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I ndia reported its first Omicron related death in Maharashtra Pimpri Chinchwad in Pune. Mumbai on Friday saw a massive 47 per cent jump in daily Covid cases reporting 5,428 infections in 24 hours even as the country reeled under the onslaught of rapidly-spreading Omicron variant. Maharashtra led the tally with 8,067 Covid cases, which is 50 per cent spike in daily cases. The State saw eight deaths in the same period. Delhi recorded 1,796 fresh Covid cases, the highest single- day rise since May 22, while the positivity rate mounted to 2.44 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department. On Friday, Maharashtra reported four cases of Omicron variant, taking the total case count of the “variant of con- cern” in the State to 454 as Omicron tally in India breached 1,000 mark to touch 1,280. At least 23 States have come in the grip of Omicron so far. While Omicron looms large over the country, daily Covid-19 cases too surged with India reporting a spike of 16,764 infections during the last 24 hours. States like West Bengal and Delhi are witnessing a huge surge in Covid-19 cases. Bengal witnessed nearly 50 per cent spike in corona cases with 3,189 people getting infected in the 24 hours inter- vening Thursday and Friday, sources in the State Health Department said. While, 1089 people were infected on Wednesday the number of infected patients went up to 2128 during the last 24 hours. The number of patients includes 5 people infected with Omicron variant leading the State’s total number of Omicron infection to 16. Delhi is in the grip of Covid-19 in a big way. Delhi had recorded seven deaths due to Covid in November, four in October and five in September. As the positivity rate jumped to 2.44 per cent and new Omicron cases were detected with no travel history, Health Minister Satyendar Jain has warned the people about community trans- mission. Delhi has reported 320 cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19 till Thursday. Meanwhile, the Centre has asked the States to pull up the socks to meet the challenges due to uptick in Covid-19 and Omicron cases and upscale health system as well as setting up the Rapid antigen Tests (RAT) centers for early detec- tion of the cases. New Delhi: Nine Covid-19 deaths have been reported in Delhi in December so far this year, the highest count of fatal- ities due to coronavirus infec- tion in the last four months in the national capital, according to official data. Delhi had recorded seven deaths due to Covid in November, four in October and five in September. No fresh fatality was reported in the city on Thursday. A gainst the backdrop of var- ious States in India re- introducing night curfew to deal with the spread of Covid- 19, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Friday said such curbs were “not science-based” and it has no evidence of effectiveness. Instead, Swaminathan said, wearing masks and vaccination against the Covid-19 can help “reduce transmis- sion”. Advising that Indians need to be prepared, but not panic, she also said that “politicians need to start balancing the scientific-based method to reduce the transmission and its impact on people, while at the same time keeping the econo- my open as people have suf- fered enough. “Schools should be the last to be closed and first to be opened because prolonged school closure has a devastat- ing effect on children and edu- cation.” “If 90 per cent of the pop- ulation wore a mask the whole time, you would drastically reduce transmission. That we need to focus on. Keeping in mind that Covid-19 is not the only thing affecting our lives in terms of health,” the WHO chief scientist told a news channel. Many States like Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Assam have declared a ban on night movement and limits on gath- ering and warned of legal action against those who do not comply. I nfection with the virus that causes Covid-19 can trigger an adverse immune response that lasts well beyond the ini- tial infection and recovery even among people who had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, according to a new study published in the Journal of Translational Medicine. It found that people with prior infection with SARS- CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, have a wide variety of auto-antibodies up to six months after they have fully recovered. “These findings help to explain what makes Covid-19 an especially unique disease,” said researcher Justyna Fert- Bober from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the US. “These patterns of immune dysregulation could be under- lying the different types of persistent symptoms we see in people who go on to develop the condition now referred to as long Covid-19,” Bober added. The study said that when people are infected with a virus or other pathogen, their bod- ies unleash proteins called anti- bodies that detect foreign sub- stances and keep them from invading cells. In some cases, however, people produce autoantibodies that can attack the body’s organs and tissues over time. For the study, the team recruited 177 people with con- firmed evidence of a previous infection with SARS-CoV-2. They compared blood samples from these individuals with samples taken from healthy people before the pandemic. All those with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection had elevated levels of auto-anti- bodies. Some of the autoantibod- ies also have been found in people with diseases in which the immune system attacks its healthy cells, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. “We found signals of auto- antibody activity that are usu- ally linked to chronic inflam- mation and injury involving specific organ systems and tis- sues such as the joints, skin and nervous system,” said another researcher. Some of the autoantibod- ies have been linked to autoim- mune diseases that typically affect women more often than men. In this study, however, men had a higher number of elevated auto-antibodies than women. U nion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) will not be extended. Taxpayers must note that the due date for filing ITR will remain December 31, 2021. Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj on Friday said that December 31 remains the offi- cial deadline for filing of income tax returns. He said returns filed so far are more than those filed in the previous year. Bajaj said that he was expecting another at least 20- 25 lakh returns to come by 12 in the night. “The figures that we were anticipating would have come...There is absolute- ly no proposal to extend the dates,” Bajaj said. To a query on the glitches on the I-T portal impacting fil- ing, Bajaj said “I’m okay (with extension) if the returns were less by 1 crore. But the returns filed is more than last year’s... I’m watching the figures every hour... ITR filings are going up to 3 lakh (per hour) “. So far 5.62 crore ITRs have been filed till Friday. On Friday, 20 lakh returns were filed. Out of the total, three lakh ITRs have been filed in the last hour. The government has already extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for 2020-21 fiscal year (ended March 2021) by five months till December 31. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022 C hief Minister Hemant Soren today appealed to the people of the State to cele- brate the New Year with restraint and alertness in the wake of rising cases of Covid- 19 in Jharkhand. Chairing a high-level meeting with senior officials of the government, the CM expressed serious concern over the sudden increase in Covid-19 cases in the State. The CM took updated information from the officials about the increase in corona infection cases in the last one week. Keeping an eye on New Year's gathering events, he directed the officers to strictly follow the COVID-19 guide- lines at waterfalls, parks, picnic spots and temples etc. The CM directed the officers to conduct corona test drives at all crowded places. In the course of the review, it came to the fore that in Hazaribagh and Bokaro districts, less testing and more positive cases have come as per the data of corona investiga- tion. On this, the CM said that appropriate steps should be taken to speed up the investi- gation of Covid-19 in these two districts and to prevent the spread of infection, the officers should ensure that. In the meeting, the CM was apprised that at present about 35 thousand Covid-19 tests are being conducted in the State every day. He directed the officers in this regard that the departments should make such arrangements soon, so that it should be ensured that between 75 thousand to 1 lakh corona tests are conducted daily. The CM said that by hold- ing a high-level meeting next week, assessing all the aspects of the rising cases of corona infection, the State govern- ment would take concrete steps as needed. He said that by January 15, ensure 100 per cent vaccination of adult peo- ple in the State. Those who have taken the first dose of the vaccine should be ensured that they get the second dose at the same time and those who have not taken the first dose of the vaccine should ensure that at least the first dose is taken. In the meeting, the CM also gave many important directions to the officers regard- ing the preparations for the third wave. He said that there should be no shortage of med- ical oxygen beds, ventilators, ICU beds, normal beds etc in the hospitals, so that there should be continuous moni- toring of the preparations made for this purpose. The CM has appealed to the people of the State to make use of face masks, social dis- tancing and other means of prevention from infection at any cost. He asked to avoid attending gathering parties to be organized in the New Year. He said that an increase in the cases of corona infection has been registered in the last one week, it is a matter of concern for all of us. He appealed to the people to protect themselves as well as their families, under- stand the changing variants of corona infection and forbade them to go to crowded places unnecessarily. Soren said that in the first and second wave of corona infection, the people of the State had set a better example by coordinating with the gov- ernment. “In the future, we all need to do better in the public interest. We will all fight against corona infection and we will win in any case. To prevent the spread of corona infection, the State government expects cooperation from the people of Jharkhand,” he said. In the meeting, Minister of Disaster Management Department Banna Gupta, Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Additional Chief Secretary- cum- Principal Secretary of Health Department Arun Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rajiv Arun Ekka, Secretary to Chief Minister Vinay Kumar Choubey, Secretary, Disaster Management Department, Amitabh Kaushal, MD, Jharkhand Medical Corporation, Nancy Sahai and other officials were present. A dditional Chief Secretary, Health, has written to all Deputy Commissioners to ensure Covid vaccination of youths of 15-18 age group from January 03, 2022. The benefi- ciaries will get Covaxin only. Also, people under the catego- ry of Health Care Workers, Front Line Workers and per- sons aged 60 years and above will get booster dose from January 10, 2022. The Health Secretary has instructed the DCs through a letter to ensure the vaccination campaign.

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India reported its firstOmicron related death in

Maharashtra PimpriChinchwad in Pune. Mumbaion Friday saw a massive 47 percent jump in daily Covid casesreporting 5,428 infections in 24hours even as the countryreeled under the onslaught ofrapidly-spreading Omicronvariant. Maharashtra led thetally with 8,067 Covid cases,which is 50 per cent spike indaily cases. The State saw eightdeaths in the same period.

Delhi recorded 1,796 freshCovid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 22, while thepositivity rate mounted to 2.44per cent, according to datashared by the city healthdepartment.

On Friday, Maharashtrareported four cases of Omicronvariant, taking the total casecount of the “variant of con-cern” in the State to 454 asOmicron tally in Indiabreached 1,000 mark to touch1,280. At least 23 States havecome in the grip of Omicron so

far. While Omicron looms

large over the country, dailyCovid-19 cases too surged withIndia reporting a spike of16,764 infections during thelast 24 hours.

States like West Bengaland Delhi are witnessing ahuge surge in Covid-19 cases.Bengal witnessed nearly 50per cent spike in corona caseswith 3,189 people gettinginfected in the 24 hours inter-vening Thursday and Friday,sources in the State HealthDepartment said. While, 1089people were infected onWednesday the number ofinfected patients went up to2128 during the last 24 hours.The number of patientsincludes 5 people infected withOmicron variant leading theState’s total number of Omicron

infection to 16.Delhi is in the grip of

Covid-19 in a big way. Delhihad recorded seven deaths dueto Covid in November, four inOctober and five in September.As the positivity rate jumped to2.44 per cent and new Omicroncases were detected with notravel history, Health MinisterSatyendar Jain has warned thepeople about community trans-mission. Delhi has reported 320cases of Omicron variant ofCovid-19 till Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Centre hasasked the States to pull up thesocks to meet the challengesdue to uptick in Covid-19 andOmicron cases and upscalehealth system as well as settingup the Rapid antigen Tests(RAT) centers for early detec-tion of the cases.

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New Delhi: Nine Covid-19deaths have been reported inDelhi in December so far thisyear, the highest count of fatal-ities due to coronavirus infec-tion in the last four months inthe national capital, accordingto official data.

Delhi had recorded sevendeaths due to Covid inNovember, four in Octoberand five in September.

No fresh fatality wasreported in the city onThursday.

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Against the backdrop of var-ious States in India re-

introducing night curfew todeal with the spread of Covid-19, WHO chief scientistSoumya Swaminathan onFriday said such curbs were“not science-based” and it hasno evidence of effectiveness.Instead, Swaminathan said,wearing masks and vaccinationagainst the Covid-19 can help “reduce transmis-sion”.

Advising that Indians needto be prepared, but not panic,she also said that “politiciansneed to start balancing thescientific-based method toreduce the transmission and itsimpact on people, while at thesame time keeping the econo-my open as people have suf-

fered enough.“Schools should be the last

to be closed and first to beopened because prolongedschool closure has a devastat-ing effect on children and edu-cation.”

“If 90 per cent of the pop-ulation wore a mask the wholetime, you would drasticallyreduce transmission. That weneed to focus on. Keeping inmind that Covid-19 is not theonly thing affecting our lives interms of health,” the WHOchief scientist told a newschannel.

Many States like Delhi,Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana,Karnataka, Kerala, and Assamhave declared a ban on nightmovement and limits on gath-ering and warned of legalaction against those who do notcomply.

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Infection with the virus thatcauses Covid-19 can trigger

an adverse immune responsethat lasts well beyond the ini-tial infection and recovery evenamong people who had mildsymptoms or no symptoms atall, according to a new studypublished in the Journal ofTranslational Medicine.

It found that people withprior infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causesCovid-19, have a wide varietyof auto-antibodies up to sixmonths after they have fullyrecovered.

“These findings help toexplain what makes Covid-19an especially unique disease,”said researcher Justyna Fert-Bober from Cedars-SinaiMedical Center in the US.

“These patterns of immunedysregulation could be under-lying the different types ofpersistent symptoms we see inpeople who go on to developthe condition now referred toas long Covid-19,” Boberadded.

The study said that whenpeople are infected with a virusor other pathogen, their bod-ies unleash proteins called anti-bodies that detect foreign sub-stances and keep them from

invading cells.In some cases, however,

people produce autoantibodiesthat can attack the body’sorgans and tissues over time.

For the study, the teamrecruited 177 people with con-firmed evidence of a previousinfection with SARS-CoV-2.They compared blood samplesfrom these individuals withsamples taken from healthypeople before the pandemic.

All those with confirmedSARS-CoV-2 infection had elevated levels of auto-anti-bodies.

Some of the autoantibod-ies also have been found inpeople with diseases in whichthe immune system attacks itshealthy cells, such as lupus andrheumatoid arthritis.

“We found signals of auto-antibody activity that are usu-ally linked to chronic inflam-mation and injury involvingspecific organ systems and tis-sues such as the joints, skin andnervous system,” said anotherresearcher.

Some of the autoantibod-ies have been linked to autoim-mune diseases that typicallyaffect women more often thanmen. In this study, however,men had a higher number ofelevated auto-antibodies thanwomen.

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Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on

Friday said that the last date forfiling Income Tax Return (ITR)will not be extended. Taxpayersmust note that the due date forfiling ITR will remainDecember 31, 2021.

Revenue Secretary TarunBajaj on Friday said thatDecember 31 remains the offi-cial deadline for filing ofincome tax returns. He saidreturns filed so far are morethan those filed in the previousyear.

Bajaj said that he wasexpecting another at least 20-25 lakh returns to come by 12in the night. “The figures thatwe were anticipating wouldhave come...There is absolute-ly no proposal to extend thedates,” Bajaj said.

To a query on the glitcheson the I-T portal impacting fil-

ing, Bajaj said “I’m okay (withextension) if the returns wereless by 1 crore. But the returnsfiled is more than last year’s...I’m watching the figures everyhour... ITR filings are going upto 3 lakh (per hour) “.

So far 5.62 crore ITRs havebeen filed till Friday. On Friday,

20 lakh returns were filed. Outof the total, three lakh ITRshave been filed in the lasthour. The government hasalready extended the deadlinefor filing income tax returns for2020-21 fiscal year (endedMarch 2021) by five months tillDecember 31.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

2022������������������

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Chief Minister HemantSoren today appealed to

the people of the State to cele-brate the New Year withrestraint and alertness in thewake of rising cases of Covid-19 in Jharkhand. Chairing ahigh-level meeting with seniorofficials of the government, theCM expressed serious concernover the sudden increase inCovid-19 cases in the State.

The CM took updatedinformation from the officialsabout the increase in coronainfection cases in the last oneweek. Keeping an eye on NewYear's gathering events, hedirected the officers to strictlyfollow the COVID-19 guide-lines at waterfalls, parks, picnicspots and temples etc. TheCM directed the officers toconduct corona test drives at allcrowded places. In the courseof the review, it came to the forethat in Hazaribagh and Bokarodistricts, less testing and morepositive cases have come as perthe data of corona investiga-tion. On this, the CM said thatappropriate steps should betaken to speed up the investi-gation of Covid-19 in these twodistricts and to prevent the

spread of infection, the officersshould ensure that.

In the meeting, the CMwas apprised that at presentabout 35 thousand Covid-19tests are being conducted in theState every day. He directed theofficers in this regard that thedepartments should make sucharrangements soon, so that itshould be ensured that between75 thousand to 1 lakh coronatests are conducted daily.

The CM said that by hold-ing a high-level meeting nextweek, assessing all the aspectsof the rising cases of coronainfection, the State govern-ment would take concrete stepsas needed. He said that byJanuary 15, ensure 100 percent vaccination of adult peo-ple in the State. Those whohave taken the first dose of thevaccine should be ensured thatthey get the second dose at thesame time and those who havenot taken the first dose of the

vaccine shouldensure that atleast the firstdose is taken. Inthe meeting, theCM also gavemany importantdirections to theofficers regard-

ing the preparations for thethird wave. He said that thereshould be no shortage of med-ical oxygen beds, ventilators,ICU beds, normal beds etc inthe hospitals, so that thereshould be continuous moni-toring of the preparations madefor this purpose.

The CM has appealed tothe people of the State to makeuse of face masks, social dis-tancing and other means ofprevention from infection atany cost. He asked to avoidattending gathering parties tobe organized in the New Year.He said that an increase in thecases of corona infection hasbeen registered in the last oneweek, it is a matter of concernfor all of us. He appealed to thepeople to protect themselves aswell as their families, under-stand the changing variants ofcorona infection and forbadethem to go to crowded placesunnecessarily.

����������2�,�3����,�������������#�������������!Soren said that in the first

and second wave of coronainfection, the people of theState had set a better exampleby coordinating with the gov-ernment. “In the future, we allneed to do better in the publicinterest. We will all fight againstcorona infection and we willwin in any case. To prevent thespread of corona infection, theState government expectscooperation from the people ofJharkhand,” he said.

In the meeting, Minister ofDisaster ManagementDepartment Banna Gupta,Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh,Additional Chief Secretary-cum- Principal Secretary ofHealth Department ArunKumar Singh, PrincipalSecretary to Chief MinisterRajiv Arun Ekka, Secretary toChief Minister Vinay KumarChoubey, Secretary, DisasterManagement Department,Amitabh Kaushal, MD,Jharkhand MedicalCorporation, Nancy Sahai andother officials were present.

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Additional Chief Secretary,Health, has written to all

Deputy Commissioners toensure Covid vaccination ofyouths of 15-18 age group fromJanuary 03, 2022. The benefi-ciaries will get Covaxin only.Also, people under the catego-ry of Health Care Workers,Front Line Workers and per-sons aged 60 years and abovewill get booster dose fromJanuary 10, 2022. The HealthSecretary has instructed theDCs through a letter to ensurethe vaccination campaign.

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In view of the threat of thethird wave of Covid-19, apart

from the Dimna lake area,special security arrangementshave been made at Narwa lakein Jadugora and at BurudihDam in Ghatshila. Every year,from mid of December to theend of January tourists fromthe different parts of the stateand also from neighbouringBengal come here for a picnicat Dalma hills, Dimna lake,Burudih Dam, Galudih resort,Narwa, Jubilee Park and HudcoLake.

According to a police offi-cial, apart from the Dimna lakearea, special security arrange-ments have been made atNarwa lake in Jadugora and atBurudih Dam in Ghatshila.

The district police havepressed into service cops on themotorcycle for patrolling thepicturesque Dimna lake areathis picnic season. The initia-

tive is aimed at providing bet-ter security to the tourists aswell as the picnickers whothrong to this tourist destina-tion in large numbers aroundthis time.

Revealing about the specialpolice arrangement, the officialsaid that as many as 12 motor-cops and 30 policemen arebeing deployed at the Dimnalake and its vicinity wherepeople tend to visit while com-ing for the sight seeing.

"The initiative will ensurevigilant against eve-teasers,drunkards and other anti-socials, the police men will bedeployed at strategic locationsacross the tourist destination,"he said.

He pointed out that themotorcops – two trainedpolicemen in each of the 12bikes -- will be equipped withwireless sets, alcohol testingequipment and pistols. Thepolicemen to be deployed at thestrategic locations will be car-

rying batons, just to ward offthe rowdy elements and controlthe crowd.

According to the seniorpolice officer, the special secu-

rity arrangement by the districtpolice will remain effective tillJanuary 26, the period duringwhich the people, especially thepicnickers, tend to visit Dimna.

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East Singhbhum districtadministration and city

police have jointly planned anaction plan for the conve-nience of picnickers and NewYear revelers on December 31and January 1. A police officialinformed that they have decid-ed to enforce curb on entry ofheavy vehicles to preventmishap on city roads as heavyvehicles carrying industrialgoods ply with speed to meettheir deadlines to variousindustrial units located in thecity. The no entry curb willstart from 6 am (morning) ofDecember 31 and continue till

2 am (wee-hours of January 1)and will again be enforcedfrom 6 am (morning) ofJanuary 1 till midnight.

All the five traffic policeofficials have been asked to stopplying of heavy vehicles whilethe Mango traffic policestrength has been increased toensure that heavy vehicles arenot allowed entry to the cityfrom either Dimna round-about or Pardih roundaboutalong the NH-33. Meanwhile,the administration issued acircular for deployment oftrained divers associated withvarious NGOs and civil defenceunits near water points whichare thronged by picnickers.

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Gauge Change: Lalitgram-Raghopur gauge conver-

sion - Completing the gaugeconversion work of 20 kmlong Lalitgram-Raghopur rail-way section, inspection of thissection was done by CCRS on25.11.2021 and the permis-sion of CCRS has also beenreceived on the next day on26.11.2021. It may be notedthat under the 110.74 km longSaharsa-Forbisganj GaugeConversion Project, so farincluding Saharsa-Garhbaruari(16 km), Garhbaruari-Supaul(11 km), Supaul-Saraigarh (25km) and Saraigarh-Raghopur(11 km) rail section. Till nowa total of 82 km gauge conver-sion work has been completedand the remaining work of thisproject will be completed soon.After completion of this pro-ject, Saharsa to Darbhanga andForbesganj will be connectedby brand gauge rail link.

Jayanagar-Bardiwas GaugeConversion Project - In the firstphase of this project, the speedtrial was successfully complet-ed on 18th July, 2021 on 35 kmlong newly gauged railway sec-tion between Jaynagar in India

and Kurtha in Nepal. After this,on 24.09.2021, inspection ofthis section from Jaynagar toIndian border has also beendone by CRS. Trains will startoperating on this railway sec-tion soon. This will make themovement of rail between thetwo countries easier. Alongwith this, business will get aboost and the surroundingarea will develop.

Electrification: The elec-trification work of 80 km longSitamarhi-Raxaul railway sec-tion was completed in the year2021 and after CRS inspection,the permission of CRS hasbeen received on 08.12.2021. Itmay be noted that the target ofcomplete electrification of rail-way sections has been set byEast Central Railway for thedevelopment of operationalcapacity. To achieve this goal,electrification of railway sec-tions is being done rapidly. Asa result of this, 90 percent of thetotal railway routes have beenelectrified by East CentralRailway.

So far electrification ofabout 3720 Route Kilometersout of about 4220 RouteKilometers has been complet-ed by East Central Railway. Out

of 05 of East Central Railway,a total of 04 divisions includ-ing Pandit Deen DayalUpadhyay, Sonpur, Danapurand Dhanbad have been 100%electrified, in which PanditDeen Dayal Upadhyay Divisionhas the distinction of being thefirst 100% electrified railwaydivision of Indian Railways. .East Central Railway will elec-trify 100% of the railway sec-

tion next year.After electrification, trains

have been started on many sec-tions of East Central Railwaywith electric locomotives /MEMUs, which has helped inenvironmental protection onthe one hand, while on theother hand, due to increase inthe speed of trains, travel timehas been reduced, which hasbenefited the passengers.

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The increase incorona cases

in Hazaribag con-tinues for the sec-ond day as well.On Wednesday,21 people werefound infectedwhile onThursday also thecorona case hasincreased. On thefourth day 18infected people were found.After this, the number of coro-na infected has increased to 60in four days. All cases areactive.

Civil Surgeon Dr. SP Singhsaid that people have to be care-ful and vigilant to avoid coro-na and it can be avoided by fol-lowing vaccination and guide-lines.

Those who have been

found positive on Thursdayinclude one from Barkatha,one from Demotand in Urbanarea of Sadar block, two fromMerawal, one from Sindoor,one from julu Park, one fromBengali Colony, one fromHurhuru, three from SadarHospital, One from nearMount Carmel, one from SBIbranch and five from ruralareas of Sadar block.

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Rise in covide positive casesin district has forced

administration to imposerestrictions by promulgationprohibitory order under sec-tion 144 of CrPC at picnicspots ,hotel, parks , mallsbesides other locations in dis-trict to check covid cases .

In the last four days posi-tive cases crossed the figure of100 here in the district.

The decision was takenfollowing the rise of positivecases that witnessed an upwardtrend and mostly reportedfrom picnic spots besides otherlocations who gathered fromneighbouring districts andState. The SDM SN Tiwariissued orders that wouldremain in force till January 2midnight . People attending

aforementioned locationswould have to abide by theCorona norms and wear masksas safety measures . The localpolice stations under which thepicnic spots fall have also beenasked to remain attentive .

In addition deputy com-missioner Sandeep Singh whileholding a review meetingdecided to step up vaccinationand picnickers if not vaccinat-ed would have to take vaccine.

Special vaccinationarrangement is to be made atpicnic spots on January 1 ànd2, said DC.

The people returning fromforeign tour need to undergomandatory quarantine as perthe corona guideline and get acorona test conducted on theeighth day after reporting tolocal authorities of their arrival,mentioned DC.

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Bokaro artists and singerspaid tribute to the first

superstar of Hindi films, RajeshKhanna by organizing a musi-cal evening at SwaranginiSangeetalaya in Sector 12 on hisbirth anniversary.

Singers including ArunPathak, Raman Kumar and

Rajendra Kumar paid musicaltribute to Rajesh Khanna byperforming some of his famoussongs from his starter films.

Speaking on the occasionRajendra Kumar, VicePresident of Mithila SanskritikParishad, said Rajesh Khannawas an excellent actor. “Thesuccess of the 1969 film'Aradhana' brought fame toRajesh Khanna and in the sev-enties, many of his films likeAnand, Kati Pantag, AmarPrem, Do Raaste, Haathi MereSaathi, Bawarchi includingmany others were superhitmovies and he reached theheights,” he added.

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Kids of Jharia on Fridaysent postcards to Dhanbad

MP PN Singh, Jharia MLAPoornima Neeraj Singh andDhanbad deputy commission-er Sandeep Singh requestingthem to initiate steps to saveJharia from pollution .

Organised by social orga-nization Youth Concept thekids not only sent postcards butalso made posters of the sameand took out a march demand-ing the same.Organiser AkhlakAhmed said funds generatedthrough DMFT must beutilised for controlling pollu-tion to save life and future gen-erations.

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The newAmmonium

Sulphate Plant ofBSL's Coke Ovenand By ProductGroup was inau-gurated by R.K u s h w a h a ,E x e c u t i v eDirector (Projects) and AtanuBhowmik, Executive Director(Works). CGM (Services)Sanjay Kumar, CGM (CokeOven & BPP) Rakesh Kumarand other senior officers werepresent on the occasion.Ammonium sulphate plant isan important unit of the by-product group where cokeoven gas is processed andammonia is separated from itto make ammonium sulphate.The marketing department of

BSL sells ammonium sulphatein the market, which is main-ly used as a fertilizer in agri-cultural work. This project wascompleted with the help of GM(Projects) Pankaj Dev Rai,DGM (Projects) Asghar Raza,GM (Projects) ChandrashekharAzad, GM (Projects) DeepakKumar and coke oven officersand employees. The gas han-dling capacity of this plant is 1lakh eighty thousand nm cubicper hour.

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The Executive Director(Projects) Rajiv Kushwaha

was given farewell in a farewellceremony organized separate-ly in the CEO conference roomfor the Chief General Managerand Executive Director levelofficers. The Director-in-Charge of BSL, AmarenduPrakash and Executive Directorwere present on the occasion.During the ceremony, impor-tant achievements related to theservice of Kushwaha wereremembered. Prakash present-ed him mementoes and docu-ments related to the final set-tlement. Everyone wished theretiring Kushwaha the best forhis future life.

Also separately a farewellceremony was organized inthe main auditorium of HumanResource Development Centerfor the employees retiring fromBokaro Steel Plant in the

month of December. CGM(Security) Manoj Kumar wasthe chief guest in this function.In the beginning of the func-tion, Dr. Nanda Priyadarshini,Senior Manager (Personnel)welcomed the visitors. She alsogave information related tothe final settlement and MaitriBhawan to the retiring employ-ees and presented the bio-dataof each retiring personnel. The

Chief Guest Mr. Kumar con-gratulated the retiring person-nel for their sincere service andwished them a happy life. Healso presented service certifi-cates and gifts to the retiringpersonnel. In December 21, atotal of 9 executives and 51non-executives are retiringfrom BSL. Dr. NandaPriyadarshini conducted theprogramme.

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The year 2021—the secondyear of pandemic offered

an unexpectedly differentperspective in terms of chal-lenges to State. Jharkhandwhich was hit by pandemicand slowly recovering fromlockdown was once again puton restrictions as coronacases started rising in April.By March/April, as the coro-na cases in Jharkhand start-ed increasing, the StateGovernment on April 22announced a week-long lock-down. Once again all businessestablishments, schools, col-leges, offices, religious placeswere shut with people left toconfine in their houses.

Though the StateGovernment with rising casespromptly imposed a lock-down, the second wave ofpandemic was more danger-ous in terms of death toll andeconomic slowdown. As per

Government record, out of5143 deaths due to corona,the majority of people aroundseventy per cent lost theirlives in the second wave ofpandemic. The situation wasso pathetic that people had towait at the cremation groundfor performing the final ritesof Covid victims. The bodiesof some Covid-19 victimswere seen pi led up atMuktidham (cremationground) in Ranchi’s Harmuarea, which led to JharkhandHigh Court to intervene overthe issue. The pandemic wason peak till July-August,thereafter in September casesstarted coming down.

Despite challenges duringthe pandemic, the state gov-ernment work continued. InApril the Madhupur bypollwas held in which JMM can-didate and state tourism min-ister Hafizul Hassan won theMadhupur by-election bydefeating BJP candidate

Ganga Narayan by over 5,000votes. The Madhupur bypollwas short in arm for theState Government as it wasthe third consecutive bypollvictory for the grand allianceafter the JMM/Congress gov-ernment headed by HemantSoren came to power.

Earlier, the JMM had wonDumka bypol l , whi leCongress had retained Bermothe election for which washeld in November last year.

The year 2021 can also beknown for State Assemblypassing important bills suchas Sarna religious code andanti-lynching bill. The Sarnareligious bill aims to protectthe religious and culturalidentity of tribals, while antilynching bill is law havingstringent provisions againstthose behind mob violence.

Though the year 2021was full of challenges andrestrictions for Jharkhand,

there were some proudmoments too for the state.R anchi gir l and archerDeepika Kumari became theworld number one as WorldArchery unveiled its latestrankings in June last year.India's ace archer Kumaridefeated the Russian, ElenaOsipova by 6-0 in a thump-ing manner.

Though Deepika becameworld number 1, months laterher performance in TokyoOlympics was dismal as shefailed to win any medals.However, the Indian women'shockey team performedexceptionally well in theOlympics. The Indian womenhockey team which compris-es state players NikkiPradhan and Salima Teteattracted the attention ofhockey lovers across theworld. The Indian womenhockey team though failed towin any medal but stoodfourth.

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State Chief Minister HemantSoren on completion of two

years of his Governmentannounced to provide Rs 25per litre subsidy to all rationcard holders in the state if theybuy the fuel for their two-wheelers. The scheme aims toprovide monetary relief to peo-ple from BPL families who areburdened due to rising petrolprices and more than 61 lakhration card holders in the statewill be entitled to a subsidy ofRs 25 per liter per litre for theirmotorcycle and scooty. Thebeneficiaries will get the sub-sidy of 10 litre petrol in amonth.

The scheme will start fromJanuary 26. For availing thebenefit of scheme, the benefi-ciary has to take a slip after get-ting petrol in the motorcycle orscooty. Subsidy will be trans-ferred in the bank account byuploading this slip on the appbeing prepared by the govern-ment.

Beneficiaries will have toregister themselves on the app.Ration card details, Aadhar

link bank account and vehicleregistration details will have tobe uploaded during registra-tion.

A maximum amount of Rs250 will be given through PDSdealer as petrol subsidythrough DBT in Aadhar linkedbank account.

Minister of Food, PublicDistribution and ConsumerAffairs, Rameshwar Oraon saidthat the government has esti-mated that one third of the 61lakh ration card holders i.e.about 20 lakh beneficiarieshave motorcycle or scooter.About 50 crores will be spenton giving subsidies to so manypeople. If the number of ben-eficiaries is even more than alsothe government is ready to pro-vide subsidies.

Minister RameshwarOraon said that he was in dis-cussion with Chief MinisterHemant Soren for the last oneand a half months on thisplan. Several delegations hadalso sought help from the gov-ernment to provide relief fromrising inflation. Keeping inmind the needy, poor sectionsof the people, the government

decided to give relief instead ofreducing VAT on petrol.Rejecting the questions of theopposition, he said that thisgovernment is taking deci-sions very carefully to take for-ward the state and its people.

The minister said a mini-mum parameter of 10 litres hasbeen set so that the scheme isnot "misused". The schemehas been designed mainly tobenefit two-wheeler riders andfarmers who operate pumps foragricultural purposes.

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Agriculture AnimalHusbandry and

Cooperation Minister Badaltodat said that the State gov-ernment is determined tostrengthen all the gaushalas ofthe State, that is why it hasincreased the maximumamount of Rs 9000 as grant forthe maintenance of animalsgiven earlier to a maximum ofRs 36000 per year. TheMinister was speaking at a pro-

gram organized at RanchiGaushala on Friday.

Badal said that 10 gausha-las of the State would soon begiven rescue vehicles. Due towhich the animals injured inthe accident can be sent to thehospital as soon as possible forproper treatment. Badalinquired about other prob-lems including maintenance ofcows in Ranchi Gaushala. Hesaid that soon a meeting wouldbe held with the representa-tives of all the Gaushalas of the

State to inquire about theproblems of all the Gaushalasof the State.

Badal said that the gov-ernment is going to make GauMuktidham at the divisionallevel. He said that the dues ofall the gaushalas in the statewere also being paid.

Many dignitaries includingDirector Animal HusbandryShashi Prakash Jha, Chairmancum Secretary of Gaushalawere also present in the pro-gramme.

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In an attempt to providemore facilities to the pas-

sengers, the prepaid auto ser-vice system was inaugurated atRanchi Railway Station byMLA, Ranchi, ChandeshwarPrasad Singh in the presence ofDivisional Railway Manager(DRM), Pradeep Gupta.

With the start of this ser-vice, it will be very convenientfor the passengers especiallythe elderly, women, children,handicapped and sick passen-gers to go from the station totheir destination and they willalso get rid of arbitrary farescharged by some auto driversas well as help women passen-gers to reach their destinationsafely.

The amount to be paid astravel fee under this prepaidauto service system has beendetermined under a certainstandard as a result of approvalfrom the District Transport

Department. In case of anyinconvenience, passengers canregister their complaint bycontacting 139.

On this occasion, SeniorDivisional Engineer(Coordination), AmitKanchan, Senior DivisionalTraffic Manager cum ChiefPublic Relations Officer,Aditya Kumar Chaudhary,Divisional SecurityCommissioner, PrashantYadav, Divisional Engineer(South), Deepak Kumar,Assistant SecurityCommissioner, Pavan Kumarand other officers and employ-ees were present at Ranchi sta-tion.

Prepaid auto service start-ed again at Ranchi railwaystation. Auto booking will bedone from the counter. Abooth has been built for this.Where passengers will have topay first. After this the receiptwill be given to the passenger.

The rates for autos oper-

ating from prepaid boothshave been fixed according tothe route and distance. Under

this, a minimum of Rs 100 anda maximum of Rs 300 will becharged from passengers for

booking.The fare has been fixed for

booking prepaid autos. Apart

from different routes, there isalso a charge of tokens in it.Due to which the auto driverswill not be able to do the workof cheating the passengersunder any circumstances. Itscomplete details have beenput outside Ranchi railwaystation. But for prepaid autoservice at night, passengers willhave to lose a little more pock-et. In such a situation, 20 percent more than the normal farewill be charged at night.

Jharkhand Yatri SanghChief, Prem Mittal welcomedthe introduction of prepaidauto service. He said that thisis the third time that prepaidauto service has been started atRanchi railway station due tothe efforts of the passengerunion. This time the operationof the auto will be under thesupervision and control ofRPF. It is expected that thistime this service will not onlybe successful but it will also besafe and disciplined.

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Members of the WholesaleCloth Dealers Association

(WCDA), on Friday, closedtheir shops till 12 noon inprotest against the 12 per centGST on clothes imposed by theCentral Government. Thesmall and big establishmentsacross the State remainedclosed till 12 noon after that theoperators and employeesworked wearing black badges.

WCDA Chief, PrakashArora said that a protest will beorganized against the increasein GST on clothes. “TheCentral Government willincrease the GST rate onclothes from 5 per cent to 12per cent from January 2022,which is being opposed byclothing vendors across theState. With this decision of theGovernment, clothes willbecome expensive which isbeing opposed. During this,traders in Gandhi Chowkprotested against the CentralGovernment by putting up ablack badge,” he added.

Arora also said that theGovernment should withdrawthe increase in GST. “Evenafter this, if the Governmentdoes not withdraw the hike,then the next strategy will bedecided. During this, a mem-orandum was submitted to theState Finance Minister,Rameshwar Oraon,” he added.

WCDA Vice president,Umashankar Kanodia said thatdespite the protests, the CentralGovernment is implementingGST, which has also beenincreased and the protests willcontinue across the Country.The GST will be implementedfrom January, he added.

“Earlier, clothes were notunder the purview of GST. Inthe Corona era, where busi-nesses remain closed formonths, the Governmentshould give relief to the busi-ness world. Despite this, the

Government is increasing theGST,” said Kanodia. It is unfairfor the Government to increasethe GST rate during the Coronaperiod, which is being opposedby the Country's textile, ready-made and hosiery garmentsbusinessmen and organiza-tions, he added.

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State Congress leaders,Alok Kumar Dubey, LalKishorenath Shahdeo andRajesh Gupta said that the wayin which the central govern-ment had increased the GSTfrom 5 per cent to 12 per centon the textile and leather indus-try, it has been postponed dueto the protests of the tradeunions associated with thisindustry across the Countryincluding the Jharkhand, butthe party's clearly believe thatthe textile and leather businessis a labor intensive industry, sothe amount of revenue that willbe received by increasing theGST on it, due to the increasein the tax, more number ofworkers associated with thisbusiness will become unem-ployed, so the CentralGovernment should decreasethe rate of GST from 5 per centinstead of hiking it.

“GST of 12 per cent onclothes below one thousandrupees will make lakhs of peo-ple unemployed on one hand,while on the other hand thepoor will get clothes that aretoo expensive. The BJPGovernment has become men-tally insolvent,” said theCongress Leaders.

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Central Coalfields Limitedbid adieu to 128 employees

who superannuated inDecember. In a program orga-nized at CCL HQ farewell wasgiven to the fifteen employeeswho were retiring from CCLHQ.

Speaking on the occasion

employees shared their workexperiences and anecdotesfrom their professional journey.They also wished the compa-ny all the success in the future.They expressed confidence thatCentral Coalfields Limited willwitness stupendous growth.

CMD, CCL PM Prasadcongratulated the superannu-ating employees on their won-

derful journey in the company.He further stated that theywill always remain a part of theCCL family.

Director Technical (Op)Bhola Singh stated that com-pany will always remain indebt-ed to the superannuatingemployees for their contribu-tion. He wished them a won-derful and healthy life ahead.

Director Technical (P&P) S KGomasta lauded the contribu-tion of the employees. Director(Finance) KRVasudevan wishedthe employees for their future.General Managers, HoDs ofvarious departments and otheremployees of the company werepresent on the occasion. All theprotocols related to Covid-19were adhered to.

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The weather may not spoilthe mood of the festivity of

the New Year celebration as theweather is expected to remaindry in Jharkhand on January 1.In Jharkhand, mercury hasfurther dipped and fog andmist are likely to continue onthe day first of the new year.But the Met Department hassaid that there is no likelihoodof rain and there will be clearweather in the afternoon ofJanuary 1.

Met Department in Patnaand Ranchi have similar weath-er predictions about Jharkhandas people are worried that badweather may force people tostay indoors.

"There is no indication of

whether remaining unpleasanton New Year’s Day. The chartanalysis and satellite imagery allsuggest pleasant weather inRanchi, Jamshedpur,Daltonganj and elsewhere,”said Abhishek Anand, head ofRanchi Meteorological Centre.Anand said that will be chill inthe air but it will not bite.

He said that maximumtemperatures are expectedaround 24- 25°C and mini-mum readings may go up to11-12°C in Ranchi,Jamshedpur, Bokaro and sev-eral other places on New Year'sDay.

The IMD forecast has saidthat the adverse weather con-ditions would prevail inJharkhand at least till the next

24 hours. This is because of thewestern disturbance passingthrough northern parts of thecountry coupled with cyclonic

circulation over Uttar Pradesh.But the weather will graduallyimprove and the sky will be lesscloudy allowing

sunlight.There is a possibility of rain

in isolated places in north-east-ern Jharkhand besides dense

fog on Friday. Besides, a sud-den rise in minimum temper-atures across Jharkhand is alsoexpected.

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New Delhi: Amid the reportthat over 81,000 security per-sonnel in the Central ArmedPolice Forces (CAPFs) in thelast 10 years opted for retire-ment and VRS, the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) hasasked the CAPFs and AssamRifles to set up a committee toreview the present status of thedelay in promotion in thelower cadres and also directedthem to submit reports in twomonths.

Taking cognizance of thefact that hundreds of the per-sonnel have applied for com-pulsory retirement or VRS dueto inordinate delay in promo-tion at the junior levels andother service conditions, theMHA also asked CAPFs forsuggestions to improve the sit-uation. The CAPFs such as theCRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, NSG,NDRF and SSB are under thedirect control of the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs, butthe Assam Rifles is under theadministrative control of theMinistry of Defence.

According to the officialsin the security forces it takesaround 17 to 20 years for a con-stable to become a head con-stable (HC) while the delay isof six to 12 years for a headconstable to become anAssistant Sub-Inspector (ASI).

Similarly, the waiting peri-od for the promotion of an ASIto Sub-Inspector (SI) isbetween six to 10 years depend-ing on the vacancies in eachforce.

According to official data,in the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF), a constable hasto wait around 17 years tobecome HC, from HC to ASIsix years, from ASI to SI eightyears and SI to Inspector - nineyears.In the Border SecurityForce (BSF), a constable waitsaround 21-22 years to becomeHC, from HC to ASI - 12 years,from ASI to SI - nine to 10years and SI to Inspector eightto nine years.

Similarly, in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP),the delay in promotion of aconstable to HC is 13 to 14years, HC to ASI - 11 to 12years, ASI to SI - nine to 10years and SI to Inspector takesaround six to seven years.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) has thesimilar situation where a con-stable becomes HC in 18 years,HC to ASI in 11 years, ASI toSI six years and SI to Inspectorin 10 years.

The situation in theSashastra Seema Bal (SSB) isstill better compared to otherforces as a constable takes 13years to become HC, from HCto ASI-10 years, from ASI to SI-six years and from SI toInspector- five years.

For a constable in the

Assam Rifles, the waiting peri-od is around 21-22 years for aconstable to become HC, HC toASI- five to six years, ASI to SI-six years and SI to Inspector-five years.

The officials also admittedthat inordinate delay in pro-motion is one the reasonsbehind the massive VoluntaryRetirement Scheme (VRS)taken by the security personnel.

They also said that forceswork in hard conditions anddue to the shortage of person-nel they have to work morethan the scheduled hours. Thepolicy of 100 days leave in ayear to each jawan, announcedby the MHA has also not beeneffectively implemented so farand usually they get less holi-days in a year.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah has also directed theCAPFs Director Generals todevelop software based trans-fer- policy to avoid favoritismin the transfer- posting and thehard and soft-posting has to begiven possibly in rotation wise.But the forces are yet to comeup with this system.

The officials also admittedthat these are also the reasonsfor the incidents of suicides andsometime fratricides in thesecurity forces. IANS 5##����� �����#���������������������������)���8��<��.�����=��������� �� !

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The Congress on Fridayquestioned Prime

Minister Narendra Modi's"silence" on reports of Chinarenaming 15 places inArunachal Pradesh in theirown language and calling thenorth-eastern state as SouthTibet.

“A few days back, we wereremembering India's glori-ous victory in the 1971 war.Wise and strong decisionsare necessary for ensuringthe security and victory of thenation. You cannot win withempty rhetoric," formerCongress President RahulGandhi said on Twitter, refer-ring to a news report on theChinese move.

Congress Chiefspokesman Randeep SinghSurjewala described the Modigovernment as "weak" andaccused Prime Minister Modiof remaining “silent" onChinese "threats" to India'sterritorial integrity.

“As the year ends, Chinathreatens our territorialintegrity and sovereignty.China has already trans-gressed & occupied DepsangPlains & Gogra Hot Springs inEastern Ladakh. China has setup a village in Arunanchal.Mr. 56" refuses to say a word.Weak Govt, Mum PM,"

Surjewala said the 56-inch-chest jibe being a reference toModi's assertion during the2014 parliamentary electioncampaign that he would adopta strong policy on nationalsecurity.

Addressing a press con-ference at AICC Congressspokesman Gourav Vallabhwondered when the PrimeMinister would "look Chinain the eye" and take strongsteps to counter its moves.

“Will our response belimited to banning Chineseapps, while India-China tradecrosses the 100-billion-dollarmark," Vallabh asked.

He said the governmentshould respond to Chinesemoves strongly and assuredthe support of Congress inevery such step.

According to a Chinesemedia report, the country'sMinistry of Civil Affairsannounced on Wednesdaythat it had standardised inChinese characters, Tibetanand Roman alphabet thenames of 15 places inZangnan, the Chinese namefor Arunachal Pradesh.

India had strongly reject-ed China's action and assert-ed that Arunachal Pradesh has"always been" and "will alwaysbe" an integral part of Indiaand that assigning "invented"names does not alter this fact.

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Serum Institute of India (SII)CEO Adar Poonawala on

Friday said the vaccines majorhas applied to Indian authori-ties for full market authorisa-tion of Covishield, stating sup-plies of the Covid-19 vaccinehave exceeded 125 crore doses.

SII had partnered with thedeveloper of Covishield,AstraZeneca, for the supply ofthe vaccine to the Indian gov-ernment, which had in Januarythis year granted emergency useauthorisation in the country.

“Supplies of the COV-ISHIELD vaccine in India,have exceeded 1.25 billiondoses. The government of India

now has enough data for fullmarket authorisation, andtherefore @SerumInstIndia hasapplied to the@ C D S C O _ I N D I A _ I N F(DCGI) and@MoHFW_INDIA for thispermission,” Poonawala said ina tweet tagging the CentralDrugs Standard ControlOrganisation (CDSCO) andMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare.

EUA is granted by author-ities during public health emer-gencies to provide access tomedical products after deter-mining that the known andpotential benefits of a product,when used to prevent, diag-nose, or treat the disease, out-

weigh the known and potentialrisks of the product.

In case of full marketauthorisation, the vaccinesneed to undergo the standardregulatory process for review-ing the quality, safety and effec-tiveness of medical products.

Covishield, along withBharat Biotech’s Covaxin werethe first two vaccines approvedby the Drugs ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) inJanuary this year, under emer-gency use authorisation againstthe pandemic.

Already in the US, Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vac-cine has received full USFDAapproval for use in individuals16 years of age and older, tran-sitioning from an earlier emer-gency use authorisation (EUA)approval.

In October this year, thePune-based SII had submittedthe final phase 2/3 clinicalstudy report of India with itsapplication for grant of regularmarket authorization forCovishield.

The firm had also submit-ted phase-3 clinical studyresults of 24,244 subjects fromthe UK, Brazil and SouthAfrica on June 8, 2021, to theCDSCO. Also, phase-3 clinicalstudy results of 32,379 subjectsfrom the US, Chile and Peruwere submitted on July 9.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has con-

ducted searches in Srinagarand arrested one operative ofThe Resistance Front (TRF) ina case of radicalising, motivat-ing and recruiting youth ofJammu and Kashmir byLashkar-e-Tayabba (LeT).(Rakesh)

After conducting thesearch operation on Thursday,the NIA arrested TRF operative

Arsalan Feroz alias ArsalanSoub of Zaldagar, MR Gunj,Srinagar.

The case relates to con-spiracy hatched for radicalising,motivating and recruitingyouth of Jammu and Kashmirto effect violent activities in theValley and rest of India bySajjad Gul, Salim Rehmanialias Abu Saad and SaifullahSajid Jutt, Commanders ofLeT/TRF.

In furtherance of the saidcriminal conspiracy they arerecruiting individuals (OGWs)to carry out reconnaissance ofpredetermined targets, coordi-nating and transportingweapons to support LeT and itsfrontal affiliate TRF.

Till now, four accused havebeen arrested in this case. Thesearch operation conductedon Thursday led to recovery ofseveral incriminating docu-ments and digital devices,added.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will be visiting

Meerut in Uttar Pradesh onSunday to lay the foundationstone of Major Dhyan ChandSports University.

The University will beestablished at Salawa and Kailivillages of Sardhana town inMeerut at an estimated cost ofabout Rs 700 Crore.

The establishment of MajorDhyan Chand SportsUniversity at Meerut will be amajor step towards encourag-

ing Sports in the region.The Sports University will

be equipped with modern andstate of the art sports infra-structure including syntheticHockey ground, Footballground, Basketball, Volleyball,Handball, Kabaddi ground,

Lawn tennis court,Gymnasium hall, Syntheticrunning stadium, Swimmingpool, Multipurpose hall and aCycling velodrome.

The university will alsohouse facilities for Shooting,Squash, Gymnastics,Weightlifting, Archery,Canoeing and Kayaking,among other facilities. TheUniversity will have the capac-ity of training 1080 sportsper-sons including 540 female and540 male sportspersons,according to the PrimeMinister's Ofice.

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The Ministry of Agriculture’sdata showed total area

under all rabi crops rose to634.68 lakh hectare this year sofar in the rabi crops seasonfrom 625.04 lakh hectare lastyear.

Despite higher acreage thisyear, sowing of wheat and puls-es, the main rabi crops havebeen reported to be lower.Wheat has been planted at325.88 lakh hectare as onFriday, compared with 329.11lakh hectare in the year-agoperiod while pulses planted at152.62 lakh hectare this year sofar as against 154.04 lakhhectare last year. Sowing of keyrabi crops such as mustard,gram (chana), lentil (masur)and barley have touched orexceeded the season’s normalacreage this year.

As per the data, Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,

Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,Maharashtra and Bihar areamong those states whichreported less wheat plantationso far due to delay departure ofmonsoon this year. The datashowed that 3.23 lakh hectareless area has been coveredcompared to last year.Rajasthan reported 1.96 lakhhectare, Madhya Pradesh 0.56lakh hectare, Assam 0.02 lakhhectare of wheat sowing.Sowing of rabi crops like wheatbegins in October and har-vesting from April onwards.

A total area under oilseedshas increased sharply to 97.07lakh hectare as on December31, 2021 from 80.64 lakhhectare in the year-ago period.Among oilseeds, rapeseed andmustard seed were covered ina maximum area of about 88.54lakh hectare in the periodunder review as against 72.30lakh hectare in the year-agoperiod.

Area sown under ground-nut remained flat at 3.64 lakhhectare, linseed at 2.57 lakhhectare, sunflower at 1.01 lakhhectare, safflower at 0.68 lakhhectare, sesamum at 0.30 lakhhectare, and other oilseeds at0.33 lakh hectare in the period,the data showed.

Rise in the area undermustard seed crop is a positivesign for a country that dependson imports to meet 60 per centof its domestic requirement andis struggling to keep retailprices under check amid aglobal price rise situation.

Gram, the main rabi pulse,was grown in a slightly higherarea of 107.69 lakh hectare asagainst 105.68 lakh hectare inthe year-ago period. Area sownto lentil was marginally high-er at 16.76 lakh hectare, whilefield pea was sown in 9.61 lakhhectare, kulthi in 3.34 lakhhectare, urad bean in 5.66 lakhhectare, moong bean in 2.29

lakh hectare and lathyrus in3.32 lakh hectare so far in theongoing rabi season of 2021-22crop year (July-June).

There was less coverageunder coarse-cum-nutri cere-als as the total area was downat 45.05 lakh hectare as against46.19 lakh hectare. Jowar sow-ing was lagging behind at 23.17lakh hectare so far this rabi sea-son as against 26.05 lakhhectare in the year-ago period,while coverage under maizewas up at 14.80 lakh hectare asagainst 12.89 lakh hectare.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has

arrested a Regional Officer ofNational Highways Authorityof India (NHAI), Bangalore,four officials including GeneralManager, Executive Director, AGM of a Bhopal-based private company DilipBuildcon Ltd. and a private per-son in an alleged bribery caseof Rs 20 lakh and recoveredover Rs 4 crore in cash duringsearches.

A case was registeredagainst the accused followingallegations that the RegionalOfficer, NHAI, Bangalore, AkilAhmad was in habit ofdemanding/accepting illegalgratification from NHAI con-tractors for clearing their pend-ing bills and for issuingProvisional Commercial

Operations Date( PCOD) forcompleted projects, the CBIsaid in a statement.

It was further alleged thatthe Regional Officer, NHAI,Bangalore demanded an illegalgratification from GeneralManager of Dilip Buildcon,Retnakaran Sajilal posted at thefirm’s site office in Bengaluruwith respect to project underB e n g a l u r u - C h e n n a iExpressway Package 1 & 2executed by said private com-pany in Karnataka, it said.

It was also alleged thatRs.20 lakh was to be deliveredto a private person at Delhi forNHAI official Akil Ahmad.

The CBI laid a trap and theprivate person Anuj Gupta ofDilip Buildcon was caught. During the trap pro-ceedings, Rs 20 lakh was recov-ered from Gupta at New Delhiwhich was received on behalf

of Ahmad.“Searches are being con-

ducted at the premises ofaccused including at NewDelhi, Bengaluru, Cochin,Gurugram and Bhopal Cash ofRs.4 crore was recovered fromthe premises of the accused pri-vate persons and cash of Rs.4lakh was recovered from thepremises of Ahmad, RegionalOfficer of NHAI,” the agencysaid.

All the arrested accusedwill be produced before theCompetent Court.

The arrested accused areAkil Ahmad, Regional Officer,NHAI, Bangalore, RetnakaranSajilal, General Manager,Devendra Jain, ExecutiveDirector; Mahim Pratap SinghTomar, AGM and Sunil KumarVerma (an official), all of DilipBuildcon Limited besides pri-vate person Anuj Gupta.

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While the year 2021 endedon a low note for Rajya

Sabha with the second lowestannual productivity ever, itseight Department RelatedParliamentary StandingCommittees (DRSCs) havereported the best performance.

Sources in the Ràjya Sabhasecretariat said the 59 per centannual productivity during2021 has been the second low-est for Rajya Sabha after theHouse hit the nadir with pro-ductivity of 36 per cent during2018. Issues relating to thethree Farm Bills and suspen-sion of 12 Members of theHouse adversely impacted thefunctioning of the House dur-ing the Monsoon and WinterSessions of 2021.

In contrast, the 8 DRSCs ofRajya Sabha have significantlyimproved their performanceduring September, 2020 toSeptember, 2021 in terms ofduration of meetings and atten-dance of Members over that of2017-18.

“Since assumption of officein August, 2017, ChairmanRajya Sabha M. VenkaiahNaidu has been regularly mon-itoring and reviewing the per-formance of these 8Committees given their impor-tance. He convened a meetingwith the Chairmen of all the 8Committees after the firstreview and has been writing tothem regularly on the func-tioning of these Committeesand urged them to endeavourto improve their performance,”sources said.

The latest review of theperformance of these 8Committees revealed that whileonly two Committees on

Transport, Tourism & Cultureand Health Family Welfarereported average duration ofover two hours per meeting in2017-18, six Committees i.e.Transport, Health, Education,Home Affairs, Science &Technology and Commercemet for over two hours permeeting during 2020-21.

While no Committee hasreported attendance of 50% in2017-18, three Committees onTransport, Education and Law& Justice have reported atten-dance of more than 50% dur-ing 2020-21 with six of theeight Committees improvingaverage attendance in the meet-ings during this period.

For the 134 meetings heldby the 8 Committees during2017-18, the average durationof each meeting had been 1hour 51 minutes while theaverage attendance was 44.87%.The same for the 126 meetingsheld during 2020-21 has been2 hours 14 minutes and 47.53%respectively. This marks anincrease of 20% in the durationof meetings and 6% rise inattendance despite the pan-demic since March, 2020.

This has been the best per-formance during the last four

years, further to regular reviewby Naidu.

In his last letter to theChairmen of all the 8Committees, Naidu has urgedthem to ensure an averageattendance of 50% and averageduration of 2 hours 30 minutesin each of the meetings giventhe costs involved. The perfor-mance reported in this regardduring 2020-21 is close to thebenchmarks suggested by theRajya Sabha Chairman.

Naidu, this week commis-sioned a study to recommendways of improving the perfor-mance of these Committeesand also to examine effectiveamplification through media ofthe content and the recom-mendations contained in thereports submitted by theseCommittees for wider dissem-ination.

Each Committee has 31members with 10 from RajyaSabha and 21 from Lok Sabha.Attendance of 11 members(35%) make the quorum foreach meeting. Number ofmeetings held without quorumhas also substantially declinedin 2020-21. These Committeesare reconstituted every year inSeptember.

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New Delhi: President RamNath Kovind on Friday greet-ed citizens on the eve of newyear.

"May the new dawn of thenew year reinvigorate the spir-it of peace, prosperity and fra-ternity in our lives. Let usresolve to bring in the new yearwith endeavour to usher inprogress in our society andcountry," he said.

In a message, the presidentsaid, "On the joyous occasionof the new year 2022, I extendmy warm greetings and bestwishes to all our fellow coun-trymen, living in India andabroad."

May the new year, 2022,bring a lot of happiness andgood health as well as successand prosperity in your life,Kovind said. PTI

Jammu: Asserting that somepeople are engaged in ‘softseparatism’ by cleverly sup-porting militancy, Jammu &Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh onFriday termed Hyderporaoperation ‘neat and clean’ andasked political leaders ques-tioning the ‘clean chit' given tothe forces to submit evidence toinvestigation panels.

He said he felt hurt overirresponsible utterances of asection of political leaders inKashmir, adding that countingvotes on the dead bodies istheir mission.

"We definitely felt hurtover this kind of utterances. Itis irresponsible on the part ofcertain people, who are not partof the investigation and do notknow anything about the probeon the ground to make suchremarks,” Singh said at a pressconference here.

He was replying to ques-tions on the statements madeby political leaders against theprobe by the local police inconnection with Hyderporaencounter.

A Pakistani terrorist andthree other persons were killed

in Hyderpora on November 15and the police had claimed thatall the slain men had links tomilitancy. The families of thethree, alleging foul play, hadsaid they were innocent,prompting the police to orderthe inquiry.

Separately, a magisterialprobe was also ordered by LtGovernor Manoj Sinha in theencounter which was one of therare operations carried outjointly by the Army and theJammu and Kashmir Policewithin the city limits.

Meanwhile, the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) head-ed by Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police CentralKashmir Sujit Kumar hadWednesday threatened legalaction against the politicalleaders in Jammu and Kashmirfor making "speculative" state-ments about the investigation.

JK DGP made it clear thatthe operation was neat andclean and done in a profes-sional manner.

"We have made it crystalclear that the operation wasneat and clean. It was trans-parent…,” he said.

The top cop also said theutterances by the political lead-ers were in violation of law.

"We have made it clear thatthose utterances are somehowviolative of law. May be atsome stage, if people do notmend their ways, law will takeits own course,” he said.He alsoasked those raking up the issueto present the evidence beforethe investigation panels.

"… if anybody has any evi-dence, he can present it beforetwo panels of the magisterialinquiry and SIT,” he said.

Asked if such peopleshould be brought to book,Singh said if one looks at thecases registered under theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act is (UAPA),some of them have alreadybeen accounted for. "We willdefinitely be looking for moreevidence against the people,who in any way have support-ed militancy,” he said.

“These people are into softseparatism. We have takenaction against some of them.We will be looking for moreevidence. No one is above law,”the DGP added. PTI

T h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m :Kerala's Omicron cases countcrossed the 100-mark on Fridayafter registering the highest sin-gle- day increase of 44 cases ofthe new variant of COVID-19.

Addressing reporters here,State Health Minister VeenaGeorge said it has logged 44more cases, taking the totalnumber to 107. Of the 44cases, 10 had come from high-risk countries and 27 fromlow-risk countries. Seven peo-ple were infected through con-tact, she said.

Of these, 12 were detectedin Ernakulam district, 10 inKollam, eight inThiruvananthapuram, four inThrissur, two each inK o t t a y a m , P a l a k k a d ,

Malappuram and Kannur andone each in Alappuzha andIdukki, the Minister said.With this, the infections havebeen confirmed in a total of107 people, she said.

While a total of 41 patientscame from high-risk coun-tries, 52 arrived from low-riskcountries and 14 were diag-nosed with the disease throughcontact.

Of the total 107 cases, 29had come from the UAE and 23from the UK. Raising the alertin the southern State, Georgesaid since Omicron is a fast-spreading variant of COVID-19, people should take all pre-cautions and follow guidelinesissued by the HealthDepartment. PTI

Srinagar: Three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militantswere killed and four securityforces personnel injured duringan encounter in the PanthaChowk area of the city here onFriday, police said.

One of the slain militantswas involved in the December13 attack on a police bus in thenearby Zewan area.

The three ultras were killedin the encounter at PanthaChowk on the outskirts ofSrinagar city, a police official said.

In the exchange of fire,three police personnel and aCRPF personnel were alsoinjured, the official said, addingthat they were rushed to a hos-pital for treatment.

Inspector General ofPolice, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar

identified one of the slain mil-itants as Suhail Ahmad Ratherof proscribed terror outfit JeM.

"As revealed during yes-terday's PC, terrorist Suhailwas also involved in#ZewanTerrorAttack. All ter-

rorists involved in Zewanattack have been #neutralised,"the IGP said in a tweet.

Two militants involved inthe Zewan attack were killed inan with security forces inAnantnag on Thursday. PTI

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Jammu: A total of 182 terror-ists, including 44 top ultras,were killed in 100 successfuloperations in Jammu andKashmir in 2021, DGP DilbagSingh said on Friday.

He also said that 134youngsters joined terror ranksin the Union territory this

year, with 72 of them been neu-tralised and 22 arrested.

“Infiltration down this year,only 34 terrorists have man-aged to infiltrate. Besides nineterrorists of JeM involved in theattack on a police bus in PanthaChowk were eliminated in thelast 24 hours,” he added. PTI

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Close on the heels of theraids on Kannauj perfume

trader Piyush Jain leading toseizure of huge cash, gold ,sil-ver and sandalwood oil, theIncome Tax Department onFriday raided the premises ofanother perfume trader andSamajwadi Party MLCPushpraj Jain Pampi at Kannaujand 50 other locations acrossthe country.

The Opposition SamajwadiParty responded to the raids onTwitter: "After a huge failurelast time, this time BJP's ulti-mate ally IT (Income TaxDepartment) has finally raid-ed the place of SP MLCPushpraj Jain and other per-fume traders of Kannauj. Openmisuse of central agencies bythe scared BJP is common inUP elections. People are watch-ing everything, they will answerby vote."

Later, Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadav, who

was in Kannauj on Friday, said“we were expecting raids and ithas happened”.

“The Bharatiya JanataParty is spreading the smell ofhatred in UP. The impendingdefeat of the BJP in UP assem-bly elections has rattled the rul-ing party and they have goneberserk. The BJP leaders alongwith their allies like CBI,Enforcement Directorate, arenow campaigning in UttarPradesh,” the SP chief said inKannauj.

Akhilesh Yadav alleged that“SP MLC Pushpraj Jain hasbeen targeted to malign theSamajwadi Party and the BJPhas targeted the SP leader onlyto compensate for the mistak-en raid on Piyush Jai who isclose to BJP”.

Moreover, Akhilesh Yadavclaimed that “the raids on per-fume traders of Kannauj is aconspiracy to malign Kannaujand the perfume industry”.

He added, “The SP willform the next government in

UP and restore the glory ofKannauj and the perfumeindustry maligned by the BJPgovernment.”

Asserting that the VijayRath of the Samajwadi Partywould not stop and continue itsjourney, Akhilesh Yadav said, “Iwill take up the matter with theElection Commission of Indiaand other authorities to apprisethem that the BJP is deliber-ately targeting the oppositionparties to malign them aheadof the UP assembly elections.”Coming in the middle of ahigh-pitch election campaign,the raids have turned into apolitical slugfest with the BJPand SP accusing each other ofbacking the jailed perfumetrader. The BJP had alleged thatit was Piyush Jain who recent-ly launched the Samajwadiperfume.Taking a swipe at theopposition party, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidin Kanpur Nagar onWednesday, "Boxes filled withnotes have come out.

Mumbai: Mumbai Police onFriday issued an order pro-hibiting people from visitingbeaches, open grounds, seafaces, promenades, gardens,parks or similar public placesbetween 5 pm and 5 am dailytill January 15 in view of theprevailing coronavirus situationand the emergence of theOmicron variant.

DCP (operations) SChaitanya issued the orderunder section 144 of the Codeof Criminal Procedure (CrPC),which came into force from 1pm on Friday and will be effec-tive till January 15, unlesswithdrawn earlier.

"The city continues to bethreatened with COVID-19pandemic. In light of theincrease in cases and emer-gence of the new Omicronvariant, and with a view to pre-vent danger to human life,health and safety and to curbtransmission of the virus, peo-ple are prohibited from visitingbeaches, open grounds, seafaces, promenades, gardens,parks or similar public places

from 5 pm to 5 am next day,"the order said.

In case of marriages,whether in enclosed or openspaces, the maximum numberof attendees shall be restrictedto 50 persons, the order said.

"In case of any gathering orprogramme, whether social,cultural, political or religious,whether in enclosed or open tosky spaces, the maximum num-ber of attendees shall berestricted to 50 persons," it said.

In case of the last rites,only 20 persons will be allowedto remain present.

Those flouting the orderwill attract punishment undersection 188 of the IPC in addi-tion to the penal provisionsunder the Epidemic DiseasesAct and the National DisasterManagement Act, the DCPsaid in the order.

The city police's directivecame after the Maharashtragovernment issued freshguidelines on Thursday nightcapping the number of atten-dees at gatherings in open orclosed spaces at 50, following

a surge in coronavirus cases inthe state.

Earlier, not more than 100persons in enclosed spaces and250 persons in open spaceswere allowed to attend a mar-riage function or a social, cul-

tural, political and religiousgatherings.

Maharashtra on Thursdayrecorded 5,368 coronaviruscases, a spike of 1,468 casesfrom a day before. This pro-pelled the state's COVID-19

tally to 66,70,754. The statereported 198 new cases of theOmicron variant, including190 in Mumbai alone, takingthe tally of cases of this latestcoronavirus variant in the stateup to 450. PTI

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The Covid-19 pandemic thatturned the State of Kerala

topsy-turvy since 2020 hasbeen beaten in one sector bywomen’s power- the coir indus-try. An economic activitywhich had only tragic stories totell the world till five years agohas made a turnaround asworkers and exporters arelaughing their way to theBanks.

Coir, once rated as theGolden Fiber of Kerala as itused to earn high foreignexchange, the coir industryhad hit the rock bottombecause of the reluctance ofpolitical masters to change intune with the new world order.Mechanization and digitiza-tion were portrayed as tabooand this resulted in small sec-tors ending up as sick units.

“Not any more. The lastfive years brought in a lot ofchanges because of the inter-vention of the Ministry ofSmall and Medium Industries.All small and medium unitsthat shifted to power loomsbrought in revolutionarychanges in the industry. It has

benefited women in a big way,”Sumi Shibu, a homemaker inAlappuzha’s Cherthala townwho owns a small coir unitemploying 20 women workers,told The Pioneer.

She said the coir units(small and medium) in theState owe it to the employmentgeneration programme andMudra Loan scheme of theCentre and the interventionmade by Coir Board for thisturn around. “More than 30families linked to my unitcould counter the economicslow down caused by the pan-demic. This is the case withother units too because all of usshifted to power looms with thefinancial assistance offered bythe Ministry of SME,” saidSumi,

The Coir sector will soonsee new and premium productshitting the market. On theanvil is designer bags and carrybags made of coir which wouldoust the plastic bags from highend shops like star hotels, bou-tiques, jewellery shops and thelikes, according to DoraiswamiKuppuramu, chairman, CoirBoard. Speaking to ThePioneer at Coir House, thehead quarters of Coir Board,Kuppuramu, said the Board’shorizon is expanding fromKerala and Tamil Nadu to pan-India. “We are out to makewealth from waste and sooncome out with eco-friendlyproducts. Earlier out attentionwas on exporting and some-how we missed the opportuni-ties on domestic market. We

will exploit the hitherto unex-plored segments like Coir Pith,Coir GeoTextiles which aresure to help the workers sup-plement their incomes in a bigway,” said Kuppuramu.

Coir Piths are useful in sav-ing water while coir geotextilesprevent soil erosion, he point-ed out. “There are seven lakhworkers directly employed bythe Coir Industry as on date.Around 80 per cent of theworkers are women and hencwe are playing a major role inrural women empowerment,”said the Chairman.

Export of Coir and Coirproducts during 2020-2021made record earning of Rs3,800 crore, said Kuppuramu.He fully concurred with Sumiwho said that Coir was the only

industry to register victory inthe battle against Covid-19. Alot has changed in the coirindustry thanks to the employ-ment generation programme ofthe Union Government, saidSumi. But she had reservationsagainst the KeralaGovernment’s callousnesstowards the sector. “Unless theindustries department of Keralastarts serious initiatives, thesector would not grow in theState.

Coir Directorate shouldcome forward and help thesmall and medium units tomarket their products andmake fund available as loans forus to work,” said Sumi. She saidthat the industry would surviveonly if the administration chipsin to increase the income fromthe sector. “Craftsmen shouldbe encouraged and workersshould be benefitted. That partremains with StateGovernnents,” said Sumi.

It may be remembered thatmany workers in the sectorwho were left jobless by therecession had resorted to theextreme step by making use ofcoir. Not any more. Now coirhelps lakhs to survive.

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With no let up in the spreadof the pandemic, the

daily Covid-19 cases jumpedup by as many as 2,699 cases totouch a tally of 8,067 cases inMaharashtra on Friday, eventhe Omicron cases dipped sub-stantially to just four cases inthe State.

On a day when it claimedeight lives in the state, theCovid-19 cases rose from 5,368cases on Thursday to 8067 cases,taking the total number of thecases from 66,70,754 to66,78,821 cases. A day after theState recorded an all-time highof 198 omicron cases, the newCovid-19 variant cases droppedto four cases. With the latest tally,the total number of Omicroncases went up to 450 cases.

Mumbai bore the maxi-mum brunt of the pandemic, asthe Covid-19 infectionsjumped by 5428 cases and themetropolis did not record anyomicron cases on Friday.

With 5428 fresh cases, thetotal number Covid-19 casesjumped from 779031 to 784459cases during the last 24 hours.

As 1766 patients were dis-charged from the hospitals acrossthe state after full recovery, thetotal number of people dis-charged from the hospitals sincethe second week of March lastyear increased from 65,07,330 to65,09,096. The recovery rate inthe state dropped from 95.55 percent to 95.46 cases.

The number of “activecases” in the state increased18,217 cases to 25,509 cases.The fatality rate in the statestood static dropped from 2.12to 2.11 per cent.

Mumbai accounted for amaximum of 11,441 cases,while there were 2566 activecases in Pune. There were2,656 active cases in Thane,followed by Nashik (487),Palghar (413), Raigad ( 378),Ahmednagar (369), Satara(245) and Nagpur (19).

Of the 6,90,10,153 samples

sent to various laboratoriesacross the state so far, 66,78,821have tested positive (9.68 percent) for COVID-19 untilFriday. Currently, 1,55,592people are in home quarantinewhile 1,079 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, the Staterecorded four cases ofOmicron, taking the totalnumber of new Covid-19 vari-ant cases to 454 cases.

One case each of Omicronwas reported from Vasai-Virar,Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhyandarand Panvel. The following is thebreak-up of a total 454 Omicroncases recorded in the state so far,Mumbai: 327, Pimpri-Chinchwad: 26, Pune rural --18,Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC), Thane MC- 12 each,Navi Mumbai, Panvel andKalyan Dombivli—7 each,Satara, Nagpur—6 each,Osmanabad – 5, Vasai-Virar-4,Nanded—3, Aurangbad,Nanded, Buldhana, Bhiwandi-Nizampur—2 each.

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In a sensational case of rapeand murder, the naked body

of an unidentified woman withmultiple injuries was found ina sugarcane field in Sambhaldistrict on Friday morning.

The body was packed in asack and the police said thewoman was possibly killedelsewhere and her body wasdumped in the field inMusapur village.

The body was sent forautopsy to ascertain she wassexually assaulted or not.

Additional Superintendentof Police Alok Kumar Jaiswalsaid: "There were multipleinjuries on the body. It appearsshe died of a head injury. Thewoman was killed at a differentplace and the accused thendumped the body in the fieldto conceal the crime. We haveregistered an FIR for murderand have sent the body forautopsy. Efforts are on to estab-lish her identity."

Meanwhile, in a tragic inci-dent, a 21-year-old youth com-mitted suicide in Bareilly onThursday, reportedly after hiselder brother eloped with a 19-year-old girl and the teenager'sparents subjected him and hismother to public humiliationover the elopement.

The deceased was identi-fied as Pramod Kumar, a resi-dent of Bareilly's Bisharatganjarea. He was a potter by pro-fession. He was upset over hisbrother's decision to elope withthe teenage girl. After theyeloped, the girl's parents humil-iated him and his mother onWednesday night.

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I happened to complimentEurope’s civilisationalprogress. To which hisresponse was: “Wait and see;the next century will be anIslamic century. You will seesigns of this in your own life-time. Lesser educated womendo not prevent men fromstudying and thinking.”

Coming back to India,young marriages have causedmore problems than solvingany. The eras of invaders andconquerors are long over, butthe adverse consequencesthey left behind remainunsolved. This is partlybecause India has been one ofthe few countries with amixed population. The cler-gy — whether Deobandi orBarelvi — has been con-cerned that the youth of itscommunity might be tempt-ed to adopt secular ways and,in the bargain, overlook the‘glory’ of Islam. Care shouldbe taken to ensure that Indiadoes not fall into the trap ofminority apprehensionsretarding the progress of anentire nation.

Another advantage of rel-atively late marriage of a girlwould ensure better health forher; most likely because of herhaving fewer children. Thestep of fixing the minimummarriageable age at 21 wouldalso affect the onward march

of population amongst theminorities. If the clergy or themenfolk object, they shouldbe shown the example ofFrance. Until 1905, Parisallowed the country totalfreedom as far as one liked,worship the way one wantedand generally conduct oneselfas one chose to. The country’sNational Assembly brought ina law in order to enforce sec-ularism quite strictly. Forexample, no French citizenwas thenceforth allowed todisplay any symbol of his/herreligion outwardly, and cer-tainly not in public places,offices or institutions of edu-cation. A Christian could notwear a cross, nor a Jew wear ayarmulke, Muslims citizens ofFrance could not wear a burqain public; it was strictly bannedin France during the tenure ofNicholas Sarkozy.

Different segmentsresponded to the message ofthe law in different ways. Bynow, the situation in Francehas gone to the extent thatquite a number of mosqueshave had to be shut down bythe authorities. Only a fort-night ago, a prominentmosque in Beauvais, just 100km north of Paris, was shutdown by France’s InteriorMinister Gerald Darmanin.The imam has been accusedof propagating religious

hatred against Christians,Jews and homosexualsthrough his sermons, calledkhutba in Arabic. Do wewant such measures to beresorted to in India? If not, wemust beware well in time.

We in India have wit-nessed innumerable commu-nal riots, including what BRAmbedkar had described asa “civil war”, ie, the clashesthat took place between 1920and 1940. Much worse was tohappen thereafter in 1946-47and in 1948. Thereafter, wehave seen four wars withPakistan, beginning inKashmir in 1947. Today, Indiadoes not have a HighCommissioner residing inIslamabad.

In 1971, the eastern wingof Pakistan seceded andbecame Bangladesh. Thisnew country is more Bengaliand less religious and followsthe scriptures in a muchlighter way. Bangladesh hascontrolled the excessivegrowth of its population, aswell as perceptively improvedits economy, to the extent thatits currency, the taka, is twiceas valuable as the Pakistanirupee.

(The writer is a well-known columnist, an authorand a former member of theRajya Sabha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

�������������������� ��������Sir — It’s unfortunate that the ElectionCommission has been in favour of con-ducting the upcoming Assembly polls onschedule citing unanimous opinion of allpolitical parties in favour, irrespective ofthe raging COVID-19 on the ground. Thepolitical parties and the Election commis-sion have acted penny wise and poundfoolish in this regard. The other day, theAllahabad High Court had advised theGovernment and EC to postpone them atleast for three months, given the growingconcern of the Omicron variant.

Heavens won’t fall if the wiser adviceis heeded and the elections of poll-boundStates are deferred temporarily. The PrimeMinister is asking every citizen to observediscipline and follow COVID-19 protocol.This is high time to be vigilant in contain-ing further spread of the virus. All theresources should be utilised for a singlecause now. The elections would take awayfocus from COVID-19 which may provecostly. The election rallies and mass con-tact programmes will create a fertileground for the pandemic to flare up. Itseems to be a wrong decision to have elec-tions at this point of time anyway.

DVG Sankararao | Vizianagaram

������ ���������������������Sir —It must be realised that the actual poi-son exists in the heart of an individualwhich the religious zealots promptlyexploit to meet their electoral interests.Thus, the original or greater sinners arethe common people only without whosepatronage, no evil power in the earth cansucceed in their dirty mission of spread-ing hatred against the “other” and demon-ising them. In this very context, weshould not give clean chit to the commu-nal rabid section among Indians as if theyare “innocent, gullible children’ whose“unpolluted” minds get washed by thevested interests. Rather, they are thegreatest offenders as just because of theirdisgraceful patronage, communal forcesattain political power and create mayhemin the society.

Yes, no party/Government can makea society communal unless the general

society chooses to walk the path of hatredand intolerance. When a party repeated-ly gains power through free and fair elec-tions despite engaging in communal pol-itics in a secular country and associatedwith demolition of shrines, dastardlypogroms, killings in the name of a“Godly animal” and calling all sorts ofnames to particular communities — itgets clearly proved how immense popu-larity these merchants of hatred enjoy inpresent times. Had the society believedin secularism and religious brother-hood, these rabid divisive elementswould have been electorally vanquishedfrom the face of India.

Kajal Chatterjee | Kolkata

�� ���������������Sir — As we step into the New Year, weare in a ruminative mood. The wholeworld has been preoccupied with thepandemic since its outbreak two yearsago. Apart from Coronavirus and itsvariants, including Omicron, a majorchallenge we have to address here and

now is the global phenomenon of cli-mate change; we have to do it before itbecomes too late to adapt to the changedclimate and survive. As we enter the NewYear, we don’t know what life holds instore for us.

The future is in the womb of time.The unpredictability of life shouldchange our outlook on life for the bet-ter. We can learn to be more humble andaltruistic and deal with our personal andsocial problems wisely. We have our dif-ferences, but we should not place themover our common humanity or fightover them affecting human relationshipsor causing loss of life. Politics, religion,laws and ideology should be for man andnot the other way round. It is a self-evi-dent truth that we live in an imperfectworld. Still we can make the world a bet-ter place by our individual and collec-tive efforts.

G David Milton | Maruthancode

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In West Bengal 50 years ago,an income-drawing girlbegan abolishing the needfor her parents to pay a

dowry. This phenomenon musthave spread to other areas, too.Only a comparatively delayedmarriage can enable a girl to getadequately educated to draw alucrative income. That is wherethe introduction of 21 as theminimum age for marriage is anenabler. Although the currentemphasis is on women, that anearly marriage retards a man’sstudies is also a fact, perhapsmore so because boys grow upsomewhat later than girls.

The custom of marryingoff girls young, in all probabil-ity, began with invasions fromIndia’s northwest, due to therapacious lust of sex-starvedinvaders. Societal view was thatan early marriage of girls wouldpossibly distance her from theavaricious attentions of invaders.In Vedic times, for example, thecustom was, at least for theupper classes, marrying off boysand girls at about the age of 25,because studies and learning forthem were all-important.

Incidentally, the Islamic tra-dition was that a girl who cross-es the stage of puberty made herready for matrimony. That isbecause of ProphetMohammad’s injunction pub-lished in the Mishkat-ul-Masbih:“Marry women who will bevery prolific, for I wish you tobe more numerous than anyother people.” Following thisinjunction may be appropriatefor a community that does notencourage the employment ofwomen. Such a practice excludeshalf the population from con-tributing to the national econ-omy. There is another angle tothis phenomenon, pointed outto me by one Anwar Ahmed, anartisan at Fatehpur Sikri, on ourway to Agra. Ahmed’s explana-tion for the educational back-wardness of his community wasthat mothers in the communi-ty were comparatively less edu-cated. He said an uneducatedperson couldn’t know the valueof education for her sons anddaughters.

During my visit to Cairo in1961, I came across a young lec-turer at the Al Azhar University.

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During the 80s, there was a per-ceptible drop in the quality ofmovies. Colour TV had beenintroduced around that time in

India and the “serial” age began in rightearnest, attracting Bollywood majors.Wehad thought then that the end-game forfilms had begun. The situation onlyworsened for film-making in the 90s andsmart serial-makers occupied a big chunkof entertainment viewership. But thosewere still laid-back days for the averageIndian citizen. We were not hard pressedfor time and as new filmstars arrived onthe scene, bringing freshness, we accom-modated them as well as their films.

In the new millennium things real-ly began to happen and new-age filmmak-ers like Farhan Akhtar, K-Jo, AshutoshGowarikar, Anurag Kashyap, backed upby new age multiplexes began givingviewers reasonably good films withenhanced cinema experience. And aftera dream run, television began to falter.The reasons were not difficult to see.Balaji Telefilms, the serial giant kept com-ing back at us with their “K”s, the processof trivialisation of news had set in bigtime, and for the last few years, the newschannels have been looking like theatresof the absurd.

But by then, an average citizen’s timewas also beginning to get squeezed.There was increasingly lesser amount oftime available to carve out in order towatch a movie. For average person, theannual frequency of visiting theatrescame down in last 5 years as comparedto 10-15 years ago. It was in this backdropthat the OTT (Over-The-Top media ser-vice) phenomenon occurred. It wasbound to happen as there was need to seesomething different. Bollywood, especial-ly the stars and the czars, began to takeviewers for granted.

Let us check out a few reasons whyOTT has actually gone “over the top”. Aspointed earlier, due to the compressedtime for average viewers it is becomingincreasingly difficult to venture out for amovie, committing 4 hours at stretch.Thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic,quite a few of us are doing “WFH”, andOTT is allowing them to do a different“WFH” — Watch from Home. Televisionwatching has become adjustable to ourtimings. And today’s viewers aren’t thecouch-potatoes of yesteryears.Engagements at home are being balancednicely with viewing as OTT allows us tostart and stop, watch in instalments, re-run sequences for better understanding,plan our watch either in one-go or inpart(s).

There were stories which needed 7-8 hours to be told and obviously were nottheatre stuff. OTT has allowed these sto-ries to be told as web series and smartmakers have made smart sequels gobblingup hours of viewer’s time. These webseries have a beginning and there is a clo-sure even if it is open-ended. They don’t

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go on endlessly, aimlessly like TVsoap operas. OTT gives a peek atshort movies (who don’t haveother platforms for release) aswell. It presents us with huge can-vas which stores old movies, doc-umentaries, infotainment content.

The usefulness, convenience,content variety and affordability ofOTT presents a big challenge tothe movie makers and theatreowners. TV did give them a sec-ond chance, but they have fritteredit away. What they have not quiteunderstood is that no matter howbig a star one may put in themovie, viewers will not relish sub-standard content. Bollywood seri-ously has to do a reality check andcontent check. They need to relookat the recent, forgettable effortsmade by the jaded czars resultingin Bunty-Bubly-2, Sadak-2,Hungama-2. How on earth do theyexpect people to watch thesemovies even on OTT platforms,leave alone in a theatre @400bucks.

These are dangerous time formultiplexes. The star bazaar ismelting down. The success of OTTis purely on the count that contentis the new star. Small movie mak-ers, rich in content, telling novelstories are the toast of these plat-forms. The TV serial boom of the80s gave us great stories and sev-eral good actors like Om Puri,Anupam Kher, Irrfan Khan,Raghubir Yadav, Satish Shah, KKRaina, MK Raina. The OTT boomhas also given us several new

actors, who have worked in webseries and several quality films.There is place for everyone exceptjaded stars if they continue withtheir old, formula “tricks”.

The business model needs adrastic change. A newly-releasedmovie has just a 3-4-week windowto milk out the maximum from thetheatres, before it is parked onOTT. The stars will have to re-invent themselves or Bollywoodwill have to invent new stars to lendshine in their ventures. Rightnow,some of them are busy com-forting themselves in dishing outordinary web series following herdmentality. Here too, the initialpromises shown in their earlierworks have faded and the latestofferings are trash. A case in pointbeing the series - “Inside Edge; sea-son-3” which missed the outsideedge of our collective brains. Thebig shots of Bollywood have to gettheir acts together for finding theright content and right scale. Bigproduction surely knows that thebig moolah is in theatre releasesonly and we have a pretty big net-work of multiplexes for leveraging.

All said and done, it may nothappen that people will give upwatching movies in theatres. Manyof us preserve the desire to ventureout, and experience the cinematicexperience in theatres, even if it isonce in a while. Outing plus cine-ma is a concoction which hasalways worked in the past and willwork in future also, adjusting off-course for any adverse pandemic

impact. But disappointing fare willreduce that desire to visit theatres.

The question is that canBollywood make content whichwould lure us back to the theatresmore often in current circum-stances, given the fact that good,relatable, and decipherable-in-our-language stuff is available atour fingertips and we are spoilt forchoices and convenience.

This formula of Star + any con-tent = good opening + greatreturns does not work anymore.And it will not work on OTT also.They got away with “Suryavanshi”as viewers flocked theatres whichhad opened after a long time. Buta similar “Chandravanshi” is goingto be punished. We now have thepower to punish and that’s thebiggest gain of having OTT- it hasstrengthened the market forces

More realistically, they cancheck how the South Extension ofIndian cinema combined starpower with interesting content(eg. “Jai Bhim”, “Pushpa”), whichhas worked massively on allforums and more importantlyworked Pan-India. So, when 4 outof 5 persons whom you speak to,sound pessimistic aboutBollywood then the concernedneed to realise that there is some-thing wrong.

But we, the viewers are notcomplaining. We have enoughvariety and quantity in our plate.And Bollywood should not com-plain afterwards either. They havehad enough warnings.

(The writer is a financeprofessional and a cinema

and sports enthusiast. The views expressed

are personal.)

On December 27, theAndhra Pradesh HighCourt questioned the

petitioners about the rele-vance of their petitions aboutthe three-capitals formula ofthe state government in viewof the state Governor giving hisassent to the APDecentralization and InclusiveDevelopment of All RegionsRepeal Bill of 2021.

Continuing the hearingon a batch of petitions chal-lenging the two legislations —The Andhra Pradesh CapitalRegion DevelopmentAuthority Repeal Act, 2020,and the Andhra PradeshDecentralization and InclusiveDevelopment of All RegionsAct, 2020 — a three-memberdivision bench headed byChief Justice Prashant KumarMishra directed the petition-

ers to fill the note in 10 days. The present status on

record after the YSRCPGovernment of YS JaganMohan Reddy repealing thethree Capitals Bill is thatAmaravati stands good as thecapital of Andhra Pradesh.

Where is the ambiguity?On the floor of the Assemblyon November 22, the ChiefMinister made clear the inten-tions of his Government andexplained the reasons for therepeal of the Bill. He wasunambiguous while presentingthe case on the floor of theHouse.

Legal battles apart, theJagan Government felt thatsome people with vested inter-ests are disseminating misin-formation ever since the pol-icy was announced to havethree Capitals for the residual

state of Andhra Pradesh afterbifurcation of the undividedAndhra Pradesh State intoTelangana and AP. In fact, theGovernment had informedthe High Court just before therepeal bill was moved in theHouse and sought the consentand subsequently Governorhad given his assent to thedecentralization repeal bill.Keeping the development inmind, the Andhra PradeshHigh Court on Monday direct-ed petitioners to submit a

note on the relevance of thepetitions in view of theGovernor’s assent.

The main opposition,Telugu Desam Party, however,sponsored an agitation.Farmers of Amaravatimarched to Tirupati, prompt-ly drawing the attention offorces supporting the threeCapitals move to organize arally in the temple town tostrongly ventilate their point ofview.

In June 2020, the JaganGovernment enacted two sep-arate laws, the Andhra PradeshCapital Region Development(Repeal) Act aimed at abolish-ing the authority created by theprevious TDP government in2015 to develop Amaravati asthe state capital and the APDecentralisation and InclusiveDevelopment of All Regions

Act aimed at establishing threecapitals for the state — exec-utive capital at Visakhapatnam,judicial capital at Kurnool andlegislative capital at Amaravati.Now that the repeal bill gotassent of Governor, notwith-standing any future steps of theJagan government, Amaravatiwill be the Capital.

The AP Decentralisationand Inclusive Developmentof All Regions Act, 2020 wasmeant to have three seats ofgovernance, namelyLegislative, Executive andJudicial Capitals. It was initial-ly passed in the Assembly inJanuary 2020 but was thenreferred by the LegislativeCouncil to a select committee,which was not formed due tothe deep discord between theruling and opposition parties.It was passed in the Legislative

Assembly for the second timein June 2020. Further,Governor Biswa BhusanHarichandan gave his assent tothe relevant Bills in July, 2020.

During course of hearingon the petitions in High Court,the Union Home Ministryhas informed the AndhraPradesh High Court in August2020 that the capital city ofAndhra Pradesh was a matterto be decided by the state gov-ernment. The Centre has norole in it. An Under-Secretaryin the Union Home Ministry,Lalita T. Hedaoo, filed acounter-affidavit in the APHigh Court to this effect.

The counter-affidavitmentioned that under Section6 of AP Reorganisation Act,2014, the Union Governmenthad constituted an expertcommittee on March 28, 2014

under the chairmanship ofK.C. Sivaramakrishnan tostudy alternatives for a newcapital for the state of AndhraPradesh.

While this became histo-ry with the repeal of the billsin November last, the contro-versy is still going on as TDPhas dreams to get politicalmileage in the name of sup-porting the agitation by ahandful of farmers ofAmaravati area.

It is on record what theChief Minister said on thefloor of the House onNovember 22, that hisGovernment would bring a“comprehensive, complete andbetter” Decentralisation Bill.People who believe that JaganReddy would not go back onhis word have no ambiguity onwhat is going to happen.

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(The writer is Advisor,National Media and Inter

State Affairs, Government ofAndhra Pradesh. The views

expressed are personal.)

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Good riddance to 2021. Let2022 bring fresh hope.

That was a common senti-ment as people around theworld began welcoming in thenew year.

In many places, New Year’sEve celebrations were muted orcanceled for the second straightyear due to a surge of coron-avirus infections, this time dri-ven by the highly contagiousomicron variant. Even beforeomicron hit, many people werehappy to say goodbye to a sec-ond grinding year of the pan-demic.

But so far, at least, the omi-cron surge hasn’t resulted in thesame levels of hospitalizationsand deaths as previous out-breaks — especially amongvaccinated people — offering aglimmer of hope for 2022.

Australia went ahead withits celebrations despite anexplosion in virus cases.Thousands of fireworks lit upthe sky over Sydney’s HarborBridge and Opera House atmidnight in a spectacular dis-play.Hours before the celebra-tions began, Australian healthauthorities reported a record32,000 new virus cases, manyof them in Sydney.

Because of the surge,crowds were far smaller than inpre-pandemic years, when asmany as 1 million revelerswould crowd innerSydney.Neighboring NewZealand had earlier opted fora more low-key approach,replacing its fireworks show inAuckland with a lights displayprojected onto landmarksincluding the Sky Tower andHarbor Bridge.

While there hasn’t yet beenany community spread of omi-cron in New Zealand, author-ities still wanted to discouragecrowds gathering. Because ofwhere the international dateline sits, countries in Asia andthe Pacific region are amongthe first to usher in each newyear. In Japan, writer NaokiMatsuzawa said he would

spend the next few days cook-ing and delivering food to theelderly because some storeswould be closed. He said vac-cinations had made people lessanxious about the pandemic,despite the new variant.

“A numbness has set in,and we are no longer overlyafraid,” said Matsuzawa, wholives in Yokohama, southwestof Tokyo. “Some of us arestarting to take for granted thatit won’t happen to me.” Likemany other people, Matsuzawahopes that life will improve in2022.“I hope the restrictionscan disappear,” he said.

Across Japan, many peopleplanned to take new year tripsto spend time with their fam-ilies. On New Year’s Eve, peo-ple thronged temples andshrines, most of them wearingmasks.

Some appeared to beshrugging off virus fears, how-ever, by dining and drinkingraucously in downtown Tokyoand flocking to shops, cele-brating not only the holidaysbut a sense of exhilarationover being freed from recentvirus restrictions.In SouthKorea’s capital, Seoul, the annu-al New Year’s Eve bell-ringingceremony was canceled for thesecond straight year due to asurge in cases. Officials said apre-recorded video of thisyear’s bell-ringing ceremonywould instead be broadcastonline and on television. The

ceremony had previouslydrawn tens of thousands ofpeople. Last year’s cancellationwas the first since the ceremo-ny began in 1953. SouthKorean authorities alsoplanned to close many beach-es and other tourist attractionsalong the east coast, which usu-ally swarm with people hopingto catch year’s first sunrise.

Paris: Omicron hasbecome the main coronavirusstrain in France where thenumber of infections hassurged in the last few days, thecountry's public health agencyhas said. "62.4 percent of testsshowed a profile compatiblewith the Omicron variant" atthe start of this week, comparedto 15 percent the previousweek, the agency said in its lat-est weekly survey published lateThursday. The Omicron vari-ant's advance was expectedbecause it is highly contagiousand has become dominant inother European countriesincluding Britain andPortugal.The strain has con-tributed to the current flare-upin cases, which topped 200,000in the 24-hour period fromWednesday to Thursday.

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New coronavirus infectionssoared again in Australia

on Friday to a record of morethan 32,000, just days after sur-passing 10,000 for the firsttime.

Experts say the explosionis being driven by the highlycontagious omicron variantand a recent relaxation ofrestrictions in Sydney andother areas.

More than 15,000 of thenew cases were reported inSydney. Another 5,000 casescame from elsewhere in NewSouth Wales state, while almost6,000 were confirmed inVictoria state, home to the sec-ond largest city of Melbourne.

While hospitalizations anddeaths have been increasingfrom the surge, so far theyhaven’t reached comparativelevels seen in previous out-breaks.

And many cities wereplanning to go ahead withNew Year’s Eve celebrations,including the famous fire-works display from the SydneyHarbor Bridge and SydneyOpera House.

Authorities were expectingfar smaller crowds than inpre-pandemic years, when asmany as 1 million revelerswould crowd inner Sydney.

Prime Minister ScottMorrison remained upbeatdespite the rising virus num-bers and the many naturalchallenges the nation hasrecently faced.

“Despite the pandemic,despite the floods, the fires,continuing drought in someareas, the cyclones, the lock-downs, even mice plagues,Australia is stronger todaythan we were a year ago. Andwe’re safer,” Morrison said in aNew Year’s Eve message.

“We have one of the low-est death rates and the highestvaccination rates from COVIDanywhere in the world,” hesaid.

In New South Wales state,officials reported six newdeaths while 763 patients werehospitalized, including 69 inintensive care.

The state hasn’t been ableto keep up with demand fortests, leaving people to wait forhours. But state PremierDominic Perrottet said thehealth system was coping over-all. “While the case numbersare substantially increasing,compared to where we werewith the delta variant, ourposition remains incrediblystrong,” he said.

“Our number one priori-ty here in New South Wales isto keep our people safe andthat will continue to be our pri-ority as we move through thisnext phase.”

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In a sprawling settlement ofmud brick huts in western

Afghanistan housing peopledisplaced by drought and war,a woman is fighting to save herdaughter.

Aziz Gul’s husband soldtheir 10-year-old into mar-riage without telling his wife,taking a down-payment so hecould feed his family of fivechildren. Otherwise, he toldher, they would all starve. Hehad to sacrifice one to save therest. Many of Afghanistan’sgrowing number of destitutepeople are making such des-perate decisions as their nationspirals into a vortex of pover-ty.

Afghanistan’s aid-depen-dent economy was already tee-tering when the Taliban seizedpower in mid-August amid achaotic withdrawal of U.S. andNATO troops. The interna-tional community frozeAfghanistan’s assets abroad andhalted funding, unwilling towork with a Taliban govern-ment given its reputation forbrutality during its previousrule 20 years ago.

The consequences havebeen devastating for a countrybattered by war, drought andthe coronavirus pandemic.State employees haven’t beenpaid in months. Malnutritionstalks the most vulnerable, and

aid groups say more than halfthe population faces acute foodshortages. “Day by day, the sit-uation is deteriorating in thiscountry, and especially childrenare suffering,” said AsunthaCharles, national director of theWorld Vision aid organizationin Afghanistan, which runs ahealth clinic for displaced peo-ple near the western city ofHerat. “Today I have beenheartbroken to see that thefamilies are willing to sell theirchildren to feed other familymembers.”

Arranging marriages forvery young girls is common inthe region. The groom’s fami-ly pays money to seal the deal,and the child usually stayswith her parents until she is atleast around 15.

Yet with many unable toafford even basic food, somesay they’d allow prospectivegrooms to take very young girlsor are even trying to sell theirsons. Gul, unusually in thisdeeply patriarchal, male-dom-inated society, is resisting.Married off herself at 15, shesays she would kill herself if herdaughter, Qandi Gul, is takenaway. When her husband toldher he sold Qandi, “my heartstopped beating.

I wished I could have diedat that time, but maybe Goddidn’t want me to die,” Gul said,with Qandi by her side peeringshyly from beneath her sky-blue headscarf.

8��������������� �����,�����"��������4���������� BANGKOK: Members of

a China-centered Asian tradebloc that takes effect Jan. 1 arehoping the initiative, encom-passing about a third of worldtrade and business activity,will help power their recover-ies from the pandemic.

The 15-member Regionaland Comprehensive EconomicPartnership, or RCEP, includesChina, Japan, South Korea andmany other Asian countries. Itdoes not include the U.S. orIndia.

The deal slashes tariffs onthousands of products, stream-lining trade procedures andproviding mutual advantagesfor member nations. It alsotakes into account issues suchas e-commerce, intellectualproperty and government pro-curement. But it has less strin-gent labor and environmentalrequirements than thoseexpected of countries in theEuropean Union or the small-er Trans-Pacific Partnership,which includes many of thesame countries but not China.

RCEP is expected to boosttrade within the region by 2%,or $42 billion, both throughincreased trade and alsothrough diversion of trade astariff rules change, expertssay.The accord is a coup forChina, by far the biggest mar-ket in the region with morethan 1.3 billion people.

Extra help will be needed:Two years of lockdowns, bor-der closures, mandatory quar-antines and other restrictionshave cost millions of people

their jobs while also con-tributing to disruptions inmanufacturing and shippingthat are snarling supply chainsworldwide.Countries con-fronted with outbreaks of thefast-spreading omicron coron-avirus variant have reined inrecent moves to reopen tointernational travel.

Regional economies con-tracted by 1.5% in 2020.They’ve bounced back, with theAsian Development Bank fore-casting growth at 7.0% this year— boosted by low year-beforefigures. But next year growth isexpected to slow to 5.3%.

The pandemic slowedprogress in ratifying the tradedeal for some countries. Chinawas the first to ratify RCEP, inApril, after it was signed inNovember 2020 at a virtualmeeting of leaders from its 15member countries. Indonesia,Malaysia and Phlippines haveyet to do so, though they areexpected to ratify it soon.Myanmar, whose governmentwas ousted by military on Feb.1, ratified it but that is pendingacceptance by other members.

Beijing is fully prepared forthe new trading bloc, havingalready fulfilled 701 “bindingobligations” for RCEP, Chinesevice minister for commerceRen Hongbin said Thursday.“RCEP is of great significancebuilding new development pat-terns and a milestone in open-ing up our economy,” Ren saidaccording to a transcript of anews conference on the min-istry’s website. AP

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The Tibetan government-in-exile on Friday asked China

to "stop growling" over the Tibetissue and said if it is seriousabout the wellbeing of Tibetanpeople and then it should actpositively to resolve the conflictthrough dialogue.

This comes as media reportsstated that Chinese Embassy inDelhi expressed 'concern' overthe participation of IndianMembers of Parliament in anevent hosted by the TibetanParliament-in-exile in nationalcapital.

Reports said several MPs,across party lines, had attendedthe event last week in Delhi.Taking to Twitter, TenzinLekshay, the spokesperson of theTibetan government-in-exile,slammed China, saying that"India's constant solidarity forTibet makes China uneasy."

"As for All Party IndianParliamentary Forum for Tibet,it was initiated by Shri MCChagla in 1970 and now chairedby BJD MP Sujeet Kumar. Manygreat Indian leaders supportedTibet in the past, & many moresupports now," he said in atweet.

While rebuking Beijing, thespokesperson said "China muststop growling here and there alltime." "If they are serious aboutwellbeing of Tibet and Tibetanpeople, time has come for themto act positively to resolve Sino-Tibetan conflict through dia-logue," he added.Moreover, thespokesperson added Tibet issueis "certainly not an internalissue" of China.

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WILMINGTON, Del:President Joe Biden has warnedRussia’s Vladimir Putiin thatU.S. could impose new sanc-tions against Russia if it takesfurther military action againstUkraine, while Putin respond-ed that such a U.S. move couldlead to a complete rupture ofties between the nations.

The two leaders spokefrankly for nearly an hourThursday amid growing alarmover Russia’s troop buildupnear Ukraine, a crisis that hasdeepened as the Kremlin hasstiffened its insistence on bor-der security guarantees andtest-fired hypersonic missiles tounderscore its demands.

Further U.S. sanctions“would be a colossal mistakethat would entail grave conse-quences,” said Putin’s foreignaffairs adviser Yuri Ushakov,who briefed reporters inMoscow after the Biden-Putinphone conversation.

He added that Putin toldBiden that Russia would act asthe U.S. would if offensiveweapons were deployed nearAmerican borders.WhiteHouse officials offered a farmore muted post-call readout,suggesting the leaders agreedthere are areas where the twosides can make meaningfulprogress but also differencesthat might be impossible toresolve.

White House press secre-tary Jen Psaki said Biden“urged Russia to de-escalatetensions with Ukraine” and“made clear that the UnitedStates and its allies and partnerswill respond decisively if Russiafurther invades Ukraine.”

Putin requested the call,the second between the leadersthis month, ahead of scheduledtalks between senior U.S. andRussian officials Jan. 9 and 10in Geneva. The Geneva talkswill be followed by a meetingof the Russia-NATO Councilon Jan. 12 and negotiations atthe Organization for Securityand Co-operation in Europe inVienna on Jan. 13.

White House officials saidThursday’s call lasted 50 min-utes, ending after midnight inMoscow. Biden told Putin thetwo powers now face “twopaths”: diplomacy or Americandeterrence through sanctions,according to a senior admin-istration official.

Biden said the route taken,according to the official whobriefed reporters on the con-dition of anonymity, will“depend on Russia’s actions inthe period ahead.”

Russia has made clear itwants a written commitmentthat Ukraine will never beallowed to join NATO and thatthe alliance’s military equip-ment will not be positioned informer Soviet states. AP

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Russia test-fired around 10new Tsirkon (Zircon)

hypersonic cruise missilesfrom a frigate and two morefrom a submarine, Interfaxnews agency said on Fridayciting northern fleet.

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin has lauded theweapon as part of a new gen-eration of unrivalled armssystems.

Putin has called a missiletest, conducted last week, "abig event in the country'slife", adding that this was "asubstantial step" in increasingRussia's defence capabilities.

Some Western expertshave questioned howadvanced Russia's new gen-eration of weapons is, whilerecognising that the combi-nation of speed, manoeuvra-bility and altitude of hyper-sonic missiles makes themdifficult to track and inter-cept.

Putin announced an arrayof new hypersonic weapons in2018 in one of his most bel-licose speeches in years, say-ing they could hit almost anypoint in the world and evadea U.S.-built missile shield.

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BERLIN: Germany onFriday is shutting down half ofthe six nuclear plants it still hasin operation, a year before thecountry draws the final curtainon its decades-long use ofatomic power. The decision tophase out nuclear power andshift from fossil fuels to renew-able energy was first taken bythe center-left government ofGerhard Schroeder in 2002.

His successor, AngelaMerkel, reversed her decisionto extend the lifetime ofGermany’s nuclear plants in thewake of the 2011 Fukushimadisaster in Japan and set 2022as the final deadline for shut-ting them down.

The three reactors nowbeing shuttered were first pow-ered up in the mid-1980s.Together they provided elec-tricity to millions of Germanhouseholds for almost fourdecades.

One of the plants —Brokdorf, located about 40kilometers (25 miles) north-west of Hamburg on the ElbeRiver—became a particularfocus of anti-nuclear proteststhat were fueled by 1986Chernobyl catastrophe inSoviet Union. The other twoplants are Grohnde, about 40kilometers south of Hannover,and Grundremmingen, 80kilometers west of Munich.

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���������� �����+���� ��+�6����� �5 �����New Delhi: Heeding todemands made by severalstates, the GST Council onFriday put on hold a decision tohike the tax rate on textiles to12 per cent and referred to apanel of state ministers to rec-ommend rate by February,Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said.

The panel, the highestdecision-making body for indi-rect taxes, met under emer-gency provisions after statesmade a request for deferring thetax rate hike on textiles, fromthe current 5 per cent, to beeffective from January 1, 2022.

Currently, the tax rate onmanmade fibre (MMF) is 18per cent, MMF yarn 12 percent, while fabrics are taxed at5 per cent. In the Council meetin September, it was also decid-ed that a 12 per cent uniformGST rate would apply on tex-tile products, except cotton,including readymade garments.

Briefing reporters afterthe Council meeting calledunder 'emergency provisions",Sitharaman said the Councilhad in September decided to

correct the duty inversion intextiles with effect from January2022.

"From Decemberonwards... Representationsstarted coming and onDecember 29, letter also camefrom the Gujarat FM and there-fore the emergency meeting(was called). The decision of theemergency Council meetingtoday is that we retain the sta-tus quo and not go to 12 percent, from 5 per cent, meaningdon't do the correction now incase of textiles," she said.

Sitharaman said states alsoraised the issue of long-termways by which the Councilcould look at correcting dutyinversion and also have a planfor revenue generation.

"The decision of theCouncil was that the rate ratio-nalisation committee wouldalso look at textiles in theirreview, and submit the reportby February which I agree tohave it circulated to all minis-ters and post that to hold eitherat end February or sometime inMarch a Council meeting inwhich the committee's recom-

mendation or report will be dis-cussed," she said.

The Group of Ministers onrate rationalisation is headed byKarnataka Chief MinisterBasavaraj Bommai, and alsoinclude Finance Ministers ofWest Bengal, Kerala and Bihar.

Stating that every stateagreed that there is a dutyinversion in textiles and thereis a need to correct it,Sitharaman said "the overridingpush" was probably because acertain segment of the textileindustry said it would imme-diately cause an increase in theprice. "That is why it hasgone back to the committee toactually do a more indepthstudy and come and present itto the Council," she said, addingthere are many complexities intaxation of textiles. States likeGujarat, West Bengal, Delhi,Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,Chhattisgarh and AndhraPradesh have said they are notin favour of a hike in Goods andServices Tax (GST) rate ontextiles to 12 per cent, from 5per cent, with effect fromJanuary 1, 2022. PTI

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Mumbai: India's current accountslipped into a deficit of USD 9.6 bil-lion or 1.3 per cent of GDP in theSeptember quarter, the Reserve Banksaid on Friday.

The current account, whichrecords the value of exports andimports of both goods and servicesalong with international transfers ofcapital, was in a surplus mode both inthe quarter-ago and year-ago periods.

India's current account surplushad stood at USD 6.6 billion or 0.9 percent of GDP in the April-June 2021quarter, while in the year-ago period(Q2FY22), the surplus had stood atUSD 15.3 billion or 2.4 per cent of theGDP, the data said.

For the first half of the fiscal year,India recorded a current accountdeficit of 0.2 per cent of GDP as againsta surplus of 3 per cent in the year-agoperiod, on the back of a sharp increasein the trade deficit, the RBI said in thedata on Balance of Payments.

In the reporting quarter, thedeficit was mainly due to widening oftrade deficit to USD 44.4 billion fromUSD 30.7 billion in the precedingquarter, and an increase in net outgoof investment income, the RBI said.

Net services receipts decreasedmarginally over the preceding quarterbut increased on a year-on-year basis,on the back of robust performance ofthe exports of computer and businessservices, it added.

Private transfer receipts, whichmainly represent remittances byIndians employed overseas, increased3.7 per cent over the year-ago periodto USD 21.1 billion, it said.

The net foreign direct investment(FDI) during the quarter recorded aninflow of USD 9.5 billion, much lowerthan the USD 24.4 billion a year ago,it said, adding that for the first half ofthe fiscal, the FDI inflows stood atUSD 21.2 billion as against USD 23.9billion for the year-ago period.

Net foreign portfolio investmentduring the September quarter wasUSD 3.9 billion as compared to USD7 billion in the year-ago period. For thefirst half the fiscal, the portfolioinvestment recorded a net inflow ofUSD 4.3 billion which was lowerthan the USD 7.6 billion a year ago.

External commercial borrowingson a net basis recorded an inflow ofUSD 4.1 billion in the quarter, asagainst an outflow of USD 3.7 billiona year ago, while non-resident depositsrecorded a net outflow of USD 0.8 bil-lion as against an inflow of USD 1.9billion in the year-ago period, the RBIsaid.

There was an accretion of USD31.2 billion in the forex reserves on aBoP basis which included SpecialDrawing Rights allocation of USD17.86 billion by the InternationalMonetary Fund on August 23, itsaid. PTI

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Output of eight core sectorsrose by 3.1 per cent in

November as against a con-traction of 1.1 per cent in thesame month last year, accord-ing to government data releasedon Friday.

Barring crude oil andcement, all other sectors record-ed positive growth inNovember. InOctober, these core sectors'output had grown by 8.4 percent.

The growth rate of theeight infrastructure sectors --coal, crude oil, natural gas,refinery products, fertilisers,steel, cement and electricity --stood at 13.7 per cent duringApril-November this fiscal asagainst a negative growth of11.1 per cent during the sameperiod last fiscal.

According to the data,coal production rose by 8.2 percent, natural gas by 23.7 percent, refinery products 4.3 percent, fertilisers by 2.5 per cent,steel by 0.8 per cent, and elec-tricity by 1.5 per cent inNovember.

New Delhi: The Governmenton Friday kept interest rates onsmall savings schemes, includ-ing NSC and PPF, unchangedfor the fourth quarter of 2021-22 amid rising cases of the morecontagious coronavirus variantOmicron and elevated level ofinflation.

The decision also comesahead of Assembly elections infive States -- Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Punjab, HimachalPradesh and Goa. The scheduleof elections is expected to beannounced early next month.

Public Provident Fund(PPF) and National SavingsCertificate (NSC) will contin-ue to carry an annual interestrate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 percent, respectively, in the fourthquarter as well. "The ratesof interest on various small sav-ings schemes for the third quar-ter of the financial year 2021-

22 starting from January 1,2022, and ending on March 31,2022, shall remain unchangedfrom the current rates applica-ble for the third quarter(October 1, 2021 to December31, 2021) for FY 2021-22," thefinance ministry said in a noti-fication.

According to analysts, thegovernment has kept ratesintact in view of upcomingassembly elections in five states.

Uttar Pradesh is the secondhighest contributor to the smallsavings scheme after WestBengal.

Earlier this year, during theWest Bengal assembly polls, theCentre decided to reduce theinterest rate. But the financeministry swiftly revoked a steepinterest rate cut of up to 1.1 percent for the first quarter onsmall savings schemes, citingoversight. PTI

Mumbai: The rupee rose by 13paise to close at 74.29 againstthe US dollar on the last trad-ing session of 2021, trackingpositive domestic equities amidyear-end dollar selling by banksand exporters.

The rupee, however,closed the 2021 year with over-all losses of 122 paise or 1.67per cent due to a rise in crudeoil prices and firming up USbond yields amid expectationsof rate hike by the US FederalReserve to rein in inflation. The

rupee had closed at 73.07 onDecember 31, 2020.

The local unit on thelast trading day of 2021 openedat 74.35 against the greenbackat the interbank foreignexchange market and witnessedan intra-day high of 74.10 anda low of 74.38. It finally settledat 74.29, a rise of 13 paise.

In the previous session,the rupee surged 29 paise toclose at a more than one-month high of 74.42 against theUS dollar. PTI

New Delhi: Gold price in the national capital on Friday gained�144 to � 46,874 per 10 gram in line with strong internationalprecious metal prices, according to HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, the yellow metal settled at � 46,730per 10 gram.

Silver also jumped �664 to �61,015 per kg from � 60,351 perkg in the previous trade. In the international market, goldwas trading with gains at USD 1,816 per ounce and silver wasflat at USD 23.15 per ounce.

"Gold prices traded firm with spot gold prices at COMEXtrading 0.11 per cent up at USD 1,816 per ounce on Friday,"HDFC Securities, Senior Analyst (Commodities), Tapan Patelsaid. PTI

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��.��������������A���%����%&-!�%�������=���Mumbai: Using ATMs beyond the permissible free

transactions for cash as well as non-cash purpos-es will cost more from Saturday.

As per the Reserve Bank directive issued inJune, the banking customers would be required topay �21 per transaction with effect from January1, 2022 for transactions beyond the free permis-sible limit. Presently, banks are allowed to chargeRs 20 for such transactions through ATMs.

Customers would, however, continue to be eli-gible for five free transactions (inclusive of finan-cial and non-financial transactions) every monthfrom their own bank ATMs. They would also beeligible for three free transactions from other bankATMs in metro centres and five in non-metro cen-tres.

The RBI had earlier allowed banks to increaseinterchange fee per transaction from �15 to � 17for financial transactions and from �5 to � 6 fornon-financial transactions in all centres with effectfrom August 1, 2021.

The charges have been increased to meet theincreasing cost of ATM deployment and expens-es towards ATM maintenance incurred bybanks/white label ATM operators, as also consid-ering the need to balance expectations of stake-holder entities and customer convenience.It may be noted here that the central bank had setup a committee in June 2019 under theChairmanship of the Chief Executive, Indian Banks'Association to review the entire gamut ofAutomated Teller Machine (ATM) charges and feeswith particular focus on interchange structure forATM transactions. There were 1,15,605 onsiteATMs and 97,970 off-site automated tellermachines as on March 31, 2021. PTI

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When Shreedhar BS (betterknown as Shred) wasapproached by the NGO

Vihaan to make a film on traffick-ing, he took the animation route.The outcome Reena Ki Kahani wasreleased on YouTube as, without apaywall, it was bound to have a bet-ter reach among the target audience.Shred will also be organising a freescreening of the film in 1,000 Indianschools from the first week ofJanuary.

The nine-and-a-half-minutefilm focusses on the horrors ofhuman trafficking and the wayagents, which lurk amongst us, trapvictims. The film also talks abouthow to understand potential threatsof human trafficking and avoidthem

Based on the real-life story ofReena, the film traces her path frombeing a girl with dreams to herentrapment into the flesh tradeand subsequent rescue. It also shedslight on the different vulnerabilitiesthat facilitate such crimes, like falsepromises and the lure of a better lifefor girls from the weaker sections ofsociety. It showcases how traffick-ers connive to prey on possible vic-

tims. At another level, this film isalso a story of survival, givinginsights into how such situations canbe detected and avoided as well asthe way to identify victims andoppressors.

It was not surprising thatVihaan, which has rescued over4,700 survivors of human traffick-ing narrowed down on the directorof Shred Creative Lab PrivateLimited to make this film to createawareness. Shred has over 22 yearsof experience in films, television,digital content, branding, and mar-keting. Known for innovative anddisruptive ideas, Shred has workedclosely with international brandssuch as Turner Broadcast UK,National Geographic - International,Fox, Ford - APAC, BMW - India,Sony Motion Pictures -London/USA and many more.

The winner of 43 National andInternational awards for creativeexcellence, SCL embodiesShreedhar’s vision to create innov-ative and path-breaking visual com-munication. Shred earlier was thedirector of Salt Studios PrivateLimited and creative director for theNational Geographic Channel as

well as Fox International Channels.Earlier this year his documentary, InOur World, which highlighted thelives of three autistic children wasthe official selection and premieredat the 51st International FilmFestival of India (IFFI) Goa. It alsowas screened in Bollywood FestivalNorway and NYC Virtual SouthAsia Film Festival (SAFF) and isscheduled to screen in many forth-coming film festivals globally.

Excerpts from an interview:

�Why did you decide to take theanimation route for this film?Was it to ensure that it reachedmore people?

It was animated because I want-ed parents to see it and wanted themto encourage children to see it.When the NGO approached me forthis film, the first thought was to doa real-life documentary on the res-

cue of these children. But later thethought was that such a film wouldnever reach children and they wouldnot be aware of the dangers that lurkor the kind of dangers that they areexposed to. So, it was a better ideato make it animated while makingit less morbid and more sensitive sothat it could be seen by children. So,that was the entire thought behindmaking it an animation film.

�So, is it primarily looking at chil-dren?

It is looking at everyone.Children, parents and adults. I did-n’t want to isolate anyone when Iwas making it. I chose folk art as anart form for the animation so thatit could relate to the region wherethe incident took place. Since it wasin Bengal, we chose folk art from theState. We tried to connect with thechildren from that region and madeit shorter because the virality ismore. It was released on YouTube sothat at least the link could beshared. It can be screened onmobiles and in schools. So, we hada lot of thoughts about the kind ofart to use and the kind of animationto use.

�How long did it take, from thestoryboard to execution to makethe film?

It actually took us longer thanwe thought. It took three-fourmonths. Each of these boards washand-drawn separately. Once theboard was drawn, it was animated.We had to make it sensitive and talkabout each topic that involveshuman trafficking. We had to do alot of research, hear a lot of storiesfrom them and find what kind ofthings had to be highlighted. So, wetalked about all kinds of trafficking,what all leads to it. We choseReena’s story because she was oneof the people who were rescued andnow she has moved on to a life ofher own. We wanted to talk aboutsomething positive and bring thegirl at the end of the film where shesays that, ‘I am fine now. And peo-ple need to fight against this kindof crime,’ to give it some kind ofcompletion.

�You have used folk art fromBengal. Did you get actual prac-titioners on board?

I have a team of artists but wedid refer to some artists in Mumbaiwho could draw this and guide us.We asked them for help.

�The film had a very nostalgicDoordarshan vibe where we werereminded of films like Ek Chidiya,Anek Chidiya and others. Was thatdeliberate?

We miss those films, don’t we?I wanted to go back to that. Thiswas a conscious effort where Iwanted to make a film of thatnature. It had to be linear story-telling. I did not want to dramatise

anything. The primary audiencewas children. We remember thosefilms because they were not toonon-linear or classy. It was a linearnarrative and all of them taught ussomething. There was always amoral at the end. These were in ourminds when we were making it. Iam not denying that.

�Several reports indicate thattrafficking has increased duringthe lockdown as the financial sit-uation became very desperateduring the lockdown.

A lot of desperation set in fortoo many people. Many did nothave work, others could not go outand work. There were severalpainful stories, that I heard fromthe NGOs, that parents gave awaytheir children thinking that the girlwould earn some money to run thehouse. The vulnerabilities werehigh during this period. Peoplewere available for exploitationbecause of a lack of money, parentslosing their jobs. When emotion-al stress was high as parents won-dered how they would run thehouse, children volunteered to goand look for work in Mumbai orKolkata without realising the dan-ger or what they are getting into.Such situations put people in aplace where they are potential tar-gets for these guys.

�Future projects?I am writing a Malayalam fea-

ture film on caste atrocities thathappened in the early 20th centu-ry. This is a horror thriller is basedon folklore. This is about the riseof communism and a police inves-tigation into serial killing.

The 52nd edition of the InternationalFilm Festival of India (IFFI) turned

out to be a mega spectacle as topBollywood stars celebrated 75 years ofIndian Independence, its diversity,and the evolution of Indian Cinema.The ‘India 75’ evening was hosted byKaran Johar and Maniesh Paul. Popularactors like Salman Khan, RanveerSingh, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish andGenelia Deshmukh, and Mouni Roydazzled at this prestigious star-studdedsoirée.

Kapoor’s act celebrated the strengthand achievement of Indian womenthrough songs like Aaj Main Upar, KarHar Maidaan Fateh, and Des Rangila.

Talking about her experience atIndia 75 - 52nd IFFI, the actressshares, “We have seen an absolute evo-lution in the way we tell stories on thescreen, and it warms my heart thatwomen have been a constant part ofthis process. I have grown up admir-

ing our cinema but one thing that Ihave personally noticed is how womenhave shaped the growth trajectory.They have been an integral part of notjust cinema but the overall growth ofthe nation. So, with my performance,Shakti: The power of Indian women, weare celebrating the strength andachievements of Indian women, theirsignificance in the world of cinema,and overall evolution.”

Adding on to the festivities, MouniRoy's graceful portrayal of India'sdiverse sub-cultures, showcasing thedifferent shades and flavours of India

through her enchanting act to VandeMataram, Shubhaarambh, and JiyaJale won everyone’s heart.

Talking about her performance, Royexpresses, “With the inherent diversi-ty of India, cinema here has grown tobe the closest window to our rich cul-ture. Cinema, today, is surely the mostinfluential — a combination of a widespectrum of art forms including music,dance, storytelling. Personally, I havealways preferred dance to narrate myemotions, the grace, unspokenthoughts, and the ease to emote reallyadd to the experience. My perfor-mance will showcase different shadesand regional flavours of India. It’s allabout celebrating the unity in diversi-ty, fiery spirit of Indian cinema, and itstimeless extravagant charm.”

(The celebration, in collaborationwith Zee Live, a cine salaam, is sched-uled to simulcast on Zee Cinema andZee TV on January 2, 2022 at 8 pm.)

With 83, actor Ranveer Singhhas achieved new heights.

His filmography exudes versatili-ty, a risk-taking attitude and andrange that sets him apart from therest. From Band Baaja Baarat toRam Leela, from Bajirao Mastanito portraying Alauddin Khilji inPadmaavat, from Simmba to GullyBoy and now 83, in which he dis-solves on screen to become theIndian cricketing legend KapilDev, the actor has wowed every-one with his shape-shifting artistryfilm after film.

Ask him what drives him toportray characters that have con-stantly etched their place in the his-

tory of Indian cinema, Singh says,“I have taken some really bigrisks. It does nothing for me ifthere is no high risk involved.Higher the risk, higher the pay-off.I am like a free flowing spirit. Idon’t wish to be defined becauseI feel putting a person in a box islimiting. I am consciously and sub-consciously shaping my filmogra-phy. And I am going to do moreof this because there is no otherway. I am really hoping that thefilmmakers continue to give mesuch roles where I can really dosomething.”

The superstar adds, “Today, itsbeen 20 years plus for a film like

Lagaan but I remember Lagaan. Iremember the film, the characters.So, for me, it’s important to docharacters that have an ever-last-ing memory and that continue togive joy to people over generationslike my favourite film, Life isBeautiful, that I can watch n num-ber of times, it still touches myheart. Films that can make you

laugh, cry and entertain you for-ever and ever — those are the filmsthat I aspire to be a part of. I aman actor first, before being a star.”

Singh will be next seen inYRF’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Shankar’sremake of his blockbuster Anniyan,Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus and KaranJohar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki PremKahani.

The film industry is finallybeginning to see hope and

revival on the horizon after twolong, challenging pandemic hityears. As theatres slowly begin toopen, there is anticipation in theair with audiences eagerly await-ing the return of their favouritestars to the silver screen. Here isour pick of the films that wemost want to see in the monthsto come.

Laal Singh ChaddhaLaal Singh Chaddha has been

in the news for its diverse loca-tions, long and gruelling shoot-ing schedule, delays due to thepandemic and the perfectionistAamir Khan’s unbelievable trans-formation into the titular charac-ter. This long-awaited comedy-drama is directed by AdvaitChandan from a screenplay writ-ten by Eric Roth and AtulKulkarni. The film is produced byAamir Khan Productions,Viacom18 Studios andParamount Pictures and is theofficial adaptation of the 1994 filmForrest Gump (based on WinstonGroom's 1986 novel of the samename). The film also starsKareena Kapoor and NagaChaitanya in his Hindi film debut.

Gangubai KathiawadiIf the first trailer of this bio-

graphical crime drama is anythingto go by, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’sGangubai Kathiawadi will be aspectacle unlike any other.Powered by yet another unforget-table performance by Alia Bhatt,the film is produced by Bhansalihimself and Jayantilal Gada. It alsostars Vijay Raaz, Indira Tiwari andSeema Pahwa with Ajay Devgnand Emraan Hashmi featuring inextended cameo appearances.The story etches the journey ofyoung Ganga who battles circum-stances to become Gangubai, themadame who rules the red lightarea of Kamathipura with aniron fist. The film, loosely basedon S Hussain Zaidi's book MafiaQueens of Mumbai is set to releasein Hindi and will be dubbed inTelugu as well. The film is sched-uled for worldwide release intheatres on February 18, 2022.

Looop LapetaLooop Lapeta is the official

Hindi remake of the 1998German cult classic Run LolaRun . Directed by AakashBhatia and jointly produced bySony Pictures Films India,Ellipsis Entertainment andAayush Maheshwari, the filmfeatures Taapsee Pannu andTahir Raj Bhasin in lead roles.It will be interesting to see howthe f i lm re interprets thepremise of the Tom Tykweroriginal in the Indian contextand how Taapsee's ever reliablehistrionics channel the charac-ter made famous by FrankaPotente. We can't wait to watchhow the film captures a frenet-ic race against time and justhow one determined womandefies the clock to save a lovedone's life.

MajorMajor is a rousing tale of

courage and recounts theevents leading up to the ulti-mate sacr i f ice of MajorSandeep Unnikrishnan duringthe 26/11 attacks in 2008.Painstakingly researched andfilmed with great attention toMajor Unnikrishnan's extraor-

dinary life, this biographicalaction film is directed by SashiKiran Tikka and produced bySony Pictures Films India, GMahesh Babu Entertainmentand A+S Movies. Shot simulta-neously in Telugu and Hindiand later dubb ed intoMalayalam, the film starsAdivi Sesh in the titular role.Adivi is also making his Hindifilm debut with Major and haseven written the screenplay ofthe film.

RRRRRR is an upcoming Indian

Telugu period action dramadirected by S S Rajamouli, andproduced by D V V Danayya ofDVV Entertainments. The filmstars N T Rama Rao Jr, RamCharan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhattand Oliv ia Morr is whi leSamuthirakani, Alison Doody,Ray Stevenson and ShriyaSaran play supporting roles.This is a larger-than-life fic-tional narration of two Indianrevolutionaries, Alluri SitaramaRaju (Charan) and KomaramBheem (Rama Rao). Set in1920, the film is expected to bea visual treat and a rousingentertainer.

For Bollywood actress ParineetiChopra, 2021 was a memorable year

as she reminded people that when itcomes to risk-taking, cliche-shatteringprojects, she will always them head on.Parineeti, who had established herselfas a stereotype breaking leading ladyhaving started her career with filmslike Ishaqzaade, Hasee Toh Phasee, andso on, showed audiences her widerange of acting skills throughacclaimed films like Sandeep AurPinky Faraar, The Girl on the Train andSaina this year.

Chopra shares, “It’s a year filledwith gratitude for me. 2021 was the yearI had been waiting for, having taken thebiggest plunge of my career in theforms of Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, The

Girl on the Train and Saina and thank-fully, each one of them paid off. 2021made me realise that audiences expectme to be clutter-breaking and I could-n’t agree with them more; I am morethankful to them for showering mewith all the love for my performances.”

She adds, “It’s been a year that hasbolstered my belief in picking subjectsthat are remarkably ahead of thecurve and present me in the mostunique way on screen. I am blessedthat makers, producers and my fansdidn’t give up on me, and pushed meto do my best work.”

The actress will be seen next infilms like Uunchai with AmitabhBachchan, and Animal oppositeRanbir Kapoor.

We all have plans for celebrating New Year’salready, and our Bollywood stars too

have chalked out what they’re going to do tobring in style. Most b’town celebs have movedout of Mumbai to ring in the New Year eve withtheir friends and family members, some celebri-ties are heading to exotic locations to celebratethe coming year, but from what we hear, ManojBajpayee will be home with his family and closefriends to welcome 2022.

The actor has taken some time off from hisbusy schedule to spend some quality time withhis family who matter the most. The Family Manstar decided to stay home and celebrate the NewYear’s eve with his family and some closefriends to give his final salute to 2021. 2021 wasa very hectic and busy year for Bajpayee and hewas hardly getting time to be home with his wifeand daughter.

He also went to meet his mother in Delhi,whom he met after his fathers death. There aresome mixed feelings — when the year is end-ing — some sadness of losing his father who washis pillar of strength and support from his child-hood, yet there are feelings of gratefulness forhis family and his global success. Tremendousreviews were garnered by him for his perfor-mance in Abhishek Choubey’s Hangama Kyo HaiBarpa (RAY), Success Of Silence and Dial 100.He had also received a national award forBhonsle.

Moreover, Bajpayee has a great line up wait-ing for him this year and will be seen in differ-ent characters to surprise the audience.

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the planters in the region. Whenwe reached the spot, a basicstructure — with a sitting areaand a table covered with a bluechecks tablecloth and tiffin car-riers placed on top alongside cut-lery wrapped in napkins —greeted us. Each of the contain-ers had a separate course —salad, mains and a dessert. Assoon as I segregated them, a dis-tinct aroma mingled in themoisture-laden air. The mainsconsisted of a parcel of food,cooked in a banana leaf whichgave off a mildly woody smell.This mingled with the aroma ofmeat. The dish, called lamprais,is an addition to the Sri Lankanlexicon by the Dutch Burghers,a small group of European-ori-gin settlers who have called theisland-nation their home sincethe 16th century. I felt satiated aseach of the taste buds and theolfactory had been invigorated.On cue, the mist rolled in lend-ing the place a mystical aura. Imade my way back in an almostdrunken stupor as the food andthe heady smells wafting fromthe tea shrubs and the plants

������*������Since I was tired, I settled for

a salad and the chef made a spec-tacular one. Suffice it to say, Icould have munched on to it forevery meal during my timehere. At dinner, Kosala, thebungalow chef, also enquiredabout both my lunch and dinnerpreferences. I decided to golocal to dive deeply into the cul-ture and opted for the tradition-al hoppers (appam) paired withsambol, a savoury dish of grat-ed coconut. Though delicious, itwas the location that made iteven more scrumptious. Thetable, set up in the verandah,overlooked the gardens and thevast expanse of the reservoir.Jagath told me about the place’sIndia connect as all the tea gar-dens are owned by the Ambanisand are on a 99-year lease. Butmy attention didn’t waver fromthe panorama before me and theinvigorating whiff of greeneryand flowers that were such arefreshing change from my lifewhere screen time has primacy.

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EMI. Bills. Fees.Deadlines. Work.Office. Home. Therat-a-tat of the wood-pecker in my head

intruded my consciousness evenas the vista of lush green in frontof me vied for attention. Theroad, lonely and meanderingwith manicured tea gardensbordering it, stretched beforeme. Lalith, the naturalist,assigned to show me around,egged me on with the promis-es of a delicious yet unique teaplanter’s tiffin lunch at a scenic spot. But then, thisincident is strictly not in linewith the way things unfoldedchronologically during my visitto Sri Lanka. And this can be aslight irritant for a student of his-tory who believes that the pastcasts its shadow (or in thiscase, lights up the road) on thepresent. The previous eveningI had landed at the Tea Trails,near Hatton, which comprisesfive restored colonial tea planterbungalows perched at an alti-tude of 1,250 metres. Afterbeing restored by ResplendentCeylon, these became the firstof the three resorts run by theFernando family known as thefounders of Dilmah CeylonTea. The three resorts under thebanner — Ceylon Tea Trails,Cape Weligama and Wild CoastTented Lodge, Yala — are theonly Sri Lankan members of theRelais & Chateaux, the globalfellowship of individually ownedand operated luxury hotels and restaurants.

� �� � +/�' #/ ���"�The longish journey

became even more circuitous asno direct flights were available.With travelling opening up tothe Emerald Isle, with due pre-cautions, everyone and theiraunt were making a beeline toSri Lanka. Thanks to that — andas just one flight from Delhi wasoperational by the island’snational carrier — I foundmyself travelling via Mumbai toColombo before undertaking aroad trip of almost five hoursacross looping roads to reachSummerville, the bungalow thatwas to be my abode for twonights. It was way past dusk andthe rain too obscured the viewa bit as I alighted. But thewarmth of the welcome, whereumbrellas snapped open toshield me from the moistureeven before I stepped out elicit-ed a smile despite the exhaus-tion.

��*� �����+And we skipped to the

good part... almost immediate-ly. The bungalow’s doors openedinto a long corridor, that wasflanked by rooms on eitherside. The carpeted floor —wherever exposed — was tiledin rust, the walls had myriadsketches of flora and fauna. Butit was the living room thatpractically transported me backin time. It was reminiscent of themany bungalows in theCantonment area of Kanpur (or

Cawnpore, if you please) whereI spent a good (and favourite)part of my childhood. A gramo-phone perched on a woodenside table, a Phillips radio withdials, a rotary phone were justsome of the specific elementsthat heightened the feeling ofreliving the days of the Raj.Classical English music, thoughplayed from an i-Phone subtlytucked away behind a corner,further upped the ante whichhad been set by the well-pol-ished and comfortably uphol-stered furniture.

Despite my modern attire,I could almost imagine myselfas a pucca British parasol-car-rying memsahib visiting anoutpost of the Empire.

The bungalows — calledCastlereagh, Norwood, Tientsinand Dunkeld besidesSummerville — are betweentwo and 15 km apart, with 27rooms and suites in all.Overlooking the CastlereaghReservoir, each has a staff ofabout 12-14 people to maintainit. One can take up the entirebungalow or just one room, eachof which is named after a planter

who lived and worked on one ofthe estates. Mine, calledGoddard, opened out into aspectacular personal garden.The centrepiece, though, was therather dreamy canopy bed.“Exquisite,” I muttered out a tadtoo loudly for it was absolutelove at first sight.

The elegant bathrooms withrust, black and white patternedtiles had fittings that were insync with the place. Interestingly,unlike other hotels, there was nophone to call room service.One had to ring the bell to sum-mon the butler to ask for prac-tically anything under the sun...and it would materialise in ajiffy.

Jagath, the bungalow exec-utive, was my very own genie todo my bidding. The level of per-sonalisation means that thereisn’t a set menu.

The chef discusses andcurates each as per your prefer-ence and taste. Despite that,nothing was over the top. It wassubtle luxury that whisperedclass in hushed tones rather thanproclaiming it from the top ofgilded tables.

Post breakfast, descendingsome steps led me to a small jettyto board a powerboat whichraced across the CastlereaghReservoir to deposit me on theother side where I met Lalith, thenaturalist. The human version ofsunny side up, he pointed outplants and asked me to guesstheir names. His broad smiledidn’t waver when I failed mis-erably at the task.

The hike up went throughmanicured tea gardens, oftenbordered by trumpet vines invibrant shades of pink, yellow,orange and white. The view ofthe reservoir against a backdropof lush green mountains on theopposite side, made me wonderif anyone could dispute SriLanka being called the EmeraldIsle. On our way up, we also vis-ited Dunkeld and Castlereaghbungalows. While there was ageneral air of similarity toSummerville, each had a distinctpersonality that makes the placeperfect for a revisit by just opt-ing for a different bungalow eachtime.

But I was trekking furtherfor something more substantial.No, not a pot of gold at the endof the rainbow but lunch thathad been specially prepared andpacked in tiffins just the way itwas done in the days of yore for

were beginning to cast theirspell. I saw some workers at thetea estate plucking tea. “Twoleaves and a bud, two leaves anda bud,” the woodpecker in myhead was at it again as geogra-phy lessons from school made aspecial appearance. Back at theresort, a seven-course tea-infused meal awaited me. Yes, theentire spread can be altered asper your personal preference.Whether it was the caffeine in thetea or the excitement of the day,I had less than a restful night.

�++ �0/ � ���Waking up the next morn-

ing, a visit to the Dunkeld TeaFactory was in store. Aboard thepowerboat, to cross the reservoiryet again, I felt a tinge of regretknowing that this was my lastday here. At the factory, BernardHolsinger, a tea expert, not onlyshowed me around but also toldme the finer nuances of growingtea, its origin in Sri Lanka and thedetails of the ideal size and feelof the leaves. Though retired, theaffable manner of Holsinger —who has Dutch ancestors —

ensures that the informationdoes not seem like an overloadbut something that you justabsorb naturally. He told meabout the most expensive tea(Virgin White Tea, the flagshipproduct of Herman Teas), theappropriate height of the shrubwhile debunking the romanticis-ing of the ‘two leaves and a bud’myth (sometimes just leaves arepicked). After a tea tasting ses-sion, I boarded the powerboat totake me back. I looked at themwistfully, knowing fully well thelovely time that they were boundto have.

���0/ �!���/"However, my mood lifted as

we drove towards CapeWeligama on the palm-fringedsouthern cliffs close to the pop-ular retreat of Galle. Designed byone of Asia’s most celebratedarchitects, Lek Bunnag who,closer home, has been associat-ed with masterplan, architectureand interior space planning ofThe Trident Gurgaon and TheRoseate, New Delhi besidesother properties.

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Star India batter SmritiMandhana was on Friday

nominated for the ICC Women'sCricketer of the Year award forher spectacular performancesacross all formats.

Mandhana was also nomi-nated for Women's T20 Playerof the Year on Thursday.

Mandhana was shortlistedfor the top award along withTammy Beaumont of England,Lizelle Lee of South Africa andGaby Lewis of Ireland.

The award is given to thebest overall performer inwomen's international cricket(Tests, ODIs and T20Is) during2021. The winner will beannounced on January 23.

The 25-year-old right-hand-ed opening batter scored 855runs in 22 international match-es across formats during the yearat an average of 38.86 with onecentury and five half-centuries.

In the limited-overs seriesagainst South Africa where Indiawon just two of the eight match-es at home, Mandhana played amajor role in both of the wins.She scored 80 not out as Indiachased down 158 in the secondODI that helped them level theseries and scored 48 not out inthe final T20I win.

Mandhana played a sublimeinnings of 78 in the first inningsof the one-off Test againstEngland that ended in a draw.She played an important knockof 49 in India's only win in theODI series.

Her 15-ball 29 and fifty inthe T20I series went in vain,though, as India fell short inboth the matches and lost the

series 1-2. Mandhana was ingood touch in the series againstAustralia, starting with the ODIseries where she scored 86 in thesecond ODI.

She scored a brilliant centu-ry in the only Test, the first of hercareer, and was awarded thePlayer of the Match. She scoredher second T20I fifty of the yearin the final match, though Indiafell short and lost the series 2-0.

She made India's first-everpink-ball Test even more mem-orable by smashing her maidencentury (127) in the longest for-mat of the game. The matchended in a draw and Mandhanawas declared the Player of theMatch.

With 872 runs in 21 inter-nationals at an average of 48.44with one century and eight half-centuries, England's Beaumontfinished as the highest run-get-ter in the calendar year.

In the multi-format seriesagainst India, she started with

two consecutive half-centuries,the first one coming in the onlyTest and the second in a Playerof the Match-winning effort of87 not out in the first ODI. Shescored her third half-century ofthe tour in the second T20I,though it came in a losing effort.

She bagged yet anotherPlayer of the Match award in theT20I series opener against NewZealand at home, missing out ona century by just three runs. Shecapped the limited-overs tourwith a ton that helped Englandclinch the ODI series 4-1.

South African Lee scored864 runs in 19 internationals atan average of 57.6 with one cen-tury and seven half-centuries

She was in sensationalwhite-ball form throughout theyear, particularly in the ODIswhere she finished as the high-est run-getter in 2021 with 632runs in 11 matches as well as thetop-ranked Women's ODI bat-ter in the ICC Rankings.

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India reaffirmed theirsupremacy in the U-19 AsiaCup with a record eighthtitle as they hammered Sri

Lanka by nine wickets in a rain-hit summit showdown here onFriday.

The Indian bowlers were allover Sri Lanka, who were gasp-ing at 74 for seven in 33 overs,when heavy rain lashed theDubai International CricketStadium and stopped play formore than two hours.

It became a 38-over-a-sidecontest when play resumed withSri Lanka limping to 106 for nine.

India were set a revised 102-run target in 38 overs via DLSmethod which they reachedrather comfortably in 21.3 overswith opener AngkrishRaghuvanshi scoring an unbeat-en 56 off 67 balls.

India's only loss in the com-petition came against arch-rivalsPakistan who lost to Sri Lanka inthe semifinals.

The tournament providedvaluable game time for the YashDhull-led side ahead of the U-19World Cup, beginning in theWest Indies from January 14.

After tournament's leadingscorer Harnoor Singh departedcheaply in the chase,Raghuvanshi played sensiblyalongside Shaik Rasheed (31 notout off 49) to get the job done.

The opener, who could notmake an impact in the earliergames, grew in confidence afterplaying a backfoot punch earlyon in the innings. His backfootplay was impressive against thepacers and his feet movementagainst the spinners was assured.Raghuvanshi's innings comprisedsix boundaries. Earlier, Sri Lanka

opted to bat though early morn-ing showers made conditionsideal for seam bowling first up.

The Indian pace duo ofRajvardhan Hangargekar andRavi Kumar made the ball talkthough the former was a tadunlucky to not get a wicket.

Left-arm pacer Ravi got thefirst wicket of the match by

removing ChaminduWickramasinghe in the fourthover. The left-hander openerwent for a big hoick over midwicket but ended up mistimingit straight into the hands of RajBawa at third man.

Wickramasinghe's openingpartner Shevon Daniel tried topull Bawa but the ball got big on

him, taking a faint edge to wick-etkeeper Aaradhya Yadav to leaveSri Lanka at 15 for two in the11th over.

India looked a far superiorteam. Hangargekar was the mostimpressive pacer in the first 10overs, generating good pace thathurried the batters besidesextracting movement off thepitch.

The Sri Lanka batters lookedcompletely at sea against theIndian bowlers, be it fast bowlersor the spin pairing of KaushalTambe (2/23) and Vicky Ostwal(3/11). Both off-spinner Tambeand left-arm spinner Ostwal gotthe odd ball to turn sharply.

Ostwal got two in one toleave Sri Lanka in dire straits at57 for seven. Southpaw DunitWellagle attempted a slog sweepto break the shackles but endedup getting caught in the deep.

Two balls later RanudaSomarathne missed Oswal's armball on the back foot, trappinghim in front of the stumps.

With India set to bowl outSri Lanka for a sub-100 total,heavy rain stopped play.

In the five overs Sri Lankahad, they managed 32 runs forthe loss of two wickets.

Hangargekar got a muchdeserved wicket on the last ballof the innings with Raghuvasnshitaking a diving catch at thesquare leg boundary to dismissMatheesha Pathirana.

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England captain Joe Root, New Zealand skipper KaneWilliamson and the Pakistan duo of Shaheen Shah

Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan were on Friday short-listed for the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Awardfor their stellar performances across formats.

The award will be given to the best overall per-former in men's international cricket (Tests, ODIs andT20Is) during 2021. The winner, who will lift the SirGarfield Sobers Trophy, will be announced on January24. Root enjoyed a year that will go down in the pagesof the history books, scoring 1855 runs in 18 interna-tional matches at an average of 58.37 with six centuries.He though endured disappointment as captain withEngland suffering Ashes humiliation. His year beganwith a marathon knock in 228 against Sri Lanka in Galle

and he has only gone from strength to strength.He would follow up his exploits against Sri Lanka

with a memorable knock in Chennai, a brilliant 218against India in the sweltering heat against a spin attackof the highest calibre. Root continued his sublime formagainst India in the return leg of the Test series at home,aggregating 564 runs in four matches with three cen-turies to his name. His performance also helped himreach the summit of the ICC Test Player Rankings forbatting, where he would be eventually displaced byMarnus Labuschagne. Despite failing to convert his startsinto big scores, Root continued being England's best bat-ter against Australia in the first three Ashes Tests.

As compared to Root, Williamson's 693 runs in 16internationals at an average of 43.31 with one centurywas a modest total but the admirable Kiwi cannot onlybe judged on the basis of the runs he scored.

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The opening Test win over South Africa hereis a testimony to the "all-round side" that

India has become in the longest format, saidskipper Virat Kohli, describing Centurion as the"the most difficult" among all venues in SouthAfrica.

India wrapped up a memorable 2021 in styleby bringing down South Africa's citadel, theSupersport Park, as they handed the Proteas a113-run loss in the opening Test. It was a per-fect end to the year in which the Indians out-played Australia in their own backyard despitebeing plagued by injuries.

"Test series in South Africa in any place isnot easy and Centurion is obviously the mostdifficult of them all," Kohli told bcci.Tv.

While India's batters did well to ensure sub-stantial leads in both innings, the pace unit ranthrough the South African batting line up, pick-ing 18 wickets.

"We ended up getting a result in four days

is a testimony to the fact that we have becomethe side we have become today and strength ofthe squad was on full display," Kohli said.

"We were just looking for opportunities towin the game and that's how we play cricket nowand given an opportunity at any stage we willpounce on it," he added.

Having never won a series in South Africa,Kohli feels the win is a "golden opportunity" forthe Indian team to put pressure on the home sidein the second Test and eke out a favourable result.

"It's a beautiful position to be in, to be 1-0up away from home, put the opposition underpressure again in the second Test is a goldenopportunity for us and something that everyplayer is looking forward to.

"This sets us up beautifully for Wanderers,we can go out there and be more positive andoptimistic."

Reflecting on the year gone by where Indiaachieved historic success in Australia and areleading a Test series in England, which wouldbe completed next year due to a COVID-19 out-break, Kohli said the side is getting confidentwith each passing game.

"The new year is a very good marker toanalyse how you played your cricket and I thinkwe've played some outstanding cricket over thelast 2-3 years, specially overseas.

"We are a side which is getting better andmore confident with how much cricket we play."

Stand-in Test vice-captain KL Rahul, whowas also adjudged the player of the match forhis fabulous 123-run knock in the first innings,was also delighted by the win.

"Coming to a country like South Africa andbeating them in their own fortress feels very spe-cial. "This is the second such victory for us, onewas in Gabba and now one in Centurion.Hopefully we can build on this and win theseries," Rahul said.

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2021 Tokyo Olympics was byfar the best Olympics for

India as India won one goldmedal, two silver medals andfour bronze medals.

After a gap of four decadesIndia won a medal in OlympicsHockey.

Prof Vasisht has broughtout a new year calendar to greetthe Indian medal winners of2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The calendar presents thephotographs of Indian medalwinners of 2021 TokyoOlympics.

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Captain Rohit Sharma was on Fridayruled out of India's upcoming ODI

series in South Africa due to a hamstringinjury, forcing the selectors to appoint KLRahul as skipper of an 18-member teamfor the white-ball leg of the tour.

All-rounder Axar Patel and RavindraJadeja were also not selected as they werenot fit while senior pacer MohammedShami, who is in the team for the ongo-ing Test series,was rested.

P a c e rJasprit Bumrahwas named asvice-captain ofthe team.

" R o h i tSharma is notfit, he is in rehaband he is notgoing for the ODIseries in South Africa.He is working on andbuilding on his fitness.We never wanted totake chance with him,"chairman of selectorsChetan Sharma said beforeannouncing the team.

"We are looking to groom KLRahul. He has proved his leader-ship qualities. KL is the best onewho can handle the side.

"Yes, definitely, we are look-ing at KL Rahul at present, heis an all-format player and he has

got good experience of captaincy, and themost important (thing) is we can see hehas proved his leadership qualities, this iswhat all selectors think.

"Rohit is not fit, so we thought KL willbe the best one, who can handle the sideand that's why we have good confidencein (Rahul) and we are grooming him."

The three-match ODI series willbegin at Paarl on January 19. The secondmatch will also be played at Paarl onJanuary 21 while the third one will be atCape Town on January 23.

Rohit and Jadeja were rehabilitating atthe National Cricket Academy inBengaluru after being ruled out of theongoing Test series in South Africa due toinjuries.

In fact, the selection meetingwas supposed to be held earli-

er -- just after the Vijay HazareTrophy — but it was pushedback only to ensure thatRohit gets a chance to passthe fitness test.

"We thought if Rohit is100 per cent fit, there is no

chance for injuries, thenhe should not miss animportant series. If heis not 100 per cent fit,we thought we willnot take a chanceand all the five

selectors decidednot to take ac h a n c e , "

Sharma said.

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India's white-ball skipper RohitSharma and premier off-spin-

ner R Aswhin were among fourplayers from the country tohave featured in the CricketAustralia (CA) XI of the year.

Besides Rohit and Ashwin,the other two Indians in theteam were swashbuckling keep-er-batter Rishabh Pant and left-arm spinner Axar Patel.

Rohit has been picked as anopener alongside Sri LankanDimuth Karunaratne, followedby Australian batter MarnusLabuschagne at number three.He is followed by England Testcaptain Joe Root, Pakistan'sFawad Alam and Pant in the bat-ting order. Having dominatedwhite-ball cricket and his homeconditions for years, Rohit con-quered his final frontier this yearby showing he can score big Testruns outside of Asia. And astrong 2021 that saw him finishbehind only Root for most runscould have been even better ifthe classy right-hander hadtranslated multiple strong startsinto big hundreds.