLampard's side are just two pointsfrom safety with five games to play-- and will leave Leeds andBurnley sweating.

After a goalless first half inwhich Everton had the better ofthe play, the hosts made the cru-cial breakthrough just after therestart.

Cesar Azpilicueta was pres-sured into losing possession andBrazilian forward Richarlisonswept a shot past goalkeeperEdouard Mendy in the 47thminute.

Just before the hour markEverton had a huge let-off whena shot from England midfielderMason Mount hit both postsbefore Jordan Pickford produceda fine save from Azpilicueta.

Pickford produced a fine saveto deny Ruben Loftus-Cheekfrom range before Demarai Graysquandered a chance to increaseEverton's lead.

The home crowd faced theagony of seven minutes of addedtime but Everton held out,prompting a huge roar of relief atthe final whistle.

Former Chelsea bossLampard, who took over from theunpopular Rafael Benitez at theend of January, has struggled torevive the fortunes of theMerseyside giants.

Everton would arguably bethe biggest club ever to drop outof the Premier League -- onlyManchester United, Liverpooland Arsenal have won moreEnglish top-flight titles -- and theyhave not played in the second tiersince the 1953/54 season.

Son Heung-min scored twiceas Tottenham eased past a weak-ened Leicester side 3-1 to climbto fourth, one point clear ofArsenal, who travel to face WestHam later on Sunday.

Antonio Conte's side haverecently lost momentum in therace to qualify for Europe's topclub competition, taking just one

point from their previous twomatches with no shots on target.

Brendan Rodgers made eightchanges from the side that drew

1-1 with Roma in the first leg oftheir Europa Conference Leaguesemi-final last week, with onlyKasper Schmeichel, Marc

Albrighton and TimothyCastagne keeping their places.

Harry Kane powered home aheader from Son's corner midway

through the first half and Sondoubled the lead on the hourmark after a pass from substituteDejan Kulusevski.

Son scored a third in the 79thminute to kill the game, curlingan unstoppable effort into the topcorner before a late consolationfor Kelechi Iheanacho.

Arsenal face the Hammers atthe London Stadium after morale-boosting wins against Chelsea andManchester United, knowing theyhave fourth place in their ownhands.

Victory for the Gunnerswould take them back aboveSpurs and just three points behind2021 European championsChelsea, who have one eye on theFA Cup final against Liverpool.

But Mikel Arteta's side stillhave to face Spurs on May 12 ina potential winner-takes-all gamein the effort to reach the top four.

Manchester City still leadLiverpool by a single point at thetop of the table after both sideswon on Saturday.

Norwich were relegated on aday of drama at the bottom endand Watford look certain to jointhem after Burnley grabbed twolate goals to win at VicarageRoad.

Burnley and Leeds are bothon 34 points -- two ahead of 18th-placed Everton, who have a gamein hand over both of their relega-tion rivals.

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Rangers manager Giovanni VanBronckhorst conceded his side's

chance of retaining the ScottishPremiership looks over despite battlingback to draw 1-1 at Celtic on Sunday.

A share of the points leaves Ceticstill six points clear at the top of thetable and with a 19-goal advantage ongoal difference with just three games toplay.

Victory would have virtually guar-anteed Celtic the title and they went infront when Jota prodded in after 21minutes.

Fashion Sakala levelled midwaythrough the second-half and the

Zambian should have given Rangers lifein the title race when he hit the post fourminutes from time.

"Only a win today would give us achance," said Van Bronkchorst.

"It's still six points, with the goal dif-ference in favour of Celtic, so it will bemore difficult after today."

However, the former Netherlandscaptain was heartened by Rangers sec-ond-half performance ahead of a sea-son-defining Europa League semi-finalsecond leg at home to RB Leipzig onThursday.

The Glasgow giants trai l theGermans 1-0 after the first leg.

"The second half you saw, after 60or 65 mins, we were getting stronger and

stronger."We created great chances, hit the

post, you can't ask for more. The onlything is we didn't score the big chanceswe had."

Van Bronckhorst did not leave muchin reserve looking ahead to Thursday ashe aimed to apply some pressure toCeltic heading into the final threegames of the season.

However, only a collapse will nowdeny the Hoops a 10th league title in 11years with just one more win almost cer-tain to be enough.

"We knew they'd throw everythingat us and we didn't get beaten which isthe most important thing," said Celticboss Ange Postecoglou.

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Rafael Nadal deemedWimbledon's deci-

sion to ban Russian andBelarusian players fromtaking part in theChampionships as"unfair", the Spanishtennis legend toldreporters in Madrid onSunday.

The 21-time majorwinner believes the AllEngland Club chose "themost drastic option",and hopes the tours canfind a way to interferewith the ban.

Wimbledon hasbeen heavily criticisedby both the ATP andWTA as well as playerslike Nadal's great rivalNovak Djokovic forimplementing the ban

due to Russia's invasionof Ukraine.

Belarus is deemedan ally of Russia's andpermitted Russiantroops to invade

Ukraine from acrosstheir border.

The ban rules out aswathe of talented play-ers including men'sworld number two

Daniil Medvedev andlast year's Wimbledonsemi-finalist ArynaSabalenka of Belarus.

"It's unfair for myRussian colleagues," saidNadal.

"In that sense it'snot their fault what'shappening in thismoment with the war.

"I'm sorry for them.I wish it was not thisway, but at the end of theday we know that this iswhat we have."

Nadal, who isreturning to competitiveplay after a six weekhiatus due to a rib injury,said it may fall upon himand his fellow players totake a stand.

"As a fellow player,what can I say? I feelsorry for them," said

the 35-year-old two-time Wimbledon cham-pion.

"I wish this was notthe case.

"Let's see what hap-pens in the comingweeks and let's see if weas players need to take astand.

"There is somethingwrong."

Nadal criticisedWimbledon for goingbeyond their remit.

"When a govern-ment orders something,you need to follow therules," he said.

"In this case, thegovernment issued arecommendation andWimbledon decided toimpose the most drasticoption without beingforced to do so."

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AC Milan left it late to securea crucial victory over

Fiorentina on Sunday as RafaelLeao's strike took their lead at thetop of Serie A to five points.

The hosts had squandered ahost of opportunities but werethen gifted the opener in the 82ndminute when La Viola goalkeep-er Pietro Terracciano played theball straight to Leao, who kept hiscomposure to run in and finish.

Fiorentina flew out of thetraps early on as Arthur Cabral'soverhead kick was blocked by thehome defence inside the firstminute.

Milan then had the ball in theback of the net through TheoHernandez's lovely finish, but

Junior Messias was offside in thebuild-up. Cristiano Biraghi's cor-ner then found Igor who lashedan effort millimetres wide beforeHernandez wasted a decentchance, striking the side-nettingfrom a tight angle. Striker OlivierGiroud was the next to spurn anopening in an end-to-end first 20minutes, clipping an attemptedeffort wide when through ongoal. Such an open game wouldnot have been Stefano Pioli'schoice pre-game. Milan's Serie Atitle charge looks set to go to thewire, with both Inter and Napolibreathing down their neck.

Chances continued to be

wasted at the start of the secondhalf as Rafael Leao smashed oneover the bar following nice workfrom Brahim Diaz and Giroud.

Substitutes Rade Krunic andAnte Rebic livened Milan up atad, with veteran striker ZlatanIbrahimovic introduced with 25minutes to go as Pioli's sidelooked to break the deadlock.

A break down the left sawHernandez find Rebic on thepenalty spot, but the Croatian'sscuffed shot was cleared off theline. At the other end, MikeMaignan was needed to clawaway and then catch an ArthurCabral header.

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Aphenomenal talent likeKuldeep Yadav

required a "positive envi-ronment" filled with a lot of"love and attention" to blos-som and he got that atDelhi Capitals, head coachRicky Ponting said.

The left-arm wristspinner, who is currentlysecond in the list of wick-et-takers with 17 scalps,had a rough three yearsprior to this IPL editionafter being confined tobench by the erstwhile

national team managementand also not getting enoughsupport from his previousIPL team Kolkata KnightRiders.

Add to that a majorknee surgery that ruled himout of last IPL.

"We are really pleasedfor him, he was one of ourmain targets in the auction.We are giving him a lot oflove and attention.

He's a terrific youngguy and this talented left-arm leg-spinner really seemsto be thriving in this (posi-tive) environment," Ponting

said on Star Sports' CricketLive.

At a base price of �2crore, Kuldeep was a steal forthe DC management at atime when most of the fran-chises were sceptical abouthow he would measure uppost surgery, having notplayed a lot of cricket priorto that.

In the case of Kuldeep,the DC management hastried to create a protectiveenvironment in which theKanpur player feelssecured, and that has led tohim bowling beautifully.

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England opener Alex Halescould be available for selec-

tion after three years as newECB managing director RobKey feels the batter has "donehis time".

Hales was withdrawn fromEngland's ODI World Cupsquad in 2019 after theGuardian reported that he wasserving a three-week ban forrecreational drug use.

The 33-year-old has played11 Tests, 70 ODIs and 60 T20s.Hales last played for England in2019.

"I will have to speak to thepeople involved in that decisionbut I would have Alex Hales

available for selection. I thinkhe has done his time. But doesthat mean he gets in the team?That is a different debate," Keywas quoted as saying by the

Guardian.Hales, who plays T20

leagues around the world,pulled out of the ongoing IPLciting bubble fatigue.

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Guilty of making too manychanges at the top, Kolkata

Knight Riders would like to finda winning combination againstRajasthan Royals and snap theirfive-match losing streak in theIPL here on Monday.

The form of Venkatesh Iyer,who is experiencing second sea-son blues, has a lot to do with thechanges KKR have been forced tomake regularly at the top of theorder.

Venkatesh's performanceshave been underwhelming to saythe least after a season that helpedhim get into the Indian team.After his struggles at the top, theteam tried him in the middle-order but that too did not work.

The southpaw was back open-ing alongside Aaron Finch in thelast game but runs deserted himagain.

Making the play-offs fromhere looks improbable for KKRwho desperately need to findtheir best XI and stick with it forthe remainder of the competition.

"A lot of chopping and chang-ing is happening, it's been diffi-cult to set up the right combina-tion, with all injuries not helpingas well.

We need to stick together,play some fearless cricket, not beconservative with the bat.

"Five more matches remain-ing, we need to play well, showbelief and give something back tothe team and the management,forget about the past, start freshand back your instinct," saidskipper Shreyas Iyer after thelast game. Shreyas has had adecent run as a batter with 290runs at 36.25 but he has not gotenough support from his team-mates. In his first season as KKRcaptain, Shreyas has shownpromise but needs to inspire histroops to script a turnaround.Alongside Venkatesh, the dismalrun of another retained playerVarun Chakaravarthy has hurt theteam. However, the move to drophim in the previous game did notyield the desired results as KKRlost their fifth game in a row.

The trio of Tim Southee,Umesh Yadav and Sunil Narinehas been impressive and will beaiming to keep the in-form JosButtler quiet. Rajasthan rely a loton Buttler and his 566 runs at70.75 are a big reason why theyfind themselves in the top-four.As the Englishman can't beexpected to fire in every game,skipper Sanju Samson needs tostep up and be more consistent.They are arguably the best bowl-ing side in the competition butcould not defend 159 in their pre-vious game against MumbaiIndians due to heavy dew.

With 19 wickets at 13.68,Yuzvendra Chahal leads the bowl-ing charts this season and along-side R Ashwin, Trent Boult andPrasidh Krishna.

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Unheralded Uttar Pradeshleft-arm pacer Mohsin

Khan put up an exceptionalbowling performance asLucknow Super Giants beatDelhi Capitals by six runs onSunday, thereby taking a giantstride towards qualifying forthe IPL play-offs. It wasskipper KL Rahul's 77 off 51balls and newly promotedDeepak Hooda's 52 off 34 ballsthat propelled LSG to animposing 195 for 3 despitestuttering towards the end ofthe innings.

In reply, Mohsin (4/16 in 4overs) got breakthroughs exact-ly when things seemed to spi-ral out of control as DelhiCapitals finally managed 189for 7 in the end.

LSG now have 14 pointsfrom 10 games and anotherwin out of the remaining fourgames would seal a play-offspot for them considering 16being the magic number inmost years.

For DC, things get reallytough from hereon as 8 pointsfrom nine games mean thatthey might have to win four outof their remaining five gameswhich looks to be an uphill taskwith this bowling attack whichhas been defensive on mostoccasions.

At least two amongRishabh Pant (42 off 24 balls),Mitchell Marsh (37 off 20 balls)and Rovman Powell (35 off 21balls) needed to score in excessof 60 to make a match of it.

But Mohsin, who produceddisconcerting bounce with hismostly back of the length balls,occasionally slipped in a fullerblockhole delivery as his vic-tims included all the big names

like David Warner (3), Pant,Powell and Shardul Thakur.

The way he set up Pantshowed Mohsin's cricketingsmarts as he bowled short andwide making the DC skipperdesperate to reach for the deliv-eries.

With not much successcoming his way, Pant pre-empted another short deliverywhich would have enabled himto play the pull-shot but to hisutter dismay found one dippinginto blockhole and he yorkedhimself. Once Pant was out, itwas left to Powell but he wasalso snuffed out with a shortdelivery which he couldn'tclear ending Delhi's hopes of awin even as Axar Patel andKuldeep Yadav did try theirbest. Earlier, Rahul once againanchored the innings with awell-crafted 77 in company ofan imperious Deepak Hooda

but LSG didn't seize the initia-tive completely, despite manag-ing a challenging 195 for 3.

The last five overs yielded50 runs despite the platform setby the duo, largely due toMarcus Stoinis (17 no off 16balls) not being able to connectthe big shots.

Rahul and Hooda (52 of 34balls) added 95 runs for the sec-ond wicket but more impor-tantly nullified the DC spinthreat, taking the duo ofKuldeep Yadav (0/29 in 3overs), Lalit Yadav (0/16 in 1over) and partially Axar (0/25in 4 overs) to the task.

While Rahul, in his 51-ballknock had four fours and fivesixes, Hooda had six bound-aries, mostly peppering theoff-side cordon and a huge sixover deep mid-wicket in whatwas his third half-ton of theseason.

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Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskarreckons Sunrisers Hyderabad's york-

er specialist T Natarajan is going to be incontention for Team India in the upcom-ing T20 World Cup 2022.

Natarajan is troubling the batters withtoe crushing yorkers and tidy bowling inthe death overs in the IPL. The left-armSRH pacer seems to have found hisrhythm in the most exciting IPL seasonand Gavaskar is pleased to see himimproving his craft. Speaking on 'CricketLive' on Star Sports, Gavaskar said:"He's always been a yorker specialist butwhat we've seen in recent times is the wayhe's managing to move the ball late whichdeceives the batsmen.

So, it's good to see that improvementin Natarajan." The legendary cricketeralso opined that Natarajan could be avaluable addition to India's pace attackin the T20s due to his ability to bowl withdiscipline in the death overs.

"It's good to see him do well becausefor some time it seemed as if India hadlost him. It's good to have him back incontention because he bowls very well,particularly in between 16th and 20thover. He'll be very much in contention(for Team India) for his ability to bowlwell in the death overs," he added.

Gavaskar also believes that the TamilNadu pacer has put the disappoint-ments of the previous season behind andhe's presenting a case for himself for theT20 World Cup in Australia.

The former cricketer said, "I think it'sa matter of confidence.

Last year, perhaps, he wasn't on topof his game because of the injury situa-tion. Right now he's full of confidence,he's had a bit of a break, and he's freshand raring to go.

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The target of 159 would have beenenough for Rajasthan Royals if dew

hadn't played a major role, premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said afterhis team's five-wicket loss to MumbaiIndians in the IPL here.

Suryakumar Yadav and young TilakVarma gave the best 35th birthday presentto their skipper Rohit Sharma as MI final-ly opened their account on Saturday.

Chasing a victory target of 159, MIreached home in 19.2 overs, courtesy ofSurya (51 off 39 balls) and Tilak (35 off 30balls), the two adding 81 runs for the thirdwicket.

"I think if dew hadn't played a part,that score would've been enough, but therewas heavy dew, so felt it was 10-15 runs

short," said Ashwin at the post-match pressconference.

"158 was a competitive score. It wasalways going to be about how well we start-ed. In fact, we had a very good powerplayand got one wicket more than whatMumbai had at the front.

"So I thought it was a reasonably goodscore to fight and we pretty much did wellwith whatever scores we had this season.I thought the wicket was a little sticky tobegin with."

It was MI's first win after eight succes-sive defeats and even though the resultbears little consequence, it is certainlygoing to keep the five-time champions ina good mind space.

While RR's winning run came to anend. "It was unfortunate today. I don'tknow how this works, whether it's the

humidity factor, or the spray whether itworks or not or what it was, but it (dew)was wet all over the place today.

"And it makes a massive difference;good deliveries tend to get overpitched andstuff like that for the spinner. Also usageof the spinner cannot be at the back of theinnings.

"So all these facets can't be kicking inwhen dew comes in so it's a combination.We put up a decent score. Could've had 10-15 more, but these things happen in a 14-game IPL," said Ashwin.

In defence of a below par total, RR keptMumbai quiet in the powerplay while alsogetting two wickets, but part-timer DarylMitchell conceded 20 runs in the seventhover. Asked about the turning point in thematch, Ashwin said: "Last game too DarylMitchell had bowled that 7th over. It is our

strategy of that sixth bowler and he hadbowled well the previous time.

"But today it didn't work, but it hap-pens in the game. If we use a sixth bowlerupfront, then we have options in the backend. That's the thought process. Sometimesit comes off, sometimes it doesn't, but that'show T20 cricket is."

Promoting Suryakumar to No.3worked in MI's favour as he ended with aman-of-the-match performance.

"I've never celebrated personal mile-stones, but if they help the team, then I willbe very happy," said Suryakumar.

"The win will spread a lot of positiv-ity. We already were actually enjoying eachother's company during practice session,team dinners and all. This win will spreadeven more positivity and will help each andeveryone learn going forward this season.

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Ruturaj Gaikwad andDevon Conway's effortlesssix-hitting exhibition was

well complemented by a four-wicket haul from MukeshChoudhary as Chennai SuperKings notched up a 13-run winover Sunrisers Hyderabad in anIPL match here on Sunday.

Gaikwad (99 off 57 balls)and Conway (85 not out off 55)put SRH's attack to the sword,notching up a scintillating 182-run partnership, the highestopening stand of the season, asCSK posted an imposing 202 fortwo after being invited to bat.

In reply, SRH fell short,reaching 189 for 6 in 20 oversdespite late heroics fromNicholas Pooran (64 not out)and a 47-run innings by skipperKane Williamson at the top.

Choudhary emerged withthe best figures for CSK, scalp-ing four for 46, while MitchellSantner (1/36) and DwainePretorius (1/40) took one wick-et each.

The win, which coincidedwith MS Dhoni's return to cap-taincy, kept CSK afloat for animprobable play-off berth asthey now have six points withfive matches remaining, while

SRH remained in the fourthposition with 10 points in theoverall standing.

Abhishek Sharma (39) andWilliamson gave SRH a flyingstart to their chase butChoudhary struck twice in twoballs to reduce the Hyderabadoutfit to 58 for 2 in six overs.

While Sharma was caughtby Dwaine Pretorius at long-on,Rahul Tripathi was out for a

duck after giving catching prac-tice at short third man.

Aiden Markram hit twosixes before falling prey toMitchell Santner.

Pooran hit Ravindra Jadejafor a six before unleashing amonstrous reverse sweep foranother maximum, whileWilliamson too notched up aone-handed six to keep thescoreboard ticking.

The SRH skipper, however,was trapped in front by Pretoriusas it became 126 for 4 in 15thover.

Pooran then kept fighting invain while scoreboard pressuretook a toll on the other batters.

Earlier, Gaikwad, who hasbeen blowing hot and cold thisseason, was at his destructivebest as he smashed six sixes andas many fours before tragicallyfalling short of a ton by just onerun.

The 25-year-old was in hiszone as he stood on his backfoot,and played some exceptionalshots to dominate the formida-ble SRH bowling unit.

Anything short was pulledwith immaculate ease, whilepitched up deliveries were treat-ed with equal disdain asGaikwad didn't miss a trick tosend SRH on a leather hunt dur-ing his classy innings.

Conway too showed greattemperament as he was the per-fect foil for Gaikwad. He bide histime initially before going for thebig shots in the slog overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/22)was the best bowler on displayfor SRH, while pace sensationUmran Malik had a really badday in office, having conceded48 in his four overs. T Natarajan(2/42) picked up two wickets butalso went for runs. WithWashington Sundar suffering aninjury while fielding, SRH wasforced to use Markram andShashank Singh as the fifthbowler, who conceded 46 fromtheir combined four overs.

After a watchful start,Gaikwad broke free as he pulledMarco Jansen for two maxi-mums, while Natarajan was sentacross the mid-wicket boundaryas CSK reached 40 for 0 after thepowerplay.

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