˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · tamil nadu and maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’...

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S audi Arabia has partially lifted its suspen- sion order for travel to India. Now flights would be allowed from Saudi Arabia to India but not from India to Saudi Arabia. Late on Wednesday night, Air India Express informed passengers of a partial relax- ation in the Saudi Arabian order. The airline’s official Twitter handle said, “Air India Express Vande Bharat flights would continue to carry passengers on it’s flights from Saudi Arabia to India. The Airline would not carry passengers from India to Saudi Arabia.” In a circular issued on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said it was “suspending travel to and from the following countries: (India, Brazil and Argentina) including any person who has been in any of the mentioned countries above in the last 14 days prior to their arrival to the Kingdom”. Detailed report on P4 New Delhi: American cult bike manufacturer Harley Davidson on Thursday said it is discon- tinuing sales and manufactur- ing operations in India, a decade after it started selling its premium bikes in the country. Industry sources said the company is looking to tie up with a partner to run its busi- ness in the country. The India action will include an associ- ated workforce reduction of approximately 70 employees, Harley-Davidson Inc said in an SEC filing. In a separate statement, Harley-Davidson said it plans to close its manufacturing facil- ity in Bawal (Haryana) and sig- nificantly reduce the size of its sales office in Gurgaon. Detailed report on P9 C ontinuing its investigations in the Sushant Singh Rajput death-related drug case and the expanded Bollywood- drug nexus case, the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) grilled Sushant’s ex-manager Shruti Modi and fashioner designer Simone Khambatta and sched- uled the questioning of actress Rakul Preet Singh and Deepika Padkone’s manager Karishma Prakash for Friday and actress Deepika on Saturday. Deepika arrived in Mumbai from Goa on Thursday night. As a section of the elec- tronic media carried on with their trial of the Bollywood per- sonalities on issues relating to the Bollywood-drug nexus, the NCB grilled Shruti Modi for eight hours, while it ques- tioned Simone for five hours. “Today Simone Khambatta and Shruti Modi joined the investigation and statements in this regard have been record- ed at NCB. Tomorrow Rakul and Karishma will be joining the investigation,” NCBs Deputy Director (Operations) KPS Malhotra said. Sources said that the NCB had also called director and executive producer Kshitij Ravi Prasad of Karan Johar's Dharma Production for ques- tioning on Friday. However, there was no formal confirma- tion from the NCB that it had indeed issued summons issued to Kshitij. During Thursday’s ques- tioning, Shruti Modi and Simone were grilled on the issues that had come to the fore during the grilling of Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik. F armers’ union in Punjab began their three-day “Rail Roko” protest on Thursday against the three farm Bills, while others have given a call for a nationwide “bandh” on September 25, and indefinite ‘Rail Roko’ protest from October 1. According to farm- ers’ leaders, roads, highways and rail tracks will be blocked. Farmers from Western Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm- ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including the Congress which has Governments in four States, TMC in West Bengal, Left in Kerala, AAP in Delhi, TRS in Telangana, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra. As many as 10 Central trade unions, including All India Trade Union Congress, National Trades Union Congress, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, All India United Trade Union Centre and Trade Union Coordination Centre have come out in support of “Bharat Bandh”. The Ola Cab Drivers’ Association and lorry drivers’ association too have decided to support the farmers and are unlikely to operate on Friday. Meanwhile, several social media users were quick to point out that NCB has sum- moned Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone on September 25 itself in a drug case, on the day of nationwide protests by farmers. Social media is abuzz with speculation that this may act as a diver- sionary tactic. In view of the mass protests, Railway authorities said 26 pairs of special trains and nine parcel trains will remain suspended from September 24 to September 26, while 20 trains have been par- tially canceled, five terminated before destination. Among the trains that will remain suspended are the Golden Temple Mail (Amritsar-Mumbai Central), Jan Shatabdi Express (Haridwar-Amritsar), New Delhi-Jammu Tawi, Karambhoomi (Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri), Sachkhand Express (Nanded-Amritsar) and Shaheed Express (Amritsar- Jaynagar), officials said. Many freight and parcel trains have also been rescheduled. Farmers under the banners of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) squatted on rail tracks in Barnala, Sangrur, Ferozepur and Amritsar on Thursday morning. They have set up tents on railway tracks in the State. Farmers in Fazilka and Abohar districts took out trac- tor rallies in their districts. They vowed to gherao BJP leaders and socially boycott those who voted in favour of the farm Bills. According to farmers leaders, over 100 farm- ers and arhatiya (commission agents) will participate in the nationwide shutdown. A representative of organ- isations said roads and railway tracks will be blocked at 125 places across Punjab. S ix months after India first imposed lockdown, the country has emerged as the worst global hotspot — so much so that India’s daily tally is more than double of Asia and one and a half times more than that of entire Europe. Put together, these two continents have more than 100 nations. India’s daily spike is also 10 times more than the total num- ber of cases recorded by 57 African nations. When India declared the first of a series of lockdowns on March 25, the country had less than 500 Covid-19 cases and was placed at the bottom of the world tally. In six months, the cases have shot up to nearly 6 million, and India now occupies the second spot in the world. During the same period, barring India all other Asian countries have staged remark- able fightbacks against coron- avirus. On Thursday, while India recorded nearly 87,000 cases, 48 Asian countries put together reported just 40,000 cases. India’s close neighbours like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal recorded just 1,666, 533, 11 and 1,172 cases respectively. While India is nearing 6 million caseloads, the next in the Asian list is Iran with just 4.32 lakh cases. Bangladesh, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey occupy third, fourth, fifth, and sixth spots with 3 lakh plus cases. Pakistan has 3,07,418 cases. The latest trend shows that while Asian countries have come to terms with the virus — at least 10 of them recorded no fresh case on Thursday and 15 of them recorded new cases in double-digit only — Europe is seeing a resurgence in the number of cases and talks of fresh lockdowns have begun to do the rounds. India’s situation is worri- some because the country con- tinues to see bigger spikes week after weeks. The number of cases is impacted by low test- ing on weekends or reduction in the number of testing due to any other reason. The huge margin of error in antigen testing has clouded the overall scenario. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inter- acted with fitness influencers, sports persons and citizens during a nationwide online Fit India Dialogue organised to celebrate the first anniversary of the Fit India Movement. The online interaction saw participants, including cricketer Virat Kohli, actor-model and fitness-freak Milind Soman and nutrition expert Rujuta Diwekar, sharing anecdotes and tips of their own fitness journey while drawing out guidance from the Prime Minister on his thoughts about fitness and good health. Brainchild of the Prime Minister as a people’s move- ment, the Fit India Dialogue is an attempt to involve citizens of the country to draw out a plan to make India a fit nation. The Prime Minister said fitness is not something which is very difficult to achieve but requires about thirty minutes “dose” of exercise daily. F ormer Australia batsman Dean Jones, one of the finest exponents of ODI cricket, died of a sudden cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Thursday. Jones, 59, was in Mumbai with the Star Sports’ commentary team for the Indian Premier League. He was in a bio-bubble in a city hotel. He is sur- vived by his wife and two daughters. Jones played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs for Australia and was part of the 1987 World Cup winning team. “It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing away of Dean Mervyn Jones AM. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest,” Star Sports said a press release. According to an IPL source, it happened in matter of seconds. Detailed report on P12 D elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the second wave of coron- avirus pandemic has hit its peak in the national Capital with experts hinting that the cases of infection will decline in the coming days. “We noticed that cases increased and it reached 4,500 new Covid-19 cases on September 17 and now coming down. So experts believe that the second wave of coron- avirus which had hit the Delhi is now on peak and its inten- sity will be less in the coming days,” Kejriwal said while speaking to the media. The CM said the high-level virtual review meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review Covid-19 response and management was fruitful. T he farm Bills are loaded in favour of small farmers vis-à-vis investors and these would completely transform their lives, said Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday. Tomar said the Bills passed by Parliament will bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers as they can sell their produce to any buyer, get a guarantee of price of their crops, go for crop diversifica- tion, use new technology and reduce their input costs. Addressing a Press con- ference here at the BJP head- quarters, the Minister said in Punjab farmers are taxed by 8.5 per cent in the “mandis” and they are forced to sell their produce at a low price. They also bear the transportation cost of moving their produce to the mandis. “We have given them free- dom to sell their produce out- side mandis where there is no tax either by the Central or State Government,” the Minister said. “Farmers do farming and take their produce to mandis. There are 25-30 people with licences in these mandis. They do auction of produce. Whatever price is decided in the auction, farmers are bound to sell their produce at that price whether they are happy or not because if they decide to take their products and go home and come back again, they will have to pay additional logistics c o s t ,” Singh said. He said 86 per cent of farmers in the country are small and marginal who would now get the guaranteed price of their produce from investor or processor without any risk. He said terms and conditions of the contract farming are loaded in favour of farmers. If prices of the produce go high after the contract is signed, investor is bound to give farmer a fixed percentage of high return than the original- ly agreed upon. Mumbai: Sensex plunged 1,115 points while Nifty crashed below the 10,850- mark on Thursday as investors dumped equities amid a sharp global selloff and concerns over econom- ic recovery. World markets were bathed in a sea of red as fears about a second wave of Covid-19 infections in major economies and lack of fresh stimulus from central banks clobbered sentiment. A sharp depreciation in the rupee and volatility on F&O expiry day further weighed on the bourses. Detailed report on P9 New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was admitted to hospital a day ago after ear- lier having tested positive for the coronavirus, also has dengue, officials said on Thursday. Kolkata: Veteran atomic sci- entist and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr Sekhar Basu succumbed to Covid-19 on Thursday at a pri- vate hospital here, a health department official said. He breathed his last just three days after turning 68. “Dr Basu was suffering from Covid and other kidney ailments. He died at 4.50 am,” official said. Bengaluru: Congress MLA B Narayan Rao, who was under- going treatment for coron- avirus, died on Thursday, the hospital in Bengaluru where he was admitted said. The 65- year-old Basavakalyan MLA from Bidar district in North Karnataka was admitted on September 1 after being diag- nosed with severe Covid-19 infection, Manipal Hospital Director Dr Manish Rai said in a statement.

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Page 1: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

������������������������� ����� ����������� ����������� ��������� ������ ����������������������������� ��������� �� ����� ����������������������������� �������� ����������� ��������������� � ����� � ������������� �����

���� !"!#$

Saudi Arabia has partially lifted its suspen-sion order for travel to India. Now flights

would be allowed from Saudi Arabia to Indiabut not from India to Saudi Arabia.

Late on Wednesday night, Air IndiaExpress informed passengers of a partial relax-ation in the Saudi Arabian order.

The airline’s official Twitter handle said,“Air India Express Vande Bharat flights wouldcontinue to carry passengers on it’s flights fromSaudi Arabia to India. The Airline would notcarry passengers from India to Saudi Arabia.”

In a circular issued on Tuesday, SaudiArabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviationsaid it was “suspending travel to and from thefollowing countries: (India, Brazil andArgentina) including any person who has beenin any of the mentioned countries above in thelast 14 days prior to their arrival to theKingdom”.

Detailed report on P4

New Delhi: American cult bikemanufacturer Harley Davidsonon Thursday said it is discon-tinuing sales and manufactur-ing operations in India, adecade after it started selling itspremium bikes in the country.

Industry sources said thecompany is looking to tie upwith a partner to run its busi-ness in the country. The Indiaaction will include an associ-ated workforce reduction ofapproximately 70 employees,Harley-Davidson Inc said in anSEC filing.

In a separate statement,Harley-Davidson said it plansto close its manufacturing facil-ity in Bawal (Haryana) and sig-nificantly reduce the size of itssales office in Gurgaon.

Detailed report on P9

��������� ���� !"!#$

Continuing its investigationsin the Sushant Singh

Rajput death-related drug caseand the expanded Bollywood-drug nexus case, the NarcoticControl Bureau (NCB) grilledSushant’s ex-manager ShrutiModi and fashioner designerSimone Khambatta and sched-uled the questioning of actressRakul Preet Singh and DeepikaPadkone’s manager KarishmaPrakash for Friday and actressDeepika on Saturday.

Deepika arrived inMumbai from Goa onThursday night.

As a section of the elec-tronic media carried on withtheir trial of the Bollywood per-sonalities on issues relating tothe Bollywood-drug nexus, theNCB grilled Shruti Modi foreight hours, while it ques-tioned Simone for five hours.

“Today Simone Khambattaand Shruti Modi joined theinvestigation and statements inthis regard have been record-ed at NCB. Tomorrow Rakuland Karishma will be joiningthe investigation,” NCBsDeputy Director (Operations)KPS Malhotra said.

Sources said that the NCBhad also called director andexecutive producer Kshitij RaviPrasad of Karan Johar'sDharma Production for ques-tioning on Friday. However,there was no formal confirma-tion from the NCB that it hadindeed issued summons issuedto Kshitij.

During Thursday’s ques-tioning, Shruti Modi andSimone were grilled on theissues that had come to the foreduring the grilling of RheaChakraborty and her brotherShowik.

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Farmers’ union in Punjabbegan their three-day “Rail

Roko” protest on Thursdayagainst the three farm Bills,while others have given a callfor a nationwide “bandh” onSeptember 25, and indefinite‘Rail Roko’ protest fromOctober 1. According to farm-ers’ leaders, roads, highwaysand rail tracks will be blocked.

Farmers from WesternUttar Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh, WestBengal Kerala, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Maharashtrahave decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers havealso received support from 18political parties, including theCongress which hasGovernments in four States,TMC in West Bengal, Left inKerala, AAP in Delhi, TRS inTelangana, Samajwadi Partyin Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Sena andNCP in Maharashtra.

As many as 10 Centraltrade unions, including AllIndia Trade Union Congress,National Trades UnionCongress, Centre of IndianTrade Unions, Hind MazdoorSabha, All India United Trade

Union Centre and Trade UnionCoordination Centre havecome out in support of “BharatBandh”. The Ola Cab Drivers’Association and lorry drivers’association too have decided tosupport the farmers and areunlikely to operate on Friday.

Meanwhile, several socialmedia users were quick topoint out that NCB has sum-moned Bollywood actressDeepika Padukone onSeptember 25 itself in a drugcase, on the day of nationwideprotests by farmers. Socialmedia is abuzz with speculationthat this may act as a diver-sionary tactic.

In view of the massprotests, Railway authoritiessaid 26 pairs of special trainsand nine parcel trains willremain suspended fromSeptember 24 to September 26,while 20 trains have been par-tially canceled, five terminatedbefore destination.

Among the trains that willremain suspended are theGolden Temple Mail(Amritsar-Mumbai Central),Jan Shatabdi Express(Haridwar-Amritsar), NewDelhi-Jammu Tawi,Karambhoomi (Amritsar-New

Jalpaiguri), Sachkhand Express(Nanded-Amritsar) andShaheed Express (Amritsar-Jaynagar), officials said. Manyfreight and parcel trains havealso been rescheduled.

Farmers under the bannersof Kisan Mazdoor SangharshCommittee and the BharatiyaKisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)squatted on rail tracks inBarnala, Sangrur, Ferozepurand Amritsar on Thursdaymorning. They have set uptents on railway tracks in theState. Farmers in Fazilka andAbohar districts took out trac-tor rallies in their districts.They vowed to gherao BJPleaders and socially boycottthose who voted in favour of

the farm Bills. According tofarmers leaders, over 100 farm-ers and arhatiya (commissionagents) will participate in thenationwide shutdown.

A representative of organ-isations said roads and railwaytracks will be blocked at 125places across Punjab.

�������������� %&'��&��

Six months after India firstimposed lockdown, the

country has emerged as theworst global hotspot — somuch so that India’s daily tallyis more than double of Asia andone and a half times more thanthat of entire Europe. Puttogether, these two continentshave more than 100 nations.

India’s daily spike is also 10times more than the total num-ber of cases recorded by 57African nations.

When India declared thefirst of a series of lockdowns onMarch 25, the country had lessthan 500 Covid-19 cases andwas placed at the bottom of theworld tally. In six months, thecases have shot up to nearly 6million, and India now occupiesthe second spot in the world.

During the same period,barring India all other Asiancountries have staged remark-able fightbacks against coron-avirus. On Thursday, whileIndia recorded nearly 87,000cases, 48 Asian countries puttogether reported just 40,000cases. India’s close neighbourslike Bangladesh, Pakistan, SriLanka, and Nepal recordedjust 1,666, 533, 11 and 1,172cases respectively.

While India is nearing 6million caseloads, the next inthe Asian list is Iran with just4.32 lakh cases. Bangladesh,Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Turkeyoccupy third, fourth, fifth, andsixth spots with 3 lakh pluscases. Pakistan has 3,07,418cases.

The latest trend shows that

while Asian countries havecome to terms with the virus —at least 10 of them recorded nofresh case on Thursday and 15of them recorded new cases indouble-digit only — Europe isseeing a resurgence in thenumber of cases and talks offresh lockdowns have begun todo the rounds.

India’s situation is worri-some because the country con-tinues to see bigger spikesweek after weeks. The numberof cases is impacted by low test-ing on weekends or reductionin the number of testing due toany other reason.

The huge margin of errorin antigen testing has cloudedthe overall scenario.

���� %&'��&���

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday inter-

acted with fitness influencers,sports persons and citizensduring a nationwide online FitIndia Dialogue organised tocelebrate the first anniversaryof the Fit India Movement.

The online interaction sawparticipants, including cricketerVirat Kohli, actor-model andfitness-freak Milind Somanand nutrition expert Rujuta

Diwekar, sharing anecdotesand tips of their own fitnessjourney while drawing outguidance from the PrimeMinister on his thoughts aboutfitness and good health.

Brainchild of the PrimeMinister as a people’s move-ment, the Fit India Dialogue is

an attempt to involve citizensof the country to draw out aplan to make India a fit nation.

The Prime Minister saidfitness is not something whichis very difficult to achieve butrequires about thirty minutes“dose” of exercise daily.

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Former Australia batsman Dean Jones, one ofthe finest exponents of ODI cricket, died of a

sudden cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Thursday.Jones, 59, was inMumbai with the StarSports’ commentaryteam for the IndianPremier League. Hewas in a bio-bubble ina city hotel. He is sur-vived by his wife andtwo daughters.

Jones played 52Tests and 164 ODIs for Australia and was part ofthe 1987 World Cup winning team.

“It is with great sadness that we share the newsof the passing away of Dean Mervyn Jones AM.He died of a sudden cardiac arrest,” Star Sportssaid a press release. According to an IPL source,it happened in matter of seconds.

Detailed report on P12

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday said

the second wave of coron-avirus pandemic has hit itspeak in the national Capitalwith experts hinting that thecases of infection will decline

in the coming days.“We noticed that cases

increased and it reached 4,500new Covid-19 cases onSeptember 17 and now comingdown. So experts believe thatthe second wave of coron-avirus which had hit the Delhiis now on peak and its inten-sity will be less in the comingdays,” Kejriwal said whilespeaking to the media.

The CM said the high-levelvirtual review meeting withPrime Minister Narendra Modito review Covid-19 responseand management was fruitful.

���� %&'��&��

The farm Bills are loaded infavour of small farmers

vis-à-vis investors and thesewould completely transformtheir lives, said UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar on Thursday.

Tomar said the Billspassed by Parliament willbring revolutionary changes inthe lives of farmers as they cansell their produce to any buyer,get a guarantee of price of theircrops, go for crop diversifica-tion, use new technology andreduce their input costs.

Addressing a Press con-ference here at the BJP head-quarters, the Minister said inPunjab farmers are taxed by8.5 per cent in the “mandis”and they are forced to sell theirproduce at a low price. Theyalso bear the transportationcost of moving their produceto the mandis.

“We have given them free-dom to sell their produce out-side mandis where there is notax either by the Central orState Government,” theMinister said.

“Farmers do farming and

take their produce to mandis.There are 25-30 people withlicences in these mandis. Theydo auction of produce.Whatever price is decided inthe auction, farmers are boundto sell their produce at thatprice whether they are happyor not because if they decideto take their products and gohome and come back again,they will have to pay additionallogistics cost,” Singh said.

He said 86 per cent offarmers in the country aresmall and marginal who wouldnow get the guaranteed priceof their produce from investoror processor without any risk.He said terms and conditionsof the contract farming areloaded in favour of farmers. Ifprices of the produce go highafter the contract is signed,investor is bound to givefarmer a fixed percentage ofhigh return than the original-ly agreed upon.

Mumbai: Sensex plunged1,115 points while Niftycrashed below the 10,850-mark on Thursday asinvestors dumped equitiesamid a sharp global selloffand concerns over econom-ic recovery. World marketswere bathed in a sea of redas fears about a second waveof Covid-19 infections inmajor economies and lack offresh stimulus from centralbanks clobbered sentiment.

A sharp depreciation inthe rupee and volatility onF&O expiry day furtherweighed on the bourses.

Detailed report on P9

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����������������� ���������� ���������� ��������New Delhi: Delhi DeputyChief Minister ManishSisodia, who was admitted tohospital a day ago after ear-lier having tested positive forthe coronavirus, also hasdengue, officials said onThursday.

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�*(�����"(��! �" ��������"*�&��"�$#��$)�&+,-Kolkata: Veteran atomic sci-entist and former chairman ofAtomic Energy CommissionDr Sekhar Basu succumbed toCovid-19 on Thursday at a pri-vate hospital here, a healthdepartment official said. Hebreathed his last just threedays after turning 68. “Dr Basuwas suffering from Covid andother kidney ailments. He diedat 4.50 am,” official said.

Bengaluru: Congress MLA BNarayan Rao, who was under-going treatment for coron-avirus, died on Thursday, thehospital in Bengaluru where hewas admitted said. The 65-year-old Basavakalyan MLAfrom Bidar district in NorthKarnataka was admitted onSeptember 1 after being diag-nosed with severe Covid-19infection, Manipal HospitalDirector Dr Manish Rai said ina statement.

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Page 2: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

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More than 43 lakh childrenbetween one to 19 years

of age would be administeredAlbandazol, the anti helminthtablet in the state fromSeptember 25 to October 1under national dewormingdrive. In view of the closure ofschools due to the pandemic ofCovid-19, the ANMs, Ashaworkers and Anganwadi work-ers would administer the med-icine by visiting every house-hold. All the safety protocolslike social distancing, masksand use of gloves would beobserved during the campaign.Informing about the campaignthe Director General (DG) ofstate health services Dr AmitaUpreti said that the antihelminth campaign is donetwice a year. She said that thistime the activity would not bedone at the schools andAnganawadi centres and thehealth workers would visitevery household to administerthe medicine. The missiondirector of National Health

Mission (NHM) Sonika saidthat the children should remainfree from the helminth wormsso that their mental and phys-ical development is not affect-ed. She said that more than 22Crore children between one to14 years of age are under threatof helminth infection.

The nodal officer of thecampaign Dr K S Martoliasaid that the department hasmade necessary preparationfor the success of the drive. Thehealth workers and Asha work-ers have been given training toadminister the medicine andarrangements for promptaction in case of any sideeffects from the medicine havebeen made. Dr Martolia clari-fied that the campaign wouldnot be held in the containmentzones.

The medical experts are ofthe view that deworming helpsin increasing attendance ofstudents’ up to 25 percent in theschools. The helminthic infec-tion occurs by defecating in theopen, walking barefooted,keeping low personal hygieneand eating infected food. Thesymptoms of the disease areretarded growth, anaemia, andloss of appetite, stomach ache,vomiting and irregular bowels.

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For the proper disposal ofrefuse derived fuel (RDF)

generated in the solid wastemanagement and recyclingplant at Sheeshambada inDehradun, Ramky EnviroEngineers Limited (REEL) thatmanages the operation of theplant, is ready to spend aboutRs 150 crore to set up waste toenergy power plant inDehradun. About 100 metrictonnes of RDF is generateddaily in the plant but the man-agement has been unable todispose of it completely so far.In the past, the locals livingnearby the plant have alsoalleged that tonnes of RDFwere buried by the adminis-tration of the plant, though themanagement has repeatedlyrefuted the allegations.

However, the company hasasserted that it is planning toset up a six megawatt waste toenergy plant in Dehradun forwhich it has already submitteda proposal to UttarakhandGovernment and expressed itswillingness to spend about Rs150 crore. According to themanagement of REEL, the headof the Waste to Energy divisionof the company had a meetingwith the chief minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat inJanuary explaining how settingup a waste to energy powerplant facility in Dehradun canbe a permanent and sustainablesolution for the disposal ofRDF generated from the wastecollected from the city.

As per the management,the company is well equippedto begin the construction of thepower plant but is awaiting theapproval of the State govern-ment and the MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD). Meanwhile, on thequestion of why it is taking solong for REEL to get NoObjection Certificate (NOC)from the UttarakhandEnvironment Protection andPollution Control Board (UEP-PCB), the management saidthat it got delayed due to ongo-ing Covid-19 pandemic andassociated lockdown that com-menced from March. Theyclaimed that they had submit-ted the renewal applicationonline to UEPPCB and a siteinspection has also been con-ducted by the board. The man-agement is in touch with theboard and is optimistic aboutgetting the renewal certificateof Consent to Operate (CTO)from the pollution controlboard in the next few days.

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The Kotak Mahindra Bankannounced that it is the

official partner of DelhiCapitals and launchedMyTeam Cards - a speciallydesigned range of debit andc r e d i tcards.

Kotak Mahindra Bankpresident of products, alter-nate channels and customerexperience delivery, PuneetKapoor said, “India’s muchloved annual festival that mar-ries sports and entertainmentis underway and with greatdelight we announce Kotak’spartnership with DelhiCapitals. Kotak’s cricket edi-tion range of debit and creditcards – MyTeam Cards, willspice up the season even fur-ther, giving millions of ardentDelhi Capitals supporters aunique opportunity to own asmall piece of their team anddisplay their fandom in aunique way.”

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South Corporation mayorAnamika on Thursday sus-

pended Leader of Opposition(LoP) Prem Chauhan forallegedly disrupting the func-tioning of the House and cre-ating ‘ruckus’ during a meeting.However, the LoP termed thedecision dictatorial, saying thathe was not allowed to speak oncrucial matters and even called‘Maoist’ by a BJP councilor.

The LoP said that the rul-ing party is trying to suppressthe opposition's voice by notallowing councilors of theopposition party to speak. TheBJP leaders said that the deci-sion to suspend him was takenafter he started disrupting theproceedings frequently.

The AAP, however, hitback saying that the corpora-tion is riddled with corruptionand the mayor does not allowthem to raise their voice. “TheAAP leaders were not allowedto speak and even BJP coun-cillors misbehaved with me inthe House by calling me‘Maoist’, said Chauhan.

Describing the decision as

unprecedented, the LoP saidthe ‘autocratic’ action was takento prevent the opposition’svoice. “The mayor abruptlyand intentionally did not allowme to speak on some of thematters related to public impor-tance and the releasing of Rs2100 as rent due towards NorthCorporation,” he said.

Chauhan said “I tried toraise two different issues. Onewas regarding the non-pay-ment of the salary of the DTCdrivers and the second one wasregarding the non-releasing offunds for the NorthCorporation. Mayor did stopme from raising such pointsbut our fight will continue forthe rights of employees till thetime BJP does not pay thesalary of the employees.”

He also accused the mayorof threatening him during theHouse proceedings. “I removedthe sticker pasted on themayor's chair to protest againsther behavior. She suspendedme instead of allowing sometime to speak,” he added.

Commenting on the issue,Vikas Goel, AAP councilorand LoP in North Corporationsaid "It is very unfortunate

that the SDMC has not paidsuch huge money till nowknowing that the salaries ofemployees of north civic bodyare pending for months. Hedemanded the SDMC to releasethe money immediately.

Senior AAP leader andMCD in-charge DurgeshPathak on Thursday said thatBharatiya Janata Party-ledSDMC has not paid Rs 2137crore to the North DelhiMunicipal Corporation.

“We are witnessing that theemployees of the municipalcorporations are not gettingtheir salaries for the past fewmonths. At the time ofCOVID-19 pandemic, the doc-tors, nurses, sanitation workers,teachers and others had notreceived their salaries. Theseemployees are protesting everyday at the Civic Centre andother places but they have notstopped their work. The BJPruled MCDs have treated theirown employees very inhu-manly,” he said.

Pathak also requested theDelhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta toimmediately intervene and askthe South Corporation torelease this money.

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Aday after his interactionwith scientists on Pusa

Technology to manage stubblecausing air pollution, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onThursday visited PusaAgricultural institute to seethe bio-decomposer techniquedeveloped by scientists ofIARI, terms the techniquepractical and doable for pre-venting stubble burning pol-lution.

Kejriwal said that thistechnique involves the spray-ing of Pusa decomposer cap-sules along with a liquid for-mulation using readily avail-able elements, that will helpdecompose the stubble intocompost, decrease the use offertilizers and increase theproductivity of the farm soil.“I wil l meet the UnionEnvironment MinisterPrakash Javadekar in a day ortwo to discuss the efficient

and effective implementationof this simple, doable, andpractical technique to stopstubble burning.”

“I will request him tospeak to the neighboringstates to take all measures toeffectively implement itdespite the crunch of time. Wewill surely implement thistechnique in a very efficientand effective manner inDelhi,” Kejriwal said.

Briefing the media afterhis visit, he said, "Delhi andmany other North Indianstates are covered with smokedue to stubble burning in theneighboring states by thefarmers. Pusa AgricultureInstitute scientists have devel-oped a new and innovativetechnique, under which theygive four capsules, with thehelp of which the farmers canprepare a 25-liter of a liquidmixture with jaggery andchickpea flour, which is suffi-cient to cover 1 hectare of land.

When the farmer spraysthe 25 liters of the liquid mixon the stubble, the stubble

softens and melts down in 20days.

The farmer can then beginhis sowing again and he does

not need to burn the cropstubble.

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A52-year-old man was shotat allegedly by two uniden-

tified motorcycle-borne menfor resisting a robbery bid onthe Shahdara f lyover inNational Capital.

The victim has been iden-tified as Manish. According toa senior police official, Manishsustained a bullet injury in hisstomach and is undergoing

treatment at a hospital inPatparganj.

“Manish is out of dangernow. The identities of theaccused are yet to be estab-lished and teams have beenformed to trace them,” said thesenior police official.

“The incident took placearound 7.30 pm on Wednesdaywhen Manish and his brother,Arun, were returning home.

They live in Ramprastha inGhaziabad district of UttarPradesh,” said police officialprivy to investigation.

“As the brothers reachedthe Shahdara flyover, two menintercepted them on a motor-cycle and tried to snatch theirbag. Facing resistance, one ofthe accused allegedly took outa pistol and shot at Manishbefore f leeing,” he said.

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The soil loses its richnessdue to stubble burning, and italso destroys the useful bac-teria and fungi in the soil,apart from causing harm tothe environment.

This improves the fertili-ty and productivity of thesoil as the stubble works asmanure and compost for thecrops and lesser fertilizer con-sumption will be required in

the future. The cost of the cap-sule is very less, we will be get-ting a proposal mentioning allthe important details such ascost per acre soon.

This is the result of manyyears of hard work and effortsof the scientists, and theyhave got the validation after ayear after all their pilot testingand projection. They havealso given their technique a

license for commercialexploitation.

On a question of whythere is no action on stubbleburning throughout the year,CM Kejriwal said, "I agree thatno major efforts have beenmade the whole year on stub-ble burning. I do not want toblame anyone but the centralgovernment is also trying itsbest.”

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court Thursday sent for-mer JNU student leader Umar Khalid, arrest-ed under the stringent anti-terror law UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act, in a case related tothe communal violence in north east Delhi inFebruary, to judicial custody till October 22.

Khalid, who was arrested on September 13in the case, was produced before the courtthrough video conferencing at the end of his 10days police custody.

His custodial interrogation had started onSeptember 14. Since police did not seek his fur-ther custody, Additional Sessions Judge AmitabhRawat ordered his judicial custody with direc-tion to the Tihar Jail Superintendent to take allnecessary steps, within the rules, to ensure thesafety and security of the accused.

Khalid claimed before the court that he hasnot signed any document whatsoever during hispolice custody.

“During the last 10 days' in police custodyI have not signed any paper or statements,” hetold the court.

In the FIR, police has claimed that the com-munal violence was a "premeditated conspira-cy" which was allegedly hatched by Khalid andtwo others. He has also been booked for theoffences of sedition, murder, attempt to murder,promoting enmity between different groups ongrounds of religion and rioting.

Khalid had allegedly given provocativespeeches at two different places and appealed tothe citizens to come out on streets and block the

roads during the visit of US President DonaldTrump to spread propaganda at internationallevel about how minorities in India are being tor-tured , the FIR alleged.

In this conspiracy, firearms, petrol bombs,acid bottles and stones were collected at numer-ous homes, the FIR alleged.

Co-accused Danish was allegedly given theresponsibility to gather people from two differentplaces to take part in the riots, police alleged.Women and children were made to block theroads under the Jafrabad metro station onFebruary 23 to create tension amidst the neigh-borhood people, FIR said.

During the proceedings in the court today,Khalid said he be allowed to meet his familymembers before sending him to judicial custody.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad saidpolice will allow Khalid's family members tomeet him provided they reach within time as hehas to be taken for medical examination andthereafter they will send the accused to judicialcustody.

Khalid's counsel made submission thatpriority should be given for his safety and secu-rity and he be allowed to take his spectaclesinside the jail which was permitted by the court.

Communal clashes had broken out innortheast Delhi on February 24 after violencebetween citizenship law supporters and pro-testers spiralled out of control leaving at least 53people dead and around 200 injured. PTI

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The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) of the Delhi

Police has arrested a maninvolved in several of cheatingacross the city. Police said withhis arrest they have solvedseven cases of cheating andfraud registered across the city.

The accused has been iden-tified as Pankaj Dayal, a residentof Sainik Farm in South Delhi.

According to Dr OPMishra, the JointCommissioner of Police, EOW,a complaint was received inwhich the complainant statedthat Pankaj Dayal misrepre-sented his company Blue CloudInfra private limited thataccused company AmenityPromoters private limited wasin process of purchasing of5.06 acre agriculture land in vil-lage Jhatikara in Delhi forwhich the company had alreadypaid Rs three crores to the landowner.

“The complainant furthertold police that Dayal assuredthem that he will conclude thepurchase of the land and find asuitable third-party buyer. Thecomplainant was induced onhefty profit sharing by furthersale of property and obtainedRs three Crore and siphoned offthe funds for his personal use,”said the Joint CP.

“A First Information Report(FIR) under section420/406/120-B of Indian PenalCode (IPC) was registered andinvestigation taken up. Duringinvestigation, the accountsstatements were scrutinizedwhere it was revealed thatPankaj is the shareholder andone of the authorized signato-ry of the bank account of allegedcompany,” said the Joint CP.

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Page 3: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

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The pandemic of Covid-19claimed 13 more lives in

Uttarakhand on Thursday.With these mortalities the deathtoll from the disease in the statehas mounted to 542. The statehealth department reported684 fresh cases of the disease onThursday which increased thetally of the disease to 44404 inthe state. On the day 1031patients were discharged fromdifferent hospitals of the stateafter their recovery. A total of32154 patients have so farrecovered from the disease andthe percentage recovery nowstands at 72.41 percent. Thestate has an Infection Rate (IR)

of 7.10 percent.At All India Institute of

Medical Sciences (AIIMS)Rishikesh six patients of thedisease were reported dead onThursday. A similar number ofpatients succumbed to the dis-ease at Sushila Tiwari govern-ment hospital, Haldwani. Onepatient died at HNB Base hos-pital Srinagar.

The health departmentreported 161 fresh cases of thedisease in Dehradun. One rea-son for the relatively low num-ber on the day was the fact thatthe lab of the GovernmentDoon Medical College(GDMC) hospital remainedclosed for disinfection activi-ties. In Udham Singh Nagar131 patients were reportedwhile 114 patients surfaced inAlmora district. Haridwarreported 80 fresh cases,Nainital 58, Uttarkashi 42,

Pauri 32, Pithoragarh 27,Chamoli 17, Rudraprayag 14,Champawat five andBageshwar three cases ofCovid-19 were reported.

In Udham Singh Nagar313 patients were dischargedwhile 227 and 191 patientswere discharged from Nainitaland Dehradun districts respec-tively. Uttarakhand now has11507 active patients of the dis-ease with Dehradun maintain-ing its big lead at top of tablewith 4048 active cases of thedisease. Haridwar is on secondspot with 2055 active patientsand Udham Singh Nagar onthird position with 1371 activecases. Nainital has 1200, Pauri597, Uttarkashi 422, Almora355, Pithoragarh 317, Chamoli316, Tehri 284, Champawat201, Bageshwar 197 andRudraprayag 144 activepatients of the disease.

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The government under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is the

biggest well wisher of farmers. The farmbills passed in the parliament willbring about a revolutionary change inthe condition and future of farmers. Thesystem facilitated through these bills issuch that the farmers will be able to selltheir produce for good rates either inthe Mandi or outside. The profit whichthe middlemen used to pocket will notbe earned by the farmers as the role ofmiddlemen has been eradicated, opinedchief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Addressing the media here onThursday, the CM said that some peo-ple are trying to misguide and instigatethe farmers. “The farmers are being liedto but farmers should themselvesunderstand these agricultural reforms.They know very well that the PM’s atti-tude has always been in favour of farm-ers’ welfare. It is this thought which hasguided these reforms,” said Rawat.

Recalling the PM’s works in theinterest of farmers, he said that whenModi was the CM of Gujarat, he hadensured regular and assured electrici-ty supply for seven hours daily for the

farmers. Even afterbecoming the PM, thefarmers have remainedamong his top priorities.“Under the Modi gov-ernment the top priorityhas been accorded to vil-lages, poor and farmers.The budget of theAgriculture ministerunder the UPA govern-ment in 2009 was only Rs12,000 crore which hasnow been increased to Rs1,34,000 crore. In the past,the Centre had neverspent Rs 75,000 crore onthe welfare of farmers in a year but theModi government made this possible.A sum of Rs 92,000 crore has reachedthe accounts of farmers through DBTunder the PM Kisan Yojana so far.Recently, the Modi governmentannounced a package of Rs one lakhcrore for agricultural infrastructure.During the UPA government’s tenure,farmers used to get up to Rs eight lakhcrore loan whereas now Rs 15 lakh croreloan is being provided every year tofarmers. The Swaminathan commissionhad made important recommenda-

tions for agricultural development dur-ing the UPA’s term but these were notimplemented then. The Modi govern-ment has not only implemented theserecommendations but added more pro-visions to it to ensure the welfare offarmers,” said the CM.

Rawat said that the Modi govern-ment has ensured double benefit to thefarmers. If they sell their produce in theMandi, they will be paid according tohigher MSP. If they sell outside theMandi, they will get higher prices andtechnical benefit, he added.

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Former chief minister andgeneral secretary of All India

Congress Committee (AICC),Harish Rawat has said thatfarmers in all parts of the coun-try are agitated and angry at thepassage of three farm bills in

parliament. He said that farm-ers have given a call of BharatBandh on Friday and theCongress party has decided tosupport the farmers.Questioning the manner inwhich these bills were passedwithout discussion and voicevote amid suspension of eightMPs, Rawat said that all normswere set aside by the govern-ment. He said that the conceptof Minimum Support Price(MSP) was obtained by thefarmers after much struggle. Heclaimed that the new bill ensuresthat gradually the relevance ofMSP is finished. “Initially theprivate players would offer goodprices to the farmers but in laterstages when the system of

Mandi is destroyed they wouldfinish the MSP. Why is the gov-ernment not bringing a law toprotect the MSP?’’, he asked.

The veteran leader ofCongress said that the govern-ment wants to demolish thePDS system which has ensuredfood security for the poor.Under the new regime every-thing would be in the hands of

market forces. Launching anattack on the government forgiving a mortal blow to thelabour reforms, that by passinglegislation the government hasallowed companies employingless than 300 workers to shutdown without any notice. Heclaimed that now jobs of 75 to80 percent of the labour forcehave come under risk.

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Adelegation of Congressparty MLAs led by Pradesh

Congress Committee (PCC)president Pritam Singh met thegovernor Baby Rani Maurya ather residence on Thursday. Inthe meeting the Congress lead-ers claimed that the state gov-

ernment blocked them fromraising the issues of publicinterest under sections 310and 58 during the monsoonsession of assembly. Theycomplained that the state gov-ernment was only interested ingetting its constitutional oblig-ations fulfilled and abstainedfrom discussion on issues of

public interest.The Congress delegations

handed over a memorandumto the governor in which theissues which the party wantedto raise in the assembly werementioned. The party said thatit wanted discussion on han-dling of Covid-19 situation inUttarakhand, the unemploy-ment triggered by Covid-19lockdown and increasingunemployment in the state.The Congress leaders addedthat they wanted discussion onrecent natural disasters inPithoragarh, Bageshwar,Chamoli and Rudraprayag dis-tricts and its inapt handling bythe state government. The

party listed the pathetic con-dition of farmers and non-pay-ment of their pending dues,deteriorating law and ordercondition and master plan ofKedarnath as some of the issuesit wanted to raise in the assem-bly. The Congress leadersrequested the governor that sheshould direct the state govern-ment to ensure that the issuesof public interest are raised inthe assembly.

Apart from PCC presi-dent, the delegation includedManglaur MLA QaziNizamuddin, BhagwanpurMLA Mamta Rakesh, JaspurMLA Adesh Chauhan andKedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat.

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The magnitude of theKumbh Mela to be held in

Haridwar during 2021 willdepend on the status of Covid-19 at that time. If that periodis free of Covid restrictions, itwill be free for all but if therestrictions are still in place, theentry will be restricted as stat-ed by chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat. The only uncer-tainty around the Kumbh Melais that centered around Covid-19, said the director general(Law and Order), AshokKumar in an online interactionwith The Pioneer on Thursday.

Referring to the challengesfaced by the Uttarakhandpolice due to Covid-19, the DGsaid that since this was a situ-ation never faced before, thefirst challenge was to enforcethe lockdown effectively yetpolitely. “The police had to dis-charge their duty without los-ing their humane face. Wehelped in distribution of ration,home delivery of essential com-modities and medicines. Nowwith the unlock process ineffect, we have a different sce-nario to face. People are goingabout their lives and earningtheir livelihood but precautionsand guidelines have to beobserved. We have issued aboutthree lakh challans for viola-tions of the norms so far,” hesaid.

When it comes to the chal-lenges faced by the police apartfrom the pandemic, the DGsaid that top priorities are

crime control, law and order,and traffic while drug abuseand cyber crimes are alsoaspects which cannot beignored. Regarding substanceabuse, the DG said that thoughcannabis and opium are twogroups of traditional drugs inIndia, their use has nowincreased. The rise in abuse ofsynthetic drugs in recent yearshas increased the challengewhich can be tackled effectivelyonly with the active participa-tion of society. “We have a two-pronged battle against drugs-one is the enforcement target-ing the suppliers and the otheris to raise public awareness aswith that we can tackle thedemand side which will alsoattack the supply. We need totake the youth towards posi-tivity involving all segments ofsociety as this is a major prob-lem ailing society. Anyone withinformation about drug dealingcan call or WhatsApp the anti-drug task force on 9412029536.”

Responding to a query onmeasures taken to address thescope for corruption and mis-use of power by the police,Kumar said that there is atriple chance of misuse ofpower by police. “Therefore, wehave to keep enforcing disci-pline and standards within thepolice. On an average, we takesome type of action againstabout 500 personnel per yearwhen an allegation of corrup-tion or misuse of power is con-firmed as the accountabilityfactor is very high in our

department.”The DG further informed

that before the pandemic thetrust quotient of the police wasabout 30 per cent which wasboosted considerably duringthe pandemic as the people sawthe police working on theground and helping people. Asa result of the people friendlyrole played by the police, thetrust quotient rose to about 90per cent though it has droppedslightly after the lockdownended. This is also because thepolice are now also enforcingdiscipline as part of their inher-ent role. Though the trust quo-tient may not remain as high as90 per cent, it will surelyremain between 50 to 70 percent, he added.

Regarding cyber crimes,he said that despite the chal-lenges, the Uttarakhand policeis very well trained in dealingwith such crimes. At least onesub-inspector in each policestation has been trained well intackling cyber crime and theState police have cracked a con-siderable number of cases.However, when the informa-tion on social media goes out-side the nation as in the case ofsocial media platforms likeFacebook, the police face anadditional challenge in tryingto secure the information.Awareness is very vital as noth-ing is 100 per cent secureonline, he stressed.

Replying to a query abouthow the police will effectivelyenforce Covid guidelines andother rules, he stressed on the

role of public awareness and asense of responsibility amongthe citizens. Regarding noisepollution from wedding pointslate in the night, he said thoughthe police will take necessaryaction in such cases, it is alsoimportant that pressure groupsbe formed among citizens asthe society also needs to part-ner in resolving social issues.

Considering the recent ten-sions between India and Chinacoupled with issues with Nepal,the DG said, “I cannot com-ment much on internationalissues but it is certain thatChina is not India-friendly. Italso started dividing India andNepal who have shared closerelations for centuries. Nepalalso needs to understand thereality.”

On the subject of commu-nity policing, he pointed outthe limited sources of thedepartment while also stressingon the importance of civicsense. The people also need tounderstand their responsibili-ty. “I am also thinking of form-ing a task force involving thecommunity to deal with litter-ing and other issues in placeslike picnic spots. It is importantto understand that policing isfor the public and the com-munity also needs to beinvolved.”

Conveying his message tothe public, he reiterated that thepolice is meant for the public,adding that the people shouldalso trust the police and bringany issues to their knowledge-the police are open to all issues.

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Reviewing the paddy purchasearrangements for the 2020-21

Kharif season, chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat approved the target of pur-chasing 10 lakh metric tonnes of ricethrough 242 purchase centres. Directingofficials concerned to make all the nec-essary arrangements, he also approvedthe price of Rs 1,888 per quintal forgrade A rice and Rs 1,868 per quintalfor average quality rice for this year.Arrangements for purchasing the pro-duce from October 1 should be com-pleted on time, he directed.

Food secretary Sushil Kumarinformed that paddy was sown in2,50,000 hectare area this year consid-ering which a target of 10 lakh metrictonnes produce has been set.The num-ber of purchase centres has beenincreased this year for the convenienceof farmers considering the Covid-19pandemic.

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Page 4: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

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Listing cross-border terror-ism as one of the main chal-

lenges, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar onThursday said the South AsianAssociation for RegionalCooperation (SAARC) has toovercome it to ensure everlast-ing peace in the region. Theother hurdles are blocking con-nectivity and obstructing trade,he said.

The Minister made theseobservations in an obvious ref-erence to Pakistan whileaddressing an informal virtu-al meeting of foreign ministersof the eight-member grouping.It was not functioning for sometime now because of differ-ences between India andPakistan.

The meeting of the foreignministers is an annual eventheld on the margins of the UNGeneral Assembly (UNGA) inNew York. These meetingshave often seen sharpexchanges between the twonations in recent years.

“Cross-border terrorism,blocking connectivity andobstructing trade are three keychallenges that SAARC mustovercome,” Jaishankar said in astring of tweets highlighting thecontents of his speech. “Onlythen will we see enduring

peace, prosperity and securityin our South Asia region,” headded.

The Minister said, “Overthe last 35 years, Saarc hasmade significant progress. Butour efforts towards collectivecollaboration and prosperityhave been hampered by acts ofterrorism and threats to nation-al security.

“Such an environmentimpedes our shared objective ofrealising the full potential ofour collective endeavour. It is,therefore, crucial that we col-lectively resolve to defeat thescourge of terrorism, includingthe forces that nurture, supportand encourage it. This willgenerate the much needed trustand confidence to collectivelybuild a stronger and prosper-ous Saarc.”

India holds Pakistanresponsible for cross-borderterror in Jammu & Kashmir(J&K).

Jaishankar said he had alsoreaffirmed India’s commit-ment to its “neighbourhoodfirst” policy and towards build-ing a connected, integrated,secure and prosperous SouthAsia. He also highlightedIndia’s Covid-19-related coop-eration efforts, including acommitment of $10 million tothe emergency fund for theregion, the supply of essential

drugs, medical consumables,and protection and test kits tothe region, and a video con-ference of health professionalsfrom the region to share infor-mation and best practices onthe pandemic.

India had also launched aCovid-19 InformationExchange Platform (COINEX)to facilitate exchange of spe-cialised information, helpedthe development of an innov-ative website by the SaarcDisaster Management Centreto provide reliable informationand updates on the evolvingsituation, and activated theSaarc Food Bank mechanismto mitigate the impact of thepandemic, he said.

In his address, Pakistanforeign minister ShahMahmood Qureshi spoke ofhis country’s “willingness tohost the 19th SAARC Summitand for obstacles created in itsway to be removed for SAARCto function as an effectiveinstrument of regional coop-eration”.

The summit was scheduledto be held in Islamabad inNovember 2016 but was calledoff after an attack on an IndianArmy camp at Uri in Kashmirthat was blamed on Pakistan-based terrorists. Since then,SAARC has largely been dor-mant.

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The Ministryof Civil

A v i a t i o n(MoCA) hasamended provi-sions regardingbaggage limit ondomestic flights,giving airlinecarriers the free-dom to decideon it as per theirinternal policy.Ahead of this,passengers fly-ing domesticroutes were onlyallowed to takeone hand bag-gage and onecheck-in lug-gage.

Issuing anew memoran-dum, the MoCAsaid, “Baggagel i m i t a t i o nwould be as perthe airlines’policies.” “Thematter with regard to check-in baggagehas been reviewed based on the feed-back/inputs received from the con-cerned stakeholders,” the ministrynoted. Following the notice, airlines willbe able to reset the domestic check-inbaggage limit back to 15 kg as it willhelp them slightly increase their rev-enues.

When the domestic passengerflights resumed on May 25 after a gapof two months due to the coronaviruspandemic, the ministry had statedthat only one check-in baggage and one

hand baggage per passenger must beallowed. Passengers were also allowedto carry check-in baggage up to 20 kgwithout any additional charge.

Currently, airlines are permitted tooperate not more than 60 per cent oftheir pre-COVID domestic flights.

Recently, in a significant state-ment Union Civil Aviation MinisterHardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday told theRajya Sabha that by the time its Diwaliand towards the end of the year, Indiawould have pre-Covid aviation figuresof 3,00,000 passengers a day.

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Saudi Arabia has partiallyrelaxed its suspension order

for travel to and from India. Ithas decided that flights wouldbe allowed from Saudi Arabiato India but not from India toSaudi Arabia.

Air India Express, whichoperates maximum flightsbetween India and theKingdom of Saudi Arabia,informed passengers of thepartial relaxation.

The airline’s official Twitterhandle said, “Air India ExpressVande Bharat flights wouldcontinue to carry passengerson it’s flights from Saudi Arabiato India. The Airline would notcarry passengers from India toSaudi Arabia.”

The General Authority ofCivil Aviation in Saudi Arabia,in its order two days ago said,“Suspending travel to and fromthe following countries (India,Brazil and Argentina) includ-ing any person who has beenin any of the mentioned coun-tries above in the last (14) daysprior to their arrival in theKingdom.” Saudi Arabia saidthis was in view of the grow-ing number of Covid-19 casesin these countries. They how-ever, excluded passengers whohave official Government invi-tations from this order. Kuwaithave a blanket ban on travel toand from India, jurisdictionslike Hong Kong have an ongo-ing suspension on Air India’sflights to its airport till October3.

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Uttarakhand’s ambitious tigersafari, proposed in the buffer

zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve,inched towards reality with theForest Advisory Committee (FAC)under the Union EnvironmentMinistry giving its nod to the pro-ject that aims at boosting thetourism revenue as well as provid-ing home to the injured and oldwild animals in the big cat habitat.

“We have been informed that

the proposal has been cleared by theFAC in a recent meeting. But we areyet to get the minutes of the meet-ing,” Rahul, Field Director of theCTR, said adding that the safari willcome up in the area sprawling over106.16 hectares in the buffer areaof the CTR.

He said that the � 25-crore pro-ject envisages construction of fiveenclosures with each having 35hectares area for two males and threefemale big cats. The safari will easetourism pressure on the CTR which

is visited by over 3 lakh tourists everyyear.

“Since tiger sighting at the safariwill be 100 percent, it will mostlycater to the tourists who just wantto see tigers and are not interestedin enjoying other wildlife. Divertingsuch tourists to safaris will lessen theburden on the CTR and hence thewildlife,” explained Rahul. CTR hasover 231 big cats as per the latest cen-sus.

Besides ex-situ conservation,the safari will also have an off-exhib-

it rehabili-tation cen-tre for ther e s c u e danimals ort h o s einjured ininfightingand inh u m a n -a n i m a lconflicts inthe CTR,said theF i e l dDirector.

T h epurpose isto divertt o u r i s mfrom thef a m o u sD h i k a l a

zone and other adjoining areas ofBijrani, Jhirna and Sona Nadi to theDhela range in the State.

The Central Zoo Authority(CZA) and the National TigerConservation Authority (NTCA)have already given in- principleapproval to the project.

When contacted, NTCA ChiefSP Yadav said that the authority willfund the safari which will have to fol-low the design approved by theCZA. The NTCA guidelines issuedin 2016 allows setting up of tigersafaris in buffer and fringe areas oftiger reserves, aiming to reducetourist pressure on the key areas ofthese reserves.

As per the guidelines 70 per centof earnings from safaris will beploughed back into tiger reserveswhile 30 per cent will go into themanagement of such safaris.

Such safaris are allowed foronly those reserves that haveachieved full carrying capacity of thetourists in core and critical areas.

The guidelines also clearlystates that for such safaris, “no tigershall be obtained from a zoo” andonly animals such as injured andorphaned tiger cubs (which areunfit for re-wilding) would beselected and that too from the samelandscapes as that of the area wherethe tiger safari is being established.

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The Union Health Ministry on Thursday saidthat new recoveries in India have continued to

exceed the new cases for the last six days, pushingthe national recovery rate to 81.55 per cent.

This even as India’s Covid-19 caseloadbreached the 57-lakh mark and the death toll wentpast 91,000,

In all, 87,374 recoveries have been registeredin the last 24 hours in the country, while the num-ber of new confirmed cases stands at 86,508. Withthis, the total number of recoveries are 46.7 lakh(46,74,987). The death toll climbed to 91,149 with1,129 people succumbing to the disease in a spanof 24 hours.

The Covid-19 case fatality rate due to the coro-navirus infection was recorded at 1.59 per cent.

There are 9,66,382 active cases of coronavirusinfection in the country which comprises 16.86 percent of the total caseload, the Ministry said.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakhmark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakhon September 5 and and it went past 50 lakh onSeptember 16.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of6,74,36,031 samples have been tested up toSeptember 23 with 11,56,569 samples being test-ed on Wednesday.

Nearly 74 per cent of the new recovered casesare found in 10 States/UTs. Maharashtra has main-tained this lead with 19,476 cases (22.3 per cent)for the sixth consecutive day, said the Ministry.

There has been sustained focus of the Unionand State/UT governments on improved and effec-tive clinical treatment in hospitals, supervised homeisolation, use of non-invasive oxygen support, useof steroids, anticoagulants, and improved servicesof the ambulances for ferrying patients for promptand timely treatment.

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The Congress on Thursdaylaunched a two-month-

long nationwide agitationagainst the Centre for passingthe farm bills during theMonsoon Session ofParliament. The Congress saidthey will be also supporting theprotests announced by variousfarmers groups across thecountry.

Widespread protests, espe-cially in states like Punjab andHaryana, where farmers andfarmer organisations havetaken to the streets whileopposing the move, are goingon.

A farmers’ body will holda ‘rail roko’ agitation tillSeptember 26 to lodge theirprotest against the three agri-culture ordinances passed bythe Union Cabinet. “We havedecided to hold a rail roko agi-tation from September 24 to 26against the three agricultureordinances,” said KisanMazdoor SangharshCommittee General SecretarySarwan Singh Pandher.

Different farmers’ organi-sations in Punjab have alreadygiven a call for a ‘bandh’ onSeptember 25 in protest againstthe Bills.

Senior Congress leaderand party spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi saidthat the decision to call for asilent protest and lend support

to protesting farmers weretaken at a meeting of the StateUnit Chiefs and GeneralSecretaries early this week.The protest across the countrywill be led by party chief SoniaGandhi and former chiefRahul Gandhi who havereturned from the abroad afterthe former’s treatment.

Party chief spokesmanRandeep Surjewala informedthat in due course the protestmay be joined by otherOpposition parties and like-minded parties.

Several opposition partieshave protested the passage ofthe farm bills in Parliamentand have boycotted the pro-ceedings of both Houses.Opposition parties had alsotaken out march insideParliament during thisMonsoon Session.

“The Government hasdestroyed the democratic sys-tem. The agricultural bills areneither in the interest of thestate government nor the farm-ers. We raised our voice againstthis in Parliament and will nowtake to the streets,” seniorCongress leader Ahmad Patelsaid.

Opposition parties alsomade a representation toPresident Ram Nath Kovindand requested him not to givehis assent to the contentiousfarm bills. They conveyed tothe President that the passageof the bills in Rajya Sabha was“unconstitutional.

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The CBI on Thursday arrest-ed a Military Engineer

Services (MES) JuniorEngineer for accepting a bribeof �30,000. In a separate case,the agency arrested three GSTofficials in a graft case of �5lakh.

The MES Junior EngineerRajiv Ranjan Reddy was post-ed at Paradeep (Odisha) andwas nabbed while demandingand accepting the bribe from thecomplainant, officials said.

The agency has registered acase under various Sections ofthe Prevention of CorruptionAct on a complaint alleging thatthe accused official demandeda bribe of �30,000 from com-plainant’s relative for forward-ing bio-data of six persons of thecomplainant’s firm to the Officeof GE (I), MES, Bhubaneswarfor formal approval relating tothe Work Order in favour of vic-tim firm. The CBI laid a trapand caught the accused red-handed while demanding andaccepting the bribe amountfrom the complainant.

Searches at the office andresidence of the accused officialswere conducted leading torecovery of incriminating doc-uments, the agency said.

In the GST graft case, theagency arrested twoSuperintendents and oneInspector, all working in theoffice of Commissioner, Central

Goods & Service Tax, CentralExcise, Belgaum (Karnataka) inan alleged bribery case

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Page 5: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

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Asenior officer of the CentralReserve police Force

(CRPF) attained martyrdom ina terror attack in the centralKashmir district of Budgamwhile a joint team of the secu-rity forces eliminated a hardcoreterrorist of Al Badr terror outiftin a separate encounter inMachama area of SouthKashmir's Awantipora onThursday. Meanwhile, anotheroperation was launched by thesecurity forces in Sirhama areaof Anantnag late Thursdayevening after receiving inputsabout the presence of terrorists in thearea.

Late last evening a BlockDevelopment CouncilChairman of Khag Budgam,Bhupinder Singh, was shot deadby the 'unidentified' terrorists inthe Budgam district. His mortalremains were shifted to Jammuon Thursday to perform his lastrites. According to the officialsources, terrorists targeted aCRPF officer in a bid to loot hisservice weapon at Kaisermulla inBudgam district. The officerwas identified as Assistant SubInspector NC Badoley of 117Bn,hailing from Nagpur area ofMaharashtra.

According to the local policeauthorities, after seriously injur-ing a CRPF officer the terroristsran away with his service

weapon. Later ASI Badoley suc-cumbed to injuries at the Army's92 base hospital at BadamiBagh. In a second operation ofthe day,the joint teams of thesecurity forces eliminated an Al-Badr terrorist in Machama areaof Awantipora. According to apolice spokesman, the operationwas launched by the AwantiporaPolice, 42 RR and 180 BN CRPFin the said area.

“During the search opera-tion, as the presence of terror-ists got ascertained they weregiven an opportunity to surren-der, however instead the terror-ists fired indiscriminately uponthe joint search party, which wasretaliated leading to anencounter.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu is in astate of anxiety as the health con-dition of legendary singer S PBalasubramanyam(SPB tofriends and fans) deteriorated byThursday evening, accordingto the corporate hospital wherehe had been admitted sinceAugust 5 for Covid treatment.

“His condition in the last 24hours has deteriorated furtherwarranting maximal life supportand his condition is extremelycritical. The team of experts atMGM Healthcare are closelymonitoring his health condi-tion,” the health bulletin issuedby Dr Anuradha Baskaran,Assistant Director-MedicalServices, MGM Healthcare hos-pital said. PNS

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In yet another sign that thesituation arising out of

Covid-19 has gone out of con-trol in Kerala, the State onThursday diagnosed 6,324 per-sons with the pandemic (thehighest number to test positiveon a single day till date). ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan saidthat 21 persons died in the Stateduring the last 24 hours due toCovid-19.

Briefing the media onThursday evening, Vijayan saidthat there were 45,919 Covid-19 patients across the State ason date. Kerala may overtakeTamil Nadu if this is the trend,according to medical profes-

sionals in the State. Tamil Nadusucceeded in containing thenumber of new patients onThursday to 5,692 while therewere 46, 405 patients across theState.

For the first time,Kozhikode topped the table ofdistricts with the highest num-ber of patients-883. Out ofthis, 820 contracted the pan-demic through social contacts,said Vijayan.

Thiruvananthapuram dis-trict had 875 Covid-19 patientsas on Thursday evening. Thechief minister disclosed thatout of the 6,324 persons testedpositive on Thursday, 5,321persons contracted the diseasethrough social contacts.

CHENNAI:The MaduraiBench of the Madras HighCourt on Wednesday delivereda verdict with respect to theholy shrine of Lord Muruga atPalani Hills in Tamil Nadu bycancelling the tender issued bythe executive officer to appointcontractors for providing housekeeping services in the templeand establishments attachedto the temple.

Justice G R Swaminathan,who heard a writ petition filedby T R Ramesh, president,Indic Collective, challengingthe executive officer’s move tofloat tenders for the sameaccepted the contention of thepetitioner that devotees wereauthorized with the mainte-nance and cleaning of the thetemple and its premises as per“Uzhavara Pani”, an age old vol-untary service ritual. Rameshalso argued that the executiveofficer by entrusting the clean-ing and maintenance works ofthe temple to outsiders on acommercial basis was infring-ing on the rights of the devo-tees. PNS

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CHENNAI: Film star-turned-politician Vijayakant, founderof DMDK, who was diagnosedwith Covid-19 is undergoingtreatment in a private hospitalin Chennai since September 22.

This was announced by themanaging director of the hos-pital MIOT International inChennai through a release.“Vijayakant tested positive forCovid-19 on September 22. Heis completely stable and admit-ted to MIOT Hospitals,Chennai. PNS

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Aligarh: Once again MP SatishKumar Gautam raised thereservation issue of AMU dur-ing Zero Hour in Parliament.The MP said that there is noreservation of SC, ST and back-ward class students in AMUlike it is in Kashi HinduUniversity due to which thesestudents are not getting achance to study in good uni-versity.

This is the violation oftheir rights. The system shouldbe implemented in the AMU aswell and demanded to form amonitoring committee. PNS

Aligarh: A Talanagri-basedcompany has been accused ofstealing the designs of Delhi'srenowned lock company andselling its exact lock’s copy inthe market. On this, following the order ofTis Hazari court, the policealong with the Delhi firm offi-cials raided the company andfound a huge quantity of man-ufactured locks. The local firmcould not able to show any doc-ument related to this design.Currently, the stock has beenseized and further action is inprogress. PNS

Aligarh: The lady leader ofBJP's Minority Front has madeserious allegations against herown party official. She allegedthat the officer has been harass-ing her for a year and a half. Heharassed her in programs andthreaten her to implicate her infalse cases on protest. Alongwith the press, she also com-plained to the SSP.

The BJP Minority Frontleader, resident of the DelhiGate area, said that she wasassociated with the BJP in theyear 2018 through a senior official. PNS

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Ateenager from a village inthe Atrauli police station

area was taken hostage andraped for three days by twoyouths and they escaped afterthrowing her in the field ofberries. Angry teenager's rela-tives reached the police stationalong with dozens of villagersand demanded action againstthe accused. Late in the eveningthe police have registered acase. Efforts are on to arrest the

accused youths.According to the victim, on

20th September afternoon, shevisited her field when twoyouths of the village caught herfrom behind and knocked herunconscious with a handker-chief on her face. After this,both the youth took her tosome unknown place whereshe was raped by both forthree days. On Tuesday night,they threw her in the field ofberries near the village inunconscious state and escaped.

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Aligarh: Nagar Nigam Aligarhstarted a campaign to removeencroachment from Madargateto Sasni Gate intersection. TheAdditional MunicipalCommissioner Arun Guptainspected this area and direct-ed for action. He said that dur-ing an inspection of Sasni Gateintersection from PadhaoDubey, Anchal Tal, Madargate,Khirni Gate, permanent andtemporary encroachment wasfound over the drains due towhich the drains are not beingcleaned properly. PNS

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Thursday announced liberallargesse to the clubs organisingDurga Puja prompting theOpposition BJP and Left to linkher actions with next year’sAssembly elections.

The Chief Minister’s latestannouncement include a grantof �50,000 to the clubs organ-ising Durga Puja. This apart,Banerjee also announced a 50percent rebate in electricitycharges for the Puja commit-tees and requested the pri-vate-owned Calcutta ElectricitySupply Corporation to follow

suit. Last year the StateGovernment had allowed only10 percent rebate in powercharges for the Durga Pujacommittees.

There are aobut 28,000Durga Puja committees inBengal and the dole could costthe Government about 200crore, sources said.

Besides, she said that notax would be charged by themunicipal authorities includingKolkata, Howrah, Asansol andSiliguri Municipal corpora-tions and panchayats were.The Fire Brigade Departmenttoo would not charge any feesfrom the Puja organisers,Banerjee said.

New Delhi: The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) said on Thursdaysouthwest monsoon is likely to startwithdrawing from west RajasthanMonday (September 28) onwards. Thehot and humid conditions are also like-ly to reduce thereafter. Widespread andheavy rain will continue in parts ofBihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengaland some northeastern states tillSeptember 26.

“Conditions are likely to becomefavourable for withdrawal of southwestMonsoon from West Rajasthan andadjoining areas around 28th September.The Low Pressure Area lies over cen-tral parts of East Uttar Pradesh andneighbourhood. The associatedcyclonic circulation extends upto mid-tropospheric levels. It is likely to move

east-northeastwards to Bihar duringnext three days,” the IMD said. It’s beendelayed by a week compared to the nor-mal date for commencement of mon-soon withdrawa

This year, monsoon rain over thecountry is 9% in excess as on Thursday.In September, northwest India record-ed a 46.8% rain deficiency while southpeninsula received 67.7% surplus rain;east and northeast India received12.8% surplus rain; central Indiarecorded a 6.1% rain deficiency.

The normal date for commence-ment of monsoon withdrawal fromnorthwest India is September 17 andfor complete withdrawal from thecountry is October 15, as per the newmonsoon onset and withdrawal datesissued by IMD in April this year. PNS

Jammu: Less than 24 hoursafter a Chairman of the BlockDevelopment Council in thecentral Kashmir district ofBudgam was shot dead by'unidentified' terrorists from aclose range, a famous Advocatewho appeared on TV newschannels and participated in'volatile' debates on Kashmirissue was gunned down inHawal area of Srinagar onThursday evening.

The deceased Advocatehas been identified as BabarQadri. According to the localpolice authorities, AdvocateBabar Qadri was shot at froma close range and was rushed to

the SKIMS where doctorsdeclared him dead on arrival.

Qadri had recently lockedhorns with his opponents onthe social media who oftenlabeled him an agent of 'agen-cies' in Kashmir valley.

In one such case, Qadrihad even posted a tweet urgingthe police authorities to regis-ter FIR against one socialmedia user.

“I urge the state Policeadministration to register FIRagainst this Shah Nazir who hasspread the wrong campaignthat I work for agencies. Thisun true statement can lead tothreat to my life.” PNS

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Aday after registering two cases inconnection with the large-scale

violence in Bengaluru in August, theNational Investigation Agency (NIA) onThursday conducted searches at 30locations and arrested an alleged keyconspirator related to the incident.

The arrested conspirator SayedSaddiq Ali, 44, resident of Bengaluru, isalleged to have been involved in theattack on KG Halli Police Station inBengaluru that took place late in theevening on August 11 resulting in“huge” damage and destruction of pub-lic and government property, includingdamage to the police station buildingand vehicles parked in its premises and

nearby areas.Ali works as a recovery agent with

a bank and has been absconding sinceAugust 11, immediately after the riots.

In addition to Ali’s arrest, searcheswere also conducted at 30 locations inBengaluru city to unearth the conspir-acy behind the attacks on DJ Halli andKG Halli police stations.

“During the searches, airgun, pellets,sharp weapons, iron rods, digital devices,DVRs and many SDPI & PFI-relatedincriminating documents and materialshave been seized,” the NIA said in a state-ment. On Wednesday, pursuant toUnion Home Ministry’s directions, theNIA took up the investigation of twoBengaluru violence cases registered bythe State police at DJ Halli and KG Hallipolice stations on August 12.

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Page 6: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

Like most people, I enjoylistening to music in myfree time. Other thanbeing an expression of art,songs are often a great

medium to get a message across.Some are subtle where you have tofind understated and intelligent ref-erences to the message that is hid-den. However, at the same time youhave songs with lyrics like “Sushantsuperstar, you were Bihar’s trea-sure... The DGP came, he facedattacks but he took the case to theCBI. (The DGP) is the pride of thenation...” It is safe to say that thismusic video, which was released onthe same day as the voluntaryretirement of the DGP, can be a lotof things but “subtle” is certainlynot one of them.

The release of the music videoand the reports of GupteshwarPandey (the DGP in question)making a foray into politics, do,however, give us an opportunity toexamine the situation in the coun-try and the question of ethical con-duct by certain individuals fromthe Indian civil services and thejudiciary, two pillars on which themodern Indian state stands. Thetitle of this week’s piece may seema tad ironic, especially consideringthat the writer himself was onetime a “babu” and is now in activepolitics. However, having joinedpolitics close to a decade after leav-ing the civil services, I believe thatI can offer a unique perspective onthe topic.

To be clear, this is far from thefirst time questions regarding theethics of appointment or nomina-tion of individuals who comefrom the civil services or the judi-ciary have been raised. Even in ameeting of the ConstituentAssembly, this issue was discussed.Professor KT Shah moved anamendment, which contemplatedrestricting judges who had servedfor more than five years in theSupreme Court or on any of theHigh Courts, from being appoint-ed to any executive office orMinisters in a Government. Theintent, as explained by a support-er of the amendment, was imper-ative because “if the temptation ofbeing appointed to other highpositions after retirement is notremoved, it will also be liable to beabused by the Executive or by anyparty in power and they may holdout such temptations which mightaffect the independence of the judi-ciary.” The amendment was ulti-

mately rejected by Dr BRAmbedkar because at the timehe believed that this was only atheoretical protection as the“opportunity for the executive toinfluence the judiciary is verysmall”. While there is no suchrestriction, the Constitution ofIndia does lay down administra-tive details like retirement ofjudges and remuneration inthe Constitution. Similarly, civilservants are granted privilegeslike pension after retirement.Furthermore, removing a civilservant from service is anextremely difficult proposition.The intent of such protectionsis to ensure that both civil ser-vants and judges carry out theirduty as contemplated underthe Constitution without fear orincentive to act otherwise.

Dr Ambedkar, in all probabil-ity, believed that the individuals,who would form part of the judi-ciary or the civil services, wouldexercise their personal ethicalframework and to this extent theissue of independence of theseinstitutions would not be tar-nished. However, it is becomingincreasingly obvious that thereis a need for us to legislate ethicsand punish its abdication.

Most recently from the judi-cial sphere, you have the case ofthe former Chief Justice ofIndia, Ranjan Gogoi, gettingnominated to the Rajya Sabha.This move drew sharp criticismfrom judges and lawyers alike,pointing to the fact that hisappointment came barelymonths after his tenure as ChiefJustice ended. Such is the criti-cism around the appointmentthat a news personality notedthat the DGP’s move to take vol-untary retirement and possibly

join politics would be akin to“doing a Gogoi.” Another movethat attracted criticism was of aCentral VigilanceCommissioner joining a largecorporate house immediatelyafter retirement. But like I said,this is not about one particularinstance. According to a studydone by Vidhi, a legal thinktank, close to 70 out of over ahundred retired judges havetaken up assignments after theirretirement. Unfortunately, thisis inevitable considering thenumber of statutory authoritiesthat require a retired judge tohold office under their parentstatute.

Therefore, what is the wayahead? It is obvious that relyingon the integrity of individuals totake the right call every time isnot a tactic that has worked.While there are a number ofindividuals who have displayedand continue to display courage,integrity and a strong con-science, the damage by a few tothe institutions that they haveserved can be so scarring that itsimpact would be felt on the corefoundations of a democraticrepublic such as ours. Therefore,there is a need to legislate toaccount for situations wherethe independence of the judicia-ry and of the civil services maybe threatened. One solution is todo away with post-retirementposts and to appoint only seniorpersonnel who are currentlyserving as judges or civil ser-vants. Another option is to leg-islate like the US has done,where in case of former seniorcivil servants (in certain depart-ments) there is a permanent banon appearing beforeGovernment authorities on mat-

ters where they may have par-ticipated personally or substan-tially. An alternative restraintcould be establishing a separateauthority like the Union PublicService Commission (UPSC), asformer civil servant Anil Swaruptalks about in his book EthicalDilemmas of a Civil Servant.Swarup suggests that the UPSCcan be tasked with shortlistingcandidates for post-retirementassignments instead of leavingsuch decisions to the whims andfancies of any Government inpower. I would add that the cri-teria for such appointmentsshould be made public and bethrough a points system. Thereare many possible solutions butin order to implement any solu-tion, we need to first accept thatthere is a problem and that thereis a dire need for a structuralsolution.

As said by Dr Martin LutherKing, “The arc of the moral uni-verse is long but bends towardsjustice.” Therefore, I am hope-ful that in the long run our insti-tutions will survive, not leastbecause of the many righteousindividuals who serve theseinstitutions. I am hopeful thatthe examples that exist today willonly serve as examples to futuregenerations to keep their guardup, similar as to how examplesfrom the Emergency serve asexamples for today. However,with the benefit of hindsight, ifDr Ambedkar had a chance todiscuss Professor KT Shah’samendment in the ConstituentAssembly today, I have a feelingthat the outcome would be quitedifferent.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and current-ly a member of AAP)

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���������� �������Sir — The Constitution allowsmigration across the country foremployment needs. However,there has been no comprehensivelegal framework to protect theworkers from exploitation. Morethan one crore migrant labour-ers returned home on foot dur-ing the lockdown and around29,415 lost their lives in theprocess. This is the harsh reali-ty of how safe the workers areunder the present labour laws.Adding to the problem are therecently passed three key labourreform Bills that further diluteworkers’ rights than protectthem. A more pragmaticapproach with a full under-standing of the problem must beput in place to alleviate labour-ers’ underlying distress due to theGovernment’s apathy.

SK NagMumbai

����������������� �Sir — The Monsoon Session ofParliament came to an end amidprotest by the Opposition partiesand suspension of eight mem-bers. The Rajya Sabha passed 25bills, including 15 on the last twodays, when the Opposition

members had boycotted the pro-ceedings as they united againstthe Government for overridingparliamentary procedures to passthe two controversial farm Bills.The ruling dispensation failed touphold the constitutional valuesand its dictatorial attitude madea mockery of the Parliament.Indeed a wrong precedent.

N NagarajanSecunderabad

������ �����������Sir — It is a matter of deep con-cern that some media houses areusing their platforms to createcommunal disharmony andspread hatred. Sudarshan News’Bindass Bol programme, thatwas aired on August 28, target-ed the Muslim community andquestioned the credibility of theUPSC. The Central Government

allowed the channel to air theshow again on September 10 inthe name of freedom of speech.It was only later on that SupremeCourt barred the channel fromgoing ahead with the telecast ofthe remaining episodes.

Hate speech should not beallowed to be disguised as free-dom of speech. And media beingthe fourth pillar of democracyshould act responsibly and not

further the communal agenda ofthe Government.

M N Musaeed Mumbai

����������������Sir — COVID-19 cases in Indiacrossed the 57 lakh mark with86,508 new cases and 1,129deaths reported in the last 24hours. There are 9,66,382 activecases and 91,149 people havedied. Meanwhile, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has emphasisedthe need to increase focus on“effective testing, tracing, treat-ment and surveillance” to bringthe coronavirus outbreak undercontrol. In his virtual reviewmeeting with Chief Ministers ofseven states with the highestnumber of coronavirus cases inthe country, he spoke of the needfor clear messaging to dispelrumours about testing. However,the initiatives taken by theGovernment don’t seem to helpcurb the crisis. It is, therefore,important that the people takethe utmost precautions and fol-low WHO’s guidelines.

Urvi JainUjjain

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The pandemic has brought the art world toits knees. The silence is ominous and thewebinars and online propaganda are some-

what stifling when you think of how suddenlyit is only about talking and voices and voices andtalking. Amid the many cancellations of fairs,exhibitions, films, plays, performances anddances globally, we must ask ourselves questionsabout the value of art and culture at a time whenhumanity is under great stress. When it is fight-ing for its very survival as the virus throws up akind of socio-economic disparity and devasta-tion we have not witnessed in recent times.

At a time when people tell us that there aremuch more important things to worry about inthis world than art, one would beg to differ. Arttalks to us like nothing else does. It re-awakensour senses and reminds us of the power of imag-ination in the face of the death and destructionbrought upon us by the pandemic.

The New York Times states that though fairshave been cancelled and galleries have closed, thewealthy are still buying. In India it’s difficult toget true stories of buying and selling from art gal-leries/dealers/consultants/artists. The physical-ity of looking at a work and buying is somethingthat needs to be worked upon. An image doesnot do justice to a work of art. Perhaps privateappointments by clients are the way to go in thenew pandemic scenario. But there are hecticannouncements of online shows and galleriescoming together to host prized possessions onthe internet and social media. Some galleries arestating that they have a few sales but it’s not asmuch as they would like in a stagnant market.

In the West, a report of 795 galleries repre-senting 60 different national markets, called TheImpact of COVID-19 on the Gallery Sector, writ-ten by the cultural economist Clare McAndrew,is the first major survey of how the contagion hashit art dealers globally. Until sales statistics areshared by galleries all over India, it’s difficult toadd a percentage of propensity to the real figures.But one scene that has remained buoyant is thatof online auctions.

Pundoles looking West: Pundoles Mumbairuled the roost the past month with its LookingWest auction split into two parts, featuring a partof the collection of fish baron Masanari Fukuoka,who decided he wanted Pundoles to handle thesale rather than international houses likeChristies, Sotheby’s or even Saffronart. With bluechip names on its avant-garde list, the auctionthrew up some magnificent numbers. VSGaitonde, the abstract master, was top draw. Hisuntitled 1967 work set a new record at �32 croreas the selling hammer price. Two sculptures alsoset their own highs. The first was a “Bull’s Head”(1998) by Tyeb Mehta, who created this sculp-ture as his tribute to the trussed bull (he used tohear their heart-wrenching cries when he livednext to a slaughterhouse in Mumbai). It sold ata new record of �3.2 crore.

The second sculpture was printmaker andsculptor Somnath Hore’s “Goat” (1988) that soldat �65 lakh, a new high for this venerated mas-ter. India’s greatest figurative master JogenChowdhury’s “The Couple” (1999) sold for �1.7crore, setting a new record for the 80-year-oldKolkata artist.

Saffronart’s success: The next auc-tion high was Saffronart’s Evening Sale.The highly-anticipated online live auc-tion — the first since the pandemic —closed at 88 per cent lots sold, achiev-ing a total sale of �66.4 crore amidenthusiastic bidding. The 300th auctionin Saffronart’s 20 years, this sale was aunique hybrid experience that allowedbidders from across the globe to par-ticipate virtually.

The sale was led by VS Gaitonde’smasterpiece painting of 1974 from thecollection of Sabira Merchant, whichsold for �35.5 crore, making it the sec-ond-highest price achieved for theartist, as well as for a work of Indian artto be sold in an auction worldwide.Among the best works Gaitonde everproduced, this ethereal, luminescentwork embodies his preoccupation withZen Buddhism as well as his associa-tions with the sea.

Among the top highlights of thesale were two exquisite works by mod-ernist NS Bendre, including a figura-tive work from 1971 which sold for�1.56 crore, more than tripling its pre-sale estimate, and an untitled work(possibly a view of Mandu), 1982,which sold for �1.14 crore. JehangirSabavala’s “The Cactus Wave”, 2006,sold for �2.63 crore.

Artists in studios/homes: Acrossthe land in homes, in studios thatbelong to them as well as others,artists are still pouring out their imag-ination. Those who have computers andlaptops are busy with Zoom webinarsand the like but my heart goes out toartists who have no technology. Theycontinue to be inspired in their ownsmall rooms with minimal media and

materials. Questions arise as to howthey are eking out their living.

The buyer’s market is not so welllaid out. Galleries have their own list ofcollectors and buyers but it is onlyestablished artists who can share in thatbouquet of well-being. One of the great-est contributions to an artist’s life canbe through corporate houses, hotels,Government and private offices andcomplexes that can use art works andhelp artists to thrive in a market thathas fallen to the Covid climate.

Take for instance Tom Vattakuzhy,a brilliant artist in Kerala who lost outon a historic series of illustrations in theMalayala Manorama because of a mis-understanding with the Church. Hisworks echo his solitude. They makeeveryone empathise with him and stirtheir inner recesses. Vattakuzhy, aMasters from Shantiniketan and thenVadodara, is a prime example of a bril-liant artist waiting to be shown by acurator, gallery or promoter who willnot throw him to the sharks. Let’s faceit, the art world thrives on profit mar-gins and cut-throat competition. Indianeeds more institutions and philan-thropic agencies to help artists all overthe country.

Institutions like the Lalit KalaAkademi have a great role to play inopening their spaces to as many soloshows as possible to lift the darkness inthe world of the lonely artist waiting inthe wings. The India InternationalCentre and AIFACS do yeoman’s ser-vice for the arts. Big artists, too, needto get out of their cocoons and help oth-ers in need.

Black Lives Matter: The mostbeautiful example of an artist helping

others has been that of the great artistBansky. The British street artistfinanced a boat to rescue refugeesattempting to reach Europe from northAfrica. The vessel, named Louise Michelafter a French feminist anarchist, set offin secrecy on August 18 from theSpanish port of Burriana, near Valencia,and was in the central MediterraneanSea, where on August 30 it rescued 89people, including 14 women and fourchildren.

It was looking for a safe port to dis-embark the passengers or to transferthem to a European coast guard vessel.Since setting off from Burriana, theboat, registered in Germany andmanned by a crew of activists fromacross Europe led by Pia Klemp, res-cued more than 150 people off the coastof Libya. The majority of the passen-gers were transferred to a larger rescuevessel a few days ago, after Europeanauthorities appeared to ignore Maydaycalls from the Louise Michel, which hadbecome too overloaded to steer. Thesurvivors finally arrived in the port ofPalermo, Sicily.

Underscoring the hypocrisy ofgovernments shouting out for racialequality while simultaneously taking ahardline anti-immigration stance,Banksy’s video of the rescue mission,posted on Instagram, concluded withthe words: “All Black Lives Matter.”Perhaps in a blanket equation of every-one in the world, we could tweak it tosay “All Lives Matter.” Maybe the vir-tual world is here to stay until the virusis tackled with a vaccine that says: “Getthee behind me.”

(The writer is a senior art critic andindependent curator)

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Last week, a six-month pregnantwoman in Badaun, UttarPradesh (UP), was attacked by

her husband with a sharp-edgedweapon. Her family alleged that he slither stomach to find out the gender ofthe unborn baby. They told the policethat the father of five daughters wasso desperate for a son that he resort-ed to this brutal way to check if thefoetus was that of a boy or a girl.Although a First Information Report(FIR) has been registered and the hus-band arrested, this gruesome crimeunderlines once again the deeply-entrenched preference for sons in ourculture. Despite the best efforts of theUnion Government, States and non-governmental organisations over theyears, there seems to be very littlechange in attitudes towards the girlchild in the country. This is not justdeeply worrying but also frightening.

It is not, however, surprising that

girls are less valued than boys in UP,a State that has recorded the mostcrimes against women in the country.The latest 2018 National CrimeRecords Bureau (NCRB) data rankedthe State as the worst for women’ssecurity with 59, 443 crimes againstthem. Incidentally, in 2018, the crimerate was the highest for cruelty by hus-bands and relatives. Although theNCRB data for 2019 has not beenreleased as yet, media reports ofcrimes against women in UP duringthe last two years do not inspire con-fidence in the possibility of any turn-around.

But do the rising crimes againstwomen have any bearing on thepreference for a son? Yes, says a newstudy conducted in UP and Haryana.Its objective was to examine discrim-ination against the girl child and itslinkages with the declining child sexratio and violence against women. Thereport states that the responsibility ofsecurity and maintaining the chasti-ty of daughters in the context of ris-ing sexual violence in the country hasadded to the larger concern of want-ing a son. In other words, the increas-ing crime against women has emergedas yet another factor for augmentingthe traditional preference for a son.

Supported by the Indian Council

of Social Science Research (ICSSR),the study was conducted byBijaylaxmi Nanda, Nupur Ray andRitwika Mukherjee. The preliminaryfindings indicate that perceptionsabout crime play a pivotal role in theincreasing preference for a malechild. Thus, as long as women contin-ue to remain insecure in the nation,chances that girls will be unwanted byfamilies will be high.

Further, with three out of every10 women, who had more daughtersthan sons, reporting that the hus-band/family members express dissat-isfaction at the birth of a girl child, thestudy also reinforces the fact that gen-der inequality remains at the heart ofviolence against women in UP. Themale offspring is preferred because heis culturally perceived as a protectorand provider during the old age of theparents. An earlier study to under-stand the intrinsic relationshipbetween masculinity, son preferenceand intimate partner violence came tosimilar conclusions.

The 2014 study by theInternational Centre for Research onWomen (ICRW) and United NationsPopulation Fund (UNFPA), foundthat in UP, the two most importantreasons for having a son were to carryon the family name and to provide

support to parents in their old age. Sixyears later, as the ICSSR study shows,little seems to have changed on theground.

The ICRW-UNFPA report foundthat of the seven States studied, UPhad the largest proportion of menreporting high control over theirintimate partners and the lowest pro-portion of men displaying genderequitable attitudes.

Education is a big tool to engen-der transformation in beliefs, attitudesand practice. It is an equally impor-tant predictor of son-preference atti-tudes. In UP, the ICRW-UNFPAstudy found that 55 per cent of menwith no education had a high prefer-ence for sons compared to 39 per centof men with graduation or higherdegrees.

Studies have shown that spousesof men with no or little education areunlikely to have ready access to sex-ual and reproductive health services.In the Badaun case, the fact that thewoman had five children and waspregnant with her sixth child indicatesshe may have faced barriers in access-ing family planning services. Thefourth National Family Health Survey(NFHS 2015-16) states that the unmetneed in UP was 18 per cent for cur-rently married women aged between

15 and 49 years. This means an esti-mated 8.2 million women have beendenied access to family planning. InBadaun, which has a more than 70 percent rural population, the total unser-viced need is almost 14 per cent. Thisis higher than the national average of12.9 per cent.

The preference for sons putswomen under so much pressure toproduce a male heir that many timesthey are forced into numerous preg-nancies and a series of abortions untilthey do so. The preference for a sonhas led to around 4,60,000 girls goingmissing due to sex selection at birtheach year between 2013 and 2017,according to the UNFPA’s 2020 Stateof the Population Report.

Last month, noted researcherFengqing Chao of King AbdullahUniversity of Science and Technology(KAUST), Saudi Arabia, and his col-leagues projected an even darkerfuture for girls in India. According totheir research published in the jour-nal PLOS ONE, the average annualnumber of missing female birthsbetween 2017 and 2025 was likely tobe 4,69,000 per year and wouldincrease to 5,19,000 per year for thetime period between 2026 to 2030.This research singles out UP as theIndian State most likely to have the

maximum missing female births dueto the preference for a boy andaccounting for almost a third of thetotal number projected.

But girls don’t just go missing atbirth. India also has the highest rateof excess girl child deaths at 13.5 per1,000 births. This critical data suggestpost-birth sex selection. An estimat-ed one in nine deaths of girls belowthe age of five may be attributed topost-birth sex selection, says theUNFPA report. So, while gender-biased sex selection accounts forabout two-thirds of the total missinggirls, post-birth girl child mortalityaccounts for about one-third.

UP lags behind on many indica-tors of gender equality, including earlymarriage and crimes against women.

If Yogi Adityanath really wantsdevelopment, the Chief Minister mustmake greater investments in improv-ing gender indicators. Prejudiceagainst girls can be countered by pro-grammes that focus on engagingboys and instilling values of genderequality in them at an early age.Comprehensive sex education inschools could help redefine notions ofmasculinity and foster respect forwomen.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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US President Donald Trumphas refused to commit to

a peaceful transfer of power ifhe loses the November 3, 2020,election to his Democratic rivalJoe Biden.

Trump, a Republican, alsosaid he believed the electionresult could end up in the USSupreme Court, as he again castdoubt on postal voting. ManyAmerican states are encourag-ing mail-in voting, citing theneed to keep Americans safefrom the coronavirus pan-demic that has killed over twolakh people in the country.

“Well, we’re going to haveto see what happens,” Trump

said when asked whether hewould commit to a peacefultransition, one of the corner-stones of American democracy.

“I have been complainingvery strongly about the ballots,and the ballots are a disaster…,”Trump told reporters at aWhite House news conferenceon Wednesday when askedabout a peaceful transition ofpower after the presidentialpolls in November irrespectiveof the outcome.

“President, real quickly,wins, lose or draw in this elec-tion, will you commit heretoday for a peaceful transferralof power after the election?And there has been rioting inLouisville, there has been riot-

ing in many cities across thiscountry — red and so-calledred and blue states — will youcommit to making sure thatthere is a peaceful transferral ofpower after the election?” hewas asked.

Not satisfied with Trump’sanswer, the reporter againasked. “Do you commit tomaking sure that there is apeaceful transferal of power?”

Trump exuded confidencethat there will be a continuationof power. “We want to get ridof the ballots and we will havea very peaceful — there will notbe a transfer. Frankly, there willbe a continuation. The ballotsare out of control, you know it,and you know who knows it

better than anybody else? TheDemocrats know it better thananybody else,” the presidentsaid as he refused to entertainany other question from thesame journalist.

“Go ahead. Please goahead. Yes, go ahead. You askeda question. Go ahead please,” hesaid. Trump’s reluctance tocommit to a peaceful transitionwas rooted in what he said wereconcerns about ballots, extend-ing his assertion that wide-spread mail-in voting is rifewith fraud.

In 2016, Trump alsorefused to commit to acceptingthe election results in his con-test against the Democraticcandidate, Hillary Clinton,

which she characterised as anattack on democracy.

Trump was eventuallydeclared the winner, althoughhe lost the popular vote bythree million, an outcome hestill questioned. Meanwhile,Senator Mitt Romney, a UtahRepublican who has stood atodds with the President in thepast, slammed Trump’sremarks.

“Fundamental to democ-racy is the peaceful transitionof power; without that, there isBelarus,” Romney tweeted.

“Any suggestion that aPresident might not respect thisConstitutional guarantee isboth unthinkable and unac-ceptable,” he said.

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Taiwan on Thursday con-demned recent Chinese

military activity after Beijingsent two military surveillanceplanes toward the island forthree straight days, calling it a“deliberate provocation.”

Tensions have risen in theTaiwan Strait as the U.S. hasstepped up its official engage-ment with the self-ruled islandthat China considers part of itsnational territory.

On Monday, Tuesday andWednesday, China sent twoplanes into Taiwan’s air defenseidentification zone, accordingto Taiwan’s Ministry ofNational Defense. In response,the Taiwanese side dispatchedair patrols, the ministry said.

“We oppose China usingmilitary force against Taiwan,deliberately violating Taiwan’snaval and airspace safety anddamaging the status quo,”added Chiu Chui-Cheng,deputy minister at Taiwan’s

Mainland Affairs Council.“Our government will contin-ue to cooperate with countrieswith similar values.”

Last week, China sent atotal of 37 warplanes, includingbombers and fighter jets, acrossthe Taiwan Strait in a warningas a high-level U.S. StateDepartment official visited theisland. The Taiwanese defenseministry said the planes crossedthe midline of the Taiwan Strait.

The midline has acted asan unofficial buffer zonebetween China and Taiwanfor decades, in what Taiwan’sMainland Affairs Council onThursday called “a tacit agree-ment that has kept the peace.”

Chinese foreign ministryspokesman Wang Wenbin onMonday denied the existence ofany midline, saying that Taiwanis part of China. He alsowarned that China would retal-iate for the U.S. visit. “We willtake countermeasures, includ-ing against relevant individu-als,” he said.

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Iran’s President HassanRouhani declared “victory”

over the United States after theUN Security Council rejectedthe Trump administration’s bidto reimpose UN sanctions onthe Islamic republic.

“The Iranian nation has

achieved great political, legaland diplomatic success at theUnited Nations,” Rouhani tolda televised weekly meeting ofhis cabinet.

“The reason for this victo-ry lies solely in the support andresistance of the people,” he said.

“America’s greatness has

collapsed (just like) the globalhegemony they thought they had.”

In May 2018, US PresidentDonald Trump withdrew froma landmark deal that gave Iranrelief from sanctions in returnfor UN-verified guarantees thatit is not seeking nuclearweapons.

Washington: Underlining thatthe scope of India and theUnited States partnership con-tinues to expand, US StateDepartment on Wednesday(local time) said thatWashington’s growing securityand diplomatic cooperationwith New Delhi is vital to a free,open, and inclusive Indian-Pacific region.

“The pace and scope of the#USIndia partnership contin-ues to expand! Whether it’s at@UN or with Quad partners,our growing security anddiplomatic cooperation withIndia is vital to a free, open, andinclusive #IndoPacific,” tweet-ed State Department for theBureau of South and CentralAsian Affairs (SCA).

Indian-Pacific region islargely viewed as an area com-prising the Indian Ocean andthe western and central PacificOcean, including the SouthChina Sea.

China’s territorial claims inthe South China Sea and itsefforts to advance into theIndian Ocean are seen to havechallenged the establishedrules-based system.

Amid China’s growingassertiveness in the Indian-Pacific region, foreign ministersof Quad — India, Japan, the USand Australia — are planningto hold a meeting in Tokyo nextmonth. The officials are likelyto affirm their countries’ coop-eration to realise the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”vision upheld by Japan and theUS. Agencies

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South Korea said onThursday that North Korean

troops fatally shot a SouthKorean Government officialwho may have attempted todefect and set his body on fireafter finding him on a floatingobject near the countries’ dis-puted sea boundary.

South Korean officials con-demned what they called NorthKorea’s “atrocious act” andurged it to apologize and pun-ish those responsible. NorthKorea is unlikely to accept theSouth Korean demand, and tiesbetween the rivals — alreadystrained amid a deadlock inbroader nuclear diplomacy —will probably suffer a furthersetback, observers say.

According to Seoul, theman disappeared from a gov-ernment ship that was check-ing on possible unauthorisedfishing in an area south of theboundary on Monday, a daybefore he was found in NorthKorean waters.

North Korea sent officialswearing gas masks aboard aboat near the man to learn why

he was there on Tuesday after-noon. Later in the day, a North Korean navy boatcame and opened fire at him, South Korea’s DefenseMinistry said.

Sailors from the boat cladin gas masks and protectivesuits poured gasoline on hisbody and set it aflame, theDefense Ministry said, citing intelligence gathered bysurveillance equipment andother assets.

It’s unclear how he endedup in North Korea. But adefense official said the man might have tried to defectto the North, citing acquiredinformation.

He refused to elaborate.The official, requestinganonymity citing departmentrules, said the South Koreanofficial was wearing a life jack-et and was on a small floatingobject when he was found inNorth Korean waters.

He said North Korea mayhave decided to kill him in linewith its stringent anti-coron-avirus rules that involve shooting anyone illegally cross-ing the border.

Hong Kong: Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wongsaid he was arrested again Thursday for allegedly participatingin an unauthorised assembly last October. Wong tweeted thathe was arrested when he reported to the semi-autonomousChinese territory’s Central Police Station as part of a bail require-ment. He said he was also accused of violating a pre-coronaviruslaw banning the wearing of masks in public places on the pre-text they obscure identity.

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump and hisDemocratic rival Joe Bidenhave clashed on the coron-avirus pandemic, both puttingforward their plans to bringAmerica out of the worst healthcrisis if voted to power.

The US is the worst-affect-ed country from the pandem-ic with over 200,000 Americanslosing their lives to the disease.The virus has also battered thecountry’s economy with mil-lions of people losing their jobs.

Trump, a Republican, andBiden are pitted against eachother for the November 3 pres-idential election.

“Our plan will crush the

virus. And actually, Biden’splan will crush America, if youthink about it. You can’t lockdown. Again, we’re growing atlevels that nobody has ever seenbefore. Our plan is unleashinga rapid recovery. Our oppo-nent’s plan would hurt Americavery badly. It would send us intoa depression,” Trump toldreporters at the White House onWednesday, asserting that hisDemocratic challenger wouldnot have been able to handle thepandemic.

“Our approach is pro-sci-ence. Biden’s approach is anti-science. I don’t think they knowwhat their approach is,although a lot of it’s copied from

what we’ve done,” Trump said.Talking about Johnson &

Johnson announcing that theirvaccine candidate has reachedthe final stage of clinical trials,Trump said, “this is recordtime. This is the fourth vaccinecandidate in the United Statesto reach the final stage of trial.So, we have four candidatesalready at a very late date.‘Late’ being a very positiveword, in this case,” he said.

Trump also announcedthat his administration isawarding $200 million ofCARES Act funding to all 50states to prepare to distributethe vaccine to high-risk resi-dents. PTI

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US District Judge EliRichardson, a Trump

administration appointee whobucked the President’s conserv-ative base by blocking aTennessee law that restricts mail-in voting, had an announcementto make before wrapping up hisdecision: it had nothing to dowith politics. The declarationdropped as lower-court judges,like Richardson, face greaterscrutiny over their perceivedideological purity. Richardsoneven took the step of addressingpotential critics in his opinion.

Richardson ruled in favor ofexpanding the ability of first-time voters in this reliablyRepublican-leaning state to castmail-in ballots this election.But first, the lifetime-appoint-ed judge said, he had to “addresshead-on the proverbial elephantin the room,” declaring his ownimpartiality in the case.

In his September 9 ruling,Richardson wrote that he was“not concerned about how hisdecisions could aid one side orthe other on the political front.”The judge from Tennessee’sMiddle District also said hispersonal opinions on electionlaws have “simply no bearing”on the constitutional claimsbrought before his bench. Formonths, President DonaldTrump claimed without proofthat there could be widespreadvoter fraud in November, evenas officials in states that haverelied on mail-in ballots citedlittle evidence of such.

Page 9: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

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The Government hasextended the suspension

of fresh insolvency proceedingsunder the insolvency law foranother three months, a seniorofficial said on Thursday.

In the wake of the coro-navirus pandemic, the corpo-rate affairs ministry decided tosuspend initiation of fresh pro-ceedings under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC)for six months starting fromMarch 25.The nationwidelockdown came into force onMarch 25.The six-month peri-od was to end on Thursday.Theofficial told PTI that the peri-od has been extended by threemonths.

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Dangers to an overall inter-national economic recov-

ery such as rising Covid-19cases, along with possible reim-position of lockdown mea-sures in some European coun-tries, pushed the global and theIndian stock markets deep intothe red on Thursday, with theBSE Sensex losing 1,100 points,its worst performance in sixmonths.

Besides, no new stimulusmeasures for the US, com-bined with a slower growthforecast for the world’s largesteconomy, also impacted glob-al sentiments.

Not just equities, but crudeoil and precious metal pricesfell, leading to a chaos acrossasset classes.However, the USdollar made the most of thebloodbath.The domino effectof such massive downsideresulted in the Indian stockmarkets witnessing a gap-downopening on Thursday.The BSESensex lost 1,100 points and theNSE Nifty50 fell well below the

psychological 11,000 mark.Post Thursday’s selloff,

Sensex lost 2,292 points in thelast four sessions. This was thesixth consecutive session of lossfor the Indian indices, as wellas the biggest single day fall forthe BSE Sensex in four monthsand the biggest losing streak (6sessions) in seven months.

The Nifty50 on theNational Stock Exchange (NSE)fell well below the psycholog-ical 11,000 mark.

The recent bear run hasbeen due to resurgence incoronavirus cases across theworld, largely in Europe, andanticipation of fresh lockdownrestrictions across severalcountries of the continent,including the UK and France.

The BSE Sensex closed at36,553.60, lower by 1,114.82points, or 2.96 per cent, fromthe previous close of 37,668.42.

It opened at 37,282.18 andtouched an intra-day high of37,304.26 or a low of 36,495.98points.

The Nifty50 closed at10,805.55, lower by 326.30

points or 2.93 per cent from itsprevious close.

Manish Hathiramani, tech-nical analyst, Deen DayalInvestments, said: “The supportlevel of 10,900-10,950 has beendisrespected during today’strading session. We have alsopierced 10,882 which was madeon August 3, 2020. This opensa new target of 10,750. Anybounce can be utilised to shortthe Nifty for this target.”

Among the sectors, auto,banking, metal and IT indiceslost the most.

“European stocks andAsian stocks dropped followinga rout in tech shares in the USon Wednesday and as investorshave largely given up on theidea that the US Congress willprovide a new stimulus, whileworrying about a recent rise inCovid-19 cases,” said DeepakJasani, Head of Retail Researchat HDFC Securities.

“Economists at GoldmanSachs cut their US growthforecast for the fourth quarterin half, to 3 from 6 per cent.Investors are bombarded by a

perfect storm of problemsincluding rising virus infec-tions, new lockdowns, a slow-ing economic recovery, stalledUS stimulus talks and electionuncertainty. Investors also fret-ted that a second wave of coro-navirus cases during the north-ern hemisphere’s coming win-ter will derail the economicrecovery.”

According to Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services: “Indianbenchmark indices had a gapdown opening and kept losingground as the day wore on, tofinally end the day around 2.8per cent down. Markets trackedweak global cues as the uncer-tainty witnessed in the lastfew days gave way to negativ-ity, with broader markets alsounderperforming.””The uncer-tainty regarding an economicrecovery, the unabated rise invirus infections, and todaybeing derivatives expiry day, allcontributed to the negativity.With volatility expected to behigh, traders are advised toremain cautious.”

New Delhi: The citizen feed-back on the Non-Personal Datadraft policy is not positive aspeople say there is very little togain and the risk is of increasedtargeting, surveillance and datamisuse.

According to Local Circles,Non-Personal Data draft poli-cy has gotten the dialoguestarted amongst citizens andbusinesses, it needs to be revis-ited considering the findings ofa survey. “From a citizen stand-point, there is very little to gainand the risk is of increased tar-geting, surveillance and datamisuse,” it said.

The nine-member com-

mittee set up by the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology, released a draftnon-personal data policy inmid-July giving the public twomonths to provide feedback.Per the policy, any data whichdoes not contain any personallyidentifiable information of anindividual is termed as non-personal data.

For example, while orderdetails collected by an e-com-merce platform will have thename, age, address and othercontact information of an indi-vidual, it will be considerednon-personal data if specificidentifiers like name, addressand contact information areremoved.

NPD also classified non-personal data into three maincategories - public non-per-sonal data, community non-personal data and private non-personal data. Although manyexperts say that this policy is aforward looking step and willcreate a culture of data sharingof non-personal data which willbring overall benefits to thecountry, MSME and startups aswell as citizens do not seem tobe in favour of the policy in itscurrent form. IANS

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Inflow of foreign portfolioinvestments (FPI) surged last

month with around $6 billion,or around �47,000 crore, of netinvestments by overseasinvestors with a majority meantfor primary issuances of shares.

Around 63 per cent of netFPI flows last month were intoprimary issuances, according toa report by ICICI Securities.

Interestingly, last month,India outperformed otheremerging markets in terms ofinflows.

The report also said thatdomestic institutional invest-ments (DII) too had positiveflows towards primaryissuances, although the sec-ondary flows continued to benegative with an outflow of $1.5billion.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Thursday

announced it will conductsimultaneous purchase andsale of government securitiesunder open market operation(OMO) for an aggregate mountof �10,000 crore each onOctober 1.

“On a review of the cur-rent liquidity and financialconditions, the Reserve Bankhas decided to conduct simul-taneous purchase and sale ofgovernment securities underopen market operation (OMO)for an aggregate amount of�10,000 crore each on October1, 2020,” it said in a statement.

The RBI further said it willcontinue to monitor evolving

liquidity and market conditionsand take measures as appro-priate to ensure orderly func-tioning of financial markets.

On October 1, the RBIwould purchase three securitiestotalling �10,000 crore andselling two securities of thesame amount.

The result of the auctionswill be announced on the sameday.nSimultaneous purchaseand sale of government secu-rities under OMOs, popularlyknown as Operation Twist,involves purchasing G-Secs oflonger maturities and sellingequal amount of G-Secs ofshorter maturities. The centralbank further said it reserves theright to decide on the quantumof purchase and sale of indi-vidual securities.

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The Centre on Thursdaypermitted five States to go

for additional borrowing of�9,913 crore through OpenMarket Borrowings (OMBs) tomeet their expenditure require-ments amid falling revenuesdue to the Covid-19 crisis.

These States are AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Goa,Karnataka and Tripura.

The permission has beenaccorded after these states suc-cessfully met the reform con-dition of implementation of‘One Nation One Ration Card’system, an official statementsaid.

The Department ofExpenditure, under the FinanceMinistry, has accordedapproval to Karnataka for addi-tional borrowing of �4,509crore, followed by Telangana(�2,508 crore) and AndhraPradesh (�2,525 crore).

Goa intends to raise � 223crore while Tripura �148 crore,it said. In view of the unprece-dented COVID-19 pandemic,the Centre had in May allowedadditional borrowing limit ofup to 2 per cent of Gross StateDomestic Product (GSDP) tostates for the year 2020-21with certain conditions. Thismade an amount up to �4,27,302 crore available to thestates. Of the extra 2 per cent,only 0.5 per cent is uncondi-tional. After that, states will beallowed four increments of0.25 per cent subject to imple-mentation of four specific state-level reforms, where weightageof each reform is 0.25 per centof GSDP.

The four reforms are --implementation of ‘One NationOne Ration Card’ system; easeof doing business reforms;urban local body/utilityreforms; and power sectorreforms by privatising powerdistribution. “The remainingadditional borrowing limit of 1per cent was to be released intwo instalments of 0.50 per centeach - first immediately to allthe States as untied, and thesecond on undertaking at least3 out of the above mentionedreforms,” it said. TheGovernment of India hasalready granted permission tostates to raise the first 0.50 percent as OMB in June 2020.

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Cruiser bikes giant Harley-Davidson on Thursday

said that it plans to close itsmanufacturing facility inHaryana’s Bawal and signifi-cantly reduce the size of its salesoffice in Gurugram.

The development comes aspart of ‘The Rewire’ initiativewhich intends to overhaul thecompany’s operating modeland market structure.

The company said that it ischanging the business model inIndia and evaluating options tocontinue to serve its customers.

“Harley-Davidson plans toclose its manufacturing facili-ty in Bawal and significantlyreduce the size of its salesoffice in Gurgaon(Gurugram),” the companysaid in a statement.

“The company is commu-nicating with its customers inIndia and will keep them

updated on future support.The Harley-Davidson dealernetwork will continue to servecustomers through the contractterm.”

According to the company,these actions are aligned with‘The Rewire’ which is plannedto continue through the end of2020, leading to ‘The Hardwire’,a new strategic plan for 2021-2025 aimed at building desir-ability for the Harley-Davidsonbrand and products.

New Delhi: The FinanceMinistry on Thursday saidbanks have sanctioned loans ofabout �1.77 lakh crore to 44.2lakh business units under the�3-lakh crore EmergencyCredit Line Guarantee Schemefor the MSME sector reelingunder the slowdown caused bythe coronavirus pandemic.However, disbursement againstthe sanctioned amount stood at�1,25,425 crore to 25.74 lakhMSME units till September21. The scheme is the biggestfiscal component of the �20-lakh crore AatmanirbharBharat Abhiyan packageannounced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanin May to mitigate the distress

caused by the lockdown due toCOVID-19 by providing cred-it to different sectors, especial-ly micro, small and mediumenterprises. The latest numberson ECLGS, as released by theFinance Ministry, comprisedisbursements by all 12 publicsector banks (PSBs), 24 privatesector banks and 31 non-bank-ing financial companies .”As of21 Sept 2020, the total amountsanctioned under the 100%Emergency Credit LineGuarantee Scheme by #PSBsand private banks to #MSMEsand individuals stands at�1,77,353 crore, of which �1,25,425 crore has already beendisbursed,” the finance minis-ter said in a tweet.

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Google India DigitalServices Pvt. Ltd., which

operates the GPay app, has toldthe Delhi High Court that it isallowed to share customerstransaction data with thirdparties with the prior permis-sion of NPCI and payment ser-vice provider (PSP) banks.

The submission has beenmade by Google in its affidavitfiled before a Bench of ChiefJustice DN Patel and JusticePrateek Jalan in response to aPIL seeking action against‘Google Pay’ (GPay) forallegedly violating the RBI’sguidelines related to data local-

isation, storage and sharing.The High Court on

September 24 listed the matterfor hearing on November 10 asthe Centre and Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) have not filed theirresponses yet.

Google, in its affidavit, hascontended that under theUnified Payment Interface(UPI) procedural guidelines,issued by the NationalPayments Corporation of India(NPCI), apps like GPay arepermitted to share customerstransaction data with thirdparties and group companieswith prior permission of NPCIand PSP banks.

It has also said that GPay

only stores ordinary customerdata — like name, address,email ID and transaction relat-ed details — in accordance withthe NPCI guidelines and notpayment sensitive data likedebit card number or UPIPIN.

A customer’s payment sen-sitive data is stored only on theservers of the PSP bank, it hasclaimed.

The affidavit was filed inresponse to the petition byadvocate Abhishek Sharmawho has sought a direction toGoogle not to share any datafrom UPI switch with anyother party.

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The rupee dived 32 paiseto touch a near one-

month low of 73.89 againstthe US dollar on Thursday,following massive sell-offs inequities and concerns overcontinuous surge inCOVID-19 cases.

Besides, stronger dol-lar against key rivals cur-rencies and robust outflowsof foreign funds fromdomestic markets weighedon forex market sentiment.

At the interbank forexmarket, the Indian currencyopened on a weak note at73.82 and traded in a rangeof 73.75 and 73.96 a dollarduring the session.

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Delhi: As Delhi-NCR hasbeen recognised as “the largeststartup ecosystem in India”,Villgro, one of leading incu-bators in India, has come withthe 4th edition of its socialstartup discovery platform“iPitch 2020” to boost thegrowing culture of socialentrepreneurship.

iPitch 2020 aims to bringtogether country’s top incuba-tors and impact investors togain access to India’s mostinnovative and impactful star-tups. Social entrepreneurs willbenefit from a unified platformfor funding, incubation, andmentorship through a singleplatform.The application is open till

September 30.

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First things first, thisnew 1330cc tur-

bocharged petrol engine onthe Nissan Kicks and onthe Renault Duster is ablast. It is by far and awaythe most powerful smallengine available in Indiaright now. Its 156PS ofpower is 10 per cent greaterthan the 1.4 GDi turbo onthe Creta and Seltos. Whenyou press the throttlepedal, you realise that it isnot just a number, theKicks can move. With thiscar, you genuinely need tobe constantly wary of thehundreds of speed camerasthat the Delhi Traffic Policehave been installing acrossthe city since once you getthe hang of the powerband, you just ride theturbo. It is addictive — thepower on this car. TheContinuously VariableTransmission (CVT) is notbad either. It does ensurethat you stay within a prop-er engine range for fun ifthat is what you want andis conservative at lowerurban speeds as well.

However, then youshow this car a corner. Oflate, I have become quiteaccustomed to even mass-produced small hatchbackshaving good handling athigher speeds. Some smallcars have even surprisedme with handling that youwould have thought is farabove their price band, theHyundai Grand i10 comesto mind here. The Kicks,on the other hand, feel old.That is because it is old,based on the first-genera-

tion Duster platform. Infact, the Duster and Kickshave been upgraded withthis engine and transmis-sion at the same time.Initially, I thought this cardid not have traction con-trol as there was no ‘off ’switch for that feature. Butlater, I discovered that itdid have a permanentlyenabled TCS. Maybe theTCS needs a bit of fine tun-ing but it is a good thingthat owners cannot switchit off at the push of a but-ton. It’s because the Kickswill teach you understeer ifyou hit a corner a bitaggressively. But at speedsthat the Korean twins andeven the S-Cross can man-

age fairly nonchalantly.However, in a straight line,the Kicks Turbo is fabu-lously fun.

The other issue I havewith this car, in addition tothe silly card-like keys thatNissan and Renault keepusing, are the quality of theinteriors and the plastics.The seats with their quilt-ed leather are very com-fortable but the instru-ment cluster keels ratherlike a low-end display,given the display on com-petition cars. The Kicks’remarkably tiny pedal areastill feels small even withone pedal removed.

The plastics also feel abit low-end and you feel

that on the bare plasticsteering wheel in particu-lar and with the blankedout area for steering con-trols. You can get betterinteriors for the price, eventhough the mid-specKorean twins that theKicks goes up against (inprice) are not as fancy astheir top-spec versions.On the XV CVT that I wasdriving, Apple CarPlay andAndroid Auto came asstandard through thetouchscreen but I did findthe factory-fitted speakersa bit off the mark. Rear-seat comfort while cruisingis no better nor worsethan the competition butthe sharply raked rearmeans that storage spacemight feel a bit compro-mised.

That said, if you likedriving and most impor-tantly, you understandsome nuances of corneringand dealing with power,the Kicks is amazing albeitit might prove to be unfor-giving and can easily catchyou out. But 150+ horse-power at 13 lakh on-road,if you buy the manual, isstunning value for power!

I first drove the BMW X4around the Blue Ridge

mountains on the borderbetween North and SouthCarolina in the summer of2018. This is because most ofthe BMW manufactures’ ‘X’range of Sports Util ityVehicles is at a factory inSpartanburg, South Carolina.In fact, if Donald Trump hadimposed taxes on Europeanimports into the United Statesand Europe had responded,BMW would have been theworst affected carmakerbecause it would have sufferedfrom both ends.

Opposite the factory, thereis a BMW track where theytest their SUVs. There was onesweeping left-hander, which inthe US is on the other side ofthe steering wheel, and had anegative camber. That is theinside of the turn was higherthan the outside, quite unliketurns on most racetrackswhich are angled into theturn, described as positivecamber. In a positive camberturn, the most extreme exam-ples of which are oval race-tracks in the US, the bankingof the corner helps turn thecar into the corner with lesssteering input, thanks to cen-trifugal force. In a negativecamber corner, you are fight-ing that force that wants topull you down and those arechallenging for both the car aswell as the driver. But in atwo-ton SUV, it is even morechallenging because of thesheer weight of the car. Thefact that SUVs aren’t reallysporty.

Then you drive the X4through that turn and getshocked at just how well ithandles it, even after a coupleof laps having switched someof the driver aids off. It is a tes-tament to just how superlativehandling has become on someSUVs, that a corner like thatwhich might have led to arollover at higher speeds adecade ago, can be handled sodarn easily. One reason forthat is the couple like shape of

the X4, giving it a lower stancethan the X3 on which it isbased. On the twisty hill roadsin the Carolina’s, the X4 wasreally fun to drive. Well, theX4 30d, the top-end variantthat BMW India sells, is justhow I remember it around thecorners. Fast and steady.

But then you realise thatout here in India, it is quitedifficult to make a case for acar like this. The BMW X3might not have this amazingengine and definitely cannottake the corners as well, but itmakes much more practicalsense here. Firstly, the X4 is afar more driver-oriented carthan the X3, and unless you

are driving yourself all thetime, one can question theextra �5,00,000 you spend ona comparable 30i petrol-engine variant. I agree that the265hp 30d variant with thethree-litre turbocharged dieselis not available on the X3 butthat just highlights my pointthat the X4 is a driver’s car. Ifyou really want drivability, thefive-series sedan with thepetrol engine is �10,00,000less, although the M Sport530i with all the toys costs 61lakh, the sedan is better.

Yes, the X4 will stand outand the 30d has a lot of powerto get out of almost any situ-ation. But the X4 is targeted ata single person or a youngcouple because the X3 is a lotmore practical with its shapeable to hold a lot more luggageinside. I feel that the X4 30dis better value in terms of itsoverall package than theJaguar F-Pace or even thePorsche Macan, the latterbeing a bit pricier. TheMercedes-Benz GLC Coupe300d is its biggest rival. While,even in the case of the Merc,I’d buy the standard GLCbody shape, I think theBimmer wins on the han-dling front. The X4 is anexcellent vehicle but maybethis is because I’m gettingolder now, I just cannot seethe logic of it when the X3 isaround.

The illegal tiger trade is threateningthe survival of one of nature’s mostbeautiful beasts. Exposing the

shocking secrets of illegal tiger farms andthe power players who profit, formerRoyal Marine Commando Aldo Kaneuncovers key trafficking routes connect-ing Malaysia, China, Thailand, Laos andVietnam, covertly filming the traffickers,and meeting those trying to conservetigers. He calls the series, Tigers: Huntingthe Traffickers, a gripping, fearless and anaction-packed investigation into the sick-ening network of ruthless, organisedwildlife crime. It’s also a crusading film,with enough clout to ignite a campaignfor real change, before a majestic speciesis wiped out completely. Excerpts:

�What is the film about? We look at how the growth in illegal

tiger farms throughout Southeast Asia andChina is stimulating a demand for tigerproducts like tiger bone, wine and glue.Tiger trafficking is now big business andthis rise in demand is having a devastat-ing effect on the world’s wild tiger pop-ulation as a premium is now paid for itswild provenance. This film investigates themurky underworld of the illegal tigerfarms feeding this demand. It is about thecomplex issues that surround the tradeand tries to raise awareness of the imme-diate threat to these endangered animals.I, alongside a team of investigators, try toexpose and piece together the shockingsecrets of the illegal tiger farms and thosewho profit. Numbers of wild tigers inmuch of Southeast Asia are declining andwild tigers risk getting extinct if this ille-gal trade continues and is left unchecked.

�What attracted you to this project?Since I first joined the Royal Marines

at the age of 16, I have spent many yearstravelling the globe and a huge amountof time in the jungles of Southeast Asia.I still remember the exhilarating feelingof sharing the dense forests with the wildtiger — for me, the most majestic Apexpredator. Since then, I have been fascinat-ed by these beautiful creatures and acute-ly aware of their plight as an endangeredspecies.

A few years ago, I was talking withdirector Orlando Von Einsiedel fromGrain Media about such risky storieswhich needed to be told. And this onetopped the list. Telling a story of aspecies closer to extinction partly due toman’s desire to turn it into “luxury” prod-ucts would require intricate storytelling,investigative journalism and a healthydose of risk-taking. It felt like the perfectproject to me.

�You have spent the last few years work-ing with anti-poaching patrols. Whatmotivated you to expose tiger traffick-ing?

I have been working over the yearswith a charity that offers former service

personnel the opportunity to play a crit-ical role in conservation and the preven-tion of wildlife crime around the world.As highly military trained individuals, ourwork on the ground is very much focussedon training and mentoring anti-poachingunits to deal with illegal poaching. Thepoachers, who are risking their lives forvery little in return, are very often the oneswith the least options. The real issue is theorganised trafficking networks acrossSoutheast Asia and the increasing demandfor illegal products. Poaching happensbecause there is a demand for an illegalanimal product.

It soon became very clear to me thatall anti-poaching operations were beingcontinually undermined by this growingdemand, high-tech trafficking syndicatesand endemic governmental corruption.Where there is a demand, there will alwaysbe someone willing to risk their life to sup-ply. That is why I wanted to try and findout more about the networks, the organ-ised crime and the government complic-ity in this illegal and lucrative trade.

�What were the on-ground challenges?Carrying out this investigation was

fraught with challenges. The trade spans

nearly all across Southeast Asia — fromMalaysia right up through Thailand,Laos, Vietnam and further into China.Due to the nature of the trade in thesecountries, trafficking can also be linkedto other illegal activities such as drugsmuggling, illegal logging and human traf-ficking. So the level of risk and danger isquite high. But the biggest challenge andrisk was to the investigators we workedalongside because in some of these coun-tries they could risk their lives for expos-ing these illegal trade operations. For me,the biggest challenge was feeling quitehelpless at the industrial scale of the trade.

�You have put yourself in someextremely risky situations to make thisfilm. How has your former life as a RoyalMarines Commando Sniper equippedyou to deal with them?

My background turned out to be valu-able throughout the filming. I was able touse many of the skills I was taught in theMarines like collecting useful informationfor the investigation. Often, it was justmyself and my director Laura out on theground, gathering information. We hadto plan operations as if they were a mil-itary tasking, taking into account vehiclemoves, communications, actions andworst-case scenario planning. Flexibilityis the biggest asset to any live investiga-tion. Sometimes, we would be out on theground for 18 hours and then all of a sud-den, we had to follow a different lead intoa different country, the whole time beingaware that what we were doing wasincredibly risky and dangerous.

�Any memorable or shockingmoment...

One of the most memorable partsabout the filming was spending time with

the Counter Tiger Poaching units in theTaman Negara National Park, Malaysia.We spent weeks in the jungle trackingdown tiger poachers. They have dedicat-ed their lives to the protection of the fewwild tigers left in Malaysia. It’s frustrat-ing that their efforts are being complete-ly undermined by the industrial scalepoaching taking place in their own back-yard. The wild tigers are being traffickedNorth into Vietnam and China where apremium is fetched as the dead orbutchered ones are worth more than thosealive and wild. It was truly great to spendtime with these dedicated and loyalteams, learning how they operate andwhat their biggest challenges were. Thisgave me the background knowledge anddrive to find out more about the illegaltrade.

For me, the most shocking scenesrevealed how large some tiger facilitieswere. I also visited some places wherehundreds of tigers were locked up in cages.The tiger trade is hidden from sight,unlike the ivory or rhino trade where thebrutality is on show for the world to see.The world is largely unaware of the bru-tal way in which they are farmed and ulti-mately slaughtered for their bones.Breaking into these facilities to expose thecruelty these tigers are exposed to is a vitalpart of bringing the truth to the widerworld.

�Why should people watch the film andwhat do you hope they’ll take away fromit?

Anyone with an interest in conserva-tion should watch this film. It is an inves-tigation into the destruction and extinc-tion of an apex predator, an insight intohow the commodification of a farmedproduct can affect an entire wildlifespecies. It is an action-packed, thrillingshocker of an investigation that will takethe viewer to some unexpected places. Ihope that this film will make a small dif-ference and add to the weight of work thatinternational and local NGOs are doingin the field of tiger protection and con-servation.

(The series premieres on October 3 at9 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)

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It’s a well-known fact that rice has alwaysbeen a staple food in Asia but we usu-ally think or talk about white rice.

However, did you know about black rice, thesurprising health benefits that it consists?Well, it has properties such as anti-inflam-matory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes andantioxidants. This superfood is also a richsource of nutrients and minerals like pro-tein, fiber, iron and copper. Unprecedentedtimes like these calls for boosting ourimmune system. The rich source of antiox-idants in black rice helps to build up theimmunity and improves the body’s abilityto fight diseases.

Black rice, also known as as forbiddenrice or purple rice, used to be a valuablecommodity in ancient China and this is whyevery grain of it was seized and consumedby the royalty only. Hence, the term forbid-den was coined. It mainly grows in theNortheast (called as Chak Hao) and theSouthern parts (called as Kavuni in Tamil)of India. In order to select the best variety,closely look at the colour of the rice — thedarker the shade, the more nutrition it has.Here are a few benefits and uses of it:

RICH IN ANTIOXIDANTSBlack rice is a grain, which is loaded

with antioxidants. The deep black colour isa mark of its antioxidant properties. Theanthocyanin content found in it is way morethan most of the grains and this is whatmakes it stand out in comparison to othersuperfoods such as quinoa and red rice.Despite being less popular than other rice

varieties, research shows that black rice hasthe highest overall antioxidant capacity andactivity. Antioxidants protect cells againstoxidative stress caused by free radicals.Adding black rice to your meal helps in moredisease protecting antioxidants. Studieshave shown that the anthocyanin antioxi-dants in grains helps the body to protect

against heart diseases, cancer and manymore. It is good for eye, immune health andskin as well.

LOADED WITH FIBERBlack rice is loaded with fiber and min-

erals. A typical bowl of 100 gm of black riceserving has over 4.9 grams of fiber. This is

double the amount available in brown rice.If you are looking for a fiber rich diet thenit is better to start consuming black rice.

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIESBlack rice is a natural healing food.

Research has shown that it helps in reduc-ing inflammatory compounds in your bodyand increase the anti-inflammatory com-pounds. This increase in the anti-inflamma-tory compounds further help in reducinginflammation in various diseases such ascancer, arthritis and allergies.

A NATURAL DETOXIFYING AGENT It is a rich and natural detoxifying agent.

Studies have shown that the phytonutrientsin black rice help detoxify your body andremove harmful toxins from your liver. Ithelps the liver to flush out waste materialwith its antioxidant property. So next timeyou throw a party, have a detox week by con-suming it.

A GLUTEN-FREE GRAINGluten is a group of seed storage pro-

teins found in cereal grains. Eating foodswith gluten causes an immune reaction thatdamages the lining of their small intestines.Since most nutrients are absorbed through

the small intestine, this can lead to nutrition-al deficiencies. And black rice is naturallygluten-free. If you are allergic to gluten andhave the Celiac (an autoimmune disorderthat’s triggered when you eat gluten) disease,then you should consider having black ricein your daily diet plan. The potential to causeintestinal damage is a major disadvantageof gluten. Gluten can also cause abdominaland bloating pain. Not everyone can digestit easily. Black rice provides all healthy nutri-ents including protein and fiber.

FIGHTS DIABETESThe black rice bran contains fiber, which

in turn helps glucose to be absorbed by yourbody over a longer period of time. Researchhas proven that eating whole grains likeblack rice helps your body lower the risk ofType 2 Diabetes and also keeps your weightin check in addition to boosting your ener-gy levels. It maintains consistent sugar level.So if you are a diabetic person, you mustsubstitute your regular rice with black oneas it’s way better and helps fight diabetes.

YOUR WEIGHT LOSS PARTNERSince it’s a whole grain and super-rich

in fiber, this combination helps your bodyreduce signals of hunger, thus, helping in

preventing overeating. In addition,researchers have found out that it helps pre-vent insulin resistance in your body, whichleads to and is related to the risk of becom-ing overweight or obese. So if you are some-one who is looking to reduce weight, startwith including black rice in your weight lossregime.

PROMOTES HEALTHY HEARTA healing food like black rice has been

shown to reduce the atherosclerotic plaqueformation in the arteries, which is the mainreason for a heart attack and stroke. In addi-tion to this, it also helps to reduce the twocommon factors in heart disease, namelyLDL, triacylglycerol and total cholesterol.Consider including forbidden rice to pro-mote a healthy heart and keep heart-relat-ed ailments at bay.

SUPPORTS EYE HEALTHIt includes zeaxanthin and lutein that

protect retina from damaging free radicals.Hence, black rice is an ideal food for achiev-ing a healthy body. They are a package ofnutrients with several health benefits.Switch to black rice to stay fit!

(The author is the co-founder of NaturallyYours.)

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Page 12: ˘ ˘ˇ ˆ ˆ...2020/09/25  · Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided to join the farm-ers’ protests. The farmers have also received support from 18 political parties, including

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Frank Lampard said KaiHavertz is just getting start-

ed after opening his Chelseaaccount with a hat-trick in a 6-0 thrashing of Barnsley, whileArsenal also booked their placein the League Cup fourth roundwith a 2-0 win at Leicester.

Havertz had struggled tomake an impact in hisfirst two Premier Leaguegames since sealing areported $94 millionmove from BayerLeverkusen as the mostexpensive signing ofChelsea’s £200 millionspending spree in thetransfer market.

But the 21-year-oldGerman was one of just threeplayers to retain his place fromSunday’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpooland Lampard’s decision reapedits reward as he scored his firstsenior hat-trick.

“I am delighted with Kai,it was everything I wantedfrom him,” said Lampard.

“He had no pre-seasonso I wanted to give himmore time on the pitch withhis teammates, learning howwe play and press. It was a greatnight for Kai and it is the first of

many for him.”Thiago Silva and Ben

Chilwell also made their Chelseadebuts, while Tammy Abrahamand Ross Barkley made themost of rare starts to get theirnames on the scoresheet.

Abraham pounced on loosepass deep in the Barnsley half toslam home the opener beforeHavertz’s calm finish opened his

C h e l s e a

account.A brilliant unselfish flick

from Abraham teed Havertzup perfectly to convert his sec-ond after Barkley drove home onhis weaker left foot.

Havertz was due to bereplaced by Chilwell 25 minutesfrom time but just completed hishat-trick in time by roundingBrad Collins before tapping intoan empty net before OlivierGiroud completed the scoring.

“I am very happy to scorethree goals, but this is just mybeginning at the club and I wantto score more and more goals,”said Havertz.

Arsenal won the only all-Premier League tie of the nightas Christian Fuchs’s own goalbroke the deadlock at the King

Power.Eddie Nketiah added a

late second for the Gunners,who could face Liverpool

at Anfield twice in threedays next week shouldthe Premier Leaguechampions progress pastLincoln.

Everton continuedtheir fine start to the sea-son with a 5-2 win at

League One Fleetwooddespite two howlers fromEngland number one goal-

keeper Jordan Pickford. Also,Newcastle thrashed League TwoMorecombe 7-0.

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Former Australia batsmanDean Jones, one of the finest

exponents of ODI cricket, diedof a sudden cardiac arrest inMumbai on Thursday.

Jones, 59, was in Mumbaiwith the Star Sports’ commen-tary team for the Indian PremierLeague. He was in a bio-bubblein a city hotel. He is survived byhis wife and two daughters.

Jones played 52 Tests and164 ODIs for Australia and waspart of the 1987 World Cup win-ning team.

“It is with great sadnessthat we share the news of thepassing away of Mr DeanMervyn Jones AM. He died of asudden cardiac arrest,” StarSports said a press release.

“We express our deep con-dolences to his family and standready to support them in thisdifficult time. We are in touch

with the Australian HighCommission to make the neces-sary arrangements,” the releaseadded.

According to an IPL source,it happened in matter of sec-onds.

“Deano was standing in thehotel lobby and he suddenly col-lapsed. Brett Lee was standingby his side. Brett tried to revivehim by applying CPR (CardioPulmonary Resuscitation) buthe didn’t respond,” said thesource.

“He was then taken toHarkisan Das Hospital inGirgaon where he wasannounced dead on arrival.”

Jones’ family is inMelbourne and the AustralianHigh Commission is in touchwith them.

A player well ahead of histime, Jones scored over 6068ODI runs at an average of 44.61with seven hundred and 46fifties.

For Indian fans, he will for-

ever remain in their memory forthe historic tied Test in Chepauk,where he laid the foundation ofa big Australian score with anunbeaten double hundred inchallenging conditions.

There was an iconic pictureof Jones throwing up while bat-ting and so severely dehydratedhe was that he had to be admit-ted to a hospital during thecourse of the Test match.

In ODI cricket and thosenumerous World Series Cupmatches on Australia’s Channel9, Jones, clad in yellow jerseyand the lips lined with zinccream is still etched in memo-ries of the late 80s and early 90sgeneration.

In ODI cricket, he wouldoften charge down the trackagainst fast bowlers and hittingthem over in-field. He played amatch winning knock againstIndia in the 1992 World Cup inBrisbane, a thriller that India lostby one run.

In his post retirement life he

performed the role of a cricketanalyst for various channels,primarily in South Asia — Indiaand Pakistan, where he wasimmensely popular.

One of the Indian newschannel named him ProfessorDeano, a moniker that stuck withhim and was also his Twitterhandle.

He could polarise opinionand would often get trolled. Healso once courted controversyfor calling Hashim Amla “terror-ist” on air, a light-hearted com-ment but the racist undertoneforced the particular broadcast-er to take him off air.

His online banter with fellowcommentator and Trans Tasmanall-rounder Scott Styris wasenjoyed and lapped up by newgeneration of cricket followers.

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Skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni’s much-awaited pro-

motion in the batting order willbe an area of interest whenChennai Super Kings strive topick up pieces against a confidentDelhi Capitals in their third IPLencounter on Friday.

The shock defeatagainst Rajasthan Royalson a batting belter atSharjah could be primar-ily attributed to a poorshow by their spinnersalong with a disastrous 20thover but the batsmen can’tabsolve themselves completely,especially Murali Vijay, KedarJadhav and the skipper himself.

Dhoni had come in to bat atnumber seven, promoting thelikes of Sam Curran, Jadhav andRuturaj Gaikwad ahead of him-self but the ploy backfired badlyleaving Faf du Plessis with toomuch work in too little time.

While his fans still swear byhis six-hitting ability, a closer lookwould show that Dhoni is unableto change the gears againstexpress pace and it was onlywhen Tom Curran came with hismedium fast, Dhoni launched anattack. That too when the matchas a contest was over.

However on a big Dubaiground with bigger-sized bound-aries, the skipper can rotate thestrike better unlike Sharjah andalso take those extra deliveries tosettle down.

For Delhi Capitals, winninga cliffhanger right at the onsetwould have given them a lot ofconfidence even thoughRavichandran Ashwin’s probableabsence after a shoulder injurycould force them to reshuffletheir bowling line-up.

Senior spinner AmitMishra could be an optionto partner Axar Patel incase Ashwin is unable to

make it.The cushion of bigger

boundaries can always help awrist spinner attack more by toss-ing the ball up.

Another aspect will be pacerMohit Sharma’s performance.While Mohit got KL Rahul at thebeginning but his loose deliver-

ies at the back-endmade things diffi-cult for the Capitalseven as KagisoRabada bowledtightly at one end.

Against a sidelike CSK which revels in attack-ing the last 10 overs, the Capitalsmight like to try Harshal Patel,who is also a handy batsman atany number having opened indomestic cricket.

This is if Ishant Sharma,who is still nursing an ankleinjury is available.

Anrich Nortje in his first IPLgame wasn’t bad but left-armerDaniel Sams could create thoseawkward angles that batsmen dis-like.

Shimron Hetmyer is likely toget one more chance unlessRicky Ponting wants to bring in

some stability in theform of Alex Carey.

MATCHES 21CHENNAI SUPER KINGS 15DELHI CAPITALS 06

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London: Chelsea on Thursdayannounced the signing of goal-keeper Edouard Mendy fromRennes on a five-year deal fora reported fee of 22 millionpounds.

The Senegalese interna-tional will compete with KepaArrizabalaga and WillyCaballero for a starting spot atStamford Bridge.

“I am so excited to bejoining Chelsea,” said Mendy.“It’s a dream for me to be a partof this exciting squad and towork with Frank Lampard andall of his coaching staff.

“I look forward to meetingmy team-mates and can’t waitto get started.” AFP

Barcelona: Atletico Madridannounced the signing ofBarcelona forward Luis Suarezon Wednesday, confirming theUruguayan striker is set to con-tinue playing in La Liga ratherthan joining Juventus in Italy.

Barcelona said that Atleticohad agreed to pay six millioneuros for Suarez, who left his lasttraining session in tears onWednesday having been toldover the summer that he was nolonger required by new coachRonald Koeman.

Since joining Barca from

Liverpool in 2014, Suarez haswon a host of trophies, includ-ing the 2015 Champions Leagueand four Liga titles.

He leaves as the club’s thirdhighest scorer with 198 goalsbehind Cesar Rodriguez (232)and Lionel Messi (634).

The move to Barcelona’s LaLiga rivals follows a failedattempt to join Juventus.

Juve coach Andrea Pirlodisclosed last week a deal wasunlikely because of delays in theUruguayan’s bid to get an Italianpassport. AFP

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Skipper Virat Kohli explainedhow the Yo-Yo test helped

Indian cricketers aim for high-level fitness when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi askedhim about the mandatory run-ning aerobic fitness routine.

Prime Minister Modi wasinteracting with fitness expertsand influencers from acrossthe country to mark the one-year anniversary of the Fit IndiaMovement.

Modi was keen to knowwhat is Yo-Yo test and asked ifthe captain also has to pass it orhe gets spared?

“I heard these days there isa Yo-Yo test for the team, whatis this test,” asked Modi duringthe virtual interaction.

Kohli, smiling, replied,“This Test was very importantfrom fitness point of view. If wetalk about global fitness level,

our fitness level is still lowcompared to other teams andwe want to take it up, which isa basic requirement.”

The gruelling routine hastwo sets of cones that are 20metres apart. Once the beep issounded, the athlete has toreach the marker on the otherside by the time the next beepsounds, turn and get back towhere he started before thethird beep.

The frequency of the beepsgradually increases for the sub-sequent runs.

Kohli, who is currently inthe UAE for the IPL, said evenhe has to clear the test to getselected for the India team.

“I’m the one who goes torun first and this is the condi-tion that if I fail that I am alsonot available for selection. It isimportant to set that culture andit will lead to improvement inoverall fitness levels.”

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Skipper KL Rahul smashedthe first century of the 2020Indian Premier League to

propel Kings XI Punjab to adaunting 206 for 3 against RoyalChallengers Bangalore here onThursday.

Rahul, who was dropped inthe 17th and then again in the18th over by RCB skipper ViratKohli, played the role of sheetanchor, scoring 132 off 69 ballsthat was laced with 14 bound-aries and seven sixes.

With his spectacular knock,he surpassed Rishabh Pant topost the highest individual scoreby an Indian in IPL history.

Playing his 60th innings,

Rahul also became thefastest Indian to reachthe 2000 IPL runs.

The stylish batsmanclipped away a fulllength delivery to fineleg for four to breakSachin Tendulkar’srecord, who reachedthe milestone in 63matches.

Opening thebatting withR a h u l ,M a y a n kAgarwal (26)looked dan-gerous andshared a 57-runstand with his captain.However, with the introduc-

tion of spin into the attack in theseventh over, Yuzvendra Chahal(1/25) struck with the last ball,cleaning up Agarwal (26) with adelightful googly.

Nicholas Pooran (17) andGlenn Maxwell (5) once againfailed to make an impact asShivam Dube (2/33) accountedfor the duo. Karun Nair pitchedin with an eight-ball 15.

The pace troika of UmeshYadav (0/35), Dale Steyn (0/57)and Navdeep Saini (0/37) had atorrid time as the KXIP skipperwas on fire in his second gameas captain.

All players wore black arm-bands to honour Australiancricketer turned commentator

Dean Jones, whodied inMumbai dueto a cardiacarrest onThursday.

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