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T he Delhi Government on Friday launched its Electric Vehicle Policy aiming to boost economy and help fight vehic- ular pollution in the Capital. Claiming the policy is for pollution-free and sustainable development, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it will also generate job opportunities in transportation sector mainly. Kejriwal said electric vehi- cles to contribute 25 per cent of all new vehicle registrations by 2024. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo said the EV Policy will make Delhi a world leader in the field of electric vehicles in the next five years and this is one of the most pro- gressive EV policies in the world. In winter, the Capital faces tough time due to high con- centration of noxious particles in air while with the induction of e-vehicles will lead to less emission. Under the EV Policy, the Delhi Government is providing a subsidy of up to 30,000 on the purchase of two-wheelers, auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, freight vehicles each, and 1.5 lakh incentives on cars. To encourage masses to buy e-vehicle, the Government is also providing scrapping incentives. “Many people have polluting vehicles at their homes, which are petrol and diesel vehicles. In this case, the old vehicle can be exchanged while purchasing the new vehi- cle so that it reduces the cost of the new vehicle further. This scrapping incentive is being given for the first time in the entire country,” Kejriwal said. “After working hard in the last 2-3 years and holding dis- cussions with consumers and experts, we have prepared the Electric Vehicle policy in Delhi. The policy has been notified today in the morning,” said the CM. T he Delhi Government will launch a poster drive from next week to apprise people about job portal as the number of job seekers is lesser than the number of jobs available on the portal. Employment Minister Gopal Rai said more than nine lakh jobs are available at the job portal and the number of appli- cants is just 8.64 lakh. “More than nine lakh jobs are available at the job portal and the num- ber of applicants is 8.64 lakh. Till date, 22 lakh job posts were made by different employers at the job portal,” he said. Rai said 3.5 lakh such job posts were cancelled due to duplication and some posts were fake. He also said till Friday, 10 lakh vacancies were closed by the employers as they have received the required number of people and till date, there are 8.64 lakh job appli- cants who are still looking for jobs. “Delhi is going through the Covid-19 pandemic and this has hit the employment sector and this is opportunity for job seekers,” he said. S ixteen people — pilot, co- pilot and 14 passengers — were killed and several others injured when a Dubai-Calicut Air India Express flight with 191 passengers and crew on board overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport and fell into a valley, breaking into two portions, on Friday around 7.41pm, police sources said. There were 184 passengers, including 10 Infants, and five- member cabin crew when the flight approached the airport. The Civil Aviation Ministry said the flight IX 1344 operated by B737 aircraft from Dubai overshot runway at Kozhikode at 7.41 PM on Friday. “No fire reported at the time of landing,” it noted. “As per the initial reports rescue operations are on and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard,” the it stated. While the aircraft broke into two, nearly 50 ambulances were seen coming out of the airport with the injured per- sons. Kozhikode airport is des- ignated as a table top aircraft (airport atop a hill). Capt Sathe was a wing commander in the Indian Air Force before he switched over to Air India. “AI Exp flight overshot Kozhikode runway in rainy conditions, went down 35 ft into slope, split into 2... Formal enquiry will be conducted by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau,” said Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The injured include one of the cabin crew members. Sources in Kozhikode airport said at least 40 passengers have been admitted to various hos- pitals in and around Kozhikode. The front portion of the aircraft had to be cut open to take the body of the pilot from the cockpit. According to information coming out of the airport, the aircraft crash landed on the runway from where it skidded off. The first visuals shown by local TV channels were that of a totally damaged aircraft, the front side of which has been damaged totally. It was raining heavily when the aircraft touched the ground. Most of the passengers were heard cry- ing in pain. The co-pilot has been injured seriously while some of the passengers in the aircraft suffered injuries. The flight was part of the Vande Bharat Repatriation Mission operated by the Government of India. B ollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty was on Friday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai in connection with a money laun- dering case relating to film star Sushant Singh Rajput’s alleged suicide. Her request to put it off the interrogation was rejected by the agency. Chakraborty arrived at the agency’s office minutes after the 11.30 am deadline. Rhea Chakraborty left the ED office after 8 hours of interrogation. Her father Indrajit Chakraborty and brother Showik, both accused in the abetment to suicide case lodged by Patna Police, were also seen with her. Chakraborty’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Rajput’s father Krishna Kumar Singh had in his com- plaint before Patna Police alleged financial irregularities in the late actor’s bank accounts. In the complaint, Singh alleged 15 crore was siphoned off from Rajput’s bank account in one year to accounts of per- sons not known or connected to the late film star. Two companies linked to Rajput and some financial deals involving Chakraborty, her father and Showik who are stat- ed to be directors in these com- panies, are under the scanner of the ED, officials said. New Delhi : The Bihar Government on Friday sought in the Supreme Court dis- missal of Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty’s plea for transfer of the Patna FIR against her to Mumbai in actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case, terming it “premature, misconceived and non-main- tainable”. The 28-page affidavit of Patna SSP Upendra Sharma, filed through Bihar’s advocate Keshav Mohan, said the state police has the jurisdiction in the case as the consequences of the offence are in Patna as well where the old father of the deceased actor resides. PTI C oming ahead of and dur- ing her questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case in Mumbai, Rhea Chakraborty’s call record details — with the late actor, Bollywood person- alities, a senior Mumbai police official and her own family members — on Friday sparked a new debate in the media in connection with the probe into Rajput’s death. She spoke 287 times with the late actor’s domestic help Samuel Miranda during a year time. A woman allegedly threat- ened to file a rape com- plaint against the staff of a shopping mall here when they asked her to pay the bill. On Thursday evening, the woman, who was accompanied by her male companion and a child, shopped at the mall at Patrapada. She purchased apparels worth over Rs 50,000 and proceeded towards the billing counter where she told the staff that she is a family friend of one of the partners of the shop and the bill has already been paid. The staff refused to oblige her, for which an altercation ensued between them. The woman threatened the employ- ees to file a rape complaint against them if they insisted further on paying the bill, the employees said. “When she entered the shop, she enquired about Ajay Satpathy Sir, who was a former business partner of our owner. She then picked four sarees, a purse and a ladies’ dress. At the billing counter, she asked for the bill. Our staff said they couldn’t produce the bill with- out it being paid. She then said she has already paid it to Ajay Sir and asked us to take it from him. When we expressed our inability to generate the bill under the circumstances, she snatched the bags and threat- ened to file a rape complaint against our staff,” an employee of the store said. After a commotion, she left the store hastily and rushed out in an SUV. By the time, the store staff had jotted down her vehicle number and contact number. Soon after, a complaint was lodged at the Tamando police station. Police are inves- tigating the matter. Sources said the accused is a habitual offender and was in news earlier for same reasons. BHUBANESWAR: A body of a 25-year old man lay at his home in a village at Konark for more than 15 hours as relatives and villagers stayed away sus- pecting that he had been infect- ed with Covid-19. The man had died on Wednesday at Mankaragoradi village and his family was forced to arrange for PPE kits and other protective gears before the body could be taken to the cremation ground of the village. But none was ready to carry his body. The body was, instead, carried in a cycle cart next day. Vichitra Rout, a tractor driver, had been suffering from high fever and was diagnosed with typhoid. He was asked by the Community Health Centre, where he was being treated to undergo the Covid-19 test. He was referred to the District Headquarters Hospital at Puri for test; but when he was taken there on August 4, its OPD had been shut as some staffs had contracted coronavirus. Rout was then referred to a Bhubaneswar hospital but died on Wednesday before being taken there. Meanwhile, rumour spread that he had fall- en prey to Covid-19. PNS T he Shree Jaganath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Friday said that no such deci- sion has yet been taken for online booking to enter the shrine. SJTA Niti Administrator Jitendra Sahu said no such proposal has come for discus- sion; and the statement made by an SJTA member on Thursday is confusing and is his personal opinion. Sahu said the SJTA is fol- lowing the Covid guidelines; and it is the State Government to take a deci- sion on entry of devotees to the Shreemandir. Following the SJTA mem- ber’s statement, a lot of people began searching the website for booking ticket to enter the temple but failed in their bid. The Jaganath Temple has remained shut for devotees since March 20 due to the Covid pandemic. A s many as 101 new Covid positive cases were detect- ed under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) jurisdiction on Friday, pushing the total tally to 3,573. Of the new cases, 52 were from quarantine and 49 local contact cases, the BMC said. The quarantine cases included five of Salia Sahi linked with an earlier positive case; three of Patia linked with an earlier case; three of Dumduma; two of Unit-6 Tala Basti; two, both police staffs, linked with an earlier case; two of Samntrapur linked with an earlier case; two Health Department employees linked with an earlier case; two women employees of a Central Government hospital; a woman employee of a private hospital; a 34-year-old man of Kharavel Nagar with travel history to Bangalore; and an employee of a Government hospital. The local contacts includ- ed two cases of Badagada Nageshwar Colony, two of Badagada Brit Colony, two of Unit-1, two of Baramunda, two of Old Town, one of Bhimatangi, one of Dumduma, one of CRPF campus, one of Ganganagar and one of OUAT Colony. However, another 106 patients recovered from the dis- ease in the city on the day, tak- ing the total recoveries to 2,257. In Cuttack, 81 new positive cases were detected on Friday, taking the city’s total tally to 1,470. Of the new cases, 38 were from the Malgodown Behera Sahi containment zone, five from institutional quarantine, 26 from home quarantine and 12 local contacts, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) said. A record number of 12 patients undergoing treat- ment in various hospitals suc- cumbed to Covid-19 on Friday, increasing the State’s total death toll to 247. Three persons died in Sundargarh district, three in Ganjam and one each in Mayurbhanj, Kendrapada, Sambalpur, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal and Gajapati. The Ganjam deceased included a 52-year-old man, a 50-year-old man and a 62- year-old man. The casualties of were a 77-year-old man, a 66- year-old man and a 77-year-old man. The other deceased were a 55-year-old man from Mayurbhanj, a 36-year-old man of Kendrapada, a 78-year-old woman of Sambalpur, a 55- year-old man of Bhadrak, a 61- year-old man of Dhenkanal and a 34-year-old man of Gajapati. On the day, the State also registered the highest single- day surge of 1,833 positive cases, pushing the total tally to 42, 550. Of the new cases, 1,118 were detected from quarantine centres and 715 were local contact cases. The maximum 298 cases were reported from Khordha district followed by Ganjam with 279 cases. This was the first time that Khordha over- took Ganjam in the daily count. Next to Ganjam was Rayagada with 152 cases, Cuttack 124, Sundargarh 110, Kalahandi 84, Balasore 69, Puri 67, Nayagarh 61, Jajpur 60, Bhadrak 50, Koraput 47, Dhenkanal 43, Sambalpur 39, Balangir 37, Malkangiri 36, Gajapati 35, Boudh, Kendrapada and Mayurbhanj 34 each, Subarnapur 33, Jharsuguda 30, Jagatsinghpur, Kandhamal and Keonjhar 16 each, and Nabaarangpur 11. Besides, Angul reported nine cases, Bargarh eight and Nuapada one. However, a record 1,810 more patients recovered on Friday, taking the total recov- eries to 28,697. The maximum 700 recov- ered in Ganjam followed by 202 in Khordha, 147 in Cuttack, 136 in Gajapati, 116 in Dhenkanal, 106 in Sundargarh , 62 in Sambalpur, 55 in Rayagada, 37 in Keonjhar, 34 in Angul and 24 in Kalahandi, 22 in Koraput, 20 in Jajpur, 19 in Bargarh, 17 in Baleswar, 15 each in Balangir and Mayurbhanj, 14 in Kendrapada, 13 in Bhadrak, 11 each in Deogarh and Nabarangpur, eight each in Jagatsinghpur and Jharsuguda, six in Puri, five in Boudh, four in Subarnapur and three in I n a major decision, the State Government on Friday allowed treatment of Covid-19 patients at private hospitals. “It is observed that the private hospitals are treating the non-Covid cases; but when they find such patients to be Covid-19 positive during the process of treatment, they immediately request the Government machinery to shift the case to a Covid facil- ity set up by the Government. It eventually caused a large surge of patients in such Covid facilities,” the Health Department said in a notifica- tion. The Government formu- lated guidelines for the treat- ment of Covid-19 patients at private hospitals. The guidelines included sending of all asymptomatic or mild cases to institutional quar- antine/home isolation or any paid CCC run by the private hospital. Interested private hos- pitals shall designate a mini- mum of 10% of all beds for Covid patients with an option to convert the entire hospital as a Covid Hospital.

˘ ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˘ ˇ · 12 hours ago  · missal of Bollywood actress ... She then picked four sarees, a purse and a ladies’ dress. At the billing counter, she asked for ... online

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Page 1: ˘ ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˘ ˇ · 12 hours ago  · missal of Bollywood actress ... She then picked four sarees, a purse and a ladies’ dress. At the billing counter, she asked for ... online

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The Delhi Government onFriday launched its Electric

Vehicle Policy aiming to boosteconomy and help fight vehic-ular pollution in the Capital.

Claiming the policy is forpollution-free and sustainabledevelopment, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said it will alsogenerate job opportunities intransportation sector mainly.

Kejriwal said electric vehi-cles to contribute 25 per cent ofall new vehicle registrations by2024. The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) supremo said the EVPolicy will make Delhi a worldleader in the field of electricvehicles in the next five yearsand this is one of the most pro-gressive EV policies in theworld.

In winter, the Capital facestough time due to high con-centration of noxious particlesin air while with the inductionof e-vehicles will lead to lessemission.

Under the EV Policy, theDelhi Government is providinga subsidy of up to �30,000 onthe purchase of two-wheelers,

auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws,freight vehicles each, and �1.5lakh incentives on cars.

To encourage masses tobuy e-vehicle, the Governmentis also providing scrappingincentives. “Many people havepolluting vehicles at theirhomes, which are petrol anddiesel vehicles. In this case, theold vehicle can be exchangedwhile purchasing the new vehi-cle so that it reduces the cost ofthe new vehicle further. Thisscrapping incentive is beinggiven for the first time in theentire country,” Kejriwal said.

“After working hard in thelast 2-3 years and holding dis-cussions with consumers andexperts, we have prepared theElectric Vehicle policy in Delhi.The policy has been notifiedtoday in the morning,” said theCM.

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The Delhi Government willlaunch a poster drive from

next week to apprise peopleabout job portal as the numberof job seekers is lesser than thenumber of jobs available on theportal.

Employment MinisterGopal Rai said more than ninelakh jobs are available at the jobportal and the number of appli-cants is just 8.64 lakh. “Morethan nine lakh jobs are availableat the job portal and the num-ber of applicants is 8.64 lakh.Till date, 22 lakh job posts weremade by different employers atthe job portal,” he said.

Rai said 3.5 lakh such jobposts were cancelled due toduplication and some postswere fake. He also said tillFriday, 10 lakh vacancies wereclosed by the employers asthey have received the requirednumber of people and till date,there are 8.64 lakh job appli-cants who are still looking forjobs. “Delhi is going throughthe Covid-19 pandemic andthis has hit the employmentsector and this is opportunityfor job seekers,” he said.

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Sixteen people — pilot, co-pilot and 14 passengers —

were killed and several othersinjured when a Dubai-CalicutAir India Express flight with191 passengers and crew onboard overshot the runway atKozhikode airport and fell intoa valley, breaking into twoportions, on Friday around7.41pm, police sources said.There were 184 passengers,including 10 Infants, and five-member cabin crew when theflight approached the airport.

The Civil AviationMinistry said the flight IX1344 operated by B737 aircraftfrom Dubai overshot runway atKozhikode at 7.41 PM onFriday. “No fire reported at thetime of landing,” it noted.

“As per the initial reportsrescue operations are on andpassengers are being taken tohospital for medical care. Wewill soon share the update inthis regard,” the it stated.

While the aircraft brokeinto two, nearly 50 ambulanceswere seen coming out of theairport with the injured per-sons. Kozhikode airport is des-ignated as a table top aircraft(airport atop a hill). Capt Sathewas a wing commander in theIndian Air Force before heswitched over to Air India.

“AI Exp flight overshotKozhikode runway in rainyconditions, went down 35 ftinto slope, split into 2... Formalenquiry will be conducted byAircraft Accident Investigation

Bureau,” said Aviation MinisterHardeep Singh Puri.

The injured include one ofthe cabin crew members.Sources in Kozhikode airportsaid at least 40 passengers havebeen admitted to various hos-pitals in and around

Kozhikode. The front portionof the aircraft had to be cutopen to take the body of thepilot from the cockpit.

According to informationcoming out of the airport, theaircraft crash landed on therunway from where it skidded

off. The first visuals shown bylocal TV channels were that ofa totally damaged aircraft, thefront side of which has beendamaged totally. It was rainingheavily when the aircrafttouched the ground. Most ofthe passengers were heard cry-

ing in pain. The co-pilot has been

injured seriously while some ofthe passengers in the aircraftsuffered injuries. The flightwas part of the Vande BharatRepatriation Mission operatedby the Government of India.

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Bollywood actor RheaChakraborty was on Friday

questioned by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) in Mumbai inconnection with a money laun-dering case relating to film starSushant Singh Rajput’s allegedsuicide. Her request to put it offthe interrogation was rejectedby the agency.

Chakraborty arrived at theagency’s office minutes after the11.30 am deadline. RheaChakraborty left the ED officeafter 8 hours of interrogation.

Her father IndrajitChakraborty and brotherShowik, both accused in theabetment to suicide case lodgedby Patna Police, were also seenwith her.

Chakraborty’s statementwas recorded under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act.

Rajput’s father KrishnaKumar Singh had in his com-plaint before Patna Policealleged financial irregularitiesin the late actor’s bankaccounts.

In the complaint, Singhalleged �15 crore was siphonedoff from Rajput’s bank accountin one year to accounts of per-sons not known or connectedto the late film star.

Two companies linked toRajput and some financial dealsinvolving Chakraborty, herfather and Showik who are stat-ed to be directors in these com-panies, are under the scannerof the ED, officials said.

New Delhi : The BiharGovernment on Friday soughtin the Supreme Court dis-missal of Bollywood actressRhea Chakraborty’s plea fortransfer of the Patna FIRagainst her to Mumbai in actorSushant Singh Rajput deathcase, terming it “premature,misconceived and non-main-tainable”. The 28-page affidavitof Patna SSP Upendra Sharma,filed through Bihar’s advocateKeshav Mohan, said the statepolice has the jurisdiction inthe case as the consequences ofthe offence are in Patna as wellwhere the old father of thedeceased actor resides. PTI

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Coming ahead of and dur-ing her questioning by the

Enforcement Directorate (ED)team in the Sushant SinghRajput suicide case inMumbai, Rhea Chakraborty’scall record details — with thelate actor, Bollywood person-alities, a senior Mumbai policeofficial and her own familymembers — on Fridaysparked a new debate in themedia in connection with theprobe into Rajput’s death.

She spoke 287 times withthe late actor’s domestic helpSamuel Miranda during ayear time.

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Awoman allegedly threat-ened to file a rape com-

plaint against the staff of ashopping mall here when theyasked her to pay the bill.

On Thursday evening, thewoman, who was accompaniedby her male companion and achild, shopped at the mall atPatrapada. She purchasedapparels worth over Rs 50,000and proceeded towards thebilling counter where she toldthe staff that she is a familyfriend of one of the partners ofthe shop and the bill hasalready been paid.

The staff refused to obligeher, for which an altercationensued between them. Thewoman threatened the employ-ees to file a rape complaintagainst them if they insisted

further on paying the bill, theemployees said.

“When she entered theshop, she enquired about AjaySatpathy Sir, who was a formerbusiness partner of our owner.She then picked four sarees, apurse and a ladies’ dress. At thebilling counter, she asked forthe bill. Our staff said theycouldn’t produce the bill with-out it being paid. She then saidshe has already paid it to AjaySir and asked us to take it fromhim. When we expressed ourinability to generate the billunder the circumstances, shesnatched the bags and threat-ened to file a rape complaintagainst our staff,” an employeeof the store said.

After a commotion, she leftthe store hastily and rushed outin an SUV. By the time, thestore staff had jotted down her

vehicle number and contactnumber.

Soon after, a complaintwas lodged at the Tamandopolice station. Police are inves-

tigating the matter.Sources said the accused is

a habitual offender and was innews earlier for same reasons.

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BHUBANESWAR: A body ofa 25-year old man lay at hishome in a village at Konark formore than 15 hours as relativesand villagers stayed away sus-pecting that he had been infect-ed with Covid-19.

The man had died onWednesday at Mankaragoradivillage and his family wasforced to arrange for PPE kitsand other protective gearsbefore the body could be takento the cremation ground of thevillage. But none was ready tocarry his body. The body was,instead, carried in a cycle cartnext day.

Vichitra Rout, a tractordriver, had been suffering fromhigh fever and was diagnosedwith typhoid. He was asked bythe Community Health Centre,where he was being treated toundergo the Covid-19 test. Hewas referred to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital at Purifor test; but when he was takenthere on August 4, its OPD hadbeen shut as some staffs hadcontracted coronavirus.

Rout was then referred toa Bhubaneswar hospital butdied on Wednesday beforebeing taken there. Meanwhile,rumour spread that he had fall-en prey to Covid-19. PNS

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The Shree Jaganath TempleAdministration (SJTA) on

Friday said that no such deci-sion has yet been taken foronline booking to enter theshrine.

SJTA Niti AdministratorJitendra Sahu said no suchproposal has come for discus-sion; and the statement madeby an SJTA member onThursday is confusing and ishis personal opinion.

Sahu said the SJTA is fol-lowing the Covid guidelines;and it is the State

Government to take a deci-sion on entry of devotees to theShreemandir.

Following the SJTA mem-ber’s statement, a lot of peoplebegan searching the website forbooking ticket to enter thetemple but failed in their bid.

The Jaganath Temple hasremained shut for devoteessince March 20 due to theCovid pandemic.

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As many as 101 new Covidpositive cases were detect-

ed under the BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC)jurisdiction on Friday, pushingthe total tally to 3,573.

Of the new cases, 52 werefrom quarantine and 49 localcontact cases, the BMC said.

The quarantine casesincluded five of Salia Sahilinked with an earlier positivecase; three of Patia linked withan earlier case; three ofDumduma; two of Unit-6 TalaBasti; two, both police staffs,linked with an earlier case; twoof Samntrapur linked with anearlier case; two HealthDepartment employees linked

with an earlier case; twowomen employees of a CentralGovernment hospital; a womanemployee of a private hospital;a 34-year-old man of KharavelNagar with travel history toBangalore; and an employee ofa Government hospital.

The local contacts includ-ed two cases of BadagadaNageshwar Colony, two ofBadagada Brit Colony, two ofUnit-1, two of Baramunda,two of Old Town, one ofBhimatangi, one of Dumduma,one of CRPF campus, one ofGanganagar and one of OUATColony.

However, another 106patients recovered from the dis-ease in the city on the day, tak-ing the total recoveries to 2,257.

In Cuttack, 81 new positivecases were detected on Friday,taking the city’s total tally to1,470.

Of the new cases, 38 werefrom the Malgodown BeheraSahi containment zone, fivefrom institutional quarantine,26 from home quarantine and12 local contacts, the CuttackMunicipal Corporation (CMC)said.

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Arecord number of 12patients undergoing treat-

ment in various hospitals suc-cumbed to Covid-19 on Friday,increasing the State’s total deathtoll to 247.

Three persons died inSundargarh district, three inGanjam and one each inMayurbhanj, Kendrapada,Sambalpur, Bhadrak,Dhenkanal and Gajapati.

The Ganjam deceasedincluded a 52-year-old man, a50-year-old man and a 62-year-old man. The casualties ofwere a 77-year-old man, a 66-year-old man and a 77-year-oldman.

The other deceased were a55-year-old man fromMayurbhanj, a 36-year-old manof Kendrapada, a 78-year-oldwoman of Sambalpur, a 55-year-old man of Bhadrak, a 61-

year-old man of Dhenkanaland a 34-year-old man ofGajapati.

On the day, the State alsoregistered the highest single-day surge of 1,833 positivecases, pushing the total tally to42, 550.

Of the new cases, 1,118were detected from quarantinecentres and 715 were localcontact cases.

The maximum 298 caseswere reported from Khordhadistrict followed by Ganjamwith 279 cases. This was thefirst time that Khordha over-took Ganjam in the daily count.

Next to Ganjam wasRayagada with 152 cases,Cuttack 124, Sundargarh 110,Kalahandi 84, Balasore 69, Puri67, Nayagarh 61, Jajpur 60,Bhadrak 50, Koraput 47,Dhenkanal 43, Sambalpur 39,Balangir 37, Malkangiri 36,Gajapati 35, Boudh,

Kendrapada and Mayurbhanj34 each, Subarnapur 33,Jharsuguda 30, Jagatsinghpur,Kandhamal and Keonjhar 16each, and Nabaarangpur 11.

Besides, Angul reportednine cases, Bargarh eight andNuapada one.

However, a record 1,810more patients recovered onFriday, taking the total recov-eries to 28,697.

The maximum 700 recov-ered in Ganjam followed by202 in Khordha, 147 in

Cuttack, 136 in Gajapati, 116 inDhenkanal, 106 in Sundargarh, 62 in Sambalpur, 55 inRayagada, 37 in Keonjhar, 34 inAngul and 24 in Kalahandi, 22in Koraput, 20 in Jajpur, 19 inBargarh, 17 in Baleswar, 15each in Balangir andMayurbhanj, 14 inKendrapada, 13 in Bhadrak, 11each in Deogarh andNabarangpur, eight each inJagatsinghpur and Jharsuguda,six in Puri, five in Boudh, fourin Subarnapur and three in

��� �����������

In a major decision, the StateGovernment on Friday

allowed treatment of Covid-19patients at private hospitals.

“It is observed that theprivate hospitals are treatingthe non-Covid cases; but whenthey find such patients to beCovid-19 positive during theprocess of treatment, theyimmediately request theGovernment machinery toshift the case to a Covid facil-ity set up by the Government.It eventually caused a largesurge of patients in such Covidfacilities,” the HealthDepartment said in a notifica-tion.

The Government formu-lated guidelines for the treat-ment of Covid-19 patients atprivate hospitals.

The guidelines includedsending of all asymptomatic ormild cases to institutional quar-antine/home isolation or anypaid CCC run by the privatehospital. Interested private hos-pitals shall designate a mini-mum of 10% of all beds forCovid patients with an optionto convert the entire hospital asa Covid Hospital.

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Public services rendered byFinance, Odia Language

and Culture, Sports and YouthServices and Science andTechnology Departmentshave been made online whilethe Government has setOctober 2 as the timeline foravailing all Government ser-vices online.

This was revealed at areview meeting held underthe chairmanship of ChiefSecretary Asit Tripathy ondigital mode on Friday.

Tripathy directed al l

departments to make use ofthe “bulk disbursement plat-form’ of Integrated FinancialManagement System ( IFMS)for benefit transfer undervarious schemes.

Review showed that fourservices like pension to indi-gent sports persons, facilitybooking, issue of ID cardand weight and age certifi-cates to sports persons havealready been put online.Similarly, booking ofMandapas under the OdiaLanguage and Literature andCulture Department has beenmade online. The depart-ment is now developingonline data base of artists,s ingers, writers and poets.

Public services like ‘onlineprocessing of pension appli-cation’, ‘online creation ofpermanent ret irement

account number (PRAN’),‘bulk disbursement platformfor benefit transfer’, ‘onlinepayment of taxes and dues’, ‘e-GPF’, ‘online submission ofyear end surrender’ underthe Finance Department havealso been rolled out.

The Science andTechnology Department hasalready developed onlinemodel for ORSAC Map ser-vices, which includes onlinedelivery of administrative andthematic maps.

The Chief Secretar ydirected the department toexplore various possibilitiesfor utilisation of vaious spacedata already generated byOdisha Space ApplicationCenter. The Handlooms,Textiles and HandicraftsDepartment would issuetraining certificates throughonline by August 15, 2020.

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Loan frauds have beenalleged in the Andhra Bank,

Keonjhar Branch with cashhaving been withdrawn frommany customers without theirknowledge.

The matter had come tothe fore on November 5, 2018when Monika Singh of RasiklalColony received a bank noticeasking her to repay a loanamounting Rs 25,73,860.

According to Monika, shehad applied for a housing loanof Rs 30 lakh to buy a patch ofland and construct a building

on it. After loan approval, shespent Rs 9 lakh for buying aplot and Rs 2 lakh for laying thefoundation of the house. Afterbank notice, she found that Rs10,70,154 had been debitedfrom her account without herknowledge. Documentsobtained from the bankthrough RTI revealed that Rs5,13,168 was withdrawn byunsigned loose withdrawalcheque no. 315500 and Rs5,56,986 vide cheque no315499. Monika claims that shenever issued these cheques toanyone.

“It is a clear case of fraudsince the cash has been with-drawn from my accountthrough withdrawal slips with-out my signature and hand-written cheque number,” shesaid, adding that the fraud isnot possible without theinvolvement of bank staffs.

The cheque leafs were notissued from the cheque bookissued to Monika. According tobank rules, a bank releaseshousing loan in phased mannerdepending on the progress ofhouse construction. But in thiscase, it is suspicious how themanager disbursed so muchamount without verifying theprogress of construction of thehouse and allowed withdraw-al of cash through unsignedcheques.

In the meantime, AndhraBank has been merged withUnion Bank and, thus, Monikahas lodged a complaint with theconcerned Zonal Manager,requesting for a probe by localpolice.

“We are aware of such acomplaint and a high-levelinquiry is going on,” saidBranch Manager SunaramNaik.

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A28-year-old woman was arrested and pro-duced before court by police for allegedly

duping a retired doctor of over Rs 4.5 lakh.Further investigation was underway in this con-nection.

As per the complaint lodged by Dr BijayKumar Pradhan, a resident of Baghuabol here,Supriya Swain alias Deepa of Majhika villageunder the Colliery police limits had met him indisguise of a finance company agent. With hertricks, she won his faith and developed a goodrapport with him. Later, she managed to get hisATM card and bank details and withdrew awhopping of Rs 4,57,385 in instalments.

Dr Pradhan got to know about the fraudwhen he updated his State Bank of India pass-book and immediately lodged a complaint withthe Talcher police. Acting on the FIR, policebegan an investigation and arrested Supriyaunder Section 420 of IPC.

“Two cases have been lodged against thewoman at the Talcher and Colliery police sta-

tions. The case registered at Talcher PS claimscheating of Rs 4.57 lakh while the case lodgedat Colliery PS claims cheating of Rs 1.05 lakh.The woman was arrested on August 4 and is injudicial custody now. Investigation is underwayin connection with both the cases,” said AngulSP Jagmohan Meena.

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In a bid to strengthen polic-ing for better crime control

and efficient delivery of citizen-centric services, Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik on Fridayapproved rationalisation of 905posts in 220 police stations,strengthening of six police out-posts and creation of six newpolice stations.

The existing police sta-tions which would be bifur-cated into six new police sta-tions are Khandagiri policestation in Bhubaneswar, AngulTown police station, JhasugudaTown police station,Bhanjanagar police station inGanjam district, Bhadrak(Rural) police station andTihidi police station in Bhadrak

district. “The rationalisationwill help strengthen 220 policestations and six outposts in 21police districts of the State,” saida release issued by the ChiefMinister’s Office (CMO).

Earlier, the Chief Ministerhad directed the DG of Police(DGP) to make more person-

nel available in police stationsby way of rationalisation.

“Significant decline inMaoist menace due to strongsecurity response and devel-opment activities has enabledthe State to rationalise its man-power in police,” the CMOcommunique said.

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In the ongoing probe into thedeath of social activist and

motivational speaker AdityaDash, the Crime Branch policeare likely to conduct poly-graph test on three persons,including his wife Bidyashree tocrack the mystery.

Police source said Aditya’stwo associates Papu and Bikashwould also undergo the liedetector test.

The probe team decided toconduct the test due to mis-match in statements of thetrio, Bidyashree, Papu andBikash, during a series of inter-rogations a month after Aditya’sdeath.

Following direction ofDGP Abhay, the Crime Branchis now investigating into ‘mys-terious’ death case of Aditya.

Earlier, the case was beingprobed by the GovernmentRailway Police (GRP).

However, the People forSeva, an NGO, which was runby Aditya, has demanded a CBIinquiry into the case.

Aditya had been founddead on a railway track near theLingaraj Temple Road stationin Bhubaneswar on July 7.Initial reports said a ‘mentally-disturbed’ Aditya was hit by atrain on the track.

Aditya was a popular faceon social media platform. Hehad 81,000 followers onFacebook. He was running anold-age home at Sundarpadaon the city’s outskirts. He hadmarried his love Bidyashree onJune 9. Less than a month oftheir wedlock, he was founddead under mysterious cir-cumstances.

Aditya’s last Facebook postwas regarding a quote over hislater death indicated that heended his life out of depression.

Besides, police seized ahandwritten diary of Aditya, inwhich it was mentioned on apage that no one was respon-sible for his death. The foren-

sic report on the alleged ‘suicidenote’ confirmed that it waswritten by him.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem report received by theGRP showed that Aditya dieddue to grievous injuries on hishead, which was severely dam-aged.

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The justice delivery system isexperiencing a new phase,

i.e., its enhanced brush withtechnology, mainly due to thecoronavirus pandemic. Theresultant necessity is to adhereto social distancing, whichcalls for resorting to remoteproduction of accused.However, many are skepticalabout the new experience,especially, those within thecriminal justice system, whichincludes the police, courts,advocates and the under-trials.

The experiences that wehave gained over the past fewmonths will definitely help usto augment the system and mit-igate the factors creating bot-tleneck for the change towardsmaking the justice deliverysystem more efficient and tech-nology friendly.

The reasons for the resis-tance to change is quite obvi-ous and is part of humannature to oppose the unknownor the little known, for the fearof it, but the inevitable cannotbe resisted. During this pan-demic time the form of tech-nology which seems to be inmuch use within the judiciaryis, ‘video conferencing’ or ‘tele-presence’, which is both effec-tive and dependable. The use oftechnology cannot be averse tothe idea of justice or the pro-cedure established by law.

In the words of the DelhiHigh Court, “The use of video-conferencing in any particularcase must be consistent withfurthering the interests of jus-

tice and should cause minimaldisadvantage to the parties” andfurther went on to add that, “allstatutory provisions applicableto such proceedings includingthat of Information TechnologyAct 2000 and Indian EvidenceAct 1872 shall be applicable atpar in such videoconference.”

But for optimum utilisationof technology, i.e., videocon-ferencing in the instant case, itis necessary to understand theissues that are pivotal for imple-mentation of video conferenc-ing protocols. One of the majorconcerns of the parties subjectto the rigours of law is theabsence of satisfaction whiletalking over camera, as it is farfrom the notion of a personalhearing and might potentiallypush into a state of paranoia,mainly because of the testingtime one faces and also due tothe difficulty in comprehendingthe onscreen discussion, whichis multiplied owing to the oftenpoor quality of video commu-nication, slow speed internet

and the resultant video/audiooutages. Not only this, theperusal of documents andexamination/ cross examinationof witnesses which in itself is anelaborate task and requires aclear understanding and inter-pretation of a wide range ofthings shall suffer at the handsof under-prepared technologi-cal implementation. So, it isimperative that the quality ofvideo communication betweenthe magistrate/judge andaccused be good and not mere-ly manageable. Another con-cern that in any eventuality willarise, is regarding the serving ofsummons when the witnessstays beyond the jurisdiction ofa court and on the question of‘how to establish the identity of

the witness making deposi-tion’.

Apart from what is dis-cussed, we cannot ignore theabysmally poor infrastructurein terms of availability of ade-quate videoconferencingrooms, that is, at the disposalof the judiciary and correc-tional homes or jails to cater toa plethora of litigations con-ducted simultaneously everyday. Far from aiding the processof justice this might as welldelay the processes.

Besides, the social mediaactivism possesses a threat tofair trial over videoconferenc-ing as there might be unau-thorised recording of conver-sations and proceedings whichmay be circulated in socialmedia and shall definitely leadto an aggravated and uglymedia trial, which shall berepugnant to the harmoniousbalancing of ‘free press, fair trialand judicial integrity’. In thisconnection the guidelinesframed by the Delhi High

Court are dependable andexhaustive in addressing manyaspects elaborated above, like ithas taken care of, applicationfor appearance, evidence andsubmission by videoconfer-encing, exhaustive details ofpreparatory arrangement forvideo conferencing, service ofsummons, examination of wit-nesses, ensuring of seamlessvideo conferencing, judicialremand, framing of charges,the examination of accused,etc., but it has denied the pro-ceedings under Section 164CrPc, to be made throughvideoconferencing.

Many technical issues relat-ing to identification, internetspeed, confidentiality and doc-ument presentation can betided over by learning from theexperience we have gainedfrom education sector in termsof conducting online examsduring the pandemic. The pat-tern of similar technologiescan be adopted and designed tofulfil the necessities of the

judicial institutions.Videoconferencing is the

appropriate step towards mod-ernising the justice delivery sys-tem to function optimally, effi-ciently and faster than before tomeet the ends of justice, how-ever not without addressing theconcerns of the judges, under-trials and police.

The propriety and legality ofrecording of deposition throughvideo conferencing by a trialcourt in Maharastra has nowbeen long upheld by theSupreme Court, way back in2003. Besides, the Policy andAction Plan Document of the e-courts project has envisagedvideo conferencing and record-ing infrastructure for courts, cor-rectional homes/jails. TheObjectives AccomplishmentReport, 2019 of the e-courtsProject, has stated that, video-conferencing gadgets and utili-ties have been provided to 3,240court complexes and 1,272 jailsin India. This developmentspeaks the mind of the policy

makers and the incumbentregime to include video confer-encing as an integral part of thejustice delivery mechanism.

It is true that, the pandem-ic situation has made us tothink fast and vigorously aboutadoption of video conferencinginside the Indian courtroomsbut the deliberation, discourseover the issue has been longrunning. If we analyse thevirtues of video conferencing,what comes out is, it is an effi-cient alternative to the existingcumbersome judicial process-es and a blessing to the judiciarywhich is already facing a heavybacklog of cases by avoidingunnecessary travel, speedingup processes, by saving fuel andexpenditure in manpower usedin transportation and securityof under-trials and therebyprotecting the exchequer.

(The writer is a lawyer anda public policy expert. He can bereached [email protected])

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BHUBANESWAR: Variousorgnisaions like Mo Odisha,Rastriya Dalita Sabha andRepublican Party of Indiastaged a protest wearing blackbadges against Bhoomi Pujanof Ram Temple at Ayodhy andsent a memorandum toPresident Ram Nath Kovidurging for “preservation of thebasic features of theConstitution.”

“As of today, the countryhas reported more than 20lakh covid cases. Now each daymore than 50 thousand positivecases are added while morethan 800 people are losing theirlives per day. It seems by the endof August 2020 our active caseswill be more than Brazil and indeath it will be in 3rd positionin the world. In such a difficulttime, the Central Government'sdecision to have a grand foun-dation stone-laying ceremony atAyodhya for Lord Ram’s temple

is against the values and cul-ture,” read the memorandum.

The memorandum furtherread the Prime Minister’sinvolvement has demolishedthe basic characters of thecountry’s Constitution.

“We are registering ourprotest and praying you toinstruct the Government torespect the feelings of the citi-zen not only a particular com-munity and respect, preserve thebasic features of ourConstitution which enabled thepresent Government to govern,”added the memoranudm.

Among others ShaikhAbdul Walli, Kailash Mishra,Ashok Kumar Mallick,Chandrakanti Boud, PrahalladSabar, Bijay Kumar Sethy, SebaSwain, Muralidhar Nayak,Benudhar Nayak andSudarshan Das participated inthe dharna. PNS

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The Samajwadi Party, OdishaState Committee organised

a demonstration here onFriday, demanding 27 per centreservation for Other BackwardClass (OBC) candidates inadmission to higher educa-tion courses and also in StateGovernment jobs.

Party’s State president RabiBehera said, “The Central andmany State Governments havebeen implementing 27% reser-vation in both Governmentjobs and admissions to uni-versities, IITs and IIMs. But it

is disappointing that theOdisha Government is onlyproviding 11.25% of its jobs toBackward Classes candidates.There is no reservation forOBC students in admissions tocolleges and universities here,”lamented Behera.

Besides placing 27% reser-vation in jobs and admissionsin a memorandu to the ChiefMinister, Behera too demand-ed a time-bound caste censusof Backward Classes and low-interest loans to them andinclusion of Odisha OBCReservation Act- 2008 in the9th Schedule of theConstitution.

Among others, SudarshanPradhan, Sanjaya Nayak,Debasis Mohapatra, DesapriyaDas, Atanu Mohanty and RitaPattnaik were present.

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The Chandipur police inBaleswar district arrested a

rape accused and forwardedhim to court. He had been onthe run for 11 long years aftercommitting the crime.

Manoran Behera of vil-

lage Ranasahi had in 2009allegedly kidnapped a minorgirl of Nuasahi and raped her.Later, the victim’s parents hadlodged an FIR following whicha police team managed to res-cue the girl after a few days butfailed to nab the accused.

In another development,the Soro police arrested a mur-der accused who was abscond-ing for five years. The fugitivewas identified as SanjibMohanty of village Routraypurunder the Soro Municipality inthe distrcit.

In 2015 the dead body ofSanjib’s elder brother, SudiptaMohanty was found in an

abandoned well. Though thepolice began investigation bylodging an UD case yet latterthey ascertained that it was amurder. Although they tried toapprehend the accused yet hewent underground.

Soro PS IIC MadhumitaMohanty after tracking themovement of the accusednabbed him.

In another case, the Townpolice arrested a 34-year -oldman who was forcing a womanto keep physical relations withhim threatening the victim topost her private movements onsocial media. The accused wasidentified as Sk Zakir.

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Odisha-cadre IPS officer PSRanpise has been appoint-

ed as the IG of Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) onCentral deputation basis, a let-ter of the Union Ministry ofHome Affairs addressed to theState Chief Secretary said.

Ranpise will hold the postfor a period of five years fromthe date of joining or until fur-ther orders, whichever is ear-lier, the letter said.

The Chief Secretary hasbeen requested to relieve theofficer immediately for joininghis new assignment at theCentre.

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In another such case, awoman, who has recovered

from Covid-19 infection, wasdenied entry to herCherantapada village underRajkanika block in Kendrapadadistrict on Thursday.

Sources said that thewoman along with her twochildren was staying in a rent-ed house at Cherantapada asher husband was working out-side. In July last week, thewoman was detected Covid-positive and shifted to theChatta Covid Hospital. OnThursday, she returned as shetested negative. But the villagersdidn’t allow her to enter the vil-

lage.Attempts made by Tehsilda

Bikram Parida and local policetoo proved futile. As a result,the woman went to her father’shouse at Kalikapur.

According to locals, aboutnine persons, including herfather and mother, were detect-ed Covid positive after theycame in contact with thewoman.

On Friday, Covid cases inthe district rose 635 with 34new cases. While 453 haerecovered, 179 are now under-going treatment.

Senior IAS officer HemantSharma visited the district tomonitor the Covid -19 situationon Friday.

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Krushna Chandra Singh,an employee of Badamba

UCO Bank, on July 10 hadbeen declared corona-posi-tive and shifted to the KIMSCovid Hospital, Bhubaneswarby the local administration. Asper the guidelines, his wife andonly 10-year-old daughter gaveswab sample test on July 14 atthe Mohan Subudhi HighSchool centre, the report ofwhich reached the localadministration on July 16 andboth were declared positive.

A c c o r d i n g l y ,Maniabandha CHC Covidmanagement staffers pickedup both mother and daughter

for the SUM Covid Hospital,Bhubaneswar from their homein the absence of Singh, whowas at the KIMS earlier.However, Singh was dis-charged from the KIMS onJuly 21 while his wife anddaughter were discharged onJuly 25.

After completion of anoth-er 14 days’ home quarantine,Singh came out of his house.Suspecting the positive reportof his daughter, he wanted totally with the report of the SCBHospital from which he founda great blunder of the admin-istration that even the report ofserial number 27 NCOV86124dated 15.07.2020 was negative.The Maniabandha CHC,

which is in charge of Covidmanagement of the block, wasgiven positive report by thedistrict administration, forwhich, health workers pickedup the girl.

Singh and his wife nowdemand justice from theappropriate authorities for thewrong entry of their daughterin a Covid Hospital as she hasa negative report. They alsoseek the administration’s inter-vention in their matters thatafter being discharged fromthe Covid Hospital, they arenot being accepted in thelocality. The Bank Manageralso doesn't allow Singh to thebank, the reason of which isbest known to him.

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A35-year-old man

died whenhe fell intoan under-c o n s t r u c -tion drainunder a fly-over atAnkoli hereo nThursday night.

The deceased was identi-f ied as PurnachandraSamantray of Tota Sahi inthe Lanjipalli area here.

Samantray was returninghome by his scooter at around11 pm when he accidentallyfell into the drain due todarkness. Iron rods inside thedrain pierced through hisbody, killing him on the spot.

On Friday morning, localsspotted the body and informedhis family and the localBaidyanathpur police. Policealong with traffic cops reachedthe spot. The body was recov-ered after cutting of the iron

rods.Locals have expressed

strong discontentment alleg-ing callousness of the author-ities concerned for not demar-cating the construction sitethat led to the mishap.

“After completion of theflyover, construction work ofthe drain is underway sincelast couple of days. Thousandsof people commute throughthe road daily but there is nostreetlight in the area. Besides,the contractor has not builtany guard wall at the con-struction site, for which themishap occurred,” rued alocal.

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As many as three membersof a family were killed and

two others suffered grievousinjuries when a car by whichthey were travelling hit a sta-tionary truck near Rathia vil-lage under the Dharmasalapolice station in Jajpur districton Friday.

Police said five members ofa family were on their way toMedinapur district in WestBengal by a car fromBhubaneswar. But the vehiclerammed into the rear of atruck parked on roadside nearRathia village.

“While three of them diedon the spot, two others includ-ing a woman were criticallyinjured following the mishap,”said Dharamsala PS IIC SarojKumar Sahu.

The intensity of the colli-sion was so loud that hearing

the sound of it locals rushed tothe spot and informed policeand Chandikhole Fire Servicespersonnel about the incident.

Later, police and FireBrigade personnel reached thespot and rescued the occupantsfrom the mangled car andshifted them to the DharmasalaCommunity Health Centrewhere doctors declared three ofthem brought dead.

The seriously injured wererefereed them to the SCBMedical College Hospital inCuttack after their conditiondeteriorated.

The identity of thedeceased was yet to be ascer-tained.

Police have registered acase and seized both the vehi-cles in connection with theincident.

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In two road mishaps at dif-ferent locations in

Jagatsinghpur district, twoyouths were killed onWednesday.

One Sangram Ray fromBanikunda village in theKujang area was returninghome by his bike when a heavyvehicle hit him from behind atJagannathpur on the Cuttack-Paradip road. He was taken tothe SCB Medical CollegeHospital, Cuttack, where hesuccumbed to his injuries.

In the other accident on theoutskirts of Paradip, a 40-year-old man, Ajay Das, a residentof Pokhariapada in theErasama area, was moweddown by an oil tanker atTurminal Chhak. He was work-ing s a watchman in Paradipand returning home by a bike.

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Vedanta’s education interventions in theregion are executed in a two-pronged

approach.The first intervention offers financial

assistance to meritorious students in theperiphery through the Vedanta-DAVAcademic Support Programme. The secondprovides remedial classes to high school stu-dents under the Vedanta Vidyarthi VikashYojana. The company also runs VedantaComputer Literacy Programme helping stu-dents learn 21st-century skills and bridgethe digital divide.

In partnership with DAV Public School,Jharsuguda, the Academic Support Programmeaims at giving children from peripheral villagesaccess to quality education in a premiere insti-tution. Till date, the programme has benefitedover 200 children, making them the first gen-eration in their families to avail education in anEnglish medium school. It started with two stu-dents, who successfully graduated matriculationin 2018-2019. This year, 22 children emergedmeritorious, securing their place among the

nation’s best emerging talents. The Vidyarthi Vikas Yojana aims to improve

quality of education in secondary school.Students are provided with supplementary andremedial tutorial assistance for greater profi-ciency in critical subjects like Math, Science andEnglish through innovative teaching methods.Seven study centres are operational under theproject running in Government high schools.Till date, over 4,600 students have enrolled inthe project.

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Globally, August 1-7 is cel-ebrated as the World

Breastfeeding Week (WBW).This is to renew our collectiveallegiance and spread aware-ness about the essence ofbreastfeeding. The campaigndates back to 1992 and since2016, the WBW is alignedwith the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs).

In 2018, a World HealthAssembly resolution recog-nised WBW as an importantbreastfeeding promotion event.This year the campaign isthemed “Support breastfeedingfor healthier planet.” But whythe breastfeeding campaign isso essential for India?

It is a well-settled fact thatthere is no replacement forbreast milk and this is the best

food for infants as it providesessential nutrients, criticallyimportant for optimum growthof the children. The impor-tance of breastfeeding is furtheramplified in the time of pre-vailing Covid-19 pandemic aschildren need a strong immu-nity to keep the virus at bay.

Incidence of diarrhoea andpneumonia—the two majorcauses of child mortality—issignificantly mitigated when achild is fed with breastmilkaccording to the norms. TheUNICEF and the WHO haverecommended to feed mother'sbreast milk to infants withinone hour of birth to ensure thatthe infant receives thecolostrum, or “first milk”,which is rich in protectiveconstituents. Exclusive breast-feeding until six months of achild creates a positive multi-plier effect on child and moth-

er’s health, human resourcesdevelopment, and growth ofthe economy.

A mother when breast-feeding her child gains healthbenefits of faster maternalrecovery, natural birth spacing,lower risk of breast and ovari-an cancer.

Latest NationalFamily Health Survey(HFHS)-4 (2015-16)revealed only 41.6% ofchildren received “Firstmilk” i.e mother’s milkwithin one hour of birthwhich is up from 23.4% inNFHS-3 (2005-06) andmerely 54.9% children gotprescriptive exclusivebreastfed till six months.

According toUNICEF, 22% of neonataldeath (children die with-in one-month birth) canbe prevented if we ensure

“first milk” to all new-bornbabies. The neonatal death ratetoday stands at abysmal 23 per1,000 live birth. Stunted growth(38%) and underweight (36%)of children are also evidentlylinked to non-practice ofbreastfeeding.

The Government with a

slew of public health measureshas improved institutional birthrate to 78.9% (NFHS-4) butfailed to ensure “first milk” toall children appropriately. Thereasons are many—often deep-seated socio-cultural practicesand apathy of the Governmentto respond to the health crisis.

To promote the practice ofbreastfeeding, a mother needsto be adequately counselled andskilled; this is more so for firsttime pregnant ladies. Only51.2% received prescribed fourantenatal care visits by frontlinehealth workers. The absence ofproper capacity development ofhealth workers poses a barrierto realising all the good effectsof breastfeeding. High-burdenStates like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi,Rajasthan, and Punjab cut asorry figure on this front.

Owing to widespread mis-conception and superstition,

women in many parts of thecountry feed just-born babieshoney, jaggery, etc which put achild’s health at a greater risk.Extensive social awareness dri-ves round the year in targetedareas must be strategised androlled out by the Governmentapparatus in close associationwith civil society organiza-tions (CBOs) which have goodcommunity connections.

Frontline health profes-sionals under ICDS andNRHM programmes are oftenunderpaid and not fittinglyskilled for capacity develop-ment in many States.Resultantly, they are neitheradequately motivated, nor sci-entifically trained to closelywork with high-risk commu-nities to promote breastfeeding.This area calls for intensiveefforts to ameliorate the sce-nario.

Post-delivery visit by healthworkers is very essential for lac-tating mothers and caregiversat home to continue practicebreastfeeding properly, but dueto fragile health service deliv-ery and monitoring system, therequired number of visits byhealth workers is not often con-ducted and thus the essence ofbreastfeeding is further dilut-ed. Block and district healthadministration need to gal-vanise action on measures tobetter this situation.

The Maternity(Amendment) Act 2017 hasextended the earlier 12 weeks’leave to 26 weeks (6 months).But this law applies to theonly formal sector that absorbsmerely 4% of women work-force. Therefore, for 96 per centof women workforce employedin the unorganised sector, thislaw doesn't bring many bene-

fits. Even informal sector, dueto unfavourable work cultureand lack of private space at theworkplace for breastfeeding,working mothers fail to ensurebreastfeeding optimally. A pol-icy-level arrangement must bedrawn up so that women fromthe informal sector can avail ofthese benefits.

Exclusive breastfeedingassumes much more signifi-cance during this pandemic.While the States celebrate thiscampaign fervently, they alsoneed to step up all possibleefforts and give the much-needed impetus to increasebreastfeeding practices becausewhen a child is healthy andsecure, the future of the nationis on strong footing!

(The authors are develop-ment communication specialists;views are personal)

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In a broad daylight heist, fivearmed miscreants looted

cash of Rs 1.32 lakh from theowner of a gas agency near theJharani bus-stand on theTurekela-Kantabanji road inBalangir district on Thursday.

Though victim KhirodhMeher lodged a complaint withthe Turekela police later in theday, no arrest was made till thelast report was filed.

As per the complaint, whenMeher was going to a bank byhis motorcycle to deposit thecash in the afternoon, the loot-ers came by two motorbikesand intercepted him.Brandishing guns and sharpweapons, they decamped withthe cash. They also broke hismobile phone during the con-frontation.

An investigation hasalready begun from differentangles. The culprits would benabbed son, said police sources.

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In view of the spike in coro-navirus cases in

Nabarangpur, the districtadministration on Fridayannounced a three-day shut-down in entire district startingfrom Saturday.

Exercising the power con-ferred under Sections 2, 3 and4 of the Epidemic Disease Act,1897, Nabarangpur CollectorAjit Kumar Mishra imposedthe shutdown with effect from5 am of August 8 till midnightof August 10 for containmentof the spread of virus underRegulation 8 of the OdishaCovid-19 Regulations, 2020.

As per the shutdownnorms, all the non-essentialactivities and movement of

vehicles and people would berestricted to prevent transmis-sion of the disease. Besides,gathering of people , politicalrallies and religious function shave been banned.

However, all essential ser-vices like hospitals, medicinestores, petrol pumps, telecomservices, media, water supplyand sanitation, electricity sup-ply, milk booths, dhabas on theNHs, hotels, horticulture, fish-eries and construction activitiesare exempted from the shut-down restrictions.

So far, the district has reg-istered 342 positive cases with11 new cases detected on theday. While 88 cases are active,252 patients have recoveredfrom the disease. The virus hasclaimed one life.

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For the first time, theI n t e r g o v e r n m e n t a l

Oceanographic Commission(IOC) of UNESCO has recog-nised two villages of Odisha as“ T s u n a m i - R e a d yCommunities”.

With this recognition,India is the first country toimplement “Tsunami-Ready”programme in the IndianOcean Region; and Odisha isthe first State.

The villages areVenkatraipur in Ganjam dis-trict and Noliasahi inJagatsinghpur, where theOdisha State DisasterManagement Authority(OSDMA) has now imple-mented the Tsunami-Readyprogramme.

The National Board, afterthe verification of implemen-tation of the indicators at thesevillages as per guidelines,

decided to recognise themnationally and recommendedto the UNESCO-IOC for therecognition.

To confer the UNESCO-IOC’s Certificate ofRecognition and Certificate ofAppreciation to Venkatraipurand Noliasahi communities, avirtual event was organised onFriday. State DisasterManagement ACS PradeepJena long with Venkatraipurand Noliasahi communities’officials attended the event.

It has been observed thatwhen people at tsunami riskreceive accurate warnings in atimely manner, they can takelifesaving actions, reduce loss-es and speed up response.

Tsunami-Ready is a com-munity performance-basedprogramme initiated by theIOC of UNESCO to promotetsunami preparedness throughactive collaboration of public,community leaders and nation-al and local emergency man-agement agencies.

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After a good start with theinaugural girls’ programme

of 30 trainee cadets capacity, theNaval Tata Hockey AcademyOdisha (NTHAO), the State’sHockey High PerformanceCentre (HPC) that waslaunched a year ago at theKalinga Stadium here, is all setto induct 30 boys in the comingmonths.

This is expected to strength-en its programme across its tal-ent pathway to bridge the gapbetween grassroots to an eliteHPC and provide more oppor-

tunities to young and promisinghockey players from the Stateand country who can then pur-sue their dream sport, excel attheir game and bring laurels forthe nation.

“The HPC has an ambitiousprogramme to take Hockeyskills from its existing 10 grass-roots centres and three RegionalDevelopment Centres(Bhubaneswar, Panposh andSundargarh) to elite level overthe next 3-5 years. The boys’programme will have 30 resi-dent cadets from U-17,” saidSports Minister TusharkantiBehera.

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The Congress and the BJPon Friday continued to

spar publicly levelling ‘youlove China’ allegations againsteach other.

The Congress on Fridaymaintained its pressure onPrime Minister NarendraModi over the “Chinese incur-sion” by directly attacking himbesides the BJP for just craft-ing an image and spendingmillions of rupees to win elec-tions. The party also ques-tioned the influence Chinawields on Indian establish-ments and why the BJP tookBeijing’s help in the Lok Sabhaelections by sharing vital dataof Indian citizens with it.

The Congress said Modi’slove for China is now visible tothe world and this dates backto his tenure as the GujaratChief Minister in Gujarat. Theparty also quipped that foreignpolicy does not mean that thePrime Minister is constantly onaeroplane mode.

Why did you compromisethe data security and privacy ofcrores of Indians by involvingChinese companies linked tothe PLA,” Congress spokesper-son Pawan Khera said at theAICC press conference.

The party shared docu-ments about BJP having part-nered with those Chinese com-

panies who have now beenbanned by the Government fortheir links with the Chineseestablishment.

“UC Web Mobile gotbanned in July this year. In2019, according to the expen-diture report submitted by theBJP to the ElectionCommission, they hired thisvery company to run theircampaign. It is the sameAlibaba-owned company –UC Web Browser – which wasalso red- flagged by the Modigovt in 2017 for sending cru-cial data of Indians to China.What was the compulsion ofinvolving the same companyfor elections which you had redflagged two years ago,” Kheraquestioned.

There is another companycalled Gamma Gaana Limited(Tencent of China). Po ShuYueng, one of the directors ofthis company is also the direc-tor in 10c India pvt ltd.Gamma Gaana Ltd is fundedby Tencent. Last month, thegovernment banned it sayingthe company was directly con-nected with the PLA. Thiscompany too was used by theBJP in the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections, the Congress alleged.

According to the Congress,the third company calledShareIT Technology has an appcalled ShareIT. It was bannedby the Government last month

for being a threat to the ‘sov-ereignty and integrity of India’but it was also hired by the BJPin elections last year, the

Congress charged.“Our Prime Minister craft-

ed an image for himself – animage of a leader who before

2014, roared on issues of bor-der security. Several companieswere roped in, spending croresof rupees to create this image

of Modi. The investment paidoff and Modi and his party gotsubstantial electoral gains too.But today, we see the same

man running for cover when itcomes to the issue of Chineseincursions into Indian territo-ry,” the party said in a state-

ment a day after formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhiaccused the PM of lying on theissue.

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With the Congress attack-ing the Prime Minister,

BJP president J P Nadda onFriday took to the field againto direct his volleys at hisCongress counterpart SoniaGandhi and her predecessorRahul Gandhi. Nadda soughtan explanation from themabout their party’sMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) withChina in 2008 saying even theSupreme Court has expressedsurprise on it.

The BJP’s attacks on theCongress have heightened withRahul’s continued questioningof Chinese “incursions” on

the Line of Actual Control inEast Ladakh.

Nadda in a tweet cited theobservations of the SupremeCourt on a Public InterestLitigation (PIL) and sought anexplanation from Sonia andRahul.

“Even the SC is surprisedat the MoU signed by theCongress party with theChinese Gov… Mrs Gandhi &her son, who led the signing,must explain. Does this explaindonations to RGF and openingIndian market for the Chinesein return, which affectedIndian businesses?” he tweet-ed.

Nadda’s remark came afterthe Supreme Court refused toentertain a PIL seeking NIAprobe into the alleged 2008agreement between theCongress and the CommunistParty of China.

The apex court asked thepetitioner to file his plea before

the High Court, but expressedsurprise how a political partycould enter into an agreementwith China.

BJP’s national spokesmanSambit Patra who referred tohis party president’s tweet alsoasked Congress leaders toexplain the nature of the MoUand the alleged dealings withChina.

He alleged that even dur-ing the Doklam border stand-off with China, Congress lead-ers’ conduct was suspect. Inline with Nadd’a assertions,Patra said Sonia and Rahulneed to clarify their dealingswith Beijing.

He also wondered whethera national party could sign anMoU with a political party ofa foreign nation.

The BJP spokesman saidaccording to the MoU, both theparties were to exchange infor-mation on all regional andinternational issues.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Friday refused to enter-tain a PIL seeking NIA probeinto the alleged 2008 agree-ment between the IndianNational Congress and theCommunist Party of China.

A bench, headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde, asked seniorlawyer Mahesh Jethmalaniappearing for PIL petitionersShashank Shekhar Jha andjournalist Savio Rodrigues, towithdraw the plea andapproach the high court.

“Every relief which you areseeking can be granted by thehigh court. Secondly, highcourt is a proper court. Thirdly,we will have the advantage ofhigh court order also,” said thebench, which also comprisedJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian.

The top court, in the hear-ing conducted through videoconferencing, allowed the peti-tioners to “withdraw the peti-tion with liberty to approachthe high court.”

At the outset, Jethmalanialleged that it was an “agree-ment between a political partyof this country with the onlypolitical party in that country(China)” and the issue per-tained to national security.

“We find that there issomething which appears tobe, what might be called,unheard of and absurd in law.You are saying that China hasentered into an agreementwith a political party and not

the Government. How can apolitical party enter into anagreement with China,” thebench observed.

On being stressed by thelawyer that this was the case,the bench said, “We will allowyou to withdraw this and file afresh petition. We will exam-ine what you say in the petitionand if we find any false state-ment, we may prosecute you”.

PTI

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Outlining that there has notbeen any allegation of bias

against the New EducationPolicy (NEP) unveiled by hisGovernment, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday saidthat it has the potential to notonly change the education sys-tem but to also transform theentire nation. He said the NEPwill be the foundation of the‘New India’, one that focuses on“how to think” rather than“what to think” that was beingstressed upon till now.

Addressing a conclave on‘Transformational Reforms inHigher Education underNational Education Policy’,Modi also spoke on the con-tentious issue of mothertongue as the mode of teach-ing in the initial years.Justifying it, the PM said, “Weneed to make our studentsglobal citizens and yet be root-ed in their culture. The learn-ing power of students will

improve if the language theyspeak in and the language inwhich lessons are taught inschool is the same. That is whywe have recommended teach-ing in the mother tongue as faras possible - at least class 5.This will strengthen their foun-dation.”.

Lauding the NEP, he saidthe fact that there was no alle-gation from any region or seg-ment that it had any kind ofbias or inclination is an indi-cator that the “changes peoplewanted to see for years in theeducation system, they havegot to see”.

Asking all stakeholders todiscuss the ways to imple-ment the new policy, the PMsaid: “In recent years, therehave not been major changesin education and thus the val-ues of curiosity and imagina-tion were not given the thrust.Instead, we moved towards aherd community. The mappingof interest, ability, and demandwas needed. We need to devel-op critical thinking and inno-vative thinking abilities in ouryouths. It will be possible if wehave purpose, philosophy, andpassion of education.”

The PM said studentsshould get a chance to followtheir passion. “We are also try-

ing to ensure that the talent ofIndia stays in India and worksfor the development of gener-ations to come, said PM.

“With changing time, anew global system has risen.Thus, it was essential for Indiato change its education systemaccordingly. Creating a5+3+3+4 curriculum, andreplacing the 10+2 structurewas a step in this direction.

“Often students find thatwhat they have learned is notin line with their job. Thus, togive flexibility to students wehave given multiple entriesand exit points.

We have also freed educa-tion from the stream system.Students will have the flexibil-ity to change their course ifthey do not think it is right forthem. We are moving fromthinking when a person is notglued to one profession for theentire lifetime and hence s/heneeds to skill, re-skill andupskill. These issues are part ofNEP,” the PM said about themain features of the NEP. Headded that NEP shifts focusfrom what to think to how tothink.

“Till now, we havefocussed on what to think butNEP 2020 focuses on how tothink,” he pointed out.

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Do not let your guarddown”, is what researchers

have warned patients whohave recovered from the coro-navirus infection. For, theysaid, the road to recovery forinfection-recovered patientsmay take months and needvital specialist rehabilitation toensure quality life.

The researchers found thatinfection-free patients facedone or many health issues likefatigue, breathlessness, psy-chological distress - includingproblems with concentrationand memory - and a generaldecline in quality of life.

The research team -involving multidisciplinaryspecialists from the Universityof Leeds, Leeds TeachingHospitals NHS Trust, LeedsCommunity Healthcare NHSTrust and Leeds BeckettUniversity – had followed 100Covid-recovered patients four-to-eight weeks after being dis-charged from hospital.

The findings, ‘Post-dis-charge symptoms and reha-bilitation needs in survivors ofCOVID-19 infection: a cross-sectional evaluation’, have beenpublished in the Journal ofMedical Virology.

It holds importance alsofor India where the

Government has been main-taining that the recovery rateis on the higher side littlefocussing on life after Covid-19 that is not the same forinfection-free patients.

The researchers identifieda pattern of longer-term symp-toms likely to be experiencedby people who were hospi-talised with the Covid-19infection.

Some patients, particular-ly those who had been inintensive care, had symptomsassociated with cases of PTSD(post-traumatic stress disor-der). PTSD symptoms are awell-recognised componentof post- intensive care unitsyndrome caused by a varietyof factors including fear ofdying, invasive treatment,pain, delirium, inability tocommunicate, weakness,

immobility, and sensory prob-lems and sleep deprivation.

Dr Manoj Sivan, AssociateClinical Professor at theUniversity of Leeds and aConsultant in RehabilitationMedicine at Leeds GeneralInfirmary, who supervised theresearch project, said: “Theemerging evidence is that forsome, the road to recoverymay take months and it is vitalthat specialist rehabilitation ison hand to support them.This research gives an impor-tant insight into patient needs,and that will help shape ser-vices in the community.”

More than two-thirds(68.8 percent) of patients inthe intensive care group andjust under half (45.6 percent)of the other group said theiroverall quality of life had dete-riorated.

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In a move to give access tostreet vendors who do not

have Identity Card (ID) andCertificate of Vending (CoV),the Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs on Fridaylaunched a Letter ofRecommendation (LoR) mod-ule to provide benefit to streetvendors under the PMSVANidhi scheme. Those whoare not included in any surveylist also get benefitted from theLoR module.

The module provides foran end-to-end digitally-enabledprocess wherein an eligiblevendor can request for a Letterof Recommendation from theUrban Local Body and onreceipt of the same he/ she canapply for the loan under PMSVANidhi. Durga ShankerMishra, Secretary , Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs,launched the module.

According to the ministry,for applying for the LoR fromULB through the online mod-ule on PM SVANidhi portal, avendor needs to possess anyone of the documents: Proof ofavailing one -time assistance,provided by certain States /UTs,during the period of lock-down; or the membershipdetails with the vendors’ asso-

ciations; and any other docu-ments to prove that he is a ven-dor. Further, a vendor can alsorequest ULB through a simpleapplication on white paper toconduct local enquiry to ascer-tain the genuineness of theclaim as vendor. ULBs willhave to dispose of the requestfor issue of LoR within a peri-od of 15 days.

The vendors possessingLoR will be issued Certificateof Vending / ID Card within aperiod of 30 days. This provi-sion will help in extendingreach of the Scheme to themaximum number of benefi-ciaries.

Since commencement ofonline submission of loanapplications on PM SVANidhiportal, more than 4.45 lakhapplications have been receivedand over 82,000 have beensanctioned in different Statesand UTs.

This scheme targets tobenefit over 50 lakh StreetVendors who had been vend-ing on or before 24 March,2020, in urban areas includingthose from surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas. Under theScheme, the vendors can availa working capital loan of up toRs 10,000, which is repayable inmonthly instalments in thetenure of one year.

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India on Friday openedinternational travel to

and from the USA, theUK, Germany andFrance.

The Union HomeMinistry said thatIndians can also go tothese countries and for-eigners including OCIswith valid visa can nowtravel to these nations andcome to India. India’s CivilAviation Ministry has enteredinto an “air bubble agreement”with the USA, the UK,Germany and France. TheMinistry said that soon morecountries will be in this bilat-eral agreement of air travelknown as ‘air bubble agree-ment’ in the wake of Covid-19situation.

In the order, Union HomeMinistry said that allowingtravel will be subject to healthchecks and only applicable tothose who are not havingCovid-19 and other normsstipulated by the Civil AviationMinistry. The MHA also saidthat the travelers must havevalid visa. “Ministry of HomeAffairs has permitted OCIcardholders to enter India whobelong to countries with which“air bubble” arrangements have

been finalised by the Ministryof Civil Aviation. Other for-eigners from these countrieshave also been allowed to availIndian visa facility for business,medical & employment pur-poses. Indian citizens have alsobeen allowed to travel to suchcountries on any type of visa,”said MHA in a statement.

The Civil AviationMinistry, for its part, said thatDelhi Airport has developednew features in their portal forinternational travelers for “con-tact-less declarations”. TheDelhi International AirportLimited (DIAL) announcedthat it has developed a first-of-its-kisnd portal where India-bound international arrivingflyers can fill the mandatoryself-declaration form and alsoapply online for exemptionfrom mandatory institutionquarantine process.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Friday conducted search-es at 17 locations inDelhi, Ludhiana, Jammuand Srinagar in connec-tion with the J&K Bankloan fraud case involvingHilal Ahmed Rather in amoney laundering case worth�177.68 crore. Hilal is son offormer Minister Abdul RahimRather, who served as Finance,Agriculture, RuralDevelopment, Law andParliamentary Affairs Ministerunder the NationalConference-led government inthe erstwhile State.

The investigation underthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act was initiatedon the basis of an FIR regis-tered by the Anti-CorruptionBureau, Jammu.

“Investigation conductedby ED revealed that a loan ofRs 177.68 crores was sanc-tioned by the J&K bank, with-out verifying documents andin violation of guidelines ofRBI, to Paradise Avenue forconstruction of a residentialhousing project in Jammu,” theagency said in a statement.

A substantial part of theloan was siphoned off by HilalRather by transferring the

funds from the loan account ofParadise Avenue to variousentities and rerouting thefunds back to the firm’s cur-rent account from where it wasfurther withdrawn and trans-ferred for purchase of mov-able/immovable assets inIndia, Dubai and USA, the EDsaid.

The funds were also spenton foreign tours and other per-sonal activities of Rather. Asmany as three flats in thename of Hilal Rather andfamily members were acquiredin Dubai and one Bungalowwas acquired in the name ofHilal Rather and his wife inNorth Carolina, USA, theagency saud.

The residences of AbdulRahim Rather in Srinagar andHilal Rather in Jammu wereamong the premises searchedby the ED. Several incrimi-nating documents and digitalevidence have been seizedduring the search operations,the agency added.

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Disposing of acomplaint of

M a h a r a s h t r aCongress leaderSachin Sawantquestioning pro-cedures forappointment ofState ChiefElectoral OfficerBaldev Singh in2019, the ElectionC o m m i s s i o n(EC) on Fridaysaid no action is needed in thematter as the appointment wasdone after consultation with theState Government. “Singh hadbeen rated outstanding in hisperformance appraisal recordsduring the five years of his ser-vice prior to his appointment,”the EC said.

“The Commission havingduly considered the matter,does not find any reason fortaking any action in the matter.The CEO’s appointment is donein consultation with the con-cerned state government/unionterriotory wherein a panel ofofficers is furnished to the pollbody,” the EC said in a letteraddressed to Sawant.

The EC further said thatBaldev Singh, a 1989 batch IASofficer of Maharashtra cadrewas appointed by the

Commission following dueprocedure wherein the StateGovernment had clarified thathe was clear from the vigilanceangle and as per records, hehad been rated outstanding inhis performance appraisalreports during the five years ofhis service prior to hisappointment as CEO,Maharashtra.

Sawant has alleged thatSingh was facing an inquiryinitiated by CVC and the min-istry of industry and com-merce in an alleged irregular-ity in SEEPZ SEZ. Sawantquestioned why the credentialsof the CEO were not cross-checked while appointing himto the post and whether theElection Commission of Indiawas working under pressure ofthe Bharatiya Janata Party.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on Friday

conducted searches at multiplelocations in various cities inconnection with a moneylaundering case relating toalleged corruption in the pur-chase of 75 Pilatus basic train-er aircraft for the Indian AirForce (IAF) in 2009.

The searches were con-ducted at 14 premises includ-ing a dozen in the nationalcapital and one each inGurgaon and Surat, officialssaid.

The ED had initiated amoney laundering case toprobe the deal and is carryingout the search operation togather evidence under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), theysaid.

The case involvesabsconding arms deal brokerand alleged middleman SanjayBhandari, who is already fac-ing separate ED and CBIprobes for corruption andalleged possession of unde-clared assets in the countryand abroad.

Bhandari is suspected tobe staying in the UK at presentand the ED is in the process ofinitiating extradition pro-ceedings against him.

The CBI had filed a crim-inal case in the Rs 2,895 crore

Pilatus deal in June last year.The PMLA case was

lodged by the ED after takingcognisance of the CBI FIR toprobe the money launderingangle in the case and allegedcreation and generation ofillegal assets by the accused.

The CBI had namedBhandari as an accused in thecase along with unidentifiedofficials of the Indian AirForce, the Defence Ministryand Switzerland-based PilatusAircraft Limited in the case.The Swiss company was one ofthe bidders for the contractfloated in 2009.

The CBI has alleged thatPilatus had entered into acriminal conspiracy withBhandari and Bimal Sareen,both directors of Offset IndiaSolutions Pvt Ltd, and dis-honestly and fraudulentlysigned a Service ProviderAgreement with Bhandari inJune 2010 in violation of theDefence ProcurementProcedure, 2008.

The deal was allegedlydone to get the contract forsupply of 75 basic TrainerAircraft to the IAF.

The agency had allegedthat the company made a pay-ment of CHF 1,000,000 in theaccount of Offset IndiaSolution Private Limited withthe Standard Chartered Bank,New Delhi in two tranches inAugust and October, 2010.

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With the Assembly elec-tions less than a year

away the BJP on Friday mount-ed fresh attacks on the MamataBanerjee Government hold-ing it responsible for all rounddeterioration of socio-politicaland economic situation inBengal and asked the people tojoin the saffron outfit in hordesto effect a second Parivartan(change) in the State.

Firing salvos at the rulingTrinamool Congress party BJPpresident JP Nadda said“Bengal has gone into an

eclipse … today there is an allround deterioration in law andorder situation, the students donot get jobs , the farmers do notget right prices for their pro-duce.”

Calling the people to “jointhe BJP parivar” he said “todaycut money and corruptionsreigns supreme in Bengal andwhoever wants to protest iseither silenced by the goons orthe police. This situation can-not run for long and the peo-ple of the State have to comeforward to change the situationby allowing the BJP to take thelead in doing so.”

Nadda was speaking aheadof the beginning of a mem-bership drive by the saffronoutfit. The party on Fridaylaunched a massive member-ship drive keeling in view thenext year’s Assembly elections.

Speaking on the occasionBengal BJP president MP DilipGhosh said, “we (BJP arereferred to as a non-Bengaliparty … but they forget thatour main ideologue ShyamaPrasad Mukherjee was fromBengal … As the ViceChancellor of the CalcuttaUniversity he requested

Rabindranath Tagore to give alecture in Bengali … and todaythey say we are a party of non-Bengalis.”

Saying how “thousands ofpeople are joining the BJP notjust in Bengal but across thecountry” he accused the TMCof running a goonda raj sayinghow the TMC government wasindulging in vendetta politics.Ghosh said, “'Our supportersare not safe. Either BJP work-ers are homeless or in jails infalse cases. They are ruiningBengali traditions, culture andeducation system.”

Appealing to the TMC

supporters to join the BJP inhordes he said “you had oncedreamt of bringing a change inBengal not only by removingthe Marxist Government butalso by doing social work butyour dreams were shattered bythe present Government. Butwe want to assure you that yourdreams will come alive onceagain when you join the BJP …because after coming to powerwe will unleash a massivedevelopment drive in the State.”

The BJP has plans torecruit more than 3 crore mem-bers in the State in the comingone year or so.

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The Tinamool Congress onFriday rejected claims

made by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that the Stateor its Government was con-sulted before bringing aboutthe new education policy(NEP).

Speaking about the issue,Bengal Education MinisterPartha Chatterjee said that “noone from Bengal was consult-ed on the New EducationalPolicy” and added whetheranyone was privately consult-ed was beyond his knowledge.

"Insofar as the new educa-tion policy is concerned … to

my knowledge, nothing hashappened no one was consult-ed … not even a single time …with respect to our honourablePrime Minister (NarendraModi) I can say with my fullvoice that none from Bengalwas included.”

Regarding the draft reso-lution of the NEP he said it isbeing said that “discussionswere held with states for 3 to 4years but no such discussiontook place” and added “may bediscussion was held with some-one but not with us." TheMinister also said that theState had formed a 6-memberexpert committee which willgive their views by 15th August.

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Kerala is in for tough times asthe number of Covid-19

cases in the State are likely to seea hike, according to ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan.Briefing the media on Friday,Vijayan disclosed that Keralawould see a hike in the numberof Covid-19 cases in days tocome. “It is the consideredopinion of medical experts thatsituation in Kerala would wors-en in days to come,” saidVijayan.

The Chief Minister had onMonday lambasted the Stateauthorities and frontline healthworkers charging that theCovid-19 preventive measureshad gone out of control becauseof the indifferent and irrespon-sible attitude of the Governmentstaff deputed to tame the pan-demic.

On Friday, the State saw1,251 new persons testing pos-itive for Covid-19, said theChief Minister. “Out of this1,251 new patients, 1061 con-tracted the pandemic throughlocal transmission. There were73 persons who could not tellthe source from where they con-tracted the pandemic,” said theChief Minister. Five personssuccumbed to the pandemic onFriday and this took the fatali-ties to more than 100.

The 1,251 included 77expatriates and 94 persons whoreturned to Kerala from otherparts of India. “There were fivedeaths on account of Covid-219during the last 24 hours and thistook the total fatalities in theState to more than 100,” saidVijayan. On Friday, there werefive districts in the State eachtesting more than 100 cases. Thelast 24 hours ending Fridayevening saw the testing of 27,608 persons in the State.

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Reaching out to the commonpeople of Jammu & Kashmir the

newly appointed LieutenantGovernor of Jammu & KashmirManoj Sinha on Friday clearly speltout his mission in the UT will be tobring peace, end militancy and toensure development by all means.

Sinha also emphasised his pri-ority would be zero tolerance forcorruption besides establishing dia-logue with the people of Jammu andKashmir.

Interacting with the media per-sons soon after he was administered theoath of office by the Chief Justice ofJammu and Kashmir High Court GitaMittal, Sinha said, “J&K is India’s heav-en and crown. I have been given achance to play a role here. August 5 isa historic day and will be rememberedin history".

Referring to his brief interactionwith the section of senior officers,Sinha said, "I met some officers and theytold me that in the past one year, therehas been a lot of development in all sec-tors. I will take forward the same

process of development with a speed andvigor".

Interestingly, the oath ceremonywas attended by only BJP and Jammuand Kashmir Apni party leaders. Noneof the representatives of the NationalConference, Peoples Democratic Partyand Congress attended the oath cere-mony.

Listing out his priority areas, Sinhasaid, “I have no specific agenda and therewill be no disparity. There will be equaltreatment to all. And we will work forthe welfare of people of J&K. I will try

on that front and I have spo-ken to some officers in thatregard already". "I will be intouch with the media toobesides common people ofJ&K,” he added.

The Lt Governor furthersaid that he would like to seeJammu & Kashmir free frommilitancy and isolation. “Wewill work within the frame-work of the Constitution ofIndia to take J&K towardsinclusive development andpeace. We will also initiate dia-logue with the masses to have

a better understanding of their problemsand issues, and will try to address thesame”, he said in a reply to one of thequestions.

"I assure the people of J&K that I willtry to come up to their expectations andtake J&K forward on the vision and mis-sion of making this UT a model to emu-late", he added. Later, Lt Gov ManojSinha visited the civil secretariat com-plex where he was presented a formalguard of honor. He also attended a meet-ing with the administrative secretariesof all the departments.

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Tamil Nadu on Friday saw 119persons succumbing to

Covid-19 and 5,880 new personsjoining the list of coronaviruspatients, according to a pressrelease by the Government ofTamil Nadu.

The causalities registered onFriday make it the highest num-ber of deaths on a single day in theState. 115 patients who breathedtheir last on Friday had comorbidities (pre-existingchronic diseases). Till date TamilNadu has lost 4,690 lives tocovid-19.

The number of new patientsdiagnosed with covid-19 onFriday is on the higher side, whencompared to that of Thursday(5,684).

But the total number of activecases on Friday, (52,759) is lessthan that of Thursday (53,486)which is encouraging to theauthorities.

As 6,488 patients were curedand returned home from hospi-tals, the number of patients recov-ered from the pandemic rose to2.27 lakh.

A single day saw Tamil Naduhealth authorities testing 65,189persons and the number of test-ing centres functioning in the Staterose to 126. While the number ofnew persons diagnosed withCovid-19 came down to 984 inChennai (which was testing1,000+ every day till yesterday, thesame cannot be said about theconstituents which make the largecluster of four districts.

While Chengalpet tested 319positive cases, Kancheepuram saw166 new patients and Thiruvallur(388).

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For the first time since the goldsmuggling scam hit the head-

lines, Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan lost his cool ina Press briefing on Friday andissued a stern warning to jour-nalists ‘who were out to discred-it him in public life’.

“There is a media syndicateworking in the State with anintention to tarnish my image.The people in the State knowabout me. However hard you try,you will not succeed in yourattempts,” said a visibly upsetVijayan when he was asked aboutreports attributing to theNational Investigation Agencythat appeared in a section of themedia.

Some media houses had

reported quoting a statementmade by the NIA to the SpecialCourt that Swapna Suresh, thekingpin in the smuggling racket,was known to Vijayan and shehad wielded influence in theChief Minister’s Office. The ChiefMinister who was taken aback bythe question gave the reporter apiece of his mind in harshestterms. He warned the journalistnot to attempt to get an answerfrom him to suit the former’sconvenience.

The press briefing, convenedto inform the media about theCovid-19 update ended in a notso pleasant note as a section ofthe media persons expressedtheir displeasure in private overthe ire of the Chief Ministerwhen faced with inconvenientquestions.

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Fake colonel, a resident of Punjab, who was cheat-ing people in lieu of recruiting in the Army in

Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, caught by the Iglaspolice on Thursday.

In Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, fakecolonel resident of Punjab, who cheated people inlieu of recruiting in the army, caught up by the Iglaspolice on Thursday. He walked around wearing theLieutenant Colonel uniform. Several number platesand fake IDs were found in the car which he usedto escape from the police.

SP Dehat Atul Sharma told that a person fromPunjab who cheated some people in Mathura in thename of a job in the army. On Thursday, it wasfound that the accused is coming to Bhilpur, a vil-lage in Iglas to take the money. Inspector Iglas,Praveen Kumar Mann and SO Madan Singhstopped his car in front of Batto Devi School nearvillage Bhilpur-Balipur. The car rider was in the uni-form of Army Lieutenant Colonel. When they

stopped the car, he started calling himself LieutenantColonel. After inspecting vigorously, the inspec-tor found the Aadhaar card, which had the nameSarvan, son of Gurmel, resident of Ludhiana,Punjab. On strict questioning, the accused statedhis real name as Pradeep alias Piru, son of Gurmel.He used to call himself a lieutenant colonel andcheated the youth in the name of getting a job inthe army. Seven and a half lakhs taken from threepeople in Mathura

Ramkumar, a resident of village Kudwara inMant (Mathura) region, had registered a case ofcheating against the accused on Tuesday. He saidthat the accused had convinced himself to get a jobby calling him a Colonel in the Army. The fakecolonel took two and a half lakh rupees from Manojand Tejveer of the same village and his companions.He also took education related papers. On 10 July,Rajkumar gave 7.5 lakh rupees Lokesh Sharma, res-ident of Bhilpur. On finding about the fraud andasking for money and papers, Sarvan( fake colonel)threatened to kill the victims.

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Union Food and Consumer AffairMinister Ram Vilas Paswan on

Friday accused several States of takingsubsidised PDS foodgrains and passingthem on to end users as their own with-out giving any credit to the Centre.

He said this trend is apparent in 11states, mostly non-BJP-ruled, that are try-ing to undermine the efforts of theCentral Government in ensuring that nopoor goes hungry.

According to Paswan, there are 11States which take subsidised foodgrainsfrom the central government but arepassing on to ration card holders free ofcost or at further subsidised rates.

"These states spend about �10,000crore from their pocket and pass it to endusers as their own. This is wrong on theirpart. They should give due credit to the

central government."Out of 11 States, four States (West

Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu andKarnataka) are distributing grains at freeof cost, while six states (Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh and Odisha) are dis-tributing rice at a further subsidised rateof �1/kg and Tripura at �2/kg rice viaPDS, he said.

Under the National Food SecurityAct (NFSA), the central government isproviding foodgrains to States for dis-tribution through Public DistributionSystem (PDS), also known as rationshops, at a subsidised rate of �2/kg riceand �3/kg wheat, costing over �1 lakhcrore annually to the exchequer. "We arespending over �1 lakh crore annually onsubsidised PDS foodgrains distribution,but in several states there is no mentionor credit given to the Union government,"

Paswan said at a virtual press conference.“Since 01 July 2020, the Pradhan

Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana 2 hasbeen started, which will continue tillNovember 2020. During this period, atotal of 201 LMT food grains will be dis-tributed among 81 crore beneficiaries, aswell as a total of 12 LMT whole chanawill be distributed among 19.4 crore fam-ilies,” he said.

"We bear over 90 per cent procure-ment cost of the foodgrains, but theGovernment of India name is not giveneven in advertisements. They claim as ifthey are bearing the entire cost. The stategovernments should take note of this,"he said. The beneficiaries should be toldthat the subsidised grain is comingfrom the central government not onlyunder the NFSA but also through newlylaunched Pradhan Mantri Garib AnnaYojana (PMGKAY), he added.

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Jammu: A civilian was killed and 5 oth-ers received injuries during ‘unprovoked’ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Armyalong the line of control in Tangdhar sec-tor of North Kashmir's Kupwara districton Friday. Pakistan army also resorted toceasefire violations in the Balakote andKrishna Ghati sectors of Poonch at dif-ferent intervals during the day.

According to ground reports,Pakistan Army targeted several civilianpockets and hit residential structuresusing long range mortars and otherweapons. Hitting back, the Indian armygave them a befitting reply.

Srinagar based Defence PRO, ColRajesh Kalia said, "Pakistan initiated anUnprovoked Ceasefire Violation (CFV)Friday morning along the LoC inTangdhar Sector of Kupwara by firingmortars & other weapons".

He said the Pakistan Army targetedcivilian areas. A total number of six civil-ians were injured in the CFV, Col Kaliasaid, adding a befitting response beinggiven.

In the evening,another incident ofceasefire violation by the Pakistan armywas reported along the LoC in MachhalSector of Kupwara.

Till the time of filing the report, theIndian army was giving a befittingresponse, said Col Kalia.According toJammu based Defence PRO, Lt- ColDevender Anand, " in the morningPakistan army resorted to ceasefire vio-lation in the Balakote sector and later inthe evening they trained their gunstowards the forward Indian posts in the Krishna Ghati sector. The IndianArmy gave them a befitting reply, headded. PNS

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The Mizoram Government on Friday Decided toban entry of trucks and other vehicles carrying

goods into the State after 18 truck drivers andhandymen from outside tested positive for novelcoronvirus, officials said.

However, vehicles carrying essential com-modities will be exempted from the ban, they said.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meet-ing of the Mizoram cabinet chaired by ChiefMinister Zoramthanga.

The meeting decided to temporarily ban entryof vehicles carrying commodities barring those car-rying essential commodities at the existing two entrypoints in Vairengte on the Mizoram-Assam borderand Kanhmun on the state border with Tripura untilfurther order to prevent further spread of virus inthe state, an official said.

The cabinet expressed concern about 18 truckdrivers and helpers stranded along the NationalHighway-306 (formerly NH- 54) betweenHmangkhawthlir and Sethawn in Kolasib district,who tested positive for Covid-19, she said.

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Charging that Sushant SinghRajput’s mental health

therapist Susan Walker Moffathad violated professional ethicsand patient confidentiality bydisclosing details of the actor’smental health, seniorMumbai BJP leader AshishShellar on Friday demandedthat action be initiatedagainst Susan for trying toprejudice the investigationsand violating the MentalHealth Act.

In a joint letter addressedto the Mumbai Police com-missioner, Joint Director ofCBI, Mumbai, ManojShashidhar, the officials of EDand other agencies, Shelar

alluded to a media interview,in which she “has revealedconfidential aspects of SushantSingh Rajput's mental healthstate”.

“Her actions seem primafacie in violation of the MentalHealth Act 2017 and her Indiaresidency visa conditions.Medical and mental health professionals hold thehighest level of standards andethics when it comes to con-fidentiality and reveal detailsonly after following dueprocess of law, as they are liable to face strict legal actionfor violating Indian MentalHealth Act, 2017,” Shelarwrote.

“Two main questionswhich are in public interest

need immediate answers A.)What motivation or who madeSusan Walker violate profes-sional ethics, patient confi-dentiality, violate MentalHealth Act and Indian law bydisclosing details of Sushant'shealth to influence the courseof police investigations. B.)What or who made Susan Walker breachconfidentiality, knowing fullwell that her mental healthpractise, which is rumored toearn her upto crores rupees peryear, will be badly affected byher disclosure?,” Shelar stated.

Shelar urged the Mumbaito take steps to cover follow-ing angles in this matter actagainst Susan Among other

things, the BJP leader said: “AsSusan Walker is foreign citizen,steps be taken to ensure Susanremains available for investi-gation in Mumbai.

Susan Walker should besummoned for further detailedquestioning.

Mumbai Police must ini-tiate action against SusanWalker as her unethical actionsof disclosing Sushant Singh'smental health details is a directviolation of Mental HealthAct , 2017 Section 23(2) andher actions attract punish-ment including criminal pros-ecution, fines and jail sentenceon conviction and seeks toprejudice the investigationangle of the Police. 4. How isSusan Walker practising in

Mumbai”.“Is she authorised to prac-

tise in India. Is she or her clin-ic registered with authoritiesand BMC? Has Susan Walkerregistered with theRehabilitation Council of Indiaand is she accredited to anyregistered and recognised bodyof mental health professionalsin India, which allows her topractise?

The counselling, medi-cines, treatment methods sug-gested to Sushant Singh bySusan Walker, without anylicense or permission to prac-tise in India is illegal. Thismust be probed for its effect onSushant's actions leading up tohis death,” Shelar wrote in hisletter.

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Riding on a rapid surge of infections,Andhra Pradesh on Friday crossed the

two lakh-mark in the overall number ofCovid-19 cases as another 10,171 wereadded afresh for the third consecutive day.

From its maiden case on March 12, APsCovid-19 graph peaked to over two lakhcases in just 149 days, witnessing a mete-oric rise, particularly in the past three weeks,and reaching the third spot in the countrybehind Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Two three-day spells, first from July 29-31 and next from August 5-7, whereCovid-19 spread so virulently with over10,000 cases each daily saw the state gallopto the third spot in the national table.

The Covid-19tally on Friday showed2,06,960 over all cases, of which 84,654 wereactive, 1,20,464 recoveries and 1,842

deaths.The state saw 89 fresh coronavirus

deaths, the highest number in a day so far,while 7,594 patients had recovered from thepandemic in the last 24 hours, a governmentbulletin said.

After 23,62,270 sample tests, the infec-tion positivity rate climbed further to 8. 76per cent, inching closer to the national aver-age of 8. 90 per cent.

The recovery rate too improved to 58.21per cent, but was way below the nationalaverage of 67.98 per cent. The Covid-19mortality rate in the state stood at 0.89 percent against the national average of 2. 05per cent, it said.

In 12 days from July 27, the number ofcases doubled from 1.02 lakh to 2.06 lakh.

From March 12 when it reported thefirst coronavirus case, AP took a long timetill June 24 to go past the 10,000 mark andJuly 20 to cross 50,000 total cases

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The COVID-19 pandem-ic has affected humanbehaviour throughoutthe world, causing newfocal points of irritation

to emerge and the old ones to inten-sify, sometimes to levels whereviolence follows inevitably. This, inturn, is the result of the fear of catch-ing the disease and boredom causedby prolonged confinement at home,either by choice or compulsion cre-ated by lockdowns. Moods markedby irritation and anger intensify oldanimosities and create new ones.An example is the resurgence ofhatred towards stray dogs, who havebeen an integral part of India’surban and rural population centressince the time of the Ramayana andthe Mahabharata, if not earlier.

Directly or indirectly, animalsand creatures that live in water orthe sky feature prominently in thephilosophy of the Upanishads andthe narratives of the Vedas, BrahmaSutra, the Puranas and the epics,Ramayana and Mahabharata.Examples are many, but two well-known ones merit a mention. InMahabharata’s MahaprasthanikaParva (The Chapter of the GreatDeparture), a small brown dogbegan to follow the five Pandavasand Draupadi as they began theirfinal journey out of this world. Oneby one, Draupadi and fourPandavas fell dead as they climbedMount Meru. Yudhisthir, the eldestPandava, and the dog marched on.Suddenly Indra, the king of gods,appeared in his flying chariot andsaid that he had come to takeYudhisthir to heaven in his mortalbody. Assured that Draupadi andhis four brothers were alreadythere and well, he asked whether thedog could come with him. On beingtold that heaven had no place for adog, he refused to go without thelatter. It was then that the dogappeared in his true self as Dharma,the God of Virtue, and said this wasYudhisthir’s final test. He would nothave been able to enter heaven aliveif he had agreed to abandon the dog.

This account is widely knownand cited. Another incident isfound in the Bengali translation ofthe Saptakanda Ramayana (TheRamayana in Seven Parts) byKrittibas Ojha. It happened whenRam, after defeating Ravan andsending Sita to sage Valmiki’s her-mitage, was holding court inAyodhya with Lakshman guardingthe entrance. A white dog with redeyes, lame in one leg and limping,with thick patches of congealed

blood on his head, indicatingthat it has hit with a stick, cameand touched Lakshman’s feet.Asked why he had come, he saidhe would relate the cause of hissorrow to Ram if the lattergranted him an audience.

Told of the dog’s request byLakshman, Ram asked for thedog to be brought before himforthwith. Arriving in Ram’spresence, he began to sing theformer’s praise with folded handsand head bowed. Asked aboutthe reason for his coming, hesaid, “A sanyasi (a mendicantascetic who has renounced theworld) has hit me for no fault ofmine. Distressed and hurt afterbeing hit, I have come to yourcourt after starving for threedays. The court should please askthe sanyasi what was my faultthat he should have hit me witha stick?” Ram said that thesanyasi should be broughtimmediately before him so thatthe court could judge. Howcould a sanyasi be cruel to ananimal? (All quotations are fromSaptakanda Ramayana translat-ed from Bengali to English bythis author).

The dog, who accompa-nied Ram’s messenger, identifiedthe sanyasi as he was broughtbefore Ram, who asked, “Whyhave you abandoned your dhar-ma and are cruel to animals?One who perpetrates adharmahas to live in hell. What kind ofrenunciation is yours when yourbody is so full of anger?Castigation of others and malev-olence towards others are gravesins. A terrible hell is the pun-ishment for a cruel and malev-olent sanyasi. A sage who has

given up greed, illusion anddesire, is respected in this world.And, though a sanyasi, you sud-denly burst into anger! What wasthe fault of the dog that you hithim with a stick?”

The ascetic replied, “I wentto the town for alms after recit-ing prayers on the banks of theGanga during the whole day.Begging for alms, the wholebody burning with hunger, Ifound the dog lying in frontoccupying the whole road. Iloudly asked him go give way buthe pretended not to hear. He wasasleep with one eye closed andlooked at me with the other. Ibecame angry and hit him on thehead with a stick. Now that Ihave said all this before the court,you decide what punishment togive me.”

On being asked by Ramabout the punishment, thecourtiers said that the sanyasishould be barred from bathingin the Ganges. At this, the dogsaid that he should not be pun-ished but made the ruler of thekingdom of Kalinjar. Thecourtiers laughed as Ram madethe sanyasi the king of Kalinjar.Climbing onto the back of anelephant, his splendourenhanced by the royal sceptre,the sanyasi began travelling hap-pily towards Kalinjar as peoplelaughed at his attire — a loin-cloth — with the royal umbrel-la over his head.

Asked by the courtiers as towhy was the kingdom given tothe sanyasi when the idea was topunish him, Ram directed themto the dog, who said, “Under acurse by Lord Shiva, death doesnot alter the king’s destiny to be

reborn as a dog…I was the kingin the previous birth and now Ihave been reborn as a dog andsuffered much. But having seenyou, I will now escape from mytorment.” While everybody saidthat the sanyasi’s worldly posses-sions have now increased, thedog said, “Have no doubt, who-ever becomes the king ofKalinjar becomes a dog in hisnext birth.” He then didnamaskar to Ram and walkedslowly to Varanasi where he fast-ed to death and attained heav-en because he had seen Ram.

Ram’s statement that a “ter-rible hell is the punishment fora cruel and malevolent sanyasi”has an echo in a passage inSkanda V, chapter 26 of SrimadBhagavata: The Holy Book ofGod. It reads, “God has given dif-ferent forms of livelihood tocreatures. Some of these may goagainst the interests of man. Butman should not retaliate againstthese creatures for two reasons.They are not endowed with thecapacity to know that they aredoing injury to man; and next,man knows that they will beinjured if he retaliates. A personwho injures lower creations forselfish purposes goes to a pur-gatory called Andhakupa andthere he will have to live in a lowtype of body, attacked by thecreatures he had injured. Indarkness, without sleep, andrestless, he will have to drag ona wretched existence.”(Translated by SwamiTapasyananda).

The passage quoted fromThe Srimad Bhagavata: The HolyBook of God applies especially tothose who inveigh ceaselessly

about the “menace” posed bystray dogs. They can neither seethe role the latter play as sen-tinels, whose barking alerts peo-ple against the arrival of thieves,robbers and terrorists/insur-gents. Precisely for this reason,terrorists in some areas ofJammu & Kashmir and Maoistsin parts of central India haveasked villagers to kill all dogs intheir areas.

In the present situation,how many of India’s stray doghaters have tried to understandhow the COVID-19 pandemichas turned the lives of thesecanines completely upsidedown? It has been said oftenenough to become common-place knowledge that the closureof hotels, dhabas and restaurantshave deprived vast numbers ofthem of their food. It is not justthe left-overs thrown intogarbage bins that they miss.Many of them, who had been fedregularly by the staff and own-ers of these eating places, havenow to fend for themselves —something to which they havegrown unused.

Finally, how many haters ofstray dogs have any idea of thelove and loyalty that most dogsunconditionally lavish on peo-ple? Not surprisingly, KonradLorenz writes in Man Meets Dog,“The whole charm of the dog liesin the depth of friendship andthe strength of spiritual tieswith which he has tied himselfto man.” Author of the landmarkbook On Aggression and perhapsthe best-known authority on ani-mal behaviour, he should know.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and author)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Now Pak in map war”(August 6). Close on the heels ofNepal’s issuance of a map show-ing Lipulekh, Kalapani andLimpiyadhura under its territo-ry, Pakistan has released a terri-torially misleading map thatincludes the former princelyState of Junagadh (Gujarat) andKashmir. This prompted a quickresponse from India’s Ministry ofExternal Affairs, which termed it“an exercise in political absurdi-ty.”

Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan claimed that themap represented the aspirationsof the whole nation and all itspolitical parties. It is likely thatPakistan has China’s blessings inproducing the map given simi-lar border claims by Nepalrecently. Pakistan has expressedits frustration through a series ofsteps that coincided with the firstanniversary of the abrogation ofArticle 370. It had announcedthat August 5 would be observedas “day of exploitation” even asthe Khan Government againfailed to persuade the UNSecurity Council to come up

with a resolution on Kashmirdespite having China on its side.The FATF has decided to keepPakistan on the “grey” list as itfailed to check the flow of moneyto terrorist groups. If it fails to ful-fil the FATF’s requirements, it

could be downgraded to theblacklist. India must firmly dis-prove the ridiculous claims madeby its neighbours and reassert itsterritorial sovereignty.

Venu GSKollam

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “After Ayodhya” (August 6).The pomp and show displayed ata simple event such as the bhoo-

mi pujan at Ayodhya was avoid-able. The event has raised sever-al questions. Was it correct for thePM to lay the foundation of thetemple, one which remainedembroiled in a long history ofdisputes? In a secular democra-cy, the PM is not expected to rep-resent any particular religion ororganisation. For a head of thestate, religious affiliations shouldremain confined within the fourwalls of his home.

SritamaVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Monumental apathy”(August 7). The massive explo-sion in Beirut, Lebanon could-n’t have come at a worse time forLebanon when the country hasbeen battling one crisis afteranother. Nations across theworld as well as internationalinstitutions must offer help toLebanon so that it can overcomethe catastrophe.

PrathnaVia email

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The pandemic and the response to it by vari-ous governments around the world have posedunprecedented challenges, the effect of which

would be felt for decades to come. People andeconomies are suffering not only due to the hugeloss of lives but also from the slowdown of econom-ic activities during the lockdown. According to theUnion Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari,the contagion is expected to cause a loss of over �10lakh crore to India’s economy. The World Bank, too,estimates that 12 million people in India could bepushed into poverty. While initially, the most visi-ble impact of the crisis was on the healthcare sec-tor due to shortages of personal protective equip-ment (PPE), ventilators, critical medical supplies andhealthcare professionals trained in the handling ofa contagion, its impact is now being felt on the freemovement of people, goods and services, too.

A circular economy is based on the principlesof reducing our waste and pollution throughout thelifecycle stages, keeping products and materials inuse for long and regenerating natural systems.Circular economy-based concepts, such as cascad-ed reuse of resources to design reusable masks tosubstitute single-use masks, supported byGovernment-formulated guidelines and awarenessabout the same, are steps in the right direction.

The global market for refurbished medicaldevices is also predicted to witness significantgrowth. Recently, fuel cell manufacturer BloomEnergy started to refurbish ventilators to meet thesupply gap in hospitals in the US. Due to COVID-19, organisations preferred work from home (WFH)and educational institutes preferred to learn fromhome using virtual platforms for meetings and onlineclasses, which led to an unprecedented surge indemand for refurbished laptops. This cascaded useof refurbished laptops would also be critical in fill-ing the void that has emerged in supporting onlineeducation to rural and urban poor students.Measures like these will create new market oppor-tunities, increase the use of existing assets and reducethe pressure on the environment created by thedemand for virgin raw materials.

Integrating circularity in various governments’recovery agenda and strategies thus assumes impor-tance. In April, the City of Amsterdam launched itsCircular 2020-2025 strategy, which outlines theactions it would take to cut down the use of new rawmaterials to half by 2030. The local government alsoconsiders this strategy to be the basis for econom-ic recovery from the effects of COVID-19. Similarly,the European Union (EU) and South Korea haveboth adopted “Green Deals” as central pillars to theireconomic recoveries, both leveraging regenerativemodels and circular economy principles. Thedeployment of idle railway coaches by IndianRailways as isolation wards during the surge ofCoronavirus infections is adapting the approach touse existing infrastructure to an extent possible. Thisprovides an opportunity for other governments tointegrate resilience, low carbon and sustainablegrowth thinking into their recoveries by avoidingshort-term emission-intensive projects.

Rethinking the mostly linear global supply chainsystems by adopting a circular economy as a modeof production can help economies withstand sup-ply disruptions like those experienced in the cur-rent pandemic. This was particularly visible in thecase of stressed food production and distribution,which was experienced during the hastily-imple-mented lockdowns. By creating new and shorter sup-ply chain connections between producers and con-

sumers, we can ensure a continuous sup-ply of essential goods in vital sectors andhelp improve resilience through stockavailability and competitiveness whilenot giving up the commitment to achiev-ing the UN-set Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs).

In order to support the AtmanirbharBharat Abhiyan, newer ecosystems needto be envisaged that are based on local,shorter and more distributed supplychains via localised material sourcing. Atthe start of the pandemic in India, theavailability of PPEs was critically low, own-ing to non-availability of local manufac-turers, long gestation period to importtheir machines and the high cost. In linewith the spirit of ‘Vocal for Local’ and withvarious Government initiatives, India istoday the second-largest manufacturer ofPPE body overalls within a short span offour months. There is also a need toengage in collaborative consumption toshare resources by replacing traditionalownership of products with lending, bor-rowing and the availability of repair ser-vices to facilitate reuse. This would helpreduce panic buying. For instance, theassurance of the Delhi Government toprovide “Pulse Oximeters” for monitor-ing oxygen levels of patients undergoinghome isolation is a positive step in thisdirection. Acceptance of such “pay for ser-vices” rather than “owning facility options”would gain momentum if hygiene isensured. Local waste sites can be turnedinto resource centres that undertakerecovery and recycling of plastics.

Circular innovations can addressmanufacturing and supply chain shortageswithin the healthcare sector, too, where cir-cular knitted fabric (washable andreusable) can be used to produce non-medical protective face masks. The needfor investment in technology for design-ing responsible packaging solutions thatmaintain food safety and quality standardsand prevent contamination can enhancethe sustainability of the home delivery ser-

vices that people are increasingly relyingupon. Such solutions could also help con-tinue efforts to reduce the usage of plas-tics and styrofoam. Several initiatives byvarious Fast Moving Consumer Goods(FMCG) companies and collaborationsinvolving various stakeholders have beendone across the globe to minimise single-use plastics.

In addition, enhancing materialproductivity also plays a significant rolein addressing the diminishing cost com-petitiveness of industries (such as theIndian automobile sector in comparisonto China, Singapore, Indonesia, andBangladesh) due to high material cost. Thecircular economy emphasises reuse, andthrough this has the potential to generatenot only environmental benefits but costbenefits, too, and create new revenueopportunities. For example, the focus onmanufacturing durable goods would helpthem to generate income from rentals,repairs and refurbishment while reducingthe environmental footprint.

In the COVID-19 crisis, digital solu-tions have promoted virtual workspaces,a mobile Government and a multitude ofplatforms to monitor and trace infections.Digitalisation has not only been limitedto medical solutions or WFH set-ups buthas been an instrument in supportingonline education modes, too.

Digital technology can play a role increating city and village systems that areregenerative and restorative by offering de-materialisation opportunities, increasingour knowledge and understanding of dataon the lifecycle of materials, people andexternal conditions, allowing for moreinformed decisions based on accurate data.This would help close the loop of mater-ial cycles and contribute to keeping prod-ucts/materials in use for a longer periodof time.

For example, digital technology canhelp aggregate local marketplaces dealingin secondary and alternative materials andformalise the informal sector waste-pick-

ers. Real-time tracking technologies pro-vide information on where a product endsup and how it will be reused or recycled.

However, despite the many opportu-nities that circular thinking presents,ongoing efforts in this direction have beenhit due to the pandemic. For example, inthe waste management sector where sig-nificant work was done to manage plas-tic waste, many efforts have been haltedduring the lockdown, particularly in theprivate recycling space.

Recycling plants are mostly shut or areoperating at limited capacity with a lot ofthe informal sector workers, who playedthe role of aggregators (such as the junkcollectors) leaving urban centres for theirnative places. Procurement of recyclablewaste has also become a challenge.Among plastics, virgin plastic may becomeeven cheaper than secondary raw mate-rial plastic due to falling prices of hydro-carbon fuels resulting from the current lowdemand. This will also affect the econom-ic viability of many plastic recyclers.Efforts would be required to stimulate thedemand for recycled materials and closethe price gap between virgin and recycledplastics.

As countries step towards econom-ic recovery after COVID-19, they shouldundertake circular economy strategies forlong-term sustainable development andfor creating resilient economies. TheBRICS nations recently acknowledged theheightening of social vulnerabilities andjob losses due to the pandemic and haveemphasised on the need for improving theenvironment and promoting the circulareconomy in national plans as stepstowards recovery. The time is ripe for usto rethink our consumption patterns, tobuild in resilience, circularity and an effi-cient rural-urban connection to reduce thevulnerability of our economic and socialsystems and move towards anAtmanirbhar Bharat.

(Bakshi is Senior Fellow and Tewari isFellow and Area Convenor, TERI)

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The Coronavirus pandemic hasmade social distancing the newnormal and the majority of us are

becoming increasingly dependent ondigital technology. Pushed into anuncertain future, we are spendingmore time to digitally connect withpeople, work, shop, keep ourselvesinformed and even entertained.

While a digitally-mediated dailylife can keep us safe from the risk ofinfection, too much exposure to it canharm our mental health. There hasbeen a lot of awareness raised about theimpact of exposing oneself to negativeinfluences on social media and thenews. The more information we receive

the more insufferable the pandemicbecomes. We have seen people feelhopeless and helpless as a result of allthe information they absorb and unfor-tunately, sink into deeper mentalhealth issues.

Fake news and conspiracy theoriescan induce fear and lead us to eitherfight, freeze or fold up. If you are oneof the fighters, the information on dig-ital feeds will help you take action inserving others, hence, limiting youronline time.

You may also minimise the under-standing of the situation and label allthose people, who err at the side of pre-caution, as hysterical and not abide bythe safety rules. Thus, putting yourselfand others in danger. If you freeze, thenyou will lock yourself down and if youfold, you will need support to upliftyour mental health.

At all costs, people must keep theirdigital activity healthy during the out-break. Let us take a look at three evi-dence-based tips for a healthy digitaldiet during the outbreak.

Take control: It is natural to feel

powerless and scared in the face of apandemic but people can use digitaltechnology to regain control and givethemselves a degree of autonomy overtheir life.

This is critical as having controlpromotes emotional well-being. So,people must think about ways inwhich they can use digital technologyto help them do it. It can be somethingas simple as using the technology attheir disposal to make plans, managetheir schedule, organise activities withothers and even do online shopping atwebsites where they get to exert greaterchoice.

The key is to use digital technol-ogy actively instead of letting them-selves get passively guided by algo-rithms. People must think of digitaltechnology as a tool that allows themto extend their autonomy and makesit possible for them to develop strate-gies to cope better. For instance, peo-ple can consider limiting passive screentime and balance passive viewing withmore interactive screen time — play-ing educational games, making

YouTube videos, coding a website —where they are in control.

Nurture relationships: Whilesocial distancing is good for our phys-ical health, isolation is not good for ourmental health. So, we must use thisopportunity to digitally connect withold friends, family members oracquaintances that we somehow losttouch with. We must also nurture ourexisting relationships by schedulingregular chats online and using digitaldevices to spread positive news, expressgratitude to the people serving us andhelping others.

For instance, people can orderfood and groceries online for friends,family members and neighbours whoare not digitally-enabled. Helping oth-ers can give life more purpose and allayanxieties. Organise group chats andregular virtual meet-ups — seeing afamiliar face, even on a phone screen,can be reassuring. People must use thistime as an opportunity to rebuild affil-iations with those who matter.

Be smarter: Our well-being is alsoinfluenced by our competence, ability

to rise above challenges, take smartdecisions and experience a sense ofachievement and degree of success.Hence, people must use this opportu-nity to take online courses, learn newskills and do things that engage them.

People must consider using dig-ital technology to look after theirbody and mind during this period ofconfinement. They may not be able tohit the gym but they can use digitalreminders and prompts to move andexercise more — even if they are con-fined inside a restricted environment.People can consider downloading anutrition app, exercise, mindfulness orrelaxation app. They must think abouthow they can use digital technology toimprove exercise, sleep and dietregimes.

People can use digital technologyto be smarter about their informationdiet, too. Use fact-checking services tocounter conspiracy theories, unfound-ed rumours, urban legends and mis-information. Reduce informationintake to one or two trustworthysources. Most importantly, get infor-

mation from reputable sources insteadof regurgitating what they read onsocial media.

The way towards digital well-being: Our increased digital dependen-cy can be of benefit to our well-beinginstead of a hazard. We need to use ourscreens positively and promote greaterautonomy, relatedness and compe-tence. To be balanced, people mustschedule their downtime, off-screentime, exercise time and fun time. Thiswill form the core of their emotionalwell-being and hold them in goodstead.

People must remember not toreach for their phone as soon as theywake up. They must give themselvesthe time to get ready, eat and then getto their device. We should use technol-ogy to increase our independence, fur-ther our well-being and harness ourinner potential. Doing so will not onlyhelp us get through the pandemic butwill also ensure that we emergestronger from it.

(The writer is Director of a Wellnesscompany and heads a foundation)

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Kathmandu: NepalCommunist Party’s executivechairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda’ has asked the partyworkers to prepare for the“worst” as the ongoing powertussle between him and PrimeMinister K P Sharma Oli hasintensified with no solution insight.

Oli and Prachanda haveheld at least ten meetings inrecent weeks to sort out the dif-ferences between them. But, asthe Prime Minister did notaccept the condition of a one-man-one-post, the talks failed.Oli has refused to give up hispost as prime minister as wellas a co-chairman of the NepalCommunist Party (NCP).

A bitter internal feud hasbeen brewing in the rulingNCP since the last few weeksafter top party leaders, includ-ing Prachanda, demanded Oli’sresignation, saying his recentanti-India remarks were “nei-ther politically correct nordiplomatically appropriate.”The opponents of Oli are alsoagainst his autocratic style offunctioning.

“Our main concern is notabout gaining power, what wewant is to follow the properprocedure while running theNCP. We are not focusing ongaining any position, but ourfight is against the wrong trenddeveloping in the party,”Prachanda told a select groupof journalists during a specialbriefing on Wednesday.

He held the press confer-ence along with three seniorparty leaders Madhav Nepal,Jhalanath Khanal and partyspokesperson Narayan KajiShrestha, according to Nagarikdaily.

The dissident groupaccused Oli of trying to dam-age the image of other seniorleaders of the party, the dailyreported.

Prachanda and Nepal haveclaimed that the majority of thepowerful Central WorkingCommittee members havesupported them while raisingvoice against Oli.

Prachanda also alleged thatwhile the Standing Committeemeeting was in progress, at theinitiative of Prime Minister

Oli a new party was registeredunder the name of a lesser-known person at the ElectionCommission with the intentionto split the ruling party.

“If one chairman (PM Oli)does not follow the properprocedure of the party thenhow can the unity of the partyremain intact,” he wondered.

Prachanda claimed that heand other senior leaders of theparty were trying to save theparty by creating a favourablesituation.

“We are trying for the bestoutcome but the communistsof this country should also beprepared for the worst thing tohappen,” Prachanda told mediapersons, indicating a possiblesplit in the ruling party.

“I had agreed to make OliPrime Minister for a full 5 yearsterm and enjoy the executivechairman’s position in the partyfor creating a better environ-ment within the party,” saidPrachanda.

“Oli has dragged the partytowards anarchism by callingseparate gatherings,” Prachandasaid. PTI

Portland: Portland’s nightly protests turned violentagain even after the city’s mayor pleaded for demon-strators to stay off the streets and a police officerhit by a rock early Friday suffered what wasdescribed as a serious injury. The protesters whocame out Thursday night clashed with officers neara police precinct station and also used metal barsto disable police vehicles, police said in a statement.The nightly clashes this week have ratcheted up ten-sions in the city after an agreement was reached lastweek between state and federal officials for feder-al agents to pull back from their defence. AP

Colombo: Mahinda Rajapaksawill be sworn in as Sri Lanka’sPrime Minister for the fourthtime on Sunday after his partyregistered a landslide victory inthe general election, securingtwo-thirds majority inParliament needed to amendthe Constitution to further con-solidate the powerful Rajapaksafamily’s grip on power.

The Sri Lanka People’s Party(SLPP), led by prime ministerMahinda Rajapaksa, won in145 constituencies, bagging atotal of 150 seats with its allies,a two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament, accordingto the results announced by theelection commission on Friday.

It won all but four of the 22electoral districts on offer,polling 6.8 million votes (59.9per cent).

The 74-year-old PrimeMinister Mahinda thanked theSri Lankan people for puttingtheir faith in the SLPP and saidthat the country will not standdisappointed during its tenure.

“Heartfelt gratitude to all

SriLankans for placing theirtrust in President GotabayaRajapaksa, myself and thePodujanaParty and voting forthe ‘Saubhagye Dakkama’election manifesto in over-whelming numbers. We willensure Sri Lanka will notstand disappointed duringour tenure,” he said.

Mahinda will be sworn inas the new prime minister forthe fourth time on Sunday ata ceremony at the historicBuddhist temple of Kelaniya, anorth Colombo suburb,according to an official state-ment.

He created a record inpolling over 500,000 individual

preference votes, the highestever recorded by a candidate inthe history of elections.

Prime Minister NarendraModi was among the first worldleaders to congratulate Mahindaon the outcome of the electionsand said the two sides willwork together to furtheradvance all areas of bilateral

cooperation and to take theirspecial ties to ever newerheights.

“Thank you PM @naren-dramodi for your congratula-tory phone call. With the strongsupport of the people of#SriLanka, I look forward toworking with you closely to fur-ther enhance the long-standingcooperation between our twocountries. Sri Lanka & India arefriends & relations,” Mahindatweeted.

The Rajapaksa family hasdominated Sri Lankan politicsfor two decades. Mahinda waspreviously president, from 2005to 2015. President GotabayaRajapaksa had won theNovember presidential electionon the SLPP ticket.

In the parliamentary elec-tion, he was seeking 150 seatsmandatory to execute consti-tutional changes, including torepeal the 19th Amendment tothe Constitution which hadcurbed the presidential powerswhile strengthening the role ofParliament.

Activists, already alarmed bythe diminishing space for dissentand criticism in the islandnation, fear such a move couldlead to authoritarianism. PTI

Putrajaya (Malaysia): Two-time former Malaysian PrimeMinister Mahathir Mohamadannounced on Friday that he isforming a new ethnic Malayparty more than two monthsafter he was sacked from his pre-vious party during a politicalstruggle with his successor.

Mahathir, 95, quit as primeminister in protest in lateFebruary after fellow partymember Muhyiddin Yassinwithdrew their Bersatu partyfrom the ruling coalition, trig-gering its collapse less than twoyears after a historic victory in2018 national polls.

Muhyiddin was sworn in as

new prime minister in Marchwith a new government sup-ported by ex-Prime MinisterNajib Razak’s corruption-taint-ed party that was ousted in 2018.

Mahathir, who was sackedfrom Bersatu along with his sonand three other senior members,said Muhyiddin had hijacked theparty and helped revive what hecalled a kleptocratic govern-ment.

He accused Muhyiddin ofusing money to buy support inBersatu, causing it to stray fromits goal of fighting graft.Mahathir said he believes manygrassroots members are unhap-py and still support him. AP

Kabul: A traditional councilmet on Friday in Afghanistan’scapital to decide whether torelease a final 400 Taliban pris-oners, the last hurdle to start-ing negotiations betweenKabul’s political leadership andthe Taliban under a peace dealwith the US.

The negotiations are a crit-ical step toward lasting peace inAfghanistan.

The talks will decide whata peaceful Afghanistan mightlook like, what constitutionalchanges will be made, how therights of women and minoritieswill be protected and the fate ofthe tens of thousands of heav-ily armed men on both sides ofthe conflict. Besides Talibanfighters, warlords in Kabul

maintain thousands of armedmilitias loyal to them.

The Taliban in a statementon Friday rejected the Kabulgathering, saying it had no legalstatus. A statement by USSecretary of State Mike Pompeoissued late Thursday made itclear that the 400 prisonershad to be released if peace talkswith the Taliban were to moveforward.

“We acknowledge that therelease of these prisoners isunpopular,” Pompeo said. “Butthis difficult action will lead toan important result long soughtby Afghans and Afghanistan’sfriends: reduction of violenceand direct talks resulting in apeace agreement and an end tothe war.” AP

Beijing: China has sentenced afourth Canadian citizen to deathon drug charges in less than twoyears following a sharp down-turn in ties over the arrest of anexecutive of Chinese tech giantHuawei.

Ye Jianhui was sentenced onFriday by the Foshan MunicipalIntermediate Court in the south-ern province of Guangdong.

Ye had been found guilty of

manufacturing and transport-ing drugs, the court said in abrief statement. Another sus-pect in the case was also giventhe death penalty and fourothers sentenced to betweenseven years and life in prison.Death sentences are automat-ically referred to China’s high-est court for review. Tiesbetween Canada and Chinahave nosedived over Canada’s

late 2018 arrest of MengWanzhou, a company executiveand the daughter of Huawei’sfounder, at Vancouver’s airportin at the request of the US, whichwants her extradited to facefraud charges over the compa-ny’s dealings with Iran. Herarrest enraged Beijing, whichcalls it a political move aimed atconstraining China’s rise as aglobal technology power. AP

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Washington: Video-sharingapp TikTok on Friday threat-ened to take legal action in UScourts against Donald Trump’sexecutive order banning any-one under US jurisdictionfrom doing business with thecompany’s owner ByteDance.

“We will pursue all reme-dies available to us in order toensure that the rule of law isnot discarded and that ourcompany and our users aretreated fairly — if not by theAdministration, then by theUS courts,” TikTok said in astatement. AFP

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6 ���� � ���������� ������ �� ������,�: ����� � ��� ��Beirut: Lebanese PresidentMichel Aoun says there are twopossibilities behind Tuesday’sblast — either negligence or“external intervention” by amissile or a bomb.

Aoun said on Friday thathe asked France for satelliteimages to see if there were war-planes or missiles in the air atthe time of the blast.

The blast is believed tohave been caused when a firetouched off 2,750 tons ofammonium nitrate that hadbeen stored at the port since itwas taken from an impoundedship in 2013. The cause of theinitial fire is not known.

Aoun told journalists thathe received information onJuly 20 about the stored mate-rial and “immediately ordered”

military and security officials todo what was necessary. He didnot elaborate. He said severalgovernments in charge since2013 received warnings aboutthe material.

He said the investigation isconcentrating on 20 persons.He rejected an internationalinvestigation into the blast,saying that it will make us “losethe truth.” AP

Beirut: Hezbollah leader HassanNasrallah says the explosion atthe Beirut port reveals nepotismand corruption that can’t beignored in Lebanon and thatthose responsible should bebrought to justice.

Nasrallah denied in a speechon Friday that his group wasresponsible for Tuesday’s blast orexercised any power at the port.

He was responding to claimsthat his group may have storedexplosives at the port. Still,Nasrallah didn’t rule out a mis-sile attack or an act of sabotage.He said that storing explosivematerials like ammonium nitrateat the port for so long means “itis partially an issue of negligence,corruption, nepotism” thatshould not be ignored. AP

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ABelgian court on Fridayrejected Spain’s demand to

have a former high-rankingpolitician from the region ofCatalonia extradited, in yetanother set back for the coun-try’s efforts to try several offi-cials in exile over their allegedroles in an independence ref-erendum that Madrid brandedas illegal.

The Brussels prosecutor’soffice said the court had decid-ed not to enforce the Europeanarrest warrant for formerCatalan culture minister LluisPuig on the grounds that “theSpanish authorities who issuedthe warrant are not competentto do so.”

Puig has been living inexile in Belgium since he, for-mer Catalan President CarlesPuigdemont and a number oftheir associates fled to Belgiumin October 2017, fearing arrestover their alleged roles in thesecessionist push and the hold-ing of an independence refer-endum that the Spanish gov-ernment had banned.

The vote sparked a policecrackdown and led to one ofSpain’s biggest political crises indecades as mass protests roiledthe relatively wealthy northeastregion of 7.5 million people.

Polls and recent electionsshow that Catalans are rough-ly equally split by the secessionquestion. Spaniards as a wholeare strongly against it.

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Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia waslooking for a country exceptIndia to send Zakir Naik, butnot many countries are willingto accept the controversialpreacher, former prime minis-ter Mahathir Mohamad hassaid.

Naik, a 54-year-old radicalIslamic preacher wanted bythe Indian authorities foralleged money laundering andinciting extremism throughhate speeches, left India in2016 and subsequently movedto the largely Muslim Malaysia,where he was granted perma-nent residency when Mahathir

was the prime minister.Claiming that the fugitive

Islamic preacher “would not besafe from the Indian public”, the95-year-old politician, who iseyeing a comeback, said hewould like to send Naik tosome country “where we feel hewill be safe.”

“For the time being he(Naik) can stay here but wewould like to send him tosome other country where hewould be safe. Unfortunately,not many countries are willingto accept him,” Mahathir wasquoted as saying by the WIONnews channel.

When asked whether hewould extradite Naik if hebecomes the Prime Minister ofMalaysia again, Mahathir said,“Well, we would like to sendhim to some country where wefeel he will be safe.”

He once again refused tosend Naik to India, saying “atthis moment we feel that hewould not be safe from theIndian public.”

Naik has been bannedfrom any public activities in themulti-ethnic country after hiscontroversial remarks againstMalaysian Hindus and Chineselast year. PTI

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Washington: The United States has recordedmore than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in 24hours, the highest number of daily fatalities inthree months, Johns Hopkins University’sreal-time tally showed on Thursday.

The country, which has seen a major resur-gence in coronavirus since the end of June,added 2,060 deaths in one day as well as morethan 58,000 new cases, the Baltimore-baseduniversity showed at 8:30 pm (0030 GMTFriday). AFP

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The increase in loan-to-value(LTV) ratio for gold loans,

or the quantum of borrowingagainst a given quantity of theprecious metal, will heightencredit risks for banks, a ratingsagency said on Friday.

The RBI had on Thursdayincreased the LTV ratio forgold loans by banks to 90 percent from the earlier 75 percent, in a bid to make moneyavailable to people affected bythe coronavirus pandemic.

"...An increase in the LTVratio to 90 per cent increasesthe credit risk for banks as thecollateral available in the formof gold ornaments or jewellerymay not be sufficient to fullycover both principal and inter-est components on these loans,"Brickworks Ratings said.

Its Director for Ratings,Vydianathan Ramaswamy, saidthe increase in LTV will resultin a "negative carry" for banksas the total exposure willexceed the value of the pledgedgold.

"It could adversely impactthe recoverability and assetquality of banks in the case ofa weakening in the borrower

credit risk profile and/or sharpdecline in gold prices, whichhave seen a strong rally over thelast few months," he added.

However, given that thehigher LTV is only till March31 next year, the risk on theportfolio is for a limited peri-od, the agency said in a note.

Also, gold loans are most-ly short-tenure loans of any-where between 3 to 24 months,it said.

The agency said given thatthe RBI's announcement onhigher LTV gold loans is lim-ited to the banking sector,banks are bound to garner alarger market share vis-a-vistheir non-bank peers in loansagainst the pledge of gold in fis-cal 2021.

At present, non-bankfinanciers and unorganisedlenders like local pawn brokerswith a wider network enjoy alarge market share in loansagainst gold ornaments andjewellery.

They also charge highrates on these loans, which canrange anywhere between 20 percent to 50 per cent, whereasbanks charge much lowerinterest rates, it said.

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Markets regulator Sebi onFriday amended interna-

tional financial services centre(IFSC) guidelines pertaining toeligibility criteria and share-holding limit for clearing cor-porations that wish to operatein such centres.

The decision, aimedat streamlining the operationsof IFSC, has been taken afterconsultation with stakeholders,the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) said in acircular.

Under the norms, anyIndian recognised stockexchange or clearing corpora-tion, or, any recognised stockexchange or clearing corpora-tion of a foreign jurisdiction,will form a subsidiary to pro-

vide the services of clearingcorporation in IFSC wherein atleast 51 per cent stake is heldby such exchange or clearingcorporation, Sebi said.Theremaining share capital may beacquired or held by any otherperson, whether Indian or offoreign jurisdiction.

Besides, such personwill not at any time, directly orindirectly, either individually ortogether with persons acting inconcert, acquire or hold morethan 5 per cent stake in a clear-ing corporation in IFSC, sub-ject to applicable laws.

Sebi further said any otherstock exchange, depository, bank,insurance company of Indian orforeign jurisdiction have beenallowed to acquire 15 per centstake in such clearing corpora-tion operating in an IFSC.

Among others, publicfinancial institutions of Indianjurisdiction, foreign commod-ity derivatives exchange andbilateral or multilateral finan-cial institutions approved by thecentral government "mayacquire or hold, either direct-ly or indirectly, either individ-ually or together with personsacting in concert, up to 15 percent of the paid up equityshare capital of a such clearingcorporation with prior approvalof the board."

To give effect to this,Sebi has amended IFSC guide-lines. Last month, the regula-tor had revised eligibility cri-teria and shareholding limit forstock exchanges desirous ofoperating in IFSC. The coun-try's only IFSC is in GIFT Citynear Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

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Domestic equity bench-marks Sensex and Nifty

ended flat on Friday as negativecues from global markets andspiking COVID-19 cases in thecountry kept investors on theedge.

After touching a low of37,787.38 during the day, the30-share BSE Sensex clawedback lost ground to end 15.12points or 0.04 per cent higherat 38,040.57.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyrose 13.90 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 11,214.05.

During the week, theSensex advanced 433.68 pointsor 1.15 per cent, while the Niftyrose 140.60 points or 1.26 percent.

Asian Paints was the topgainer in the Sensex pack onFriday, spurting 4.44 per cent,followed by Bajaj Finance,IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finservand Maruti.

On the other hand, Titan,HCL Tech, Infosys, M&M andSun Pharma were among thelaggards, skidding up to 2.65per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra onFriday reported a 94 per centdecline in consolidated profit atRs 54.64 crore for the Junequarter, adversely impacted bythe COVID-19 pandemic.

Global markets tumbled

after US President DonaldTrump signed an order pro-hibiting American residentsfrom transacting with Chineseapps WeChat and TikTok,ratcheting up US-China ten-sions.

China has vowed to retal-iate against the executive order,which comes into force in 45days.

According to traders, neg-ative overseas cues and mount-ing COVID-19 cases in thecountry kept investors jittery.

Registering over 60,000cases in 24 hours for the firsttime, India’s COVID-19 tallygalloped past 20 lakh on Friday,while the number of recover-ies surged to 13.78 lakh,according to Union HealthMinistry data.

The number of casesaround the world linked to thedisease has crossed 1.9 crore.

“The unrelenting pace ofvirus infections and otheruncertainties led to the bench-mark indices ending flat todaywith volatile trades. Globalcues were also mostly negative,after Asian markets ended inlosses following US actions onpopular Chinese apps, andanticipating retaliatory actionfrom China.

“However on a weeklybasis, Indian benchmarkindices ended up by around 1per cent, following gains in the

latter half of this week, onexpectations of RBI policy eas-ing to support economicrevival,” said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices.BSE power, telecom,utilities, industrials and basicmaterials indices rose as muchas 1.21 per cent, while con-

sumer durables, IT, teck andhealthcare closed with losses.

Broader BSE mid-cap andsmall-cap indices rallied up to1.44 per cent. In rest of Asia,bourses in Shanghai, HongKong and Tokyo ended in thered, while Seoul finished withgains.

Stock exchanges in Europewere trading on a negativenote in early deals.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading 0.86per cent lower at USD 44.70 perbarrel.On the currency front,the rupee ended almost flat at74.93 against the US dollar.

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Wall Street is stalling onFriday, as a whirlwind of

worries about rising U.S.-China tensions and whetherCongress can deliver more aidfor the economy threaten tohalt its big run.

The S&P 500 was edging0.1% lower in early trading,after a five-day winning streakhad brought it back within1.1% of its record for the firsttime since February. The DowJones Industrial Average wasdown 73 points, or 0.3%, at27,317, as of 9:40 a.M. Easterntime, and the Nasdaq com-posite pulled 0.1% back fromits record.

Markets around the world

got a small boost before trad-ing began on U.S. Stock mar-kets when a report showedthat the U.S. Job marketstrengthened more last monththan economists expected.But the bump for U.S.Treasury yields and Europeanstocks proved short-lived.

It's a busy day for markets,with investors also focused onCapitol Hill, where Congressand White House officialshave been negotiating on ahoped-for deal on more aid forthe economy. A marathonmeeting Thursday left bothsides still far apart on keyissues, and they both said thefuture of talks is uncertain.

Investors say it's crucialthat Washington pump more

money into the economy,which has shown signs ofimprovements since the springbut is still hobbling amid wor-ries about a resurgence incoronavirus counts.

Even though Friday's jobsreport was healthier than themarket expected, it alsoshowed that hiring is alreadyslowing following two monthsof acceleration and remains farbelow where it was before thepandemic.

Trump is consideringexecutive orders to addresssome of the issues if Congressdoesn't reach a deal, such asevictions and unemploymentinsurance, but they appearunlikely to have muchimpact.

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Gold price surged for the16th straight session on

Friday and touched an all-time high of �57,008 per 10grams in the national capital,according to HDFC Securities.

Silver too continued itsupward movement, with theprice touching a record-high of�77,840 per kilogram. Silverprice jumped by �576 com-pared to the closing level of�77,264 per kg on Thursday.

In the previous trade, goldhad closed at �57,002 per 10grams. On Friday, the priceincreased by �6 to �57,008 per10 grams.Prices of both themetals recorded all-time highprices, HDFC Securities said.

"Spot gold prices for 24carat in Delhi continued toscale new highs by gaining �6.Gold prices are trading higherfor the 16th consecutive day inIndia," HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said. In the internationalmarket, both gold and silverwere trading marginally lowerat USD 2,061 per ounce andUSD 28.36 per ounce, respec-tively.

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The domestic power trans-mission segment is expect-

ed to attract investments worth�1.8 lakh crore in the next fiveyears, according to a report byrating agency ICRA.

It said evacuation infra-structure for renewable energy(RE) projects will drive invest-ments in the power transmis-sion segment.

"ICRA expects an invest-ment of Rs 1.8 trillion (�1.8lakh crore) over the five-yearperiod from FY21 (financialyear 2020-21) to FY25 in thepower transmission segment atan all-India level, driven byevacuation infrastructure forRE projects," the rating agencysaid on Friday in the report.

It added that in line with

a shift in policy focus from con-ventional sources (coal andgas) to renewable powersources (wind and solar), thefocus of the transmission seg-ment is towards augmentinginfrastructure for evacuation ofpower generated by RE pro-jects.

Sabyasachi Majumdar,group head and senior vice-president (corporate ratings) ofICRA, said the Centre haslined up 14 transmission pro-jects under the tariff-basedcompetitive bidding (RBCB)route for evacuating powerfrom 25-gigawatt RE projects.

The Government has alsolined up another six projects inthe intra-state segment, pro-viding healthy pipeline for pri-vate sector players, he added.

There is likely to be

a slowdown in electricitydemand and investments in thesector in 2020-21 amid theCovid-19-induced disruptionbut recovery is expected from2021-22 onwards, he said.ICRA said the private sector'sshare is expected to witness ahealthy growth over the nextfour-five years, while PowerGrid Corporation of India Ltd(PGCIL) and other state trans-mission utilities are likely toremain major players in thepower transmission segment.

On the issues in the seg-ment, the agency said, "The keychallenge for the winning bid-ders under the TBCB route hasbeen delays in execution, main-ly because of delays in securingright of way, forest clearancesand re-routing requirements insome cases."

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Union Minister Smriti Iranion Friday said the gov-

ernment is aiming to developten Craft and HandloomVillages in the country so thattourists from across the globecan visit them and learn therich legacy of Indian weaversand lend support to the Makein India initiative.

Irani shared the TextilesMinistry's vision while address-ing a function through videoconferencing to mark theNational Handloom Day.Almost 95 per cent of thehandwoven fabrics used glob-ally are produced in India.The Minister said the NationalHandloom Awards, which arepresented on the occasion ofthe Handloom Day, are beingdeferred upon the request ofweavers who wish to celebratethe honour instead of receivingit digitally due to the prevail-ing circumstances posed byCOVID-19. "It is our goal todevelop ten Craft andHandloom Villages across thecountry so that our Handloomproducts are not limited toclothes or home furnishingalone.

We want that tourists fromIndia and across the worldvisit these special Craft andHandloom Villages to not onlylearn about the weavers butalso contribute to our pledge ofMake in India andAatmanirbhar Bharat (SelfReliant nation)," said the min-ister for Textiles and Womenand Child Development.

Irani shared that studentsfrom the National Institute ofFashion Technology (NIFT)are contributing to the upgra-dation of 9 out of 28 Weavers'Service Centres across thecountry in terms of design,marketing and research.

These centres are located inDelhi, Srinagar, Jaipur,Mumbai, Ahmedabad,Varanasi, Guwahati,Kanchipuram and

Bhubaneswar. She said it is the govern-

ment's endeavour to ensureupgradation of all weavers' ser-vice centres through NIFT stu-dents to strengthen the richlegacy of handloom in India.

Irani said the 'MyHandloom' portal launched onthe occasion will help in con-necting state governmentundertakings, agencies andcooperative societies with theCentre's schemes for weavers toknow about their status andbenefits.

Highlighting the impor-tance of the country's hand-loom, Textiles Secretary RaviCapoor said 95 per cent of thehandwoven fabrics used glob-ally are produced in India. Observing that weavers do notget remunerative prices fortheir products, he said plans areafoot to ensure they get high-er returns by eliminating mid-dlemen and linking themdirectly to the market.

After deducting the mar-keting fee from the amountreceived towards the sale of aproduct, the remaining amountcan be transferred to theweaver's account throughdirect benefit transfer, Capoorsuggested. Irani also launcheda mobile app and backendwebsite for Handloom MarkScheme. The minister said theHandloom Mark is being pro-moted to provide collectiveidentity to the authentic hand-loom products. TextilesCommittee Mumbai has devel-oped the mobile app with abackend web portal to com-pletely digitise the process ofregistration. The app isin English and 10 Indian lan-guages and will enable theweavers of the country to applyfor Handloom Mark registra-tion from the comfort of theirhomes.

It helps ascertain the gen-uineness and originality of theproduct through unique anddynamic QR code labels affixedon each handloom product.

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The rupee ended almost flatat 74.93 against the US

dollar on Friday due to a cau-tion prevailing in the forexmarket in view of mountingcoronavirus cases and US-China trade tensions.

Starting off on a tepidnote, the rupee fell to a low of75.04, but recovered slightlythereafter and moved in a nar-row band throughout the ses-sion.

It finally settled at 74.93,gaining 1 paisa over its previ-ous close. On Thursday too, therupee had closed steady afterthe Reserve Bank maintained astatus quo in its policy rates.

Meanwhile, the US dol-

lar index, which gauges thevalue of the greenback againsta basket of key global curren-cies, rose 0.32 per cent to93.08. Analysts said forexmarket sentiment was mainlyguided by growing US-Chinatrade tensions and mountingcoronavirus cases in the coun-try. Rahul Gupta, Head ofResearch- Currency, EmkayGlobal Financial Services: "Therisk-off mood due to US-Chinatrade war and coronavirus con-cerns have kept USDINR spotabove the crucial support of74.75.

Also, it is respecting theimmediate resistance of 75.20,only sustained FII selling fromequity segment will push theUSDINR spot higher."

Jaipur: The State Governmenthas decided to exempt themotor vehicle tax (motor vehi-cle tax) payable for the OmniBus category of spared trans-port vehicles sold during theperiod of nationwide lock-down in the event of Covid-19epidemic. The CM has takenthis sensitive decision afterapproving the proposalreceived from Finance Deptand Transport Dept.Accordingto the proposal, in the motorvehicle tax payable for theperiod of April 1 to June 30,2020 for Omni Bus categoryvehicles of 8 and above seatingcapacity not listed in any per-mit category due to non-issuance of permits duringlockdown in the state. Fullexemption will be given. Also,75 percent exemption will begiven to these vehicles in thetax payable for July 2020. It isknown that in the context,such tax exemption was givenon 24 June 2020 in the past forpermit-free buses.

Jaipur: Chief Minister AshokGehlot has approved the cre-ation of a total of 400 new postsof 200 livestock assistants and200 jaladhari in 200 new vet-erinary sub-centers to beopened in 2020-21. Each vet-erinary sub-center will get thepost of a livestock assistant anda water holder.

Gehlot has also approvedan additional budget provi-sion of �20.72 crore by creat-ing a total of 588 new posts forstrengthening 294 subdivisionoffices in the state. Each sub-division office will get an infor-mation assistant and a juniorassistant.

Approval to fill 83 vacantpostsThe Chief Minister hasapproved to fill 83 vacant postsin Agricultural University,Jodhpur and its constituentcolleges.

These include 65 academ-ic, 15 non-academic and 3deputation posts.

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New Delhi: Shares of VodafoneIdea bounced back from earlylows to close 7 per cent high-er on Friday. On the BSE, thestock had plunged 7.39 per centto �7.64 in early trade. Later, iterased the losses as the tradeprogressed. It finally closed at�8.83, a gain of 7.03 per cent.

On the NSE, it settled theday 6.66 per cent higher at �8.80. During the morningtrade, it had cracked 7.87 percent to �7.60.Value-buying atlower levels may have led to

recovery in the stock.In termsof volume, 1,121.88 lakh shareswere traded on BSE and over68 crore on NSE.

Vodafone Idea, after mar-ket hours on Thursday, report-ed widening of net loss to�25,460 crore in the June quar-ter after it made additional pro-visioning to pay past statutorydues, and said its ability to con-tinue as going concern hingeson the Supreme Court allowingmore time to pay dues.

PTI

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Actor Anushka Sharma became theyoungest female producer in Bollywood

at the age of 25 with the clutter-breakingrevenge thriller NH10 and she has since thenonly shown her passion to tell remarkablynew stories. From experimenting with gen-res to backing fellow outsiders to shine brightin Bollywood, Anushka, through CleanSlate Filmz, has been an entrepreneur whoat her core, is a diverse storyteller.

Anushka feels her Army background hasshaped her content choices majorly. “BeingArmy kids, we are always open to new ideasand all that travelling really helped usunderstand local stories. Such experiences hasnot only helped us in storytelling, but it alsomakes you look at things in different waysrather than a set societal perspective,” saysAnushka, who runs the business with herbrother Karnesh.

She adds, “Watching films doesn’t alwayshelp you understand movies better. Our lifeexperiences have helped us in this business.We have approached everything with afresh mind. If we have taken the less travelledpath, it is because we have followed ourinstincts.”

Anushka is riding on back to back suc-

cesses as a producer with both Paatal Lok andBulbbul doing incredibly well. She reveals thatthere is no formula for success when it comesto content production. “The business of pro-duction is very tricky and even the most expe-rienced can’t say that they have figured it out.You just learn from your mistakes. Even whenthings don’t work the way you wanted, theygive us learnings,” says she.

On the occasion ofNational Handloom

day, Bollywood actressesincluding PriyankaChopra Jonas, KanganaRanaut, Vidya Balan, DiaMirza, Taapsee Pannuand Janhvi Kapoor urgepeople to support Indianweavers and Indianorganic fabric industries.The handloom sector isone of the major symbolsof the cultural heritage ofIndia.

“Most of us havemore than we can con-sume. Fashion industryhas become one of themost damaging indus-tries for our environ-ment. New challenges callfor new resolves. Let’spromote our own Indianorganic fabric industriesand preserve the planet.When we choose hand-

loom, we choose to ele-vate our poor weavers outof poverty, we choosevocal for local, we chooseour mother earth, wechoose love for every sin-gle being on this planet,”said Kangana via a tweet.

Vidya posted a fewpictures in mustard silksaree on Instagram andwrote, “Let us all resolveto support our weaversacross the country inthese difficult times bybuying and wearing theirbeautiful creations in oureveryday life and alsohelp keep#India’sHandloomLegacyalive. Appreciate thelabour of love.”

Priyanka posted apicture in a green sareeand wrote on Instagramstories, “Indian hand-looms are known to be

unique and a work ofcraftsmanship. Let’s lendour support to theweavers and artisans ofthe textile industry.”

Janhvi shared animage of her mostfavourite handloomsaree. “The weavers andartisans in our countryare truly unmatched inskill and creativity. Thebest in the world,” shewrote.

Dia Mirza said she isproud of Indian heritage.“Our weavers need allour support and love.This National HandloomDay, let’s celebrate therich legacy of our Indianweaves and textiles.There is nothing like ahandloom saree,” shewrote along with animage.AB������$���������� �� �

The term ‘Churail’ has been used torefer to witches or to a woman whopractises dark magic. You might have

heard women being called as churail,dayan, bhootni, spellcaster and other suchnames for their “wrong” actions. Buthow often have you heard them being usedto question the patriarchal status quo andrepresent strong-willed women?

Pakistani filmmaker Asim Abbasi,who is now foraying into the web seriesspace with his series, Churails, believes thatthe term rightly represents his lead pro-tagonists as it has nothing to do with darkmagic. Says he, “The term has historical-ly been used to label women negatively fortheir courage, aggression, ambition — allthe qualities that I associate with a strongwoman, were deemed negative. She is theuncanny outsider who comes to shake upthe patriarchy. And it is the fear that sheelicits in the guardians of the status quo

(often men), that drives men to label themin a derogatory way. So our characters aretaking this term, ripe with symbolic value,to give it a positive spin. Every woman,according to me, should aspire to be a chu-rail.”

Set in Karachi, it is a story of fourwomen from different walks of life whocome together to open a covert detectiveagency to expose cheating husbandsamongst the city’s elite. These self-pro-claimed women run their operationsunder the guise of a fashion store named‘Halal Designs’ that specialise in conser-vative women’s attire. As their operationsexpand, they come to be the saviours ofabused, mistreated and harassed women,and their search for a missing girl bringsthem face to face with the exploitativeworld of talent agencies, escort services,and cosmetic companies. It featuresPakistani actors Sarwat Gilani, Nimra

Bucha, Yasra Rizvi and Mehar Bano.Excerpts:

� The series stars four women reelingfrom personal miseries who further

open a detective agency under the pre-text of a burqa shop. How did you con-ceptualise it?

The themes of gender politics, partic-ularly power dynamics, between a man and

a woman, and the resultant misogyny aretopics that I wanted to address in my writ-ing for a while. But I did not want thestarting point of the series to be heavy-handed. I wanted the darkness to slowlycreep in. So my natural, perhaps humor-ous inclination, was to first make my char-acters colourful spies, who graduallyturn vigilantes. I was interested in talkingabout the lack of autonomy that a womanhas over her body. Often in patriarchalsocieties, women are dressed andundressed at the whims of the society, andare being told what is appropriate andwhat is not. Hence, the store specialisesin modest-wear for women to showcasethis irony.

�The poster of the project has a caption:‘Hojayein tayaar, khwateen aur hazraat.Especially hazraat. Jald arahi hain kuchrangeen churailein, aapki deep-rootedmisogyny ki band bajaanay.’ Anotherscene showed a sign at a store: ‘Pets andmen not allowed.’ How do such strongstatements establish the idea of theseries?

The store titled ‘Halal Designs’ is a safespace that women have created for otherwomen. The clients need to feel protect-ed, hence, the idea of it not being open tomen. The sign for the store is a replay ofboards saying ‘women and dogs notallowed’ that actually existed in prestigiousmembers clubs in the subcontinent beforethe Partition, under the British Raj.

�Your narratives have usually centredaround strong female characters. Arethere any personal instances that haveshaped your choices?

I have grown up in a household of alot of women and have been surroundedby them all my life. So I tend to gravitatetowards their experiences. As a filmmak-er, it is my duty to tell stories about thosewho are under-represented or the ones Ibelieve are not represented fairly in themainstream media. Female-centric storieson Pakistani television usually regurgitatethe same trope about a damsel in distresswho needs rescuing by a prince. Thosestories are not a representative of thewomen I know. And those are not the sto-ries I believe our daughters should growup with.

�In one of your interviews you men-tioned, “It’s not message per se, I preferto raise questions.” What do you aim toachieve through your work?

Well, apart from entertaining audienceby providing a thrilling, edge-of-your-seatexperience, I hope that the show stays withthem long after the 10 hours of viewingexperience is over. They should be able toreflect on the questions the series raises.I wish them, particularly men, to become

more open to working towards a moreequitable society, where women arerespected and treated fairly.

�There has been a surge of grey roles inonline content now. Filmmakers andactors don’t like putting characters in abox. Do you think the same can be saidabout your four leads?

Absolutely. I deliberately set out to tella tale of four very flawed individuals. Theyare not always going to do the right thing.They are going to make mistakes and maynot even apologise for them but thesetraits are all very human to have. All goodcontent, which seeks to create empathet-ic characters that the audience can root for,should be moving away from the binariesof black and white.

�You had earlier said, “It’s very difficultto put Churails into a genre. It’s dis-cussing serious issues, but the showitself doesn’t take itself too seriously.”What did you mean?

In terms of genres, I would say theseries has elements of drama and thrillerbut I tend to find the whimsy in the dark-est of moments, and I feel my workreflects that. The themes that the seriesaddresses are posed as questions ratherthan preachy messages. My charactersfind something to smile about evenwhen everything around them is fallingapart.

�On the artistic front, are we ready tonurture cross-boundary collaborations,irrespective of the political environ-ment?

Yes, because art has nothing to dowith institutional politics. Its sole purposeis to provide a cathartic experience for thepublic by emphasising our shared human-ity and it aims to do that by bridging thedifferences.

�Do you think the audience for theseries might get affected from the Pak-India rivalries?

I don’t think so. People on both sidesof the border are well aware that they havesimilar life realities and are eager to havea dialogue and cultural exchange.

�Can we call this an opportunity for thecountry to attract other global platformsand entertain the idea of producingPakistani content?

Absolutely. We have not had web con-tent come out of Pakistan that could com-pete in the global market before. This isa small but important step in getting ourstories out to the world. I am hopeful thatit will attract more investment intoPakistani talent and filmmakers.

(The series will stream from August 11on Zee5.)

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Artist Devidas Agase has gotquite a following on hisInstagram account. And why

not? His works seem to be extreme-ly intriguing. They take us back to theimagery from the medieval age inIndia, which had an integral role inboth mythical as well as culturaldomain. His series of eight works,Pawn of an Unknown World, and aseries on migrant labour, Way ToHome, are both evocative renderingsof everyday symbolism.

“I come from the Beed district sit-uated in the Marathwada region ofMaharashtra, India. Beed is a historicplace of medieval origin,” explainsDevidas who has just received theprestigious Khoj Grant. “Comingfrom a family of sugarcane farmersand farm hands, I have been a closewitness to farmers’ struggles and thatof the working class on the farm andoff it. I have realised that the needs offood, shelter, clothes, however basic,are an uphill journey for a farmer andthe working class. They play differ-ent roles by taking up menial jobs tomerely survive in society,” adds he.

When you look at his polymor-phic beings, the imagery represents adeeper tenet of Bhakti — one of devo-tion and the other, of inspiration.Devidas is deeply influenced bymythic legends, especially the three-faced deities in stories — Trimurti,Datta Digambar, Vishnu Dashavtaras,and Krishna Vishwaroopa. He says,“My works explore these realities ofthe world and are strongly influencedby my own childhood memories andexperiences. Coming from such abackground, the significant role ofhistory, mythology, gods and goddess-es, turn up in my works.”

His multi-dimensional work,Pawn of an Unknown World, createdwith dry pigments and water colouron paper, have been set on a noctur-nal background to create a narrativeborn of surreal splendour.

He develops a style characterisedby bright colours and symmetricalgeometries rooted in the definitivedomains of a post-Cubist aesthetic.We can glimpse his evolution in theseeight small works that set out touncover new dimensions with a larg-er quest to produce a radical visuallanguage. For Devidas, anything hecreates is born of his realisation ofyears of artistic experimentation andintuitive innovation. The polymor-phic beings are a historical inheri-tance.

All the eight works have beenbrought forward in composition.They represent the decomposition ofjourneys and struggles into a series ofchromatic narratives. Here, the beingis portrayed as natural, which, how-

ever, is far beyond like a human fig-ure. These beings are graceful and fullof an ethos of elegance and balance.The idea of creating still lives becomesa contemporary take on the charac-ter of a scion cultural fabric.

The pair of shoes in the last imagehas about it a hint of a memoir tum-bling with nostalgia and metaphorsof travel. “My childhood narrativesfrom various sources trigger mythought processes about the multi-faceted existences within the contem-porary context,” says Devidas. “I tryto recreate this idea of polymorphicreality as is seen in mythology as areflection in today’s human being. Myworks borrow the concept from thescientific term, Polymorphism, mean-ing a person at a time can have mul-tiple layers of characteristics invisibleto the society. These layered humanbeings are adapting to their surround-ings and situations of surviving trialsand tribulations of life. I consider theessence of the experience alwayshelps to shape the core of any art-work.”

In his second work that exempli-

fies migrant labour, we see a recre-ation of the travel and the tribula-tions faced by India’s migrant com-munity during the lockdown amidCOVID-19 pandemic. In this work,the act of substitution is clearly evi-dent in his precious prudent finish-es, which become a facet of manymodes of transition in travel.

Devidas has explained his sen-sibility born of everyday idiomsand struggles that he read about dur-ing the lockdown. “I have tried toexplore the co-relation betweensociety and human nature as well asthe ideologies that govern the socialnorms like the morality, materialismand politics of the human mind. Ibelieve that there are other silentindividuals within an individualwho battle for survival at a basic level,irrespective and because of, social,political, religious, and personalconditioning. As an artist, myattempt is to become a narrativevoice of those who have beensilenced. I believe it only enhancesmy work giving it a new perspectiveand a fresher voice.”

�Who is Lois?Lois, the character that I

am playing, is a 21-year-oldworking-class girl fromManchester, who lives withher father, Douglas and herbrother, Tom. She works in afactory during the day but ispassionate about singing andhas another night job as asinger in a band. She works intwo shifts in order to keep pay-ing bills for the family. She’s aneveryday working class girlwho wants to pursue her pas-sion.

�What’s Lois like as a per-former and a singer?

Lois is a jazz singer andsings with her best friendConnie in a band called theVictory Vs. It is her one passionin life that she allows herself toindulge in because it’s a form ofescapism for her. She’s alwayskeen to put on her best perfor-mance. She likes connectingwith people through her songs.

�How would you describeLois’ relationship with herfamily?

Lois’ relationship with Tomis quite difficult at timesbecause they lost their motherat a young age. Lois was 14,prior to that they were bestfriends and inseparable butwith their mother’s death, Loishad to take on the role of moth-er in the house because ofwhich their relationship suf-fered. Her dad, Douglas, suffersfrom PTSD and he struggles

when the war begins, copingwith memories coming back tohim. She is trying to keep theship afloat for the family, butalso misses that sibling relation-ship she used to have with herbrother when they wereyounger.

�What made you select thescript?

What’s so lovely aboutPeter’s (Bowker) writing is it’snot overstated. It’s about thethemes of family and love, andwatching how peoples’ lives canchange so dramatically due tovarious circumstances. There issomething so beautiful in thatbecause his writing is throughhumour, which illustrates thefragility of some of the relation-ships. I think that’s a lot morerelatable for today’s audiencebecause they can just observethese characters as normalpeople with normal relation-ships.

�Peter described it as honour-ing ordinary people who didquite remarkable things at anextraordinary time in the his-tory. Is that something that

resonates with you?The characters don’t seem

to be complicated. They don’tnotice their own resiliencebecause they’re in the circum-stances and they have to get onwith things. Individually, theyall do their bit in a different wayand don’t consider themselvesto be heroes. For people of mygeneration, it would be quiteeasy to separate ourselves fromthat time, however, when youwatch Peter’s characters cometo life, you can actually recog-nise yourself in them becausethey’re just everyday people liv-ing their lives. They confrontadversity with grit, humour andthat sense of having to workthrough things to get to theother side. Just like we dotoday.

�Tell us a bit about Lois andHarry’s relationship andwhere they are when the storybegins?

When the story starts, Loisand Harry are in this fiery, pas-sionate and innocent relation-ship. Peter explained to Jonahand I that the pre-context to thestory is that they have maybe

met at a political rally. Theycome from drastically differentbackgrounds. However, theyshare this passion for politicsthat draws them to each otherand Lois encourages his rebel-lious streak.

�How was it working withJonah Hauer-King?

It was such an amazingexperience. He is a really warmand kind person. When we satdown for our first rehearsalstogether, he came to the tablewith so many ideas and wewere able to create a backsto-ry together. Peter (Bowker)was quite open with us andallowed us to almost create ourown love story. It was so impor-tant getting that rehearsal timebeforehand to build the rightchemistry.

�What is Lois’s relationshiplike with Harry’s mother,Robina (played by LesleyManville)?

Lois’ relationship withRobina is not an easy onebecause they come from suchdifferent walks of life. Robinalooks down on Lois and does-n’t think she is an appropriatematch for her son. Whereas,Lois always sticks up for herselfand doesn’t really care whatRobina thinks because sheknows her own worth. Sheknows that the bond she haswith Harry is a special one. Soshe doesn’t let Robina take herdown.

�Harry has obviously kept histwo worlds apart until Janturns up. What happens atthat point?

For Lois, the first fewmonths of the war are obvious-ly nerve-wracking. All of thecharacters are desperately try-ing to figure out what their life

is going to look like. Lois getsseparated from Harry so she’slost. When Harry brings Janback to Manchester, Lois startsto wonder why he has a smallchild in tow. There are littleclues in some of the things thathe’s saying. She goes through allthe scenarios in her head with-out wanting to grasp onto theworst one, which is the factHarry might have found some-body else.

�Did you have to learn manysongs for filming?

I was so excited as I usedto sing when I was younger.The songs are beautiful and Irecognise them from mygrandparents and the moderntakes of them over the years. Istarted with a month ofrehearsals working with thebrilliant musical director, MattSmith. To begin with, we spenttime focussing on finding Lois’style and because I’d neversung jazz before, Matt was try-ing to teach me how to free upmy voice and use decorations.Then we started tackling thesongs and it has opened up awhole repertoire of music forme, which was really fun.

�What is your favourite song?My favourite song is

Dream A Little Dream. Thefunny thing about that waswhen I auditioned, they askedme to sing a snippet of a songthat I liked and I sang that onebecause my granny used to singit to me when I was younger.She sang during the SecondWorld War as a young girl andit was crazy and lovely thatwhen I finally got the part andthe script, in which I got to per-form it.

�Were any of your family apart of the Second World

War in any way?Both set of my grandpar-

ents were present during theWorld War II. On my mother’sside, my grandfather was in theHome Guard and he lived ona farm while my father’s side,my grandfather was in Ireland.It’s been incredible to get thisjob and have all these storiescoming through from mygrandparents from both sides.When I met Peter (Bowker)after I got the role, he showedme photographs of his familyand the real life people thatsome of the characters arebased on. It was such a won-derful feeling to think thatsome of these stories werecoming to life. There will be somany people around the coun-try who will be able to relate tothe characters and rememberstories from their families too.

�Can you tell me a bit aboutLois and Connie’s friend-ship?

Peter told me that Lois andConnie are loosely based onhis grandma and her bestfriend. It was really special tounderstand that this was a realfriendship at the time, especial-ly between a White womanand a Black woman. They’reboth so bubbly and a great sup-port system to each other.Lois doesn’t have many friendsand Connie is the one personthat can see right through her,she knows everything that’sgoing through her headbecause she knows her so well.To see them working togetherin the factory, and then atnight, transform and sing onstage, is very exciting. YrsaDaley-Ward, who playsConnie, is just a wonderfulperson. I could really find agreat friend in her.

�What sort of conversationsdid you have about creatingthe look for Lois and what’s itlike wearing these beautifulcostumes?

Our costume designer, Nicsaid all along that he wantedme to be comfortable in whatI was wearing and to feel like Iam the character. Adam Smith,our director, was also involvedin the choices and it was soimportant that she had her twolooks. It’s simple and understat-ed. At the time, fashion wasn’tdisposable and it wasn’t cheap.

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Women probably couldn’tafford to have very many out-fits. They’d maybe had threedresses and a few cardigans intheir wardrobes. When shegoes to see Robina and is try-ing to impress her, Lois wearsa spotty two-piece. It’s as if she’strying to fit in with Robina’ssurroundings and back-ground. Her performancedress is the most beautifulemerald green tight ballgownand a chance for Lois to be sexyand embrace her elegance. Sheuses that as a tool on stage,especially when she’s feelingmore vulnerable. Nic madesure that we wore pieces fromthe 1930s, and they were alloriginals sourced from Paris. Itwas wonderful to wear realpieces from that time.

(The show streams onSonyLIV from August 14.)

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Barcelona coachQuique Setién says

that he is ready to count on young-sters Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig toeliminate Napoli and advance to theChampions League final eight inPortugal.

Barcelona will be withoutmidfielders Sergio Busquets,Arturo Vidal and Arthur forSaturday's second leg of theirround-of-16 tie. The match willbe played five months after theSpanish side earned a 1-1 drawat Napoli before the pandemicbrought most sports to a halt.

"Both Rique and Ansu are readyto play," Setién said Friday. "Theyhave performed and played prettywell and could perfectly well start(against Napoli). And if they do start,I am sure they will be guaranteed toplay well."

The 20-year-old Puig has agood chance to earn his debut inEurope's top-tier club competitionwith both Busquets and Vidal sus-pended for the critical match. Arthurhas had a falling out with the club

after securing his transfer toJuventus for next seasonand refusing to return toteam practice.

Setién values Puig's passing andball-control skills, which remindsome Barcelona fans of XaviHernández and Andrés Iniesta, andrewarded him with a bigger role dur-

ing the final stretch of theSpanish league.

Fati, 17, made a hugesplash this season by becom-ing the youngest player toscore in the Spanish leagueand the Champions League,

among other precocious scoringmilestones.

With Lionel Messi and LuisSuárez set to start in attack, Faticould get picked over fellow forwardAntoine Griezmann, who wascleared to play by team doctors onFriday after having recovered froma right thigh injury last month.

Clement Lenglet was alsocleared by team doctors and willlikely play with Gerard Pique in thecenter of the defense with SamuelUmtiti still injured.

With only 13 first-team players

available, Setién has called up sevenmembers of Barcelona's youthsquad, including American Konradde la Fuente.

"It would have been better tohave all our players available, but thatis not the case," Setién said. "We aregoing to have to rely on many play-ers from our youth team. We haveto adapt and we will do our best notto miss the players who can't be withus."

Setién said that he is confidentthat keeping his job does not hingeon qualifying for the ¨bubble¨Champions League tournament tobe played in Lisbon later this month.Setién has been under intense pres-sure since Barcelona lost the Spanishleague to Real Madrid last month,when Messi called his team ¨weak¨and said that unless the team turnedthings around it would lose toNapoli.

"In no moment have I thoughtthat tomorrow's game could be mylast," Setién said. "We are focused onadvancing and playing the rest of thecompetition in Portugal with thesame sense of excitement that we feelnow."

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India on Friday retained theright to host the 2021 T20World Cup while Australia will

conduct this year’s postponed edi-tion in 2022, the ICC announcedon Friday after its board meeting,straightening out a schedule thatwent topsy-turvy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year’s edition had to bepostponed because of the ragingpandemic, which has severelyimpacted all sports calendars glob-ally.

“The International CricketCouncil (ICC) today (on Friday)

confirmed that the T20 World Cup2020 that was postponed due toCovid-19 will be held in Australiain 2022. India will host the T20World Cup 2021 as planned,” theICC stated in a press release.

The global body also con-firmed that next year’s women’sODI World Cup in New Zealandhas been postponed untilFebruary-March 2022 because ofthe impact the pandemic has hadon cricket globally.

ICC Chief Executive ManuSawhney said: “We now haveabsolute clarity on the future ofICC events enabling all of ourMembers to focus on the resched-

uling of lost international anddomestic cricket.

“We will now proceed asplanned with the Men’s T20 WorldCup 2021 in India and host the2022 edition in Australia.”

The format of the 2021 T20World Cup will remain as it was for2020 and all teams that qualifiedfor that event will now participatein India in 2021.

A new qualification processwill be started for the 2022 editionin Australia.

“BCCI were never keen to hostthe 2022 event which would havemeant that they had to host backto back ICC events including the

50-over World Cup in 2023. Thatwasn’t a viable option,” an ICCBoard member told PTI.

However, it was a big setbackfor the women’s game with themuch-awaited World Cup beingpushed by a year.

Sawhney said the decisionwould “give players from everycompeting nation, the best oppor-tunity to be ready for the world’sbiggest stage and there is still aglobal qualifier to complete todecide the final three teams.

An ICC Board member saidthat due to various countries fac-ing different situations with regardsto the Covid case load, it would

have been difficult to hold the qual-ifiers in time.

The postponement also raisesdoubts about the future of Indialegends such as Mithali Raj andJhulan Goswami, who probablywould have played their last ICCtournament in 2021.

The decisions were taken bythe IBC (the commercial sub-sidiary of the ICC) following anextensive contingency planningexercise which took into accountthe health, cricket and commercialimpact of Covid-19 around theworld.

The format of the postponedWorld Cup will remain as it was for2021. Five teams have alreadyqualified for the event and that willstand for 2022.

The original global qualifica-tion event to determine the finalthree teams to contest the eventwas scheduled to be held in SriLanka in July this year, but waspostponed due to Covid-19.

The qualification event willnow be held in 2021.

“There has been no women’sinternational cricket played sincethe conclusion of the women’s T20World Cup earlier this year anddue to the varying impact ofCovid-19 globally that is likely toremain the situation for a numberof the teams,” Sawhney spoke

about the impact of the pandem-ic.

“Moving the event by 12months gives all competing teamsthe chance to play a sufficient levelof cricket...So the integrity of thetournament is maintained.”

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Wolves battled into the quarter-finals of the Europa League

on Thursday while Sevilla, BayerLeverkusen and Basel enjoyed farmore comfortable victories in thematches that brought the EuropaLeague round of 16 to a belated close.

Raul Jimenez scored the only goal from thepenalty spot in the ninth minute and Wolves sur-vived a series of scares to edge Olympiakos 1-0 atMolineux for a 2-1 aggregate win in a tie that beganin Athens on March 13.

At Molineux, Bobby Allain, the visitors’Franco-Scottish goalkeeper, failed to control a backpass in the seventh minute.

Daniel Podence, who scored for Olympiakosat Tottenham in September but moved to Wolvesin January, darted in and stole the ball.

Allain clumsily bundled his former clubmateover and Jimenez converted the penalty.

The Greek champions created a string ofchances but were thwarted by good saves by RuiPatricio, a tight offside decision and their own inac-curate finishing.

Wolves, who began their Europa Leaguecampaign on July 25 last year against Crusadersin the second qualifying round, will next faceSevilla at Duisburg on August 11.

Sevilla were also in Duisburg on Thursdaywhere they took the lead against Roma after 22minutes. Captain and right back Jesus Navasswitched play with a cross-field pass to left backSergio Reguilon that caught Roma flat-footed.

Reguilon surged past two defenders and intothe box before sliding a low shot past Spanish goal-keeper Pau Lopez’s foot.

Sevilla added a second on the counter-attackin the 43rd minute.

Lucas Ocampos burst down the right and afterLopez failed to cut out the low cross, Youssef EnNeysri finished into an empty net from close range.

Sevilla, coached by former Spain boss JulenLopetegui, dominated as they stretched theirunbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions andkept on course to add to their record five EuropaLeague titles.

In Basel, defender Fabien Frei scored the onlygoal in the 88th minute as the home team won 1-0 to complete an aggregate 4-0 victory overEintracht Frankfurt.

In Leverkusen, Moussa Diaby scored the onlygoal after 51 minutes to complete a comfortablevictory for Bayer, who won 3-1 in Glasgow inMarch.

In the quarter-finals, Bayer will make the shorttrip to Dusseldorf to face Inter Milan on August10, Basel will play Shakhtar Donetsk inGelsenkirchen the next night.

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Women’s world numberfive Elina Svitolina and

Kiki Bertens, ranked seventh,on Friday joined agrowing list of playerswithdrawing from thismonth’s US Open due tothe Covid-19 pandem-ic.

“I understand and respectall the efforts they are puttingto make it happen in a safeenvironment, but I still don’tfeel comfortable to travel to USwithout putting my team andmyself at high risk,” UkrainianSvitolina, who reached lastyear’s semi-finals in New York,said on Twitter.

The United States has closeto 5 million cases of Covid-19and almost 160,000 peoplehave died.

“The situation around

Covid-19 is still worrying andthe health of everyone and thecontrol over this virus is prior-ity,” said the 28-year-oldBertens on Instagram.

The US Open organ-isers are creating a bio-secure bubble in NewYork to hold the tourna-ment from August 31without spectators. But

concerns remain aboutwhether players would facemandatory quarantines uponreturning home from the USOpen.

“Our prime minister indi-cated yesterday that we shouldbe quarantined for 14 daysafter coming back from theStates,” Bertens said.

“Of course we respect thisas a team and this would dis-turb our preparation for mybeloved clay court tourna-ments in Rome and Paris.”

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England was bowled out for219, a 107-run first innings

deficit, after losing six wicketsto Pakistan’s leg-spinners on thethird day of the first Test at OldTrafford on Friday.

At tea Pakistan stretched itslead by another 20 runs to takecontrol despite Shan Masood’sduck.

Ollie Pope’s 62 was as goodas it got for the England bats-men, with the majority of thoseruns scored on day two, withYasir Shah claiming 4-66 andShadab Khan taking the last twowickets.

England resumed the dayon 92-4 with Pope and JosButtler hoping to continue therescue mission they had start-ed the previous evening.

Pope had 46 to his namewhen he walked out but almostfell short of his half-century,deflecting Shaheen Afridi overthe top of the stumps in an earlyscare. He got there soon after, off81 balls, but the first hour waslittle more than a trial for thehome side.

Just nine runs came off thebat in that time, outscored bythe 10 extras Pakistan con-tributed, with the three-prongedpace attack of Shaheen,Mohammad Abbas andNaseem Shah working up ahead of steam.

Buttler edged the third ballof Naseem’s spell just short ofsecond slip but after that it wasa string of plays and misses.Somehow the duo reached thedrinks break without any cru-cial nicks and when both hittheir first boundaries of the daythere was a small hope they hadweathered the storm.

Tentatively, the fifth-wick-

et stand crept up to 65, everyrun hard-earned, beforeNaseem produced a memo-rable delivery to claim hisdeserved reward.

Pope was hardly to blame,reeling back and fending to gullyafter the teenager got one to kickviciously off the surface. Barringan early blow to the helmet fornew man Chris Woakes, theremainder of the session wasbetter for England as they easedthe score out to 159-5.

Buttler had scrapped hisway through to 38 but fell to hissecond ball after lunch, leavinga gap between bat and pad thatallowed Yasir enough room topart the stumps.

The experienced spinnerwas buoyed by the success andmade short work of Dom Bess,producing the turn and bouncethat left Asad Shafiq with a div-ing catch at slip. He claimed histhird wicket of the spell andfourth overall when Woakes losthis patience and his shape,bowled for 19 swinging hard toleg.

England were in turmoil at170-8t but had Stuart Broad tothank for two tail-end standsthat added 49 to the total.

He finished unbeaten on 29,with three boundaries in a rowoff Shaheen and a slog-swept sixoff Yasir under his belt, but all-rounder Shadab did enough atthe other end to see off JofraArcher and James Anderson.

Broad then chipped in withthe ball, getting Masood caughtdown the leg-side for a duck togo with his career-best 156from the first innings.

Anderson should havemade it two down by tea butBen Stokes dived in front ofRoot and spilled the chance toleave Pakistan 20 for one.

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India to host 2021 T20 World Cup

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India’s white-ball series againstEngland, scheduled at home in

September-October, was onFriday postponed to early 2021with both the boards citing theCovid-19 pandemic, whichwrecked the international calen-dar and created space for the IPLduring this window.

Both teams were scheduled toplay three ODIs and as many T20sand the matches could now beheld after the Test series betweenthe two in India early next year.

The series was to be apreparatory one ahead of theT20 World Cup, which was orig-inally scheduled from October 18to November 5 in Australia, buthas now been postponed.

“BCCI and ECB are in con-sultation with a view to confirm-ing the 2021 schedules for an all-formats England men’s tour toIndia to run from late January tolate March and for India’s Test tourto England due in the summer of2021,” the BCCI said in a state-ment.

BCCI secretary Jay Shahadded: “The BCCI and ECB areworking closely to finalise the day-wise schedule as we move towardsthe resumption of cricket.

The five-Test series to behosted by India could be trimmedto four to accommodate thewhite-ball games next year.

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�&���.��3World champion PVSindhu, along with B SaiPraneeth and N Sikki Reddy, hitthe courts for training on Fridayunder strict safety protocols atthe SAI Pullela GopichandBadminton Academy inHyderabad, ending a four-month-long coronavirus-forcedhiatus.

This was after the SportsAuthority of India (SAI) decid-ed to resume the national bad-minton camp for the eightOlympic hopefuls followingTelangana Government’sapproval on August 1.

The eight Olympic hopefulsalso include Saina Nehwal, for-mer world No 1 SrikanthKidambi, women’s doubles play-er Ashwini Ponnappa and men’sdoubles pairing of Chirag Shettyand Satwiksairaj. Saina, who isbased in Hyderabad, didn’t trainon Friday, while the others,who had gone to their respectivehomes, and are yet to return.


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