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T he Supreme Court on Friday transferred the Gyanvapi mosque case from Civil Judge to District Judge, Varanasi and said because of the “complexities” and “sensi- tivity” of the issue, it is better if a senior judicial officer hav- ing an experience of over 25- 30 years handles this case. The SC also took exception to selective leak of the survey report submitted by the court commissioners to the civil court, Varanasi. The apex court said once the report is pre- sented, there could not be selective leaks. “Do not leak things to the press, only the judge opens the report,” it said. The top court said its ear- lier interim order of May 17 directing protection of the area where “shivling” is said to be found and allowing Muslims to offer “namaz” on mosque premises shall remain in oper- ation till the maintainability of the suit is decided by the District Judge and thereafter for eight weeks to allow the aggrieved parties to approach the higher court. The bench also directed the District Magistrate to make adequate arrangements for “wazu” (ablution) for the Muslims coming for offering namaz in the mosque in con- sultation with the parties involved in the dispute. In an important observation, the top court also said the process to ascertain the religious charac- ter of a place of worship is not barred under the Places of Worship Act of 1991. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and PS Narasimha said the matter involves complexity and sensi- tivity and it would be better if a district judge handles the case and made it clear that it is not casting any aspersion on the Civil Judge who was earlier dealing with the suit. “Having regard to the com- plexities of the issue involved in the case, in the civil suit and their sensitivity, we are of the considered view that the suit before the Civil Judge (senior division) Varanasi should be tried before a senior and expe- rienced judicial officer of the Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service,” the bench said. “We accordingly order and direct that the suit shall stand transferred from the file of Civil Judge (senior division) to the court of the District Judge, Varanasi for trial, and all the interlocutory and ancil- lary proceedings in the suit shall be addressed to and decided by the court of the District Judge,” the bench said. The SC directed the District Judge to decide on the priority of the application under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC (on maintainability) filed by the mosque committee, which said the civil suit is barred by the 1991 Act, be decided upon the transfer of papers of suit from the Civil Judge (senior division). T he Supreme Court- appointed Justice VS Sirpurkar panel has found that the Hyderabad Police killed four accused, caught for the rape and murder of a woman veterinary doctor in a fake encounter in 2019. The panel rejected the police claims and recom- mended to prosecute 10 police officials present during the fake encounter under murder charges. Rejecting the police claims that the accused snatched pis- tols and tried to harm the policemen and tried to escape, the panel said this police ver- sion is totally wrong and unbe- lievable. The panel said arrest- ed accused were “deliberately fired upon by the police to kill them when they were taken to the sport of the crime”. The SC also turned down Telangana Government’s plea to get a copy of the panel report and decided to send the report to the High Court to initiate charges against the policemen. A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli did not agree to the sub- missions of senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the State, that the enquiry com- mission’s report be kept in a sealed cover. “This relates to the encounter case. There is noth- ing to keep here. The commis- sion has found someone guilty. We want to send the matter to the High Court,” the bench said. “We have to send the case back to the High Court, we cannot monitor this case. A detailed report is submitted. Question is: What is the prop- er action to be taken? They have made some recommen- dations,” the bench said, adding, “We direct the com- mission secretariat to provide a copy of the report to both parties...”. The four suspects — Mohammed Arif, Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, Jolu Shiva, and Jollu Naveen — were arrested in connection with the gangrape and murder of a vet- erinary woman doctor on November 29, 2019. Later, the four accused were shot dead on December 6, 2019, on NH-44 near Hyderabad — the same highway — where the charred body of the 27-year-old veteri- narian was found. The Sirpurkar panel was set up on December 12, 2019, to enquire into the circum- stances leading to the encounter and was to submit the report in six months. The other members of the com- mission include former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Sondur Baldota and ex- CBI director D R Karthikeyan. The term of the enquiry panel has now been extended thrice. It was extended in July 2020 for the first time for six months. The Telangana Police had said the accused were killed in an exchange of fire. The incident took place around 6.30 am when the accused were taken to the site of the offence for the recon- struction of the scene of the crime as part of the investiga- tion. The police had claimed that on November 27, 2019, the woman veterinarian was kid- napped, sexually assaulted, and later found murdered. A sking BJP workers to fix eyes on goals for the next 25 years after eight years of “good governance”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday cautioned against attempts to trigger controver- sies on the basis of languages, saying every regional language in the country is worth wor- shipping. “BJP sees a reflection of Indian culture in every regional language and consid- ers them worth worshipping.” Addressing office-bearers meeting at Jaipur virtually, he continued his relentless attack on dynastic parties which, he said, were proving “fatal” for the growth of democracy. Modi said while the BJP has brought development into the mainstream of national politics, some political parties have been playing with the country’s future for their momentary benefits. For their selfish interests, the parties look for small ten- sions and weaknesses in the society to pour poison into them, Modi alleged, adding they incite people sometimes in the name of caste or regional- ism. It is essential for the BJP, which is moving forward with its dream of “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat”, to keep cau- tioning people against these forces and parties, he said. “While the world is look- ing at India with hope, people in the country are looking at the BJP with great hope,” he said, asking BJP workers to remain glued to goals for the next 25 years after eight years of “good governance”. After 2014, the BJP brought people out of “despair” and now people are full of aspirations, he said. All the key office-bearers of the BJP are attending the two-day meet at Jaipur with BJP president JP Nadda at its head discussing ways to unseat Congress-led-Gehlot Government in Rajasthan in 2023 Assembly polls and work out strategy to win in other States like Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh which are to go to polls by this year-end and other States in 2023, including Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura and Nagaland. In his address Modi said in the past few days attempts are being made to spark contro- versies on the basis of lan- guages and create division. T he CBI has registered a fresh FIR against former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and his family members for allegedly taking over one lakh sqft land in Patna from candidates in lieu of group D jobs in Railways during 2004- 09. Lalu was the Railway Minister in the UPA Government at that time. The RJD has slammed the CBI for the raids and said the probe agency is acting at the behest of the BJP. Hundreds of RJD workers gathered outside the residence of Rabri Devi when the search- es were going on and raised slo- gans against the CBI. Following the registration of FIR on May 18 by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the CBI, the agency conducted search operations at 16 locations in Delhi, Patna and Gopalganj on the premis- es of Lalu, his family members, and other accused persons. The CBI has named Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to 12 other persons who were given jobs in Railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hajipur. The Regular Case (FIR) is an outcome of a preliminary enquiry registered by the agency on September 23, 2021 related to the land-for-jobs scam in the Railways during Yadav’s stint as Minister in the UPA regime. According to the FIR, the candidates were appointed as substitutes in group D posi- tions within three days of applying in “undue haste” by Railway officials and were later regularised “in lieu there- of the individuals themselves or their family members trans- ferred their land”. The transfers were made through three sale deeds in the name of Rabri and one in the name of Misa and two gift deeds in the name Hema, reads the FIR. One sale deed was exe- cuted in the name of a com- pany AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd in which Rabri became a majority shareholder in 2014 and is currently one of the directors of the company, alleges the FIR. I ndia on Friday hit back at Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for his remarks in the UN Security Council on Jammu & Kashmir and said they are a “Pavlovian response” aimed to misuse any forum to malign New Delhi. This terse response came after Bilawal brought up the issue of Jammu & Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370. Referring to abrogation of Article 370 as well as the recent decision of the Delimitation Commission on Jammu & Kashmir, he said these actions have complicat- ed the matter and are an assault on the United Nations, the UN Security Council res- olutions and the Geneva Convention. Bilawal said “such actions make it very dif- ficult for us to hold a dialogue with India”. Counsellor in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, Rajesh Parihar, termed them as “unwarranted remarks” on Jammu & Kashmir, saying comments made by Foreign Minister Bilawal are a “Pavlovian response” aimed to misuse any forum and every topic to propagate false and malicious propaganda against New Delhi. “Pakistan representative made unwarranted remarks, which symbolises nothing but a ‘Pavlovian’ response aimed to misuse any forum, and every topic, to propagate false and malicious propaganda against my country,” Parihar said. M uslims reached the Gyanvapi mosque in large numbers on Friday to offer namaz, which passed off peace- fully. When the Gyanvapi mosque complex became over- crowded with the namazis, the district administration and police urged them to go to other mosques to offer namaz and had to close the entrance gate of the mosque for a short time. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which looks after the management of the mosque, had a day earlier appealed to Muslims not to go to the Gyanvapi mosque in large numbers to offer namaz because they could face incon- venience as the wazukhana had been sealed by the district administration on the direc- tive of the court. But despite this appeal, the namazis reached there in large num- bers. The district administra- tion had made no restriction on wuzu and had made arrangements of water for this religious ritual. I n a landmark judgment that could “strike at the roots of nepotism and corruption” in recruitment processes of the Government, the Calcutta High Court on Friday termi- nated the employment of Ankita Adhikari — the daugh- ter of junior Education Minister Paresh Adhikari. The Minister’s daughter was appointed as a political sci- ence teacher in a Government- run higher secondary school in Coochbehar in November 2018 bypassing petitioner Babita Sarkar, who had secured more marks than the defendant in a designated teachers’ recruit- ment exam held by the School Service Commission. Ankita had secured 61 marks in the exams while Babita had got 77. Ankita’s dismissal came on a day when her father was subjected to grilling by the CBI which had earlier been directed by the court to get to the roots of the racket. “The single bench of Justice Avijit Gangopadhyay also directed the defendant to return the 41months’ salary in two installments. She has been asked to deposit the first installment in the office of the Registrar General by June 7, the second by July 7. She has been asked not to enter the school while the District Inspector of Schools has been asked to stop her salary,” advo- cate Firdaus Shamim said. T he Sensex surged over 1,500 points while the Nifty reclaimed the 16,000-mark on Friday, reversing the previous session’s sharp decline in tan- dem with a recovery across global markets as investors resorted to bargain-hunting. Snapping its two-day losing run, the BSE Sensex rallied 1,534.16 points or 2.91 per cent to close at 54,326.39. This was its biggest single-day jump in over three months. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty soared 456.75 points or 2.89 per cent to 16,266.15. All the 30 Sensex firms ended in the green. Nestle India, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and IndusInd Bank were among the other major winners. Detailed report on P10 Happy reunion Koraput widow remarries ‘dead’ man HC refuses bail to MLA Jagdev PNS KORAPUT Villagers of Podapadar un- der Borigumma block in Koraput district were in for a surprise after a local man, who was believed to be dead over the last two years, returned to the village alive. Later, the man’s wife, who had been living the life of a widow, remarried him as per the Hindu tradition. Ghasi Amanatya along with a few other locals had left for Andhra Pradesh two years ago in search of work. However, he went missing midway. His friends searched for him ev- erywhere for days but in vain. Eight months after, Ghasi’s family was told that he had died. Thereafter, family and relatives of Ghasi performed a symbolic cremation of Ghasi in the village. Ever since, his wife Subarna was living as a widow. Two months ago, the locals were taken aback after seeing Ghasi alive in the village. Upon inquiry, the man nar- rated his traumatic experience while working as a migrant worker in the neighbouring State. A village meeting was held where it was decided to solemnise a marriage of the couple again. Subsequently, the couple’s marriage was solemnised at a Shiva temple in the local- ity in the presence of family members, relatives and vil- lagers. Asks him to surrender by May 23 PNS CUTTACK The Orissa High Court on Friday rejected the bail appli- cation of two-time BJD MLA and serial offender Prasant Kumar Jagdev and asked the present Chilika legislator to surrender for his judicial cus- tody by May 23 positively. If he fails to surrender, steps would be taken against him to cause his production before the court concerned, ordered the High Court. Having at least a dozen criminal cases pending against him, Jagdev was arrested on March 12 this year by the Banpur police when he drove his car repeatedly into a crowd with an alleged intention to murder his political opponents. Several persons, including some police personnel, were injured by the car, which had a fake number plate. "Such indulgence and overt act can never be treated as be- coming of a public represen- tative. That apart, the series of criminal cases attached to his antecedent speak against his credibility to abide by condi- tion, if any, imposed in case of his bail, more so when he has also not abided by earlier bail conditions," Justice Shatrughna Pujahari observed while rejecting Jagdev's bail ap- plication. On the medical ground taken by the MLA, Justice Pujahari said he could seek any medical checkup or treatment while being in judicial custody and asked the MLA to surren- der immediately. Jagdev, who has since been suspended from the ruling party BJD, is now on an interim bail granted by the High Court on health grounds.

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Page 1: Daily Pioneer

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The Supreme Court onFriday transferred the

Gyanvapi mosque case fromCivil Judge to District Judge,Varanasi and said because ofthe “complexities” and “sensi-tivity” of the issue, it is betterif a senior judicial officer hav-ing an experience of over 25-30 years handles this case.

The SC also took exceptionto selective leak of the surveyreport submitted by the courtcommissioners to the civilcourt, Varanasi. The apex courtsaid once the report is pre-sented, there could not beselective leaks. “Do not leakthings to the press, only thejudge opens the report,” it said.

The top court said its ear-lier interim order of May 17directing protection of the areawhere “shivling” is said to befound and allowing Muslims tooffer “namaz” on mosquepremises shall remain in oper-ation till the maintainability ofthe suit is decided by theDistrict Judge and thereafter foreight weeks to allow theaggrieved parties to approachthe higher court.

The bench also directed theDistrict Magistrate to makeadequate arrangements for“wazu” (ablution) for theMuslims coming for offeringnamaz in the mosque in con-sultation with the partiesinvolved in the dispute. In animportant observation, the topcourt also said the process toascertain the religious charac-

ter of a place of worship is notbarred under the Places ofWorship Act of 1991.

A bench of Justices DYChandrachud, Surya Kant, andPS Narasimha said the matterinvolves complexity and sensi-tivity and it would be better ifa district judge handles the caseand made it clear that it is notcasting any aspersion on theCivil Judge who was earlierdealing with the suit.

“Having regard to the com-plexities of the issue involved inthe case, in the civil suit andtheir sensitivity, we are of theconsidered view that the suitbefore the Civil Judge (seniordivision) Varanasi should betried before a senior and expe-rienced judicial officer of theUttar Pradesh Higher JudicialService,” the bench said.

“We accordingly order anddirect that the suit shall standtransferred from the file ofCivil Judge (senior division)to the court of the DistrictJudge, Varanasi for trial, andall the interlocutory and ancil-lary proceedings in the suitshall be addressed to anddecided by the court of theDistrict Judge,” the benchsaid.

The SC directed theDistrict Judge to decide on thepriority of the applicationunder Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC(on maintainability) filed bythe mosque committee, whichsaid the civil suit is barred bythe 1991 Act, be decided uponthe transfer of papers of suitfrom the Civil Judge (seniordivision).

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The Supreme Court-appointed Justice VS

Sirpurkar panel has found thatthe Hyderabad Police killedfour accused, caught for therape and murder of a womanveterinary doctor in a fakeencounter in 2019.

The panel rejected thepolice claims and recom-mended to prosecute 10 policeofficials present during thefake encounter under murdercharges.

Rejecting the police claimsthat the accused snatched pis-tols and tried to harm thepolicemen and tried to escape,the panel said this police ver-sion is totally wrong and unbe-lievable. The panel said arrest-ed accused were “deliberatelyfired upon by the police to killthem when they were taken tothe sport of the crime”.

The SC also turned downTelangana Government’s pleato get a copy of the panel reportand decided to send the reportto the High Court to initiatecharges against the policemen.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice NV Ramana andJustices Surya Kant and HimaKohli did not agree to the sub-missions of senior advocateShyam Divan, appearing for theState, that the enquiry com-mission’s report be kept in asealed cover.

“This relates to theencounter case. There is noth-ing to keep here. The commis-sion has found someone guilty.

We want to send the matter tothe High Court,” the benchsaid. “We have to send the caseback to the High Court, wecannot monitor this case. Adetailed report is submitted.Question is: What is the prop-er action to be taken? Theyhave made some recommen-dations,” the bench said,adding, “We direct the com-mission secretariat to providea copy of the report to bothparties...”.

The four suspects —Mohammed Arif, ChintakuntaChennakeshavulu, Jolu Shiva,and Jollu Naveen — werearrested in connection with thegangrape and murder of a vet-erinary woman doctor onNovember 29, 2019. Later, thefour accused were shot dead onDecember 6, 2019, on NH-44near Hyderabad — the samehighway — where the charredbody of the 27-year-old veteri-narian was found.

The Sirpurkar panel was

set up on December 12, 2019,to enquire into the circum-stances leading to theencounter and was to submitthe report in six months. Theother members of the com-mission include formerBombay High Court judgeRekha Sondur Baldota and ex-CBI director D R Karthikeyan.The term of the enquiry panelhas now been extended thrice.It was extended in July 2020 forthe first time for six months.

The Telangana Police hadsaid the accused were killed inan exchange of fire.

The incident took placearound 6.30 am when theaccused were taken to the siteof the offence for the recon-struction of the scene of thecrime as part of the investiga-tion.

The police had claimedthat on November 27, 2019, thewoman veterinarian was kid-napped, sexually assaulted, andlater found murdered.

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Asking BJP workers to fixeyes on goals for the next

25 years after eight years of“good governance”, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday cautioned againstattempts to trigger controver-sies on the basis of languages,saying every regional languagein the country is worth wor-shipping. “BJP sees a reflectionof Indian culture in everyregional language and consid-ers them worth worshipping.”

Addressing office-bearersmeeting at Jaipur virtually, hecontinued his relentless attackon dynastic parties which, hesaid, were proving “fatal” forthe growth of democracy.

Modi said while the BJPhas brought development intothe mainstream of national

politics, some political partieshave been playing with thecountry’s future for theirmomentary benefits.

For their selfish interests,the parties look for small ten-sions and weaknesses in thesociety to pour poison intothem, Modi alleged, addingthey incite people sometimes inthe name of caste or regional-ism. It is essential for the BJP,which is moving forward withits dream of “Ek Bharat,Shrestha Bharat”, to keep cau-tioning people against theseforces and parties, he said.

“While the world is look-ing at India with hope, peoplein the country are looking atthe BJP with great hope,” hesaid, asking BJP workers toremain glued to goals for thenext 25 years after eight yearsof “good governance”.

After 2014, the BJPbrought people out of“despair” and now people arefull of aspirations, he said.

All the key office-bearersof the BJP are attending thetwo-day meet at Jaipur withBJP president JP Nadda at itshead discussing ways tounseat Congress-led-GehlotGovernment in Rajasthan in2023 Assembly polls andwork out strategy to win inother States like Gujarat andHimachal Pradesh which areto go to polls by this year-endand other States in 2023,including Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka, Tripura andNagaland.

In his address Modi said inthe past few days attempts arebeing made to spark contro-versies on the basis of lan-guages and create division.

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The CBI has registered afresh FIR against former

Bihar Chief Minister LaluPrasad and his family membersfor allegedly taking over onelakh sqft land in Patna fromcandidates in lieu of group Djobs in Railways during 2004-09. Lalu was the RailwayMinister in the UPAGovernment at that time.

The RJD has slammed theCBI for the raids and said theprobe agency is acting at thebehest of the BJP.

Hundreds of RJD workersgathered outside the residenceof Rabri Devi when the search-es were going on and raised slo-gans against the CBI.

Following the registrationof FIR on May 18 by theEconomic Offences Wing(EOW) of the CBI, the agencyconducted search operations at16 locations in Delhi, Patnaand Gopalganj on the premis-es of Lalu, his family members,and other accused persons.

The CBI has named Lalu,his wife Rabri Devi, anddaughters Misa Bharti andHema Yadav, in addition to 12

other persons who were givenjobs in Railway zones ofMumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata,Jaipur and Hajipur.

The Regular Case (FIR) isan outcome of a preliminaryenquiry registered by theagency on September 23, 2021related to the land-for-jobsscam in the Railways duringYadav’s stint as Minister in theUPA regime.

According to the FIR, thecandidates were appointed assubstitutes in group D posi-tions within three days ofapplying in “undue haste” byRailway officials and werelater regularised “in lieu there-of the individuals themselvesor their family members trans-ferred their land”.

The transfers were madethrough three sale deeds in thename of Rabri and one in thename of Misa and two giftdeeds in the name Hema,reads the FIR.

One sale deed was exe-cuted in the name of a com-pany AK Infosystems Pvt Ltdin which Rabri became amajority shareholder in 2014and is currently one of thedirectors of the company,alleges the FIR.

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India on Friday hit back atPakistan Foreign Minister

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for hisremarks in the UN SecurityCouncil on Jammu & Kashmirand said they are a “Pavlovianresponse” aimed to misuse anyforum to malign New Delhi.

This terse response cameafter Bilawal brought up theissue of Jammu & Kashmir andabrogation of Article 370.Referring to abrogation ofArticle 370 as well as therecent decision of theDelimitation Commission onJammu & Kashmir, he saidthese actions have complicat-ed the matter and are anassault on the United Nations,the UN Security Council res-

olutions and the GenevaConvention. Bilawal said“such actions make it very dif-ficult for us to hold a dialoguewith India”.

Counsellor in India’sPermanent Mission to the UN,Rajesh Parihar, termed themas “unwarranted remarks” onJammu & Kashmir, sayingcomments made by ForeignMinister Bilawal are a“Pavlovian response” aimed tomisuse any forum and everytopic to propagate false andmalicious propaganda againstNew Delhi.

“Pakistan representativemade unwarranted remarks,which symbolises nothing buta ‘Pavlovian’ response aimed tomisuse any forum, and everytopic, to propagate false andmalicious propaganda againstmy country,” Parihar said.

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Muslims reached theGyanvapi mosque in large

numbers on Friday to offernamaz, which passed off peace-fully. When the Gyanvapimosque complex became over-crowded with the namazis, thedistrict administration andpolice urged them to go to

other mosques to offer namazand had to close the entrancegate of the mosque for a shorttime.

The Anjuman IntezamiaMasjid Committee, whichlooks after the management ofthe mosque, had a day earlierappealed to Muslims not to goto the Gyanvapi mosque inlarge numbers to offer namazbecause they could face incon-

venience as the wazukhanahad been sealed by the districtadministration on the direc-tive of the court. But despitethis appeal, the namazisreached there in large num-bers.

The district administra-tion had made no restrictionon wuzu and had madearrangements of water for thisreligious ritual.

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In a landmark judgment thatcould “strike at the roots of

nepotism and corruption” inrecruitment processes of theGovernment, the CalcuttaHigh Court on Friday termi-nated the employment ofAnkita Adhikari — the daugh-ter of junior EducationMinister Paresh Adhikari.

The Minister’s daughterwas appointed as a political sci-ence teacher in a Government-run higher secondary school inCoochbehar in November 2018bypassing petitioner BabitaSarkar, who had secured moremarks than the defendant ina designated teachers’ recruit-ment exam held by the SchoolService Commission. Ankita

had secured 61 marks in theexams while Babita had got77.

Ankita’s dismissal cameon a day when her father wassubjected to grilling by theCBI which had earlier beendirected by the court to get tothe roots of the racket.

“The single bench ofJustice Avijit Gangopadhyayalso directed the defendant toreturn the 41months’ salary intwo installments. She has beenasked to deposit the firstinstallment in the office of theRegistrar General by June 7,the second by July 7. She hasbeen asked not to enter theschool while the DistrictInspector of Schools has beenasked to stop her salary,” advo-cate Firdaus Shamim said.

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The Sensex surged over 1,500points while the Nifty

reclaimed the 16,000-mark onFriday, reversing the previoussession’s sharp decline in tan-dem with a recovery acrossglobal markets as investorsresorted to bargain-hunting.

Snapping its two-day losingrun, the BSE Sensex rallied1,534.16 points or 2.91 per centto close at 54,326.39. This wasits biggest single-day jump inover three months.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty soared 456.75 points or2.89 per cent to 16,266.15. Allthe 30 Sensex firms ended inthe green. Nestle India, TataSteel, Larsen & Toubro, AxisBank, Sun Pharma andIndusInd Bank were among theother major winners.

Detailed report on P10

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Happy reunion

Koraput widow remarries ‘dead’ man HC refuses bail to MLA JagdevPNS ����� KORAPUT

Villagers of Podapadar un-der Borigumma block inKoraput district were in for asurprise after a local man, whowas believed to be dead overthe last two years, returned tothe village alive.

Later, the man’s wife, whohad been living the life of awidow, remarried him as perthe Hindu tradition.

Ghasi Amanatya along witha few other locals had left forAndhra Pradesh two years agoin search of work. However,he went missing midway. Hisfriends searched for him ev-erywhere for days but in vain.

Eight months after, Ghasi’s

family was told that he haddied. Thereafter, family andrelatives of Ghasi performeda symbolic cremation ofGhasi in the village. Eversince, his wife Subarna wasliving as a widow.

Two months ago, the localswere taken aback after seeingGhasi alive in the village.Upon inquiry, the man nar-rated his traumatic experience

while working as a migrantworker in the neighbouringState. A village meeting washeld where it was decided tosolemnise a marriage of thecouple again.

Subsequently, the couple’smarriage was solemnised ata Shiva temple in the local-ity in the presence of familymembers, relatives and vil-lagers.

Asks him tosurrender by May23PNS ����� CUTTACK

The Orissa High Court onFriday rejected the bail appli-cation of two-time BJD MLAand serial offender PrasantKumar Jagdev and asked thepresent Chilika legislator tosurrender for his judicial cus-tody by May 23 positively. Ifhe fails to surrender, stepswould be taken against him tocause his production before thecourt concerned, ordered theHigh Court.

Having at least a dozencriminal cases pending againsthim, Jagdev was arrested onMarch 12 this year by the

Banpur police when he drovehis car repeatedly into a crowdwith an alleged intention tomurder his political opponents.Several persons, includingsome police personnel, wereinjured by the car, which had afake number plate.

"Such indulgence and overtact can never be treated as be-coming of a public represen-

tative. That apart, the series ofcriminal cases attached to hisantecedent speak against hiscredibility to abide by condi-tion, if any, imposed in caseof his bail, more so when hehas also not abided by earlierbail conditions," JusticeShatrughna Pujahari observedwhile rejecting Jagdev's bail ap-plication.

On the medical groundtaken by the MLA, JusticePujahari said he could seek anymedical checkup or treatmentwhile being in judicial custodyand asked the MLA to surren-der immediately. Jagdev, whohas since been suspended fromthe ruling party BJD, is nowon an interim bail granted bythe High Court on healthgrounds.

Page 2: Daily Pioneer

BHUBANESWAR l SATURDAY l MAY 21, 2022 capital 02

In the post-Independence India,veterans like JB Kripalini,Ashok Mehta, Piloo Mody, MA

Ayangar, AB Vajpayee, RM Lohia,SM Joshi, Madhu Dandavate, BijuPatnaik, SN Dwibedi, BhupeshGupta, Jyotirmaya Basu, AKGopalan and others who carried thelegacy of freedom movementoccupied the seats in the oppositionbenches, debated intensively onbills and raised issues of nationalimportance that enrichedparliamentary debates andinfluenced citizens. Both ruling andopposition sides were led by politicalstalwarts who enriched a debateculture of Parliament that gave Billsmore sanctity.

During the time of Pandit Nehruas PM, private members of theParliaments were encouraged tosponsor bills. With passing away ofmany such stalwarts, political partieshave become weak. Recently in anarticle, Varun Gandhi, MP, said thatduring Monsoon session of

Parliament in 2021, the LokSabha passed 18 bills most of whichwere debated for 34 minutes each.According to him, a crucial billrelating to amendment ofbankruptcy law hardly saw a debate

Sans cohesive leadership, Opp unity to be futile at Centre

for about 5 minutes. Theopposition parties are nowfragmented for which their voice isalso thin.

Indira Gandhi during her tenurecleverly utilised fragmentedopposition as an asset for her; nowthe NDA similarly is inadvantageous position due tofragmented opposition. In 1977 inthe post-Emergency generalelection, the fragmentedopposition got united under thebanner of Janata Party underinspiring effort of JayprakashNarayan, which did not last longdue to ego clash among someleaders. So, it disintegrated andfragmented to half a dozen splinter

groups.In modern India, criticism of

Government or any party is mostoften painted as anti-national. Asper a report in an English daily,the Allahabad High Court whilereleasing some students on bail forhaving raised certain slogans in acricket match reportedly observed:"The unity of India is not made ofbamboo reeds which will bend tothe passing winds of emptyslogans".

As per media reports, the ChiefJustice of SC NV Ramana speakingin P Kohili memorial lecturereportedly observed that, "There isan immediate requirement for thecreation of an independentumbrella institution, so as to bringvarious agencies like the CBI,SFIO, ED, etc under one roof " tobreak any nexus with politicalexecutive. The relation betweenUnion and opposition ruled Statesis getting sore day by day. Therewas a media report that TelenganaCabinet proposed to give a daylong Dharana in Delhi to protestUnion Government's allegeddiscriminatory paddyprocurement policy. In WestBengal, the Speaker of the

Assembly had raised about"Excessive Interference" ofRajbhavan in the Assembly works.Addressing CPI (M) party meet inKannur, Tamil Nadu CM hasquestioned misuse of the office ofthe Governor by saying, "Whenthere is an elected Cabinet in eachState, is it not unconstitutional toseek to rule over the State via theoffice of the Governor? Is itconstitutional to seek to run aparallel Government through theGovernor's office in the States ledby non-BJP parties?" He quotedMahatma Gandhi to further say"Self-Government withoutautonomy is akin to replacing thewhite tiger with an Indian tiger".Stalin further said that with GSTthe Centre has snatched taxrevenues of the State.

It may be mentioned that lateBiju Patnaik was always insistingfor more financial power to States.He had prophetically coined thedemand of financial autonomy forStates in 1990 to overcome aState's backwardness. CM NaveenPatnaik reiterated the same voiceseeking special financialautonomy to States in 2018 on theoccasion of foundation day of the

party. A strong and viableopposition at national level couldact as a check and balance andprotect a federal spirit. The tallleader late Biju Patnaik used toexpress his disgust onfragmentation of political partieswho openly used to say thatmisconceived dreams, arroganceand ego of a few leaders at nationallevel impeded unity of oppositionparties. At his instance, a meetingof various fractions of Janata Dalwas held at New Delhi in the lastweek of July, 1995 where hevirtually warned faction leaders "tounite or face the doom, sincepeople no longer would toleratewith such splits." There are noleader today of the stature of BijuPatnaik, RK Hegde, Devilal tounite the opposition at nationallevel.

Some media reports recently saidthat veteran leaders like SharadPawar and Nitin Gadkari rightlytalked about need of oppositionemerging strong to "helpdemocracy". No doubt, such boldastuteness qualities are neededfrom leaders for wellbeing ofcountry's democracy. Now addedto fragmentation of parties,

defection by legislators, use of blackmoney in election has completelydegraded political culture hinderingparticipatory democracy 'By thepeople' a reality. In November 1967participating in Parliament debateveteran parliamentarian SM Joshihad warned about floor crossingand had appealed to follow aconvention not to admit legislatorsdefecting from a party. Now floorcrossing is engineered by rulingparties and the defectors areentertained in 5 star hotels andlured Ministership to breakGovernments eroding the essenceof electoral politics and betrayingpeople's mandate as well asnegating all the noble valuescherished by freedom struggle.

The election result of 5 States hasshown that electorate have delivereda decisive mandate and discardedfragmented opposition. On thisbackground, efforts to unite suchparties at national level may bringsome sort of unity but would notbe sustainable like in the pastwithout collective mechanism,management, a cohesive leadershipunited under common minimumprogramme covering broad issuessuch as judicial reform,

independence of EC, women'sreservation, prevention of evil ofdefection, strengthening federalstructure, reviewing laws intrudingfederal spirit, limiting role ofGovernor, recognising right toirrigation and right to employmentas fundamental rights, shelter forhouseless, scrapping colonial lawslike sedition, activation ofinstitution of Lokpal, taxationpower to States, creation ofemployment opportunity on ideaof national reconstruction etc. Itwould also need to adopt newnarratives to attract farmers,labourers and youths. At the first,there should be some unanimity onthe common issues touching thecitizens. Regional parties would bein an effective position to occupythe drivers' seat of national politicsin the present context to influencenational discourse if their unity isinstitutionalised and its leadershipis periodically changed betweentheregional icons.

(The writer is a former DeputySpeaker of the Odisha LegislativeAssembly and a lawyer. Viewsexpressed are personal. Mob:7437009009/9437412877; E-mail:[email protected])

RAMA CHANDRA PANDA

Hit by train, 3 elephants die in Keonjhar

Govt conspiring to finish Urdu education'

Rs 1.5-cr fraud: Ponzifirm dir nabbed from UP

In city

Bombs hurled atapartment site

CM opens 3industrial projects

In KhordhaIn KhordhaIn KhordhaIn KhordhaIn Khordha

Youth ends life over love failureBarabati India-SA T20Barabati India-SA T20Barabati India-SA T20Barabati India-SA T20Barabati India-SA T20

Online ticket salefrom June 1

Set up newspaper museum: 'Paperman' to CM

PNS ����� BHUBANESWAR

The Economic Offences Wing(EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branchhas arrested the director of DigitalRevolution Technologies Limitedfrom Brindavan in Uttar Pradeshfor running chit fund schemeunder the guise of digitalmarketing.

The arrested accused PrinceKumar, a resident of Muzaffarpurin Bihar, has been accused offorging documents andmisappropriating Rs 1.5 crore frominvestors in Odisha. He was

produced before the Mathura CJMcourt and is being brought toOdisha.

The EOW said Kumar and hiscompany duped hundreds ofinvestors across Odisha makingfalse promises of lucrative returnsunder different schemes involvingvarious digital and onlineproducts.

The company collected hugemoney from investors assuringthem very high returns andmisleading them that thiscompany is running successfulindigenous version of WhatsApp,

YouTube, Amazon, email, online,digital gaming, digital payment andNetflix kind of products.

"Prince Kumar gave falseassurances to investors that theirdeposit amount would doublewithin one year. In doing so, hewas able to induce the investors toinvest in the company although thecompany has no commensuratereal business activity to pay highreturns," the EOW said.

"The deposit collected by thecompany under the cover of directdigital marketing is nothing butponzi scheme," the EOW added.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE����� KEONJHAR

In a sad incident, three elephants,including two calves, succumbed totheir injuries after they were hit bya freight train near Bansapani underthe Joda Forest Section's ChampuaRange on Thursday.

A herd of 22 elephants had beencrossing the Bansapani railway lineat around 7.30 pm when the trainhit them, leaving three of themcritically injured. While one injuredcalf died in the night, another calfand a female elephant succumbedto their injuries early on Fridaymorning. As per Joda forestofficials, though they reached thespot soon after getting

information about the mishap,they failed to provide treatmentto the injured elephants as theremaining 19 pachyderms did notmove an inch from the spotfollowing the accident.

When contacted, KeonjharDFO Dhanraj HD said, "The ForestDepartment had informationregarding presence of a herd in thesaid area, following whichconcerned officials had kept a strictvigil on the movement of thepachyderms throughout the day. Asthe railway authorities were alsoinformed about the same, thetrain's speed had not exceeded 25kmph when the accident occurred.The mishap took place due toextreme darkness."

Allege OdishaUrdu Circle,political leadersPNS ����� BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha Urdu Circle onFriday alleged that aconspiracy has been hatchedby the State Government "tofinish" the Urdu languageeducation. Though Urdu is oneof the Modern IndianLanguages (MILs), it isignored by the Government.

An Urdu teachers' traininginstitute was established inCuttack 110 years back, forwhich the Muslimcommunity donated land,but during the last few yearsnot a single teacher trainer

was found to be on job. Andit was known on February23 that the institute wasclosed.

Urdu Circle State presidentShaikh Abdul Wali, formerMinister PanchananKnaungo, CPI(M) leaderAbhiram Behera, CPI(ML)Liberation leader MahendraParida, Congress leader

Amiya Pandav, RJD leaderHemanta Kumar, NCPleader Bikram Swain andWarqut Alli Tanvir toldreporters that it is high timethe Government took noteof this or else the languagewould slowly vanish.

In some Muslim villages,community members hadstarted Urdu Primary

Schools, but subsequently ina Government notificationit was changed as MuslimBasti UP Schools instead ofUrdu UP Schools.

Besides, those qualified as'Fazil ' under the MadrasBoard were appointed asUrdu teachers, but theGovernment changed it asUrdu Bed as there were nofacilities to be trained andas Urdu BEd teacher. Howwould it be possible toqualify as a teacher,questioned the Circle.

A joint memorandum inthis regard was sent to theChief Minister, the MassEducation Minister and allconcerned departmentofficials.

PNS ����� BHUBANESWAR

Panic gripped JagannathNagar in the Palasuni area inthe city on Thursday nightwhen bike-borne miscreantshurled bombs at an under-construction apartment andsped away from the spot.

The incident took place atBhabani Apartment in thepresence of the securitypersonnel.

“Two youths came by amotorbike and hurled threebombs targeting the underconstruction structure. We

ran into the building out offear,” said a security guarddeployed at the site.

“After the miscreants wefound several particles used inmaking country-madebombs,” he added. While themotive behind the crime wasyet to be ascertained abusiness rivalry is beingsuspected in the case. Theapartment owner has lodgeda complaint at the SaheedNagar police station inconnection with the incident.He has mentioned the namesof some suspects in his FIR.

PNS ����� CUTTACK

The online booking oftickets for the first T20international cricket matchbetween India and SouthAfrica at the Barabati Stadiumhere would begin from June1.

The tickets would be soldthrough the Paytmapplication.

Odisha Cricket Association(OCA) secretary SanjayBehera announced this at aPress conference on Friday.Earlier, an OCA meeting was

attended by Sports and YouthAffairs Secretary R VineelKrishna and Commissioner ofPolice Saumendra Priyadarshi.

Some tickets would be soldin offline mode too at the OCAticket counters on June 9 and10, Behera said.Team India isgoing to clash with the Proteasin the first match on June 12.

Offers to donatehis collectionsPNS ����� BHUBANESWAR

In a letter to CM NaveenPatnaik, Shashanka SekharDash, popularly known as thePaperman India, has requestedhim to take steps to set up anewspaper museum in Odishawith the initial contribution ofhis collection of over 10,000newspapers of more than5,100 different titles from 153countries and 94 languages.

"With support of my family,I have started a newspapermuseum and research centrein my father's name. But the

preservation work is notsufficient to store the historyand heritage. I have oldencopy of many Odisha as wellas other States, national andinternational editionsincluding copy The Statesmanand The Times of Indianewspapers of 15th August1947 (India Independentday). So, I want to donate allmy collection of newspapersto establish a special newspapermuseum in our State Odisha,"said Dash in his letter.

He further said, "With mylimited income I havegathered more than 10,000newspapers of more than5,100 different titles from 153

countries and 94 languages. Ihave tried my best to preservethese newspapers withpolythene sheets but it's notin the best. For that earlier Iwas awarded threectimes byLimca Book of Records (LBR),once from India Book ofRecords (IBR), once fromOMG Book of Records andonce from Credence Book ofWorld Record (CBWR)."

He urged CM Patnaik toaccept his request as there isnot a single special museumin India of newspapers and ifthe Odisha Government startsa special museum ofnewspapers, then it will thefirst of its kind in India.

Shoots videobefore suicidePNS ����� KHORDHA

A youth of Gadisagadavillage under Kanas block inPuri district allegedly endedhis life by slitting his wrist andlater jumping before a runningtrain over suspected failure inlove.

The mutilated body of theyouth was recovered fromrailway tracks betweenKaipadar Road railway stationand Dhaulimuhan railwaystation under Khurda RoadVisakhapatnam Section earlyon Friday morning.

The incident came to fore

after a video of the youthtaking the extreme step wentviral on social media. In thevideo, shot by him, the youthcan be seen slitting his ownwrist alleging betrayal in love.

"I had fallen in love with agirl, but she betrayed me. Imade a big mistake. I requestpeople to take care of myparents and younger brotherafter death," the youth said inthe video.

Meanwhile, though a policeteam from Sadar police visitedthe spot in the morning, it didnot inquire into the matterciting that the area falls underthe jurisdiction of theGovernment Railway Police(GRP).

Lays stones for 10PNS ����� BHUBANESWAR

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Friday inauguratedthree industrial projects andperformed groundbreaking of10 projects worth Rs 1,218crore.

The diversified projectsrange across food processing,tourism, paper/packaging,manufacturing and polymersand plastic sectors and wouldcreate potential employmentsfor over 3,390 persons.

Some of the leading

companies promoting theprojects include MayfairHotels & Resorts Ltd, OrifoodAnd Beverage Private Ltd,Mash Spirits Pvt Ltd,Sambalpur Biofuels PrivateLtd.

The CM said, "Odisha is fastemerging as a majormanufacturing hub in thecountry for sectors rangingfrom metal and minerals tofood processing. The State'srelationship with the industrieshas been fruitful in thecontexts of both economicdevelopment and socialdevelopment."

Page 3: Daily Pioneer

capital 03BHUBANESWAR l SATURDAY l MAY 21, 2022

BRAJRAJNAGAR: 3-DAY LEAVE FOR VOTERS RESIDING OUTSIDEBhubaneswar: With the preparations in full swing for theBrajrajnagar Assembly by-election on May 31, voters residingoutside the constituency can avail a three-day leave to exercisetheir franchise. “While there will be one day holiday for voterson polling day, the voters who are staying outside Brajrajnagarcan take three days’ leave, i.e., a day before election, on electionday and after election day,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) SushilKumar Lohani told reporters here on Friday.

COLLEGES, VARSITIES TO REMAIN CLOSED ON SABITRIBhubaneswar: All colleges and universities across the State willremain closed on the occasion of Sabitri Amabasya on May 30.In this regard, Higher Education Principal Secretary SaswatMishra has written to Principals and Vice-Chancellors of bothGovernment and private degree colleges and universities. How-ever, the Government has curtailed the summer vacation at alleducational institutions this year. The vacation at higher educa-tional institutions will be from June 1 to 16 for a period of only16 days. The decision has been taken to complete all academicactivities in time and cover the syllabus that could not be com-pleted due to Covid-19 pandemic.

ECoR OBSERVES ANTI-TERRORISM DAY

Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) observed the AntiTerrorism Day at the Rail Sadan here and its divisional headquar-ters on Friday by taking a pledge for nonviolence and tolerance.Additional General Manager (in-Charge) Sarad Kumar Srivastavadministered the oath to officials to oppose terrorism, violenceand to promote peace and social harmony to fight against theforces disrupting and threatening human lives and values. Prin-cipal Chief Personnel Officer/Administration LVSS Patruduconducted the ceremony.

B’PUR PRESIDENCY COLLEGE HOSTS RAETBMBhubaneswar: The Instituteof Research and Journals(IRAJ) organised an interna-tional conference on ‘RecentAdvancement in Engineer-ing, Technology and Busi-ness Management’ (RAETBM-2022) here recently. The confer-ence was co-hosted by the Berhampur Presidency College. Chiefguest Prof Satya Ranjan Pattnaik highlighted recent innova-tions in the field of engineering and technology. He stressing onAI and robotics research. Diptimayee Dash of the PresidencyCollege spoke on the recent achievements of the college and itsstudents.

M’GIRI PLANNING COORDINATOR HOTA GETS PHDParalakhemundi: Malkangiri district SpecialDevelopment Council Planning Coordinatorof Laxminarayan Hota has got doctorate de-gree from the Berhampur University for hispaper "Watershed Management Programmetowards Sustainable Development of KoraputTribals-A Study of Koraput District, Odisha".He did his thesis under Jatni College Reader inEconomics Dr Anup Kumar Mahanty. He is the son of lateRamesh Chandra and Prabasini Hota of Paralakhemundi.

MYSTERY SHROUDS YOUTH’S DEATH IN GAJAPATIParalakhemundi: A body of a youth was recovered from near aforest near Kaithadhepa village under the R Udayagiri policestation in Gajapati district on Wednesday. The deceased wasidentified as Kabala Baliyarsingh of Machagara village. His fam-ily members found Kabala’s body and informed the police. Kabalahad gone for a feast and later went to a bar with his brothers. AsKabala’s body bore some injury marks it is suspected that he wasmurdered. The deceased’s brothers and another person were de-tained and interrogated by police in connection with the case.Police are investigating to ascertain the exact cause of his death.

SENIOR BARGARH SCRIBE RANA PASSES AWAYBargarh: A senior journalist of Bargarh district,Dambarudhar Rana, passed away at his residence inSohela on Thursday. For the past few months, he hadbeen bedridden due to old age-related illness.

MICROTEK HOLDS STAR RETAIL PARTNERS’ MEET IN BBSRBhubaneswar: Microtek, a leader in the power product market ofIndia, recently organised a Star Retail Partners’ Meet here, wherethe company introduced its newly-launched range of invertersand home UPS series to the key retailers of the region.

GOAT THIEVES’ GANG BUSTED IN DHARMASALA; 5 HELDJajpur: The Dharamsala police on Thursday busted a gang in-volved in goat theft and arrested five persons. Police said thethieves had adopted a unique practice. They first stole the goatsfrom one place, kept those in another place and bargained withtraders from other places to get inflated prices. Police couldcatch them after a case was lodged by one Birkishore Behera ofNilkanthpur village complaining that four of his goats kept in ashed were stolen. The arrested were identified as Nalua Nayak ofJaleswarpur and Dilip Malik of Odang along with three of theirassociates.

INBRIEF

NIMAI CHARAN SAHU����� SAMBALPUR

There is uproar inSambalpur and all over west-ern Odisha after the decisionof the Orissa High Court BarAssociation at Cuttack pro-testing HC Benches in west-ern and southern Odisha.

"This is totally arbitrary andagainst the very unity of theState," opined many peoplefrom western Odisha. Voicingher concern, Balangir MPSangeeta Kumari Singh Deoin a tweet said, "This will de-feat the very purpose of theGovernment to bring aboutparity and development inwestern and southernOdisha." Sangeeta apart, com-

HC Bench issue

Balangir MP, lawyers decry HC Bar move

Breached saline embankment

Admn lends deaf ear to B'swar residents' woes

MKCG problems

Journos call off stir after talks with Patro

K'pada lad who can bend 8-mm rod with teeth

Samanta visits FIVBhdqrs in Switzerland

Girl pregnant in S'garh Ashram school2 held fordupingjobseekers inJ'sugudaPNS ����� JHARSUSGUDA

Police here on Thursday ar-rested two fraudsters on thecharge of duping youths un-der the guise of providingthem jobs in the Mahindracompany.

The arrested were identifiedas Basant Lal alias Alok (24) ofSitapur, Uttar Pradesh andMohammad Aslam alias Raj(28) of Muradgang villageunder the Rasaoigang policestation in Kannouj district,also in UP.

Police seized Rs 20.000, fourmobile phones, advertisementpapers, receipt books fromtheir office at Beharmal inJharsuguda.

Jharsuguda SP Rahul Jainsaid the accused were collect-ing Rs 2,000 as registrationcharge from the youths assur-ing them to provide jobs.

Many youths of Sambalpur,Bargarh, Subarnapur, Deogarhand Jharsuguda districts wereduped by them. However, af-ter a complaint was lodged atthe Town police station by oneSantilata Sahu, police startedan investigation and arrestedthe two accused.

No HC Bench stand by assn stirs hornet's nest in W Odishamon people of the region alsocame forward to protest thedecision of the High Court BarAssociation. "Such a decisionwill compel us to demand aseparate State," warned GolakBihari Mishra, an elite citizenand a social worker.

There are many Stateswhich have branches of theirHigh Court and the peoplethere get speedy justice andthey don't have to spendmoney and time to travel far."Then why HC Bar Associa-tion is going against thepeople of a vast portion of theState," asked Mishra. Peoplewere more active in socialmedia after they came toknow the decision of the HCBar Association. Even some

wrote that the HC Bar was notabove the Government andhence it should know its limit,they suggested.

"We condemn the decisionof the HC Bar Association.But we will achieve our de-mand at any cost, as it is ourright and hence no one canstop it," said former presidentof the Sambalpur District BarAssociation Dr Pramod Rath."The lawyers and some peopleat the helm of affairs of coastalOdisha have never expressedany positive view for the de-velopment of the backwardregion. But we are least both-ered since we don't seekanyone's mercy for ourrights," Dr Rath said in hardwords.

PNS ����� BALANGIR

Balangir MP SangeetaSingh Deo has condemnedthe resolution passed by theOrissa High Court Bar Asso-ciation which has urged theHC Chief Justice not to givehis consent for establishmentof any HC Bench anywherein the State.

"The resolution of HighCourt Bar Association is

shocking, condemnable andregrettable. Government ofIndia is trying parity and de-velopment in west and southOdisha. But the (HC) Bar As-sociation is going against theJaswant Singh Commission'srecommendation," said SinghDeo in a tweet.

Balangir District Bar Asso-ciation president AmarishTripathy also denounced theHC Bar Association's resolu-

tion."We demand setting up of a

High Court Bench at Balangir.People of Balangir have beendemanding it since last 50years. A delegation of theBolangir Bar Association willmeet the Chief Justice of HighCourt to appraise him aboutour demand. We will also meetthe Chief Minister on this is-sue," Tripathy told reportershere on Friday.

He further reminded thatthe State Government in2007 has already intimated

the Centre to provide all in-frastructure for HC benches.Hence, HC Bar Association

needs to refrain from suchnegative attitude, Dr Rathsuggested.

PNS ����� JAGATSINGHPUR

A District Disaster Man-agement Committee(DDMA) meeting was held onThursday under the chairman-ship of Collector Parul Patwari.

The DDMA acts as the dis-trict planning, coordinatingand implementing body fordisaster management. A dis-trict disaster managementplan was decided upon for di-saster mitigation, prepared-ness, response, and recovery.Officials connected withDDMA were instructed toimplement the yearly districtdisaster management plan way

to minimize human, propertyand environmental loss.

The meeting was partici-pated by Jagatsinghpur MP DrRajashree Mallick, DistrictPlanning Committee Chair-man MLA Prasanta Muduli,ZP President Manoj KumarBhoi, ADM SatchidanandaSahoo, the Project DirectorDRDA, BDOs from all eightblocks, municipality chairper-sons, Panchayat Samiti Chair-persons, Tehsildars, DeputyCollectors, Executive Engi-neers from line departments,officials from the districthealth department and DistrictEmergency Officer.

JSpur disaster mgmtpanel meet held

UBACHAK MOHANTY����� BALESWAR

The residents of riversidevillages under Srikona GP ofTHE Chandipur area are fac-ing difficulties at severalfronts due to a breached sa-line embankment which oc-curred after last year's Yaascyclone.

The villagers ofChargochhia, Banachaka andKhandakali under Srikona GPare not able to undertake anylivelihood activities due to sa-line water ingression into

their fields during high tide inthe river Budhabalanga whichis connected to the Bay ofBengal. More than 500 fami-lies of these villages while wereeking out their livelihoodsmainly through agricultureand shrimp farming for over ayear they are handicapped dueto the breached saline em-bankment.

As a result the residentsquitting their livelihoods aregoing outside the State to winbread for their families, reportssaid. After several demands fora heighted and strong em-

bankment by the villagers ofthese villages, the IrrigationDepartment had begun workfor stone patching in Novem-ber 2018 with an estimated

cost of nearly Rs 1.78 crore.Although the embankmentstrengthening work was com-pleted by July 2020, yet un-fortunately due to last year

cyclone Yaas, a breach oc-curred.

Since then the breachedembankment has not beenrepaired by the department

even though several high of-ficials and public representa-tives including State Ministersvisited the site. The residentsalleged that although somerepair restoration works weredone by the department inthe post cyclone period yetagain breaches have occurred.Regarding the issue they havevented their grievances toconcerned authorities timeand again but couldn't getany relief. Finding no othermeans, the villagers havethreatened to stage dharana infront of the Collectorate.

KRUSHNA CHANDRA PANDA����� BRAHMAPUR

A four-day-long dharna byjournalists of Brahmapur infront of the main gate ofMKCG Medical College Hos-pital here ended on Thursdayfollowing a discussion withAssembly Speaker SurjyaNarayan Patro.

The journalists had beenholding the stir for last four

days protesting against theapathy of the State Govern-ment for neglecting the pre-mier MCH. During discussionwith Speaker Patro, the agita-tors drew his attention to vari-ous problems in the hospitalincluding a dearth of seniorand super-specialised doctors,operationlisation of Burn CareUnit and Trauma Care Cen-ter, posting of senior and wellexperienced doctors in Casu-

alty; and availability of allspecialised crucial healthcareservices and state of the artequipment. After a threadbarediscussion, Patro reportedlyassured the striking scribes thathe would look into the matterpersonally and will convene ahigh-level meeting atBhubaneswar within a fewdays. Meanwhile, Principal ofthe MKCG Medical CollegeAbanikanta Mishra and Super-

intendent of the Medical Col-lege Prof Santosh KumarMishra also met the scribes infront of the main gate of thecollege and discussed withthem on all the issues raisedby the scribes and reportedlyrequested them to suspendtheir dharana. The journalistsalso met the RDC (SouthernDivision) and held a detaileddiscussion on the problems ofthe MKCG.

PNS ����� KENDRRAPADA

Sheer willpower and irondetermination has made himextraordinary and differentfrom others. Meet the 28-year-old Dalit impoverished youthBikash Malik , a resident ofKajalabandha underPattamundai block.

He has hogged the limelightfor his extra ordinary talentsof performing stunts andmanaged to get accolades andappreciations in the ruralpockets. He has got wide ap-preciation for extra-ordinarypower of dragging bike, carand tractor by his teeth. Hecan pull two running bikes on

his teeth . Besides this , he canbend 8 mm rod on his ownteeth, head and neck too. Hecan lift two wheelers on hisshoulder .

Though it needs skill , tech-niques, concentration , medi-tation and yoga to performsuch stunts, but he has learntfrom his own efforts and ex-periences. He does not haveany trainer or mentor. Ac-cording to Bikash , he has notlearnt any techniques; neitherhas he undergone training forsuch stunts. He has been per-forming the stunts in the lo-cality since last seven yearsand won accolades for his ex-tra-ordinary talent.

"I had a dream to serve themotherland by joining in theIndian Army and sacrificingmy life for the tri-colour. Butmy dream remains a dreamas I failed to join Army dueto my low educational quali-fication. I am just a 7th pass,"said Bikash.

"So I decided to do some-thing, which would establishmy own identity," he told.Bikash said he cherishes anambition to register his namein the Guinness Book ofWorld Records by bending 88mm iron rod with teeth. Forthis he has sought supportfrom the Government andwell-wishers.

Discusses volley-ball promotion inIndiaPNS ����� BHUBANESWAR

Invited by the FédérationInternationale de Volleyball(FIVB), Volleyball Federationof India president, KIIT &KISS founder and KandhamalMP Prof Achyuta Samantavisited the FIVB headquartersin Switzerland on Thursdayand had a discussion withFIVB president Dr Ary S GraçaF on the recent developmentsin and the way ahead for vol-leyball in India.

FIVB officials appreciatedthe interventions of ProfSamanta since assuming officeas the president of VolleyballFederation of India and as-sured all support for promo-tion of the sport in India. Theyalso appreciated the efforts of

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik for promotion of allsports, including volleyball, inOdisha.

They too agreed to sign anMoU with the KISS and con-vert the Biju Patnaik IndoorStadium at KIIT into a full-fledged volleyball academy byproviding equipments andforeign coaches for promotionof volleyball at the grassrootslevel in Odisha and India.

Accused youth atlargePNS ����� SUNDARGARH

The Kutra police ofSundargarh district have reg-istered a case against a youthon Thursday, for raping a 12-year-old minor girl and mak-ing her pregnant. The victimis now seven months' preg-nant. The accused youth hasabsconded and police havelaunched a manhunt to arresthim. The victim studies in anAshram school. Her motherlodged an FIR in Kutra policestation on Wednesday

evening in this regard.She complained that while

her daughter was at her homealone during November 2021,one youth identified as BishnuHess (23), a neighbourer of herhome, had entered into herhouse and had raped her andhad threatened her not to re-veal the matter to anyone.Bishnu thereafter allegedlyforcibly kept physical relationwith the victim. Later in Janu-ary, 2022, her pregnancy wasdetected at the school.

“The accused is abscondingbut we'll arrest him soon,” In-spector Incharge, Kutra policeParida, S Parida said.

In Baleswar

+2 girl jumps to death; ragging allegedPNS ����� BALESWAR

An inmate of a private PlusTwo residential hostel inBaleswar town allegedly com-mitted suicide on Thursdaybeing unable to bear raggingby fellow inmates.

The girl was accused of steal-ing Rs 200 from bag of an in-mate. Her parents alleged thatshe was mentally and physi-cally tortured by some stu-dents and the warden.

She jumped off the fourthfloor of the institutes building.She was referred to the SCBMedical College Hospital bydoctors of the DHH, but shesuccumbed to the grievous in-juries. Alleging that the de-ceased was pushed from therooftop of the institute, herparents lodged an FIR with theSadar police. The cops havebegun investigations by exam-ining the footage of theCCTVs installed in the hostel.

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The CBI has filed an FIRagainst builder Amrapali

Leisure Valley Developers PvtLtd, its director Anil Sharmaand others for allegedly cheat-ing Bank of Maharashtra andAndhra Bank (now UBI) of �230.97 crore.

Following the registrationof the case, the agency con-ducted searches at four loca-tions including at New Delhi,Noida and Ghaziabad in UttarPradesh at the premises of theaccused which resulted inrecovery of incriminating doc-uments, the CBI in a statementsaid .

In its FIR, the CBI hasalleged that Amrapali LeisureValley Developers Pvt Ltd wassanctioned a term loan forconstruction of flats at GreaterNoida. However, despite takingfull disbursal of the loans, theproject is still incomplete andthe account turned non-per-forming asset (NPA) on March31, 2017. It was also alleged thatthe borrower company had

made rampant diversion offunds to various other compa-nies.

Besides borrower companyand its director Anil KumarSharma, the CBI has bookedother directors/erstwhile direc-tor/corporate guarantors-ShivPriya, Suvash Chandra Kumar,Pankaj Mehta, Atul Mittal,Ashish Jain, Gagandeep Singhand unknown public servantsand private persons.

The banks had sanctionedcredit facilities to develop ahousing building at the TechZone IV in Uttar Pradesh’sGreater Noida on a plot mea-suring 1.06 lakh square metre,the FIR alleged.

Some Amrapali Group flatbuyers had approached theSupreme Court owing to thenon-delivery of promised flatsto them in Noida and GreaterNoida area where the compa-ny had promised to developand sell 42,000 units.

The apex court hadordered a forensic audit in theaffairs of the company, thecomplaint has alleged.

The forensic audit revealedthat the group allegedly divert-ed �5,619 crore through dif-ferent companies -- AmrapaliLeisure Valley Developers PvtLtd, Amrapali Homes ProjectsPvt Ltd, Ultra HomeConstructions Pvt Ltd andAmrapali Grand.it said.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has pro-

visionally attached immovableassets worth �185 crore andbank balances amounting to�7.51 crore belonging to DDPLGlobal Infrastructure PrivateLimited (DDPL) and others onmoney laundering charges in acase linked to PACL India Ltd.

Besides DDPL, assets ofUnicorn Infraprojects andEstates Private Limited andBrightview Projects and EstatesPrivate Limited have also beenattached under Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA).

PACL had collected moneyfrom the public under differentschemes for allotting plots indifferent parts of the country orgiving an option to take backtheir expected tentative value ofland in lieu of the allotted plotunder the scheme on maturi-ty. PACL was doing business ofreal-estate and sale of agricul-tural land in the countrythrough their agents and localoffice. PACL got double bene-fit by creating easy equity forprocurement of land and latertaking the benefit on the appre-ciation of the land prices.

The ED probe revealedthat PACL transferred Rs 101crore (out of the investors’money) in DhanashreeDevelopers Private Limited,

out of which �26 crore wastransferred to DDPL. Further,PACL transferred �2,285.79crore to one Prateek Kumarwho invested �94.61 crore inDDPL and Unicorn. PACLalso transferred �110.95 crorein Systematix Venture CapitalTrust through its 25 front com-

panies, which was invested inDDPL and Unicorn in form ofOptionally Fully-ConvertibleDebentures (OFCD) and equi-ty, the ED saidin a statement.

With PACL funds, DDPLand Unicorn purchased landparcels at Vasai, Palgarh,Maharashtra. The two compa-nies also entered into variousagreements with different enti-ties for sale of FSI and con-struction of residential-cum-commercial projects and gen-erated huge profits.

“At this stage of investiga-tion, land ad-measuring3,39,984.2 square meters atVasai and bank balancesamounting to �7,51,78,480have been attached,” the agencyadded.

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The CBI has registered a caseagainst former Collector

of Surendranagar district ofGujarat, Kankipati Rajesh(2011-batch IAS officer ofGujarat cadre), and others in abribery case involving grant ofarms licence, and conductedsearches at the premises of theaccused persons.

Besides Rajesh, the agencyhas also booked proprietor ofJeans Corner, Surat, Md. RafiqMenon, who was arrested afterthe searches. Menon allegedlyacted as a middleman in thebribery episodes.

“The case has been regis-tered on the allegations ofdemand and receipt of illegalgratification/bribe related togrant of arm licences, allotmentof Government land and reg-ularization of encroachedGovernment land in the nameof ineligible beneficiaries,” theCBI said in a statement.

A Preliminary Enquiry(PE) was earlier registered ona request from the GujaratGovernment in the matter.

The Regular Case is an out-come of the PE that pointed toprima facie culpability of theaccused IAS officers and oth-ers in the bribery allegations,officials said.

Searches were conducted atthe premises of accused officerin Gandhi Nagar and that ofthe private person in Suratbesides Rajahmundry (AndhraPradesh) which led to recoveryof several incriminating docu-mentary and digital evidence,the CBI further said.

Memon, who acted as theIAS officer’s middleman andallegedly used to collect bribemoney for him. He was arrest-ed from Surat after the search-es. Rajesh is presently servingas the Joint Secretary in theGeneral AdministrationDepartment of the GujaratGovernment in Gandhinagar.

The IAS officer is facingallegations of sanctioning armslicenses to ineligible personsduring his stint as Collector ofSurendranagar as also regular-ising encroached governmentland and allotting land to inel-igible beneficiaries, officialssaid.Menon will be producedbefore the Special Court, CBICases, Ahmedabad for furtheraction.

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ADelhi court on Fridaydirected the CBI to give a

three-day prior notice toCongress MP KartiChidambaram if it requiredarresting him in connectionwith the Chinese visa scam caselinked to Vedanta Group’spower project in Punjab.Dismissing Karti’s anticipatorybail petition, Special Judge MKNagpal also passed the order toKarti appear before CBI with-in 16 hours after landing India.Karti is currently in Europe.

The plea was opposed bythe CBI, which said it was notmaintainable at this stage. CBIalso stated that the agency willgive notice before 48 hours atleast if he was required to bearrested. The court, however,directed that in case the CBIwas required to arrest theaccused, he needed to be givennotice prior to three workingdays.

On Thursday, the Courthad sent Chidambaram fami-ly’s Chartered Accountant SBhaskararaman to four daysCBI custody. The CBI FIR saidthat �50 lakh bribe was accept-ed from Vedanta Group’s powercompany for illegally issuing263 visas to Chinese techni-cians in August 2011, whenChidambaram was the HomeMinister.

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CBI raids premises ofall accused in grantof arms licence case

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The Supreme Court onFriday extended the time

for submitting the report by theapex court-appointed technicaland supervisory committees tolook into the Pegasus row, say-ing 29 “infected” mobilephones are being examinedfor the spyware and the processshould be over in four weeks.A bench headed by ChiefJustice N V Ramana said thetechnical committee has beenexamining mobiles for the spy-ware and has also recordedstatements of persons includ-ing some journalists andactivists.

Standard operating pro-cedure for testing the ‘infecteddevices’ will be finalised too, itsaid, adding the probe by thetechnical committee may beover by the May end and thenthe supervisory judge would bemaking a report for the perusalof the bench. Referring to thereceipt of an interim report, thebench, also comprising justicesSurya Kant and Hima Kohli,said that the technical com-mittee, which has received 29mobiles for examining the spy-

ware, has developed its soft-ware for this purpose andissued notices to some gov-ernment agencies and indi-viduals including journalists.

“Preferably, the process bythe technical committee shouldbe over in four weeks and thesupervisory judge should beinformed. The supervisoryjudge shall submit his reportthereafter. List sometime inJuly,” said the bench.

The bench did not passany order concerning therequest made by senior lawyerKapil Sibal, who has beenappearing for some petitioners,that the interim report be madeavailable to the parties. SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the Centre, said thereport being an interim one

need not be made public at thisstage.

The bench, which onOctober 27, last year hadordered a probe into the alle-gations of use of Israeli spywareby government agencies for tar-geted surveillance of politi-cians, journalists, and activists,has now fixed the case for fur-ther consideration in July. Thepanel, which included threeexperts on cyber security, dig-ital forensics, networks, andhardware, was asked to“inquire, investigate and deter-mine” whether Pegasus spy-ware was used for snooping oncitizens and their probe wouldbe monitored by a former apexcourt judge R V Raveendran.

The panel members wereNaveen Kumar Chaudhary,Prabaharan P, and Ashwin AnilGumaste. Justice Raveendran,who is heading the monitoringpanel, has been assisted byformer IPS officer Alok Joshiand Sundeep Oberoi,Chairman of Sub Committee inInternational Organisation ofStandardisation/ InternationalE l e c t r o - T e c h n i c a lCommission/Joint TechnicalCommittee - in monitoring theinquiry of the technical panel.

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Starting later this year, theUnion Government will

introduce a newly approved‘Made in India’ tuberculosis(TB) infection skin test called‘c-TB’, a cost effective tube, thatthe Union Health MinisterMandukh Mandaviya saidwould be of immense benefit toother high burden countries aswell.

He said this while address-ing the 35th board meeting ofthe “Stop TB Partnership”through video-conferencing inthe national capital recently.

Highlighting the severeimpact of the Covid-19 pan-demic on TB programmes inhigh burden countries, the

Union Health Minister saidseveral new initiatives hadbeen taken in the country toturn the crisis into an oppor-tunity under the leadership ofthe Prime Minister NarendraModi.

Several health initiativeshave been taken, such as a‘bidirectional testing’ of TBwith Covid, house-to-houseTB detection campaigns, scal-ing up of rapid molecular diag-nostics at sub-district levels, useof artificial intelligence anddigital tools, Jan Andolan andmost importantly, decentrali-sation of TB services toAyushman Bharat Health andWellness Centres as part ofcomprehensive primary health-care.

Mandaviya also informed

that a new initiative, “Adoptpeople with TB” will belaunched this year based onIndian values of collectivismwhich will urge corporates,industries, organisations, polit-ical parties and individuals tocome forward and adopt TBinfected people and families,and provide them with nutri-tional and social support.

“We are also activelyinvolving elected representa-tives in India like the Membersof Parliament, Members ofLegislative Assemblies in thestates, members of urban localbodies and panchayat repre-sentatives at the grassrootslevel in raising awareness andadvocating for TB across thecountry,” the Union Ministersaid.

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Vaccination after infectionwith Covid-19 causing

SARS-CoV-2 is associated witha decrease in the likelihood oflong Covid symptoms, as per alarge study of UK adults pub-lished by The BMJ on Friday.

It stressed that causalitycannot be inferred from thisobservational evidence, butsaid vaccination “may con-tribute to a reduction in thepopulation health burden oflong Covid, at least in the firstfew months after vaccination.”Thus making the case for con-tinuing with vaccination strat-egy.

Vaccines against Covid-19are effective at reducing rates of

coronavirus infection, trans-mission, hospital admission,and death.

Evidence also suggeststhat long Covid is reduced inthose who are infected aftervaccination, but the effective-ness of vaccination on pre-existing long Covid is less clear.

The latest survey by theUK’s Office for NationalStatistics (ONS) shows that44% of people who report longCovid have had symptoms forat least one year, two thirds ofwhom report symptoms severeenough to limit their day-to-day activities.

So a team of researchers setout to estimate associationsbetween Covid-19 vaccinationand long Covid symptoms in

adults with SARS-CoV-2 infec-tion before vaccination.

They drew on ONS datafor 28,356 adults aged 18-69years (average age 46; 56%women; 89% white) whoreceived at least one Covid-19vaccine dose after testing pos-itive for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

They then tracked the pres-ence of long Covid symptomsover a seven month follow-upperiod (February to September2021).

Long Covid symptoms ofany severity were reported by6,729 participants (24%) atleast once during follow-up.

Before vaccination, theodds of experiencing longCovid changed little over time.

���������������������������

The Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) Rajiv

Kumar and ElectionCommissioner Anup KumarPandey have decided to give upcertain perks and privilegesavailable to them.

According to an ElectionCommission statement, thetwo have decided not to availexemption from income tax onsumptuary allowance and tosurrender two of the threeLeave Travel Concessions(LTC) available each year.

“It was decided to send theproposal to the Central gov-ernment for appropriate action.Further, CEC and ECs will availonly one LTC in a year in placeof three LTCs presently avail-able to them,” the statementsaid.

After assuming the chargeas the chief election commis-sioner on March 15, Kumar onFriday held the first meeting ofthe Election Commission,along with fellow Election

Commissioner Pandey. At present, there is one

vacancy in the poll panel whichhad been a three-member bodysince October 1993. “Amongother things, the Commissionreviewed the perks and privi-leges available to the CEC andElection Commissioners (ECs),including the income taxexemptions given to them onsumptuary allowance,” thestatement said.

The CEC and ECs drawsalary, perks and perquisites asper Section 3 of the ElectionCommission (Conditions ofService of ElectionCommissioners andTransaction of Business) Act,1991. They are entitled to amonthly sumptuary allowanceof Rs 34,000.

There is no income taxpayable by the CEC and ECs onthis allowance. They are alsoentitled to three LTCs in a yearfor self, spouse and dependentmembers of the family.

The Commission felt theneed of observing austerity inpersonal entitlements.

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Several aircraft belonging tolow-cost carrier SpiceJet

were stopped from operatingby Air Traffic Control (ATC) atthe Delhi airport on Fridaymorning as the airline didn’tmake the requisite daily pay-ment to Airport Authority ofIndia ( AAI). Passengers ofSpiceJet flights on Friday tookto social media to complainhow their flights at Delhi air-port were delayed.

The airline’s spokespersonsaid the daily payment wasdelayed due to a software glitchand the flights are now oper-ating normally. “Due to a tech-nical snag in SAP, the auto-matic daily payment could notbe processed. This is beingmade manually to AAI whichhas been apprised of the issue.SpiceJet’s flight operations arenow continuing as normal,” aSpiceJet spokesperson said.

Sources said that AirTraffic Control, which is an

arm of AAI, was instructed notto give clearance to the airline’saircraft to take-off as the pay-ment was not made. Generally,airlines pay for facilities pro-vided by AAI like route navi-gation, landing, parking etcon a monthly basis. Undercash and carry mode an airlinehas to pay daily for the facili-ties used at an airport.

AAI has put SpiceJet on“cash and carry” mode since2020, due to the airline’s inabil-ity to clear airport dues.SpiceJet has to make daily pay-ments to the AAI to operateflights after the airline was puton a “cash and carry” basis bythe authorities as it had failedto clear its previous dues.

New Delhi: Taking exceptionto the slowed-down Covid-19vaccination drive in a majori-ty of the States, the Centre hasasked them to accelerate therecent placid momentum, theCentre on Friday advised allStates to plan for a two-month-long “Har Ghar Dastak” cam-paign 2.0 from next month.

The Union HealthMinistry urged the States andUTs to significantly expeditethe pace towards full vaccina-tion coverage by saturating alleligible beneficiaries, as per anofficial from the Min. In ameeting of states and union ter-ritories, he said that UnionHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan strongly advised thatit should be ensured there is no

wastage of Covid vaccines atany cost. “This must be ensuredthrough active monitoring andon the basis of ‘first expiry firstout’ principle, where does thatexpire earlier should be usedfor vaccination first, states andunion territories were told,”said the official.

Highlighting the urgentneed for an intensive ‘missionmode’ push to Covid vaccina-tion across the country toaccelerate the recent placidmomentum, the Union healthsecretary has advised them toplan for a two-month long‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign2.0, during June-July, withdetailed district, block and vil-lage levels plans, the officialadded. PNS

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With China building a sec-ond bridge on the

Pangong Tso(lake)in Ladakh,India on Friday said it is in anarea that has been under ille-gal occupation of that countrysince 1960. Also, New Delhihas never accepted such illegaloccupation of India’s territory,

it was reiterated.The assertion came on a

day when Congress leaderRahul Gandhi attacked thegovernment on the issue andsaid a “timid and docileresponse will not do.” ThePrime Minister must defendthe nation, he said.

Reports about satelliteimages showing the construc-tion of the second bridge came

out two days ago. Imageryshowed that the bridge is capa-ble of handling tanks andarmoured columns therebyenabling China to rapidlydeploy its forces in times of cri-sis.

Reacting to the reports,External Affairs Ministryspokesperson Arindam Bagchisaid here “We have seen reportsof a bridge being constructed

by China onPangong Lakealongside its earlier bridge.”

“Both these bridges are inareas that have continued to beunder the illegal occupation ofChina since the 1960s,” Bagchisaid. He was replying to mediaqueries on the matter.

“We have never acceptedsuch illegal occupation of ourterritory, nor have we accept-ed the unjustified Chinese

claim or such constructionactivities,” the spokespersonsaid. He also said “We havemade it clear on several occa-sions that the union territoriesof Jammu and Kashmir andLadakh are an integral part ofIndia and we expect othercountries to respect India’ssovereignty and territorialintegrity.”

As regards preparations to

deal with any challenge, Bagchisaid the government hasstepped up development ofborder infrastructure especial-ly since 2014, including con-struction of roads and bridges.

“The government remainscommitted to the objective ofcreating infrastructure alongthe border areas to not onlymeet India’s strategic and secu-rity requirements but also facil-

itate the economic develop-ment of these areas,” he said.

The spokesperson said thegovernment keeps a constantwatch on all developments thathave a bearing on India’s secu-rity and takes all necessarymeasures to safeguard its sov-ereignty and territorial integri-ty. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhisaid India’s national securityand territorial integrity are

non-negotiable and the primeminister must defend thenation. “China builds firstbridge on Pangong. GOI: Weare monitoring the situation.China builds second bridge onPangong. GOI: We are moni-toring the situation,” Gandhisaid on Twitter.

“India’s national securityand territorial integrity is non-negotiable.

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Election strategist PrashantKishor on Friday said the

marathon brainstorming ses-sion held by Congress inUdaipur “failed to achieve any-thing meaningful” and assert-ed that the Congress was fac-ing an “impending electoralrout” in Gujarat and HimachalPradesh, states ruled by the BJPwhere assembly polls are duelater this year.

Kishor, who recentlyturned down an offer to jointhe Congress, further expressedthat the ‘Chintan Shivir’ onlyhelped in “prolonging the sta-tus-quo”.

“I have been repeatedlyasked to comment on the out-come of Udaipur ChintanShivir...In my view, it failed toachieve anything meaningfulother than prolonging the sta-tus quo and giving some timeto the Congress leadership, atleast till the impending elec-toral rout in Gujarat andHimachal Pradesh,” said.Kishor. Kishor has sincelaunched a political movement‘Jan Suraaj’, aimed at trans-forming the politics in hishome state of Bihar.

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Page 5: Daily Pioneer

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One construction workerfrom West Bengal was

found dead while the fate ofnine others remained unknownafter an under construction'adit' tunnel collapsed near'Khooni nallah' betweenRamban and Ramsoo along theJammu-Srinagar NationalHighway late Thursday night.Three laborers were safely res-cued from the accident site latein the night by the rescueteams launched by the districtadministration.

At least nine trappedworkers could not be rescuedduring the day-long joint res-cue operations conducted bythe teams of National DisasterResponse Force, State DisasterResponse Force, civil,army andpolice authorities.

According to officialsources, the rescue operationswere hampered by theinclement weather conditionslate Friday evening and thesame were suspended by theauthorities to prevent furtherloss of lives.The rescue opera-tions would be resumed onSaturday morning.

Deputy CommissionerRamban, Masrat-ul-Islam wholed the rescue teams lateThursday night told reportersat the accident site on Friday, "ataround 10.45 p.m, I first

received an information thatmouth of an 'adit tunnel' to tun-nel T4 have collapsed. Weimmediately mobilised ourteams and rushed to the acci-dent site. We started the rescueoperations around 12.00 a.m".The rescue operations weredelayed because the accidentsite was still active and the res-cue teams were not allowed tolaunch the operations to avoidfurther loss of lives". Threelaborers were rescued late lastnight while we recovered onedead body of a labourer fromWest Bengal during the day.Out of these three one of themhas been referred to theGovernment Medical collegehospital in Jammu. He said therescue teams were still lookingfor 9 survivors as they remaineduntraceable. Out of these fourhailed from West Bengal, twofrom Nepal, 1 from Assam and

two others were locals.Masrat Ul Islam informed

the adit tunnel which collapsedwas an escape tunnel which isnormally used for emergencypurposes, supplies and venti-lation. It was only puncturedthree meters when it collapsedlate Thursday night."Unfortunately there was notenough space for the labourersto move inside the tunnelwhich could have saved them.We are still keeping our fingerscrossed and hope to find somepeople alive", he added.

Official sources claimed amajor tragedy was averted asthe accident was reported latein the night when only aboutone dozen people were presenton duty. During the day morelabourers work at the underconstruction tunnel site.

Lieutenant GovernorManoj Sinha who is constant-

ly monitoring the situation inRamban. He also chaired ahigh-level meeting with seniorofficials at the Civil Secretariatand discussed the progress ofrescue operations.

Expressing concern overthe incident, the Lt Governorsaid rescue operations willcontinue on war footing till thelast person is reached.

According to a local eye-witness the tunnel collapsedaround 10.15 p.m when bigboulders hit the front portion.Local reports suggested theconstruction agency had trig-gered local blasts at the con-struction site earlier.

"It was pitch dark. Therewas no power supply in thearea. The labourers weretrapped under the debris",claimed Yasir, an eyewitness.

Another eyewitnessManjeet said, some labourerswere standing on the mouth ofthe tunnel and others wereworking on the ground whensuddenly big boulders hit themand everything including heavymachinery was buried. Seniorofficers of the NationalHighway Authority of Indiaalong with DivisionalCommissioner Jammu RameshKumar Jangid, ADGPPolice,Jammu range MukeshSingh and representatives of theproject execution agency visit-ed the spot to take stock of the

rescue operations. Divisional Commissioner

Ramesh Kumar Jangid said,teams of NDRF, SDRF localpolice and civil authorities areall working together to rescuethe survivors from the accidentsite. He said the machinery wasmobilised late in the night andrescue operations werelaunched to rescue the trappedworkers, "We are facing chal-lenges because we have to firstcut the boulders and then pushthe same downhill to creategaps to look for survivors. Wehave to ensure safety of the res-cue workers and using minimalmachinery to prevent freshlandslide in the area", said DCRamban Masrat-ul-Islam.

An expert Geologist ProfGM Bhat observed, "it appearsthe project execution agenciesare going ahead withunplanned excavation, sublet-ting the job to non profession-al people".

They are blasting the rocksby adopting an 'unscientific'approach. Prof Bhat claimedthe rocks in the region arestrong enough. The mishapsare not happening due to nat-ural causes even though theregion falls in the seismic zoneIV and V. The mishaps are hap-pening because the agencies onthe ground are adopting anunscientific approach of blast-ing the rocks.

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India has exported wheat worth$ 177 million in March and

$473 million in April this year.The government data showedthat India exported wheat even ata time when about eight nations,including Ukraine, Belarus,Turkey, Egypt, Kazakhstan andKuwait, had imposed wheatexport restrictions. Top sourcessaid that several countries haveapproached the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA), seekingclarification on whether theirrequests for Indian wheat wouldbe fulfilled.

According to sources, overthree dozen countries havesought food grains from India,with many others hinting theywould also need them. On May13, the government banned allprivate wheat exports with imme-diate effect to control risingdomestic prices and ensure foodsecurity of India, neighbouringnations and vulnerable coun-tries. The G7 nations had criti-cised the Indian government'sdecision to restrict the exports.

"Still, after the conflict beganon February 24, 2022, India hasexported wheat worth USD 177million and USD 473 million inMarch and April, respectively,despite facing challenges of lowwheat production as a result ofextreme heat wave that envelopedthe northern part of the countrythat caused shrivelled grains andresultant drop in yield per acre,"one of the sources said.

According to the DGFT(Directorate General of ForeignTrade) notification, wheat exportsare allowed on the basis of per-mission granted by theGovernment of India to othercountries to meet their foodsecurity needs and based on therequest of their governments.

Among the wheat exportingcountries, India ranked 19th in2020, 35th in 2019, 36th in 2018and 2017, which shows that it hasan insignificant share (0.47 percent) while seven countries(Russia, the US, Canada, France,Ukraine, Australia andArgentina) have largest share inthe overall quantity of wheatexport in the past five years,sources said.

"A negotiation-basedapproach instead of conflictwould have prevented removal ofnearly a quarter of wheat exportsfrom Russia and Ukraine," thesource said, adding "exportrestrictions have been a regularfeature of major food producerswhich has adversely affectedIndia too".

Egypt and Turkey have also

been importing significant quan-tity of wheat from India and haveno locus standi for asking foropen exports after having restrict-ed them. Besides wheat, a num-ber of other food products havebeen restricted for exports andthese include curbs on exportingvegetable oil by Argentina,Kazakhstan, Cameroon, andKuwait.

"These have resulted in sig-nificant price rise and India hasbeen at the receiving end," thesource said.

As wheat exports from Indiatrickled to a stop, anxious import-ing nations have started puttingin diplomatic requests as the listof countries seeking the graincontinues to increase,

About a dozen countrieshave reached out to the Ministryof External Affairs (MEA), seek-ing clarification on whether theirrequests for Indian wheat wouldbe fulfilled, officials said. On theother hand, as many as 47 coun-tries have sought food grainsfrom India, with many othershinting they would also needthem.

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In a landmark judgment theCalcutta High Court on

Friday ruled that DearnessAllowance was both, legal andfundamental right related tothe right to life.

This, even as the Bengalgovernment continued to suf-fer judicial setbacks withDivision Bench of JusticeHarish Tandoon directing theState to clear the DA of the gov-ernment employees withinthree months.

The DA would be paidunder the West Bengal Services(Revision of Pay andAllowances) Rules, 2009, advo-cates of the petitioners said.

Accordingly the “DAwould have to be calculated interms of the All IndiaConsumer Price Index average536 (1982=100),” sources said.

“The Division Bench ofJustice Harish Tandon andJustice Rabindranath Samanta

said that DA is a legal right ofthe government employees.The court has upheld the orderof the SAT (state administrativetribunal) which was passed inJuly, 2019 while rejecting thewrit petition of the state gov-ernment, Shamim said addingthe Court upheld the earlierorder given by the StateAdministrative Tribunal.

According to estimatesabout 10 lakh governmentemployees and pensionerswould be benefited by thejudgment.

Reacting to the order BJPstate spokesperson SamikBhattacharya said that “theGovernment was trying to con-vince the Court that it hadshortage of funds … even theChief Minister had alsoattacked the governmentemployees saying they were‘barking’ as if they were dogs …but at the same time she hadthe funds to give doles to winvotes.”

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlastressed that shouting slo-

gans and showing placardsneither add to the prestige ofthe members nor the dignityof legislature and only mean-ingful debate and discussionsin the House enhance the dignity of the legislature.

Birla said this after inau-gurating a two-day orientationprogramme for newly-electedmembers of UP assembly inLucknow on Friday.

Of the total 403 membersof UP assembly, a sizable 128are first time legislators and200 MLAs have been electedfor a second or more terms. Ofthe total legislators, 47 arewomen members.

"The better discussion anddialogue in the House, themore there will be an increasein dignity and prestige of thelegislature. People's represen-tatives must adopt the higheststandards of conduct in theHouse and maintain the sanc-

tity of the legislature,” the LokSabha speaker said.

Birla further said, "By cre-ating disturbance inside theHouse or by shouting slogansand waving placards, neitherthe prestige of the membersnor the dignity of the Houseincreases. Therefore, weshould not encourage suchpractices. Legislatures are plat-forms for debates and discus-sion and not for sloganeering.”

The Lok Sabha speakersaid that serious and pur-poseful discussions and dia-logue would lead to better out-comes in the form of betterlegislations which would bring

positive change in the lives ofthe people.

“Law is meant to changepeople's lives, to ensure rightsto the people and to maketheir life easier and simpler.Therefore, the more simpleand easy the laws become, eas-ier and speedy justice will bedelivered to the people,” hesaid.

Referring to the impor-tance of attendance in theHouse, Birla said that lowattendance of MLAs in leg-islative assemblies was a mat-ter of serious concern.

"The longer public repre-sentatives sit in the House, themore they get guidance fromtheir senior and experiencedlegislators and there will bemeaningful discussions anddialogues in the House," heopined.

Emphasising on takinginputs from the people formaking laws, Birla said thatpeople's representatives shouldget inputs from the people sothat their hopes and aspira-tions could be incorporated inlegislation.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath stressed on

strict compliance with trafficrules with special emphasis onroad safety and directed offi-cials to take action againstencroachments along express-ways, national highways, PublicWorks Department roads, cityroads and others by running ajoint campaign with the depart-ments concerned.

On Friday, Yogi directedofficials to take strictest actionagainst people in case of illegalrecovery by traffic police, trans-port, geology and mining andGST personnel under the pol-icy of zero tolerance towardscorruption. In this regard,detailed guidelines were issuedby the Home department to alldivisional commissioners, dis-trict magistrates, four com-missioners of police, and alldistrict police chiefs.

Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish KumarAwasthi said that with special

focus on removing encroach-ments, illegal parking lots andillegally-operated auto, taxiand bus stands by the roadside,officers had been directed totake effective steps.

“It will also ensure that traf-fic on public roads is notobstructed,” he said.

Officials were instructedthat no vehicle like school bus,private bus, Transport depart-ment bus, private contract bus,truck, two-wheeler and four-wheeler be allowed to operatewithout the fitness certificate.They were further instructed tostop overloading of vehiclesand initiate effective actionunder Gangsters Act/GoondaAct against illegal parking lots/vehicle stand operators.

The directive further saidthat vehicles should not beallowed to park at entry pointsin big cities and legal action beensured against the dhaba own-ers concerned if vehicles werefound parked at the roadside bydhabas without parking facili-ties.

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In an apparent tactical retreat,MNS chief Raj Thackeray on

Friday announced that he was“temporarily” deferring hismuch-discussed visit toAyodhya scheduled earlier forJune 5.

In a brief announcementmade to this effect on hisTwitter handle, the MNS chiefdid not cite any reason for post-poning his visit to Ayodhya butsaid that he would talk aboutthe issue at a later stage.

Raj’s decision to postponehis visit to Ayodhya sparkedspeculation in the state politi-cal circles. One of the infer-ences being drawn are: since hehas already bitten more than hecan chew on by raking up the“Hanuman Chalisa” issue andassociating himself indirectlywith the Opposition, he wantsto see if the timing of his visitto Ayodhya is right.

The inference should beseen in the light of the fact thathis visit to Ayodhya will havehappened around the timewhen Shiv Sena leader andMaharashtra Minister AadityaThackeray is visiting the placealong with hundreds of partyworkers. Whether he likes it ornot, Raj’s visit to Ayodhya willbe compared with that ofAaditya, a thing that the MNSchief does not want.

Secondly, he wants to firstdecide whether he will formallytie-up with the BJP for the cru-cial Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) electionsscheduled to be held inSeptember/October this year.Maybe he wants to completethe seat sharing negotiationswith the BJP first beforeembarking upon his visit to

Lord Rama’s birth place. The MNS chief ’s decision

to postpone his visit toAyodhya has come in the midstof vociferious protests by someBJP leaders and activists inUttar Pradesh and other north-ern states who are opposingRaj’s proposed visit to LordRam’s birth place.

A section of the BJP lead-ers and workers has for sometime been demanding Raj'sunconditional apology for thetreatment meted out to northIndians in the MNS agitation in2008. The anti-Raj protests areled by BJP mp from UttarPradesh Brijbhushan SharanSingh who warned that unlesshe apologises, Lakhs of hissupporters would block hisentry to Ayodhya on June 5.

Another speculation that isgoing to Ayodhya in the statepolitical circles is that Raj haspostponed his Ayodhya visitbecause of health reasons.However, there was no officialconfirmation on this count.

Meanwhile, MNSSpokesperson SandipDeshpande and his senior col-league Bala Nandgaonkar hada tough time fielding queriesover his sudden decision todefer his Ayodhya visit. Theysaid that the MNS chief wouldbrief his party workers at a pub-lic rally that he is planning toaddress in Pune on Sunday.

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Senior Samajwadi Partyleader and former minister

Mohammad Azam Khan wasreleased from Sitapur districtjail on Friday, a day after theSupreme Court granted himinterim bail in a case of cheat-ing.

The apex court grantedthe bail by exercising its pow-ers under Article 142 of theConstitution.

Shivpal Singh Yadav, theestranged uncle of SamajwadiParty chief Akhilesh Yadav,and Khan's two sons were pre-sent at the Sitapur prison gateto welcome Azam Khan.

Welcoming Azam Khan'srelease from the jail, AkhileshYadav later tweeted, "Heartywelcome to Shri Azam Khan jion his release on bail. With thisdecision of bail, the SupremeCourt has given new stan-dards to justice. I am sure thathe will be acquitted in all otherfalse cases. Lies have moments,not centuries.”

Azam Khan was accused in88 cases registered against himand he has been in jail sinceFebruary, 2020. Earlier, thecourt had granted him bail in87 cases while the 88th casepertained to land-grabbing andforgery at Rampur PublicSchool.

Azam Khan was accused offorging building certificates toget recognition for the school.The cheating case was filed onMay 6, days before Khan wasgranted bail in all 87 cases andwas supposed to walk out ofprison.

The Rampur MLA allegedthat he was being implicated inmultiple cases to prolong hisstay in the jail.

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After having been behindthe bars for more than six

and a half years for allegedlymurdering her daughterSheena Bora, media bigwigIndrani Mukerjea walked out ofjail on Friday, two days after shewas granted bail by theSupreme Court.

Fifty-year-old Indranilooked relaxed in her a whitesalwar-suit, make-up and hergray locks well-coiffed, as shestepped out of Byculla women’sprison and got into a waitingcar along with her lawyer SanaR. Khan. It was not immedi-ately known if she headeddirectly home or some otherlocation.

When media persons but-tonholed her for a comment,she feebly smiled and said:“Khula aasman dekha… BahutKhushi hui…” (I saw the openskies and felt very happy”.

Indrani said she was feel-ing better but added had notmade any future plans.

On Wednesday, the apexcourt granted bail to Indraniagainst a surety of Rs.200,000.She was enlarged on bail aftershe approached the variouscourts for the 10th time sinceshe was arrested in August2015.

Indrani, who was arrestedon August 25, 2015, is the keyaccused in the Sheena Boramurder case. Indrani’s formerhusband Sanjeev Khanna andher second husband PeterMukherjea are two otheraccused in the case.

Peter Mukerjea, who washer husband at the time ofcrime and was not present atthe site of crime, was chargedwith having been involved in aconspiracy hatched by Indranito eliminate her daughter. Hehas also been charged withdestruction of evidence in thecase.

The Prosecution’s case isthat Indrani, along with Sanjeevand her driver Shyamvar Rai –who has turned an approver inthe case — had allegedly “kid-napped” Sheena between 6.30pm and 7.30 pm on April 24,2012, from Bandra (west) intheir car. Sheena was allegedlystrangulated in the car on thesame evening and that on thefollowing morning they carriedthe body of the deceasedpacked in a bag (which hadthey kept in the rear side of thecar) to the jungles GogadeKhurd village off the Khopoli-Pen Road, where they dousedthe bag with petrol and set it onfire.

Sheena was the daughter of

Indrani from her first live-inpartner Siddhartha Das.Incidentally, Sheena was in alive-in relationship with RahulMukerjea, the son of PeterMukherjea – a relationshipwhich the CBI has stated in itsaffidavit both Indrani and Peterhad disapproved of.

Sheena and PeterMukjerjea separated from oneanother by way of divourcethrough mutual consent inOctober 2019. The BombayHigh Court had on February 6,202o granted bail top Peter onthe ground that prima faciethere was no evidence to provehis direct involvement SheenaBora’s murder.

The CBI — which tookover the investigations intothe Sheena Bora murder casefrom the Mumbai police onSeptember 29, 2015 — had onNovember 19, 2015 filed acomprehensive charge-sheet,running into 1,000-odd pages,against Indrani, her formerhusband Khanna and driverShyamvar Rai.

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Page 6: Daily Pioneer

has sharply stepped up the fre-quency and lethality of its ter-ror strikes. Asfandyar Mir, asenior expert at the USInstitute of Peace, points out ina paper, titled The ISIS-KResurgence, that the latteradvocates “mass casualtyattacks” against civilians andStates. It intends “to topple thePakistani Government, punishthe Iranian Government forbeing a ‘vanguard’ of the Shias”and “purify” Afghanistan —“both by dislodging theAfghan Taliban as the mainjihadi movement inAfghanistan and punishingminority groups, like theHazaras.”

In ‘Countering a ResurgentTerrorist Threat in Afghanistan’(Foreign Affairs, April 24,2022), Seth G Jones cites theestimate that “the ISKP carriedout 76 attacks on Talibanforces between September 18and November 30, 2021, a sig-nificant jump from 2020, whenit conducted only eight attacksduring the entire year”. Therewas a fall in the incidence ofISKP’s strikes during the win-ter following the Taliban’sharsh military action, partic-ularly in Nangarhar province.However, there is an upwardtrend again. ChristinaGoldbaum writes in The NewYork Times datelined May 1,2022: “The attacks of the pasttwo weeks have left at least 100people dead, figures from hos-

pitals suggest, and stoked fearsthat Afghanistan is headinginto a violent spring, as theIslamic State’s affiliate in thecountry tries to undermine theTaliban Government andassert its newfound reach.”

Will the Taliban be able tosquelch the ISPK’s challenge?The latter had been confinedmostly to eastern Afghanistanduring the past six years.Goldbaum points out thatsince the Taliban takeover, it“has grown in reach andexpanded in nearly all 34provinces”. One reason, ofcourse, has been the release ofjailed ISKP prisoners by theTaliban after capturing power,which virtually doubled theformer’s strength from around2,000 to around 4,000. Alsodrawn to it are young Talibanfighters who have gained littlefrom the Islamic Emirate.Further, as Seth G Jones pointsout, some of the former mem-bers of Afghanistan’s militaryand main intelligence agency,the National Directorate ofSecurity, have joined the ISKPas it is “the most active oppo-sition group to the Taliban”.This may well make a differ-ence given their expertise.

The Taliban have theadvantage of having a well-equipped army with a back-ground of waging successfulguerrilla warfare, and a strongpresence throughout the coun-try. Guerrilla warfare, howev-

er, is very different fromcounter-insurgency, to whichthe Taliban are new. Also,continued failure on the eco-nomic front may starve it ofresources to fight the ISPK andcause disaffection benefitingthe latter. Growing tensionswith Pakistan, involving bor-der clashes, can stand in theway of mutual cooperation infighting the ISIS-K. Besides,tensions between theKandahar and Haqqani groupsin the Taliban, which are man-ifest, may lead to migration tothe ISIS-K by disgruntled ele-ments on either side.

Besides, it is not just theISKP. According to a report,‘Mapping Afghan ResistanceMovement’, by Security RisksResearch of Security RisksAsia, resistance groups com-prising former opponents ofthe Taliban, are gearing up.These include the SupremeCouncil of National Resistancefor the Salvation ofAfghanistan, NationalResistance Front ofAfghanistan, Tehreek-e-AzadiAfghanistan and AfghanIslamic National andLiberation Movement. Theseriousness of their challenge,however, remains to be seen.Nevertheless, the IslamicEmirate clearly has a squallypassage ahead.

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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������������ �����������Sir — Senior BJP leader and MadhyaPradesh’s former Chief Minister UmaBharti on Thursday said that “Acts aremade for people, not people for Acts”while answering a question on challeng-ing the Places of Worship Act, 1991. Shefurther said such Acts can be amended forthe sake of people’s welfare. Citing anexample to justify her statement, she saidthat earlier also the Constitution had beenamended to proclaim Emergency byIndira Gandhi to save her position as thePM. Muslims have also known that Kashiis the religious centre for Hindus and thepoliticians opposing it are not the real rep-resentatives of Muslims but playing pol-itics in the name of their community.

From the archaeological evidenceavailable, it is quite clear that the placewhere the mosque now stands was a tem-ple and, according to Muslim law, mosquescannot be built upon or namaz offered atsuch places which belong to another com-munity or religion. By offering namaz inGyanvapi Masjid, the Muslims are insult-ing their own religion. Talking about thePlaces of Worship Act, 1991, it could beamended according to the need of thehour by the Indian judiciary and properjustice will then be granted to the Hindus.

Ishita Patidar | Ujjain

����������������������� ����Sir —There were people who thought thatRussia’s attack on Ukraine would not affectus since we are far away but their sensesgave way when, within a few weeks of thewar’s beginning, the prices of food prod-ucts, especially those made from flour andsunflower seeds, skyrocketed. Apart fromthis, the prices of all the food items havestarted increasing. Now UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said thewar-triggered grain and fertiliser shortages,hot temperatures and pandemic-inducedsupply problems “will push millions ofpeople into the throes of food insecurity”.This crisis may last years because Russiaand Ukraine produce 30 per cent of the

world’s wheat supply.Before the war, Ukraine was the

world’s bread basket, exporting 4.5 milliontonnes of agricultural products per monththrough its ports. Not only this, Russia andUkraine together used to have 47 per centshare of sunflower seed production. Insuch a situation, the world will have to facethe deficiency in any case. Those who arewith Russia in this war or are taking theside of Ukraine, both sides have to suffer.If the war drags on for a longer period, thekitchen budget is also sure to increasemanifold.

Jang Bahadur Singh | Jamshedpur

�������������� ��� ���� �Sir — Navjot Singh Sidhu was a seasonedIndian batsman who, in the 1980s and1990s, played as an opener. He has failedto receive the Supreme Court’s favour ashe has been convicted to a one-year sen-tence in jail on the charge of murder. Sidhuplayed 51 Tests and 136 ODIs for Indiabetween 1983 and 1999. The former

attacking batsman, who has since donnedthe hats of a controversial politician anda television show judge, has been sen-tenced to one-year rigorous imprisonmentby the Supreme Court in an over three-decade-old road rage case in which asenior citizen lost his life.

The court, however, rejected the pleafor imposing the culpable homicide notamounting to murder charge underSection 304A of IPC against Sidhu. Hetried to evade arrest with his influence butfailed to get court clearance. Everythinghappened in broad daylight and so can-not be denied. Otherwise also the “Sixer”Sidhu was hitting hard on and off the fieldand law should have taken its course longback. He survived nervous momentsthroughout these 30 years and there is noescape route now. Sidhu has now beencaught red-handed.

CK Subramaniam | Navi Mumbai

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The Russian invasion ofUkraine has shovedevents in Afghanistanto the margins of global

public discourse. Yet, much hasbeen happening in the blightedland. The country is in trouble.The economy is prostrate. Thelaw and order situation is inshambles, with the Islamic Stateof Khorasan Province (ISKP,also referred to as ISIS-K), theAfghan affiliate of the IslamicState in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), pos-ing a violent challenge. The tiesbetween Taliban-led IslamicEmirate and Pakistan are undersevere strain. Hence the question:Will the regime crumble?

To begin with the economy,essential commodities are scarce.Prices are skyrocketing. Largesections are going hungry.Unemployment is soaring.According to the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO),more than 500,000 Afghan work-ers lost their jobs in the thirdquarter of 2001. According toKhaama Press, one ofAfghanistan’s leading news agen-cies, the number of people losingtheir jobs since the Talibantakeover is expected to risebetween 700,000 and 900,000 bymid-2002 — which is round thecorner. The figure is in accor-dance with those of the USSpecial Inspector-General forAfghanistan Reconstruction(SIGAR), which holds that900,000 Afghans have lost theirjobs since the Taliban capturedpower in August 2001. Women,SIGAR further holds, have beendisproportionately affected —the number of jobs is likely to fallby 21 per cent since the Taliban’sascent to power. The result hasbeen a surge in migration toother countries. ChristinaGoldbaum and Yaqoob Akbarystate in the The New York Times(February 2, 2022): “FromOctober [2021] to the end ofJanuary [2022], more than amillion Afghans in southwesternAfghanistan have set off downone of the two major migrationroutes into Iran, according tomigration researchers.”

One reason for the econo-my’s prostration is the country’slaw and order situation, which isin a state of collapse. The ISKP

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Page 7: Daily Pioneer

insemination, chilling plants andprocessing centers. Similarly, aneglected sector of UP is that offisheries where the state has apotential of growing at more than15 percent per annum and throughthis the farmers of UP can becomeagribusiness entrepreneurs.

MSME sector is next only toagriculture in terms of generatingemployment and this is a vital sec-tor for the state of UP. A forwardlooking and dynamic MSME pol-icy is required which providescredit, technology and market tothe MSME sector. Often the gov-ernments focus only on bringing innew industry but the existingindustries also need a supportinghand. A separate cell has to be cre-ated to cater to the problems of themicro sector which is more than 90percent of the MSME. This sectoris largely unorganized and needs anapproach specifically suited to itsneeds. Noida is the industrial hubof UP but industries need to moveto other regions of the state.

The textile and leather sectorhas a great potential for develop-ing and also generating large scaleemployment. Noida can easilybecome a hub for the electronicindustry. Lucknow, Prayagraj andseveral other tier II cities havegreat potential for development ofthe IT sector which will give a bigpush to the UP economy. Besides,the network of expressways theeastern freight corridor and DelhiMumbai corridor can easily stim-ulate industrial development inlarge areas adjoining to them.

The game-changing sector is

the agro-processing one. A verysmall percentage of agricultureproduce is processed today. Atevery block level a center for thedevelopment of the food pro-cessing sector can easily be devel-oped which will provide employ-ment to rural youth near theirhomes and there would be littleneed for labor to migrate to otherstates. These centers can be devel-oped as rural growth engineswhich will have a transformation-al impact on the economy.

The vital sectors for the devel-opment of UP are health and edu-cation. The Government will haveto invest heavily in these sectorsand also bring about improvementin the governance to make quali-ty health care and education acces-sible to all.

A special mission for improve-ment in the learning competenciesat the primary education level hasto be given the highest priority andthe gross enrolment rate in high-er education increased to 50 per-cent. Special attention will have tobe given to the recruitment ofteachers, motivating them, hold-ing them accountable and devel-oping their capacities. The staterequires many more medical col-leges, nursing institutions andinstitutes of paramedics. Districthospitals have to be converted intocenters of excellence.

The energy sector in the stateis in the need of large-scalereforms at the distribution level tocut down on line losses and elim-inate power theft. Smart metershave to be introduced and many

more power generating plants arerequired. Solar energy shouldremain a major area of focus.

UP needs more rapid urban-ization and to make cities act asengines of growth innovativemeans of funding the creation ofurban infrastructure is required.Urban governance and urbanfinancing are two areas where a lotof specialization is required.Moreover, greater devolution ofpowers to the elected urban bod-ies is the need of the hour.

Above all the steps outlinedUP requires a major governanceoverhaul. E-governance and M-governance have to brought in allthe sectors. There has to be aresult-oriented performance eval-uation system for the officers.Monitoring of schemes and pro-jects has to be vastly improved byuse of technology. Time boundclearances and approvals to beimplemented in all sectors. Thetransfer industry has to be abol-ished. Training and orientation ofthe officers must be ensured tobuild their capacity. Finally, for alarge state like UP it is importantto go in for a major governancereform of decentralisation and delegation of powers to the divisions and district as well aselected local bodies.

UP must move fast if India hasto develop. The trillion-dollareconomy may not be easy but amuch higher than the nationalgrowth rate is essential to take thepeople of UP out of the povertycycle and make UP one of thedeveloped states of the Union.

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(The writer is a formerChief Secretary,

Government of UttarPradesh. The views

expressed are personal.)

Remoteness of a village isone of the biggest hin-drances that young girls

have to overcome to be able toclaim their right to basic educa-tion. Chikri Ban village inMandi block in the border dis-trict of Poonch in Jammu andKashmir is one such placewhere young girls have beenstruggling hard to get educated.

Located at 3,349 ft, ChikriBan is surrounded by themighty Pir Panjal range. Theword ‘Ban’ stands for ‘forest’ andone have to trek for two-threehours through a forest to reachthis village.

For a long time, the villagershave been demanding con-struction of roads, but to noavail. Qamar Din, a resident,says that the students have towalk thirteen kilometres toLoran High School situated in

Loran village, the closest highschool for students belonging toChikri Ban village. By the timethese students reach school,they feel tired and are unable toconcentrate on lectures. Forgirls, it’s even more difficult asbefore and after school, theyhave to contribute to the house-hold chores, which includescooking, cleaning and fetchingwater for the family. Comparedto boys, girls get lesser time forthemselves. Despite the strug-gles, girls in this village manageto complete middle school butas the talks of higher educationstart surfacing, their parentsstart opposing.

Entrenched in poverty,most families prefer not to sendtheir daughters outside their vil-lage to acquire higher education.Shaziya, 15, and Tayyaba,11, twosisters from the village, dropped

out of school since their parentscould not afford further studies.Lack of a secondary school haslimited their opportunities andchances to advance in theirlives. Fatima Zahra, 26, theDeputy Sarpanch of the village,also reflected how the absenceof basic facilities such as water,electricity, secondary schoolsand roads is affecting the edu-cation of current generation

and jeopardising the future of anentire population.

As there is no road, thesestudents have to trek their wayto school through a forestwhich means increased chancesof animal attacks, especiallyduring the summer season.Shamima Akhtar, 37, a moth-er of four children and a resi-dent of the village, informedthat her daughters had to drop

out right after middle school asthere is no high school nearby.“The trek to reach themotorable road is quite risky asthere are high chances of attackby wild animals. We fear send-ing our children to schoolthrough that route. Even theteachers of primary and middleschools fear coming all theway up,” informed Shamima.While boys have the option toshift closer to their schools, girlsare not easily allowed to leavetheir houses. As a consequence,they are forced to discontinuetheir education. Locals report-ed that many young peoplewere attacked by bears in thepast, some of whom died on the spot.

These factors along withother development challengeshave collectively contributed tothe low female literacy rate in

the village. Ayesha Kausar, a 21-year-old student, highlightedthat the most girls in this villageare educated only up to Class 8,7, and 5. “Young girls here havea keen desire to pursue educa-tion after completing primaryand middle education but dueto lack of development in ourvillage, they are deprived oftheir dreams. People in the vil-lage work really hard to earn ameagre income and are able tomake their ends meet. Sendingtheir children away from homemeans extra expenses whichthey cannot afford. If they haveto make a choice, they sendboys and force girls to stay backand concentrate on householdchores,” expressed Ayesha, whohas rented an accommodationfor �10,000 per month to attendher college, which is 15 kmaway from Chikri Ban.

A survey conducted by theNational Statistical Office(NSO), mentioned that femaleliteracy in Jammu and Kashmiris 68%, which is much lowerthan the male literacy rate of85.70%. The female literacyrate in rural Jammu andKashmir is lower than urbanareas, at 66% and 75.70%,respectively. The survey alsoreveals that only a meagre per-centage of females (2.8%) inJammu and Kashmir are grad-uates and above whereas thepercentage for males is 8.4%.

Given that girls are subject-ed to various social and cultur-al norms, the unavailability ofbasic development infrastruc-ture and a safe environment canaffect their lives in differentways. No access to educationtoday means a darker tomor-row. This needs to change.

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(The writer contributes articles from Mandi,Poonch, Jammu and

Kashmir. Courtesy CharkhaFeatures.The views

expressed are personal.)

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2,�3��4/+3� Uttar Pradesh has 16 percent ofthe population of India butcontributes only 8 percent to itsGDP. If UP was to be a country

it would be the fifth largest country in theworld. At the time of Independence, theper capita income of UP was the same asthe national average but today it is lessthan 50 percent of the same at �65,431 perannum. It is true that UP has become thethird largest economy with the currentGDP of around $220 billion (�17 lakhcrore) but in terms of per capita incomeit is second from the bottom.

Recently the UP Government hasissued a tender for hiring a consultant totake the UP economy to $1 trillion by2027. Looking at the past this does notseem very probable as it would involve theUP economy growing at a rate of morethan 30 percent per annum. However, itis indeed an aspirational goal and wouldrequire a comprehensive action plan forall sectors of economy because what isrequired is not an incremental push buta quantum leap.

UP is primarily an agricultural econ-omy with 25 percent of the GSDP com-ing from this sector which employeesmore than 65 percent of the population.This is one of the main reasons for thepoverty in the State as large number ofpeople are under employed or in a Stateof disguised unemployment and, hence,not contributing to the economic devel-opment of the state. UP has nine agro-cli-matic zones and each would require a sep-arate strategy for deciding upon issues likecropping pattern and also on ways toimprove the productivity to bring itabove the national level.

There are huge regional imbalanceswith western UP being far ahead of east-ern UP in terms of productivity andincome of farmers. Similarly,Bundelkhand is a rain-fed area wheremost of the farmers only taking one cropin a year. However, the same Bundelkhandif provided with adequate drip and sprin-kler irrigation facilities can become a hubfor citrus fruits, vegetables, medicinalherbs. Moreover, the real problem is thefragmentation of holdings with averagesize of land holding being 0.80 hectaremeaning that most of the farmers aresmall and marginal and this has a hugeimpact on their viability. They are oftenin urgent need of cash and dispose of theproduce at low prices. Aggregation offarmers through farmer producer compa-nies is the answer. Further, huge invest-ment is required in development of coldchains and storages so that the farmers canstore their produce and release them in themarket at an appropriate time.

Animal husbandry is often a neglect-ed sector but it has been my experiencethat this can significantly add to theincome of the farmers. A mission shouldbe launched to bring about a dairy revo-lution in the state with its entire comple-ment of feed, fodder, medicines, artificial

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Page 8: Daily Pioneer

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US House Speaker NancyPelosi is facing criticism

from the leader of NorthernIreland’s biggest unionistparty after saying Congresswon’t approve a trade dealwith the UK.

If Britain scraps the agree-ment governing post-Brexittrade on the Irish island.

The trans-Atlantic spar-ring follows British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson’s gov-ernment announcing itsintention to introduce legis-lation that would allow it tounilaterally suspend the so-cal led Northern IrelandProtocol, an internationalagreement between Britainand the European Union.

Northen Ireland is theonly part of the U.K. Thatshares a land border with anEU member country — theRepublic of Ireland — andrequired special attentionwhen the UK withdrew fromthe EU.

The protocol is designedto preserve the NorthernIreland peace process, butunionists complain it has cre-ated a trade barrier betweenthe province and the rest ofthe UK.

Pelosi said on Thursdaythat Britain’s actions threat-ened to undermine the 1998Good Friday Accords thatended decades of violence inNorthern Ireland. She calledfor “good-faith negotiations”to resolve any differencesover the protocol.

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The United Nations’ tophuman rights official will

visit China next week on a tripthat will take her to the Xinjiangregion, where rights groupsand some Western govern-ments allege the Chinese gov-ernment is committing geno-

cide and serious abuses againstUyghurs and other Muslimminorities.

U.N. High Commissionerfor Human Rights MichelleBachelet will start her six-dayvisit on Monday, her office saidFriday. She will visit Guangzhou,Kashgar and the Xinjiangregional capital of Urumqi.

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Sri Lankan authorities onFriday closed schools andasked public officials notto come to work in a des-

perate move to prepare for anacute fuel shortage that isexpected to last days amid thenation’s worst economic crisis indecades.

The Public AdministrationMinistry asked the public offi-cials — except for those whomaintain essential services —not to come to work on Friday“in a view of current fuel short-age and issues in transportfacilities” across the country.

State and governmentapproved private schools alsoclosed Friday amid the wors-ening fuel shortage, with thou-

sands of people waiting inqueues at fuel stations across thecountry for days at a time.

Sri Lanka is now almostwithout gasoline and faces anacute shortage of other fuels aswell.

The government has beenstruggling to find money to payfor the importation of fuel, gasand other essentials in recent

months as the Indian Oceanisland nation is on the brink ofbankruptcy.

Its economic woes havebrought on a political crisis,with the government facingwidespread protests and unrest.

For months, Sri Lankanshave endured long lines to buythose essentials, most of whichcome from abroad. Shortages of

hard currency have also hin-dered imports of raw materialsfor manufacturing and wors-ened inflation.

Protesters blocked mainroads to demand gas and fuel,and television stations showedpeople in some areas fightingover limited stocks. Authoritieshave announced countrywidepower cuts of up to four hoursa day because they can’t supplyenough fuel to power generat-ing stations.

Sri Lanka has suspendedrepayment of about $7 billion inforeign loans due this year outof $25 billion to be repaid by2026. The country’s total foreigndebt is $51 billion.

The finance ministry saysthe country currently has only$25 million in usable foreign

reserves. Protesters have occu-pied the entrance to the presi-dent’s office for more than amonth, calling for PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.

Months of anti-governmentrallies have led to the near-dis-mantling of the once-powerfulruling family, with one of thepresident’s brothers resigning asprime minister, and other sib-lings and a nephew leavingtheir Cabinet posts. Protestersaccuse the Rajapaksas of trig-gering the crisis through cor-ruption and misrule. Sri Lanka’snew Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe said Mondaythat about $75 billion is need-ed urgently to help provideessential items, but the country’streasury is struggling to findeven $1 billion.

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Sri Lankan PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa swore in

nine new ministers on Friday inan effort to ensure stability untila full Cabinet is formed in thedebt-ridden island nationengulfed in the worst econom-ic crisis since its independence.

The ministers were swornin after a delay of more than aweek since the presidentappointed new Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe.Rajapaksa reappointed five-timeformer Sri Lankan prime min-ister Wickremesinghe, after hispredecessor — the president’sbrother Mahinda Rajapaksa —resigned in the wake of violentattacks by his supporters onpeaceful anti-government pro-testers.

His resignation automati-cally dissolved the Cabinet, leav-ing an administrative vacuum.

The new ministers includetwo from the main OppositionSamagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB),while the rest come fromRajapaksa’s own Sri LankaPodujana Peramuna (SLPP) andfrom the group which hadresigned from the ruling coali-tion. President Rajapaksa hadappointed four ministers lastweek. Still, no finance ministerhas been appointed which is sig-nificant in the wake of ongoingnegotiations with the IMF for apossible bail out.

The Cabinet will be limitedto 25 members, including thePresident and the Prime

Minister, according to mediareports.

Former minister NimalSiripala de Silva representing SriLanka Freedom party (SLFP),independent MPs SusilPremajayantha, WijayadasaRajapaksha, Tiran Alles wereamong the new nine ministerssworn in on Friday.

Nimal Siripala De SilvaPorts has been appointed as theminister of Naval and AviationServices, Susil Premajayantha asthe minister of education,Keheliya Rambukwella tookoath as the health minister,while Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe asthe minister of Justice, PrisonAffairs, Constitutional Reforms.

The other ministersappointed include HarinFernando as the minister ofTourism and Land, RameshPathirana as minister ofPlantation Industries, ManushaNanayakkara as the minister ofLabour and ForeignEmployment, Nalin Fernando asthe minister of Trade,Commerce, and Food Securityand Tiran Alles as the ministerof Public Security.

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Eleven soldiers were killed and nearly twodozen injured by jihadis targeting a military

base in eastern Burkina Faso, the governmentsaid.

Injured soldiers have been taken to hospi-tal and aerial support killed 15 attackers tryingto flee after Thursday’s attack in Madjoari inKompienga province, Burkina Faso’s army saidin a statement.

For six years the West African country hasbeen ravaged by violence linked to al-Qaida andthe Islamic State group that has killed thousandsand displaced nearly 2 million people. Mutinoussoldiers ousted the democratically elected pres-

ident in January promising to stem the violence,but since then attacks have increased.

Within a 72-hour period last week nearly60 people, including civilians and security forces,were killed in violence targeting villages in fourregions across the country, according to an inter-nal security report for aid workers seen by TheAssociated Press.

“This attack in Madjoari is yet another indi-cation of militants’ capability to target securi-ty forces bases and unfortunately showing theseverity of (the) security situation in northernand eastern regions,” said Rida Lyammouri,senior fellow at the Policy Center for the NewSouth, a Moroccan-based organization focusedon economics and policy.

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Page 9: Daily Pioneer

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Russian forces attacked thecities of Lysychansk and

Severodonetsk in Ukraine'seastern region of Luhansk, theregion's governor said Friday.

Serhiy Haidai said in aTelegram messaging app poston Friday that 12 people werekilled in Severodonetsk as aresult of the assault, and morethan 60 houses were destroyedacross the region.

He added that the attack onSeverodonetsk “was unsuc-cessful - the Russians sufferedpersonnel losses and retreated.”His remarks could not be inde-pendently verified.

Ukraine's General Staff inits morning update on Fridayalso said that the Russianstried to assault Severodonetskbut suffered losses and retreat-ed. Meanwhile, UkrainianPresident VolodymyrZelenskyy thanked the UnitedStates for the $40 billion aidpackage, which got final con-gressional approval onThursday.

“This is a demonstration of

strong leadership and a neces-sary contribution to our com-mon defense of freedom,”Zelenskyy said in his nightlyvideo address to the nation.

He also thanked theEuropean Union for its sup-port. “And for our partners thisis not just an expense or a gift.This is their contribution tosecurity,” Zelenskyy said. “For

defending Ukraine also defendsthem from new wars and crisesthat Russia could provoke if it

is successful in the war against Ukraine. Therefore, we

must together ensure that

Russia's aggression against ourstate has no success, not mili-tarily, economically or anyother.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine'smonthly budget deficit is $5 bil-lion “and so to survive in thewar for freedom, we need quickand sufficient financial sup-port.” The US has announceda shipment of $100 million inmilitary equipment to Ukraine,separate from what will becoming from the $40 billionapproved by Congress.

The latest package includes18 more howitzers as well asanti-artillery radar systems,both of which the US has pro-vided to Ukraine already sinceRussia invaded Ukraine onFebruary 24.

Zelenskyy said Russiantroops were intensifying theirattacks in the Donbas.“It is hellthere and that's not an exag-geration,” he said in his night-ly video address to the nation.“The brutal and completelysenseless bombardment ofSeverodonetsk. Twelve deadand dozens wounded there injust one day.”

Zelenskyy said Russianstrikes on the northeasternChernihiv region included aterrible strike on the village ofDesna, where he said manywere killed and rescuers werestill going through the rubble.

“The bombing and shellingof our other cities, the air andmissile strikes by the Russianarmy, are not simply military

operations in a time of war... Itis a conscious and criminalattempt to kill as manyUkrainians as possible,”Zelenskyy said.

“To destroy more homes,public sites, businesses. This iswhat will be qualified as geno-cide of the Ukrainian peopleand for which the occupierswill definitely be brought to jus-tice.” A veteran Russian rockmusician faces charges of dis-crediting the army for remarksmade at a concert onWednesday. Charges againstYuri Shevchuk, singer for theband DDT, were sent to anadministrative court onThursday.

He could face a fine of upto 50,000 rubles ($800).

After the war began, Russiapassed a more severe law mak-ing the spread of “fake news”about the conflict punishable byup to 15 years in prison. Duringthe concert in Ufa, Shevchukquestioned the aims of the warand why young Russians andUkrainians are fighting anddying in a war that is also cost-ing the lives of civilians.

“Old people, women andchildren are dying,” he said.“For some kind of Napoleonicplans of our latest Caesar, yes?”“The motherland, my friends, isnot the ass of a president that youhave to lick and kiss all the time.The motherland is a poor grand-mother selling potatoes at trainstation. That is motherland,” headded.

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Ukrainian authorities onFriday said their troops

repelled a Russian attack in theeast, as Moscow struggled togain ground in the region thatis now the focus of the war evenas it intensified its campaignthere.

Battered by their months-long siege of the vital port cityof Mariupol, Russian troopsneed time to regroup, Britain'sDefence Ministry said in anassessment — but they may notget it. The city and the steel-works where Ukrainian fight-ers have held off Russian assaultfor weeks have become a sym-bol of Ukraine's stoic resistanceand surprising ability to stymiea much larger force.

On Friday, a number ofsoldiers — just how many wasunclear — were still holed upin the Azovstal plant, followingthe surrender of more than1,700 soldiers in recent days.

With the battle for steelplant winding down, Russia hasalready started pulling troopsback from the site. But Britishassessment indicated Russiancommanders are under pres-sure to quickly send them else-

where in the Donbas “Thatmeans that Russia will proba-bly redistribute their forcesswiftly without adequate prepa-ration, which risks furtherforce attrition,” the ministrysaid. The Donbas is nowPresident Vladimir Putin'sfocus after his troops failed totake capital in early days of war.

Pro-Moscow separatistshave fought Ukrainian forcesfor eight years in region andheld a considerable swath of itbefore Russia's February 24invasion. But the effort to takemore territory there has beenslow-going.

In a sign of Russia's frus-tration with the pace of the war,some senior commanders havebeen fired in recent weeks,British Defence Ministry said.Russian forces attacked cities ofLysychansk and Severodonetsk,both in Luhansk region ofDonbas, region's governor saidon Friday.

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The UN food chief is warn-ing that the war in Ukraine

has created “an unprecedentedcrisis” of escalating food pricesthat has sparked protests.World Food ProgramExecutive Director DavidBeasley said growing hunger

will add at least 47 million peo-ple to the 276 million “march-ing to starvation” beforeRussia's invasion of its smallerneighbour.

Beasley told a UN SecurityCouncil meeting Thursday that49 million people in 43 coun-tries are already “knocking onfamine's door.” He stressedthat conflict, the impact of cli-mate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic were alreadyaffecting food security but thewar in Ukraine, which growsenough food for 400 millionpeople, now has “the longestbread lines in the world.” Hesaid leaders must help openUkraine's ports and increasefood production.

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US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken has

accused Russia of weaponis-ing food and holding grainfor millions of people aroundthe world hostage to helpaccomplish what its invasionof Ukraine has not — “tobreak the spirit of theUkrainian people”.

He told a UN SecurityCouncil meeting called by theUnited States that the war hashalted maritime trade in largeareas of the Black Sea andmade the region unsafe fornavigation, trappingUkrainian agriculturalexports and jeopardizingglobal food supplies.

Blinken said the meeting,which he chaired, was takingplace "at a moment ofunprecedented globalhunger" fuelled by climatechange and COVID-19 "andmade even worse by conflict."Since Russia's invasion onFebruary 24, he said, its naval

operations have sought tocontrol access to the north-western Black Sea and the Seaof Azov and to blockUkrainian ports which theUnited States assesses to be "adeliberate effort" to blocksafe passage and shut downshipping.

"As a result of the Russiangovernment's actions, some20 million tons of grain situnused in Ukrainian silos asglobal food supplies dwindle,prices skyrocket, causingmore around the world toexperience food insecurity,"Blinken said.

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Page 10: Daily Pioneer

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New Delhi:Gold in then a t i o n a lCapital onF r i d a yj u m p e d�231 to�50,608 per 10 grams in linewith a jump in global preciousmetal prices, according toHDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theprecious metal finished at�50,377 per 10 grams.

Silver also rallied �585 to�61,657 per kg from �61,072per kg in the previous trade.

In the international mar-ket, gold was trading higher atUSD 1,845 per ounce and sil-ver was flat at USD 21.92 perounce.

“Gold prices traded firmwith spot gold prices atCOMEX trading 0.23 per centup at USD 1,845 per ounce onFriday. Gold prices kept firmtrading with dollar decline andfall in US bond yields,” saidTapan Patel, Senior Analyst(Commodities), HDFCSecurities. PTI

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New Delhi: Capital marketsregulator Sebi on Fridaytweaked the cyber security andcyber resilience framework ofstock exchanges and othermarket infrastructure institu-tions and mandated them toconduct a comprehensive cyberaudit at least two times in afinancial year.

Along with the cyber auditreports, they have been direct-ed to submit a declarationfrom the MD and CEO certi-fying compliance by the mar-ket infrastructure institutions(MIIs) -- stock exchanges,clearing corporations anddepositories -- with all Sebi

guidelines and advisories relat-ed to cyber security issuedfrom time to time, according toa circular.

Under the modifiedframework, MIIs should iden-tify and classify critical assetsbased on their sensitivity andcriticality for business opera-tions, services and data man-agement. PTI

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New Delhi: A sharp reboundin equity markets madeinvestors richer by over �5lakh crore on Friday, with theBSE benchmark Sensex rallying1,534 points after a rough dayin the previous trade.

Making a dashing come-back after the previous session'sheavy sell-off, the 30-shareBSE Sensex rallied 1,534.16points or 2.91 per cent to set-tle at 54,326.39.

The rally in equities helpedthe market capitalisation ofBSE-listed firms jump by�5,05,143.44 crore to reach�2,54,11,537.52 crore.

“Market took a completeU-turn from Thursday's slumpas bargain hunting followingthe recent crash and recoveryin other Asian indices bolsteredthe sentiment back home,” saidAmol Athawale, Deputy VicePresident - Technical Research,Kotak Securities Ltd.

The BSE benchmark haddived 1,416.30 points or 2.61per cent to close at 52,792.23 onThursday.

All the Sensex firms endedin the green, with Dr Reddy's,Reliance Industries, Nestle,Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro,Axis Bank, Sun Pharma,IndusInd Bank, State Bank ofIndia and HDFC emerging asthe biggest gainers.

“Markets reboundedsharply and gained nearly 3 per

cent, in continuation of the pre-vailing volatile trend.

The benchmark witnesseda gap-up opening, taking cuesfrom the Asian counterpartsand gradually inched higher asthe session progressed,” saidAjit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking Ltd.

In the broader market, theBSE smallcap gauge jumped2.13 per cent and the midcapindex rallied 1.98 per cent.

As many as 2,497 stocksadvanced, while 777 declinedand 144 remained unchanged.

“The market displayed aconfident yet calm rally

throughout the day, supportedby fortified global markets,especially the Asian market.

The Chinese central bankcut a key interest rate to sup-port growth, injecting opti-mism into emerging markets,”said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit Financial Services.

All BSE sectoral indicesended higher, with realty jump-ing 4.22 per cent, followed bymetal (3.75 per cent), capitalgoods (3.14 per cent), indus-trials (3.05 per cent), healthcare(3.04 per cent) and energy(2.97 per cent). PTI

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New Delhi: Thermax on Fridayreported a 4.4 per cent declinein consolidated net profit at�102.54 crore for the quarterended March.

The company had report-ed a consolidated net profit of�107.35 crore in the year-agoperiod, according to a BSE fil-ing.

Total income of the com-pany in the March quarter wasat �2,027.62 crore as against�1,610.34 crore in the sameperiod a year ago.

“Profit After Tax (PAT)stood at �103 crore, down 4 percent as compared to �107 crorein the corresponding quarter ofFY21.

Profitability was lower dueto increased commodity andfreight costs during the quar-ter,” the company said in astatement.

The consolidated net prof-it of the company rose to�312.31 crore in the fiscal year2021-22 from �206.58 crore in2020-21. PTI

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New Delhi: India has record-ed the “highest ever” annualFDI (foreign direct investment)inflow of USD 83.57 billion in2021-22, the commerce andindustry ministry said onFriday.

In 2020-21, the inflowstood at USD 81.97 billion, itadded.

“India is rapidly emergingas a preferred country for for-eign investments in the man-ufacturing sector,” the ministrysaid.

“India has recorded high-est ever annual FDI inflow ofUSD 83.57 billion in theFinancial Year 2021-22,” itnoted.

FDI equity inflow in man-ufacturing sectors hasincreased by 76 per cent in2021-22 (USD 21.34 billion)compared to 2020-21 (USD12.09 billion).

In terms of top investorcountries, Singapore is at thetop with 27 per cent followed

by the US (18 per cent) andMauritius (16 per cent) duringthe last fiscal.

Among sectors, computersoftware and hardware attract-ed maximum inflows. It wasfollowed by the services sectorand automobile industry, theministry said.

To further liberalise andsimplify FDI policy for pro-viding ease of doing businessand attract investments,reforms have been undertakenrecently across sectors, such ascoal mining, contract manu-facturing, digital media, single-brand retail trading, civil avi-ation, defence, insurance andtelecom. PTI

New Delhi: State-owned powergiant NTPC on Friday posteda nearly 12 per cent jump inconsolidated net profit to�5,199.51 crore in the Marchquarter, mainly on the back ofhigher revenues.

The consolidated net prof-it of the company was at�4649.49 crore in the quarterended on March 31, 2021,according to a regulatory filing.

Total income in the latestMarch quarter rose to�37,724.42 crore from�31,687.24 crore in the sameperiod a year ago.

The consolidated net prof-it climbed to �16,960.29 crorein the last fiscal from�14,969.40 crore in 2020-21.

In the last financial year,total income rose to�13,4994.31 crore from�11,5546.83 crore in the year-ago period.

NTPC's board has recom-mended a final dividend of � 3

per equity share for the 2021-22. This will be in addition tothe interim dividend of �4 perequity share for the paid inFebruary 2022.

The average power tariff ofthe firm was at �3.98 per unit

in 2021-22 as against �3.77 perunit in 2020-21.

The coal supply to powerplants increased to 52.28Million Metric Tonnes (MMT)in the March quarter from45.68 MMT in the same peri-od a year ago. Similarly, the coalsupply to power plants rose to195.63 MMT in the last fiscalfrom 170.24 MMT in 2020-21.

The supply of importedcoal also increased from 1.07MMT in the March quarterfrom 0.31 MMT in the sameperiod a year ago.

During 2021-22, theimported coal supply to powerplants rose to 2.47 MMT from0.92 MMT in 2020-21. PTI

New Delhi: JK Tyre &Industries on Friday reported80 per cent decline in consol-idated net profit at �38.22crore for the fourth quarterended March 31, 2022, impact-ed by higher expenses primar-ily due to rise in input costs.

The company had posteda net profit of �194.96 crore forthe same period of previous fis-cal year, JK Tyre & Industriessaid in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operationsin the quarter stood at�3,311.83 crore as against�2,927.28 crore in the year-agoperiod, it added.

Total expenses were high-er at �3,280.78 crore as com-pared to �2,673.58 crore in thecorresponding period a yearago, with cost of materialsconsumed rising to �2,219.63crore from �1,839.4 crore in thesame quarter previous year.

For fiscal year endedMarch 31, 2022, consolidatednet profit was at �201.24 croreas compared to �330.93 crore,down 39.2 per cent.Revenuefrom operations was at�11,982.96 crore as comparedto �9,102.2 crore in FY21. PTI

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Mumbai: The rupee inched 3paise higher to close at 77.53(provisional) against US dollaron Friday, supported by arebound in domestic equities.

At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee opened at77.51 against the greenbackand moved in a range of 77.49to 77.60 in the day's trade.

The rupee finally ended at77.53, higher by 3 paise over itsprevious close of 77.56.

According to Dilip Parmar,Research Analyst, HDFCSecurities, the lack of dollar

demand and rebound indomestic equities augur well forthe rupee.

The dollar is about 2 percent off its recent high, seen lastweek, as risk-assets reboundafter the People's Bank of China

(PBOC) announced a 15 bpscut in the 5-year Loan PrimeRate to support the economy.

The dollar index markedthe first weekly decline after sixweeks of upward movement,driven by position liquidationand preference for other cur-rencies to emerge at a lowerlevel.On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexrebounded 1,534.16 points or2.91 per cent to end at 54,326.39,while the broader NSE Niftyjumped 456.75 points or 2.89per cent to 16,266.15. PTI

Mumbai: Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) on Friday said itsboard has approved a dividendpayment of Rs 30,307 crore tothe government for the finan-cial ended March 2022.

The board approved thetransfer of Rs 30,307 crore assurplus to the central govern-ment for the accounting year2021-22 while deciding tomaintain the Contingency RiskBuffer at 5.50 per cent, RBI saidin a statement.

The decision on the divi-dend payment was made in the596th meeting of the CentralBoard of Directors of RBI,headed by GovernorShaktikanta Das, held on

Friday. Last year in May, RBIdeclared a dividend of Rs99,122 crore for the nine-

month period (July 2020 toMarch 2021). The dividendwas paid for that period as RBI

aligned its financial year withthe government's financial year.

Earlier, RBI used to followJuly-June period earlier asagainst government's April-March financial year.

During its meeting, theboard reviewed the currenteconomic situation, global anddomestic challenges and theimpact of recent geopoliticaldevelopments.

The board also discussedthe working of RBI during theyear April 2021 – March 2022and approved the annual reportand accounts for the account-ing year 2021-22, the statementsaid. PTI

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New Delhi: Consumer pro-tection regulator CCPA onFriday said it has issued noticesto cab aggregators Ola andUber for unfair trade practicesand violation of consumerrights.

The Central ConsumerProtection Authority (CCPA)has given 15-days time forthese two companies to reply tothe notices.

“We have issued notices toboth Ola and Uber. Most of theconsumer complaints receivedin the last one year are relatedto the deficiency in services andother unfair trade practices,”Central Consumer ProtectionAuthority (CCPA) ChiefCommissioner Nidhi Kharetold PTI.

The CCPA has issuednotice to online ride-hailingplatforms Ola and Uber con-cerning unfair trade practicesand violation of consumerrights.

The authority pointed outthat a significant number ofcomplaints have been lodgedby consumers across the coun-try on multiple issues, whichaffect their rides bookedthrough both the ride-hailingplatforms.

As per the data from theNational Consumer Helpline(NCH), 2,482 grievances wereregistered by consumers againstOla, and 770 grievances wereregistered against Uber fromApril 1, 2021, to May 1, 2022. PTI

New Delhi: Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on Fridaysaid “cartelisation is going to bea challenge” and stressed on theneed to look at supply disrup-tions in order to ensure thatthere are no monopolistic orduopolistic situations causingeither price hikes or supplymanipulations.

Amidst rising inflationwhich has also raised con-cerns about the economicrecovery from the coronaviruspandemic, the minister saidthere are a few grievances thatinput costs of materials havegone up in spite of India hav-ing quite a big capacity tomeet the country's owndemands and also for exports.

There is a global shortageof commodities and raw mate-rials as well as disruptions inthe value chains and supplychains due to the pandemicand the war situation in EasternEurope, she noted.

Addressing the 13th annu-al day function of theCompetition Commission ofIndia (CCI) in the national cap-ital, Sitharaman said there aredisruptions of various kinds.

“There are very manystages at which disruptions arecoming in.

Are they genuinely dis-ruptions caused by COVID orwar, there is a need to look intothese disruptions, look intothe causes for the short supply

and also assure that there areno monopolistic or duopolisticsituations causing either pricehikes or supply manipulations,”the minister said.

Sitharaman, who is also incharge of the corporate affairsministry, said in the last twoyears, the CCI has stood up andmet the challenges with a lotmore positivity.

“Challenges are gettingmore complex, more nuancedand more technology-driven.So, the CompetitionCommission will have to havesuch skill sets so that you arenever behind the curve and youare on top of the issues,” shesaid.

According to her, carteli-sation is going to be a challengealso due to companies scalingup and growing into areaswhich are of great demand.

“There could be a situationwhere cartelisation is a possi-ble threat... Cartelisation is thelarger word I am using andcartelisation itself is a self-explanatory word but I am also

bringing smaller elements ofother things which eventuallymake commodities moreexpensive,” the minister said.

Noting that the govern-ment wants the recovery fromthe pandemic to be distinctlyclear and speedy, she said com-panies have to scale up to andmeet new challenges.

“Scaling up is a propositionbefore us and it has to be hap-pening in the market.Therefore, CCI will have to bevery understanding of what ishappening... Generally on whatis this scaling up leading to.

“There is a need for aproactive understanding ofwhatever developments in thename of mergers and acquisi-tions... I am not saying that youstraight away engage based onwhat you have understood butthe knowledge you keepacquiring... Is going to keep youinformed better in handlingcases,” Sitharaman said.

In the context of digitisa-tion, the minister said thatcalibrated challenges and cali-brated responses are both therealities before us.

Delving into the topic,Sitharaman said that thoughtools of digitisation are themarket forces being effective-ly, fairly and transparently usedfor the benefit of consumers,there is something which rais-es a question. PTI

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New Delhi: India will make apitch for finding a permanentsolution to the issue of publicstockholding for food securityin the WTO meet in Genevastarting June 12, an official said.

Besides, issues includingagri subsidies and World FoodProgramme will be on theagenda of the 12th ministerialconference, the highest deci-sion making body of the 164-member World TradeOrganization (WTO), the offi-cial said.

For the meeting, the Indianteam will be led by Commerceand Industry Minister PiyushGoyal. “Finding permanentsolution to public stockholdingwill be our key demand,” theofficial added. PTI

��������)����������������������������������� ����18�*���Mumbai: Share of utility vehicles in the overall sales of new cars

is expected to be on an upward trajectory amid growing popu-larity of such vehicles and automakers' reduced focus on com-pact hatchbacks owing to rising production costs, Fitch Ratingssaid on Friday.

The increasing share of higher-margin UV (Utility Vehicle)sales will help carmakers cushion the impact on production costdue to high commodity prices and compliance to additional safe-ty standards, it said.

Citing SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers)data, Fitch said that UV's volume share in overall car salesincreased to 49 per cent in the previous fiscal, up from 28 percent in the year-ago period.This underscores the rising popu-larity of UVs over hatchbacks and sedans, whose combined sharedropped from 66 per cent to 48 per cent.

Within the UV category, the share of entry- and mid-levelUVs in overall car sales rose to 38 per cent in the financial yearended March 2022 from 20 per cent in FY19, underscoring cus-tomers' shift in favour of vehicles offering more space and ver-satile road capabilities, it said.

The agency said that higher numbers of new launches inUVs compared to hatchbacks in the past few years have supportedgrowth. Fitch Ratings believe UVs are well-positioned to gainfurther share in overall car sales as UVs remain popular, par-ticularly among upgraders and high-income customers who aretypically less price conscious than buyers of entry-level cars. Entry-and mid-level UV sales rose by 21 per cent year-on-year in FY21and 35% in FY22, reflecting resilient demand despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it stated. Still, the rising production costs will weighon demand and profitability for the price-sensitive compact hatch-backs and sedans, according to the ratings agency. High com-modity prices and more stringent vehicle safety and emission stan-dards have caused 20—30 per cent increase in entry-level carprices since 2018, it said. PTI

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Mumbai: Mahindra &Mahindra (M&M) Ltd onFriday said that its new sportsutility vehicle codenamed Z101will be known as 'Scorpio-N'and will be launched on June27. The current Scorpio whichhas evolved over the last twodecades as an iconic and a cultbrand will continue as the'Scorpio Classic', the companysaid in a release.

“Scorpio has been a land-mark model for Mahindrawhich has redefined the cate-gory and became an iconicbrand in the Indian automobileindustry. The all-new Scorpio-N is expected to recreatebenchmarks in the SUV seg-ment in India, yet again,”Veejay Nakra, President forthe automotive division atM&M Ltd, said.

The latest SUV to be pro-duced at the company's Chakanmanufacturing facility has beenengineered ground-up to meetthe aspirations of the young andtech-savvy customers. PTI

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Iconic two-time World Cupwinning India captain

Mahendra Singh Dhoni onFriday said he will "definitely"play in the IPL next year as notdoing so would be "unfair" tothe city after which theChennai Super Kings isnamed and which treats himlike its own.

With this, the 40-year-oldDhoni put to rest speculationsaround his participation in thelucrative league next season.

"Definitely, I will playnext year. It would be unfairnot to say thank you toChennai, to not play inChennai. It won't be nice tothe CSK fans," Dhoni said atthe toss for CSK's final matchof the ongoing season, againstRajasthan Royals.

"Whether 2023 will bemy last year or not, that issomething we will have to see."

The former India skip-per's fandom knows nobounds and some time back,a social media post of oneadmirer painting his house inCuddalore, Tamil Nadu inChennai Super Kings' yellowcolour, along with portraits ofDhoni, had gone viral.

Two days ago, Dhoni'sheartfelt reply to a distraughtCSK fan's letter won hearts.

Four-time championsCSK endured one of theirworst IPL campaigns, as they

went out of reckoning for aplay-offs spot quite early in theseason.

Most of CSK's senior play-ers like Dhoni (206 runs),Ambati Rayudu (271) andRobin Uthappa (230) haven'thad a great IPL and that hasbeen the biggest failure of the'Yellow Brigade'.

The bowling suffered a lotbecause of the absence of an

injured Deepak Chahar andthe inability to retain JoshHazlewood.

There were also specula-tions of rift in the CSK campafter Ravindra Jadeja and thefranchise decided to unfolloweach other on social mediaplatforms after the formerstepped down from captaincyand left the bubble citing aninjury.

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Delhi Capitals will havetheir fortune in their own

hands as they aim to pull allstops against season'sfavourite whipping boysMumbai Indians in what willbe a virtual IPL "quarter-final" clash for Rishabh Pant'smen.

While DC have every-thing to play for, MI will liketo cap off the season on a win-ning note although it wouldcount for little for the five-time champions, who suf-fered due to poor auctionstrategy.

In case of MumbaiIndians, the only area of inter-est is whether legendarySachin Tendulkar's son Arjunfinally gets a game after hav-ing warmed the bench for 27straight games across two sea-sons.

Skipper Rohit Sharma hasindicated that they wouldblood some new faces in thefinal game. So far 22 playershave played in 13 games.

The equation is as simpleas it can get for the Capitals(+0.255) as they simply needto beat Mumbai Indians to pipRoyal Challengers Bangalore(-0.253) on better net run-rate.

While MI have enduredtheir worst season this time,Capitals have been guilty ofinconsistency with seven winsand six defeats in their 13games.

In fact, it was their victo-ry over RCB in the previousgame that ensured back-to-back full points for them.

There have been dayswhen Capitals have beenextra-ordinary, with a DavidWarner (427 runs) or MitchellMarsh (251 runs) or Rovman

Powell (207 runs) upping theante in batting. SpinnersKuldeep Yadav (20 wickets,8.45), Axar Patel (6 wickets,

7.37) and Lalit Yadav (4 wick-ets, 8.33) have also done adecent job with the ball in anumber of games.

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Two-time Olympic medallistPV Sindhu eked out a

three-game win over worldnumber 1 Akane Yamaguchi ofJapan to make it to the semifi-nals of the Thailand OpenSuper 500 tournament hereon Friday.

The sixth seeded Indian

prevailed 21-15, 20-22, 21-13over second seeded Japanese in51 minutes to set up a clashwith Olympic champion ChenYu Fei of China.

Sindhu came into thematch with a 13-9 head-to-head record and dished outanother fine performance tonotch up her 14th victory overthe reigning World Champion.

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Three members of the NewZealand touring party,

including senior batter HenryNicholls, are in isolation aftertesting positive for Covid-19 onthe morning of the first Tourmatch against Sussex inBrighton.

The New Zealand team is inEngland for a Test series.

Nicholls, pacer Blair Ticknerand bowling coach ShaneJurgensen have begun five daysof hotel room isolation after pro-ducing positive Rapid AntigenTests on Friday morning.

The remainder of the squadmembers have returned negativetests and will continue to bemonitored and tested asrequired

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The Australian women'scricket team has retained its

World Cup winning squad forthe Commonwealth Games inBirmingham, where it will openits campaign against India onJuly 29.

Australia have named thesame squad for their T20I tri-series with Ireland and Pakistanas well.

The tri-series in NorthernIreland provides the ideal prepa-ration for Meg Lanning's side,under interim head coachShelley Nitschke, who will haveto step up following MatthewMott's departure.

Mott took up the coaching

role of the England men's white-ball coach.

Besides dominating the 50-over World Cup in NewZealand, Lanning's side are alsoT20 World Cup champions,

and come off recent series winsin the format over rivals Englandand India.Squad: Meg Lanning (C),Rachael Haynes (VC), DarcieBrown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh

Gardner, Grace Harris, AlyssaHealy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King,Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney,Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt,Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellingto.

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Hardened by the difficultcircumstances in her career,

newly-crowned WorldChampion boxer Nikhat Zareensaid she has adopted a combat-ive approach where "whateverhappens I have to fight and givemy best."

Continuing her stellar run,Zareen out-punched Thailand'sJitpong Jutamas by unanimous5-0 verdict to clinch the fly-weight (52kg) Gold in Istanbulon Thursday.

"These two years, I focusedon my game only and whatev-er the weaknesses were there inmy game, I tried to improve,"Zareen told reporters after herbout.

"I worked on my strongpoints and on where I lacked inmy game. I worked on theaspects where I needed to workand made myself strong.

"All those hurdles which Ihave faced in my career havemade me strong. I have becomementally strong after all theseand my thought process is thatwhatever happens, I have to fightand give my best," she added.

Zareen's golden feat comestwo-years after she had writtento then sports minister KirenRijiju asking for a "fair trial" forthe Olympic Qualifiers.

Zareen was trolled on socialmedia mercilessly for this whilethe legendary Mary Kom hadcaustically asked "Who NikhatZareen?"

Zareen eventually lost thebout to Mary Kom in the trials,missing out on a chance toqualify for the Tokyo Games.

The 2011 junior worldchampion also had to over-come a career-threateningshoulder injury, which kept herout of the ring for a year and sawher miss all the big-ticket events

like the Commonwealth Games,Asiad and WorldChampionships in 2018.

"In 2017, I dislocated myshoulder, I had to go undersurgery and then I didn't takepart in any competition for ayear. I came back in 2018 but Iwasn't at my peak so I missedthe big tournaments CWG,Asiad and WorldChampionships.

"But I didn't give up andafter the comeback in 2019haven't looked back. I havetaken all competitions as anopportunity and I believed inmyself. Because of that here I'mtoday."

Zareen will now prepare forthe Commonwealth Games trialfor which she will have to dropher weight and come down to50kgs.

"In the CWG there's a 50kgdivision, I will prepare for thatnow."

����� 676-0

Gujarat Titans batterMatthew Wade was repri-

manded for breaching the IPLcode of conduct during theirgame against Royal ChallengersBangalore.

"Mr. Wade admitted to theLevel 1 offence under Article2.5 of the IPL Code of Conductand accepted the sanction,"the IPL said in a statement.

"For Level 1 breaches of theCode of Conduct, the matchreferee's decision is final andbinding," it added.

While the statement didnot give any reason for thebreach, Wade was livid afterbeing adjudged LBW, in whatwas a controversial call andattracted empathy from ViratKohli.

Wade was sure that heunder-edged a sweep shot offGlenn Maxwell and took notime in reviewing the on-fielddecision, which was out.

However, despite a cleardeviation in the ball's trajecto-ry before it thudded on to thepads, the UltraEdge did notdetect it and the TV umpirestayed with the on-fieldumpire's call.

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Virat Kohli on Thursday said not beingable to contribute to the team's cause

and his failure to live up to his own expec-tations bothered him the most during hisprolonged lean patch in this year's IndianPremier League.

Kohli roared back top form with a 54-ball 73 to help Royal Challengers Bangaloreregister a thumping eight-wicket win overtable-toppers Gujarat Titans and stay alivein the play-off race.

"It was an important game. I was dis-appointed that I haven't done much for myteam and that is what bothers me, not thestats. Today was a game where I was able tocreate an impact for the team. Puts us in agood position.

"There are expectations because of theperformances that you have put in. You needto keep the perspective right. You can for-get the process in order to live up to the

expectations," Kohli said at the post-matchpresentation ceremony after being namedplayer-of-the-match.

Kohli said he had batted for one-and-a-half hours at the nets on Wednesday in his

bid to find his mojo back."I have worked really hard. I batted 90

minutes in the nets yesterday. I came in veryfree and relaxed."

Kohli compared his current situationwith a few instances from the past.

"It is in that spur of the moment why isit happening to me. It goes back to 2018 inEngland when I was dropped on 21 and thejuggernaut could have started again like itdid on the 2014 tour. I won't be standinghere being ungrateful for all that I haveachieved." The batting superstar said the firstboundary off Mohammed Shami gave himthe confidence that he is not far away fromgetting his touch back.

"With the very first shot of Shami, I feltI could hit lengths balls over the fielder'shead. I knew that tonight was the night whenI could kick on. It has been wonderful thatI have got so much support in this edition.I am forever grateful to all the love that I havenever seen before," Kohli said.

����� 676-0

Ravichandran Ashwin, once again,proved his utility with the batwhen his team needed it the

most as Rajasthan Royals defeatedChennai Super Kings by five wicketsto finish the IPL league phase in Top-2 here on Friday.

Ashwin remained unbeaten on 40off 23 balls as RR completed the chaseof 151 with two balls to go, grabbingthe second place to set up a blockbusterclash with Gujarat Titans in the firstplay-off next Tuesday.

Moeen Ali top-scored for CSKwith a 57-ball 93 before RR staged aremarkable comeback to restrict theyellow brigade to 150 for six in theallotted 20 overs.

Young Yashasvi Jaiswal (59 off 44balls) got RR off to a brisk start withback-to-back boundaries off MukeshChoudhary in the innings' first over.

In fact, by the time the first overof their innings came to an end, RRqualified for the play-offs on net runrate, leaving Royal ChallengersBangalore and Delhi Capitals to fightfor the fourth spot.

Simarjeet Singh struck early forCSK, sending back the dangerous JosButtler (2), who edged an away goingdelivery to Moeen's waiting hands atslip.

Jaiswal struck two more successiveboundaries in the next over and to give

RR innings stability, the 20-year-oldopener added 51 runs for the secondwicket with captain Sanju Samson(15).

However, Samson again failed totranslate his start into a substantialcontribution as left-arm spinnerMitchell Santner had the batter caughtand bowled. Devdutt Padikkal (3) didnot last long and was bowled byMoeen to leave RR at 76 for three inthe 12th over, and with some work leftto do.

Having brought up his half centu-ry in 39 balls, and after a six over long-on, the well-set Jaiswal got out toPrashant Solanki while trying to clearthe fence.

Back from Guyana after celebrat-ing the birth of his child, ShimronHetmyer (6) arrived at the crease withhigh hopes of finishing it for RR, butcould not do much as he fell toSolanki.

However, Ravichandran Ashwinkept RR in the hunt with his sensiblebatting at one end.

Earlier, Moeen blazed away in thepower play but slowed down consid-erably thereafter as Chennai SuperKings struggled for runs in the back 10.

Batting first after his skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss,Moeen smashed his way to a 19-ball 50,and was 59 off 24 at the end of the firstsix power play overs, with CSK racingaway to 75 for the loss of one wicket.

In all, Moeen made 93 off 57 ballswith 13 fours and three sixes.

However, after being at the receiv-ing end of Moeen's brutal onslaughtduring which the England all-roundermade a bowler of Trent Boult's calibrelook like an uncapped player by blud-geoning him for 26 runs in an over, theRR bowling unit made a fine recovery.

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Delhi Capitals head coachRicky Ponting feels his

team is peaking at the righttime but wants his big guns todeliver in what will be a vir-tual IPL quarterfinal for themagainst Mumbai Indians onSaturday. Speaking about theirnext game, Ponting said, "Ihave got full confidence in theplayers that they will have areally good game on Saturday.

"It's been an up and downseason for us, but we've playedsome good cricket. I alwaystalk about playing our best

cricket at the business end ofthe tournament and peakingat the right time. I've got a feel-ing that the boys are about todo that."

The Australian legendadded that the experiencedplayers will have to step up forthe team in the crucial matchagainst Mumbai Indians.

"Davey has done a reallygood job at the top of theorder. We have also seen howdestructive Mitchell Marshcan be at the number threeslot. And among the bowlers,Kuldeep has been exception-al throughout the season.”

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Everton staged a dramatic fightbackfrom two goals down to preserve

their Premier League status with a 3-2 win against Crystal Palace, whileBurnley climbed out of the relegationzone after a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa onThursday.

Frank Lampard's side recoveredfrom conceding twice in the first halfas Michael Keane and Richarlison net-ted after the break before DominicCalvert-Lewin's late winner sparkedwild celebrations at Goodison Park.

After a nerve-jangling battle toavoid playing outside the top-flight forthe first time since 1954, Everton canfinally relax with one game to play.

Their thrilling comeback was amicrocosm of Lampard's reign since hetook over in January, with Everton star-ing disaster in the face before pullingback from the brink.

Everton are four points above therelegation zone, leaving fourth-bottomBurnley and third-bottom Leeds scrap-ping for survival.

Burnley, who host Newcastle inSunday's final round of fixtures,

climbed above Leeds on goal differencethanks to their point at Villa.

They will be safe if they matchLeeds' result at Brentford on the lastday.

Whatever happens at the weekendis unlikely to surpass the emotion atGoodison, where fans wept tears of joyduring a frenzied post-match pitchinvasion.

Palace silenced the boisterouscrowed with their 21st minute opener.

Vitalii Mykolenko allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to get in front of himand the Palace forward headed inEberechi Eze's free-kick.

Several bottles were throwntowards Mateta and the atmosphereturned even more toxic in the 36thminute when Jordan Ayew pokedhome after Abdoulaye Doucoure failedto clear.

But Lampard had labelled thegame "all or nothing" and MichaelKeane gave Everton a vital 54th minutelifeline, the defender applying the fin-ishing touch from Mason Holgate'sheader.

Revitalised, Everton laid seige tothe Palace goal and Richarlison hooked

the equaliser past Jack Butland in the75th minute.

With Goodison at fever pitch,Dominic Calvert-Lewin completed thecomeback in the 85th minute with aclinical header that sparked a jubilantpitch invasion.

6��/�0���+��+����At Villa Park, Burnley's Maxwel

Cornet won a penalty on the stroke ofhalf-time when he was bundled over byEmiliano Buendia.

Cornet had missed Burnley's onlyprevious penalty this season and AshleyBarnes stepped up this time, sendingEmiliano Martinez the wrong waywith a cool strike for his first goal sinceFebruary 2021.

In the 48th minute, Buendiavolleyed Villa's equaliser from JohnMcGinn's cross, with Burnley protest-ing that a foul throw should have beengiven in the build-up.

Burnley finished with 10 men afterMatt Lowton was sent off for a hightackle on Calum Chambers in stop-page-time. Chelsea effectively guaran-teed a third place finish with a 1-1 drawagainst Leicester at Stamford Bridge.

Given their vastly superior goal dif-ference advantage over fourth placedTottenham, who sit three points behindthem, the Blues will not be caught.

After Chelsea's painful penaltyshoot-out defeat in the FA Cup finalagainst Liverpool on Saturday, Arsenal'sdefeat at Newcastle on Monday hadsecured a top four finish for the Blues.

James Maddison gave Leicester asixth minute lead from the edge of thearea before Marcos Alonso baggedChelsea's equaliser, volleying home inthe 35th minute.

Thursday's drama was only anappetiser for what will be a thrillingfinal day of the season. Manchester Citywill be crowned champions for a fourthtime in five seasons if they beat Villaat the Etihad Stadium.

But second placed Liverpool, onepoint behind Pep Guardiola's team,would steal the title if City drop pointsand they defeat Wolves at Anfield.

In the battle to qualify for next sea-son's Champions League, Tottenhamneed to a win at Norwich to be certainof pipping Arsenal, who host Evertonand are two points behind their northLondon rivals.

���� /0�2

Rafael Nadal has playeddown concerns over thechronic foot issue that

resurfaced in Rome last week ashe prepares to launch his bid fora 14th French Open title.

The Spaniard limped to athird-round loss to DenisShapovalov at the Italian Open,but practised in front of thou-sands of fans at Roland Garroson Wednesday without anyobvious discomfort.

"There is nothing to recov-er," Nadal told reporters onFriday. "What happened inRome is something that hap-pened very often in my prac-tices.

"I was suffering after thatfor a couple of days, but I feelbetter. That's why I'm here."

Nadal began the year witha 20-match winning run, cap-turing a second AustralianOpen title to claim a record 21stGrand Slam and move ahead ofNovak Djokovic and RogerFederer.

The 35-year-old thenmissed six weeks with a ribinjury sustained during his runto the final in Indian Wells,where he suffered his first lossof the season to Taylor Fritz.

Nadal complained of arecurring foot problem inRome, but he appears confidentit can be managed in Paris.

"The pain is there always.It's not going to disappear now.It's about if the pain is high andstrong enough to allow me toplay with real chances or not,"he said.

"It's something that I liveevery day with, so it's nothingnew for me and is not a big sur-prise.

"So I am here just to playtennis and to try to make thebest result possible here inRoland Garros. And if I don'tbelieve that this thing can hap-pen, probably I will not behere."

Nadal, defending champi-on Djokovic and new teenage

star Carlos Alcaraz have beendrawn in the same half of thetournament.

"In terms of tennis, ofcourse the top of the draw yousee the names, of course is avery tough one. But we are ina Grand Slam, and you neverknow what can happen," hesaid.

World number oneDjokovic and Nadal, rankedfive, are seeded to meet as earlyas the quarter-finals.

Nadal lost to Djokovic inthe semi-finals 12 months ago,but has an astonishing recordof 105 victories against justthree defeats at the tournamentsince his title-winning debut in2005.

He goes into the FrenchOpen without a clay title to his

name in 2022, and insisted heis not the favourite for a title hehas won 13 of the past 17 years.

"No, I mean, for sure not,because the results says that Iam not, but is something that

never worried much to me,"said Nadal.

"Probably when I was a

favourite, I never consideredmyself the favourite."

������8����9�Naomi Osaka admitted

Friday that she was "worried"over her return to the FrenchOpen, fearing she had "offend-ed" people when she controver-sially quit the 2021 tournament.

The Japanese superstar, aformer world number one anda four-time major winner,pulled out of Roland Garros 12months ago after she was finedand threatened with a GrandSlam ban for refusing to hon-our media commitments.

Osaka, the world's highest-earning sportswoman last yearwith a $55 million income,then took a break from thesport, revealing she had beensuffering bouts of depression.

"I'm not going to lie. Likewhen I first came here, I wasvery worried," the 24-year-oldsaid as she attended the officialpress day for the French Openwhich starts Sunday.

"I was just kind of worriedthat there were people that Ioffended some way and I wouldjust kind of bump into them.

"Of course I also didn't likehow I handled the situation."

Osaka, who withdrew afterjust one match in 2021, went onto skip that season'sWimbledon as well.

���� �=��/88�

Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp confirmed on Friday

that striker Divock Origi willleave the Premier League clubat the end of the season.

The Belgium internation-al has not played enoughmatches to trigger an exten-sion to his contract and has

been heavily linked with amove to AC Milan. The 27-year-old has been a bit-partplayer since he joinedLiverpool in 2014 but hasscored vital goals includingtwo in an astonishing come-back against Barcelona in theChampions League semi-finalsin 2019.

Origi also scored in the

final that year as Liverpool lift-ed their sixth European Cupagainst Tottenham.

"I expect Div to get a spe-cial reception, or farewell, orwhatever," said Klopp, whoseside are just one point behindPremier League leadersManchester City with onegame left.

"He is, and will be for me,forever a Liverpool legend(and) one of the most impor-tant players I ever had.

"That sounds completelystrange with the amount ofgames he had, but it is, andwas, a pure joy to work togeth-er with him."

Klopp, whose side hostWolves on Sunday, said itwould be a "harsh moment"when Origi leaves Anfield.

"I remember so manythings when I think about Divthat's incredible — importantgoals, injuries... bad injuries,and all these kinds of things—ups and downs," he said. "Heis a Liverpool legend, nodoubt."

Liverpool, who are still inthe hunt for an unprecedent-ed quadruple, must win onSunday and hope PepGuardiola's City slip up athome against Aston Villa.

���� �8�167��

Head coach Marco Rosehas left Borussia

Dortmund after just one yearin charge, the Bundesliga run-ners-up said on Friday.

Borussia Dortmund andRose "ended their collabora-tion" following an "intensiveanalysis of the season", theclub said in a statement.

The team had "not gottenthe most out of our potential ina number of areas", DortmundCEO Hans-Joachim Watzkesaid.

Rose said he was still con-vinced by his plans forDortmund, but saw that he didnot have the "100 percent"backing of the club.

Dortmund finished sec-ond in the Bundesliga in the2021-2022 season, trailingBayern Munich by eight points.

Dortmund struggled topressure Bayern, who eased totheir tenth consecutive title.They also failed to advancefrom their Champions Leaguegroup stage where they metAjax, Sporting and Besiktas.

Rose's side subsequentlylost to eventual finalistsRangers in the knockout stagesof UEFA's second competi-

tion, the Europa League.The expectations were high

for Rose, who joined

���� /0�2

Alexander Zverev believes Rafael Nadalplays "30% better" at Roland Garros as

he backed either the 13-time winner ordefending champion Novak Djokovic to tri-umph at the French Open.

German world number three Zverev,who is seeded to meet Djokovic in the semi-finals, said Nadal seems to have shruggedoff the recurrence of a foot injury which sawhim limp to an early defeat in Rome lastweek. "I just watched Rafa practice and it'sfunny because all of a sudden his forehand

is just 20 miles an hour faster. He moveslighter on his feet," said Zverev.

"There is something about this courtthat makes him play 30% better, just beingon this court."

World number one Djokovic, biddingfor a third Paris title to move level withNadal on 21 Grand Slams, comes into thetournament with a sixth Italian Openunder his belt.

The Serb, who turns 35 on Sundaywhen the French Open starts, is also firedup by missing out on his Australian Opendefence in January when he was deported

from Melbourne over his refusal to be vac-cinated. "I think Novak right now, as well,he's finding his form again," added Zverev."He's been playing better and better eachweek that he's been playing on the claycourts. He's been playing fantastic inRome.

"Those two guys (Djokovic and Nadal)are still the No 1 and 2 favourites for me."

Zverev, a semi-finalist at Roland Garrosin 2021, is seeded to face new teen sensa-tion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals ofa top-heavy draw where Djokovic andNadal could also clash in the last eight.

���� /0�2

World number one IgaSwiatek said on Friday

she was prepared for her 28-match winning streak to besnapped at the French Open,where she will attempt to liftthe trophy for the secondtime.

The 20-year-old has wonthe last five tournamentsshe has entered, triumphingon clay in Stuttgart andRome, and arrives in Paris asthe overwhelming favouritefor the title.

"I'm aware that thisstreak is something that maybe coming to an end soon, soI don't want to be like heart-broken when it's going tohappen," said Swiatek.

"I think being aware ofthat is pretty healthy."

"I haven't played a GrandSlam since the streak started.So I guess we're going to seeif everything I have beendoing before is going to beenough. But I have reallypositive thoughts," sheadded.

Swiatek became Poland'sfirst Grand Slam singleschampion when she won atRoland Garros in 2020, atournament that was delayeduntil September-October

because of the pandemic.Her title defence ended

in a quarter-final defeat byGreece's Maria Sakkari lastyear, but she returns withmore belief and self-assured-ness after filling the vacuumleft by the shock retirementof Ashleigh Barty.

"I'm more relaxed," saidSwiatek, who made the lastfour of the Australian Openin January.

"I proved to myself andto other people that I can bein the top of the game, andbefore I wasn't feeling thatmuch confidence, so thisyear I feel much more peace."

Swiatek replaced Barty atthe top of the rankings at thestart of April. She hasn't lostsince February and her win-ning run is the longest on theWTA tour since SerenaWilliams won 34 matches ina row in 2013. "The worldhas changed, for sure," shesaid. "I feel like with my newranking, people around aretreating me a little bit differ-ently.

"But I feel like I'm stay-ing the same player and thesame person. Still I feel likethere is a lot to improve, soI think these are the mainkeys that this is my base thatI'm leaning on."

Everton seal Premier League survival after epic escape

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NADAL DISMISSES DOUBTS OVER FOOT INJURY

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Dortmund from BorussiaMoenchengladbach last year.

The team would discusstheir future coaching teaminternally "over the comingdays", the club said.


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