˘ ˇ€¦ · 23 hours ago  · bloody LAC brawl, with each ... test for medical colleges will also...

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I ndia and China blamed each other on Thursday over the bloody LAC brawl, with each side holding the other respon- sible for tension along the Line of Actual Control. While India accused China of disregarding mutual agree- ments leading to the brawl on June 15 in the Galwan valley leaving 20 Indian Army per- sonnel dead, China said the Indian side crossed the LAC for provocation and attacked the Chinese border troops and the Indian forces seriously violat- ed agreements on border issues between the two countries. Reiterating India’s posi- tion, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said here the Chinese side departed from previously agreed understand- ing in respect to the Galwan valley area and sought to erect structures just across the LAC). “When this attempt was foiled, Chinese troops took violent actions on June 15 that directly resulted in casualties,” the Spokesperson asserted. He said the conduct of Chinese forces this year has been in complete disregard of all mutu- ally agreed norms. On the other hand, Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidon said, “The onus is not on China. The Indian side crossed the LAC for provoca- tion and attacked the Chinese border troops. The Indian forces seriously violated agree- ments on border issues between the two countries.” He said China was ready to work with India to resolve stand-offs and cautioned “sus- picion and friction” was a wrong path to follow. India and China are able to properly manage their differ- ences, and called upon New Delhi to avoid taking actions that may “complicate” the sit- uation in eastern Ladakh. He went on to add that at present, the overall situation in the China-India border areas is “stable and controllable.” “We hope the Indian side meets the Chinese side halfway, avoids taking actions that may complicate the border situation and takes concrete actions to maintain stability in the border areas,” he said in an interview to PTI. But India insisted that the Chinese tried to change the sta- tus quo in Ladakh in mid-May with the MEA saying India had registered its protest through diplomatic and military chan- nels. On June 6, the senior com- manders of both the armies agreed on a process for de-esca- lation and disengagement along the LAC that involved recip- rocal actions. However, the Chinese side departed from these under- standings in respect of the LAC in the Galwan valley area and sought to erect structures just across the LAC. When this attempt was foiled, Chinese troops took violent actions on June 15 that directly resulted in casualties. Thereafter, both sides remain deployed in large numbers in the region, while military and diplomatic con- tacts are continuing, Srivastava said. He also said since early May, the Chinese side has been amassing a large contingent of troops and armaments along the LAC. This is not in accor- dance with the provisions of our various bilateral agree- ments, the Spokesperson said. Meanwhile, the Chinese Ambassador said “mutual respect and support” is a sure way and meets the long-term interests of both countries, but at the same time, largely put the onus on India to ease tension in the region. “China and India are both large developing countries and emerging economies with more than one billion people, and both have the historic mission of realising our own development and revitalisation,” he said. “Under the guidance of the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, we are ready to work with the Indian side to properly deal with the current situation, jointly uphold peace and stability in the border areas, and ensure a sound and steady development of bilater- al relations,” Sun said. The Chinese envoy repeat- ed his Government’s stand that Indian troops are responsible for the Galwan valley clashes, and indicated that the onus was on India to improve the situa- tion in eastern Ladakh. The Ambassador said the two sides kept peace for decades in Galwan valley, adding since the beginning of 2020, the Indian side has built facilities at or the crossing of the LAC in the Galwan valley, “constantly changing the status quo of ground control. On May 6, he claimed the Indian troops crossed the LAC in the Galwan valley by night and trespassed into Chinese territory. “They resorted to violent means to create a stand- off between the two sides and built infrastructures in an attempt to maintain a perma- nent presence,” he alleged. The ambassador said the Indian side promised in the talks on June 6 that they would not cross the estuary of the Galwan river to patrol and build facilities, adding the two sides agreed to build observa- tion posts on either side of the Galwan river mouth. “However, after the com- mander-level meeting, when the situation on the ground was already easing, the Indian bor- der troops copped out on the consensus reached at the com- mander-level meeting, demand- ed that China dismantle its observation post,” he said. I n view of the recent face-off with China, the Delhi Hotels and Restaurant Owners’ Association (DHROA) on Thursday announced to boy- cott Chinese goods as well as not provide accommodation to Chinese nationals in the bud- get hotels and guest houses in the city. Delhi has about 3,000 bud- get hotels and guest houses with about 75,000 rooms have decided to extend its support to “Boycott Chinese Campaign” call taken by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT general secretary. “We are pleased to inform you that our association has decided to wholeheartedly sup- port the campaign of CAIT and as such we have decided to boy- cott Chinese goods which are being used in our hotels and restaurants and henceforth we shall not be using any Chinese products in our establish- ments,” the Delhi Hotel & Restaurant Owners Association said in the letter to CAIT. Mahendra Gupta, general secretary of DHROA said the manner in which the Chinese army is behaving with Indian forces at the borders which resulted in killing of 20 Indian soldiers, the hotel industry is deeply upset and having a gross resentment against China and therefore it was decided to join the protest by CAIT. Sandeep, president of DHROA, said the association has also decided not to use any Chinese made products in their hotels and guest houses like furniture, kitchen accessories, cutleries, decorative items etc. Khandelwal while wel- coming the decision of the hotels association said with such a decision it is quite evi- dent that people from all walks of life are more willing to join the campaign of the CAIT. “The CAIT will now make all efforts to rope in other var- ious sectors like farmers, trans- porters, small industries, con- sumers, hawkers, self entre- preneurs, women, entrepre- neurs, etc will make an appeal to them to join the campaign,’ he said. The Delhi Hotels and Restaurant Owners’ Association further said it will also contact hotel associations of other states to make a sim- ilar decision. R aising the pitch of its polit- ical attack on the Congress over the India-China border stand-off, the BJP on Thursday said that the Chinese Government made a donation of 90 lakh to Rajiv Gandhi foundation (RGF), which in turn recommended a free trade agreement with China, tilted heavily in favour of Beijing. Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that RGF which he consider as an “extension” of the Congress received bribes from Chinese embassy. Reacting to the allegations on Rajiv Gandhi Foundation receiving some donation from Chinese Embassy in 2005, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the BJP was trying to divert attention. Continued on Page 11 T he CBSE on Thursday con- veyed to the Supreme Court that the rescheduled pending examinations of Class X and XII have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandem- ic. The examination were rescheduled from July 1-15. This means over 30 lakh stu- dents will now be graded on the basis of their last three tests or given an option to appear for exams when the situation is conducive. It is expected to take a final call on this issue on Friday. A decision on rescheduling the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for IITs and the NEET test for medical colleges will also be based on the Supreme Court’s verdict for CBSE Board exams. While engineering entrance exam JEE-Mains is scheduled from July 18-23, medical entrance exam NEET is to be held on July 26. The decision was taken by the CBSE after Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha conveyed their inabil- ity to conduct examinations in the coronavirus crisis. The ICSE Board too said it has also cancelled its Class X and XII board exams with no option of re-examinations. The Supreme Court will issue a comprehen- sive order pertaining to matter on Friday. Continued on Page 11 A 16-year-old Tik Tok star allegedly committed sui- cide by hanging herself at her residence in East Delhi’s Geeta Colony area, police said on Thursday. The deceased girl, Siya Kakkar, had over one million followers on the short-video platform, and another 1.35 lakh on Instagram. Her father found her hang- ing around 9 pm on Wednesday, police said. No suicide note was recov- ered from near the body. The body was sent to Subzi Mandi Mortuary for post-morterm. The reason behind the extreme step is yet to be ascertained. Inquest proceedings have been initiated, the officer said. A mid the continuing face- offs at various points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has ramped up deployment in the area as the Army has pressed heavy duty drones to keep an eye on the Chinese troops’ activities. The ITBP has withdrawn 20 companies (2,000 person- nel) from various counter- insurgency operation roles for deployment in Ladakh, sources said, adding the move came after a review on the sit- uation by the Union Home Ministry. ITBP is a Central para- military under the Home Ministry tasked to secure the nearly 3,500 km Line of Actual Control along the fron- tier with China. ITBP is also the Lead Intelligence Agency in the LAC. Meanwhile, the agencies have spotted tactical drones from China’s People’s Liberation Army scouring Indian positions in eastern Ladakh. The Chinese drones are estimated to be deployed for tactical reconnaissance and were spotted at four Indian positions over the past few weeks. Responding to the Chinese measure, to the Indian Army has also deployed heavy duty drones to gather intelligence on move- ment of Chinese troops and their activities. Indian Army’s 14 Corps has deployed Heron Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones for surveil- lance along the LAC. These heavy duty drones have an endurance of over 24 hours and can fly 10 km high. Ground troops are equipped with portable drones that can be launched by soldiers. An unspecified number of ‘SpyLite’ mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) sys- tems were acquired by the Indian Army exclusively for high-altitude surveillance in the Ladakh sector. Continued on Page11 A ll regular mail, express and passenger services as well as suburban trains have been cancelled till August 12, the Railway Board said on Thursday. Source said that the deci- sion to extend cancellation was taken keeping in mind the increasing number of coron- avirus cases in the country. However, all special trains — 15 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1 — will continue, they said. The limited special subur- ban services which began recently in Mumbai to ferry essential services personnel identified by the local author- ities will also continue to run, officials said. “All tickets booked for the regular time-tabled trains for journey date from 01.07.20 to 12.08.20 also stand cancelled. Full refund will be generated,” the Railway Board order stat- ed. Earlier, the Railways had cancelled all trains till June 30. Meanwhile the Railways has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with RailTel for installation of an IP- based video surveillance system at 6,049 railway stations across the country. These cameras will help in keeping a tab of all the activities at the station premises 24x7. I ndia on Thursday said Pakistan’s continuation in the “grey list” of global terror financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), vin- dicated its position that the western neighbour has not taken any appropriate action against terror networks. “It vindicated our position that Pakistan has not taken appropriate action against ter- ror outfits,” MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during an online media briefing. FATF on Wednesday decided to keep Pakistan in the “grey list” for failing to check flow of money to terror groups. I n the biggest day spike, Maharashtra on Thursday reported 4,841 fresh cases and 192 deaths. Tamil Nadu fol- lowed Maharashtra by adding a record number of 3,509 cases and 45 deaths. Delhi kept pace with these two States and recorded 3,390 fresh cases and 64 deaths. With this India’s death count crosses 15,000 (15,303) mark and total number of cases stood at 4,90,880 with over 17,900 cases in a day. Besides, over 30 personnel attached to Naval Air Station INS Parundu and eight more personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) tested positive in the last 24 hours. Taking note of the highest number of cases, a Central team led by Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal will visit Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana from 26 to 29 June, and will interact with State officials and coordinate with them to strengthen ongo- ing efforts for management of Covid-19. According to Maharashtra health department, the number of cases in the State now stands at 1,47,741 with active cases of 63,342. The total deaths stand at 6,931, with 192 new deaths in the last 24 hours. Mumbai has reported 1,365 fresh cases and 58 deaths, taking the total number of cases in the city to 70,990 and deaths to 4,060. Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has alleged that the Maharashtra Government has not reported around 1,000 deaths in the State so far. Continued on Page 11 Lucknow (PNS): Thirty-six more persons tested positive for coronavirus while a 24-year-old accident victim who was found to be infected with the virus died in hospital in the state capital on Thursday. Chief Medical Officer Dr Narendra Agarwal said that among those who tested positive on Thursday, eight were from reserve police lines, seven from Alambagh, six from a news channel, four from Dial-108 cen- tre, three from Gautampalli, and one each from Vijaynagar, Vivek Khand, Vibhuti Khand, Hussainabad and LDA Colony. A senior official said that eight positive cases detected from the reserve police lines were escorts of a senior police official and two were security staff of the leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary who tested positive. The 24-year-old road acci- dent victim was a resident of Prem Kunj in New Delhi and she was admitted to KGMU hospi- tal at 7:45 am on Thursday and died at 8:15 am due to multiple organ and respiratory failure. The coronavirus hot spots in the city have increased to 92. Meanwhile, the coronavirus infections crossed the 20,000- mark in UP with 654 people test- ing positive. Noida remained a cause of concern for officials as 143 more people tested positive there, followed by 84 in Ghaziabad and 23 in Budaun.

Transcript of ˘ ˇ€¦ · 23 hours ago  · bloody LAC brawl, with each ... test for medical colleges will also...

Page 1: ˘ ˇ€¦ · 23 hours ago  · bloody LAC brawl, with each ... test for medical colleges will also be based on the Supreme ... and 100 pairs operating since June 1 — will continue,

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India and China blamed eachother on Thursday over the

bloody LAC brawl, with eachside holding the other respon-sible for tension along the Lineof Actual Control.

While India accused Chinaof disregarding mutual agree-ments leading to the brawl onJune 15 in the Galwan valleyleaving 20 Indian Army per-sonnel dead, China said theIndian side crossed the LAC forprovocation and attacked theChinese border troops and theIndian forces seriously violat-ed agreements on border issuesbetween the two countries.

Reiterating India’s posi-tion, External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson AnuragSrivastava said here theChinese side departed frompreviously agreed understand-ing in respect to the Galwanvalley area and sought to erectstructures just across the LAC).

“When this attempt wasfoiled, Chinese troops tookviolent actions on June 15 thatdirectly resulted in casualties,”the Spokesperson asserted. Hesaid the conduct of Chineseforces this year has been incomplete disregard of all mutu-ally agreed norms.

On the other hand,Chinese ambassador to India

Sun Weidon said, “The onus isnot on China. The Indian sidecrossed the LAC for provoca-tion and attacked the Chineseborder troops. The Indianforces seriously violated agree-ments on border issuesbetween the two countries.”

He said China was ready towork with India to resolvestand-offs and cautioned “sus-picion and friction” was awrong path to follow.

India and China are able toproperly manage their differ-ences, and called upon NewDelhi to avoid taking actionsthat may “complicate” the sit-uation in eastern Ladakh. Hewent on to add that at present,the overall situation in theChina-India border areas is“stable and controllable.”

“We hope the Indian sidemeets the Chinese side halfway,avoids taking actions that maycomplicate the border situationand takes concrete actions tomaintain stability in the borderareas,” he said in an interviewto PTI.

But India insisted that theChinese tried to change the sta-tus quo in Ladakh in mid-Maywith the MEA saying India hadregistered its protest throughdiplomatic and military chan-nels.

On June 6, the senior com-manders of both the armies

agreed on a process for de-esca-lation and disengagement alongthe LAC that involved recip-rocal actions.

However, the Chinese sidedeparted from these under-standings in respect of theLAC in the Galwan valley areaand sought to erect structuresjust across the LAC. When thisattempt was foiled, Chinesetroops took violent actions onJune 15 that directly resulted incasualties. Thereafter, bothsides remain deployed in largenumbers in the region, while

military and diplomatic con-tacts are continuing, Srivastavasaid. He also said since earlyMay, the Chinese side has beenamassing a large contingent oftroops and armaments alongthe LAC. This is not in accor-dance with the provisions ofour various bilateral agree-ments, the Spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the ChineseAmbassador said “mutualrespect and support” is a sureway and meets the long-terminterests of both countries, butat the same time, largely put the

onus on India to ease tensionin the region.

“China and India are bothlarge developing countries andemerging economies with morethan one billion people, andboth have the historic mission ofrealising our own developmentand revitalisation,” he said.

“Under the guidance ofthe important consensusreached by the leaders of thetwo countries, we are ready towork with the Indian side toproperly deal with the currentsituation, jointly uphold peace

and stability in the borderareas, and ensure a sound andsteady development of bilater-al relations,” Sun said.

The Chinese envoy repeat-ed his Government’s stand thatIndian troops are responsiblefor the Galwan valley clashes,and indicated that the onus wason India to improve the situa-tion in eastern Ladakh.

The Ambassador said thetwo sides kept peace fordecades in Galwan valley,adding since the beginning of2020, the Indian side has builtfacilities at or the crossing ofthe LAC in the Galwan valley,“constantly changing the statusquo of ground control.

On May 6, he claimed theIndian troops crossed the LACin the Galwan valley by nightand trespassed into Chineseterritory. “They resorted toviolent means to create a stand-off between the two sides andbuilt infrastructures in anattempt to maintain a perma-nent presence,” he alleged.

The ambassador said theIndian side promised in thetalks on June 6 that they wouldnot cross the estuary of theGalwan river to patrol andbuild facilities, adding the twosides agreed to build observa-tion posts on either side of theGalwan river mouth.

“However, after the com-mander-level meeting, whenthe situation on the ground wasalready easing, the Indian bor-der troops copped out on theconsensus reached at the com-mander-level meeting, demand-ed that China dismantle itsobservation post,” he said.

�������������� '56 75&89

In view of the recent face-offwith China, the Delhi Hotels

and Restaurant Owners’Association (DHROA) onThursday announced to boy-cott Chinese goods as well asnot provide accommodation toChinese nationals in the bud-get hotels and guest houses inthe city.

Delhi has about 3,000 bud-get hotels and guest houseswith about 75,000 rooms havedecided to extend its support to“Boycott Chinese Campaign”call taken by the Confederationof All India Traders (CAIT),said Praveen Khandelwal,CAIT general secretary.

“We are pleased to informyou that our association hasdecided to wholeheartedly sup-port the campaign of CAIT andas such we have decided to boy-cott Chinese goods which arebeing used in our hotels andrestaurants and henceforth weshall not be using any Chineseproducts in our establish-ments,” the Delhi Hotel &

Restaurant Owners Associationsaid in the letter to CAIT.

Mahendra Gupta, generalsecretary of DHROA said themanner in which the Chinesearmy is behaving with Indianforces at the borders whichresulted in killing of 20 Indiansoldiers, the hotel industry isdeeply upset and having agross resentment against Chinaand therefore it was decided tojoin the protest by CAIT.

Sandeep, president ofDHROA, said the associationhas also decided not to use anyChinese made products in theirhotels and guest houses likefurniture, kitchen accessories,cutleries, decorative items etc.

Khandelwal while wel-

coming the decision of thehotels association said withsuch a decision it is quite evi-dent that people from all walksof life are more willing to jointhe campaign of the CAIT.

“The CAIT will now makeall efforts to rope in other var-ious sectors like farmers, trans-porters, small industries, con-sumers, hawkers, self entre-preneurs, women, entrepre-neurs, etc will make an appealto them to join the campaign,’he said.

The Delhi Hotels andRestaurant Owners’Association further said it willalso contact hotel associationsof other states to make a sim-ilar decision.

����� '56 75&89

Raising the pitch of its polit-ical attack on the Congress

over the India-China borderstand-off, the BJP on Thursdaysaid that the ChineseGovernment made a donationof �90 lakh to Rajiv Gandhifoundation (RGF), which inturn recommended a free tradeagreement with China, tiltedheavily in favour of Beijing.

Union Minister and seniorBJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasadalleged that RGF which heconsider as an “extension” ofthe Congress received bribesfrom Chinese embassy.

Reacting to the allegationson Rajiv Gandhi Foundationreceiving some donation fromChinese Embassy in 2005,Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said the BJPwas trying to divert attention.

Continued on Page 11

���)���%���� '56 75&89

The CBSE on Thursday con-veyed to the Supreme

Court that the rescheduledpending examinations of ClassX and XII have been cancelleddue to the Covid-19 pandem-ic. The examination wererescheduled from July 1-15.This means over 30 lakh stu-

dents will now be graded on thebasis of their last three tests orgiven an option to appear forexams when the situation isconducive. It is expected to takea final call on this issue onFriday.

A decision on reschedulingthe Joint Entrance Examination(JEE) for IITs and the NEETtest for medical colleges willalso be based on the Supreme

Court’s verdict for CBSE Boardexams. While engineeringentrance exam JEE-Mains isscheduled from July 18-23,medical entrance exam NEETis to be held on July 26.

The decision was taken bythe CBSE after Delhi,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu andOdisha conveyed their inabil-ity to conduct examinations inthe coronavirus crisis. TheICSE Board too said it has alsocancelled its Class X and XIIboard exams with no option ofre-examinations. The SupremeCourt will issue a comprehen-sive order pertaining to matteron Friday.

Continued on Page 11

�������������� '56 75&89

A16-year-old Tik Tok starallegedly committed sui-

cide by hanging herself at herresidence in East Delhi’s GeetaColony area, police said onThursday.

The deceased girl, SiyaKakkar, had over one millionfollowers on the short-videoplatform, and another 1.35lakh on Instagram.

Her father found her hang-ing around 9 pm onWednesday, police said.

No suicide note was recov-ered from near the body. Thebody was sent to Subzi MandiMortuary for post-morterm.The reason behind the extremestep is yet to be ascertained.Inquest proceedings have beeninitiated, the officer said.

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����� '56 75&89

Amid the continuing face-offs at various points

along the LAC in easternLadakh, the Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) hasramped up deployment inthe area as the Army haspressed heavy duty drones tokeep an eye on the Chinesetroops’ activities.

The ITBP has withdrawn20 companies (2,000 person-nel) from various counter-insurgency operation rolesfor deployment in Ladakh,sources said, adding the movecame after a review on the sit-uation by the Union HomeMinistry.

ITBP is a Central para-military under the HomeMinistry tasked to secure thenearly 3,500 km Line ofActual Control along the fron-tier with China. ITBP is alsothe Lead Intelligence Agencyin the LAC.

Meanwhile, the agencieshave spotted tactical dronesfrom China’s People’sLiberation Army scouringIndian positions in easternLadakh.

The Chinese drones areestimated to be deployed fortactical reconnaissance and

were spotted at four Indianpositions over the past fewweeks.

Responding to theChinese measure, to theIndian Army has alsodeployed heavy duty drones togather intelligence on move-ment of Chinese troops andtheir activities.

Indian Army’s 14 Corpshas deployed Heron MediumAltitude Long Endurance(MALE) drones for surveil-lance along the LAC.

These heavy duty droneshave an endurance of over 24hours and can fly 10 km high.

Ground troops areequipped with portabledrones that can be launchedby soldiers.

An unspecified number of‘SpyLite’ mini UnmannedAerial Vehicles (UAVs) sys-tems were acquired by theIndian Army exclusively forhigh-altitude surveillance inthe Ladakh sector.

Continued on Page11

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All regular mail, express andpassenger services as well

as suburban trains have beencancelled till August 12, theRailway Board said onThursday.

Source said that the deci-sion to extend cancellation wastaken keeping in mind theincreasing number of coron-avirus cases in the country.

However, all special trains— 15 pairs running on theRajdhani routes since May 12and 100 pairs operating sinceJune 1 — will continue, they said.

The limited special subur-ban services which beganrecently in Mumbai to ferryessential services personnelidentified by the local author-ities will also continue to run,officials said.

“All tickets booked for theregular time-tabled trains forjourney date from 01.07.20 to12.08.20 also stand cancelled.Full refund will be generated,”the Railway Board order stat-ed. Earlier, the Railways hadcancelled all trains till June 30.

Meanwhile the Railwayshas signed a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) withRailTel for installation of an IP-based video surveillance systemat 6,049 railway stations acrossthe country. These cameraswill help in keeping a tab of allthe activities at the stationpremises 24x7.

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India on Thursday saidPakistan’s continuation in

the “grey list” of global terrorfinancing watchdog, FinancialAction Task Force (FATF), vin-dicated its position that thewestern neighbour has nottaken any appropriate actionagainst terror networks.

“It vindicated our positionthat Pakistan has not takenappropriate action against ter-ror outfits,” MEA SpokespersonAnurag Srivastava said duringan online media briefing.

FATF on Wednesdaydecided to keep Pakistan in the“grey list” for failing to checkflow of money to terror groups.

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In the biggest day spike,Maharashtra on Thursday

reported 4,841 fresh cases and192 deaths. Tamil Nadu fol-lowed Maharashtra by addinga record number of 3,509 casesand 45 deaths. Delhi kept pacewith these two States andrecorded 3,390 fresh cases and64 deaths.

With this India’s deathcount crosses 15,000 (15,303)mark and total number ofcases stood at 4,90,880 withover 17,900 cases in a day.

Besides, over 30 personnelattached to Naval Air StationINS Parundu and eight morepersonnel of Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) testedpositive in the last 24 hours.Taking note of the highestnumber of cases, a Centralteam led by Health MinistryJoint Secretary Lav Agarwalwill visit Gujarat, Maharashtraand Telangana from 26 to 29June, and will interact withState officials and coordinatewith them to strengthen ongo-ing efforts for management ofCovid-19.

According to Maharashtrahealth department, the numberof cases in the State now standsat 1,47,741 with active cases of63,342. The total deaths standat 6,931, with 192 new deathsin the last 24 hours. Mumbaihas reported 1,365 fresh casesand 58 deaths, taking the totalnumber of cases in the city to70,990 and deaths to 4,060.Senior BJP leader DevendraFadnavis has alleged that theMaharashtra Government hasnot reported around 1,000deaths in the State so far.

Continued on Page 11

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*-�,������%�� � �����!Lucknow (PNS): Thirty-sixmore persons tested positive forcoronavirus while a 24-year-oldaccident victim who was foundto be infected with the virus diedin hospital in the state capital onThursday.

Chief Medical Officer DrNarendra Agarwal said thatamong those who tested positiveon Thursday, eight were fromreserve police lines, seven fromAlambagh, six from a newschannel, four from Dial-108 cen-tre, three from Gautampalli, andone each from Vijaynagar, VivekKhand, Vibhuti Khand,Hussainabad and LDA Colony.

A senior official said thateight positive cases detectedfrom the reserve police lines were

escorts of a senior police officialand two were security staff of theleader of opposition Ram GovindChaudhary who tested positive.

The 24-year-old road acci-dent victim was a resident ofPrem Kunj in New Delhi and shewas admitted to KGMU hospi-tal at 7:45 am on Thursday anddied at 8:15 am due to multipleorgan and respiratory failure.

The coronavirus hot spots inthe city have increased to 92.

Meanwhile, the coronavirusinfections crossed the 20,000-mark in UP with 654 people test-ing positive. Noida remained acause of concern for officials as143 more people tested positivethere, followed by 84 inGhaziabad and 23 in Budaun.

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With a spike in coronaviruscases in the National

Capital Region, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath has asked offi-cials to pay special attention onMeerut division, including thedistricts of Gautam BuddhaNagar and Ghaziabad.

“All the districts concernedshould have a well-definedstrategy to contain the COVID-19 spread and provide bettertreatment facilities. It is theresponsibility of the officials tosee that the COVID-19 chainis broken,” the chief ministersaid while chairing a high-level Unlock meeting held hereon Thursday.

On Wednesday, 700 coro-navirus positive cases werereported from Uttar Pradeshout of which 114 were report-ed from Ghaziabad, 98 fromGautam Buddha Nagar and 18from Meerut.

The government hasappointed special nodal officersfor these districts to ensure bet-ter coordination between thehealth officials and the districtadministration.

The chief minister alsoasked the officials to ensure thatthe testing labs worked to fullcapacity so as to make contin-uous efforts to ramp up coro-navirus testing and take it to20,000 mark so that a clear pic-ture could emerge.

“To ensure that reportscome in time, keep all themedical equipment in the test-ing labs functional and main-tain adequate numbers of man-power,” Yogi said.

Placing emphasis on theutility of medical screeningteams, the chief minister saidthat more than one lakh suchteams could be an importantlink in controlling the COVID-19. “Make the medical screen-ing process active and furtherstrengthen it by making avail-able infra-red thermometersand pulse oximeters,” Yogi said.

The chief minister alsostressed the need to strike aperfect coordination betweenmedical screening teams andthe ambulance services to pro-vide timely treatment to thepeople.

He asserted that social dis-tancing had to be observed andmaintained strictly in the bar-racks of security forces, includ-ing PAC. He said that intensivepatrolling was a must withextra attention on avoidance ofcrowd gathering. He said strictcontrol should be maintainedin the containment zoneswhere the supply of essentialshad to be ensured.

The chief minister alsodirected officials to make everypossible effort to maintaincleanliness during the rainyseason and sanitation in ruraland urban areas.

“In every district, at leastone community kitchen andone quarantine centre shouldbe in active and functionalmode,” he said.

The chief minister direct-ed officials to ensure availabil-ity of agricultural inputs tofarmers for kharif crops. Heasked the district administra-tions to take care that thefarmers do not have to faceproblems regarding seeds, agri-culture protection chemicalsand fertilisers.

“Keep all the governmenttube-wells operational andmake canals functional by rota-tion,” he said.

The chief minister direct-ed officials to ensure all

arrangements for cattle in cowshelters. He said the chief vet-erinary officers were expectedto take good care of the healthof cattle. He said the animalkeepers should be sensitised forimmunisation for ‘khurpaka’and ‘muhpaka’ diseases in cat-tle.

Those present in the meet-ing included Minister of Statefor Health Atul Garg, ChiefSecretary RK Tiwari,Infrastructure and IndustrialDevelopment CommissionerAlok Tandon, AgricultureProduction CommissionerAlok Sinha, Additional ChiefSecretary (Home andInformation) Awanish KumarAwasthi, Additional ChiefSecretary (Finance) SanjeevMittal, Additional ChiefSecretary (Revenue) RenukaKumar, Director General ofPolice HC Awasthi, AdditionalChief Secretary (MedicalEducation) Rajneesh Dube,Additional Chief Secretary(Health) Amit Mohan Prasad,Additional Chief Secretary toChief Minister SP Goyal,Additional Chief Secretary(MSME) Navneet Sehgal,Additional Chief Secretary(Rural Development andPanchayati Raj) Manoj KumarSingh, Additional ChiefSecretary (Agriculture) DeveshChaturvedi, Principal Secretary(Animal Husbandry)Bhuvnesh Kumar, PrincipalSecretary to CM Sanjay Prasad,Secretary to Chief MinisterAlok Kumar and other seniorofficers.

�5���������������������������Lucknow (PNS): In yet another crackdown onformer UP minister and Samajwadi Party leaderMohammad Azam Khan, the Rampur policearrested his media incharge for being complic-it in a robbery. As per reports, Fazahat Ali Khanaka Shanu was arrested from Top Khana Gateon Wednesday night.

The cops claimed to have recovered cashand other valuables looted in separate incidentsregistered earlier with Ganj and Kotwali policestations. The police claimed that Shanu was alsowanted for loot and assault in Yateem Khanaarea. The cops said that on inputs provided byShanu during quizzing, they recovered twostolen buffaloes from Koyali hamlet.

Lucknow (PNS): Hundreds ofCongress workers led by UPCCpresident Ajay Kumar Lallustaged a protest against contin-uously rising petroleum pricesand accused the government of

Lucknow (PNS): TheAligarh police reportedlyarrested one more person inthe Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalaya teachers recruitmentscam, claiming that the heldaccused had managed jobs formany girls, including his wife,mother-in-law and cousin.

Reports said that on theinformation provided by BabliYadav, who worked as teacherin KGBV’s Bijauli branch inAnamika Shukla’s name, the

Aligarh police arrested herbrother-in-law, Babloo Yadav,from Bulandshahr border onThursday. The cops recovereda mobile phone, PAN card,Aadhaar card in various names,educational certificates andcash from his possession.

Babli is already in jail inconnection with the saidforgery.

Babloo confessed to havecollected Rs 3 lakh to facilitatejob as teacher in KGBV on

basis of forged documents. During interrogation,

Babloo Yadav aka JanardanSingh, a resident of Saidpurarea of Kisni in Mainpuri, dis-closed that he met the kingpinof the racket, Pushpendra akaGuru and his lover Rajbeti, inDecember 2018.

It may be mentioned thatwhile Pushpendra has beenarrested by the Special TaskForce, Rajbeti is still abscond-ing.

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looting public money by hik-ing prices unnecessarily.

The Congress leaders pliedan ikka (horse-cart) to GPO atHazratganj crossing wherethey were stopped by the dis-trict administration and policepersonnel and taken into cus-tody. The police later arrest-ed UP Congress chief AjayKumar Lallu, Mahila Congresschief Mamata Chaudhary, CityCongress chief Mukesh SinghChauhan. The detained lead-ers were later released in theevening. During the protest atGPO, Lallu claimed that dur-ing Congress regime, exciseduty on petrol was �9.20 and�3.40 on diesel which wasincreased to �23.38 on petroland �28.37 on diesel by theNarendra Modi government.

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Lucknow (PNS): Two friends, who hadgone to Gomti river at Ghaila bridge inThakurganj police station to take a dip,drowned on Wednesday night. The policerecovered the bodies on Thursday.

According to sub-inspector ParvezAnsari, the deceased were identified asArun Singh (30) of Madiaon and VijayYadav (29) of Vikas Nagar. As per reports,the youths, identified as Sachin of IndiraNagar, Shikhar Ajay and Dharmendra ofKakori, Pankaj of Thakurganj, Jitendra Palof Bakshi-Ka-Talab, along with Vijay Yadav

of Vikas Nagar and Arun Singh of Madiaon,reached the bank of the river on Wednesdayevening. Vijay, who was a mechanic, hadinvited Arun with whom he had a strongbonding, and other friends for an outing.Arun started drowning soon after hemoved towards the middle and Vijay triedto save him. Both Vijay and Arun drownedwhile their friends unsuccessfully tried tosave them. Late in the night, their familiesreached the bank of the river while search-ing for them and were told that twoyouths had drowned in the river. They

called the police and a team was sent to theplace. The divers tried to search for the duo,but to no avail,” the S-I said. He added thatthe bodies were seen floating on the sur-face of the river on Thursday morning anda team recovered the same. “We sent thebodies for autopsy, reports of which areawaited. There was no foul play in the inci-dent. The families of both the deceased hadnot given any complaint in this regard,” hesaid. The Thakurganj SHO said both thevictims were unmarried and worked in aprivate company.

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Lucknow (PNS): A privatecompany employee was mur-dered and the body dumpedinside an under-constructionhouse in Aliganj. The body wasrecovered on Thursday and thepolice detained two suspects.

As per reports, VinaySharma of Aziz Nagar inMadiaon left his house by his carafter his friend Rupendra Mishracalled him on Tuesday after-noon. Vinay was looking for aplot and Rupendra had calledhim to show one to him.

When Vinay did not returnhome, his family tried callinghim, but to no response. Thefamily then contacted Rupendrabut even he could not be contact-ed. The apprehensive familycontacted the police and lodgeda report in this connection.

The police dialled Vinay’snumber and it was attended bya woman, who said she foundthe phone while on a morningstroll on Wednesday. On the rev-elation, the police reached theplace and searched the area. Theteam found another mobilephone of Vinay lying broken onthe roadside. A few metresahead, the police recoveredVinay’s car. The cops combed thearea and reached an under-con-struction house where theyrecovered the body of Vinay. Thepolice said the body bore injurymarks and was covered under aheap of soil. The police saidVinay’s gold rings and chain werealso missing. Victim’s fatheraccused the police of a sluggishapproach which claimed the lifeof his son. “We were desperate-ly looking for help since Tuesdaynight but the cops wereunmoved,” Vinay’s father said.He lodged a case against Rupeshand some others, accusing themof having murdered his son.

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Lucknow (PNS): In thesedepressing times, there is somegood news as a toddler (1.2years) has defeated coronavirus atKing George’s Medical University(KGMU). Vice-Chancellor DrMLB Bhatt said on Thursday thatwhen the fear of coronavirus is allaround, especially in senior citi-zens and pregnant women, thechild has been discharged fromthe hospital. “Earlier, a 2-year-oldchild had also been successfullycured at the hospital. We havetreated Ceasarian sections, can-cer patients, patients with kidneyproblems, diabetes and even aperson who was HIV positive.There is no need to fear coron-avirus and one has just observeprecautions at all stages,” he said.It may be noted that the 2-year-old child, who was dischargedearlier, was the son of the firstpatient in Lucknow, a 35-year-oldwoman from Canada.

Meanwhile, KGMU signedan MoU with a charitable trust,Lord Education and HealthSociety from Delhi to get the tech-nical support to spread awarenessamong general public.

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All government departmentsin the state capital will also

have Covid helpdesks toanswer queries related to thedisease. Chief Medical OfficerDr Narendra Agarwal saidthey will train personnel fromgovernment departments forthe purpose.

“We have asked the gov-ernment departments to sendone person each, who will betrained by us. If required, wewill also ask private offices tosend people for training forCovid helpdesks since we haveno problem in imparting train-ing,” he said.

He said there has been anincrease in the number ofcases as far as Lucknow’s coro-navirus graph is concerned, butinsisted that it is not a cause ofconcern as they are preparedfor the battle. “Our focus willcontinue to be contact tracingand more testing,” he added.

He said that currently,there are 69 hotspots in the cityand larger ones such as Sadarand Kaiserbagh vegetable haveceased to be the containmentzones. However, some areas

near Phoolbagh are still con-tainment zones. He added thatas per current guidelines, thecontainment zones will contin-ue for a period of only 14 daysif there is no further case.

Meanwhile, AdditionalCMO MK Singh said they arecovering Aliganj under thecontainment zone activity onThursday. With the onset ofmonsoons, he said thoughthere is no research on how thisvirus was impacted by rains,they are expecting rise in thecases of fever in the state cap-ital. He said any case of fever,even if it appears as normal,will be checked for coron-avirus in Lucknow.

“Currently, there is no risein the number of fever casesbut as the monsson sets in, thenumber of fever cases willlikely increase,” he said.

Meanwhile, a senior offi-cial from the CMO office saidthough there is no study on theeffect of monsoons on coron-avirus, if it can keep peopleindoors, it can help in check-ing the spread of infection.

“When the virus had firstmade its way to India, therewere a number of doctors whosaid that a high degree of tem-

perature will make a differenceto the virus, but nothing of thatsort happened. People mustrealise that they have to followrestrictions in a stricter man-ner which will only help curbthe infection in all kinds ofweather conditions,” he added.

Meanwhile, Central DrugResearch Institute (CDRI)director Tapas Kundu said thefirst batch of sequencing ofcoronavirus samples, whichhas already been started, will becompleted by the end of thismonth. The sequencing isbeing carried out to known themutant varieties of coron-avirus. “We had initiallythought of collecting 100 sam-ples but now we are planningto do 300 samples. These willinclude 100 samples from ourown screening of patients andas many from KGMU andSGPGI,” he said.

He said they will bring thefindings in public domain bythe first week of July. “Whenwe finish the sequencing, wewill be analysing the results andinterpreting it in all differentways. We may express themutant protein and then findout whether they need anydrug alterations as a part of our

study,” he said.The mutation is studied to

see whether the coronavirus isdeveloping some changes toavoid the drug which is impor-tant for studying. He said theywill be comparing the workwhich is done by them with theother institutes, both nationalyand internatioanally. He saidthat the mutant varieties willalso be checked for any changesin the course of the disease.

“We have taken few sam-ples of patients who died inorder to study whether therewas mutation in the virus in themoderate form of the diseaseor in severe form. The muta-tion is important to study forand if there is a variation,” headded. He said that in thecountry, only three CSIR insti-tutes are doing this sequencing,which include Institute ofGenomics and IntegrativeBiology (in Delhi), Centre ForCellular and Molecular Biology(Hyderabad) and CDRI. Hesaid that very few hospitals aredoing this kind of sequencing.

“We can carry out sequenc-ing as more samples come in,but we would like to come upwith the analysis with the firstphase completing,” he added.

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Retired sanitation workers of LucknowMunicipal Corporation will be hired by the

Lucknow Development Authòrity (LDA)administration to keep the residential coloniesclean and in hygienic condition. The LDAadministration was said to be looking for ded-icated workers for the purpose, but to no avail.

LDA Vice-Chairman SK Dwivedi was saidto have called retired sanitation inspectors andsupervisors recently to offer them jobs post their

retirement from LMC. The LDA administra-tion is said to have lost faith in private partnersdue to their poor performance. The LDA Vice-Chairman has apprised the state governmentof the plan to hire retired sanitation workers.

LDA secretary MP Singh said the serviceswill be discussed once the proposed plan getsgovernment’s clearance. He added that the planwill be discussed in the presence of senior offi-cers for effective implementation. He said sin-cere efforts will be made to make sure that theidea works.

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Despite continuous detec-tion of COVID-19 cases

from almost all the parts of thisbelt of Purvanchal (easternUP), there is an optimisticdevelopment that the overallrecovery rate has improvedfurther. The other relief is thatafter seeing the biggest spikewhen 103 cases were found twodays ago, the number hassharply declined to 37 next dayin the region comprising 10districts of three divisions.During this period the recov-ery rate has improved from67.83 per cent to 70.64 per centwhich is better than an averagerecovery rate of 63.98 in thestate and around 56 per cent inthe country.

In the region, there were1,918 cases found tillWednesday and out of them,1,355 have been dischargedfrom the hospitals, leaving just

523 (27.26 per cent) activecases which are more in UP(32.4 per cent) and in India(40.13 per cent). Not only this,the mortality rate is 2.13 percent with 41 deaths which isbetter than 3.02 per cent in UPand around 3.16 per cent in thecountry.

In this belt of Purvanchal,the maximum COVID-19havoc was seen in Varanasidivision as in all the four dis-tricts, the number of cases hascrossed the three-figure mark.In Jaunpur, the cases hasalready crossed 500-mark asthere were 502 cases while inVaranasi, the number is over370-mark (374) and it hasalready crossed 300-mark inGhazipur (314) and 100-markin Chandauli (106). The mostpositive aspect of the divisionis that despite finding 1,298cases, the recovery is betterthan the region as it is 72.08 percent with 914 patients have

already recovered. The mortal-ity rate is also around two percent with 26 deaths and activepatients are 27.58 per cent(358). However, in Varanasidistrict, the recovery rate ispoor than the region with68.08 per cent (256), mortali-ty rate 3.45 per cent (13) andactive cases 28.45 per cent(107).

With this overall scenarioof coronavirus pandemic in theregion where the authoritieshave already started extendingrelaxations day after day sincethe beginning of Unlock 1.0.On the instructions of DistrictMagistrate (DM) Kaushal RajSharma, the Health depart-ment has started providingtraining to its medical officersand health workers by chalkingout a micro plan so they can betrained to conduct nationalhealth programmes as per thegovernment norms fromThursday.

According to ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) DrVB Singh, as per the guidelinesof state government, cluster andgroup sampling work is beingdone under COVID-19 cam-paign and under the same onWednesday, samples of 114health workers from urbancommunity and primary healthcentres and 18 from privatehospitals were collected forcorona testing. Besides, asmany as 22 samples were col-lected from medicine shops ofLanka areas and the samplingcollection work is being doneby ACMO Dr Sanjay Rai,DCMO Dr Piyush Rai andNTCP Dr Saurabh PratapSingh. Besides, 18 village fluclinics/ doorstep screeninghealth teams examined 1,377patients in eight blocks f thedistrict. Apart from this, dur-ing the day thermal scanning of7,665 people was done in thedistrict.

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Congressmen continuedtheir protest against the

hike in the price of petrol anddiesel for the last many daysand staged a dharna at ShastriGhat here demanding the gov-ernment to roll back it in thelarger interest of common man.

Congressmen in scoresgathered at the above men-tioned place and staged a dhar-na to raise their protest againstthe hike in the price of petrol

and diesel. They said that therehas been an increase in theprice of petrol and diesel on aregular basis and the petrol anddiesel have registered anincrease from � 8 to �10during the last more than 10days.

Even, it was for the firsttime in the history of the coun-try that the price of diesel hasbecome more than that ofpetrol, they said and added thatthe gradual rise in the price ofpetrol and diesel would add to

the woes of common peopleand farmers as well as it wouldincrease the dearness.

The people are already fac-ing financial crisis because oflockdown in view of COVID-19 and in such a situation theincrease in the price of dieseland petrol is a double attack onthem, said agitatedCongressmen demanding thegovernment to roll back thedecision to hike the price ofdiesel and petrol. They carriedmotorcycle on a trolley as a

symbol that the two-wheelerhas no means for them after theprice of petrol has skyrocketed.They tried to move ahead withmotorcycle keeping on trolleybut the police did not allowthem stating that the Section144 of CrPC is in effect in thedistrict.

Former State Minister AjayRai, ex-MP Dr Rajesh Mishra,DCC president RajeshwarPatel, CCC chief RaghvendraChaubey and many others werepresent on the occasion.

ALLAHABAD (PNS): UnderGarib Kalyan Rozgar AbhiyanIndian Railways is all set togenerate eight lakh mandays ofemployment opportunity formigrants and others in infra-structure projects worth �1800crore in next 125 days tillOctober 31, 2020. The Ministryof Railways reviewed theprogress of this Abhiyaan’ beingimplemented in 116 districts insix states. Railway Zones andRail PSUs participated in thereview meeting about theprogress of Garib KalyanRozgar Abhiyan. Nodal officersare to be appointed in all the116 districts and at the Statelevel and this Abhiyan of 125days, will work in missionmode, with focused imple-mentation of various categoriesof works/ activities in 116 dis-tricts, each with a large concen-tration of returnee migrantworkers in six states of Bihar,Uttar Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhandand Odisha. Around 160 infra-structure works have been

identified which are to be expe-dited. Chairman RailwayBoard, Vinod Kumar Yadavtook a video conference meet-ing with General Managers(GMs), Divisional RailwayManagers (DRMs) andManaging Directors (MDs) ofPSUs regarding the progress ofGarib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan.

Addressing the meeting,Yadav instructed ZonalRailways to appoint nodal offi-cers in each district as well asin the states so that a closecoordination is established withthe State Government. Hedirected Railway administra-tion at zonal level to act proac-tively to ensure migrants’ areengaged in projects and paidaccordingly.

Zonal railways have beeninstructed to expedite execu-tion of all ongoing infrastruc-ture works in these identifieddistricts. These would engagethousands of workers androughly generate eight lakhman days of employment bythe end of October 2020.

Approximately � 1800 crorewould be spent in these dis-tricts. Railway has also identi-fied a number of railway workswhich can be executed throughMGNREGS. The works arerelated to construction andmaintenance of approach roadsfor level crossings, developmentand cleaning of silted water-ways, trenches and drains alongthe track, construction andmaintenance of approach roadto railway stations, repair andwidening of existing railwayembankments / cuttings, plan-tation of trees at extremeboundary of railway land, andprotection works of existingembankments/ cuttings/bridges. Zonal Railways havealso been instructed to getsanction of proposed worksunder MGNREGS. ZonalRailways would be monitoringthe works on a daily basis andsubmit a report to the Ministryevery Friday till the end ofOctober 2020.

It may be noted that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has

launched a massive employ-ment -cum- rural public workscampaign named Garib KalyanRozgar Abhiyan to empowerand provide livelihood oppor-tunities in areas/ villages wit-nessing large number ofreturnee migrant workersaffected by the devastatingCOVID-19 on June 20, 2020.The Prime Minister announcedthat an amount of � 50,000crore would be spent for build-ing durable rural infrastructureunder the Garib Kalyan RozgarAbhiyan.The Abhiyan will be aconvergent effort between 12different Ministries/Departments, namely; RuralDevelopment, Panchayati Raj,Road Transport & Highways,Mines, Drinking Water &Sanitation, Environment,Railways, Petroleum & NaturalGas, New & Renewable Energy,Border Roads, Telecom andAgriculture, to expedite imple-mentation of 25 public infra-structure works and worksrelating to augmentation oflivelihood opportunities.

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Two employees of the CMOoffice serving as corona

warriors also tested positive forcoronavirus. This includes adistrict epidemiologist and adata manager. After theirreport came positive, the wholeHealth department becamepanicky.

People exposed to thesepeople have been home quar-antined. These people used tosit in the IDSP (IntegratedDisease Services Programme)room of the CMO office. Theroom was sealed and now theoffice has been established inthe quarantine centre atKalindipuram.

It is being said that boththese staff were in contact withcorona infected ACMO ofCOVID-19 and former Nodalofficer for coronavirus.Therefore their sampling wasdone. It is also noteworthy thatthe chamber where these twoused to sit, Nodal Officer DrRishi Sahai also used to sit here.

People who work in theCMO office are now panicked.Seven people from the epi-demiologist’s family were also

tested but their reports camenegative, while four membersof the family of the data man-ager have been sampled fortesting. All have been quaran-tined.

Similarly, a medical storeoperator living near St.Anthony’s School has alsobecome corona infected. Hehad a fever for four days, thenhe went to a private hospital forhis check-up. From there, hegot his COVID test done andit was learnt that he is alsocorona positive. In such a sit-uation, the ward of the hospi-tal in which he had gone fortreatment has been sealed.

Corona infected ACMO(Additional Chief MedicalOfficer) and former nodal ofCOVID-19 are undergoingtreatment at SRN Hospital.His health has deteriorated fortwo days. He has been put onoxygen. Six more members ofthe ACMO family are alsoinfected with coronavirus. Thisincludes his wife who is alsoadmitted to SRN, while twosons and three daughters whoare admitted to L1 COVIDHospital, Kotwa Bani.

F I R R E G I S T E R E D

AGAINST AUCTA GENSECY: An FIR was registeredagainst Dr Umesh PratapSingh, general secretary ofAllahabad University CollegeTeachers Association(AUCTA) and assistant profes-sor of Economics Departmentof Ewing Christian College(ECC) for spreading rumoursover alleged mismanagement atthe L1 COVID Hospital KotwaBani.

On the instruction ofCMO Dr GS Bajpai, a case hasbeen filed against the professorat Sarai Inayat police station forspreading rumors andobstructing government work.

It may be pointed out herethat the general secretary ofAUCTA on Tuesday morning,accused of mismanagement atCOVID Hospital at KotwaBani on social media. He wrotereferring to the Corona-infect-ed AU’s librarian that he wastold by him over the phone thatno medicines were given in thehospital. Patients are fed only‘Kaadha’. The condition of thetoilet is also very bad.

He also alleged that thesanitary staff remains in therole of nurse and doctor.

Doctors and nurses give allinstructions to the patientsfrom 15 feet away. If someoneis found corona positive in thettest, then the person is calledby the officials as if he is a bigcriminal. The ambulance arriv-ing home to take him to thehospital looks like a prisonervehicle. Its employees behave asif they are carrying a mafia. Itis alleged that officers andemployees have looted in thename of corona.

In the meantime, thelibrarian also made a videofrom the hospital shortly after.In the video, he said that it wasall a rumor. The AUCTA gen-eral secretary is doing thiswith the intention of defaminghim. He also demanded actionfrom the administration inthis regard.

Chief Medical Officer DrGS Bajpai directed to lodge acase against Dr Umesh forspreading rumours andobstructing government work.A case was filed against him atthe Sarai Inayat police stationlate night on basis of the writ-ten complaint given by KotwaCHC incharge Dr Amrit LalYadav.

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The Managing Director ofPurvanchal Vidyut Vitran

Nigam Limited (PVVNL), KKBalaji summoned the prelimi-nary inquiry report of theentire case related to electrici-ty bill scam from the superin-tending engineer of trans-Ganga. Thereafter, the MD, ina meeting with higher officialsin his office, instructed to handover the documents related toscams to the High LevelInquiry Committee.

The off icials of theElectricity department are alsoin state of shock after a scamof crores of rupees in the elec-tricity bill has come to light.High officials from Varanasi toLucknow want the case to beresolved as soon as possible.

That is why the ManagingDirector of Purvanchal VidyutVitran Nigam Limited hadcalled the SuperintendingEngineer Anand KumarPandey of trans-Ganga to hisoffice on Wednesday evening.

Engineer Anand Pandeyapprised the MD of the wholematter. He also gave informa-tion about the attack on him-self. He also explained how thebungling took place in the billsin the alleged connivance ofthe employees of the depart-ment. Actually, the primaryinvestigation in this case wascarried out by Anand Pandeyhimself. On the other hand,the High Level InquiryCommittee constituted in thiscase could not come toPrayagraj on Wednesday.

The officers included in

the committee also went toattend the meeting held inVaranasi. The the probe overbungling of � 88 lakh billing inHandia has been handed overto the SuperintendingEngineer VK Pandey ofMirzapur, the investigation ofirregularities of around � 2crore in Phulpur will be inves-tigated by SuperintendingEngineer Nisar Ahmed ofBhadohi. Besides, the jointteam will investigate the fraudsin other blocks and sub divi-sions.

After the attack onSuperintending EngineerAnand Kumar Pandey in hisoffice, a private gunner wasgiven by the Electricity depart-ment on Wednesday. In fact,he has not yet received a gov-ernment gunner even though

he had sought protectionbefore the attack.

Suspended employeeAshish Srivastava has ques-tioned the billing agency (pri-vate company) in this case.Ashish said that in a billingsystem based on software pro-vided by a private company, anID is issued to the employeebelow. Using the employee’spersonal mobile, departmen-tal revenue was depositedthrough such an ID whereasdepartmental SIM is providedat the SDO level but for rev-enue collection, the ID wasbeing issued through the per-sonal mobile number of thelower employee. Ashishalleged that there is a nexusbetween the operator of thebilling agency and the officersof the department in the case.

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Agricultural ProductionCommissioner (APC ), UP

Government, Alok Sinha, whilepraising three divisions of thisregion for their good work inthe field of agricultural produc-tion, stressed the need forstrengthening marketing chan-nels and providing maximumvalues of the products to thefarmers. ‘Varanasi division hasdone a good job and this willstrengthen the economic struc-ture of the rural environment,’he said while talking to the offi-cers of Varanasi, Prayagraj andMirzapur divisions of easternUP through video conferencingon Thursday.

‘Farmers should organisethemselves for increasing pro-duction and doing packagingand marketing of their prod-ucts. Emphasis should be givenon the promotion of food pro-cessing units. Action should betaken to plan for maximumemployment of migrant work-ers,’ he told the officers of all thedivisions. Principal secretariesof various departments includ-ing Agriculture, Horticultureand Animal Husbandry werealso present during video con-ferencing in Lucknow.

At NIC here, DivisionalCommissioner (DC) DeepakAgrawal, District Magistrate(DM) Kaushal Raj Sharma,Chief Development Officer(CDO) Madhusudan Hulgiand officials from the depart-ments of Agriculture, AnimalHusbandry and other depart-ments were present. The DCpresented the special worksdone in the division apart fromgiving information about thearrangements made for Kharifcrops.

‘During the coronavirus

pandemic period, various veg-etables and fruits includingBanarasi Langda mango, peas,green chillies, cucumbers andgourd apart from rice fromChandauli were sent to differ-ent regions of the country andabroad,’ he said, stressing theneed for setting up of a packhouse in the city. Agrawal alsosuggested the implementationof ‘Horticultural MachineryBank’ scheme.

In reply, the APC, whilehighlighting the special quali-ties of the original Banarasi

Langda mango, emphasised onits area expansion andproduction increase andinformed that there is a provi-sion of grant of up to � 1 crorein transportation on inter-stateand exports.

DM informed about thearrangements being made todevelop Sewapuri developmentblock from all the schemes andarrangements for the Kharifcrops in the district. In thevideo conferencing, the partic-ipants were informed that topromote beekeeping, anarrangement has been made bythe central government in aneconomic package of �500crore from �50 crore. Emphasiswas laid on making farmerscredit cards of milk producersof milk societies. Nurseryshould be planted between 18to 21 days for paddy crop. Asa good monsoon is expectedthis year, therefore, pulses andoilseeds crops are grown on thefield by making pads so that thecrop is not destroyed by water-logging.

There is also a provision ofa grant of �1000 per hectare forcropping with this technology.Emphasis was given on spray-ing urea on crops to save 50 percent expenses.

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As many as 16 new COVID-19 patients including one

more doctor have been detect-ed in the district here onThursday. With this, the totalnumber of patients hasincreased to 392, inching closeto reach 400-mark figure. Outof them, 267 have been recov-ered while 13 have died, leav-ing 111 active patients. DistrictMagistrate (DM) Kaushal RajSharma has informed thatreports of 280 samples havebeen received fromMicrobiology department,Banaras Hindu University(BHU) and out of them, 12were positive. The other fourwere found positive in reportsreceived on Wednesday night.Among the negative reports,there were follow-up reports of11 patients admitted to Pt.Deen Dayal UpadhyayaHospital. Later on, they weredischarged.

Among the four patientsfound positive earlier includ-ed one (40) from Madhukunj,Orderly Bazar (Cantt.) who is

a health employee, second(56) from Nai Bazar, Khojwa(Bhelupur) who is a sales taxstaff, third (39) is a doctor ofa private hospital and fourth(47) from Jugal Tola, KoyalaBazar (Adampur) who is ajeweller. Among new patientstwo including a man (30) andeight months girl are fromRajni Gali, Hukulganj (Cantt.)

and they are members of afamily of an earlier patient.The five patients includingwomen aged 57, 35 and sevenand men aged12 and 37 aremembers of the family of anold patient from Bansphatak(Dashaswamedh). The eighth(21) is from Aushanganj(Jaitpura) who works at theshop of an earlier patient.

The ninth (20) is a womanfrom Nayapaan Dariba KaliMahal (Chetganj) who camehere from Mumbai. The otherthree including women aged85 and 60 and man (35) aremembers of the family of anold patient from SomeshwarNagar (Shivpur).

With the finding of newpatients, the number ofhotspots has increased to 195with six new ones includingRajni Gali (Chowk), MahavirRoad (Cantt.), Jugul Tola(Adampur), Nayapaan Dariba(Chetganj), Nai Bazar(Bhelupur) and Aushanganj(Jaitpura). Out of total, 111remained green zones while84 active hotspots including23 in orange zones while 61are in red zones.

As many as 150 sampleshave been collected and sentfor testing during the day. Tilldate 10,001 samples have beencollected and results of 9,482have been received whileresults of 519 are awaited. Outof all received reports, 9,090were negative and 392 posi-tive.

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Six members of an inter-dis-trict gang of vehicle thieves

were arrested by the policehere. As many as eight two-wheelers along with Rs 20,000in cash was recovered fromthem. Giving detailsSuperintendent of Police (SP)Dr Dharmveer Singh said thathe had directed the police tocheck the theft of vehicles inthe district and a case was reg-istered at Katra Kotwali in thisconnection. He further statedthat on Tuesday the SHO KatraKotwali was checking vehicleson the Jangi Road when amotorcyclist tried to flee

instead of showing the papers.The police caught him andinterrogated him. He was iden-tified as Zunaid, a resident ofHathia Fatak under KatraKotwali and the pillion rider asSooraj Soni, a resident ofHandia, Prayagraj. They con-fessed that the vehicle wasstolen from Ganeshganj underKotwali Katra and had used itfor committing loot in Handia,Prayagraj. During interrogationthe accused gave details aboutthe gang which was involved inmany crimes. On clues pro-vided by the accused eighttwo-wheelers worth about Rs 6lakh were recovered and sixmembers of the gang were

arrested. The seventh memberof gang, Arpit Yadav, a residentof Mavaiya village under theChilh police station, was still atlarge. As per the police recordsthe arrested accused had acriminal history and cases wereregistered against them inPrayagraj, Bhadohi andMirzapur districts . The arrest-ed culprits were identified asAashiq, son of Nayeem,Kanhaiya, son of Rajesh Singh,Vishal, son of Arvind Singh,and Raja Patel, son of BhunvarPatel, residents of areas underthe Handia police station inPrayagraj. For its good workthe police team was given cashreward of �15,000.

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Apreparatory meeting washeld at the Collectorate in

connection with Chief

Minister’s divisional meeting toreview development workswhich was likely to be heldthrough video-conferencing.District Magistrate SushilKumar Patel directed all work-ing agencies to expedite incom-plete projects, works related tobridges besides widening,strengthening and maintenanceof roads on priority and chalkout a plan about the deadline

for completing them. He askedthe officials of the depart-ments concerned to submitthe progress report to the sta-tistics officer about the ongo-

ing projects like solid wastemanagement, Chief MinisterRural Avas Yojana, NationalRural Drinking Water Scheme,Gramin Pipeline Peyjal Yojna,Pradhan Mantri Gramin SadakYojna etc.

The DM asked the officialsof departments to submitprogress report about theworks which were done afterlockdown and directed them to

give momentum to the ongo-ing works. During the reviewthe DM paid the special atten-tion to Pradhan Mantri AvasYojana and directed the offi-cials concerned to ensure com-pletion of works according tothe disbursement of the fundand make available the instal-ment to the beneficiaries with-out inordinate delay. The meet-ing concluded after the reviewof all points of development.The meeting was attended byall the officials of the depart-ments concerned.

TRIBUTE PAID: GadgeSena workers burnt the effigyof China along with Chineseproducts at Sefton Chaurahaon Wednesday. ShivpalKannaujia paid tribute to Indiansoldiers who had sacrificedtheir lives at Galwan Valleyand appealed to people to boy-cott the Chinese products.People present on the occasionraised slogans against China andsaid that the sacrifice of our sol-diers would not go in vain.Among those who present wereMunna Kannaujia, LallooKannaujia, Vivek andDharmendra Chaudhary.

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Awoman committed suicidewith the help of a rope in

Narainpur village underKachhawan police station.Reports said that Rambali Patel,a resident of Mohanpur villageunder Badaganv police sta-tion, had married his daugh-ter, Aarti, with Ajayjeet Patel,a resident of Narainpurunder Kachhawan police sta-tion 10 years ago. OnWednesday Aarti was foundhanging in a well with thehelp of a rope. After gettingher body out from there herhusband, Ajayjeet Patel,informed the police as well ashis father-in-law. The policereached the spot and took thebody into custody for com-pleting legal formalities. The

father of the deceased allegedthat his daughter was killed byher inlaws for dowry. Policesaid that the deceased did nothave good relations with herhusband since long and hehad left her at her maternalhouse. She had here returnedonly a week ago. Moreover shehad tried to suicide few timesearlier too but was saved bysome neighbours. Thedeceased had two children.Till filing the report no any FIRhad been lodged.

CLASH: Two women sus-tained injuries in a clash inSubahu village under the Haliapolice station. According to areport, on the issue of sowingmaize in a field the two groupsclashed with each other whichresult in a scuffle. In it Kalavatiand Fulwanti assaulted each

other. Both the victims hadlodged FIR in which theyalleged that they had beenattacked by male members too.Taking cognisance of FIR thepolice challaned two membersfrom each group and sent theinjured to a hospital for treat-ment.

MISHAP: Two personswere injured when a motorbikecollided with Bolero in Rajpurvillage under the Halia policestation. As per the reportsreceived here, Baleshwar (26)and Ramsingh (36), residentsof Songadha village sustainedinjuries when they were ontheir way to Halia on a motor-bike when it collided with aBolero. Fortunately both ofthem were wearing helmets dueto which they did not sustainserious injuries.

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The personnel attached to the Syedaraja policestation arrested one smuggler along with 12

boxes of illicit liquor being taken to Bihar. Reportssaid that the Syedraja police seized 12 boxes of illic-it liquor which were being smuggled to Bihar froma car and arrested Jitendra Yadav, son of Rambali,a resident of Sarai Gokul, Manihari, under theSadiabad police station in Ghazipur. Necessary legalaction was going on against him. Syedraja policestation incharge Santosh Rai said that this liquor wasbeing taken for sale in Bihar. He said that on beingtipped off by an informer the smuggler was arrest-ed and action was being taken against him underthe Excise Act.

TWO THIEVES CAUGHT: Two thieves werearrested from an area near Satpokhari Deehbabatemple and a pistol, cartridge and a stolen motorwere recovered from their possession. Police reg-istered a case against them and took necessaryaction against them. It may be pointed out here thatthe Superintendent of Police has issued directivesto check incidents of theft in the area and arrest thethieves. At this the Kotwali police became active.On being tipped off by an informer that two thieveswere standing near Satpokhari Dehbaba temple thepolice reached the spot and arrested both of them.A stolen motor and cartridge were recovered fromthem. The thieves were trying to sell the motorsomewhere. Meanwhile the Dhanapur policearrested an accused under the UP Gangsters Act andsent him to jail. Inspector incharge, Dhanapar, VinodMishra said that being tipped off by an informerBansi alias Banarsi, a resident of Kavai Paharpur,was arrested from an area near the block canal.

CANDLE MARCH TAKEN OUT: The vil-lagers took out a candle march in memory of themartyred soldiers. After passing through Diya andKari villages they paid tribute to the martyrs byobserving a two-minute silence at the football fieldsituated in Diya village. Led by Subhash Yadav,prominent among those present on the occasionwere pradhan Nagina Yadav, Javed Khan, Aman,Bhola, Vikas and Sunil.

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Three persons were injured when anuncontrolled dumper rammed into a sta-

tionary truck on the highway. According toa report received here, owing to the impactof the collision both the vehicles overturnedand fell into a ditch due to which two dri-vers and a cleaner were seriously injured andadmitted to the government hospital inMaudaha in a critical condition for treat-ment. It is learnt that Vikas (30), son of Ajit,a resident of Sidhauli of Sitapur district, Alok(18), son of Mahesh Kumar, were goingtowards Kanpur after loading ballast on thedumper. When they reached the highwayNo 34 the vehicle rammed into the truckstanding on the road. Owing to the impactof the collision both the dumper and thetruck overturned. In this incident apart fromVikas and Alok, Krishnakant (30), son ofJawaharlal, a resident of Maharajpur was seri-ously injured and was admitted to govern-ment hospital in Maudaha with the help ofambulance.

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The personnel attached to the Chiluatalpolice station on Wednesday arrested

Pawan Nishad, a resident of Gurunagar andKuldeep Prajapati, a resident of Kapantganjin Kushinagar.

Reports received here said that on cluesprovided by them the police recovered trac-tor and the rotavator attached to it which wasstolen from Deoria Road on Monday night.The owner of the tractor, Ramji Yadav, a res-ident of Mohammadpur Mafi village, gavethe lodged a complaint of theft with thepolice on Tuesday morning. The police pre-sented both the thieves in the court fromwhere they were sent to jail.

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Seventeen more persons test-ed positive for coronavirus

infection in Kanpur Nagar inthe last 24 hours.

Chief Medical Officer DrAK Shukla said 17 more pos-itive cases were detectedbetween Wednesday eveningand Thursday evening, takingthe tally of such cases to1,038.

Dr Shukla said one moreCOVID-19 patient died inthe city, taking the death tollto 44. He said a 40-year-oldcoronavirus positive womansuffering from hypertension,Type II diabetes and chronicobstructive pulmonary dis-ease (COPD) died in the hos-pital.

The CMO said 36COVID-19 patients were dis-charged from hospitals duringthe last 24 hours and with thisthe 685 coronavirus infectedpersons had been cured in thecity so far. He said now thecity had 309 active cases.

Dr Shukla said the newcases were reported fromGandhigram, Juhi, DefenceColony, NRI City, ShyamNagar, UHM, Kidwai Nagar,Pheel Khana, Ashok Nagar,

Babupurwa, Kachiana Mohaland Benajhabar.

He said 537 samples were

collected on Thursday out ofwhich 194 were from quaran-tine centres.

He said 179 teamsscreened 11,308 houses onThursday.

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Hundreds of Congressmentook out a massive pro-

cession from Bara Chauraha onThursday to protest the con-stant hike in petrol and dieselprices.

Maintaining social dis-tancing, the processionists car-rying party flag, posters andbanners, shouted slogansagainst the government anddemanded that the hiked pricesof petrol and diesel be rolledback.

They warned that if thepetroleum price hike was notrolled back, the Congresswould intensify its agitation.

Addressing the protesters,Congress city unit presidentHar Prakash Agnihotri saidduring the Congress rule, theglobal price of crude was US$107.09 and at that time theCongress government soldpetrol at � 71.41 a litre anddiesel at � 55.49 per litre.

He said today the globalprice of crude had crashed toUS$ 40.66 but ironically theBharatiya Janata Party-ledNarendra Modi governmentwas selling petrol and diesel at�80 a litre which was broaddaylight loot.

He said with the lock-down, the people were facingdifficulty in survival and thehike in prices of petrol anddiesel had left them high anddry. He said the constant pricehike was a fraud against farm-ers and common man.

The procession moved tocollectorate where they want-ed to hand over a memoran-dum addressed to the Presidentof India to the district magis-trate but in his absence theyhanded over the memorandumto additional city magistrate-

III. Prominent among thosewho took part in the processionwere SD Mishra, Raja Ram Pal,MLA Suhail Ansari, IqbalAhmed, Samuel Lucky Singh,Naushad Alam, Sanjay Shah,Sujit Yadav and SandipChaudhari,.

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With the dust on the Swarup Nagar gov-ernment girls’ protection home contro-

versy yet to settle down, officials went into a tizzywhen two inmates of the shelter home quaran-tined at the Shatabdi Nagar (Panki) centre man-aged to escape from there on Thursday morn-ing.

It may be recalled that about 57 inmates ofthe Swarup Nagar girls’ protection home hadtested positive for coronavirus and seven of themwere found to be pregnant.

However, due to the alertness of the districtpolice and administration, both the coronavirusinfected inmates were recovered from Sisamaulocality after some time.

It may be recalled that 117 inmates of theSwarup Nagar girls’ protection home werekept in the quarantine centres at KDA Dreamflats and Shatabdi Nagar, Panki.

On Thursday morning, two inmates man-aged to escape from there. On finding themmissing, panic prevailed among the officials ofthe quarantine centre, and the police and dis-trict administration immediately launched a

search operation and recovered them.Both girls told officials that harassment by

other inmates of the protection home had forcedthem to escape from the quarantine centre.

Senior Superintendent of Police DineshKumar P said the matter would be investigatedand the guilty would be punished.

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Meanwhile, District Magistrate BR Tiwarion Thursday said the district administration wastrying to identify an alternative accommodationfor the girls of Rajkiya Balika Sanrakshan Grah(Government Girls’ Protection Home).

Dr Tiwari said as per the district probationofficer, the present shelter home was meant foraccommodating 100 girls but at present therewere over 176 girls there. He said on accountof the space crunch, two girls were forced toshare one bed and thus social distancing couldnot be maintained.

He said the girls would be shifted to a big-ger accommodation or split in two places so thatsocial distancing could be strictly followed.

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The number of workersengaged by Uttar Pradesh

Metro Rail Corporation(UPMRC) to speed up theKanpur Metro project, crossedthe 1,000-mark on Thursday.

The UPMRC is making all-out efforts to complete thecivil construction work of theKanpur Metro project withinthe stipulated time frame.

The civil constructionwork of the Kanpur Metro isdivided into two main parts;the casting yard and the corri-dor (IIT to Motijheel) underthe first part and the metrodepot located on the polytech-nic campus under the second.

As many as 838 workerswere engaged in the ongoingwork at the casting yard andcorridor and 168 at the metrodepot.

While showing a sense ofachievement, UPMRCManaging Director KumarKeshav said, “It is a wonderfulachievement by UPMRC pro-ject team at Kanpur Metroproject. It has been only onemonth and twenty days sincewe commenced civil construc-tion work on the priority sec-tion of the project startingwith nominal labour at site.With our zeal and determina-tion against a very difficult timeon account of COVID-19 pan-demic, the labour force hascrossed the figure of 1,000.”

Officials said permanentlabour camps are being con-structed for labourers inside thecasting yard. As many as 104rooms are to be prepared forthe labourers out of whicharound 70 have been prepared.

Considering social dis-tancing factor, accommoda-tion for only seven labourersper room is permitted at pre-sent, although the rooms have

the space for 10 labourers. The number of labourers is

continuously increasing andrecently, more than half of theworkers deputed for construc-tion work were from the UP.

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Kanpur DevelopmentAuthority (KDA) has decidedto develop 700 plots inJawaharpuram.

The registration for 200 ofthese plots is likely to start fromnext month. In the secondphase, registration of theremaining 500 plots would betaken up.

The cost of these plots islikely to be fixed between�30,000 per square metre and

� 32,000 per square metre.KDA Executive Engineer

Ashu Mittal said marketswould be developed in one ofthe blocks of Jawaharpuramscheme and plots of 100-1000square metres would be devel-oped there.

The KDA is expected toretain some big plots in thescheme for constructions ofmalls and shopping complex-es.

Mittal said so far no bigpocket of commercial plotshad been developed inJawaharpuram and ShatabdiNagar scheme and only hous-ing schemes were launchedthere.

As thousands of familieshave started living in thesehousing schemes, there is needto develop marketing com-

plexes to cater to the require-ments of the residents of thetwo schemes.

The KDA executive engi-neer said plotting would bedone in Jawaharpuram in sucha way that people may starttheir business by purchasingthe plots according to theirneeds.

It may be recalled that theKDA had freed its 20-acreland for unauthorised posses-sions in Jawaharpuram onTuesday to develop the hous-ing scheme.

It will also construct 3,072housing units under thePradhan Mantri Avas Yojanathere.

The funds required forthese houses would be raised bysale of plots being developed bythe KDA in Jawaharpuram.

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District Magistrate BRTiwari on Thursday car-

ried out surprise raids to checkthe pipeline repair works beingcarried out in the city.

He directed officials toensure that all major damagesto tap water supply lines wererepaired on a war footing with-out compromising on quality.

Dr Tiwari cautioned theofficials that not only thepipelines be repaired but simul-taneously the roads should berepaired for smooth move-ment of traffic.

He asked the officials toensure that there was nowastage of water and the peo-ple did not face any difficultyon account of shortage of watersupply in the present hotweather.

The district magistrateclarified that as the pipeline wasbeing laid frequent and tested,there were reports of leakage.He denied there was any com-promise on quality and said theofficials concerned had beendirected to ensure that theleakage was repaired on toppriority.

Dr Tiwari visited someareas where there was leakageand supervised the repair workand expressed satisfaction onthe work being carried out atthe places.

He directed the water-works officials to ensure thatthere was regular and properwater supply.

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National Sugar Institute inKanpur, keeping in view

the need to strengthen immu-nity in the COVID-19 pan-demic, has launched a non-chemical jaggery, fortified withimmunity booster and pro-duced under hygienic condi-tions.

For preparing the fortifiedjaggery, the NSI-Kanpurmaintained hygienic condi-tions during processing,enhancing juice extractionefficiency through use ofimprovised milling techniqueswith special care and focus onefficient process equipment,juice clarification by vegetablemucilage’s, juice concentrationin specially designed evapo-rators and concentrators.

NSI-Kanpur Director ProfNarendra Mohan launchedthe exclusive immunity boost-er on Thursday. He said thejaggery in the modifiedprocess technology may befortified with other ingredi-ents like flax seeds, turmeric,ginger, cinnamon etc. thatwould enhance its nutrition-al profile and also suit the con-sumer palate.

He said jaggery fortifiedwith such natural ingredientswas expected to work as animmunity booster which wasvery much required in thecurrent scenario whenCOVID-19 was gallopingunbridled across the world.He said the institute had sug-gested improvements forenhancing the shelf life of theproduct.

Prof Mohan said with thetechnical expertise of NSI,manufacturing of such highvalue jaggery products hadbeen taken up and the samewere now available in themarket. He added that theinstitute had also receivedrequest from Punjab andHar yana State SugarFederation for renderingadvice on setting up suchplants.

He explained that jaggerywas known as a traditionalhealthier sweetener and agood replacement of sugarand other artificial sweetenersin many applications.

Prof Mohan said it wasalso known as ‘medicinalsugar’ rich in vitamins andminerals, finding its use inAyurvedic medicine as ablood purifier and also usedfor curing infections. He saidtraditionally jaggery was usedin sweets and savoury foodproducts and may also find itsapplication in confectioneryproducts such as hard boiledsweets, biscuits, breads, pas-tries and also use of jaggeryfor direct consumption.

Page 8: ˘ ˇ€¦ · 23 hours ago  · bloody LAC brawl, with each ... test for medical colleges will also be based on the Supreme ... and 100 pairs operating since June 1 — will continue,

Ever since independence,India’s stated objective inthe South Asian region hasbeen to pursue friendlyrelations with its immedi-

ate neighbours. An official foreignpolicy planning document pub-lished by the Congress regime inearly 1992 states that India respectsthe territorial integrity of its neigh-bours and intends to work formutual cooperation on a bilateralbasis. Our attempts to build a solidand constructive relationship withneighbouring nations have been suc-cessful. India shares land and mar-itime boundaries with nine coun-tries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China,Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistanand Sri Lanka and Afghanistanfrom Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK). In particular, Pakistan andChina have come to challenge India’ssovereignty on a regular basis. Thetraditional friction between Indiaand Pakistan in my estimation is theprincipal threat to regional stabili-ty in South Asia. Mutual distrust andlingering hostility have provokedfour wars between the two countriessince 1947. However, India holdssuperiority in military strength in theforeseeable future. A major stum-bling block to long-term improve-ment in relations with Pakistan is itsinfiltration into Kashmir and regu-lar proxy wars here in cohorts withvarious terrorist organisations.

On the other hand, for India,China, too, has been a long-termthreat. Our security concerns withit begins at the Himalayas and ourforces have steadfastly resisted allattempts of invasion by the People’sLiberation Army (PLA). In recenttimes, China appears to be less inter-ested in resolving boundary issuesand has instead become moreassertive about claiming variousregions of Ladakh and the North-east. First came an attempted inroadinto Doklam and more recently theface-off at the Galwan Valley. Allsuch skirmishes have necessitated arelook at India’s Tibet policy. In par-ticular, two unilateral concessionshave been made: First, we support-ed the One-China policy. And sec-ond, we accepted China’s sovereign-ty over Tibet. However, during theBritish era, Tibet was an indepen-dent nation and the BritishGovernment was the guarantor of itsindependence from China. Therights India retained in Tibet underthe Simla Convention of 1914 wereadequate for us to insist upon themaintenance of its autonomy. Britainpreserved all these rights in Tibet asan autonomous region was vital forBritish India’s safety and security.However, in 1954, Nehru conceded

Tibet to China to “maintainregional stability.”

The Indo-Bhutan Treaty ofPeace and Friendship of 1949 andthe 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty ofPeace and Friendship were signedin continuation with similarpacts issued by British India. The1816 Treaty of Sugauli withNepal, the Treaty of Punakha in1910 with Bhutan and the Simlapact of 1914 with Tibet contin-ued after India’s independenceand it was former Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru’s duty touphold the listed treaties. Thus,Nehru’s decision to forego Tibet’ssovereignty and boost China’simperialistic mindset was illegal.

On multiple accounts, Indiafollowed the “Panchsheel” prin-ciples, an agreement solelyresponsible for bringing instabil-ity to South Asia and the growthof China’s imperialistic mindset.The two mistakes Nehru com-mitted in violation of thePanchsheel Agreement were:First, in 1954, he supportedChina’s claim to Tibet and theAksai Chin to “maintain region-al stability.” Second, in 1955, in anattempt to befriend the USSR,Nehru supported its claim overHungary at the UN.

These two decisions havehad drastic effects on India’s for-eign policy, its relations withother countries and its ability tomaintain sovereignty. WhenChina attacked India in 1962, theUSSR did not come to India’s aidas Nehru had expected. Thisbecause China was a communist

state. The rest of the world did nothelp India since it had support-ed the USSR at the UN againstNATO and its allies.

China followed a three-pronged approach to destabilisethe region in the early 1950s.

Economically: China is thebiggest trading partner for anumber of neighbouring coun-tries. This helps it gain politicalleadership in the South-Asianregion. This is evident from theway it deals with Pakistan, SriLanka, Myanmar, Nepal andAfghanistan. All these nationshave been provided with fundsworth billions of dollars for thecompletion of key projects, to set-tle border disputes and use theirsovereign land for China’s mili-tary outreach.

Militaristically: Chinainvaded Tibet in the 1950s andhas unsuccessfully attempted asimilar approach with India andBhutan during the past half-cen-tury or so. It has mocked the mar-itime sovereignty of other coun-tries by expanding its borders inthe South China Sea and restrict-ing the ability of countries likeJapan, Taiwan, Philippines andVietnam to conduct trade.

Intimidation: Chinaattempts to resolve border issuesonly when it feels insecure. Thedemarcation of the borderbetween Russia and China start-ed after an agreement in 2004and the projects were completedin 2009 after war-like threats.Likewise, China and Vietnamcompleted demarcation of their

border in 2009 in a similar fash-ion.

It is time that India supportsTibet’s claim of being an indepen-dent nation. Since China has notbeen acting in accordance withthe international treaties signedby it (the Chinese agreed to grantHong Kong autonomy till 2047),why should India act in accor-dance with any bilateral agree-ment it has with China? India canpropose a Himalayan economiczone comprising Tibet, Xinjiang,Nepal, Bhutan and the IndianHimalayan regions. CommonBuddhist heritage should be afactor in the creation of this eco-nomic zone. India can encouragetourism to Buddhist sites inIndia and build closer defencerelations with Japan, Myanmarand Vietnam. Our plannersshould increase defence opera-tions in Arunachal Pradesh,Ladakh, Sikkim and the jointAndaman and Nicobar as adeterrent to the Chinese movesin the Himalayas and Bay ofBengal in retaliation to India’snoble efforts.

The pace of socio-econom-ic activities in South Asia willaccelerate if India becomes a keyfactor of this change. The otherproblem in the region is uncon-trolled population growth. Thepopulation of South Asia is set toincrease from about 1.8 billion toover 2.5 billion by 2050. This willcause tremendous stress on thealready stretched resources andcreate highly concentrated areas,incapable of sustaining human

populations. This will alsoundoubtedly lead to mass starva-tion and inhuman living condi-tions. We should accelerate theprocess of economic cooperationand involve other nations inregional integration projects. Inthe light of these changes, India’sforeign policy would face sever-al challenges and would requirea broader approach.

Domestic factors willincreasingly influence foreignpolicy and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is aware of this.He is attempting to protect theinterests of the people in India’sbordering nations. He has notonly been hearing and under-standing people’s issues but hasalso addressed them. Terrorism,organised crime, human traffick-ing, cybersecurity and Weaponsof Mass Destruction proliferationcontinue to pose challenges toIndian security. Dealing withsuch challenges requires an effec-tive counter-terrorism policy. Aforward-looking approach oncooperation with neighbours tomanage the borders, cybersecu-rity, science and technology, agri-culture, education, culture andcapacity-building is needed. Thiswill meet the challenges of terror-ism and of non-traditional secu-rity.

On various fora, India hascreated committees dedicated toresolving issues regarding nation-al security and regional peace.South Asia cannot remainimmune to the developments inthe extended neighbourhoodand the world in general. Thus,our neighbourhood policy isbound to be affected by develop-ments elsewhere. It is vital thatIndia connects with the Gulf,Central Asia, South-East Asia,and the Indian Ocean islands toensure that its neighbourhoodpolicy remains unaffected.

If India is able to createregional stability in the regionand raise the demand of Tibet’sindependence in accordancewith the Simla Pact, especiallywhen resentment against Chinahas increased owing to theCOVID-19, it will be able tomuster the support of Westernand South-East Asian powersalike in its attempt to abolishChina’s imperialist mindset. Inthe coming years, China will alsofind itself in the midst of an eco-nomic crisis due to numerousbusinesses shifting to either Indiaor other South Asian nations. Atwo-pronged approach will forceChina to resolve border dis-putes with India. In the game ofcricket, there is a saying, offenceis the best defence. India shouldinitiate the offensive againstChina for its territorial defenceand for stability in South Asia.

(The writer is a BJP leaderand Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha. Views expressed arepersonal.)

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Sir — In India, the nationalistchorus is “boycott China” whilein America, it is “boycottIndians” via the temporary sus-pension of the H-1B visas. USPresident Donald Trump hasexercised his sovereign right toscrap work visas to saveAmerican jobs. During the2016 presidential polls, he hadpromised a manufacturingrenaissance that would bringback millions of jobs toAmericans. As the next roundof election is knocking at thedoor, it appears that all suchpromises were nothing butrhetoric. With a second term atstake for Trump, economistsand industry representativessay the President has a mixedrecord on job creation that fallswell short of his promises.

By putting a stay on H1-Bvisas, the Trump administrationbelieves it can open up employ-ment opportunities forAmericans in an economy thathas reported record job losses.Trump has made it clear that hesees restricting immigration asa key poll plank; it is likely thatas the election draws closer, theworld will see further action on

the issue. Considering this,Aatmanirbhar Bharat is not justPrime Minister Narendra Modi’srhetoric but the need of the hour.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — In an election year, USPresident Donald Trump hasunleashed a brahmastra from his

executive powers by suspendingH-1B and other work visas untilDecember. Trump is obviouslyappealing to a domestic con-stituency facing job losses dur-ing the pandemic by pointing

fingers at the immigrants. Thesuspension until December willhave limited impact on Indian ITcompanies given travel restric-tions that are in place. Moreover,the paradigm shift to work fromhome has accelerated offshoringprocesses aided by cloud ser-vices. The hit will be takenlargely by the US technologyindustry and international stu-dents hoping to stay on aftergraduation.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

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Sir — A Bill has been intro-duced in the US Congress toconsider Tibet as an indepen-dent country, just like they didfor Hong Kong. The worldorder has changed. Beforeannouncing Tibet as an inde-pendent country, India musteither match the economicequation with China or engagein a military pact with ASEANor NATO. NAM has lived itslife. It is time to bid it farewell.

Harpreet SidhuVia email

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Symmetric to global trends, urbanisation inIndia has spread rapidly. This has led to thereordering of the urban periphery through

complex processes of displacement of the cen-tral population to the margins and the creationof new functional nodes away from the tradi-tional core. Adaptation to such realities came toa grinding halt when the pandemic hit the coun-try. As has been evident, people of urban India— especially those living in slums and peri-urbanareas — are more vulnerable to the rapidspread of COVID-19. This has brought to thefore the importance of the ways in which citygovernments are working to combat the spreadof the virus. There is no denying that the inter-related dimensions of mobility and demo-graphic change, infrastructure and governanceinfluence the preparedness of urban India in out-break management, right from disease preven-tion to mitigation and possible responses.

The dynamics of demography in the citiesand COVID-19: High population densities incities are major factors influencing the spreadof disease. According to the Census 2011, Indiaexperienced a 37.14 per cent decadal growth inthe number of slum households with 104 mil-lion people living in ghettoes in 2013, as per thedata of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA). Almost two-thirds of statutorytowns in India have slums.

An overwhelming majority of the familiesliving in the densely-populated areas of slumsand peri-urban areas are migrant workers whoare engaged in urban informal activities char-acterised by low wages, severe competition, ten-uous job security with the need to travel dailyto the city core to earn their livelihoods. Lackof work opportunities during the lockdownforced many of them to return to their villages.Such mobility patterns, owing to myriad socialand political economic factors, bear the risk ofspread of contagious diseases to the peripheries.

This points to the fact that infrastructuredevelopment for the benefit of this section of theurban population has not been adequate. A vastmajority of the urban population, living in slumsand peri-urban areas, lacks access to basic urbanservices, including water, electricity, sanitation,solid waste management and housing facilities.As per the estimates of the Technical Group onUrban Housing Shortages (2012-17) housingshortages are projected to increase to 34 millionby 2022. According to the 2012 National SampleSurvey (NSS), slums are incredibly packedspaces where three-fourths of India’s slum ten-ements are cramped within two hectares.

In such a situation, an outbreak ofCoronavirus in places with unsafe and precar-ious living conditions, where even the basic pre-ventive measures like social distancing and fre-quent hand-washing are impossible to achieve,could easily turn into a grave public health emer-gency. Indeed, the outbreak of contagious dis-eases is less of a “natural” disaster but emergesalongside social and spatial inequalities inhousing and access to basic services.

Governance deficits: The deplorable stateof urban services is typically attributed to poorfinancial health and lack of planning, which inturn are linked to weak institutional capacitiesand the absence of effective governance struc-tures in Indian cities. The 74th ConstitutionalAmendment Act (1993) promised to improve the

delivery of basic services by devolvingresources and decision-making powersto local governments. Political empow-erment is weakened by infrequentelections of Urban Local Bodies (UBL)and most States rest the executiveauthority of city governments on theState-appointed Commissioner, withthe Mayor and city Councillors havingvery little authority over management,let alone on emergencies like COVIDat the city level.

Although, city governments areexpected to have complete authority tocarry out functions, including watersupply, sanitation, solid waste manage-ment, public health and slum improve-ment, yet the actual devolution ofresponsibility to the municipalities,even after 25 years of decentralisation,can at best be described as partial.

State Governments control keyhealthcare infrastructure such as hos-pitals, clinics and primary healthcarecentres and even these institutionslack human resources, including med-ical officers and skilled staff.Overlapping institutional roles andresponsibilities raise questions as towho should deliver urban basic servicesand the problems become far severe incase of managing and preventingpotential outbreaks. This is very evidentin the recent war of words between theDelhi Government and municipal bod-ies over inadequate beds in hospitals forthe treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Capacity constraints: Infirm finan-cial health of the ULBs has a regressiveimpact on their capacity to providebasic services. Assignment of financesis completely left to the discretion of theState Governments and ULBs can levyand collect only those taxes that arespecified by the States. Municipalfinances are in a grossly unsatisfacto-ry state as they collect far less revenue

than what is necessary to cover even thecost of providing urban basic services,let alone tackling any health emergen-cies. Lack of adequate skilled staff at theULB level is another major drawbackas there is far less emphasis on the insti-tutional capacity of the local govern-ment. Appropriate institutional capac-ity enables ULBs to make policy deci-sions and implement them, in the man-ner they want, to produce the outcomesthey desire.

The way forward: In essence, spa-tial and structural characteristics ofurban India indicate that cities, espe-cially slums and the suburbs, are like-ly to remain hotspots for diseases likeCOVID-19 in the coming months. Anability to monitor rural, urban andinter-urban migration will be crucial tomitigate the spread of thisdisease.Therefore, it would be useful toplan and implement a slew of short-term measures, including aggressiveand affordable testing, tracing andquarantining of infected people, provi-sion of door-to-door drinking waterand mobile toilet facilities in densely-populated slum and peri-urban areas.

This pandemic provides an oppor-tunity for genuinely empowering ULBsthat should not go to waste. Cities withwell-functioning governance and healthinfrastructure are better placed tomanage pandemics and excess mortal-ity than those that do not. In otherwords, the governance conundrumalong with poor planning and weakhealthcare systems can undermine theefforts to combat the pandemic andbuild upon the confusion, fear andpanic.

Interestingly, in November 2019,the Global Parliament of Mayors metin Durban and the members commit-ted to develop regional and local net-works to advance the dissemination of

trusted public health information.They also pledged to promote informa-tion sharing and communication mea-sures in and between cities to preventand reduce the international spread ofinfectious diseases.

In the medium and long-term, it ispertinent to identify the lacunae in cityplanning and the underlying socio-eco-nomic determinants of public healthand resilient cities. This would help tostreamline resource flows to vulnera-ble areas more effectively. It is equallyimportant to create a city-level pandem-ic preparedness index, using details ofa ward/locality/neighbourhood-wisevulnerable population and hospital-wise beds and ICU capacities. It willserve as an evaluation tool (similar tothe Rapid Urban Health SecurityAssessment Tool developed byGeorgetown University) to assess city-level public health preparedness andresponse capacities.

It is important to support the citygovernments to prioritise, strengthenand deploy strategies that promoteurban well-being and health security.This pandemic provides a rare oppor-tunity to work in tandem with the ULBsand genuinely empower them to dis-charge their functions.

Building municipal capacity toprepare action plans in advance for bet-ter preparedness on the ground, pro-viding emergency response trainingand improving coordination with otherkey departments, like the NationalDisaster Response Force, should featurein any national urban policy frameworkand has to be necessarily embedded inthe cities of a ‘New India.’

(Chattopadhyay is an AssociateProfessor of Economics at Visva BharatiUniversity, Shanti Niketan and a VisitingSenior Fellow at IMPRI and Mehta isCEO and Editorial Director, IMPRI)

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Last week, the US imposed newsanctions on Syria. This is partof a “sustained campaign of

economic and political pressure” toend the nine-year war by forcingPresident Bashar al-Assad to UN-bro-kered peace talks where he wouldnegotiate his departure from power.Assad’s wife was already cross aboutnot being able to shop at Harrods orBergdorf Goodman, so he shouldcrumble any day now.

Other things are crumblingalready. Ordinary people’s incomesare collapsing (down by three-quar-ters since the beginning of the year).

The price of food in Syria has dou-bled. Lebanon next-door, already ina financial meltdown, is now seeingits large trade with Syria vanish aswell. Even those Syrians who supportthe regime — around a third of thepeople who have not fled the coun-try — will have a much harder time,but they won’t desert the regime.

The more prosperous onesdepend on Assad’s regime for theirincome and the poorer ones aremostly minorities who fear they willbe slaughtered if the jihadis win.

The US decision to raise the pres-sure on Assad is probably a randomby-product of President DonaldTrump’s obsessive campaign againstIran (which has been helping theSyrian regime stay afloat). If Trumpeven knows that the remaining rebelgroups in Syria are by now all led byfanatical Islamists linked to the al-Qaeda, the group that organised the9/11 terrorist attacks on the TwinTowers, he doesn’t care.

The Syrian tragedy is mainly dueto endless foreign interventions. TheSyrians, who called for an end toAssad’s regime in the ‘Arab Spring’ of2011, were just like the young menand women who started demandingthe fall of Egyptian dictator HosniMubarak at the same time. They wereboth genuinely popular movements,not fronts for jihadis.

The Egyptian protesters won,there was a free election and then thearmy struck back in 2013, slaughteredseveral thousand people in the streetsof Cairo and put General AbdelFatah el-Sisi in power, where heremains to this day. Egypt is at peace,although hundreds more have prob-ably died in Sisi’s prisons since thenand thousands have been tortured.

The Syrian protesters didn’t getthat far. They were driven from thestreets — but then various foreignpowers started organising the rebelsand giving them arms. The war haslasted another eight years and some-

where between 4,00,000-7,00,000Syrians have been killed. Five millionSyrians have fled abroad and anoth-er five million are displaced withinSyria.

So here’s the question: Would youprefer Egypt’s fate or Syria’s? Bothcountries are still tyrannies but oneis literally in ruins, with half the pop-ulation out of their homes, and theother had a few thousand deaths. It’sa no-brainer, isn’t it?

The Syrian power struggle wouldprobably have ended in an Assad vic-tory around the same time thatGeneral Sisi took over in Egypt if theUS, Turkey and Saudi Arabia hadn’tbegun sending the Syrian rebels armsand money. The US motives weremixed but the Turks and the Saudis,both led by different kinds of militantMuslims, just saw an opportunity toreplace a secular regime with a hard-line Islamist one. They would prob-ably have succeeded if Russia had notintervened to save Assad in 2015 and

Syria would probably be dividedtoday between al-Qaeda and theIslamic State. The groups linked to al-Qaeda absorbed or destroyed all theothers and today they rule over a sin-gle province in north-west Syriaunder Turkish protection. But still thewar drags on.

If any of these outside players hadbeen willing to put its own troops inthe ground, the war would at leasthave ended years ago (though itmight have ended badly). But none ofthem were willing to risk their ownsoldiers’ lives — not even theRussians, who stick to air strikes. Andnow the US is hitting Syria with evenbigger sanctions.

When governments impose sanc-tions, they usually explain that theyhad to “do something” but the newsanctions will hurt ordinary Syriansvery badly. They might be justified ifthere was a reasonable chance thatmore sanctions could bring Assad’sregime down but there’s no chance of

that and everybody knows it. In a famous paper in 1997,

Robert Pape of the University ofChicago showed that out of 116cases of international sanctions beingimposed during the 20th century, inonly six cases did the targetGovernment yield to the demands ofthe country imposing the sanctions.The success rate has not improvedsince. It has been 70 years since theUS imposed sanctions on NorthKorea and the Kim family is still inpower. It is 60 years since it put sanc-tions on Cuba and the Communistsstill rule. It has been 40 years sinceWashington slapped sanctions onIran and the Ayatollahs still rule. Notto mention Zimbabwe (sanctionssince 2003), or Venezuela (2006), orRussia (2014).

“Doing something” feels good butit doesn’t usually do much good.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work.’)

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�������������� '56 75&89

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Thursday

launched a video call facility forcoronavirus patients admittedat the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash(LNJP) hospital to talk to theirloved ones.

Interacting and boostingthe morale of doctors treatingCovid - 19 patients there, hesaid, "We are launching a newtechnological facility. Till now,the problem was that if aCOVID positive patient wasadmitted to the hospital, rela-tives of the patient were notable to meet them or talk to

them. The relatives and fami-ly members were not able to getinformation on the conditionof the patient. Now, tablets havebeen installed in every ward ofthe hospital. The family mem-bers can visit the hospital andtalk to the patient throughvideo conferencing."

A team of doctors saidthat LNJP has been declared asthe first purely dedicatedCorona care hospital in thecountry with 2000 beds, allattached with oxygen support.Around 2751 patients havebeen recovered and dischargedsuccessfully by the hospital,which is the highest recovery

figure country-wide. The facil-ities provided by various wards

including the gynecology ward,surgery ward, were also pre-

sented to the CM and the DyCM.

A help desk has been estab-lished in hospital and tabletshave been installed in coron-avirus wards and at a counteroutside, which can be used bypatients and their relatives forvideo calling.

Various technologicaladvancements such as theinstallation of CCTV cameras,TVs, etc were also portrayedduring CM visit there.

Dy CM Shri ManishSisodia suggested that the useof these tablets is also benefi-cial for the doctors and theadministration to be in regular

touch with the patients, insteadof physically being presentbesides the patient whichexposes them to the risk ofCorona.

Briefing the media follow-ing his visit, CM ArvindKejriwal said, "It has been 100days since the LNJP hospitalhas been working on the treat-ment of Corona patients. LNJPwas declared a COVID-19 hos-pital on March 17. It is thecountry's largest COVID-19dedicated hospital, and sinceMarch 17, it has successfullytreated 2,700 COVID positivepatients and sent them home.It is the only COVID-19 hos-

pital in the country with 2,000beds,"

Kejriwal said that coronapatients with mild symptomsor who are asymptomatic aregenerally treated at home itself.The patients who are very seri-ous and are need hospitaliza-tion, are admitted to LNJP.

"Their treatment was alsonot easy. But, all the doctors,without thinking about them-selves or their families, haveworked here day and night forthe service of the people. Youmay imagine how difficult it isfor the doctors to spend somany hours in a PPE kit. Themedical team, nurses, and doc-

tors of the LNJP hospital aredoing a tremendous job.Recently, the media had high-lighted some lack of facilities inthe hospital, and I want to saythat all these inadequacies arebecause of the administrationand the government. The doc-tors and nurses are doing agreat job, and there is no lackin their service to the people.We are trying our best to doaway with those shortfalls, andwe have overcome some ofthem. You can keep telling usthe shortcomings and we willkeep on improving andaddressing them," Kejriwalsaid.

�������������� '56 75&89

Northern Railways has decid-ed to install an alarm system

in Covid care coaches stationedat ShakurBasti railway station todeal with any emergency situa-tion. A senior northern railwayofficial said that if a patient press-es the call bell in case of emer-gency, a red light fitted outsidethe coach will come alive with aloud sound.

“This will also be simulta-neously displayed on the boardinstalled in the doctor’s coach,where the bulb against the coachnumber will light-up with analarm sound. This will enable thecaregivers to immediately rush tothe particular coach to attend tothe sick person,” he said.

Applying their ingenuity therailway engineers have developeda circuit system whereby eachCovid care coach will be pro-vided with an alarm bell. On theother end, a display board withlight and sound connectionagainst each coach number has

been installed in the coach hous-ing the doctors and specializedmedical staff, northern railwaysaid in a statement.

General Manager ofNorthern and North CentralRailways Rajiv Chaudhry hadadvised to install an emergencyalarm system in each coachduring the inspection.

The first patient arrived atthe ShakurBasti railway stationon Wednesday. Indian Railwayshas converted its mobile coach-es as isolation centers, theNorthern Railway said in astatement, adding that thesecoaches considered as addi-tional health facilities have anadvantage as they can be movedanywhere in the countrythrough the rail network in ashort span of time.

“This attempt was done toprovide additional quarantinecenters during the ongoing glob-al health crisis of coronavirusCovid-19” he said.

The northern railways hadplaced 503 isolation coaches at

nine stations of Delhi area sinceJune 17 on the demand of theDelhi government, it said.

As per the agreementbetween the state governmentand Ministry of Railways,arrangement have been madesuch as providing basic infra-structure, cleaning and saniti-zation of platforms, providinghousekeeping materials, man-agement of bio-toilets, powerand electric supply arrange-ments, watering, communica-tion facilities, signage and mark-ing of different areas besides oth-ers, he added.

“The northern railways willalso provide catering servicesincluding three times meals aday and tea in the morning andevening. The Railway ProtectionForce (RPF) will provide secu-rity at the railway stationpremises and the platform areawhere the coaches are placed.Delhi Police will be in-charge ofthe security arrangements out-side and adjoining areas of thestation,” he said.

�������������� '56 75&89

Delhi Lieutenant GovernorAnil Baijal on Thursday

instructed Delhi Police to keepa strict vigil and increase its pres-ence in crime-prone areas fordeterrent measures to ensure acrime-free Delhi. The directionwas issued on Thursday in areview meeting on law and ordersituation in Delhi chaired byLieutenant Governor.

"Reviewed law and ordersituation in Delhi. DirectedDelhi Police to increase pres-ence in crime prone areas anduse deterrent measures to curbvarious street crimes," he saidin a tweet.

Baijal also instructed seniorpolice officers to maintain closecoordination with central agen-cies and neighbouring states inview of upcoming IndependenceDay.

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The containment zones ofthe Gurugram district will

soon to be shut for around 2weeks a meeting in this regardwas held between the seniorofficials of the district admin-istration and the police depart-ment on Thursday.

However, sources claimthat the orders are expected onThursday evening or Fridaymorning under which the con-tainment zones are expected tobe locked down for about twoweeks to curb the COVIDtransmission.

Gurugram now has 108containment zones and anequal number of buffer zonesin the district which was

announced by the districtadministration.

The number of contain-ment zones in the district hasincreased to 108 from 98. Ofthese, 100 containment zoneshave been set up in Gurugramblock, 4 in Pataudi and 3 inSohna and one inFarrukhnagar. Thus a total of98 containment zones havebeen made in the district.

Sources said the districtadministration will makeefforts towards curbing trans-mission of the deadly virus dur-ing the partial lockdown andresidents of the area would beconfined to their areas andwork from home.

“As the district has receivedantigen-testing kit and screen-ing of the patients has already

been started. The positive caseswill be isolated and treated. Thecontacts will be quarantined.The district will follow a par-tial-lockdown wherein clus-ters and containments will be

locked down. It will help us tocurb transmission in the dis-trict and deal with the situationin hot spot locations. We mayreceive the final orders soon,”said a senior administration

official requesting anonymity.The officials further said

the district authorities isolatedpositive cases aggressively tostop the spread of infection inaddition to taking initiativeslike fever camps, doorstep ini-tiatives, screening and mobilevans.

Meanwhile, On Thursday,the district health departmentdetected 89 fresh Covid-19cases, taking the total to 4,851.Of this, 3,040 people haverecovered and one died. TheCovid-19 toll has reached 76 inthe district.

Gurugram now has 1,735active cases, including 1,190 in-home isolation. Remaining 396patients are admitted in private,government and Covid carecentres in the district.

� � ������� �� '56 75&89

The Delhi Police is going allout to catch the first

timers with no previous crim-inal history. Within a shortspan of five months, the DelhiPolice while looking for pro-claimed offenders has man-aged to nab over 4,000 noviceaccused who didn't have pre-vious crime records.

Interestingly, these new-bies, between age group of 16to 25, indulged in heinous andstreet crimes, to earn quickand easy money for lavishstyle opted to go in the 'CrimeWorld'.

According to sources,around 4,000 men includingjuveniles were nabbed fortheir alleged involvements insnatching, robbery, theft andother heinous crimes from

Januray 1 to May 31 this year. "Most of these newbies

were nabbed from NationalCapital's South and OuterNorth districts. In south dis-trict, police have apprehend-ed around 750 of newbieswhile 800 were nabbed inOuter North district," saidthe sources.

According to a seniorpolice official, tracking thecriminals was a task for policeas in most of the cases theywere looking for offenderswho were recorded in theirbooks.

"In most of the cases theteams were busy searchingrecords of previously involvedcriminals but investigationsled to the arrest of criminalswith no previous crimerecord. There were delays insolving some cases as well,"

said the senior police official.He further revealed that

interrogation in cases revealedthat these criminals enteredthe world of crime in order tomake quick money or to havea lavish lifestyle. Several ofthem revealed that unem-ployment was also a reason forthem to indulge in crime.

"These criminals wereinvolved in all sorts of crimeincluding heinous as well. Butmost of them were booked forpetty crimes like snatching,robber y, possession ofcannabis, theft etc," he added.

Aditya Okhade, a socialactivist said that the lockdownhas played a major part inleading the criminals to takethese steps.

"Several have been leftunemployed while many tookit as an oppurtinity to makemoney. A sharp rise in crimeby the first time commiterswas noticed during thenationwide lockdown," saidOkhade.

"There is increase in first

time offenders recently couldbe due to unemployment anda wish to live lavish life andabove all uncertaint of future.The young want to aquirematerial possessions like elec-tronic gadgets and mobiles tosatisfy themselves instantly,"said Dr Arti Anand,Consultant clinical psycholo-gist, Sir Gangaram hospital.

According to Anil Mittal,the Additional Public RelationOfficer (APRO), Delhi Police,the police is running a YuvaScheme ( youth scheme) in its21 police stations across thecity, which aims at the youngboys and girls, who followingthe bad circumstances hadcommited crime and havefullfilled their legal proceed-ings, for generate employ-ment.

"In the scheme youths aretrained in various pro-grammes like hotel manage-ment, sweeing classes, hard-ware repaire work, basic com-muter training and hair dress-ing etc," said Mittal.

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�����*����������������������"��!� ������Allahabad (PTI): The Allahabad High Courton Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking acomplete waiver on school and college fees forthe period they have been closed or will remainso due the COVID-19 pandemic.

A two-judge bench of justices SunitaAgrawal and S D Singh dismissed the plea bylocal resident Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, terminghis petition as “wholly misconceived”.

“We record at the outset that the submissionof the petitioner that the schools are observingholidays during COVID-19 epidemic isabsolutely false/wrong,” said the bench, dis-missing the plea.

“Most of the schools and colleges are tak-ing up on-line classes for students and teachersare taking either live classes or sending videosto the students. Students are even being givenhomework and the same is being checked by theteachers,” the court observed.

“Moreover, in any case, the pleadings madein the writ petition are insufficient to invoke theextra-ordinary jurisdiction of the high court inthe nature of public interest litigation,” the benchadded.

BABRI CASE: 2 MORE ACCUSEDEXAMINED: A Special CBI court trying the1992 Babri mosque demolition case on Thursdayrecorded the statements of two accused in thecase and summoned a third one for the depo-sition by him.

Special Judge SK Yadav recorded the state-ments of accused Jai Bhagwan Goel and AmarNath Goel and directed accused Pawan KumarPandey to appear before it on Friday for therecording of his statement.

The special judge specifically asked Pandey

to appear before it without fail, warning him thathis plea for exemption, if any, would not beaccepted in any condition.

The court has been conducting a day-to-dayproceeding to conclude the trial by August 31,as directed by the Supreme Court.

Both Jai Bhagwan and Amarnath appearedbefore the court along with their counsel,including advocate Vimal Srivastava, andrecorded their statements under section 313 ofthe Cr P C, under which the accused are allowedto explain away the prosecution evidenceagainst them.

Each of them was asked several questionsabout the prosecution evidence against them.

“To every question as to what they had tosay about the evidence and deposition that camefrom the witnesses produced by the prosecutionagency, CBI, they replied that they were false-ly framed in the case due to political reasons,”Srivastav told PTI.

The two had earlier chosen to deposethrough video conference but subsequentlydecided to appear in person before the court onThursday.

By now the court has completed depositionby 17 accused under section 313 of the CrPC.

Fifteen accused including former deputyPrime Minister LK Advani, former UP ChiefMinister Kalyan Singh and BJP leaders MMJoshi and Uma Bharti are yet to depose.

Many of them have said to depose throughvideo link.

The Babri Masjid was demolished inDecember 1992 by “kar sevaks” who claimedthat the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the siteof an ancient Ram temple.

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Aday after it crossed the10,000-mark, Andhra

Pradesh's overall tally of Covid-19 cases touched 10,884,including returnees from otherstates and abroad. The statenodal officer reported that 477Covid new cases were detect-ed in the 24 hours ending 9a.m., on Thursday.

While 19,085 samples weretested for the virus during thelast 24 hours, till date 7, 69,319samples have been conductedand the government plans totest the entire population with-in a 3-month time-frame.

In all, 118 people weredischarged in the last 24 hours.While the active cases stand at5,760, the the number of peo-ple who have been dischargedincreased to 4,988 on Thursday.

Seven persons were report-ed dead from different parts ofthe state, taking the death tollto 136. Kurnool, Krishna and

Guntur districts reported 2deaths each while 1 death wasreported from East Godavaridistrict.

During the preceding 24hours, new cases were report-ed from all the 13 districts ofAndhra Pradesh. Kurnool dis-trict reported the highest tallyof 72 cases, followed by Gunturwith 67 cases, and EastGodavari with 64 cases onThursday.

Thursday also saw a rise inthe number of Covid casesamong people returning fromother states. Compared to 37cases on Wednesday, therewere 69 new cases detectedamong people belonging tothis category on Thursday.While 33 of the covid positivesamples belonged to returneesfrom Tamil Nadu, 27 positivesamples belonged to returneesfrom Telangana, and 2 positivesamples were of people return-ing from Maharashtra. OnThursday 3 positive samples

were of people returning fromDelhi, 2 cases pertained toreturnees from Karnataka, and1 each from Rajasthan andJharkhand.

The overall tally of Covidpositive persons who returnedfrom other states currentlystands at 1,730. Of this, theactive cases tally is 652, while1,078 persons have been dis-charged till date. There hasbeen a constant flow of posi-tive cases among foreignreturnees also. On Thursday,2 samples each were detectedfrom people returning fromKuwait, Kazakhstan, andBangladesh. There was alsoone positive case from a UKreturnee.

The cumulative tally ofcovid patients in foreignreturnees category is 371,while 80 persons have beendischarged after getting cured.As of Thursday, 291 personsin this category are undergo-ing treatment in hospitals.

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Covid-positive patients willnot be required to visit

Covid Care Centres for a clin-ical assessment for home iso-lation or hospitalisation, DelhiDeputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said after anSDMA meeting on Thursday.

Sisodia said it has beendecided to withdraw theCentre’s order regarding therequirement of Covid CareCentre visit by Covid-positivepersons at the State DisasterManagement Authority(SDMA) meeting which wasattended by Lieutenant

Governor Anil Baijal.Sisodia said those found

Covid-19 positive would beclinically assessed by medicalofficers at their homes. TheDeputy CM, who is also han-dling the additional portfolioof the Health Minister, saidthe “home isolation has beenhighly successful in Delhi andaround 30,000 coronaviruspatients had been cured”.

After his meeting withofficials, Baijal tweeted, “TheSDMA approved the modifi-cation of SOP for home isola-tion for Covid-19 patients tomeet the twin objectives ofcontainment of local spread

and provision of timely med-ical care for the positive casesto save precious lives.”

“It was discussed that thetwin goals to be achievedthrough effective surveillancesystem and home isolation areto ensure containment of localspread including in the fami-ly and community and provi-sion of timely medical care incase medical condition of theCovid positive person inhome isolation worsens,” astatement from Raj Niwasread.

Sisodia, said the LG hasagreed to revert to the old sys-tem where a team led by the

district surveillance officer(DSO) will visit the house ofthe Covid positive patient todecide whether home isola-tion can be recommended.

“Only those COVID pos-itive persons are allowed forhome isolation who have ade-quate facility at home to keepthem separate from family,”said the Delhi Government,adding, “this would requirephysical verification by sur-veillance teams. Similarly, formonitoring of medical condi-tion of Covid positive persons,trained professionals arerequired to daily follow upwith the concerned individ-

ual.”In SDMA meeting, it was

decided that the patient shallbe allowed home isolation if,as per the assessment of homeisolation team sent by theDistrict Surveillance Officer,the patient is mild/pre-symp-tomatic/asymptomatic andhas a residence of two roomsor a separate room and a sep-arate toilet for the patient.S/he will be provided a contactnumber for any consultationrequired by him along withdetails of CATS Ambulancecall number for transfer tohospital in case symptomsdevelop.

>&�������"�� ��������� � ������?���������New Delhi (PTI): Allowingprivate sector to carry outspace activities like buildingof rockets, satellites and pro-viding launch services is amajor reform, ISRO chief KSivan said on Thursday.

The Cabinet onWednesday approved partic-ipation of the private sector inthe entire range of spaceactivities, including plane-tary exploration missions.

Terming this a “majorreform”, Sivan said the privatesector can also be part of theinter-planetary missions ofthe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO).

“The private sector willbe enable to carry out spaceactivities like building ofrockets, satellites, providinglaunch services on a com-mercial basis.

“The private sector canalso be part of interplanetary

missions of ISRO. This isbeing planned to be donethrough announcement ofopportunities,” he said in anonline briefing.

He, however, added thatISRO’s activities are not goingto reduce and it will contin-ue to carry out space-basedactivities including advancedresearch and development,inter-planetary and humanspace flight missions.

When asked whether pol-icy foreign private playerswill be allowed, Sivan toldPTI that a decision on this isyet to be taken.

Unlike many countriesin the West, where civilianspace activities like launchingsatellites are opened up forprivate players, it remainedclosed in India. However,with this decision, it is like-ly to change.

Sivan said the Indian

National Space Promotionand Authorisation Centre(In-Space) has been createdunder the Department ofSpace as a separate verticalfor taking independent deci-sions with respect to permit-ting and regulating spaceactivities of the private sector.

He said the move will notonly enable acceleratedgrowth of the space sector, but will also help theIndian industry play a majorrole in the global space econ-omy.

The current global spaceeconomy is pegged at USD360 billion, while the Indianspace economy is estimatedto be around USD 7 billion.

“This is going to be amajor system and reform inthe Department of Space. In-Space will have its own direc-torates for technical, legalsafety and security, activity

promotion as well as formonitoring purposes so thatthey can take an independentdecision,” Sivan said.

The In-Space board willalso have members of theindustry, academia and thegovernment.

It will take six months forthe system to take shape, butprivate companies can submittheir applications to theDepartment of Space in theinterim time.

“Private companies candirectly apply to In-Spacewhich will independentlyevaluate and process theapplication. Once In-Spacegives the decisions, it will bebinding on all stakeholders,either private people orISRO,” Sivan said.

A new navigation policyis also being proposed andsuitable changes in RemoteSensing Data Policy as well as

SATCOM policy are also onthe anvil. These changes areaimed at al igning these policies to an open and inclu-sive space sector, Sivanadded.

The New Space IndiaLimited (NSIL), a PSU underthe Department of Space,will also play a role in thisendeavour by re-orientingspace activities from a ‘sup-ply dr iven’ model to a‘demand driven’ model ,thereby ensuring optimumutilisation of space assets, hesaid.

“NSIL will be strength-ened and empowered to off-load operational activities ofISRO in the areas of launchvehicle and satellite produc-tion, launch services as wellas space based services. NSILwill execute these activitiesthrough industry consor-tiums,” he added.

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Till Thursday evening, Tamil Nadu has seen 70, 977persons testing positive for coronavirus, accord-

ing to a media release issued by the State Government.On Thursday alone, 3,509 persons (highest numbertill date since the first case of virus was detected in theState) were diagnosed with Covid-19 and the day alsosaw 45 patients succumbing to the pandemic. Thedeath toll in the State as on Thursday touched 911 mak-ing Tamil Nadu a land of death.

On a day even veteran physicians like Dr CVKrishnaswamy stood perplexed over the ever increas-ing numbers of patients and deaths refusing todivulge what they feel about the unabated pandemic,the only relief worth mentioning was the 2,236 patientswho were discharged from various hospitals, takingthe number of patients cured off this disease to 39,999.

Thursday also saw 30, 307 persons getting testedin 88 laboratories across the State taking the total num-ber of persons tested till date to 9.6 lakh.

Underscoring the fact that patients with comor-bidity (suffering from serious ailments like diabetesmellitus, hypertension, coronary problems, kidney dis-order) are at risk, 42 of the persons who breathed theirlast on Thursday had comorbidities.

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The Congress queered theLadakh pitch further with

party leader in Lok SabhaAdhir Chowdhury onThursday asking the BJPGovernment to push backthe Chinese Army from theIndian land that they hadencroached.

The Congress leader whohad a field experience of tack-ling the CPI(M)’s ‘red brigade’of Bengal, said instead ofbeing “cowed down” by the“Red Army” India should useits armory to teach theChinese a lesson. The largeIndian arsenal was not forhatching eggs he said.

“China is furtively andfervently encroaching ourland in a steady manner,much to the peril of Indiansecurity and territorial integri-ty. It is a catch-22 situation forus, but we cannot afford our-selves to be cowed down by

the red army,” he tweeted.The Chinese army “are to

be repulsed back by whatev-er means, our arsenals are notmeant for hatching eggs, sostrike back, drive back, forceback the Chinese aggression,god will be Indian in decidingthe course of conflict,” headded amid reports of furtherbuild-up at the Indo-Chinaborder.

Much like the two armiesthe Congress and the BJPengaged each other followingthe alleged Chinese intrusionwhich however was denied byPrime Minister NarendraModi.

Border tensions and sub-sequent brawl claimed 20Indian soldiers on June 15while the Chinese side lostabout 45 fighters.

Saying that though Indiahas taken all steps to cool theembers and defuse the tensionat the Line of Actual Control,China was trying to changethe status quo which shouldbe stopped at all cost.

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While the BJP is building up a political atmos-phere against the Trinamool Congress ahead

of the next year’s Assembly elections by taking onthe Mamata Banerjee Government on a number ofissues — from corruption to law and order situationto nepotism and poor handling of the corona situ-ation — the Bengal ruling outfit on Thursday builtup a counterattack holding the Narendra ModiGovernment responsible for the rising petrol-prices at a time when the country is passing throughone of its worse economic slowdowns.

Attacking the BJP for doing business with petro-leum prices when the people of the country were lan-guishing TMC ideologue and Legislator ArupChakrabarty said “due to the poor and unplannedhandling of the corona situation the CentralGovernment has suffered a huge loss in its revenue…as the central exchequer has almost gone dry theyare using petroleum to make up for the loss whichis why the oil prices are rising steeply despite the factthat world over the petro-prices have gone down.”

Attacking the BJP for “failing to fulfill all itspromises from brining back black money fromabroad and putting them in the citizens’ accountsand providing 2 crore jobs yearly” Chakrabarty said“this is the same party that had said that it wouldpull down the dollar-rupee ratio so that our currencywould cost below �50 per US dollar… butin reali-ty today one dollar makes �75.50”.

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Two Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorists were neu-tralised by the joint teams of security forces in vil-

lage Hardshiva of Sopore while another encounter waslaunched in Tral area of Awantipora late Thursday evening.In a related development, another terror module linkedto proscribed terror outfit LeT was busted by theBudgam police with the arrest of five terrorist associates.

According to a police spokesman, the operations werelaunched on the basis of specific intelligence input aboutthe presence of terrorists in the area. So far, 121 terror-ists have been eliminated by the security forces in dif-ferent anti terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmirsince January 2020. According to a police spokesman,jawans of 22RR, 179Bn CRPF and JKP were participat-ing in the operations.

The hiding terrorists were given an opportunity tosurrender before the security forces but instead of pay-ing heed to these appeals they fired indiscriminately uponthe joint search party, which was retaliated leading to anencounter.

“In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists were killedand their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.The identification and affiliation of the killed terroristsis being ascertained. However, as per credible sources thekilled terrorists belonged to proscribed LeT terrorist out-fit”, police spokesman said.

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There was no respite in Kerala’stryst with the high number of

coronavirus cases even onThursday as the State tested morethan 100 covid-19 cases successivelyfor the seventh day. According toChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanwho briefed the media, the Statediagnosed 123 persons with coro-navirus on Thursday.

The Chief Minister said thehike in the coronavirus cases wasdue to expatriates and personsfrom other parts of the country whoreturned to Kerala. Out of the 123persons tested positive onThursday, 84 were those whoreturned to the State from abroadwhile 33 were from other parts ofthe country.

344 persons were hospitalizedacross the State on Thursday while1.59 lakh were under observation.“Till date we have diagnosed 3,726persons with covid-19 while as onThursday, 1,761 persons were undertreatment for the pandemic,” saidthe chief minister. Vijayan said thestringent quarantine protocolsbeing followed by his governmenthas helped the community trans-mission of the covid-19 pandemicfrom 93 per cent of the expatriates.

Patna: At least 83 people werekilled by lightning in variousdistricts of Bihar, and 24 inUttar Pradesh while many peo-ple were reported to be injuredas heavy rain and thunder-storms lashed several areas ofnorth India on Thursday, aGovernment official said.

Out of the 83 dead inBihar, 13 people were killed inGopalganj district alone.

According to reports, 8people were killed inMadhubani and Nawada dis-trict each, six each in Bhagalpurand Siwan, and five each inBanka, Darbhanga and EastChamparan districts.

Apart from this, three per-sons were killed by lightning inKhagaria and Aurangabad dis-tricts each, two each inJehanabad, Kishanganj, West

Champaran, Jamui, Purnia,Supaul, Kaimur and Buxar andone each died in Saran, Shivhar,Samastipur, Madhepura andSitamarhi, according to offi-cials.

Gopalganj DistrictCollector Arshad Aziz toldIANS that according to infor-mation received so far, 12 to 13people have died in lightningstrikes in the district. Heappealed to the people toremain indoors during the rainand not to stand under trees ifoutside.

Most of the people whodied were working in the fields.

The injured have beenadmitted in hospitals.

Heavy rain with thunder-storms and lightning has lashedvarious parts of Bihar evenbefore the onset of the mon-soon in the state. IANS

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In the last one month, the UnionTerritory of Jammu & Kashmir has

added 4,881 fresh cases of coronaviruswhile 67 deaths were reported during thesame period. Significantly, the recoveryrate of coronavirus patients haveincreased from 48 percent to 60 percentduring the same period in the region.

According to the media bulletin,127 new patients of coronavirus weredetected in Jammu & Kashmir onThursday while two more deaths werereported, one each from Jammu &Kashmir divisions.

According to the media bulletin,between May 25 to June 25, 198257 testswere conducted across different labo-ratories in Jammu and Kashmir.

A total number of 1668 cases ofcoronavirus were there on May 25. Outof this 836 were active positive and 809had recovered while a total number of23 deaths were reported, three fromJammu division and 20 from Kashmirdivision.

In one month, the total number ofcoronavirus cases recorded a huge jumpof 4881 cases, taking the tally of posi-tive cases to 6549 while 90 deaths havebeen reported, 11 from Jammu divisionand 79 from Kashmir division.

Agra: Call it nature's survival of thefittest design or negligence of thosewho manage the medical infrastruc-ture, the truth that emerges from alook at the mortality figures fromCovid-19 in Agra, indicates that amajority who succumbed to thedeadly virus were senior citizens.

Doctors of the S.N. MedicalCollege confirmed that those in thesenior age group bracket with comor-bidities were particularly vulnerable,as has been feared right from the out-break of the pandemic. Many fami-ly members of the victims have beenalleging indifference and delay intreatment that aggravated the condi-tion in the elderly people. In a largenumber of cases, the delay in testreports, up to five days, has provedcostly.

Now, the testing facilities haveconsiderably improved with theinstallation of latest machines at thedistrict hospital and the Covid hos-pital in the S. N. Medical College.Retired army doctor, Col RajeshChauhan, told IANS, “This was clearfrom day one that the vulnerable sec-

tion of senior citizens will be signif-icantly affected by the virus.

They should have focused onproviding prompt relief and treatmentto this age-group. In fact a separategeriatric ward managed by specialistsshould have by now become opera-tional. Even now they could dothat.”

Agra's death toll from Covid-19was 82 till Thursday morning. Asenior citizen, an 82-year-old patient,who had a chronic breathing prob-lem, succumbed. In the last 24 hours,nine new cases were added, taking thetally to 1,166. So far, 974 have recov-ered.

District Magistrate P.N. Singhsaid the number of active cases inAgra was now 111. The recovery ratewas 84.04 per cent. The number ofsamples taken was 19,728 and thenumber of containment zones is65.

In neighbouring Mathura, therewere nine fresh cases. Firozabad had21 new cases, Etah had eight, includ-ing an MLA, and Mainpuri had fournew cases. IANS

Palghar (Maharashtra): A 30-year-old tribal womanallegedly killed her minor daughter and later hangedherself from a tree in the forests on the outskirts ofJawhar, around 160 km north of Mumbai, the policesaid on Thursday.

According to investigating officer AppasahebLengare, no suicide note was found. The woman wasmissing along with her daughter since the last threedays.

Identified as Mangala Wagh, the woman firsthanged her daughter with her sari and then herselffrom a tree near a hillock, around 1 km on the out-skirts of the Deragaon village, Lengare said.

She left behind her husband Dilip Wagh andanother 7-year old daughter when she walked outof their hutment on June 22 along with the youngerdaughter, 3-year old Roshni.

According to the locals, Dilip Wagh was a brickkiln labourer and was mostly jobless due to the lock-down, and the family lived in dire poverty.

“The Sarpanch informed us after some tribalsdiscovered the two bodies hanging from the tree. Thebodies have been sent for autopsy and further inves-tigations are on,” said Lengare. Meanwhile, socialactivist, former legislator and Shramjeevi SanghatanaPresident Vivek Pandit said that he ‘felt responsible'for the incident. The Chairman of a state panel tostudy the status of tribal welfare schemes, Pandit saidhe had been telling the government to pay attentionto the tribals' plight or they would die of starvationmore than Corona. IANS

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The CBI on Thursday filed acharge sheet against Yes

Bank’s founder Rana Kapoor,M/s Dewan Housing FinanceLtd, its promoters Kapil RajeshWadhawan, Dheeraj RajeshWadhawan and M/s DOITUrban Ventures (India) Pvt. Ltd(DUVIPL), its promoter Ms.Roshni Kapoor and others inthe in the �3,700-crore YesBank fraud case.

The others named in thecharge sheet filed in SpecialCBI City sessions court wereM//s Belief Realtors Pvt. Ltd;M/s RKW Developers Pvt. Ltd.The CBI filed the charge sheetin connection with a case ofcheating and criminal con-spiracy registered on March 7this year against Kapoor andhis family members for alleged-ly colluding with DHFL’s pro-moter Kapil Wadhwan and hisfamily members.

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Come June 28, salons willreopen across Maharashtra

with some restrictions andguidelines in place. However, itwill take some more timebefore the State Governmentdecides to allow reopening of“Beauty Parlours”

For the time being, thesaloons will limit themselves tocutting hair. The barbers havenot been permitted to theshave beards of their clients yet.Similarly, no decision has yetbeen taken to reopen “beautyparlours” A decision to reopenthe salons was taken at a StateCabinet meeting held here onThursday.

Confirming the develop-ment after the Cabinet meeting,Transport Minister Anil Parabsaid: “The State Governmenthas prepared guidelines forreopening of salons. As of now,the salons will limit them-selves to cutting hair.”

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In an effort to push tourism in coastalareas of Maharashtra, the State

Government on Thursday decided toallow setting up of eco-friendly shacksin eight beaches in Konkan region.

An initiative of Tourism MinisterAditya Thackeray, the beach shack pro-ject is being undertaken as a pilot pro-ject. Initially, the State Government willallow the setting up of shacks inGuhagar and Aaravare beaches ofRatnagiri district, Kunkeshwar andTarkarli in Sindhudurg district,Varsoliand Diveaghar in Raigad district andKewla and Bordi in Palghjar districts.

The decision to allow setting up ofeco-friendly shacks in eight beaches inthe Konkan region was taken at theState Cabinet meeting held here in theafternoon.

“Today I’m thankful to my cabinetcolleagues for passing two key policiesfor tourism development inMaharashtra. 1) Beach Shacks: 8 beach-es in Maharashtra have been approvedfor eco friendly Beach Shacks. This willbe a major tourist facility. 80% employ-ment to locals is a must,” an elatedAditya tweeted in the evening.

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Maharashtra appeared to be still not out of thewoods on Thursday, as it witnessed 192 more

deaths and it registered a record daily tally of 4,841infected cases.

Out of the total deaths reported during the day,109 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours and rest 83are from the previous period. With the fresh fatali-ties, the total number of deaths went up to 6931 inthe state In a major spike in the infections, as manyas 4841 people tested positive for Covid, taking thetotal number of infected cases in the state to 1,47,741.

Of the 83 deaths that took place earlier, Mumbaiaccounted for 40 deaths, while there were 31 deathsin Thane district and Municipal Corporations inThane district, 4 deaths each in Palghar and Solapurand one death each in Malegaon, Yavatmal, Jalgaonand in Pune.

“These 83 deaths have been shown in the pro-gressive figures instead of showing in daily figures. Thisreport is prepared based on figures provided by theauthorized laboratories on Central Government’sCovid-19 Portal. Because the laboratory reportscrutiny and the availability of figures accordingly isan ongoing process, state cumulative numbers are sub-ject to change,” a state health bulletin said.

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The acquisition was made from a jointventure of Cyient Solutions and Systemsand Israeli firm BlueBird Aero Systems in2018. These drones have the capability tooperate in adverse weather conditions andat a service ceiling of over 10,000 metres(10 km) or 30,000 feet and are capable ofgenerating real-time video footage in allweather conditions.

According to reports last month,Chinese Communist mouthpiece GlobalTimes reported that its new unmannedhelicopter drone could be deployed alongthe LAC.

The AR500C can take off at an eleva-tion of 5,000 metres and has a service ceil-ing of 6,700 metres and an endurance offive hours with a maximum speed of 170km. The maximum takeoff weight of theUAV is 500 kg, the report claimed.

Service ceiling refers to the maximumheight at which a system can operate.

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Along with the Union Minister, BJPPresident J P Nadda also levelled the samecharges at the Congress party at a virtual

rally in Madhya Pradesh accusing RGF ofaccepting a donation of Rs 90 lakh fromChina during 2005-06.

Nadda said he was surprised to see thatthe Foundation had accepted donationsfrom China which were used to carry outstudies and promote free trade in India.

“I was surprised to see that RajivGandhi Foundation had received a dona-tion of Rs 90 lakh from People’s Republicof China and Chinese embassy. Thesedonations were then used to carry outstudies and promote free trade in the coun-try. There are many ways of corruption andCongress party should explain what stud-ies were carried out using these donations,”Nadda said.

Prasad accused the RGF of receivingdonations from the Chinese embassy inIndia in 2005-06. The donation wasincluded in the list of general donors, hesaid.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi isthe chairperson of the RGF and its boardhas Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi,P Chidambaram and Priyanka Gandhi.

“Did the then UPA Government takea bribe from the Chinese? Is it not true thatafter taking this donation, the foundationrecommended a free trade agreementwith China, which was heavily tilted infavour of the Chinese,” Prasad said.

The Minister alleged that the then

UPA Government did not mention thisdonation anywhere in the Governmentrecords. “The Congress must answer thatif they took money from the Chineseembassy, how this money was put to use?”he said.

Prasad said after receiving the bribe thethen Government allowed Chinsefavourable trade balance which wentagainst the interests of the country. Heaccused the Congress of quid pro quo andasked them to come clean on the allegeddonations.

BJP has also asked the Congress toclear air on the MoU it had with theCommunist Party of China (CCP) in 2008in the presence of Sonia and Rahul and itsrelations with CCP.

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.&��� Q� Q99 5Q�0� Central Board of Secondary Education

informed the Supreme Court that theyhave decided to cancel the Class X and XIIexaminations scheduled from July 1-15 dueto the Covid-19 pandemic, and theywould be conducted later.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehtatold aBench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkarthat the scheme has been formulated toassess the performance of Class XII stu-

dents on the basis of their performance inlast examinations. The top court was alsoinformed that the students will have theliberty to opt either for the examinations,to be conducted later, or go with the assess-ment process based on past performance.

CBSE exams were postponed onaccount of the coronavirus pandemic butparents of students appearing for the examwanted the Board to declare the CBSE 12thresult on the basis of exam already con-ducted and to calculate it on an averagebasis with internal assessment marks ofremaining subjects. The concerned parentsand other stakeholders said studentsmight be exposed to Covid-19 infection ifthey have to appear in the examinations.

Earlier this month, Delhi DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote toHRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal‘Nishank’, urging him to cancel pendingboard exams, citing the spike in Covid-19cases and high number of containmentzones in the city.

The Supreme Court asked the Centreand the CBSE to issue fresh notification inconnection with Class XII exams, clarify-ing the option between internal assessmentand exams later.

“Clarify the date of results,” said theBench, noting that the CBSE will have tosubmit a fresh draft notification cancellingClass XII Board exams and affidavit on

Friday morning, before the top court con-tinues to hear the matter again at 10.30 am.The apex court also sought clarity on thebeginning of the new academic year.

It told Solicitor General TusharMehta, representing the Centre, that theCBSE is willing to conduct exams when thesituation is conducive, but this may varyfrom state to state. “Will the decision betaken by a Central authority or will thestate government take the decision? Howare you going to deal with that situation?”

Mehta replied that the decision mustbe taken according to the situation. To this,the bench said should not the solution bepan-India?

“You have not said when you willdecide on this issue, and when you willtake stock of these things. Some time framewill have to be given,” noted the Bench.

Continuing its queries, the Bench said,“What about State regional board exams...the CBSE does not hold all the exams. TheState Board is also there.” Mehta repliedthat the instructions from the controllerof examinations are that exams are con-trolled centrally. “State boards assist theCBSE,” he replied.

The Bench observed that theGovernment should modify the draftnotification and include the state boardissue. “Clear the stand that decision willbe taken at the central level and not at the

state level... other courses will have to bedelayed till CBSE exam results come out,”it said.

Mehta replied the assessment resultswill be published now, and if a studentwants to opt to give the exam, then thatwill be conducted later. The top courtasked Mehta to bring this on record andredraft the notification.

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Mumbai’s Dharavi has reported 11new cases, taking the total number of casesin the densely populated region to 2,210.Also no new deaths have been reported formore than a week in the largest slum ofAsia. One of the major reasons behindsharp decline in the number of cases is saidto be the Maharashtra Government’sRapid Action Plan under which the healthofficials conducted door-to-door screen-ing of individuals in the slum. On the otherhand, Dadar witnessed a spike in the num-ber of Covid-19 cases as 27 people testedpositive in a single day. Since the past fewdays, the area had seen 15 new cases dailyon an average. A 53-year-old officer,posted as an Assistant Sub- Inspector (ASI)with the Marine Drive police station suc-cumbed to infection.

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Jerusalem: The UN envoy forthe Middle East warned Israelon Thursday that carrying outits plans to annex parts of theWest Bank could set of a spasmof violence that would upendIsraeli-Palestinian relations andreverberate across the region.

Speaking to a group offoreign correspondents inJerusalem, Nickolay Mladenov,the UN special coordinatorfor the region, said any Israeliunilateral action will “will haveeconomic and security reper-cussions on the ground thatwill affect the lives of bothIsraelis and Palestinians.”“Surely any such moves will bemet by counter moves by thePalestinian Authority and theyhave already started,” he toldmembers of the Foreign PressAssociation, noting how thePalestinians have absolvedthemselves from abiding bypast agreements with Israel.

“For now we have the clearcommitment by the Palestinianleadership that they will doeverything in their power tocontain law and order in theareas they control," he said.

“But as the money runs out andas the political prospectsbecome more grim, I feel thatwill become more difficult orimpossible in the future." Hisstern warning comes amid aflurry of international pressureon Israel to recant on its plans.

On Wednesday, the head ofthe Arab League warned ahigh-level U.N. Meeting thatany annexation would inflametensions and endanger peace inthe Middle East, and couldignite “a religious war in andbeyond our region.” More thana thousand European lawmak-ers also signed a joint letterprotesting Israel's plan, sayingsuch a move would “be fatal” tohopes for a peaceful resolutionof the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict.

Emboldened by the Trumpadministration's favorableMideast plan, and eager toestablish its permanent easternborder, Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu haspromised to begin annexingparts of the West Bank thathave Israeli settlements, per-haps as early as next week. AP

Tokyo: Japan's National SecurityCouncil has endorsed plans tocancel the deployment of twocostly land-based US missiledefence systems aimed at bol-stering the country's capabilityagainst threats from NorthKorea, the country's defenceminister said Thursday.

Defence Minister TaroKono said the country will nowrevise its missile defence pro-gramme and scale up its entiredefence posture.

The council made its deci-sion Wednesday, and now thegovernment will need to enternegotiations with the US aboutwhat to do with payments andthe purchase contract alreadymade for the Aegis Ashore sys-tems.

Kono announced the planto scrap the systems earlier thismonth after it was found that thesafety of one of the two plannedhost communities could not beensured without a hardwareredesign that would be too timeconsuming and costly.

“We couldn't move forwardwith this project, but still thereare threats from North Korea,”Kono said at a news conferenceThursday.

Japan will discuss ways tobetter protect the country andthe people from the North's mis-siles and other threats, he said.

The Japanese government in2017 approved adding the twoAegis Ashore systems toenhance the country's currentdefences consisting of Aegis-equipped destroyers at sea andPatriot missiles on land.

Defence officials have saidthe two Aegis Ashore unitscould cover Japan entirely fromone station at Yamaguchi in thesouth and another at Akita in thenorth.

The plan to deploy the twosystems already had faced aseries of setbacks, includingquestions about the selection ofone of the sites, repeated costestimate hikes that climbed to450 billion yen (USD 4.1 billion)for their 30-year operation andmaintenance, and safety con-cerns that led to local opposition.

Kono said Japan has signedcontract worth nearly half thetotal cost and paid part of it tothe US.

He said Japan is trying to getthe most out of what it hasalready paid, though he did notelaborate. AP

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterresexpects all member states to"live up" to their obligationsunder the relevant SecurityCouncil resolutions, hisspokesperson has said, after aUS report noted that Pakistanremains a safe haven for ter-rorists as it did not take actionsagainst JeM founder MasoodAzhar.

The US State Department,in its Congressional-mandated2019 Country Reports onTerrorism on Wednesday, saidPakistan remained a "safe har-bor" for regionally-focused ter-rorist groups and that the sus-

pension of US aid to the coun-try remained in effect through-out 2019.

Stéphane Dujarric,responding to a question dur-ing his daily press briefing, saidwhile he will not comment onthe report issued by the USState Department, "Obviously,as a matter of principle, we doexpect all member states to liveup to their obligations as laidout in any relevant SecurityCouncil resolution or SecurityCouncil decision.”

The report said Pakistantook "modest steps" in 2019 tocounter terror financing andrestrain India-focused militant

groups from conducting large-scale attacks following thePulwama attack in February,but it remained a "safe harbor"for regionally focused terroristgroups.

It further said that Pakistantook action against some exter-nally focused groups, includingLashkar e-Taiba founder HafizSaeed but did not take actionagainst Jaish-e-Mohammedfounder and UN-designatedterrorist Azhar and 2008Mumbai attack 'project man-ager' Sajid Mir, both of whomare believed to remain free inPakistan.

The UN 1267 SanctionsCommittee designated Azharas a global terrorist in May lastyear, slapping an arms embar-go, asset freeze and travel banon him, 10 years after India'sfirst move to have him black-listed at the UN.

Following the designation,the State Department said thatthe designation is an “impor-tant step” in promoting apeaceful and stable South Asia.

The US designated Azharas a Specially DesignatedGlobal Terrorist in 2010. PTI

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Islamabad: Pakistan onThursday expressed its dis-appointment over the USState Department's reportwhich described the countryas a "safe harbor" for region-ally-focused terrorist groups.

The State Department, inits Congressional-mandated2019 Country Reports onTerrorism, said onWednesday that Pakistanremained a "safe harbor" forregionally-focused terroristgroups and that the suspen-sion of US aid to the coun-tr y remained in ef fectthroughout 2019.

"Pakistan is fully awareof its responsibilities as asovereign state. We rejectany insinuation about anysafe haven. Pakistan will notallow any group or entity touse its territory against anycountry," the Foreign Officesaid, commenting on thereport.

It said the report was“sel f-contradictor y andselective in its characteriza-tion of Pakistan's efforts forcountering terrorism and

terrorist financing.”While the report recog-

nizes that al-Qaeda has beenseriously degraded in theregion, it neglects to mentionPakistan's crucial role indecimating the terror group'snetwork, thereby diminish-ing the threat that the ter-rorist group once posed tothe world, the FO said.

"Similarly, the reportacknowledges the sharpdecrease in the incidence ofterrorist attacks in Pakistanbut neglects to explain thatthis was only possiblebecause Pakistan's resolutecounter-terrorism operationshave targeted proscribedgroups and outfits withoutdiscrimination," it added.

The FO said thatPakistan was still facing thethreat of terrorism fromexternally based and foreignsponsored groups, like theTTP, ISIS-K and others andpointed out that the reportwas either s i lent or vague on the origins andlocations of these terroristgroups. PTI

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>��������, ��= �������: �, ���������� ! ��, Washington: Flicking a dis-

missive jab at President DonaldTrump, House Speaker NancyPelosi unveiled a planWednesday to expand“Obamacare," even as Trump'sadministration is about to filearguments in a Supreme Courtcase to strike it down.

Pelosi announced anupcoming floor vote on hermeasure, setting up a debatethat will juxtapose theDemocrats' top policy issue,Trump's unrelenting efforts todismantle Obama's legacy, andthe untamed coronavirus pan-demic.

On Thursday, the Trumpadministration is expected tofile papers with the SupremeCourt arguing that theAffordable Care Act is uncon-stitutional.

Pelosi wants her bill on the

House floor Monday. Trying tooverturn a health insuranceexpansion providing coverageto about 20 million people“was wrong any time,” Pelosisaid.

“Now, it is beyond stupid,"she added. “Beyond stupid.”

COVID-19 cases are risingin major states like Texas,Florida and California, andmillions of workers who havelost coverage in the economicshutdown to contain the viruscan rely on the health law as abackup.

The White House saidPelosi is just playing politics.“Instead of diving back intopartisan games, Democratsshould continue to work withthe president on these impor-tant issues and ensuring ourcountry emerges from thispandemic stronger than ever,”

spokesman Judd Deere saidWednesday in a statement.

Pelosi's legislation has nochance in the Republican-con-trolled Senate. Her bill wouldexpand subsidies, allowingmore people to qualify forcoverage under the ACA.

It would financiallysqueeze some states that haverefused to expand Medicaidunder the health law.

And it would empowerMedicare to negotiate pre-scription drug prices — a posi-tion Trump once favoured butlater abandoned.

It would also undo theTrump administration's expan-sion of short-term insuranceplans that don't have to coverpreexisting medical conditions,something Democrats say willundermine a central achieve-ment of the ACA. AP

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Islamabad: Cash-strappedPakistan International Airlines(PIA) on Thursday announcedthat it has grounded 150 pilotswith "dubious licenses", a dayafter the preliminary probereport of the Karachi planecrash blamed the pilots and theair traffic control for the tragedythat killed 97 people.

“Grounding so many pilotswill affect the PIA flight oper-ation,” the spokesperson forthe national carrier said, addingthat they have already dis-missed six pilots with fakedegrees.

Those pilots who get theirlicenses verified will be allowedback on duty, Geo News quot-ed the PIA spokesperson as say-ing. The national flag carrier onThursday said it has grounded

150 pilots with "dubious licens-es", a day after the report of theplane crash blamed the pilotsand the air traffic control (ATC)for the incident, the reportadded. "We have asked theCivil Aviation Authority to sendthe list of the remaining licens-es,” the spokesperson said. “Weacknowledge the report andare working on making ourstandard better.” In a letter to theCivil Aviation Authority (CAA),PIA chairman requested the avi-ation authority for details of theremaining pilots with dubiousand fake commercial licenses.

“Action will be taken againstall those pilots with fake licens-es,” PIA chairman said, addingthey will take all the necessarysteps to make the commercialoperation safe. PTI

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+����������������"�����/�����!�����=����Moscow: Polls opened inRussia on Thursday for aweek-long vote on constitu-tional changes that wouldallow President VladimirPutin to stay in power until2036.

The vote on a slew ofconstitutional amendments,proposed by Putin in January,was initially scheduled forApril 22, but was postponedbecause of the coronaviruspandemic. It was laterrescheduled for July 1, withpolling stations opening aweek earlier and staying openfor seven days in an effort toavoid crowds on the mainvoting day.

The proposed amend-ments include a change in theconstitution that would allowthe 67-year-old Putin, whohas ruled Russia for over twodecades, to run for two moresix-year terms after his cur-rent one expires in 2024. AP

NEW DELHI: In an attempt toprovide additional quarantinecenters during the ongoingglobal health crisis of coronavirus 'Covid-19' IndianRailways had converted itsmobile coaches as isolationcenters.

These coaches consideredas additional health facilityhave an advantage as they canbe moved anywhere in thecountry through the rail net-work in a short time where everthe health care facilities are lim-ited. On the demand of theDelhi Govt, Northern Railwayhad placed 503 isolation coach-es at 9 stations of Delhi areasince 17.06.2020.

NEW DELHI: GeneralManager Northern & NorthCentral Railways, Sh. RajivChaudhry visited the CovidCare Centre set up atShakurbasti Railway station.The Centre has been createdusing 50 Isolation coaches pro-vided for this purpose.

He took stock of the facil-ity, he was briefed about thework done by NorthernRailway in maintaining thecoaches and the premises.Addressing Railway and Stategovernment officials presentthere GM encouraged andappreciated the efforts beingput in by them to mitigate thesuffering of the people due tothe pandemic.Interacting with

the media Sh. Chaudhry saidthat the Indian Railways willput in all its efforts andresources to help the Nationovercome this crisis. As moreand more patients are comingin to stay in these coaches weare enhancing the amenities.He also added that 503 isola-tion coaches have been placedin different stations of DelhiArea to be used as Covid carecenters by the Delhi Govt ifneed arises.

New Delhi: In an event held on24th June, 2020, chaired by theHon’ble Minister of State forPower, NRE, Skill Developmentand President of InternationalSolar Alliance (ISA), Mr RKSingh and HonorableAmbassador of Mali HE SekouKasse handed over the ProjectManagement Consultancyaward letter to Mr. GurdeepSingh, CMD NTPC, for devel-opment of 500 MW Solar parkin the Republic of Mali.

ISA is an international,inter-Governmental organisa-tion, based in India, createdwith the vision and leadershipof Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sh.Narendra Modi andannounced jointly withPresident of France duringCOP21 held in Paris in 2015.

ISA’s vision is for a large-scalesolar revolution, hinges on cre-ating a facilitative internation-al ecosystem that enables accessto science and economicresources, reduces the cost oftechnology and capital, facili-tates price reduction, andenables development of storagetechnology and innovation.With its scale and authoritativeunderstanding of the energytransition opportunities ofdiverse economies, ISA is theworld's foremost energy tran-sition catalyst for bringing achange from energy poverty toenergy empowerment.

The event was hosted byISA in the Ministry ofRenewable Energy, New Delhi,and graced by the dignitaries.

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Funds parked by Indian indi-viduals and enterprises in

Swiss banks, including throughIndia-based branches, fell near-ly 6 per cent in 2019 to 899 mil-lion Swiss francs (�6,625 crore),annual data from Switzerland'scentral bank showed onThursday.This marks the sec-ond consecutive year of declinein aggregate funds of Indianclients with all Swiss banks, tak-ing the figure to the third low-

est level in more than threedecades since 1987 when theSwiss National Bank (SNB)began compiling the data.

The total amount of CHF899.46 million, described bythe SNB as aggregate 'liabilities'of Swiss banks or 'amounts dueto' their Indian clients at theend of 2019, included CHF 550million (over �4,000 crore) ofcustomer deposits; CHF 88million (�650 crore) held viaother banks; 7.4 million (�50crore) through fiduciaries ortrusts; and CHF 254 million(�1,900 crore) as 'otheramounts due to customers' inform of securities and variousfinancial instruments. All the

four components declined dur-ing 2019. These are official fig-ures reported by banks to theSNB and do not indicate thequantum of the much-debatedalleged black money held byIndians in Switzerland. Thesefigures also do not include themoney that Indians, NRIs orothers might have in Swissbanks in names of third-coun-try entities.

According to the SNB, itsdata for 'total liabilities' ofSwiss banks towards Indianclients takes into account alltypes of funds of Indian cus-tomers at Swiss banks, includ-ing deposits from individuals,banks and enterprises.

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Stocks edged higher on WallStreet in early trading

Thursday as investors weigh amixed batch of economicreports highlighting the dam-age that the coronavirus lock-downs have inflicted on theeconomy.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2per cent, recovering from aninitial slide of 0.9 per cent.Gains in the financial, energyand technology sectors helpedlift the market, outweighinglosses in companies that rely onconsumer spending, utilitiesstocks and elsewhere. Bondyields fell, another sign of cau-tion in the market.

The CommerceDepartment said that the USeconomy shrank at a 5 per centrate in the first three months ofthe year. A far worse decline is

expected for the current quar-ter due to the pandemic. TheLabor Department said anoth-er 1.5 million laid-off workersapplied for unemploymentbenefits last week. That marksthe 12th straight drop, a signthat layoffs are slowing, butremain at a painfully highlevel.

On a more encouragingnote, the government saidorders to American factoriesfor big-ticket goods rebound-ed last month from a steep pull-back in April and March as theeconomy began to slowlyreopen.

The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage was up 93 points, or0.4 per cent, to 25,538. TheNasdaq, which hit an all-timehigh earlier this week, gained0.1 per cent. Small companystocks were faring worse thanthe rest of the market.

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The regulator's board, dur-ing its meeting on

Thursday, also cleared amend-ments to insider trading reg-ulations and decided tostreamline settlement regula-tions to make proceduresfaster and more effective.

Sebi has decided to allowacquisition of shares throughstock exchange settlementprocess by way of bulk orblock deals during an openoffer subject to certain condi-tions.

Experts opined thatchanges in the pricing guide-

lines for preferential issueswould help promoters andinvestors to infuse funds intocompanies that are facing var-ious challenges due to the pan-demic.

Providing a "temporary"relaxation, Sebi said therewould be an additionaloption for pricing methodol-ogy with respect to preferen-tial issues. In cases where thenew option is exercised, therewould be the requirement ofthree-year lock-in period forsuch shares.

In a statement issued afterthe board meeting, the regu-lator said there have been

numerous representationsfrom various stakeholders fortemporarily liberalising regu-lations relating to raising ofcapital from securities market.

The option in pricingwould be available for thepreferential issues madebetween July 1 or date ofnotification of amendment tothe regulations, whichever islater, and December 31.

Under this option, in caseof frequently traded shares,the price of the equity sharesto be allotted pursuant to thepreferential issue should notbe less than higher of either oftwo levels.

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The US economy shrank ata 5.0% rate in the first

quarter with a much worsedecline expected in the currentthree-month economic periodbecause of the coronaviruspandemic. Commerce Deptreported on Thursday that thedecline in the gross domesticproduct, the total output ofgoods and services, in the Jan-Mar quarter was unchangedfrom the estimate made amonth ago. That was thesharpest quarterly decline sincean 8.4 % fall in the fourth quar-ter of 2008 during the depthsof the financial crisis. The firstquarter decline reflected justtwo weeks of the shutdownsthat began in many parts of thecountry in mid-March.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said on

Thursday there was nothingwrong in imports to spurgrowth but wondered why evenGanesha idols should bebought from China. Importingraw materials that were notavailable in the country andneeded for our industries wasnot wrong, she said addressingthe BJP’s Tamil Nadu unitworkers via a virtuallink.“There is nothing wrong inimports that would spur pro-duction and create job oppor-tunities and it can be done def-initely,” she said while speakingon the Centre’s AatmanirbharBharat Abhiyaan initiative.However, imports that could

not bring benefits like employ-ment opportunities and sup-port growth would not helpself-reliance and the Indianeconomy, she said.Ganeshaidols made of clay have beentraditionally bought from thelocal potters during GaneshChaturthi festival every year,she said.“But today, why evenGanesha idols are importedfrom China..why such a situa-tion…can’t we make a Ganeshaidol from clay, is it the situa-tion?” she asked. She wonderedif importing household prod-ucts used every day like asoap-box, plastic items orincense sticks used for poojapurposes would support self-reliance especially when suchproducts were made locally byIndian firms.

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Over the past few weeks, Ihave had several conversa-

tions with executives from with-in the automotive industry andseveral of my fellow automotivejournalists. Our fraternity used tomeet up very often. In fact,Hormazd Sorabjee, the Editor ofAutocar India, once joked with usthat we see each other more oftenthan we see our spouses. So it doesfeel strange to have not met any-one in months. As someone whoactually enjoys flying, it feelsstrange to have not sat inside aplane since March 10, when I flewback from Chennai after a visit tothe second-generation HyundaiCreta production line. I’m lookingforward to the coming week,where I will be testing the fifth-generation Honda City and thefacelifted Hyundai Verna. Buteven the way we test and evaluatecars will change now.

Moving forward, there aresome fundamental aspects of thecar market that will certainlytransition. Some changes couldhappen in the short-term, theexample being the much improvedhygiene standards across dealer-ships and workshops. There is alsothe increased levels of digitisation,Hyundai’s ‘Click To Buy’ hasachieved a level of automation thatmight have taken years otherwise.I expect other car manufacturersto catch up soon as well as our reg-istration authorities. With a dra-matic slowdown in sales expectedto continue through the rest of theyear, there will be a short-termchange in buying patterns as well.

There will be a rise in sales ofsmaller, fuel-economical hatch-backs. Not just because of morefirst-time buyers entering themarket, but because of people whoare disappointed with the lack ofpublic transport options and donot trust the hygiene and availabil-ity of app-based taxi services.Vehicles like the WagonR, theSwift, the Grand i10 Nios, theBaleno and the forthcoming third-generation i20 will all do well insuch a market. Replacement buy-ing — that is people upgrading toa bigger vehicle or purchasing anew vehicle — will go down.

This will, in turn, hurt new carsales since replacement buying istraditionally 60 to 70 per cent ofthe sales. People are unsure offuture incomes, many of us haveseen salaries being cut. Buyers whochanged cars the moment theirloan periods ended will keep theircurrent vehicle for an extendedperiod of time even if they havenot suffered a loss.

There is another interestingdynamic in the market of late, ris-ing fuel prices and the situation inDelhi, where diesel is now moreexpensive than petrol. Now, this isactually in line with Europe, where

diesel costs more than petrol. Butdiesel still makes sense if you drivelong distances as a diesel motorburns far more efficiently. Thatsaid, with the lakh plus price dif-ference between a diesel andpetrol vehicle, the cost benefit ofdiesel will not kick in until youstart driving 2,500 kilometres amonth at the very least. I’m apetrolhead and I’ve never been ahuge fan of diesel. ‘Dieselgate’ didruin many perceptions aboutdiesel. Yes, on a per-gram of car-bon basis, diesel is still cleaner perkilometre than petrol, but evenBS6 diesel has far higher levels of

other pollutants such as NOx andSulphur Dioxide. However, theseprices should also drive a demandfor more economical cars. Giventhat engines are already burningvery lean, the two-litre petrol onthe 2020 Hyundai Elantra that I’mdriving currently is delivering ahigher fuel economy (11.5 kmpl)than the 1.2 litre engine that wasfitted on my old 2010 Hyundai i20(approximately 11 kmpl). Bothnaturally aspirated engines fromthe same manufacturer.

So an additional economywill likely be driven by higher lev-els of hybrid technology in the

coming years — not just ‘mild’hybrids with start-stop technolo-gy but more vehicles with 48Velectrical systems and batterypacks that will drive 20 to 30 percent higher economy levels.

I do not believe India willmove to an ‘electric’ future rapid-ly and there is a very simple rea-son for this, which is China.Recent geopolitical events havedisplayed that we cannot trust theneighbouring country, a push tofurther electrification will drivemanufacturing value from Indianfactories to China’s giant batteryplants. Hybrid vehicles will not

require the massive battery packsof full electric vehicles. Then thereis the Fuel-Cell Vehicle issue andHydrogen, where India’s massivepush towards renewable energymight work towards more hydro-gen technology. While generatinghydrogen is an energy negativeprocess, we can use excess windand solar capacity to electrolysewater and generate hydrogen asenergy storage. Less dependenceon China, Japan and South Korea(that is Toyota, Honda, Suzuki andHyundai-Kia) are promoting thehydrogen alliance big-time. Watchthis space.

What does the current geopo-litical situation mean for the likesof Shanghai Automotive IndustrialCorporation (MG Motor), theirHector, the plans of Great WallMotor as well as all those Indianbrands importing container loadsof Chinese electric two-wheelers?Not good frankly, while I do notbelieve India can extricate fromdepending on Chinese compo-nents even for the automotivebusiness anytime soon, given thatthe costs of Chinese componentsis so much lower in China. I dobelieve that this has been a mon-umental miscalculation by theChinese administration and itwill impact Chinese brands inIndia in the long-run. There is areason that SAIC wanted everyoneto believe that the MG Hector isa British car, but it is a Chinese car,designed and tested in China. Itjust wears a British badge. This isnot like Jaguar Land Rover, whichis a British firm owned by anIndian company or Volvo, aSwedish firm owned by China.This is a Chinese product with aBritish badge. There will be ashort-term and medium-termimpact here.

Anyway, there will be severalother interesting trends to watch,including whether consumers willshift preferences away from large,expensive Sports Utility Vehiclestowards smaller and more eco-nomical hatchbacks and sedans?How will price elasticity evolve inthe Indian market and manymore. All food for thought in thecoming weeks and months.

The post-pandemic worldwill spur a new travel seg-ment, that of private char-

ter fliers. And this may not belimited to the upper crust butopen up to family groups, whomay pool their dedicated bud-gets to hire an aircraft and fly totheir destination and back.Instead of mini-breaks andvacations, there might be thatjust one big trip that people maysplurge on. Companies, whotraditionally flew their execu-tives on first-class, are nowfinding it safer and more eco-nomical to fly the same group ofpeople on a private aircraft. Orso an industry study wouldhave us believe.

Unlike commercial airlines,private charters do not requireyou to pass through lengthysecurity screening, varioustouch points or come in contactwith fel low travellers.Commercial fliers have over200 touch points at the airport,while private jets have as little as30. Instead, it gives you theassurance of exemplary safetyrecord and cleanliness stan-dards. Kanika Tekriwal, CEOand founder, JetSetGo Aviation,tells us that neither do theguests have to arrive early, nordo they have to face securityqueues at the airport. Withoutmuch of a stretch, one canavoid immigration and Customsduring international flights anddirectly get on on-board.

COVID-19 has completely

changed the way consumersengage with products and maketheir purchase decisions. SaysKanika, “Now safety and well-being are coming at a price. Butpeople do not mind spendingsome extra amount for peace ofmind during a break.” She gets upto 20 enquiries a day on char-tered flights, 70 per cent ofwhich are from a new customerprofile. “We are seeing a lot ofrequests coming from parentswhose children were stuck in col-leges or schools and from fami-lies who were stuck elsewhereapart from their hometown dur-ing the lockdown. There is alsoa big surge in requests from peo-ple who had sick parents oradults stuck in different cities.Also, we received requests fromsmall businessmen who hadtravelled to close deals and werestuck,” says she. There are someaffordable options too like book-ing a seat rather than booking anentire plane and much more.

There are several companiesthat offer charter flights for

business travellers specifically.For PrivateFly, business aviationreally matters as it saves time,both on the ground and in theair. EvoJets is another suchcompany that specialises inarranging corporate air travelsolutions that help businesses.There are various modern pri-vate business jets that comefully equipped with the latestbusiness amenities, such aswireless internet and satellitephones. Some even have privateboardrooms to conduct impor-tant meetings in-flight. Notonly this, charter companieseven organise business dinnerswhich allow the traveller tooptimally utilise his travel time.

Travel choices are going tobe need-based more than indul-gence, for example a familyevent, as per Nishant Pitti,EaseMyTrip CEO and co-founder. Says he, “Part of thenew mindset of the jet set is nowcentered around social distanc-ing, one of the essential guide-lines for inhibiting the spread ofCOVID-19. So even though thetravel sector as a whole is cur-rently down, private jet demandis much stronger than it wasbefore.” Varesh Chopra,Regional Director, South Asiaand Middle East, CosmosVacations, tells us that leisuretravel may see temporary stresson demand due to changedpersonal financial dynamics butwill probably mutate to a larg-er family outing.

Actor Amit Sadh’s first look inBreathe: Into The Shadows

has been unveiled. The actor,who is reprising his revered roleas Inspector Kabir Sawant in thecrime thriller web series, is seenmysteriously landing up in a jail,raising curiosity amongst theviewers.

Why is our beloved inspec-tor in a prison? Was it a fauxplay of power and deceit or didhe seriously commit a crime sograve that put him behind thebars? While we don’t know thereason behind this new twist, itcertainly adds an interestinglayer to the mystery of thisseries.

Amit said, “Excited toreturn as Kabir in a new, un-imaginable avatar! Breathe andKabir have connected with fansall over the world and the show’stheme of going the distance toprotect the ones you love, hasresonated all across. This newstory has become even morespecial with Abhishek andNithya joining in and together,we can’t wait to take you back tothe world of Breathe. This time,Into The Shadows.” The seriesmarks the digital debut ofAbhishek Bachchan and NithyaMenen, who will be seen in thelead roles, along with SaiyamiKher.

(The Amazon Original isslated to release on July 10 onAmazon Prime Video.)

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US Open organisers said onWednesday they will include

a wheelchair tournament at thisyear’s Grand Slam following aplayer backlash over their decisionto scrap the event as part of mea-sures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The United States TennisAssociation’s announcementcomes five days after the nationalgoverning body said it wasrethinking their decision and thatit could have better communicat-ed with wheelchair athletes.

“The decision was made fol-lowing multiple virtual meetingswith a group of wheelchair athletesand the International TennisFederation over the last week,” the

USTA said in a statement.“The 2020 US Open

Wheelchair Competition will fea-ture men’s and women’s singles anddoubles and quad singles anddoubles, with draw sizes similar topast US Opens.”

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Title-chasing Lazio sufferedtheir first Serie A defeat in

nine months, falling 3-2 atAtalanta on Wednesday to stayfour points behind leadersJuventus after surrendering atwo-goal lead.

Lazio, playing their first gamesince February 29 after the coro-navirus lockdown, thanked aMarten De Roon own-goal forputting them ahead after six min-utes in Bergamo with SergejMilinkovic-Savic adding a superbsecond from distance five minuteslater. But Robin Gosens headedfourth-placed Atalanta back intothe game seven minutes beforethe break with RuslanMalinovskyi rifling in the equalis-er on 66 minutes. Jose Luis

Palomino then sealed the homewin 10 minutes from time.

Lazio — bidding for theirthird Serie A title after 1974 and

2000 — have lost just three timesin the league this season.

Their most recent defeatbefore Wednesday was 1-0 at thehands of Inter Milan onSeptember 25.

“We knew that returningagainst Atalanta was one of theworst opponents to have,” saidLazio coach Simone Inzaghiwhose side were held 3-3 by theBergamo side in Rome inOctober.

“Unfortunately the title racegets more complicated and weregret this, because we’re comingoff a long series of unbeatengames. “I don’t like losing and thelads are a little down.”

Atalanta are four pointsbehind third-placed Inter Milan,who were held 3-3 at homeagainst Sassuolo.

Elsewhere, Roma stay fifth,six points behind Atalanta, aftera hard-fought 2-1 win over rele-gation-threatened Sampdoriathanks to a second-half EdinDzeko brace — two volleys, onewith his left foot and the otherwith his right.

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Liverpool are on the brink ofclinching the Premier Leaguetitle after the leaders powered

to a 4-0 win against Crystal Palace,while Anthony Martial hit a hat-trickin Manchester United’s 3-0 victoryover Sheffield United on Wednesday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side took controlthanks to first-half goals from TrentAlexander-Arnold and MohamedSalah behind closed doors at Anfield.

Fabinho and Sadio Mane nettedafter the interval and Liverpool willbe crowned champions if ManchesterCity fail to beat Chelsea at StamfordBridge on Thursday.

If second-placed City win in westLondon, then Liverpool could wrapup their first English title for 30 yearsin their next game — against PepGuardiola’s side at the EtihadStadium on July 2.

“Imagine if the stadium couldhave been full and people could haveexperienced that Live. It would havebeen amazing,” Klopp said.

“The atmosphere on the pitchwas incredible. That was the bestcounter-pressing game I have everseen behind closed doors. The atti-tude the boys showed was amazing.”

Asked if he would be watchingwhen City face Chelsea,Klopp added: “Tonight wasa big step, that’s clear. I haveto watch the game tomorrowbecause we play them oneweek later. That’s being pro-fessional and doing my job.”

After a drab goallessdraw at Merseyside rivals Everton onSunday, the champions-elect were farmore vibrant and Alexander-Arnoldopened the scoring with a superbfree-kick in the 23rd minute.

Salah doubled the lead in the44th minute, taking Fabinho’s loftedpass and guiding in his 21st goal of

the season.Fabinho scored with a

thunderous 30-yard strike inthe 55th minute and Manecapped a fine move in the 69thminute as Liverpool moved 23points clear of City.

MARTIAL’S HAT-TRICKUnited are still far off challeng-

ing again for titles at the top of thetable, but there are growing signs ofmomentum for Ole Gunnar

Solskjaer’s men as they extendedtheir unbeaten run to 13 games.

Martial produced two predato-ry first-time finishes before half-timeto put United in command at OldTrafford.

The hosts could have piled onmuch more pain after the break, butwere content with one more goal asMartial completed his first careerhat-trick with a cheeky chip fromMarcus Rashford’s pass.

‘DREAM BIG’Fifth-place could still be good

enough for a place in next season’s

Champions League depending onthe outcome of City’s appeal againsta two-season ban from Europeancompetition.

And Wolves remain level onpoints with United in fifth after con-tinuing their perfect restart with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth.

Just as in a 2-0 victory at WestHam on Saturday, Adama Traore andRaul Jimenez combined to break thedeadlock as the Mexican poweredhome a header for his 24th goal ofthe season.

Defeat leaves Bournemouth stillin the bottom three on goal differ-ence and there are now three teamstied on 27 points as Aston Villastruck late to claim a 1-1 draw atNewcastle.

While any hope of Norwichhauling themselves out of troublenow looks forlorn as the Canaries fellto a second home defeat in a week.

Michael Keane scored the onlygoal as Everton won 1-0 at CarrowRoad to move above Arsenal into10th. Norwich remain rock bot-tom, six points adrift of safety.

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Sergio Ramos’ sensational free-kick helped Real Madrid

move back above Barcelona tothe top of La Liga as they defeat-ed Real Mallorca 2-0 onWednesday.

Ramos brushed asideGareth Bale to take the shot andjustified his claim with a curlingstrike into the top corner after19-year-old Vinicius Junior hadput Madrid in front in the firsthalf.

Madrid’s victory at theAlfredo di Stefano Stadiummeans they are level again onpoints with Barcelona but sitabove their title rivals in the tabledue to a superior head-to-headrecord.

“There are seven finals left,”said Ramos. “There will be onlyone league in the year of coro-navirus and we want to win it forthe fans.”

Bale has been hardly usedsince La Liga resumed onJune 11 but ZinedineZidane continued his rota-tion policy and handed theWelshman his first startsince February 16.

Yet an underwhelming dis-play is unlikely to push Bale backinto Zidane’s preferred eleven asVinicius enhanced his case withanother lively, if erratic, perfor-mance.

The Brazilian also hit thecrossbar in the first half.

“I’m very happy with theteam’s performance and myown,” said Vinicius.

“I worked very hard athome to get in this shape. Thisrun of matches is like a WorldCup, you have to be in the rightshape every three days and fired

up.” Ramos, though, stole theshow with his brilliant free-kick,taking his personal tally to acareer-best eight goals for theseason, after he became La Liga’shighest ever scoring defender onSunday by scoring a penaltyagainst Real Sociedad.

The only worry for Madridwas that Eden Hazard was taken

off shortly after the hour,raising doubts overwhether the Belgian isfully fit or completelyconfident in his trouble-some ankle.

There was also time at theend for history to be made asMallorca’s Luka Romero becamethe youngest player ever to playin La Liga, aged 15 years and 219days.

Earlier, Real Sociedad suf-fered a third consecutive defeatat home to Celta Vigo to leavetheir challenge for ChampionsLeague qualification in tatters.

Iago Aspas’ penalty on thestroke of half-time was enoughto seal a 1-0 victory for CeltaVigo, who move eight pointsclear of Mallorca in 18th.

�4�� �� Cleared of dopetaint, two-time Common-wealth Games Gold-winningweightlifter Sanjita Chanu willfinally get the coveted Arjunaaward which has been onhold since 2018.

A Sports Ministry sourceconfirmed that Chanu will beconferred with the Arjuna asper a 2018 Delhi High Court

order, which directed theselection committee to consid-er her and keep the decisionin a sealed cover to be dis-closed only if she was absolvedof the doping charges.

“Sanjita (Chanu) isabsolved of all the dopingcharges by the Internationalfederation, so we will have toabide by the Delhi High Court

order and consider her for theArjuna award,” the ministrysource said.

After she was ignored forthe 2017 Arjuna Awards,Chanu had filed a writ petitionbefore the Delhi HC challeng-ing the decision to exclude herfrom the list of those recom-mended for the coveted hon-our. During the pendency ofthe case, she tested positive fora banned substance in May2018.

Indian WeightliftingFederation secretary generalalso confirmed the develop-ment. “It’s confirmed, Sanjitawill get her 2018 Arjunaaward,” he said without gettinginto details.

The 26-year-old had wonback-to-back Gold medals inthe 2014 and 2018Commonwealth Games in the48kg and 53kg categoriesrespectively. PTI

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Former England captainClare Connor is set to

become the first female presi-dent of the Marylebone CricketClub (MCC), guardian of thelaws of the game, in its 233-yearhistory.

Connor was onWednesday named as the suc-cessor to current chief KumarSangakkara, who steps downfrom the post next year.

The nomination ofConnor, who is currently theECB’s managing director ofwomen’s cricket, was made bySangakkara himself duringWednesday’s Annual GeneralMeeting.

Connor will take up thepost on October 1 next year,pending approval by the club’s

members, as Sangakkara hasbeen invited to remain in therole for a second twelve-monthtenure due to the impact ofCovid-19 on the cricketinglandscape.

“I am deeply honoured tobe named the next President ofMCC. Cricket has enrichedmy life so deeply already, andnow it hands me this wonder-ful privilege,” said Connor,who was made an HonoraryLife Member of MCC in 2009.

Connor made her Englanddebut in 1995 at the age of 19,and took over the captaincy in2000, leading England at Lord’sagainst Australia a year later.

An all-rounder whobowled left-arm spin, Connorled England women to theirfirst Ashes triumph in 42 years,overseeing a 1-0 series win in2005.

The Ashes win was the cul-mination of her six-year stint ascaptain of her country. Sheretired from the game there-after.

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Star England pacer JofraArcher was on Thursday

cleared to join his teammates atSouthampton’s Ageas Bowlahead of the three-Test seriesagainst West Indies after he wastested Covid-19 negative for thesecond time.

The 25-year-old Archerdid not join the team’s train-ing earlier after a member ofhis household fell ill.He had tested nega-tive for Covid-19the first time toobut the decision to

go through another test was aprecautionary measure.

“Jofra Archer has testednegative for Covid-19. He willjoin the England camp at AgeasBowl later today and will be freeto start training tomorrow withthe rest of the group,” theEngland and Wales Cricket

Board (ECB) tweeted onThursday.

Besides Archer, all otherEnglish cricketers vying for

places in the squad forthe upcoming Test

series also returnednegative forCovid-19.

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Images of players hug-ging at the net, playing

basketball together andpartying at NovakDjokovic’s charity exhibi-tion in Serbia and Croatiawere “disappointing” andtennis must learn its les-son, outgoing Wimbledonchief Richard Lewis hassaid.

Djokovic, GrigorDimitrov, Borna Coricand Viktor Troicki con-tracted the novel coron-avirus after playing in theAdria Tour, which drewbig crowds and saw play-ers pose for pictures.

Lewis, who will step

down as the CEO of AllEngland Lawn TennisClub in July, told Britishmedia he hoped everyonemade a speedy recoverybut that the mistakes ofthe event must not berepeated.

“The images weredisappointing and I think

that ... what needs to comeout of it is everybodyinvolved — not just play-ers, but administrators,organisers, entourages —understands that the pro-tocols, rules and regula-tions are in place for a rea-son. “That’s a reallyimportant lesson to learn.”

�� ��� The Pakistan Cricket Board onThursday confirmed five reserve playersand a backup player support personnelhave undergone Covid-19 tests.

The five players who were tested areBilal Asif, Imran Butt, MohammadNawaz, Musa Khan and Rohail Naziralong with masseur Mohammad Imran.

Bilal, Imran, Nawaz and Musa wereoriginally named as reserve players on 12June when the 29-player squad wasannounced, while Rohail has been addedas a backup wicketkeeper.

On Thursday, 18 players and 11 play-er support personnel underwent secondround of tests, while the 10 players andone player support personnel, who hadtested positive earlier in the week, will beretested on Friday.

The PCB will announce outcomes ofall tests on Saturday and until then willnot make any further comment. IANS

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Disappointed at being leftout of Western Australia’s

contract list, Australia pacerNathan Coulter-Nile said he islooking to prove the decisionmakers wrong representing anew state team for the upcom-ing season.

The 32-year-old, whograbbed 17 wickets at 18.94 toguide West Australia to theirthird title in six years in the lastsummer’s Marsh Cup, didn’treceive a contract renewal afterhe decided to focus his atten-tion on white-ball cricket.

Coulter-Nile, who hastaken 86 wickets in limitedovers cricket for Australia,said he is now “fired up” to faceWestern Australia.

“I'’d love to face WesternAustralia, I’d definitely be firedup for it,” he toldcricket.Com.Au.

“I know the boys hadnothing to do with the decisionand a few of them openly saidthey were disappointed with it,but any chance I get to provethe decision-makers wrong,I’d definitely take that oppor-tunity.”

Coulter-Nile said he isconfident of his bowling andwill take up any opportunitythat comes his way before theMarsh Cup.

“I want to play. I was theleading wicket-taker last year,I feel like I’m bowling alright.I feel like I’ve still got plenty tooffer,” said the pacer, who took82 wickets at 21.96 in 39 one-day games for WA since mak-ing his debut in 2009.

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,&%�-�%����,-%+ “We’ve worked hard for thisover the past few years and as asquad this is what we’ve dreamedof. We’re in a good position sohopefully we’ll be able to getacross the line pretty soon.”— TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD

“Since I came here I said Iwant to win the Premier Leaguewith the team. The city didn’t winit for a long time, so it was theright time.”

— MOHAMED SALAH

“It was the best counter press-ing behind closed doors ever. Theattitude we showed tonight, thepassion we showed, was excep-tional and we played some out-standing football.”

— JURGEN KLOPP

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$������������ ����� �������� Inter Milan defenderMilan Škriniar was suspendedfor three matches on Thursdayfollowing his red card in thematch against Sassuolo.

Škriniar was shown a sec-ond yellow card onWednesday and was given anautomatic one-match ban forthe sending off but was furtherpunished for “making an offen-sive remark to the referee alongwith a blasphemous exclama-tion.”

Inter coach Antonio Contewill also be suspended forSunday’s match at Parma afterpicking up his fifth booking ofthe season. AP

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;$�?* ������!��% !����� & ��+���������� ���%������ Top-ranked women’ssquash player, Raneem El Welily,announced her retirement onThursday.

The 31-year-old Egyptianwas the first Arab woman to beworld No 1 in any sport, theProfessional Squash Associationsaid.

El Welily first took the topranking in 2015, and won heronly world championship twoyears later. She was a three-timerunner-up.

“Squash has been my life forthe past 25 years but the time hascome for me to say goodbye,” ElWelily said in a statement on hersocial media accounts. AP