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Farmers’ Unions on Saturdaywrote a letter to the Centreto resume their dialogue to finda solution to the ongoing dead-lock over the three contentiousagri laws. The farmers unionproposed to hold a meetingwith the Government onDecember 29.

The decision was taken ata meeting of Sanyukt KisanMorcha, an umbrella body of40 farmers’ unions protesting atvarious Delhi border pointsagainst the new agriculturelaws. The unions also said thatfarmers will hold tractor marchon Kundli-Manesar-Palwalhighway on December 30.

Meanwhile, the protestingfarmers on Saturday blockedthe main Delhi-Mohan Nagarroad at UP Gate (Delhi-Ghaziabad border).

In a letter to Joint Secretaryin the Ministry of Agricultureand Farmers’ Welfare VivekAggarwal, the Sanyukt KisanMorcha said, “We propose thatthe next meeting between thefarmers’ representatives andthe Government of India beheld on December 29, 2020 at11 am.”

“As the Government is will-ing to hold talks with us andasking us for date and ourissues, we have proposed tohold dialogue on December 29.

Now, the ball is in the court ofGovernment when it calls usfor talks,” Bhartiya Kisan Unionleader Rakesh Tikait said.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Singhu Border, theMorcha said that they are readyfor talks with the Governmentbut they have to repeal thethree farm laws and guarantee

for MSP — Minimum SupportPrice at which the Governmentprocures crops from farmers.

“The Government shouldmake it a part of the agenda forresuming talks with theGovernment. We have pro-posed for talks on December29. The farmers have alsodecided to hold tractor march

on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal(KMP) highway on December30 in protest against theCentre’s agri laws. We requestpeople from Delhi and otherparts of the country to comeand celebrate New Year withprotesting farmers,” saidDarshan Pal Singh, farmers’leader.

“The farmers have decidedto march from Singhu to Tikrito KMP. We also ask farmers ofsurrounding areas to join usand come in huge crowd ontheir tractors and trollies,” saidRajinder Singh, another farmerleader.

“If the Government does-n’t want us to block the KMP

highway, then they betterannounce the repeal of thethree farm laws,” said Singh.

Meanwhile, on Saturdaymorning around 9 am farm-ers at Ghazipur borderblocked the NationalHighways 24 and 9 leading toa traffic jam between Delhiand Ghaziabad.

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More than 150 Armyjawans have tested posi-tive for coronavirus here. Theywere part of the contingent totake part in the upcomingRepublic Day parade and theArmy Day parade on January15 here. British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson is the chief guestfor the forthcoming RepublicDay celebrations at theRajpath.

Giving details of the coro-na test, sources said, “The sol-diers who came in from out-side to participate in variousparades were tested beforeputting them into a safe bub-ble. Some of them tested pos-itive. Almost all except sevenare asymptomatic.”

These were among fewthousand soldiers who havebeen tested, the source stated.Officials said the soldiers whotested positive were quaran-tined at the Delhi Cantonmentwhere Covid-19 facilities havebeen set up since April.

As regards the RepublicDay parade preparations, theysaid protocols have been put inplace for safe conduct of theparade.

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As a preventive measureamid reports of UK-newCovid variants doing round inthe country, the Governmenthas decided to conduct genomesequencing of at least 5 per centof the total Covid tests beingconducted daily.

This was decided at ameeting of National TaskForce on Covid-19 onSaturday. The ICMR calledthe meeting to discuss evi-dence-based modifications intesting, treatment and sur-veillance strategies for SARS-CoV-2 in view of the recentreports of emergence of a newvariant strain of the virusfrom the UK.

The participants at themeet emphasised that sincethe UK strain was supposed tocause increased transmissibil-ity of the virus, it is critical toidentify individuals infectedwith this strain and adequate-ly contain them to prevent itstransmission in India.

“At least, 5 per cent of the

positive cases from allStates/UTs will be tested forgenome sequencing,” the com-mittee decided, as per an offi-cial from the Union HealthMinistry.

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At least 32 more passengersfrom the United Kingdomwho landed betweenNovember 25 and December21 in India have been foundpositive for the coronavirus asconcerns mounted over newvirus strain.

Of those who tested posi-tive, 14 have been reported inKarnataka, eight in Kerala,four in Tamil Nadu, three inUttar Pradesh, two inMaharashtra, and one inAssam. Their samples havebeen sent to the NationalInstitute of Virology, Pune forgenomic analysis.

In Rajasthan, over 800British tourists entered the 28districts of the State in the lastone week. Tracking them willbe a nightmare. The numberof returnees from the UnitedKingdom, having tested pos-itive, are likely to increase fur-ther in the coming days.

The Himachal PradeshGovernment has issued analert for 51 UK returnees tocontact the local administra-tion and get themselves test-ed.

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After quitting allParliamentary forums asa protest against the newfarm laws and slamming theModi Government’s han-dling of the farmers agitationon the outskirts of Delhi, theBJP ally RashtriyaLoktantrik Party (RLP) onSaturday announced its exitfrom the NationalDemocratic Alliance(NDA).

RLP chief and the Jatleader from RajasthanHanuman Beniwal said, “Iannounce that I am leavingthe NDA. I am breakingaway.”

The RLP is the secondBJP ally after the Akali Dalto leave the NDA over thenew farm laws.

New Delhi: India’s daily newCovid-19 fatality count wasreported below 300 after oversix months, taking the deathtoll to 1,47,343, while the infec-tion tally rose to 1,01,69,118,according to data updated bythe Union Health Ministry onSaturday. A total of 251 moredeaths and 22,273 new infec-tions were reported in a 24-hour period, the data updatedat 8 am showed.

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As vaccinations begin in one cornerof the world, marking the beginningof recovery from the pandemic, wecan’t forget that the majority isfighting increasing hunger, poverty andexploitation. This blatant and brazeninequality of the world we live has beenexposed by the grossly unequal response ofthe world to the pandemic. Of the initial $8trillion that has been released as globalCOVID-19 relief, only 0.13 per cent has beenallocated to the poorest communities.

The rest has been used to bail out bigbusinesses that have multiplied their profitsin the midst of a global recession.The mostgrievous casualties of this injustice are ourchildren.

We witnessed that the Government, inpartnership with citizens, came forward tomitigate the immediate crisis of dry rations,medical aid and essential needs in the mostaffected communities at unprecedented scale,which is truly admirable.

I am proud of my children, the survivorsof child labour and trafficking living in BalAshram, came forth to make masks for lawenforcement, frontline workers andcommunities in Rajasthan. Several individualsand organisations stepped up at the time ofcrisis, risking their safety to provide life-savingrelief and care.

But with extremely limited access todigital education, overnight loss of householdincome, and no food on the plate for millionsof children, we have only barely touched thetip of the iceberg. While the pandemic did notcreate these inequalities, our response to it hasexposed and exacerbated them to the extentthat we risk losing an entire generation to childlabour, trafficking, child marriage and otherforms of exploitation. This will be an utter andcomplete breakdown of our moral, socio-economic, and democratic systems.

Now that we are looking towardsrecovery, it is important to understand thatcentral to finding the solution is theunderstanding that the children who areforced to work are the same children who aredenied education, and the same children whoare undernourished and starving. We cannot

leave our children to fend for themselves inthis time of crisis.

The need of the hour is that our childrenreceive their fair share — a fair share inpolicies, in budgets, and in protection. A fairshare for children is based on fundamentalprinciples of justice that our children deserve.In 2015, when the world came together andcommitted to the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals, they did so with the promise to ‘leaveno child behind’.

But we are failing at this. The samecommunities that have been discriminatedagainst for decades, including minorities,migrants, and farmers, are the samecommunities where children are deniededucation, nutrition and safety. They havehistorically and structurally been alienatedfrom global wealth and development, and wewill look back at this unprecedented periodas the time when the vulnerable were pushedover the edge into unending cycles ofdisenfranchisement.

To be able to break this chain ofintergenerational exploitation, Governmentsmust make a tangible and radical shift to aculture of fair share for the most marginalisedchildren and their families. That is the onlyway we can end child labour and exploitation,and build a world where our children learnand thrive.

The truest judge of how the world hasresponded to the pandemic, is the traffickedchild who collapsed dead on the road becauseof as she walked a 100 km to reach her home,the child who was dropped out of school andwas forcefully married because of lack ofaccess to digital education, and the childlabour who was trapped in factories as theiremployer deserted them during lockdown.Our children are the mirrors to the world weare building.

The year 2021 provides us with theopportunity to come together to commit a fairshare for children in the global wealthallocation for their development andwellbeing. 2021 has been declared as theUnited Nations Year for the Elimination ofChild Labour, with the objective to revitaliseand accelerate the global promise to end child

labour by 2025 under SustainableDevelopment Goal 8.7.

This was an ambitious target from thestart, but the devastating effects of thepandemic that have brought the world to itsknees and we are now facing the risk of thefirst ever increase in child labour in decades.We are at the precipice of losing the progressachieved over decades to reduce child labourand to ensure access to education for allchildren. This cannot be allowed to happen,and each one of us has a role to playincluding Governments, internationalagencies, businesses, faith leaders, media,schools and colleges and civil society.

Governments must realign their policies,politics, legislations and budgetary allocationsand accountability measures towards creatinga safety net for the most vulnerablecommunities through accessible and adequatesocial protection. International agencies mustuphold and enforce multilateral efforts tobridge the wealth gap between nations, andset global benchmarks for child protectionmeasures. Businesses must ensuretransparency, due diligence and complianceto create child labour-free supply chains. Faithleaders must unite to prioritise children withintheir communities as a moral responsibility.The media must highlight and question the

state of our children and hold all stakeholdersaccountable for the protection of our children’srights. Schools, colleges and civil society,especially the survivors and youth, must leadfrom the front in demanding change andaccountability, to give voice to the voicelessand forgotten children of the world.

This year has taught us many lessons thatwe have learnt, sometimes unwillingly.It hasplaced in front of our eyes the true and barestate of our world, to show us what we havelong ignored or forgotten. We have recognisedour inherent interconnectedness andinterdependence with each other.

But most importantly, the year 2020 hasproven that until each one of us is safe, nobodyis safe. If the people of the world are movingin diametrically opposite directions ofdevelopment, the world will be too stretchedto sustain itself.

We can only truly move forward if we doit together. Whenever the world was in peril,the inherent goodness of humanity ofindividuals has shone forth and we have comeour stronger. We have to reclaim ourhumanity and globalise compassion. And wemust begin with our children, because theyare all our children.

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Businesses started off the yearwith regular expectations ofgrowth, with all their usualplans set in place. However,going into March and the subsequentmonths, it became a different storyacross several sectors, with scores ofcompanies getting overturned due tothe impact of the lockdowns andrestrictions on movement.

Since March, people realised theeffects of excessive screen time, andthe toll it could take on them.Remaining indoors for longdurations, viewing phone andcomputer screens for hours at astretch, has led to exhaustion and ill-health. In contrast with this, audioappealed to millions of users, as theywere once again able to listen tocontent passively while performingother chores. It is reminiscent of ourexperience with radio, but with a lotmore options and quality content topick from.

We observed the trends closelyand aligned our content as per thegrowth we were seeing in each of thecategories. Since April, we witnesseda significant spike across all growthmetrics, as we were able to adapt touser requirements by providing theright content at the right time. Werecorded a growth of 300% in termsof our user base, while the number

of creators on Khabri grew by fivetimes user session time grew by morethan 200%, as users were listening toa greater number of content pieces.

While each of these platformscater to different interests, we havesucceeded at creating a holisticecosystem for the next generation ofcreators and users. Some of the keyareas of interest in our categories sinceApril have been in motivationalcontent, news, career information,and knowledge-based content. Whileit is a broad definition, they have beenprovided a plethora of contentchoices.

The pandemic has wreakedhavoc for students across the countryand blind students have beenimpacted the most. Their access toeducation had been cut off after thelockdowns, which made us identifythe challenges. We launched the#VoiceofBlinds campaign, as webelieve that every student needs

access to schooling andentertainment. We facilitated audio-based learning for the blind students,connected with the community,started a helpline, and increasedaccessibility for thousands of blindstudents. When it came to productfunctions, we introduced specialcontent experiences,recommendations, and playlistfeatures, in a bid to assist users withcurated listening lists, so that theylisten to better content. Influencerstoo find our content creation toolseasy to adopt.

The year 2020 has givenpodcasters and content creators aplatform that did not exist earlier, asthey had relied on YouTube even foraudio content. We expect morecreators to launch channels on ourplatform, as they can provethemselves and reach largeraudiences.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that theState Government has takendecisions to make the benefitsof new agricultural laws moreeasily accessible to farmers.

Now the contract formbetween the farmer and thecrop purchasing company,trader or person will be pre-served as a document in theSub Divisional Magistrate’s rev-enue office so that the farmercannot be cheated in any way.

Chouhan said that a pro-forma is being prepared for thecontract by the StateGovernment in which thefarmer and representative ofthe crop purchasing company,trader or person have to signand it will be kept safe in theoffice of the Sub DivisionalMagistrate.

Chief Minister Chouhansaid that the State Governmenthas decided that training willbe organised in all 313 JanpadPanchayats of the State tomake farmers aware of thenuances of the new agriculturallaws and to make the benefits

of these laws available to thefarmers, so that they can getbenefits by becoming aware ofevery aspect of new agricul-tural laws.

Chief Minister Chouhansaid that implementation hasbeen started in MadhyaPradesh as per the initiativetaken by the central govern-ment for new laws in the inter-est of farmers. Work is beingdone to get beneficial pricesrelated to selling of produce tomills by farmers. The entireeffort of the State Governmentis that maximum farmers getbenefits. Prime Minister ShriNarendra Modi’s intention todouble the income of farmerswill be fulfilled. The farmers ofMadhya Pradesh are with thePrime Minister. There is noconfusion among the farmersregarding these laws inMadhya Pradesh.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan’s Government hasgiven top priority to good gov-ernance in the roadmap ofAtmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh.Many special goals have been setup.

These goals include creationof a single citizen database andsingle service delivery portal,provision of digital verificationof documents for service deliv-ery, simplification of laws, rulesand procedures, digitization ofall records, greater public par-ticipation in policies and deci-sions of the Government, max-imum utilization of moderntechniques like drone-artificialintelligence, machine learning,block chain technology, cloudcomputing, etc. in governmentwork, training and capacitybuilding of human resources,expansion of scope of citizencare and development of chatbots to promote M governance.

The State Government hasdone important work to estab-lish good governance. CMHelpline 181 resolved prob-lems and complaints of 1.25crore citizens of the State. In the

last nine months, more than 100new services have been broughtunder the purview of PublicService Guarantee Act.

Various help lines wereoperated for 24 hours at the dis-trict and state level for migrantlabourers during lockdown inthe state. Good governance hasbeen included among the fourmost significant pillars in theroadmap for the creation ofAtmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh.

A new Public AssetManagement Department hasbeen formed for the conserva-tion and promotion of valuableassets spread across the countryand abroad. The Public ServiceGuarantee Act was amended toprovide deemed approval”.Important services like“Aadhaar Registration andAmendment and “AyushmanBharat Beneficiary CardService” were started. As manyas 14 new services have beenadded on the “Citizen Interface”under the online applicationsystem.

Work is being done onwhatsApp chat-bot facility forCM Helpline and Public Servicefor the facility of citizens.Dashboard portal was devel-oped with the objective of estab-

lishing a transparent monitor-ing system.

Suggestions were receivedfrom people by developing anM.P. Innovation Portal.Programmes organized for pub-lic welfare schemes were pro-moted among crores of citizensthrough social mediaMyGovMP and SMS. Decisionhas been taken to create a sin-gle citizen database of citizensand create a single portal of ser-vice delivery in the state. In thelast 9 months, techniques likevideo conferencing have beenused extensively for preven-tion of Corona and effectivecommunication at all levels.

With direct benefit transferto the accounts of the benefi-ciaries during Corona periodhas resulted in providing ben-efits of government schemes toeligible persons on the onehand, on the other hand it hashelped to eliminate corruptionand middlemen. The e-officesystem was implemented instate government offices,departments and various under-takings. A state-wide campaignhas been launched in MadhyaPradesh to attack various typesof mafia and anti social ele-ments.

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A43-year-old man diedwhile his friend escapedwith severe injuries after theirbike rammed into a truck atTarawali trisection underBerasia police station area inthe evening on Friday.

According to police, twoman were rushed to hospitalwhere one was declared dead.Police said that they deceasedidentified as Yogendra Singhwhile Radhavallabh escapedwith injuries.

After the two were injuredduring the investigation policehave seized the truck and

arrested the truck driver. Thebody has been sent for the post-mortem.

The police have registereda case against the truck driverwho had not switched on back-lights of park trucked.

The deceased was a resi-dent of Berasia and was on hisway with Radhavallabh on bikewhich rammed into a parkedtruck due to darkness late inthe night. The locals informedpolice and ambulance whichtook the two to hospital whereone of them was declared dead.Multiple injuries over vitalparts caused his death, saidpolice.

Meanwhile, Teelajamlpura

police have nabbed two mis-creants for molestation andassaulting a 20-year-old married woman in the eveningon Saturday. Police said that theaccused identified as UmarQureshi and Hashim Qureshiwere booked who assaultedand molested the victim ather home.

The victim in her complaintstated that her husband had afight with Umar over vehicleand later Umar and Hashimcame and started to abuse andlater scuffled with her andmolested her. The police regis-tered a case of molestation andassault and started search for theaccused.

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Berasia police has bookedtwo miscreants for sharingobscene video of a 20-year-oldgirl with her future in-laws. Theaccused was infuriated over thevictim’s marriage with otherguy and took help of his friendto circulate the same.

The police have bookedVijay Choubey and JitendraSharma in this connection.After receiving information ofcirculated obscene videos ofthe victim with her in-laws, sheapproached the police andlodged a complaint. The victimwas aware that the accused hadshared the video.

The victim in her com-plaint stated that the Vijayused to live in the same areaand became friends. Later, hetook obscene video which shewas not aware of and theaccused also wanted to marryher. The victim got engaged

with other youth and when theaccused came to know, hesent the video to her in-lawsto foil her marriage.

The police have registereda case under section 67 IT Actand section 354 of the IPC.

Meanwhile, Nishatpurapolice have booked a 15-year-old boy who sexually assault-ed victim while she playing ather house on Friday.

The victim was playingwith other children at the ter-race and when she was aloneaccused came and started tomolestation and when raisedalert her mother came to herrescue and he escaped.

The accused escaped fromthe spot while the victimapproached Nishatpura policeand lodged a complaintagainst the miscreant. Basedon the complaint, the policeregistered a case of molesta-tion and assault and detainedthe accused who wentabsconding after the crime.

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An informative understand-ing session was held atMadhya Pradesh Vigyan SabhaGyan Vigyan Parisar, SangoniKala, Raisen Road, Bhopal.

Holding the session forsocial workers, scholars, stu-dents and villagers, Factshalatrainer Anup Dutta gave theguidelines to the participantsabout how to understand anddifferentiate between a goodnews and disregard a fake news,how to tackle and stop misin-formation on social media.

The trainer took the mediaparticipants to clear conceptsand stressed the need of evi-dence before sharing any unver-ified messages.

In the session, he trainedthe participants to help them tospot and identify misinforma-tion, differentiate between newsand other forms of online infor-mation.

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Miscreants targeted aGovernment school atKalapani GondipuraGovernment Naveen Schoolunder Kolar police stationand escaped with electronicgoods worth �50,000. A com-plaint was lodged on Saturdayby school staff.

The complainant, ManishMaankar, lodged a complaintregarding burglary of goodsfrom the school.

The burglary had takenplace on April 26.

The police have regis-tered a case under sections

457 and 380 of the IPC.Further investigation is on.

During investigation,police found that Manish isassigned to keep goods intactat school.

The school was closed onDecember 24 and when it wasopened on Saturday after twodays, the electronic goodswere found burgled.

Police suspect that peoplewho are involved in schoolactivities are involved in theburglary and would be inves-tigated.

Meanwhile, Katara Hillspolice has nabbed a miscreantnear Madni Nagar and recov-

ered illegally transported 42bottles of county-made liquorworth �5,000 on Friday.

According to the police,acting of a tip-off, a youth wasdetained late in the night andwhen he was searched, 42bottles of county-made liquorwere recovered from theirpossession.

The accused was identi-fied as Ravindra Atut. A caseunder section 34(2) of theExcise Act was registered andfurther investigation has beenstarted.

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With the year-end, weath-er conditions would turnlittle harsher as there is no sig-nificant change in the mini-mum temperature in CentralIndia during the next 2 daysand thereafter there is a possi-bility of a fall of 2-3 degreesCelsius. The weather of stateMadhya Pradesh is likely toremain dry till December 31.Frost is likely to occur in someplaces in West Madhya Pradeshduring next 3-4 days. There isa possibility of cold wave inwestern Madhya Pradesh onDecember 30 and 31.

The lowest night temper-ature was recorded at 3.5degree Celsius in Umaria andwitnessed cold wave condi-tions. Dense fog conditionswere witnessed in Guna andGwalior.

Bhopal recorded day tem-perature at 26.8 degree Celsius

and night temperature at 8.9degree Celsius. In the next 24hours day and night tempera-tures would be witnessedaround same levels.

There is a possibility offading away of dry weatherconditions in the first week ofnew year and which wouldoccur due to mutual interac-tion of east and west winds.

The night temperature ofstate is likely to be 1-3 degreeCelsius below normal tem-perature in the three days dur-ing which cold wave andground frost is expected inwestern part of the state.

Among regions whichrecorded lower night temper-atures were Datia whichrecorded 5.7 degree Celsius,Gwalior recorded 5.6 degreeCelsius, Raisen recorded 6.6degree Celsius, Satna record-ed 6.3 degree Celsius , Damoh,Jabalpur, Mandla recordedaround 6 degree Celsius.

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Depressed over failing toperform in studies, a class9 student committed suicide byhanging with the ceiling at hishouse in Anna Nagar underGovindpura police station areaon Friday.

Police said that thedeceased, Karan Kushwahacommitted suicide at hishouse. The deceased used tostudy in class 9 and was veryweak in studies and used toremain depress over the issueand his parents wanted him todo well in studies.

Investigating Office ASIArvind Kaurav said that theparents of deceased work asgardener and wished goodresults from their son whichhe was not able to produceand used to remain depressover his failure. On Saturdaywhen his parents were out forwork when he committed sui-cide.

According to the parentseven after their son was inclass 9 he was not able to write

in Hindi which reflects hisweakness in studies, he added.

The body was sent for thepost mortem after the pre-liminary investigation. Thepolice have registered a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCand started further investiga-tion. Deceased had not leftany suicide note which couldhelp in investigation.

Meanwhile, a 45-year-oldman died who met accidenton December 18, Misrodpolice have started investiga-tion.

The police said that thedeceased, Naryan Manik diedduring treatment after he metaccident. After the prelimi-nary investigation, the policehave registered a case undersection 174 of the CrPC andstarted further investigation.

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The Haryana Governmenthas linked another 202 vil-lages to the Mahara Gaon,Jagmag Gaon Scheme on GoodGovernance Day. While earli-er 24 hours power supply wasavailable in 4,878 villages of thestate, now 5,080 villagesattached to 1,261 rural feedersof the state have power supplyunder the Mhara Gaon, JagmagGaon Scheme.Twenty fourhours power supply is availablein 72 per cent of the villagesand 10 districts of the state, aspokesman of public utilitiessaid on Saturday.

The spokesperson said thatout of the 202 villages added onDecember 25 recently, the vil-lages which fall under thepurview of Uttar Haryana BijliVitran Nigam (UHBVN) are 14villages of Sonipat Circle, 18 ofPanipat, 9 of Rohtak, 20 ofJhajjar and 16 villages ofKaithal and those falling underthe purview of DakshinHaryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam(DHBVN) include 19 villagesof Gurugram circle under, 95villages of Narnaul and 11 vil-lages of Hisar.

With this, there is 24 hourspower supply in 10 districts of

the state, including Pachankula,Ambala, Kurukshetra,Yamunanagar, Karnal,Gurugram, Faridabad, Sirsa,Rewari and Fatehabad.

The Mhara Gaon, JagmagGaon Scheme was started byChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar from Dayalpur villagein Kurukshetra district on July1, 2015. Under this Scheme, theold power cables are replacedby new aerial bunch cables inthe villages, while old and mal-functioning meters arereplaced, thereafter the vil-lagers are requested to pay theoutstanding electricity bills.

Thus, as soon as the lineloss of the rural feeders reduces,then the village is included inMhara Gaon, Jagmag GaonScheme and a new power infra-structure in the village is builtalong with 24-hour uninter-rupted power supply.

The spokesperson said thatin the coming 16 months a tar-get of providing 24-hour powersupply to the remaining 1,965villages has been set. He thatthe Scheme was successful dueto the positive attitude of thevillagers and their commit-ment to timely submission ofelectricity bills.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar onSaturday said the state govern-ment has made persistent effortsand has done a lot of work toenhance education in the state,especially for the girl-child, alongwith other areas.

"Earlier, the government hadplanned to build a college forgirls within a radius of 20 kilo-metres, which has now beenreduced to 15 kilometres. Soonthis limit will be further reducedto 10 km so that girl students donot have to travel so as to pur-sue higher education. Besidesthis, the budget for education hasbeen augmented in order to doaway with scarcity of funds foreducation-related works andprojects," the chief minister said.

Inaugurating the newly con-structed Academic Block atChaudhary Bansi Lal University,Bhiwani through video confer-encing from here, Khattar saidthat the commencement of thisblock named after India'srenowned mathematicianSrinivasa Ramanujan will furtherenhance the academic activities

of the University. The ChiefMinister also acknowledged thathe was proud to name thisAcademic Block by the name ofthe great mathematicianRamanujan because he himselfhas also been a student of math-ematics.

Khattar said that Ramanujanwas a brilliant student since col-lege time and in the year 1912 hehad created a calendar fromwhich any day and date could beascertained. Going down thememory lane almost 50 yearsago, the Chief Minister shared ananecdote in which he had oncecome across a 20-year calendar

at a fair. He said that on lookingat the calendar it struck him thata calendar with more than 20years be made. After muchdeliberation on this, he alsomade a similar calendar fromwhich any day and date could beascertained.

Speaking on the prodigymathematician, the ChiefMinister said that Ramanujan'sfame gradually reachedCambridge University andProfessor Hardy invited him,then he responded to that invi-tation and carried out researchthere for 5 years. The ChiefMinister said that we should also

take inspiration from this nameand suggested that study ofmathematics should be started inthis block and students shouldalso be educated in VedicMathematics.

Khattar said that the newNational Education Policyincludes courses as per today'sneeds such as Skill Developmentand IT. Also, special emphasishas been laid on developingmoral values in students. Mr.Manohar Lal said despite beinga small state, Haryana has about50 universities, including gov-ernment and private universitiesimparting general education aswell as Technical, Sports, Medicaland Ayurvedic Universities.

The chief minister said thatit is the responsibility of theuniversity concerned to getthe students' passports made sothat they do not have to both-er for it. Also, many studentsface difficulty for pursuingHigher Education due to lackof money. For this, the stategovernment has started loanfacility on government guar-antee. Also, a fund has beenespecially created to repay theloan of those students who are

facing difficulty in doing so. Hesaid that Coaching Centreshave also been created toimpart education to childrenbelonging to Below PovertyLine (BPL), Scheduled Casteand Backward Classes. Toensure residential facilities forpoor children a Hostel Schemehas also been started. To impartappropriate education to schoolchildren two coaching centreshave also been opened underthe ‘Super 100’ Scheme. Inview of the success of theseCentres, two more suchCenters will be opened.

On the occasion, ChiefMinister Manohar Lal releasedthe book 'Guru Nanak DevKavya Aur Chintan Dhara',‘Chaudhary Bansi LalVishwavidhalaya SamagraPrichaya', annual magazineArohan and ‘Charitra NirmanAvam Vyaktitva Vikas’ pub-lished by the University.Among other dignitaries pre-sent on the occasion were theChief Principal Secretary to theChief Minister, D.S. Dhesi,Director General of HigherEducation Department, AjitBalaji Joshi.

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Leader of Opposition inHaryana, Bhupinder SinghHooda on Saturday demandedconvening of a special sessionof the Assembly and said hisCongress party will move a no-confidence motion against theBJP-JJP government.

In a statement, he said thegovernment has lost the sup-port of the people and manyMLAs backing it. Hooda saidthat he has requested theGovernor to convene a specialsession of the Assembly as thegovernment is not wanting asession of the House because itwants to avoid facing a no-con-fidence motion.

Hooda claimed ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarhad earlier said there was noneed to call a special session ofthe Assembly and that theOpposition did not have anyspecific issue to raise. Hoodasaid "today the farmers of thestate are protesting on roads allover Haryana and at Delhiborders. Every day one of theagitators sitting under the opensky is dying due to the bittercold. In such a situation, we askif the state government doesnot consider such a big agita-tion of farmers as an issue?"

"Does the government notconsider the martyrdom offarmers an issue that merits adiscussion? What can be a big-

ger issue for the government,”he asked. Hooda reiterated hisstand of bringing a no-confi-dence motion against the gov-ernment in the Assembly, say-ing "many Independent MLAshave withdrawn support fromthe government".

Two Independent MLAs -- Sombir Sangwan and BalrajKundu -- have withdrawn sup-port to the state government,while many of the 10 legislatorsof the Jannayak Janta Party(JJP) have openly come out insupport of the farmers protest-ing against the Centre's threefarm laws. "In this battlebetween the farmers and thegovernment, many legislatorsof coalition partner JJP have

also spoken in support of thefarmers. It is clear that the BJP-JJP coalition government haslost not only support from thepublic, but also the confidenceof its own legislators," Hoodasaid.

"If a motion of no confi-dence comes in the legislativeAssembly, then their allies inthe government itself will voteagainst the government. That iswhy we have demanded a spe-cial session from the Governor.The government fears thatmany legislators will voteagainst it if a motion of no con-fidence comes and is avoidinga special session,” he claimed.

Recently, Hooda hadclaimed that some MLAs were

playing a “double role” -- mak-ing statements against the gov-ernment but are continuing tosupport the government. "Thiswill make it clear who standswith the farmers,” he had said,referring to the planned no-trust motion. At present, theKhattar government enjoys acomfortable majority in the 90-member State Assembly. TheBJP has 40 MLAs and its allyJJP 10. There are 31 CongressMLAs and one each from theIndian National Lok Dal andHaryana Lokhit Party. Sevenmembers are Independents,out of whom five, includingPower Minister Ranjit SinghChautala, support the rulingcombine.

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Even as the cold weathercontinues unabated in theregion, several batches of farm-ers from Punjab headedtowards Delhi borders onSaturday to join the peasantsprotesting against the Centre'snew agriculture-related laws.

According to farmer unionleaders, peasants from variousplaces including Sangrur,Amritsar, Tarn Taran,Gurdaspur and Bathinda dis-tricts were headed towardsSinghu and Tikri borders. Theybegan their journey despitefog and biting cold wave con-ditions in many parts of Punjabon Saturday.

Tractor trolleys, cars andother vehicles carrying farmers,including elderly and women,were seen on the Amritsar-Delhi national highway, pro-

ceeding towards the borderswith the national capital. Itseemed the farmers were pre-pared for a long haul as theycarried their ration and otheressentials in their trolleys.

"We will rest only whenthe Modi government repealsthe farm laws," said an elderlyfarmer headed from Amritsarto the protest site near Singhuborder.

Bhartiya Kisan Union(Ekta Ugrahan), one ofPunjab's largest farmer organ-isations protesting against therecent laws, claimed that thou-sands of farmers will marchfrom the Khanauri andDabwali borders towardsprotest sites near the nationalcapital. The outfit's GeneralSecretary Sukhdev Singh saidthat many women are alsopart of the fresh batches offarmers.

On Friday too, several

batches of farmers under thebanner of the Kisan MazdoorSangharsh Committee (KMSC)headed for the protest sitesfrom Amritsar and otherplaces.

Meanwhile, for a secondday on Saturday toll collectionwas halted at several highwaypoints in Haryana -- includingin Karnal, Sirsa, Rohtak andJhajjar districts -- by the farm-ers protesting against the newagriculture-related laws.

Responding to a call givenby the Bharatiya Kisan Union,farmers had on Friday haltedtoll collection on most high-ways in Haryana. Officials saidtoll collection remained haltedat several toll points onSaturday too.

A few days ago, the BKUhad announced that toll boothsin Haryana would not beallowed to collect chargesbetween December 25 and 27.

However, operations were nor-mal at various toll plazas inGurugram and Palwal districts.

CAPT AMARINDERALLOWED PRIVATE MAN-DIS BEYOND SCOPE OFAPMC, ALLEGES AKALIDAL

The Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) on Saturday said thatPunjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh has beenexposed again, with revela-tions about how he gave direc-tions for opening private 'man-dis' beyond the scope of APMCmandis in the state's CovidResponse Report in September.

In a statement here, formerminister Daljit Singh Cheemasaid it was shocking that at atime when Punjabis were com-bating the scourge of Covid-19,the Chief Minister was work-ing as per the agenda dictated

to him by the BJP-led Centralgovernment as well as the cor-porate sector. He said the CovidResponse Report had been for-warded to various departmentsfor action and included a sec-tion calling for the need toopen agricultural marketingbeyond the AgriculturalProduce MarketingCommittees (APMCs).

"There can be no biggerbetrayal of the farmers of thestate," Cheema said while ask-ing the Chief Minister to comeclean and tell Punjabis why hedirected the Chief Secretary toopen the 'mandis' outside thepurview of the APMC.

"Let's see you explain thisperfidy," the SAD leader said,adding that Capt AmarinderSingh had lost the moralauthority to lead Punjab due tohis regular and continuousbetrayal of the cause of thePunjab farmers.

Asking the Chief Ministernot to play a double game,Cheema said the former shouldknow that he was the first toweaken the case of the Punjabfarmer by reframing the APMCAct by making four amend-ments in it immediately afterforming the government in2017. "These amendmentswere in tune with the subse-quent agricultural Ordinancesand the three agricultural mar-keting Acts which were pushedthrough in the lastParliamentary session."

He said this was not all."You even pushed for private'mandis' and privatization ofagriculture by forming theMontek Singh Ahluwalia com-mittee which supported thethree agricultural Ordinances.

This is the reason whyyour government actively par-ticipated in the process of

finalizing the agricultural Acts."Asking the Chief Minister

to explain his conduct vis-a-visthe new revelations which hadexposed his government thor-oughly even as his past anti-APMC record was there for allto see, Cheema said "noamount of shedding of croco-dile tears for the cause of farm-ers can take away the fact thatyou have landed them in thistrouble."

"You and your party standfor abolition of APMC mandisand this fact was also record-ed in your party's electionmanifesto for the 2019 parlia-mentary election. It would bebetter if you accept this insteadof beating about the bush andtrying to malign others,"Cheema added.

FORMER MP HARINDERSINGH KHALSA QUITS BJPOVER FARMERS' ISSUE

Former MP HarinderSingh Khalsa on Saturday quitthe BJP accusing its leadershipof having an indifferent attitudetowards farmers protestingagainst the Centre's farm laws.Khalsa (73) had won FatehgarhSahib Lok Sabha seat in 2014 asan Aam Aadmi Party candidatebut had been suspended fromthe AAP for his alleged anti-party activities.

He had joined the BJP in2019. Accusing the BJP lead-ership of being insensitivetowards agitation farmers,Khalsa on Saturday said that hedecided to resign from it due toits leadership's indifferent atti-tude towards the farmers.

Thousands of farmers arecamping at various borderpoints of Delhi borders for amonth now, demanding therepeal of three agri-marketinglaws enacted at the Centre inSeptember.

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Biting cold conditions pre-vailed in Haryana andPunjab on Saturday, with Hisarreeling at a low of 2.2 degreesCelsius. Hisar in Haryana wasthe coldest place in the state,while Narnaul too experienceda cold night at 3 degreesCelsius, Meteorological depart-ment officials here said.

Among other places in thestate, Karnal, Sirsa, Rohtak,Ambala and Bhiwani recordedtheir respective minimums at 4degrees Celsius, 4.1 degreesCelsius, 4 degrees Celsius, 5.3degrees Celsius and 5.6 degreesCelsius, they said.

Chandigarh, the commoncapital of the two states, alsobraved a cold weather, regis-tering a low of 4.2 degreesCelsius.

In Punjab, Adampurrecorded a minimum temper-ature of 2.5 degrees Celsius.Pathankot , Halwara andBathinda too braved intensechill, registering respectiveminimums of 3.5 degreesCelsius, 3.7 degrees Celsiusand 3.8 degrees Celsius.Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patialawere also under the grip of bit-ing cold, recording respectiveminimums of 4.2 degreesCelsius, 4.4 degrees Celsiusand 4.8 degrees Celsius, theweather office said.

MET FORECASTS RAIN,SNOW IN HIMACHALFROM SUNDAY

There could be good newsfor the thousands of touristsheading for the Himachal hillswith the possibility of snow inseveral places. The meteoro-logical department has pre-dicted rain and snowfall inHimachal Pradesh fromSunday. The MeT centreShimla on Saturday forecastrain at some places in theplains, low hills and rain andsnowfall in isolated places ofmid and high hills of the stateon December 27 and 28.

On Saturday, the weatherremained dry but cold in thestate. Keylong, Kalpa, Mandiand Manali shivered at sub-zero temperatures, the meteo-rological department said.Tribal district Lahaul-Spiti'sadministrative centre Keylongremained the coldest place inthe state at minus 11.1 degreesCelsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district,Mandi and Manali in Kullu dis-trict recorded a low of minus 3,minus 1 and minus 0.2 degreesCelsius respectively. Kufri andDalhousie recorded a low of 2.9and 6.0 degrees Celsius respec-tively. The minimum temper-ature in Shimla was recorded as7 degrees Celsius.

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The Himachal Pradesh Policehas arrested 10 tourists andseized three vehicles for obstruct-ing traffic inside Atal Tunnel in Rohtang.

The tourists stopped theirvehicles inside the tunnel,played music and started danc-ing which led to a traffic jam onThursday, KulluSuperintendent of PoliceGaurav Singh said. The 10tourists from Delhi, most ofthem in their twenties andthirties, were arrested and theirthree cars seized, he said.

They have been bookedunder sections 188 (disobedi-

ence to order duly promulgat-ed by public servant) and 270(malignant act likely to spreadinfection of disease dangerousto life) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) in view of the coro-navirus pandemic.

The world's longest tunnelat an altitude of 10,040 feet,Atal Tunnel has become atourist destination since it wasthrown open to the public byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin October.

The 9.02-km underpassbeneath 13,058-feet-highRohtang Pass connects Lahaulof Lahaul-Spiti district andManali of Kullu district inHimachal Pradesh.

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Haryana on Saturdayreported seven more coro-navirus deaths, taking the deathtoll to 2,865, even as 392 freshcases pushed the state's infec-tion tally to 2,60,545.Accordingto the state health department'sdaily bulletin, two fatalitieswere reported from Bhiwani,while one death each wasrecorded in Fatehabad, Jhajjar,Sonipat, Gurgaon andFaridabad districts.

Gurgaon recorded 99 newcases and Faridabad 41. Thenumber of active cases in thestate stood at 4,535, while therecovery rate was 97.16 percent.

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Himachal Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur on Saturdaysaid despite the Covid pan-demic impacting the economyseverely, his government hadensured that development worksdid not get affected.

Addressing a press confer-ence to mark three years of com-ing to power in the state, Thakursaid his government laid foun-dation stones to the tune of Rs3500 Crore despite financial

constraints of the state duringthe Covid pandemic.

He said the revenue loss tothe state during the Covid pan-demic has come down from 54per cent in the first quarter to 37per cent in the second quarterand 11 per cent so far in thethird quarter of this fiscal.

Thakur said that his gov-ernment borrowed about Rs4,000 Crore as fresh loanswhereas it had also repaid pre-

vious loans worth Rs 3,700 inthis financial year. The state isexpecting liberal financial assis-tance of tunes to several thou-sand crores from the Centre.Listing his government’sachievements, he said hebelieved in politics of develop-ment and not vendetta. Helashed out at the Congress formisleading the people with dis-torted facts, be it on Covidmortality, suicides or outstand-ing loans. “We are still repayingthe loans raised by them during

their rule,” he said. He said themonsoon session was called offdue to a sudden spike in Covidcases and Congress was now try-ing to politicise the issue.

He said the three-year BJPrule had ensured uniform andbalanced development, with-out discrimination on partylines, which was the norm dur-ing previous Congress rule.

He said BJP will repeat theGovernment in 2022 assemblypolls on the basis of its perfor-mance and popularity.

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For the first time after oversix months since June,India’s daily Covid-19 fatalitycount was reported below 300,taking the overall death tally to1,47,343, while the infectiontally rose to 1,01,69,118,according to the Union HealthMinistry.

In the last 24 hours, 251more deaths and 22,273 infec-tions were reported, accordingto the latest data. The numberof people who have recoveredfrom the disease surged to97,40,108, pushing the nation-al recovery rate to 95.78 percent.

The exponential rise in

recoveries in tandem withlower daily new cases hasresulted in consistent decline inthe active cases and low mor-tality. India’s cumulative recov-eries are highest in the world.

The daily new recoveriesrecorded in the country havebeen more than the daily casesregistered since the last 29days.

India’s present active case-load of 2,81,667 consists of2.77 per cent of India’s total pos-itive cases.

According to the Ministry,73.56 per cent of the new recov-ered cases are observed to beconcentrated in 10 States/UTs.“Kerala has reported the max-imum number of single day

recoveries with 4,506 newlyrecovered cases. 1,954 peoplerecovered in West Bengal fol-lowed by 1,427 inMaharashtra,” said the Ministry.

On the other hand, 79.16per cent of the new cases arefrom ten States and UTs.

Kerala reported the high-est daily new cases at 5,397. Itis followed by Maharashtrawith 3,431 new cases. WestBengal recorded 1,541 newcases.

Ten States/UTs accountedfor 85.26 per cent of the newdeaths. Maharashtra saw themaximum casualties (71). WestBengal and Delhi follow with31 and 30 daily deaths, respec-tively.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has reg-istered two separate cases ofbanking fraud to the tune ofabout �132 crore and conduct-ed searches at several locations.

The first case was registeredon a complaint from State Bankof India (SBI) against anAhmedabad-based private com-pany Krishna KnitwearTechnology Ltd., its directors,unknown public servants andothers on the allegations ofcheating the bank to the tune of�67.07 crore.

The accused company wasengaged in manufacturing ofcotton yarn, knitted grey fabricand finished garments.

“It was alleged that duringthe period 2011 to 2015, theaccused entered into a conspir-acy to cheat the SBI by way offorgery/falsification of accountsand diversion of funds,” theCBI said in a statement.

The company allegedlyavailed Fund Based WorkingCapital (FBWC) with SBI, MCB,Vapi Branch, Ahmedabad,Gujarat.

It was further alleged thatonly around 20 percent of its

receipts and payments from itsdebtors and creditors were rout-ed through banking channels,and the remaining amount wassiphoned off, it said.

Searches were conductedat 10 places including officialand the residential premises ofthe accused / private companyat Silvassa and Mumbai whichled to the recovery of incrimi-nating documents/articles.

The second case was regis-tered on a complaint fromPunjab & Sind Bank against aprivate company (borrowercompany) based at NewDelhi/Noida, Alpine RealtechPvt. Ltd. and others including itsdirectors, two other privatecompanies, unknown publicservants and others on the alle-gations that the said accused hadcheated the bank to the tune of�64.78 crore by way of diversion/ siphoning off bank funds,misappropriation and cheating.

Searches were conductedat nine locations in Delhi /NCR at the office and residen-tial premises of the accusedincluding the firm.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) hassaid widespread rainfall orsnowfall is very likely overnorthern parts of India inJammu and Kashmir, HimachalPradesh and Uttarakhand dur-ing the next few days.

The IMD has also said thatcold wave to severe cold waveconditions would prevail oversome States due to the strength-ening of northwesterly/norther-ly lower-level winds fromDecember 29.

In a series of tweets, theIMD updated its forecasts fornorth Indian states till the endof December, saying the coldwave conditions are likely toextend to parts of western andcentral India towards the end ofthis month. “Under the influ-ence of the approaching WesternDisturbance Scattered to Fairlywidespread rainfall/snowfall isvery likely over Jammu,Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit,Baltistan & Muzaffarabad,” IMDsaid.

Similarly, Himachal Pradeshand Uttarakhand would alsoexperience rainfall or snowfalland thundershowers are expect-ed in Punjab and Haryana, onDecember 27 and 28, IMD said.Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh,Delhi, Rajasthan and West UttarPradesh are also set to experi-ence cold wave or severe coldwave conditions because of “thestrengthening of cold and dry

northwesterly/northerly lower-level winds,” IMD said.

Cold day conditions arepredicted for these states onDecember 28 and 29 and onDecember 29 and 30 for north-ern Rajasthan. Dense to verydense fog during morning hoursis also expected during themorning hours in these statesfrom December 28 till the yearend. “Ground Frost conditionsare likely in isolated pockets overUttarakhand, HimachalPradesh, Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh & Delhi, Rajasthanand West Madhya Pradesh dur-ing 28th-29th December, 2020,”IMD tweeted.

Towards the end ofDecember, these cold wave con-ditions are also expected tospread towards western India.“Northern parts of Saurashtra &Kutch and West MadhyaPradesh also likely to experiencecold wave conditions on thesedays,” IMD said.

The weather across Kashmirhas remained dry and cold sincethe snowfall on December 12,with the night temperature stay-ing several degrees below thefreezing point, IMD said.Srinagar, the summer capital ofJammu and Kashmir, recordeda low of minus 3.7 degreesCelsius, slightly up from the pre-vious night’s minus 4.3 degreesCelsius. In the south Kashmirtourist resort of Pahalgam, themercury settled at minus 4.5degrees Celsius, up from minus5.9 degrees Celsius the previous

night. The famous ski resort ofGulmarg in north Kashmir wasthe coldest place in the valley atminus 6.5 degrees Celsius, downfrom minus 5.6 degrees Celsiusthe previous night, according tothe IMD.

Qazigund recorded a min-imum temperature of minus 4degrees Celsius, Kupwaraminus 3.6 degrees Celsius andKokernag minus 4.0 degreesCelsius, the IMDsaid. Kashmiris currently under the grip of‘Chillai Kalan’— a 40-day peri-od of harshest winter when acold wave grips the region andthe temperature drops consid-erably leading to the freezing ofwater bodies, as well as thewater supply lines in severalparts of the valley. The chancesof snowfall are the maximumduring this period and mostareas, especially in the higherreaches, receive heavy snowfall,the IMD said.

Biting cold conditions pre-vailed in Haryana and Punjabon Saturday, with Hisar reelingat a low of 2.2 degrees Celsius.Hisar in Haryana was the cold-est place in the state, whileNarnaul too experienced a coldnight at 3 degrees Celsius, IMDsaid.

Among other places in thestate, Karnal, Sirsa, Rohtak,Ambala and Bhiwani recordedtheir respective minimums at 4degrees Celsius, 4.1 degreesCelsius, 4 degrees Celsius, 5.3degrees Celsius and 5.6 degreesCelsius.

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A1000-year-old heritage art– the Monpa HandmadePaper of Arunachal Pradesh –which was driven to extinction,has come to life once again,with the committed efforts ofKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC ).

KVIC on Friday commis-sioned a Monpa handmadepaper making unit in Tawang,aiming to both reviving the artand engaging the local youthsprofessionally. The unit wasinaugurated by KVICChairman Shri Vinai Kumar

Saxena.The art of making Monpa

handmade paper originated inChina over 1,000 years ago.Gradually the art travelledacross to India and became anintegral part of local customand culture in Tawang, whichis just 30 km from China.Once produced in every house-hold in Tawang, this handmadepaper was a major source oflivelihood for the locals.However, the handmade paperindustry almost disappeared inthe last 100 years; promptingKVIC to plan revival of thisancient art.

The fine-textured hand-made paper, which is calledMon Shugu in the local dialect,is integral to the vibrant cultureof the local tribes in Tawang.The paper has great historicand religious significance as itis the paper used for writingBuddhist scriptures and hymnsin monasteries. The Monpahandmade paper, will be madefrom the bark of a local treecalled Shugu Sheng, which hasmedicinal values, too. Henceavailability of raw material willnot be a problem.

Back then, such was thescale of production that

Monpas used to sell thesepapers to countries like Tibet,Bhutan ,Thai Land and Japanas no paper making industryexisted in these countries atthat time. However, the localindustry gradually begandeclining and the indigenoushandmade paper was takenover by inferior Chinese paper.

An attempt for the revivalof the this handmade paperindustry was made in 1994 butfailed as it was a tough taskdue to various geographicalchallenges in Tawang.However, with the strongresolve of higher management

of KVIC, the unit was suc-cessfully established. On theinstruction of KVICChairman, a team of scientistsand officials of KumarappaNational Handmade PaperInstitute,(KNHPI) Jaipur, wasdeputed at Tawang to set upthe unit and training thelocals. Over six months of rig-orous efforts bore fruits and aunit has been commissioned atTawang.

Initially, the paper unit hasengaged 9 artisans who canproduce 500 to 600 sheets ofMonpa handmade paper perday. The artisans will be earn-

ing wages of per day Rs 400per day. To begin with, 12women and 2 men from localvillages have been trained tomake Monpa handmadepaper. KNHPI is a unit ofKVIC.

The most challenging taskfor KVIC officials was totransport the machines toTawang owing to its difficultmountainous terrains andinclement weather conditions.The Arunachal PradeshGovernment lent full supportto the project and offered abuilding on a nominal rent toset up the unit.

The KVIC Chairman saidreviving the Monpa hand-made paper industry andincreasing its commercial pro-duction was the key objectiveof KVIC. “Owing to its pecu-liarity, this handmade paperhas high commercial valuethat can be harnessed to cre-ate local employment inArunachal Pradesh. Byincreasing production ofMonpa handmade paper, itcan again be exported to othercountries and regain the spaceoccupied by China in the lastfew decades. This is a localproduct with great global

potential, which is alignedwith the Mantra of “Local toGlobal” given by the Hon’blePrime Minister,” Saxena said.

“The fatigue from the 15hours of road journey fromGuwahati to Tawang in thisdifficult terrain just vanishedon witnessing this paper unitcoming to life again. It is,indeed, a privilege to haveinaugurated the unit that willrevive this local art,” Saxenasaid while lauding the KVIC-KNHPI officials for their hardwork and Arunachal Pradeshgovernment for their supportto the project.

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Half of the air samples takenfrom several hospital hall-ways, ICUs, and a fifth frombathrooms had high levels ofcoronavirus, a study publishedin the JAMA Open Networkhas suggested. In fact, the airsampled in the ICUs werefound to be more contaminat-ed than the non-ICUs, said thestudy.

The study titled‘Assessment of AirContamination by SARS-CoV-2 in Hospital Settings’ waspublished on December 23.

For the study, theresearchers had collected airsamples from close patientenvironments, clinical zonesaway from patients, staff areas,toilets/ bathrooms, and sixpublic places.

Researchers found 17 per-cent of air sampled from closepatient environments to bepositive for SARS-CoV-2 RNAand one-quarter of all ICUrooms with COVID-19patients were contaminated.In fact, the air sampled insideICUs were more contaminatedwith the novel coronavirusthan the air sampled in non-ICUs.

As per the study, 82 of the471 air samples (17.4 percent)collected from close patient

environments were positive forSARS-CoV-2 RNA. The posi-tivity rate was significantlyhigher in intensive care unitswith 27 of 107 found to be con-taminated as against 39 of 364contaminated non-intensivecare units.

The study stated: “Amongthe 2,284 records identified, thepositivity rate was five of 21 airsamples (23.8 percent) in toi-lets, 20 of 242 (8.3 percent) inclinical areas, 15 of 122 (12.3percent) in staff areas, and 14of 42 (33.3 percent) in publicareas came back as positive.”

It added: “The results of thepositivity rate in ICU and non-ICU patient environments werehighly heterogeneous andappeared superior in the ICUwhen pooling the results. In theICU, seven of 12 studies did notfind SARS-CoV-2 RNA,whereas the remaining did,with 37.5 percent to 100 per-cent positive samples.”

The study, however, clari-fied that the level of severity ofpatients’ infections did notincrease the air contamina-tion.

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Around 50 insurgentsbelonging to a breakawayfaction of the Naga militantoutfit NSCN(K) are likely tojoin the national mainstream asthe group is finding it difficultto survive following enhancedcooperation between theIndian Army and theMyanmarese armed forcesalong the border, sources in thesecurity establishment said onSaturday.

The faction led by NikiSumi has decided to surrenderas a result of combined effortsagainst it by the Army, statesecurity forces and militaryintelligence in the last fewmonths, they said, adding it willbe a boost for the Naga peaceprocess.

The overall coordinationand cooperation between theIndian and Myanmaresearmies on the management ofthe Indo-Myanmar border hasimproved following a recentvisit to the neighbouring coun-try by Chief of Army Staff GenMM Naravane, they said.

“The diplomatic efforts inthe military domain by theChief of Army Staff during hisrecent visit to Myanmar havepaid rich dividends,” said anofficial on the condition ofanonymity.

In October, Gen Naravane,accompanied by ForeignSecretary Harsh VardhanShringla, paid a crucial visit toMyanmar during which Indiadecided to supply an attacksubmarine to the MyanmarNavy besides agreeing to fur-ther deepen overall militaryand defence ties.

Myanmar is one of India’sstrategic neighbours andshares a 1,640-kilometre-longborder with a number ofnortheastern states includingmilitancy-hit Nagaland andManipur.

The NSCN (Khaplang)and several other Naga mili-

tant groups have beendemanding the establishmentof a ‘Greater Nagaland’ com-prising all the Naga-inhabitedareas of neighbouring Assam,Manipur and ArunachalPradesh.

The sources said StarsonLamkang, a key leader of thebreakaway faction, along with52 cadres are currently in theprocess of surrendering to thesecurity forces in Phek districtof Nagaland.

They said eight morecadres of the group are alsolikely to surrender taking thetotal to around 60.

The group led by NikiSumi had broken away fromthe NSCN (K-Yung Aung).The total strength of the Nikifaction appears to be 60-65militants and its cadres decid-ed to surrender as surviving inMyanmar became very diffi-cult for them, the sourcessaid.

Sumi is an insurgentleader from the Sema tribe andbelongs to Zunebhuto districtof Nagaland, the sources said,adding he was a prominent“commander” in NSCN (K)group.

He is also a key accused inthe attack on an Army convoyin Manipur’s Chandel districtin June 2015 by the NSCN(K)in which 18 army personnellost their lives. He carries areward of Rs 10 lakh.

Days after the attack, theIndian Army had carried outan operation in areas near theIndo-Myanmar against theNSCN (K) militants.

India has been concernedover some militant groupsfrom the Northeast regiontaking shelter in Myanmar.The country has been assuringIndia that it would not allowany insurgent group to use itsterritory against India.

Various Naga militantgroups are currently holdingtalks with the Centre to resolvethe decades-old Naga issue.

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The CBI has moved theSupreme Court seeking toquestion senior IPS officerand former Kolkata policecommissioner Rajeev Kumarin connection with the multi-crore-rupee Saradha chit fundscam case.

The central probe agency,which has been entrusted withthe task of probing the Ponzischeme cases in West Bengalby the apex court, has movedthe fresh plea to quiz thesenior police officer again,alleging that he has not beencooperating with it in theongoing investigation, a sourcesaid.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) said

Kumar’s further questioning isnecessary in order to unearththe larger nexus in the scam.

The plea is likely to betaken up for hearing on thereopening of the apex courtafter the winter break.

The Saradha group ofcompanies allegedly dupedlakhs of people to the tune ofRs 2,500 crore, promisinghigher rates of return on theirinvestments.

The scam was unearthedin 2013 during Kumar’s tenureas the Bidhannagar policecommissioner.

Kumar was part of theSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) set up by the West Bengalgovernment for probing thescam, before the SupremeCourt handed over the case to

the CBI in 2014, along withother chit fund cases.

In November last year,the apex court had sought theresponse of the IPS officer onthe CBI’s appeal challengingthe anticipatory bail granted tohim in the chit fund scam bythe Calcutta The probe agencyhad filed an appeal in theapex court against the

October 1, 2019 order ofthe Calcutta High Court,which had granted

Kumar the relief saying itwas not an appropriate case forcustodial interrogation.

The high court had direct-ed Kumar to cooperate withthe investigating officers andmake himself available beforethem for questioning on a 48-hour notice by the CBI.

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The Supreme Court hasissued a show-cause noticeto a convict for misleading itby producing a wrong copy ofa trial court’s verdict to get afavourable order which hadallowed him to walk free onpayment of a fine only in agraft case.

The top court, while issu-ing the notice to convict SShankar, asked him why itshould not recall the ordersparing him the jail term andtake “further suitable” actionfor the act of misleading it.

The SC, had on July 23,2019, allowed Shankar to walkfree in the corruption case onpayment of �1,000 after hislawyer argued that the AndhraPradesh High Court “wrong-ly construed” the operativeportion of the judgement of atrial court delivered in theyear 2000.

It was argued the trialcourt had not awarded a jailterm of one year to Shankarbut had only imposed a fine of�1,000 for offences of crimi-nal breach of trust and con-spiracy under the IPC andsome other charges under thePrevention of Corruption Act.

“Since we find that thetrial court had merelyimposed a sentence of pay-ment of fine of �1,000 on theappellant, the judgment ofthe high court is clarifiedaccordingly. In view of theabove, the appeal stands dis-posed of, making it clear thatno sentence of imprisonmentwas imposed on Accused No.5 (Shankar) … by the trialcourt and the high court…,”the top court had ordered,granting the relief.

However, a subsequentinquiry and a report of thesecretary general of the apexcourt indicated that primafacie, the convict “misled” thebench to avoid a jail term.

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The Government’s move toseek comments for its draftproposal aiming to set upUniversity of Disability Studiesand Rehabilitation Sciences inan inaccessible environmenthas drawn flak from the stake-holders particularly activists inthe sector.

With just ten days allottedby the Government to study theproposal, they termed it as yetanother “ill-conceived idea”which denied adequate time orspace for stakeholders torespond.

The University coveringdisability studies and rehabili-tation sciences in an accessibleenvironment has been pro-posed to be launched by theGovernment for which theDepartment of Empowermentof Persons with Disabilities(DEPwD), under the Ministryof Social Justice andEmpowerment, has invitedcomments from stakeholderson the draft bill.

In this regard, the DEPwDsaid, a draft bill namely theUniversity of Disability Studiesand Rehabilitation SciencesBill, 2021 for establishing theproposed university has beenprepared. The DEPwD said itintends to set up a Universityof Disability Studies andRehabilitation Sciences,Kamrup district, Assamthrough a separate act ofParliament.

“The proposed university,the first of its kind, will be aunique multidisciplinary aca-demic institution conductingresearch, programmes andcourses from bachelor’s levelonwards to cater to various dis-ciplines covering the entiregamut of disability studies andrehabilitation sciences in anaccessible environment,” theDEPwD said.

“The Department ofEmpowerment of Persons withDisabilities hereby invites com-ments from the public on thedraft University of Disability

Studies and RehabilitationSciences Bill, 2021 by January3, 2021.”

Prominent disabled rightsbody National Platform for theRights of the Disabled, how-ever, felt that time was too lessto study its proposed provi-sions.

“In this case, a mere ninedays have been given to elicitresponse to a 131-page docu-ment,” the NPRD said in astatement.

“All the more unacceptableis the fact that this universitywould be ‘self-sustaining’, intune with the thrust of the NewEducation Policy 2020. Withfinances being generated fromtuition fees, affiliation fees etc.students from the margin-alised sections will standdeprived,” it said.

“Rather than wasting hugeamounts of money on self-sus-taining segregated centres oflearning, it would do auger wellif the government adheres tothe guiding principles of theRights of Persons withDisabilities Act of equality andnon-discrimination and adoptsand promotes an inclusive,multidisciplinary approach,”the NPRD said.

Dr Satendra Singh too crit-icised the haste shown by thegovernment in such importantmoves which if implementedproperly can be game chang-er.

“But the Ministry keepsembarrassing itself. TheUniversity of Disability Studies& Rehabilitation Sciences Bill2021 confirms that none ofthem have any idea about whatDisability Studies means. Only10 days to submit comments,”Singh tweeted.

As per the proposal theUniversity will have eightdepartments such as disabili-ty studies, rehabilitation sci-ences, audiology and speech-language pathology, specialeducation, psychology, nurs-ing, orthotics, prosthetics andassistive technology; and inclu-sive and universal design.

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Telecom operator VodafoneIdea on Saturday said thatit has started using 3G spec-trum for 4G services inMumbai and claimed that cus-tomers in the metro city will gethigher data speed with therefarming of spectrum.Vodafone Idea has 5 megahertzof spectrum in 2100 Mhz bandwhich was being used for 3Gservices. “Supplementing theexisting 4G infrastructure withthe expansion on 2100 MHzlayer has brought aboutenhanced data speeds, besidesa better indoor network expe-rience for Vi customers inMumbai. We request all Vi 3Gcustomers to visit the nearestretail outlet at the earliest toupgrade to a 4G SIM, free ofcost and start experiencing the

full potential of Vi GIGAnet4G,” Rajendra Chourasia,Operations Director- Mumbai,Vodafone Idea said in a state-ment. Vi (Vodafone Idea) whoare on 3G connection can getfaster 4G experience whenthey use a 4G handset and a 4GSIM.

“This development comingon the heels of the deploymentof 5 MHz of 2100 MHz spec-trum band, means that Vi cus-tomers in Mumbai will get toenjoy higher download andupload speeds apart from bet-ter indoor coverage. The exist-ing 4G infrastructure, rampedup with the migration of 3Gspectrum to 4G, gives ViGIGAnet 4G the triple advan-tages of wider coverag