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Actor Esha Gupta says she is now getting to play women she knows and has met in real life

OPPORTUNITIES TO EXCELFacebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation

FRESH ALLEGATIONS

INTERNATIONAL | P10LEISURE | P2

More refugees from Myanmar are enteringMizoram due to clashes between themilitary and rebels TWO STATES | P8

MORE REFUGEES IN MIZORAM

IRREGULAR by MANJUL

I neither have interest nor Iunderstand cricket. I am watching

it because I am a patriot.

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Humidity 72% 70%Rainfall NIL NIL

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Light rainvery likely

21.0°

12 PAGES | `5.00BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, OCTOBER 25 | 2021VOLUME 11, ISSUE 204 | www.orissapost.com

CHINA PLANS TO BLOCK PVT INVESTMENT IN MEDIABEIJING: In an attempt to tighten the grip on all sectors of the media, Chineseauthorities have introduced a proposal to ban private investment in news outlets.As per the draft guidelines, privately owned firms would be prohibited frominvolvement in media companies, including setting up or running news operationsor republishing news produced by foreign outlets, American broadcaster Voice ofAmerica (VOA) reported. Experts in the field say the proposals show Beijing'songoing efforts to silence opposition voices. “The Communist Party is trying toput all news and commentary shows under its own control. All different voiceshave been eliminated,” Wu Zuolai, a Chinese political commentator, told VOA.“Limiting the role of the media will distort public opinions, and local governmentsmight enforce the rule with extremely strict measures,” one poster on Zhihu said.

NEW PROPOSAL ON DRUG SEIZURENEW DELHI: The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry hasrecommended decriminalising possession of small quantitiesof drugs for personal consumption in its review of the NarcoticDrugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act submitted tothe Revenue Department. Currently, there is no provision forrelief or exemption under the NDPS Act and it only givesaddicts immunity from prosecution and imprisonment if theyvolunteer for rehabilitation. In its recommendations sharedwith the Department of Revenue last week, the ministrysuggested decriminalising possession of small quantities ofdrugs for personal consumption, officials said.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: With theBoard of Revenue seeking per-mission for biennial revision ofbenchmark value (BMV) of im-movable property of the Odishagovernment for 2022-24, it is ex-pected that the value of land plotsand houses in the state will witness

an upswing in near future.The Inspector General of

Registration Jyoti Prakash Dash hasdirected all district Collectors anddistrict-level valuation commit-tees to revise the set of marketvalue by re-visiting the earlier setof market values of immovableproperties in all villages.

In a letter, Dash wrote, “Youwere requested to take steps to re-vise the set of market value by re-visiting the previously set of mar-ket values of immovable propertiesof all villages under your juris-diction by following due procedureof rules and determination of thesame after reconstitution of DLVCand SDLV Committees under Rule-37 of Odisha Stamp (Amendment)Rules, 2001 as amended till date.”

He has also directed the officialsto send the revised set of marketvalues to the member, Board ofRevenue, Odisha, for approval

According to the state govern-ment, the earlier revision was madefor the year 2021-2022 and imple-mented w.e.f. April 1, 2021, to pre-vent any possible leakage of rev-enues in form of Stamp Duty andRegistration fees.

In its letter dated October 20,2020, the R&DM department in-structed all concerned that in orderto provide relief the registrantpublic during the economic crisisarising out of extraordinary situ-ation of Covid-19 pandemic, themarket values of immovable prop-erties of all districts (barringKhurdha and Bargarh) of the pre-

vious financial year (2019-2020) ason 31stMarch, 2020 shall remainin force till the end of current fi-nancial year. However, the marketvalues of immovable propertiesin Khurdha and Baragarh districtshave already been hiked at the rateof 10 % from April 1, 2020 and May13, 2020 respectively.

As the issue is pending for fur-ther course of action at the District-level/Sub-District (Tehsil) levelValuation Committee up to theyear ending by 31st March, 2022, thegovernment has asked the officialsto take immediate steps for con-stitution of DLVC / SDLVC for as-sessment / fixation of set of mar-ket values of immovable propertiesof all villages/townships underrespective jurisdictions.

AGENCIES

Mumbai, Oct 24: Sparking off amajor controversy, a witness inthe cruise ship rave party raid caseSunday accused the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB) of allegedlydemanding bribes from Hindi filmmegastar Shah Rukh Khan to re-lease his son Aryan Khan.

The witness, Prabhakar Sail,openly stated on various TV chan-nels that he feared a threat to hislife from none other than the NCBZonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

The NCB has taken cognisanceof the allegations of threats andbribes and a top official said thatthe matter will be probed.

Meanwhile Wankhede has soughtpolice protection from the MumbaiPolice Commissioner.

Sail, identified as the personalbodyguard of the so-called privatedetective Kiran P. Gosavi, has re-leased a signed affidavit statementand videos pertaining to the ar-rest of Aryan Khan and others onOctober 3, a day after the ship raid

(October 2). One of the 9 witnesseslisted by the NCB, among otherthings, Sail claimed that he wasmade to sign 10 blank papers by theagency and now feared for his lifefrom Wankhede.

In the affidavit, Sail has con-tended that he "overheard" Gosaviand Sam D'Souza discuss a deal of

`24 crore which they "settled" for`18 crore, of which `8 crore wouldgot to Wankhede. He said that hesaw SRK's manager, Pooja Dadlaniarrive at the NCB office after AryanKhan's arrest and also witnessedher talking with Gosavi and D'Souzainside her vehicle.

Sail alleged that Gosavi directedhim to collect `50 lakh cash from aspot near the Indiana Hotel andasked him to give the bags to D'Souzanear the Trident Hotel where hecounted it to find `38 lakh cash.

Reacting to the allegations, NCBDeputy Director-General, SouthWest Region Mutha Ashok Jainsaid that Wankhede has "categor-ically denied" the allegations.

"As some of the contents of theaffidavit relate to vigilance mat-ters, I am hereby forwarding the af-fidavit to the Director General,NCB and requesting him for furthernecessary action," Jain said.

Simultaneously, chiding Sail,Jain said that since he is a witnessin the case which is now sub-judice,"he needs to submit his prayer tothe honourable court rather thanthrough social media if he hasanything to say".

He also said that Sail has given de-tails about his movements and ac-tivities on October 2 (on the day ofthe ship raid), and "vigilance re-lated allegations against certainpersons in the affidavit which arebased on overhearing" by the witness.

n Witness alleges NCBofficial demanded `25crfrom SRK to release his son; NCB denies claim. Sameer Wankhedeseeks police protection

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Beijing, Oct 24: Asserting thatsovereignty and territorial in-tegrity of China are “sacred and in-violable”, the country’s nationallegislature has adopted a new lawon the protection and exploitationof the land border areas, whichcould have bearing on Beijing’sborder dispute with India.

Members of the StandingCommittee of the National People’sCongress (NPC) approved the law

at the closing meeting of a leg-islative session on Saturday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The law, which becomes opera-tional from January 1 next year, stip-ulates that “the sovereignty andterritorial integrity of the People'sRepublic of China are sacred andinviolable”, it said.

The state shall take measuresto safeguard territorial integrity andland boundaries and guard againstand combat any act that under-mines territorial sovereignty andland boundaries, the report said.

The law also stipulates that thestate shall take measures tostrengthen border defence, sup-port economic and social devel-opment as well as opening-up in bor-der areas, improve public servicesand infrastructure in such areas,encourage and support people's

life and work there, and promotecoordination between border de-fence and social, economic devel-opment in border areas, it said.

The state shall, following theprinciple of equality, mutual trust

and friendly consultation, handleland border-related affairs withneighbouring countries throughnegotiations to properly resolvedisputes and longstanding borderissues, it said.

India and Bhutan are the twocountries with which China is yetto finalise the border agreements,while Beijing resolved the boundarydisputes with 12 other neighbours.

Last week, Foreign SecretaryHarsh Vardhan Shringla said thedevelopments along the Line ofActual Control (LAC) in easternLadakh have “seriously dis-turbed” the peace and tranquil-lity in border areas, and this hasobviously had an impact on thebroader relationship too. TheForeign Secretary, in his remarksat a seminar on “LeveragingChina’s Economy” on October21, also referred to ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar’sremarks that the ability of Indiaand China to work together willdetermine the Asian century.

“For this to materialise, peace and

tranquillity in the border areas isa sine qua non. He (Jaishankar) hasalso clearly articulated that de-velopment of our ties can only bebased on mutuality -- mutual re-spect, mutual sensitivity and mu-tual interests should guide thisprocess,” Shringla said.

“We hope that the Chinese sidewill work with us to bring a satis-factory resolution to the current is-sues so as to make progress on ourbilateral relations keeping in vieweach other's sensitivities, aspirationsand interests,” the foreign secretarysaid. While India-China borderdisputes cover 3,488-km along theLine of Actual Control, China-Bhutan dispute covers about 400 km.

The new land border law wasadopted amid the continued stand-off between Indian and Chinesemilitaries in eastern Ladakh.

China passes new land border law amid standoff with Indian The country’s nationallegislature has adopted anew law on the protectionand exploitation of theland border areas

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhawanipatna, Oct 24: The po-lice remand period of GobindaSahu, prime accused in MamitaMeher murder case will endMonday evening following whichhe will be produced in the court.Now, it is to be seen whether he willbe sent to jail or the police willagain apply to take him on remand.

The police reportedly subjectedSahu to a marathon interrogationSunday, but did not reveal as towhat information they extractedfrom him. According to a source,Gobinda’s medical test was doneSaturday nightat the Bhima BhoiMedical College and Hospital,where he was taken straight fromthe Bolangir SP’s office amidsttight security.

Now the biggest challenge be-fore the police is whether to be-lieve the story narrated by Sahuhook, line and sinker or continuewith their investigation and find outthe involvement of others.

Notably, Sahu was arrested froma sugarcane field at Budhipadar vil-lage under Bangomunda blockOctober 19 after the police trackedhis two mobile phones. During in-terrogation, he confessed to havekilled Mamita Meher, a residentof Jharni village under Turekelablock in Bolangir district. Mamitaworked as a teacher at SunshineEnglish Medium School inMahaling area of Kalahandi dis-trict. She went missing October 8and was found dead subsequently.

Gobinda’s remand ends today

The witness, Prabhakar Sail,openly stated on various TV

channels that he feared a threatto his life from none other thanthe NCB Zonal Director SameerWankhede.

The NCB has takencognisance of the

allegations of threats andbribes and a top official saidthat the matter will be probed

BMV revision may raise property value in statenThe Inspector General ofRegistration Jyoti PrakashDash has directed all DCsto revise the set of marketvalue by re-visiting the earlier set of market valuesof immovable properties

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dubai, Oct 24: Pakistan broughtto an end India’s near-three-decadedomination of them in the worldstage in the most convincing fash-ion, embarrassing their arch-rivalsby 10 wickets in the Super 12 stageof the T20 World Cup here Sunday.

Intent on breaking their run oflosses, Pakistan restricted India to151 for seven after electing to fieldin the T20 showpiece's blockbustergame. Pakistan then made lightwork of the target of 152, complet-ing the win with 13 balls to spare.

Skipper Babar Azam strokedhis way to 68 while his openingpartner, Mohammad Rizwan,smashed 79 as the Indian bowlersstruggled to contain the two batters.

Earlier, captain Virat Kohli ledfrom the front with a half-centuryas India recovered from a disas-trous start to post a challengingtotal. Besides Kohli’s 49-ball 57,Rishabh Pant slammed 39 in 30 de-liveries. Sent into bat after the coinlanded in favour of Pakistan skip-per Babar Azam at the toss, Indiawere off to the worst possible startas they lost both their prolific open-ers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahulwithin three overs with just sixruns on the board. Doing most ofthe initial damage was the lankyleft-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi(3/31 in 4 overs). (More P12)

Pak beat Indiaby 10 wickets,first in WC

Ransom for Aryan release by NCB

Fuel prices hikedfor 5th straight dayAGENCIES

New Delhi, Oct 24: Petrol anddiesel prices rallied to their high-est ever levels across the country,as rates were hiked again for thefifth consecutive day Sunday.

Accordingly, the pump price ofpetrol in Delhi rose by 35 paise to itshighest-ever level of `107.59 a litrewhile diesel prices also rose by thesame margin to `96.32 a litre, ac-cording to a price notification ofstate-owned fuel retailers. InMumbai, petrol prices have nowrisen to`113.47 per litre while dieselto`104.47 a litre, the highest amongall metros. The fuel prices remainedstatic Monday and Tuesday.

Petrol: `108.54 (+0.35)Diesel: `105.09 (+0.39)

CITY PRICES

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24:BhubaneswarDCP Umashankar Das Sunday dis-missed constable Prasanna KumarBehera from the service for his al-leged involvement in the murder ofManish Anurag Das.

Sources in the CommissioneratePolice said that DCP dismissedBehera from the service with im-mediate effect by exercising powerunder Ar ticle 311(2)(b) ofConstitution of India.

They said that while Beherafaces five criminal cases, eight de-partmental inquiries are on againsthim. Earlier, Behera was suspendedon charges of running an illegal bar,where journalist Navin Das’ son,Manish Anurag, had last visited be-fore his murder. Behera, who wasthe president of Havildar andConstable Association, was ar-rested Saturday for allegedly op-erating a bar without valid license,violating COVID-19 protocol andhatching criminal conspiracy.

Hotel South City ownerPradyumna Jena and bar man-ager Souvik Jena were also held oncharges of violating COVID rules.

Earlier, the Tamando police sta-tion IIC was transferred for the il-legal operation of the bar. Duringthe probe into the Manish Anuragmurder case it was found that thebar’s license had expired.

CONSTABLEDISMISSEDFROM SERVICE

MANISH MURDER CASE

BREAKING THE JINX: Pakistan’s cricket captain Babar Azam (left) and MohammadRizwan celebrate their victory in the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup matchbetween India and Pakistan in Dubai, UAE, Sunday PTI PHOTO

New Delhi: Paresh Rawal has always upped his own game when itcomes to the genre of comedy. But there is one thing he is not in sup-port of and that is vulgar comedy or running down someone formaking others chuckle.

During an interview, the 66-year-old star also talked about thechanged definition of comedy in Hindi cinema.

“Yes, definitely (it has changed). The buffoonery which was therewas also a variety but the kind of comedy which is coming in nowis high and good comedy, which I enjoy doing,” Paresh said.

The actor, who is gearing up for the release of his next HumDo Humare Do, added: “There has definitely been a change. Ihave anyway never been in support of vulgar comedy or rundown someone and make fun of physical deformity. Thatis disgusting. I think the first high comedy I did was AndazApna Apna.” The family entertainer Hum Do HamareDo tells the story of a man forced to ‘arrange’ a setof parents to impress the love of his life. It alsostars Ratna Pathak Shah, Kriti Sanon andAparshakti Khurana. IANS

New Delhi: Parineeti Chopra made her debut in 2011 with Ladies vs RickyBahl. The actress has completed a decade in the Hindi film industry andsays she did not want it to be any other way.

“I think I had a dream launch. I have hadan amazing career. It’s the same as anamazing life. You have to have highhighs and low lows. You have to have suc-cesses and failures. Joys and pain.You have to make a life and it is thesame thing in your career,” Parineetisaid. “To have a full career, you shouldsee all aspects of it. In front of thecamera, behind the camera, you shouldsee hit films, flop films, you should seefailure...all sorts of experiences should bethere,” added the actress. Parineeti, who hadthree back-to-back hit releasessuch as The Girl On TheTrain, Saina andSandeep aur PinkyFaraar, agrees thatshe has had hershares of hits andmisses but that haswhat has made herthe actress she istoday.

N o w, S h e i slooking forward toA n i m a l , w h i c hs t a r s R a n b i rKapoor and is busyshooting in Nepalf o r S o o r a jBarjatya’sUunchaai, whicha l s o f e a t u r e sAmitabhB a c h c h a n a n dAnupam Kher. IANS

10 YEARS IN SHOWBIZ

Mumbai: At a time when heroines ofthe 1990s -- from Juhi Chawla andRaveena Tandon to Pooja Bhatt -- are see-ing a return to the limelight, thanks toOTT platforms, Mamata Kulkarni, who’sstill remembered for her role in RakeshRoshan’s 1995 reincarnation dramaKaran Arjun opposite Salman Khan,and drug bust accused, has surprised herfans by staging a comeback on socialmedia.

Her present picture, where she comesacross as matronly and not as the postergirl she was in the 1990s, was put up onher Instagram fan page and it causedquite a stir.

Briefly, she courted notoriety by doinga topless shoot for a film magazine andthen dropped out of the public eye in 2000.Only to be back in the news -- now for

the wrong reasons.Kulkarni was reported to have mar-

ried the Ahmedabad-born interna-tional drug lord Vicky Goswami,who had been first arrested on nar-cotics trafficking charges in Dubaiin 1997 (only to be pardoned and letoff in 2012), and then again in 2014in Kenya, where he was freed onbail, pending his extradition to theUnited States to face charges broughtag ainst him by the DrugEnforcement Administration (DEA).

Goswami and Kulkarni, in fact,had been arrested together inKenya, but the former actress waslet of f. The DEA had chargedGoswami with controlling the tradein mandrax, a narcotic substance,in sub-Saharan Africa. IANS

Mumbai: Esha Gupta is all set tostar in web series Invisible Womanwhere she will be playing a womanof substance opposite Suniel Shetty,who is set to make his debut in theOTT segment. She now has springsin her step,says theac-

tress. Invisible Woman is a noir action

thriller produced by Yoodlee Filmswith Tamil filmmaker Rajesh MSelva at the helm.

Talking about the same, Eshasays, “Not long ago, the writing ofour films was such that womenwere restricted to either goody-two-shoes or oomph vamps. I feltso constricted for a few years. With

OTT giving movies a healthy com-petition, the general writing ofstories has evolved. I am gettingan array of parts, some ofwhich makes me wonder if Ican pull it off. That's reallywhat actors should feel whenthey get a script."

“I played a cop recently inNakaab and my character in

Invisible Woman can’t bemore different. I gen-uinely feel the joy ofgoing to work every

day. I have spring inmy step because I

am finally get-t ing to playwomen I know,I have met.Their chal-lenges, or-deals anddilemmasfeel real tome. I amworkingmore thanI ever havebecause fi-nallywhat's of-fered tome is res-onatingwithme,” theactressadds.

IANS

P2 HILTON’S WEDDING REGISTRY TOTALS A WHOPPING $60K

leisureSocialite-entrepreneur Paris Hilton’swedding registry totals a staggering $60,000,as she and her beau Carter Reum have addeditems including a $4,885 Baccarat vase. The40-year-old businesswoman is set to tie theknot with Reum November 11.

Grammy winning-singer Adele has revealed sheactually would like to see Loki actor Jonathan Majorreplace Daniel Craig as James Bond, but becausehe's American, her second choice is the star IdrisElba, who has previously been tipped to take on theiconic role as the fictional suave spy in the franchise.

MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSMetaphysics and philoso-phy have aroused yourinterest. Instead of spend-ing a huge amount on books on thesesubjects, Ganesha suggests that youkeep a balanced approach and practicespiritual discipline. It's also high time youchanged your dietary habits.

PISCESYou are likely to be filledwith overwhelming ambitiontoday. You will be driven andprepare meticulously to tackle your proj-ects. Evening should see you in the com-pany of like-minded individuals, busy withintellectual activities, says Ganesha.

SAGITTARIUSStormy weather predictedby Ganesha for you today.The day will be riddled withimpracticalities. In the afternoon, youmay change that hairdo to somethingnew. Pay special attention to that longoverdue work too. Don't drag your feetany more, advises Ganesha.

LIBRAGanesha says you will beassigned the responsibilityto organize a meeting,which will give you the opportunity toprove your efficiency. Those of you inresearch and development fields will findsuccess by putting your knowledge to use.

SCORPIOYou are like one butterflytoday, literally flying fromone place to another eitherfor work or for socialising. New projectsand business agendas form the crux of yourday. There are chances that good businessproposals may come your way and youmay think of considering it, says Ganesha.

LEOIt is fine to make hay whilethe sun shines, but do notforget to put aside some fora rainy day as well, says Ganesha. Todayis one such day when you can do fantasti-cally well by putting aside some moneyfor your family's future. At work, pendingtasks may have piled up, but today youshall do well to try and clear the backlog.

VIRGOIn all probability, you wouldwant to quarantine your-self today – mentally andphysically. It's all got to do with the wayyou can challenge yourself and poolyour own resources together to makethe best of unpleasant conditions. Butyou won't be able to push yourselfbeyond your limit, rues Ganesha.

GEMINIA busy day for you, predictsGanesha, but it has little todo with work. Today, yourmind is in a spiritual mode. You may wantto make a few changes to the interiors ofyour house, mostly to get them in syncwith the state of your mind. A romanticevening with your sweetheart in a sump-tuous surrounding is likely, says Ganesha.

CANCERYou have a gift. You comeacross as a very approach-able and dependable person.It's this attribute that makes people wantto work with you and trust you, saysGanesha. But today is another day, andyou may want a break from helping peoplefight their daily battles and spending somequality time with your family members.

ARIESYou are inclined to overpro-tect your private life, espe-cially regarding relation-ships. And Ganesha says thrilling stuff ison the cards for you today! You will alsomake a last ditch effort to complete somepending work.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSThere are chances that it willbe an enormously idealisticand unrealistic day for you,says Ganesha. It is an auspicious day to getyour hair groomed. You will possibly beginsome beauty treatment and make changesin the way you look today afternoon.Special attention awaits your beloved.

CAPRICORNYou're on the verge of los-ing hopes as you can't bearthe weight of work andresponsibilities any more. But, like thestrong individual that you are, you arenot going to put your arms down withoutfighting fiercely. Also, your mentalstrength and physical stamina will beacknowledged and appreciated by oneand all, predicts Ganesha.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, fill in the boxes in such amanner that every row, column and 3x3 box containsthe digits 1 to 9, without repeating any.

ADELE WANTS IDRIS ELBA TO BE THE NEXT JAMES BOND

I have spring inmy step: ESHA

PARINEETI THINKS SHEHAD A DREAM LAUNCH

A file photo of Mamata Kulkarni

Paresh Rawal talks aboutchanged definition of comedy

Mamata Kulkarnisurfaces on Instagram

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Oct 24: The state govern-ment is yet to set up a cluster forKhaja in the Holy City here eventhough it had granted industrystatus to the popular dry sweet-meat a few years ago.

In the absence of a designatedcluster, many locals, social activistsand visitors have raised questionsregarding the quality of Khaja beingsold by the vendors in the city here.They have alleged that the districtadministration has not taken any stepto ensure quality and hygiene inthe preparation and sale of thesweetmeat, which is also known asFeni, by the local confectioners.

Khaja is a part of the dry prasadthat is offered to Lord Jagannathand involves a unique method ofpreparation. Refined flour, ghee,sugar and oil are used to prepareKhaja. First, oil or ghee is addedto the flour and mixed well to pre-pare the dough. It is then dividedinto small balls and rolled. Theballs are rolled back again in lay-ers to give them the desired shape.They are then deep fried in oilor ghee on medium flame untilthey turn golden brown on boththe sides. Once they cool down,they are dipped into sugar syrupand filtered.

There are different varieties ofKhaja, depending on the taste andshape. The cost ranges from Rs 40

to Rs 500 per kilogram. The local-ities around Srimandir andSwargadwar have a number ofKhaja shops always bustling withactivity as customers throng tobuy and taste the sweetmeat. Morethan 10,000 people are directly andindirectly involved in the business,sources said.

“Many devotees and tourists usu-ally buy Khaja while returninghome. They think that a visit tothe Holy City is incomplete withoutpacking home some amount of the

sweetmeat. However, the local con-fectioners are not maintainingproper quality and hygiene for thepreparation of Khaja. We are reg-ularly receiving complaints in thisregard from the customers,” saidSantosh Swain, a Khaja vendor.

Echoing the sentiment, visitorSaroj Kumar Sahu said, “TheKhaja available with vendors onthe Grand Road is not fit forhuman consumption. The au-thorities concerned should takethe issue seriously and do some-

thing in this regard.”Puri municipality health offi-

cer Ashok Kemar Seth said they reg-ularly collect food samples andsend them for laboratory tests. “Weare taking action against the shop-keepers for selling poor qualityfood stuffs,” he added.

It is learnt that the DistrictIndustry Centre (DIC) had madean attempt to set up a cluster forKhaja around six months ago.Then General Manager of theDIC had discussed the issue with

the vendors. However, the mat-ter could not move forward,sources said.

“We will soon initiate process forsetting up of a Khaja cluster inPuri city. The project would betaken up under the MSME scheme.The cluster will have a common fa-cility centre for the preparationof the sweetmeat. This will reducecost of production and ensureproper quality and hygiene,” saidDIC General Manager AmulyaRatna Panda.

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P3MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

FIGHTING VIRUS

A volunteer during a streetplay to create awarenesson Covid-19 at PMG Squarein Bhubaneswar, Sunday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 24,43,09,434 22,13,25,163 49,62,138

India 3,41,75,468 3,35,48,605 4,54,269

Odisha 10,38,411 10,25,917 8,309

COVID-19 TRACKER

downtown

Puri Khaja cluster a pipedream

POLITICKLE by MANJUL

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: The ST &SC Development Department, in avirtual tour to Odisha State TribalMuseum Sunday, showed the virtualvisitors a film about the food col-lection and preparation methods fol-lowed by various state based tribes.

The film showcasing the in-digenous knowledge system oftribes was titled as ‘Collection ofRoots and Tubers by TribalCommunities of Odisha’.

SCSTRTI Director AB Ota saidthat Odisha is home to many tribalcommunities.

Living in scattered villages deepwithin the forests, these tribal com-munities rely on natural bountiesof their environment to meet theirdaily needs.

They practice subsistencefarming using a combination ofwetland and shifting cultiva-tion alongside horticulture, for-est produce collection, hunt-ing and fishing.

Tribal communities cultivatepaddy, minor millets, pulses and veg-etables which they consume alongwith a variety of seasonal fruits,leaves, edible flowers, insects, mush-rooms, roots and tubers collectedfrom the forest.

The wild roots and tubers pro-cured by these communities arehighly nutritious.

They may be roasted, boiled orprepared as a curry.

There are several varieties ofwild roots and tubers. Some growjust under the surface, while oth-ers may be dug out from deep withinthe soil.This film depicts thetuber collection and prepara-tion process of various tribesfor consumption.

Vendors selling Khaja on the Grand Road in Puri OP PHOTO

TALE OF ASWEETMEAT

There aredifferent

varieties ofKhaja,dependingon the tasteand shape.The costranges from`40 to `500 perkilogram

The localities around Srimandirand Swargadwar have a

number of Khaja shops alwaysbustling with activity. More than10,000 people are directly andindirectly involved in the business

Museum’s virtual tour showcasesfood habits of tribals in Odisha

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: The stategovernment’s Skilled-in-Odishacampaign received further boost asthe state swept most of the skillsin India Skills 2021 Eastern RegionCompetition held in Patna recently.

Odisha dominated the compe-tition by winning 23 gold medals and20 silver medals, sources said.

A strong contingent of 85 par-ticipants from Odisha competedin 39 skills. Altogether 43 youths ofOdisha came with flying colours inthe competition, the results ofwhich were declared in PatnaSaturday. Apart from this, walkoverwas given to Odisha’s competitorsin six skills. A total of 59 com-petitors from the state, including13 girls, will now be competing atthe India Skills Competition, sched-uled to be held in Bangalore inDecember this year.

Notably, the girls from the statehave also won medals in skills likewelding and painting, which are tra-ditionally dominated by the malecompetitors. The winners of the

India Skills competition will par-ticipate in the World SkillsCompetition to be held in Shanghaiin China. Altogether 245 youthsfrom eight states/union territo-ries from the east and the north-eastparticipated in the Patna compe-tition, including wild card / cor-porate entries. The event was or-ganised by the NSDC of Ministryof Skil l Development andEntrepreneurship.

Bihar Governor Fagu Chauhanpresided over the prize distribu-tion ceremony and inspired thewinners and participants of theskill competition.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

expressed his happiness over thesuccess of Odisha in the IndiaSkills regional competition andexhorted the winners to continuetheir hard work and bring laurelsto the state and the country atWorld Skills Competition.

Odisha Skill DevelopmentAuthority Chairman SubrotoBagchi and Skill Development andTechnical Education MinisterPremanand Nayak also congratu-lated the winners and wished fortheir success in the World SkillsCompetition. The State has set amission to win at least two golds,three silvers and four bronzes at theWorld Skills Competition.

Participants from the state won 23 gold medals and 20silver medals. Apart from this, walkover was given

to Odisha’s competitors in six skills

A total of 59 competitors from the state, including13 girls, will now be competing at the India Skills

Competition, scheduled to be held in Bangalore inDecember this year

Odisha dominates India SkillsEastern Region Competition

SUCCESS STORY A

STRONGCONTINGENT OF 85

PARTICIPANTS FROMODISHA COMPETED IN

39 SKILLS IN THECOMPETITION

According to SCSTRTI Director AB Ota,Odisha is home to many tribal

communities who practice subsistencefarming using a combination of wetland

and shifting cultivation alongside horticulture, forest produce collection,

hunting and fishing

Tribal communities cultivate paddy,minor millets, pulses and vegetables

which they consume along with a variety of seasonal fruits, leaves, edibleflowers, insects, mushrooms, roots and

tubers collected from the forest

The wild roots and tubers procured bythese communities are highly

nutritious. They may be roasted, boiledor prepared as a curry

Tribal people collecting roots and tubers

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: Around60 gastroenterologists and techni-cians working in the healthcaresector Sunday congregated at ahotel here to discuss the latest med-ical advancements for treatment ofGastrointestinal diseases.

The special training-cum-discus-sion session was organised by ManojSahu, head of the Gastroenterologydepartment at SUM Hospital andJimmy Narayan, another senior doc-tor. The programme was supportedby Boston Scientific, USA. The par-ticipants deliberated on the health is-sues of the post-Covid era and chal-lenges in the field of gastro health.

“There is an upward trend inthe gastric, liver, pancreatic, biliaryand intestinal diseases in the society.People are suffering a lot. We needto train ourselves with the most ad-vanced technologies for providingworld-class healthcare in Odisha,”Sahu said.

Sahu led the workshop to trainthe doctors and technicians on thelatest available medical interven-tion to cater to the needs of pa-tients suffering from gastroin-testinal diseases.

“The Gastro and Liver CareFoundation organised the work-shop on endoscopy to train thetechnicians on the most advancedtechnologies. The technicians canuse the expertise and knowledge fortreating people,” Sahu added.

Several technicians from dif-ferent parts of Odisha participatedin the training programme. Manysenior and renowned gastroen-terologists from the state sharedtheir expertise at the workshop.

Thrust on advancedtechnology to treatgastro diseases

POST NEWS NETWORK

Puri, Oct 24: The district admin-istration is all set to host the much-awaited All Odisha Beach WrestlingChampionship at Niladri beachhere Monday, an official said Sunday.

According to Puri municipalityexecutive officer Saroj KumarSwain, the two-day mega event isexpected to witness participationof around 200 wrestlers from acrossthe state.

As many as 30 officials and 20 vol-unteers will ensure a smooth con-duct of the event that is being con-ducted by the Puri administrationin association with OdishaWrestling Association in Cuttack,District Athletic Association inPuri and the Akhadas of the HolyCity, Swain said.

There will be three categories forboth boys and girls in the compe-tition. While sub-juniors (12 to 15years) will compete in (35-40, 40-45, 45-50) kg categories, juniors (16to 18 years) will play in (50-55, 55-60, 60-65) kg categories. For sen-iors (19 years or above), menwrestlers will play in 50-60, 60-65,65-75, 75-85 kg categories, whilewomen wrestlers will compete in50-55, 55-60, 60-65, 65-70 kg cate-gories, said a source.

Champions will get a cash awardof Rs 5,000, while the runners-upwill get Rs 3,000. Both the champions

and runners-up will get a track-suit, a pair of shoes and a medaleach,” added the source.

Participants have been asked toreport at Puri Youth Hostel at 8amMonday.

While Aadhaar card is a must forsenior category, birth certificateissued by competent authority ismandatory for junior and sub-jun-ior categories at the time of re-porting. A negative Covid antigentest report is also a mandatory, re-vealed the source.

The offline and online registra-tions for the event began September22 and ended October 24.

All Odisha Beach Wrestling Championship begins today

There will be three categories for bothboys and girls in the competition.

While sub-juniors (12 to 15 years) willcompete in (35-40, 40-45, 45-50) kg

categories, juniors (16 to 18 years) willplay in (50-55, 55-60, 60-65) kg

categories

For seniors (19 years or above), menwrestlers will play in 50-60, 60-65, 65-75,

75-85 kg categories, while womenwrestlers will compete in 50-55, 55-60,

60-65, 65-70 kg categories

Champions will get a cash award of `5,000, while the runners-up will get

`3,000. Both the champions and runners-up will get a tracksuit, a pair

of shoes and a medal each

IN A NUTSHELL

Women visit a terracotta exhibition organised by the Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts department at Ekamra Haat in Bhubaneswar, Sunday OP PHOTO

TERRACOTTA EXPO

The winners at the India Skills 2021 Eastern Region Competition in Patna

Khaja is a part ofthe dry prasad

that is offered toLord Jagannathand involves a

unique method ofpreparation.

Refined flour,ghee, sugar and

oil are used toprepare thesweetmeat

downtownMONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP4

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By virtue of an affidavitsworn before theExecutive Magistrate,Cuttack on dated17.03.2021. I, MinatiNayak, aged about 49years, W/o - ChagalaNayak, At/P.O.- DalijodaBrahmapur, Via-Charbatia, Dist.- Cuttackdo hereby declared that,Minati Nayak and MenakaNayak are the names ofone and same person.Hence this affidavit I shallbe known as Minati Nayakfor all purposes.

I Pragyan Paramita Dash,R/o Sadasivpur,Dhenkanal, Odisha havechanged my minor child’sname from Aneesha Rathto Aadriti Rath.

CLASSIFIEDAFFIDAVIT

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: Odisha’sCovid-19 caseload Sunday surgedto 10,38,411 after 447 more people,including 78 children, tested pos-itive for the infection while fourfresh fatalities pushed the coron-avirus death toll to 8,309, a Healthdepartment official said.

The state, for the third consec-utive day, Sunday reported below500 daily new cases. It had registered441 new cases Saturday, 467 Friday,524 Thursday, 559 Wednesday, and556 Tuesday.

With 78 cases, the rate of in-fection among the people in theage group of 0 to 18 years standsat 17.44 per cent.

Of the 447 new cases, 260 arefrom quarantine centres and the re-maining 187 local contact cases.Khurda district , of whichBhubaneswar is a part, reported 180infections and accounted for al-most 40 per cent of the daily count,

followed by Cuttack (62).The Health and Family Welfare

department reported four moreCovid-19 deaths, two from Keonjharand one each from Khurda andKalahandi districts.

With 447 new positive cases de-tected from 69,161 samples, the testpositivity rate (TPR) Sunday standsat 0.64 per cent.

The state currently has 4,542 ac-tive Covid-19 cases while as manyas 10,25,507 patients including 482Saturday, recovered from the highlyinfectious disease.

Odisha has thus far conductedover 2.15 crore sample tests includ-ing 69,161 Saturday. The state’s pos-itivity rate now stands at 4.82 per cent.

As many as 1,06,34,665 people

have been fully inoculated withboth doses of Covid-19 vaccinesin the state till October 23, saidthe official.

WITH 78 CASES, THE RATE OFINFECTION AMONG THE PEOPLE INTHE AGE GROUP OF 0 TO 18 YEARS

STANDS AT 17.44 PER CENT

COVID IN ODISHA

Of the 447 newcases, Khurda

reported 180infections andaccounted foralmost 40 per

cent of thedaily count,followed by

Cuttack (62)

The Health andFamily Welfaredepartmentreported fourmore Covid-19deaths, two fromKeonjhar and oneeach from Khurdaand Kalahandidistricts

As many as 1,06,34,665 peoplehave been fully inoculated with

both doses of Covid-19 vaccines inthe state till October 23

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi Sundayrecalled the contributions of BirsaMunda, noted tribal freedom fighterfrom eastern India, describing himas “an inspirational force”.

Addressing his monthly radioprogramme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modisaid, “Munda’s contributions tothe freedom struggle will remainetched in public memory forever.During this period of ‘Azadi KaAmrit Mahotsav’, a Government ofIndia initiative to celebrate 75 yearsof a progressive India and its glo-rious history, the country is re-membering its brave sons anddaughters, those great and virtu-ous souls.”

The birth anniversary of bravewarrior Bhagwan Birsa Mundafalls November 15, he said.“Bhagwan Birsa Munda is alsoknown as ‘Dharti Aaba’. Do youknow what this epithet means? Itmeans the father of earth. The

way Bhagwan Birsa Munda foughtto protect his culture, his forestand his land, it could have onlybeen done by ‘Dharti Aaba’,” thePM said.

Munda taught the countrymento be proud of their culture androots, he said, adding that the colo-nial rulers subjected him to count-less threats and applied immensepressure, but he did not relinquishthe tribal culture.

“If we have to learn to love na-ture and environment, then forthat too, Dharti Aaba BhagwanBirsa Munda is one of our great-est inspirations. He strongly op-posed every policy of foreign rulerswhich was detrimental to envi-ronment,” he said.

Noting that Birsa Munda wasalways at the forefront while help-ing the poor and the distressed,the PM said, “He also made the so-ciety aware about eliminating so-cial evils. Who can forget his lead-ership during the Ulgulanmovement? This movement shook

the British and, as an aftermath,the British had placed a hugebounty on Bhagwan Birsa Munda.”Munda had launched the Ulgulanmovement against the exploita-tion of the tribals.

“The British government puthim in jail and he was tortured tosuch an extent that he left us atthe age of less than 25 year. He leftus, but only in the body; in pub-lic psyche, Lord Birsa Munda re-sides forever. His life remains aninspirational force for people,”Modi said.

Even today, folk songs and stories,full of recollection of his courageand valour, are very popular inthe central region of India, Modisaid, adding that he bows to ‘DhartiAaba’ Birsa Munda. He also urgedthe youth to read more about him.“The more you know about theunique contribution of our tribalpopulace to the freedom struggleof India, the more proud you willfeel,” he said.

India’s largest hockey sta-

dium, which is coming up atRourkela in Odisha’s Sundargarhdistrict, has been named after thetribal hero. The stadium willhost the 2023 Men’s FIH HockeyWorld Cup.

Birsa Munda united the trib-als against the British and forcedthe colonial rulers to introducelaws protecting the land rightsof the tribals. He spearheadedthe tribal Millenarian move-ment that arose in the erstwhileBengal Presidency comprisingwestern districts of Bengal,Bihar and Odisha.

He was born November 15, 1875,in Chhotanagpur plateau of pres-ent-day Jharkhand. Birsa Mundahad organised his first protestmarch for remission of forestdues during the great famine of1895. He was arrested March 3,1900, while sleeping with his tribalguerrilla army at Jamkopai for-est in Chakradharpur.

He died in Ranchi jail June 9that year aged 25.

Birsa Munda an inspirational force: PM on Mann Ki BaatBirsa Munda

united the trib-als against theBritish and forcedthe colonial rulersto introduce lawsprotecting the landrights of the tribals

He spearheadedthe tribal

Millenarian move-ment that arose inthe erstwhileBengal Presidencycomprising west-ern districts ofBengal, Bihar andOdisha

India’s largesthockey stadium,

which is coming upat Rourkela inOdisha’sSundargarh dis-trict, has beennamed after thetribal hero

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: TheOdisha Environmental Society(OES) Sunday celebrated its 40thfoundation day, in which, the10th Prasanna Kumar DashMemorial Lecture was given onthe topic ‘Environment Odisha:The Way Forward’.

Veerendra Pratap Upadhyay, for-mer Adviser at the Union Ministryof Environment, Forest and ClimateChange (MoEFCC), attended theevent as the chief speaker and saidthe natural environment of Odisha,even though very captivating, isbeing negatively impacted by in-dustrialisation, mining and otherdevelopmental programmes.

“Sustainable and judicious useof resources, extracting usablematerials from wastes and recy-cling them, conserving the top aswell as sub-soil, and planting nativespecies need to be given top prior-ity,” he added.

The chief guest of the occasionwas Sudhakar Panda, Director ofNISER Bhubaneswar.

OES secretary JayakrushnaPanigrahi opined that while theworld is currently distressed witha series of environmental disas-ters, selfless contributions of or-ganisations like the OES carryconsiderable significance.

The chief guest bestowed withthe ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’on educationist and environmen-

talist Bharat Panda. This apart,‘BC Panda Award for Environment& Science Communication’ wasgiven to educationist and science-writer Murari Mohan Dash.

Sudhakar Kar, Nimai CharanMishra and Pradip KumarPattajoshi were honoured as thefellows of the Society. On the otherhand, BM Faruque, Nirmal ChandraDash, P Sasi Bhusana Rao, JitasatruMohanty and Swadesh SundarPatnaik were felicitated as seniorlife members of OES.

OES president Sundara NarayanPatro also highlighted the Society’spast, present and future course ofaction, emphasising that it has beenplaying the role of a torch-bearer inthe environment frontier.

40TH FOUNDATION DAY OF OES

Experts: Future security dependson present environmental quality

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: IITBhubaneswar Sunday organiseda breast cancer awareness pro-gramme at Argul High School forfive adopted villages ranging fromArgul, Khudupur, Padanpur,Podapada and Kansapada as partof its Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA)Programme.

The event was organised byWissenaire, IIT Bhubaneswar in col-laboration with Umeedein,Carcinova Cancer Hospital, Cuttack.

The event was inaugurated by PVSatyam, Dean of Student Affairs,IIT Bhubaneswar. Speaking on theoccasion, Satyam said, “Breastcancer is the most frequent cause

of cancer-related deaths in womenworldwide. As per WHO, it accountsfor 2.09 million cases and 6,27,000deaths globally.”

“This initiative will help edu-cate the public about the basics ofcancer, its common symptoms,

early detection and prevention,and removal of the stigma attachedto the disease. I am sure that thisaction will be inspiring and moti-vating to the inhabitants of thevillages and it will set a positive ex-ample to students of sister

Institutions. We see this as a greatopportunity for all of us to con-tribute towards a cancer free society.Lastly with this initiative, we intendto inculcate in our students thevalue of social service which hastaken a back seat these days and re-duced this best practice to becomeritualistic,” Satyam added.

“We, at IIT Bhubaneswar, arecommitted towards building ahealthy society and have achieveda fairly good success in this en-deavor, and it will continue,” hefurther said. As part of the drive,awareness lectures and basicsanitary kits were distributed.The drive saw an active partic-ipation of people from all thefive villages.

IIT Bhub rolls out breast cancer awareness drive

WORLD POLIO DAY

Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar holds a roadshow at Saheed Nagar in Capital city on the occasion of World Polio Day, Sunday OP PHOTO

Bhubaneswar Club celebrates Picasso

State maintains streak of below 500 cases

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: Sukrut,the cultural chapter ofBhubaneswar Club, in its artodyssey celebrated Pablo Picasso,probably the most in¬fluentialartist of the 20th century world, atthe Club premises Sunday.

As a mark of tribute to the greatpainter, sculptor and designer, theBhubaneswar event gallery show-cased facsimiles of some of themaestro’s best works at the galleryset up for the purpose. Scores of art-lovers and members visited theexhibition and shared the intel-lectual experience.

Born Spanish, Picasso spent mostof his adult life in Paris. Regardedas one of the most influential artists

of the 20th century, he is knownfor co-founding the Cubist move-ment. In Cubist artwork, objectsare analysed, broken up and re-assembled in abstract form. Insteadof depicting the object from a sin-gle viewpoint, the artist juxtaposesit from a multitude of perspectives,representing the subject in a largecontext through cube-like imagery.

President of the Club AsitTripathy said that, they have takenthis initiative to foster interestin literature, art and other cul-tural events for the discernibleof the city. The convener of SukrutPradosh Mohanty assured that itwill continue its endeavor to en-hance the world class cultural ex-periences of members throughmany similar events.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: The bodyof a youth who reportedly jumpedinto Bindusa g ar lake nearLingaraj temple in BhubaneswarSaturday night was recoveredSunday morning.

Fire Services personnel fishedout the body. The deceased hasbeen identified as Saishree JyotiPrakash from Samantarapur areain the city. The police have seized thedeceased’s scooter and sandals andsent the body to Capital Hospital forpostmortem, it was learnt. Saishreehad left his home for tuition Saturdayevening and did not return. Familysources said that he spoke to hismother over mobile phone for thelast time at 9:45 pm. It is said thathe was last seen near the Bindusagarlake around the same time.

Saishree also posted a suicidenote on his Instagram page.However, the police are yet to re-cover his mobile phone.

Student ends life in Bindusagar lake

POST NEWS NETWORK

Cuttack, Oct 24: The Covid-19pandemic has taken the sheen offmany festivities for the secondyear in a row. The Silver City willwitness a muted Kali PujaNovember 4, said an official of theCommissionerate Police.

A preparatory meeting for the fes-tival was organised at the OCAConference Hall here Sunday.

As per the decision, the heightof the idols will be capped at 4 ft.Besides, the rituals will be per-formed with participation of bareminimum people at the pandal.

“A maximum of seven personswill be allowed to remain at themandap during the rituals. Theidols will be immersed at DeviGada November 6. A maximum of10 persons will be allowed to par-ticipate in the idol immersion pro-cession. . Usually, the idols aretaken out on a procession across theMillennium City during the im-

mersion ceremony. However, thisyear, there would be no such pro-cession,” said an official.

The Commissionerate Policehas also restricted opening of fire-cracker stalls in the Silver City.

Police Commissioner SaumendraPriyadarshi, DCP Prateek Singhand other dignitaries, includingrepresentatives of several pujacommittees, were present at thepreparatory meeting.

Cuttack to witness low-key Kali Puja

Police Commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi, DCP Prateek Singh and otherdignitaries at a preparatory meeting for the upcoming Kali Puja in Cuttack,Sunday OP PHOTO

TODAYWASSUPBHUBANESWAR

n First anniversary of TV channel‘Bada Khabar’, Hotel SwostiPremium, 9:30am

n Press conference byOdisha SecondarySchool Teachers'Association, All UtkalPrimary Teachers’Association Office,Kharavela Nagar, 3:30pm

Programmes/announcements forwassup today may be sent to

opwassup@gmail.com for record, it must also carry the sender’s

mobile number for our verification,but not for publication.

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stateMONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP5

POST NEWS NETWORK

Nabarangpur, Oct 24: Bringingan end to all political specula-tions following his resignationfrom Congress, the former MPfrom Nabarangpur constituencysegment announced at a presserheld here Sunday morning that hewill soon join the ruling BijuJanata Dal (BJD).

“BJD led by the party supremoand Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik has been successful ingiving a stable government to peo-ple of the state. I, along with my

close political associates and someother senior leaders of Congresswill join BJD soon,” Majhi said.

The former MP further saidthat carrying out developmentworks in the undivided Koraputdistrict was practically very dif-ficult, so long as he remained withCongress. He tried hard to resolvelocal issues.

Giving his views on the futureof Congress in Odisha, Majhi saidthat it is too difficult for the partyto grab power under the presentscenario.

“Leaders at the grassroots levelin undivided Koraput district arekeen to see development of theregion. All of us will be joiningBJD to strengthen the party. Ourdecision will help resolve basic issues like education, health ando t h er ba s i c a m en i t i es,” Majhi stated.

Besides, Majhi in his resigna-tion letter wrote, “I have a greatdesire to serve my people at what-ever position I am, which is nowlacking in the Congress party. Assuch, I am painfully quitting theparty for which I may kindly be excused.”

It is pertinent to mention herethat Majhi had resigned from theprimary membership of CongressOctober 22. He sent his resignationletter to the Congress interimpresident Sonia Gandhi.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhawanipatna, Oct 24: Room no-20 of the ladies’ hostel in SunshineEnglish Medium School atMahaling area of Kalahandi districtadded to the mystery of teacherMamita Meher’s murder after ateam of Turekela police fromBolangir conducted a probe on itspremises Saturday afternoon.

The probe came close on heelsof prime accused Gobinda Sahurecreating the crime scene Friday.Police officials from Kegaon inKalahandi and Turekela inBolangir are probing the case andthe key accused is now in Kegaonpolice custody.

A video of Sahu recreating thecrime has gone viral on social media.

According to a source, the in-vestigating team found that all therooms of the ladies’ hostel atSunshine school have similar locks,except room no-20. Key to roomno-20 could not be provided to theinvestigating team for scrutiny.During the probe, when Turekela

police officials sought a clarifica-tion from the hostel warden, nosatisfactory answer regarding thekey and the lock could be given, thesource informed.

It might have been changed bysomebody after Mamita’s death,a local man alleged.

According to the source, prior tobeing arrested, prime accused Sahuvisited the room between October8 and October 13. Sahu could havedestroyed evidence, the local mansaid. Meanwhile, the source in-formed that police have repeat-edly quizzed inmates of the ladies’

hostel to extract information per-taining to the lock and key andSahu’s visit to the room.

Gobinda Sahu was arrested byBolangir police October 19. Policetraced out the prime accused froma sugarcane field at Budhipadar village under Bangomunda block

of Bolangir district where he washiding. A team of Bolangir policeprobing into the murder caseFriday took accused Sahu to thecrime site in the stadium atMahaling where the crime scenewas recreated.

Notably, taking cognisance ofthe murder of Mamita, the OSCWhas sought a detailed report fromBolangir SP.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bolangir, Oct 24: The demand fordismissal of Minister of State(Home) Dibyashankar Mishragained further momentum in sen-sational Mamita Meher murdercase as the All India MahilaCongress president Netta D’Souzavisited Jharni village underTurekela block in this districtSunday and demanded the dis-missal of Mishra from his post.

D’Souza said this while meet-ing the family members of de-ceased Mamita Meher at her resi-dence in Jharni village. Shecondoled the death of Mamitawhile interacting with her familymembers at their residence, whereshe spent over an hour with them.

D’Souza said that the Ministerof State (Home) should be removedfirst to carry out a fair probe intothe murder case. She said thiswhile speaking to mediapersons,Sunday. She said that the murderwas pre-planned and a big racketwas being operated in the educa-tional institution.

She said that a big name hassurfaced in the case and questionedwhy the minister was visiting thecollege very often. She said that ifthe Home Minister is involved insuch act then how the people in

the state will feel safe. She saidthat Mamita was killed as she op-posed the unethical activities beingcarried out in the college where shewas teaching. The way the womanschoolteacher was murdered andher body was burnt suggested thatthe accused persons have crossedall limits of evilness, she said whilestating whether people are livingin a ‘Jungle Raj’.

She demanded that the HomeMinister should be taken into cus-tody and grilled as to why he wasvisiting the college on a regularbasis. She also demanded that anunderground room in the collegeshould also be taken under inves-tigation and Gobinda Sahu, theprime accused, is not the only per-son involved in the case and the police should probe and find out the involvement of others.

She said, she came to learn that another girl was raped and crushedto death by a tractor.

It is worth mentioning thatCaptain Dibyashankar Mishra’sname came to light following escapeof prime accused Gobinda Sahufrom police custody in MamitaMeher missing case. State MahilaCongress president Bandita Parida,state Cong ress secretarySamarendra Mishra accompaniedD’Souza during her visit.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Jaleswar, Oct 24: Raibania fort inJaleswar area of Balasore used tobe a protective wall for Odishaagainst external aggressions fromAfghans, Huns, Moghuls andMarhattas in the past. The fort, atestimony of the state’s militaryprowess and architecture, has nowreduced to debris. It was alleged thatthe government has not paid muchattention to the revival and de-velopment of the ancient fort lyingon the border of West Bengal.

While efforts are on to protectand preserve ancient forts in otherparts of the state, Raibania hasbeen given shor t shrif t , locals alleged.

They observed that the touristplace can be well tapped if thegovernment carries out archaeo-logical excavations, preservationof its sculptures and constructionof a museum.

This is a hill fort situated nearSubarnarekha river, encircled byforests. Kings in the past used tostay in the fort and protect their em-pires. It is said that there were asmany as 18 small forts nearRaibania fort. There was provi-sion of a tunnel way to reach themain gate of the fort.

The main feature of the fortwas that there was undergroundways for royal people to escape incase of external aggressions.

The fort was encircled by sevenmoats and an earthen wall. Allthese have crumbled to pieces over centuries.

As for the fort, Dr Ashok KumarMitra of the former head of the ar-chaeolo g y de par tment ofUniversity of Calcutta had said,“Raibania was the largest fort inwhole northeast India. The fortwas built with use of soil, but it was

damaged by the British in differ-ent times. Some parts of four gatesof the fort are still existent.”

According to some other ar-chaeologists, the fort was not madeat a time. Now, remains of the fortand scores of broken sculptureshave been lying scattered on 10square mile of land.

During excavation, some armsand ammunitions have been re-covered in the area.

According to Balasore Gazetteer,a Mayurbhanj king had taken awaythe main deity of Raibania fort

and enshrined the deity atKhiching.

However, the presiding deityDagachandi is still being worshipedat Raibania village. There is aJagannath temple in the fort area.The temple has architectural sim-ilarity with Konark’s Sun templebuilt by Langula Narasingha Dev.

Dr Mitra had first conducted asurvey in the area and started ex-cavation with some funds. But ex-cavation work has stal led since his demise.

Another archaeologist has beencarrying out research on the fort.It was claimed that King LangulaNarasingha Dev had built this fortbetween 1238 and 1264.

There are 50 big and small pondsin the fort area. Many archaeo-logical remains have been left neg-lected without preservation and protection.

Following media reports aboutthe fort in the past, MLA AswiniPatra, former MP Rabindra Jenaand MP Srikant Jena had raised the issue in the Assembly and the Parliament.

In 2014, the reconstruction workof the Jagannath temple wasstarted and is still going on withan estimated fund of `45 lakh.

There were observation towers

and more than 50 water bodies.Two of the gates are in ruins dueto lack of maintenance.

As per data available, around`1.31 crore has been sanctionedfor the fort’s development includ-ing ̀ 50 lakh under National RurbanMission (NRuM), `50 lakh fromPanchayat fund, ̀ 16 lakh from ZillaParishad fund and `15 lakh fromTourism and Culture departments.

The members of the RaibaniaFort Development Committee(RDC) and Raibania Durg a

Suraksha Committee (RDSC) saidthat major parts of the fort arecovered in bushes and shrubs.There is a need for recovery of thevaluable archaeological assetsfrom the area, they said.

MLA Aswini Patra said thatthere is need for a master plan fordevelopment of Raibania fort.

Tourism and Culture depart-ment has sanctioned ̀ 25 lakh foran entry gate to the fort and another `25 lakh for other development activities.

Once a protective wall, Raibania fort in ruins

Raibania was the largest fort in whole northeast India.The fort was built with use of soil, but it was damaged bythe British in different times. Some parts of four gates ofthe forts are still existent

DR ASHOK KUMAR MITRA I FORMER HEAD OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY DEPT, UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

LAMP MAKING CONTEST

Potters participating in a lamp making competition held at Andhari village under Jujumura block in Sambalpur, Sunday OP PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kendrapara, Oct 24: An endan-gered baby gharial was rescuedafter the reptile was caught in fish-ing net in Cuttack district, a forestdepartment official said Saturday.

A fisherman found the gharial,a species of freshwater crocodile,stuck in his net placed in the Biruparivulet near Chotti village Friday.Local fishermen panicked afterfinding the unexpected catch, butthey did not cause any harm tothe distressed animal.

Forest department officials werecalled and they rescued the trappedanimal. However, the net could nolonger be used for fishing.

The official said the departmenttook possession of the gharialwhich will be released later in thenatural habitat at the TikarpadaWildlife Sanctuary in Angul district.

Gharials, with their long snouts,are prone to get entangled in fish-ing nets, due to which they gettrapped underwater and drown,or have their rostrums choppedoff or killed to disentangle thenets, according to the World WideFund for Nature.

The species is listed underSchedule I of the Wildlife(Protection) Act and as critically endangered under the red list of the International Union forConservation of Nature (IUCN).

It is claimed that Kendrapara isthe only district in India where allthe three crocodile species -- salt-water, gharial and mugger -- arefound in its river systems.

Odisha is the only state in thecountry having all three species inthe wild. The state governmentlaunched a conservation programmefor these crocodiles in 1975.

Room no-20 at Sunshine school adds to puzzle MAMITA MURDER

Pradeep Majhi to join BJD soon

BJD led by theparty supremo andOdisha Chief

Minister Naveen Patnaik hasbeen successful in giving astable government to peopleof the state. I, along with myclose political associates andsome other senior leaders ofCongress will join BJD soonPRADEEP MAJHI I FORMER CONGRESS MP

Former MP Pradeep Majhi addressing a press meet at Nabarangpur

Gharial stuck in fishing net rescued

Congress women’swing chief demandsMinister’s dismissal

Childrendisplay theirskills inTaekwondo ata colour beltexaminationfor the martialart held atParalakhemundi,Sunday

OP PHOTO

MARTIAL ART

THE INVESTIGATING TEAMFOUND THAT ALL THE ROOMS

OF THE LADIES’ HOSTEL ATSUNSHINE SCHOOL HAVE SIMILARLOCKS, EXCEPT ROOM NO-20

DURING THE PROBE, WHENTUREKELA POLICE OFFICIALS

SOUGHT A CLARIFICATION FROMTHE HOSTEL WARDEN, NOSATISFACTORY ANSWERREGARDING THE KEY AND THELOCK COULD BE GIVEN

ACCORDING TO THE SOURCE,PRIOR TO BEING ARRESTED,

PRIME ACCUSED SAHU VISITED THE ROOM BETWEEN OCTOBER 8AND OCTOBER 13

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

W ith India achieving the milestone of administering 100 crore vac-cines to contain the scourge of COVID-19, the government has goneon a propaganda blitzkrieg to ‘celebrate’ the event. The fact that

the government’s inept handling of the pandemic since it broke out over ayear back led to colossal suffering of the people is being glossed over. Theway the government’s propaganda machinery has been deployed to proj-ect the event shows the ruling party’s desperation to erase from the mem-ory of the nation the loss of countless lives, grossly inadequate hospital in-frastructure, shortage of oxygen cylinders, agonies of migrant workers strandeddue to a thoughtless lockdown and job losses. Along with the show ofbravado over the claimed vaccination milestone, the statement of UnionPetroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri is noteworthy. Puri has beenquoted by media as saying “I think the simplistic political narrative in India(that), prices have gone up, why don’t you reduce your taxes? So every timeprices go up due to something else, it says you axe your own feet in the process.I am not very sensitive to that kind of discussion.” The last sentence waspossible for Puri to utter as he is not an elected Lok Sabha member ofParliament but a retired bureaucrat inducted through the Rajya Sabhapath. The minister went on to claim that the excise duty levied on petroleumproducts is funding ‘free’ Covid-19 vaccines and other welfare schemes. Ifwhat the minister claims is true, then it completely demolishes the Uniongovernment’s assertion that it has administered one billion ‘free’ Covid vac-cines since the vaccines were paid for by the people paying an ever in-creasing tax on essential items of survival.

T he 2021 Nobel Prize inChemistry has beenawarded to Benjamin List of

the Max Planck Institute and DavidWC MacMillan of PrincetonUniversity for their pioneeringwork on asymmetric organocatal-ysis. Announcing the Nobel Prize,the award-giving body described or-ganic-catalysts as “a new and in-genious tool for molecule build-ing.” Peter Somfai, a member ofthe committee, emphasised thelikely impact of the discovery onthe world economy. “It has been es-timated that catalysis is respon-sible for ~ 35% of the world’s GDP,which is a pretty impressive figure,”he said. “If we have a more envi-ronmentally friendly alternative,it’s expected that that will make adifference.”

Organocatalysis is a young andthriving research area. It is a formof catalysis wherein the rate of achemical reaction is increased byan organic catalyst. A typicalorganocatalyst consists of smallorganic molecules; namely, car-bon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen,sulphur and non-metal elements.For several decades, chemists didnot envisage the catalytic use ofsmall organic molecules as a well-defined and independent field of re-search. Even though chemical re-

actions catalysed by small organicmolecules were known, organocatal-ysis was not popular until 2000.Two independent publications fromthe research groups of List andMacMillan cemented a place fororganocatalysis. The work by Listgroup showed that proline (anamino acid) can catalyse chemi-cal reactions like aldolase (an en-zyme) by using similar mecha-nisms. The researchers suggestedthat proline functions as a micro-enzyme. MacMillan and co-work-ers coined the term ‘organocatal-ysis’ while publishing their seminalexperimental f indings onDiels–Alder reaction catalysed bya modified phenylalanine; whichprovided a framework to establisha new research area.

In an editorial of ChemicalReviews (2007, 107, 12, 5413-5415)List stated that “it is quite re-markable that organic chemistshad long ignored the fact that thevery first catalysts they used inancient times were purely organicmolecules such as acetaldehyde.As organic molecules readily reactwith each other, why did we dis-regard these compounds as catalystsand rather relied on the assistanceof biologists and inorganic chemiststo provide enzymes or explain theforeign world of d-orbitals to us?

Why did we not expect catalyticcompetence from organic mole-cules - exactly those compoundswe can truly design, make, andknow most about?”

In a commentary (Nature, 455,304-308, 2008), MacMillan pointedout that: “Advent of organocatalysisbrought the prospect of a comple-mentary mode of catalysis, with thepotential for savings in cost, timeand energy, an easier experimen-tal procedure, and reductions inchemical waste. These benefitsarise from three factors. First, or-ganic molecules are generally in-sensitive to oxygen and moisturein the atmosphere, so there is noneed for special reaction vessels,storage containers and experi-mental techniques, or for ultra-dry reagents and solvents. Second,a wide variety of organic reagents- such as amino acids, carbohy-drates and hydroxy acids - are nat-urally available from biologicalsources as single enantiomers.Simple organocatalysts are there-fore usually cheap to prepare andreadily accessible in a range ofquantities, suitable for small scalereactions to industrial scale reac-tions. Third, small organic mole-cules are typically non-toxic and en-vironmentally friendly, increasingthe safety of catalysis in both bio-

logical research and chemical re-search across all research settings,including industry and academicinstitutions.”

Industrial applications of catal-ysis have traditionally relied onmetal and enzyme catalysed meth-ods. However, recently organocatal-ysis is expanding rapidly as a po-tential and complementarytechnique to both metal and bio-catalysis. At present, researchersfrom academia and industries areintensely involved in this field witha focus on developing neworganocatalysts. These catalystsare employed for developing a widerange of industrially relevant chem-ical transformations. For instance,researchers were able to useorganocatalysis and a cascade re-action to prepare strychnine injust 12 steps, and the productionprocess was 7,000 times more effi-cient. In addition, different phar-maceutical companies are usingorganocatalytic methods to stream-line the current production ofparoxetine (an antidepressant) andoseltamivir (an antiviral medica-tion). It is believed that organocatal-ysis will provide many new reac-tions for years to come.

The writer is a scientist.Views are personal.

A greener way to build molecules

HOUSE IN DISORDERT

he Congress is all set tosnatch defeat from thejaws of victory. Eversince the change of

guard in Punjab, where the sea-soned Capt Amarinder Singh wasreplaced by Charanjeet SinghChanni as Chief Minister, thingshave turned murkier for the party.It no longer has an edge over theOpposition in the state, whichwas run by them for two succes-sive terms. In fact, after the an-nouncement by Amarinder toform his own outfit and align withthe BJP, it is advantage BJP.Ironically, it is not Amarinderwho has played Brutus, but the sib-lings in the Congress, Rahul andPriyanka, who picked maverickNavjot Singh Sidhu over the skil-ful administrator.

The siblings had left no optionfor Amarinder, who could nei-ther go to the BJP, nor to the AkaliDal, nor Aam Aadmi Party, as heis too big for their boots. Havingrefused their offer of joining BJP,Amarinder will float his ownparty, which can later align withthe BJP, to form the governmentin Punjab.

What the BJP could not achievein Punjab, the Gandhi siblingshave done for them. They haverekindled the hopes of the BJPleadership of being part of the gov-ernment in Punjab. The AkaliDal always played the role of a bigbrother and BJP always obligedthem, knowing that they lackedtheir own base in the state. Infact, after the Akalis betrayed theBJP, in the post-farmers protestscenario, by withdrawing sup-port to the Modi government, itbecame pretty evident that theywould be doomed in the Assemblyelections. Thanks to the Gandhisiblings, the BJP is back in thestate, as never before and may, inall probability, prop-up Amrinderas CM. It’s a deadly combinationwhich has no match with AkaliDal losing its sheen graduallyand the Congress still busy in itsinfighting.

Right from the very beginning,the Gandhis blundered by sidingwith undependable Sidhu, whois immature and lacks politicalacumen. The person, who openly

snubs the CM of his own party andcriticizes him for doing nothingfor the state, is elevated to thepost of PCC chief ! His word car-ried so much weight with theGandhis that he was encouragedin his rebellion against the pop-ular CM, who was all set to scorea successive Congress victorythis time too.

Instead of keeping him in goodbooks, the Gandhi siblings keptquiet when Sidhu was demean-ing his own party CM in public. Infact, even Congress president SoniaGandhi was so much swayed by thesycophancy of the cricketer-turned-politician that she deniedAmarinder a graceful exit from theparty. Instead of accepting his res-ignation when he offered, shekicked him out of the government,by being a party to the LegislatureMeeting in Chandigarh. Anyonewould argue that Capt AmarinderSingh, who served the party as

PCC chief and CM for two terms,deserved much better treatmentfrom the high command.

As declared by Amarinder him-self, he will leave no stone un-turned to defeat the Congress andwould go to any extent to ensurethat Sidhu never realises his dreamof becoming the CM. In fact, morethan Amarinder, the future ofSidhu is doomed, as the formeris all set to make things difficultfor him in future. As far as theformer CM is concerned, he stillcommands respect in his state andhas a massive following in pub-lic. The sympathy factor and thesupport given by the BJP will con-tribute to his come-back as CM.

As regards the new ChiefMinister Charanjit Singh Channi,a period of three to four monthsis not enough to judge him. Onlytime will tell if being Dalit andbelonging to a humble backgroundwill fetch him requisite number of

votes in the Assembly electionsto retain power. Interestingly, theanti-incumbency vote will goagainst the Congress for all thefailures committed by Amarinder,while the latter will garner thesympathy vote for being kickedout from the government and party.

Congress high command needsnot only to set its own house inorder, but to give a thought to itsown attitude towards its party-men. Instead of being surroundedby sycophants in the party andbeing highly egoistic, the Gandhisshould realise that the Grand OldParty will perish, if they refuse tosee the reality around them. It’s notonly in Punjab that they have in-sulted their veteran leader, but inother states as well. Both the youngand the old are getting restive inthe party in the absence of ade-quate policies and programmes. Itwill have to be seen what coursedoes the G-23 follows in future.All out efforts will be made byAmarinder Singh to garner sup-port from them in the state.

Similarly, dissidence is sim-mering in the Congress-ruledstates of Chhattisgarh andRajasthan, with disgruntled lead-ers like TS Singh Deo and SachinPilot sulking for a long time. Unlessthe party satisfies the rebel lead-ers, it will be a repeat of MadhyaPradesh, where JyotiradityaScindia ditched the Congress byhelping the BJP to form the gov-ernment in the state.

The Congress is in power inonly three states -- Punjab,Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan -- andif it does not set its own house inorder, it will be wiped out fromthe entire country. The call givenby BJP for a ‘Congress MuktBharat’ will no longer remain a dis-tant dream. Going by the experi-ence in Punjab, the Congress highcommand should act fast, beforeit is too late. In that case, it will bethe Gandhis, who will have to takethe blame, instead of the partyleaders or the BJP, which is wait-ing to pounce on any misadventureby the Congress.

The writer is a Delhi-basedsenior journalist

and columnist. Views are personal.

LOL

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

Instead of being surrounded by sycophants in theparty and being highly egoistic, the Gandhisshould realise that the Grand Old Party will perish,if they refuse to see the reality around them

How ‘FREE’ If Taxed

Purchasing a brain

Aclient of a hospital where theymade brain transplantations

asked about the prices.The doctor said, “Well, this Ph.D. braincosts $10,000. This brain belonged toa NASA top scientist and costs

$15,000. Herewe have a

policeman’s brain aswell. It costs $50,000.”

The client asked, “What? How’s thatpossible?”The doctor replied, “You see, it’stotally unused.”

MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

Delight is the secret. Learn ofpure delight and thou shaltlearn of God.

SRI AUROBINDO

RESEARCH

RIGHT FROMTHE VERY

BEGINNING, THEGANDHIS

BLUNDERED BYSIDING WITH

UNDEPENDABLESIDHU, WHO IS

IMMATURE ANDLACKS

POLITICAL ACUMEN

Anita Saluja

WISDOM CORNERSome are born great, some achieve greatness, and some havegreatness thrust upon them. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakablydesirable. MARK TWAIN

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that ithas taken place. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

CONGRESS

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: edit@orissapost.com

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

ORGANOCATALYSTSARE EMPLOYED FOR

DEVELOPING A WIDE RANGE

OF INDUSTRIALLYRELEVANT CHEMICAL

TRANSFORMATIONS

Sanjib KumarKarmee

Odisha ignored

Sir, Odisha is a land of rich cultural heritage and is called the soul of India.It is one of India’s most preferred tourist destinations. It is a pious landthat preaches the age-old values of non-violence and forgiveness. It is aneducational hub and an investor’s paradise. Sadly, Odisha is not adequatelyrepresented in national electronic media. There is only discussion onUttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Kashmir and Delhi in almost all electronicmedia. There are panel discussions on drug abuse, Taliban, terrorist ac-tivities in Kashmir and political developments of other states in most ofthe Hindi and English news channels. But, Odisha is overlooked and getsunnoticed in many panel discussions. Is Odisha outside India? It is onlyduring elections and cyclones that Odisha gets national media coverage.This is astonishing. The interests of Odisha and its people are ignored bythe national electronic media. This is against the ethics of professional jour-nalism. Odisha always gets a raw deal by Hindi and English news chan-nels. Such step-motherly attitude towards Odisha by the national news chan-nels is disheartening, to say the least. This apathy and disinterest does notaugur well for the fourth pillar of democracy. Odisha demands its right-ful place and adequate coverage in the national mainstream electronic media.

Prabhudutt Dash, BHUBANESWAR

Shot in the arm

Sir, HAL Airport revival for domestic operations received a shotin the arm with Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs PralhadJoshi remarking that handing over the airport to BengaluruInternational Airport Ltd (BIAL) is under consideration. Joshi saidthat he and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had dis-cussed the matter with Union Civil Aviation Minister JyotiradityaScindia. The state government has been pushing for the reopen-ing of HAL Airport, which was shut in 2008, for civilian traffic throughthe BIAL for several years.

NJ Ravi Chander, BANGALORE

Proud moment

Sir, India has clinched the South Asian Football FederationsChampionship for the eighth time by defeating Nepal by 3-0 aftergoals from Sunil Chhetri, Suresh Singh and Sahal Abdul Samad.Efforts made by the team must be appreciated for they have en-hanced the pride of the nation.

Anushka Jaiswal, UJJAIN

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Pilgarlic

It’s been a while since anyone used this word, though you’ll find it in manyolder works. It means a bald-headed man or a person looked on with

humorous contempt or mock pity. Here’s a typical reference, from aneighteenth-century English translation of Gargantua and Pantagruel, byRabelais: After this, we e’en jogged to bed for that night; but the devil a bitpoor pilgarlic could sleep one wink — the everlasting jingle-jangle of thebells kept me awake whether I would or no. To speak of poor pilgarlic interms of mock pity is typical of the word, whether you’re speaking aboutyourself, as here, or about somebody else. Its origin is straightforward: it’s acompound of pil, a word that later changed its spelling to the modern peel,plus garlic. So it compares a man with a bald head to a peeled head of garlic.But it wasn’t just a simple case of a ludicrous comparison; there was astrong hint about the reason why the man had gone bald — through anattack of the pox. So the contemptuous meaning arose, and was wellestablished by the early seventeenth century. Later the link with venerealdisease declined, but the adverse meaning survived.

Pinch of salt

There are two standard versions of this idiom, the much older one beinggrain of salt. Both suggest a need for scepticism or reserve in believing

something you’ve been told: “Take everything she says with a pinch of salt —she’s unreliable”. The expression has been used in English since theseventeenth century at least. It’s puzzling to us now because it’s based on amisunderstanding of a comment in a Latin document nearly 2,000 years old.Around 77 AD, Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History that the Romangeneral Pompey had discovered something odd a century before when heconquered Pontus, a country on the shores of the Black Sea, at the time aformidable rival to Rome. On searching the private apartments of the king,Mithridates VI, Pompey discovered that the king had built up his famousimmunity to poisoning by first fasting and then taking doses of a mixture ofpoisons until he was able to tolerate lethal levels. (This is the origin ofmithridate, an antidote to poison.) Pliny wrote that the king had taken hisdoses of poison with the addition of a grain of salt (“addito salis grano” inhis Latin). He meant this as a simple report. But later readers thought hewas saying that one shouldn’t necessarily believe this story about a kingwho had been a notorious enemy of Rome. Modern scholars say there’s noevidence in Latin literature of writers using salt as a figurative expression ofscepticism. The Latin tag usually taken to be the original, “cum grano salis”,is very likely to be medieval Latin. But there is a sort of rationale to the idiomeven if you discount the Plinian link. Someone who says this to you could betaken to suggest that if you’re really intent on believing what you’ve beentold, then taking a figurative pinch of salt with it will help you to swallow it,just as taking a literal pinch with your meal makes it taste better.

Pinchbeck

The more common meaning of the word today, on the rare occasions onwhich it turns up in print at all, is of something that’s cheap or tawdry.

However, those versed in the fields of jewellery, clocks and other objets d’artwill know that strictly it refers to an alloy of zinc and copper — so a type ofbrass — that looks remarkably like gold. Outside these specialist areas, theword’s most common appearance is as a family name, which is only fit andproper, since we are in the area of eponyms here — things named afterpeople. The man who invented the alloy was one Christopher Pinchbeck, aclockmaker born in Clerkenwell in London, though his shop was at the “signof the Astronomico-Musical Clock” in Fleet Street. He was also a well-knownmaker of musical automata such as singing birds. His name probably camefrom the place called Pinchbeck near Spalding in Lincolnshire; that name isfrom Old English words meaning either “minnow stream” or “finch ridge”(from which we may deduce the uncertain state of the study of Englishplacenames). He seems to have invented his eponymous metal sometime inthe early 1700s, though there’s no contemporary reference and we have torely on statements by his sons. He created it as a way to make ornamentsthat looked like gold but were less expensive. There was no attempt atdeception here — he clearly labelled the metal for what it was. To start with,it was a respected alternative to gold: jewellers in the eighteenth centuryused it legitimately to make nice-looking jewellery that could be worn inplaces in which theft was frequent, such as on stagecoach journeys, withoutfear of losing valuables. However, so many jewellers used it for inferiorgoods, passing off pinchbeck as gold, that the word took on the sense ofsomething that was of poor quality or a cheap imitation.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sundargarh, Oct 24: Residentsof villages near the Bonai forestrange in Sundargarh district arespending sleepless nights as two ele-phants have unleashed a reign ofterror. Villagers said that the twoanimals are on a rampage sincethey got separated from their herdapproximately five days back.

The two elephants are causingmayhem in Bonai, Tamara andother villages, forcing the villagersto remain inside even during theday when they need to go out forworking. The two have destroyedcrops over large tracts of lands,leaving the farmers a worried lot.

A range officer, an ACF and anelephant squad are working round

the clock to drive away the ele-phants into the forest.

So far their efforts have failed,but they are constantly monitoringthe movements of the tuskers.According to a source, the ele-phants were last spotted near theinspection bungalow of the Forestdepartment in Bonai town.

The irked villagers have de-manded compensation for the dam-age to the crops caused by elephants.

It was also reported that several

others areas in the district havebeen witnessing elephant menacefor the last several weeks. Localsalleged that the forest deparmenthas failed to contain the menace asthey have to face routine visits of the marauding animals. In manyareas, houses have been damagedwith people losing their sleep.

The two animals havedestroyed crops overlarge tracts of lands,leaving the farmers aworried lot. A squad wasenagaged to drive awaythe elephants

POST NEWS NETWORK

Nayagarh, Oct 24: Panchayat elec-tions are round the corner in Odisha.Major political parties like the BJD,BJP and Congress have startedpreparations to broaden their basesin Nayagarh district. However, theissue of factionalism is rampant inall the three parties and is a causeof concern for the leaders, a re-port said. The proposed reserva-tion of seats and some local issueshave left grassroots cadres fumingin some pockets.

Factionalism exist the most bothin the BJP and the Congress, butthen the BJD also has differentgroups working within it. It re-mains to be seen how the politicaladversaries take advantage of thefactionalism which exists amongits rivals.

Frontline leaders of the threeparties are drawing up strategiesto select candidates in the back-drop of proposed reservation ofseats for sarpanch, zilla parishadand wards. Some of the aspiringcandidates have already startedlobbying with their respectiveMLAs to cement their positions.

All the three parties have been

organising meetings and inductingdisgruntled leaders and workersfrom the other parties. All are busygiving impression to people thattheir vote shares have been in-creasing with the induction ofworkers who were in the oppositioneven a short time back.

Political parleys and hectic ac-tivities by the ruling party BJD

are seen in Nayagarh, Dasapalla andRanpur localities. Frontline lead-ers are trying to placate grassrootsworkers who have difference ofopinion on candidates lobbyingfor various posts in the BJD. Rulingparty leaders have been claimingthat their base of supporters hasbeen increasing and that the partyis confident of winning.

On the other hand, Congressleaders have started highlightingthe alleged cases of corruptionand under-development againstthe BJD and the BJP’s central poli-cies, spiraling prices of commoditiesand the contentious Farm Laws.

BJD and Congress leaders areclaiming before the electorate thatthe BJP is going to finish third in

the upcoming panchayat elections. It is also said that support for

Congress is growing faster thanthe BJP. Congress is hopeful ofwining in some pockets ofNayagarh district.

Ranjit Das, president of the dis-trict Congress unit, said that votersare being sensitised against theruling party. “Voters have realisedtheir mistake of voting for the BJD.The panchayat elections will go infavour of the Congress,” he said.

However, Lala Manoj Ray, pres-ident of the BJP’s district unit,dismissed such claims of the BJDand Congress. He said that votershave lost their faith on BJD and awind of change is sweeping acrossthe district in favour of the BJP.Voters will give a shock to the BJDthis time, he asserted.

A front line BJD leader in the dis-trict on the condition of anonymityasserted that the BJP and Congresshave failed to match with the lin-ear progress of the party in thedistrict.

Political observers say that theresults of these panchayat elec-tions will go a long way in influ-encing the next general electionsin Odisha.

stateMONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP7

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IN PUBLIC INTEREST

A meeting of the Ethics Committee of Odisha Assembly underway at DRDA conference hall in Boudh, Sunday. The meeting underscored theneed for decentralisation of power for timely delivery of benefits of welfare programmes OP PHOTO

STIR FOR EMPLOYMENT

Demanding employment to local unemployed youths, members of Daspalla Action Committee stage a sit-in at Rangamatia toll gate under Daspallablock in Nayagarh district, Sunday OP PHOTO

AHEAD OF PANCHAYAT POLLS IN NAYAGARH DISTRICT

Factionalism plagues three parties

RANJIT DAS, PRESIDENT OF THEDISTRICT CONGRESS UNIT, SAIDTHAT VOTERS ARE BEINGSENSITISED AGAINST THE RULINGPARTY. VOTERS HAVE REALISEDTHEIR MISTAKE OF VOTING FORTHE BJD. THE PANCHAYATELECTIONS WILL GO IN FAVOUR OFTHE CONGRESS, HE SAID

FACTIONALISM EXIST THE MOSTBOTH IN THE BJP AND THECONGRESS, BUT THEN THE BJDALSO HAS DIFFERENT GROUPSWORKING WITHIN IT. IT REMAINSTO BE SEEN HOW THE POLITICALADVERSARIES TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FACTIONALISM WHICHEXISTS AMONG ITS RIVALS

LALA MANOJ RAY, PRESIDENT OF THE BJP’S DISTRICT UNIT, DISMISSEDCLAIMS OF THE BJD AND CONGRESS ON GROWING SUPORT OF PEOPLE IN

THEIR FAVOUR . HE SAID THAT VOTERS HAVE LOST THEIR FAITH ON BJDAND A WIND OF CHANGE IS SWEEPING ACROSS THE DISTRICT IN FAVOUR

OF THE BJP. VOTERS WILL GIVE A SHOCK TO THE BJD THIS TIME, HE ASSERTED

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baripada, Oct 24: The BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) has called fora 12-hour Mayurbhanj bandhMonday, the saffron party informedSunday through a press release is-sued by district BJP (East) presi-dent, Kandara Soren.

Pressing for the fulfillment ofits 16-point charter of demandsincluding the arrest of the main ac-cused who attacked BJP workersFriday during Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik’s visit to Baripada,the saffron party has given thebandh call.

The other demands includeproper treatment to patients atPRM Medical College and Hospitalin Baripada, reopening of theAyurvedic College, constructionof embankment on Budhabalangariver to protect Baripada townfrom floods, setting up of ChhauAcademy, resumption of factoriesthat have been lying closed for a longtime, handing over of proper landrecords to landless people, arrestof accused involved in Raruan gan-grape incident and suspension ofMinister of State for Home cap-tain Dibya Shankar Mishra overMamita Meher murder case.

Expressing his concer n,Badasahi MLA Sanatana Bijulisaid BJP workers were assaultedand journalists were treated dis-respectfully during Patnaik’s tour.He condemned the attack on BJPworkers showing black flags inthe presence of police. Bijuli de-manded the immediate arrest ofthose who attacked the BJP work-ers and lamented that they arestill roaming free.

BJP calls for 12-hrMayurbhanj bandh

The saffron party has put forth multipledemands including proper treatment ofpatients at PRM MedicalCollege and Hospital

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kendrapara, Oct 24: It seems thatthe woes of farmers in Kendraparadistrict will not end this year. Afterfloods played havoc with the paddy,now it is the turn of the pests to at-tack the crop in many blocks ofthe district amid allegation ofshort supply of urea fertiliser, a re-port said.

According to reports, followingheavy rainfall in August andSeptember, many parts of the costaldistrict were flooded. The floodsdestroyed large quantities of paddycrops. However, now the quantitythat survived are facing pest on-slaught.

Farmers alleged that thoughthey had applied pesticides, it wasnot effective in containing the dis-ease.

“Pest attacks are now breakingour economic backbone at thistime of pandemic,” some farmerslamented.

Farmer leader BidhubhusanMohapatra said that post the floodsituation, 30 to 40 per cent of thesurviving paddy is damaged due topest onslaught in the district.

“After floodwaters receded, farm-ers had hoped to get a good harvest,but pests have played spoilsportfor the farmers. They are worriedhow to pay back loans and managetheir families,” said Mohapatra.

Jagdish Pati, a farmer of Depuraunder Sadar block said that hetook ̀ 30,000 as loan from a nearbycooperative society for the cropsthis year. Such is the situationthat he is apprehensive whetherhe will be able to return the loanamount.

The deputy director of theAgriculture department said thatpest attacks have been reportedfrom eight blocks in the district.Farmers are being sensitised aboutsome preventive measures, he informed.

Pests play spoilsport forpaddy in Kendrapara dist

2 tuskers go on rampage in Bonai

Nuapada, Oct 24: First, poorrainfall played spoilsport to paddyin many pockets of Nuapada dis-trict. Now, growing pest attack onthe surviving paddy has added toworries of farmers in most parts,a report said.

Paddy in riparian pockets wassaved by irrigation from riversand other water bodies in somelocalities. However, now it hascome under threat from pests.Paddy plants have started dyingdue to pest attacks, farmers al-leged.

Farmers’ leaders have startedvisiting many localities includ-ing Ranimuda.

They are asking farmers tolaunch an agitation against thecurrent situation.

The farmers’ leaders are try-ing to attract the attention of theofficials of the Agriculture de-partment to the current situa-tion. They demanded that the

administration conduct a sur-vey on the paddy damage andprovide financial assistance.

Acres of land have been af-fected by pest, a report said.

Farmers lamented that firstlack of rainfall, hit the cropshard. Whatever amount survived,is now being wiped out by thepests.

Most farmers voiced their frus-tration as the crops have beenaffected due to the pest attacks inspite of using pesticides. Theysaid that in some cases the pes-ticides have led to the destructionof crops also.

T hey demanded thatAgriculture department offi-cials must come to their rescuein such situation to save theircrops from pest. The affectedfarmers demanded that the de-partment should assess the dam-ages they have suffered and paycompensation.

Nuapada farmers worried

Kid, 2 others injuredas gas stove explodes POST NEWS NETWORK

Keonjhar, Oct 24: Three personsincluding a minor boy sustainedgrievous injuries Sunday after a gasstove exploded while it was beingrefilled at a shop near Sunanadimarket of Joda block in Keonjhardistrict.

According to an eyewitness, thehigh-intensity explosion took placewhile two persons were working inthe shop and the kid was standingclose to it. The injured boy wasidentified as Budhadev Mahakudand the other two as SanjayMaharana from Hudisahi andSagar Khan from Joda market lo-cality. The two men were illegallyrefilling the gas stove. This causedthe explosion, leading to injuries.

POST NEWS SERVICE

Keonjhar, Oct 24: Mysteryshrouds the death of a 20-year-oldgirl whose body was recoveredfrom a farmland near BadakhamanSahi of Basantpur village underPandapada police limits inKeonjhar district, Sunday.

The deceased was identified asRina Dandapata, a native of the vil-lage. The matter came to the foreafter locals noticed the body lyingon the farmland and informed thepolice, who recovered the bodyand launched an investigation. Itis suspected that the victim mighthave been raped before being mur-dered as her face bore scratchmarks.

Police said she was sleepingwith her mother at home afterdinner. However, her mother foundher missing from bed when shewoke up at around 11 pm. Shesearched for her but failed to traceher. It is suspected someone mighthave called her outside following

which she left her home never toreturn again. Her mobile phonewas also found missing and this hasgiven rise to suspicion.

When contacted, PJ Toppo,Keonjhar Sadar SDPO said a probehas been launched after the re-covery of the body.

The body will be sent for post-mortem and the actual reason be-hind her sudden death could be as-certained after completion of theprobe.

The probe report will also un-ravel whether she was raped andmurdered or not, he added.

Girl’s body recovered,murder suspected

Police said she wassleeping with her motherat home after dinner.Hours later, her motherfound her missing frombed when she woke upat around 11 pm

POST NEWS NETWORK

Koraput, Oct 24: A man died ofa mysterious disease at Tukumvillage under Lamtaput block inKoraput district Saturday. Threeother patients are undergoingtreatment for the same disease.

The deceased has been identi-fied as Damu Kishan. Sourcessaid that he developed high feverand lost consciousness beforebreathing his last.

The sources said that in the re-cent past, some of the villagershad consumed beef. Some of themhadn’t been keeping well afterconsumption of the beef. A fewof them had also developed feverand Damu was one of them and hedied. Some more persons are stillhaving high temperatures.

Meanwhile, a five-member med-ical team has reached the vil-lageand collected the blood sam-ples from the suspects. The threepatients are undergoing treatmentin isolation. Several sources sug-gested that these could be cases ofanthrax, though it is yet to be med-ically confirmed.

Mystery fever claimslife in Koraput village

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MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

P8NORTHEAST

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Patna, Oct 24: Weathered by oldage and ill-health, RJD presidentLalu Prasad Sunday returned to hishome turf of Bihar from whereimprisonment in fodder scam caseshad kept him away for three years.

Prasad, who was released from jaila few months ago, arrived here ac-companied by wife Rabri Devi andeldest daughter Misa Bharti, at

whose Delhi residence he had beenputting up for medical help he needsfor the multiple ailments he suffersfrom. Chants in praise of the “mes-siah of the poor” rent the air as thehaggard-looking septuagenarianwalked out of the airport, with ashuffling gait, tiredly waving atthe huge boisterous crowd.

Prasad was last seen here inSeptember 2018, after which he re-turned to Ranchi to serve his sen-

tences upon expiry of the period ofhis bail, granted to attend elderson Tej Pratap’s wedding and ex-tended a number of times to helphim avail medical treatment. Atthe airport, Tej Pratap and hisyounger brother Tejashwi appearedto have buried the hatchet while re-ceiving their father, who wore agreen cap and had a 'gamchha' (tra-ditional towel) of the same colourwrapped around his neck.

Hectic politicking is expected inthe days to come, as Prasad's returncomes at a politically charged time.The former Union minister hasmade it clear that he intends to takepart in the campaign for October 30by-polls to Tarapur and KusheshwarAsthan assembly seats. By-electionsto the two seats have been necessi-tated by deaths of the respectiveMLAs, both belonging to JD(U) of CMNitish Kumar, Prasad’s arch-rival.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Patna, Oct 24:Less than a year aftermaking waves with a better-than-expected performance in Bihar as-sembly polls, the opposition GrandAlliance finds itself on the brinkof collapse.

The five-party opposition coali-tion had won just 10 seats short ofmajority, a major comeback sincethe Lok Sabha polls of 2019 whenthe NDA had made a clean sweep,winning all but one of 40 seats inBihar.

However, Friday AICC in-chargeof the state, Bhakt Charan Das,stated the Congress will contest‘all 40 seats’ in the state, stunningLalu Prasad’s RJD which stands ac-cused by the junior partner of hav-ing betrayed the coalition ‘dharma’.

State RJD president JagadanandSingh reacted with disbelief. “Whenthe general elections are due in2024, what is the point in talkingabout Lok Sabha polls now,” heasked.

Das was also asked whether hewas expressing a personal senti-ment or echoing the views of theparty ‘high command’, since Prasadis known to share excellent per-

sonal equations with the Gandhifamily.

The flashpoint was reached overwhat seems to be a trifle. By-pollsare due next week in two assemblyse gments – Tarapur andKusheshwar Asthan. The RJD an-nounced its candidates for bothseats without taking into confi-dence the Congress.

After a few days of stunned si-lence, the Congress hit back, an-nouncing its own candidates forthe two seats. It was widely spec-ulated that the fissures had muchto do with the Congress roping inKanhaiya Kumar and his perceived‘rivalry’ with Tejashwi Yadav towhom he loses out in terms of castebase but beats when it comes tooratorical skills.

Kanhaiya, who is currently in the

state to campaign for the two seats,however, brushed off the sugges-tion with the remark “there is nocomparison. His (Tejashwi’s) fa-ther and mother have been chiefministers. I am starting fromscratch.”

Earlier, addressing party work-ers at the Bihar Pradesh Congress

Committee (BPCC) headquarters,he had praised Rahul Gandhi forgiving a platform to people likehim, Hardik Patel and JigneshMevani, unlike “many others whoare insecure about the legacy theyhave inherited from their fathers.”

The comment was wildly cheeredat and construed as an oblique ref-

erence to Tejashwi. Origins of the narrative around

the perceived rivalry between thetwo young leaders lay in the 2019Lok Sabha polls when Kanhaiyamade his Lok Sabha debut fromhis home town Begusarai againstUnion minister Giriraj Singh.

Despite a spirited campaign,

Kanhaiya, who was contesting ona CPI ticket, got hamstrung by thepresence of RJD candidate TanveerHassan, and lost by a margin ofmore than four lakh votes.

However, former BPCC presi-dent Anil Shar ma asserted‘Kanhaiya is not an issue’ when itcomes to the chequered relationshipshared by the Congress and theRJD. “It has been Lalu Prasad’sstrategy to ensure that the Congressis not able to regain its supportbase among upper castes, Dalits andMuslims. A strong Congress wouldbe seen as a secular alternative to theRJD. No wonder over the years hehas ensured that our upper castecandidates do not get a chance tofight from seats where we have con-siderable chances of winning. He ei-ther wrests these for the RJD or getsthese into the kitty of some other al-liance partner,” Sharma asserted.

Bhakt Charan Das echoed sim-ilar views when he said “the RJDmocks us for having won less than20 seats despite contesting 70. Whydoes it not admit that it forced usto do away with many seats andfailed to get its own votes trans-ferred to candidates of Congress atsome places.”

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 24: A CentralEmpowered Committee (CEC), con-stituted by the Supreme Court, haswritten to the Assam governmentto take action against illegal con-structions along the animal cor-ridors in the Kaziranga NationalPark and Tiger Reserve.

The CEC, in a letter to the Assamchief secretary, said an action takenreport should be submitted to thepanel within four weeks.

“I am forwarding herewith acopy of letter dated September 10,2021 received from Dr. HemenHazarika, Scientist 'D' Head of of-fice, IRO, Guwahati O/o theMinistry of Environment, Forest& Climate Change, Regional Office,Guwahati, Government of India onthe above subject. It is requested thatimmediate action is taken to re-move all constructions made inviolation of the Supreme Courtorder dated April 12, 2019 and notto permit any new constructionsalong the nine identified animal cor-ridors. An action taken report mayplease be sent to the CEC within thenext four weeks,” the letter by CECMember-Secretary AmarnathaShetty dated October 6 said.

Hazarika’s letter was based ona report filed by Laetitia J.Syiemiong, Deputy Inspector-General of Forest (Central) after in-specting the wildlife corridor.

“Inspection was done and at fieldlevel after traversing the entire 8(eight) stretch of animal corridors,where it was found that there has beenillegal construction all along. Hence,there has been 'contempt of hon'bleSupreme Court order datedl2.04.2019”on I. A. No. 42944/20)9 onWP(C) 202/1995' which had otherthan banning all types of mining, hadalso ‘not permitted any new con-struction including on private landswhich form part of the 9 identified

animal corridors’,” the report filedby DIGF said. The report was sub-mitted in response to a complaint byenvironment activist Rohit Choudhurywho sought action against illegalconstructions in the animal corri-dors in contempt of the top court order.

The apex court in its 2019 orderhad ordered that “no new con-struction shall be permitted onprivate lands which form part of thenine identified animal corridors.”

The top court had also bannedall mining activities along theKaziranga National Park and catch-ment area of rivers originatingin Karbi Anglong Hills in Assam.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Aizawl, Oct 24: More refugees fromMyanmar’s Chin state are enteringthe southern and eastern borderdistricts of Mizoram due to con-tinuing clashes between the neigh-bouring country’s army and rebels,a senior police officer said Sunday.

At least 12,939 Myanmarese, in-cluding women and children, arecurrently taking shelter in differ-ent parts of Mizoram, he said.

Of them, the detailed informa-tion of 1,518 Myanmarese is yet tobe recorded, the officer said.

The numbers keep changing asthere are new entrants almostevery day, while some who livenear the international border enterand exit India on a regular basis,he said.

The police officer said thatMyanmar nationals are being pro-vided with shelter and food by lo-cals, community leaders, NGOsand churches.

As per Mizoram Police data ac-cessed by PTI, six border districtsChamphai, Lawngtlai, Siaha,Serchhip, Hnahthial and Saitual to-

gether housed 9,411 refugees.The Myanmar nationals are tak-

ing shelter in all the 11 districts, withChamphai housing the highestnumber at 5,998, while there are1,622 people in state capital Aizawl,as per the data.

Young Mizo Association’sTuipuiral unit president MCLalramenga said that around 2,690Myanmar nationals are currentlytaking shelter in Tuipuiral areacomprising 21 villages in Champhaidistrict.

He said that refugees fromMyanmar’s Chin state are contin-uously pouring in and more in-flux is expected after their harvestseason.

Lalramenga said that reliefcamps and temporary shelters havebeen set up by locals in 14 villagesin the area.

Besides several NGOs,Presbyterian, Baptist and RomanCatholic churches are proving foodand clothing along with monetaryassistance to the refugees.

Central Young Mizo Associationvice president Lalhmachhuanasaid that the organisation has re-cently disbursed Rs 15 lakh, col-lected from people as donation, asassistance among the Myanmarrefugees.

He said the outfit will send twotruckloads of cloth to two southerndistricts next week.

Mizoram shares a 510-km-long in-ter national boundary withMyanmar. Among six border dis-tricts, Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlaiand Hnahthial have witnessedmore influx from Myanmar sinceSeptember 7, officials said.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kohima, Oct 24: The NSCN(IM)has said talks with the new Centralinterlocutor had “failed to live upto the hype” created and been un-able to resolve Naga demands fora separate flag and a Yehzabo (con-stitution or a chapter in the con-stitution).

The Naga rebel group’s stronglyworded statement comes within amonth of a new interlocutor, AKMishra, a former IPS officer whohas specialised in northeast af-fairs in the Intelligence Bureau,being appointed replacing thenNagaland Governor RN Ravi asthe government’s negotiator.

The NSCN(IM), the main rebelgroup holding out on a peace deal,accused the government of in-dulging “in political escapism onthe very issues that are holdingup the road to the Naga solution.”

The Indian government has tillnow been unwilling to accept theNaga demands for a separate con-stitution or a chapter on Nagalandin the Indian constitution or a sep-arate flag. This is seen by observersas stemming from the fact that ithad abrogated Article 370 whichgave a separate status to Jammu andKashmir and it was unwilling toconcede similar demands fromother states or groups.

As a via media, negotiators hadindicated that the demand for aflag for Nagaland could be ac-commodated as a cultural symbol.

The NSCN (IM), however, madeit clear that “the Naga issue is nota cultural issue” and treating theflag as a “cultural symbol” andnot as “political identity as sym-bolised by the Naga flag” was notacceptable to it.

“Where is the need for the cease-fire if the Naga issue is a culturalproblem and where is the need todrag on the talks for more thantwo decades if the issue is to solvecultural conflicts?” the statementquestioned.

The rebel group pointed out thatthe Naga political talks had “ulti-mately led to the signing of thehistoric Framework Agreementon the 3rd August, 2015” and claimedthat gave “due recognition to thesovereign identity of the Naga na-tion.”

It went on to state that theGovernment of India is “still pre-tentiously acting stubborn as the

crucial rounds of talks that fo-cused on the Naga flag and theconstitution is driven to hang in bal-ance.”

It termed the “stalemate cre-ated” as “unfortunate”.

Officials said a final pact whichwould comprehensively deal withall issues was being worked out. Theaim was to finalise it by the nextyear when the nation would be cel-ebrating its 75th independence day.

However, the NSCN(IM) state-ment issued Saturday seems to in-dicate that the pact is far fromready.

Earlier, the last interlocutor Raviand the NSCN(IM) had crossedswords over a ruling that the Nagarebel group could not collect “tax”from businessmen in Nagaland,which the Centre considered to bea form of extortionist appropria-tion which undermined the sov-ereign right of the state.

NSCN(IM) reiterates demandfor separate flag, constitution

More refugees entering Mizoram

THE NORTHEASTERN STATE HAS BEEN FACING ASTEADY INFLUX FROM MYANMAR SINCE THEMILITARY JUNTA SEIZED POWER THROUGH ACOUP IN FEBRUARY

THE MYANMAR NATIONALS, WHO HAVE TAKENREFUGE IN MIZORAM, ARE MOSTLY FROM THECHIN COMMUNITIES, WHO SHARE ETHNIC TIESWITH THE MIZOS

INFLUX CONTINUES

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Patna, Oct 24: The residents ofGaya who have not taken Covidvaccines will have to face legal ac-tion and they will not be entitled toreceive food from government shopson subsidised rates, officials said.

Abhishek Singh, the districtmagistrate of Gaya, has directed allcircle officers, block developmentofficers, CDPOs, and others throughvideo conferencing and asked themto implement the order.

“The officials have been asked tofind people who have not taken co-rona vaccines and intimate them totake the vaccines at the earliest. Incase of refusal, they have to face legalaction. The district administrationhas the right to register FIR underEpidemic Diseases Act, 2005,” Singhsaid. “The owners of the governmentshops have been directed to sellfoods only to those who present cer-tificates of Covid-19 vaccine afterOctober 31,” he said. The officersaid the administration will start amega vaccination campaign fromOctober 28 to November 7.

SC panel asks Assam to act againstillegal construction in Kaziranga

The top court has banned all mining activities along the Kaziranga NationalPark and catchment area of rivers originating in Karbi Anglong Hills in Assam

Villagers fish in a wetland at Budha Mayong village in Morigaon district, Assam, Sunday PTI PHOTO

Cong-RJD fissures bring Grand Alliance to brink of collapse It was widely speculatedthat the fissures hadmuch to do with theCongress roping inKanhaiya Kumar and hisperceived ‘rivalry’ withTejashwi Yadav

LALU RETURNS TO HOME TURF AFTER 3 YEARS

Unvaccinated Gaya residents toface legal action

AT LEAST 12,939MYANMARESE,

INCLUDING WOMENAND CHILDREN, ARECURRENTLY TAKING

SHELTER INDIFFERENT PARTS

OF MIZORAM

WETLAND FISHING

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nationalMONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

The process toauthorise newbattalions for the

ITBP, guarding the LAC betweenIndia and China, is in the laststage and the government isdetermined to providetransport and logistical supportto all security forcesNITYANAND RAI | UNION MINISTER

Indian Navy's indigenouslydeveloped aircraft carrier Vikrantsailed out on Sunday for itssecond sea trials, officials said.Its maiden sea trials wereconducted in August this year

VIKRANT SAILS OUT FORSECOND SEA TRIALS

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Secularism istheconstitutional

and moralcommitment for theBJP but the “pseudosecular syndicate”has misused it as a “vote catching tool”

MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI | UNION MINISTER

of theday uote

The AamAadmi Partyand the TMC

will be "marginalplayers" in the Goaassembly polls andthe Congress is bestpositioned to defeat the BJP andform the next government

P CHIDAMBARAM | CONGRESS LEADER

Modi ji'sgovernmenthas made big

records in givingtrouble to the public.Highestunemployment: inModi government. Governmentproperties being sold: in Modigovernment. Petrol rates increasedthe most in a year: in Modigovernment

PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA | CONGRESS LEADER

Ashish hospitalisedLakhimpur Kheri: Unionminister Ajay Kumar Mishra'sson Ashish Mishra, arrested inconnection with LakhimpurKheri violence, has contracteddengue and shifted to thedistrict hospital, an officialsaid Sunday. Ashish, who was taken in policeremand, was sent to thedistrict jail Saturday evening for treatment at itshealthcare facility, ASP ArunKumar Singh said. Ashish wastaken in two-day policecustody Friday evening for further interrogation in the case.

Woman murdered Patna: A married woman wasgangraped and murdered inBihar's West Champarandistrict, an official said Sunday.The police have arrested twosuspects in the case. Theincident took place inChawgharia village under RamNagar police station. "The 35-year-old victim had gone to thefield for farming on Saturdaybut did not return in theevening. Her children alongwith neighbours started looking for her in the village.They searched for her the entire night. On Sundaymorning, her dead body wasfound in a sugarcane fieldoutside the village in seminaked condition," saidSatyanarayan Ram, SDPO ofRamnagar range.

Two die in UP Farrukhabad (UP): Twopersons died allegedly afterconsuming a dish made ofpotato and cauliflower in UttarPradesh's Farrukhabaddistrict. The victims wereidentified as Irshad (45) andhis son Lalla (six). Threemembers of the family are incritical condition and havebeen admitted to a hospital.

Two killed Gautam Buddha Nagar: Twopeople were killed and fourothers injured in a roadaccident on the Delhi-AgraYamuna expressway Sunday. Acar enroute to Agra from Delhirammed into a stationary mini-traveller at Naithana Ecotecharea 1, killing two people onthe spot and injuring fourothers. The mini-traveller wasstationary at the expresswayas it had developed sometechnical snag.

Four held in UP Moradabad: The Moradabadpolice have arrested fourpersons, who posed as'relatives' of prisoners and helped them in gettingbail. The gang was busted in a special joint operation of Moradabad police andcrime branch.

SHORT TAKES

The Dark Horse Uddhav

Until the other day, NCP supremoSharad Pawar was the only

name that always cropped up forthe post of PM probable. Butknowledgeable sources sayMaharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray could be a new player inthe Game-2024. He has changed theentire culture and ethos of ShivSena in the past two years. Uddhavis in the driver’s seat and he hasshown to the people how acoalition government is run. Withno one around to take on themighty BJP juggernaut, Uddhav’sstyle of working has given hope aswell. He has been a successful

manager, measured in hisresponses, doesn’t mince wordseither and knows when to keepquiet. He is managing two veryambitious leaders, Sharad Pawarand Nana Patole with tremendousskill. Political pundits say if Indiagets a hung Parliament, Uddhav isthe man to watch.

PMO wakes up to fillkey posts, finally

The Modi administration is in theprocess of filling key positions

in the next few weeks beginningwith the new Central VigilanceCommissioner (CVC), DirectorEnforcement (ED) and DirectorGeneral (DG), NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA). Whilethe CVC is vacant for months, thekey post in NIA is under atemporary charge and ED is waitingfor a new director. Now the PMO isfilling certain key posts after thedeparture of several top officialsincluding two advisers. Amit Khare,an IAS officer of the Jharkhandcadre, was brought in after hesuperannuated. He wasinstrumental in framing the new

Education Policy. The PMO also hasto pick a new ED, a very crucialpost held by Sanjay Mishra whoseextended tenure will end November18. The Supreme Court came downheavily on the government recentlysaying that it cannot continueextending the tenure of theDirectorate of Enforcement (ED)chief till the agency completesinvestigating all crucial cases.

Winter Session on track

Although the pandemic derailedthe Winter Session last year,

the government is gearing up tohold the full session this winter.With vaccination doses touching100-crore mark and likely to cross120-mark by mid-November, thegovernment may hold the sessionfrom November 22. However, a finalcall on dates will be taken bymonth-end when the CabinetCommittee of Parliament meets.Though the Monsoon Session ofParliament saw reduced restrictionsof Covid protocols for Members ofParliament and the media, theCentral Hall of Parliament was

barred for most of the categories.Neither the former MPs nor thedignitaries were allowed to enterthe premises and the media facedstiff restrictions. But now the timeshave changed with normal activitybeing witnessed in governmentoffices and departments. Metros,buses and cinema halls are allowedwithout any seating restrictions asvirtually nil cases of Covid beingwitnessed in the past few days.

Mamata’s game of 50

The Game-2024 for the Lok Sabhapolls has already begun. While

the Congress is desperatelyworking hard to revive itself andputting its entire might to win acouple of states in the ensuinground of Assembly polls early nextyear, the BJP is trying hard todefend its citadel in four states; UP,Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.Punjab is being watched veryclosely as it’s an open game withpollsters predicting a win for thedark horse AAP. These polls arealso crucial for some of theregional players like SP, and BSPwho have been facing BJP’sonslaught for the past seven years

in UP. In West Bengal, ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee is ratherwaiting for the Congress to suffer asetback. She knows she is not aplayer in North Indian politics andremains unruffled as herhoneymoon with the Congress isvirtually over. She is now on herown trip with poll strategistPrashant Kishor advising heractively. If grapevine has it, she isnow targeting to secure 50 LokSabha seats during the 2024parliamentary polls as she can be aplayer in any non-BJP governmentformulation.

Rising graph of Stalin

After two powerful southernleaders; K Kamraj and J

Jayalalithaa, failed to grab powerin Delhi, DMK’s MK Stalin iscontemplating trying his luck. Buthe is not in a hurry and is slowlyconsolidating his position. He islooking beyond 2024 even if thereis a hung house three years downthe line. Poll strategist PrashantKishor is a common factor betweenStalin and Mamata Banerjee. IfMamata is targeting a 50-seatgame, he is not far behind either.

Currently, he is creating an identityraising issues like "federalstructure" etc without talkingpolitics directly. He is busymobilising non-BJP Chief Ministerson key issues.

G-23 disheartened

The Group of 23 Congressdissidents are now a

demoralized lot. The G-23 claimedthey are not a “Ji Huzur" group. Butfor the time being, they havedecided to lie-low. This was seen inthe recently held CWC meeting.They now want to wait for theoutcome of the upcoming Assemblypolls. The party chief Sonia Gandhihas started accommodating leadersof G-23. According to the CWCmembers who do not want to be onrecord, Ghulam Nabi Azad, AnandSharma and others made it clearthat no such group exists. SoniaGandhi’s assertion in the openingremarks that she is a “full time andhands-on Congress president” isnot being seen as a snub to the G-23group though a section of the mediainterpreted it like this. Partyinsiders said this was necessary

KuruKolumn

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Jammu, Oct 24: Asserting that thegovernment is aiming to wipe outterrorism from Jammu andKashmir and put an end to civiliankillings, Union Home MinisterAmit Shah Sunday said nobodywould be allowed to disrupt peaceand development in the union ter-ritory, which has a place in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's heart.

He said`12,000 crore worth of in-vestment has already come to theunion territory and the govern-ment aims at a total of`51,000 croreby the end of 2022 to provide fivelakh jobs to the local youth.

Shah is on a three-day visit toJammu and Kashmir, his first afterthe Centre revoked the erstwhilestate's special status and bifurcatedit into two union territories of J&Kand Ladakh on August 5, 2019.

Addressing a public rally atBhagwati Nagar here, Shah with-out naming the Congress, NationalConference and the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) said thethree families are answerable to thepeople for their failure to developJammu and Kashmir over the pastseven decades.

"The new phase of developmentunder the leadership of Modi hasstarted in J&K but attempts arebeing made by inimical elementsto create a hurdle. I have come hereto assure you that nobody will beable to create a hurdle and disruptpeace and development," Shah,who arrived at the well-attendedrally amid thunderous applauseand sloganeering by people, said.

In an apparent reference to thekilling of 11 civilians by terror-ists in targeted attacks acrossKashmir this month, he said somepeople are raising questions aboutthe prevailing security situation in

the UT but "I want to answer themwith facts and figures"."Between2004 and 2014, a total of 2,081 civil-ians were killed with average deathsof 239 annually. From 2014 tillSeptember this year, 239 civiliansunfortunately lost their lives whichaccounted 30 deaths per year. Thefigures are down but we are notsatisfied," the home minister said,adding “We want to build such anatmosphere that not a single per-son loses his life and the terror-ism is wiped out."

He said a new phase of devel-opment has started which cannotbe stopped by anyone."Jammu andKashmir is placed in the heart ofthe prime minister and under hisgovernment, there will be no in-justice, discrimination or ap-peasement,” he said.

Shah said the time for sideliningthe people of Jammu has come toan end and now both Kashmir and

Jammu will be developed to-gether."Jammu has borne the bruntof discrimination for years together.Now there will be no injustice withanyone and both Kashmir andJammu will be developed togetherand the developed J&K willstrengthen India,” he said.

Listing various steps taken by thegovernment since the formation ofthe BJP government at the Centre,he said five lakh jobs are beingcreated in Jammu and Kashmir,while 25,000 people have been pro-vided government jobs in the pasttwo years through service selec-tion board.

"The three families used to saywho will come and invest in J&K....Till date, we have got an invest-ment of `7,000 crore in Jammu and`5,000 crore in Kashmir. And whenwe came out with a new industrialpolicy, the three families who havedeprived the people of J&K of var-ious benefits started raising ques-tions."We have had`12,000 crore in-vestment due to the efforts of theprime minister and are lookingforward to an investment of`51,000crore by the end of 2022,” he said.

Targeting the three families, hesaid they were asking what thegovernment is going to give toJ&K. "We have a long list of whatwe have given to J&K and the peo-ple know it very well but the peo-ple of J&K are demanding an an-swer from them as to what theyhave given to J&K despite rulingthe erstwhile state for the pastseven decades. Have you thoughtof anyone else other than yourown family members.”

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Oct 24: A civilian waskilled in “cross-firing” after mili-tants attacked CRPF personnel inShopian district of Jammu andKashmir Sunday, police said.

The incident evoked strong re-actions from mainstream politicalparties in the Valley, which de-manded a probe into it. The civil-ian killed has been identified asShahid Ahmad.

“Around 10:30 hrs, unidentifiedterrorists attacked a naka party of178 Bn CRPF at Babapora, Shopian,”police said. They said the CRPFretaliated the fire and during “cross-firing” one person was killed.

Further details are being as-certained, they added. Taking toTwitter, National Conference vicepresident Omar Abdullah said the

policy of “shoot first” will furtheralienate people.

“He was shot dead & his bag hasno weapons or explosives, he's car-rying fruit & vegetables. This pol-icy of “shoot first” will furtheralienate people. This is no way tomake friends with the people orthe youth of Kashmir,” Omar said.He was referring to Union HomeMinister Amit Shah's remarks onSaturday that he wanted to makefriends with the youth of Kashmir.

PDP president Mehbooba Muftisaid it was sad that the armedforces “operate with such impunity”in Kashmir.“Another innocent civil-ian killed allegedly by CRPF inShopian today. It's sad that armedforces show little restraint & operatewith such impunity. My heartfeltcondolences to his family,” shewrote on Twitter.

Bajrang Dal attacksPrakash Jha’s setPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhopal, Oct 24: Bajrang Dal ac-tivists allegedly ransacked the setof the third season of web-series'Ashram' here and also threw inkon its producer-director PrakashJha, accusing him of portrayingHindus wrongly, police said.

The windscreens of two buses ofthe crew were also broken in stone-pelting, they said. Besides that,Bajrang Dal threatened that it wouldnot allow the shooting of this webseries further. Talking to PTI,Superintendent of Police (SP),Bhopal south, Sai Krishna Thota,said that some people raised ob-jections and staged protest overthe name of the web series when it'sshooting was underway at Old JailPremises located in Arera Hills.

"Bajrang Dal activists objected thatthis web series hurt the sentimentsof Hindus as it contains obscenescenes," he said. The protesters alsothrew ink on Prakash Jha and peltedstones, the officer added.

Thota said that the windscreensof two buses were damaged dueto stone pelting and one personwas injured. He said that imme-diately after the incident, policepersonnel reached the spot andbrought the situation under control.No person has been arrested inthis regard so far, he said. BajrangDal activists also raised slogansagainst Prakash Jha and Bollywoodactor Bobby Deol, who is in thelead role in the web-series ‘Ashram’,accusing them of hurting the Hindusentiments, eyewitnesses said.

ITBP jawans perform stunts during the 60th Raising Day of Indo Tibetan Border Police in Greater Noida PTI PHOTO

ITBP RAISING DAY

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Oct 24: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi will bevisiting Rome and Glasgow fromOctober 29 to November 2, 2021to attend the 16th G-20 Summitand the World Leaders' Summit ofCOP-26 respectively.

According to the Ministry ofExternal Affairs officials, Modiwill be participating in the 16thG-20 Summit from 30-31 October atthe invitation of Prime Minister ofItaly Mario Draghi in Rome. TheSummit will also be attended byHeads of State/Government of G-20 Member Countries, the EuropeanUnion, and other invited countriesand International Organisations.

This will be the 8th G-20 Summitthat Modi would be attending. Theforthcoming summit under theItalian Presidency is focused onthe theme of 'People, Planet,Prosperity', focusing on the areasof 'Recovery from the Pandemicand Strengthening of Global HealthGovernance', 'Economic Recovery

and Resilience', 'Climate Change andEnergy Transition' and 'SustainableDevelopment and Food Security'.

Modi to visit Italy,UK for G-20 Summit

India moving aheadwith new energy: PM NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi Sunday said thesuccess of India's Covidvaccination drive shows itscapability and noted that thecountry is moving ahead withnew energy after crossing the100 crore vaccine dosesmilestone. In the Mann Ki Baatradio broadcast, Modi said theCulture Ministry is geared up toconduct a competition onpatriotic songs to mark 'AmritMahotsav', a celebration of 75years of India's Independence,and urged the youth to pencreations that reflect thethought of new India, areinspired by the current successof the country, and fuel thecountry's resolve for the future.In his radio programme, Modialso talked about the country'snew drone policy, saying it hasbeen formulated according tothe present and futureprospects related to drones.Noting that many companiesare also setting upmanufacturing units, Modi saidthe Army, Navy and Air Forcehave also placed orders worthmore than `500 crore with theIndian drone companies.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Jammu, Oct 24: An arrestedPakistani terrorist was killed, whilethree security personnel were in-jured Sunday when militantsopened fire on a joint search partyof the Army and police inside a for-est in Poonch district of Jammu andKashmir, officials said.

Heavy firing and explosions

were re ported from BhattaDurrian forest of Mendhar whichalong with nearby forest areasadjoining Surankote (Poonch)and Thanamandi in Rajouri district is witnessing a massivesearch operation, the officialssaid.

The operation, which saw nineArmy personnel losing their livesi n s e p a r at e a m bu s h e s i n

Surankote and Mendhar onOctober 11 and 14, entered the14th day Sunday.

A police spokesperson said twopolicemen and an Army jawanalong with a prisoner Zia Mustafa,a Pakistani terrorist affiliatedwith the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)were injured in firing by terror-ists in Bhatta Durrian forestSunday morning.

ARRESTED PAK TERRORIST KILLED

Nobody can disrupt J&K’s peace: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a public rally in Jammu PTI PHOTO

Shah is on a three-day visit toJammu and Kashmir, his first

after the Centre revoked theerstwhile state's special statusand bifurcated it into two unionterritories of J&K and Ladakh onAugust 5, 2019

Addressing a public rally atBhagwati Nagar here, Shah

without naming the Congress,National Conference and thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP)said the three families areanswerable to the people fortheir failure to develop Jammuand Kashmir over the pastseven decades

Civilian killed in‘cross-firing’ in J&KThe incident evoked strong reactions from mainstream political

parties in the Valley, which demanded a probe into it

P10MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

I express my closenessto the thousands ofmigrants, refugeesand others in need ofprotection in LibyaPOPE FRANCIS

A rare nerve disorder that affectsthe feet, hands and limbs hasbeen added to the list of possibleside-effects of the AstraZenecaCovid vaccine by UK regulators,the Daily Mail reported

VAX SIDE-EFFECTS

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international

AGENCIES

Victoria, Oct 24: A containership carrying mining chemicalscaught fire on Saturday, expellingtoxic gas off the coast of BritishColumbia. The Canadian Coast

Guard said it was working with theUS Coast Guard to assess the sit-uation, including environmentalhazards.

16 crew members were evacu-ated from the MV Zim Kingston,while five remained onboard to

fight the fire, the Canadian CoastGuard said in a s tatement late on Saturday.

Ten containers were burning, itsaid, adding that the fire contin-ued to spread but the ship itself wasnot on fire.

The agency said it was work-ing with its US counterpart totrack 40 containers that had fallenoverboard, saying they pose a sig-nificant risk to mariners.

"Mariners are advised to stayclear of the area. Currently there

is no safety risk to people on shore,however the situation will con-tinue to be monitored," they said.

A video obtained by Reutersshowed fire cascading down from

the deck of the ship into the water.The Zim Kingston reported on

Friday that it had encounteredrough weather west of the Straitof Juan de Fuca.

"This is extremely concerning.The ship and containers are veryclose to Victoria, BC, and a bigstorm is forecast to hit tonight.We...are worried this may be yetanother environmental disaster,"said David Boudinot, president ofSurfrider Foundation Canada, anenvironmental organization.

AGENCIES

Kabul/New Delhi, Oct 24:Dozens of female high schooland university students inAfghanistan have joined voca-tional centers to learn tailoringand cosmetology as the womenand girls have been banned fromschool and university since theTaliban took over the country,Tolo News reported.

According to these girls, sit-ting at home is very difficult forthem, therefore they are willingto learn a profession.

"It has been a couple of monthsthat we are at home since schoolsand universities were closed. Wehave to learn a profession or a job,because we can't sit like this at

home," said Samira Sharifi, astudent.

"I want to learn a profession formy future to help my family, wewant our schools to be openedso that we can carry on with oureducation," said Mahnaz Ghulami,a student.

Most of the trainees in the vo-cational centres are the studentsof high schools and universities.

After the closure of highschools and universities acrossAfghanistan, Herat female stu-dents have started gaining vo-cational training in the province.

"We have decided to learn tai-loring along with our education,"said Shaqaiq Ganji, a student.

"It's necessary for every womanto learn tailoring to help her fam-

ily and her husband, especiallyin this bad economic situation,"said Laili Sofizada, a teacher.

Due to the closure of schoolsand universities, the number ofstudents in vocational centers

doubled compared to recent years,the report added.

"Our classes had the capacityof 20 to 25 students but we in-creased it to 45 students, becausemost of the students have losttheir spirit, and their schoolsand universities have closed,"said Fatima Tokhi, director oftechnical and professional af-fairs at the Herat department of

labour and social affairs.The Labour and Social Affairs

department of Herat said the de-partment is working to providemore opportunities for Heratgirls and women to learn voca-tional training.

"The art and professional sec-tor and the kindergarten de-partments have started their ac-tivities, we support them andsupervise their activities," saidMulla Mohammad Sabit, head ofthe labour and social affairs ofHerat.

During the past two months,most of the women and girls whoworked in state and private in-stitutions lost their jobs and aretrying to learn handicrafts and vo-cational training.

AGENCIES

New York/New Delhi, Oct 24:Facebook in India has been selec-tive in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatoryposts, particularly anti-Muslimcontent, according to leaked doc-uments obtained by The AssociatedPress, even as the internet giant'sown employees cast doubt over theits motivations and interests.

Internal documents at Facebookshow “a struggle with misinformation, hate speech andcelebrations of violence” in India,the company's biggest market,with researchers at the socialmedia giant pointing out that thereare groups and pages “replete withinflammatory and misleading anti-Muslim content” on its platform,US media reports have said.

In a report published Saturday,The New York Times said in

February 2019, a Facebook re-searcher created a new user account to look into what the socialmedia website will look like for aperson living in Kerala.

The report said the internal documents include reports on howbots and fake accounts tied to the “country's ruling party and op-position figures” were wreakinghavoc on national elections.

The NYT said that in a separate report produced after the2019 national elections, Facebookfound that “over 40 per cent of topviews, or impressions, in the Indianstate of West Bengal were fake/in-authentic”. One inauthentic account had amassed more than 30million impressions. In an internaldocument titled 'Adversarial HarmfulNetworks: India Case Study',"Facebook researchers wrote thatthere were groups and pages “repletewith inflammatory and misleading

anti-Muslim content” on Facebook.The internal documents also

detail how a plan “championed” byFacebook founder Mark Zuckerbergto focus on “meaningful social interactions” was leading to moremisinfor mation in India, particularly during the pandemic.

The NYT report added that another Facebook report detailedef forts by Bajrang Dal to publish posts containing anti-Muslim narratives on the platform.“Facebook is considering desig-nating the group as a dangerous or-ganisation because it is “inciting re-ligious violence” on the platform,the document showed. But it has notyet done so,” the NYT report said.The documents show that Facebookdid not have enough resources inIndia and was not able to grapplewith the problems it had intro-duced there, including anti-Muslimposts. A Facebook spokesman, Andy

Stone, said Facebook has reducedthe amount of hate speech thatpeople see globally by half thisyear. "Hate speech against mar-ginalised groups, including Muslims,is on the rise in India and glob-ally,” Stone said in the NYT report.“So we are improving enforcementand are committed to updating ourpolicies as hate speech evolves on-line." In India, "there is definitelya question about resourcing" forFacebook, but the answer is not"just throwing more money at the

problem," said Katie Harbath, whospent 10 years at Facebook as a di-rector of public policy, and workeddirectly on securing India's na-tional elections. Citing the Facebookreport, the NYT said that of India's22 officially recognised languages,Facebook has trained its AI sys-tems on five. But in Hindi andBengali, it still did not have enoughdata to adequately police the con-tent, and much of the content tar-geting Muslims “is never flaggedor actioned.”

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dhaka, Oct 24: Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina said on Sunday thatcertain quarters with vested in-terests were disseminating prop-aganda to create communal divideand tar nish the image ofBangladesh, as the country re-covers from a slew of violenceagainst Hindus and mob attacks ontemples during Durga Puja fes-tivities, according to a media report.

Attacks on Hindu temples in-tensified in Bangladesh sinceOctober 13 after an alleged blas-phemous post surfaced on socialmedia during the Durga Puja cel-ebrations. On the night of October17, a mob damaged 66 houses andset on fire at least 20 homes ofHindus in Bangladesh.

"No one can make Bangladesh gobackwards. Some of the incidentsthat we occasionally see are or-chestrated. It is being done inten-tionally so that Bangladesh's imageis damaged," Prime Minister Hasinawas quoted as saying by bd-news24.Com.

Speaking during the inaugura-tion of the Payra bridge in south-ern Bangladesh, Hasina said that“certain quarters with vested in-terests are disseminating propa-ganda aimed at creating a com-munal divide.” She, however, did notname any one. "No matter howmuch good work we do, there is aquarter that is occupied with dis-

crediting Bangladesh. What dothey want? They don't want thenormal democratic process to con-tinue in this country," she said,urging people to be wary of theattempts to destabilise the country.

Eight people died as communal

violence spread to several otherdistricts amid the festivities, the re-port said. The Durga Puja cele-brations, considered to be thebiggest festival of the minorityHindu community in Bangladesh,concluded without the traditionalBijoya Dashami procession.

Bangladesh's security agenciesSaturday arrested Shaikat Mandal,who is believed to be the second keysuspect behind the recent violence.His arrest came a day after policehad nabbed Iqbal Hossain, 35, thekey suspect from Cox Bazar area.

So far, police have arrested nearly600 people from various parts of thecountry for inciting violence againstthe Hindus during the Durga Puja festivities.

This GBP 3billion skillsrevolution

builds on our Plan forJobs and will spreadopportunity acrossthe UK bytransforming post-16 education –giving people the skills they need toearn more and get on in life

RISHI SUNAK | UK CHANCELLOR OF

THE EXCHEQUER

of theday uote

The Kampalablast seems tobe a terrorist

act but we shall getthe perpetrators. Thepublic should notfear, we shall defeatthis criminality like we havedefeated all the other criminality

YOWERI MUSEVENI | UGANDAN PRESIDENT

Singaporecannot go intoan indefinite

lockdown and standstill, but also cannotsimply let go and letthings rip. We have totravel this road to get to living safelywith COVID-19

LEE HSIEN LOONG | SINGAPORE PM

Most-wanted drugtrafficker capturedBogota: The Colombiangovernment said that thecountry's most-wanted drugtrafficker "Otoniel" has beencaptured. According to theauthorities, Dairo AntonioUsuga (50), who headed thecountry's largest drugtrafficking gang known as theGulf Clan, was captured in arural area of the Departmentof Antioquia near the borderwith Panama, reports Xinhuanews agency.

Taiwan shaken by earthquakeTaipei: An earthquake shookTaiwan's capital, Taipei,Sunday and caused fallingrocks that injured a womanand damaged a car. No deathswere reported. The 6.5-magnitude quake struck at1:11 pm and was centred nearYilan, a city about 35 km (22miles) east of Taipei near thenortheastern coast, accordingto the Central WeatherBureau. It was followedseconds later by a 5.4-magnitude quake. Buildings inTaipei swayed. The subwayand some other mass transitservices were suspended.

US urges NK tostop missile tests Seoul: A senior US diplomatSunday urged North Korea torefrain from additional missiletests and resume nucleardiplomacy between the countries,days after the North fired-offits first underwater-launchedballistic missile in two years.Sung Kim, the top US officialon North Korea affairs, spokeafter meeting with SouthKorean officials to discussNorth Korea's recent missiletests that have come amid along-running stalemate innuclear diplomacy betweenWashington and Pyongyang.

Calif: Thousands oftrees to be removedThree rivers: In the wake ofCalifornia wildfires, upwards of10,000 trees weakened by fires,drought, disease or age mustbe removed, work that willkeep a nearby highway closedto visitors who seek the world'stwo largest sequoia trees.

Security forceskill 15 militants Quetta: Security forces killed 15 militants belonging tobanned separatist organisationsin two separate operationscarried out in the restiveBalochistan provinceSaturday. A spokespersonfor the Counter-TerrorismDepartment (CTD) said thatnine militants fromdifferent bannedorganisations were killed .

SHORT TAKES

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Beijing, Oct 24: China is target-ing an ambitious clean energygoal of reducing fossil fuel use tounder 20 percent by 2060, accord-ing to an official plan published bystate media Sunday.

The document follows a pledgeby President Xi Jinping to wean theworld's biggest polluter off coal,with a target of peaking carbonemissions by 2030 and achievingcarbon neutrality 30 years later.

But the country has been criti-cised for pushing ahead with open-ing dozens of new coal power plants.Authorities have also been look-ing to ramp up production withcoal prices surging and supplies run-ning low in recent days, both fac-tors behind power outages.

But on Sunday, China's officialXinhua news agency laid out ahost of targets in its path towardscarbon neutrality.

Among them was the propor-tion of non-fossil fuel consump-tion reaching around 25 percent oftotal energy use by 2030 -- when thenation targets peak emissions.

By then, carbon dioxide emis-sions per unit of GDP would havedropped by more than 65 percentfrom 2005 levels, while the total in-stalled capacity of wind and solarpower is targeted to reach morethan 1.2 billion kilowatts, Xinhua said.

China aims to cutfossil energy use tobelow 20% by 2060

BANGLADESH VIOLENCE

Certain quarters with vested intereststarnishing country’s image: Hasina

Attacks on Hindu temples intensified inBangladesh sinceOctober 13 after analleged blasphemouspost surfaced on socialmedia during the DurgaPuja celebrations

Facebook under the lens again LEAKED DOCUMENTS SHOW FACEBOOK HAS BEEN SELECTIVE IN CURBING

HATE SPEECH, MISINFORMATION AND INFLAMMATORY POSTS IN INDIA

Afghan girls learn tailoring after school banDue to the closure ofschools and universities,the number of studentsin vocational centresdoubled compared to recent years

Burning cargo ship spews toxic gas off Canadian coastTHE AGENCY SAID IT WAS WORKING WITH ITSUS COUNTERPART TO TRACK 40 CONTAINERSTHAT HAD FALLEN OVERBOARD, SAYING THEYPOSE A SIGNIFICANT RISK TO MARINERS

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

London, Oct 24: Fully vacci-nated travellers returning toEngland from countries not onthe travel ban red list can use aCovid-19 negative Lateral FlowTest (LFT) instead of the more ex-pensive Polymerase ChainReaction (PCR) test, under thenew rules effective from Sunday,which could boost the country'stourism sector.

Other parts of the UK – Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland– are also expected to follow sim-ilar LFT rules for vaccinated trav-ellers in the coming weeks.

Travellers vaccinated in over100 countries, including India,will also be treated the same as re-turning fully vaccinated resi-dents in England, the govern-ment said.

This means that travellers ar-riving in England from a non-redlist country can use LFT insteadof the PCR on or before day two.

“I'm delighted that from todayeligible travellers to England,who've had the life-saving Covid-19 vaccine can benefit from acheaper lateral flow test, provid-ing faster results,” UK HealthSecretary Sajid Javid said.

“This huge boost to the travelindustry and the public will makeit easier and cheaper for peopleto book holidays and travel abroad,and it is because of our incredi-ble vaccine programme that thisis possible. Anyone who tests pos-itive must take a PCR test, which,if positive, may be genomically se-quenced to check for variantsand further help us fight thisvirus,” he added.

Travellers must take a photo oftheir LFT and booking referencesupplied by a private providerand send it back for verification.

FLYING TO ENGLAND?

Cheaper Covid-19tests come in place

A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the presidential election inTashkent, Uzbekistan PTI PHOTO

FOR BRIGHT FUTURE

Representational image

P11

businessMONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

India Cements is 75years old. We are

celebrating the Platinum Jubileeyear. The remarkable victory byCSK in IPL 2021 is a fitting tributeto India Cements on themomentous occasion by our oneand only captain M S DhoniN SRINIVASAN | VICE-CHAIRMAN, INDIA CEMENTS

No Objection Certificate (NOC), mandatory for sale-purchase of second-hand vehicles, will now beavailable from over four lakh Common ServicesCentres (CSC) across India. CSC, an SPV under theMinistry of Electronics & IT, has partnered with theNational Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to make thisservice available pan-India

CSC, NCRB TIE UP FOR SALE OF USED VEHICLES

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The uptrend inthe leadeconomic and

business indicatorsin the recent monthsshows that theeconomic recovery iscatching pace and strong economicgrowth is expected in the comingquarters

PRADEEP MULTANI | PRESIDENT, PHDCCI

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In terms ofgrowth plans,besides

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We areinterested indeveloping a

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MOBILITY

FPIs remain netsellers in OctoberNew Delhi: Foreign portfolioinvestors (FPIs) have turnednet sellers in Indian market bypulling out Rs 3,825 crore inOctober so far. In the past twomonths, huge buying waswitnessed in the debt segmentwhen FPIs had Rs 13,363 crorein September and Rs 14,376.2crore in August. However, sofar, in October, FPIs havepulled out Rs 1,494 crore,depositories’ data showed.From equities, FPIs took out Rs2,331 crore. The total netoutflow stood at Rs 3,825 croreduring October 1-22.

Govt to up BharatBond ETF by DecNew Delhi: The government islikely to launch the nexttranche of the Bharat BondETF by December and expectsto raise over Rs 10,000 crore tofund growth plans of centralpublic sector enterprises,according to a senior financeministry official. The officialadded that the fundrequirements of CPSEs arebeing worked out and thethird tranche of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) will belaunched by the end of thecalendar year. “We arefinalising on the amount to beraised but it would be over Rs10,000 crore,” the official said.

HZL witness coalimpact on OpsMumbai: The prioritisation ofdomestic coal supply to thepower sector has to “someextent” hit Hindustan Zinc butthe company has cushioneditself by tying up imported dryfuel supply till March, a topofficial of the Vedanta groupfirm said. Coal India, whichaccounts for more than 80 percent of domestic coal output,has been prioritising fuel supplytemporarily to the power sectorin view of the low stock positionat thermal power plants.

Koo eyes expansionto Southeast AsiaNew Delhi: Homegrownmicroblogging platform Koo’suser base has touched about15 million now, with fivemillion users added in the lastquarter, its co-founderAprameya Radhakrishna hassaid. Koo will maintain itssharp focus on the Indianmarket, onboarding more andmore users, even as it plans toventure into one new marketin Southeast Asia after June2022. The Indian microbloggingplatform, which has enjoyed ameteoric rise in usage, iscurrently also available inNigeria, a market that“continues to grow”.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 24: India will bar-gain for supply of undelivered gasquantities of past years when itnegotiates renewal of its multi-billion dollar LNG import dealwith Qatar, an official said.

“Talks for renewal will startnext year and will be conditionedon Qatar gas delivering in 2022the 50 cargoes or shiploads of LNGthat weren’t taken in 2015,”Petronet Director-Finance V KMishra said.

“We have requested Qatar togive us the pending 50 cargoesnext year,” Mishra said. “Theyhaven’t yet given a response to ourrequest.” He said the demand canbe brought up when the renewaltalks start.

Spot LNG prices in Asia rose toa record $56.33 per million British

thermal units on October 6, valu-ing a standard cargo at about $190million. Petronet pays about $11per mmBtu under its oil-linkedcontract with Qatar.

Last year, Petronet had sought 3cargoes additional to the annual con-tracted volume, of which Qatardelivered two, an official aware ofthe matter said. Petronet is pro-

moted by four state oil firms -Indian Oil Corp (IOC), BharatPetroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), GAIL(India) Ltd and Oil and NaturalGas Corp (ONGC). Its chairmanis Secretary to the Ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Gas,Government of India.

Sources said the government isbacking Petronet’s efforts to get

the undelivered LNG at times whenenergy prices have climbed torecord high. The 50 cargoes willcome at $11-12 per mmBtu againstmore than double the rate that isprevalent in the spot or currentmarket presently.

The Oil Ministry, they said, hasassured Petronet to take up on itsbehalf the demand for supply of un-delivered cargoes.

AGENCIES

Mumbai, Oct 24: Indian celebri-ties from the world of Bollywoodand cricket are increasingly launch-ing digital memorabilia throughnon-fungible tokens (NFT), hop-ing to rake in thousands of dollarsby cashing in on growing inter-est in such assets.

Bollywood superstars such asAmitabh Bachchan and SalmanKhan are planning to launchNFTs soon. While Bachchan’sNFTs will include autographedposters of his movies, Khan hasbeen building excitement on hisTwitter account by telling his 43million followers about theplanned NFT launch.

“NFTs are right now alien to

Bollywood but I am sure they (filmstars) will see this as another plat-form where they can use their ex-isting content and generate rev-enue,” said Ayaan Agnihotri ofBollycoin, an NFT marketplacefor Bollywood assets.

Agnihotri said that within daysof launch this month, his plat-form sold 8 million of the 20 mil-lion available so-called BollyCoins,crypto tokens that can be used tobuy NFTs when they are launched.One BollyCoin is worth 10 US cents.But it’s still early days for celebrityNFTs in India.

Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthikis auctioning a digital art reel froma cricket match where he hit amatch-winning six on the last ballfor around 5 ethereums, a digital

currency, worth around $20,000.But he has yet to receive any bids.

“NFT has picked up a lot in theWest in the last one year with nowiconic moments from basketball

being bought by fans digitally,which gave us the idea,” Karthiktold agencies.

Others have had success. One ofIndia’s top fashion designers,

Manish Malhotra, recently soldNFTs of digital sketches of someof his most famous creations for$4,000 a piece. Malhotra’s websiteshows one can purchase some ofhis bridal wear outfits at a lowerprice range of $2,500-$3,500.

The rise of NFTs has baffledmany who say it makes little senseto spend large sums of money onitems that don’t physically exist andcan simply be viewed online.

Still, global sales volumes ofNFTs have galloped to $10.7 bil-lion in the third quarter of 2021,making an eightfold increase fromthe previous quarter, data frommarket tracker DappRadar showed.

Vishakha Singh, vice presidentfor NFTs at Indian crypto exchangeWazirX, said celebrity participationin the segment is set to create ex-citement in the space.

This, she said, is great for theecosystem. This will help us ingarnering more awareness to-wards this new game changingworld of digital assets, Singh said.

B-town celebrities launch NFTs amid global crazeNFTS ARE A TYPE OF DIGITAL ASSET WHICH USE BLOCKCHAIN TO RECORD THE OWNERSHIP OF ITEMS SUCH AS IMAGES, VIDEOS AND OTHER

COLLECTIBLES. THEIR ROARING POPULARITY HAS BAFFLED MANY BUT THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH SHOWS NO SIGN OF ABATING

NFTs are rightnow alien toBollywood but I

am sure they (film stars)will see this as anotherplatform where they canuse their existing contentand generate revenueAYAAN AGNIHOTRI | BOLLYCOIN

UNDELIVERED CARGOES

Bargaining chip in Qatar LNG dealGas price surge may upset CNG, PNG ratesNew Delhi: After fuel price surge,prices of gas used for cookingand transportation are expectedto soar this year puttingconsumers in India at the risk ofinflated CNG and PNG rates. Asper an assessment of gas marketdone by ICICI Securities, prices ingas futures market is estimatedto rise by $4.1mmbtu to$7.35mmbtu in H1FY23 and byanother $3.6mmbtu (49 per cent)to $10.95mmbtu in H2FY23. Thiswould mean that three mainplayers supplying CNG and PNG --Green Gas (GGL), Mahanagar Gas(MGL) and Indraprastha Gas (IGL)would need to hike CNG prices by50-56 per cent in April-October,2022 to fully pass on APM gasprice rise to keep their margins at lofty levels.

Petronet LNG Ltd’s 7.5million tonne a year liquefied natural gas

(LNG) import deal withQatar gas is ending in2028. Renewal, if any,has to be confirmed 5years ahead of that

India in 2015 had not taken deliveryof the cargoes as it renegotiated

the pricing of the long-term supplycontract after prices hit double-digit. Qatar had then agreed to

revise the pricing formula subjectto India buying an additional 1

million tonne per annum of LNG

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 24: As many as16,570 new companies were regis-tered in the country in September,taking the total number of activecompanies to more than 14.14 lakh,according to official data.

Data from the corporate affairsministry showed that a total of22,32,699 companies were regis-tered in the country as September30. Out of them, 7,73,070 compa-nies were closed, 2,298 were as-signed dormant status as per theCompanies Act, 2013, 6,944 wereunder liquidation and 36,110 werein the process of being struck-off.

Citing an analysis registration ofnew companies during September2019 to September 2021 period, theministry said the data indicatesthat monthly registration of com-

panies has increased after hittinglowest of 3,209 in April 2020.

“A total of 16,570 companies wereregistered in September 2021 ascompared to 16,641 in September2020. An increase (24.68 per cent)in registration of companies hasbeen witnessed in September 2021over the previous month. A total of4,535 LLPs were registered inSeptember 2021 as compared to4,016 LLPs in September 2020,” theministry said.

Out of the 14,14,277 active com-panies, the ministry said 14,05,098were limited by shares, 8,872 werelimited by guarantee and 307 wereunlimited companies.

Among the 7,73,070 closed com-panies at the end of September,7,13,052 were declared defunct andstruck-off after issuance of noticeunder the Companies Act.

Registration of over 16,500 firms in Sept

As per the ministry’s monthly information bulletin forthe corporate sector, there were 14,14,277 active

companies as September 30

As regards the cargoes that werenot taken, it was decided thatIndia can see the cargoesanytime during the remainder ofthe contract that ends in 2028. Incase, Qatar is unable to meet therequest, the deferred cargoes canbe delivered in 2029

Samco MF targets10% market share POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: SamcoMutual Fund is all set to expandits business in the state of Odisha.With the aim to partner with 300distributors across the state, thecompany has a target to achieve10% market share of Mutual FundDistributors by the end of current year.

Umesh Kumar Mehta, CEO ofSamco Asset Management PvtLtd, said, “Bhubaneswar is emerg-ing as the hotspot for fund housesand advisers. Awareness aboutmutual funds has increased insmaller towns that led to the grow-ing interest in the state. Comparedto the overall population in thestate the numbers of active in-vestors are low. We believe with theright product and distributionmix we can deliver a great in-vestment for the people ofBhubaneswar in the form of ourupcoming mutual fund.”

According to the company’sstatement, Odisha contributes2.58% to India’s GDP, however thecontribution of the state to theAssets under management (AUM)of Mutual Fund industry is only0.98% which means that investorcommunity is highly under pene-trated. The company is all set upto ramp up its distribution andassets under management in thestate with the upcoming launchof the mutual fund.

Shatadru Gupta, Zonal Head,East of Samco Group, said, “Weare excited to expand our businessin the City and will hire and deputethe best teams for catering to thestate. The distributors inBhubaneswar will have an excitingproduct for their investors.”

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 24: The governmentmay introduce two key financialsector bills, including the proposedlaw for facilitating privatisation ofpublic sector banks as announcedby the finance minister in the Budget.

The government is also likelyto table amendments to the PensionFund Regulatory and DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA) Act, 2013, to

enable separation of the NationalPension System Trust (NPS) fromthe PFRDA for ensuring universalpension coverage.

The government is likely to tableamendments in the BankingRegulation Act, 1949, during theforthcoming Winter Session ofParliament, sources said.

Apart from this, amendmentswould be needed in the BankingCompanies (Acquisition and

Transfer of Undertakings) Act,1970, and the Banking Companies(Acquisition and Transfer ofUndertakings) Act, 1980, for pri-vatisation of banks, sources said.

These Acts led to the nationali-sation of banks in two phases andprovisions of these laws have to bechanged for the privatisation ofbanks, they said.

A month-long winter session ofParliament is expected to start bythe end of the next month. Thesecond batch of SupplementaryDemands for Grants, allowing thegovernment to undertake addi-tional expenditure other than theFinance Bill, would also be intro-duced for approval.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman while presenting theBudget for 2021-22 had announcedthe privatisation of public sectorbanks (PSBs) as part of disin-vestment drive to garner `1.75lakh crore.

HSMI all set to foray into EV segment next fiscalNew Delhi: Two-wheeler majorHonda Motorcycle & ScooterIndia (HMSI) is gearing up tolaunch its first electric productin the country in the next finan-cial year, a top company officialhas said. The company, whichsells popular models like Activa and Shine in the country, aimsto start feasibility run of the electric scooter with its dealerpartners at the end of the festive season this year. In an inter-action with PTI, HMSI President, Managing Director and CEOAtsushi Ogata said the company has decided to foray into thesegment after having a detailed discussion with its parent firm-- Honda Motor Company in Japan.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 24: The combinedmarket valuation of five of thetop-10 most valued companieseroded by `1,42,880.11 crore lastweek, with Hindustan Unilever,Reliance Industries and TataConsultancy Services emergingas major laggards.

Last week, the 30-share BSEbenchmark Sensex declined by484.33 points or 0.79 per cent. Marketbenchmarks Sensex and Nifty de-clined for the fourth consecutivesession Friday. The market valu-ation of Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) tumbled ̀ 45,523.33 crore toreach `5,76,836.40 crore.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)valuation eroded by ̀ 45,126.6 croreto `16,66,427.95 crore and TataConsultancy Services (TCS) mar-ket worth tanked by ̀ 41,151.94 croreto `12,94,686.48 crore.

The market capitalisation (Mcap)of Bajaj Finance plunged ̀ 8,890.95crore to ̀ 4,65,576.46 crore and thatof HDFC Bank Ltd fell by ̀ 2,187.29crore to `9,31,371.72 crore. In con-trast, Kotak Mahindra Bank added`30,747.78 crore taking its valuationto `4,30,558.09 crore.

ICICI Bank’s market valuationzoomed by ̀ 22,248.14 crore to reach`5,26,497.27 crore. The valuationof HDFC jumped `17,015.22 croreto `5,24,877.06 crore and that ofState Bank of India gained`11,111.14 crore to ̀ 4,48,863.34 crore.

RIL, HUL among coswith eroded valuation

WINTER SESSION

Two financial sector bills soon The govt is likely to

table amendments to the Pension FundRegulatory and

Development Authority(PFRDA) Act, 2013 and

Banking Regulation Act, 1949

Apollo Tyres introducesEuropean brand VredesteinNew Delhi: Strengthening itsproduct offering further in theIndian market, Apollo Tyres hasintroduced its European tyrebrand Vredestein in the countryto cater to premium cars andsuperbike segments. The home-grown tyre major is eyeingaround 30 per cent market share in the segment over the nexttwo years with the Vredestein range which would be locallyproduced from the company’s plants in Tamil Nadu andAndhra Pradesh. “The performance segment in both cars andbikes is gaining a lot of prominence and we believe this is theright time for us to introduce the brand,” said Apollo TyresAsia Pacific, Middle East and Africa President Satish Sharma.

BIZ BUZZPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Oct 24: To offset therising input cost, domestic steelgiant JSW Steel is planning to levya surcharge on sale of its steelproducts to its long-term OEM(original equipment manufacturer)customers, according to a top com-pany official.

JSW Steel will be the first com-pany to introduce the concept of sur-charge to the domestic steel mar-ket. “There is a huge pressure onthe cost of production. Cost of pertonne steel production went up by19 per cent or Rs 6,600 per tonne

quarter-on-quarter in July-September 2021,” Seshagiri Rao,Joint Managing Director and GroupCFO, JSW Steel, said.

The rate of coking coal -- a keysteelmaking raw material for whichplayers remain dependent on im-ports -- has also gone up from $120a tonne to $400 a tonne in just fourweeks, he told PTI in an interview.

“We have been working on (some-thing) what is happening globally.The coking coal prices went up byfour times from USD 120 per tonneto USD 400 a tonne in just last fourweeks. Thermal coal prices havegone up,” said Rao.

JSW Steel plans to levy surcharge

Charith, Bhanukadestroy Bangladesh

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/37159

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P12MONDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dubai, Oct 24: The BCCI is ex-pecting the two new IPL franchisesto go for `7,000 crore to `10,000crore each after the bidding processbegins here Monday. It is still notclear whether the BCCI will an-nounce the successful biddersMonday itself after doing the tech-nical evaluation of the bids.

There are 22 companies whichhave picked up tender documentworth ̀ 10 lakh but with base pricefor new teams pegged at `2,000crore, there is expected to be onlyfive to six serious bidders in fray.

The BCCI is also allowing a con-sortium of up to three compa-nies/individuals to bid for a fran-chise. However, in case of anindividual or company, that par-ticular entity’s annual turnovershould be minimum ̀ 3,000 crore andin case of consortium, each of thethree entities should have an annualturnover of `2,500 crore.

In this scenario, one of India’srichest business tycoon GautamAdani and his Adani Group areexpected to bid for the Ahmedabad

franchise. Adani Group, if they fi-nally put up a bid, is the favouriteto own a new franchise.

Similarly, RPSG group which isheadlined by billionaire SanjivGoenka is also considered to be se-rious bidder for a new franchise.Whether RPSG would have any in-dividual or other company as a partof consortium is still not known.

“Gautam Adani and SanjivGoenka are the biggest names inthe Indian industry. They will beserious bidders. Expect a mini-

mum bid of `3,500 crore from thepotential bidders. Don’t forget thatIPL broadcast rights are projectedaround USD 5 billion (Rs 36,000crore). So the economics will workaccordingly as franchises get theTV revenue share equally,” a BCCIinsider tracking the developmentssaid Sunday on conditions ofanonymity.

For the record, Goenka owned thePune franchise, Rising PuneSupergiants (RPS) for two yearsand is also the owner of ISL fran-

chise ATK Mohun Bagan.The other notable companies

which are in fray comprise KotakGroup, pharmaceutical majorsAurobindo Phar ma and theTorrent Group.

The two cities that are favouritesin terms of stadium capacity areNarendra Modi Stadium in Moterawith more than 1,00,000 capacitywhile the other is Ekana Stadiumin Lucknow with 70,000 capacity.

The other cities in the hunt areIndore, Guwahati, Cuttack,Dharamsala and Pune. However, noone is giving them much of a chance.

Harman shines Melbourne: India’s T20 skipperHarmanpreet Kaur (2/17, 35 no, 29b, 1x4, 2x6) dished out anall-round performance toguide Melbourne Renegadesto a comfortable seven-wicketwin over Sydney Sixers in agame of the Women’s Big BashLeague (WBBL) here Sunday.Due to her effort, Melbournechased down the target of 119in 17 overs. Harmanpreet, whohad recently returned toaction after recovering from ashoulder injury, was adjudgedthe player of the match.Shafali Verma playing forSidney however had a bad dayfalling for first-ball duck.

Sprinter shot dead Quito: Ecuadorian sprinterAlex Quiñónez was fatally shotin the port city of Guayaquil,police said Saturday. He was thefirst Ecuadorian to win a globalmedal when he finished third inthe World Championships in 2019at Doha. Quiñónez, who was 32,became a national hero in 2012when he reached the 200 metresfinal at the London Olympics. Heultimately finished seventh in arace won by Usain Bolt. He hadalso qualified for the TokyoOlympics but did not competeafter being suspended.

NEUFC keep JamilGuwahati: Khalid Jamil hasbeen named head coach ofIndian Super League (ISL) sideNorthEast United FC (NEUGC)ahead of the 2021/22 season.This is the first instance in theISL when an Indian has beenhanded the top coachingposition on a permanent basis.The last edition of the eventwas Jamil’s breakthroughseason. He took charge ofNEUFC midway into theseason after donning the hatof an assistant coach. He thenpropelled NEUFC to thesemifinals, the second time inthe history of the club.

Easy victories New Delhi: Former championVishnu Vardhan and SharmadaBalu recorded easy wins overtheir respective opponents toqualify for the men’s andwomen’s singles main drawsof the National Hard Courttennis championships, hereSunday. Vishnu foiled the bidof talented Ajay Malik 6-2, 6-1while Balu beat Kiran Kalkal 6-1, 6-2 in her match. “It was agood match, I am very happywith the way I played,” Vishnu said. AGENCIES

SHORT TAKES BCCI eyeing huge money with 2 new teams THE CRICKET BOARD IS EXPECTING ANYTHING BETWEEN `7,000 TO `10,000 CRORE FROM THE TOP BIDDERS

n The base price for bidding hasbeen set at `2,000 crore. No one can bid less than that

n The IPL will have 10 teams fromthe 2022 edition of thetournament with the additionof 2 new franchises

n The cities in fray for the 2 newteams are Ahmedabad,Lucknow, Indore, Guwahati,Pune, Dharamsala, Cuttack

AGENCIES

Manchester, Oct 24: Mo Salahachieved a hat-trick as Liverpoolhammered Manchester United 5-0in their Premier League encounterhere Sunday. Salah got the goals inthe 38th, added on time in first halfand 50th minutes respectively. Theother two goals were scored byNaby Keita (fifth) and Diego Jota(13th). Such was Liverpool’s dom-inance that they closed out thematch in the first half by goinginto the break 4-0 up.

Salah became the first player toscore a hat-trick at Old Traffordsince 1992. He has been in brilliantform this season scoring in 10 con-secutive matches.

However, for the ManchesterUnited fans it was a nightmare.The pressure was building on man-ager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer beforethis game and, after seeing their sidedeliver a frankly embarrassing per-formance across the first 45 minutes,fans delivered a chorus of boos asthe players went down the tunnelat the break. United supporters feltthat conceding four goals – just inthe first half – against Liverpool wassimply unforgivable. To top it all,United’s Paul Pogba was givenmarching orders in the second halfand the Red Devils looked tepidand lifeless on the pitch.

Some United supporters startedbooing at 2-0. Thousands vacatedtheir seats after the third goal andmany did not return. They misseda fourth goal and there was still ahalf to go. There was no comingback and there can be no comingback for the United manager. Hisjob is surely on the line now.

On the other hand, Pep Guardiola’sManchester City kept themselves inthe title hunt defeating Brighton 4-1 Saturday night. The English cham-pions had the points sealed by halftime as Ilkay Gundogan tapped into

an empty net on 13 minutes. ThenPhil Foden finished off two fineteam moves to put City in a strongspot. Alexis Mac Allister’s penaltypulled a goal back for Brighton, be-fore Riyad Mahrez put the seal ona slick City display.

However, Guardiola praisedBrighton for the way they played. “It’s really good because I knewwhich team we face today(Saturday),” said Guardiola afterthe game. “They are aggressiveand when they have the ball theyknow what they have to do,”

Real triumphin El Clasico INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Barcelona, Oct 24: Real Madridwon the season’s first El Clasicodefeating Barcelona 2-1 at the CampNou here Sunday. The winnersscored through David Alaba (32nd)and Lucas Vasquez (added on time)while Barcelona’s consolation goalcame from Sergio Aguero with justa few seconds left. The victory pro-pelled Real Madrid to the top ofthe La Liga table with 20 pointsfrom nine games. Barcelona on theother hand, lie ninth with 15 pointsfrom an identical number of games.

Alaba, the Austrian, becameonly the fifth player in Clasico his-tory to score on debut. His strikewas sensational as he started acounter-attack inside his middlethird before speeding ahead to re-ceive a pass from Karim Benzemaand score with a left-footed screamer.

“That goal was decisive,” saidBarcelona midfielder SergioBusquets after the game. “In gameslike these, whoever, scores the firstgains a big advantage. That is whathappened and we were not at all ef-fective today,” he added.

Barcelona’s best chance camein the closing stages of the firsthalf. However, an unmarked SerginoDest volleyed the ball into the stands.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Dubai, Oct 24: Indian footballteam head coach Igor Stimac ‘does-n’t have huge expectations’ from hisside that begin their campaignagainst Oman in the qualifiers forthe AFC U-23 Asian Cup here.Stimac said he just wants everyoneto ‘give their best on the pitch’.

As India U-23 gear up for theopening match, Stimac also said thatthe next three games will providea chance to the boys to gauge ‘wherethey stand against their genera-tion’ from other Asian countries.

“The next three matches (will)provide a chance to the youngstersto gain some experience and gaugewhere they stand against theirgeneration of stronger sides likeOman, UAE, and Kyrgyz Republic,”Stimac said.

“We don’t have huge expecta-tions. We hope everyone will givetheir best on the pitch. That’s whatI am asking from the players. At thismoment, it’s difficult to say how wewill fare against stronger sides,who are prepared more than usfor this leg. But I also hope we can

surprise some. We will look forour chances,” the Croatian added.

India have been clubbed in GroupE along with hosts UAE, Omanand Kyrgyz Republic. Stimac saidthat players will need to adapt theirgame according to the situationand that no-one can prepare themfor every situation.

“We have analysed the gameswhich Oman played in the lasttournament. We tried to explain toour players about their strengths,and how we should play but weneed to see how we can execute iton the field. Every match brings for-ward different situations at cer-tain stages, and then it’s all abouthow the players can adapt and pro-ceed,” informed Stimac.

POST NEWS NETWORK

B h u b a n e sw a r, O c t 2 4 :Badminton player and doubles spe-cialist Rutaparna Panda has beenchosen as the recipient of the 29th‘Ekalabya Puraskar’ (award) forthe year 2021. The jury memberswhile announcing the decision tohonour Rutaparna also informedthat two other Odia sportspersonswill be felicitated for the contri-bution to the state and India intheir respective disciplines. Theyare cyclist Swasti Singh and womanfootballer Pyari Xaxa.

Rutuparna will be presentedwith a cash award of `5,00,000and a citation at a ceremonywhich will be conducted follow-ing Covid-19 protocols. The dateof the function will be announcedlater. Pyari and Swasti on theother hand will be presented withcash awards of `50,000 each andcitations. It should be stated herethat Pyari is a regular member ofthe Indian senior team and hasscored goals for the country on

many occasions. The 22-year-old Rutaparna was

a part of the Indian team thattook part in the 2018 Asian Games.Since then she has blossomed asa player and has emerged as oneof the top women’s doubles ex-ponent in India. She has won anumber of international doublesand mixed doubles events. Amongthe tournaments where she hasbeen successful is the 2019 GhanaInternational badminton eventwhere she won the women’s andmixed doubles titles in 2019.C u r r e n t l y s h e t r a i n s i nHyderabad.

Rutaparna bags Ekalabya award

Rutaparna Panda

Stimac doesn’t have huge expectations

U-23 ASIAN CUP QUALIFIERS Salah show sinks Man U

Liverpool’s Mo Salah tucks the ball past David De Gea to score his firstgoal against Manchester United in the Premier League game Sunday

You cannot prepareany team for eachand every situationin a match. So it isimportant to adapt

to the match situations inevery gameIGOR STIMAC

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Sharjah, Oct 24: Young left-han-der Charith Asalanka (80 n o, 49b,5x4, 5x6) played the knock of his lifewhile southpaw Bhanuka Rajapaksa(53, 31b, 3x4, 3x6) made a quickfirehalf century as Sri Lanka beatBangladesh by five wickets in theirT20 World Cup Super 12 Group 1match here Sunday.

Sri Lanka suffered a mid-innings mini batting collapse butrecovered in time to chase down thetarget of 172 with seven balls tospare. Asalanka and Rajapaksa puton 86 runs for the fifth wicket in just8.4 overs to script a fantastic win fortheir side in 18.5 overs. It certainlydid not look like happening whenSri Lanka were reduced to 79 for fourin the 10th over.

However Bangladesh would cer-tainly be disappointed with theirshoddy fielding as Litton Dasdropped regulation catches ofboth Rajapaksa and Asalanka inthe outfield.

Sri Lanka were on the ascen-dency even though they lost KusalPerera (1) early. Asalanka was get-ting the boundaries with ease. He

hoisted Nasum Ahmed for twosixes in the third over and thenpunished Mahedi Hasan for an-other maximum to take Sri Lankato 54 for 1 at the end of powerplay.

Shakib Al Hasan triggered amini batting collapse with twowickets in four balls, but that wasnot enough for Bangladesh. SriLanka needed 46 from the finalfive overs. However, Rajapaksasmacked three sixes in the 16thover bowled by Saifuddin fromwhich Sri Lanka took 22 runs.

Earlier, opener Mohammad Naim(62, 52b, 6x4) and Mushfiqur Rahim(57 n o, 37b, 5x4, 2x6) cracked im-pressive half centuries to steerBangladesh to a competitive 171for four. The two put on 73 runsfor the third wicket. ChamikaKarunaratne (1/14 off 3) was thepick of the Sri Lankan bowlers

Charith Asalanka played a match-winning knock for Sri Lanka

Bangladesh 171 for 4 (MohammadNaim 62, Mushfiqur Rahim 57 n o)lost to Sri Lanka 172 for 5 in 18.5overs (Charith Asalanka 80 n o,

Bhanuka Rajapaksa 53, Shakib AlHasan 2/17) by 5 wickets.

Brief scores

AGENCIES

Dubai, Oct 24: A supremely styl-ish Babar Azam (68, 52b, 6x4, 2x6)broke a 29-year-old jinx by guidingPakistan to an emphatic 10-wicketvictory over India in the ICC T20World Cup here Sunday. This isthe first time that Pakistan man-aged to defeat India in 13 attemptsat the World Cup – either the 50overs edition or the T20 vategory.

The law of averages had to catchup with India sooner or later afterhaving won seven ODI and five T20World Cup games since they firstmet at Sydney in 1992.

It was also a day when Kohli (57,49b, 5x4, 1x6) scored a half cen-tury but was pale in comparison toBabar’s knock. The Pak skipperlooked regal in attack, elegant indefence and composed in a chaseof 152, which was achieved in 17.5overs. This incidentally was also thefirst time India have lost a T20International by 10 wickets.

Babar had the exuberance ofMohammed Rizwan (79 n o, 55b,6x4, 3x6) to match his cool quo-tient as Pakistan, not for once dur-ing the entire match, looked likeimploding. In between them, theyhit 12 boundaries and five sixes tomake it a ‘Super Sunday’ forPakistan.

Pakistan were the better side ona man-to-man comparison witheach Indian player. It started withthe captains. On a track where Kohlistruggled, Babar just effortlesslyfound the gaps and when required,hit those sixes as release shots.

If India lost three wickets inpower play, Pakistan literally hu-miliated their rivals with an open-ing stand, which will be billed asone of the best in this format foryears to come.

If Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/31)was a rockstar with his searingpace and incisive swing, his new-ball counterpart Bhuvneshwar

Kumar bowled at early to mid 120kmph with no swing at all.

If Pakistan’s spin troika of left-armer Imad Wasim (0/10 in 2 overs),leg-spinner Shadab Khan (1/25 in4) and off-spinner MohammedHafeez (0/10 in 2) gave only 47 runsin their eight overs together, VarunChakravarthy (0/33 in 4) didn’thave any ‘mystery’ about him as he

and Ravindra Jadeja (0/28 in 4)gave away 61 runs.

The 50 came in the eighth overand before India realised, theduo had taken the game away byposting the highest ever open-ing stand against India in T20internationals.

When India batted, Kohli gotsupport from Rishabh Pant (39,

30b, 2x4, 2x6) during a 53-run standbut had to do the bulk of heavylifting in a pressure cooker sce-nario, something he has been ac-customed to for the past one decade.But it must be said that Kohli’s in-nings gave Indian bowlers at leastsomething to fight for.

Shaheen, one of the most excit-ing fast bowlers produced two un-

playable deliveries at the biggeststage under pressure to get rid ofRohit Sharma (0) and KL Rahul(3). From then on India were al-ways on the back-foot.

Pakistan end WC jinx13 turns lucky for Green Brigade as they win their 1st game

against India in World Cup after 12 attempts

India 151 for 7 (Virat Kohli 57,Rishabh Pant 39, Shaheen ShahAfridi 3/31) lost to Pakistan 152

without loss in 17.5 overs(Mohammed Rizwan 79 n o, Babar

Azam 68 n o) by 10 wickets.

Brief scoresVirat Kohli Babar Azam

Hardik injuredDubai: The Indian team’s troublesSunday were compounded after all-rounder-turned-specialist batterHardik Pandya injured his shoulderwhile batting during the T20 WorldCup game against Pakistan. He didnot come out to field during the Pakinnings. Ishan Kishan came in as asubstitute fielder. “Hardik Pandyawas hit on his right shoulder whilebatting. He has now gone for scans,”the BCCI's media team said. Indiaplay their next game October 31against New Zealand 31, which givesHardik enough time to recover in casethe injury is not serious.