prime minister narendra - daily pioneer

�� !�� !��!�� !�� "!�� #�� $�%�� &�� '(�� $)*+��$

�� )� ��*�, !��!� �� !�� -!��-�� !��!� ��)�� !��./��!�� !��&� �� $�

�� !�� "��#��$%� �� 0�� !�� '(�1�� & !�� + �� !�� ! !�� $�

��

�& ��!��&�� %##+��%�*%�

Prime Minister NarendraModi on his first visit toJammu and Kashmir

(J&K) after the abrogation ofArticle 370 and 35A on Sundayattempted to woo the youngergeneration and invited them toparticipate in the growth storyof India to secure their futurewithout facing any hardships.

On the occasion, the PrimeMinister also inaugurated andlaid the foundation stone ofvarious infrastructure projectsworth over �20,000 crore. Healso launched the AmritSarovar initiative. TheLieutenant-Governor of J&KManoj Sinha, Union MinistersGiriraj Singh, Dr JitendraSingh, and Kapil MoreshwarPatil were among those presenton the occasion.

Addressing an impressivegathering of representatives ofPanchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs) at Palli Panchayat fallingin the Samba district of Jammuprovince, the Prime Minister

said it is a matter of great pridethat democracy has reached thegrassroot level in the UnionTerritory (UT).

“This year’s Panchayati RajDay, being celebrated in J&K,marks a big change. It is a mat-ter of great pride that whendemocracy has reached thegrassroots level in J&K, I aminteracting with you all fromhere", Modi said amid thun-derous applause from the audi-

ence. The UT administration ofJ&K had also invited top busi-ness leaders from the UnitedArab Emirates (UAE) andother parts of the country towitness the historic day as thePrime Minister attended thegroundbreaking ceremony forlaunching investment propos-als worth �38,000 crore in dif-ferent sectors.

To give a further boost tothe investment opportunities in

the region, Modi also interact-ed with the business delegationfrom the UAE and representa-tives of the Panchayati RajInstitutions.

The Prime Minister saidthat a new story of develop-ment is being written andmany private investors areinterested in J&K.

“After seven decades ofIndependence, private invest-ment of only �17,000 crore

could be made in Jammu andKashmir. But now it is reach-ing around �38,000 crore.Tourism is also thriving onceagain,” the Prime Ministernoted.

Thanking the people ofJ&K for their enthusiasm, thePrime Minister said due to hislong association with the State,he understands the issuesinvolved and expressed happi-ness about the focus on con-nectivity in the projects inau-gurated and for which thefoundation stone was laidtoday.

He also expressed hopethat these efforts would provideemployment to a large numberof youths of J&K.

“Today many families havealso got property cards fortheir houses in the villages.These ownership cards willinspire new possibilities in thevillages.The 100-odd JanAushadhi Kendras will becomea medium to provide affordablemedicines and surgical items tothe poor and middle-class fam-ilies of Jammu and Kashmir,”he said.

The Prime Minister alsohighlighted the change in thework culture by giving anexample of the 500 KW solarplant that is being establishedin three weeks whereas earliereven the movement of filesfrom Delhi used to take 2-3weeks.

� ��'�� 0�2�3�#4+�

The poll strategist PrashantKishor's Indian PoliticalAction Committee (I-PAC)

has signed up a contract withTelangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS)for the next year's TelanganaAssembly elections. Kishor, whois holding talks with the Congressleadership apparently for joiningthe party and has said theCongress cannot be allowed todie, was seen at the TelanganaChief Minister K ChandrashekarRao's Hyderabad residence onSaturday. While some Congressleaders wanted that Kishor'sIPAC should exclusively work for

their party once PK joined it,apparently the poll strategist is inno mood to give up his wide-ranging political contacts.

The Congress leadership isexpected to announce onMonday its decision on theprospect of Kishor joining theparty and playing a lead role inpreparing it for the 2024 LokSabha polls.

Of late, KCR has been high-ly critical of the BJP and holdingtalks with regional parties tofirm up a third Front to take onthe saffron outfit in 2024. WhileWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee was not infavour of keeping the Congresson board, it's believed that Kishorwould try to prevail upon KCRto work out a strategy for greaterunity of the Opposition partieswhere the Congress remained animportant player.

However, it has to be seenhow TRS and the Congress dealwith each other in the StateAssembly poll.

��

��

��

��

��0�2�3�#4+�

The Delhi Government ismulling to bring MalchaMahal, the 14th century

Tughlaq-era hunting lodge locat-ed in the central ridge, on thecity's tourist map after renovat-ing the heritage structure. MalchaMahal was the abode of self-pro-claimed descendants of theNawab of Awadh, and liesneglected since the death of thelast of the royal family inSeptember 2017.

"A request for proposal isbeing prepared and it will beissued soon to hire a consultantfor the restoration work ofMalcha Mahal. We are planningto invite agencies who haveexpertise in this field to carry outthe restoration work," said thesources, adding that if everything

goes as per plan the restorationwork should begin in the nextfive-six months. After starting ofthe restoration work, it is likely totake a few years to complete theproject, sources said.

Hidden behind thick foliagein the central ridge along SardarPatel Marg, the ancient structureis neither ASI protected monu-ment nor the State Governmenthas paid any attention to conserveit. The hope to conserve its her-itage value has been rekindled as,the sources said, the StateGovernment's ArchaeologyDepartment is making effort tohire a consultant to prepare adetailed plan for its restoration.

According to sources, most

of the people are unaware aboutthis hidden historical monu-ment in the city so theGovernment is also planning toput it on city's tourist map bydeveloping tourist friendly activ-ities there. They, however, saidthis plan is in very nascent stageand it will be early to predict whatsort of facilities or activities willbe planned there for tourism pur-poses.

Let us first work on therestoration of the heritage sitethen we can plan tourism activ-ities there, the official sourcessaid. According to officials,Malcha Mahal was built by SultanFiroz Shah Tughlaq and wasused as a hunting lodge by him.

��

��

� �� !

��

� ��'�� 0�2�3�#4+

The Centre has said thatPakistani academicdegrees will not be valid

anymore and students are not togo to the neighbouring countryto pursue any kind of studies.

In a joint circular, theUniversity Grants Commission(UGC) and the All-IndiaCouncil for Technical Education(AICTE) asked Indian studentsnot to go to Pakistan for high-er studies, failing which, theywould not be eligible to pursuehigher studies or find a job inIndia. The notification comeswithin a month of the highereducation regulator warningIndian students planning topursue higher studies in Chinathat it did not recognise "degreecourses done only in onlinemode without prior approval."

The UGC and the AICTEhave urged students not toenroll themselves in any edu-cational institution in Pakistan,

The circular, however,makes an exception forPakistani migrants who havebeen granted Indian citizenship.

But the advisory againsttravelling to China for educationcame after the ChineseGovernment suspended all visassince November 2020 becauseof Covid-19.

"All concerned are advisednot to travel to Pakistan for pur-suing higher education. AnyIndian national or OverseasCitizen of India who intends totake admission to any degreecollege or educational institu-tion of Pakistan shall not be eli-gible for seeking employment orhigher studies in India on thebasis of such educational qual-ifications (in any subject)acquired in Pakistan," says theadvisory.

"However, migrants andtheir children who haveacquired higher educationdegrees in Pakistan and havebeen awarded citizenship byIndia would be eligible for seek-

ing employment in India afterobtaining security clearancefrom the Ministry of HomeAffairs," it added.

According to AICTEChairman Anil Sahasrabudhe,Indian students need to beadvised to which institutionsand countries they should trav-el for education so that theydon't land up with a degreewithout parity with Indian reg-ulations.

On his part, UGCChairman M Jagadesh Kumarsaid, "UGC and AICTE issuesuch public notices in the inter-est of Indian students whowould like to pursue higherstudies outside the country."

"In the recent past, we haveseen how our students had toface difficulties because theycould not go back to the foreigncountries to continue their stud-ies," he said.

The UGC issued an advi-sory in 2019 against studying ininstitutes in Pakistan-OccupiedKashmir.

� ��'�� )4%03+5%"4

Punjab Police's newly-con-stituted Anti-Gangster TaskForce (AGTF) on Sunday

arrested one of the most wantedterrorists Charanjit Singh aliasPatialavi — an active member ofthe Babbar Khalsa International(BKI). Patialavi had been evad-ing arrest for the last 12 yearsusing various identities and hide-outs.

Charanjit Singh aliasPatialavi was an active memberof the BKI terrorist modulewhich was busted by the PunjabPolice in 2010 for its involvementin the Shingar Cinema Ludhianabomb blasts in 2007, and otherblasts at Kali Mata Mandir,Patiala, and Ambala in 2010. Allthe other associates of Patialaviwere arrested in 2010 by thePunjab Police. AGTF DeputyInspector-General GurpreetSingh Bhullar said that following

reliable information that Patialaviwas visiting the area, AGTFteams comprising AIG GurmeetSingh Chauhan and DSPBikramjit Singh Brar arrestedhim from near Gurudwara Sahibat Lali Village in the State's DeraBassi.

Bhullar said that accusedPatialavi, a resident of ButtaSingh Wala Village in Patiala, wasdeclared a Proclaimed Offender

(PO) in a case (FIR No. 154 datedJuly 23, 2010), registered underSections 4 and 5 (attempt to causean explosion, or for making/keep-ing explosive to endangerlife/property) of the ExplosiveAct, and Sections 17 (raisingfunds for the terrorist act), 18(conspiracy) and 20 (being mem-ber of a terrorist gang) of theUnlawful Activities (Prevention)Act (UAPA) at Machhiwara

Police Station.However, Patialavi's other

associate — deceased terroristGurmail Singh Boba of ButtaSingh Wala — was arrested in thesame case along with recovery ofdetonators and RDX, he added.

"Patialavi, disguising himselfas a granthi (priest) was stayingin the Gurudwara Sahib atKharagpur in West Bengal andwas not using any communica-tion device," said Bhullar, addingthat different identification cardson West Bengal addresses havebeen recovered from his posses-sion.

Further investigation is inprocess, which may lead to morearrests and important disclo-sures, Bhullar said.

The Punjab Governmentrecently constituted an AGTF,headed by ADGP Promod Ban,under the supervision of theDirector General of Police (DGP)VK Bhawra to intensify actionagainst gangsters.

�� !��"��#��$�� %&'&

��

�� 16+7

President Volodymyr Zelenskyyannounced the planned visit by

US Secretary of State Antony Blinkenand US Defence Secretary LloydAustin during a lengthy Saturdaynight news conference held in aKyiv subway station. The WhiteHouse has not commented.

Zelenskyy said he was lookingfor the Americans to produceresults, both in terms of arms andsecurity guarantees. "You can'tcome to us empty-handed today,and we are expecting not just pre-sents or some kind of cakes, we areexpecting specific things and spe-cific weapons," he said.

The visit would be the first bysenior US officials since Russiainvaded Ukraine 60 days ago.Blinken stepped brief ly ontoUkrainian soil in March to meetwith the country's foreign minis-ter during a visit to Poland.Zelenskyy's last face-to-face meet-ing with a US leader was Feb 19 inMunich with Vice President KamalaHarris.

��

��

�� !��"��"��#�� !��$�#��!��#�

%#�&��"��'��(�)�� (�� !� !��

"�� !��#��#�� !��$�!%��

��"��)��#�� *�� "��"��+��,��-�.��!��#�

( ��)

��

��

��*��%&#��

�� 0�2�3�#4+

India is now on Covid-19alert mode amid a gradual

rise in cases. Over 2,000infections have been report-ed daily in the past few daysand 2,593 new coronaviruscases were recorded onSaturday. Concerned at therise in the cases, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willchair a high-level meetingwith Chief Ministers onWednesday through videoconference.

Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan will make apresentation on the matter inthe meeting, said a seniorofficial in the Union HealthMinistry.

In fact, various Stateshave already startedstrengthening the Covid-19appropriate behaviour withthe majority of them making

the mask mandatory andenhancing virus surveillanceand genome sequencing.

With 2,527 coronavirusinfections reported in a day,India's total tally of casesrose to 4,30,54,952, whileactive cases increased to15,079, according to UnionHealth Ministry data updat-ed on Saturday.

The death toll hasclimbed to 5,22,149 with 33fatalities, the data updated at

8 am on Sunday stated. Theactive cases comprise 0.04per cent of the total infec-tions, while the nationalCovid-19 recovery rate hasbeen recorded at 98.75 percent, the Health Ministrysaid.

Puducherry, which wasmaintaining a Covid-19 freerecord for some days, report-ed three new cases.

The daily positivity ratewas recorded as 0.59 per centand the weekly positivityrate as 0.54 per cent, accord-ing to the Ministry.

Delhi on Sunday report-ed 1,083 fresh Covid-19infections with a positivityrate of 4.48 per cent and onedeath due to the disease,according to the HealthDepartment.

On Saturday, the nation-al Capital had reported 1,094Covid-19 cases, its highestdaily spike since February10, with a positivity rate of4.82 per cent and two fatal-ities.

A total of 25,177 Covidtests were conducted in thecity a day ago, the latest databy the department showed.

"#$$$%��& ��

� ��

��& '��(��)

��*��)�

8��3�� &$��9�� &��' ��!��$��9�� 9

#��)�� ($)*+ ��,� :::;%��!��<��%��

��3�#4+��#=)10>2 *4>�%#��*4=*%0��2%"

"%0)4+�"%+�=" )4%03+5%"4�3�4"%3=0 463�"%*%3�7+?%62%3%

��-�.$��%�/�*+01

��

�&��'��2��"�� 32�� 4��*��1

"()�*�+,+03+%��>+#�+��>"��*+##

3>=*#��>�@::/�*0�+0��6''

��

-(./0�1�%1��4�4*%A��=�+0��B)4%05�

#��"��>��04%0)��*+#%��"%#��+��

(��)�()�2+03+%�0��3��>�)>00�)�2+�4�"=��+%0��>�#�

��

��

Balangir medical student death

WhatsApp chat strengthensragging suspicion

Mercury soars to43.3 deg in BBSRPNS �� BHUBANESWAR

The heat wave conditions contin-ued to scorch the State on Sundaywith as many as 28 places recordingmaximum temperature of 40 degreeCelsius or above.

Sonepur was the hottest place at43.8 degree followed by Bhubaneswarat 43.3 degrees Celsius.

The temperatures in other placeswere Angul 43.1 degree, Talcher 43degree, Balangir 42.3 degree,Jharsuguda 42.2 degree Boudh andBaripada 42 degree, Sambalpur 41.7degree, Dhenkanal and Titlagarh41.6 degree, Nayagarh, Bargarh andSundargarh 41.5 degree,Jagatsinghpur 41.4 degree,Chandbali 41.3 degree, Jajpur 41.2degree, Hirakud and Cuttack 41.1degree, Khordha, Deogarh andBhawanipatna 41 degree andParalakhemundi 40.5 degree, the Re-gional Office of the IMD here said

The IMD said maximum tempera-ture is likely to be above normal by 3to 4 degree during next 24 hours overthe districts of the State.

PNS �� BALANGIR

In a new development in the case ofdeath of Bhima Bhoi Medical Collegefirst-year student Nishant Kumar ofHaryana, who fell off the roof of a hostelat the educational institution, aWhatsApp chat between him and hisfriend residing overseas has surfaced.

In the chat, Nishant has mentionedthat he was being subjected to raggingby seniors at the medical college. As perthe chat, the seniors were forcing thejuniors to greet them. Besides, the se-niors were not allowing the juniors toplay and go to park, the chat revealed.

The father of the deceased lodged acomplaint with the Town police on Sat-urday alleging that his son was raggedand harassed from April 13 onwards, forwhich he took the extreme step of end-ing his life.

He urged the police to file a caseagainst the anti-ragging cell of the medi-cal college claiming that inability andcarelessness on the part of the authori-

ties led to the death of his son. Acting onthe complaint, police have registered acase under Sections 306 and 34 of theIPC and started investigation.

Notably, Nishant fell off the roof ofthe hostel on April 22. He was rescuedand rushed to the hospital, where doctordeclared him dead.

The incident took place when Nishantwent to the roof of the New Boys Hostelafter having lunch.

BHUBANESWAR l MONDAY l APRIL 25, 2022 capital 02

The new proposal given bythe Union Ministry ofHome Affairs to change the

deputation rules of Indian PoliceService (IPS) officers needs to beimplemented with a lot of caution.As per reports, the Ministry's moveincludes barring Central deputationof the IPS officers, who do not comeunder Central deputation at theSuperintendent of Police (SP) orDeputy Inspector General (DIG)level, for rest of their career.

The proposal could escalate theexisting tension between theCentre and the State Governmentson the issue of deputation. TheStates view the rules giving theCentre unilateral powers to imposeits decision on deputation-relatedmatters as violation of the federalstructure enshrined in theConstitution. This year in January,

CONTEMPORARIES

Move to change IPS deputation rules needs pragmatic federalism

several States, including a few wherethe BJP holds office, had expressedstrong disapproval and resentmentto the proposal to change the servicerules of IAS, IPS and Indian ForestService officers.

Besides, in February this year,there was another instance ofresistance and criticism to thedecision to do away with the

empanelment requirement forDIG-level IPS officers for Centraldeputation. So, the HomeMinistry's new proposal could addfurther substance to thedeputation-related disputesbetween the Centre and the States.

For quite some time now, theStates are differing in opinion withthe Centre on many issues rightfrom Covid vaccine supply,allocation of GST revenues,jurisdiction over the BSF and therole and functions of enforcementagencies like the CBI, NarcoticsBureau, Enforcement Directorateand Income Tax Department.Often due to political differencesand owing to the ensuring of strictdiscipline and transparency inadministration by the CentralGovernment, even the legitimateuse of the enforcement agencies is

compared to that with the IndiraGandhi era when the UnionGovernment frequently resortedto the most unconstitutional waysof dealing with the States.

Consequent upon this politicalpropaganda and due to theinfluence of the rogue elementsand vested interest groupsoperating in and out of thesystem, at least nine States havewithdrawn their consent to theCBI from conductinginvestigations.

So, now it is important that theCentre takes adequate steps andcaution not to complicate mattersby pulling in the administrativeand law enforcement agenciestogether in this atmosphere oftension.

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas an impeccable track record of

leading by example when it comesto cooperative federalism; and nowwhen the Home Ministry's newproposal is before the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO) forapproval, it is hoped that the PMOembarks upon the right path as ithas always done to course-correctthe differences between theCentre and the States by takingthe States into confidence andmaking them understand the needfor this proposal. Over the years,many committees haverecommended strengthening ofInter-State Council, which can bethe best forum to resolve such issueswith efficiency and can be helpfulin the long term for resolvingvarious issues between the Centreand the States.

The Home Ministry's newproposal is aimed at overcoming

the shortage of officers at the SPand DIG levels at the Centre. Suchshortage of the IPS officers can betraced back to the time-appropriatedecision of the Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment in 1999-2002 toreduce the size of new IPS batcheswhich has unfortunately not beenchanged by enhancing the size ofIPS batches according to thedemand of the time. Therefore, theCentral Government should thinkof enhancing the size of the IPSbatches and necessary steps shouldbe taken in this regard.

Having said that, the newproposal of the Home Ministryshouldn't become an issue and acause of another dispute betweenthe Centre and the States and thatthe States should be well-explainedabout the need and necessity ofthis move. It is time when both

the Centre and the Statesappreciated the phrase 'pragmaticfederalism' used in SR Bommai VsUnion of India, where JusticeAhmadi in his words said, "....Itwould thus seem that the IndianConstitution has, in it, not onlyfeatures of a pragmatic federalismwhich, while distributing legislativepowers and indicating the spheresof governmental powers of Stateand Central Governments, isoverlaid by strong unitaryfeatures..."

(The writer is an AdditionalCentral Government StandingCounsel, Central AdministrativeTribunal, Cuttack Bench and aDistinguished Adjunct Professor ofLaw and Media Studies, School ofMass Communication, KIITUniversity. Views are personal)

S JYOTIRANJAN

820 school buses have no fitness certificate

‘BBSR can be transformed into world-class city' 10 kg ivory seized in Subarnapur

SCB doc held for second marriage

9 new Covid cases reported

IJU executive meet on Apr 29, 30

Street vendors hold cycle rally

Without divorcingwifePNS �� BHUBANESWAR

The Mahila police have arresteda doctor of the SCB Medical CollegeHospital, Cuttack, for allegedlymarrying a woman withoutdivorcing his wife.

Ashish Pattnaik, a plasticsurgeon, was arrested near Pahalaand police have recorded thestatement of the woman.

The doctor had developedintimacy with a womanphysiotherapist and married herat a temple in Damana here in2019 despite having his wife,who resides in the city.

Pattnaik and the

physiotherapist then startedstaying together. He showed thewoman an agreement paperterming it as marriageregistration document. He hadalso promised the woman to marryher ritualistically. However, hedidn't keep his promise. Moreover,he allegedly used to torture herphysically and mentally.

As the physiotherapist came toknow about his wife, she lodgeda complaint in this regard withthe Mahila police. On the basisof the complaint, policeregistered a case and apprehendedthe doctor when he was headingtowards a private hospital nearPahala.

Further probe by police wasunderway.

387 sans permit; 311drivers without DLPNS �� BHUBANESWAR

A week-long special drive by theState Transport Authority (STA) tocheck the vehicles transportingschoolchildren has exposed that theSupreme Court guidelines on theissue are being blatantly violatedin the State.

Around 1,096 vehicles engagedin transporting school students inthe State have so far beenpenalised by the agency forflouting road safety rules in thelast seven days.

During the inspection drive,820 vehicles were found plyingwithout fitness certificate, 387

vehicles did not have valid permitwhile 311 drivers lacked any validDriving License, said the STA.

The STA has now geared up for

children transportation cannot betaken lightly. The concernedschool bus operators and schoolmanagements are responsible forinconvenience to students, ifany,” said an official.

STA appealed to authorities ofall schools in the State not toengage unfit vehicles in thetransportation of children.

As per the norms, all vehiclesengaged in ferrying schoolchildren must have CCTVcameras, GPS trackers, first-aidbox, proper grills, emergency exit,and fire extinguisher. The schoolsshould maintain a list of studentsand their parents’ names andcontact numbers. There must bean attendant from the school inthe bus.

strict enforcement of ‘Policy onTransportation of SchoolChildren’ framed in 2016.

The issue of safety of school

In city

Man kills wife, sister-in-law, detainedIf urban governanceis democratised:MayorPNS �� BHUBANESWAR

Smart City Bhubaneswar that hasranked second after Shimla in theEase of Living Index-2020 isattracting more and more peoplefrom across the State and outsideto settle down here. With this, thepeople's expectations on provisionsof shelter, infrastructure, drinkingwater, sanitation, wastemanagement, space for publicutility and market have beenincreasing.

In such a context, it is high timethe urban governance needed to bedemocratised to transform the cityinto a world-class one, said newly-elected Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) MayorSulochana Das on Saturday.

Das was speaking at aconsultation on "Democratising

Urban Governance: A Case ofBhubaneswar" organised by theCentre for Youth and SocialDevelopment (CYSD) here.

The citizens' committees in eachward can play a vital role inidentifying the problems andapprising the appropriateauthorities. The BMC is takinginitiatives to strengthen thecommittees in all the 67 wards, Dassaid.

She also emphasised that thecommittees should act as guards toensure proper sanitation,availability of civic facilities andmaking the city encroachment-free.

As the citizens' representativeshighlighted the water-logging anddrainage problem of the city, Dasmaintained that the BMC iscatalysing measures to ensure thatall the drains get de-silted beforethe onset of monsoon. She urgedthe denizens to apprise the BMCimmediately if they observe any

loopholes. According to CYSD co-founder Jagadananda, as per the74th Constitution AmendmentAct, the urban local bodies areprovided a uniform charter tofunction as effective democraticunits of local self-government.Besides, constitution of the FinanceCommission under Article 243-Aprovided a good opportunity to theULBs to receive various grants fromCentral and State financecommissions to operate withautonomy.

Jagadananda added that the BMCis taking a lot of initiatives on healthand sanitation, slum development,disaster management, citybeautification, citizen's services,solid waste management,underground sewage system,efficient urban planning anddevelopment, developing vendingzones and parking zones. However,the effectiveness of these servicesrequires citizens' participation,awareness and monitoring.

PNS �� BHUBANESWAR

An Indian Journalists' Union(IJU) national executive meetingis scheduled to be held on April 29and 30 at the Amrapalli Resortsadjacent to Bhubaneswar, eight kmfrom Phulnakhara traffic square onthe Kakatpur main road.

The conclave of journalistswould be inaugurated by

Governor of Odisha Prof GaneshiLal. Delegates, includingmediapersons from nationalnewspapers and local journalists,would attend the meeting.

According to IJU leaders, in theprevailing scenario, freedom ofPress has been squeezed while thejournalists remain contented withthe tag as the fourth estate ofIndian democracy. Corporate

houses have taken over mediahouses. Increasing attacks onmediapersons have become a causeof serious concern.

"In this context, we have chosena topic as the national themeentitled 'The Role of Media in theChanging Perspectives," said IJUpresident of IJU and notedjournalist of the country KB Panditwhile speaking to The Pioneer.

One heldPNS �� BHUBANESWAR

The Special Task Force (STF) ofthe Crime Branch with the help offorest officials seized three elephanttusks weighing around 10 kg inSubarnaput district on Sunday.

Based on inputs, a team of theSTF and Birmaharajpur forestofficials raided a place nearJubaranisitapur village under theSubalaya police station in thedistrict and nabbed a wildlife traderRanjan Mahakud ofJubaranisitapur.

The team seized three elephanttusks, weighing 10 kg, and otherincriminating materials from hispossession. He was detained andhanded over to the forest officialsfor necessary legal action, the STFsaid.

In the special drive against thewildlife criminals and poachers tilldate, the STF has seized 27 leopardskins, 18 elephant tusks, seven deerskins, 12 live pangolins, 30.4 kgpangolin scales, two leopard teeth,29 leopard claws, and 46 live wildparrots and arrested 65 wildlifecriminals.

For environmentalawarenessPNS �� BHUBANESWAR

The National Hawkers'Federation (NHF)-affiliated OdishaStreet Vendors' Union inassociation with the Nikhila UtkalaKshudra Vybasayee Sangha onSunday organsied a bicycle rallyfrom Rasulgarh to Jayadev Viharto create environmentalawareness among people.

The participants called upon

people to ride bicycles insteadof petroleum-propelledmotorcycles or personal cars anddemanded to put an end toindiscriminate cutting of treesin the name of smart city,bicycle track on both the sidesof all roads to promote publictransport, etc.

Odisha Street Vendors' Unionpresident Jayanta Das, VendingZone leaders Anuja Pradhan,Prabodh Panda and SangitaKishan, AISF State presidentSanghamitra Jena led the rally.

PNS �� BHUBANESWAR

The State registered nine newCovid-19 positive cases in fourdistricts and the State pool onSunday.

Among the infected were threechildren in the age group of 0 to 18years.

Notably, the State had reportedonly one case on Saturday.

Out of the new cases, six were

from quarantine and three localcontacts.

Khordha district reported themaximum four new cases followedby Cuttack with two and Baleswarand Sundargarh one each. Besides,one case was reported from theState pool.

The number of active cases was83. So far, 12,78,729 patients haverecovered from the disease in theState.

Family feudsuspectedPNS �� BHUBANESWAR

A man allegedly killed his wifeand sister-in-law over a suspectedfamily feud in theChandrasekharpur police stationarea here. The deceased wereidentified as Gayatri Sethi and hersister Saraswati. Gayatri used towork at a private hospital in the city.

Bodies of the sister duo werefound in their house (EWS- 23/4)in the Chandrasekharpur HousingBoard area.

Both the womn were murderedon April 21, but the incident cameto light on Sunday morning afterGayatri’s husband Bijay wasdetained by her family members.The family members had laid a trapfor Bijay after they could notcontact Gayatri and Saraswati overphone in the past couple of days.

“I had tried calling both mydaughters on Thursday but failedas their mobile phones wereswitched off. Later, we arrived inBhubaneswar and found the houselocked. As my son-in-law was alsomissing and not picking up calls,we were waiting for him near thehouse. We caught hold of him whenhe arrived to get some articles fromthe house today,” said Gayatri’smother.

The family members said thatBijay, who works in a private

educational institution, tried toescape but later confessed to havingkilled Gayatri and her sister.

Police have detained Bijay, whohas confessed to the crime. “Bijayused to torture my daughter. I hadvisited the hospital to search for myyounger daughter but could notfind her in hostel. As Gayatri’s housewas locked, we suspected somethingfoul,” said Gayatri’s father SudanSethi.

According to the familymembers, they found the houseopen at around 5 am on Sunday.“After interrogating Bijay, heconfessed to have killed both mydaughters. Later, we informedpolice,” Sudan added.

��

VKAREU TO LAUNCH OPERATION IN STATE (Pix)Bhubaneswar: VkareU, aleading home healthcareservice provider, onSunday announced tostart its operation inOdisha from April 30. Itunveiled its futuristic logowhich reflects its core values and ethos. Patients will accessvarious essential healthcare services through VKareU mobileapp on real time basis.

MO PARIVAR HOLDS BLOOD DONATION CAMP IN KHORDHAKhordha: The Odisha MoParivar and the Jivan Binducampaign jointly organsieda blood donation camp atthe Khordha MahilaMahavidyalay on Sunday,where 82 units of bloodwere collected. Prominent among the attendees were KhordhaMLA Jyotirindra Nath Mitra, Bolgarh MLA Rajendra KumarSahu, Khordha Municipality Chairperson Kank LakhmiMohanty and Vice-Chairman Sourya Ranjan Mohanty, BJDwomen wing district president Basanti Mohapatra and WardCouncillor Sushanta Kumar Jena.

ABSOLUTE BARBECUES STREET FOOD FEST AT BBSRBhubaneswar: Barbecuerestaurant chain AbsoluteBarbecues kicked off its StreetFood Festival on April 20 whichwill continue till May 1.Ollywood actress and model Sheetal Patra industry visited thefest as a guest of honour and indulged in the delicious goodnessof the special delicacies.

BEMC INSTALLS NEW NETAJI STATUEBrahmapur: The Berhmapur MunicipalCorporation (BeMC) on Friday installeda 9.8-ft fiberglass statue of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose at PVN Petrol PumpSquare. Thirty years ago on January 23,1991, a Netaji statue had been installedat the same pedestal, but it was damagedwhen a private college bus hit the pedestalon February 9 this year. BeMC officialssaid the new statue was built by RajKumar Behera and it weighs around 250 kg and has a lifespanof 100 years. Representatives of various organisations RamKumar Patro, Somnath Behera and Abani Gaya thanked theBeMC for the new statue.

5 OF ROBBERY GANG ARRESTED IN JAJPUR (PIX)Jajpur: The Dharamsalapolice have arrested fivesuspects in the cases ofrobbery and looting of goldjewellery, cash, used cars andfirearms. The crimes werecommitted at Khandiabandirecently. Police confiscatedgold chains, necklaces,earrings, shells, Rs 20,000 in cash, a used car, two bikes and afirearm. Jajpur SDPO Chinmay Nayak told reporters that thegang was also targeting a woman on the street for her goldchain.

INBRIEF

6-lane Raipur-Vizag NH

N'rangpur 1st dist to complete land acquisition

Naba Das cook death

BJP-BJD faceoff in J'suguda despite Section 144

English medium schoolsflout NCERT norms

Baliapal water project to be ready in 18 months

2 killed over politicalrivalry in Ganjam

2 held in Balugaon for carrying ganja

SVM students'body holds stir Amrut murder: Kin meet JSpur SPAddl Tehsildar held

for duping womanPNS �� ROURKELA

The Rajgangpur police on Saturday arrestedRupak Kujur, posted as Additional Tehsildar inBinika tehsil of Subarnapur district, on the chargeof duping a woman on the pretext of marriage.

The complainant alleged that she had been ina relationship with Kujur since 2008. Kujur hadalso developed physical relations with her bypromising marriage.

However, their relationship turned sour afterthe complainant learnt that Kujur recently mar-ried another woman in court.

The complainant subsequently filed FIRagainst him at Lanjiberna police outpost.

"We have arrested the Additional Tehsildarbased on the complaint filed by the woman. Thecomplainant has accused him of having physicalrelationship with her for the last several years bypromising the woman to marry her," saidRajgangpur SDPO, Sashank Sekhar Beura.

Sonowal reviews Paradip Port projects

PNS �� JHARSJUGUDA

BJP and BJD members hada faceoff with each other hereon Sunday over the 'mysteri-ous' death of Health MinisterNaba Kisore Das' cook despiteSection 144 CrPC beingclamped in the town. The work-ers of the two rival partiesstormed Jhanda Chhak raisingtheir respective slogans.

The BJP had earlier warnedto gherao the Jharsuguda po-lice station on the day overthe 'suicide' of Lalit Sahu, who

was working as a cook atMinister Das' house. In acounter move, the BJD an-nounced to stage a demon-stration demanding a fairprobe on the basis of a com-plaint made by Lalit's fatheragainst BJP leaders.

Police detained several pro-testors from both the partiesfor breach of the prohibitoryorders.

Notably, Lalit (22), a resi-dent of Dhenkanal district,was found hanging with atowel in the staff quarters of

the Minister's residence onApril 17. The body was seizedby the Jharsuguda Town po-lice and postmortem was con-ducted the same evening be-fore it was handed over to thedeceased's family.

Smelling a big "conspiracy"behind the cook's death, theBJP demanded an investiga-tion into the role of the Min-ister and the local administra-tion. The party alleged thatthe death was possibly a mur-der.

In two separate Press con-

ferences, BJP State SecretaryTankadhar Tripathy andleader Anjali Behera raisedsuspicion over the mannerthe postmortem was carriedout in the evening.

"As per government guide-lines, the post-mortem can-not be conducted after 5 pmunless there is emergency situ-ation. What was the situationthat the postmortem was car-ried out in the evening andbody was handed over to de-ceased person's family sameevening and cremated at

night," Tripathy asked and de-manded a high-level probeinto all these aspects.

The BJD, on its part, cameforward in Minister Das' de-fence stating the death as an'unfortunate' incident. "Theinvestigation is underway asper law and the oppositionshould wait till the probe isover," said Jharsuguda TownBJD president SandeepAwasthy.

Meanwhile, police have re-covered the mobile phone ofLalit and sent it for forensic

investigation. Lalit's callrecords revealed that he hadapproached his friends for fi-nancial help. Police sourcessaid transactions of more thanRs 6 lakh were found to bemade from his account in themonth of April. He also bor-rowed some money from hisbrother and father multipletimes during the period.

It is also suspected that Lalitcould be betting on IPLmatches lately and his suicidemight have been an outcomeof huge financial losses.

PNS �� PARADIP

Union Minister of Ports,Shipping and WaterwaysSarbananda Sonowal made hisfirst official visit to the ParadipPort on March 24. He waswarmly welcomed by PPAChairman HL Haranadh. Hehad an interactive session withstakeholders of the port andunions.

Sonowal held a review ofvarious infrastructure projects,PPA projects, functioning ofthe port, ease of business ini-tiative, green initiative andbusiness development activityof the port. He gave directionsto the port to work towardsaugmenting its capacity to 500MMTPA by 2030.

He participated in a planta-tion drive at Paradip Orchard.He also inaugurated the Biju

Convention Centre and re-viewed progress with officialsof IDCO and IOCL on theParadip Petroleum, Chemicalsand Petrochemicals Invest-ment Region (PCPIR).

The Minister laid the foun-

dation stone for 2nd exit-cum-road flyover (Gati-ShaktiProject). He inaugurated asewerage treatment plant andParadip College’s Boy’s Hostel.Under CSR activities, he dis-tributed learning aids to school

children and senior citizens.He also distributed utility kitsto Paradip Old Age Home resi-dents. The Minister will inau-gurate and lay foundationstone for various projects inthe port on Monday.

124-km stretchpasses throughthe distMONOHAR MOHANTY

�� NABARANGPUR

The construction of a six-laneRaipur- Vishakhapatnam Na-tional Highway with an esti-mated cost of Rs 20,000 croreis going on in full swing. 124km of the road will be inNabarangpur district for whichland acquisition work has beencompleted.

Nabarangpur CollectorKamal Lochan Mishra said sofar as land acquisition is con-

cerned, Nabarangpur tops inthe country as it is the onlydistrict in the country to havecompleted the land acquisi-tion work in time. He said thehighway will pass through five

blocks in the district namelyRaighar, Umarkote,Dabugaon, Papadahandi andNabarangpur.

The highway will be con-nected to six places in the dis-trict. These are Koskonga andBiripur in the Raighar block,Adhikariguda in Umarkoteblock, Chhelibeda inDabugaon block, Kharkhi inPapadahandi block andDashpur in Nabarangpur blockwhere terminals will be con-structed, said Mishra.

A total of 188 box bridgesand 55 piped culverts will beconstructed in the district forthe 124-km road. Highway on

the Government land will bemade 60 meter wide and 45meter wide in forest land.Camps have been set up invarious parts of the district tospeed up the work. The esti-mated cost of the project inthe district is Rs 3,159 crorefor the 124-km stretch.

NHAI Project Director RajuZerong said once the road iscompleted, it will take only 6hours to traverse betweenRaipur and Visakhapatnam.Auto rickshaws and bikes willnot be allowed on the road.The road coming under theBharatmala Yojana is expectedto be completed by 2024.

Naval Policeofficer got themcaughtPNS �� KHORDHA

The alertness of a seniorNaval Police officer posted atINS Chilka led to nabbing oftwo drug peddlers atBalugaon railway station onSaturday.

The duo was transportingmarijuana in luggage trolleysafter procuring the drug fromsomewhere else. Police said28 kg of cannabis was con-fiscated from their posses-sion. The railway police areinvestigating the case with

assistance from local police.It came to the fore when

INS Chilka Assistant CivilMilitary Liasioning OfficerSudhir Praharaj saw two per-sons moving here and therein the railway station. Sus-pecting their activities, attireand behavior, he sought thehelp of railway police andbrought them to the policebeat house for further inves-tigation and frisking of lug-gage.

Praharaj was at the railwaystation on his way toBhubaneswar when he ob-served the two persons whowere about to board a trainwith the luggage.

PNS �� BRAHMAPUR

A double murder rockedthe Digapahandi area ofGanjam district after two per-sons were allegedly killed overpolitical rivalry on Saturdaynight.

The deceased were identifiedas Saroj Patra and SudarshanSuar of Chasanimakhandi vil-lage under the Digapahandipolice limits.

According to reports, thetwo were returning to the vil-lage by a motorcycle whenseveral members of their rivalgroup attacked them withsharp weapons and hacked theduo on the outskirts ofChasanimakhandi.

The two sustained criticalinjuries in the attack. On be-ing informed, police reachedthe spot and rushed the vic-tims to the Digapahandi Hos-pital, where doctor declared

Sudarshan dead.Besides, Saroj succumbed to

his injuries while being shiftedto the MKCG Medical CollegeHospital here.

Police started an investiga-tion into the incident whileefforts were on by cops toidentify, trace and nab the as-sailants.

Tension ran high in the lo-cality following the doublemurder as police forces weredeployed in the village to keepthe situation under controland prevent any untowardincident.

To mitigatedrinking waterwoes of 1.80L in144 villagesPNS �� BALESWAR

A review meeting as wellas spot visit was made regard-ing a proposed mega drinkingwater supply project in theBaliapal by a team of BJD lead-ers on Friday.

While it was headed by lo-

cal MLA Nityananda Sahoo,district party president RKJena, other elected represen-tatives of the area and Gov-ernment officials were present.

The work for the Rs 175crore drinking water projectwould commence from thefirst week of May as all pre-liminary works have beencompleted to supply drinkingwater to 21 gram panchayatsof the block while a 475 kmpipeline would be laid. Thetender has been awarded to a

Mumbai based private com-pany, informed Jena, addingthat the target date of comple-tion is 18 months and it willmitigate drinking water scar-city crisis of a population about1.80 lakh of 144 villages un-der 21 affected GPs.

The water from theSubarnarekha river would betapped and supplied through22 high power overhead tanks.

"There have been demandsfrom the residents, mainlyfrom the women folk, for a

long term solution to thedrinking water crisis and in the2017-18 fiscal year, a proposalfor setting up a mega waterproject was sent. After a sur-vey and detailed project reportby the PR and RWSS depart-ments, the project got finan-cial approval from the StateCabinet. Through the projectwater from the Subarnarekhariver would be drawn and af-ter treatment the water wouldbe supplied to the residents,"Jena said.

As no headway madein 3-yr casePNS �� PARADIP

Family members on Saturday metthe Jagatsinghpur SP seeking justicein the young Kujang engineer AmrutDas murder case.

It was informed that Amrut wasbrutally murdered on July 20, 2019.Though three years have passed, thefamily members are yet to get justicein the case. They have been movingfrom pillar to post but in vain.

After an order from the NHRC toSP Jagatsinghpur recently, the familymembers of the deceased met theJagatsinghpur SP. The SP was orderedto take firm action against five policeofficers in charge of investigating themurder case for lapses, includingformer SP of Jagatsinghpur R Prakash,

Tirtol SDPO Deepak Jena, former IICDillip Sahu and former Kujang policestation SI Shubhrajit Das.

AllegesJagatsinghpurparents bodyPNS �� JAGATSINGHPUR

The Odisha AbhibhabakMahasangha has alleged thatprivately-run English mediumschools are flouting the NCERTand SCERT guidelines andcurriculums in Jagatsinghpurdistrict. In this regard, the par-ents’ body submitted a memo-randum to the district Collec-tor on Friday.

The memorandum said theState Director of ElementaryEducation mandates thatNCERT books be adopted inEnglish medium schools,

which are bound to follow thesyllabus and basic curriculum.However, the schools disobeythe instructions, for whichthey should be punished as perEducation Act 1969 and RTE2009. Besides, the EducationDepartment is empowered totake legal action and withdrawpermission from the errantschools.

“We, members of districtAbhibhabak Mahasangha,urged the Jagatsinghpur dis-trict administration to notethe matter and examine thecurriculum and syllabus imple-mented by private Englishmedium schools,” saidorganisation convener SureshChandra Swain.

Demands BBAand BCA certifi-catesPNS �� JAGATSINGHPUR

The ABVP student body ofthe SVM College here on Fri-day staged a demonstrationagainst the college authoritiesand demanded to get back theiroriginal BBA and BCA certifi-cates.

The student body urged thatunder the self-financingcourses launched by the collegeauthorities in the year 2007,many students had pursuedprofessional BBA and BCA

courses, but to date, they havebeen deprived of receivingoriginal degree certificatesfrom the college and the uni-versity, as a consequence ofwhich they are missing jobopportunities.

"Several times, we have ap-proached the college and uni-versity authorities and the dif-ferent district Collectors withregards to our problem, butnobody listens. Meanwhile,we have decided to appraiseour Chief Minister seeking hisintervention. So, we submit-ted a memorandum to theCM through the Collector,"said student leaders.

��

��

With the growing aggres-sive stance of China in

the Indo-Pacific and the strate-gically important IndianOcean, the Indian Navy topbrass will review its operationalreadiness to meet any challengein the four-day commanders’conference beginning Monday.

The commanders will alsodraw appropriate lessons fromthe ongoing Russian militaryaction in Ukraine and preparethe Indian Navy to fight mod-ern day war in all domainsincluding conventional andunconventional.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh and External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar willaddress and interact with thecommanders on matters per-taining to the national securi-ty. Chief of Army and IAF willalso interact with the brass toaddress convergence of thethree Services vis-à-vis a com-mon operational environment,as well as discuss avenues ofaugmenting Tri-Service syner-gy and readiness, officials saidhere on Sunday.

The Chief of the NavalStaff, along with other Naval

Commanders will reviewmajor Operational, Materiel,Logistics, Human ResourceDevelopment, Training andAdministrative activitiesundertaken by the Indian Navyin the last six months and fur-ther deliberate upon futureplans for important activitiesand initiatives.The conferencewill also dwell upon dynamicsof the geostrategic situation inthe backdrop of security sce-nario in the neighbourhood aswell as changes emerging dueto ongoing Russia-Ukraineconflict, they said.

The Indian Navy is

focused on being a combatready, credible and cohesiveforce with a future-ready out-look and continues to assidu-ously execute its mandate.The Navy has witnessed a sig-nificant growth in its opera-tional tasking over the years inconsonance with India’s grow-ing maritime interests.

Indian Navy’s standing asthe ‘Preferred Security Partner’has also grown concomitantlyin recent times. In 2020-21,Indian navy ships have under-taken multiple Covid relatedoutreach missions to providefood and medical aid to Indian

Ocean Region littoral nationsand beyond as part of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’svision of SAGAR (SecurityAnd Growth for All inRegion).

The conference is heldtwice a year and serves as aplatform for NavalCommanders to discussimportant maritime mattersat the military-strategic level aswell as interact with senior gov-ernment functionaries throughan institutionalised forum.The Army and IAF held theircommanders’ meet earlier thismonth.

��

��

Stating that "jal se Juda pryaskal se Juda hai", Prime

Minister Narendra Modi onSunday called for all-roundefforts towards water conserva-tion as he appreciated the rapidgrowth of the digital economyin the country "recording trans-actions worth Rs 20,000 croredaily."

Addressing the nation in hismonthly radio talk 'Mann kibaat', Modi touched on a rain-bow of issues ranging fromMuseums to Vedic maths.

The Prime Minister saidthe importance of water conser-vation becomes more so crucialduring the summer season andparticularly in the water-starvedareas.

"The Bhil tribe of MadhyaPradesh used their historicaltradition 'Halma' for water con-servation. Under this tradition,the people of this tribe gather atone place to find a solution to theproblems related to water", hesaid.

"It is clearly stated in ourscriptures: 'Paniyam paramamloke, jeevaanaam jeevanam sam-ritam (Water is the basis of lifeof every living being and wateris also the biggest resource in theworld)'," he said.

The Prime Minister said 75'Amrit Sarovars' are to be built inevery district of India during theongoing celebrations of 75 yearsof the independence.

"In the Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav, water conservation isone of the resolves with whichthe country is moving forward,he said.

Moving on to the rapidgrowth of the digital economy,Miodi cited examples of girlswho moved around Delhi for 24-hours and did not have to usecash as digital UPI transactionswere accepted in the market,including by the street vendors.

He said daily transactionshave reached worth 20,000 croreand at times going much high-er."Last March, UPI transac-tions reached around Rs 10 lakh

crores. Due to this, convenienceis also increasing in the countryand an atmosphere of honesty isalso being created, said Modi.

"The facility of paymentthrough UPI has reached evenplaces where there was no goodinternet facility till a few yearsago," the Prime Minister said.

Modi also spoke about the'Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya'inaugurated by him in Delhirecently and sought people tovisit it to know more about thecountry's history and its 14Prime Ministers.

He said there are severalkinds of museums in the coun-try including those of kites andcoins. The Prime Minister alsoasked a few general knowledgequestions relating to museumsand sought them to submit

answers in the NaMo app .Museums are being encour-

aged to adopt new ways in viewof changing times and Covidprotocols, he said as he appealedthat all should continue to wearmasks to prevent further spread-ing of the coronavirus in thecountry.

Prime Minister also talkedabout Vedic mathematics as hesaid students in their classes aremostly scared by the Maths. Hesaid unlike in modern maths,Vedic maths could count till infi-nite.

"Mathematics is a subjectwith which we Indians should bemost comfortable. After all, thepeople of India have given themost research and contributionto the whole world regardingmathematics", he pointed out tohis radio listeners.

"From Calculus toComputers - all these scientificinventions are based on Zero.Zero, that is, you must haveheard a lot about the discoveryof zero and its importance. Oftenyou will also hear that if zero wasnot discovered, we might nothave even seen so much scien-tific progress in the world", saidthe Prime Minister about thecontribution of ancient India toMathematics and the discoveryof Zero by ancient Indiangeniuses.

��

��

The Congress on Sundaytermed as “political vendet-

ta” the allegation by Yes Bankco-founder Rana Kapoor whohas told the EnforcementDirectorate that he was“forced” to buy an M F Husainpainting from party leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, andquestioned his and the ED’scredibility.

At AICC Press conferenceCongress spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi said,“This is absolutely astonishing.I don’t want to use a strongword, it is absolutely disgust-ing that a 2010 transaction, aperson who is behind bars foryears, whose 20-30 bail appli-cations have been rejected,who is called a crook and afraudster, makes allegationsabout dead people and the gov-ernment is jumping with joyonly because it suits theirpolitical angle.”

“The government wantsto keep the pot boiling for2022, for a transaction in 2010,when neither Murli Deora ishere to deny it nor AhmedPatel is here to deny, Singhvisaid.

Kapoor has told the EDthat he was “forced” to buy theM F Husain painting fromPriyanka Gandhi and the saleproceeds were utilised by theGandhi family for the medicaltreatment of Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi in NewYork, according to the chargesheet filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency in aspecial court in Mumbai.

He told the Enforcement

Directorate (ED) that he wastold by the then petroleumminister Murli Deora that therefusal to buy the painting willnot only prevent him frombuilding a relationship with theGandhi family but also preventhim from getting the ‘PadmaBhushan’ award.

Kapoor also told theagency that Ahmed Patel, aclose confidante of SoniaGandhi, had told him that bysupporting the Gandhi familyat an opportune time for med-ical treatment of Sonia Gandhi,“I (Kapoor) had performed agood deed for the family andit would be duly considered forthe ‘Padma Bhushan’ award”.

“What is the objective ofthis, is it the result of your(government) pressure tacticsand coercion on a personbehind bars eager to get hisfreedom to record statementsagainst political opponentsand to keep a 12-year-oldthing boiling just for conve-nience of politics,” the RajyaSabha MP said, hitting out atthe government.

In his response to the alle-gations, Singhvi cited that inMarch 2014, the Yes Bankloan book stood at Rs 55,000crore and in March 2019, it hadincreased nearly five times toRs 2.41 lakh crore.

“The loan book of YesBank also showed a very dra-matic increase between twoother dates which are veryinconvenient for the Modigovernment about which nei-ther the government nor theprime minister talk about any-more. In March 2016, it was Rs98,000 crore and in March2018, it became 2.03 lakhcrore, about more than double.

Remember when demonetisa-tion happened, November2016,” he said.

Singhvi also pointed outthat the BJP-led Haryana gov-ernment invested Rs 2,500crore as government moneyinto accounts of a “sinking” YesBank.

“They are trying to createa fear psychosis to scare peo-ple to do political vendetta,they should know better thanthat. At least spare the dead. Atleast don’t defame people likeDeora and Ahmed Patel,” hesaid.

“We all know the credibil-ity of the ED and more thanthat the credibility of the per-son accused in this case who issupposed to have made thisstatement,” he added.

The statements of RanaKapoor are part of the secondsupplementary charge sheet(overall third) filed in the spe-cial court recently against theYes Bank co-founder, his fam-ily, Dewan Housing FinanceLimited (DHFL) promotersKapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan,and others in a money laun-dering case.

Stating that he had paid acheque of Rs 2 crore, Kapoorclaimed that “Milind Deora(son of the late Murli Deoraand former Congress MP)later conveyed to him confi-dentially that the sale pro-ceeds were utilised by theGandhi family for the medicaltreatment of Sonia Gandhi inNew York”.

Kapoor is currently injudicial custody following hisarrest in the case in March2020. The Wadhwans too arein jail custody after their arrestin another case.

��

��

The Union Ministry of SocialJustice and Empowerment is

planning to set up ‘GarimaGreh’ or shelter homes for trans-genders across the country. Thisis aimed at rehabilitating themembers of the communitywhose parents or immediatefamily are s unable to take careof them.

The scheme will be named“Support for MarginalisedIndividuals and livelihoodEnterprise’ (SMILE) and will befunded by the to safeguard therights of transgender personsand protect the interest of thecommunity.

A senior official said theSection 8(4) of the TransgenderPersons (Protection of Rights)Act 2019, envisages measures forthe rescue, protection and reha-bilitation of transgender personsto address their needs.

“The establishment ofGarima Greh will align with theprovision laid down underSection 12(3) of the Act whichstates that whether any parent ora member of his immediate fam-ily is unable to take care of atransgender, the competentcourt shall by an order directsuch person to be placed in therehabilitation center,” he said..

Such shelter homes willensure that the community hasaccess to a safe and secure envi-

ronment, livelihood opportuni-ty and a means to reintegrateinto the society, the official saidadding that it will cater to theprimary need of providing shel-ter to transgender persons withbasic amenities like food, med-ical care and recreational facil-ities facing social, psychologicaland economical constraints.

Besides, it will provide sup-port for the capacity-build-ing/skill development ofTransgender persons.

Steps will also be taken toliason to provide legal care andpsychological counseling toenable Transgender persons totake steps for their reintegrationinto their families /society.

At the home shelter, it will

also be ensured that skill-devel-opment, training to developand enhance livelihood skillsand create an alternative liveli-hood for the transgender per-sons for economic indepen-dence are undertaken.

To assist transgender per-sons residing in Garima Grehsin getting Identity cards, PANcards, Ration cards, passports,etc., and improve overall livingconditions of Transgender per-sons by providing a positiveenvironment for their holisticdevelopment.

“We have asked the inter-ested NGOs/CBOs owned bythe Transgender community forthe expression of interest,” theofficial added.The shelter home

will be managed and executedby the Project ManagementCommittee (PMC). TheSecretary of the organizationrunning the Garima Greh mustbe a person from theTransgenders community andwould be the Project Director ofthat Garima Greh . TheCommittee shall be expected tomeet every month and recordthe progress of the communi-ty.The Garima Greh should belocated in a reasonably quiet andresidential locality so that thereare no unscrupulous elementsdisturbing the residents.Moreover, the center should beeasily accessible and connectedthrough public transport, theofficial shared.

��

��

The National Investigation Agency(NIA) has filed a chargesheet against

20 CPI (Maoist) cadres in the EdakkaraMaoist Case of Kerala before the NIASpecial Court, Ernakulam.

The case relates to conspiracy forconducting physical and arms training,conducting Zonal Committee meetingof Western Ghats Special ZonalCommittee of the proscribed outfit inthe Nilambur forest in Malappuram dis-trict, Kerala in 2016 in order to strength-en the CPI (Maoist) with the intentionto commit terrorist acts and waging waragainst the Government.

Those charged include Kalidas aliasMani alias Sekhar of Ponnayyapuram,Parambakkudy Taluk,Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu,Sreemathi BP alias Unnimaya aliasSavitha of Belagodukodige, K Masige ofChikamangaluru, Karnataka, Savithri

alias Rajitha of Kalsa Hobli,Chickamangaluru, Karnataka.

Others charged are S Danish aliasS Danish of Puliyakulam,Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, TamilNadu, Vikram Gowda of Udupi,Karnataka.

The remaining chargesheetedaccused are Soman alias Shahid,Sharmila, R Ragavendran, PThiruvengadam, B G Krishnamurthy,Rajan C G, Deepak alias Chandru,Karthik alias Kumar, Ramesh aliasChinna Ramesh, T K Rajeevan Ramesh,Iyyappan and Annesh Babu aliasThambi.

The accused have been chargedunder under various sections of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) and UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act

The case was initially registered asFIR No.249/2017 by Edakkara PoliceStation, Malappuram, Kerala onSeptember 30, 2017 and taken over by

Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Kerala.Subsequently, the NIA re-registered thecase on August 20, 2021.Investigationconducted by NIA established that theaccused in the case were members of theproscribed terrorist organisation CPI(Maoist), and had trespassed into thereserve forests of Nilambur inMalappuram, Kerala.

The accused conspired for conduct-

ing training camps, organised meetingsof the Zonal Committee of the bannedterror outfit. They also observedCommemoration Week and celebratedthe formation day of CPI (Maoist), col-lected men and arms, conducted and par-ticipated in the arms and physical train-ing by using prohibited arms in order tocarry out terrorist acts for furthering theactivities of CPI (Maoist).

��

Union Agriculture Ministrywill organise a campaign

during April 25-30 to highlightthe achievements made in thefarm sector sinceIndependence and also createawareness about the variousprogrammes run by the Centrefor the benefits of farmers.

The campaign 'KisanBhagidari, Prathmikta Hamari'is being organised under 'AzadiKa Amrit Mahotsav' in associ-ation with various other min-istries, according to an officialstatement. More than onecrore farmers and stakeholdersare expected to participate inthe campaign through direct(offline) and virtual (online)medium across the country.

To create massive aware-ness and wider publicity, theoutreach of the campaign willbe carried out through print,electronic and social media,production of audio video clips,

jingles, and short video films.The agriculture ministry hasworked out a roadmap fororganising various farmer-cen-tric campaigns, workshops,programmes, seminars andwebinars during Azadi kaAmrit Mahotsav.

In this connection, theministry is organizing theKisan Bhagidari, PrathmiktaHamari campaign from April25-30, 2022, the statement said.The ministry will highlightmilestones of agriculture devel-opment in 75 years of India'sIndependence during the cam-paign.

The milestone includesgreen revolution and self-suf-ficiency in food grain produc-

tion; largest producer of horti-culture crops; improvement incrop irrigation; use of ICT inagriculture; application ofremote sensing/GIS/Drones inagriculture. Application of bio-technology in agriculture;advancement in farm mecha-nization; soil health manage-ment and effective manage-ment of pests will also be high-lighted.

The campaign will alsohighlight the activities andachievements under variousflagship schemes like PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi,Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana and Pradhan MantriKrishi Sinchai Yojana. Theministry during this campaignwill also create mass awarenessand talk about achievements inschemes such as Kisan CreditCard; agriculture credit; e-National Agriculture Market(e-NAM); Farmer ProducerOrganizations (FPOs); SoilHealth Card; Organic andNatural Farming.

�� !!��

��

Strict pandemic restrictionsadversely impacted mental

health and lowered life eval-uations, according to two newstudies reviewing data from15 countries between April2020 and June 2021.

Published in The LancetPublic Health journal, thestudies pointed out that men-tal health impacts associatedwith lockdowns were worsefor women and women livingin households with dependentchildren when compared tomen of all ages.

At the national level,countries that aimed to elim-inate community transmis-sion of Covid-19 within theirborders (eliminators) experi-enced fewer deaths and equiv-alent or better mental healthtrends during the pandemicthan countries that aimed tocontrol rather than eliminatetransmission (mitigators).

Over the course of thepandemic, governments

across the globe employeddiverse strategies and issueda variety of guidelines to con-tain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, physical distancingrestrictions were more close-ly linked to mental healththan were closures of schools,workplaces, public transport,cancellations of public events,and restrictions on domestictravel.

Similarly, larger effects ofstringency on reduced deathsthan those obser ved onadverse mental health avoid atrade-off between psycholog-ical distress and saving lives.

"Governmental responsesto the Covid-19 pandemichave been widely debated. Atfirst sight, it may seem thateliminator countries imple-mented much harsher strate-gies than other countriesbecause of their widelyreported international travelbans.

“But, in reality, peoplewithin these borders enjoyedmore freedom and lessrestrictive domestic contain-

ment measures overall thancitizens in mitigator coun-tries,” said Dr Lara Aknin,Simon Fraser University(Canada), author of the firststudy. [1]

While the first study indi-cates that the type and timingof pandemic restriction playsa factor in determining men-tal health impacts, the secondstudy suggests that these werefelt disproportionately by dif-ferent groups.

Together, the findingsstrengthen the notion thatstricter policy measures maylead to adverse mental healthoutcomes and that effectivepolicies to contain the pan-demic must go hand in handwith strategies and resourcesto address mental health forthe general population andthose most at risk.

Study author Dr RafaelGoldszmidt, said, “Ourresearch demonstrates thatin addition to the intensity ofthe pandemic itself, the typeof the pandemic responsepursued makes a difference to

people’s mental health.“Mitigation strategies may

be associated with worsemental health outcomes atleast in part because con-tainment measures such aslong periods of lockdownsand physical distancing canimpede social connections.

“Nevertheless, as stricterpolicies are proven to beeffective at reducing deaths,they may help offset theeffects they have on psycho-logical distress and life eval-uations.”

He added, “Strategiesthat aim to eliminate trans-mission while promotingearly actions and targetedstringency can reduce deathswhile also protecting peo-ple’s mental health in theprocess.

"At the same time, gov-ernments need to provideclear and consistent infor-mation about policy mea-sures to increase residents’confidence in the govern-ment’s handling of the pan-demic.”

��

�� !��!��

��

Ola Electric is recalling 1,441units of its electric two-

wheelers in the wake of inci-dents of vehicles catching fire.The company said its investi-gation into the fire incident onMarch 26, in Pune, is ongoingand preliminary assessmentfound that it was an isolatedone. However, it said, "As a pre-emptive measure we will beconducting a detailed diag-nostic and health check of thescooters in that specific batchand therefore are issuing avoluntary recall of 1,441 vehi-cles."

Ola Electric further said,"These scooters will be inspect-ed by our service engineers andwill go through a thoroughdiagnostics across all batterysystems, thermal systems aswell as the safety systems."

The firmsaid its batterysystems complies with and istested for AIS 156, the latestproposed standard for India.

��

��

�� "

��

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan and his entourage

has reached Minnesota for histhree-week long medicaltreatment at the world famousMayo Clinic. This is PinarayiVijayan’s third trip to MayoClinic for medical treatmentsince he assumed the post ofChief Minister in 2016.

The United States, whichis termed Yankee, imperialist,capitalist and anti-peoplecountry by the comrades ofthe CPI(M) have over theyears have become a medicalpilgrimage destination par-ticularly for the top CPI(M)leaders. KodiyeriBalakrishnan, party’s Keralasecretary is also flying off toUSA for medical treatment ina few days time. Balakrishnanhas said that he was sufferingfrom cancer and the ailementwas under control. ButVijayan’s medical problem is aclosely guarded secret andnobody is willing to speakabout it.

Vijayan and health minis-ter Veena George do not misseven a single opportunity toeulogize the world class health

care offered by Kerala to othercountries.

Gone are the days whenthe top leaders of the CPI(M)and its poor cousin the CPIused to emplane for EastGermany and Romania wayback in the 1960s and 1970s.“E M S Nambodirippadu, theformer chief minister alwayspreferred hospitals in Berlin.

While he was chief min-ister during 1967-1969, hisfavorite destination wasBerlin. I had arranged for hismedical treatment in Berlinthough the ailment could havebeen treated well inThiruvananthapuram itself,”“Berlin” Kunhanandan Nair,who was the Berlin corre-spondent of “Blitz”, the week-ly tabloid published fromMumbai, told The Pioneer.

C Achutha Menon, whosucceeded Namboodirippadu,chose Bucharest, the capital ofRomania for medical care.Both Namboodirippadu andMenon were competing witheach other in praising thehealth care system in theirfatherlands. “Now that there isno Soviet Union or theSocialist Republics, the

Communist countries havelost their pre-eminent positionto the USA,” said Nair.

There are no records oftop Communist leaders inKerala preferring China orCuba as medical destination.“Students who pass out ofmedical colleges in China orfrom the former socialistcountries in Europe (likeUkraine) have to write a qual-ifying examination by payingRs 1,20,000 to get approval forpracticing in India,” said SJayashankar, political com-mentator.

Though there are left fel-low travelers who haveauthored books on China,Cuba and even Russia, thetruth is that comrades preferUSA, UK or West Asian coun-tries for their livelihood. Thequeue in front of the US con-sulate general in Chennai andthe British Deputy HighCommission off ice inChennai are proof of thechanging tastes of comrades.One will come across hun-dreds of CPI(M) and CPIleaders standing in the scorch-ing Sun for their turn to flyoff to USA and Britain.

"��#$��!� ��!��

��

Aligarh Muslim UniversityAMU professor has been

sentenced for one year impris-onment for molesting Iranianstudent (research scholar).Aligarh Muslim UniversityMBA Faculty Professor DrBilal Mustafa, who is implicat-ed in double meaning dia-logue and molestation with anIranian student (research schol-ar), has been sentenced by thecourt. The court of ADJ-IIIRajesh Bhardwaj, while hearingthe appeal filed against theacquittal of Dr Bilal of the lowercourt, has sentenced him to oneyear. Along with this, Dr Bilalhas also been released on inter-im bail. After this decision ofthe court, this eight-year-oldcase has once again come into

the limelight.According to the prosecu-

tion advocate ADGC KrishnaMurari Johri, a case was filedin 2014 Civil Lines by Irani stu-dent of Business Managementof AMU, in which Professor ofAMU MBA Faculty Dr Bilal,resident of Sakina ManzilFriends Colony, was named asthe accused. It was alleged inthe lawsuit that she is a PhDstudent under Professor Bilal.She was registered in March2013, but joined in October2013 for Ph.D. under professorMustafa. Since then, the pro-fessor started sending doublemeaning messages to the girlstudent on WhatsApp andstarted harassing her in variousways.

A complaint was made tothe AMU arrangement and a

complaint was made to the SSP.The SSP handed over the inves-tigation to the SP City in thematter. Based on the investi-gation, a case was registeredunder the sedition and IT Act.The court heard it as a case ofmolesting section and on 17September 2018, the lowercourt acquitted the professor in

its decision. Criminal appealagainst the decision of thelower court was filed in theSessions Court, hearing ofwhich the court of ADJ III, setaside the decision of the lowercourt, convicted the accusedprofessor and punished withimprisonment of one year andfine of ten thousand rupees.Along with this, orders havebeen given to give 5 thousandrupees to the victim girl out ofthe fine.According to Court,“Foreign students come onlyfor studies on the basis ofnational image.

The offense of the accusedis sufficient to adversely affectthe image of India at the inter-national level. In the opinion ofthe Court, the order of releaseof the accused on probation ofgood conduct or after repri-

mand cannot be made in thefacts of the case in order to ful-fill the intent of justice to thevictim."Krishna Murari Johri,ADGC told that in the case, itwas mentioned in the decisionof the lower court that the FIRof the girl student was delayed.At the same time, it was alsosaid that the accused has beenacquitted in the departmentalinquiry of AMU. On this, thecourt has held that the studentis a foreigner and is not famil-iar with Indian legal nuances.She was under mental pressure.

At the same time, thedepartmental inquiry order ofAMU cannot be made thebasis of the decision of thecourt. On these two grounds,the court, while pronouncingthe sentence, released theaccused on interim bail.

��

Three Lashkar-e-Tayyeba(LeT) terrorists were elim-

inated by the joint team ofsecurity forces in Pahoo area ofSouth Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict on Sunday.

This is the fourth straightencounter in the last threedays in which a total numberof 10 terrorists have beengunned down.

According to police, "threeterrorists were killed inBaramulla on April 21, two in

Kulgam on Saturday while twoother Jaish-e- Mohammad sui-cide bombers were neutrlaisedin Sunjuwan on April 22 inJammu". According to a tweetof Kashmir Zone police, "oneof the slain terrorists has beenidentified as Arif Hazar @Rehan". He acted as deputy ofLeT’s top commander Basit.According to police records,Arif was involved in thekillings of Inspector Parvez infront of a mosque, SI Arshidand one mobile shop owner indowntown.

��

��

Days after BJP national vicepresident Dilip Ghosh said

that Sukanta Majumdar, whosucceeded him as the party'sWest Bengal unit president, isrelatively new for his post, theincumbent State chief onSunday asserted that nonebecomes seasoned overnight.

Majumdar, the MP ofBalurghat in north Bengal,said that every person is newwhen appointed to a post andGhosh was no exception whenhe became the state party pres-ident for the first time in 2015.

Ghosh, however, struck aconciliatory note during thedaysaying he had meant that beingnew for the post, Majumdarwill be able to impart a freshapproach and give a dynamicleadership to the state BJP.

Majumdar, who haddeclined to comment initially,said: "Dilipda is a senior leader,but let me point out that when

someone first takes over, he isnew to the post. None becomesexperienced overnight."

"When Dilip-da had beenappointed as the state BJPhead, he was relatively new. Ithappens to every occupant ofevery post," he told reporters toa question.

Ghosh had said onThursday that Majumdarshould take everyone alongand the party should work asa united force to be able to fightagainst the alleged misrule ofthe Trinamool Congress.

"Sukanta Majumdar iscomparatively new; it is quiteobvious that he is taking timeto adjust," he had said.

His comments were pre-ceded by the party's recentdebacle in by-pollsin the state, following whichseveral senior BJP membershit out at the state unit lead-ership for allegedly failing toidentify the ,“lacunae” plagu-ing the party.

��%��&�� '�'��&'�� !��

��

In a shocking incident, a trib-al woman was allegedly

stripped and assaulted by agroup of nine people in a vil-lage in Karnataka's DakshinaKannada district, policesources said. They said the inci-dent occurred on April 19 infront of several villagers atGuripalla village inBelthangady taluk of the dis-trict. Cases have been regis-tered against all the accused.

The nine persons werebooked based on a complaintfrom the 35-year-old woman,who alleged that the gang tore

her clothes, made her semi-nude and shot a video of theincident. Her elder sister andmother were also assaulted, thewoman said in the complaint.

The accused have beenidentified as Sandeep (30),Santhosh (29), Gulabi (55),Suguna (30), Kusuma (38),Lokayya (55), Anil (35), Lalitha(40) and Chenna Keshava (40),all belonging to the victim's vil-lage, police said. Sources saidthe incident occurred when ateam of revenue departmentofficials reached the village tomeasure the government landwhere the complainant andher elder sister were staying.

��

Nagaland became aCoronavirus-free state on

Sunday with the lone activeCOVID patient from Dimapurdistrict recovering from the dis-ease, a senior health depart-ment official said.

The active case count hitzero for the first time in thenortheastern state since thedetection of three COVIDpatients on May 25, 2020, hesaid.

The first three coronaviruspatients in Nagaland wereamong returnees fromChennai.

��

Maharashtra Home MinisterDilip Walse Patil on

Sunday said efforts were on bysome people to create atmos-phere conducive for impositionof President's Rule in the State.

He also termed as "appro-priate" the arrest ofIndependent MP Navneet Ranaand her MLA husband RaviRana in connection with theirannouncement to reciteHanuman Chalisa outside theresidence of Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray in Mumbai.

The couple's plan hadangered the Shiv Sena workers,who held strident protestsagainst them on Saturday. TheRanas were later arrested for"creating enmity between dif-ferent groups". Earlier onSunday, senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis said peopleof Maharashtra feel thereshould be President's Rule inthe state. Although he made itclear that BJP will not demand

President's Rule in the state, hisparty colleague and Union min-ister Narayan Rane said thesame should be imposed as thestate government has failed tomaintain law and order.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of an event inNashik, Walse Patil said, "...Itdoes not seem that anyonehas made the demand for thePresident's Rule, but effortsare on by some people to cre-ate such an atmosphere."

Talking about the allegedattack on BJP leader KiritSomaiya in Mumbai onSaturday outside Khar policestation and the incident inwhich an empty water bottlewas thrown in the direction ofthe Rana couple when theybeing taken to the police sta-tion, he said, "There is no needto give different orders topolice, they know their job well.Investigation on who hurledstones at the vehicle of KiritSomaiya is on as well as theattack on the Ranas."

��

Apolice Sub-Inspector (SI)was suspended on Sunday

for allegedly misbehaving witha seer in Bulandshahr district,officials said.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice Santosh Kumar Singhsaid the matter came to light on

Sunday through a Twitter post,following which theSikandrabad Circle Officer(CO) was asked to look into thematter. The matter was thor-oughly investigated, the SSPsaid, adding that the prelimi-nary investigation found SIPawan Kumar guilty. PawanKumar has been suspended

with immediate effect for mis-behaving with the seer withoutany reason, he said.

Citing the seer who lives atthe temple in Kamalpur villageunder Kakod police stationarea, the SSP said he was goingto some place on a cycle a fewdays ago, when he was stoppedby the police.

�� !��

�� !"#��$�� %�&!'��(�)�#*��"&# �!&!#��&" �+&��

"�� #��$��%&��'��#��

#�� !��(��&��

��

Aday after their arrest overtheir threat to chant

“Hanuman Chalisa” in front ofMaharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray’s Bandraresidence, a holiday court onSunday remanded IndependentMP from Amravati NavneetRana and her husband BadneraMLA Ravi Rana in judicialcustody for 14 days.

Rejecting the Prosecution’splea for police custody,Metropolitan Magistrate AAGhaniwale sent to judicial cus-tody till May 6. While Navneetwill be lodged at Bycullawomen’s jail, Ravi Rana willremain at Arthur Road Jail.

The city court will hear thebail application filed by theRana couple on April 29.

Navneet and Ravi Ranahave been booked under sec-tions 34 (common intent) and153 A (Promoting enmitybetween different groups ongrounds of religion, race, placeof birth, residence, language,etc., and doing acts prejudicialto maintenance of harmony) ofthe IPC and sections 37(1) and135 of the Bombay Police Act.

Earlier, Public ProsecutorPradip Gharat sought custodyof the Rana couple for 7 days.

Senior advocate RizwanMerchant, appearing for theRana couple, opposed theProsecution’s plea for policecustody and said that the policehad booked his clients on“fake” charges. He said that hisclients had not flouted anylaw.

Navneet Rana and her hus-band Badnera MLA Ravi Ranawere arrested on Saturdayevening after they threatened to

recite the Hindu devotionalhymn in front of chief minis-ter Uddhav Thackeray’s privateresidence “Matoshree” atBandra in north-west Mumbai.

Though the Rana couplewithdrew their plan of reciting“Hanuman Chalisa” in view ofPrime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to the metropolison Sunday, the police wentahead and arrested Navneetand Ravi.

On Saturday, a high- volt-age drama was witnessed infront of Ranas’ Khar residencewhere hundreds of Shiv Sainikshad gathered to prevent thecouple from stepping out oftheir home to head towardsThackerays’ nearby residence“Matoshree” at Bandra’sKalanagar locality.

Interestingly enough, theShiv Sainiks recited “HanumanChalisa” in front of Ranas’Khar residence. The Shiv Senaworkers also threatened to per-form “abhishek” and give“maha-prasad” to the couple.

��

Averring that that there wasa strand of patriotism in

the Mangeshkar family, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hereon Sunday described LataMangeshkar as a “melodiousmanifestation” of ‘Ek BharatShreshth Bharat’, as she sangthousands of songs in morethan 30 languages and showedhow music can be “immortalwith Indianness”.

Speaking after receivingthe first-ever Lata DeenanathMangeshkar Award at a cere-mony held atShanmukhananda Hall at Sionin north-central Mumbai,Modi said that there was astrand of patriotism in the

Mangeshkar family. “Alongwith the song, the conscious-ness of patriotism that waswithin Lata Didi, her father,was the source of it,” he said.

Dwelling upon Lata Didi’sillustrious career, the PrimeMinister said “Lata ji was likea melodious manifestation of‘Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat’.

She sang thousands ofsongs in more than 30 lan-guages. Whether it was Hindi,Marathi, Sanskrit or otherIndian language, her sur wasequally at home everywhere”.

Instituted by the Pune-based Master DeenanathMangeshkar SmrutiPratishthan in in memory ofBharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar,the Lata Deenanath

Mangeshkar Award – begin-ning from this year -- is givenevery year exclusively to oneindividual for exemplary con-tribution towards nation build-ing. Governor of MaharashtraShri Bhagat Singh Koshyariand members of MangeshkarFamily were among those pre-sent on the occasion.

“From culture to faith,from east to west, from northto south, Lata ji's notes workedto unite the whole country.Globally too, she was India'scultural ambassador. She wasingrained in the minds of peo-ple in every state, in everyregion. She showed how musiccan be immortal withIndianness,” Modi said.

Dedicating the Lata

Mangeshkar award bestowedon him to “all the countrymen”,Modi said: “As Lata Didibelonged to people, this awardgiven to me in her name alsobelongs to people”.

“Lata ji's physical journeywas completed at a time whenour country is celebratingAmrit Mahotsav of its freedom.She gave voice to India beforeindependence, and the coun-try's journey of these 75 yearswas also associated with hervoice,” Modi said.

Admitting that he did nothave not too deep a knowledgeof music but by cultural appre-ciation, Modi said: “Sangeet isboth a ‘sadhna’ and an emo-tion.... the one that expressesthe unexpressed is wor\d. Onethat fills the expressed withenergy and consciousness is‘naad’. And the one that fillsconscious with emotions andfeelings and takes it to theextreme of creation and sensi-tivity is ‘sangeet’. Music can fillyou with valour, motherlyaffection. It can take one to thepinnacle of patriotism andsense of duty. We are fortunate

to have seen this capability andstrength of music, in the formof Lata Didi”.

“On a personal note, for meLata Didi was the ‘SurSamragyi’ as well as my eldersister. What can be a greaterprivilege than to have receivedthe love of a sister from LataDidi, who has given the gift oflove and emotion to genera-tions”, he said.

Touching his government’sphilosophy “Sabka Saath, SabkaVikas , Sabka Vishwas andSabka Prayas” and the conceptof ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’,Modi said that such a notion ofdevelopment could not beachieved by just material capa-bilities. “For this spiritual con-sciousness is critically impor-tant. That’s why, India is pro-viding leadership in areas likeyoga, Ayurveda and environ-ment. I believe, our Indianmusic is also an importantpart of this contribution ofIndia. Let us keep this heritagealive with the same values andcarry it forward, and make it amedium of world peace”, thePrime Minister said.

��

Though she briefly turnedemotional as she spoke at the

first Lata DeenanathMangeshkar Award function,noted playback singer AshaBhosle on Sunday came up withseveral interesting anecdotesabout her elder sister Lata Didi.

With tears in her eyes,Asha said that each year thefamily gathered on this day(April 24) for the MasterDeenanath MangeshkarAwards function.

“Today is our father’s 80thdeath anniversary and evenLata Didi recently completed 80years of her singing career inthe Indian film industry, beforeher death”.

“I never imagined that aday would come when I wouldhave to stand and speak aboutLata Didi like this…” Ashasaid as she wiped tears fromeyes. Asha recalled that LataDidi always used to say that

drinking the water washed offthe parents’ feet is the greatestblessing.

“To prove her point, oneday, when their parents slept athome, Lata Didi poured somewater on their feet, collectedsome water and drank it fromher palms and asked me to fol-low suit. That was the kind ofparental devotion Lata Didihad and taught us,” she said.

“Lata Didi was veryattached to her family, all of ussisters and brother since shehad supported us from 1942,when our father passed away…She was proud of the familyname ‘Mangeshkar’ and madeit like a daunting wall to safe-guard our interests...Like afamily head, she would oftenact rough to discipline her sib-lings, grab their hair, and theytoo would pull her plaits (choti)and she would run…!

“At times she would shoutat us and our mother(Shevanti) would chide her tolower her volume or she would

become hoary… and she retal-iated by screaming even loud-er…”Asha reminisced.

Regaling the PrimeMinister and audiences presentat the function with someinteresting anecdotes, Ashasaid: “As children, we five sib-lings Lata, me, Usha, Meenaand brother Hridaynath used toplay ‘gilli-danda’ and othergames on the streets ofKolhapur.

Though she used to playgames on the streets, she wasdedicated to her work whichshe started when she was bare-ly in her teens,” she said.

“My sister had Saraswati inher voice, was very sharp witha mind like Chanakya, shecould think long into thefuture, knew when to keepher mouth shut and alwaysused to chide me for doing‘badbadd badbadd’, and I usedto dote her, always listen to her,and she knew well how to getwhat she wanted,” Asha said.

��

�� #��$��%��&'�$(��)� ��$��

��!(��)*�+,-�.��!!�� *�&��/$�� +-0��

��, ��-.�)!*�!" .�#�+� ��!#/�!+-�0��$�&��$&� $�$��$�&��/�

��#�� 1��!��-��

$��(��#�� #��)��

��

The CBI on Sunday arrestedthree people in connec-

tion with the gang rape anddeath of a 14-year-old girl inHashkhali in West Bengal'sNadia district, an official said.

The three people werearrested as their involvement inthe incident became clear dur-ing the course of the investi-gation, the official said.

The CBI had earlier arrest-ed one person, and got custodyof two more people from thestate police after taking over theinvestigation on the directionof the Calcutta High Court.

The girl, a student of class9, died after she was allegedlygang-raped at a birthday partyin the house of a local TMCleader on April 4. Her familyhas alleged that the body wastaken away from them at gun-point and cremated.

��&&� � �1.!&��2�!2)��#�� $0$�)�(�#(�&�2�

�)�#�� .�)� '(&!3�)�"($��&'$�&�� )!��

��4 ��&�� *��#�

US and EU. Raw materialexports are currently exemptand there is the possibility ofpayments in euros. Russia hasoffered deep discounts toIndia for the purchase of oil inaddition to promising contin-uation of other commercialtransactions.

While India will weighstrategic logic and self-inter-est to lend a helping hand toRussia through these transac-tions, it should make an effortto ameliorate the suffering ofthe common Russian. Afterall, India contributes to thewelfare of the Afghan peopleeven though it doesn’t recog-nise the Taliban dispensation.Similarly, New Delhi contin-ues to engage with the militarygovernment in Myanmarwhile supporting the people’smovement for democracy inthe country.

India could create a specialprogram, say on the lines ofthe production linked incen-tive (PLI) scheme of the gov-ernment, to invite mediumand small enterprises as wellas start-ups from both Russiaand Ukraine to set up shops.A Russia-Ukraine, or maybeBelarusian team of founders,is not uncommon amongstart-ups. If it means facilitat-ing the relocation of business,India should identify sitesand provide the initial hand-

holding to re-set-up the enter-prise. The current conflicthas not only damaged theUkrainian economy, but theBelarusian economy is also interrible shape—partly becauseof its policy and partly becauseof the sanctions.

The rupee-rouble tradecan help overcome issues thatmay come with the sanctions.Running an extra mile for thepeople who are going tobecome your great supportersshould not be difficult for aglobal power aspirant.

Significant advantages willaccrue to India if it chooses togive a helping hand toRussians. Russia’s technologyprowess is well known, and itsthriving start-up ecosystemcould bring innovation toIndia. As India looks toexpand its manufacturingbase, besides attractingRussian start-ups, it couldalso attract medium and smallenterprises to set up base.Many Russian technologieswill become commerciallyviable if they cannot be man-ufactured economically. Indiacould attract technologydirectly from this regioninstead of waiting for them toreach maturity in the SiliconValley before they come to India.

In addition to theimproved terms of trade,

Russia’s deep discounted priceswill positively impact India’sfiscal deficit.

Another, but strategicallyimportant gain for India willbe its perception in the mindsof common citizens of Russia.While some of us continue tolook at Russia from a SovietUnion lens, the reality is thatover the last decade or so Indiahas lost the goodwill thatonce existed amongst the peo-ple. India needs a proactivestrategy to undo this loss.The current crisis presents anapt opportunity.

Russians now believe thatIndians are complicated,unreliable, and not very gen-erous. While they might notagree with many things thatChina does, a large section ofthe population is confidentthat China will invest in theireconomy and will help Russia.India must not underesti-mate the implications of thevows of friendship and sup-port both Russia and Chinaannounced for each otherearlier this year.

There are benefits toRussian business beyond theobvious of bypassing the sanc-tions because for Russia’syouth and small businessesIndia presents a compellingopportunity in its own right.They can benefit from oppor-tunities of low-cost manufac-turing, fast trials, and on-the-ground implementation ofnew technologies. Indiaundoubtedly provides accessto a large market.

The whole situation is adisaster for common Russian,but if New Delhi could extenddirect support, it can becomea win-win for people of bothnations. This could result inexponential benefits once thecurrent difficult times arebehind.

Manavendra Prasad is apublic policy advisor. AndreiMisura is an ex-diplomat andcurrently, the ManagingPartner (International) atMoscow based HIC CapitalGroup. He also Heads theEurasian Office of MSMEChamber of Commerce andIndustry of India.

�� Sir — Russia's aggressive forces havedestroyed a logistics terminal at a mili-tary airfield near Ukraine's Odesa, whereforeign weapons were stored, the RussianDefence Ministry has confirmed. Thehigh-precision, long-range air-basedmissiles fired by the Russian AerospaceForces disabled a logistics terminal at amilitary airfield near Odessa, where alarge batch of foreign weapons receivedfrom the US and European countries wasstored. Russia is continuing its specialmilitary operation in Ukraine in full forcewithout bothering the US and Westerncountries with India being the mute spec-tator.

As per reports, the Russian militaryhas destroyed 141 aircraft and 110 heli-copters, 264 anti-aircraft missile systems,541 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,479tanks, and other armored combat vehi-cles, 278 multiple launch rocket systems,1,081 field artillery and mortars, and2,321 special military vehicles. Withthis, the world countries have no guts andcourage to dare Russia which wants todestroy Ukraine and capture it in thecoming days.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

��Sir — “No leniency to employee merelybecause he deposited defrauded amountand no loss was caused” is the right viewtaken by the Supreme Court in the casetitled Union of India and Ors vs. M.Duraisamy, CA 2665/2022. The respon-dent serving as a Postal Assistant con-fessed before the departmental inquirypanel that he had fraudulently taken away�16,59,065. When the fraud was detect-ed, he deposited the amount as a dam-age control exercise and also to avoidstringent punishment. After the inquiry,the Disciplinary Authorities imposed thepenalty of removal from service. Theorder of removal by the DisciplinaryAuthority was challenged in the Tribunal.The Tribunal took a lenient view on theemployee on the ground that there wasno loss caused since he deposited the

amount taken by him fraudulently. Thepunishment of removal was reduced tocompulsory retirement. Dismissal fromservice would deprive the delinquentemployee of several benefits whereascompulsory retirement paves way forpayment of terminal benefits in propor-tion to the duration of the service ren-dered by the employee. By setting asidethe order of the Madras High Courtupholding the order passed by theCentral Administrative Tribunal, theSupreme Court has sent a strong messagethat the return of the money is no rea-son to take a lenient view on the dishon-est employees.

K V Seetharamaiah | Bengaluru

�� Sir —This refers to the news report,“Ukrainian counterattacks slowingRussian offensive in the east”, ThePioneer, April 24. President VladimirPutin’s troops are fighting their mostdestructive battle in the port city ofMariupol, located between Crimea in thesouth and the Donbas region in the east.Reports suggest artillery, rockets, and

missiles have damaged most of Mariupol,where at least 160,000 civilians aretrapped without electricity, water, food,and medical supplies.

But why does Putin want Mariupolso desperately? Mariupol is a link betweena territory Russia controls and anotherterritory it controls in part with help fromPutin-backed rebels. Russian forces arebursting out of Crimea. They need to jointheir comrades and Putin-backed rebelsin Donbas, a vital coal mining area.Another reason is that Mariupol’s capturewill allow Russia to control most of theBlack Sea coastline. This will hit Ukraine’smaritime trade and the remnants of thelarger economy and further isolate thecountry.

Add to this, Mariupol, which alsoplayed a key role in pushing higher edu-cation and various other businesses, hasbeen an important export center forUkraine's steel, coal, and corn going tothe Middle East and beyond.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

! " ! � � � # � $ % � ! " & & � � �

��!��!��+��5!!06�!.7*��),2�!#��&��8 9�$��),��!#��&��8 �# ��(&�.6�!.7*��),2�!#��&7

��

�*

$�� (�� !"#��$��"�

��3�))�5��#�#*�� )!#(:��&.��#��&� ��!�.�0��#��++!&��!��.�)�!&��$�� "++�&�#(�!+��$��!..!#��" ��#

�� ;;��

��

��;;��6 ;�� '��

��; ��;�� ;��

��<��

��/��=��

� ��

+ ## ,- #.�##' � /�#.,

��"�#$"%&��,�-�/

�"%&$'��-0,�

�$�� #�&�)� �!��&#.�#�/ � *�� !#� �!�!.��*!3#�$��),�!#��<�#�3 ��$�#:#�) �+!&��#��#('� ��#*�)!" ��#*�.� :

)��*�#(� &�2!&��#(� ��#* � >" ��+��*6� #� �*�.!�&��,'� �$�� &� 2!# �5�)��,� �!�.��#��#2��#*��!.."#�)�$�&.!#,�&� � �3��$��&,� ��!#�!+��$�� !��,��)!#(�3��$��$�&")�#(� *� 2�# ��!#6� &!#��)),'� �$�� 3�, !.��$�##�) ��&��2&� �#��#(��$��#�3 �!+�$�� -�" ��#� �#�� !#�!+��0&��#��#*��$�

��$�#(�&2"&��!)�#��$!.�� 3!&&� !.��#*��!#*�.#�5)�6��#��$��+��!+��'��$�&�� &��&��.!#(��$��<��$�##�) ��!�(!�"2�$��)�**�&�!+��$��'��$&!3�#(��))�#!&. �!��$��3�#* 6��#,��$�##�) �3�#��#��!�$��?��#��!+�2&� �#��#(� !.��"#&�)��5)��#* �# ��!#�)�&�2!&� �3��$�+�) ��)��. �)!�*�*3��$��!.."#�)�!��&�!#� �"#*�&� ��#*�)!" ��2��!# 6� �$�� !��&#.�#�'� 3$�)�� 0�#(�$�.��!� ��0��!��$��&!(&�..��!*��#*2&!�� !# �!+��$��!*��)�� !#��3!&0 ��(")��!#� ��'� @AAB'� $� � &��*� �$� ��$�##�) ��$��!�� 3��$��3�&#�#(6�#��$� 3�,'� �$�� #��: !��)� �)�.�#� � �#*� �$�� *��#��&� � �." ��5��*� �!"&�(�*�+&!.+� $�#(� �#� �&!"5)�*�3��& 6��$� �3�))�5�� ##��!#�)� �#��&� � �� $� ��&"��)�$!"&��#*$�)2� 2&� �&�� $�� "#�C"�#� � !+� !"&��!"#�&,/ �-"#��,��#�*��& ��,6

�%&#��&#��| ��

�� !��"��"

*��#�&��

Nations are not theirleadership alone.Crises and nationalfailures often bring to

the fore the chasm between therulers and the ruled. Irrespectiveof the extent of democracy in apolity, people do not often for-give rulers whose actions resultin direct hardship to commoncitizens. If the original decisionitself did not have popular sup-port, the negative fallout leads tothe hardening of this stance.

The Russia-Ukraine crisis isa case in point.

Russia’s military campaignagainst Ukraine has receivednear universal opprobrium.Within Russia, too, there is nooverwhelming support for themove. The urban, educated andthe rich do not seem have seenlarge protests. Defying theauthorities, TV reporters haveheld on-air protests, too. Clearly,not every Russian is ready toaccept the arguments posited byPresident Putin. On the otherhand, there is a significant baseof traditional Soviet loyalistswho do not take kindly toUkraine’s machination to disownits Russian heritage. This groupsupports the actions againstUkraine enthusiastically.

The common Russian, espe-cially those who can appreciatethe implications, are concernedabout the economic fallout of thisintervention and the retaliatorysanctions by the Western powers.The economic and other sanc-tions announced by Westernpowers and their allies canpotentially devastate the Russianeconomy. At present, Russia, byall accounts, is the most sanc-tioned country. Some of thesesanctions are far more rigorousthan those applied to Pakistan,the fountainhead of global terror-ism. It’s obvious that the every-day hard-working citizens aregoing to be affected in a big wayby these turn of events. Thedevaluation of the rouble will cer-tainly affect consumer inflation.As the real household incomesshrinks, the average Russian cit-izen will pay the price for thiswar. Inflation, as it normally hap-pens, will hit the poor harder.

The scale of sanctions isbeing applied differently by the

��

�� !��"��# ��# �� !��$��"��

��$�� %��&$��'�� $��%�� (��)�$��$��*+��$��

��,�� -��.��

��/�� 0�� +�� %(�� !��"�,��$��$��.�� /�� ,�� 1��#�� +��2��$�� $�� 3�� ,�� 3�� !�� 4��5�� /��$��.�� $�� 5��$��!��

6��6��6��7�� $�

�� 0�%�� &��(�� 89�� $��:�� $��9�;��$��<�=��$�� :��(��$��<�;��>�;��6��$��,�� $��&��?@�� A��B��6��A��B��8@��$��

�� C��

��:�� 8<@�� >D9�� ;>��.�� A��<;�� 4�� (��

��?@�� )��.��D;�� A�� E�� A�� F;�� )��(��A��+�� C��<9�� )�(A��2��-��$��6��$��

'��'��

(��)*�� !�!�+��,��#��

��(� )

$!��(��&��!��$��!�� +-

*��#��#��

��)��*�& �))!3�*��))�(�)�!# �&"��!# ��#*�#�&!��$.�#� ��!�!.��"2��#��)$��+��&��0�#(�5&�5� 6�

��#'��4 �� $�

�$� �� #�3��.'��,!"#(��.6��.�,��0��)��)��.!&��.��!� ��)��*!3#',!"�$��!�&�*�

�$&!"($��$� ��2$� � 6�(")#��'�#��

4 ��$�#��#*")0�&

SOUNDBITE

�$�� $��" ��!+��#��&�.(!��&#.�#� 3$�#�2�!2)��3��$��&,�#(�2!)�� #�� ,��!

�,�D��$�&��$� ��!�5��!&*3$��$�� #!��2! �5)�6

��#�*#��"��"��4 ��$�#*��>�2�0 �

E��3�*�.�# �!# !+�*��)!2.�#�$��5��#��&��*�#��.."��#*� $.�&��#��$�)� ��3!��!��$&��,��& 'F�

��"��4 ��&�#*&��!*�

Further, a critique of Indian aidmight argue on the thickness of thecheque-book that India and Chinahave, but, given the long-termintentions and respect for sovereign-ty, India scores much higher thanChina. Also, India’s initiatives toconvince the IMF to bail out SriLanka will encourage others likeNepal and Sub Saharan Africancountries to be more open to vari-ous international donors, therebydenting the Chinese strategies andfurthering the promotion of the lib-eral world order.

A multilateral approach, eitherthrough the BRICS or Asia AfricaGrowth Corridor (AAGC), willensure intentions being translatedinto confidence that can result inIndia’s favourable position as far asthe reforms of the UNSC are con-sidered. One can recall that in2010, despite the best attempts, Indiawas unable to get even a two-thirdsmajority of UN members for thepurpose mentioned above. Throughvarious agencies, India’s multilater-al and bilateral aid might have a pay-off of gaining those critical votes inIndia’s favour. The MEA should nothesitate to put India’s expectationsacross the recipient nations ingeopolitics and geo-economics.

Further, evolving issues such asthe COVID-19 pandemic and eco-nomic recovery have huge potentialfor India. This is particularly impor-tant given that geopolitically one canforesee more pandemics in thefuture. Already India’s credentials invaccine diplomacy have been estab-lished. Recently, in March, BRICSVaccine R&D Centre was launchedthrough which India will exploreinitiatives in joint research anddevelopment of drugs and vaccines.Indian scientists involved in suchProjects can make the countryproud in other multilateral plat-forms. Moreover, such participation

can also help develop vaccines andmedicines for the country, apartfrom identifying mutual prioritieswith other nations.

Nevertheless, BRICS neverencourages deliberations on thebilateral issues concerning Russiaand China with the West. BRICS isnot a platform for a strategicalliance, but an international coop-eration mechanism wherein devel-opmental issues dominate discus-sions and decisions. There havebeen instances where India andChina have cooperated despite dis-agreements and bilateral issues asboth had a shared vision of a newglobal economic order. Previously,the US acknowledged mushroom-ing the various “hubs of power” andtheir respective “networks andcoalitions in a multipolar world”.Similarly, there have been instanceswhen China and the US have coop-erated in multilateral institutionsdespite their rivalry. The US recent-ly had called for the new issuanceof Special Drawing Rights worth$650 billion in the IMF. As Chinasupported this demand in the IMFand is not an isolated case whereinmultilateral cooperation remainsunaffected, India should not hold itsmultilateral policy a hostage of aThucydides trap between the USand Russia-China. Thus, Indiashould confidently pursue bothpolicies simultaneously and set lim-its to its cooperation in case of openhostilities from the side of China.Overall, the international commu-nity has a very positive outlooktowards the new multilateral insti-tutions, for they had given a hopeof cooperation that could havehelped the world in terms of bring-ing the countries closer to eachother.

Unfortunately, that ‘moment’ israpidly running down fast, given thecontinuation of a Chinese aggressive

behaviour towards India andTaiwan apart from the ongoingUkrainian crisis. With no signs ofan upcoming peace, Russia andChina may utilise the platform toreiterate an anti-West stand. Modi’sdecision regarding his physicalpresence is well comprehendedfrom this perspective. The initia-tives taken by India through var-ious multilateral forums are some-what similar to that of Japan in theearly 1950s when it first initiatedODA through the Colombo Plan.It had treated its participation invarious regional and multilateralinstitutions as platforms first toenhance its geostrategic outreachand second to counter Beijing’sinfluence and power. It was paral-lel to its military security beingtaken care of by the US owing toits n- war clause Article 9 of itsconstitution. Thus, it was a mix of“entrenched bilateralism” and“incipient multilateralism”.Washington’s support to help Japanbecome an important regionalplayer through Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC)and the ASEAN Regional Forum(ARF) has been well established. Interms of a differential approach,India has strategic partnershipswith the US and its allies throughQuad but has not formally com-mitted itself to any securityalliance, is an active importer of theWestern and the Russian arms andseeks to pursue indigenous pro-duction in the defence sector. It hasmaintained its strategic autonomyon critical issues and increased itsleverage vis-a-vis the other essen-tial powers. Thus, the current for-eign policy is a blend of multi-alignment and multilateralism,which is strongly tied to the com-mitment of Atmanirbhar Bharat tothe defence sector and hencerequires a strong support.

-�� #��

+�� $$$�� $$$,�- ��.��

+/��0��1��.��23��

.� �� .��4�� .� ��,$- .5�� 2�

*��#�� #��#��

E��$��$�� (��:��

��.�� 77(�� (�,��A:��:��7��G�,��$��A�� (�,��A:�� %��<��$�� 6��

��A��%�,��A�� )�� $��%�� .�� '(� ��E1�8@8@�8<�H=�?IJ��E1�8@8<�88�H>�?I��J��%��>=�;;��$�� E1�8@8<�88��.�� %��>;�?8��$�� .�� .�� 6�� .�� -��8@88�� $��.�� &�� .�� 6��)�� 6��$��$�� 6�� E1�8@8@�8<��E1�8@8<�88��A��*�� .�� %��4��

��*��A��6��A�� 3�� (�� $�� $�� A��.��.��$�� ,�� $��B��$��$��

��

��

�1��!��!�� +��5!!06�!.7*��),2�!#��&��8 9�$��),��!#��&��8 �# ��(&�.6�!.7*��),2�!#��&7

FIRSTCOLUMN!�!*+�&(�,&�!*-+�'

#�+."��

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

"'�*(*��0-'��

E��

�� ;��

��G�� ;��: ��

��:� �� '

��G��

��;

��

��;�� H��

��

(The writer is anAssistant Professor atCentral University of

Punjab, Bathinda. Theviews expressed are

personal.)

Last Sunday VladimirSoloviev, the anchor ofRussia’s most popular cur-

rent affairs show, ‘SundayEvening’, was delivering his usual‘all is going splendidly’ take onthe war in Ukraine when he sud-denly went off-piste. The UnitedKingdom, he suggested, is plan-ning to use nuclear weaponsagainst the Russian forces inUkraine.

How did he know that?Well, Britain has been accusingRussia of committing a genocidein Ukraine, and since that can’tbe true - Russians never behavebadly, even in wartime - the evilBrits must be creating a pretextfor launching a nuclear strike.

“It’s the perfect option,”Soloviev explained. TheAmericans don’t want to do itthemselves, because they mightbe hit in retaliation by Russian

nukes. It’s the British who will beordered to use their tacticalnuclear weapons in Ukraine,and suffer the Russian retaliationif necessary. (Everybody knowsthat the UK is an American-con-trolled colony.)

Maybe it’s just the standardpropaganda nonsense. After all,it would sound perfectly plausi-ble to anybody who gets all theirinformation from Russian massmedia. But Vladimir Putin’sregime has the weird but deeplyingrained habit, whenever it ispreparing to commit some das-tardly deed, of accusing theother side of doing it, or planningto do it, first.

It’s like a boxer who alwaystelegraphs his punches: it does-n’t make any practical sense, butmaybe it makes sense psycholog-ically. At any rate, it definitely gotmy attention, and I’ll bet it did

the same in strategic circles in anumber of Western capitals.

Maybe it was just idle spec-ulation to fill talk-show time, ormaybe it was an attempt to dis-credit the many reports of crimescommitted by Russian troops inUkraine - but maybe it was anopening bid to justify and nor-malise the eventual use ofRussian tactical nuclear weaponsagainst Ukrainian forces.

I am inclined to give moreweight to the former two possi-

bilities, simply because forwardplanning has not been the hall-mark of Russian military behav-iour in this war. But here’s whatthe people charged with contin-gency planning would be tellingPutin right now if there is any-body home in the strategic fore-sight department of the Russianarmed forces.

The big Russian offensivestarting this week in easternUkraine could capture enoughterritory for Putin to freeze the

situation and declare a victory,but it would take many weeksand involve further huge casual-ties. And it might not succeed,even after all that.

In fact, there is an equal orbigger chance that the Russianoffensive will stumble to ahalt, or even that the Russianarmy will lose heart and meltaway (like it did against theJapanese in 1905, against theGermans in 1917, and againstthe Poles in 1920).

To admit defeat against amuch smaller opponent likeUkraine after deliberately start-ing the war would put the Putinregime at mortal risk, so what arethe Great Leader’s best remain-ing options? There is only one,actually. Escalate.

This is what Putin alwaysdoes when he’s in trouble, andthe only escalation that could

change the course of events atthat point would be nuclear. Justtiny nukes, of course: this wouldbe a bluff to squeeze some con-cessions out of the Ukrainiansand hold NATO at bay, not adecision to commit nationalsuicide (including personalextinction for Putin).

Russia does have some verytiny ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons -one kiloton or less. Nobody elsebothers to make them thatsmall, but then nobody else’sarmy still reflexively sees nuclearweapons, regardless of formaldeterrence doctrines, as just abigger kind of artillery.

Use one in an airburst overa small Ukrainian town or evena Ukrainian military position,and you’ll kill just a few thousandpeople, including even the fall-out victims. And maybe - justmaybe - that will frighten the

Ukrainians and NATO into giv-ing Putin a face-saving partialvictory.

So, if it comes to that - I’mnot predicting that it will, butit could - what should NATOdo? The answer, almost certain-ly, is: DO NOTHINGNUCLEAR.

Condemn the Russian firstuse of nuclear weapons, ofcourse, and watch the entireworld join the chorus. Ukraineshould continue military oper-ations as if it didn’t happen,except that at this point itcould ask NATO forces again toprovide air support within itsborders and NATO shouldagree. And everybody hopes forthe best.

What’s the alternative? Getinto a tit-for-tat tactical nuclearwar on Ukrainian soil? NukeMoscow? Don’t be stupid.

�� .��'�/�� 0

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘The Shortest History of

War’. The views expressedare personal.)

+,""$/2 ,

�*�*�")-�0,�3The logic put forward by various

experts regarding Quad andBRICS as opposing groupingsshould be seen differently and

from an Indo-centric perspective. Indeed,Quad is centred on the Chinese bel-ligerency and focuses on the Indo-Pacificregion. BRICS speaks volumes on variousissues from the developing world’s perspec-tive and has Russia and China as promi-nent members. Strategic partnerships andmultilateralism should be parallel to eachother as both are critical geopoliticalmarkers for a comprehensive foreign pol-icy. One should appreciate that India’s par-ticipation in both overlaps the objectivesof multi-alignment and multilateralism.India stands with a firm commitment tothe advocacy of multilateral diplomacy,with the objective of reforming the UN toface new global challenges. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s decision to attend theBRICS summit virtually is a testimony tothese efforts.

So how does India’s multilateral poli-cy have a convergence of objectives withthe multi alignment policy? The multilat-eral policy projects India’s soft-powerapproach to handle contentious geopolit-ical issues. India’s emerging role and con-tribution to the New Development Bank(NDB - BRICS Bank), which support pro-jects in areas such as clean energy, socialsafety, public health, etc., indicate India’s pri-orities. On the other hand, the multi-align-ment policy ensures continued support ofboth the US and Russia on various issuessuch as the reform of the UNSC and a vitaldistinction between internal and interna-tional issues. Both the policies seek to over-come the trust deficit and the resultant cri-sis of international cooperation with thelarger objective of India’s external securi-ty insight.

From a geo-economic perspective,China’s debt-trap policy jeopardises therecipient’s sovereignty. The case of Sri Lankahas only highlighted it. Thus, the Lankanexperience has made it imperative for theAfro-Asian nations to look towards Indiafor multilateral as well as bilateral aidthrough NDB and other MultilateralDevelopment Initiatives such as the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), anIndian-Japanese collaborative vision regard-ing development, connectivity and coop-eration between Asia and Africa that wasannounced in 2017. The NDB has a geo-graphically global scope, enhancing India’sstanding amongst the developing countries.The test for the success of India’s foreignpolicy lies in cooperating with the devel-opment partners without letting the coresecurity objectives being jeopardised. Toput India’s multilateral diplomacy at stakebecause of China’s aggressiveness or theSino-Russo grievances against the Westwould harm India’s credibility and fulfilChina’s ulterior motives of restrictingIndia to South Asia. Thus, in light of theabove arguments, India’s virtual presencewill ensure ‘presence’ and be an excellentdiplomatic response to Beijing’s strategiesto sow dissent amongst the Quad members.

�� 4��5

�� G<

Russian forces called inairstrikes on a besieged

steel factory in the southerncity of Mariupol to try to dis-lodge the last Ukrainian troopsholding out in the strategicport, Ukrainian officials saidSunday, while PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy said hewould meet in Kyiv with twotop American officials.

Zelenskyy gave few detailsabout the logistics of his talkswith U.S. Secretary of StateAntony Blinken and U.S.Defense Secretary LloydAustin on what was the 60thday since Russia invadedUkraine. But he told reportershe expected results - "not justpresents or some kind of cakes,we are expecting specificthings and specific weapons."

The visit would be thefirst to Kyiv by high-level U.S.Officials since the invasionbegan Feb. 24. While visitingPoland in March, Blinkenstepped briefly onto Ukrainiansoil to meet with the country'sforeign minister. Zelenskyy'slast face-to-face meeting witha U.S. Leader was Feb. 19 inMunich with Vice PresidentKamala Harris. The meetingwas set to take place asUkrainians and Russiansobserved Orthodox Easter, anoccasion Zelenskyy highlight-ed the allegorical significanceof during his nightly address tohis country's people after near-ly two months of war.

"There will be aResurrection. Life will defeat

death. The truth will defeat anylies. And evil will be punished,"he said. "And Russia will haveto learn these truths again, it'sonly a matter of time."

Russia has been trying totake Mariupol for nearly twomonths, and the city on the Seaof Azov has seen some of thewar's worst deprivations. Itscapture would deprive Ukraineof a vital port, free up Russiantroops to fight elsewhere, andestablish a land corridor to theCrimean Peninsula, whichMoscow seized in 2014.

Some 2,000 troops havebeen fighting tenaciously tohold on to the last remainingUkrainian outpost in the city,the Azovstal steel plant, whichalso has civilians taking refugein its labyrinthine tunnel sys-tem. Russian forces have con-tinued to pummel the plant,hitting it with air strikes,including by long-range air-craft, Oleksandr Shtupun,spokesman for the UkrainianArmed Forces General Staff,said Sunday. Mariupol hasbeen blockaded for most of thewar. Ukrainian officials havesaid they expect to find thou-sands of dead civilians and evi-dence of war crimes therewhen the fighting ends.Satellite images have shownwhat appear to be mass gravesdug in towns to the west andeast of Mariupol. In the lastday, Russia also pressed itsattacks elsewhere in the east-ern Donbas region, whereMoscow-backed separatistscontrolled some territorybefore the war and the

Russians are aiming to gain fullcontrol over Ukraine's easternindustrial heartland. Shtupunsaid Russian forces intensi-fied their assault operationstoward the cities of Popasnaand Siverodonetsk in Luhansk,and Kurakhiv in Donetsk.Luhansk regional Gov. SerhiyHaidai said Sunday that eightpeople were killed and twoothers were wounded in aRussian barrage on Saturday.

The Russians also haveshelled the Dnipro region westof Donbas, where at least oneperson was killed by a Russianmissile, according to regionalGov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

Russia has pulled backforces from Ukraine's capital,Kyiv, and the north of thecountry to feed into theDonbas offensive, but the

British Ministry of Defensesaid Sunday that Ukrainianforces had repelled numerousassaults in the past week."Despite Russia making someterritorial gains, Ukrainianresistance has been strongacross all axes and inflicted sig-nificant cost on Russianforces," the ministry said in anintelligence update.

"Poor Russian morale andlimited time to reconstitute, re-equip and reorganize forcesfrom prior offensives are like-ly hindering Russian combateffectiveness," it said.

The Ukrainian militarysaid Saturday it destroyed aRussian command post inKherson, a southern city thatfell to Russian forces early inthe war. The command postwas hit on Friday, killing two

generals and critically wound-ing another, the Ukrainianmilitary intelligence agencysaid in a statement. TheRussian military did not com-ment on the claim, whichcould not be confirmed.

If true, at least nineRussian generals have beenkilled since start of the inva-sion, according to Ukrainianreports. On Saturday the AzovRegiment of Ukraine'sNational Guard, which hasmembers holed up in Mariupolsteel plant, released a video ofaround two dozen women andchildren sheltering there.

Its contents could not beindependently verified, but ifauthentic, it would be firstvideo testimony of what lifehas been like for civilianstrapped underground there.

The video shows soldiers giv-ing sweets to children whorespond with fist-bumps. Oneyoung girl said she and her rel-atives had "seen neither the skynor the sun" since they lefthome Feb. 27.The regiment'sdeputy commander, SviatoslavPalamar, told the AP the videowas shot Thursday. The AzovRegiment has its roots in theAzov Battalion, which was

formed by far-right activists in2014 at start of separatist con-flict in eastern Ukraine and haselicited criticism for some of itstactics. More than 100,000people - down from a prewarpopulation of about 430,000 -are believed to remain inMariupol with scant food,water or heat.Ukrainianauthorities estimate that over20,000 civilians have been

killed in the city.Yet another attempt to

evacuate women, children andolder adults from Mariupolfailed Saturday.PetroAndryushchenko, an adviser toMariupol's mayor, said Russianforces did not allow Ukrainian-organised buses to take resi-dents to Zaporizhzhia, a city227 kilometers (141 miles) tonorthwest.

��/��*)�� (��

�� < ��

The sound of outgoingartillery and air raid sirens

were heard Saturday inSloviansk, a town in northernDonbas that had come underRussian attack the day before.

Two servicemen werebrought to a hospital from anearby town, but one of themwas mortally wounded andcould not be saved.

The Russian strike earlyFriday had damaged severalbuildings, including a school.

The war has brought backpainful memories for residentsof Sloviansk, where in 2014Ukrainian government forcesrepulsed Russia-backed sepa-ratists after a fierce battle. In theyears since, the separatistsmaintained control over part ofthe Donbas, and Moscow hasnow set out to capture theentire region.

Anna Direnskaya, 70, saidshe and her son and daughter-in-law decided to remain inSloviansk.

"I lived through 2014. I wasalso here. I didn't go anywhereand I don't want to go any-where. I am not hiding frommyself," she said while sittingin a wheelchair outside herdamaged apartment building."I want peace."

Direnskaya, who like many

in eastern Ukraine is a nativeRussian speaker, said she wish-es the Russians would under-stand that Ukrainians are notbad people and there is noenmity between them. "Whydid this happen? Why is thishappening? I don't know. Telleveryone I want peace andquiet," she said.

Poland and Ukraine havesigned an agreement increasingcooperation in the railwaytransport sector, aiming tohelp Ukraine maintain its tradeexchange with foreign coun-tries as the Russian invasionaffects its ports. Ukraine'sPrime Minister Denys Shmyhaland Poland's premier, MateuszMorawiecki, met on Saturdayin Krakow, Poland.

Morawiecki said onFacebook that they both agreedthat current sanctions onRussia are insufficient, whichcan be seen by the condition ofthe "Russian currency, bonds orinflation."

They appealed to the inter-national community fortougher steps that would stopRussia's aggression on Ukraineand for more military aid tohelp Ukraine.

Morawiecki drew specialattention to the plight of civil-ians seeking protection in asteel plant in Mariupol, as hecalled for the assistance.

�� 2��(��

��

The Russian military says ithas struck a Ukrainian

explosives factory, severalartillery depots and hundredsof other targets. RussianDefence Ministry spokesmanMaj. Gen. Igor Konashenkovon Sunday said Russian mili-tary used precision-guidedmissiles to destroy a factorymaking powder and explosivesnear Pavlohrad in Dniproregion in central Ukraine.

Konashenkov said Russianforces also struck severaldepots with artillery munitionsand rockets in Barvinkove,Nova Dmytrivka, Ivanivka,Husarivka and VelykaKomyshuvakha in Kharkivregion. He added that Russianartillery hit 423 Ukrainian tar-gets overnight,including forti-fied positions and troops con-centrations.

3��#��4��

�� G<

The Ukrainian military saidon Saturday it destroyed a

Russian command post inKherson, a southern city thatfell to Russian forces early inthe war.

The Ukrainian militaryintelligence agency posted astatement saying the commandpost was hit on Friday and twogenerals were killed and onewas critically wounded.

Oleksiy Arestovych, anadviser to Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy, said inan online interview that 50senior Russian officers were inthe command center when itcame under attack. He saidtheir fate was unknown.TheRussian military did not com-ment on the claim, which couldnot be confirmed.

#�� 3��!!��

��

The UK government willsend more military aid in

the form of much-neededdefence equipment to Ukrainein its fight against Russia,Prime Minister Boris Johnsontold Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky.

In one of many regularphone calls between the twoleaders on Saturday, Johnsonsaid Britain would providemore mobility vehicles, dronesand anti-tank weapons as hecondemned ongoing attacksby Russian forces against civil-ian targets, including inMariupol, Odessa and Lviv.

He also updated Zelenskyon new UK sanctions imposedagainst members of the Russianmilitary and confirmed that theUK would be reopening itsembassy in Kyiv next week asa show of "support and soli-darity with the Ukrainian peo-ple".

"The Prime Minister con-firmed that the UK is provid-ing more defensive military aid,including protected mobilityvehicles, drones and anti-tankweapons. President Zelenskyythanked the Prime Minister forthe training of Ukrainian mil-itary personnel currently tak-ing place in the UK," aspokesperson for 10 DowningStreet said in a readout of the

call. "The Prime Minister saidthat Russia would be held toaccount for its actions andthat the UK government washelping collect evidence of warcrimes.

He also updated thePresident on new UK sanctionsdesignations against membersof the Russian military andconfirmed that the UK wouldbe reopening its embassy inKyiv next week, demonstratingour support and solidarity withthe Ukrainian people," thespokesperson said.

President Zelensky andRussian President VladimirPutin are both due to meetUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres inthe coming week. Ahead ofplanned meetings, Johnsonand Zelensky agreed on theimportance of establishing aceasefire and humanitariancorridor to allow civilians toleave Mariupol. "The Prime

Minister said that Russia wouldbe held to account for itsactions and that the UK gov-ernment was helping collectevidence of war crimes,"Downing Street said.

"Both leaders discussedhow the UK will work withpartners to develop a long-termsecurity solution for Ukraineand the Prime Minister notedthe discussions taking placewith international partners toprovide further financial sup-port, including at the G7Finance Ministers' meeting lastWednesday," the statementadded.

Zelensky updated Johnsonon the situation in the Donbas,where Russia is now seen con-centrating its military efforts ina conflict that broke out inFebruary. In a press conferencein a Kyiv metro station later onSaturday, Zelensky said he was"satisfied" with the level ofmilitary support coming fromthe UK.

"We want more than we'rebeing given, but we're satisfied,"he told reporters."We cannotrefuse or reject anything dur-ing the war from the biggestmilitary aid, which is comingfrom the United States and theUnited Kingdom. There aremany other friends in Europe,but I'm talking about volumesof help and I'm grateful for it,"he said.

��2&!.� � �.!&��.�)��&,��*�!��0&��#��!��!.5��" ��

$&��5�� 1��*��!��!��4��6��

Switzerland has rejected tworequests by Germany to

export Swiss ammunition toUkraine, citing the Alpinenation's strict neutrality.

The decision was firstreported Sunday by Swissweekly Sonntagszeitung.Switzerland's State Secretariatfor Economic Affairs con-firmed that "both requests fromGermany, whether the ammu-nition received fromSwitzerland can be passed on toUkraine, were answered nega-tively with a reference to Swissneutrality."Germany needsSwitzerland's consent for armsdelivery as part of original salecontract. The Swiss officedeclined to specify what type ofammunition Germany hadsought to export to Ukraine.

��

The Organisation forSecurity and Co-operation

in Europe says it is extremelyconcerned about the detentionof several Ukrainian membersof its monitoring mission in theeast of the country.

The Vienna-basedbody said in a brief statementSunday that it is "using all avail-able channels to facilitate theirrelease." A spokespersondeclined to specify how manynational mission memberswere detained, when or bywhom.

Several OSCEobservers have been killed orinjured since the body's 57 par-ticipating states established amission to monitor the conflictin eastern Ukraine eight yearsago. Russia recently vetoed anextension of the mission.

�� G<

The sun came out asUkrainians marked

Orthodox Easter in capitalKyiv on Sunday with prayersfor those fighting on the frontlines and others trappedbeyond them in places likeMariupol.

St. Volodymyr's Cathedralin Kyiv was ringed by hundredsof worshippers with baskets tobe blessed.Inside, a womanclutched the arm of a soldier,turning briefly to kiss hiselbow. Other soldiers prayed,holding handful of candles,then crossed themselves.

An older woman bentslowly made her way throughthe crowd and stands of flick-ering candles. One youngwoman held daffodils.

Outside the cathedral, asoldier who gave only his firstname, Mykhailo, used his hel-met as an Easter basket. He saidhe didn't have another.

"I hope I'll only have to usethe helmet for this," he said.President VolodymyrZelenskyy at a service else-where in Kyiv urgedUkrainians not to let anger atthe war overwhelm them."Allof us believe our sunrise will

come soon," he said. With theOrthodox church split by thetensions between Russia andUkraine, some worshippershoped the holy day couldinspire gestures of peacemak-ing. "The church can help," saidone man who gave only his firstname, Serhii, as he came to achurch in Kyiv under theMoscow Patriarchate. He andothers brought baskets to beblessed by priests for Easter,

with flicks of a brush sprinklingholy water over offerings ofhome-dyed eggs, lighted can-dles and even bottles of JackDaniels.Residents of rural vil-lages battered by warapproached holiday with somedefiance. "We'll celebrate Easterno matter what, no mattermuch horror," said KaterynaLazarenko, 68, in the northernvillage of Ivanivka outsideChernihiv, where ruined

Russian tanks still litteredroads."How do I feel? Very ner-vous, everyone is nervous,"said another resident, OlenaKoptyl, as she prepared herEaster bread."The Easter holi-day doesn't bring any joy. I'mcrying a lot. We cannot forgethow we lived." She and 12 oth-ers spent a month shelteringfrom Russian soldiers in base-ment of her home before sol-diers withdrew.

��

Anew Russian interconti-nental ballistic missile is

capable of carrying severalhypersonic weapons, a seniorRussian military officer said onSunday.

Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev,the commander of the Russianmilitary's Strategic MissileForces, said in televisedremarks that the new SarmatICBM is designed to carryseveral Avangard hypersonicglide vehicles.

Russia's Defence Ministrysaid the Sarmat was test-firedfor the first time on Wednesdayfrom the Plesetsk launch facil-ity in northern Russia and itspractice warheads have suc-cessfully reached mock tar-gets on the Kura firing rangeon the far eastern KamchatkaPeninsula.

The test launch came amidsoaring tensions betweenMoscow and the West over theRussian military action inUkraine and underlines the

Kremlin's emphasis on thecountry's nuclear forces.

Russian President VladimirPutin hailed the Sarmat launchas a major achievement, claim-ing that the new missile has noforeign equivalent and is capa-ble of penetrating any prospec-tive missile defence.

"This really unique weapon

will strengthen the combatpotential of our armed forces,reliably ensure Russia's securi-ty from external threats andmake those, who in the heat offrantic aggressive rhetoric try tothreaten our country, thinktwice," Putin said onWednesday.

The Sarmat is a heavy mis-sile that has been under devel-opment for several years toreplace the Soviet-madeVoyevoda, which was code-named Satan by the West andforms the core of Russia'snuclear deterrent.

The military has said thatthe Avangard is capable of fly-ing 27 times faster than thespeed of sound and makingsharp maneuvers on its way totarget to dodge the enemy'smissile shield.

In anticipation of thedeployment of the Sarmat, thenew hypersonic vehicle hasbeen fitted to the existingSoviet-built ICBMs, and thefirst unit armed with theAvangard entered duty inDecember 2019.

The director and thedesigner-in-chief of theMakeyev missile-maker thatdeveloped Sarmat, VladimirDegtyar, said in televisedremarks that its range allows itto fly along any trajectoryacross north or south poles tohit any target around the world.

0!��(��!��.��6� ��%��7��%��

��0��/��

��

President Joe Biden onSunday commemorated the

107th anniversary of the startof the “Armenian genocide”,issuing a statement in memo-ry of the 1.5 million Armenians"who were deported, massacredor marched to their deaths ina campaign of extermination”.

The statement did not ref-erence the Russian invasion ofUkraine, which Biden hascalled a genocide.

Yet Biden used the anniver-sary to lay down a set of prin-ciples for foreign policy as theUS and its allies armUkrainians and impose sanc-tions on Russia.

“We renew our pledge toremain vigilant against the cor-rosive influence of hate in all itsforms,” the president said. “Werecommit ourselves to speakingout and stopping atrocities thatleave lasting scars on theworld." In 1915, Ottoman offi-cials arrested Armenian intel-lectuals and community lead-ers in Constantinople, nowIstanbul. The Biden statementnotes that this event on April

24 marked the beginning of thegenocide. Fulfilling a cam-paign promise, Biden used theterm “genocide” for the firsttime during last year's anniver-sary.

Past White Houses hadavoided that word for decadesout of a concern that Turkey —a NATO member — could beoffended.

Turkish officials wereangered by Biden's declara-tion a year ago, with the foreignministry issuing a statementthat said, “We reject anddenounce in the strongestterms the statement of thePresident of the US regardingthe events of 1915 made underthe pressure of radicalArmenian circles and anti-Turkey groups".

�� < �� G

Pope Francis has renewed hiscall for an Easter truce as

Orthodox Christians celebrat-ed Easter Sunday, when thefaithful mark the resurrectionof Jesus.

Without naming countries,Francis urged aggressors to“stop the attack to help the suf-fering of the exhausted people.”

Francis told a crowd gath-ered in St. Peter's Square thattwo months had passed sinceRussia's invasion of Ukraineand said that “instead of stop-ping, the war got worse.

It is sad that in these daysthat are the holiest and mostsolemn for all Christians, thedeadly clamour of arms islouder than the sound of bellsannouncing the Resurrection.”

��&��7��

��

Turkey's top diplomat saysAnkara has closed the

Turkish airspace to Russiancivilian and military flightsbetween Russia and Syria.

Mevlut Cavusoglu told agroup of Turkish journalistsduring a visit to Uruguay thatRussia had permission to usethe Turkish airspace for flightsto Syria until April. ButHaberturk television reportedthat Cavusoglu said Saturdaythat he asked Moscow to stopusing the airspace during avisit there in March, and thatMoscow agreed to the Turkishrequest.

Cavusoglu did not elabo-rate and it was not clear if themove aimed to prevent thepossible transfer of Syrianfighters to Ukraine.

NATO-member Turkeyhas been trying to balance itsclose relations with Moscowand Kyiv and has positioneditself as a mediator betweenthe two. It has not joinedinternational sanctions againstRussia but has closed thestraits at the entrance of theBlack Sea to some Russianwarships.

The country has hosted ameeting between the Russianand Ukrainian foreign minis-ters as well as talks betweenthe two countries' negotiatingteams.

+�� 3�� !�� (��&��3��/$ ��

%�� !��8��!�� /��!��8��

9$�7�� (�� !�!(��

�� %��8

��

France voted in a presidentialrunoff election Sunday with

repercussions for Europe'sfuture, with centrist incumbentEmmanuel Macron the front-runner but fighting a toughchallenge from far-right rivalMarine Le Pen.

The centrist Macron is ask-ing voters to trust him for a sec-ond five-year term despite apresidency troubled by protests,the pandemic and the war inUkraine.

A Macron victory in thisvote would make him the firstFrench president in 20 years towin a second term.

The result of voting inFrance, a nuclear-armed nationwith one of the world's biggesteconomies, could also impactthe conflict in Ukraine, asFrance has played a key role indiplomatic efforts and supportfor sanctions against Russia.

Le Pen's support inFrance's electorate has grownduring this campaign to herhighest level ever, and muchwill depend Sunday on howmany people turn out to vote.

Participation was 26.1% atmidday, slightly higher than atthe same point in the first-round vote April 10.

Many of those expected tochoose Macron are doing so tokeep out Le Pen and ideas seenas too extreme and anti-demo-cratic, such as her plan to banthe Muslim headscarf in pub-lic, or her ties to Russia.

"I am serene," she said asshe cast her ballot in the north-ern town of Henin-Beaumont."I have confidence in theFrench." She took selfies withfans, as Macron greeted crowdswith handshakes and embracesin the English Channel coastal

town of Le Touquet.Both candidates are trying

to court the 7.7 million votes ofleftist candidate Jean-LucMelenchon, who was defeatedin the first round on April 10.

For many who voted forleft-wing candidates in the firstround, the runoff presents anunpalatable choice between anationalist in Le Pen, and apresident who some feel hasveered to the right during hisfirst term.

The outcome could dependon how left-wing voters makeup their minds: between back-ing Macron or abstaining andleaving him to fend for himselfagainst Le Pen.

Voting west of Paris in thesuburb of Le Pecq, StephanieDavid cast her ballot forMacron "without much joy."She had voted for theCommunist Party candidatein round one.

"It was the least worstchoice," said the transportlogistics worker. Le Pen wasanathema to her: "Even if shetries to soften her rhetoric, Ican't stomach it."

All opinion polls in recent

days converge toward a win forthe 44-year-old pro-EuropeanMacron - yet the margin overhis 53-year-old far-right rivalvaries broadly. Polls also fore-cast a possibly record-highnumber of people who willeither cast a blank vote or notvote at all.

Retiree Jean-Pierre Rouxvoted to keep out Le Pen'sfather Jean-Marie in the 2002runoff and again against hisdaughter in 2017.

But Roux could not bringhimself to vote Macron againthis time. He put an emptyenvelope in the voting box.

He said he regardedMacron as too arrogant to votefor again, citing a commoncomplaint of the president thatLe Pen echoed, too. "I am notagainst his ideas but I cannotstand the person," he said.

Le Pen has sought to appealto working class voters strug-gling with surging prices amidthe fallout of Russia's war inUkraine -- an approach thateven Macron acknowledgedhas found resonance in thewider public. She said bring-ing down the cost of living

would be her priority if elect-ed as France's first womanpresident, and she portrayedherself as the candidate for vot-ers unable to make ends meet.She says that Macron's presi-dency has left the countrydeeply divided.

She has repeatedly refer-enced the so-called yellow vestprotest movement that rockedhis government before theCOVID-19 pandemic, withmonths of violent demonstra-tions against his economicpolicies that some thoughthurt the poorest.

France's presidential cam-paign has been especially chal-lenging for voters of immigrantheritage and religious minori-ties, notably because of LePen's proposed policies target-ing Muslims.

Macron has also toutedhis environmental and climateaccomplishments in a bid todraw in young voters popularwith far left candidates.

Citizens and especially mil-lennials voted in droves forMelenchon. Many young vot-ers are particularly engagedwith climate issues.

Although Macron wasassociated with the slogan"Make The Planet GreatAgain," in his first five-yearterm, he capitulated to angryyellow vest protesters by scrap-ping a tax hike on fuel prices.Macron has said his next primeminister would be placed incharge of environmental plan-ning as France seeks to becomecarbon neutral by 2050.

Le Pen, once considered aclimate-change sceptic, wantsto scrap subsidies for renewableenergies.

She vowed to dismantlewindfarms and invest innuclear and hydro energy.

(��+��!��0�.��

��

Pakistan's new PrimeMinister Shehbaz Sharif

and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin have quietlyexchanged letters to strength-en bilateral relations, a mediareport said on Sunday, amidstallegations by Imran Khan thathis maiden visit to Moscow,much against Washington'swishes, led to his ouster.

The letters were exchangedafter the election of Shehbaz asprime minister but both thesides kept development awayfrom the media glare in whatseemed to be a move aimed atavoiding any public attention,The Express Tribune newspa-per reported.

A senior Pakistan foreignoffice official confirmed to thenewspaper that President Putinwrote a letter to the prime min-ister, congratulating him on hiselection.

The official, who request-ed not to be named because ofthe sensitivity of the issue, said

Putin expressed his desire todeepen cooperation betweenthe two countries.

A day after his appoint-ment as Pakistan PrimeMinister, President Putin senta congratulatory message toSharif which was made publicby the Kremlin Press Office.

"Our countries sharefriendly and constructive rela-tions. I hope that as PrimeMinister you will seek to fur-ther promote closer multifac-eted cooperation betweenRussia and Pakistan, as well aspartnership in the Afghan set-tlement and countering inter-national terrorism," it quotedPutin as saying on April 12.

Shehbaz wrote back toPutin thanking him for hisfelicitation message andexpressed similar sentimentson bilateral ties between thetwo

countries as well as coop-eration on Afghanistan, TheExpress Tribune reported.

The exchange of letterstook place as the former prime

minister Khan is adamant hewas ousted from powerthrough an alleged US-backed

vote of no-confidence sinceAmericans did not like hisvisit to Moscow to meetPresident Putin on February24, the day the Russian presi-dent ordered the invasion ofUkraine.

Khan has repeatedly saidthat the US did not want himto visit Russia and the NationalSecurity Advisor of PresidentJoe Biden called his NationalSecurity Advisor Moeed Yusuf,urging him to call of the primeminister's visit to Moscow.

On Saturday, Khan againalleged that Pakistan's formerambassador to the US AsadMajeed Khan held a meetingwith senior American diplomatDonald Lu, where the latterused undiplomatic language.

"I will go a step forwardand say that he (Donald Lu)was arrogant… the Joe Bidenadministration official told ourambassador that Imran Khanwill have to be removedthrough a no-confidencemotion," he said, adding thatthe meeting took place beforethe no-trust motion was filedby the Opposition parties.

$��$��"#�#��%!�$��1�#�� #��

��

Slovenians are casting ballotson Sunday in a parliamen-

tary election that is expected tobe a tight race between the rul-ing right-wing populist party ofPrime Minister Janez Jansaand opposition green-liberalsin the politically dividedEuropean Union nation.

About 1.7 million voterswill choose from an array ofparties running for seats in the90-member legislature.

The ruling conservativeSlovenian Democratic Partyand newly formed FreedomMovement have led polls aheadof the vote.

Surveys, however, havesuggested that there will be noclear winner in the election andthat a coalition government willhave to be formed after thevote, made up of at least threeor four parties.

"Today is an important dayas these elections decide howSlovenia will develop not onlyin the next four years, but in thenext decade," Jansa said uponvoting on Sunday."Expectations are good."

Jansa became prime min-ister a little over two years agoafter the previous liberal pre-mier resigned.

An admirer of former US

President Donald Trump, Jansahas pushed the country to theright since taking over at thestart of the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The main challengerSunday is US-educated for-mer business executive RobertGolob and his FreedomMovement party. The party hasadvocated green energy tran-sition and sustainable devel-opment over Jansa's nation-centred narrative.

The two blocs are project-ed to win an almost equalnumber of votes - around 20-25 per cent - which wouldmean the composition andcourse of the future govern-ment could depend on whichsmaller groups pass the fourper cent election threshold.

Observers have givenGolob better chance than Jansaof gathering a post-electionalliance.

Jansa's SDS won the mostvotes in an election four yearsago, but couldn't initially findpartners for a coalition gov-ernment.

He took over after law-makers from centrist and left-leaning groups switched sidesfollowing the resignation in2020 of liberal Prime MinisterMarjan Sarec.

Jansa has since faced accu-

sations of sliding towardauthoritarian rule in the styleof his ally, Hungarian PrimeMinister Viktor Orban.

Jansa came under EUscrutiny amid reports that hepressured opponents and pub-lic media, and installed loyal-ists in key positions for controlover state institutions.

Liberals have describedSunday's election as a referen-dum on Slovenia's future.

They argue that Jansa, ifreelected, would push the tra-ditionally moderate nation fur-ther away from "core" EUdemocratic values and towardother populist regimes.

The Freedom Housedemocracy watchdog recentlysaid that "while political rightsand civil liberties are general-ly respected (in Slovenia), thecurrent right-wing governmenthas continued attempts toundermine the rule of law anddemocratic institutions, includ-ing the media and judiciary".

The 63-year-old politicalveteran Jansa has denied this,portraying himself as a victimof an elaborate leftist smearplot.In order to polish hisimage before the election, Jansahas distanced himself fromOrban and adopted a toughstance toward Russia over theinvasion of Ukraine.

��-��-��

�� G�

Rescuers said that 10 peoplewho were retrieved on

Sunday from the frigid seaand the rocky coast of a north-ern Japanese national park haddied, a day after a tour boatwith 26 aboard apparently sankin rough waters, triggeringquestions why it was allowed tosail.

The search for the others isstill ongoing after the boatsent a distress call on Saturdayafternoon saying it was sinking.

The location near theKashuni Waterfall is known asa difficult place to maneuverboats because of its rockycoastline and strong tide.

There were two crew and24 passengers, including twochildren, on the the 19-tonKazu 1 when it ran into trou-bles while travelling off thewestern coast of the ShiretokoPeninsula. The coast guardsaid the 10 victims - seven menand three women - were adults.

The Transport Ministrylaunched an investigation intothe boat's operator, which hadtwo accidents last year.

The ministry said it waslooking into safety standardsand the decision to conduct thetour despite rough weather onSaturday.The operator,Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, hadbeen instructed to take steps toimprove its safety followingearlier accidents in which it ranaground in June without caus-ing injuries, and another inMay, when three passengerssuffered minor injuries whenthe boat collided with an object.

"We will thoroughly inves-

tigate what caused this situationand what kind of safety over-sight was involved to allow thetour in order to prevent anoth-er accident," TransportMinister Tetsuo Saito, who vis-ited the area on Sunday, toldreporters.

Following an intensivesearch involving six patrolboats, several aircraft anddivers that went through thenight, rescuers on early Sundayfound four people near the tipof Shiretoko Peninsula andlater six more in the samearea, about 14 kilometers northfrom where the boat sent a dis-tress call.

Some of them wereplucked from the sea, whileothers were washed onto therocky coast. An orange-coloured, square-shaped life-saving float with the boat'sname on it was also found nearthe rocks, the coast guard said.

Footage on public broad-caster NHK showed one of thevictims arriving on a heli-copter and being transferred toan ambulance on a stretcher.Rescuers held up blue plasticshields to protect the victim'sprivacy.

9��*��(�$!��:��$�;��(��

��

China's capital Beijing hasgone on high alert as the

situation turned "grim" fol-lowing the emergence of clus-ters of COVID-19, while thecountry's financial hubShanghai reported 39 moredeaths due to the virus, thehighest in a day so far duringthe current outbreak since lastmonth.

The Chinese mainland onSaturday reported 21,796 cases,including 1,566 positive casesand the rest asymptomaticcases mostly in Shanghai,China's National HealthCommission reported onSunday.

Beijing, the seat of China'stop leadership, went on highCOVID-19 alert as the citybraced to test some sections ofthe population after the cityrecorded 22 new communitycases on Saturday.

The city went on high alertafter 10 middle school studentstested positive for COVID-19on Friday following which cityofficials suspended classes inthe school for a week.

Pang Xinghuo, deputydirector of the Beijing Centrefor Disease Prevention andControl, said undetected localtransmissions started in the cityabout a week ago, and involvedschools, tour groups and fam-ilies.

"There were hidden trans-missions for a week and theinfected people came from dif-ferent backgrounds and a widerange of activities," Pang wasquoted as saying by the HongKong-based South ChinaMorning Post.Mass testing willbe conducted on senior citizenswho had been on tour groups,construction workers and thepeople working at the schoolwhere the cluster was identi-fied, Pang said.

��1��(�� :;< ��$��=>��

��

Pakistan's new government has removednames of several high-profile person-

alities, including Prime Minister ShehbazSharif, from the no-fly list, it emerged onSunday.

The Cabinet in its maiden meeting lastweek had authorised the Ministry ofInterior, headed by Rana Sanaullah, toreview the Exit Control List (ECL), deal-ing with the people not allowed to leavethe country. The interior ministry start-

ed issuing notifications for removal ofthose names from the ECL which had beenon it for 120 days without any compellingreason, reported the Express Tribune.

Those allowed to move out of thecountry without any hindrance includePrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his wifeNusrat Shehbaz, his niece Maryam Nawaz,former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, hisson Abdullah Khaqan and FinanceMinister Miftah Ismail.

Sanaullah on Friday said that nameswere put on the ECL for political revenge.

There are 4,863 people on the ECL black-list and 30,000 people in the ProvisionalNational Identification List (PNIL).

"Yes, the ECL rules have been amend-ed which will directly benefit 3,500 peo-ple," the minister had said.

Pakistan authorities maintain differ-ent categories of people who are bannedfrom leaving the country for various rea-sons, including those who face corruptioncases. But these lists had been used in thepast by the governments to muzzle oppo-sition.

/��$��2��$��"#�#��%�� #� # ��

��

Amonth-long festival tocelebrate and promote

Tamil, one of the four officiallanguages in Singapore, isbeing held here this monthwith 44 programmes such asdramas, music and competi-tions, predominantly on vir-tual platforms.

The programme wil lencourage everyone to 'LoveTamil, Speak Tamil', embracetheir mother tongue and usethe language at home and intheir daily l ives, said SManogaran, who is the chair-man of the government-established Tamil LanguageCouncil.

Tamil is one ofSingapore's four official lan-guages along with Chinese,Malay and English. It is usedin Parliament and also inschools as a mother tongue

subject. Tamil is also printedon the country's currencynotes.

"...Such programmes areimportant for Tamil to be aliving language," Vikram Nair,a Member of Parliament, said.

"When the students takepart in such Tamil relatedprogrammes, then the lan-guage will continue to liveover generations," said Nair.

"This year 's TamilLanguage Festival celebratesthe future of Tamil inSingapore. Having the festivalofficially launched by childrenand youths represents ourvision for the younger gener-ation and our hopes for themto be empowered to take thelead in promoting the use ofour mother tongue,"Manogaran said. A song anddance presentation titled'KadayeluVallalgal ' wasstreamed live on Friday.

��-��(��..��

1�/��

Yemen's warring parties failedto operate the first com-

mercial flight in six years fromthe rebel-held capital on Sundayin a blow to an already fragiletruce in the country's grindingconflict.

The flight, with an Amman,Jordan destination, had beenplanned as part of the UN-bro-kered, 60-day truce agreementthat the internationally recog-nised government and theHouthi rebels struck earlier thismonth.

The truce, which went intoeffect on April 2, is the firstnationwide cease-fire in Yemenin six years. It came amid con-certed international and region-al efforts to find a settlement tothe conflict that devastated theArab World's poorest countryand pushed it to the brink offamine.Yemen's brutal civil warerupted in 2014, when theIranian-backed Houthis seizedthe capital of Sanaa and forcedthe government into exile.

The Saudi-led coalitionentered the war in early 2015 totry restore the government topower.The conflict has in recentyears become a regional proxywar that has killed more than150,000 people, including over14.500 civilians. It has also cre-ated one of the worst humani-tarian crises in the world.As partof the truce, the two sides agreedto operate two commercialflights a week to and from Sanaato Jordan and Egypt. Sanaa isblockaded by the Saudi-led coali-tion. However, both sides failedto operate the first flight morethan three weeks since the trucetook effect.

��

The World HealthOrganisation says at least

one death has been reported inconnection with a mysteriousliver disease outbreak affectingchildren in Europe and theUnited States.

The UN health agency saidlate on Saturday that it has sofar received reports of at least169 cases of "acute hepatitis ofunknown origin" from a dozencountries. The cases werereported in children aged onemonth to 16 years old, and 17of those who fell ill requiredliver transplants.

WHO didn't say in whichcountry the deathoccurred.The first cases wererecorded in Britain, where 114children have been sickened. "Itis not yet clear if there has beenan increase in hepatitis cases, oran increase in awareness ofhepatitis cases that occur at theexpected rate but go undetect-ed," WHO said in a statement.

��I�@��$�)*�$� *��*��#�., ��&,�)��&*� �� !"�5&��0

�� ;$��9�

��

Exports of ceramics andglassware products

touched a "record" USD 3.5billion in 2021-22, the com-merce ministr y said onSunday.

It said the exports rosebecause of increase in ship-ments of ceramic tiles andsanitaryware products.

India is the world's secondlargest manufacturer of tiles.The main items for exportunder glassware include arti-cles of glass packing, sanitaryfixtures of porcelain, glassmirror, tinted non-wired glass,glass bead and glass wool.

India exports to morethan 125 countries and topdestinations are Saudi Arabia,the United States, Mexico,Kuwait, the United ArabEmirates, Iraq, Oman,Indonesia, the UnitedKingdom and Poland.

"Over the years, theindustry has been moderniz-ing through new innovationsand product profile, qualityand design to emerge as amodern world class industryready to take on global com-petition," it said.

��

Food major BritanniaIndustries Ltd has unveiled

its first ever co-created biscuit toserve Tamil Nadu market withthe launch of Britannia MarieGold Jeera, the company said onSunday.

The brand ahead of itsregion-specific launch hasworked with various womenhomemakers in the state to co-create a biscuit which has 'jeera'(cumin) as its key ingredientgiven its health benefits, accord-ing to company ChiefMarketing Officer Amit Doshi.

Britannia wanted to cele-brate the state's love for thebrand by launching an innova-tive product that is specially

curated to suit the local tastes ofthe region, he said, adding thebrand has an impressive pene-tration in Tamil Nadu besidesholding a dominant marketleadership.

Tamilians have a prefer-ence for spices and masalas intheir food, and taking inspira-tion from this, Britannia MarieGold has collaborated withonline portal Momspresso bypartnering with 300 womenhomemakers to co-create MarieGold Jeera for the state, he saidin a statement.

"This is Britannia's first everco-created product with con-sumers for a specific region," thecompany said.

"Tamil Nadu is one ofBritannia's largest markets in

terms of affinity and marketshare. Marie Gold is one of ourlargest brands and has the trustof millions of consumers, espe-

cially in TN. At Britannia, westrive towards incessant inno-vation of our product lines withthe inclusion of new flavours,

ingredients to cater to localaudiences," Doshi said.

The "Marie Gold Jeera"takes the special bond of

Britannia Industries with thecustomer to an all new level, bylaunching its first ever co-cre-ated biscuit, he said.

Momspresso co-founderPrashant Sinha said, "We stud-ied the requirements of momsin Tamil Nadu through ourwide network of bloggers andinfluencers and came up withthe popular choice of ingredientJeera for Britannia Marie Gold."

"We are delighted thatBritannia partnered with usand we were able to contributeto their journey of building anew product for Tamil Nadu,"Sinha said.

The new Marie Gold Jeerais priced at �10 for 73.5 gramsand �30 for a 200 gram pack inTamil Nadu.

��

Equity markets may facevolatility this week amid

monthly derivatives’ expiry,and global trends along withthe ongoing quarterly earningsby corporates would continueto play a major role in tradingmovement, analysts said.

Markets would also keen-ly track foreign fund movementamid unabated outflows.

"It is expected that thisweek will also kick off on asombre note on the back ofsharp fall in the US market onFriday after hawkish com-mentary by the US Fed andweak earnings. The global cuesmay dominate this week along

with April month F&O expiryand Q4 earnings.

"In terms of Q4 earnings,market will react to the resultsof ICICI Bank on Mondaywhile HDFC Life, Bajaj Auto,HUL, Ambuja Cement, AxisBank, Bajaj Finserv, Vedanta,IndusInd Bank, MarutiSuzuki, Ultratech Cement andWipro will be other key resultswhich are scheduled thisweek," said Santosh Meena,Head of Research, SwastikaInvestmart Ltd.

FIIs are continuously sell-ing in the Indian equity mar-ket and their behaviour will beimportant amid concerns ofaggressive rate hikes in theUSA, Meena added.

There are still uncertaintiesabout the Russia-Ukraine warwhereas the market will alsohave an eye on crude oil prices,he said.

"The still persistent war sit-uation in Eastern Europe, like-ly rate action from the ECB,and also an enhanced rateresponse from the Fed are fac-tors that will guide the marketsin the coming week, and mayalso put pressure on prices,"Joseph Thomas, Head ofResearch, Emkay WealthManagement, said.

Last week, the Sensex lost1,141.78 points or 1.95 per cent,while the Nifty shed 303.70points or 1.73 per cent.

"Global cues like hawkish

Fed commentary, rising infla-tion and bond yields, slowingeconomic growth, prolongedwar in Ukraine and volatilecrude prices are keeping mar-kets uncertain. Continuousselling by FIIs and weak resultsby few heavyweights has fur-ther added pressure to themarket," said SiddharthaKhemka, Head - RetailResearch, Motilal OswalFinancial Services Ltd.

Milind Muchhala,Executive Director, Julius Baer,said investors might prefer towait out for more results to beannounced and hear out theaccompanying commentariesto gauge in case there are anyconcerns of earnings cuts

creeping in. "Also, the impending con-

cerns of elevated commodityprices due to geopolitical situ-ation and supply chain chal-lenges, and with increasingexpectations of a harsher hikeby the US Fed, the market maycontinue to witness highervolatility in the near term,"Muchhala added.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking Ltd, said,markets will react to ICICIBank numbers in early trade onMonday.

"Besides, global cues likeupdates on the Russia-Ukrainecrisis, and China's COVID sit-uation will also remain onparticipants' radar," he added.

��

India's crude oil import billnearly doubled to USD 119billion in the fiscal year that

ended on March 31, as energyprices soared globally followingthe return of demand and warin Ukraine.

India, the world's thirdbiggest oil consuming andimporting nation, spent USD119.2 billion in 2021-22 (April2021 to March 2022), up fromUSD 62.2 billion in the previ-ous fiscal year, according todata from the oil ministry'sPetroleum Planning & AnalysisCell (PPAC).

It spent USD 13.7 billion inMarch alone, when oil pricessurged to 14-year high. Thiscompared with USD 8.4 billionspending in the same monthlast year.

Oil prices started to surgefrom January and rates crossedUSD 100 per barrel in the fol-lowing month before touchingUSD 140 per barrel in earlyMarch. Prices have since reced-ed and are now around USD106 per barrel.

According to PPAC, Indiaimported 212.2 million tonnesof crude oil in 2021-22, upfrom 196.5 million tonnes inthe previous year. This was,

however, lower than pre-pan-demic imports of 227 milliontonnes in 2019-20. The spend-ing on oil imports in 2019-20was USD 101.4 billion.

The imported crude oil isturned into value-added prod-ucts like petrol and diesel at oilrefineries, before being sold toautomobiles and other users.

India, which is 85.5 percent dependent on imports tomeet crude oil needs, has a sur-plus refining capacity and itexports some petroleum prod-ucts but is short on productionof cooking gas LPG, which isimported from nations likeSaudi Arabia.

The nation consumed202.7 million tonnes of petro-leum products in 2021-22,up from 194.3 million tonnesin the previous fiscal, butlower than pre-pandemic214.1 million tonnes demandin 2019-20.

Import of petroleum prod-ucts in 2021-22 fiscal was 40.2million tonnes worth USD24.2 billion. On the other hand,61.8 million tonnes of petrole-um products were also export-ed for USD 42.3 billion.

Besides, India also spentUSD 11.9 billion on import of32 billion cubic meters of LNGin 2021-22. This compared to

USD 7.9 billion spent onimport of 33 bcm of gas in theprevious fiscal and USD 9.5 bil-lion on import of 33.9 bcm in2019-20.

Net oil and gas importbill, after adjusting for exports,came to USD 113 billion, upfrom USD 63.5 billion in 2020-21 and USD 92.7 billion in2019-20.

India had spent USD 62.2billion on the import of 196.5million tonnes of crude oil inthe previous 2020-21 fiscal,when global oil pricesremained subdued in the wakeof the COVID-19 pandemic.

Higher crude oil importbill is expected to dent themacroeconomic parameters.

The country's importdependence has increasedowing to a steady decline indomestic output. The nationproduced 32.2 million tonnesof crude oil in 2019-20, whichfell to 30.5 million tonnes in thefollowing year and to 29.7 mil-lion tonnes in FY22, the PPACdata showed.

According to PPAC, India'soil import dependence was 85per cent in 2019-20, whichdeclined marginally to 84.4per cent in the following yearbefore climbing to 85.5 per centin 2021-22.

��

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)will keep consolidating its

existing product line-up,including hatchbacks, whilebolstering presence in the fastgrowing SUV segment topower its way back to 50 percent market share in thedomestic passenger vehiclemarket, as per a senior com-pany official.

The country's largest car-maker, which has seen its mar-ket share drop to 43.38 per centin FY22 from 47.7 per cent inFY21, aims to bring in multi-ple SUV products with focuson new technologies likehybrid powertrains in order toenhance fuel efficiency, makingthem comparable or betterthan diesel-powered modelsthat are currently being sold inthe market, especially by itsKorean rivals.

With no intention of mak-

ing a comeback in the dieselsegment, MSI is also focusingon increasing its play in theCNG segment to bring in addi-tional volumes.

The company had a marketshare of 51.22 per cent in2018-19 and 51.03 per cent in2019-20. In an interaction withPTI here, MSI Senior ExecutiveDirector (Marketing and Sales)Shashank Srivastava noted thatthe company will pull out allthew stops to gain back the lostmarket share.

"It's a war cry..It is there inour organisation..It is like con-structive paranoia...Whichmeans you cannot rest easy.. Itdoesn't take much time for themarket dynamics to change, sowe are always on our toes ashow to improve efficiency, pro-ductivity etc," he noted whenasked about the company'sthinking on regaining the 50per cent market share.

Srivastava said that in the

non-SUV segment, the com-pany's market share was at 67per cent level, with leadershippositions in both hatchbackand MPV segments.

He acknowledged that lackof products in the fast growingSUV segment had impacted itsoverall market share.

Elaborating on the seg-ment dynamics, Srivastavanoted that while the companyled the entry-level SUV seg-

ment with Brezza, it was onlyin the robustly growing mid-SUV segment where it laggedbehind the competition withtepid response for S-Cross.

"So, overall our marketshare in the SUV vertical is just12 per cent. This is where weare now making efforts to bol-ster our presence," Srivastavasaid. He noted that while thecompany struggled with subpar performance in the seg-

ment, some of the competingcompanies were getting asmuch as 60 per cent of theirsales from SUVs.

When asked if the lack ofdiesel powertrain option couldalso be a part of low offtake inthe vertical, with competitorsalready offering their productswith both petrol and dieselpowertrains, Srivastava repliedin the negative. He pointed outthat the share of diesel vehicleshas come down drastically toabout 18 per cent from the highsof 58 per cent a few years ago.

"In the hatchbacks it isless than 0.5 per cent, in sedansit is about 1.5 per cent, inMPVs it has come down to 20per cent, so overall it is 18 percent, which is coming from themid-sized SUVs. In this seg-ment we believe there is accep-tance for diesel as it lacks agood petrol-powered vehicle,"Srivastava said.

Citing the example of

Brezza, he noted that in theentry-level SUV segment theshare of diesel trims used to bein the range of 88 per centwhich has now come down toabout 20 per cent.

"We discontinued thediesel and brought Brezza with1.5 litre petrol ..This suddenlychanged the dynamics and 88per cent became 20 percent..We believe this will hap-pen in mid-SUV as well..,"Srivastava stated.

He noted that in the hatch-back segment it was a clearleader with a dominant marketshare of 70 per cent while in theMPV segment also, it was wayahead with its market sharegrowing from 35 per cent in2019 to 61 per cent last fiscal.

When asked specificallyabout the entry-level hatchbacksegment, Srivastava noted thatout of the total 16-17 hatch-backs in the industry, sevenbelonged to MSI.

��2��/ ��3��4��.155

��!� �� !� ��4�� :��(�� /��!�1��

��

The private sector is expect-ed to drive growth of the

National Pension System (NPS),which has witnessed exponen-tial rise over the last five years,in terms of number of sub-scribers as well as assets undermanagement, a study paper ofPFRDA said.

Led by the Atal PensionYojana (APY), the number ofsubscribers between 2017-18and 2021-22 have multipliedover three-fold, while the assetsunder management rose by overfour-fold led by NPS, said thepaper written by PFRDA mem-ber Deepak Mohanty.

The Pension FundRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA) regulatesthe flagship Atal Pension Yojana(APY) and the National PensionSystem (NPS).

"The annual rates of returnin various NPS schemes sinceinception in the range 9.0-12.7 per cent and for APY at 9.4per cent have been very com-petitive vis-à-vis alternate sav-ing instruments besides theprimary benefit of steadyincome," as per the paper.

Since the introduction ofNPS in 2004, and more recent-ly APY in June 2015, the pensionsector has expanded in India.

Total number of subscribershave increased over three-foldfrom 1.5 crore in March 2017, toover 5.2 crore by March 2022,which is dominated by APY.Total number of APY sub-scribers has risen by over four-

times from 93 lakh to 4.05crore. Of this, APY subscribersaccount for over 78 per cent ofthe pension subscriber base.

Looking at AUM, the pen-sion assets under managementhave increased over four-foldfrom �1,75,000 crore to Rs7,37,000 crore during this 5-yearperiod.

In this, the majority of theassets is held by NPS, rising from�1,70,000 crore to �7,11,000crore, accounting for 96 per centof total assets. The rest of 4 percent is contributed by APY.

Mohanty said India's pen-sion-sector (NPS plus APY),provides a flexible mode of oldage income-security not only forsalaried employees but also tothe common person.

"The future expansion inNPS is expected to emanatefrom the private sector – boththe salaried and self-employed.

"Steps at enhanced pen-sion-literacy, both of the sub-scribers and the intermediaries,coupled with a nudge from theregulator and the governmentalong with encouragement toyoung-adults to join a pensionscheme would accelerate our

movement towards a pension-society," he said.

The paper said these areearly days for the pension sec-tor in India and there is tremen-dous scope for growth as our percapita income rises further andthe country transitions to ahigh middle-income country.

"Our demographic struc-ture, with a greater proportionof younger people, favors aphase of accumulation. Sincelongevity is inching up, so alsothe need for a steady stream ofincome is increasing to mitigateold-age poverty.

Further, as the traditionalfamily support system changeswith increasing urbanizationthere is even a greater necessityfor an independent source ofincome in old-age."

As per the study, given thefiscal-situation, the govern-ment may nudge peopletowards NPS as has alreadybeen done for governmentemployees. Also, as the pensionsector progresses, there will bea need for a sound regulatoryarchitecture to ensure that pen-sion funds are managed onprudent lines while safeguard-ing overall financial stability.

In this direction, the PFRDAbecame a statutory pension sec-tor regulator in February 2014.

"PFRDA has the oversightrole over the pension sector; andhas taken a number of steps toensure that the intermediariesinvolved in the relevant pensionarchitecture function seamlessly.On boarding and exit of pen-sioners have been made easy with

greater usage of technology.While there is a mechanism forquick redressal of pensionergrievances, it is being furtherstrengthened," the paper addedfurther.

It also highlighted theimportance of financial literacyfor people to reap the benefit ofthe formal financial sector.Having reading or writing abil-ity is not enough for financial lit-eracy, it said.

Further, financial inclusionand empowerment will remainincomplete without each mem-ber in a family having got a pen-sion account.

In this direction, given thenature of the pension productwhere the payoff is not imme-diate, it needs a nudge by allconcerned – the employers,intermediaries, the governmentand the pension regulator – toinduce people, particularlyyoung adults to join a pensionscheme.

"There is immense merit injoining young, as with smallcontributions sizable corpuscould be accumulated giventhe power of compound inter-est rate, providing substantialsteady income in one's post-working life."

NPS mainly caters to thepension needs of the organisedsector employees, including thegovernment staff, while APY istargeted for those working in theunorganised sector.

PFRDA said the viewsexpressed in these papers arethose of the author and not nec-essarily that of the institution.

��"��/&%��

��

Lenders of debt-riddenReliance Capital Ltd (RCL)

are likely to share the RequestFor Resolution Plan (RFRP)document with bidders byWednesday or Thursday andbids with a high upfront cashpayment component will get themaximum score as a part of theresolution process, sources said.

The RFRP document setsthe guidelines for the submis-sion and evaluation of the res-olution plan and is shared withall the companies that havesubmitted Expression ofInterest (EoI) for the submis-sion of financial bids.

RCL had offered twooptions to all the bidders.Under the first option, com-panies could bid for RelianceCapital, including its eight sub-

sidiaries or clusters. The secondoption gave the companiesfreedom to bid for its sub-sidiaries, individually or in acombination.

As per the RFRP documentfinalised by the lenders, com-panies bidding for RCL's dif-ferent businesses under option2, can only make all-cash bidsand they will not be permittedto make deferred paymentstructure, sources said.

Companies bidding forRCL under option 1, will havethe choice of making an all-cash bids or combination ofupfront cash cum deferredpayment bids, sources said.

As per the evaluation cri-teria, as proposed in the RFRP,all cash bids or bids with highupfront cash payment compo-nent will get maximum scoresfrom the lenders, sources said.

��)�0�),��!� $�&��;��3��$�5�**�&�5,��*J��))�� $5�* ��!�(��$�($� �� !&��

��

Luxury mattress brandSpringfit aims a turnover of

�1,000-1,200 crore in the nextfive years, helped by growthfrom domestic and exportsmarkets, said a company offi-cial. As part of its expansionstrategy, Springfit is investingto double its manufacturingcapacity to meet the growingdemand, expand its distribu-tion network and add moreexclusive showrooms.

Besides, the Delhi-basedcompany may try to get listedon the stock exchange in thenext 2-3 years, said SpringfitExecutive Director NitinGupta. For the fiscal year

ended March 31, 2022,Springfit achieved a turnoverof around �250 crore and aimsto grow almost double this fis-cal year to �450-500 crore.

"We are confident of dou-bling our revenue to Rs 1,000to 1,200 crore, over the nextfive years with our expansion.Most of the new incrementalrevenue should come from theupcoming Meerut andVadodara plants. If our plansgo as planned, we should beover �1,000 crore entity byFY27," Gupta told PTI.

Besides, the company isexpanding its distributionfootprints and plans two-foldjump in the total count ofexclusive showrooms.

��0�122��3�4��

74��!��/��&�� ?;@A(��==

��8��*�� %��'��!��+B

��$�5�� $#C&�� ADE!��

��99��

��

Bayern Munich werecrowned Bundesligachampions for the 10th

consecutive season on Saturdayafter a 3-1 home win over sec-ond-placed BorussiaDortmund.

First-half goals by SergeGnabry and RobertLewandowski put Bayern incontrol at a sold-out AllianzArena before Emre Can con-verted a penalty after the breakfor Dortmund.

But teenager Jamal Musialafired in a late goal to spark earlycelebrations in the home crowd.

This is the first time a clubhas won 10 straight titles in oneof Europe's top five leagues.

The Bavarian giants' eighthsuccessive win over Dortmundleaves Bayern an unassailable12 points clear with threegames left.

Bayern dominated theopening half and Gnabry fireda magnificent volley into thetop corner from the edge of thebox to give them a 15th-minute lead.

Gnabry had a second effortdisallowed beforeLewandowski doubled theadvantage 11 minutes beforehalf-time.

It was the Poland striker's27th goal in 26 matches againstDortmund, who he left forBayern in 2014.

Dortmund respondedearly in the second half as Canconverted a penalty afterMarco Reus was brought down

in the area.The visitors had their

appeals for another spot-kickwaved away with 30 minutesleft when Lucas Hernandezbrought Jude Bellingham downin the area.

Lewandowski won the bat-tle of the Bundesliga's starstrikers as Erling Haaland, whohas been linked with big-money move to ManchesterCity, failed to score despite forc-ing Bayern goalkeeper Manuel

Neuer into two late saves.Musiala put the result

beyond doubt when he slottedhome seconds after his initialshot was saved by Dortmundkeeper Marwin Hitz.

Late Union goals stun

LeipzigEarlier, Union Berlin

scored two late goals to poacha 2-1 win at RB Leipzig, whichkept alive their ChampionsLeague qualification hopes.

Bayer Leverkusen

thumped bottom club GreutherFuerth 4-1 to take third placefrom Leipzig and move threepoints clear of fifth-placedFreiburg in the race for the topfour.

Freiburg missed the chanceto draw level on points withLeipzig, conceding a lateequaliser in a 3-3 draw withBorussia Moenchengladbach.

Eintracht Frankfurt, whovisit West Ham on Thursday intheir Europa League semi-finalfirst leg, conceded a lateequaliser to draw 2-2 at hometo Hoffenheim.

��

Robert Lewandowski lefthis future at Bayern

Munich open on Saturdaywhen he said: "Somethingwill happen soon."

The 33-year-old, who isout of contract next year,scored his 33rd league goalthis season in 3-1 win overDortmund.

Barcelona reportedlywant to sign Lewandowski,who was cagey about hisBayern future.

"Something will hap-pen soon. The only thing Iknow is that there will be ameeting (with Bayern)",Lewandowski told Sky.

Lewandowski has wonback-to-back FIFA best maleplayer awards for the lasttwo years and lifted everyavailable title with Bayern.

He has scored 342 goalsin 372 games since he joinedon a free transfer fromDortmund in 2014.

Bayern bosses havemade it clear they want tokeep him, but club CEOOliver Kahn admitted lastSunday that the Poland staris "considering his future".

Lewandowski added

that "nothing special" hashappened yet, with his agentin talks with Bayern, and hewill "see" how things devel-op.

"It is not easy for me," headmitted.

Bayern captain ManuelNeuer and Thomas Muellerare also out of contract in2023, but both players saidthey plan to extend theircontracts.

"We'll see what hap-pens, but the feeling today isthat it's hard to leave," saidMueller.

Neuer said he feels"well" at Bayern. "We havethe team with the potentialto play for the ChampionsLeague title."

��

Paris Saint-Germain secureda record-equalling 10th

Ligue 1 title on Saturday, draw-ing level with Saint-Etienne,despite being held to a 1-1home draw by 10-man Lens.

Lionel Messi looked tohave curled in a fine winner inthe 68th minute, but Lensdampened the already mutedtitle party at the Parc desPrinces through Corentin Jeanwith two minutes left.

PSG have an unassailable16-point lead over second-placed Marseille with fourmatches remaining.

Mauricio Pochettino's menreclaim the crown from Lille,who were shock champions lastseason.

It is the capital giants'eighth Ligue 1 triumph in thelast 10 seasons, powered by theinvestment of their Qatari own-ers.

This season will still beseen as a failure for PSG,though, after collapsing to adramatic loss to Real Madrid inthe Champions League last 16,after also suffering a surpriseFrench Cup loss to Nice.

On Saturday, an inevitableleague title was confirmed in astrangely non-celebratoryatmosphere in Paris.

Attention in the Frenchcapital will now turn to thefuture of Kylian Mbappe, withthe star forward still to decidewhether to stay at PSG or

leave for Real Madrid beforenext season.

PSG's hopes of wrappingup the title with a win weregiven a boost in the 57thminute, as Danso was shown asecond yellow card for a tack-le on Neymar.

Messi almost found thecorner of the net with theresulting free-kick, but Lecaplunged to his right to makeanother good save.

Sergio Ramos should havescored midway through thesecond half, but the veterancentre-back scooped over fromeight yards out.

It was Messi who finallygave the match a moment toremember, bending a trade-mark finish over Leca from theedge of the box.

The Argentinian has nowscored four Ligue 1 goals in adisappointing first season forPSG since leaving Barcelona.

But, perhaps fittingly, thehosts conceded a late equalis-er as Jean slid in at the backpost to divert home DeiverMachado's low cross.

European hopefuls Lenspushed for a winner whichwould have kept PSG waitingfor at least another 24 hours,but the home side held on andalmost won it themselves whenMbappe dragged horribly wide.

The final whistle broughtbizarre scenes, with the Lensplayers celebrating and PSG'snewly-crowned championslooking sheepish.

�� <��

Real Betis won the SpanishCopa del Rey on Saturday,

beating Valencia 5-4 on penal-ties after a thrilling final finished1-1 after extra time.

Valencia's Yunus Musahblazed over in the shoot-out,allowing Juan Miranda thechance to score the winningpenalty at La Cartuja as Betisclaimed their fourth major tro-phy in the club's 115-year histo-ry. Borja Iglesias had headedBetis in front but Hugo Duroequalised for Valencia beforehalf-time and neither side couldfind a winner, either in the sec-ond period or extra time.

But Musah's error andMiranda's cool head gave Betis

the cup for a third time, follow-ing the club's two previous tri-umphs in 1977 and 2005.

Joaquin, the 40-year-oldwinger, who made his debut forBetis aged 19 in 2000 and playedin the final 17 years ago, cameon in the 86th minute andscored a penalty. It remains to beseen whether Joaquin decidesthis is a fitting end now to whathas been a remarkable career.

Many had billed this a clashof styles, with the swashbucklingstyle of Real Betis tasked withbreaking down the grit andresilience of Valencia but in real-ity both teams contributedequally to an open andenthralling final.

It was only the second in 14years not to include any of Real

Madrid, Barcelona or AtleticoMadrid and while Betis andValencia are hardly minnows inSpain, there was no doubting theweight of the occasion for bothclubs.

Valencia won the Copa delRey in 2019, beating Barca in thefinal, but a fire-sale of key play-ers under the controversial own-ership of Peter Lim means theteam have been more concernedabout relegation in recent sea-sons than winning trophies.

Betis, meanwhile, havespent three seasons in the sec-ond tier since they last won it in2005, the same year they fin-ished fourth in La Liga, whichthey still hope to replicate thisseason but have never managedto repeat since.

��

Christian Pulisic settledChelsea's top four nerves as

his late goal sealed a dramatic 1-0 win against West Ham, whileBurnley climbed out of thePremier League relegation zonewith a 1-0 victory against Wolveson Sunday.

With Liverpool looking toclose the gap on leadersManchester City to one pointwith a win against Merseysiderivals Everton later on Sunday,the focus in the early games wason the top four race and the rel-egation battle.

At Stamford Bridge,Thomas Tuchel's side looked setto endure more angst on hometurf when Jorginho's penalty wassaved by Lukasz Fabianski in thefinal minutes.

But Pulisic came off thebench to inspire third placedChelsea, lifting them sevenpoints clear of fifth placedTottenham in the fight to qual-ify for next season's ChampionsLeague via a top four finish.

A 4-2 defeat against Arsenalon Wednesday condemnedChelsea to three successive loss-es at the Bridge for the first timesince 1993.

Tuchel admitted he had "nosolution" for the "fragile" Chelseadefending that saw them con-cede 11 goals in their last three

home games. Concerned about Chelsea's

ability to hold onto their top fourberth, Tuchel made threechanges from the Arsenal gameas Thiago Silva replaced MalangSarr in that creaky defence.

Silva helped solidifyChelsea's rearguard and Pulisic's

last-gasp strike should ensurethey hold onto a top four place.

West Ham boss DavidMoyes left Declan Rice, JarrodBowen and Michail Antonio onthe bench as he prioritised theclub's first European semi-finalsince 1976, against EintrachtFrankfurt in the Europa League

on Thursday. Timo Werner twice went

close as he fired into the side-netting, then stretched to pokehis shot straight at Fabianski.

In the 87th minute, Silvaflicked a header towards RomeluLukaku, prompting CraigDawson to concede a penalty

with a pull on the substitute. Dawson was initially

booked before being sent offafter a VAR check, but WestHam avoided further punish-ment as Jorginho's weak spot-kick was easily saved byFabianski.

But Pulisic sparredJorginho's blushes in the 90thminute as the US forward metMarcos Alonso's cross with aclinical low finish from 10 yards.

Burnley boosted their bidfor a remarkable escape act asthey moved into 17th placethanks to Matej Vydra's secondhalf strike.

Since Sean Dyche's surprisesacking after 10 years in charge,Burnley's caretaker boss MikeJackson has taken seven pointsfrom three games to revive theirhopes of beating the drop.

Vydra had a second halfgoal disallowed for offside, buthe didn't have to wait long to cel-ebrate as he netted in the 62ndminute with a composed close-range finish from WoutWeghorst's cross.

Burnley moved two pointsabove third bottom Everton,who have two games in hand asthey look to avoid playing out-side the top tier since 1954

James Ward-Prowse scoredtwice as Southampton camefrom two goals down to draw 2-2 at Brighton.

��

Erik Ten Hag on Saturdaysaid his "head and energy

is for Ajax" and refused tocomment on the latest defeatfor Manchester United, theEnglish giants he will coachnext season.

Ten Hag saw his Ajax teamtake a step closer to the Dutchleague title with a late 1-0 winagainst NEC just hours afterUnited had slumped to a 3-1defeat at Arsenal in thePremier League.

"I don't have any opinionabout Man United's resultsbecause I show respect forpeople who are at Man United,and I am responsible for Ajaxand that is what I commenton," the 52-year-old ten Hagtold Sky Sports.

"I always keep focused onthe job I have to do, it doesn'tmatter what's around me."

However, he did admitthat he has considered some ofthe challenges that will facehim next season in England.

"You always spend time onthe future, but my head andmy energy is for Ajax," headded.

��

Napoli's hopes of winning theSerie A title this season suffered

a huge blow as they surrendered a two-goal lead at Empoli in seven stunningsecond-half minutes to lose 3-2 onSunday.

With Empoli without a victory intheir previous 16 league games beforeNapoli's visit, Luciano Spalletti's sidewere expected to get the victory thatwould have seen them keep pace withleague leaders Inter Milan.

They were even more overwhelm-ing favourites after a fine finish fromDries Mertens in the first half, andskipper Lorenzo Insigne's arrowingeffort eight minutes into the secondperiod put them in firm control.

Napoli held the lead until the 80thminute, until they inexplicably leftLiam Henderson all alone to get thehosts back in the game, before a goal-keeping howler from Alex Meret letAndrea Pinamonti in to level threeminutes later.

The drama, however, was notdone there, as Pinamonti slid in at thefar post three minutes from time tosend the home fans into raptures, andleave Napoli defenders looking at eachother wondering how they hadthrown this encounter away.

The defeat leaves Napoli third inthe standings, without a win in threeleague games, and five points behindInter having played a game more.Empoli stay 14th despite that rare vic-tory.

On Saturday, reigning Serie Achampions Inter Milan reclaimedtop spot after beating Roma 3-1 athome to move one point clear of ACMilan.

Denzel Dumfries and MarceloBrozovic scored first-half goals at SanSiro before Lautaro Martinez headedin a third shortly after the break toearn Inter a fourth consecutive win.

��

World number one NovakDjokovic was denied his first

title of the year on Sunday, fallingin three sets to Russia's AndreyRublev in the final of the SerbiaOpen.

Second seed Rublev wonthrough 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-0 againstthe top seed who had been lookingto regain winning form before hisFrench Open title defence.

The Belgrade event was onlyDjokovic's third of 2022 after he wasdeported from Melbourne — anddenied the chance to defend hisAustralian Open title — after enter-ing the country unvaccinated.

However, the 20-time GrandSlam winner was let down by hislack of physical form.

The 34-year-old, who lost in the

quarter-finals in Dubai and suffereda shock second-round defeat inMonte Carlo, battled past LasloDjere, Miomir Kecmanovic andKaren Khachanov in three setsbefore the court time caught up withthe top seed against Rublev.

<�2 ,�+�=�-��#��(�� 3��34�#�� #��-��

"��#�� #��'��-��

�$*�� 6��FD��)��F��

-��,�� '� ��

�� #��'��&��)��0��)��$(�

/��"�� 6 �)��&��

World number one IgaSwiatek won her fourth

consecutive WTA title thisyear as she swept aside ArynaSabalenka in straight sets towin the Stuttgart final onSunday.

The 20-year-old pickedup her 23rd straight victory toadd Stuttgart to her collectionafter her title wins in Doha,Indian Wells and Miami thisyear.

Swiatek was relentless,breaking Sabalenka's servetwice in the opening set, thengreeting every point won witha clenched fist of celebrationto seal a 6-2, 6-2 win.

Swiatek wins Stuttgart title

��

39GG39�-+H��$��77B��-++-B*++�7��))337�))�II7))/��7**7+$**992$$+�3+$/FFA�==D33#B$/))99"-B***992��B2++�7BBB9+��7-B*��)7++9��9BC73+ > ��' +��::�2�4�,/ � �

�� :��

World champion Max Verstappenrekindled his title defence on Sunday

with an accomplished victory ahead ofteam-mate Sergio Perez in a dominant one-two triumph for Red Bull at the EmiliaRomagna Grand Prix.

In a rain-affected race, the pole-sitting 24-year-old Dutchman came home more than16 seconds ahead of his team-mate asCharles Leclerc and Ferrari endured a disap-pointing day in front of passionate home sup-port at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Leclerc, who started second on the grid,finished sixth after making a poor start andspinning in the closing laps while runningthird, allowing Lando Norris to take the finalpodium place for McLaren.

George Russell produced a stirring drivefor Mercedes to come home fourth after start-ing 11th, fending off Valtteri Bottas's Alfa

Romeo at the finish, while team-mate andseven-time champion Lewis Hamilton fin-ished a distant 14th.

It was Verstappen's second win this sea-son after Saudi Arabia, which has alsoincluded two retirements, and the 22nd of hiscareer.

He reeled off a grand slam weekend withpole position, victory and fastest lap as wellas victory in Saturday's sprint race.

He moved up to second in the title racebehind Leclerc, reducing his deficit from 45points to 27 to set up the prospect of anintense duel this year.

"Today, you never know with the weath-er how competitive you are going to be butI think we did very well and this one-two isvery deserved," said Verstappen.

"The start was very important but after-wards, judging the conditions and when toswap to the slick tyres, because in the lead youhave to always dictate the pace."

��

Chennai Super Kings wouldlook for inspiration from

the talismanic Mahendra SinghDhoni once again while eyeingimprovement on multiplefronts when they take onPunjab Kings in the IPL hereon Monday.

CSK have won two out oftheir seven matches so farwhile Punjab Kings are a touchbetter with three victories fromseven outings.

While PBKS are placedeighth, CSK occupy the penul-timate slot in the IPL pointstable.

Defending champions CSKhave faltered in all depart-ments this season. They haven'tplayed the cricket they areknown for under skipperRavindra Jadeja, who has notbeen able to lead from thefront.

However, they willapproach the next matchembolden by their three-wick-et win against bottom-placedMumbai Indians courtesyDhoni, who yet again provedhe is the best finisher in thebusiness.

The wicketkeeper-batterturned back the clock to scripta memorable three-wicket vic-tory, following a heart-stoppingfinish that saw him hit a six andtwo fours in the final over tofinish the game.

Bowling has been a majorconcern for CSK but the formerchampions produced a goodshow against Mumbai withrookie pacer MukeshChoudhary, who has strug-gled under pressure all season,wreaking havoc with the newball, bagging three wickets.

Old war horse DwayneBravo continues to be a reliableservant for the team, picking upwickets whenever he is entrust-ed with the ball.

Skipper Jadeja is having anunderwhelming season with

bat and ball, while the additionof Sri Lanka spinner MaheeshTheekshana has bolstered theseverely depleted bowling unit,which is missing DeepakChahar and Adam Milne.

Young Ruturaj Gaikwad,who has had a miserable sea-son so far apart from the 73against Gujarat Titans, willneed to step up and deliverwith the bat.

All-rounders Moeen Aliand Shivam Dube will alsohave to take more responsibil-ity.

Hanging in the playoffsrace by the skin of their teeth,a defeat on Monday will sendCSK on the brink of elimina-tion.

On the other hand, Punjabwill be smarting from the ninewicket loss to Delhi Capitals.

Punjab batting unit has

been plagued by inconsistencyall season. While they boast ofpower-hitters like ShikharDhawan, Liam Livinstone, andShah Rukh Khan, consistencyis something they would aimfor.

Jonny Bairstow has failedto fire in the four games he hasplayed and it will be seen if heis replaced by Sri LankanBhanuka Rajapaksa, who faredmuch better than theEnglishman.

Punjab have a strong andvaried bowling attack led bySouth African quick KagisoRabada, who has been right onthe money.

Arshdeep Singh has alsobeen brilliant. Although the 23-year-old hasn't snared toomany wickets, he has bowledeconomically but VaibhavArora needs to step up.

The role of pace-bowlingall-rounder Odean Smith willbe crucial. The West Indianhas not been at his best so farin the IPL.

��

After a couple of losses in theiropening games, Sunrisers

Hyderabad have enjoyed a five-matchwinning streak and head coach TomMoody has attributed role clarity forthe recent success.

Sunrisers cantered to a nine-wick-et win against Royal ChallengersBangalore on Saturday to rise to thesecond spot in the points table.

"We are very specific in our train-ing as to where we are playing, who theopposition is," Moody said at thepost-match press conference.

"We make sure that the playershave the understanding of what theirroles are and when they are called uponin certain stages (they deliver)," headded.

Sunrisers pace attack led by MarcoJansen (3/25) and ably supported byUmran Malik (1/19) and T Natarajan(3/10) left the star-studded RCB line-up rattled with pace, swing and seam.

"We knew the ball would swingtoday and knew Bhuvi (BhuvneshwarKumar) and Marco can use it to their

advantage. Swinging the ball providesa challenge in the early overs especial-ly when the opposition is trying to get

a reasonably positive start," Moodysaid.

Left-arm pacer Jansen bowled a

fiery second over to claim the wicketsof Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and AnujRawat and Moody felt those first sixballs by the South African was theturning point of the game.

"It was a superb first over, takingthree top wickets and opening thegame so early for us in the powerplaywas the difference in the game, RCBstruggled to recover from it.

"He took advantage from there, putpressure on the opposition from the getgo. It was a great performance."

After an underwhelming seasonlast year, Natarajan is back to pickingup wickets for SRH at crucial juncturesand Moody was full of praise for theleft-arm pacer.

"Nataraj is fit now, last year he was-n't. He has worked extremely hard inthe last 6 months. He understands hisrole, he has a very particular role andone of the best at doing it.

"He is always under pressure,bowling the tough overs at the back ofthe powerplay and at the back of theinnings when teams are looking to goafter you. He has the skillset to man-age that."

��

Deepak Punia could do nothing against the soliddefence of Kazakhstan's Azmat Dauletbekov and

settled for a Silver medal while Viky Chahargrabbed a Bronze in the 92kg competition on theconcluding day of the Asian Championship, here onSunday. Eyeing his maiden Gold medal at the con-tinental event, Deepak reached the final without con-ceding a single point as he first blanked Iran's MohsenMiryousef Mostafavi Alanjagh (6-0) and then hum-bled Korea's Gwanuk Kim (5-0).

However, Dauletbekov did not let the Indian playhis aggressive game, foiling a few of his attacks withremarkable ease.

Deepak usually stuns his rivals with his speedand agility but Dauletbekov was up for the task andsmartly foiled the Indian's leg attacks by maintain-ing distance. Dauletbekov grabbed his chances oncounter-attacks and kept building his lead to even-tually win the final by a comfortable 6-1 margin.

It is Deepak's fourth medal at the AsianChampionship, having won a Silver (2021) and twoBronze (2019, 2020) before.

Adding to India's medal tally was Viky, who wonthe Bronze medal bout against Uzbekistan's AjiniyazSaparniyazov 5-3.

��

Rishabh Pant's captaincy has certainlyplayed a huge role in his redemption and

Kuldeep Yadav finds shades of the greatMahendra Singh Dhoni in his current DelhiCapitals skipper's characteristics as he enjoyshis new-found "freedom of expression".

The 27-year-old Kuldeep has taken13 wickets in this IPL so far, includ-ing a four wicket haul against hisformer team Kolkata Knight Riders.

"I feel Rishabh is showing a fewglimpses of MS Dhoni's character-istics behind the stumps. He guideswell and stays calm on the field," hesaid during the fourth episode ofThe DC Podcast.

"Wicketkeepers play a big role inthe success of spinners. The credit for myperformance in this IPL goes to Rishabhas well. We have a good understandingnow."

The Uttar Pradesh spinner, who wasbought by DC at the IPL mega auction,

said the freedom and security that he got fromhis new franchise helped him to perform this year.

"When you are given the freedom toexpress yourself then you start to enjoyeverything," said Kuldeep, who played forKKR for seven years from 2014 to 2021.

"When I spoke to Ricky during my firstpractice session with the team, he told me

that I am bowling very well and that he'slooking to play me for all 14

league matches. That conversation with him

motivated me a lot." Kuldeep,who has taken 53 wickets in 52IPL matches so far, also attrib-uted his success to workingclosely with assistant coachShane Watson.

"Shane Watson has alsohelped me a lot. I am verylucky to have worked withWatson for three-four ses-sions.

He has particularlyhelped me with the mental

aspect of the game.

��

KL Rahul continued hisfairytale run against

Mumbai Indians with a mag-nificent second hundred of theseason but Lucknow SuperGiants were restricted to a par-score of 168 for six in anIndian Premier League matchhere on Sunday.

Rahul, who had scored acentury against MI a few daysback, smashed an unbeaten103 off 62 balls with the help of12 fours and four maximumsbut he didn't get enough helpfrom the other batters.

Manish Pandey had a 58-run stand with Rahul but helacked intent during his run-a-ball 22, while Marcus Stoinis(0), Krunal Pandya (1) andDeepak Hooda (10) paradedback to the hut in quick succes-sion.

Later, Rahul added anoth-er 47 off 25 balls with youngAyush Badoni (14) to take LSGto a competitive score.

For MI, Australian DanielSams, who had snapped fourwickets the other day againstChennai Super Kings, had aforgettable evening as he con-ceded 40 runs in his four overs.

Kieron Pollard pulledthings back a bit as he snappedtwo wickets in two overs, whileRiley Meredith accounted fortwo but conceded 40, withJasprit Bumrah once again dis-playing his brilliance as an all-format great.

After deciding to bowl, theMI bowlers were on the moneyat the start with Bumrah deal-ing the first blow, removingQuinton de Kock (10) withRohit Sharma taking a lowdipping catch at short cover.

MI used four bowlers inthe powerplay with LSG man-aging only 32 for one in the firstsix overs.

Rahul and Pandey strug-gled to up the ante as pressure

was maintained from bothends.

Rahul then sprung intoaction with a maximum overdeep mid-wicket off Unadkat,while Pandey deposited

Meredith into the sightscreen.THe LSG skipper then

pulled one across the deepmid-wicket, before cutting thenext ball over point for succes-sive boundaries as the Lucknow

team racked up 17 runs toreach 72 for one at the half waystage.

Bumrah was brought backinto the attack but Rahul sendhim across deep square leg and

then picked up a single tocomplete another fifty.

Pandey's (22) struggleended with a top-edge off ashort ball from Pollard toMeredith.

Rahul clobbered Sams overlong-on to leave the bowlershaken, who ended up bowlingthree successive wide balls.

The next legitimate deliv-ery was sent over deep back-ward point by Rahul but thebowler somewhat redeemedhimself in the fifth ball withMarcus Stoinis holing out toTilak varma at deep mid-wicket.

After Pollard and Meredithremoved Pandya and Hoodaquickly, Ayush Badoni joinedRahul, who continued to getthe boundaries for LSG.

Rahul slammed Bumrahfor a couple of fours, beforesmashing Unadkat for threemore in the next over.

He reached three figureswith a six off Meredith.

��5�-�� 6�72�'�(

&$"��&!��$&��

-��#��

&�#��#��#�� (#��'��

Deepak settles for Silver again

Verstappen wins Emilia-Romagna GP

�� $3�'��

��

Vice President of IndiaM Venkaiah Naidu on

Friday declared open KheloIndia University Games2021 in a glitzy openingceremony in Bengaluru.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi shared hismessage at the inaugura-tion. Governor ofKarnataka Thaawar ChandGehlot; Chief MinisterBasavaraj Bommai; UnionMinister of Youth Affairsand Sports Anurag SinghThakur; Minister of State,Ministry of Youth Affairsand Sports NisithPramanik; Secretary SportsSujata Chaturvedi wereamong those present on theoccasion.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Vice Presidentemphasised the need toencourage sporting activi-ty upto village level. Hecalled for developing thenecessary sports infrastruc-ture at the grassroots level,with concerted efforts ofthe centre, state and localbodies. Together, these willtake the Indian sportingpotential to new heights, headded.

The Vice President alsocalled for awarding someextra marks to sportsper-sons in college admissionsand promotions in variousdepartments. "Incentiveslike this will go a long wayin encouraging the sportsin the country," he said.

In his message, thePrime Minister said thatBengaluru symbolizes theyouthful enthusiasm of thecountry and is pride of theprofessionals. He said thatit is significant that a con-fluence of startups andsports is happening here.

"Holding of the KheloIndia University Games inBengaluru will add to the

energy of this beautifulcity.", he said. The PrimeMinister saluted the resolveof the organizers as organi-zation of the Games amidstthe challenges of the pan-demic epitomizes theirdetermination and passion.This youthful passion isdriving New India in everyfield with new momen-tum, the Prime Ministeradded.

On his part, AnuragSingh Thakur said, whenthe first KIUG took place inOdisha, there was greatpride and enthusiasmamong people. But then,Covid spread and theGames could not take place

for two years."After two years, it is

the first opportunity for usto assemble together forthe University Games andI see a similar passionamong the youngsters thistime around. With close to4000 participants fromnearly 200 Universities,this is the largest multi-discipline event takingplace in the state ofKarnataka. I visited thehosts, Jain University, andmet over 500 enthusiasticathletes who will be takingpart in the competition. Iwas also very happy to seethat world-class facilitieshave been provided forthe Games there, whichare truly one of the bestall-around in the world,"he said.

Breath-taking perfor-mances depictingKarnataka's rich culturalheritage, Mallakhambha ,Yogasana and a captivatingsound and light showadded to the grandeur of asparkling opening ceremo-ny of the 2nd Khelo IndiaUniversity Games 2021 atthe Sree Kanteerava IndoorStadium on Sunday, 24thApril 2022.

7+2��89��)��+&:��;<�;

�� 854;� =9<

;�$��7meter

�#$ �� 9? =# K L @ M @N M61AL�? -,' K B N M @M M6LA@? ,, K B N M @M M6O1N ? ,�< P B 1 M @M :M6OKN"? +-= K O 1 M P M6@NO*? /� K 1 O M L M6K@B1? ��, P 1 B M L M6MPM5? �<�- K 1 O M L :M6BLN8? �-� K N B M O :M6B1O9�? �� K M K M M :M6PAN

��table

"-#*=D=F��&��5 ��!��

prime minister narendra - daily pioneer

Documents