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E ngaged in a military stand- off with China in the east- ern Ladakh, India on Tuesday opened a diplomatic front against Pakistan, asking Islamabad to reduce its Delhi High Commission staff by half within the next seven days and announced a reciprocal reduction of Indian strength in Islamabad. The downgrading of diplo- matic ties came after two offi- cials of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi were last month arrested for engaging in espionage activities. At the same time, several Indian High Commission staff were aggres- sively ‘tailed” by Pakistan intel- ligence agencies in Islamabad and two of them were briefly detained last week. The Ministry of External Affairs said the Charge d’Affaires of Pakistan High Commission was summoned and informed about the deci- sion which was based on instances of the alleged involve- ment of Pakistani officials in “acts of espionage” and dealings with terrorist organisations. In a statement, the MEA also cited the recent abduction of two Indian officials in Islamabad and the “barbaric treatment” meted out to them by Pakistani agencies as reasons for downgrading of the diplo- matic ties. “The behaviour of Pakistan and its officials is not in con- formity with the Vienna Convention and bilateral agreements on the treatment of diplomatic and consular offi- cials. On the contrary, it is an intrinsic element of a larger policy of supporting cross- border violence and terror- ism,” the MEA said. Therefore, it said, India has taken the decision to reduce the staff strength in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi by 50 per cent. “It would reciprocally reduce its own presence in Islamabad to the same proportion. This deci- sion, which is to be imple- mented in seven days, was conveyed to the Pakistani Charge d’Affaires,” it added. The MEA said the Charge d’Affaires of Pakistan High Commission was summoned to the Ministry and informed that India had repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of officials of his High Commission. “They have been engaged in acts of espionage and main- tained dealings with terrorist organisations. The activities of the two officials caught red- handed and expelled on May 31 was one example in that regard,” it said. It said Pakistan has engaged in a sustained cam- paign to “intimidate” the offi- cials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad from carrying on their legiti- mate diplomatic functions. “The recent abduction at gunpoint of two Indian officials and their severe ill-treatment underlines the extent to which Pakistan has gone in that direc- tion... These officials who returned to India on 22 June 2020 have provided graphic details of the barbaric treat- ment that they experienced at the hands of Pakistani agen- cies,” the MEA added. I ndia and China have agreed to disengage from various stand-off sites on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in east- ern Ladakh and make con- certed effort to “cool down” sit- uation at the border. The two sides will now work out modal- ities of pulling back troops, which could take months. Many more rounds of talks are likely to take place to end the face-off at the Pangong Tso (lake) where the Chinese have intruded into the Indian zone with massive force levels. The two countries arrived at a “mutual consensus” to de- escalate during the nearly ten hour talks between Lt General Harinder Singh and Major General Liu Lin in Moldo on Monday. Meanwhile, Army Chief General MM Naravane is on a two-day visit to Leh starting Tuesday and took stock of the situation in the aftermath of the June 15 bloody skirmish leav- ing 20 Indian Army personnel dead in the Galwan valley. Naravane met and inter- acted in the military hospital there with soldiers injured in the clash. The Army Chief is likely to visit some forward locations on the LAC during his tour, sources said. This is his first visit since the brawl. Naravane had earlier visit- ed Leh in mid-May to review the operational readiness of the army in the wake of ongoing face-offs. IAF chief RKS Bhadauria had visited Leh late last week to review operational readiness of his force in the aftermath of the free for all leading to tension all along the LAC. On the marathon parleys at the Corps Commander level on Monday ending late evening, sources said on Tuesday that the talks were held in “a cordial, positive and constructive atmosphere.” “There was a mutual con- sensus to disengage. Modalities for disengagement from all friction areas in Eastern Ladakh were discussed and will be taken forward d by both the sides,” sources said. According to news agency reports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing that both sides “agreed to take necessary measures to promote a cooling of the situation”. At present, the confronta- tion is at least four points, including in Galwan valley, Hot Springs and two places at the Pangong Tso. While the two sides are in agreement to withdraw their troops from face-to-face stand- off as soon as possible from three zones, the Chinese are unwilling to go back from Pangong Tso. They have advanced between “Finger 4” and “Finger 8” points whereas India has constantly maintained that these fingers or mountain spurs are part of its territory. A gainst the backdrop violent clashes leaving 20 Indian Army personnel dead on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday urged countries to respect international law and recognise legitimate interest of partners to build a durable world order. He made these crucial marks in the virtual Russia- India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministerial meeting. This was the first time Jaishankar was interacting face to face with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Incidentally, the two Ministers had talked to each other on the phone last week to find ways to defuse tension at the LAC after the bloody skirmishes. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said India and China do not need outside help in resolving long-standing issues between the two countries. “I don’t think India and China need any help from out- side. I don’t think they need to be helped, especially when it comes to country issues. They can solve them on their own,” Sergei Lavrov said, adding, “this means recent events”. “New Delhi and Beijing have shown commitment to a peaceful resolution. They start- ed meetings at the level of defence officers and foreign Ministers and neither has made any statement to indicate either will pursue non-diplomatic solutions,” he said during the virtual conference. Incidentally, US President Donald Trump had also offered to mediate last month to resolve the face-offs at the LAC. However, India declined the offer and said it was a bilat- eral issue with China. A fter claiming to have found an Ayurvedic cure for the coronavirus, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is now trying to con- vince the Modi Government that his product is “safe” and “clinically tested” and hopes that soon he would be mar- keting it across the country. Hours after Patanjali launched drugs on Tuesday what Ramdev claimed was the “first ayurvedic medicine” to cure coronavirus disease, the Centre asked the company to stop advertising the anti-Covid drug and sought details about it to verify the claims. Talking to a TV channel in the evening, Ramdev claimed he has written back to the Ayush Ministry on the verifi- cation of the medicine and ruled out that it could be banned. “There has been some confusion. I carried out clini- cal trial on 270 persons and all of them recovered from Covid- 19 . What more do you want,” he said, adding, “I’ve submitted all the papers to the Ministry.” Ramdev said he has spent time and energy to come out with a cure that has been test- ed under strict medical condi- tion and proven effective. “Why would I lie? I’m doing this to help the world,” he said. Acharya Balkrishna said on Twitter, “This Govt provides encouragement and pride to Ayurveda. Communication gap has been done away with and we have 100 per cent fulfilled all standard parameters for Randomised Placebo-con- trolled clinical trials. We’ve given info for the same to Ministry of AYUSH.” Launching the medicine in Haridwar, Patanjali claimed that “Coronil” and “Swasari” had shown 100 per cent favourable results during clin- ical trials on affected patients in 7 days. “This is not an immunity booster but a coro- navirus cure,” Ramdev said. The corona kit for 30 days will be made available at 545, said Acharya Balkrishna, the MD of Patanjali Ayurved. However, the AYUSH Ministry said facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to the Ministry. C hina has occupied a village of Nepal and allegedly removed the boundary pillars to legitimise its annexation, top Government sources said on Tuesday. It has also been learnt that China has gradually made inroads into several Nepalese territories with an ulterior aim to seize complete control. But so far KP Sharma Oli’s Nepalese Government is tightlipped about it. The latest in the line is Rui village in Gorkha district, which is now in total control of China. It has also occupied strategic lands at 11 places across Nepal. Around 36 hectares of land in four districts of Nepal, which border China, have been occupied by China. T he Government procure- ment portal GeM has made it mandatory for sellers to mention “country of origin” on products they wish to sell through the platform, a move aimed at promoting Aatma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India), a senior official said on Tuesday. Government e- Marketplace (GEM) has also enabled a provision for indi- cation of the percentage of local content in products with a view to promote Make in India. “GeM has taken a signifi- cant step towards Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the country of origin while registering all new prod- ucts on GeM,” the portal’s CEO Talleen Kumar told PTI. Sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the country of origin, with a warning that their products will be “removed” from the plat- form if they fail to update the same, he said. “With this new feature, now, the country of origin as well as the local content per- centage are visible in the mar- ketplace for all items. More importantly, the Make in India filter has now been enabled on the portal. Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50 per cent local content criteria,” he said. C hina has warned that if its troops are shot at with firearms following India’s deci- sion to grant “complete free- dom of action” to the Army deployed along Line of Actual Control (LAC) then the bor- der dispute can potentially turn into a military conflict. The warning came through an editorial in the state-run Global Times that has undertaken a psychologi- cal warfare and propaganda overdrive against India through a series of write-ups harping on the economic and military strengths of Beijing and at the same time seeking to downgrade New Delhi’s capabilities on these two fronts. India on Sunday granted “complete freedom of action” to the Army deployed along LAC with China, implying that the troops can resort to use of firearms when faced with a violent situation from Chinese soldiers like the Galwan incident in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed by the PLA troops. D efence Minister Rajnath Singh, now on a visit to Moscow, will not be meeting his Chinese counterpart there on Wednesday. Both the Ministers besides many others will take part in the Victory Day Parade there to mark the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Interestingly, a tri-Service contingent of the Indian Armed forces led by the Sikh Light Infantry will take part in the parade. F our persons died after inhal- ing poisonous gas from a septic tank which they entered to clean it in Marakona village in Chhattisgarh's Mungeli dis- trict on Tuesday evening. “The incident happened around 5 pm and we are still in the process of taking out the bodies. We will know the details once we are done with it,” Sargaon Thana In-charge ASI Sanjeev Thakur said. According to police, the deceased were Akhileshwar Kaushik (40), son of Lakhan Kumar Kaushik, Gaurishankar Kaushik (28), son of Mansaram Kaushik, and Ramkhilawan Kaushik (45), son of Mansaram Kaushik, all three residents of Marrakona village and from one family. Subhas Dagure (45) was a Nagar Panchayat Sagaon employee. Leader of opposition Dharamlal Kaushik, an MLA from Bilha, has expressed grief over the incident. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Engaged in a military stand-off with China in the east-

ern Ladakh, India on Tuesdayopened a diplomatic frontagainst Pakistan, askingIslamabad to reduce its DelhiHigh Commission staff by halfwithin the next seven daysand announced a reciprocalreduction of Indian strength inIslamabad.

The downgrading of diplo-matic ties came after two offi-cials of the Pakistan HighCommission in Delhi were lastmonth arrested for engaging inespionage activities. At thesame time, several Indian HighCommission staff were aggres-sively ‘tailed” by Pakistan intel-ligence agencies in Islamabadand two of them were brieflydetained last week.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs said the Charged’Affaires of Pakistan HighCommission was summonedand informed about the deci-sion which was based oninstances of the alleged involve-ment of Pakistani officials in“acts of espionage” and dealingswith terrorist organisations.

In a statement, the MEAalso cited the recent abductionof two Indian officials in

Islamabad and the “barbarictreatment” meted out to themby Pakistani agencies as reasonsfor downgrading of the diplo-matic ties.

“The behaviour of Pakistanand its officials is not in con-formity with the ViennaConvention and bilateralagreements on the treatment ofdiplomatic and consular offi-cials. On the contrary, it is anintrinsic element of a larger

policy of supporting cross-border violence and terror-ism,” the MEA said.

Therefore, it said, Indiahas taken the decision toreduce the staff strength in thePakistan High Commission inNew Delhi by 50 per cent. “Itwould reciprocally reduce itsown presence in Islamabad tothe same proportion. This deci-sion, which is to be imple-mented in seven days, wasconveyed to the PakistaniCharge d’Affaires,” it added.

The MEA said the Charged’Affaires of Pakistan HighCommission was summonedto the Ministry and informedthat India had repeatedlyexpressed concern about theactivities of officials of hisHigh Commission.

“They have been engagedin acts of espionage and main-

tained dealings with terroristorganisations. The activities ofthe two officials caught red-handed and expelled on May31 was one example in thatregard,” it said.

It said Pakistan hasengaged in a sustained cam-paign to “intimidate” the offi-cials of the Indian HighCommission in Islamabadfrom carrying on their legiti-mate diplomatic functions.

“The recent abduction atgunpoint of two Indian officialsand their severe ill-treatmentunderlines the extent to whichPakistan has gone in that direc-tion... These officials whoreturned to India on 22 June2020 have provided graphicdetails of the barbaric treat-ment that they experienced atthe hands of Pakistani agen-cies,” the MEA added.

��� '03��0:�5

India and China have agreedto disengage from various

stand-off sites on the Line ofActual Control (LAC) in east-ern Ladakh and make con-certed effort to “cool down” sit-uation at the border. The twosides will now work out modal-ities of pulling back troops,which could take months.Many more rounds of talks arelikely to take place to end theface-off at the Pangong Tso(lake) where the Chinese haveintruded into the Indian zonewith massive force levels.

The two countries arrivedat a “mutual consensus” to de-escalate during the nearly tenhour talks between Lt GeneralHarinder Singh and MajorGeneral Liu Lin in Moldo onMonday.

Meanwhile, Army ChiefGeneral MM Naravane is on atwo-day visit to Leh startingTuesday and took stock of thesituation in the aftermath of theJune 15 bloody skirmish leav-ing 20 Indian Army personneldead in the Galwan valley.

Naravane met and inter-acted in the military hospitalthere with soldiers injured inthe clash.

The Army Chief is likely tovisit some forward locations onthe LAC during his tour,sources said. This is his firstvisit since the brawl.

Naravane had earlier visit-ed Leh in mid-May to reviewthe operational readiness of thearmy in the wake of ongoingface-offs. IAF chief RKSBhadauria had visited Leh latelast week to review operationalreadiness of his force in theaftermath of the free for allleading to tension all along theLAC.

On the marathon parleys atthe Corps Commander level onMonday ending late evening,sources said on Tuesday thatthe talks were held in “a cordial,positive and constructiveatmosphere.”

“There was a mutual con-sensus to disengage. Modalitiesfor disengagement from allfriction areas in EasternLadakh were discussed andwill be taken forward d by boththe sides,” sources said.

According to news agencyreports, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman ZhaoLijian said in Beijing that bothsides “agreed to take necessarymeasures to promote a coolingof the situation”.

At present, the confronta-tion is at least four points,including in Galwan valley,Hot Springs and two places atthe Pangong Tso.

While the two sides are in

agreement to withdraw theirtroops from face-to-face stand-off as soon as possible fromthree zones, the Chinese areunwilling to go back fromPangong Tso.

They have advancedbetween “Finger 4” and “Finger8” points whereas India hasconstantly maintained thatthese fingers or mountain spursare part of its territory.

��� '03��0:�5

Against the backdrop violentclashes leaving 20 Indian

Army personnel dead on theLine of Actual Control (LAC)in Ladakh, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar onTuesday urged countries torespect international law andrecognise legitimate interestof partners to build a durableworld order.

He made these crucialmarks in the virtual Russia-India-China (RIC) ForeignMinisterial meeting. This wasthe first time Jaishankar wasinteracting face to face with hisChinese counterpart Wang Yi.Incidentally, the two Ministers

had talked to each other on thephone last week to find ways todefuse tension at the LAC afterthe bloody skirmishes.

Meanwhile, RussianForeign Minister Sergey Lavrovsaid India and China do notneed outside help in resolvinglong-standing issues betweenthe two countries.

“I don’t think India andChina need any help from out-side. I don’t think they need tobe helped, especially when itcomes to country issues. Theycan solve them on their own,”Sergei Lavrov said, adding,“this means recent events”.

“New Delhi and Beijinghave shown commitment to apeaceful resolution. They start-ed meetings at the level ofdefence officers and foreignMinisters and neither has madeany statement to indicate eitherwill pursue non-diplomaticsolutions,” he said during thevirtual conference.

Incidentally, US PresidentDonald Trump had also offeredto mediate last month toresolve the face-offs at theLAC. However, India declinedthe offer and said it was a bilat-eral issue with China.

��� '03��0:�5

After claiming to have foundan Ayurvedic cure for the

coronavirus, Yoga guru BabaRamdev is now trying to con-vince the Modi Governmentthat his product is “safe” and“clinically tested” and hopesthat soon he would be mar-keting it across the country.

Hours after Patanjalilaunched drugs on Tuesdaywhat Ramdev claimed was the“first ayurvedic medicine” tocure coronavirus disease, theCentre asked the company tostop advertising the anti-Coviddrug and sought details aboutit to verify the claims.

Talking to a TV channel in

the evening, Ramdev claimedhe has written back to theAyush Ministry on the verifi-cation of the medicine andruled out that it could bebanned. “There has been someconfusion. I carried out clini-cal trial on 270 persons and allof them recovered from Covid-19 . What more do you want,”

he said, adding, “I’ve submittedall the papers to the Ministry.”

Ramdev said he has spenttime and energy to come outwith a cure that has been test-ed under strict medical condi-tion and proven effective. “Whywould I lie? I’m doing this tohelp the world,” he said.

Acharya Balkrishna said onTwitter, “This Govt providesencouragement and pride toAyurveda. Communication gaphas been done away with andwe have 100 per cent fulfilledall standard parameters forRandomised Placebo-con-

trolled clinical trials. We’vegiven info for the same toMinistry of AYUSH.”

Launching the medicinein Haridwar, Patanjali claimedthat “Coronil” and “Swasari”had shown 100 per centfavourable results during clin-ical trials on affected patientsin 7 days. “This is not animmunity booster but a coro-navirus cure,” Ramdev said.

The corona kit for 30 dayswill be made available at �545,said Acharya Balkrishna, theMD of Patanjali Ayurved.However, the AYUSH Ministrysaid facts of the claim anddetails of the stated scientificstudy are not known to theMinistry.

�� � � '03��0:�5

China has occupied a villageof Nepal and allegedly

removed the boundary pillarsto legitimise its annexation, topGovernment sources said onTuesday. It has also been learntthat China has gradually madeinroads into several Nepaleseterritories with an ulterior aimto seize complete control. Butso far KP Sharma Oli’sNepalese Government istightlipped about it.

The latest in the line is Ruivillage in Gorkha district,which is now in total control ofChina. It has also occupiedstrategic lands at 11 placesacross Nepal. Around 36hectares of land in four districtsof Nepal, which border China,have been occupied by China.

���� '03��0:�5

The Government procure-ment portal GeM has made

it mandatory for sellers tomention “country of origin” onproducts they wish to sellthrough the platform, a moveaimed at promoting AatmaNirbhar Bharat (Self-reliantIndia), a senior official said onTuesday.

Government e-Marketplace (GEM) has alsoenabled a provision for indi-cation of the percentage oflocal content in products with a view to promote Makein India.

“GeM has taken a signifi-cant step towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat and has madeit mandatory for sellers toenter the country of originwhile registering all new prod-

ucts on GeM,” the portal’s CEOTalleen Kumar told PTI.

Sellers, who had alreadyuploaded their products beforethe introduction of this newfeature on GeM, are beingreminded regularly to updatethe country of origin, with awarning that their products willbe “removed” from the plat-form if they fail to update thesame, he said.

“With this new feature,now, the country of origin aswell as the local content per-centage are visible in the mar-ketplace for all items. Moreimportantly, the Make in Indiafilter has now been enabled onthe portal. Buyers can chooseto buy only those products that meet the minimum 50 percent local content criteria,” he said.

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China has warned that if itstroops are shot at with

firearms following India’s deci-sion to grant “complete free-dom of action” to the Armydeployed along Line of ActualControl (LAC) then the bor-der dispute can potentiallyturn into a military conflict.

The warning camethrough an editorial in thestate-run Global Times thathas undertaken a psychologi-cal warfare and propagandaoverdrive against Indiathrough a series of write-ups

harping on the economic andmilitary strengths of Beijingand at the same time seekingto downgrade New Delhi’scapabilities on these twofronts.

India on Sunday granted“complete freedom of action”to the Army deployed alongLAC with China, implyingthat the troops can resort touse of firearms when facedwith a violent situation fromChinese soldiers like theGalwan incident in which 20Indian Army personnel werekilled by the PLA troops.

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh, now on a visit to

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Day Parade there to mark the75th anniversary of the defeatof Nazi Germany.

Interestingly, a tri-Servicecontingent of the IndianArmed forces led by the SikhLight Infantry will take part inthe parade.

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Four persons died after inhal-ing poisonous gas from a

septic tank which they enteredto clean it in Marakona villagein Chhattisgarh's Mungeli dis-trict on Tuesday evening.

“The incident happenedaround 5 pm and we are still inthe process of taking out thebodies. We will know thedetails once we are done withit,” Sargaon Thana In-chargeASI Sanjeev Thakur said.

According to police, thedeceased were AkhileshwarKaushik (40), son of LakhanKumar Kaushik, GaurishankarKaushik (28), son of MansaramKaushik, and RamkhilawanKaushik (45), son of MansaramKaushik, all three residents ofMarrakona village and fromone family. Subhas Dagure(45) was a Nagar PanchayatSagaon employee.

Leader of oppositionDharamlal Kaushik, an MLAfrom Bilha, has expressed griefover the incident.

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Notwithstanding mountingnumber of coronavirus

deaths and fresh cases of infec-tion in the State, the PunjabGovernment on Tuesday issuedguidelines for further openingof hotels, restaurants and mar-riage palaces with restrictionsand all COVID-19 safety mea-sures.

As per the new guidelines,the hotels, restaurants and mar-riage halls have been allowed tooperate at 50 percent capacityor with 50 guests, whichever isless, with strict adherence to thesocial-distancing norms and

other health protocols.Besides, the hotels and

restaurants have been allowedto have the ‘dine-in’ facility till8 pm, with 50 percent occu-pancy or 50 guests, whicheveris less. Earlier, the hotels andrestaurants were allowed toonly accept ‘take away’ or homedelivery orders.

“Keeping in view the con-cerns of the industry and theMHA instructions, we havedecided to reopen hotels,restaurants, marriage halls andother hospitality services atreduced 50 percent capacity.However, establishments mustadhere to the SoP (standard

operation procedure) andobserve full precautions,” ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh tweeted on Tuesday.

Issuing new guidelinesrelaxing the conditions foropening of all types of hospi-tality services, the Governmenthas maintained that the man-agement of hotels or restaurantswould comply with the SOPsunder which restaurants inhotels are allowed to serve foodincluding buffet meals up to 50percent of their seating capaci-ty or 50 guests, whichever is less.

In addition, the restau-rants would also be open topersons other than hotel guests

but the timings for both thehotel guests as well as personsfrom outside would be till 8pm. However, the bars in thehotels shall remain closed butliquor could be served inrooms and restaurants, as per-mitted under the excise policyof the State. Spokesperson saidthat the marriages and othersocial functions and ‘open-air’parties in banquet halls, mar-riage palaces, hotels and openvenues could be organized upto 50 persons.

“The number of guests,exclusive of catering staff,would not exceed 50 persons.The size of banquet hall and

venue for 50 persons shall be atleast be 5,000 square feet basedon requirement of 10’x10’ areafor a person for the purpose ofmaintenance of adequate socialdistancing,” read the guide-lines. The spokesperson saidthat the bars would continue toremain closed in banquet hallsor marriage palaces. However,liquor could be served in thefunction as per the excise pol-icy of the State.

“The SOPs for hotels andother hospitality services wouldbe strictly followed. The man-agement of hotels and otherhospitality services would beobliged to comply with the

SOPs of the Union HealthMinistry,” said the spokesper-son. District authorities havealso been directed to ensurecompliance of guidelines andother SOP depending upon thelocal situation. The districtauthorities could also imposeadditional restrictions asdeemed necessary, added thespokesperson.

Earlier, the StateGovernment had allowedopening of hotel and restau-rants in a very limited mannerfrom June 1, when the countryofficially entered into Unlock1.0 to gradually exit from theCOVID-19 lockdown.

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With the number of casesrising in the state,

Haryana government hasdecided to issue an order soonfor fixing the cost of Covid-19treatment in private hospitals,Health Minister Anil Vij saidon Tuesday.

Emphasising that he haddiscussed the modalities withsenior officials of his depart-ment, the minister said a for-mal order would be issuedsoon. He said the governmentwould fix charges of isolationbeds in private hospitals, ICUbeds without ventilators, ICUbeds with ventilators, and med-icines to be administered.

The minister said thatwhile treatment is free in gov-ernment facilities in the state,the government wants to makesure that treatment is affordableeven for those who opt for pri-vate hospitals.

On June 19, the state gov-ernment had issued directionsthat private laboratories shouldnot charge more than �2,400for RT-PCR test for Covid-19,inclusive of GST and othertaxes. Vij said that to ramp uptesting, the Haryana govern-ment on Monday gave ordersto procure one lakh antigen-based testing kits with approvalof the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR). Thescale of testing will significantlygo up using these kits, whichquickly put out results, he said.

On the rise in the numberof coronavirus cases inHaryana this month, Vij saidthat they were expecting infec-tions to rise once borders wereopened and more relaxationsgiven leading to free movement

of people. Haryana has over11,000 cases with 169 fatalities.

Gurgaon and Faridabaddistricts, which fall in theNational Capital Region, arethe worst hit with the highestnumber of fatalities. These twodistricts also account for themajority of the total cases.

Amid rising number ofCovid-19 cases, the Haryanagovernment had said 1,106final-year MBBS studentsstudying in Government andprivate medical colleges wouldbe deployed for effective man-agement of the pandemic. “Wehave come up with a protocolfor these students and it hasbeen decided that they will notbe put on hard duties.

We will deploy them incarrying out surveys, main-taining containment zones,sample collection etc. We needmore manpower in the hospi-tals and this step will help spareour doctors and other healthprofessionals who otherwisehave to manage these duties aswell,” said Vij.

He said that final-year B.Scand M.Sc nursing students willalso assist in effective manage-ment of the pandemic and thechief medical officers of dis-tricts will use their servicesaccordingly. Vij further saidthat over 600 doctors had beenrecruited recently, of whom 350have already joined.

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Himachal Government hasdecided to provide an

incentive of �2000 per monthfor the month of July andAugust to all the ASHAWorkers of the State, ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur saidon Tuesday.

Addressing the ASHAworkers of the State throughVideo Conferencing fromShimla, he said the Coronapandemic has taken the wholeworld by surprise and caughtthe medical fraternity unpre-pared. He said HimachalPradesh has effectively foughtthis virus and ASHA workersof the State have played a piv-otal role in controlling thisvirus, adding that these work-ers not only helped in detect-ing the people with ILI symp-

toms, but alsohelped in motivat-ing the people instrictly followingthe quarantinenorms.

Thakur saidthat although theCovid-19 cases inour country wereincreasing, the situation wasunder control. He said ASHAworkers also played an impor-tant role in sensitizing the peo-ple in home quarantine tostrictly follow the norms so asto ensure that they and theirfamily members remain safe.

The Chief Minister saidthat the State Government hassucceeded in checking com-munity spread and credit of thisgoes to the ASHA Workers. Hesaid that the State Governmentwould consider all the genuine

demands of the ASHA workersympathetically. He also inter-acted with the ASHA workerson the occasion.

Additional Chief SecretaryHealth R.D.Dhiman saidASHA workers have played amajor role in containing theCorona pandemic in the State. He said that the ActiveCase Finding Campaignlaunched by the StateGovernment has been appre-ciated by the Prime Ministeralso.

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Haryana Deputy ChiefMinister Dushyant

Chautala on Tuesday said theState Government would bearthe transportation cost of themigrant labourers who arewilling to return in the state,adding that financial assis-tance of �1500 as transport fareto each construction labourerwould be provided.

The decision was takenduring the meeting of theLabour Welfare Board inPanchkula PWD rest house.The board also decided tolaunch schemes for the welfareof the labourers at the direc-torate level.

Minister of State forL a b o u r - E m p l o y m e n tDepartment, Anup Dhanak,Haryana Minister of State forSocial Justice and

Empowerment Om PrakashYadav and members of Boardwere also present in the meet-ing.

Talking to reporters,Chautala said the companiesbelonging to the building andother construction sectors,want to bring back migrantlabourers for which the stategovernment would not onlyprovide all basic facilities tothem but would also bear thetransportation expenditure

worth �1500 of each labourer.He said this amount would begiven as subsidy to them when-ever they reach here and thefacility would be offered for thenext two months. He said thatthe Haryana Government canalso facilitate its buses to bringsuch labourers back to thestate.

The Deputy CM addeddespite prevailing crisis due toCovid-19 pandemic, the stategovernment has disbursed�154 crore to the 3.10 lakhlabourers around �1000 perweek for each labourer.

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The one-day strike by theIndian Medical Association

(IMA) doctors over the pro-posed Clinical EstablishmentAct, despite the Government’sappeal to withdraw the same inthe wake of corona pandemic,paralyzed Punjab’s health ser-vices at private hospitals onTuesday.

Considering the sensitivi-ty of the issue, the ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh will now hold a meetingwith the IMA’s Punjab chapteron Friday (June 26) to resolvethe issue. Notably, the privatehealth sector caters to about 70percent of the State’s total pop-ulation.

Doctors, under the IMA’sPunjab chapter, running privatehospitals and clinics, nursinghomes, dental clinics, diag-nostic laboratories, ayurvedicand homoeopathic clinics wenton a day long strike against theClinical Establishment Act.

Only a day before, the stateHealth Minister Balbir SinghSidhu had appealed to theIMA to withdraw their strike,maintaining that theGovernment was “ready to dis-cuss all issues raised by theIMA over the proposedClinical Establishment Act” sothat people of State could notsuffer to get the healthcarefacilities from private healthsector during the ongoing cri-sis of Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the IMA decid-ed to go ahead with its strike,shutting down all the privatehealth facilities in protestagainst the Government’s deci-sion to enforce the controver-sial Clinical Establishment Actby way of an ordinance.

Earlier, the IMA had pre-sented a 10-day ultimatum onJune 13, asking the StateGovernment to withdraw itsdecision to implement theClinical Establishment Actfrom July 1. Since there was noresponse from the

Government, the IMA chose toproceed with the strike — dur-ing the ongoing coronaviruscrisis.

As per reports, no privatehospital even attended anyemergency case on Tuesdayand all emergency cases,including that of injury ordelivery, were moved toGovernment facilities.

The IMA demanded thatthe Government should imme-diately defer the implementa-tion of the Act and hold talkswith them.

“The new regulation wasbrought in hurry without tak-ing IMA Punjab, the biggeststakeholder, into confidence.We had submitted memoran-dums to the Governmentthrough elected representa-tives and DeputyCommissioners demandingimmediate withdrawal but theGovernment ignored ourdemands,” said IMA-Punjabgeneral secretary Dr ParamjitMann.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Tuesday cornered the BJP ledCentrAl Government over itsfailure to support the State inits fight against Covid-19.

Capt Amarinder, duringthe Congress WorkingCommittee’s (CWC) video-conference meeting convenedby the party’s interim presidentSonia Gandhi with formerPrime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh and Rahul Gandhiamong the participants, point-ed out that all that Punjab hadreceived so far from the Centrewas its own �2,800 crore forJanuary to March period, andjust a few other grants. “TheGST (Goods and Services Tax)dues for April to June were stillpending,” he said.

Despite repeated pleas andmemorandums, no help wasforthcoming from the Centreto the State Government fortackling the Covid-19 crisis, hesaid, adding that the UnionGovernment was not givingeven the State’s own share.

“The State has not receiveda single paisa of the �20,000lakh crore package announcedby the Prime Minister,” hesaid, noting that with the esti-mated shortfall of �25,000 to30,000 crores this year, and therest going into the Covid-19war, the situation for Punjabwas bad.

The State Government wasforced to manage on its own tocreate resources for fightingCovid-19, said CaptAmarinder, adding that he wassure that other states were inthe same unfortunate posi-tion. “Nobody is listening tous…I had to put aside �35crore to arrange for 500 trainsto send 5.63 lakh migrantsback to their homes,” he added. The Chief Minister saidthat with 2.33 lakh of the total2.52 lakh industries in Punjabnow reopen, migrants werenow also coming back to theState.

“The Government is tryingits best to get the industry backon track with all possible facil-ities and easing of norms, butthe units are currently workingat 40 percent capacity andwould take some months toreturn to their full strength,” hesaid. “Even on this count, theCentral Government is notextending any help,” said theChief Minister, citing theexample of the large number ofunits that had started manu-facturing PPE kits on requestfrom the Government of India.

Now the state was in aposition to produce 15 lakhPPE kits every day but therewere no buyers, he said, addingthat he had written to thePrime Minister for permissionto export these kits.

Speaking of the state’s eco-

nomic revival plan, the ChiefMinister said that the MontekAhulwalia committee. set up toformulate the strategy, wassharing its feedback with theGovernment, which wasaccordingly charting the wayforward. The committee has sixworking, of which the Financeteam had already submitted itsreport and the others areexpected to come in soon.

Briefing the CWC aboutthe Covid situation in the state,Capt Amarinder said that sam-pling and testing was beingcontinuously enhanced and amicro-containment strategyhad been adopted to check thespread of the pandemic.

The number of cases was,however, still rising, mainly onaccount of the increased test-ing and the large number ofpeople coming from outside,including other states andcountries.

Apart from Ludhiana andJalandhar, one of the worstaffected districts was Amritsar,where all international flightswere landing, including fromthe highly contaminated Gulfregion, he revealed.

The other big problem areawas the thousands of peoplereaching Punjab every dayfrom Delhi, where the situationwas extremely bad, he said,adding that many of these peo-ple were not reporting them-selves and had to be traced andtracked, including in villages.

Terming the Galwan Valleyviolence as a part of larg-

er design on the part of China,Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Tuesdaysaid that India should notmake the mistake of dismiss-ing the incident as a patrolclash but should take a firmstand against any Chineseincursions into the Indian ter-ritory.

The amount of build-up inGalwan Valley showed that theChinese were working on aplan, said Capt Amarinder,

adding that India could notafford to lose even an inch ofits land in the area, which is ofhuge strategic importance forboth sides.

“We have all seen clashesin our time, with Pakistanand even with Chinese, andthis is definitely not a patrolclash,” he stressed.

Referring to the map of thearea, the Chief Minister saidthat the Chinese had reachedright half way through to theSiachen Glacier after Pakistanceded the northern part of

Shaksgam Valley in PoK in1963.

“Beyond that, there is anarea that is any case belongs toChina,” he explained, addingthat “there is a little gapbetween the glacier and theAksai Chin area, which is theDaulat Beg gap, which they aretrying to close”.

“We have to take a strongposition, and we should beclear that if we lose even aninch of land, we must holdthem responsible,” he said dur-ing the meeting.

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Chandigarh: The HaryanaGovernment has decided not tohold higher and technical edu-cation examinations nextmonth and students will bepromoted to the next semesteron the basis of internal assess-ment and previous perfor-mance, said state ministerKanwar Pal on Tuesday

Earlier, Higher andTechnical EducationDepartment had said all termi-

nal examinations of final semes-ters will be conducted from July1 to 31. The education ministerin a statement here said if a uni-versity wishes, then it may con-duct online examinations if it isfully prepared and equipped forthe same. It will have to ensurethat all students are able to takesuch exams.

The minister said students ofintermediate and final semesterswill be promoted to the next

semester on the basis of the inter-nal assessment/assignment andprevious examinations. Bothcomponents will be given 50 percent weightage each. However,students will have the option forimprovement in grades later onthe basis of a written examina-tion once the coronavirus situ-ation improves. The same for-mula will also be applicable fordistance education/private stu-dents, he said. PNS

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To curtail the spread of novelcoronavirus in specific areas,

Punjab Government has imple-mented a stringent contain-ment strategy under which 19containment zones have beenestablished in eight districts ofthe State containing a popula-tion of about 25000, so far.

“In urban areas, contain-ment zones are clearly demar-cated as a street or two adjoin-ing streets, a Mohalla or a res-idential society. Containmentas well as micro containmentzone is depending upon thetotal number of the Covid-19cases in a specific area so toensure proper utilization ofmanpower to conduct activitiessuch as screening, tracing, test-ing and counseling of all highrisk contacts,” said the stateHealth and Family WelfareMinister Balbir Singh Sidhu.

Sidhu said that in the ruralareas, it can encompass thewhole village or be limited to apart of the village. The princi-ple underlying this detailing isto focus on effective contain-ment of smaller or limited areas.

“Early identification hasproved successful in containingthe spread of the infection.Thus, the whole population inthe containment areas isscreened regularly and all pos-sible suspected cases of Covid-19 are tested and positivesshifted to isolation centers,” hesaid.

HIGH RISK PATIENTSWITH CO-MORBIDITIESNOT TO BE ADMITTED ATCOVID CARE CENTRE

To ensure safety of highrisk patients, the Minister saidthat instructions have beenissued to the Civil Surgeonsthat high risk patients those

aged more than 60 years orthose with co-morbidities likediabetes mellitus, hyperten-sion, among others will not beadmitted at Covid Care Centre(CCC). No Level-I and Level-II patients to be admitted atLevel-III facility. Patients atthe CCC will be shifted to theLevel-II facility only if indicat-ed according to the referral cri-teria already issued.CSs ASKED TO ENSUREDEDICATED BASIC LIFESUPPORT AMBULANCE IN

CCCEvery Covid Care Centre

must have a dedicated BasicLife Support Ambulance(BLSA) equipped with suffi-cient oxygen support on 24x7basis, for ensuring safe trans-port of a case to dedicatedhigher facilities if the symp-toms progress from mild tomoderate or severe. He alsosaid that patients with nosymptoms or mild symptomswill be taken care of at Level-I(CCC).

8.40 LAKHS SURVEYEDUNDER ‘GHAR GHARNIGRANI’ CAMPAIGN

Talking about ‘Ghar GharNigrani’ campaign, Sidhu saidthat the door-to-door survey isundertaken with the help ofASHA workers or communityvolunteers to ensure earlydetection and timely testing.

Through the App, theentire rural and urban popu-lation above the age of 30years is being surveyed includ-ing checking for people withco-morbidities and SARI(Severe Acute RespiratoryIllness) or ILI (Influenza-likeIllness) surveillance. The datagenerated is being used for riskmapping which facilitates tar-geted interventions.

As on June 22, 8,40,223persons have been surveyed, ofwhom 8,36,829 were found to beasymptomatic and 3,997 withsymptoms like cough, fever, sorethroat, breathlessness etc. Thesurvey which is still underwayhas been completed in 5512 vil-lages and 1112 urban wards.

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RAIPUR | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 24, 2020chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Girls outshined boys in theHigh School, Higher

Secondary and Vocationalexamination 2020 resultsdeclared by School EducationMinister Dr Premsai SinghTekam on Tuesday at theChhattisgarh State InfotechPromotion Society (CHiPS)office.

The High School exami-nation recorded a passingpercent of 73.62, out of whichgirls recorded 76.28 percentand boys 70.53. In HigherSecondary School examina-tion, the passing percentage is78.59, with girls achieving82.02 and boys 74.70.

As compared to the lastacademic session 2018-19,there has been an increase inthe passing percentage ofHigh School by 5.42 percentand of Higher Secondaryresult by 0.16 percent. Invocational exams, 91.63

percent of students passed.Releasing the results and

greeting the students, DrPremsai said candidates whodid not clear the examinationshould not get disappointed butinstead continue to with theirhard work to taste success.

The Minister said in theHigh School Certificate mainexamination, a total of 392,153candidates were registered, outof which 384,761 appeared.Results were declared for384,599 candidates.

A total of 206,682 girls

and 178,079 boys wrote theexamination.

The number of studentswho got First class is 32.86percent. Second classaccounts for 37.18 percentand 3.59 percent got Thirdclass. A total of 25,487

candidates have Supplementarywhile the results of 162 candi-dates have been withheld fordifferent reasons.

In the last academic ses-sion, the High School passingpercentage was 68.20. Thisyear the result was better by5.42 percent.

The Minister said that inthe Higher Secondary SchoolCertificate Examination, a totalof 277,563 candidates were reg-istered and 275,736 appeared.A total of 129,315 were boysand 146,421 were girls.

The results of 275,495students were declared. Atotal of 216,526 candidatescleared the exam, which is78.59 percent. The percentageof girls who passed is 82.02and for boys it is 74.70.

The students passing withFirst class numbered 72,385(26.27%). Second class stu-dents were 134,631 and Thirdclass 9,493. A total of 34,880candidates got Supplementarywhile result of 241 students

has been withheld.Last year, a total of

260,521 candidates appearedand the result was 78.43%.This year's result was better by0.16%.

The Minister said that theHigh Secondary VocationalExamination registered 1,677candidates, out of which 1,660appeared. The number of stu-dents who cleared the exami-nation is 1,520 -- 91.63 per-cent. Two candidates’ resultswere cancelled due to lack ofeligibility.

Last year, the passing per-centage was 98.80.

The Minister said thatbonus marks for non-aca-demic activities have beengiven to 1,777 students inHigh School, 1,721 in HigherSecondary and 9 students invocational courses.

The results can be seen onBoard websitewww.cgbse.nic.in orhttp://results.gov.in/cgresults,www.results.cg.nic.in

RAIPUR: Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel has congrat-ulated all the meritorious stu-dents as well as those whopassed with flying colours the10th and 12th exams of theChhattisgarh SecondaryEducation Board whoseresults were declared onTuesday.

The Chief Ministerwished a bright future to stu-dents who have successfullycleared the High SchoolCertificate Main Exam 2020and Higher Secondary SchoolCertificate Main Exam 2020as well as the HigherSecondary ProfessionalExamination 2020.

Baghel consoled the stu-dents, who could not get the

expected results. He askedthem to be patient and startpreparing again with courage.He congratulated the teachersand parents too for the betterresults this year.

RAIPUR: For first time inChhattisgarh, Pragya Kashyapof Class 10 achieved the mile-stone of scoring cent percentmarks followed by PrashansaRajput of Bemetara (99.33%or 596 marks). Bharati Yadavof Balod and Nikhil Sao ofJashpur are in the third spotwith 98.67% (592 marks).

The other Merit list can-didates are Bijendra KumarDewangan of Janjgir (98.50%,591 marks) as well as MamtaSingh of Balod, PratibhaSikheriya of Raipur, VirendraLakeshwar of Raipur andGulam Rabbani of Jashpur, allof whom are tied in 5th posi-tion with 590 marks.

Reetesh Kumar Sinha ofBalod, Chhaya Nirmalkar ofJanjgir and Asad Iqbal ofSurajpur took the 6th positionwith 589 marks.

Varun Kumar Sahu(Bemetara), Avneesh Prajapati(Janjgir), Isha Sahu (Janjgir),Renuka Chandra (Janjgir),Neeraj Kumar Verma (Mungeli),Mahesh Gupta (Raigarh), KuntiSao (Raigarh), Chirag Deep(Jashpur), Yogesh Kumar Sidar(Jashpur) and Kuldeep Singh(Surajpur) were in the 7th posi-tion with 588 marks.

Mahak Yadav (Durg), PiuMaity (Raigarh), ManasRanjan Haiburu (Raigarh),Umeshwari Patel (Raigarh)

and Umeshwari Rajwade(Surguja) came 8th with97.83% (587 marks).

The 9th position with 586marks went to Poonam Sahu(Bemetara), Aadarsh Giri(Durg), Harsh Dewangan,Shivani Yadav, and BhaskarPatel (all from Janjgir), AnjaliSharma and Varsha Dey(Korba), Prashant Tiwari(Balrampur), Eshwar ChandChouhan (Jashpur). SanjanaBanchhor (Durg), PreetiNandu Ram (Rajnandgaon),Dharmendra Patel (Janjgir),Khushi Pandey (Raigarh),Ojas Shrivastava and SushmitaPal (Koriya) are placed in the10th position with 585 marks.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

This year's Higher Secondary SchoolExamination's Merit list topper got the

first spot thanks to the 10 bonus marksobtained from extra-curricular activity.

Tikesh Vaishnav from Mungeliscored 489 marks with 97.80% in Class12 while Shreya Agrawal of Raipur with485 marks came second and TannuYadav of Bilaspur with 483 marks third.

The other toppers are Saurabh Sahu(481 marks) of Bhilai (4th), KamleshPradhan (480 marks) of Raigarh,Pahrisha Gupta (479), Ayesha Anjum(478) from Raipur and Fareen Qureshi(Korba) (both in 7th position) andKilendra Dewangan from Dhamtari,Lovesh Goyal (Bilaspur) and Neelu PriyaUike (477) took the 8th position.

The 9th position holders are NamanChandrakar (Baloda Bazar) and PushpaChoudhary (Mahasamund) while 10thspot went to Devendra Kumar Tarak(Raipur), Sandhya Verma (Rajnandgaon)and Nitish Kumar Chandra (Balrampur).

If the subject marks are compared,then Shreya is the topper instead ofTikesh, who would take the sixth position.

Tikesh has full subject marks of 479while Shreya has scored 485. Tikeshbecame the topper because he is a Scout,thus getting additional 10 bonus points.

Shreya does not regret not being thetopper. Her focus is on engineering.“The School Education Departmentgives additional 10 marks for thoseinvolved in other curricular activitiesduring schooling,” says School EducationPrincipal Secretary Dr Alok Shukla.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh has beenplaced in the second posi-

tion for use of Information andCommunication Technology(ICT) to bring transparency,efficiency and accountabilityin empowering and imple-menting departmentalschemes in Panchayats.

The Union government'sMinistry of Panchayat Rajplaced Himachal Pradesh onthe top.

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel andPanchayat, Rural Development

Minister T.S. Singh Deo greet-ed all departmental officersand employees for the achieve-ment.

The official statementstates that village panchayats inChhattisgarh are implement-ing and monitoring schemesand programmes throughcomputer-based ICT.

It said that under e-Panchayat, all the basic servic-es and works are being moni-tored through 11 core applica-tions. Each village panchayathas been given a unique codeunder Local GovernanceDirectory (LGD). The map-

ping has been done on LGDportal.

In the current fiscal 2020-21, village developmentschemes in all the 11,664 vil-lage panchayats have beenuploaded in the entry plan plussoftware. The cash book clo-sure of Panchayat for 2018-19is also being done online.

Any villager can monitorthe different works through thePanchayat website. P-NoticeBoard’ Mobile application hasbeen developed to send mes-sages to panchayat and com-mon citizens.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh is among thestates with the lowest

community transfer of coro-navirus across India, HealthMinister TS Singh Deoinformed.

“This is the result of thehard work and resilience ofour healthcare workers andthe awareness and coopera-tion of the people ofChhattisgarh," Singh Deosaid in a statement.

"While the fight againstCovid-19 is a long one, it'sheartening to know thatcommunity transfer in ourChhattisgarh is one of the

LOWEST in India,” SinghDeo tweeted.

He also tweeted aninfographic which showedonly 0.5% community trans-fer rate in Chhattisgarh.

As per the tweet sharedby Singh Deo, Delhi has thehighest risk of communitytransmission (around 143percent) followed byTelangana at 122 percent byJune 22.

The neighbouring statesof Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh registered 10percent transmission ratewhile Odisha had 1 percenttransmission.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The Chhattisgarh HealthDepartment on Tuesday asked

passengers who had landed at theSwami Vivekananda Airport inRaipur on June 7 and 10 to remain inhome isolation.

“Passengers who landed atRaipur by Indigo flight 6G-2757 onJune 7 and by Air Vistara UK-797 onJune 10 are suggested to remain inhome isolation. One passenger eachin both flights were detected coron-avirus positive,” a press release fromthe state government said.

In view of public's and their ownhealth safety, the Health Departmenthas asked inter-state travellers toremain in paid quarantine for 14days and then in home quarantinefor 14 days.

People in quarantine have beentold to avoid public contact and con-tact the nearest government hospitalif they have fever, cough or trouble inbreathing.

For any questions related tohealth, they can contact the districtChief Medical Health Officer(CMHO) on toll free number 104.

RAIPUR: Suman Diwantopped the Class 12 HigherSecondary School Certificateexamination for the blindwhile Punaram Nishad scoredthe honours in the Deaf cate-gory. Chetan Sahu was topperin Class 10th (Blind) andKushwant Kumar among thedeaf, according to examinationresults announced on Tuesday.

The special schools arerun by the Social WelfareDepartment in Chhattisgarh.

Topper Suman has sungthe theme song ‘Mor RaipurSwachch Raipur’. She scored63.8 percent marks. She saidher father is a policeman post-ed in Bastar and mother is ahousewife. Both are happywith the result.

Suman thanked the teach-ers for their guidance as sheused to study using Braillebooks and course material inaudio. Suman wants to make acareer in singing.

At Mathpurena, the Blindand Deaf School recorded centpercent results. The 26 stu-dents of Class 10 and 34 stu-dents in Class 12 have clearedthe examination in first and

second class.In Class 10, out of 18

blind students, 15 passed inFirst class while 4 in deaf cate-gory also got First class.

In the Koriya-basedschool, 8 blind studentscleared the 10th exam, out ofwhich 4 are in First class and 4in Second class.

In the Bilaspur-basedGovernment School, 18 stu-dents appeared in 12th examand 17 passed. In Class 10, 17students wrote the exam and 11cleared it. At the Dhamtari-based school, 18 students wrotethe 10th examination and 10passed in First and Second class.Social Welfare Minister AnilBhediya said the results showedthat talent sees no disability.

Girls outperform boys in C'garh school examsCM hails performersCongratulates teachers,parents for better results

Bonus points helpsstudent to top exams

Tikesh Vaishnav Shreya Agrawal Tannu Yadav Pragya Kashyap Prashansa Rajput Bharati Yadav

Student scores centpercent in Class 10

Suman tops Class 12in blind category

Chhattisgarh getse-Panchayat Award

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Fifty-four fresh coronavirus pos-itive cases were reported while

40 patients were discharged fromvarious hospitals acrossChhattisgarh on Tuesday, officialssaid.

Among the new patients, 9each were from Balrampur andRajnandgaon, 6 each from Janjgir-Champa and Surguja, 5 each fromDurg, Mahasamund and Raigarh,3 each from Kanker andNarayanpur, 2 from Raipur and 1from Baloda Bazar district.

Currently, there are 817 activeCovid cases in Chhattisgarh while1,527 patients have been dis-charged.

According to officials, Korba isstill the worst hit district inChhattisgarh with 131 active cases.Jangir-Champa with 120 activepatients is the second worst hit dis-trict and Rajnandgaon (108patients) comes third.

54 fresh Covid patientsreported, 40 discharged

‘C’garh with lowest Covidcommunity transfer rate’

Indigo, Air Vistara passengersadvised to remain homeOne passenger each in bothflights detected Covid positive

STAFF REPORTER nNARAYANPUR

ANaxalite transit camp wasbusted on Tuesday in

Chhattisgarh's Narayanpurdistrict and a large quantity ofexplosives, including IEDsand rocket launchers, wereseized, police said.

The recovery was madefrom Dengalputti forest inOrchha police station limitsby a joint team of the SpecialTask Force (STF) and DistrictReserve Guard (DRG),Inspector General of Police(Bastar Range) Sundarraj. Psaid.

The operation is a huge

success as it was after a longtime that security forces man-aged to bust a camp inAbhujmad, he said.

Acting on specific inputsabout the presence of ultras in

G h at t e k a l - D e n g a lput t i -Paiveyar forests in Abhujmad,a Maoist stronghold, the secu-rity forces launched a searchoperation on Sunday andcame upon the transit camp,

he said.While the security forces

were encircling the area,Naxalites sensed their pres-ence and escaped, leavingbehind their belongings, headded.

"Explosives and materialsof daily use were recoveredfrom there. Further search ofnearby areas led to seizure ofarms, improvised explosivedevices, rocket launchers andmaterials for triggeringblasts," the officer said.

Further details of therecovery are expected to beknown once the security teamreturns to base.

Naxalite transit camp busted;IEDs, rocket launchers seized

Mahatma Gandhistatue to be installed RAIPUR: A statue ofMahatma Gandhi will beinstalled at the Secretariat(Mahanadi Bhawan), NavaRaipur, Atal Nagar. It will beunveiled on October 2,Gandhi's birth anniversary,Chhattisgarh CultureMinister Amarjeet Bhagatsaid on Wednesday.

He directed the officialsto make early arrangementsfor the statue.

At a review meeting ofhis department, theMinister told the officials torelease the honorariumpayment of state artists.

He reviewed the OpenMuseum and Ambikapur-based museum mainte-nance and developmentworks.

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Noting that the people haveupped the ante against the

Narendra Modi Governmentover his grave mishandling ofeconomic, social and securityaspects of the country,Congress president SoniaGandhi on Tuesday said thatwhile the future is yet to unfold,she hoped that mature diplo-macy and decisive leadershipwill guide Centre’s actions inprotecting the country’s eco-nomic, social and territorialintegrity.

At the virtual CongressWorking Committee (CWC)meeting, Sonia also noted thatthe mismanagement of thepandemic will be recorded asone of the most disastrous fail-ures of the Modi Government.Sonia held Modi and teammismanagement responsiblefor the widespread misery, fear,and danger to the security andterritorial integrity of the coun-try.

While former Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi, whohas been taking on Modi every-

day, again hit out at PrimeMinister over the India-Chinaface-off, former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh echoed theparty’s view on China sayingthat the situation can turnserious if not tackled properly.

“The pandemic is notbeing tackled with the courageand magnitude and effortneeded to tackle the crisis.Another instance is the crisison the border, which if nottackled firmly, can lead to aserious situation. I also endorseSoniaji’s remarks,” Singh, whohad attacked the Centre a dayearlier on the China LAC cri-sis, said.

Rahul said that PM Modidestroyed our position”,“betrayed our Army” byaccepting China’s stand thatthey occupied no Indian land.

Sonia highlighted theissues pertaining to theCOVID-19 pandemic and theeconomy, saying “Misfortunesdo not come singly.”

“India has been hit by a ter-rible economic crisis, a pan-demic of huge proportionsand, now, by a full-blown cri-sis on the borders with China.

Much of each crisis is attribut-able to the mismanagement ofthe BJP-led NDA governmentand the wrong policies pursuedby it,” she said.

“We urge upon the

Government that peace, calmand the restoration of the sta-tus quo ante along the LAC bethe only guiding principles inour national interest,” Soniasaid in her opening remarks at

the CWC meeting.She said that while the

undeniable fact is that sinceApril-May, Chinese troops havecommitted brazen transgres-sions into Indian territory in

Pangong Tso Lake area and theGalwan Valley, Ladakh, “Trueto its character, the governmentis in denial”.

“The intrusion was detect-ed and reported on May five,

2020. Instead of a resolution,the situation deterioratedrapidly and there were violentclashes on June 15-16,” said theCongress president, remarkingthat the prime minister wascalled out when he announcedthat “no one had intrudedinto Indian territory inLadakh”.

After the BJP accusedCongress of politicising theLAC issue following respons-es by senior party leadersincluding former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh,the Congress chief said, “Onmatters of national securityand territorial integrity, thenation has always stoodtogether and this time too,there is no second opinion.The Congress party was thefirst to offer its total support tothe Armed Forces and theGovernment.”

She also attacked theGovernment over the increasein prices of petrol and diesel,saying it had added insult toinjury by raising the petroleumrates for 17 consecutive days ata time when world prices ofcrude have fallen.

“The result is that a slidingeconomy is now hurtlingtowards a recession for the firsttime in 42 years,” she said,adding that this would lead tohigh unemployment, fallingincomes and wages, and lowerinvestment.

Criticising theGovernment's handling of thepandemic, Sonia Gandhi saidthat within weeks of the impo-sition of the lockdown, it wasapparent that the governmentwas totally unprepared to man-age its fallout.

“The result was the great-est humanitarian crisis wit-nessed since 1947-48. Millionsof migrant or guest workers,daily wage earners and self-employed were devastated. 130million jobs are estimated tohave been lost. Crores ofMSMEs have been shut, per-haps forever,” she said.

“The promised ‘peak’ isnowhere in sight. The Centrehas passed the buck to the stategovernments, but given themzero extra finances. Actually,the people have been left toprotect themselves as best aspossible,” Sonia said.

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Making a pincer attackagainst top Congress

leaders Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi, the BJP onTuesday accused them ofengaging in a “conspiracy” tobring down the morale of thearmed forces even as the coun-try “stands unitedly” againstChinese moves on the Line ofControl (LAC).

Reiterating Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s assertion that“not a single inch” of land hasbeen surrendered, BJP nation-al spokesman Sambit Patrasaid “I want to make it clearthat while India has not sur-rendered even one inch of ” of

land on the border, Congresshas surrendered its shame”.

“It is very unfortunate”,Patra went on to add. BJPspokesperson said Congresshas been “chanting” everymorning about surrender ofland by India when China has“not seized our land”. He wasquick to remind the Congressthat “there are legacy issues likesurrender of 43,000 Sqkm ofland to China during Congressrule.

“You are very bitter , whydoes Congress derive a sadis-tic pleasure in saying thatIndian army has surrendered, PM is weak and surrender-ing ..Congress is feeling sadis-tic pleasure ... it is a conspir-acy”, charged Patra and went

hammer and tongs to attackSonia and Rahul.

“ek Hindi serial hain Sas,bahu aur sajish..”, he saidreferr toing a popular Hinditelevision sop portrayingfamily drama and then wenton comparing that with the10, Janpath, saying “Ma, betaaur sajish... ma, beta aurChina”. Patra said the currentstance of Congress is anattempt to “ relaunch thefalling career of Crownprince Rahul” by encashingwhat Congress leaders keeprepeating as “unfortunatedevelopments”. BJPspokesperson also quoted lateArun Jaitley as calling Rahula “ clown prince”.

On Congress Working

Committee’s comment that“misfortune do not comesingly”, Patra said “Soniaji,Congress plays politics onmisfortunes , you attackedPrime Minister onCoronavirus pandemic andon China..you are breakingmorale of coronavirus war-riors like you are doing ofarmy personnel”, he allegedand asked whether “surrenderof 43,000 sqkm land to Chinawas not a misfortune ?”

He accused the Congresspresident of “playing politicson National Security”.

BJP leader said post-coro-na Modi-Government’s eco-nomic package was 10 percent of the Gross DomesticProduct.

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The Association forDemocratic Reforms

(ADR) on Tuesday said thataround 44 per cent of the 62Rajya Sabha members electedthis year have different crimi-nal cases registered againstthem, including 11 (18 percent) who are accused of seri-ous crimes like murder, attemptto murder, rape, dacoity andtheft and are connected toleading parties like the BJP,Congress, NCP, YSRCP andTMC.

Of the 62 MPs, 16 (26 percent) have declared othercriminal cases against them-selves, 11 MPs facing seriouscharges, one has declared acase of murder against him,two have declared attempt-to-murder cases, and three facecases of cr imes againstwomen. Out of these threeMPs, one has declared rapecharge against him.

The ADR has analysedthe self declared poll affidavitsof 62 newly elected RajyaSabha members. Those withcriminal cases include two (11per cent) out of 18 BJP MPs,three (33 per cent) of the nineCongress MPs, two (100 percent) of the 2 NationalistCongress Party (NCP) MPs,two (50 per cent) of fourYSRCP MPs, one MP eachfrom AITC (25 per cent),BJD (25 per cent), DMK (33per cent), RJD (50 per cent),JDU (50 per cent), RPI-A(100 per cent) andIndependent (100 per cent).

Those facing criminalcharges state-wise are four ofthe seven (57 per cent) MPsfrom Maharashtra, two out of

5 (40 per cent) MPs fromBihar, one out of six (17 percent) MPs from Tamil Nadu,one out of five (20 per cent)MPs from West Bengal, twoout of four (50 per cent) fromAndhra Pradesh and one outof four (25 per cent) MPsfrom Gujarat.

The figures for otherstates are: One out of four (25per cent) MPs from Odisha,one out of three (33 per cent)MPs from Madhya Pradesh,one out of three (33 per cent)MPs from Assam, one out ofthree (33 per cent) MPs fromRajasthan, and one out of two(50 per cent) MPs fromJharkhand.

Out of the 62 newly elect-ed MPs, 52 (84 per cent) arecrorepatis. Alla AyodhyaRami Reddy of the YSRCongress with assets valued at�25,77,75,79,180 is the rich-est.

Parimal Nathwani of theYSR Congress with assets val-ued at �3,96,83,96,198 is thesecond r ichest , whi leJyotiraditya Scindia of theBJP with assets valued at Rs3,79,03,29,144 is the thirdrichest.

Maharaja SanajaobaLeishemba of the BJP has theleast assets pegged at Rs5,48,594. Ashok Gasti of theBJP with assets of Rs19,40,048 is the second-low-est in the list, while ArpitaGhosh of the TMC with assetstotalling �23,89,913 is thethird-lowest.

As many as 30 (48 percent) MPs are aged between31 and 60 while 32 (52 percent) MPs are aged between61 and 90.

The oldest MP is JanataDal-Secular leader fromKarnataka and former PrimeMinister H.D. Devegowda at87. The youngest MP isMausam Noor, aged 40, fromWest Bengal. Out of the 62newly elected MPs, only 8 (13per cent) are women.

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For the first time sinceIndependence, Muslims

from India will not travel toSaudi Arabia for Haj 2020 afterthe kingdom conveyed thatpilgrims should not be sent thisyear in the wake of the coron-avirus pandemic. The Centrewill refund the entire amountof Haj applicants through directbenefit transfer mode.

Minority Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqviannounced the decision onTuesday after Saudi Arabia'sHaj and Umrah MinisterMohammad Saleh bin TaherBenten telephoned him onMonday and suggested not tosend pilgrims from India forHaj this year.

Saudi Arabia said it hasbarred international visitorsfrom making the Islamic pil-grimage, in a bid to control thecoronavirus pandemic.

Naqvi said 2,13,000 appli-cations had been received forHaj 2020 and the process torefund the full amount ofmoney deposited by the appli-cants without any deductionhas been started immediately.

The money will be refund-ed through online DirectBenefit Transfer mode intobank accounts of applicants, hesaid.

More than 2,300 womenhad applied to perform Hajwithout mehram (male com-panion) this year and nowthey will be allowed to go forHaj in 2021 on the basis of theirapplication this year. Besidesthem, more women, who applyto go for Haj without Mehramnext year, will also be facilitat-ed, he said.

A total of 3,040 womenhave performed Haj after theNarendra Modi Governmentensured that Muslim womencan perform Haj withoutmehram in 2018, Naqvi said,adding that a total of 2 lakhIndian Muslims had per-formed Haj in 2019, about 50per cent of them beingwomen.

In a statement, SaudiArabia''s Ministry of Haj andUmrah said that due to coro-navirus pandemic and therisks of it spreading in crowd-ed spaces and large gatherings,it has been decided that Hajfor this year will be heldwhereby a “very limited num-

ber” of pilgrims from variousnationalities who alreadyreside in Saudi Arabia, wouldbe able to perform it.

“This decision is taken toensure Haj is performed in asafe manner from a publichealth perspective whileobserving all preventativemeasures and the necessarysocial distancing protocols,”the statement said.

Naqvi said honouring thedecision of the Saudi govern-ment because of serious chal-lenges of the coronavirus pan-demic and keeping in mindthe health and well-being ofthe people, it was decidedthat Muslims from India willnot go to Saudi Arabia to per-form Haj this year.

The entire world is facingchallenges from the coron-avirus pandemic and SaudiArabia has also been affectedby it, he noted.

Haj 2020 is proposed inthe period between late Julyand early August

The Haj is one of the fivepillars of Islam which everyMuslim is required to com-plete at least once in their life-time if they are healthy enoughand have the means to do so.

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Unusually-reduced humanmobility triggered by

Covid-19 pandemic is prompt-ing the wildlife world intobehaving unusually: like lionsprowling on the streets inGujarat or dolphins showing upon the harbour of Trisete, Italy.

Now, wildlife biologistswill keep a track on theirmovements, behaviour andstress levels, before, duringand after the Coronavirus-induced lockdown with theaid of electronic gadget bio-loggers to be attached on them.

Global wildlife biologistshave joined hands to form the“Covid-19 Bio-LoggingInitiative” to investigate andintegrate results from a widevariety of animals, including

fish, birds and mammals, in anattempt to build a global pic-ture of lockdown effects.

In an article published inNature Ecology & Evolution,the biologist noted that insome areas, there not onlyseem to be more animals thanusual, but there are also somesurprising visitors like lionshave been spotted prowling thestreets and dolphins recentlyshowed up in untypically calmwaters in the harbour of Trieste,Italy.

“For other species, the pan-demic may have created newchallenges. For example, someurban-dwelling animals, likegulls, rats or monkeys, maystruggle to make ends meetwithout access to human food.”

The article's lead author,Professor Christian Rutz, a

biologist at the University of StAndrews, UK, and President ofthe International Bio-LoggingSociety, explained: “All over theworld, field biologists have fit-ted animals with miniaturetracking devices. These bio-log-gers provide a goldmine ofinformation on animal move-ment and behaviour, whichwe can now tap to improve ourunderstanding of human-wildlife interactions, with ben-efits for all.”

Dr Francesca Cagnacci,Senior Researcher at theEdmund Mach Foundation inTrento, Italy, and PrincipalInvestigator of theEuromammals research net-work, says: “The internationalresearch community respond-ed quickly to our recent call forcollaboration, offering over

200 datasets for analysis.”So, what do the scientists

hope to learn? Dr Matthias-Claudio Loretto, a MarieSkodowska-Curie Fellow at theMax Planck Institute of AnimalBehavior in Radolfzell,Germany, explains that it willbe possible to address previ-ously intractable questions:“We will be able to investigateif the movements of animals inmodern landscapes are pre-dominantly affected by builtstructures, or by the presenceof humans. That is a big deal.”

These insights will in turninspire innovative proposalsfor improving human-wildlifecoexistence, according toProfessor Martin Wikelski,Director of the Max PlanckInstitute of Animal Behavior inRadolfzell, Germany.

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As against the global aver-age of 6.04, India has

one Covid-19 death per lakhpopulation, which is one ofthe lowest mortality rates inthe world, the Union HealthMinistry claimed on Tuesdayattributing it to timely detec-tion of cases, extensive con-tact tracing and effective clin-ical management.

Citing the WHOSituation Report 154 datedJune 22, the Ministry said theUnited Kingdom has regis-tered 63.13 coronavirus-relat-ed fatalities per lakh popula-tion, while in Spain it is60.60, Italy 57.19, the US36.30, Germany 27.32, Brazil23.68 and Russia 5.62. Tilldate, 14,011 people have diedin India due to the viral infec-tion.

The total number of coro-navirus cases in India hascrossed 4.50 lakh mark withover 2.50 lakh already recov-

ered from the infection.On Monday, the

Government had pointed outthat the rate of Covid-19cases per 1,00,000 people inIndia is "one of the lowest" inthe world despite the highpopulation density, and therecovery rate has now reachedalmost 56 percent.

An off icial from theMinistry said that for every

one 1,00,000 population,there are 30.04 coronaviruscases in India, while the glob-al average is over three timesat 114.67, the ministry said.

"This low figure is thus atestimony to the graded, pre-emptive and pro-activeapproach the Governmentalong with the states and UTstook for prevention, contain-ment and management of

COVID-19," the of f iceradded.

He said Russia has 400.82cases per 1,00,000 people,while Italy, Canada, Iran andTurkey have 393.52, 268.98,242.82 and 223.53, respec-tively.

“The difference betweenthe recovered patients and theactive COVID-19 cases con-tinues to widen. Today, thenumber of recovered patientshas crossed the number ofactive patients by 62,808,”the ministry added.

The Covid-19 testinginfrastructure is “continu-ously being ramped up” andnumber of government labshas been increased to 723 andthe private labs to 262, addingup to a total of 985, it said.

According to the IndianCouncil of Medical Research,the samples tested in the last24 hours has furtherincreased to 1,87,223. Thetotal number tested, as ondate, is 71,37,716.

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The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Tuesday conducted

searches at multiple locations,including at the premises of sus-pended AAP councillor TahirHussain, in a money launderingprobe relating to the Delhi riotsearlier this year.

Officials said at least sixpremises in the national capitaland adjoining Noida and fewother locations in the nationalcapital region were searchedduring the day.

The searches were con-ducted in order to gather addi-tional evidence in the case, theysaid.

In March, the agency hadbooked suspended Aam AadmiParty (AAP) councillor Hussain,Islamist group Popular Front ofIndia (PFI) and some others oncharges of money launderingand alleged funding of the riotshere in February.

Offices of Hussain located inNortheast Delhi were alsosearched by the ED. The agencyis probing the allegation thatHussain and persons linked tohim laundered about �1.10crore, by using purported shellor dummy companies, to fuelthe anti-CAA protests and thesubsequent riots.

The Delhi Police last weekhad filed two charge sheetsagainst Hussain in a case relat-ed to communal violence dur-ing protests against theCitizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) in Northeast Delhi inFebruary and another in themurder case of IntelligenceBureau (IB) official AnkitSharma.

The ED filed the PMLAcases after taking cognisance ofthe Delhi police FIRs againstHussian who is also facingcharges under the stringentanti-terror law, UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA).

Communal clashes brokeout in Northeast Delhi onFebruary 24 after clashesbetween citizenship law sup-porters and protesters spiralledout of control leaving at least 53people dead and around 200others injured.

The PFI is also under thescanner of the ED for allegedmoney laundering during theriots.

The PFI is also facing anoth-er PMLA case for allegedlyrouting about �120 crore tofuel anti-CAA riots in the coun-try and the agency has ques-tioned about half-a-dozen officebearers of the outfit.

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In a major downgrading ofdiplomatic ties, India on

Tuesday asked Pakistan toreduce the staff in its high com-mission here by half in nextseven days, and announced areciprocal trimming of staffstrength in its high commissionin Islamabad.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs said the Charged'Affaires of Pakistan HighCommission was summonedand informed about the deci-sion which was based oninstances of involvement ofPakistani officials in "acts ofespionage" and "dealings withterrorist organisations".

The activities of the twoPakistani mission officialscaught red-handed andexpelled on 31 May 2020 wasone example in that regard,MEA said in a statement.

"While their officialsindulged in actions that are notin conformity with their priv-

ileged status in the commission,Pakistan has in parallel engagedin a sustained campaign tointimidate the officials of theIndian High Commission inIslamabad from carrying ontheir legitimate diplomaticfunctions. The recent abduc-tion at gunpoint of two Indianofficials and their severe illtreatment underlines the extentto which Pakistan has gone inthat direction," MEA said.

Therefore, it said, Indiahas taken the decision toreduce the staff strength in thePakistan High Commission inNew Delhi by 50 per cent.

"It would reciprocallyreduce its own presence inIslamabad to the same pro-portion. This decision, whichis to be implemented in sevendays, was conveyed to thePakistani Charge d'Affaires," itadded.

In Islamabad, PakistanForeign Office issued a state-ment, which said, it "rejects andstrongly condemns the baseless

allegations made by the IndianMinistry of External Affairs asa pretext to seek 50 percentreduction in the staff strength"of its high commission in NewDelhi.

"Pakistan completely dis-misses allegations of any vio-lation of the ViennaConvention on DiplomaticRelations by the officials of thePakistan High Commission inNew Delhi and reiterates thatthey always function within theparameters of international lawand diplomatic norms.Pakistan also rejects the insin-uations of intimidation ofIndian High Commission offi-cials in Islamabad," the state-ment added.

The Pakistan foreign officealso said that the Indian Charged'Affaires in Islamabad wassummoned to conveyPakistan's rejection and con-demnation of the "baselessIndian allegations", and wasalso informed of Islamabad'sdecision to reduce the Indian

High Commission's staffstrength by 50 percent as a rec-iprocal measure.

According to a mutualarrangement, the sanctionedstaff strength of the Indian andPakistani high commissions is110 each. However, both highcommissions are not operatingat full strength currently.

Officials said both sideswill have to reduce staffstrength by 40-45 people inview of India's decision.

The last time India down-graded diplomatic ties by ask-ing Pakistan to reduce the staffstrength in its high commissionwas after the Parliament attackin December 2001. However, asrelations improved by 2005, thestaff strength at both missionsreturned to the normal level.

Pakistan had downgradeddiplomatic ties by expellingthe Indian High Commissionerin Islamabad following India'sdecision to withdraw specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmirin August last year. "

The behaviour of Pakistanand its officials is not in con-formity with the ViennaConvention and bilateral agree-ments on the treatment ofdiplomatic and consular offi-cials. On the contrary, it is anintrinsic element of a largerpolicy of supporting cross-border violence and terror-ism," the MEA said.

India's concern about theactivities of officials of hisHigh Commission was alsoconveyed to the PakistanCharge d' Affaires by the MEA.

"They have been engagedin acts of espionage and main-tained dealings with terroristorganizations. The activitiesof the two officials caught red-handed and expelled on May31 was one example in thatregard," it said.

The ministry also referredto the June 15 incident whenPakistani authorities detainedtwo junior members of theIndian high commission inIslamabad.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

has asked officials to set upCovid-19 help desks in everypolice station, hospital, revenueoffice, development block inthe state.

The Covid-19 help deskswill remain functional frommorning to evening. Accordingto a government spokesman,the help desks will provide allpossible information related tothe pandemic and help people.

The chief minister hasasked officials to submit a listof help desks to him at the ear-liest. Chief Medical Officers(CMO) in every district havebeen asked to cooperate in set-ting up the help desks.

Lucknow: Leader ofOpposition in Uttar PradeshAssembly and seniorSamajwadi Party leader RamGovind Chaudhary has testedpositive for Coronavirus.

Chaudhary (67) is the sec-ond SP leader to test coron-avirus positive. Former MPDharmendra Yadav had testedcorona positive earlier thismonth and he has fully recov-ered now.

According to sources closeto the leader, he had been suf-fering from fever since the pasttwo days and had been admit-ted to Medanta hospital wherehis sample testing was done.

After the results showedhim corona positive, the SPleader was shifted to the SanjayGandhi Post Graduate Instituteof Medical Sciences(SGPGIMS) on Tuesday morning. IANS

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Aninth-class dropout fraud-ster cheating people

promising them jobs and offer-ing transfer to Governmentemployees has been taken intocustody by the Kerala Policeand he is cooling his heels inKozhikode prison.

The shocking news is thatArun Raveendranath (36) hail-ing from Kottayam district inKerala has been using a fakeidentity card belonging to thehigh security and elite DefenceResearch And DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) for thelast five years.

Since he was flashing theidentity card of the DRDO, thegullible victims did not thinktwice when he approached the,with offers of job placement

and transfer to the places oftheir choice.

But his luck ran out in thelast week of May when his in-laws approached the DRDO with complaints thatArun, who had married theirdaughter taking a hefty amountand jewellery as dowry had dis-carded his wife and has beenmissing for months.

The DRDO officials weretaken aback when they foundthat there was nobody by thatname in any of the offices orlaboratories of the establish-ment and they have not issuedan identity card bearing thatname and number.

The DRDO also intimatedthe Kerala Police which tookArun into custody and onquestioning he spilled thebeans about his modus

operandi. The DRDO card had

helped him to open newavenues like friendship withunion ministers and leaders ofthe party in power in Delhi aswell as in Kerala.

Since the issue was relatedto the sensitive DRDO, the offi-cials of the country’s premierresearch institute too grilledArun for hours and collectedthe details of his victims as wellas style of operation.

The Police was in for ashock when it came acrossmany letter heads of the UPSC bearing seals and pur-portedly written and signed byArun informing candidatesthat they have been selected for interviews for postsadvertised by the Commission.

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Tamil Nadu Policewhich had earned

good reputation over thelast four months throughcommitted service put upby its personnel found itself in the eye of astorm on Tuesday follow-ing the death of twotraders who were takeninto custody in the night ofJune 19.

P Jeyaraaj (63) a tim-ber trader of Sathankulamin Thoothukudi districtwas taken into custody bythe police late Friday nightfor not downing the shut-ters of his shop even afterthe customary deadline of9 pm.

He was taken to thepolice station while hisson J Fenix (31) whoowned a mobile phoneshop in the town rushed tothe police station andprotested against detainingof his father.

It is reported that thisled to altercation betweenthe father-son duo andthe police went berserkand attacked them. Later

in the night, the policeremanded both the fatherand son under sections188, 269, 294(b), 353 and506(2) of IPC and shiftedthem to the sub-jail atKovilpatti.

Local media quotedsources close to Jeyaraaj assaying that they were beat-en severely by the cops andthis resulted in the death ofFenix. Jeyaraj who com-plained of respiratoryproblems was rushed toKovilpatti general hospitalwhere he too succumbedwithout responding totreatment.

The traders inSattankulam, Kovipattiand other towns in the dis-trict downed the shutterson Tuesday and stageddemonstrations con-demning the police bru-tality.

Thoothukudi MPKanimozhi had urged thedistrict collector SandeepNanduri to initiate severeaction against the policepersonnel involved in thealleged attack and recom-mend suitable compensa-tion for the family mem-bers of the deceased.

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Situation in Kerala is seriousaccording to Chief Minister

Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday.The State on Tuesday diag-nosed 141 persons with Covid-19, the highest number to betested positive on a single daysince the coronavirus case wasfirst detected in Kerala for thefirst time on January 30.

A grim faced ChiefMinister told journalists in hisdaily press briefing that theState has been testing morethan 100 positive cases everyday for the last five days. “OnFriday we tested 118 positivecases, Saturday saw 127 cases,on Sunday there were 133cases while on Monday thenumbers touched 138. Today aperson succumbed to coron-avirus at Kollam,” said theChief Minister.

According to Vijayan, the

State is experiencing a newphenomenon. “There are manyinstances of persons gettinginfected with covid-19 withoutshowing any symptoms,” hesaid.

Out of the 141 personsdiagnosed with the pandemicon Tuesday, 79 were expatriateswhile 52 were those whoreached from other places inthe country. There were ninecases of infection through com-munity transmission, said theChief Minister. It was alsoannounced by the ChiefMinister that there were 111hotspots in the State.

The Chief Minister alsodisclosed that till Tuesday,3,459 persons have been diag-nosed with Covid in the State.“There are 1,620 persons undertreatment in hospitals. Today,275 persons have been admit-ted to hospitals in the State,”said the Chief Minister.

Vijayan took on formerChief Minister OommenChandi who on Monday hadannounced that only 0.85 percent of the expatriates whoreturned to the State had beendiagnosed with the pandemic. “95 per cent of thepersons who were tested pos-itive for the pandemic whereexpatriates who reached Keraladuring June 15 to 22.Asymptomatic cases are onthe increase in the State,” saidthe Chief Minister.

Taken aback by the spurt inthe number of covid cases inthe State, the Chief Ministerasked the people in Kerala toobserve social distancing insidetheir houses also.

“Please be under theimpression that we are all vul-nerable to this disease andwear face masks even when youare inside your house,” said theChief Minister.

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2,516 persons tested positivefor coronavirus in Tamil

Nadu on Tuesday and 39 per-sons succumbed to the pan-demic on a single day, accord-ing to the medical bulletinissued by the Government.

While the death rate didnot give any signs of the pan-demic coming down, there hasbeen some decrease in thenumber of persons testing pos-itive. On Monday,2,710 hadbeen diagnosed with the virusdisease.

As on Tuesday evening,there were 25,428 covidpatients in the State while thenumber of cases diagnosedwith the pandemic till date

stood at 64,603. Death tollreached 833. The State contin-ued its leadership in aggressivetesting all over the Statethrough 87 laboratories spreadacross Tamil Nadu.

Out of the 39 persons whobreathed their last on Tuesday,36 patients died with co-mor-bid conditions while three diedwithout any co-morbid issues.

Chennai had 1,380 caseswhile Chengalpettu tested 146

positive cases. Kancheepuramhad 56 cases while Tiruvallurtested 156 cases. These four dis-tricts have been shut down tillJune 30.

Madurai City and sur-rounding village panchayathsare being locked down fromearly Wednesday morning forthe next seven days.

Chennai and the neigh-bouring districts continued tobe like ghost cities as police iskeeping a close watch on all thevehicles and persons venturingout. Because of tight vigil alongthe district borders , vehiculartraffic has come to almost anaught as police is not allow-ing anybody without e-passissued by the government totravel out of the district orthose who come to Chennai.

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Bengal BJP president DilipGhosh on Monday made a

high-pitch justification for his“Badla” (revenge) politics iter-ating those who preach Asimsa(non-violence) practising theopposite in real life are cowardsand deserve revenge.

“Those who peddle non-violence but practise violenceare cowards and deserve to betaught a lesson. The BJP cadresare not cowards and knowhow to give back,” he saidalleging how his party menwere being murdered by theruling Trinamool Congressgoons with the police lookingthe other way.

“My policy is simple. Youtalk sweet and I will hug youbut if you come raising your fistI will give it back…” he said.“What do the perpetrators ofviolence expect from us…Ahimsa!” he asked without

referring to the TMC cadres.“My simple theory is that —ifyou come to me with a swordthen I will also receive you withmany more swords,” he said.

Ghosh’s statement coin-cided with a police complaintlodged in East Midnapore bylocal TMC MP DibyenduAdhikary who alleged receiv-ing life threats. Adhikary is theyounger brother of high-profileBengal Minister and formerMP Subhendu Adhikary whohas been Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s spearheadduring the Nandigram move-ment that eventually saw theback of the CPI(M) in Bengal.

A senior TMC leader onMonday said that “DibyenduAdhikary has received twothreats on Sunday and FIR hasbeen lodged with the police. Letthe police taken furtheraction.”

Police brass remainedtightlipped on whether Ghosh’s

statement on “badla” politics -— that came after one of hisparty men was killed by allegedTMC goons at Danton in WestMidnapore district — wererelated but said investigationwas on.

Another senior State BJPleader Sayantan Basu onSaturday had told a crowd atDanton— where his party hadtaken out a procession with thecorpse of the slain worker —that the way the police arebehaving and the way thepolice stations have beenturned into TMC party officesthe people will burnt themdown.”

Back in Kolkata Ghoshsaid that the State electionswere not far away addingBengal was definitely going tosee a political change followingwhich revenge will be taken onthe perpetrators of violence.

“When the TMC came topower they said there will only

be Badal (change) and no Badlabut they started taking Badlaon the political opponents(read the CPI-M)” and evencrossed the Marxists in the artof perpetrating violence, hesaid adding his party howeverwas declaring it from the verybeginning that “there will def-initely be a Badal after withthere will be a Badla.”

Alleging that every daythe TMC goons were attackingthe BJP workers, “torchingtheir houses, occupying theirlands, killing their cadres, emp-tying their mothers’ laps,” hesaid “do you think this will gounpunished … do you thinkthat the victims’ families willforget this. They will not. TheTMC spoke of Badal but con-ducted Badla but I speak ofboth Badal and Badla when wecome to power.”

The Trinamool leadershiphowever gave a measured com-ment on the issue even as

senior party leader ParthoChatterjee said “I will not com-ment on this issue as we believein non-violence. I think thepeople are listening to thingsand finally they will reject vio-lence.”

CPI(M) State LegislatureParty Leader and central com-mittee member SujanChakrabarty dismissedGhosh’s statement as “a des-perate attempt to remain in themedia. They have no issues.They have no agenda. Theyhave programme. They onlyhave these talks of violence todo,” he said adding “many ofthose planners of violence inthe TMC are today in the BJP.”

State Congress presidentSomen Mitra said “Everyoneknows who killed MahatmaGandhi. Everyone knows theideology they preach. Onlythose who believe in such ide-ology that killed Gandhi cantalk like this.”

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The Jammu & Kashmiradministration may have

suddenly developed a cold feetover the issue of opening newliquor sale points especiallyacross Kashmir valley but sta-tistics reveal a totally differentpicture.

If figures tabulated by theExcise department are any indi-cation, the 'bacchus club' ismerrily singing 'bottoms up' inhigh spirits inside the cozyinteriors of plush hotel bars, pri-vate parties and other socialgatherings, recording an upwardtrend in the consumption ofliquor. During the last onedecade the sale of liquor bottleshas recorded a jump of 4.5 crorebottles in Jammu & Kashmir.

As compared to the sale of3.17 crore liquor bottles in2008-09, the year 2018-19recorded sale of 7.67 croreliquor bottles of all varieties. Thetotal revenue collection from thesale of liquor has also increasedfrom 245.48 crores in 2008-09to 1274 crores in 2018-19 inJammu & Kashmir, a jump of1029 crores. However, the cur-rent data for the fiscal year 2019-20 was not available.

In 2017-18, the total rev-enue collection from sale of 5.9

crore liquor bottles stood at845.83 crores and in the next fis-cal it recorded a jump of 429cores thereby earning a totalexcise revenue of 1274.49 crores.

Interestingly, last weekwhen the Excise departmentsought approval from theFinance Department to opennew liquor vends across Jammu& Kashmir several Kashmirbased organisations, civil soci-ety activists, religious scholarsreacted angrily and opposed themove tooth and nail.

According to the proposalmooted by the Excise depart-ment, a total number of 183 newlocations, 116 in Jammu and 67in the Kashmir valley wereidentified for sale of liquor.Atpresent, licences have beenissued to 164 wine shops, 152Bars with restaurants, 43 Barwith Hotel and 13 Bar withHotel and Banquet in Jammuand Kashmir.

Following hue and cry, theofficials of the Jammu &Kashmir administration buck-led under the pressure and hur-riedly issued a clarificationwhich clearly stated, "theFinance department has nottaken any policy decisionregarding issuance of freshliquor licences in unservedareas.

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Ahead constable of the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF), hailing from Solapur in Maharashtra sac-

rificed his life during a fierce gun fight in which twoterrorists were neutralised by the joint teams of secu-rity forces in South Kashmir's Pulwama district onTuesday.

Martyred CRPF jawan has been identified as SunilKale, a resident of Pangaon village in Barshi tehsil ofSolapur district.

According to a police spokesman, "the joint oper-ation was launched by Police, 55 RR and 182 Bn CRPFon the basis of a specific input regarding presence of ter-rorists in village Bundzoo area of district Pulwama".

During the search operation as the presence of ter-rorists got ascertained they were given the opportuni-ty to surrender, however they fired indiscriminately uponthe joint search party, which was retaliated leading toan encounter.

"In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists were killedand their bodies were retrieved from the site ofencounter. The identification and affiliation of the killedterrorists is being ascertained",police spokesman said.

IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar and all ranks of Policeand Security Forces paid rich tributes to the brave-heartfor his supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.

Incriminating material including arms (two AKrifles) and ammunition were recovered from the site ofencounter.

Police spokesman said, " the dead bodies of the killedterrorists were sent to Handwara for their last rites afterconducting medico-legal formalities including collec-tion of their DNA.

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In a development that nature loversin the State will rejoice, the

Maharashtra Government onTuesday declared 29.53-sq km Tillariforest area in Sawantwadi division ofSindhudrug district in coastalKonkan region as a ConservationReserve.

In line with an announcementmade to this effect by Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray who is wildlifephotographer himself, the StateRevenue and Forest departmentcame out with a notification declar-ing the Tillari forest area inSawantwadi division as aConservation Reserve.

Speaking on the occasion, theChief Minister said: “While under-taking development initiative, wecannot ignore wildlife and biodi-versity. Development, wildlife pro-tection and tribal welfare should gohand in hand. We will continue pri-

ority to biodiversity in the state”Uddhav said that an experts’-

committee would be set up for man-agement of the 29.53-sq km area inTillari which will be the first conservation reserve in Sindhudurgdistrict.

“Among other things, the TillariConservation Reserve will generateemployment for locals in the areas,the release stated..

Maharashtra is home to 62 con-servation reserves, of which 13 are inthe Western Ghats.

Nestled in the Western Ghats onthe cusp of Maharashtra, Goa andKarnataka, the thick Tillari forest ishome to tigers, leopards, elephants,tigers and gava (Indian bison).

The Tillari forest area also boastsof birds like Hornbill, ParadiseFlycatcher, Drongo, Yellow-BrowedBulbul, Red-Whiskered Bulbul,Crimson-backed Sunbird, Orange-Headed Ground Thrush and IndianScimitar Babbler.

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The Raj Thackeray-ledMaharashtra Navnirman Sena

(MNS) has upped the ante on jobson “sons-of-the-soil”, by assertingthat all migrants wanting to returnto the State for work should regis-ter themselves under the MigrantWorkmen (Regulation ofEmployment and Conditions ofService) Act, 1979 and that 80 percent preference be given to locals injobs that will be created in the statein the coming months.

Within weeks after the migrantsreturned to their state fromMaharashtra, the MNS sought to setground rules for the migrants, amajority of whom will return to theState after the lockdown is liftedfully.

A delegation of MNS, led byparty’s senior Bal Nandgaonkarand the MNS chief Raj Thackeray’sson Amit Thackeray, metMaharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari on Monday and

submitted a memorandumdemanding among other thingsthat 80 per cent preference begiven to locals in jobs and the needfor migrants’ registration underthe Inter-state Migrant WorkmenAct, 1979.

In its memorandum, the MNSstated: “During the recent lockdowntriggered by the spread ofCoronavirus, thousands of migrantsfrom different parts of the state werestranded in Maharashtra. Theyshowed a lot of anxiety to return totheir respective states. Since theyhad not registered themselves withthe Maharashtra government, themigrant workers faced a lot of dif-ficulties while returning to theirrespective states”.

“If it had registered migrantworkers for various jobs in the stateand if it had all the details about themigrants working in the state, theMaharashtra government wouldhave planned in systematic mannerthe return of the migrant workersto their respective states,” the MNS

stated.“Now we are reading reports

about the migrants, who had goneback to their states, have begun toreturn to Maharashtra. This is thetime when we can correct our ear-

lier mistakes,” the MNS said.“In cities like Mumbai, Thane,

Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad,the authorities are finding it diffi-cult to contain the spread ofCoronavirus. It is a fact that these

cities cannot handle additionalpopulation. Given that the indus-tries are closing down in the state,there is a dire need for jobs to theunemployed local people,” the MNSstated.

“...Hence it is essential for theMaharashtra government to collectdata about the migrants returningto the state for jobs. For the purpose,it should be mandatory for themigrants to register themselvesunder Migrant Workmen(Regulation of Employment andConditions of Service) Act, 1979.Simultaneously, keeping in view ofclosure of industrial units andresultant unemployment, it is essen-tial for the state government to give80 per cent preference in jobs tolocals,” the MNS added.

Apart from Nandgaonkar andAmit Thack eray, the others presentin the delegation that met theGovernor included party's generalsecretary Shalini Thackeray andMLA Pramod (Raju) Ratan Patil.

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The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)on Tuesday said that nearly 3,000 of

the 50,000 'Made in India' ventilatorssanctioned under the PM CARES fundto help Covid-19 patients have beenmanufactured and over 1,300 havebeen delivered to States likeMaharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat, whichare the worst-affected, amongothers.

The Centre had last month ear-marked �3,100 crore from the PMCARES Fund for welfare of migrantworkers, purchase of ventilators, anddeveloping a Covid-9 vaccine. Of it,nearly �2,000 crore was earmarked forthe purchase of 50,000 'Made in India'ventilators.

“Out of the 50,000 ventilators,30,000 ventilators are being manufac-tured by M/s Bharat Electronics Limited.The remaining 20,000 ventilators arebeing manufactured by AgVa Healthcare(10000), AMTZ Basic (5650), AMTZHigh End (4000) and Allied Medical(350). So far, 2923 ventilators have beenmanufactured, out of which 1340 ven-tilators have already been delivered tothe States/UTs.

The prominent recipients includeMaharashtra (275), Delhi (275), Gujarat

(175), Bihar (100), Karnataka (90),Rajasthan (75).

By the end of June 2020, addition-al 14,000 ventilators will be delivered toall States/UTs,” said the PMO in a state-ment.

The PMO also said that Rs1000crore has already been released toStates for welfare of migrant labourswhile �100 crore is allotted for vaccineresearch.

The distribution of the fund isbased on the formula of 50% weightagefor the population as per 2011 census,40% weightage for number of positiveCovid-19 cases and 10 % for equal dis-tribution among all the States/UTs.This assistance is to be used for arrang-ing accommodation, food, medicaltreatment and transportation of themigrants.

The main recipients of the grant areMaharashtra (181 cr), Uttar Pradesh(103 cr), Tamil Nadu (83 cr), Gujarat (66cr), Delhi (55 cr), West Bengal (53 cr),Bihar (51 cr), Madhya Pradesh (50 cr),Rajasthan (50 cr) and Karnataka (34 cr),”the PMO stated.

It is learned that the PM CaresFund, started on March 28, has receiveddonations worth more than �10,000crore from the public and companies inthe past 85 days.

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In an unprecedented move,the Nepal Constitution passedan amendment Bill on June 13to “update its new politicalmap,” laying claim to India’s

Lipulekh, Kalapani andLimpiyadhura as its territories. Thisisn’t good news either for the diplo-mats or the defence establishment inNew Delhi. What’s certain is thatthey will have to re-visit the statusquo prevailing in our ties, startafresh and contemplate traditionaldiplomacy. The matter is more seri-ous than it has ever been becauseNepal’s geography juts into theIndian heartland and also into thetwo highly vulnerable yet vital,volatile flanks. This could instantlyaffect the one crore plus Nepalesediaspora in India and lakhs ofIndians in the Himalayan State,who may fall prey to a potentialcrossfire of geo-economic-politicaland strategic “Great Game.”

Undeniably, Nepal’s move toamend laws has multiplied securi-ty problems for India, especially asthe crisis has emerged from a smallyet traditionally fraternal neigh-bour. A country of 30 million peo-ple has put India’s 1.3 billion citizensinto a tizzy. Whatever may be theoutcome (hopefully satisfactory) ofthe present crisis, short-term dam-age has definitely been inflicted onthe centuries-old friendly relation-ship between the two nations. A per-ilous 21st century “Great Game” inthe South Asian region awaits anuncharted and unpredictable jour-ney.

Contextually though, it can beargued that bilateral irritants, differ-ences, disagreements and disputesare nothing new for any country,including those in South Asia. Yetthe scenario today is graver than anyother (past) normal “crisis.” It’sabsolutely certain that the thirdcountry, China, is in play, which isadept in unconventional rather thanconventional warfare. It has playeda major role in the scheme of things(like in the past), affecting India-Nepal ties. To this author, the aimis to inflict major damage to theIndian armed forces.

In light of this, India mustmake every effort to pre-empt anypossible or impossible fallout in itsregiment of Gorkha Rifles, a chunkof whose soldiers are recruited fromNepal’s high Himalayan terrain. Nodoubt, Indian defence forces are verywell organised, built as they are onsolid foundations thanks to theBritish rulers’ ability to make it anapolitical and (top-class) profession-

al f ighting machine.Nevertheless, certain criticalevents of history need to berevisited. There’s a need tolearn from past experiences totackle any future eventuality.All of it started post the FirstWar of Independence in 1857,when Indian soldiers rose upagainst their British comman-ders. The British constituted anew commission to look intoall parameters of militaryadministration so as to main-tain discipline, quality andprofessionalism thereof. True,their ultimate goal was self-preservation of their empireand London’s self-interest.This at the expense of the sub-jugated Indian subjects.

However, what the Britishwere really scared of mostwas large-scale mutiny in themilitary owing to several fault-lines in India’s fragile socialsystem, especially in recruitcatchment areas. The Britishfeared en mass contamina-tion of the paltan in the pla-toon, like the present-dayChina-origin virus that hascontaminated India.Nevertheless, except for a fewinstances of small resentmentand sundry cause of dissatis-factions in the barracks, theBritish Indian Army didremarkably well and didn’tface any mass scale revolt till1946. They kept strict vigil toavoid any political discourse inthe officer’s mess, discour-

aged all acts of religious luna-cy and managed the caste/lan-guage faultlines rather well.Little wonder then that mil-lions of Indians from the ruralbelt and officers from pre-ferred “background” servedthem with great elan, therebyensuring two world war victo-ries to the British monarchy.

Contextually, therefore,few salient features of sol-diering now need to be revis-ited. The house/village of thesoldier must preferably bepolitically uncontaminatedand peaceful. A frontline sol-dier can never give his bestwith an oscillating mind, fluc-tuating between uncertaintiesin two fronts: Guns of theenemy in front and goons inhis estate in the rear. Second,hurt religious feelings led tothe mutiny of 1857 during themilitary rule by London’s clue-less commercial company.Again, when the political clar-ion call for India’s freedomfrom the British reached thecatchment areas of soldierrecruitment and barracks,mass spontaneous revolt of themen in uniform could not beaborted in 1946.

One, therefore, sincerelyhopes that the present“enlarged” territory of Nepaldoesn’t transform a benignpersonal thought into anuncontrollable passion. Anemotive issue must not beallowed to break the balance or

professionalism of the GurkhaBrigades of the Indian garri-son.

That’s because no sensitivesoldier, however loyal and dis-ciplined he may be, underextreme tension — created byindigenous political, populistand demagogues’ reckless callto the sons of the soil to riseand protect the image, pres-tige, honour and self-respect ofhis “motherland”/territory andsoil of the family — can con-trol himself beyond a point.He’s bound to cave in at thespur of the moment though.

It needs no rocket scienceto state the obvious. The seedsof the present India-Nepaltension have not been sown inthe foothills of the south of theHimalayas but somewhereelse. Across the north-east ofthe Himalayas to be precise.And conviction compels oneto revisit the August 2009essay written by Zhan Lue ofa Beijing think-tank. “Chinashould break India into 20-30states.” Using highly venomousand toxic semantics, he open-ly stated that “if China takes alittle action, the so-calledGreat Indian Federation canbe broken up with the helpand support of friendly coun-tries like Pakistan, Nepal,Bhutan and Bangladesh.”

Ironically, these aggres-sive words appear to havebecome China’s standard oper-ating procedure to cajole and

compel all in the vicinity tokow-tow to Beijing, especial-ly since Xi Jinping became thestrong man of the Hans toreverse the role of his country’s“ignominious history of 110years.” Abnormal and absurdterritorial, technology andtrade demands of the Hanshave already upset the West.Whenever India tries to standup to Chinese bullying, Beijingunleashes our neighbours toopen up new fronts. Nepal’snew map certainly is one suchattack that aims to damage theIndian armed forces deepinside the cantonment.

The Hans have goneberserk. Their “Great Game”,consisting of the Belt andRoad Initiative and theChina–Pakistan EconomicCorridor, faces all-round chal-lenges.

The contagion has fur-ther stymied China’s growthengine. All-round lockdownshave led to largescale unem-ployment across the world.The closure of air and searoutes has battered interna-tional trade, technology andtourism. Hence, a desperate“strategic indirect approach” tofix India’s vulnerable heart-land. India must counter toensure the safety and securityof its soldiers, the State andsociety. At least, we shouldwake up now.

(The writer is an alumnus,National Defence College)

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Sir — It is good that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi held anall-party meeting to discuss theIndo-China border clash.Leaders from other parties mustbe consulted so that the countrydoes not stand divided at a timeof crisis. In spite of differences,Opposition leaders such as WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayhave expressed their solidaritywith the Government. It is, how-ever, unfortunate that even at thistime the Centre failed to be trulyinclusive. Parties such as theRashtriya Janata Dal, the AamAadmi Party and the All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeenwere not invited to the meeting.It is of utmost importance thatclashes between political parties are kept to a minimumright now.

MN QasmiCalcutta

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Rathyatra challenge” (June23). The Supreme Court’s sus-

pension of the ban on Puri’sannual Rathyatra festival hasopened up a Pandora’s box ofproblems for the StateGovernment. Even if the NaveenPatnaik Government takes stepsto restrict festivities, it will beworth watching how socialdistancing measures will work atan event of this scale. TheSupreme Court’s order has made

it clear that the country is readyfor its first post-pandemic yatra.

N NagarajanVia email

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Sir — Prime Minister NarendraModi had categorically stated ina televised statement broadcast

after the all-party meeting on theskirmish between Indian andChinese troops in the GalwanValley that neither did anyoneintrude upon Indian territory,nor is it currently being occu-pied by a foreign military.

This has stoked further con-troversies about the lack oftransparency. Moreover, theChinese Foreign Ministry has

insisted that “for many years”, itsborder troops have beenpatrolling the Galwan Valley,thus effectively laying claim tothe region. Even in this dire sit-uation, the aam aadmi is beingkept in the dark. The questionis, if neither side breached theother’s territory, then what led tothe cross-firing? It must beremembered that the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centre hasalways been careful in its deal-ings with China.

Whether it is on the issue ofTibet or the protests in HongKong against Beijing’s hegemo-ny, the Indian Government hasalways erred on the side of cau-tion. One wonders why thePrime Minister abstained fromspeaking transparently. Certainvexing questions need answers.Why were the facts downplayed?Was the release of our soldiersunconditional or involved somegive and take? As citizens, wehave a right to know what isgoing on. The Governmentshould come clean. People shouldnot be kept in the dark.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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When the bubonic plague struck the city ofAhmedabad in 1917, about 10 per cent ofthe population succumbed to it. As the

plague was much more severe in the towns than inthe villages, the workers employed in the textileindustry wanted to return to the relative safety oftheir villages. To prevent an exodus, mill ownershanded out “plague bonuses” to their staff whichranged from 20 per cent to 70 per cent. However,the prices of essential commodities, too, went upmanifold due to the outbreak. After the contagionsubsided, the employers stopped paying the plaguebonus to their workers, who in turn protested as theprices were still high. They demanded a 50 per centdearness allowance (DA) and there were strikes. Tobreak the impasse, the Collector of Ahmedabadinvited Mahatma Gandhi to intervene and facilitatearbitration proceedings between the workers andthe employers. Gandhi’s involvement includedregular meetings with the workers under a babul treeon the banks of the Sabarmati. He published a leafletdaily to educate and create awareness among theworkers. One such leaflet assured that “we want tosecure the good of the workers while safeguardingthe good of the employers.” The non-violentprotests ended when the workers were given a 35per cent DA.

The three major takeaways from the plague out-break in the context of the COVID-19 crisis are: Theemployers wooed the workers and dissuaded themfrom going to the villages by giving them plaguebonuses. Second, efforts were made to end the dis-pute amicably and finally, the impasse was resolvedin a consultative manner by involving the workers,employers and the Government.

The new laws triggered by COVID-19: Today,the outbreak and the post-lockdown economicgloom have prompted the States to announce mit-igating measures in the form of Ordinances andexecutive directions in the labour and economic sec-tors. States, in an attempt to kick-start economicactivity, have announced a slew of measures to relaxthe application of labour laws such as the FactoriesAct, 1948 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

The State Governments are conscious of the factthat the lockdown has resulted in a loss of incomefor businesses and a loss of livelihood for workers.On May 22, Karnataka, invoking the public emer-gency provision of the Factories Act, increased theworking hours to 10 a day. Uttar Pradesh (UP) madethe UP Temporary Exemptions from CertainLabour Laws Ordinance, 2020, which suspends theoperation of all labour laws in the State. The onlyexceptions to this are that all workers must be paidthe minimum wage; maximum hours of work shallbe 11 and the spread-over should not exceed 12hours in a day. Additionally, labour laws protectingchildren and women will stay.

Madhya Pradesh (MP) promulgated the MPLabour Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020,which has a 1,000-day plan and Gujarat has a 1,200-day plan to revive businesses. MP, Gujarat and otherStates have relaxed the application of labour laws,including the Factories Act, 1948, the ContractLabour Regulation Act, 1970 and the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1948. These new laws increase theworking hours from 48 a week to 60 and 72, reducecompliance by factories and permit industries withless than 300 workers to declare termination or clo-sure without prior approval. Some of the new lawssuspend the erstwhile mandatory conciliation pro-cedures before retrenchment. Gujarat has announcedthat there will be no overtime wages and only salaryin proportion to the existing one shall be paid. Tillnow, UP, MP, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan,Karnataka, Punjab, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Haryana,Assam and Goa have temporarily amended their

labour laws. Though these new laws aretemporary, the fundamental question is ifthey secure the good of the workers orsafeguard the good of the employers?

Indian labour laws: The DirectivePrinciples of State Policy in Part IV of theConstitution say that the health andstrength of workers should not be abusedand citizens must not be forced by eco-nomic necessity to enter vocations unsuit-ed to their age or strength. Further, theState within its limits of economic capac-ity or development, shall make effectiveprovisions to secure the right to work, pub-lic assistance in cases of unemployment,disablement and in other cases of unde-served want. In all, Indian labour laws arebeneficial pieces of social legislation.

India’s global commitments: Indiahas been a member of the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO) since 1919.ILO’s International Labour Standards(ILS) stress on the health and safety ofworkers and human-centred recoverythat is sustainable. The Employment andDecent Work for Peace and ResilienceRecommendation, which was adopted byseveral nations including India, empha-sises that crisis responses need to ensurerespect for all human rights and the ruleof law, including respect for fundamentalprinciples and rights at work. ILS acknowl-edges the importance of engaging inprocesses and mechanisms to ensureefficient tripartite consultations and reach-ing a consensus on effective solutions. Aclimate of trust can be built through socialdialogue and tripartism will be essentialto address the COVID-19’s impact.

In 2011, the UN Human RightsCouncil endorsed the Guiding Principleson Business and Human Rights (UNGP)in recognition of the State’s existing oblig-ations to respect, protect and fulfil humanrights and fundamental freedoms; therequirement of business enterprises torespect human rights and the need foraccess to an effective remedy for those whoare affected by adverse business-relatedhuman rights impacts or abuse. TheUNGPs have become the authoritative

global standard for business and humanrights. According to the Prime Minister,“Responsible business conduct is a glob-ally-recognised concept founded on theidea that businesses can perform betterwhen engaged in re-vitalising the societyfrom which they extract resources for pro-duction.”

The National Guidelines onResponsible Business Conduct, 2018,were formulated by the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs in its commitment to theSustainable Development Goals. TheUNGPs are a means of nudging business-es to contribute towards broader develop-ment goals while seeking to maximisetheir profits. These guidelines recognisethat businesses are an integral part of soci-ety and that they will hold themselvesaccountable. These guidelines focus onequity, dignity and well-being, provisionof decent work for all employees, engagedwithin a business or in its value chain,without any discrimination and in a waythat promotes diversity. The principlerecognises that the well-being of anemployee also includes the welfare ofher/his family. The guidelines signify theimportance of protecting vulnerable andmarginalised individuals, who were unableto realise their rights or enjoy opportuni-ties on account of adverse physical, men-tal, social, economic, cultural, political,geographic or health circumstances, dis-ability, caste, ethnicity, religion orpolitical/religious belief. Businesses areencouraged to file Business Reports underthese guidelines. Further, the SEBI as partof integrated reporting by listed entities,has mandated top 500 listed companies tofile Business Responsibility Reports, whichinclude a declaration on compliancesunder the labour laws.

Problems with the new laws: Thougha health crisis has triggered the new laws,they have ignored health and safetyissues. Moreover, ILS and UNGPs havebeen ignored contrary to the Centre’s com-mitments. Taking the case of the FactoriesAct, 1948 alone, the States of UP, MP andKarnataka have relied on Section 5 to relax

the provision of the Factories Act, con-tending that a public emergency has arisen.Under this law, a public emergency is agrave emergency whereby the security ofIndia or any part of the territory isthreatened by war, external aggression orinternal disturbance. The UP andKarnataka labour law amendments havebeen challenged in the High Courts atAllahabad and Bengaluru. During thehearings, Karnataka and UP have conced-ed that no “public emergency” exists torelax the application of the Factories Act.On June 12, Karnataka informed the HighCourt that it had withdrawn its notifica-tion by which the provisions of theFactories Act, 1948, governing the work-ing hours of staff, were suspended.

So far, the laws on working hours andwages had ensured the welfare of labour-ers. The amendments have distorted thebalance and exposed workers to exploita-tion. State Governments will have to pri-oritise health and safety during this cri-sis. Further COVID-19 is a health crisis,and the States need to ensure that thehealth and the safety of the workers is apriority.

The State Governments should notbe permitted to lower standards at theexpense of human labour and consequent-ly trade. Most of the new labour lawsappear to be an attempt to encourage busi-ness entities without consulting the work-ers. Further, the new laws, or as some callthem reforms, ignore issues of health andsafety of the workers. These laws are con-trary to India’s ILO commitments. A bal-anced approach with the involvement ofthe workers, employers and theGovernment in labour reform is the onlyway forward.

Even if laws are tilted to favour busi-nesses, at the cost of worker welfare, it willnot help the economy in the long-term.It is now time for the Government andemployers to engage with the workers anddevelop a climate of trust to rebuild theeconomy.

(The writer is Partner, Dua Associatesand a Supreme Court Advocate)

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When the Rajya Sabha reassem-bles for the Monsoon Session,it will be with new equations

owing to the change in the compositionof the House. It will see a shrunkenOpposition and a stronger NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA). The BJPis inching towards a majority after thisweek’s biennial polls to the UpperHouse. The NDA has crossed the 100mark though it may take a while toreach the magic number of 123 for amajority in the House of 245. The BJP

alone has 86 seats, a vast improvementfrom its 2014 tally of just 43 members.Over the next four years till March 2024,over a 100 MPs are retiring and the BJPis likely to improve its numbers further.Elections will be held, eight each in 2021and 2023, 77 in 2022 and four in 2024before the Lok Sabha polls.

No doubt, the Narendra ModiGovernment suffered a setback due tothe commanding majority of theCongress-led Opposition in 2014 in theRajya Sabha. At that time, the Congressalone had 68 seats and the total strengthof the NDA was 59. For legislations likethe Triple Talaq, the Land Bill and theInsurance Bill, the Modi Governmenthad to adopt the Ordinance route afterits failure to get them passed in the RajyaSabha. But the table has turned today.The Opposition is slowly shrinking andhas a total of 65 seats and the Congresshas been reduced to 41 members.

In this week’s biennial polls, alto-

gether 61 seats were filled with 43 first-timers who had been elected and 12members who had sought re-election.The BJP won 17, a couple of seats morethan its strength, due to cross-voting.The Congress got nine, the Janata Dal(United) three, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)and the Trinamool Congress (TMC)four each, the AIADMK (All IndiaAnna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)and the DMK (Dravida MunnetraKazhagam) three each, the NationalistCongress Party (NCP), the RashtriyaJanata Dal (RJD) and the TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS) got two each.

Interestingly, the House now hassome heavyweights like former PrimeMinister Deve Gowda, former CongressLeader of Opposition in the Lok SabhaMallikarjun Kharge and formerJharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren.Two other former Chief Ministers,Sharad Pawar and Digvijay Singh, havereturned, too.

So what does it mean politically?The ascendancy of the BJP in the Houseof Elders would result in more politi-cal leverage for the party. First of all, itenables the Modi Government to goahead with the much-needed reformsand Bills in both the Houses ofParliament.

Earlier, the Opposition blocked anumber of measures though in Modi2.0, the BJP was able to push throughmost of its core agenda, including therepeal of Article 370 and the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA). This waspossible because of a dividedOpposition, which the ModiGovernment took advantage of and alsomanaged to mobilise the support ofsome neutral parties like the BJD andthe TRS. Now, the NDA Governmentis unlikely to face any challenge in push-ing through its legislative agenda.

It is sweet revenge for the BJP thatit has overtaken the Congress, reaching

almost twice the number, 86. This showsthat the saffron party has also achievedan impressive surge in the Rajya Sabha.

The Opposition has had an upperhand for 39 of the 68 years but this willchange now. Just as the BJP broughtback the single party majority in 2014after three decades, this too, will be seenas a feather in its cap.

For the Opposition, which isalready weak, this would mean a com-plete setback in both the Houses.Earlier, it had the advantage in the RajyaSabha but now there is a danger that theGovernment could flex its musclesand take unilateral decisions.

Also the Opposition has a leader-ship vacuum, is not united and has nojoint floor strategy. The fact remains thatonly a vigilant and united Oppositioncan hold the Government accountable.The weakening of the Opposition in theUpper House should not be a drawbackbecause it is not the numbers which

matter but the effectiveness of thearguments in the House. It is the dutyof the Opposition to uphold the tenetsof democracy and ensure that theGovernment does its job well.

There are many important issuesfacing the country right now like thehandling of the pandemic, the Chineseskirmishes, the face-off with Nepal, theailing economy and so on. The veter-ans that are there in the Rajya Sabhamust take these issues up strongly. Didnot a handful of Opposition leadersexpose the Bofors scandal during theRajiv Gandhi era when he had 415members in the Lok Sabha? In fact, theinvaluable experience of heavyweightslike Gowda, Pawar and ManmohanSingh would come in handy.

On the whole it is for theOpposition to be vigilant and for theGovernment to avoid unilateral deci-sions to safeguard democracy.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Dubai: A Saudi official said onTuesday that the hajj pilgrim-age, which usually draws up to2.5 million Muslims from allover the world, will only see atthe most a few thousand pil-grims next month due to con-cerns over the spread of thecoronavirus.

The kingdom’s HajjMinister Muhammad Bentensaid a “small and very limited”number of people — even aslow as just 1,000 from insidethe kingdom — will be allowedto perform the pilgrimage toensure social distancing andcrowd control amid the glob-al virus outbreak.

“The number, God willing,may be in the thousands. Weare in the process of reviewingso it could be 1,000 or less, ora little more,” Benten said in avirtual press conference.

While the decision to dras-tically curb this year’s hajj waslargely expected, it remainsunprecedented in SaudiArabia’s nearly 90-year histo-ry and effectively bars allMuslims from outside thekingdom from travelling thereto performing the pilgrimage.

The Saudi governmentwaited until just five weeksbefore the hajj to announce itsdecision. The timing indicates

the sensitivity around majordecisions concerning the hajjthat affect Muslims around theworld.

“This is a very sensitiveoperation and we are workingwith experts at the HealthMinistry,” Benten said, stress-ing the importance of pro-tecting the lives and health ofpilgrims.

As part of the curbs, Saudiofficials said that no one overthe age of 65 will be allowed toperform the hajj and that allpilgrims and those servingthe pilgrims this year will bequarantined both before andafter the pilgrimage. AP

Dubai: Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it intercept-ed ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones launchedby Yemen’s Houthi rebels in an attack that began the pre-vious night.

The kingdom has fought a yearslong war against theIranian-backed Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital inSeptember 2014.

The rebels did not immediately acknowledge theattack, though their Al-Masirah satellite news channelsaid their forces would make an announcement later inthe day about “a broad operation in Saudi Arabia.”

The attack began late Monday, with a brief statementon the state-run Saudi Press Agency suggesting otherdrones may have slipped passed Saudi air defenses, with-out elaborating.

On Tuesday, the SPA news agency quoted the king-dom’s military spokesman, Col. Turki al-Malki, as say-ing that Saudi air defenses intercepted a ballistic mis-sile fired “toward Riyadh.” The report did not elaborate.

Al-Malki said the Houthis launched two other bal-listic missiles and eight bomb-carrying drones in theattack, all of which the kingdom destroyed.

The Houthis have in the past launched drone andmissile attacks against the kingdom, which has used itsairpower to carry out devastating airstrikes that have alsokilled Yemeni civilians, drawing international con-demnation. AP

Singapore: Singapore PrimeMinister Lee Hsien Loongsaid on Tuesday that he hasdecided to call for general elec-tions to “clear the decks” andgive the new government afresh five-year mandate, amidthe coronavirus pandemic thathas battered the city-state’seconomy.

In a televised address tothe nation, Lee said that he hasadvised President HalimahYacob on Tuesday to dissolveParliament and issue the writfor election.

He said that holding anelection now will clear thedecks and give the new

Government a fresh five-yearmandate to focus on thenational agenda and the diffi-cult decisions it will have tomake.

Elections must be held byApril 2021 at the latest. Lee’sruling People’s Action Partyholds a majority in the currentParliament.

Lee pointed out that hisgovernment has worked hardto contain the coronavirusspread since it was first detect-ed in January 2020 with fourfiscal budgets of 100 billionSingapore dollars to managethrough the COVID-19 pan-demic. PTI

WASHINGTON: With coron-avirus cases rising in about halfthe states and political polari-sation competing for attentionwith public health recommen-dations, Dr. Anthony Faucireturns to Capitol Hill onTuesday at a fraught moment inthe nation’s pandemic response.

The Government’s topinfectious disease expert willtestify before a House commit-tee, along with the heads of theCenters for Disease Control andPrevention, the Food and DrugAdministration, and a top offi-cial at the Department ofHealth and Human Services.

Since Fauci’s last appear-ance at a high-profile hearingmore than a month ago, the U.S.is emerging from weeks of

stay-at-home orders and busi-ness shutdowns. But it’s beingdone in an uneven way, withsome states far less cautiousthan others. A trio of states withRepublican governors who arebullish on reopening —Arizona, Florida and Texas —are among those seeing worri-some increases in cases.

Fauci has recently warnedthat the U.S. is still in the firstwave of the pandemic and hascontinued to urge the Americanpublic to practice social dis-tancing. And, in a recent ABCNews interview, he said politi-cal demonstrations such asprotests against racial injusticeare “risky” to all involved.Asked if that applied to Trumprallies, he said it did. AP

Washington: Regrouping aftera humbling weekend rally,President Donald Trump facesanother test of his ability todraw a crowd during a pan-demic Tuesday as he visitsArizona and tries to remindvoters of one of his key 2016campaign promises.

Trump’s weekend rally inTulsa, Oklahoma, was meant tobe a sign of the nation’s reopen-ing and a show of political forcebut instead generated thou-sands of empty seats andswirling questions about thepresident’s campaign leader-ship and his case for anotherfour years in office.

The low turnout has sharp-ened the focus on Trump’s visitto Arizona, which doubles asboth a 2020 battleground stateand a surging coronavirus hotspot.

First, the president will

travel to Yuma to mark the con-struction of more than 200miles (322 kilometers) of wallalong the US-Mexico border, anissue that he built his campaignon four years ago. Later, he’lladdress a group of youngRepublicans at a Phoenixmegachurch, where event orga-nizers have pledged thousandswill attend.

Throughout the trip, theCOVID-19 pandemic willshadow Trump. TheDemocratic mayor of Phoenixmade clear that she does notbelieve the speech can be safe-ly held in her city — and urgedthe president to wear a facemask. “Everyone attendingtomorrow’s event, particularlyany elected official, should setan example to residents bywearing a mask,” said MayorKate Gallego. “This includes thePresident.”

Trump has refused to weara mask in public, instead turn-ing it into a red-vs.-blue culturalissue.

Polling suggests thatRepublicans are far less likely towear a face covering thanDemocrats despite healthexperts’ warnings that it dra-matically reduces the risk oftransmitting the virus.

The “Students for Trump”event will be held at the DreamCity Church and broadcast togroups across the nation.Students for Trump is a specialproject of Turning PointAction, a grouped chaired byTrump ally Charlie Kirk, whichis hosting the president for hisaddress. Organizers said healthand safety measures still werebeing finalized and it wasunclear if attendees would beasked to wear masks or keepsocially distant. AP

Berlin: American and Russiannegotiators have concluded around of nuclear arms controltalks in Vienna, aimed at pro-ducing a new agreement toreplace the New START treatythat expires in February — thelast remaining pact constrainingthe arsenals of the world’s twomajor nuclear powers.

US negotiator MarshallBillingslea told reportersTuesday that a day of high-level“marathon discussions” endedlate Monday night and hadbeen productive enough to con-clude with the establishment ofseveral technical workinggroups to delve deeper into theissues with the idea of pavingthe way for a second round oftalks by late July or early August.

“We both agreed at the ter-mination of our talks that thestrategic environment haschanged significantly since theNew START treaty was signed,”he told reporters.

“We can all remember back10 years ago, the world is, in fact,a radically different place.” NewSTART imposes limits on thenumber of U.S. And Russianlong-range nuclear warheadsand launchers. The deal was

made in 2010, but the limits did-n’t take effect until 2018.

It became the last nucleararms pact between the twonations after the U.S. Last yearscrapped the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treatywith Russia, a Cold War-eraagreement that both sides hadrepeatedly accused the other ofviolating.

The INF treaty was alsocriticized because it did notcover China or missile tech-nology that did not exist a gen-eration ago.

At a press conference heldby the American delegation,Billingslea said any new agree-ment must include all nuclearweapons and not just strategicnuclear weapons, and also sub-ject China to restrictions.

He said China had refusedan American invitation to be

part of the Vienna talks, but thathe hoped the international com-munity would pressure Beijingto take part in the future.

Russia, whose delegationreturned home Monday night,did not object to China beingpart of the talks but also want-ed the western Europeannuclear powers — Britain andFrance — to be involved, hesaid.

“The United States is notengaged in an arms race,”Billingslea said.

“Of course we will not beleft behind, but we seek toavoid this, and this is why athree-way nuclear arms controldeal, in our view, has the bestchance of avoiding an incredi-bly destabilizing three-waynuclear arms race.”

Billingslea said he “would-n’t rule anything in or out” butthat the US did not think Britainor France, with much smallernuclear arsenals, should beincluded.

“Both qualitatively andquantitatively the UnitedKingdom and France are in avery different situation thanthe arms racing Chinese,” hesaid. AP

Moscow: A court in Kyrgyzstan onTuesday convicted the country’s ex-pres-ident on corruption charges and sentencedhim to 11 years and two months in prison.

Almazbek Atambayev, who was inoffice from 2011 to 2017, was stripped ofthe immunity from prosecution that heenjoyed as a former president and arrest-ed last year on a slew of charges, includ-ing corruption and the expropriation ofproperty.

His arrest sparked two days of riotsthat left one policeman dead and over 100people injured, raising fears of instabilityin the strategically placed Central Asiannation that borders China and hosts aRussian military air base.

Atambayev, 63, said the accusationsagainst him were politically motivated.

On Tuesday, the former Kyrgyz pres-ident was found guilty of facilitating cor-ruption. In addition to a prison term, thecourt confiscated Atambayev’s property —several plots of land, five cars, four com-panies belonging to him and shares in sev-eral Kyrgyz banks. Atambayev’s defenselawyer, Sergei Slesarev, said he will discussappealing the ruling with his client. AP

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Washington: Top Americanlawmakers have urgedPresident Donald Trump torevoke the temporary suspen-sion of H-1B and other non-immigrant visas.

“I’m deeply disappointed byPresident Trump’s misguidedorder to suspend these keywork visa programmes. I urgehim to reverse this decision tohelp ensure our health care sys-tem and broader economy areready to combat the next phaseof (coronavirus) pandemic andto create the jobs we need forour economic recovery,” IndianAmerican Congressman RajaKrishnamoorthi said.

The H-1B programme inparticular plays a crucial role inaddressing dangerous short-age of health care professionalswhile also providing other keysectors of our economy with tal-ent from around the world tonot only fill jobs, but create newones, he said.

“Suspending this pro-gramme will only weaken oureconomy and our health careworkforce at a time when theneed to strengthen both is asclear as ever,” Krishnamoorthisaid. This is not the rightapproach, said SenatorDemocratic Whip Dick Durbinand Congressmen Bill Pascrell

and Ro Khanna after Trump’sdecision to bar H-1B and otherwork visas through the end ofthe year.

“We need to mend the H-1B programme, not end it.Instead of suspending H-1Bvisas, the TrumpAdministration should askCongress to pass the H-1B andL-1 Visa Reform Act of 2020,which reforms the H-1B pro-gram with a scalpel, not asledgehammer,” the three topAmerican lawmakers said.

They have introduced abipartisan legislation, whichthey said would protectAmerican workers and end theabuse of the H-1B programmeto outsource American jobsand exploit workers, whileensuring employers could stillhire talented immigrant work-ers when no qualified Americanis available to do the job.

Congresswoman Donna EShalala alleged that Trump isnow attacking American busi-nesses — and jeopardising theeconomic recovery — in serviceof xenophobia. “America will bepoorer and less competitivebecause of it,” she said.

“This Executive Order isyet another example ofPresident Trump using thecoronavirus pandemic toadvance a hateful and extremeanti-immigrant agenda,” saidCongresswoman ChelliePingree.

“There’s no question thatemployers should hire out ofwork Americans whenever pos-sible, but Maine businesseshave said repeatedly they needH-2B, J-1, L-1 visa holders tooperate and continue toreopen... This ban will makeour economic recovery moredifficult,” she said. PTI

Washington: Top US lawmak-ers, corporates and humanrights bodies working amongthe immigrant communitieshave slammed the Trumpadministration for suspendingH-1B and other foreign workvisas till December 31 to helpmillions of Americans hit by joblosses during the coronaviruspandemic.

The decision, which isbeing described as part of an‘America-first recovery’ effort,would free up 5,25,000 jobs inthe US for American workers,officials said.

Hit by the pandemic, near-ly 40 million Americans havelost their jobs in the last coupleof months as the US economyhas come to a halt due to thedeadly virus that has so far haskilled more than 120,000 peo-ple in America, the worst-hitcountry by the virus.

The decision is expected toimpact a large number of

Indian IT professionals andseveral American and Indiancompanies who were issued H-1B visas by the US governmentfor the fiscal year 2021 begin-ning October 1. They wouldnow have to wait at least till theend of the current year beforeapproaching the US diplomat-ic missions to get stamping. Itwould also impact a large num-ber of Indian IT professionalswho are seeking renewal oftheir H-1B visas.

Sundar Pichai, Indian-American CEO of Google,expressed disappointment overthe proclamation, saying thatimmigration has contributedimmensely to America’s eco-nomic success, making it aglobal leader in tech, and alsoGoogle, the company it is today.

“Disappointed by today’sproclamation - we’ll continue tostand with immigrants andwork to expand opportunity forall,” Pichai said. PTI

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China threatened on Tuesday to retali-ate against new US restrictions on

Chinese state media, escalating tensionsbetween the two superpowers as they crackdown on each other’s news outlets.

The US State Department said Mondayit was reclassifying four organisations —China Central Television, China NewsService, the People’s Daily and the GlobalTimes — as foreign missions rather thanmedia outlets in the United States, addingto five others designated in February.

China has already expelled more thana dozen American journalists as part of therow.

On Tuesday Beijing decried the latestUS move as “bare-faced political suppres-sion of Chinese media” that “furtherexposes the hypocrisy of the so-called free-dom of speech and press which the US likesto flaunt”.

“We strongly urge the US to reject thisCold War mindset and ideological bias...otherwise China will have no choice but tomake an appropriate response,” said foreignministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a rou-tine briefing.

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Seoul: A South Korean activist on Tuesdaysaid hundreds of thousands of leaflets hadbeen launched by balloon across theborder with North Korea overnight, afterthe North repeatedly warned it wouldretaliate against such actions.

The move is certain to intensify ten-sions between the Koreas, after theNorth abruptly raised its rhetoric againstSouth Korean civilian leafleting andpushed to resume its psychological war-fare against the South.

Police in the South Korean border townof Paju said Tuesday they were checking intodetails about the reported leafleting. ActivistPark Sang-hak said his organization flewhuge balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets,2,000 one-dollar bills and small books onNorth Korea from Paju on Monday night.

Park, formerly a North Korean whofled to South Korea, said in a statementhis leafleting is “a struggle for justice forthe sake of liberation of ” North Koreanresidents.

Calling North Korean leader Kim JongUn “an evil” and his rule “barbarism,” Parksaid he’ll keep sending anti-Kim leafletsdespite worries about his safety.

“Though North Korean residents have

become modern-day slaves with no basicrights, don’t they have the rights to knowthe truth?” he said.

South Korean officials have vowed toban leafleting and said they would presscharges against Park, who has sent leafletstoward North Korea for years.

Authorities said Park’s activities areunnecessarily raising animosities betweenthe Koreas and potentially endangeringresidents in border areas. In 2014, NorthKorean troops opened fire at propagan-da balloons flying toward their territory,triggering an exchange of fire that causedno known causalities.

Last week, North Korea blew up aninter-Korean liaison office on its territo-ry and threatened to take unspecified stepsto nullify 2018 agreements aimed at low-ering front-line military tensions. AP

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London: UK Prime MinisterBoris Johnson is on Tuesday setto announce July 4 as the datefor a significant lifting of lock-down restrictions in the coun-try, with cinemas, museums,bars, pubs and restaurants beingallowed to open their doors tothe public once again.

The venues, which havebeen closed for at least threemonths since the UK wentinto its official coronavirus-induced lockdown on March23, will be required to have safe-ty measures set out under gov-ernment guidance in place to beable to operate.

The Cabinet will meet onTuesday to officially rubber-stamp the decision to allowpublic venues, including the-atres and businesses such ashairdressers, to reopen fromJuly 4, effectively marking an

end to the lockdown in whatsome British MPs have dubbed“Super Saturday”.

Johnson is then due to setout some details in the Houseof Commons on how pubsand other social venues cansafely reopen, following areview of the 2-metre manda-tory social distancing rule bythe UK’s COVID-19 strategygroup on Monday. Johnson isexpected to tell Parliament thatthe 2-metre social distancingrule will also be halved to 1metre (3ft 3in) from July 4, withsome mitigating measures. TheGovernment had come underpressure from the hospitalitysector, and some MPs fromwithin the ruling ConservativeParty, to relax the 2m rule, withmany saying it would be impos-sible to trade under the currentmeasures. AP

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GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRAEXECUTIVE ENGINEER, PUBLIC WORKS DIVISION, BEED

E-TENDER NOTICE NO.BEED/ 04 OF 2019-20E-Tenders for (36) Works in B-1 form is invited by the ExecutiveEngineer, Public Works Division, Beed (Phone No. 02442-222474)from the registered Contractors in appropriate class of PublicWorks Department of Govt. of Maharashtra for the improvementroads/repair of buildings/construction of new buildings in Tal.Beed/Georai/Wadwani Dist. Beed.The details can be viewed and downloaded from following web-site.www.mahapwd.com. Sd/-https://mahatenders.gov.in Executive EngineerDGIPR/2020-2021/255 Public Works Division Beed

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New Delhi: The total income ofthe company during the quarterand year ended 31-03-2020 was�2,574.65 crore and � 9,133.28crore respectively as against�2,266.80 crore and �8,059.27crore in the corresponding peri-od of the previous year, regis-tering a growth in total incomeof 13.58% and 13.33% respec-tively in both the periods.

Profit after tax for thequarter and year ended 31-03-2020 was �392.48 crore and�1,413.85 crore respectively asagainst �290.13 crore and �1,266.97 crore in the corre-sponding period of the previ-ous year, registering a growthof 35.28% and 11.59% respec-tively in both the periods.

Power generation duringthe quarter and year ended 31-03-2020 was 6098.95 MU and21922.98 MU as against5586.17 MU and 20676.18 MUin the corresponding period ofthe previous year, registering agrowth of 9.18% and 6.03 %respectively in both the periods.

Power export during quar-ter and year ended 31-03-2020was 5301 MU and 18840.84 MUrespectively as against 4766.54and 17505.30 MU in the corre-sponding period of the previousyear, registering a growth of11.21% and 7.63% respectively inboth the periods. After com-missioning of 709 MW of SolarPower Plant, solar power gener-ation during the quarter and yearended 31-03-2020 to 486.56MU and 1401.42 MU as against155.63 MU and 471.14 MUrespectively in both periods.

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In what comes as a ray of hopefor international travel, the

Ministry of Civil Aviation isconsidering travel requests fromseveral countries. The Ministrysaid that it is examining therequests of several countriesincluding the US, France, Germany to allowtheir airlines to operate repa-triation flights.

The Civil AviationMinistry’s statement has comeafter the US Department ofTransportation announced onMonday that it has barred AirIndia from operating charteredflights between India and theUSA from July 22 without itsprior approval, in an apparentretaliation for the Indian gov-ernment not allowing USA car-riers to operate between the twocountries.

In a tweet, the Ministryinformed that it has receivedrequests from concernedauthorities in several countriesincluding the US, France,Germany among othersrequesting that their air carriersbe allowed to participate in thetransportation of passengersalong the line being conducted

by Air India under VandeBharat Mission. “These requestsare being examined,” it added.

The Ministry said, “As wecontemplate further openingup in response to demands, weare looking at the prospect ofestablishing individual bilater-al bubbles, India-US, India-France, India-Germany, India-UK. These are all destinationswhere demand for travel has notdiminished. Final decisions pur-suant to negotiations are expect-ed to be taken soon.”

According to the Ministry,these evacuation flights whichwere primarily meant for theevacuation of our citizens fromall over the world are nowincreasingly carrying Indiansand citizens of other countriesoutbound to countries wherethey are normally resident. “Aswe contemplate further open-ing up in response to demands,we are looking at the prospectof establishing individual bilat-eral bubbles, India-US, India-France, India-Germany, India-UK. These are all destinationswhere demand for travel hasnot diminished. Final deci-sions pursuant to negotiationsare expected to be taken soon.”

Earlier, the US’ DOT has

accused the Indian Governmentof engaging in discriminatoryand restrictive practices by leav-ing out US carriers from the gov-ernment-backed Vande BharatMission (VBM) to repatriatestranded Indians from foreigncountries including the US.

The Ministry said onTuesday that it had one roundof negotiations with the repre-sentatives of the DOT and USEmbassy on June 15 about let-ting American carriers operateflights. “They were invited tosubmit precise proposals in thisrespect. A communication hasnow been received on 19 June,2020 detailing these requests,”the Ministry said.

“By this Order, we are noti-fying National AviationCompany of India Limited d/b/aAir India (Air India), a foreignair carrier of India that holdseconomic authority from theDepartment .... will be required,effective 30 days after the servicedate of this Order, to obtain priorapproval from the Departmentin the form of a statement ofauthorisation before operatingany Third- and/or Fourth-Freedom charter flights to orfrom the United States,” US’DOT said in the order.

New Delhi: The Centre onTuesday declared the mini-mum support price (MSP) formature dehusked coconut for2020 at �2,700 per quintal, upby �129 or 5.02 per cent from�2,571 per quintal during 2019.The hike in MSP for dehuskedcoconut ensures immediatecash to the small farmers whoare unable to hold the productand are having insufficientfacility of copra making formilling purpose to extract edi-ble oil.

As per a statement by theMinistry, Union Minister foragriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi-ledGovernment has paid theutmost attention to the inter-ests of farmers nationwide.This would be a relief to thecoconut farmers who arealready affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the conse-quent disruption in the supplychain, Tomar said.

The Minister said thatcoconut being a small holders’crop, aggregation and arrang-ing copra-making facility at thefarmers’ level is a rarity.

Though the MSP formilling copra is �9,960 per

quintal for the 2020 crop sea-son, the declaration of a high-er MSP for dehusked coconutensures immediate cash to thesmall farmers, who are unableto hold the product and haveinsufficient facilities for copra-making.

The National AgriculturalCooperative MarketingFederation of India Limited(NAFED) and NationalCooperative ConsumerFederation of India Limited(NCCF) act as central nodalagencies to undertake pricesupport operations at the MSPin the coconut growing statessuch as Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Kerala, TamilNadu, Odisha, Maharashtra,West Bengal and Gujarat. Ballcopra (used for edible con-sumption and is considered inthe dry fruit category) andmilling copra (mainly used toextract coconut oils), however,attract nearly four times higher price than the dehuskedcoconut. PNS

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Banks have sanctioned loansof over �79,000 crore till

June 20 to 19 lakh MSMEs andother businesses, of which �35,000 crore has already beendisbursed, the Finance Ministrysaid on Tuesday.

As part of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat (Self-reliantIndia) package, theGovernment had last monthannounced its plan for �3 lakhcrore as additional credit toMSMEs and small businesses.

Such enterprises were eli-gible to receive up to 20 percent of their existing borrow-ing as additional loans at inter-est rates which were capped.

“The interventions byGovernment for MSMEs, havebeen gaining rapid traction.Under the Emergency CreditLine backed by a Governmentguarantee, Banks from publicand private sectors have so faralready sanctioned loans worthover �79,000 crore as of June20, 2020, of which more than�35,000 crore has already beendisbursed,” the Ministry saidin a statement.

The top lenders under theScheme are SBI, HDFC Bank,Bank of Baroda, PNB andCanara Bank.

This has helped 19 lakhMSMEs & other businessesrestart their businesses post thelockdown, it added.

Separately, under RBI’sSpecial Liquidity Facilityannounced in March-April,2020, SIDBI has sanctionedover �10,220 crore to NBFCs,Micro Finance Institutions andbanks for lending to MSME &small borrowers, the ministrysaid.

National Housing Bank(NHB) has sanctioned its entirefacility of �10,000 crore tohousing finance companies.

This refinance by SIDBIand NHB is in addition toongoing schemes throughwhich over �30,000 crore hasbeen sanctioned.

Under the Extended PartialGuarantee Scheme for NBFCsand MFI, approvals havecrossed �5,500 crore.Transactions for another � 5,000 crore are under processof approval, while certain otherdeals are currently under nego-tiation, the Ministry added.

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Domestic rating agencyIcra on Tuesday down-

graded the rating on certainbonds of Yes Bank, days afterRBI restrained the lenderfrom making repayments tobondholders on account ofcapital being below the man-dated levels.

The rating on six Basel-II compliant upper tier IIbonds totalling up to � 32,611crore have been downgradedto ‘D’, according to a state-ment.

RBI had refused toaccede to a bank’s request topay the interest on the bondsissued in 2012 due on June 29because of the low capital lev-els.

The bank, which ispreparing for raising capital atpresent, had asserted that it has sufficient liquidity to meet all require-ments.

“The timely servicing ofthe upcoming coupon, whichis cumulative in natureremains constrained and thesame is likely to be paid onlywhen the bank achieves aCRAR of 9.0 per cent,” Icrasaid.

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Market gauges Sensex andNifty on Tuesday surged

over 1.5 per cent to post theirfourth straight session of gainsamid reports that Indian andChinese armies agreed to de-escalate border tensions.

The BSE Sensex rallied519.11 points, or 1.49 per cent,to close at 35,430.43; while theNSE Nifty soared 159.80points, or 1.55 per cent, to endat 10,471.

Aided by positive cuesfrom global markets and sus-tained foreign fund inflow,investor sentiment remainedupbeat.

On the Sensex chart, L&Twas the top gainer, soaringaround 7 per cent, followed byBajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank,NTPC, PowerGrid, M&M andAxis Bank.

On the other hand,Reliance Industries BhartiAirtel and Maruti closed withloss.

Sectorally, BSE power,capital goods, utilities, realty,industrials and bankex ralliedup to 4.24 per cent. Broadermidcap and smallcap indicesrose up to 1.80 per cent.

“The Indian indices trad-ed positive, in sync with glob-

al indices, seemingly on theback of continued liquidityflows into the markets,” VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services,said.

“Markets were also opti-mistic on the back of news ofa de-escalation in border hos-tilities and the pace of Covid-19 recoveries increasing,in spite of the new virus infec-tions,” he added.

In a positive move, Indianand Chinese armies havearrived at a consensus to “dis-engage” from all friction pointsin eastern Ladakh at amarathon meeting of top mil-

itary commanders of the twosides on Monday, officialsources said.

The talks were held in a“cordial, positive and con-structive atmosphere” and itwas decided that modalities fordisengagement from all areas ineastern Ladakh will be takenforward by both the sides, theysaid.

On a net basis, foreigninstitutional investors boughtequities worth � 424.21 crore inthe capital market on Monday,provisional exchange datashowed. The rupee appreciat-ed 37 paise to close at 75.66against the US dollar.

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Petrol price on Tuesday washiked by 20 paise per litre

and diesel by 55 paise as the oilcompanies increased prices forthe 17th day in a row that tookthe cumulative increase to asteep �8.5 and �10.01 per litre,respectively.

Petrol price in Delhi washiked to �79.76 per litre from�79.56, while diesel rates wereincreased to �79.40 a litre from�78.55, according to a pricenotification of state oil mar-keting companies.

Rates have been increasedacross the country and varyfrom State to State dependingon the incidence of local salestax or value added tax.

The 17th daily increase inrates, since oil companies onJune 7 restarted revising pricesin line with costs after endingan 82-day hiatus in rate revi-sion, has taken diesel prices tofresh highs. Petrol price too isat a two-year high.

Mumbai: The rupee onTuesday appreciated by 37 paiseto close at nearly two-week highof 75.66 against the US cur-rencies following a rally indomestic equities and persistentforeign fund inflows on easingborder tension with China.

Besides, an unstable USdollar against major global cur-rencies also helped the rupee

surge, forex dealers said.At the interbank foreign

exchange market, the rupeeopened strong at 75.86. Duringthe session the domestic unitswung between a high of 75.65and a low of 75.89.

It finally settled at 75.66against the US dollar, register-ing a rise of 37 paise over itsprevious close of 76.03. PTI

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Leading creative education institu-tions in India and the UK, Pearl

Academy and University for theCreative Arts (UCA), have signed aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) that enables Pearl Academystudents to progress to the pro-grammes offered by UCA throughseamless transfer of credits.

At a time when COVID-19 has putstudents’ aspirations to study aboard injeopardy, this academic tie-up enablesthem to fulfill that dream withoutwasting an academic year.

The academy’s existing and futurestudents those who will enroll for pro-

grammes in 2020 and onwards will ben-efit from this tie-up. They will be ableto transfer their credits to UCA andstudy at one of the four campuses ofUCA.

Talking about the tie-up, ProfessorNandita Abraham, President, PearlAcademy, said: “Students and theirparents start planning for higher stud-ies much in advance, but this pandem-ic has made travelling abroad to studyalmost impossible. Letting go of an aca-demic year is their choice but notadvisable. Progression programmes cre-ate a win-win situation for them, where-in they get the best of education, glob-al exposure and an international cred-it transfer.”

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The Indian Instituteof Art and Design

(IIAD) in collabora-tion with KingstonSchool of Art, Londonoffers undergraduateprogrammes in fash-ion design, fashionbusiness management,communication designand interior architec-ture & design.

It also offers post-graduate programmesin Fashion Design andFashion Business

Management. The Institute offers

these programmesthrough its creative stu-dio-based educationand strives to groomthe next generation ofdesigners and designthinkers at its state-of-the-art campus in NewDelhi.

How to apply: Logon to www.iiad.edu.in.

A d m i s s i o nProcess: Apply forIIAD Entrance Test,July 17 and July 18,2020.

Over the last two decades, thestudy of entrepreneurship has

expanded from just the study ofentrepreneurs and market researchto a much broader subject. Now, thestudy also incorporates entrepre-neurial behavior patterns of anindividual, a company and themarket, start-ups, and scale-ups, thedifferent business partnerships,societal and economic develop-ment. Students are showingimmense interest in becomingentrepreneurs than working forsomeone else.

India has become the third-largest start-up ecosystem andnumerous start-ups are emergingevery day with the hope of rising to

the top. Universities are making aneffort to bring the right infrastruc-ture in place to enhance entrepre-neurship education. The number ofuniversities now offering the entre-preneurship course is slowly risingand soon we will be looking at morereformed programmes that alsohelp second-third generation entre-preneurs to help scale their business.

Let us look at the five trendingchanges that promise to uplift theinnovation and entrepreneurialecosystem:

Incorporate entrepreneurialeco-system and learning: The uni-versities and colleges have startedacknowledging and providingentrepreneurial courses, and are

now focusing on building anadvanced curriculum that will formthe heart of this unique program.More experiential learning, imple-mentation of innovative ideas, liveprojects, building business models,facing real-world challenges, outsideclassroom learning, is what willencourage and prepare the studentsfor what the market has to offer.

Inclusiveness and mass reach:Institutions have started marketingthe benefits and learning of entre-preneurial education. Since, when itcomes to business, we see more malecandidates and also people who havemoney to invest, the whole mar-keting strategy is based out on theawareness of investors available for

financial support and how womencan benefit and make this careerchoice their own. The whole start-up scenario needs diversity andinclusion, which is now beingworked upon and is open to all thosewho has a mind for business.

Building innovation labs andcreative workspace: The next thinginstitutions are looking forward tois building innovation labs andworkspace where the students havethe tools, materials, and trainingthey need to create prototypes andplay around with innovation. A fewcolleges have already establishedsuch spaces inside their campus forthe betterment of the students. Weare looking at more communitiescoming forward and building suchan innovative space where the stu-dents get to nurture their innova-tion potential.

Boot camps and competitions:A budding entrepreneur needs thepush to do his best. Rigorous train-ing programmes should be con-ducted frequently that enrich thestudents with new ideas, tech-niques, resources, networks,investors, tools, infrastructure, andthe right mentor is what will drivethem launch their start-ups andmake it a flourishing business.Competitions with other buddingentrepreneurs over innovative prod-ucts and services will give them theboost they need to ideate andstrategise. The boot camps willhelp the students grow a businesssense, talk to investors and growtheir network on a national andglobal platform.�������������) � ���������� ���2;�

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Now returning to the waythings were before the pan-demic is not part of theplan as nothing will really be

normal again. The key is to be flexiblebetween each scenario, and prepare formultiple realities at the same time. Ifthe worst-case scenario becomes real-ity, the newly turned/aspiring entre-preneur will know exactly who to callabout the excess and which arms of thebusiness to eliminate.

The critical ingredient to start abusiness is getting off your butt anddoing something. It’s as simple as that.A lot of people have ideas — but fewdecide to do something about themnow. Not tomorrow. Not next week, buttoday. The true entrepreneur is a doer— not a dreamer. Go all out.

The time is nowLook, you’re an aspiring entrepre-

neur, and that means that you aren’tlikely taking the easy road to anywhere.You rise to meet challenges heads-on;while others may look for the safe pathto mediocrity, you’re looking for thetough path to excellence. Now’s theopportunity to kind of see what youcan create in the midst of all this down-time

Think big, dream big, but startsmall

Great ventures start from smallbeginnings. Always dream big, but thatdoesn’t mean you have to start big andthere is nothing wrong with startingsmall. To win a boxing match first thingis to enter the boxing ring. To live yourdreams, you must start working on it.Every great organisation starts with afew handful of like minded people,every great author starts with a singleparagraph, every great athlete start

from winning his local competitionsand every singer starts from singing infront of the mirror. You don’t have tobe afraid of the situations; neither youhaveto wait for the perfect situation.Don’t worry about the conditions andcircumstances; be ready for yourbeginning.

As starting out new you shouldfind some comfort in knowing that inbeing small, you have the advantage ofbeing more nimble and agile, whichallows you to adapt more quicklythan larger companies.

Adapt to changing times is crit-ical for survival

Adapting to change is what willkeep you relevant, valuable and at theforefront of the competitive edge. In thebusiness sense of the word, adaptabil-ity entails being open to new ideas andconcepts, being able to work on anindependent basis or with a team as thesituation demands, and juggling mul-tiple projects without getting flum-moxed when conditions abruptlychange. The ability or degree of will-ingness to which one adapts in suchsituations essentially determines one’s

level of flexibility — and possibly theheights they will achieve in the future.

As the COVID-19 pandemic con-tinues to alter how we live our lives,many businesses have been quick totweak their operations to reflect thenew situation.

Invest in less manpower; more onsmarts

Customers come second, employ-ees first. Invest in clock-changeremployees who are willing to go theextra mile to accomplish a task thateveryone else is skirting. People canmake anything possible. One manarmy can only look good in a reel worldnot in the real world where you do areal business.

Now sadly common occurrence ofreducing headcount, as employers liketo call it, you will realise that lean is inand less is more. Invest in less man-power; more on smarts.

Building a business is never easyBuilding a successful business

won’t be anything like you imagined.You will face failures, even whenthings are bloomy and economy isdoing great.

You have to rise to the occasionhowever, rising to the occasion can befun for daydreaming, but in the realworld it rarely plays out with a fairy-tale ending.

Establish a remote work optionAs things are rapidly moving dig-

ital, remote work is becoming easierthan ever. Having remote employeescan be cost-effective, especially withoutrenting office space each month. Thetalent pool for potential employees cangrow to include anyone around theworld. And with fewer cars on the roadat rush hour, remote work is the moresustainable option.

Your body language is your vis-iting card

Pandemic or no pandemic yourbody language and vision shouldalways be in sync.

Body language in business sets thefoundation for people to communicatewith others on a deeper level. Your bodylanguage, the unspoken language youportray in conversation, can make orbreak your business future.

Be prepared for the unexpectedShouldn’t you have more reason to

be scared of the uncertain scenario? Yes,you should, and that’s a good thing, foryou.

It’s wise to stop assuming the mostlikely outcome will turn up at the con-clusion of every situation. A successfulcompany prepares for multiple out-comes regardless of what’s expected.Foresight enables you to respond effec-tively in all circumstances. The best wayto prepare is to include all departmentsand employees in the planning process.You’ll get fresh, unique perspectives thatare more likely to result in critical andinnovative thinking.

Don’t wait for the right time or theright investment

In every crisis, there’s opportunityto engage, innovate, and connect

If you sit and wait for the rightopportunity, you may lose out on theprecious time that you could haveinvested in working. Know that now isas good a time as any to initiate a busi-ness. Instead of contemplating for 24hours work for 24 minutes, that shallyield more results.

Strive for quality than quantity.�����������������������A ����� �������

The way year 2020 has pannedout so far, paradigm shifts andpersistent fear of the unknown

have become a way of life. Even asnations emerge from the forced lock-downs, one point that it leaves us allwith is the fact that the virus is hereto stay.

While the student communitysomewhat rejoiced the announcementof the first lockdown, the happinesswas short lived when parents and stu-dents alike were forced to mull overone vital question. How do you copewith the syllabi in a curtailed acade-mic year and more importantly, willonline teaching be beneficial in thelong run? The fear of losing a yearwhich would adversely impact careerswas a nightmarish thought.

Over the last three months, onlineteaching and classes have become anew normal and even after the pan-demic assuages, students would not bewilling to step out and gather inschools, colleges or institutes for a longtime. Such conditions would encour-age students and parents to continuewith online learning resources.

Parents are at ease with onlinelearning because monitoring theprogress of their ward is possible ona firsthand basis. Home tutoring andschooling has been a way of life insome western countries for a longtime. Classroom teaching was beingquestioned for a long time here too.The main issue cited was students not

being able to cope with the pace. Withonline teaching, the students arefinding it easy to be able to understandand obtain adequate subject knowl-edge. Opting for online teaching willsoon become a preferred choice forparents and teachers alike.

A major advantage of onlineclasses is that students are able to learnsitting in the comforts of their homesfrom their smartphones, tablets, lap-tops or desktops without the fear ofbeing exposed to the virus. Anothermajor advantage is the load of theschool bag gets transferred onto thegadgets thereby bringing down thephysical exertion of the students.

The probability of online learningbecoming full time has increasedmanifolds due to its effectiveness asa mode of learning and capability toprovide better learning experiencethan the traditional modes of teach-ing. Students now have access to a

number of teachers not limited to theirschool for guidance, while also gettinginformation easily and on-demandand getting data-based recommen-dations. Up-skilling their currentacademic staff and equipping themwith the right skills to create and deliv-er top quality digital content whileensuring maximum engagement is yetanother prerequisite for transitioningthe e-learning space. An effective wayto do this would be through teachertraining programmes that would helpteachers create digital content withmodern teaching methodologies,teach online and overcome the shy-ness of facing a camera. The educa-tion system is set to see a revolution,students have identified the highpoints of online learning and theywould not be reluctant in learningonline full time.

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With India Inc. treatingthe current pandemic

as an opportunity to upskilltheir workforce, the GreatLearning Corporate Academyby Great Learning hasemerged as their preferreded-tech platform forupskilling their employees.500+ corporates have usedthe Great Learning CorporateAcademy in the last 30 daysto train more than 10,000employees. While most ofthis demand has come from

sectors like Auto, BFSI, E-commerce, Finance and IT,the academy has also wit-nessed significant interestfrom government employ-ees.

Launched in April 2020,the academy is a free onlinerepository that offers highquality structured learningcontent across 30 career crit-ical skills. The platform offers300+ courses in domains likeData Science, MachineLearning, ArtificialIntelligence, CloudComputing, Big Data and

Digital Marketing. In the last30 days, 25 per cent of activeusers have already completedat least one course, each ofthem spending an average oftwo hours per day on the plat-form.

Mohan Lakhamraju,Founder and CEO, GreatLearning said: “ The academy’spurpose is to offer organisa-tions the opportunity to helptheir employees develop careercritical skills relevant for thedigital age at zero cost. It pro-vides them with high qualityprograms developed by the

best of our faculty. This ini-tiative is an integral part of ourbelief that everyone willing toput in the effort needed tolearn should have access to thebest learning opportunities.We encourage and supportorganisations who want totake any efforts to ensuretheir employees’ constantlearning. The response fromcompanies have been great sofar and we look forward tomore employees taking advan-tage of the platform esent cir-cumstances and be preparedto accelerate their careers.”

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The Indraprastha Instituteof Information Technology

(IIIT), Delhi has announcedthe beginning of the applica-tion process for its PGDiploma in Data Science andArtificial Intelligence (AI).The interested candidates canapply till July 20, 2020 on theinstitute’s official website,https://www.pgddsai.iiitd.ac.in/

Data Science and ArtificialIntelligence (AI), has emergedas a thriving field fromIndustry Utility andEmployability point of view.This market is likely to swell toUSD 20 billion by 2025.Companies are becomingincreasingly reliant on data-backed intelligence and areeager to hire data professionalswho can make sense of theinformation their respective

businesses collect day in andday out.

With the fast-paced expan-sion of the AI/ML job market,the skill gap is becoming a rea-son for worry. The Employerdemand for AI skill outstrippedjob seekers by 2.2 times in Jun2018.

This supply-demand gapindicates a huge opportunityfor mid and senior-level pro-fessionals to transit into thefield of Data Science and AI.

To cater to the upskillingneeds of IT professionals andto meet the industry require-ments, IIIT-Delhi, in collabo-ration with IBM has launcheda nine-month long PGDiploma programme in DataScience and AI (PGDDS&AI).The institute will conduct theentire programme throughonline classes on weekendsevery month.

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The Dr CV Raman University (CVRU), which is a part ofthe distinguished AISECT Group of Universities (AGU)

and is located in Vaishali district of Bihar, has announced thatthe admission process for the 2020 academic session is nowopen. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the universi-ty has taken the admission process for the year online.

All facilities and services related to the admission processhave been made available online, including virtual campus tourson the university’s YouTube channel and live chats with coun-selors. Students can submit the application form as well as deposittheir fees online through enabled websites and portals. TheUniversity is also set to arrange career counseling sessions forprospective students along with online classes on personalitydevelopment, soft skills and communication, entirely free of cost.

In addition to going 100 per cent digital for the admissionprocess, the University has also taken several measures to taketeaching-learning as well as other operations entirely online.About 30 online lectures are being offered per day by CVRU Biharand this process began from March 30, 2020. Around 400-500students and 35 faculty members are a part of the lecture series.Apart from this, a digital library with over 65,000 e-learningresources has been made available in order to aid the process ofself-study. Online assignments, question banks and quizzes havealso been made available for students to further improve access.Virtual placement drives, career development webinars and per-sonality development sessions are also being organised.

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INVEST IN FRESH IDEAS

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Manchester City thrashedBurnley 5-0 at anempty Etihad to ensure

Liverpool will not be able toclinch the Premier League titlewhen they face Crystal Palace onWednesday.

However, the match wasovershadowed by a bannerflown over the stadium at thestart of the match reading: Whitelives matter Burnley.

Black Lives Matter has beenprinted on the back of all shirtsfor the first 12 matches of thePremier League restart.

Players, coaches and refer-ees have also taken a kneebefore kick-off in every match toshow their support for the fightagainst racial injustice.

“I am ashamed, I’m embar-rassed, that a small number ofour fans have decided to put thataround the stadium,” saidBurnley captain Ben Mee.

“These people need to comeinto the 21st century and edu-cate themselves as a lot of us do.I’m really upset that happened.”

In a statement, Burnleypromised to hand lifetime bansto those responsible.

“We wish to make it clearthat those responsible are notwelcome at Turf Moor,” said theclub.

“We apologise unreserved-ly to the Premier League, to

Manchester City and to all thosehelping to promote Black LivesMatter.”

The disparity of resources

between the sides was showneven before kick-off as Burnleyboss Sean Dyche could noteven fill his bench, while Pep

Guardiola was able to makeeight changes from a 3-0 winover Arsenal on Wednesday.

Dyche has been left frustrat-

ed by the Burnley board’s refusalto extend contracts of five play-ers who are out of contract at theend of the month.

Phil Foden made the mostof his chance to start for City asthe 20-year-old opened thefloodgates with a sweet strikefrom outside the box.

Riyad Mahrez then killedthe game as a contestwith a quick doublebefore half-time.

The Algerian leftCharlie Taylor trailingon the floor before firinginto the far corner on hisweaker right foot.

VAR awarded Mahrez thechance to double his tally fromthe penalty spot after Meecaught Sergio Aguero.

The Argentine striker had tobe replaced by Gabriel Jesus andGuardiola admitted Aguero’sknee injury “doesn’t look good”.

“He felt something in hisknee,” said Guardiola. “He strug-gled in the last month with somepain in his knee.”

Retaining their Premier

League title may be beyondCity as they trail Liverpool by 20points, but Guardiola’s men stillhave the chance to add the FACup and Champions League tothe League Cup they won inMarch.

The fierce competition forplaces appears to be having aneffect as there was no let-up after

the break.Bernardo Silva’s low

cross was turned home byhis namesake David forthe hosts’ fourth.

Foden then roundedoff the scoring at the farpost after Gabriel Jesus

failed to convert David Silva’scross.

“That was my best game ina City shirt,” said Foden.

“I am just happy how theteam are playing at the moment.We’re looking sharp.”

There was another positivefor City late on as Leroy Sanereplaced Foden to make his firstappearance since suffering cru-ciate knee ligament damage inAugust.

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Cristiano Ronaldo and PauloDybala scored early as

Juventus put their Italian Cupfinal woes behind them with a2-0 win over Bologna onMonday to move four pointsclear of Lazio on top of the SerieA table.

Portuguese star Ronaldohad missed a penalty in theItalian Cup semi-final againstAC Milan, and drew a blank inthe final which Juventus lost 4-2 on penalties to Napoli.

But the 35-year-oldmade no mistake inJuventus’s first league gamesince beating Inter Milan2-0 in Turin on March 8.

He converted a spot-kickearned by Matthijs de Ligt after23 minutes for his 26th goal forthe Turin giants in all competi-tions this season.

Dybala curled in the secondon 36 minutes off a FedericoBernardeschi back-heel flick asJuventus, chasing a ninth con-secutive Scudetto, opened up afour-point lead on second-placed Lazio.

“We need confidence andthis victory will help us,” saidDybala. “It’s not easy to be bril-liant right now, we hadn’t beenplaying for a long time.

“If we had won the (ItalianCup) final everyone would havecomplimented us, because on atactical level we have had a greatgame, even if we were not bril-liant, but we conceded little.

“Today we played a greatgame, even if after 2-0 we gaveup a bit.”

Lazio travel north to fourth-

placed Atalanta in Bergamo onWednesday, looking to keeptheir bid for a first Serie A titlein two decades on track.

Inter Milan, in third, arenine points adrift of Juventus,and next host Sassuolo.

‘IMPORTANT VICTORY’Elsewhere in Lecce, AC

Milan shrugged off the absenceof Zlatan Ibrahimovic to sweeppast Lecce 4-1 and keep their bidfor European football next sea-son alive.

Castillejo opened thescoring after 26 minutes forthe visitors, connecting witha Hakan Calhanoglu crossfrom the right to slot in hisfirst goal this season.Marco Mancosu pulled

Lecce level from the penalty spotafter 54 minutes, sparking animmediate Milan fightback withtwo goals in three minutes.

Lecce keeper Gabriel deniedCalhanoglu with GiacomoBonaventura on hand to finishoff with Ante Rebic racingthrough the Lecce defence for athird — and his seventh goal thisseason.

Rafael Leao got his head toan Andrea Conti cross withCalhanoglu again involved in thebuild-up after 72 minutes.

Milan move up to seventhequal on points with Napoli,who occupy the final EuropaLeague berth before they playthis week.

In Florence, Franck Riberyreturned after nearly sevenmonths out following an ankleinjury but his side settled for athird consecutive stalemateagainst Brescia.

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India will have the football-crazyNorth-East crowd behind them as

they play all their group matches of thewomen’s U-17 FIFA WorldCup at Guwahati’s IndiraGandhi Athletic Stadium.

FIFA on Tuesday releasedthe revised schedule for thetournament, which is to takeplace from February 17 toMarch 7 next year.

The tournament, whichwas earlier scheduled to takeplace in November 2020, was pushedback due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The quarterfinals will take place inAhmedabad, Navi Mumbai,Bhubaneswar and Kolkata on February27 and 28 respectively.

The two semifinals will be heldsimultaneously on March 3 in NaviMumbai and Bhubaneswar.

While Navi Mumbai has also beengiven the grand finale besides thethird-place classification game, thetournament will open with doubleheaders in Guwahati and

Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium.India, who hold the A1 position in

the draw by virtue of being the hostswill take on A2, who will be confirmedwhen the draw takes place, in their

opener on February 17. Theday’s other Group A match willalso take place in Guwahati.

Both Group B matcheswill take place on the same dayin Bhubaneswar.

Group C and D matcheswill take place at the Salt LakeStadium in Kolkata and andTransStadia Arena in

Ahmedabad, respectively on February18.

On February 20, India will face A3in Guwahati while the February 22 willsee the hosts take on A4.

This is the second time India ishosting a FIFA tournament with U-17Men’s World Cup 2017 being the first.

Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar,Guwahati, Kolkata and Navi Mumbaihave already been confirmed as the fivehost cities for the tournament and willhost the 32 matches involving sixteenteams.

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India shuttler H S Prannoyhas apologised to the

Badminton Association ofIndia (BAI) for his scathing

attack on the national fed-eration after it did notrecommend him for the

Arjuna Award, days afterhe was show-caused for

the outburst.Prannoy was eventually

recommended for the awardby national coach Pullela

Gopichand in his capacityas a former Rajiv GandhiKhel Ratna recipient.

The world number28 apologised to BAIafter the governing body

show caused him for his out-burst on social media andalso highlighted some pastdisciplinary issues involvinghim.

BAI president Himanta

Biswa Sarma has accepted hisapology and general secretaryAjay Singhania hoped theincident won’t be repeated.

“It was unfortunate towitness something like thisbut Prannoy had reached outto us and based on his sub-mission, we hope going for-ward players will reach out tothe federation if they haveany concern,” Singhania saidin a statement on Tuesday.

On June 2, BAI had rec-ommended SatwiksairajRankireddy, Chirag Shettyand Sameer Verma forArjuna award, leaving outPrannoy which prompted theshuttler to express his dis-pleasure on social media.

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As many as 10 out of the29 England-bound

Pakistan cricketers have test-ed positive for the dreadedcoronavirus but boardsfrom both the countriesinsisted on Tuesday thatthe tour remains “verymuch on track”.

After the PakistanCricket Board (PCB)announced that three play-ers were found to be Covid-19 positive on Mondaynight, its update on Tuesdaystated that seven more havebeen infected, includingsenior players MohammadHafeez and Wahab Riaz.

The other five areFakhar Zaman, ImranKhan, Kashif Bhatti,Mohammad Hasnain andMohammad Rizwan. Thesquad was to leave for theUK on June 28 for threeTests and as many T20Isstarting in August.

Shadab Khan, Haider

Ali and Haris Rauf hadreturned positive tests onMonday. PCB said all whohave tested positive did notreport any symptoms priorto testing.

“The PCB medicalpanel is already in contactwith these players and themasseur, who have beeninstructed to observe strictquarantine at their homesfor their and their families’wellbeing,” the PCB said ina statement.

PCB CEO Wasim Khansaid players testing positive

for the virus is a warning forthe general public.

“It is not a great situa-tion to be in and what itshows is these are 10 fit andyoung athletes...If it canhappen to players it can hap-pen to anyone,” PCB CEOWasim Khan told a mediaconference.

He said a support staffmember, masseur MalangAli, had also tested positivefor Covid-19.

Khan said that the play-ers and officials would nowassemble in Lahore andanother round of testswould be carried out onJune 25 and a revised squadwould be announced thenext day.

“It is a matter of con-cern but we shouldn’t panicat this time as we have timeon our hands,” Khan said.He said the players andofficials would be retestedon reaching England.

Despite the develop-ments over two days, Khan

said the tour is on track.“The tour to England is

very much on track and theside will depart as per sched-ule on 28 June.

“Fortunately, all thefirst-choice red-ball squad,barring MohammadRizwan, are negative, whichmeans they can start train-ing and practising immedi-ately after they have beentested and given the all clearwhen they arrive inEngland.”

Reacting to Mondaynight’s development of threeplayers testing positive,ECB’s director of cricketAshley Giles had expressedconcerns but there was nothreat to the tour as it was“far enough away”.

“We are far enoughaway from the start of theTest series to not worryabout that too much at themoment. We are waiting onthose other test results,”Giles said in a video inter-action in England.

��� ����� F��G*� A limited-oversmarauder he might be but West Indiesswashbuckler Chris Gayle says there isnothing more challenging than Testcricket, a format which can also helpone understand the vagaries of life.

Speaking to Indian cricketerMayank Agarwal for BCCI’s onlineshow Open Nets, Gayle, who has played103 five-day games in his roller-coast-er career, said nothing beats the Testexperience. He hasn’t, however, playeda five-day game since 2014.

“Test cricket is the ultimate.Playing Test cricket also gives you achance, how to live life because play-ing five days of cricket is very challeng-ing. It tests you so many times, makessure you are disciplined in everythingyou did,” he said.

“It also teaches you how to reboundfrom of a tough situation,” he added.

Often accused of focussingentirely on the shorter for-mats, the 40-year-old encour-aged youngsters to strive toplay Tests.

“Test cricket allowsyou to test your skillsand mental tough-ness...Just be dedi-cated, enjoy whatyou do,” Gayle said.

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Australia Test captain TimPaine fears the Boxing

Day Test against India couldbe moved out of the iconicMelbourne Cricket Groundin the wake of rising cases ofcoronavirus in Victoria.

With the case load risingin Victoria, Cricket Australia(CA) is open to the idea ofshifting the Boxing Day Testto Perth, where the situationremains under control.

“Certainly, from a player’spoint of view, we want to beplaying in front of big crowdsat the best venues and a bigday like Boxing Day is some-thing that everyone looksforward to and a big part ofthat is playing at the MCG,”the keeper-batsman said in avideo message posted on CAwebsite.

“Fingers crossed thingsare going well enough that wecan do that but, as I said, weare spoilt for choice here inAustralia with some world-class stadiums. If somethinghad to change, then, again, wehave plenty of options.”

If the match is shifted to

Perth, the CA plans to holdit at the Optus Stadium,which can sit 60,000 support-ers and is regarded as the bestvenue in Australia outside theMCG.

There were also reportsthat the match may be held atan empty MCG dependingon the situation at that time.

Paine, however, said he ishopeful the Boxing Day Testof the four-match serieswould remain at its spiritualhome.

“Given the current cir-

cumstances, I dare say every-thing is well and truly on thetable. We are hopeful thateverywhere we play comesummer time, we would beable to have crowds,” he said.

When India touredAustralia in 2018-19, theyended up winning a Testseries Down Under for thefirst time in seven decades.Paine was in charge of theteam because then skipperSteve Smith and his deputyDavid Warner copped one-year bans after their indict-

ment in a ball-tamperingscandal.

Paine said Australia isbetter prepared this time.

“We certainly struggled alittle bit last time. Sometimesyou’ve got to give credit.(India) played very well. I’msure we’ve learned a lot fromplaying them. We think we’rea better team now than wewere then.

“A lot of the time in thatlast series, we didn’t getenough runs on the board toput them under any pressure.As good as our attack is, youstill need to be scoringenough runs to win Testmatches. We didn’t score a lotof runs in that Test series, and(yet) weren't miles away.”

Australia will have Smithand Warner back in the line-up this time and the skipperemphasised that they need toscore big runs to put Indiaunder pressure.

“We feel if we can getsome scoreboard pressureon, and score runs we knowwe need to score to win Testmatches, that our bowlingattack (won't) let us down,” hesaid.

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Blackcaps’ Test tour ofBangladesh was on Tuesday

postponed due to the healththreat posed by the Covid-19pandemic as three cricketersfrom the country recently test-ed positive for the virus.

New Zealand were slated toplay a two-Test series inBangladesh in August-September as part of the ICCWorld Test Championship.

Bangladesh has so farreported more than one lakhcoronavirus cases with over1,500 deaths.

Last week, former ODIcaptain Mashrafe Mortaza,Nazmul Islam and Nafees Iqbalalso tested positive for thedeadly contagion.

The governing bodies fromboth countries are working onnew dates for the series, theBangladesh Cricket Board said.

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Novak Djokovic tested pos-itive for the coronavirus on

Tuesday after taking part in atennis exhibition series he orga-nized in Serbia and Croatia.

The top-ranked Serb is thefourth player to test positive forthe virus after first playing inBelgrade and then again lastweekend in Zadar, Croatia. Hiswife also tested positive.

“The moment we arrived inBelgrade we went to be tested.My result is positive, just asJelena’s, while the results of ourchildren are negative,” Djokovicsaid in a statement.

Djokovic has been criti-

cized for organizing the tourna-ment and bringing in playersfrom other countries amid thecoronavirus pandemic.

Viktor Troicki said onTuesday that he and his preg-nant wife have both been diag-nosed with the virus, whileGrigor Dimitrov, a three-timeGrand Slam semifinalist fromBulgaria, said on Sunday hetested positive. Borna Coricplayed Dimitrov on Saturday inZadar and on Monday he hasalso tested positive.

There were no social dis-tancing measures observed atthe matches in either countryand Djokovic and other playerswere seen hugging each other

and partying in night clubs andrestaurants after the matches.

“Everything we did in thepast month, we did with apure heart and sincere inten-tions,” Djokovic said.

“Our tournament meant tounite and share a message of sol-idarity and compassionthroughout the region.”

Djokovic, who has previ-ously said he was against takinga vaccine for the virus even if itbecame mandatory to travel,was the face behind the AdriaTour, a series of exhibitionevents that started in Belgradeand then moved to Zadar.

He left Croatia after thefinal was canceled and was test-

ed in Belgrade. The statementsaid Djokovic was showing nosymptoms.

Despite the positive test,Djokovic defended the exhibi-tion series.

“It was all born with aphilanthropic idea, to directall raised funds towards peo-ple in need and it warmed myheart to see how everybodystrongly responded to this,”Djokovic said.

“We organized the tourna-ment at the moment when thevirus has weakened, believingthat the conditions for hostingthe Tour had been met.

“Unfortunately, this virus isstill present, and it is a new real-ity that we are still learning tocope and live with.”

Djokovic said he will remainin self-isolation for 14 days andalso apologized to anyone whobecame infected as a result of theseries.

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��� 1���%������%� 1���>�3�����.%��� �� *�Andy Murray is hop-ing of making a return toGrand Slam tennis at both theUS and French Open later thisyear.

The three-time GrandSlam champion has been outof action since November witha pelvic injury, but will returnin an all-British tournamenthosted by his brother JamieMurray this week.

The Battle of the Britsgives Murray the chance to getsome competitive action underhis belt ahead of the plannedAugust resumption of the ATPtour before two Grand Slamscome in quick succession.

The US Open is set to takeplace behind closed doorsfrom 31 August, with the

French Open starting on 27September.

And Murray is happy toreturn to New York for his firstGrand Slam since the 2019Australian Open, even if itmeans limiting the number ofhis team who can travel withhim.

“Playing the Grand Slamswould be my priority,” said theScot. “The schedule is trickyand I understand the reasonwhy it is like that.

“I don’t mind what the sit-uation is, providing it is safe.

“If I was told I could takeone person with me, for exam-ple, you can make that work.I’d probably go with a physioand some coaching could bedone remotely.” AFP

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