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C ovid-19 Omicron variant has reached India with two cases detected in Karnataka, while samples of six people who flew into Delhi from “at- risk” countries and tested pos- itive have been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control for genome sequenc- ing to ascertain if they have the new variant. Of the two persons who tested positive for Omicron in Karnataka, one has already left for his hometown in South Africa. The 66-year-old man, who had arrived in India on November 20 and tested posi- tive for Covid-19, reportedly took a flight to Dubai seven days later. He had been vacci- nated with both doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The other infected person is a 46-year-old fully vaccinat- ed doctor from Bengaluru, who has no travel history but developed fever and body ache on November 21. Five contacts of the doctor have turned out to be Covid positive, Karnataka announced on Thursday. On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said that con- tact tracing is being done and there is no need to panic. Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry Lav Agarwal told reporters here at a press conference that both cases have been identified in Karnataka. “No severe symp- toms of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 reported so far,” Agarwal said. “All Omicron-related cases are found to have mild symp- toms so far. In all such cases in the country and across the world so far, no severe symp- tom has been noted. WHO has said that its emerging evidence is being studied,” he added. This is in line with data emerging from other coun- tries that while Omicron is found to be more transmissible, the patients have mild symp- toms, he pointed out. Meanwhile, six people who flew into Delhi from “at-risk” countries have been admitted to LNJP after four of them test- ed positive for Covid-19 and two “showed symptoms”. A fortnight after a Mumbai court declared him as a “proclaimed offender” in an extortion case, the Maharashtra Government suspended most senior IPS officer and Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh from service on Thursday evening, in view of serious offences registered against him and the discipli- nary proceedings launched into “certain irregularities and laps- es” committed by him, includ- ing his unauthorised absence from duty. In a development that came on expected lines, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray gave a go- ahead for Singh’s suspension immediately after his return from three weeks hospitalisa- tion. Singh — who had created a sensation on March 20 this year by alleging that State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked now arrested and dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze to “collect” a staggering 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources in Mumbai — has been booked for sever- al serious offences registered against him in four different police stations in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane district. Among other things, Singh’s suspension order listed the cases registered against him at Marine Drive Police Station in Mumbai, and in Thane district at Bazarpeth Police Station, Kalyan, Kopari Police Station and Thane Nagar Police Station, both in Thane city. A ctor Bramhaswaroop Mishra (36) who had appeared in the web series Mirzapur”, was found dead in his flat in suburban Versova on Thursday afternoon, police said. Mishra was living alone in a rented flat in Inlex Nagar Society for the last four years, said an official. Neighbours complained to police on Thursday morning about a foul smell coming from the flat, he said. A police team reached the spot and entered the flat after getting made a duplicate key. They found Mishra’s par- tially decomposed body in the toilet, the official said. S outh Africa’s new cases of coronavirus doubled in a day, mounting pressure on the Government to review the lim- itations on public gatherings for unvaccinated people. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases announced on Wednesday evening that the infections for the preceding 24 hours were 8,561, up from 4,373 a day ear- lier. Experts pointed out that the projection by leading epi- demiologist Dr Salim Abdool Karim on Monday that South Africa was likely to have 10,000 cases daily by Sunday in the fourth wave would be reached by Thursday. The economic hub of Gauteng province accounts for 72 per cent of the current infections. As organisers of a number of events continue to either call off or postpone their functions indefinitely, calls are mounting for the Government to review the limitations on public gath- erings for unvaccinated people. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last Sunday that there would be no change to the current lowest Level One of the country’s five-level lock- down strategy. This still allows substantial numbers at both indoor and outdoor gatherings, which needed to be reduced, analysts suggested. Ramaphosa made the announcement in the wake of the discovery of the new Omicron variant, which has now been discovered in a num- ber of other countries as well. The president said the decision would be reviewed after a week, with some saying that an increase in lockdown restriction levels is unavoidable despite the risk to the economy which had just started to recov- er. South African has also been hit with a travel ban by over 20 countries, which Ramaphosa said was an unfair and dis- criminatory action merely because the country’s experts had been first to identify the new variant. A fter the Supreme Court snub, the Delhi Government has decided to close all schools, colleges, coaching, libraries and other educational and training insti- tutions in Delhi from December 3 onwards due to very poor air quality. The AQI approached an almost severe category in many parts of the national Capital. However, institutions where exams are being con- ducted will be exempted, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday. “The Delhi Government has consistently been working according to its action plan to tackle vehicle pollution, dust pollution. But as for the schools, we have decided to close them from Friday. All schools, colleges, educational coaching institutes, skill devel- opment & training institutes, other training institutes, libraries (except where exams are being conducted) shall be closed with immediate effect till further review,” Rai said. As for the Central Vista project, Rai said the Central Government has informed the Supreme Court that the work is of national importance and “We are currently awaiting reports based on which we will proceed”. He said the Delhi Government will further check reports about violation of anti- dust norms at the construction sites as well. “All construction-demoli- tion work is already suspend- ed in Delhi, trucks from outside Delhi are also banned from entering Delhi,” he said. T he Congress-TMC face-off is likely to intensify with the grand old party making up its mind to launch an all-out attack on the Mamata Banerjee-led party after the latter questioned the very exis- tence of the UPA. Mamata’s “there is no UPA” remark after her meeting in Mumbai with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra, has not gone down well with the Congress. Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjuna Kharge, said, “Some people are only helping the ruling party at the Centre. “We have tried to include them in var- ious socio-political issues where the Congress made its name. The Opposition should not get divided and fight amongst themselves,” he said. The AICC sources said the decision to attack Mamata was taken at a meeting held on Wednesday night. “There were dis- cussions among the top leaders of the Congress late Wednesday night in which it was decided to go all out against Mamata,” said the source. A day after AICC General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said defeat- ing BJP without Congress was only a dream, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury termed the meeting between Mamata and Pawar as a “pre-meditated conspiracy” to weaken the grand old party and alleged the TMC chief had become “BJP’s oxygen supplier.” New Delhi: The Delhi Government has collected over 181 crore as fine between April and November for vio- lating Covid guidelines, accord- ing to official data. Nearly 156 enforcement teams with 129 enforcement vehicles are in place in the city. Between November 1 and November 25, 93,583 challans were issued and 17,60,99,346 crore imposed as fine with 2,078 FIRs being registered. New Delhi: Six more trav- ellers from “at-risk” countries, including one with travel his- tory to South Africa, tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Thursday, officials said. Three out of 243 people on an Air France flight that land- ed at the airport around 12 midnight tested positive for Covid. M adhya Pradesh will show- case its business attrac- tiveness to global investors, along with the plethora of opportunities it has to offer across sectors such as textiles, food processing, pharmaceuti- cals, garments, tourism, FMCG, IT / ITeS and automo- biles at the India Pavilion of EXPO2020 Dubai, which pre- pares to organise the Madhya Pradesh Week from December 3 to 9, 2021. Ministers from the Government of Madhya Pradesh, along with top state officials, will kickstart pro- ceedings for the week by inau- gurating the Madhya Pradesh Pavilion on December 3, 2021. During the week, investors vis- iting the India Pavilion will hear from industry experts the advantages of investing in Madhya Pradesh. A 14-member high-level delegation led by Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, Minister of Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion, Government of Madhya Pradesh, will meet potential investors and representatives of large global corporations exploring investment oppor- tunities in Madhya Pradesh. The delegates will then meet representatives from the Annual Investment Meet (AIM), Government of UAE. An initiative of UAE's Ministry of Economy, AIM is the world's leading platform for attracting Foreign Direct Investment. It is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Members of the delegation from the Government of Madhya Pradesh will also meet key members of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & the People of Indian Origin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PIOCCI). They will partici- pate in B2G meetings with the leadership of various leading corporates of Dubai, Sharjah & Abu Dhabi and will showcase the industrial prowess and tourism potential of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh is the hub of textile and automobile man- ufacturing, food processing, pharmaceutical manufactur- ing, soya processing, engi- neering, and agriculture equip- ment manufacturing. Apart from showcasing its business friendliness and potential, the state will exhibit its rich cultural heritage to the global audience at the India Pavilion. Sanjay Kumar Shukla, Principal Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Investment Promotion, Government of Madhya Pradesh would be meeting with major Industry houses in UAE during his visit, for exploring areas of collabo- ration. This would enhance the business ecosystem of the state. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Covid-19 Omicron varianthas reached India with two

cases detected in Karnataka,while samples of six peoplewho flew into Delhi from “at-risk” countries and tested pos-itive have been sent to theNational Centre for DiseaseControl for genome sequenc-ing to ascertain if they have thenew variant.

Of the two persons whotested positive for Omicron inKarnataka, one has already leftfor his hometown in SouthAfrica. The 66-year-old man,who had arrived in India onNovember 20 and tested posi-tive for Covid-19, reportedlytook a flight to Dubai sevendays later. He had been vacci-nated with both doses of thecoronavirus vaccine.

The other infected personis a 46-year-old fully vaccinat-ed doctor from Bengaluru,who has no travel history butdeveloped fever and body acheon November 21.

Five contacts of the doctorhave turned out to be Covidpositive, Karnataka announced

on Thursday. On Thursday, the Union

Health Ministry said that con-tact tracing is being done andthere is no need to panic.

Joint Secretary of theUnion Home Ministry LavAgarwal told reporters here ata press conference that bothcases have been identified inKarnataka. “No severe symp-toms of the Omicron variant ofCovid-19 reported so far,”Agarwal said.

“All Omicron-related casesare found to have mild symp-toms so far. In all such cases inthe country and across theworld so far, no severe symp-tom has been noted. WHO hassaid that its emerging evidenceis being studied,” he added.

This is in line with dataemerging from other coun-tries that while Omicron isfound to be more transmissible,the patients have mild symp-toms, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, six people whoflew into Delhi from “at-risk”countries have been admittedto LNJP after four of them test-ed positive for Covid-19 andtwo “showed symptoms”.

�������������� /'/82�

Afortnight after a Mumbaicourt declared him as a

“proclaimed offender” in anextortion case, the MaharashtraGovernment suspended mostsenior IPS officer andMumbai’s former PoliceCommissioner Param BirSingh from service onThursday evening, in view ofserious offences registeredagainst him and the discipli-nary proceedings launched into“certain irregularities and laps-es” committed by him, includ-ing his unauthorised absencefrom duty.

In a development that

came on expected lines,Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray gave a go-ahead for Singh’s suspensionimmediately after his returnfrom three weeks hospitalisa-tion.

Singh — who had createda sensation on March 20 thisyear by alleging that StateHome Minister AnilDeshmukh had asked now

arrested and dismissed policeofficer Sachin Vaze to “collect”a staggering �100 crore permonth from bars, restaurantsand other sources in Mumbai— has been booked for sever-al serious offences registeredagainst him in four differentpolice stations in Mumbai andneighbouring Thane district.

Among other things,Singh’s suspension order listedthe cases registered againsthim at Marine Drive PoliceStation in Mumbai, and inThane district at BazarpethPolice Station, Kalyan, KopariPolice Station and Thane NagarPolice Station, both in Thanecity.

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Actor BramhaswaroopMishra (36) who had

appeared in the web series“Mirzapur”, was found dead inhis flat in suburban Versova onThursday afternoon, policesaid. Mishra was living alone ina rented flat in Inlex NagarSociety for the last four years,said an official.

Neighbours complained topolice on Thursday morningabout a foul smell comingfrom the flat, he said.

A police team reached thespot and entered the flat aftergetting made a duplicate key.

They found Mishra’s par-tially decomposed body in thetoilet, the official said.

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South Africa’s new cases ofcoronavirus doubled in a

day, mounting pressure on theGovernment to review the lim-itations on public gatherings forunvaccinated people.

The National Institute forCommunicable Diseasesannounced on Wednesdayevening that the infections forthe preceding 24 hours were8,561, up from 4,373 a day ear-lier.

Experts pointed out thatthe projection by leading epi-demiologist Dr Salim AbdoolKarim on Monday that SouthAfrica was likely to have 10,000cases daily by Sunday in thefourth wave would be reachedby Thursday.

The economic hub ofGauteng province accounts for72 per cent of the currentinfections.

As organisers of a numberof events continue to either calloff or postpone their functionsindefinitely, calls are mountingfor the Government to reviewthe limitations on public gath-

erings for unvaccinated people.President Cyril Ramaphosa

announced last Sunday thatthere would be no change tothe current lowest Level One ofthe country’s five-level lock-down strategy.

This still allows substantialnumbers at both indoor andoutdoor gatherings, whichneeded to be reduced, analystssuggested.

Ramaphosa made theannouncement in the wake ofthe discovery of the newOmicron variant, which hasnow been discovered in a num-ber of other countries as well.

The president said thedecision would be reviewedafter a week, with some sayingthat an increase in lockdownrestriction levels is unavoidabledespite the risk to the economywhich had just started to recov-er. South African has also beenhit with a travel ban by over 20countries, which Ramaphosasaid was an unfair and dis-criminatory action merelybecause the country’s expertshad been first to identify thenew variant.

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After the Supreme Courtsnub, the Delhi

Government has decided toclose all schools, colleges,coaching, libraries and othereducational and training insti-tutions in Delhi fromDecember 3 onwards due tovery poor air quality.

The AQI approached analmost severe category in manyparts of the national Capital.

However, institutionswhere exams are being con-ducted will be exempted,Environment Minister GopalRai said on Thursday.

“The Delhi Governmenthas consistently been workingaccording to its action plan totackle vehicle pollution, dustpollution. But as for theschools, we have decided toclose them from Friday. Allschools, colleges, educationalcoaching institutes, skill devel-opment & training institutes,other training institutes,libraries (except where examsare being conducted) shall beclosed with immediate effect tillfurther review,” Rai said.

As for the Central Vistaproject, Rai said the Central

Government has informed theSupreme Court that the workis of national importance and“We are currently awaitingreports based on which we willproceed”.

He said the DelhiGovernment will further checkreports about violation of anti-dust norms at the constructionsites as well.

“All construction-demoli-tion work is already suspend-ed in Delhi, trucks from outsideDelhi are also banned fromentering Delhi,” he said.

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The Congress-TMC face-off is likely tointensify with the grand old party

making up its mind to launch an all-outattack on the Mamata Banerjee-led partyafter the latter questioned the very exis-tence of the UPA.

Mamata’s “there is no UPA” remarkafter her meeting in Mumbai with NCPchief Sharad Pawar, an ally of the Congressin Maharashtra, has not gone down wellwith the Congress.

Senior Congress leader and Leader ofOpposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha,Mallikarjuna Kharge, said, “Some peopleare only helping the ruling party at theCentre.

“We have tried to include them in var-ious socio-political issues where the

Congress made its name. The Oppositionshould not get divided and fight amongstthemselves,” he said.

The AICC sources said the decision toattack Mamata was taken at a meeting heldon Wednesday night. “There were dis-cussions among the top leaders of theCongress late Wednesday night in whichit was decided to go all out againstMamata,” said the source.

A day after AICC General Secretary(Organisation) KC Venugopal said defeat-ing BJP without Congress was only adream, Leader of Congress in Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury termed themeeting between Mamata and Pawar as a“pre-meditated conspiracy” to weakenthe grand old party and alleged the TMC chief had become “BJP’s oxygensupplier.”

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��������������� ������������ ����������������������New Delhi: The DelhiGovernment has collected over�181 crore as fine betweenApril and November for vio-lating Covid guidelines, accord-ing to official data. Nearly 156enforcement teams with 129enforcement vehicles are inplace in the city. BetweenNovember 1 and November 25,93,583 challans were issuedand �17,60,99,346 croreimposed as fine with 2,078 FIRsbeing registered.

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New Delhi: Six more trav-ellers from “at-risk” countries,including one with travel his-tory to South Africa, testedpositive for Covid-19 on arrivalat the Indira GandhiInternational Airport here onThursday, officials said.

Three out of 243 people onan Air France flight that land-ed at the airport around 12midnight tested positive forCovid.

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Madhya Pradesh will show-case its business attrac-

tiveness to global investors,along with the plethora ofopportunities it has to offeracross sectors such as textiles,food processing, pharmaceuti-cals, garments, tourism,FMCG, IT / ITeS and automo-biles at the India Pavilion ofEXPO2020 Dubai, which pre-pares to organise the MadhyaPradesh Week from December3 to 9, 2021.

Ministers from theGovernment of MadhyaPradesh, along with top stateofficials, will kickstart pro-ceedings for the week by inau-gurating the Madhya PradeshPavilion on December 3, 2021.During the week, investors vis-iting the India Pavilion willhear from industry experts theadvantages of investing inMadhya Pradesh.

A 14-member high-leveldelegation led by RajvardhanSingh Dattigaon, Minister ofIndustrial Policy andInvestment Promotion,Government of MadhyaPradesh, will meet potentialinvestors and representatives oflarge global corporationsexploring investment oppor-tunities in Madhya Pradesh.

The delegates will thenmeet representatives from theAnnual Investment Meet(AIM), Government of UAE.An initiative of UAE's Ministryof Economy, AIM is the world's

leading platform for attractingForeign Direct Investment. It isheld under the patronage of HisHighness Sheikh MohammedBin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAEVice President, Prime Ministerand Ruler of Dubai.

Members of the delegationfrom the Government ofMadhya Pradesh will also meetkey members of the Abu DhabiChamber of Commerce, theSharjah Chamber ofCommerce & the People ofIndian Origin Chamber ofCommerce and Industry

(PIOCCI). They will partici-pate in B2G meetings with theleadership of various leadingcorporates of Dubai, Sharjah &Abu Dhabi and will showcasethe industrial prowess andtourism potential of MadhyaPradesh.

Madhya Pradesh is the hubof textile and automobile man-ufacturing, food processing,pharmaceutical manufactur-ing, soya processing, engi-neering, and agriculture equip-ment manufacturing. Apartfrom showcasing its business

friendliness and potential, thestate will exhibit its rich culturalheritage to the global audienceat the India Pavilion.

Sanjay Kumar Shukla,Principal Secretary,Department of IndustrialPolicy & InvestmentPromotion, Government ofMadhya Pradesh would bemeeting with major Industryhouses in UAE during his visit,for exploring areas of collabo-ration. This would enhancethe business ecosystem of thestate.

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On the occasion of the 37thAnniversary of the Union

Carbide disaster, leaders offour survivors’ organizations inBhopal condemned The DowChemical Company, USA forits systematic discriminationagainst survivors of the gas dis-aster and victims of ground-water contamination.

The organizations pre-sented facts to counter DowCEO, Jim Fitterling’s claims tonon-discrimination by being inthe Advisory Board of anLGBT+ organization. They alsoreleased a letter from seniorLGBT+ activist Peter Tatchellasking Jim Fitterling to own upthe legal responsibilities ofBhopal.

Sanjana Singh, an LGBT+survivor of the Bhopal disastersaid “Fighting discriminationagainst LGBT+ people teachesus to fight against all forms of

discrimination in society. It iswrong for Fitterling who cameout as gay in 2014 to makeclaims of inclusivity whileheading a company that stark-ly discriminates against theBhopal survivors.”

“Dow Chemical’s premiumproduct Chlorpyriphos isbanned in USA for causingpossible neurological damage,reduced IQ, loss of workingmemory, and attention deficitdisorders and birth defects.However, in India, Corteva, acorporation with close ties toDow Chemical, sellsChlorpyriphos with the tradename Dursban without men-tioning its health hazards or itsregulatory ban in USA.” SaidRashida Bee, President of theBhopal Gas Peedit MahilaStationery Karmchari Sangh

Said Shahzadi Bee ofBhopal Gas Peedit MahilaPurush Sangharsh Morcha,“In 2014, Dow donated water

filtration systems and over100,000 US dollars in aid toFlint, Michigan, in response tocontamination of the city’sdrinking water source.However, in Bhopal, mercuryand cancer causing chemicalshave been found in the breastmilk of nursing mothers livingin areas affected by ground-water contamination due haz-ardous waste from the UnionCarbide factory and Dowrefuses to clean up its toxicwaste.

According to RachnaDhingra of the Bhopal groupfor Information & Action, inthe United States Dow submitsunquestioningly to govern-ment agencies and courts. In2005 a Dow joint-venture pledguilty and paid an84 milliondollars criminal fine for par-ticipating in an internationalconspiracy to fix the prices ofsynthetic rubber in violation ofthe Sherman Act.

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Bharat AluminiumCompany Limited

(BALCO), India’s iconic alu-minium producer, has beenconferred with two CII EnergyConservation (ENCON)Awards 2021 for best energymanagement at its PowerPlants. BALCO’s 1200MWpower plant has been declaredas State Winner –Chhattisgarh with 4.75 Starrated certificate and the540MW Power Plant has alsoprocured 4.25 Star rated cer-tificate in large scale category.These achievements stand tes-timony to BALCO’s endeavorsin operational excellence.

On this importantachievement, Abhijit Pati,CEO and Director, BALCO,said, “At BALCO, we are com-mitted to maximizing ourefforts of energy conserva-tion. With such efforts weaim to achieve the larger goalof creating a sustainable futurefor the generations to comeand contribute to the expedi-tious development of the

nation. BALCO has been anearly adopter of smart tech-nologies for heightened oper-ational efficiencies, which fur-ther bolsters energy opti-mization, safety, and produc-tivity that we have meticu-lously fostered across the orga-nization. We are dedicatedlydriving the Environment,Social and Governance (ESG)dimensions of sustainabilityfor building a greener tomor-row and, therefore, are active-ly exploring innovations thatcan help reduce our carbonfootprint as early as possible inthe creation process.” SanjeevDuggal, Managing Directorof NTPC GE Power ServicesLimited, congratulatedBALCO on the prestigiousrecognition and said, “We areproud to be associated withBALCO and work in partner-ship to achieve business goals,keeping in mind the principlesof zero harm, zero waste andzero discharge. Together wewill strive for sustainable oper-ations through effective prac-tices of energy management,safety and productivity.”

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Internationally-renownedspeaker, real estate investor,

co-founder and CEO of theRich Dad Company, KimMeyer Kiyosaki is all set tospeak at the second virtualWomen Growth Summit(WGS) by Success Gyan, India’sleading platform for personalgrowth training. The women-only virtual summit is target-ed at working professionals,business women, trainers aswell as homemakers.

Leading the line-up ofseven world-class speakers andleadership coaches, KimKiyosaki, author of the inter-national bestseller, RichWoman: A Book on Investingfor Women will be speakingabout financial freedom forwomen and empowermentthrough investment.

On a joint quest to befinancially-free with her hus-band and 'Rich Dad Poor Dad'author Robert Kiyosaki, Kimstarted with her first invest-ment in a tiny house inPortland, US, with $5,000 shedidn't have.

It netted her $25 per monthin cash flow, which wasn'tmuch even back then, but itwas a start. More importantlythan the money, it representedfreedom.

Cut to the present, KimKiyosaki is a spirited advocateand educator of financial edu-cation, and has gone on to trainlakhs of people.

“When it comes to money,we women have been taught todepend on others like our hus-band, family members or thegovernment for our financialwell being and not take care ofourselves. What we teach is notjust about money, it’s aboutfreedom; the freedom to livethe life you want," KimKiyosaki says.

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Holding lighted candlesmembers of the

Sambhavna Trust Clinic, anNGO providing free medicalcare to the survivors of theUnion Carbide disaster for thelast 25 years, paid homage tothose killed by the disasternear the Union Carbide facto-ry on Thursday on the occasionof the 37th Anniversary of thedisaster.

Shailendra Chourasia ofthe Community Research Unit,said that people exposed to thepoisonous gases of UnionCarbide in December 1984continue to die untimely deathstill date. “Those exposed aschildren are dying in their for-ties after prolonged sufferingfrom chronic diseases of thelung, kidneys and other organsand cancers. Too many gasaffected people are dying ofcancers of the lungs, gall blad-der and ovaries” he said.

“Official data on COVIDdeaths show that in Bhopal dis-trict, people exposed to UnionCarbide’s gases died at a ratefive times more than the rest ofthe population. Given theincreased vulnerability of thegas affected people to Covidand with a third Pandemicwave looming, it is very impor-tant that the government makesspecial provisions to protect thegas affected people of Bhopalwithout delay.” said AashaChouhan a member of the

Awareness Committee inthe Clinic.

Located in the midst of thearea most severely affected bythe disaster, the SambhavnaTrust Clinic provides free long-term care to the survivors of thedisaster and those exposed togroundwater contaminated byUnion Carbide’s hazardouswaste. In the last 25 years of itsrunning, the Clinic has used amix of modern medicine,Ayurveda, Panchakarma andYoga to develop treatment pro-tocols for the exposure inducedmultisystemic chronic diseasesof 36,000 persons.

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Sub-optimal or poor nutri-tion is escalating diet relat-

ed non communicable dis-eases (DR-NCDs) in India,putting at risk millions ofchildren.

A country with the great-est number of malnourishedchildren in the world, India ishome to around 15 millionobese children and 45 millionwho are stunted. At a publicdialogue in Varanasi, seniormembers of major politicalparties came together tosound a clarion call for Indiato adopt front-of-pack labels(FOPL), an important andtimely policy fix to address thecountry’s double burden ofmalnutrition (DBM).

Recent studies of low andmiddle income countries withDBM have revealed that chil-dren and adults in the poor-est income quintile face agreater prevalence of over-weight and obesity than dothose in higher income quin-tiles.

These increases in over-weight/obesity are largely theresult of rapid, increased avail-ability and consumption ofultra-processed foods acrossall sections of society. Thefood and beverage industry inIndia is one of the world’slargest with a sales volume of34 million tons.

Studies have shown that inIndian households – bothurban and rural, 53% of chil-dren consume salted packagedfood such as chips and instantnoodles, 56% consume sweetpackaged food such as choco-lates and ice cream and 49%children consumed sugar-sweetened packaged bever-ages at an average of overtwice a week.

Experts have raised alarmthat unhealthy diet is respon-sible for more deaths world-wide than any other risk fac-tor, and is a leading cause ofobesity, type 2 diabetes, andcardiovascular disease.

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Aplay 'Nepthaya MeinShakuntala' was staged on

Thursday, marking the secindday of Shadow Box TheatreFest. The play was directed byManoj Nair and was beautiful-ly performed by the artists ofShadow Theatre Group. Theplay was staged under theGamak series organised byMadhya Pradesh State TribalMuseum. Every man considershimself superior, and wantsresults beyond his abilities,escapes from present abilities insearch of the superiority, dissat-isfied with everything, shows thepersonality of one such pes-simistic actor. The story revolvesaround a theatre actor 'Manav'and how he deals with his selfdouts. An actor named Manav,is playing a small character in the

play Shakuntala, but dissatisfiedwith that character decides toflee the play on the same day.Before leaving, he stops andsleeps there, after collecting theproperty of backstage. All thecharacters of the play, deer,bumblebee, fish, lion, whohelped Shakuntala andDushyant meet again appears inhis dream. They explain Manavabout the human tendency in aunique way. They explain thepower hidden inside and makeshim feel positive, exposing theseongoing events in the playNepthy mein Shakuntala.

The Shadow Group wasfounded in 2001 as a symbol ofthe new possibilities of experi-mentation, breaking out of theongoing tradition of theater andstilted bimbo, as the most dif-ficult genre of acting for itscolor expression.

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A60-year-old woman wasrobbed of her gold chain

worth Rs 1 lakh at NandanPalace and Marriage Gardenlate in the night onWednesday; Misrod policehave started searching forbike borne miscreants whotargeted her when waiting forcar at parking.

According to the police,the victim Abha Jindal waswaiting for car at main road infront of Nandan Palace andMarriage Garden after mar-riage at the venue and whileshe was waiting two bikeborne miscreants attacked her

and snatched the gold chainshe was wearing.

The victim left venue withher husband who went tobring car to return home andwhile she waiting miscreantsappeared and snatched goldchain and escaped.

She raised alarm butbefore she could be helped themiscreants managed to escapethe spot.

The victim was not able tonotice the registration numberof the bike as the miscreantsescaped the spot at a fast veryspeed.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-

tered a case under section 392of the IPC and have startedfurther investigation.

The victim is a resident ofArera Hills and had gone toattend a marriage at NandanPalace and Marriage Gardenin the evening on Wednesdayand at around 10.30 in thenight.

Police said that the victimhas claimed that the robbedgold chain was worth Rs 1lakh.

During the further inves-tigation police would investi-gate CCTV cameras installedin the nearby areas whichwould help in the nabbing theaccused.

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Crime branch Bhopalnabbed five miscreants

involved in 17 burglaries andrecovered valuables worth Rs15 lakh from their possessionon Wednesday, two jewlerswere arrested from Ashta.

Acting on a tip off two per-sons were detained nearHalalpur bus stand and whenthey were questioned he con-fessed that he had committedseveral burglaries. The twowere identified as ZekriwelPardi and Anti Raj Belpardhi.

The two confessed thatalong with three members ofnexus are involved in disposingstolen and burgled valuablesManoj Soni, Pankaj Sharmaand Goteraj Singh.

On searching both of them,gold and silver jewellery werefound from the possession of

the accused and when theywere quizzed they revealedthat jewelery stolen along withhis other accomplices in ahouse of Kailashnagar underBairagarh police station. Thepolice registered case undersections 457 and 380 of theIPC.

The accused targeted areasunder Misrod, Ayodhya Nagar,Bairagarh, Aikkhedi, Aishbagh,Kamalanagar, Piplani, CholaMandir, TT Nagar,Jahangirabad, Kolar police sta-tion area and committed 17burglaries.

The accused used to reccethe locked houses on the pre-text of picking up garbage dur-ing the day and commit thetheft during the night or evenduring the day. The accusedused to target the locked hous-es and flats during the day andnight.

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The new comers ofRabindranath Tagore

University had a blast at thefresher’s party 2021 organisedat the college premises.Clicking selfies, dancing on therocking tunes and singing therhythm loud, was all about thefresher’s party at Patel Group ofInstitutions.

The seniors organised adazzling fresher’s party for thenew comers at the college’spremises to give them a warmwelcome to the college life.

Notably, the juniors camein different attire and in trendylook. There was traditionaldress code of the event. Theprogramme was all about thevarious enthralling perfor-mances including dances andmusical performances.

On one hand the studentsgave a prologue of their talenton stage and on the otherhand they confidently walkedover the ramp leaving everyoneimpressed.

The fun began with thesolo singing and dance perfor-mances. First the students pre-sented a fusion which was fol-lowed with a group dance ofpopping and locking style. Theprogramme was followed withthe ramp walk, and through theramp walk Mr and MissFresher were selected. The stu-dents were marked over thewalk, dressing sense and pre-sentation. All the students triedtheir best to impress the judgeson stage.

The excitement and thrillwas clearly seen among thefresher’s, as they ramp walkedand introduced themselvesbefore the faculty and stu-dents.

The junior-senior studentsof the university gave solo andgroup dance performances onsongs like Tip Tip Barsa Pani..,Lal Bindi.., Why This KolaveriDi.., Saans Mein Teri... JagGhoomeya... A play on thetheme of Girl Child Educationwas presented by the LawDepartment.

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Cyber cell Bhopal arrestedthree members of an inter-

state gang involved in dupingjob seekers in the name offacilitating jobs with MahindraCompany Dilshad GardenPolice Station, Seemapuri NewDelhi; over 150 victims over halfa dozen states were duped to thetune of over Rs 12 lakh.

Police said that call centerwas operated from flat to evadeattracting attention and used totarget victims using data boughtfrom QUICKER for calling andused bank accounts openedonline. The nabbed gang mem-bers were identified asRaghunandan, Firoz Khan andDeepak Mandal of New Delhi.

Revealing the modusoperandi gang used to collectmoney in the name of securityamount, dress and other goods,courier service, custom chargeof parcel, insurance, training,GST etc. in the name of gettingjob in Mahindra company bytaking data from QUICK-ER.Used to get it deposited inthe account opened online. Theaccused used to withdraw thefraud amount from ATM andby transfer to Paytm, accusedRaghunandan used to work asa caller at another call centerbefore the month of July, wherehe learned the work and start-ed his fraud call center.Raghunandan used to buyonline data from Quikr andprovide it to his friends FirozKhan and Deepak for calling, onthe basis of which callers usedto cheat people by calling.

The action was taken aftercomplaint was made by theapplicant that on November 13from mobile number8750491544, 9311051738,9311086436, 7042270287,9990837054, 7042515971 andbank account number a total ofRs 85,009 were cheated in thename of getting a job by the userof 9145342587 IFSC CodeKKBK0004628.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that

public service is our promise,welfare of the people andupliftment of the country isparamount for us. The CMsaid that new schools arebeing opened in MadhyaPradesh to provide good edu-cation, so that children will getbetter and modern educa-tion. Devaranya Yojana hasbeen made in MadhyaPradesh for Ayurvedic medi-cines.

The Madhya Pradesh CMsaid, “I have resolved to planta tree every day to protect theenvironment. It is included inmy daily routine. Even todayI had the privilege of planti-ng saplings in the premises ofDev Sanskrit iVishwavidyalaya, Haridwar.Singh Chouhan was address-ing a series of lectures orga-nized on the Golden Jubilee

year of Acharya Ram Sharmaat Dev Sanskrit iVishwavidyalaya Shantikunj,Haridwar today.”

Chouhan said: “I amalways worried about daugh-ters. I adopted daughters,brought them up and gotthem married. When Ibecame the Chief Minister,Ladli Laxmi Yojana was start-ed.”

“Today, I am happy thatthere have been 41 lakh ladlisin Madhya Pradesh. Thehappy results of this schemeare that there has been equal-ity in the sex ratio of sons anddaughters in Madhya Pradesh.Daughters are no longer a bur-den but a blessing. Alongwith this, a new AnandDepartment has been createdin Madhya Pradesh. A biginstitute of Advaita Vedantawill be built in Omkareshwar.”

The Chief Minister, in hisaddress on the topic of lifephilosophy of Param Pujya

Guru Dev in the universitycampus, said that how can I bea guest in the Guru's house. Iam a member of this vast fam-ily.

Chouhan stated:“Whatever good I am able todo, I am able to do it by thegrace of Pujya Gurudev. Whenthe Sun of civilization had notrisen in the western countries,then the hymns of the Vedaswere being composed here.We are citizens of such ancientand great nation as there wereuniversities like Takshila andNalanda.”

“I am proud to say thatthis is the land where it wassaid "Ekam Sad VipraBahudha Vadanti". We havenever imposed our ideology.We come from that eternaltradition where thousands ofyears ago it was said"Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam"(The whole world is a family).This land talks about worldwelfare” he added.

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The medal distribution ofsome matches of the 64th

National Rifle ShootingChampionship-2021 was heldon Thursday.

Olympian AishwaryaPratap Singh Tomar GoldieTomar of Madhya PradeshShooting Academy continuedher stellar performance andwon two gold medals each inthe 50m rifle prone category ofthe 64th National RifleShooting Championship-2021.

Madhya Pradesh won atotal of 8 medals including 3Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze inthe 50m Rifle Prone event. Inthis championship, players ofMP Academy have won a totalof 21 medals so far.

Lokayukta Naresh KumarGupta reached the StateShooting Academy as the chiefguest in the medal distributionceremony of 64th NationalRifle Shooting Championship-

2021. He observed 50 m, shot-gun, 25 and 10 m shootingranges. Today, honor the win-ners of the finals of 50m proneand 10m mixed events.

Lokayukta Naresh KumarGupta rewarded him with amedal. On this occasion thechief guest Naresh KumarGupta, his wife Manisha Guptaas well as Joint GeneralSecretary of Rifle Association ofIndia Pawan Kumar, DirectorSports and Youth Welfare RaviKumar Gupta, Academy's HighPerformance Coach SumaShirur were specially present.

Sports and Youth WelfareMinister Yashodhara RajeScindia congratulated themedal winning players. Thechampionship is being orga-nized under the joint aegis ofSports and Youth WelfareDepartment and National RifleAssociation of India at MPShooting Academy, Bisankhedifrom November 25 toDecember 10.

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A22-year-old man diedwhile another was critical-

ly injured in a head on collisionbetween a scooter and a motor-bike at Airport road underGandhi Nagar police stationarea late in the night onWednesday.

Police said that two injuredpersons were rushed to nearbyhospital after bike and scootercollided head-on at around10pm. The impact of the collisionproved fatal for Rajiv Mishrawhile rider of other motorbikesustained injuries and is report-edly stable.

Body was sent to postmortem and a case under sec-tion 304 A of the IPC was reg-istered and started investiga-tion.

The deceased was a resi-dent of Gandhi Nagar andused to work as labourer and

was on his way back afterwork.

Meanwhile depressed overmother’s death and wife leav-ing a 36-year-old BHMS doc-tor committed suicide by hang-ing with the ceiling at NirmalKalpana society on Wednesday;suicide note revealed reasonbehind extreme step taken bydoctor.

Sanjay Gupta was foundhanging and was taken to hos-pital where he was declareddead. A suicide note was foundin which he mentioned that hewas not able to handle depres-sion of his mother’s death.

Two years ago his wife lefthim and he was doing researchat Khusilal Ayurvedic ResearchHospital.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem. A caseunder section 174 of the CrPCwas registered by the police.

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In a bid to promote adventuresports and allied tourism

activities in a big way to makeHaryana one of the mostsought-after destinations, theManohar Lal KhattarGovernment has constituted“Milkha Singh Adventure SportsClub” named after the country’sace sprinter.

The legendary athlete hadpassed away on June 18, this yearafter a month-long fight withCOVID-19. The club has beenestablished under the existingHaryana Academy of AdventureSports (a registered society)with an aim to introduce, pro-mote and develop adventuresports in the state alongwith cre-ation of training facilities foradventure sports and to devel-op quality infrastructure.

The Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar had inJune announced to constitute aclub to promote adventuresports and name it after FlyingSikh Milkha Singh.

According to the notifica-tion issued by AK Singh,Haryana Principal Secretary,Sports and Youth AffairsDepartment, “Sports and YouthAffairs Minister will be presidentof the managing committee ofthe club while AdministrativeSecretary of the Department will

be its vice president.” The 11-member committee will alsohave Administrative Secretariesof Tourism, Forest and WildlifeDepartment, Civil AviationDepartment as its members toensure coordination betweenthe concerned Departments togive a boost to adventure sportsactivities in the state.

“The club is entrusted withthe task to organize training,coaching and excursion tours inadventure sports includingground sports, aero sports andwater sports and undertakecreation of adventure sportstraining facilities in moun-taineering, trekking, rockclimbing, snow skiing, cycling,motorcycling, car races etc;

aero sports training facilities inparasailing, paragliding, hanggliding, hot air ballooning,wind surfing, sky diving etc;undertake creation of adventurewater sports training facilities incanoeing, kayaking, rafting,surfing, sailing etc in sea, rivers,lakes and other water bodies,”the notification stated. It willundertake setting up of adven-ture sports training centres,academies, satellite centres,base camps etc and coordinatewith such institutions in thecountry and abroad and also,explore collaboration withNational Adventure Club(India), India MountaineeringFoundation among other suchorganizations.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Thursday said that while real-izing Dr Mangal Sen's dreamof Antyodaya, the StateGovernment has planned toincrease the income of thepoorest of the poor familiesand to bring them in the APLcategory for their economicupliftment.

“A scheme has been start-ed by the State Governmentfor the upliftment of the fam-ilies at the bottom of thepyramid. UnderMukhyamantri AntyodayaParivar Utthan Yojna, about3.5 lakh families with annualincome less than Rs 1 lakhhave been identified, and atarget has been set to increasetheir income up to Rs 2 lakhby ensuring benefits of welfareschemes through specialAntyodaya Gram UtthanMelas. Such Melas are beingorganized in the state tillDecember 25,” the ChiefMinister during a programmeorganized on the 31st deathanniversary of former DeputyChief Minister of Haryana, Dr.Mangal Sen at MaharshiDayanand University, Rohtak.

On the occasion, the ChiefMinister released a book titled“Dr. Mangal Sen- SaidhantikRajneeti Ke Pathik” based onthe thoughts of Dr. MangalSen. Earlier, he also inaugu-

rated the renovation work ofDr. Mangal Sen Multi-Purpose Hall being done at acost of 2.5 crore and laid thefoundation stone of KabbadiHall to be constructed at anamount of about Rs. 8.50crore.

Khattar called upon thepeople of the state to readabout the life of Dr Sen andacquire from him the spirit ofphilanthropy and social ser-vice. Charity is the biggestreligion, he said.

He said that more than 40research chairs have been setup by the State Government invarious universit ies forresearch on the life andthoughts of many great menso that through them theyoung generation could bemade aware of the thoughts ofthese great men.

The Chief Minister alsocalled upon the attendees tofollow the path of Antyodayashown by Dr Sen which hesaid would be a real tribute tohim.

On October 27, the StateGovernment had decided toconstitute Dr Mangal SenShodhpeeth to pay tributes tohim.

He said that the expensesof the Shodhpeeth should beborne by the followers of theconcerned social person sothat there is no financial bur-den on the University. He saidthat quality research related tothe life and thoughts of greatmen should be done by theseresearch benches so that theirideas could reach the commonman.

Remembering the timespent with Dr Sen, Khattarsaid that he has learned a lotabout social service whileworking with him for manyyears. I started social work in1981 and till 1984, I wasclosely associated with DrSen, the Chief Minister said.

He further said that allUniversities should be finan-cially self-sufficient. For this,alumni meetings should beorganized every year, in whichthe person who pursued edu-cation from the instituteshould participate and con-tribute to the expansion of theinstitute according to theirability, he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat the State Government isexpanding facilities like edu-cation, health, etc. in the state.The State Government hasdecided to establish medicalcolleges in all 22 districts,under which medical collegeshave either been established in19 districts or their process isin progress, he added.

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Aday after Samyukt KisanMorcha, Haryana unit

announced to continue theirprotest at the Delhi-Haryanaborder till their demands areaccepted by the StateGovernment, Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattaron Thursday said that the gov-ernment will invite them (farm-ers’ unions) to hold talks.

“Things will be discussedwith them during a meeting,” theChief Minister told mediaper-sons in Karnal while respondingto a query whether the govern-ment is considering withdraw-ing cases registered against farm-ers during the year-long agita-tion against central farm laws.

“Their demand (repealingof three central farm laws) hasbeen accepted. I again appeal tothem to end their agitation.They have also convened ameeting on December 4 to holddiscussion on their ongoingprotest,” Khattar said.

His statement came a dayafter meeting of 26 farmers’union under the banner ofSKM, Haryana at Sonipat, wherethey had announced to notreturn to their homes from theagitation site at the Delhi-Haryana border till the StateGovernment accepts theirdemands of withdrawal of casesagainst farmers, provide land toconstruct memorial for 700martyred farmers and providecompensation and a govern-

ment job for families of thosedied during the year-long agi-tation against central farm laws.

The SKM, Haryana hadclarified that no official invita-tion has been received by thefarmers’ union for holding talkswith the Haryana Government.The farmers’ organizations havealso demanded withdrawal ofamendment in land acquisitionAct and another law whichallows the authorities to recov-er compensation from violentprotesters who cause damage toproperty. The SKM, spearhead-ing the protest by farmers atDelhi-Haryana border, isexpected to announce its futurecourse of action on December 4.

Notably, the StateGovernment has sought datafrom various districts regardingthe cases registered against farm-ers during the agitation. Whilethe farmers’ leaders have claimedthat more than 48000 caseshave been registered againstthem in Haryana, the ChiefMinister had said that the num-ber given by them is vague.

The farmers had beencamping at border points ofDelhi – Singhu, Tikri (alongHaryana) since November lastyear. During various protestsheld across Haryana since thebeginning of agitation, theprotesting farmers have beenbooked under sedition, attemptto murder, rioting, unlawfulassembly, criminal intimida-tion, damage to public proper-ty among other related charges.

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The winter session ofHimachal Pradesh

Legislative Assembly will com-mence from December 10 inDharamsala.

Himachal AssemblySpeaker Vipin Singh Parmarsaid on Thursday said that thewinter session of the LegislativeAssembly will be held atTapovan (Sidhbadi) inDharamsala from December 10to December 15 and a total offive sittings will be held duringthis session and one day hasbeen earmarked for the non-official member's day.

He said that directionshave been given to officers toensure complete compliance ofthe COVID-19 protocol duringthe assembly session.

According to a tradition,the winter session of the StateAssembly is held inDharamsala every year, withthe entire government, includ-ing the Chief Minister, movehere from Shimla.

This would be the first

State Assembly session after by-elections, in which theCongress won all three assem-bly seats and a Parliamentaryseat with an impressive voteshare.

Parmar said instructionshave been given to make elab-orate security arrangements inDharamsala and its surround-ing areas. The police have alsobeen asked to prepare a trafficplan so that there is no incon-venience at any level.

A special place would alsobe marked for COVID testingand other healthcare facilities,so that people coming fromoutside during the sessioncould be tested for the virusbefore entering the assemblypremises, he added.

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Days after his phenomenalrise following political tur-

moil in Punjab, Chief MinisterCharanjit Singh Channi onThursday said that on the posthe was just fulfilling his respon-sibility to the best of his abili-ty, given by the party high com-mand, as he has done in thepast as well.

Getting humble on get-ting the coveted post, he said,“I am not a Chief Ministerialcandidate. I was never one.Whatever responsibility theCongress party and the peopleof Punjab want me to shoulder,I will do that,” said Channiwhile sharing the report card ofhis Government’s 60 decisionsin 60 days.

All through his speech,Channi’s focus was primarilyon the claims, promises, andallegations of the Aam AadmiParty’s national convenor andDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal. He was seen respond-ing to Kejriwal’s allegationsand queries, by substantiatinghis claims with notifications, ororders, while also posing sev-eral questions to the AAPleader.

“I had never thought thatI would become the ChiefMinister one day...but eversince I joined the politics —whether be it the KhararMunicipal Committee head,or the MLA, or the Leader ofthe Opposition in VidhanSabha — I have done all mywork diligently,” said Channi.

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Taking exception to the UNstatement regarding the

arrest of an activist in Jammu& Kashmir and violation ofhuman rights, India onThursday said these were“baseless” allegations and thecomments “betray” a completelack of understanding of thesecurity challenges in the

region in view of cross-borderterrorism.

Making India’s stand clear,ministry of external affairsspokesperson Arindam Bagchisaid here authorities in Indiaact against violations of law andnot against legitimate exerciseof rights.

His comments came inresponse to a statement madeby the Spokesperson of theOffice of the High

Commissioner for HumanRights (OHCHR) over thearrest of Kashmiri rightsactivist Khurram Parvez.

"We have seen the state-ment made by the spokesper-son of the Office of the HighCommissioner for HumanRights (OHCHR) on specificincidents in Jammu andKashmir. The statement makesbaseless and unfounded alle-gations against law enforce-

ment authorities and securityforces of India," he said.

On Wednesday, Office ofthe High Commissioner forHuman Rights spokespersonRupert Colville expressed deepconcern over the arrest ofParvez and even called for"prompt, thorough, transpar-ent" investigations" into therecent incidents of killings ofcivilians in Jammu andKashmir.

"We are deeply concernedat the arrest of Kashmirihuman rights defenderKhurram Parvez under Indiancounter-terrorism legislation,the Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act (UAPA),"Colville said in a statement.

Rejecting the commentsby the UN official, Bagchi saidas a democratic country, withan abiding commitment topromote and protect the

human rights of its citizens,India takes all necessary stepsto counter cross-border ter-rorism.

"It also betrays a completelack of understanding on thepart of the OHCHR of thesecurity challenges faced byIndia from cross-border ter-rorism and its impact on themost fundamental humanright, 'the right to life' of ourcitizens including in Jammu

and Kashmir," he said."Referring to proscribed

terrorist organisations as'armed groups' demonstrates aclear bias on the part ofOHCHR," the spokespersonsaid.

Bagchi said national secu-rity legislations, like theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA)were enacted by Parliament toprotect the sovereignty of India

and ensure the security of itscitizens.

"The arrest and subsequentdetention of the individualreferred to in the statement wasdone entirely as per provisionsof law," he said.

"Authorities in India actagainst violations of law andnot against legitimate exerciseof rights. All such actions arestrictly in accordance with thelaw," Bagchi said.

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The Government is keen topromote nuclear energy

and India will have ninenuclear reactors by 2024,Minister of State for personnel,public grievances and pen-sions Jitendra Singh said in theRajya Sabha on Thursday.

He also said the presentgovernment has also decided tohave reactors in different partsof the country and a nuclearplant will come up in Haryanaabout 150 kms from thenational capital. Earlier, theplants were located in southand some other parts of thecountry.

"By 2024 you will havenine nuclear reactors plus 12new additional ones whichwere approved during theCovid times with a capacity of9000 MW. Five new sites arealso being identified," in dif-ferent parts of the country, hesaid during the Question Hour.

Asked whether the gov-ernment is thinking of phasingout nuclear power plants onaccount of safety, the ministersaid, "We have not onlyincreased the number but arealso trying to make a pan-Indiageneration project."

The Minister said thatnuclear energy will soonemerge as one of the most

important sources of alternativeor clean energy for the increas-ing power demand of the coun-try. As far as the cost is con-cerned, though it varies fromplant to plant and on the age ofthe plant, Singh said on anaverage it comes to about Rs 3per unit and while theKudankulam plant has aboutRs 4 per unit and Tarapur haslesser cost. But in the times tocome, with more plants the costwould reduce, he said.

On the expansion ofKudankulan nuclear plant, theMinister also said that "hope-fully in 2021, we plan to startthe construction of unit 5 andunit 6 as well."

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After India was allowed totransport humanitarian aid

to Afghanistan through theland route in Pakistan, the twocountries are still working outthe modalities about ferryingthe aid including 50,000 tonnesof wheat and life saving medicines.

Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan in November endannounced the decision toallow India to transport goodsthrough Attari-Wagh border.However, reports suggestPakistan is insisting that thewheat from India-Pakistanborder in Punjab will be carriedto Afghanistan in Pakistanitrucks.

However, India has so farmaintained this will result inwaste of time and money andthe two sides are now engagedin working out the finer modalities.

Explaining India’s positionon the issue, ministry of exter-nal affairs spokespersonArindam Bagchi also said hereon Thursday no conditionsshould be attached to the ship-ment of relief materials. At thesame time, India continues tobe part of discussions on

Afghanistan with various coun-tries in different formats, hesaid.

Pakistan has linked itsdecision to allow India to trans-port the wheat and medicinesas humanitarian aid toAfghanistan to the conditionthat relief materials be movedonly by Pakistani trucks. Thetwo sides have been engaged indiscussions since last week tofind a solution to the impassein view of the looming human-itarian crisis in Afghanistan.

India made the proposalfor shipping the wheat andmedicines to the Afghan peo-ple via Pakistani soil onOctober 7, and received aresponse from the Pakistangovernment only on November24, Bagchi said.

“Since then, we have haddiscussions with Pakistan onthe modalities of this supply.These discussions are ongoing.Let me reiterate our belief thathumanitarian assistance shouldnot be subject to conditional-ities,” he said. The modalitiesbeing worked out by the twosides will cover various issues,Bagchi said without going intodetails.

The Indian side is keen onusing its own trucks as it wants

to ensure the relief materialsdirectly reach the Afghan peo-ple without being diverted.The Indian side also envisagesthe aid will be distributed onlythrough the UN, people famil-iar with the matter said on con-dition of anonymity.

Bagchi said the meeting ofsenior security officials ofregional countries, includingIran and Russia, that was host-ed by India last month hadoffered an opportunity fornations with similar perspec-tives to share views, exchangeideas and “identify from asecurity perspective what is theway forward” inAfghanistan.“Issues were iden-tified and India continues to bea part of discussions onAfghanistan with various coun-tries in different formats,” headded.

India and the world com-munity’s expectations regard-ing Afghanistan are clearlyoutlined in UN SecurityCouncil resolution 2593, hesaid. This resolution, adoptedin August, states that effortsshould be made to form aninclusive government in Kabuland that Afghan soil should notbe used to plan or execute ter-ror attacks against any country

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Journalists from various mediaorganisations on Thursday held a

protest against certain restrictionsimposed on the entry of scribes andcamera persons into Parliament, alleg-ing the move is a precursor to a "com-plete ban" on the spot coverage of par-liamentary sessions by the media inthe coming days.

They demanded that all restric-tions imposed on their entry intoParliament premises and the PressGallery must "immediately" be lifted,and media persons be allowed to per-form their professional duty.

The Editors Guild of India (EGI),Press Association, Indian WomenPress Corps (IWPC), Press Club ofIndia (PCI), Working NewsCameraman Association and variousother organisations of journalistsextended their support to the protest.A limited number of scribes, photo-journalists and camera people work-ing with the print and electronicmedia are being allowed to enterParliament premises during sessionssince the outbreak of the COVID-19pandemic last year.

"This (restriction on the entry ofmedia persons into Parliament) wasstarted in the name of Covid in 2020

but now it has gone too far. I think ifit is not protested now, it will becomea tradition. Media is going to be keptout in the name of Covid," seniorjournalist Rajdeep Sardesai said,addressing a protest meet of the jour-nalists organised on the premises ofthe PCI.

He said that a lottery system beingfollowed at present to issue passes tojournalists for entry into Parliamentis giving "no access" to the scribesworking with smaller newspapers.Press Association president JaishankarGupta said the issue needs to be seenfrom "a larger perspective" as it is notjust about restrictions on the numberof journalists entering the Parliamentpremises during the sessions.

PCI president Umakant Lakherasaid that he had raised the issue withthe authorities, requesting them to liftall restrictions on the entry of mediapersons into Parliament but all wentin vein. "Democracy cannot functionwithout media," he said.

"If the Government can allow theopening of cinema halls, malls,tourism, and other things, why is therea restriction on the media's entry intoParliament? It is not sending out agood message. Pandemic is a concernbut issues can be resolved," IWPCpresident Vineeta Pandey said.

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Searches by the Income TaxDepartment against a real

estate group in Mumbai hasyielded unaccounted cashtransactions of �100 crore andthe group did not deduct tax atsource to the tune of �300crore. Likewise, the IT depart-ment identified unaccountedincome of �400 crore of aPune-based dairy firm.

The IT Department initi-ated search and seizure opera-tions on a real estate group,engaged in the construction ofresidential and commercialprojects, in Mumbai and NaviMumbai Region. The group ismainly carrying out develop-ment of slum rehabilitation

projects. The search actioncovered around 30 premises,the IT department said.

“The search actionunearthed various methods oftax evasion adopted by thegroup. Several documentaryand digital evidences have beenfound and seized demonstrat-ing receipt of cash to the tuneof Rs 100 crore, as part of con-sideration on sale of flats,which is not accounted for inthe regular books of account,”it said.

The fact of receipt of on-money on such transactions isalso corroborated in the state-ments recorded during thesearch proceedings. The modusoperandi adopted by the groupincludes issuing of promissory

notes equivalent to the on-money component to the cus-tomers and these promissorynotes are destroyed after regis-tration of the flat, it said.

Incriminating evidenceregarding unaccounted cashpayments made not only to theoriginal tenants of the slums forvacating the dwelling unit butalso to some other persons forfacilitating vacation of theproperties by slum dwellers hasbeen found and seized. Furtherevidence suggesting irregular-ities and violation of guidelinesof Slum RehabilitationAuthority (SRA) have also beendetected, it further said.

“The preliminary analysisof evidence revealed that thegroup has acquired a control-

ling stake in a company by pay-ing consideration in cash.Defaults on compliances tothe provisions of tax deductionat source have also been found.The assessee group did notdeduct tax at source on certainpayments claimed by it whichaggregate to more than Rs 300crore,” it said, adding unac-counted cash exceeding Rs. 6crore has been seized duringthe searches.

The Department’s search-es against a leading group ofPune, engaged in dairy farm-ing and milk products at morethan 30 premises spread in sixcities several incriminatingdocuments and evidence of taxevasion have been found andseized.

“The preliminary analysisof this evidence clearly showsevasion of taxable income byadopting various malpracticessuch as claim of bogus pur-chases, unaccounted cash sales,cash loan transactions andtheir repayment, unexplainedcash credits, etc. Instances ofincorrect claim of loss onaccount of sale or death of live-stock, etc. have also beennoticed, it said

The searches led to theseizure of unaccounted cashand unexplained jewellery ofabout Rs 2.50 crore while somebank lockers are yet to beoperated. The search action, sofar, has led to the detection ofunaccounted income of morethan Rs 400 crore, it added.

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The Ministry of Housing and UrbanAffairs on Thursday informed the

Lok Sabha that nearly 60 per cent workof Central Vista Avenue and 35 per centwork of the new Parliament Building hasbeen completed till now. The Ministrysaid that Rs 340.58 crore has so far beenutilised out of the Rs 971 crore estimat-ed for the construction of the newParliament building.

The government, however, hasplanned to hold the 2022 Republic Dayparade on the newly-developed Rajpaththat comes under the Central VistaAvenue Redevelopment Project.

In a written reply to a question byCongress MP Manish Tewari, Ministerof State for Housing and Urban AffairsKaushal Kishore said ss for the redevel-opment of Central Vista Avenue, 60 percent of the work had been completed tillnow at the cost of Rs 190.76 crore againstan estimated Rs 608 crore. Resources arebeing mobilised and site preparation isin progress with regard to the plan toconstruct common Central Secretariatbuildings 1,2 and 3 and the VicePresident’s residence.

The minister of State, KaushalKishore informed that while Rs 7.85 crorehad been spent on the work related to thecommon Central Secretariat buildings1,2 and 3 (estimated cost Rs 3690 crore),Rs 15 crore had been spent so far on theproject related to the new Vice President's

residence against the estimated cost Rs208.48 crore.

At the inaugural ceremony of twooffice complexes for the employees of theDefence Ministry and the armed forceshere on September 16, Union Housingand Urban Affairs Minister HardeepSingh Puri had said the Winter Sessionof Parliament next year would takeplace in the new Parliament building.

Addressing Prime Minister NarendraModi at the event, he had said, "I wouldlike to assure you that the redevelopmentwork of Central Vista Avenue will becompleted in two-and-a-half months,where the Republic Day parade will beheld."

The redevelopment project of theCentral Vista -- the nation's power cor-ridor -- envisages a new triangularParliament building, a common centralsecretariat, revamping of the three-kilo-meter-long Rajpath from RashtrapatiBhavan to India Gate, a new prime min-ister's residence and prime minister'soffice, and a new Vice President's enclave.In his written reply to Tewari, Kishoresaid Rs 1,289 crore has been allocated forthe development/redevelopment worksof Central Vista in the ongoing financialyear.

The minister said these works haveprovided direct livelihood opportunitiesto more than 10,000 skilled, semi-skilledand unskilled workers on site and off siteand generated more than 24.12 lakh mandays of employment.

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Congress on Thursday alleged that theModi Government has been cutting the

MNREGA budget day by day, with the inten-tion that the poor should not stand on theirfeet, and are unable to live with dignity.

The budget 2020-21 budget of Rs 1.10Lakh crore has now been reduced to Rs83,000 crore, the party alleged at a Press con-ference addressed by senior party leadersMallikarjun Kharge, Adhir RanjanChowdhury and Randeep Surjewala.

“During the pandemic, when people werereturning from all over the country back totheir homes and villages, they needed work,which was not available while the moneyunder NREGA was reduced. In the past,when I raised the issues of NREGA as aLeader of Opposition in the Lower House, thePrime Minister mocked the oppositionbenches and said that NREGA will not bestopped because it is a living example of theirfailures. Yet, this same scheme was useful toso many people. But today they are bent oneliminating it," said Kharge, Leader ofOpposition in Rajya Sabha.

Kharge termed the move to allegedly doaway with the NREGA as an attempt to“enslave” the poor and take away their self-respect and dignity. He said that those whowork under this scheme are mainly ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes.

Kharge said the rural employmentscheme started by the Congress-led UPA gov-ernment achieved a lot of developmentalwork and employment through this act.

Surjewala termed the Modi government“fascist” and supported the protest by jour-nalists who are being debarred from cover-ing the Parliament. Surjewala said that thevoices of farmers, youth, parliament and itsmembers, and now journalists, is not beingheard in the country.

“This is the first time In 75 years that ourjournalists had to protest, which is a shame-ful thing… we condemn this act by the gov-ernment in the strongest terms. TheGovernment should wake up”, he said.

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With the Rajya Sabha witnessing dinfor the fourth consecutive day on

Thursday, Chairman M Venkaiah Naiduurged the agitating members to talk tothe Treasury Benches to break theimpasse. He, however, rejected thedemand for revoking suspension of 12MPs and said "disapproval of unde-mocratic conduct in the House cannotbe decried as undemocratic."

Naidu’s assertion came as theOpposition described the suspension ofthe 12 MPs on Monday as “undemoc-ratic and in violation of the rules” of thehouse. The Chairman also reiterated hehad followed all the rules before takingaction against the concerned MPs fortheir “unruly conduct.” They also didnot show any remorse after the sus-pension, Naidu lamented adding thehouse had seen 11 suspensions in thepast with the first one in 1962.

Even as he made these observations,the Opposition members continued toshout slogans and came into the well ofthe house. Naidu appealed to them tolet the proceedings go on smoothly butthe agitated members did not relent. Headjourned the house for about 50 min-utes in the pre-lunch session. TheOpposition later walked out during theQuestion Hour.

He said some of the leaders andRajya Sabha members "in their wisdom,chose to describe the suspension of 12members as undemocratic".

"I have struggled to understand ifthere was any justification in that kindof a narrative being propagated butcould not." This was not the first timethat such a suspension has happened.

Starting in 1962 till 2010, members weresuspended on 11 occasions in further-ance to motions moved by the govern-ments of the day. "Were all of themundemocratic? If so, why was it resort-ed to so many times?" Naidu asked.

Responding to the Oppositioncharge of his action being undemocra-tic, Naidu said "not even a word is beingsaid about the reasons given for the sus-pension, the disdainful conduct ofsome members during the last session,which I have categorically called as 'actsof sacrilege' on the last day of the lastsession", he said.

As opposition members, includingfrom Congress, kept protesting, Naidusaid the Rules of Procedure andConduct of Business in the Council ofStates (Rajya Sabha) clearly provide forthe suspension of members for dis-rupting the proceedings of the Houseand for misconduct lowering its digni-ty, under Rules 255 and 256.

The reasons for the latest suspen-sions were in the public domain andMinister of Parliamentary AffairsPralhad Joshi gave the reasons whilemoving the Motion for suspension onthe first day of this session, he said.

"Unfortunately, a message is soughtto be sent out that 'sacrilege' of theHouse is democratic but action againstsuch sacrilege is undemocratic. I amsure people of the country would notbuy these new norms of democracy,"Naidu said.

He also pointed out there were sus-pensions in the past and some of themwere revoked prematurely because theerrant members regretted their acts ofmisconduct in the House.

"I am deeply pained to know from

media reports of categorical refusals to express any regret for the acts of

misconduct during the last sessionthat led to this round of suspensions.Then what is the way forward?

"You don't want to regret your mis-conduct but insist on revoking the deci-sion of this House taken as per due pro-cedure laid under the Rules of theHouse. Does this amount to upholdingthe principles of democracy?" Naidusaid. "It is human to err and it is alsohuman to make amendments. Onecannot refuse to amend and insist onglossing over the wrongdoings.

"Suspensions, either in the past ornow, are only the expression of disap-proval of the acts of misconduct of some

members by the House. Disapproval of undemocratic con-

duct in the House can't be decried asundemocratic, for sure," he added.

Naidu urged both the treasury andopposition benches to resolve theimpasse. "I urge both the sides of thisaugust House please talk it out and thenfind a way to do the mandated job ofthis house. This is my appeal to theentire House," he said.

However, the protest by oppositionparties continued with Congress MPsinsisting that Leader of OppositionMallikarjun Kharge be allowed tospeak. Naidu did not agree, sayingKharge has already spoken on thematter.

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Continuing his offensive against the Yogi Gov-ernment in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, the

BJP member of Parliament Varun Gandhi onThursday attacked "joblessness" , "paper leak" and"scandal in the State.

Varun, the Pilibhit Lok Sabha MP from UP,pointed to a paper leak in the teacher's exam say-ing the youth who was hit by the "joblessness" hasnow been hit by the "paper-leak scandal" in UP.

"Pahle sarkari naukri hi nahin this phir kuchmaukri aye to paper leak ho...", tweeted the BJPMP in Hindi.

Similarly, he said "even ifyouth appeared in the examsthen for years results arenot out or annulled due tosome scandal..", he said.

" ..1.5 crore youths whoappeared in Railway GroupD exams are waiting forresults for last two years...",Varun sought to point out inhis tweet.

Further, the MP who has been attacking theModi government on a variety of issues direct-ly or discreetly maintained that the same situa-tion prevailed on the recruitment of youths in thearmy.

Making it clear that he is out of sync with thepolicies of the Modi government, Varun had ear-lier echoed farmers demanding legal guaranteeson the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in theirproduce.

Raising his lone 'dissenting voice' in the party,the BJP member of Parliament Varun Gandhihad said farmers would continue to be "exploit-ed" in 'mandis' till there is no legal guarantee forthe MSP of crops.

Varun also said that farmers in 17 districtsof Uttar Pradesh, including in his own con-stituency Pilibhit, had put their agriculture pro-duce on fire. " This is a matter of shame for theentire UP" which, he had said has also becomean issue across the country. Eom

BJP which is aiming to have second go in UPwhich is to to to polls in less then three monthshas yet not reacted officially to Varun's increas-ing attack on the government.

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About 4 million people staying in thefour districts of Idukki, Kottayam,

Ernakulam and Alappuzha in Kerala livein perpetual fear as the possibilities of the126-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam burstingany time became stronger with the northeast monsoon of 2021 bringing in boun-tiful rain.

Wednesday night saw Tamil NaduGovernment which owns and operates thedam situated in Kerala opening the sevenshutters without any warning and this ledto unexpected raise in water level inPeriyar River that flows through Idukki,Kottayam, Ernakulam districts.

“The Central Government shouldimmediately intervene and save the peo-ple of Kerala from a deluge. It is timeMullaperiyar Dam is either demolished ordecommissioned,” seven-time MLA ofKerala Legislative Assembly P C Georgetold The Pioneer. George, a veteran farm-ers’ leader in the State said the Dam is tick-ing time bomb and people like him whostay downstream live in perpetual fear.

“I as the chairman of the petition com-mittee of Kerala Legislature had recom-mended thrice the decommission of thisdam and cancellation of the 1886Mullaperiyar Agreement signed betweenthe then British Government and theTravancore Maharaja. The agreement hasbecome null and void as all agreementssigned between the British colonial mas-ters and the princely States in India got can-

celled by the night of August 14, 1947 withthe implementation of the IndiaIndependence Act 1947,” said George.

The controversial dam, built withlime and surki (before cement and concretemixture came into vogue) is 53.66 meter(176 ft) heigh, 1200 ft in length and has adepth of 142 ft. “Though Tamil Naduclaims that its Kallanai Dan in Thanjavurwas built during the 2nd century AD, thetruth is that it is a dwarf of a dam comparedto Mullaperiyar. Its height is just 5.4 metersand there are no structural defects detect-ed in it unlike Mullaperiyar Dam which hasmany flaws in its construction,” saidGeorge.

M M Mani CPI(M) MLA who is theformer power minister and P J Joseph,MLA and former minister for revenue tooexpressed their fear and concerns about thesafety of the dam and called for immedi-ate action from the Government of TamilNadu. “Water level in the dam should bebrought down so that people could sleeppeacefully,” said Mani.

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Bengal unit of the BJP hasmoved the Supreme Court

seeking directions for the StateElection Commission to deployCentral forces in the KolkataMunicipal Corporation.

Backing its plea the BJP islikely to furnish evidences oframpant violence in the Statepost Assembly elections apartfrom citing adverse observa-tions made by the NationalHuman Rights Commission,State BJP chief Sukanto

Majumdar on Thursday said. “Our demand is justified

on the grounds that the Statewitnessed massive violenceafter the Assembly electionswhen thousands of our work-ers and leaders had to flee theirhouses and dozens of our menwere murdered and hundredsof houses were put on fire …their fault was that they hadcampaigned for the BJP … Wehad approached the SEC seek-ing deployment of centralforces but our appeal fell ondeaf ears,” said Majumdar

adding “like the BJP mostother opposition parties are ofthe view that no free and fairelections will be possible inBengal without the deploy-ment of central forces.”

State Opposition LeaderSuvendu Adhikari too attackedthe SEC saying “theCommission is acting like aparty office of the TrinamoolCongress … by its action itseems that the Commission istaking directions from the TMCas though its officers are mem-bers of theTrinamool Congress.”

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There is a larger conspiracy"orchestrated" by social

activist Teesta Setalvad todefame Gujarat for almost twodecades, the State Governmenttold the Supreme Court onThursday while arguing onZakia Jafri's appeal relating tothe 2002 riots there.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for Gujarat,told a bench headed by JusticeA M Khanwilkar that he hasnothing to say against ZakiaJafri as she has lost her near anddear ones but there has to be a"limit of exploiting" the mis-eries of a widow.

Zakia Jafri, the wife ofslain Congress leader EhsanJafri who was killed at GulbergSociety in Ahmedabad onFebruary 28, 2002, during theviolence, has challenged theSIT's clean chit to 64 peopleincluding Narendra Modi, thethen Gujarat chief ministerduring the riots. Senior advo-cate Mukul Rohatgi, appearingfor the Special InvestigationTeam (SIT), argued in the topcourt that the allegations abouta larger conspiracy during theriots is being "driven" bySetalvad who is the petitioner

number two in the plea filed byZakia Jafri in the apex court.

"My respectful submissionis, that there is a larger con-spiracy orchestrated by thepetitioner number two (TeestaSetalvad) to defame one entirestate for almost 20 years,"Mehta told the bench, alsocomprising Justices DineshMaheshwari and C TRavikumar. "I have nothingagainst petitioner number one(Zakia Jafri), she is wounded,she has lost her near and dearones. I can have nothing to sayagainst her. But, and I amchoosing my words very care-fully, there has to be a limit ofexploiting the miseries of awidow," he said.

Mehta told the bench thatthe SIT had periodically filedstatus reports before the apexcourt and in the last one, it was"at pains" to point out thatSetalvad was "tutoring wit-nesses, was preparing pre-typed computerised statementsand sending them". TheSolicitor General Mehta saidthis is nothing but fabricationof evidence to involve "inno-cent persons" into the offence.

He also referred to theGujarat High Court orderpassed in a separate matter in

which allegation of misappro-priation of funds received bythe NGOs of Setalvad for the2002 riot victims was levelled.Rohatgi said that allowingZakia Jafri's plea would lead togreat injustice as there is noerror in the orders passed bythe courts below. "I submit it isonly being driven by petition-er number two (Setalvad). It isnot being driven by this ladyand it is evident from herstatement that she said what-ever petitioner two had toldher," Rohatgi said.

On February 8, 2012, theSIT had filed a closure reportgiving a clean chit to Modi,now the Prime Minister, and 63others including senior gov-ernment officials, saying therewas "no prosecutable evidence"against them. Zakia Jafri hadfiled a petition in the apexcourt in 2018 challenging theGujarat High Court's October5, 2017 order rejecting herplea against the SIT decision.

The plea also maintainedthat after the SIT gave a clean chitin its closure report before a trialjudge, Zakia Jafri filed a protestpetition which was dismissed bythe magistrate without consid-ering "substantiated merits".

Bhopal: They were not born atthe time but hundreds of chil-dren live the horrors of thatintervening night of December2-3, 1984, every minute ofevery day -- their bodiestrapped forever in congenitaldisabilities such as blindnessand cerebral palsy.

Thirty-seven years andsome three generations later,the darkness of that night when40 tonnes of lethal methyl iso-cyanate leaked out of the UnionCarbide plant hangs like animpenetrable cloud over thelives of untold thousands,including children as young asthree whose parents wereexposed to the toxin whenthey themselves were children.

What did help was thera-py and special educationlessons. That has been impact-ed with the Covid pandemicand the months of lockdown

that followed. As the worldmarks another anniversary,those that were left behindcount their losses.

The official number ofdeaths from what has come tobe known as the Bhopal GasTragedy, among the world'sworst industrial disasters ever,was 2,259 but activists estimatethe number could be well over20,000, maybe double that.

The effects were devastat-

ing for those who survived, andfor the generations that fol-lowed. Adding to the long-termeffects of those who inhaled thegas was the slow poisoning ofthe groundwater. Thoseexposed passed the effects on,leading to many children bornwith disabilities, includingDown's syndrome, musculardystrophy and attention-deficitdisorders.

Alfez is 10, Umair 12, Isha

18, Mohsin 24… Just some ofthe many who live their livesconfined to their beds andinside their homes, helpless andtotally dependent for theireveryday needs. While studiescontinue and much is still to beknown, the chain from thatnight 37 years ago is clear, saidexperts. And it is going on still.

Azaan is only three yearsold. He has cerebral palsy, adebilitating, genetic conditionthat probably goes back to hisgrandparents who wereexposed to MIC.

“I was eight months preg-nant when the gas tragedyhappened. My daughter wasborn with nasal related com-plications though not severe,”said his grandmother.

Azaan's seizures haveincreased in the last six months,probably because he didn't getregular therapy due to the

lockdown. Help has come inthe form of therapists from theChingari Trust, a rehab centre,doing weekly home visits andvideo calls.

Ten-year-old Alfez, whosuffers from attention deficithyperactivity disorder(ADHD), leads a lonely lifewith few people to understandhim. His mother Tarannumrecalls taking him to a doctorwhen he wasn't even a year oldand being asked whether any-one in the family was affectedin the gas tragedy.

It finally turned out thathis father Sajid, who was thenjust a year-and-a-half, hadinhaled the gas. Decades downthe line, when he had a child,the impact was passed on. Andthe doctor told Tarannum,“Alfez's medical condition iscongenital.”

PTI

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In a bizarre case, a bride accusedher groom and his friends of

gang-raping her on her `suhagraat’(first conjugal night), causing seri-ous injuries to her in the process inEtawah.

The newlywed had to be admit-ted to a local hospital for treatment.

Superintendent of Police (Rural)in Etawah, Omvir Singh, said that thepolice were informed that a newlymarried woman was undergoingtreatment after being gang-raped byher husband and his friends lateWednesday evening, after which acase was registered against the hus-band and his two friends and a probewas underway. He said efforts wereon to nab the accused who wereabsconding.

As per reports, a spinster fromValmiki community living in a villagein Ikdil was married to a youth fromParali Raman village of Chaubiaarea of Etawah on November 28. Thenewly wed’s mother alleged that onthe first conjugal night of the couple,the son-in-law along with two of hisfriends intoxicated her daughter andlater took turns with her.

While resisting the outrageousassault, the newly-wed woman suf-fered injuries. Her in-laws admittedher to a private hospital in the city butafter her condition deteriorated, they

informed her family and fled thehospital.

The victim’s mother further saidthat when they rushed to the hospi-tal and found her daughter’s condi-tion critical, they shifted her to DrBhimrao Ambedkar GovernmentHospital on Wednesday evening andalso informed the police about thesexual assault.

Subsequently, a case of gangrape was registered against the hus-band and his two friends at Chaubiapolice station The victim’s state-ment was also recorded in which sheconfirmed of being given someintoxicant by her in-laws after whichher husband and his friends gang-raped her.

Meanwhile in a case of suspect-ed rape and murder in Agra, aseven-year-old girl, who went miss-ing from a wedding on Wednesdaynight, was found dead in a nearbyfield the next morning in Malpurapolice station area.

The victim’s parents noticed thegirl missing a few hours after reach-ing the wedding venue. Believing thatshe might have slept somewhere atthe venue, they looked for her. It wasonly after she could not be found tillThursday morning that theyapproached the police.

The girl was later found dead ina mustard field, about 250 metresaway from the marriage venue.

Saharanpur:Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onThursday accused the previousState Governments of conspir-ing to sell off cooperative sugarmills and targeted them for fail-ing to control criminals, allud-ing also to the “exodus” ofHindus from another westernUP town a few years back.

With the next assemblyelections just months away,the BJP leader praised the YogiAdityanath Government, say-ing it has ensured the rapidclearing of the backlog of pay-ments to sugarcane farmers.

Apart from Punjab andHaryana, western UttarPradesh -- on which Shah isfocusing his campaign -- con-tributed the most to the protestover the recently repealed farmlaws. Bhartiya Kisan Unionleader Rakesh Tikait hails fromthis region.

Shah was addressing a rallyhere after laying the foundationstone for the Maa ShakumbhariDevi university.

He also referred to theongoing construction of the

Ram temple in Ayodhya, theenactment of a law againstinstant triple talaq and theabrogation of special statusunder Article 370 for Jammuand Kashmir, giving the cred-it for them to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Shah hit out at SamajwadiParty leader Akhilesh Yadavover law and order, comparingcrime statistics during his termas chief minister with thoseunder Adityanath's BJP gov-ernment.

“From which spectaclesdoes Akhilesh ji see,” he asked,and also claimed there was a“mafia raj” under Yadav andcriminals “felicitated”.

Without naming Shamli's

Kairana town or elaborating onthe details, the home ministersaid when he came toSaharanpur itself ahead of the2017 polls, people asked himwhat the party intended to doabout the “palayan” (exodus,migration).

“I told them that peoplewho are making them flee willthemselves flee from UttarPradesh if a Bharatiya JanataParty government comes topower,” Shah said.

In the run-up to the lastassembly elections, the BJPhad claimed that several Hindufamilies left Kairana after fac-ing threats from criminals - anallegation contested by others.Adityanath had also invokedthe alleged exodus during hisrecent visit to that town recent-ly.

"There was a time whenriots used to happen here,youths were killed and thereused to be curfew for days.There was a tendency to fileone-sided cases. Now, due tothe BJP government, there areno riots,” Shah said.

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Aday after the Union HealthMinistry conveyed to it

that its revised guidelines forinternational travellers were atvariance with the Central guide-lines and advised it align themfor uniform implementation ofnew SOPs, the MaharashtraGovernment on Thursdayissued fresh guidelines on airtravel for domestic and inter-national flyers amid the threatof an outbreak of the new vari-ant of Covid-19 “Omicron”.

Superseding its earlierguidelines issued on November30, the Maharashtra govern-ment’s new guidelines stated:“The restrictions imposed bythe Government of India guide-lines from time to time shall actas minimum restrictions to beimposed on all international

and domestic air passengers”.Categorising South Africa,

Botswana and Zimbabwe as"High Risk Countries" where“Omicron” has been detected,the guidelines issued by thestate government declared thepassengers who are comingfrom "High-Risk Countries"to Maharashtra or those whohave visited any of the "High-Risk Countries" in past 15 daysbefore arrival in the state, as"High-Risk” air Passengers.

“The `High-Risk’ air pas-sengers may be deplaned onpriority and separate counterswill be arranged by respectiveairport management authori-ties at all international air-ports of Maharashtra for theirscreening and verification,” theguidelines stated.

“Such all “High-Risk AirPassengers” shall have to under-

go RT-PCR Test immediatelyon arrival at their respectiveinternational airport and shallundergo mandatory 7-day“Institutional Quarantine” witha second RTPCR Test to be car-ried out on the 7th day. If anyof the RTPCR Test is found tobe positive, then such “HighRisk Air Passenger” shall beshifted to a Hospital with CovidTreatment Facilities. In case theresult of the RTPCR Test of 7thday comes negative, such “HighRisk Air Passenger” will have toundergo a further 7 days ofHome Quarantine,” the freshguidelines added.

In a related development,the Maharashtra government isramping up testing facilities inMumbai and other big citiesand business hubs like Pune,Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpurand Amravati.

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Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadavmade it clear that his party's Government

in future would work for all castes and com-munities without any discrimination.

Addressing a huge public rally during hisSamajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra in Lalitpur, the for-mer Chief Ministerof UP said, "You willfind a newSamajwadi Partygovernment in 2022and it will work forall of you withoutany bias. The pre-sent Bharatiya Janata Party regime is only try-ing to create confusion in the minds of peo-ple that the SP works for only one caste. If myparty comes to power in the state, it will carryout a caste based census and ensure that allcastes get their share as per their population.The SP government will also reveal the con-spiracy hatched by the BJP in denying a castecensus."

Claiming that the people of the state hadmade up their minds to oust the BJP fromUttar Pradesh, Akhilesh said the countdownfor BJP had started. Alleging that the rulingBJP was a party which was only inauguratingthe works and projects conceptualised and ini-tiated by other parties, Yadav said that the BJPregime had pushed the state into backward-ness.

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Congress general secretary andparty’s UP in-charge Priyanka

Gandhi Vadra exhorted the peo-ple of the State to take a lessonfrom the farmers on how theyfought unitedly, forcing theCentral Government to bowbefore them.

"Like the farmers, you shouldbe united to get your rights andmake the people’s representativesmore responsible for their works.The farmers' agitation againstthe three farm laws has added anew dimension to people’s rightsin the country. It is, however,unfortunate that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has refused totake cognisance of the deaths ofover 700 farmers during theprotest and has yet to take actionagainst Minister of State for HomeAjay Mishra Teni, who conspiredin the killing of farmers inLakhimpur Kheri. People shouldteach this government a lesson forignoring them and the voteshould be entirely cast on devel-opment rather than on caste orcommunal basis. The peopleshould have the power in theirown hand then only their rightswill be protected and the required

development in their area will bedone," Priyanka said while speak-ing at a ‘Pratigya Rally’ attendedby a huge crowd in Moradabad onThursday.

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel and senior UPCongress leaders were also pre-sent in the rally at Moradabad,which happens to be the nativeplace of Priyanka Vadra’s husbandand in-laws.

The top Congress leader saidthat sugarcane farmers were yet toget Rs 4,000 crore against theirdues.

"The prime minister can pur-chase a new aircraft for Rs 8,000crore and a new Parliament canbe constructed at a cost of Rs24,000 crore, but Rs 4,000 croreof the farmers cannot be paid bythis Bharatiya Janata Party gov-ernment," she said.

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Delhi Metro has failed toachieve the ridership tar-

get as projected in the detailedproject reports (DPR) underPhase I, II and III. The totalridership of the entire DelhiMetro network (Phase-I, IIand III) in the year 2019-20 wasestimated as 53.47 lakh but theactual ridership was 27.79 lakhonly 51.97 per cent of pro-jected ridership.

"In case of Phase-III specif-ically, as against the projectedridership of 20.89 lakh in 2019-20 from initially sanctionedfour corridors, the actual rid-

ership was only 4.38 lakh,which is 79.02 per cent lowerthan projected ridership as perdetailed project report.Similarly, in case of NCR/other extension, the actual rid-ership on these corridors was15.12 per cent to 87.63 per centlower than projected rider-ship," the Comptroller andAuditor General of India's(CAG) said in a performanceaudit report onImplementation of Phase-IIIDelhi Mass Rapid TransitSystem by the DMRC. Thereport was presented inParliament on Thursday.

The report said there were

deficiencies in operation andmaintenance and shortfall inachievement of planned bene-fits after commercial operationand Delhi Metro did not pre-pare line-wise operational prof-it/ loss statements and notclaiming operational losses, ifany from the respective StateGovernments till March 2020.

"As per the DPRs of Phase-III and NCR extensions, thetotal ridership of entire DelhiMetro network (Phase-I,Phase-II and Phase-III) aftercompletion of the project in theyear 2016 was estimated as43.79 lakh (53.47 lakh in 2019-20). Whereas, after completion

of entire Phase-III and NCRextensions, except for a smallportion of Dwarka-DhansaBus Stand (1.2 km), the actualridership of DMRC was 27.79lakh (2019-20) only i.e., 51.97per cent of projected ridership,"the CAG said in its report.

The ridership of Dwarka-Najafgarh (Line-9) section was11,972 (November 2019) afterits opening in October 2019whereas the ridership in theexisting Dwarka Mor andDwarka station reduced by11,074 from September toNovember 2019 indicating thatonly 898 new passengers (0.92per cent as per DPR projected

ridership of 97,070) were addedafter incurring an estimatedexpenditure of Rs 1,065 croreand recurring significant oper-ation and maintenance expen-diture.

Similarly, after the openingof Mundka-Bahdurgarh sec-tion in June 2018 and actualridership was 17,304, therewas a reduction of 5,762 in rid-ership of existing Mundka sta-tion during May and July 2018.Thus, only 11,542 new pas-sengers (i.e., 10.93 per cent ofprojected ridership of1,05,6,00) were added afterincurring an estimated expen-diture of Rs 1,991 crore.

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party supremoMayawati on Thursday cautioned the peopleto be wary of "Hindu-Muslim politics" of theBharatiya Janata Party, saying it was the "lasttactic" of the ruling party to ward off itsimpending defeat in the forthcoming UttarPradesh assembly polls.

The former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradeshmade this remark while react-ing to Deputy Chief MinisterKeshav Prasad Maurya'sstatement that preparationsare on (for a temple) inMathura as construction oftemples in Ayodhya andKashi is underway.

“The statement given by UP DeputyChief Minister Maurya ahead of the upcom-ing assembly elections that temple construc-tion is going on in Ayodhya and Kashi and nowthere are preparations for Mathura, reinforcesthe general perception of BJP's defeat. Peopleshould beware of this akhiri hatkande (last tac-tic) that is Hindu-Muslim politics," Mayawatisaid in a tweet in Hindi.

Assembly polls are due in UP early nextyear. The construction of grand temples is onin Ayodhya and Kashi, and preparations are onfor one in Mathura (Ayodhya Kashi bhavyamandir nirmaan jaari hai Mathura ki taiyarihai), Maurya had said in a tweet on Wednesday.

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Wherever possible, theemployers and workers in eachindustry, trade or professionwere organised together insyndical associations. Where itwas not possible to form suchsyndicates, the unions and theemployers’ associationsremained but cooperated toform guilds to coordinate andensure cordiality. If collectivebargaining could not end sat-isfactorily, the disputes werereferred to law courts assistedby professional experts. This ishow class collaboration wasconceptualised by the FascistParty.

In practice, the economywas toned up by rearmamentand expenditure on publicworks. Soldiers were recruitedin large numbers and so wereworkers in factories to producearms. This would bring prof-its to the bourgeoisie whocould then pay the proletariatwell. Urban prosperity wouldincrease demand for agricul-tural produce. What was left ofthe under-employed youth wasabsorbed by the armed forces.The promise to the wholenation were frequent attemptsat foreign conquests whichwould bring booty.

Another example of thepractice of fascism or class col-laboration, albeit on a muchmore limited scale, was inSpain under General Franco.

Neither the Italian nor theSpanish experience is widelyknown in any great detail espe-cially in India. However, whatthe members of the intelli-gentsia are familiar with are theexploits of Adolf Hitler and hisNazi Party whose full namewas National Socialist GermanWorkingmen’s Party. It wasfounded by Adolf Hitler andhis six comrades in Munich in1920. The economic depriva-tion in Germany was muchgreater than that witnessed inItaly, mainly due to reparationpayments under the Treaty ofVersailles 1919 after WorldWar I. The country paid anexorbitant price for its defeat inWorld War I. The runawayinflation as well as the worlddepression ignited by the crashin share prices on the WallStreet in New York in 1929made matters worse forGermany. It was widelybelieved that the charismaticquality of Hitler and his pro-gramme of class collaborationmore or less on the lines ofMussolini’s Italian ideologyalthough, on a far granderscale, saved the country fromutter collapse and a communisttakeover in the 1930s.

Unlike the Italian andSpanish examples, the NaziParty proposed to exclude Jewsfrom German life. They allegedthat the Jewish leadership had

betrayed the State duringWorld War I and were, to alarge extent, responsible for thedire German defeat. In theirbid to exterminate the Jews, notonly from Germany but alsofrom the rest of Europe, theNazis were estimated to havekilled six million Jews by 1945.While General Franco con-fined himself to Spain, BenitoMussolini did attempt foreignconquests of Albania andEthiopia but his plans werenowhere as grandiose as AdolfHitler’s. Which is why he iswell-known not only in Indiabut all over the world. Japanwas another country, althougha monarchy, that practicedclass collaboration especially inthe 1930s and 1940s.

So much for fascism and itssmaller as well as grander(Spanish, and German) varia-tions. But what is its ugly con-nection with politics in India?India is not Europe nor do wehave class stratificationsalthough communist tradeunions did try to introducethem. The nineteen-ninetiesare not the thirties. Socialismis on its deathbed, and there isno fear of a communist take-over.

The writer is a well-knowncolumnist, an author and a former member of the RajyaSabha. The views expressed arepersonal.)

������������� ������������������Sir — On the face of it, making otherslaugh in these acrimonious times actu-ally passes for an art notwithstanding,the comedian fraternity should neverforget that ours is a religion-dominantnation despite being a democracy and,hence, our comedians better keep offthe religion while attempting at raisinga laugh among their audiences. Whyshould one choose-deliberately or chal-lengingly-any subject they alreadyknow will stoke up a religious contro-versy, instead of making people amuse,smile and laugh?

One cannot afford to lacerate anycommunity's religious sentiments in thename of the 'Freedom of Expressionand Speech'. These bloomers see com-mission only because the perpetratorsare well aware that controversies sellfaster and, in turn, benefit them eco-nomically, besides fetching popularityas well. As regards the professionalaspect of the comedy, there are a largenumber of subjects and objects otherthan religion that can be sincerelytapped for keeping people in goodhumour. Simultaneously, this will sim-ply be like making an omelette withoutbreaking eggs — leaving people amusedas well as keeping our age-old traditionsof communal harmony that has earnedour country the 'Unity in diversity' epi-thet across the globe, intact!

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

������������������� ����������Sir — People are entitled to have theirown opinion that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is a true democrat, butto consider the ‘mann ki baat’ as some-thing resembling direct democracy istaking credulity a little too far. Tobelieve that the questions asked to PMModi in the ‘mann ki baat’ are spon-taneous and not rehearsed is somethingwhich even a hard core BJP supporterfinds hard to believe.

Regarding disruptions inParliament, one must remember thetimes when the BJP leaders did so whenin Opposition. This, however, does not

justify the behaviour of the Oppositionmembers and it is imperative thatnormal working commences and pre-vails. For many, anything and every-thing that PM Modi does is a master-stroke. Imposing the farm laws first andrepealing them later are both beingpraised. Perhaps it's time for the likesof such people to take off their blink-ered glasses.

Anthony Henriques | Mumbai

������ ��������������� ������ �����Sir — Soccer legend Lionel Messi haswon the Ballon d’Or, football’s mostprestigious award, for a record-stretch-ing seventh time, which puts himahead of his eternal rival ChristianoRonaldo in all-time standings. Theaward reaffirms the fact that Messi isunquestionably the king of modern era'sfootball. Perhaps what separates Messifrom other greats is that he has an inher-

ent advantage over every other player,thanks to his superior technical abilitywhich gives him an immediate edgebecause he can manipulate the ball inways that others simply cannot.

For the Argentine super star, lifeturned a full circle at a very young ageof 13 when he was offered the chanceto train at FC Barcelona's youth acad-emy, La Masia. Had not Messi grabbedthat opportunity gleefully with bothhands, today we would not be witness-ing the world’s greatest footballer in themodern era, whose name and fame havereached dizzying heights. But more thananything else, winning the CopaAmerica for Argentina in July this yearmust rank as the biggest moment so farin Messi’s glittering football career.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

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Speech with knowledge is asermon and withoutknowledge is a pulpit.Leaders in Indian politics

frequently use the word ‘fascism’to abuse an Opposition party orits members without the slightestidea of what the word fascismmeans or signifies. To them it isan abusive alternative of despot.

Benito Mussolini, who initi-ated the fascist movement inMarch 1919, at Milan and found-ed the party called PartitoNazional Fascista in November1921, is farfetched to have beenabusive. Or, does the very word“fascist” connote political deroga-tion? Perhaps it does to at leastsome members of the Indianintelligentsia. This is reasonenough to recapitulate what fas-cism really means.

The word “fascio” means abundle or a bunch implyingunity. The movement was inresponse to the corruption, unem-ployment and the virtual econom-ic collapse in Italy after World WarI. The socio-economic condi-tions appeared to be ripe for acommunist revolution and fas-cism was a nationalist answer topreempt such a take-over.Marxism was looked upon asdepicting “class conflict”.Capitalism still carried the stigmaof “class exploitation” and was,therefore, a non-starter as a pop-ular programme. To be effective,the answer had to be somethingthat would prove attractive to thepeasants, workers as well as theirunions and generally acceptableto all classes of people. This wasdiscovered in “class collaboration”as represented by fascism.

Prof Alfredo Rocco, theMinister of Justice in theMussolini cabinet, set forth thegist of this new ideology in thecourse of a speech at Perugia in1925. According to him, the soci-ety does not exist for the individ-ual, but the individual for the soci-ety. Economic progress is a socialinterest and all classes of peopleshould collaborate to maximiseproduction. The interests of theemployers and the employed areidentical. To ensure that this ispracticed, there must be a systemof State discipline over class con-flicts. Strikes and lockouts wereillegal and punishable by heavyfines and other punishments.

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The COP26 has concluded witha final resolution that has beenhailed by some and considerednot enough by others. However,

the deliberations did bring out the cru-cial impact that greenhouse gas emis-sions are having on our planet and thatnobody is immune to the effects of this.For at least a month, the attention of theentire world was focused on the likelytemperature rise over the pre industri-al era and its impact on climate changeand correspondingly on livelihood andthe future of our planet. It is clear thatclimate change is a reality which cannotbe brushed under the carpet because ithas already started impacting humanlives and threatens a potentially disas-trous future.

There was a lot of debate aboutcountries committing themselves to anet zero target on a particular date in thefuture. Many countries like the Nordiccountries were talking about reachingnet zero before 2050 and there was pres-sure on India to also promise net zeroby 2050. This was raising issues of devel-opment versus environment for a grow-ing economy like India. It was pointedout that per capita emissions of green-house gases in India is far below thanthat which is prevailing in the developedeconomies. The issue of climate equitywas raised. Was it not imperative on thedeveloped countries to contribute moresignificantly to reduction of green-house gases as they were responsible forthe same to a larger extent?

The developed countries were point-ing towards India and China by sayingthat these countries are the largestemitters of greenhouse gases and, hence,it is obligatory for them to take steps formitigation of emission of greenhousegases.

India took the lead. It pointed outthat it has been honoring its commit-ments made in the nationally deter-mined contributions (NDC) after theParis agreement. The Prime Minister inhis speech outlined a very positiveaction plan for the future of India. Hepromised that India would seek toattain net zero by 2070. India alsoassured that by 2030 the installedrenewable energy capacity would beraised to a level of 500 GW and that 50percent of the country’s electricityrequirement would be met from renew-able sources.

We also projected reducing cumu-lative carbon emissions by 1 billion tonesbetween 2020 and 2030 and reducingcarbon intensity of GDP by 45 percentcompared to 2005 level. The rest of thecountries also came out with theircommitments but the experience hasbeen that in the absence of an enforce-ment mechanism the promises made byvarious countries have not been honoredin practice. A classic example has beenthat the promised climate finance by the

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developed nations to the extent of$100 billion every year by 2020 isyet to be realized. Climate changemitigation and adaptation wouldonly be possible with accountabil-ity on the concerned nations andthere should be a sense of credi-bility to their pronouncements.

As it is, it has been reported,that if all NDCs are implement-ed then the greenhouse gaseslevel in 2030 would be 15.9 per-cent above 2000 level. In order toachieve the goal of limiting tem-perature rise to 1.5 percent of preindustrial level, scientists havecalculated carbon dioxide emis-sions need to be 45 percent below2010 level by 2030. Climatechange is definitely a seriousaffair which needs much morethan pious intentions to mitigate.

India would also have tostrive hard to achieve the goals ithas identified for itself in COP 26.India is a developing economyand its focus has to be on provid-ing higher per capita incomeand better quality of life to its cit-izens. At the same time India isa responsible nation aware of itsglobal commitments and its rolein saving the future of humani-ty. Sustainable development is thekey word. India has to create anenabling environment to attractglobal investments. It has toinvest in infrastructure to makethis happen.

The energy sector requiresserious reforms of the discoms.We need to strengthen our gridinfrastructure and massivelyincrease battery storage capacityto usher in clean energy. All thiswould require a huge skilled

work force which requires invest-ment in education and re-skilling.The focus on renewal energywould have a geographic elementalso as it is the western andsouthern states which wouldbecome the main provider ofrenewal energy but eastern Indiawhere the coal belt exists wouldsee job losses. India would needa plan taking all aspects intoaccount for ensuring a “just”energy transition. All this wouldraise questions about the sustain-ability of renewal energy gener-ation goals.

All the options have socialcosts. Nuclear energy has thesocial cost of possible radiationwhile hydro-electric projects havehuge environmental issues ofrehabilitation and relocation. Evensolar and wind energy have aproblem of requiring enormousamount of land. Even otherwiseIndian declaration implies thatfossil fuels will continue to con-tribute 50 percent of the energyrequirement leading to increasedemissions.

India would be required toprepare a detailed strategy andaction plan to ensure that it ful-fills its commitments. All this can-not be done at the CentralGovernment level and the Stateswould have to be fully involved.In fact, a culture of carbon neu-trality will have to be built in allprojects. I recently attended a con-ference on climate change wherethey claimed that the conferencewas carbon neutral as they haveplanted trees in a designated areato set off all the carbon emissionscreated by the conference. This is

the approach which will have tobe followed. Every event andevery project will have to aim forcarbon neutrality. This requires ahigh degree of awareness and con-sciousnessin all sections of thesociety. Implementation is notgoing to be easy. Even today wesee that Delhi and NCR are fac-ing a high level of air pollutiondue to stubble burning, vehicleemissions and other factors andthe Supreme Court has lamentedthat despite this problem occur-ring every year in winter theCenter and State Governmentshave not been able to sit downtogether to resolve it. Then recent-ly we saw on the TV screens thefrothing waters of the riverYamuna in Delhi have becomeunfit for human use. If these prob-lems have not been tackled foryears, then one wonders how thepromises made regarding climatechange mitigation would be met.

A high-level monitoringcommittee will have to be setupto monitor on regular basis andpolicy making will have to bedovetailed to the commitmentsmade regarding greenhouse gasmitigation. Policy makers havean unenviable task before themas they also have to see thatdevelopment is not adverselyimpacted and the poor of thecountry are not made to carry theburden. In a similar vein, at theinternational level also, a moni-toring and enforcement mecha-nism would need to be evolved.Climate change cannot beignored but it requires urgent andconcrete action for mitigationand adaption.

(The writer is formerChief Secretary,

Government of UttarPradesh. The views

expressed are personal.)

The HaryanaGovernment hasinformed that the

Employment of LocalCandidates Act, 2020, will beimplemented in the state fromJanuary 15, 2022. The act willpave the way for a 75 per centreservation for local candi-dates in private jobs in thestate.

Haryana has the highestunemployment rate in thecountry, at 26.4 per centaccording to CMIE data forFebruary. The national rate is6.9 per cent.When there ishuge unemployment, it maycreate restlessness among thepopulation and the govern-ment may have to tackle theserious issue that is brewingup.

The GDP of Haryana is�8.31 lakh crore (2019-20).

The GDP per capita positionis a reasonable fifth national-ly. When there is economicgrowth, it must translate intojob creation also. If that is nothappening, then the reasonsshould be analysed, instead ofmaking a quick fix by jobreservation for locals that willbe counterproductive.

The theory of providingjobs to local people is nothingbut favouritism and regional-ism. Instead of nurturing tal-ent and capability, it willencourage quota system basedon domicile. Such recruit-ment will result in poor exe-cution by the work force andthe companies employingthem will find it difficult tosurvive in a competitive world.

The country is one andthe country is divided into dif-ferent states for convenience of

administration only. Just asfree mobility of all physicalresources is essential, humanresource should also be freelyemployable anywhere in thecountry. The recruiting com-panies will always look forproper talent and skills for anyjob locally. Only when it is notavailable or when it is notcompetitive, the company willlook elsewhere. Restrictingthe companies to recruit onlylocal people will cripple thefunctioning of the company.Companies may migrate toother states which will be

counterproductive for thestate.

Article 16(1) of theConstitution states that thereshall be equal opportunityfor the citizens in the matterof employment or appoint-ment to any office under theState. Article 16(2) lays downthe grounds on which the cit-izens should not be discrimi-nated against for the purposeof employment or appoint-ment to any office under theState.

However, Article 16(3)provides an exception to theselaws. It states thatparliamentmay make any laws prescrib-ing a requirement for any par-ticular place of residence with-in the state or union territoryin which the public office oremployment may be in.

In the case of Pradeep Jain

vs Union of India, theSupreme Court found thepolicies of reserving jobs forsons of the soil as violative ofthe Constitution and said asfollows: “…every citizen has aright to move freely through-out the territory of India andto reside and settle in any partof India…. it is difficult to seehow a citizen having his per-manent home in Tamil Naduor speaking Tamil languagecan be regarded as an outsiderin Uttar Pradesh….To regardhim as an outsider would beto deny him his constitution-al rights and to de-recognisethe essential unity and integri-ty of the country by treating itas if it were a mere conglom-eration of independent States”.

Job reservation for localsshould not be confused withaffirmative action which

comes under Article 15(4)and 16(4) of the Constitution.They allow the State to makespecial provisions for reserva-tion of admissions in higheracademic places and appoint-ments, for those communitieswhich are socially, education-ally backwards classes or arefrom scheduled castes orscheduled tribes and in theopinion of the state are notadequately represented in theservices under the state.

The initiative to reservejobs for locals may backfire. Itis reported that the start-upcommunity based in Haryana,particularly Gurugram, hasbeen unnerved by the newlaw. As per a survey ofXpheno, around 11,000employees are working inGurugram’s unicorns andsoonicorns. Half of them may

not be locals with salaries ofRs.50,000 per month. Thenew dispensation will makethe existing entrepreneurs toleave Gurugram and migrateto Delhi or Noida in UP.Future entrepreneurs mayeven go for Bengaluru toestablish new ventures. Insteadof addressing the problem ofunemployment, the new lawwill drive away industries andthus create more unemploy-ment in the state.

Instead of reserving jobsfor local population, the gov-ernment must ensure skilldevelopment and industryready work force, which willautomatically make thememployable. This will alsoencourage new companies tomigrate to the state whenthey are assured about talent-ed and skilled workforce.

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Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court onThursday sentenced 13 peopleto death and 19 others to lifeimprisonment for lynching sixstudents suspecting them ofbeing robbers on the outskirtsof the Capital ten years ago.

"They will be hanged byneck until they are dead,” Dhaka2nd Additional District andSession Judge Ismat Jahan ruled.

The judge said that thosegiven the death penalty wouldhave to pay Taka 20,000 each.

Nineteen others were givenlife in prison. They were alsoslapped with a fine of Tk10,000each. A total of 60 people hadbeen accused of the killings.Names of three people weredropped from the charge sheetas they died during the trial.

Prosecution lawyers said 40out of the 57 defendants werein jail and one was on bail whilethe rest were tried as fugitives.

The judge acquitted 25 ofthem. Seven friends, who werestudying at different schools andcolleges of Dhaka, took a trip toAmin Bazar Bridge under Savarpolice station on the outskirts ofDhaka on July 18, 2011, the nightof Shab-e-Barat festival. PTI

Seoul: America's defense chiefrebuked China on Thursday,vowing to confront its poten-tial military threats in Asia andwarning that its pursuit ofhypersonic weapons intendedto evade US missile defenses“increases tensions in theregion.”

US Defense SecretaryLloyd Austin's stern commentsafter annual security talks withSouth Korea, a top US ally, area window into one of the Bidenadministration's top foreignpolicy worries: How shouldWashington and its partnerscontain a Chinese military thatis strengthening — both insheer firepower and in confi-dence — as it pursues an endof American dominance inAsia? China sees much ofAsia as its natural sphere ofinfluence.

But many in the regionwarn of a pattern of Chineseinterference, accompanied bymoves to acquire the weaponsneeded to dominate its rivals.

Austin's comments weredirected at China's July test ofa hypersonic weapon capable ofpartially orbiting Earth beforereentering the atmosphere and

gliding on a maneuverablepath to its target.

Experts say the weaponssystem is clearly designed toevade US missile defenses,although China insisted it wastesting a reusable space vehicle,not a missile.

“We have concerns aboutthe military capabilities that thePRC continues to pursue, andthe pursuit of those capabilitiesincreases tensions in theregion,” Austin said about thehypersonic weapons test, usingthe abbreviation for thePeople's Republic of China,the country's official name.

“We'll continue to maintainthe capabilities to defend anddeter against a range of poten-tial threats from the PRC toourselves and to our allies,” hesaid.

The Pentagon released onMonday the results of a globalposture review that calls foradditional cooperation withallies to deter “potentialChinese military aggressionand threats from North Korea.”

Last month, Gen. MarkMilley, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, said the UnitedStates is also working on hyper-sonic weapons. PTI

London:The UK's medicinesregulator on Thursdayapproved a new antibody treat-ment against Covid-19, whichit believes will also be effectiveagainst new variants such asOmicron.

The Medicines andHealthcare products RegulatoryAgency (MHRA) said Xevudyor sotrovimab is for peoplewith mild to moderate Covid-19 who are at high risk ofdeveloping severe disease.

Developed by GSK andVir Biotechnology, sotrovimabis a single monoclonal antibodyand the drug works by bindingto the spike protein on the out-side of the COVID-19 virus.This in turn prevents the virusfrom attaching to and enteringhuman cells, so that it cannotreplicate in the body.

“I am pleased to say that wenow have another safe andeffective COVID-19 treatment,Xevudy (sotrovimab), for thoseat risk of developing severe ill-ness,” said Dr June Raine,MHRA Chief Executive.

“This is yet another thera-peutic that has been shown tobe effective at protecting thosemost vulnerable to COVID-19,and signals another signifi-cant step forward in our fightagainst this devastating dis-ease,” she said. PTI

Bangkok:The killing of at least65 protesters in Myanmar'sbiggest city on March 14 thisyear was planned and pre-meditated, and the perpetratorsmust be brought to justice, arights watchdog said in a reportreleased on Thursday.

Human Rights Watchaccused security forces of delib-erately encircling and usinglethal force against crowds inYangon's working class neigh-bourhood of Hlaing Tharyarthat were demonstratingagainst the military's February1 seizure of power from thedemocratically elected gov-ernment of Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Soldiers and police armedwith military assault rifles firedon trapped protesters and onthose trying to assist thewounded, killing at least 65protesters and bystanders,” saidthe New York-based organiza-tion.

The military-installed gov-ernment, which imposed mar-tial law in the area after the vio-lence, has described the pro-testers as “rioters” who burneddown garment factories andblocked firefighters. HumanRight's Watch said no action isknown to have been takenagainst any members of thesecurity forces. No govern-ment official was immediatelyavailable for comment.

Human Rights Watch'sMyanmar researcher MannyMaung told The Associated Pressthe security forces' actions “con-stitute the crime against human-ity of murder.” “Ultimately, theresponsibility lies in the com-mand structure, and whoeverwas responsible for ordering thecrackdown and implementingthe crackdown is responsible,” shesaid. In her opinion, that wouldbe the Yangon regional militarycommander and the city's police

chief.“It's necessary to make

sure that such figures are madeaware that they can be tried andheld to account at a later time,”she said.

Human Rights Watch saidit based its findings on inter-views with six witnesses andanalyses of 13 videos and 31photographs of the violenceposted on social media.

“We can prove, throughtestimonies and digital foren-sics, that in videos posted bysecurity forces, and imagesthat show security forces point-ing their weapons – assaultrifles and automatic weapons -against civilians, that this wasplanned and coordinated,”Manny Maung said.

The report mentions avideo posted on TikTok by apolice officer that shows riotpolice preparing to advance onprotesters. AP

K a t h m a n d u : N e p a l ' sSudurpaschim province bor-dering India has launched pre-ventive measures against thepossible spread of the'Omicron' variant of Covid-19.

The World HealthOrganization (WHO) haswarned that the new variantposes a very high risk global-ly, declaring it as the ' variantof concern'.

Sudurpaschim HealthDirectorate said surveillancehas been enhanced along India-Nepal border points in theprovince taking into consider-ation the high risk posed byCOVID-19 latest strain classi-fied as B.1.1.529.

“The risk from the newvariant prevails high in theprovince as it shares the borderwith India,” the Directorate said.

If the new variant is spreadin neighbouring India,Suduraschim will have highrisk, it said, adding healthdesks have been set up alongthe border points.

Gaddachauki, Srinagar,Jhulaghat, and Pulghat remainas the major points along theIndia-Nepal border in theprovince and people's move-ment via these points is rela-tively higher than other entrypoints. PTI

Washington: Biden hasbrought steady leadership afterthe chaotic Donald Trumpyears, but the mutating coron-avirus continues to defy him,helping drive his approval rat-ings deep underwater.

In a speech from theNational Institutes of Healthresearch center outsideWashington, Biden is set to lista raft of actions designed totamp down Covid-19 duringthe winter as the latest Omicronvariant spreads worldwide.Thefirst US case was detected onWednesday. Top of the list willbe an announcement thattoughened rules on testing fortravelers will take effect withindays, a senior administrationofficial said.

Biden will "announce thatwe are further strengthening ourtesting requirements so thatstarting early next week, allinternational travelers will berequired to test negative withinone day of their departure to theUnited States," the official toldreporters. This will apply to alltravelers, both US and foreign,regardless of whether they havebeen vaccinated, the official aid.

For domestic travelers, Bidenwill announce he is extending amask mandate on airplanes,trains and other public transportthrough mid-March. PTI

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Greeks who are over age 60and refuse coronavirus

vaccinations could be hit withmonthly fines of more thanone-quarter of their pensions— a get-tough policy that thecountry's politicians say willcost votes but save lives.

In Israel, potential carriersof the new omicron variantcould be tracked by the nation's

domestic security agency inseeming defiance of a SupremeCourt ruling from the last go-round.

Weekly protests in theNetherlands over the country's5 pm lockdown and other newrestrictions have descendedinto violence, despite whatappears to be overwhelmingacceptance of the rules.

With the delta variant ofCOVID-19 pushing up cases in

Europe and growing fears overthe omicron variant, govern-ments around the world areweighing new measures forpopulations tired of hearingabout restrictions and vac-cines.

It's a thorny calculus mademore difficult by the prospectof backlash, increased socialdivisions and, for many politi-cians, the fear of being votedout of office.

“I know the frustrationthat we all feel with this omi-cron variant, the sense ofexhaustion that we could begoing through this all overagain,” British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said Tuesday,two days after the governmentannounced that masks wouldbe mandatory again in storesand on public transportationand required all visitors fromabroad to undergo a COVID-19 test and quarantine.

“We're trying to take abalanced and proportionedapproach.”

New restrictions, or varia-tions on the old ones, are crop-ping up around the world,especially in Europe, whereleaders are at pains to explainwhat looks like a failedpromise: that mass vaccinationswould mean an end to widelyloathed limitations.

“People need normality.They need families, they needto see people, obviously safely,socially distancing, but I real-ly think, this Christmas now,people have had enough,” saidBelinda Storey, who runs a stallat a Christmas market inNottingham, England.

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Mumbai: Equity benchmarkSensex rallied 777 points onThursday, tracking gains inindex majors HDFC twins,Infosys and TCS despite large-ly negative cues from globalpeers.

Rising for the second con-secutive session, the 30-shareindex ended 776.50 points or1.35 per cent higher at58,461.29.

Similarly, the NSE Niftysurged 234.75 points or 1.37per cent to 17,401.65.

HDFC was the top gainerin the Sensex pack, climbingnearly 4 per cent, followed byPowerGrid, Sun Pharma, TataSteel, Tech Mahindra and BajajFinserv.

On the other hand, ICICIBank and Axis Bank were thelosers.

"Irrespective of the weaksentiments in the internation-al markets, domestic indicescontinued to rise due to gainsin IT, financials and metalstocks amid strong domesticmacroeconomic data," saidVinod Nair, Head of Researchat Geojit Financial Services.

The Union government'sfiscal deficit of 36.3 per cent ofbudget estimates in October, isbetter owing to improved rev-enue collection, he noted.

On the global front, FedChair's remarks stating a pos-

sibility of a faster end to thebond-buying programmeand interest rate hike alongwith the first confirmed caseof the Omicron variant inthe US, triggered a freshglobal sell-off.

New Delhi: Markets regulatorSebi on Thursday asked stockbrokers to disclose investorscharter as well as data pertain-ing to complaints they receivedon their websites.

The new guidelines willcome into effect from January1, 2022, the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)said in a circular.

In order to facilitateinvestor awareness about severalactivities which an investordeals with such as opening ofaccount, KYC and in-personverification, process for dema-terialisation and complaint res-olution, Sebi, in consultationwith the market participants,has prepared an investor char-ter for stock brokers.

This charter specifiedabout rights of investors, vari-ous activities of stock brokerswith timelines, dos and don'tsfor investors and grievanceredressal mechanism.

In this regard, exchangeshave been directed to advisestock brokers to bring the

investor charter for stock bro-kers to the notice of their clients-- existing as well as new ones-- through disclosing theinvestor charter on their respec-tive websites, making themavailable at prominent places inthe office, provide a copy of thecharter as a part of accountopening kit to the clients,through e-mails or letters etc.

Additionally, in a bid tobring about transparency inthe investor grievance redressalmechanism, Sebi has asked bro-kers to disclose on their respec-tive websites, the data on com-plaints received against themand redressal thereof.

The data needs to be dis-closed latest by 7th of succeed-ing month, Sebi said.In addition, the regulator hasalso prescribed a format for dis-closing data of complaints ontheir websites.

Under the disclosure, bro-kers will have to disclose aboutcomplaints received during themonth, those carried forwardfrom previous month, com-

plaints pending for more thanthree months, complaintsresolved and average time takenin resolution of a complaint,among others.

Earlier, Sebi had askeddepositories, Registrar and sharetransfer agents (RTAs) and mer-chant bankers to disclose ontheir websites, the investor char-ter for a bunch of categories.

Besides, it had directedexchanges, depositories andclearing corporations to discloseon their websites, the data oncomplaints received againstthem and redressal thereof.

This came after Sebi regu-lator came out with investorcharter in November. This char-ter includes the rights andresponsibilities of investors, anddos and don'ts of investing inthe securities market.

The charter is aimed at pro-tecting the "interests of investorsby enabling them to understandthe risks involved and invest ina fair, transparent, secure mar-ket, and to get services in a time-ly and efficient manner".

Beijing: Playing down the likely challengefrom the European Union's ambitiousUSD 340 billion Global Gateway infra-structure programme to its BRI, a waryChina on Thursday extended a guardedresponse, saying the two initiatives cancomplement each other to enhance globalconnectivity.

On Wednesday, the EuropeanCommission President Ursula von derLeyen unveiled the EU's long-awaitedinfrastructure drive, which officials said willoffer a “true alternative” to China's Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI).

The plan, known as the GlobalGateway, promises to mobilise up to USD340 billion between 2021 and 2027 formodern infrastructure projects outsidethe EU, covering items such as fibre opticcables, clean transport corridors and cleanpower transmission.

“China welcomes all initiatives thathelp developing countries improve infra-structure and promote common develop-ment,” Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Wang Wenbin said in a mediabriefing while reacting to the EU's GlobalGateway project.

“We also believe that different initia-tives should not replace or exclude eachother. Instead, we advocate inclusiveness,

communication and coordination forgreater synergy”, he noted.

“China and the EU have much in com-mon in the overall direction of connectiv-ity. There is every reason for us to com-plement each other and jointly enhance theconnectivity between countries and glob-al sustainable development”, he explained.

Defending the BRI, Wang said thatcooperation under the initiative has deliv-ered tangible benefits to people in partic-ipating countries.

“Going forward, we will continue tostrengthen cooperation with all BRI part-ners and work for steady progress in vari-ous sectors”, he said.

This is the second rival connectivityproject to compete with China's multi-bil-lion BRI.

US President Joe Biden has unveiledhis global infrastructure the Build BackBetter World (B3W) at the G7 summit inJune this year with the goal of creating “avalues-driven, high-standard, and trans-parent infrastructure partnership” to helpfinance projects in developing countries.

While the EU's proposal does not men-tion China by name, von der Leyen left lit-tle doubt that Beijing was in her thoughtsduring the press conference in Brussels.

Mumbai: Most Indian organi-sations have taken progressiveincentive-based measures toattract and retain talent duringthe pandemic, says a study.

According to a recentMercer India study - 'LeveragingIncentives for CompetitiveAdvantage', as many as 97 percent companies have an activeshort-term incentive plan for in-year performance recognition.

The study conducted ear-lier this fiscal by Mercer India,covered 41 organisations, rep-resenting over 3,00,000 employ-

ees pan-India, and includedcorporates spanning the con-sumer, chemicals, life sciences,IT services and Internet-basedor e-commerce industries.

With changing workdynamics and employee expec-tations, the respondents believeit is imperative that the humanresources team structure theshort-term and long-termincentive plans to ensure thatthe incentives were aspirational,sizeable, and fair and simple,while also being achievable.

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The number of Americansapplying for unemploy-

ment benefits rose last weekeven though the US job mar-ket has been rebounding fromlast year's coronavirus reces-sion.

Jobless claims climbed by28,000 to 222,000 from the pre-vious week's pandemic low194,000, the Labor Departmentreported Thursday.

The four-week average ofclaims, which smooths outweek-to-week ups and downs,fell below 239,000, a pandem-ic low. Since topping 900,000 inearly January, the weekly appli-cations — a proxy for layoffs —have been falling more or lesssteadily.

Overall, 2 millionAmericans were receiving tra-ditional jobless benefits theweek that ended Nov. 20, downby 107,000 from the weekbefore.

New Delhi: Country's largest lender SBIhas joined hands with Adani Capital as aco-lending partner to provide loans tofarmers in the country.

State Bank of India (SBI) has signeda master agreement with Adani CapitalPrivate Ltd (Adani Capital), the NBFC armof Adani Group, for co-lending to farm-ers for purchase of tractor and farmimplements, to increase efficiency in farmoperations and productivity of crops, SBIsaid in a release on Thursday.

SBI said, this partnership will enableit to target farmer customers in the inte-rior hinterland of the country looking foradoption of farm mechanization toenhance productivity of crops. "SBI isactively looking at co-lending opportuni-ties with multiple NBFCs for financingfarm mechanisation, warehouse receiptfinance, Farmer Producer Organizations(FPOs) etc, for enhancing credit flow todouble the farmers' income," it stated.

Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI saidthis partnership shall help SBI to expandcustomer base as well as connect with theunderserved farming segment of thecountry and further contribute towards thegrowth of India's farm economy.

"We will continue to work with moreNBFCs in order to reach out to maximumcustomers in far-flung areas and providelast-mile banking services," Khara said.

New Delhi: AnjaniKumar Tiwari onThursday assumed thecharge as Member,Petroleum and NaturalGas Regulatory Board(PNGRB). Before joiningMember, PNGRB, Tiwariworked in GAIL (India)Limited and as Director(Finance). He held the positionof Director in GAIL Gas Ltd.,Green Gas Ltd., BhagyanagarGas Ltd, GAIL Gas (USA) Inc.,and GAIL Global (USA) LNGLLC.

Tiwari has over 38 year ofvaried experience under com-plex business environment inOIL & Gas, Thermal Power,Hydel Power and City GasDistribution sector. He did hisgraduation from KolkataUniversity and ICWA from

Institute of Cost Accountsof India.

He was involved intransformation of financefunction to align with the

overall company strategy andmake revolutionary changesinto financial function, associ-ated processes, internal controlsand financial reporting.

He was involved in final-ization of GAIL Strategy 2030which focused on diversifica-tion and growth of Natural GasSector as well as Renewables.He spearheaded and guided theCompany towards Successionplanning and CapabilityBuilding, Safe & Sustain oper-ations.

He played a pivotal role forGAIL digital initiatives toderive maximum value for itsproduct lines.

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Mumbai: The rupee on Thursday slipped 12paise to close at 75.03 against the US dollar,weighed by uncertainties over the Omicronvariant of the coronavirus.

At the interbank foreign exchange mar-ket, the local currency opened at 75.06 and wit-nessed an intra-day high of 74.90 and a lowof 75.07 against the US dollar.

The local unit finally settled at 75.03,down 12 paise over its previous close of 74.91.

The dollar index, which gauges thegreenback's strength against a basket of six cur-rencies, was trading 0.01 per cent up at 96.03.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the glob-al oil benchmark, advanced 2.99 per cent toUSD 70.45 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, theBSE Sensex ended 776.50 points or 1.35 percent higher at 58,461.29, while the broaderNSE Nifty jumped 234.75 points or 1.37 per

cent to 17,401.65.Foreign institutional investors remained

net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday,as they offloaded shares worth �2,765.84 crore,as per exchange data.

On the macro-economic front, India'smerchandise exports rose 26.49 per centyear-on-year to USD 29.88 billion inNovember on better performance by key sec-tors, while the trade deficit hit a record highof USD 23.27 billion as imports of crude oiland gold spiked.

"Rupee depreciated against US dollar fol-lowing weakness in Asian currencies and wor-ries over higher trade deficit numbers," saidDilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFCSecurities.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's recent hawk-ish comment on accelerating its taper of bondpurchases has surprised markets, Parmaradded.

New Delhi: Gold in the nationalcapital on Thursday declined by�280 to �46,657 per 10 gram inline with a decline in internationalprecious metal prices, accordingto HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, the pre-cious metal had settled at �46,937per 10 gram.

Silver, however, jumped �212to �61,337 per kilogram from�61,125 per kilogram in the pre-vious trade.

In the international market,gold was trading lower at USD1,775 per ounce and silver was flatat USD 22.33 per ounce.

"Gold prices traded weakwith spot gold prices at COMEXtrading 0.28 per cent down at USD1,775 per ounce on Thursday. Afirm dollar has kept bullion priceslower," according to HDFCSecurities, Senior Analyst(Commodities), Tapan Patel. PTI

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New Delhi: With the aim to transform the customer service expe-rience of the businesses, Bangalore-Mumbai and US-based soft-ware company Wolken Software launched its self-service SaaScustomer service solution Wolken Care for small and mediumbusinesses. Rohan Joshi, co-founder & CEO, Wolken Software,said, “The out-of-the-box, configurable and scalable enterprise-class service desk solution can shift the paradigm for organiza-tions looking for innovative areas that can improve their revenueand improve employee efficiency.”

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New Delhi: The Supreme Courthas dismissed a plea filed byDelhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) seeking review of itsjudgement which upheld the2017 arbitration award ofaround �4,600 crore in favour ofReliance Infrastructure sub-sidiary, Delhi Airport MetroExpress Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL),enforceable against it.A bench ofJustices L Nageswara Rao and SRavindra Bhat said no case forreview is made out.

"We have gone through theReview petitions and the con-nected papers filed therewith. Inour opinion, no case for reviewof order is made out. The reviewpetitions are dismissed. Pendingapplication(s), if any, shall standdisposed of," the bench in itsNovember 23 order said.Theapex court on September 9 hadupheld the 2017 arbitrationaward enforceable againstDMRC and said there was a dis-turbing tendency of courts set-ting aside arbitral awards.

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With today’s new nor-mal, the basic senseand need of dressing

has completely changed. Peoplewant to feel more comfortableand yet be trendy. One canmake his/her basics lookextremely luxe and wear themon repeat by styling them differ-ently each time. If you investsensibly and on timeless piecesyou should go for elevated basicsthat are of good quality, havegreat functionality and areeffortless.

My top essential would be aclassic white shirt, a tailorednude/black blazer and a pair ofwell-fitted jeans. These are sta-ple pieces one must have in thewardrobe. These classic neutraltones are timeless and can beelevated by teaming them withaccessories like sneakers, heels,boots, bags, jewellery and beltsdepending on the occasion andseason. They create a look ofminimalist luxury.

Athleisure has become ahuge part of today's elevatedfashion wardrobe, as it can beworn formally during the nightor casually during the day. Itserves as a great utility outfit.Once should invest in a niceribbed co-ord set in neutralcolours and fun printed track-sets in comfortable pure fabrics.These are wearable all day andall season.

My personal favourite lookswould be:�A white cotton crop top withbaggy denim jeans, styled withclassic black pumps and a beltbag.�Another no-brainer is a whiteshirt with an oversized blackblazer and skinny jeans. This canbe teamed up with minimalisticclassic gold earnings and achain.�The little black dress is themost versatile piece one can ownin their closet. It can be worn in

the day or night and can beteamed with sneakers, stilettosor boots depending on the sea-son or occasion.�A great ribbed well fittedtrack-set in a neutral tone likesalmon pink, beige, brown orblack can be go to piece that iscomfortable and luxurious.

�A white crisp well-fitted shirtcan be worn with pants, jeans ora skirt depending on one’s moodand occasion. This can also belayered with a blazer, jacket orsweater that makes it versatileand extremely wearable.�A black t- shirt is very versa-tile and can be teamed with neu-

tral bottoms like denims,black/beige pants. This can alsobe teamed with fun printedbottoms to add an element.

Elevated basics make fash-ion more sustainable and youenjoy the pieces more as you getvalue from them and can keepthem in your wardrobe over sev-

eral years to come as well as playwith them in terms of mood andstyling. It is better to spend a lit-tle more on good quality time-less pieces than splurge onmindless quantities of clothesthat are fast fashion, impulsive-bought and not long-lasting.When choosing your pieces,

make sure the fabric is of premi-um quality, the fit and cut is con-temporary depending on yourbody type, the colour tones areversatile and can be teamedwith multiple things.

(The author is the founderof MellowDrama, a one-stop

solution for prêt wear.)

Actor Ranveer Singh is overwhelmed by the glob-al appreciation that the trailer of 83 has been get-

ting since it was released yesterday. Ranveer plays therole of the legendary Indian cricket team captain KapilDev, who led the underdog unit to the coveted WorldCup glory in 1983 as they beat the mighty West Indiesteam in the finals at Lord’s cricket ground. This wasIndia’s maiden World Cup win and it catapulted Indiaas a country to the world stage. Ranveer, who is knownfor getting into the skin of any character, has wowedeveryone as he has truly become Kapil Dev in bodyand spirit through sheer single-minded prep that sawhim visit the former cricket captain’s hometown andalso stay at his home.

In a heartfelt note posted on his social media,Ranveer says, “Thank you to movie fans all over thecountry and beyond, our film fraternity, the press…people from all walks of life and generations haveappreciated the movie's trailer, and we are filled withgratitude and gladness. This is not just a movie -- it’sa glorious tribute to that moment in Indian historythat changed it all!”

He adds, “It’s about the great achievement of theIndian Cricket Team of 1983 — ‘Kapil’s Devils’ ! Thesemen are legends, and it’s an honour to be a part ofthe cinematic telling of their iconic story on the bigscreen! Once again, thank you from the bottom of myheart for your generous and loving messages! KaptaanKabir Khan, it’s everything you dreamed of! Take abow!”

Directed by Kabir Khan, 83 is set to release onDecember 24.

After several collaborations, ZeeTV and Balaji Telefilms recently

presented a story about life, love,karma, and destiny. Set against thebackdrop of Mumbai, BhagyaLakshmi follows the journey ofLakshmi, a selfless girl of limitedmeans, who despite her humble back-ground and the curveballs life hasthrown at her, always puts others’needs before hers. The show hasalready impressed the audience cour-tesy of its intriguing storyline andrelatable characters. While viewershave been hooked due to the intrigu-ing twists and turns, they’ll be hap-pier to know that the Bhagya Lakshmiteam recently clocked a big milestone.The show completed 100 episodes andthe whole crew is ecstatic aboutachieving this milestone.

With the show achieving its firstmilestone, both the lead stars —Aishwarya Khare and Rohit Suchantihave been thanking their fans, castmembers and the whole team whohave contributed to this success.

Expressing her gratitude,Aishwarya Khare said, “It feels sogood to receive so much love from theviewers of Bhagya Lakshmi and all ourfans. We all are very thankful to ouraudience for giving so much love andappreciation to the show in such ashort time. It feels like it was yester-day when I met everybody and now,we all have turned out to be like afamily.”

Adding to the excitement, RohitSuchanti said, “I am overwhelmedwith the kind of response BhagyaLakshmi has received. Our entireteam has been working diligently and

it feels great to achieve what we’velonged for, love and lots of love. I hopethey keep showering their blessings inthe days to come. We promise to giveour best to entertain you throughoutthis journey. Completing 100 episodesis a great feeling and I hope this is thefirst of many feats we achieve in theyears to come.”

While the whole team of BhagyaLakshmi is basking in their success,there’s some high voltage dramaawaiting in Lakshmi's life.

(Tune into Bhagya Lakshmi,every Monday to Friday, at 8:30 pm

only on Zee TV.)

Get ready for full on entertain-ment as special guests

Chunky Pandey and NeelamKothari grace the sets of SonyEntertainment Television’s dancereality show — India’s BestDancer Season 2. All set to leaveeverybody in awe, the talentedcontestants along with theirchoreographers will present somepraise-worthy performances oniconic songs of Bollywood.

From Pandey and Kotharilighting up the stage with their

spectacular dance moves to theactors sharing some beautifulmemories from their good olddays in the 80’s, the episode

promises to be a delightful treatto watch for all the Bollywoodlovers out there.

However, one of the most

interesting moment that willleave everybody startled is whenMalaika Arora revealed thatwhile growing up she was thebiggest Chunky Pandey fan! Somuch so that she had the biggestposter of Pandey inside her cup-board and she, along with heryounger sister Amrita, used tomake blank calls at his house.Well, it doesn’t end here. Uponhearing this, judge Terence Lewisconfessed how he had the biggestcrush on Kothari during hisschool days and her movie Love86 really struck a chord in hisheart.

Leaving no stone unturned,host Manish Paul immediatelyasked Arora and Pandey alongwith Lewis and Kothari, to recre-ate the iconic song from the 80’s— Main Se Meena Se. Needlessto say; the actors set the stage onfire with their performance andsizzling chemistry proving thatmagic of the 80’s is evergreen.

(Tune in to India’s BestDancer Season 2 this weekend at8 PM only on Sony EntertainmentTelevision.)

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Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor is sport-ing a sharp new look these days for his

film Kuttey, a dark comedy. He has trimmedhis hair considerably and is sporting a mous-tache and a stubble for Vishal Bhardwaj’sson, Aasmaan’s, directorial debut. Arjunrecently uploaded the images of his lookfrom the film and it has been widely well-received.

Arjun says, “As much as I am missingmy long hair, it is part of an actor's journeyto let go and begin again and in that milieu,a film like Kuttey comes where you have tolet go of all inhibitions and really go deepinto playing the character.”

He adds, “I love my directors' clarity thathe wanted me to have a particular look andlook like a person that blends in and is inevery man. the character really needed that

so I am really happy and excited that thelook has come together and my director isvery happy. Now, I leave the rest to whenthe film comes out.”

Written by Aasmaan and Vishal, Kutteyalso stars Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona SenSharma, Tabu and Radhika Madan. Apartfrom Kuttey, the other films in Arjun’s kittyinclude Lady Killer with Ajay Bahl and theyet-untitled Jagan Shakti directorial co-star-ring John Abraham.

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Ientered the large hall-way thatwas the restaurant. I had, hon-

estly, forgotten counting after thethird room. It was one largespace into another, and might Iadd, as elegant as it could get.The blue marbled kitchens —there were different areas forpreparation of various cuisines,in different palace-like rooms, ofcourse. The Indian kitchen wasdistinct, the European hall withan Italian preparation ground,alongside others, was different.Yes, I’m still talking about food.The live kitchens were so pretty,so well lit, it seemed as if a partyitself was going on there! Theplace glistened with yellow lights.My nerves were, as if, soothed bythe time I found a place at theremotest corner of the extrava-gant AnnaMaya. I realised youmentally unwind in the atmos-phere of yellow lights. You know,white lights are for office.

I learnt that AnnaMaya, theEuropean foodhall at AndazHotel, has been at the forefrontof its ‘vocal for local’ purposewith a focus on sustainable foodthat echoes the vibrant flavoursof India. What I, especially, lovedabout the place was its thought-ful concepts. One was the bring-ing alive ‘401 Reasons to fall inlove with Delhi’. The book, of thesame name, written by FionaCaulfield, is an insightful illustra-tion of Delhi and its myriadways. Part city guide, part cultur-al resource, this book is designedfor both the dilliwalas and thosewho are new to the city. Andaztook upon its shoulders theresponsibilty of hosting the '401pop-up', which ensures oneactivity being held every Sundaythat glorifies and celebrates oneaspect of Delhi, the city of love.At AnnaMaya every Sunday,thus, they organise theAnnaMaya Artisan brunch. Ifelt it was one of the most inno-vative things I’d ever seen.

Once I settled, I received,what I can only describe as,‘foodgasm’ when I tasted the firstdish brought forward — Chickentikka. The chicken was so wellcooked and so deliciously soft, itmelted in the mouth. The spices

were adequate.The crunchy, sweet aftertaste

of a dish as mundane as Bun-tikki made me truly appreciatethe skills of the chef. The aloopatty in itself was delectable.

The uncommon combina-tion of cheese and Paneer tikkareinstated my belief in cheese —it made everything taste heaven-ly.

The Veg ravioli with spinachfillings was just as good.Although, there was too muchspinach for my taste, I thorough-ly enjoyed the sauce comprisingbutter, cream and oregano.

In some cases, like a classicchocolate milkshake, you shouldjudge a book by it’s cover.Therefore, when I saw the largeshake covered in froth, I knew itwould be filling, and I was right.

I surveyed the beautiful inte-riors when I was served withSpicy mango curry with red rice.I had never tasted something likethis and you know how they say,the first impression is the lastone? Well, I would always expectall future Spicy mango curriestoo be as great as that one. I don’teven know how it was prepared,for it wasn’t spicy on the tonguebut the throat. The pretty haldicolour of curry tasted of coconutand mango flavours mixed welltogether. The red rice was bland,but the mixture was beyondperfect. I must say, the combina-tion was very well crafted. And,it easily was my favourite.

I was also offered theChocolate brownie with ice-creamwhich was, I felt, pretty large por-tion for one person but, ofcourse, there was no flaw in thetaste.

I rate Anna Maya a good 9and I look forward to experienc-ing the luxury again.

Ihad heard a lot about Chef AtulKochhar, the pioneering twiceMichelin-starred chef from

Jamshedpur who had succeeded tomake a name for himself internation-ally. However, never had the chanceto have a heart-to-heart with him,until recently. As the renowned chefgraced SAGA, Gurgaon, with hispresence, I was enthralled by the per-sonalised hosting experiencedesigned by him.

Read on for excerpts from themost honest conversation ever:

�You're one of the first two Indianchefs to receive a Michelin star. Andhave so many successfully runningshows. How has the journey been?

So I became one of the first twochefs to get a Michelin star. And that'sbeen an incredible journey, to be hon-est. Vineet and I were great friends atthat time. We, kind of, always com-pared notes. I would say that, youknow, that was a time when we werea bunch of chefs like Giorgio Locatelliand Jacques Christophe Novelli, ChefMarco Pierre White. They were theleaders. They were the luminaries ofthe culinary world in London.

I used to look up to them and Idecided that time has come that wechange the tide and continue topush out tradition, but do it in aslightly more modern way. Becausedo we have to have a 3000 year oldtradition of eating as well? Fine. Welove our tradition. We love our cul-ture. And we will always, always willbe known by that. But do we have tocontinue to dwell in the past? Andthat's when we started changing andmodernising the food and thinkinghow we can lighten the food, how wecan make it slightly crispier, and soon. I think, that journey taught us alot. There were failures on the way butas time has gone by, what I've learnedover the years is to appreciate theassociation, appreciate the people youwork with and the team that carriesyou. You are nobody without them.People might think, ‘Oh, Atul Kocharhas achieved that’ but put me alonein that room, I doubt I'll achieve any-thing without the people who havehelped me to be where I am. So, Ialways recognise my achievementsthrough my team, or teams, I shouldsay. And, I'm grateful for what I haveand what I've been given. The oppor-tunity I've been given, it comes withhuge responsibility. You cannot becallous about it.

�What do you find, while settingchefs' tables outside and in India,the kind of difference in people'spalette and how has that evolved?

So, every place has its own foodethos. Whether you do it in India, andwithin India, ‘one size fits all’ does-n't work. Go to Milan, go to Madrid,London, New York, you would haveto vary the ingredients, the depth of

cooking, and in our cases, understandhow much strength of the spice thatparticular community can take. And,I think that's the genius of an Indiancook — to see that, without compro-mising the flavour and still earningwell. That's very important — under-standing the market and under-standing your cuisine. That's thetightrope walk we have to do all thetime.

So who could tell you better thanme? I had restaurants in Dubai, inMadrid and London, and it was chal-lenging, even frustrating at times. But,it's very rewarding when you get itright. It's very hard. It's very hard tojust come out of one place and go toanother kitchen and say, okay, gamechanges today. It's a matter of under-standing your clientele. And, I thinknow that I'm in a place like Delhi,within Delhi, there are subgroups.People who would come from NorthDelhi might perceive the food verydifferently than the people from

South Delhi.This is how it is and yourlocation, kind of, dictates it all.

�What kind of changes have younoticed in the Indian palette?

So, one thing about the Indianpalate is we are extremely tradition-al. I won't say it's not criticism, but Ijust want to express it in the sense thatwe have our own culture and our ownfood. I think that goes above any-thing. You would go for the best sushiand you can go for the best risotto.But, any day, you will settle for a gooddaal-chawal, or rajma chawal or kadichawal or khichdi, so that love, Ithink, is beyond any words. But, weare constantly learning.

You know, I left this country 30years ago, and I've been comingback quite often because my fami-ly still lives here. What I've seenthere's a massive change in people'sperception. Now, standalone restau-rants are way more posh than therestaurants in the five star hotel.

Things are improving.

�What is your favourite cuisine andwhy?

I would say my favourite cuisineoutside of India is Thai. And I loveThai food because it has got thespices. It has stir fries. It has got thenoodles, rice, curries. I think theyhave humungous flavours and somuch to learn from. I also love that.

�What changes would you like tobring in in the food industry?

So I immediately do not have 10commandments for our Indian foodindustry but what I say is, it's an evo-lution process, and it's often drivenby demand — demand from theclientele — and what we can get inthe market. There was a time whenIndia was quite a narrow countrywhen it came to what beverage youcould have in your bar. But now,today, you can have anything inanything you want. It's opened up somuch, the creativity has gone throughthe roof. I bet that some of the bar-tenders who have never stepped out-side this country ever might beworld leaders tomorrow, because theway they are creating and are mak-ing cocktails is just out of this world.

I know it's shamelessly promot-ing my own restaurant SAGA, but I'mmesmerised. I'm kind of in awe, inlove with what these young bar-tenders are doing here. This is the firsttime I've come back. I've not beenhere since my restaurant openedand I spent more time sitting at thebar looking at what they're doing thanin my kitchen. Not that I want to getdrunk. I'm just learning how they'redoing things.

So going back, that is what weneed. Running a hospitality businessis one of the most difficult business-es in the world. You got to understandeach and every valve, every lever. Youhave to be so human that you haveto understand the psychology of thepeople you work with, the people youcater for and the people you deal with.One would have to just constantlygrow and keep making it better.

�You have opened a lot of awardwinning restaurants, any tips for thebudding entrepreneurs openingtheir eateries.

I think having a crystal clear con-cept is the most important thing.You've got to know what you wantand where you want to go to.Destination is important but so is thejourney in the restaurant trade, espe-cially how stylised you can have thisjourney entirely depends on you.When you start realising your limi-tations of what you can or cannot do,you portray them very clearly but stillin a very creative manner. Andexplain that through your offering,that is, food, and your drinks. Peoplewill appreciate what you do and

remain true to your ethos. Things willgo wrong, it's a patience game. Thesebusinesses don't have an overnightbut if you remain true to it, you willturn the tide and it will work for you.Your customers will tell you veryclearly if you're going wrong, they'revery vocal about it. And if you don'tlisten to that, then you'll miss that redlight and you're definitely going to geta ticket.

�What have the challenges been forchefs post-Covid and how haveyou battled with the same?

Our world has been destroyed.One day we were trading absolutelyfine, looking at fantastic seasons tostart and open many more places.And then, next week we were told,‘sorry, stay home and shut down theplaces you have and you're notallowed to come up with anythingnew’. So, that's been very difficult.This is an industry that works oncredit. We take ingredients from oursuppliers on credit. We make thoseingredients into a product, we sell itto the customer and get the moneyand then we pay everybody back sothat it goes up and goes down. So,when the money is paid to us, weretain the taxes, we pay the staff andwe pay the suppliers and if there isanything left, then we pay ourselves,which often is the case. We don't doit for money. We do it for the love ofit. We love food, we love people. Thisis our passion. This is what drives us.

So, suddenly we were in a lot ofdebt. We had no money to pay back.In my case, you know, I live in theUK, so I had certain help from mygovernment. But sadly, in India,there was no help. People have to selltheir homes, cars and their jewellery,to merely sustain themselves. Myheart goes out to them. I feel like cry-ing for them. It wasn't fair and wasnobody's fault. I am not blaming orbashing the government or the sys-tem here. This is a very large coun-try with large amount of problems. Alot of our people have bounced backand I'm so happy to see that. But Iknow we have a lot of businesses thathave perished, as well.

�What is your opinion on veganfood?

I think it's a serious revolutionand there are a lot of people serious-ly into it. They believe that that'sgood for the system and their diet.And for some people it's somemedical reason that they need to beon vegan food. I have no problemwith that. I like it, you know, justallows me to be a little bit more cre-ative and pushes the challenges a lit-tle higher for me. And I love it. Ifthat's what people want, I'll give itto them. I have been doing veganmenus for, I would say good. 10-12years now, so it doesn't bother meat all.

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Virat Kohli’s return aftera well-earned breakcouldn’t have come in a

more unenvious setting as heneeds to tread the fine linebetween tough and prudent inhis selection calls when Indiatake on New Zealand in thesecond and final Test at therain-soaked ‘Maximum City’from Friday.

After an anti-climactic endto the first Test where NewZealand escaped with a cred-itable draw defying the Indianspinners on a slow turner, thehome team under its regularcaptain would certainly go fora slight rejig in the combination.

Also, at the Wankhede, thehosts may only get four days toenforce a positive result due toheavy rains that could be adampener on day one and theunderlying moisture which willalso bring an extra Black Caps pacer Neil Wagner intothe equation.

Historically, Indian cricketteams have never believed in ashake-up of the status quo andtherein lies the problem thatKohli and new coach RahulDravid face with the current set-up. Two of the team’s playershave not been scoring runs.

Despite that Shreyas Iyer,who scored 105 and 65 underpressure in Kanpur, is notassured of a place despite adream start to his career.

It happened with Karun

Nair after a triple ton but onecould argue that it came in aninconsequential fifth Testagainst a tired attack and theteam wasn’t under any pressure.

While the spotlight is onAjinkya Rahane for all thewrong reasons after 12 succes-sive failures in 2021, it is unlike-ly that the man, who was cap-tain in the last match, will bedropped in the very next gamedue to lack of form. And thattoo on his home turf.

But every extra chancegiven to him effectively meansthat criticism about not send-ing a strong signal would get

louder. The second cause ofconcern is Cheteshwar Pujara,who has time and again forgot-ten that cricket is not merelyabout survival. Every Test athome or abroad, every bowling

attack — formidable or run ofthe mill — has been puttinghim in a spot.

He looked to have achanged mindset briefly inEngland but in Kanpur, he

again got himself into a rut.However, when the team

travels to South Africa, Kohliknows that he has only oneman, who can blunt the newKookaburra against KagisoRabada and Anrich Nortje.

So, Pujara and Rahanebackers can rejoice as theirfavourite players aren’t goinganywhere for this game unlessthey are injured.

The Kohli baiters wouldthen say that it’s not justRahane who hasn’t been scor-ing for two years, even theIndian skipper hasn’t had athree-figure mark against his

name in any form for morethan two years now.

And now with Dravid forcompany, someone famous fortaking a middle of the roadapproach, one can certainlyexpect that Mayank Agarwalwill be disposed off for perhapsbeing a low hanging fruit.

Shubman Gill scored anattacking fifty in the firstinnings and despite his not sogreat defensive technique witha yawning gap between bat andpad, he will be persisted withas he is being looked as a long-term middle-order solution.

Kohli will be a straight

replacement for Agarwal. Thequestion then arises on whowill open alongside Gill.

It either has to beCheteshwar Pujara or wicket-keeper batsman K S Bharat.

Pujara could turn out to bea poor choice given his currentform, while Andhra manBharat has the requisite expe-rience at the first-class levelwith a highest score of 308.

Bharat replacingWriddhiman Saha, who hasbeen suffering from stiff neck,could actually save the teammanagement from actually tak-ing tough calls for the match.

For the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand, they missedWagner badly in Kanpur wherehis presence could have speltmore trouble for India in thesecond innings.

The rain and a pitch devoidof sunlight could mean thatboth pacers and spinners wouldbe in equation.

New Zealand’s three-pronged attack could spell trou-ble for India on a spiced uptrack and Will Somerville, whoplayed a gutsy knock in Kanpur,might have to sit out.

India may bring inMohammed Siraj into the equa-tion with Ishant Sharma look-ing completely out of rhythmbut with turn expected, threespinners may be persisted with.

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The iconic WankhedeStadium, which has hosted

several high-profile matches,including the 2011 ODI WorldCup final, will host a Test afteralmost five years when Indiatake on New Zealand in the sec-ond match of the series. The last

Test, which the South Mumbaiground hosted was againstEngland from December 8-12,2016 against England, which thehosts won by an innings and 36runs. The venue has hosted 25Test matches and India havewon 11 of them while losingseven and rest of the seven weredrawn games.

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Legendary Indian long jumperAnju Bobby George has been

bestowed with the Woman ofthe Year Award by WorldAthletics for grooming talent inthe country and advocatinggender equality.

The 44-year-old Anju, theonly Indian to have won amedal in the WorldChampionships with a longjump bronze in the 2003 edition,was named for the award in theworld body’s annual awardsnight held virtually onWednesday.

The award is given to recog-nise a woman who has dedicat-ed her life to the sport of athlet-ics. Anju is the second recipient

of the prestigious award, whichwas started in 2019, afterEthiopia’s Derartu Tulu.

Tulu is the first blackAfrican woman to become anOlympic champion, with10,000m gold medals in 1992Barcelona and 2000 SydneyGames. No woman was namedfor the award in 2020.

From 2014 to 2018, a simi-lar honour called ‘Women in

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Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu on Thursday

joined compatriot Lakshya Seninto the knockout stage of theBWF World Tour Finals, whileKidambi Srikanth’s fate hung inbalance after suffering defeat inhis second group match, here.

The 26-year-old Sindhu,the only Indian to win the pres-tigious title in 2018 and a final-ist a year before, outplayedGermany’s world number 23Yvonne Li 21-10 21-13 in 31minutes in her second group Amatch to ensure a place in thetop two.

The reigning world cham-pion will square off against topseed Pornpawee Chochuwong ofThailand next in her last groupmatch.

Lakshya, who was guaran-teed a place in the semifinal aftertwo of his opponents in groupA -- Japan’s Kento Momota andDenmark’s Rasmus Gemke --pulled out due to injuries, lost15-21 14-21 to Olympic cham-pion Viktor Axelsen.

Following the loss, the 20-year-old from Almora finishedat the second spot in the group.

Earlier, world number 14Kidambi Srikanth, who hadreached the knockout stage inthe 2014 edition of the year-end-ing event, jeopardised hischances of making it to the nextstage after going down 18-21 7-

21 to three-time junior worldchampion Thailand’s KunlavutVitidsarn in his second men’ssingles group B match. Indianwomen’s doubles pair of AshwiniPonnappa and N Sikki Reddytoo suffered a defeat, goingdown fighting 19-21 20-22 toBulgaria’s Gabriela Stoeva andStefani Stoeva to bow out of con-tention.

The Indian duo will faceEngland’s Chloe Birch andLauren Smith in their last GroupB match.

The top men’s doubles pairof Satwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty handed awalkover to top seededIndonesian pair of MarcusFernaldi Gideon and KevinSanjaya Sukamuljo after the for-mer complained of knee pain.The duo will not take furtherparticipation in the tourna-ment.

Sindhu looked in good

rhythm and played at a goodpace, engaging her rival in shortrallies and soon jumped to a 5-1 lead before entering the mid-game interval with a six-pointadvantage.

The Indian took the initia-tive and produced some goodangled returns to trouble heropponent.

Soon Sindhu moved to 10game points with a precisedown-the-line smash and thenpocketed the opening gamewith a deceptive net shot.

After the change of sides, Liproduced a better show butSindhu ensured she had hernose ahead at the interval as sheled 11-8.

Sindhu ruled the roost afterresumption, unleashing hersmashes to gather winners.

The Indian eventuallygrabbed seven match pointswhen Li went wide and sealedit after her opponent again sentthe shuttle long.

For Srikanth, it was histhird defeat to Vitidsarn, havinglost to him at the Sudirman Cupin September and Asia TeamChampionships last year.

In Group B, Malaysian sec-ond seed Lee Zii Jia is at the topwith two points, while Srikanthand Vitidsarn shared a pointeach after registering one victo-ry and one loss.

While Srikanth will faceLee Zii Jia in his third match,Vitidsarn will meet France’sToma Junior Popov.

The winner will finish in thetop 2 and qualify for the knock-out stage, and if both win theirrespective matches, it will boildown to the number of gameswon and lost.

The fast-rising world num-ber 23 Vitidsarn was rewardedfor his industry and immaculatedefence as he didn’t allowSrikanth to mount his attack.There was never a lack of com-mitment from Srikanth but hisyounger rival was way better onthe day.

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Cricket South Africa has post-poned a round of domestic

games after some of the teammembers tested COVID-19 pos-itive on arrival, raising fresh con-cerns for the India tour later thismonth. The BCCI will soontake a call on the tour, which isscheduled to begin with the first Test here fromDecember 17. The detection ofnew COVID-19 variantOmicron in South Africa hasstoked fears around the worldand cast a shadow on the Indiaseries. “Cricket South Africacan confirm that all three,Round 4, Division Two CSA 4-Day Domestic Series matchesscheduled to take place between02-05 December have beenpostponed,” the board said in astatement.

CSA postpones domesticfixtures due to COVID 19

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Athletics Award’, which recog-nised outstanding achievementsand contributions made todevelop, encouraged andstrengthened the participation of

women and girls at all levels ofthe sport, was given. “The for-mer international long jump starfrom India is still activelyinvolved in the sport. In 2016 she

opened a training academy foryoung girls, which has alreadyhelped to produce a world U20medallist,” World Athletics saidin a release.